Saturday, September 27, 2008

Paul Newman passes...Colddecked at Shorty's

Today...was a one of those day's that when you wake up and read the news, you just know that this day will suck. I rolled out of bed today to the news that one of my favorite actors...has passed way...R.I.P Paul Newman. I feel that I have to dedicate this blog to the man that is responsible for the quote that adorns this travesty of a blog. "Money won, is twice as sweet as money earned" was spoken by Newman as "Fast Eddie" in the sequel to the "Hustler" in "The Color of Money". As the few of you who read this blog know, I love movies and usually end my blogs with quotes from some of my favorite movies. Lets see...The "Hustler" was more than a classic...it was his best work in my opinion. Then we have "Cool Hand Luke"...Wow..."Nobody can eat fifty eggs"...and possibly one of the most famous quotes of the 60's and 70's , "What we have here....is a failure to communicate". Man this news really sucks!!! and lets move on to Butch and Sundance. Behind "The Outlaw Josey Wales"...That was my favorite Western ever.

Today will be one of those days...were things just don't seem right.

Decided to head out to Shorty's on my drive home Friday night as the last day of the month was Friday, and if any of you have been in Sales before, You know how hectic the last day of the month can be...normally it is CRAZY (Taking a cue out of Monkey's book and Cap'ing words I want to stress). We have a pretty good month overall from the sales perspective and I get to Shorty's and I see the usually crew of "Shortarians"...did I just make up a new word there? I will have to check the scrabble dictionary. I get seated in the must-move game with several known players...and a few I had never seen before. I like it so far.

I am in the 4 seat and there is a husband-wife duo in seat 1 and 6. Cody is in the 7 seat which I am going to try to steer clear off. The rest were divided between strangers and few regulars. I am able to get my stack up to about $340.00 in the 5-5nl game when there are several dynamics that enter the game. There is a several regulars that enter the game such as Mark in the 8 seat and "Teary Eyed" Alan from Tex's blog...both regulars in the games here. I have lots of experience playing with both, and don't have too high regard for neithers game. Both are good for the game in my book. I really like Alan though, and I have bullshitted with him numerous times. He is known for betting his draws and overplaying hands. The last time I was there several weeks ago I called him down with 2nd pair to win a nice pot and I kind of felt he may have gotten a little pissed.

There are 2 hands that I will outline with both of them being somewhat "Colddecked'. I look down at 6h6s in mid-position and TEA raise to $15.00. His range here...from K-2 suited/K-Jo on up. This is somewhat of a common raise at Shorty's. I smooth as do 3 others. The Flop hits AsAh5d...Checkoslovakia all around...Turn 6c. I have boated up. Everyone taps to me and I bet out $20.00 and got 2 callers including TEA. River hits a harmless 3s. TEA fires out a stack of redbirds (Hundo). I go in the tank and re-examine the board, and to TEA's defense here I will say that the cocktail waitress was bringing him his Scotch and Heineken, but he still was paying attention. I decide to smooth for several reason's which one is hoping the other guy might also call. I sit there and TEA is kind of just sitting there too...I decide to turn over my cards and table my sixes when TEA just looked at the cards...and me....then the cards. The dealer says, "Lets go Alan" and the guy to my left says to me, "Damn...why didn't you raise" and then TEA sits up and Says, "What...you think I don't have nothin"...and slams down face up on the felt Ac3d for the suck...re-suck scenario...Nicccceeeee. Exactly what I was afraid of...but the "Slow roll" from hell was just irritating. I don't know why he did it ...but I think that in all actuality, he didn't understand that this is just not good poker etiquette. Maybe he wanted to try to tilt me...Don't know, but I really feel like he was just having fun on a Friday and knew he could, "Have some fun with me" since we knew each other. FWIW ...there were other players there that saw the slow roll the same way I did.

