Welcome to 2008 Bam-Bam ....

I spend at least $11 and more often than not, $22+ every week to be with the IIF's in my community. I gladly register, knowing that I'll be once again competing in a classic game of "Texas Race'em." Typically, I could care less about the outcome, as long as I get to see(?) some good friends and have some great chat. I've budgeted a certain amount of disposable funds into the roll for at least a once a week visit with the kids. It's just how I roll. I always want to win of course, but given the range of hands being played in some of these games, a win can be a coin toss or a skilled move depending on the situation. My recent second place finish just before Christmas in the Riverchasers event, is clear testament to that. I got lucky on a hand that I needed to, and lost huge on a hand while way ahead. That can define the game of "race'em" in a nutshell. 'IT' happens and we move on.

When I heard about Chad's Blogger Skills Series idea, I became concerned that I'd have to lose one of my "friendly" games to get involved with his plan. But the more I thought about his idea to step outside the realm of the standard N.L.R.Em, the less concerned I found myself about missing one game a week. The idea was brilliant and it seemed to be attracting interest from the same players that I try and hook up with once a week if I can. Unlike some out there, I can't do 3 or 4 of these things a week. I'm at the office by 6:30 am everyday, and the 9:00 to 10:00 pm starts every night can take a serious toll on this kid.

But there was one thing I know for sure...

Brilliant idea + friends + poker = +EV for Bam-Bam no matter what the start time.
Thanks for dreaming it up Chad!

The game was Limit 7 Card Stud High. A personal favorite, as the majority of Bedrock locals all know. Not for any other reason than it takes a great deal of concentration and awareness of your ever changing holdings. Focus for me can be a challenge at the best of times. Add in a few "Glen's" and a great cigar and normally, I'll donk off my chips as I get too bored to play. But that's "race'em." Give me a game where not paying attention can kill you instantly and, there's a good chance I'll get to show you I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. My 'Card-Dead' slump is not exactly over. Outside of two hands I can recall in particular last night, nothing magic appeared to make me win with "the nutz" as some might expect. The two hands mentioned were quite simple really. I nut flushed Kat early on in the proceedings and had the best part of the hand in the hole. Then in a fairly decent pot with Miami Don midway, he opted to fold out before getting the chance to see my quad's. That was really it. Two hands of note as far as monsters go. The rest was just simple old 7 card stud.

Knowing what's on the board for everyone and how those cards can affect not only your own holdings, but the hands of everyone else still involved, is the real key to 7 high stud. So I paid attention. As an example, there were about 11 instances where I could be fairly confident that the player coming at me with a raise, were doing so with apparent draws to either the flush or straight. In all but one of these cases, I managed to take down decent sized pots by knowing that they were drawing relatively dead.(based on known cards that had been folded) In the other that I lost, I managed to control things to a "small-ball" pot just in case.

I'm not an expert and I can't say stellar play got me the big win. I do think that I did a better job of paying attention than some folks last night though, and I feel that this made a huge difference in the outcome. After such a bad run for the last 3 months or so, I'll take it and be damn proud of it.

One thing that will never change and I'll be proud to tell everyone that listens...

Bam-Bam won the very first event in the Blogger Skill Series.


My sincerest thanks for dropping by....