Just so happens that I get felted against TEA also about an hour later after I worked my stack back up to about $140.00 from a low of $75.00. I was starting to catch some cards but TEA was on a roll tonight. He had flopped another boat earlier and was running good. This hand I feel I played sooooo bad I was sick to my stomach. Some may look at how the hand was played and think that the hand plays itself. I look down at QQ from mid-position. There were 3 limpers to TEA and he raises to $20.00...again...I noted his range above. I pop it $60.00 to make it $80.00 to go leaving about $60.00 below fully expecting to get it all in if I had to...He re-pops...I call...he tables AA. The hand seems to play itself and the 2 guys to my left again...showed their limited poker knowledge by saying, "Theirs nothing you could do there"..."The cards beat you"...or did they?

Lets look at the hand more closely and you can see that , yes...most people should stack off there, but I am suppose to be able to think "On the next Level" and not stack off. We get it all in PF ...yes...but the most important variable of the hand was the the flop came out Ace high. Now with this being said, you can see that my play was terrible.
#1)The obvious play was to smooth call the $20.00 raise and let the flop reveal its Ace and the minute TEA tries to bet...ditch it. Very Simple.
#2) The second mistake was popping the pot so much...if I bet 1x to $40.00...and he comes back over the top...I ditch...Although this would have been a little tougher knowing his range.
#3) Calling the re-raise. In almost any setting its common poker strategy to that with QQ...if you re-raise an original raiser...and he comes back over the top all in...He has AA or KK. Which is what I asked him once I called, "What do you have Aces or Kings?"...But I didn't have that much to lose so I was getting a chance to basically double up $140.00 to $280.00(plus limper and blinds)...I already had $80.00 in the middle and was calling suspecting I was a 4 to 1 dog....positive EV??? Would like some comments if you guys have a minute.

I say that I played the hand terrible even though there is some room for analysis. What bothers me is that I would expect 70-80% of the donks out there to stack off here...I am just not suppose too. I also am not upset with Alan either. I don't think that he reads my blog....but in case you are reading this Alan..."Its all good".

Theres only one quote thats appropriate on this blog...Peace out Paul

"Money won, is twice as sweet as money earned" Paul Newman as "Fast Eddie" Felson in "The Color of Money"

Friday, September 26, 2008

Blog Updated yesterday 6/25/08

I worked on that blog for several days but its dated the 20th

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Monkey and 2+2...NeverWin Radio...and online suckouts

I have'nt posted recently as I haven't played except online in LL MTT's. I have not been to the felt since I came back from Tunica. The last night I was there, I got in a tough 1-3nl game at Harrah's in Tunica with $300.00 and left with $195.00 to kill my semi-win streak I was putting together in cash games. The game was tough, and I probably should have left once I saw how it was transpiring but stayed because I was staying there...and I wanted to play. It was that or 4-8 limit. There was not a weak spot at the table, and you know what they say if you get to the table and you can't spot the sucker...Well...in this game there were no suckers. I made 2 tough calls on one hand after 30 minutes to gain respect when I had pocket QQs and a King hit the turn.
The villian check called my flop bet and then fires out after the K hits the turn. I had the guy on a low pocket pair...like 7's or 5's. and I don't think he was playing it like he had hit a set. I tanked again on the river once he fired a 3/4 pot size bet...I say, "I'll pay you off man...I call". He just kind of sat there, and I knew I had him. He was not the slow-roll type and after a few seconds, I decide to give him a pass and tabled my queens and as expected, he quickly mucked his hand. He said he had A-J. This was one of those tables where everyone knew each other (Besides Me) but were not good friends...they all had respect for each others game...etc. It was funny because at some point in the 4 hours, each and everyone of them went to the bathroom, and as they left the table, a converation ensued about that person and his game...etc. It was a tough table...not like the night before.

You guys will see on the site that Monkey got embroiled in a somewhat accusatory thread on 2+2 involving Jon "FieryJustice" L, Shannon S and some other folks. I am glad to say that the last time I checked the thread ...the topic had turned away from Monkey and onto JL and him letting people play on his FT account. I have been through these types of "Flame Wars" before and it amazes me how they morph. I mean it went from a hacker got into JLs AIM account...to SS interacting with the hacker as he trys to get SS to ship money to Monkey's stars account...to Monkey being accused of being the hacker...Monkey shows up to defend himself and lashes back as he knows he is innocent on top of being scammed for about 5 hundo...to Squirrel getting involved to defend him...then ...we go to Monkey and Squirrles grammer being scrutinized as the verbige in their post was thought to be written by the same person ...to several threads later ...Analysing Monkey's post about his dogs to try to fiqure out if he was lying...YES PEOPLE....Monkey and Squirrle are dog lovers and YES...they do have more than one dog...It was "BEYOND BIZZARE". Several of us came to Monkey's defense and got him off tilt as he admitted to making some bonehead moves...but hey, don't we all...and hopefully this thing is over. Now we just need for the thread to end. In case you havent seen it...enjoy http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/someone-just-hacked-my-aim-jcardshark11-305792/

I was surfing on some of the poker sites to see what was happening and went to see what is going on over at NeverWin. What has TonyG been up to and how is he making the site intresting and low and behold ...They now have a radio show. I downloaded the latest show with Dutch Boyd and I must admit, it is entertaining in its own "Sick ass...Neverwin way". I kind of like Dutch as I was having some beers years ago at Replays, the sportsbar in the now Harrah's Tunica (Formely the Grand), when he and Joe Bartholdi came in and sat a couple of stools away. They immediately introduced themselves as they were already a little buzzed(I acted like I didn't know who they were) and began cutting up and having fun. They were just like regular guys having a beer with your buddies and having fun. They did not come across as anything more ...although this was before JoeB hit the WPT Championship...Anyhow...

The NeverWin Radio show...It consisted of Brian Micon, Todd "DanDruff" Whittles who called into the show on a skype phone and was waaaayyyyy tooooooo loud. The sound need to be turned down on him...and then Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf called in about 3 sheets, no more like 10 sheets, to the wind. The dude was as loaded as a freight train. It sounded to me that the rumors of him eating tons of Oxycotin and other dope are spot on. The dude could barely complete a thought much less a sentence. It was so funny how they suttelly dog each other. Todd Whittles is the only sane/logical/semi-normal one of the bunch over there at NeverWin and his distain for the other degenerates comes out even though he tries to hide it. When Dustin started to speak on this particular episode, Todd started to laugh but stopped himself. It was obviously he knew Dust was loaded...and the tension between him and Micon has already been documented. I personally think that DanDruff thinks their both rambling idiots...but thats me.
This particular show was pretty intresting as Dutch detail the rise and fall of Pokerspot. Pokerspot is the online poker site that he and his brother Bobby started and it went busto. They were the first online poker site to have MTT's though...pretty intresting stuff...if you have over an hour to burn ...download it. Reminded me a little of Austin Martin and Letspoker.

These hands below will describe how I have been feeling lately about online poker...

PokerStars Game #20555055658: Tournament #109339152, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/09/20 13:08:27
Table '109339152 10' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Lefty916 (2030 in chips)
Seat 2: banderson832 (3750 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: kaipone (3110 in chips)
Seat 4: GCPGeneD (1690 in chips)
Seat 5: 7_ofone (1360 in chips)
Seat 6: freaksdad (2550 in chips)
Seat 7: greg_garbage (2305 in chips)
Seat 8: Wattage12 (1300 in chips)
Seat 9: Sir Marven (1070 in chips)
freaksdad: posts small blind 15
greg_garbage: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GCPGeneD [Ah As]
Wattage12: calls 30Sir Marven: calls 30
Lefty916: folds
banderson832: folds
kaipone: raises 90 to 120
GCPGeneD: raises 300 to 420
7_ofone: folds
freaksdad: folds
greg_garbage: folds
Wattage12: calls 390
Sir Marven: folds
kaipone: calls 300
*** FLOP ***
[2c 3c 3h]Wattage12: bets 880 and is all-in
kaipone: folds
GCPGeneD: calls 880
*** TURN *** [2c 3c 3h] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [2c 3c 3h Th] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Wattage12: shows [Kd Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Threes)
GCPGeneD: shows [Ah As] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Wattage12 collected 3095 from pot



PokerStars Game #20388747657: Tournament #108062459, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (125/250) - 2008/09/13 22:36:50 ET
Table '108062459 4' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: GCPGeneD (393 in chips)
Seat 2: wahoo284 (3904 in chips)
Seat 4: yvandespp (7646 in chips)
Seat 5: wabish (2036 in chips)
Seat 6: mazuka (920 in chips)
Seat 7: Toffnatty (27039 in chips)
Seat 8: Sh8kE & B8kE (9248 in chips)
Seat 9: witakopf (10198 in chips)
GCPGeneD: posts the ante 25
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to GCPGeneD [Kd 6s]
witakopf: folds
GCPGeneD: raises 118 to 368 and is all-in
wahoo284: folds
yvandespp: folds
wabish: folds
mazuka: folds
Toffnatty: calls 243
Sh8kE & B8kE: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c As Jh]
*** TURN *** [8c As Jh] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [8c As Jh 6c] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Toffnatty: shows [Tc 9c] (a flush, King high)
GCPGeneD: shows [Kd 6s] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
Toffnatty collected 1186 from pot

PokerStars Game #20646036030: Tournament #110022454, $3.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2008/09/23 22:08:14 ET
Table '110022454 1' 10-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Fuzylyon (4405 in chips)
Seat 4: GCPGeneD (4840 in chips)
Seat 5: SeoulKorea (5755 in chips)
Fuzylyon: posts the ante 50
GCPGeneD: posts the ante 50
SeoulKorea: posts the ante 50
GCPGeneD: posts small blind 300
SeoulKorea: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GCPGeneD [Js Ks]
Fuzylyon: folds
GCPGeneD: calls 300
SeoulKorea: raises 5105 to 5705 and is all-in
GCPGeneD: calls 4190 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (915) returned to SeoulKorea
*** FLOP *** [Qh Ts 6d]
*** TURN *** [Qh Ts 6d] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Ts 6d Kd] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GCPGeneD: shows [Js Ks] (a pair of Kings)
SeoulKorea: shows [Kh 3s] (two pair, Kings and Threes)
SeoulKorea collected 9730 from pot

"Well, technically speaking, the operation is brain damage, but it's on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss" Tom Wilkinson as Howard in "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Streak continues...

Got out of work late and had to zoom on over to try to get in a late tournament. I was kind of pissed at missing the nooner main. I hit 61 South and was off to the races. You guys that live up here in Memphis must hate that drive...I mean...its not long...not at all. I leave work at 5pm, and I am in a game by 5:40...it the rat hole that is Hwy 61. Nothing but liquor stores and flop houses. I haven't seen so many street hookers since they cleaned up airline Hwy in New Orleans...wait...Did they clean Airline Hwy?? Oh well...never mind. It's just funny to see verbiage on the Hotel Marque of "Trucker Special...$20.00 for 4 hours".

Anyhow...Got to Tunica and pinged my buddy Alex on the way down. He told me that they only has 81 players. He didn't get any traction. He buys into the $240.00 limit tourney at 6pm. I am undecided but eventually give in and join up. Real strange playing limit again. I could not get nothing going and never had a pocket pair over 5's. When I get shortstacked is when the suck-outs started against me. Monkey was in the nooner main with 2 tables left shot stacked at the dinner break. I go over and wish him some luck and shake hands.

I head to the Cash area after I get bounced and get in a 1-3nl game. Gabe was in the 2-5 game and it looked pretty good from where I was at. I played for 3 hours and broke out even. It was a tough table with lots of good players. No one was making any moves and all the plays seemed routine. I did not see one pot over $50.00 in the entire first hour. I figured I was not going to get my $240.00 back in this game...I cash out stuck $15.00...tell everyone later and bounce to another casino in search of a better game...and a better game I would find.

I went back to Harrah's as thats where I was staying and they had two 1-3 nl games and one of the games had a couple of "Gangster rapper" looking dudes with over 1k each on the table. Yep...I think im in the right place. I buy in for $350.00 and sit down to a 7 handed table. I start bullshitting with the guys and they are from somewhere in Kansas. The first hand I won I looked down at A-7s and call a pf raise up to $15.00. At this point I can hear another guy off to the side calling his buddies telling them to "Get over here man...theres a juicy table"...etc... Flop comes out 5s8sJs. I check Coolio bets out $45.00. I smooth call. The turn is Qs and I am convinced that my action took a nose dive...but no...I check-call $100.00 while trying to size this guy up...(Guy for the phone call now comes sits at our table and starts a barrage of text messaging). Turn bricks with a red King which doesn't pair the board and I go to value town with a bet of $75.00. Coolio calls and immediately tables pocket 4's. After several hours and our game filling up, I was forced to the main table and racked up and left $560.00. I booked a loser on the entire night but it felt good to get my buy-in back.

Headin back in a sec

"In this place where time stands still it seems like everything is moving. Including me. I can't say I know where I'm going nor if my bad deeds can be purified. There are so many things I have done that I regret. But when I come to a full stop I hope you understand that the distance between us is not as great as it seems" Brad Pitt as Henrich Harrier in "Seven years in Tibet"

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tales from Tunica/Mid-South Poker Championship

Got to Tunica Sunday night as I had to come to Memphis for work. I found out I was heading here Saturday afternoon, and wanted to get here to sweat the final table of the first leg of the tourneys here as it was suppose to be a 2 day event...They played it out Saturday Night. I heard some of the pros complaining as they didn't even have any satellites??? Not sure why. They had a poor turnout with only something like 25 players.

I am staying in the Terrace over at Harrah's this trip, and I am a little impressed with the digs here. This is the first time I ever stayed there in all my trips to Tunica, and sort of thought it was a little "Dumpy". Most of the off prem hotels I've stayed at in the past always seemed less that the real hotel. They have a bar and coffee shop in the building and the bedding was very comfortable with the down comforters and pillow top mattresses. I work on the road as most of you know, and bedding means alot to me. I use to be one of those, "Give me something soft to lay on and a hot shower and Im fine" kind of guys...not anymore. Theres nothing like getting to your room after a night session and melt into the bed. I am getting sleepy just typing this up.

After I checked in, I headed over to the Harrah's Casino hoping to get to see at least the last 3-4 players and get a couple of pics for the site...no can do as, like I said before, they played it out the night before. I finally found the new and improved poker room after going in circles for several minutes. Looks kind of cool...No seat cushions though. I get in a 1-3 nl game there and start looking at some cards. I buy-in for $300.00 and cashed out three and a half hours later with $520.00. Booked a small win on a super soft table.

After work yesterday I headed back to get in some tourney's. They had some megas that they were running but not getting alot of people in them. I decided to go fire a bullet at the 6pm $80.00 freeze-out with $500.00 added at the Goldstrike. 51 people showed up on 4 tables and I was set to be player #11 at table 3...but I couldn't fnd my Bellagio/Beau/Goldstrike Players card...this sent me into a tailspin heading back down stairs while I wait in line and listen to some little old lady standing at the counter showing pictures of the grandkids and telling war stories, "Hey...people...I am in a hurry", "There are people in line that in a rush to lose their money"...lets go. Got my players card and get upstairs...damn...Im an alternate. Oh well...I get in the first hand in the 2nd round. The 2 notable hands came with pockets Queens. I was in mid-p and everything limps to me with the blinds at 100/200. I make it $800.00 to go and get 3 callers with one guy in the sb. Flop comes out KJ7 rainbow and the sb fires out $2200.00...I fold confidently as I was confident I was not in any chip danger and the other guy calls too. Wow...I am basking in how great of lay down I made when the 2 bananas check it down the rest of the way on 2 bricks for the turn and river... and one of them tables A-Q and the other Q-10...YEEEAAAAA.

We get to 25/150/300 when I raise from mid-p with the queens again to $1000.00 straight...this leave me with about $2700 left in my stack...BB calls . Flop hits 7-7-3. ...BB check raises me all-in...I call...he tables AA...GeneD is bounced form the tournament.

Headed to the cash games and had another winning session. Got in for $300.00 and cashed out with $490.00. I know I am doomed as I told several people today, "I am starting to run good as I haven't booked a loser in several weeks now...I just soon type of the blog right now where I get snapped off tonight now...you know what...Screw that. I am keeping a positive attitude. Not letting anything get me off my game...

Notables-
--I had to work today so I had to miss the main tournament today
--Got to chat with Monkey. He was still in one of those megas. I think it had 2 tables and they were giving away $2000.00 in starting chips to the top 2 players.
--Our buddy Alex showed up...I think he played today in the main...81 players
--Met this really cool pro that is traveling the circuit...his name is JT...he said he would check out the blog

Heading back tonight with a positive attitude...will try to blog tomorrow

"We're outgunned, and undermanned. But you know sumpin'? We're gonna win. You know why? Superior attitude. Superior state of mind" Steven Seagal as mason Storm in "Hard to Kill"

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sunday night at Shorty's

I was heading to Lafayette on Sunday and took a chance and called the poker room at Shorty's and surprisingly, Someone answered...Scchweeeeet. "You guys have a game going? When did you'll open back up" ...and she answers, "Yes...we have two 3/6/12 games and 1 5/5nl with 6 on the list". ALRIGHT...Poker is back on the Gulf Coast!!! I put my name on the list and ask who is in the game and I get a line-up that seemed promising. I have been calling for several days only to RNA's (Ring No Answer to you none telecom types)?? I would think that they would at least have a VM or something letting people know when they would be opening. I get there and have to wait about 20 minutes for a seat and witness a massive cooler the hand before I sat down. It was an $1800.00 dollar pot with boat over boat. The action as I remembered was 3 handed and there was a small raise pf and the board hits Ah-7c-Qh. Player 1 leads out with a nice bet and is popped by player 2 with a big bet up to over $200.00 ....and player 3 calls with the rest of the $180.00 in front of him which puts him all in. Now I am talking to the guy next to me and we see the turn...BAM...Qc. I knew this card was trouble. P1 makes a huge bet and P2 jams...P1 calls. Now I immediately tell the guy to my left...I pointed to P1 and said, "He has A-Q"...Pointed to P2 "He’s got pocket 7's" and "The short stack third in has a flush draw". P3 had to be on the flush draw as he would have been priced in. The river bricks and they turn up there hands...P1 has A-Q as well as P2 having Pocket7's...but your boy as P3 has Big Slick...WTF!!!! OK...Post flop P1 puts out a nice pot sized bet...and P2 pops it to over 2 hundos???? Your top pair-top kicker is good there?...I don't know...I was floored.

So I sit down with $300.00 and greet everyone. There is one person in the game that is really good for the game, and everyone at the table knows who this person is. They will donate money and call anything down. This person will draw to gutter balls, and will pay off some hands...and they have alot of money and have been known to go off for 2k-4k on numerous occasions. The first hand I get in there are 7 limpers and I look down at Ah7h from the button and call. The flop snaps out with 3h-6c-5h with 2 hearts. Everyone knuckles around to me and I bet out $20.00...the only caller is the donator. Turn hits 2h. Now that’s my bingo card because if they have a straight, I am going to double up on my first hand...no way he/she will fold a straight...never...not happening. Donator knuckles and I bet out $45.00...and get a smooth. River random brick and I am hoping that a straight or flush was made. I bet out $60.00...fold. DAMN!!!. Oh well...picked up around a hundred the first hand. I settle in and start bullshitting with Jack and Cody.

The next hand I want to talk about is almost identical to the first. Small pf raise with 5 callers. Same person, and they have me covered. I am up to about $435.00 at this point when I look down at pocket 5’s. Flop hits 10h5hJd. Everyone taps around to me and I fire out $30.00…everyone pitches except the donator smoothes. Turn brings the 10c…Check to me…I fire out $45.00…smoothes. river puts the 3 hearts out there. I think, yes…they hit the flush. I go to value town and push out a stack of redbirds to make it a hundo to go…fully expecting to get popped back. NOPE…the cards hit the muck.

I felt I played a perfect session until the 2nd to last hand of the night. I was hovering around $500.00, and I had decided that as soon as I finish my UTG hand on this revolution…I am heading out. I am UTG+1 and I look down at JcJh. There were 7 limpers. Flop hits the board 10c7d4h. I go in the tank for a sec and fire out $65.00 to try to take it down now. Everybody folds but Mrs. Lorna. Damn…I did not like this. Turn card hits the 8c. Now I am in a bind and I know it. I tap the table and she announces “all in”…Yea…Yea…I knew that was coming. Played a solid session for a small win and got haunted by that one hand on my drive to New Iberia. I couldn’t believe I made that mistake…Oh well.

Overall I played a good session. Booked a small winner as I cashed out with $440.00. I plan on heading back there tonight for the Wednesday Night fireworks.

Notables:
-Please check out our transplanted Cajun Lusky’s Vids here. http://www.screencast.com/users/stevenlawrence/folders/Default/media/4e9e57aa-90b1-4f76-be45-51cbcd9b3c4c
-DirteAA (Aka Poker Eddie) has one also on Virge’s screencast account. Eddie was transplanted to be a cajun …but he moved on to Tennessee. http://www.screencast.com/users/stevenlawrence/folders/Default/media/c61b7af9-7d75-4f4d-a2dd-150de90f77aa (Not sure if he has sound though)
-Good to see “LetsPoker” Martin back in the “Grease”…Where ya at Goondingy? We miss-ya.
-Will be adding several more semi-pro bloggers soon to the site.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players
~ William Shakespeare ~

Monday, September 08, 2008

WOW...What a week

This is one blog I am not sure how to start. Wow what a week. I started out the weekend kind of checking out the storm, and I didn't think it was that big of a deal as we have been thru storms before, after all, we live in South Louisiana. We deal with storms all the time. I have never evacuated for a storm in my life and neither have my parents. I was not planning on evacuating for this one either until all the "Mass Hysteria". I have never in my life seen more commercial companies and money sway public opinion. I mean Lowes/Home Depot/Generator Companies/Plywood Companies/Ice Companies/Tarp Companies...they must have been feeding money to the media outlets to preach to the masses about the "Mother of All Storms" is approaching. I heard, "We will have 4-6 feet of water in downtown Houma". I laughed then...and I laugh now. What a crook of crap. This storm hysteria was fueled by companies looking to profit off the storm. Everybody is out to make a dollar. I was in line at HomeDepot several days ago, Though i might add I waited in line for 45 minutes just to get thru the door, and overheard scumbags talking about, "Yea man...FEMA is going to re-imburse me for this generator and window unit...Hell...I am going to sell them as soon as power comes back on. I am going to Pay $1000.00 and FEMA will re-imburse me for this and then I am going to sell both of them for $600.00". That's right folks. This is the type of scumbags you have out there.

So GeneD gets coerced into "Evacuating". The worst thing I ever did...and I will never do it again. On a side note...there was a guy in line with me that told me that if he and his wife would have evacuated that he would have lost his house and all his belongings. He lost 4 sheets of plywood on his roof in the middle of the storm, and him and his wife chased them down, and nailed them back up. He told me, "It would have rained for hours on all of our belongings". Thats what I want all of the people that got hyped by the media to know. I want to be there to protect what is mine. I want to be able to re-act...even if there is some danger...hell its dangerous driving a car these days.

So GeneD heads for Tunica...good move. I would wind up booking 3 winning session and 1 losing. I got 3rd place in the $80.00 nightly buy-in at the Goldstrike, and left with a nice addition to the bankroll. So lets talk some poker...

First tournament I played in was at Sams Town the first night we got there. I get there 45 minutes before the tournament starts and sit in a cash game and deck slaps me in the face. I am in the game for $175.00 and 14 hands later I cash out with $420...schweeet. First hand flopped a set of 10's...2nd hand also flopped a set and turned a fullhouse while donk turns a straight...Flush over flush...I could do no wrong. I play in the tournament and get seated at the table with the most obnoxious guy I have played with in along time. Shooting crown and it was only 4pm. Now I have been known to enjoy a cold beer/shot while I play, but if I ever act like this guy...I will quit playin poker. It has been s long time since I was not upset to bust out of a tourney. Go back to the GS and get in a cash game and booked a small winner.

Day 2 started off like crap and then got better once the tournament kicked off. Side note: I want to thank Beth Blevins for helping us out with the poker rate while we were there. She really did us a solid. So I decided to go play in the cash game at 4:30 to wait for the tournament to start. I sit down with $200.00 in a 1-3nl game and get to business. I play tight most of the hour and I am in the SB and look down at Qh-6h. There are 6 limpers to me and I complete. BB pops it to $15.00. everybody calls....interesting. Flop snaps out 10h4h2h. Original raiser in the BB bets out $45.00 and UTG player announce raise before he even twitched in his seat. He ships another hundo in the pot making it $145.00 to me. WOW...I have right at $185.00 in front of me. Oh well...if the guy has a King high or Ace high flush I will just have to get stacked off. I announce, "Only 2 things to do here...ship or fold...I can't call"..."Yea...I am going to ship" and I Jam with all my chips. BB gets out of the way, and UTG is trapped. he can't fold either...or can he? he has $145.00 in the pot and it only cost him $40.00 more to call. He mumbles something about "Can't beat a flush"..."I have too much money in there"...etc...and calls. He ask me, "You got a flush?"...I node affirmative and he then announces, "Damn...I can't win". AT THAT MOMENT I HAD A SINKING FEELING IN MY STOMACH. Turn comes comes the 10c and the river is the 4c and the banana stands up and yells, "I hit my fullhouse" and tables A-10. The old runner-runner game was in full force.

I play in the tournament and I swap percentages with another player. After what happened to Monkey, I guess I need to be a little careful. I hope swapping percentages is OK. There were numerous hands I wanted to blog about to after this storm week...I don't remember any of them. The crucial hand of the tournament I do remember though...The turning point. Side Note: I cost myself 3 hundos by not negotiating a chop. I was the chip leader and felt I was the best player left. I had SPR (Southpawrounder) and JackS sweating me, and they both said they would not have chopped either. We are down to 3 handed and I have about 50% of the chips and the other 2 guys have 25% each. I have A-8 on an ace high flop. I bet out a nice chunk and villain pops me...I jam and he goes in the tank. He eventually calls and tables A-10...I go card dead after this and they work me down. I jam with 7 BB's and brick out. I pick up $500.00. I really felt that I played the hand bad. I did not have to push so hard with that hand. I could have been more cautious with the chip lead and my 2 opponents spooked. I should have check the flop and went from there and reacted to what he did. Several people have told me that A-8 vs A-10 on an Ace high flop...three handed... is just "Cold Decked"...its hard to know how to play it.

Other notes:
--Congrats to Jason Lipscomb as he chopped an $80.00 tourney at the GS.
--Congrats to SPR who chopped a tournament at the Shoe 2 night after my third place
--Congrats to Cub for taking down the GCPC last event...Someone said they paid out by chip counts??? Was he the chip leader and racked in the cheese because he ended Day 1 on top?

I Went to Shorty's last night in my drive in to Lafayette...Booked a small winner, but I have hands I want to blog about. JackS/Cody/Fred/Mustang Mike/Mrs. Lorna/Doc were all there. I will try to blog about that tomorrow.

"In a severe lightning storm, you wanna grab your ankles and stick your butt in the air" Alan Ruck as Rabbit in "Twister"