12/19/2008

Frantic Friday : The Christmas Edition....

I'd worked for about a week now on another lengthy Christmas Wishlist to follow up on last year's effort. But a funny thing happened as I was working out all of the things I was hoping for everyone. They all ran into each other and blended together into the same basic thing.

See, after reading the WBPT Winter gathering trip reports, I came to the realization just how much I missed getting out to Vegas to see all of my friends. I think this greatly influenced how my Christmas Wishlist shaped up this time around. So I've come up with the same wish for each of you out there.

For all of my friends out there, currently invisible or not-so-much...... I wish for us to get together during at least one Blogger get together in 2009.

If it helps you at all, Peb's and I have penciled in EH-Vegas, (if Kat will have us!) Al's BASH, (we'll never miss another one again!) and next year's WBPT Winter gathering. Also, if the Tuckfards are going to continue our Feed the Monkey tradition, we'd be glad to host the event once again as well.

There's also the potential for a couple of Bam-Bam rages solo trips, as W.A.M. has held my serious interest for two years, only to not work out in either. Anyone in their right mind would want to meet Mookie. And that goes double for those of us who are not so much! Then there's Okie-Vegas. I miss my man G and could use a little quality time with him, to improve the person I currently am. These unfortunately, are not "locks." But there is a great deal of potential and I'm going to put the push on to get to at least one of them. When the trigger is pulled on either, it won't be about preference at all. It's all about timing these days for this kid.

So there you have it! A ton of notice to make my Christmas Wishlist come true. Now be a good little Santa's helper, try and see which event we may be able to hoist a glass, sling some chips or spend a little quality/degeneracy time together at. Now I figure there's about 70 friends or so associated with that list of links over there to the right, that means I'm wishing for about 70 face-to-face Merry Christmas' throughout the year 2009! Be it February, June, August, September or December. I'm making my list.... and to check off each name, would be far better than nice!

= = = = =

Just completely random...... Here's two of my favorite Christmas Carols. As always with me, there's a, "fun factor" to go along with some pretty great talent.





= = = = =

Lastly I need a Christmas Wish for my baby. I had to break it down into two.

I wish for a happy AND healthy Fred. We've all been through a lot, but I know how hard this has been on you and how it's taking it's toll at times, when you'd normally have a big laugh and smile with the ones you love.

Speaking of which, I also wish for a lifetime of moments just like this with you.


Great friends, big laughs, total comfort and the strongest Love imaginable. I may make a Wishlist and ask for this and that my Love, but in all honesty since I've been lucky enough to have you in my life, this kid wants for nothing else.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/18/2008

Stupid decisions....

Occasionally, I've been known to make one or two stupid decisions. I'm not real proud of that fact but being human, I've learned to accept that it is going to happen.

Two perfect examples from last night.

1) Despite having been up since 3:45am., I signed up last minute for the 10:00pm. WBCOOP PLO HI/LO game. I was awake and why not take a crack at it, I thought.

Despite my half closed eyes and a brain incapable of processing information with any type of accuracy, I managed to get myself into the top 10 with a couple of pretty good hands.


Despite playing way more hands than normal for me, I managed to keep my stack around that $5000 mark throughout the session, until first break. That was good enough to keep me in the payout position.


Then it just all started falling apart. My thought process that is! Two miss-clicks cost me some chips. A bad gamble with less than a stellar hand to draw to cost me some chips. Getting up for a drink, thinking I could stop by and give my Sleeping Beauty Peb's a peck on the forehead and stretch my legs for a bit, all without remembering to click on 'sit out next hand' cost me my time bank. The list is actually a bit longer than this, but I think you get the point.

Then comes....

2) With a very healthy stack and a lot of time left to build it up even more, I am dealt one of my favorite starting hands. Besides myself, there are four stacks of equal or slightly larger chip counts interested in the hand. I actually talked to myself out loud and said, "here's how you win one of these things Bam! To win one, you have to get lucky at some point." There's proof positive that my head was not screwed on just right! I was listening to my own advice! Sheeeeeesh....

So I jammed the pot, crossed my fingers and toes and took a deep breath to see what would unfold. The very next player jammed them all in for a raise and one other player made the call. I got what I wanted, a race for a monster stack or, it was time for some sleep! I got the rest of my chips in and found myself with nothing to worry about except the pair of Aces to my left. I have by far the best draw and the most outs available to me.

N-A-D-A !! Not Anything, Damn Air! Unbelievably I didn't hit a card, a connector a suit..... NOTHING! I could deal out that hand over and over again and I'd have to put the odds at 80-1, that I couldn't completely whiff all four cards I was holding again.

It was a stupid decision to race in the first place I know, that's the point of all of this. But to see the two hands that were being played back at me, I had by far the best of it in the right situation. I just didn't hit in that right situation, it's that simple.

HEE-HAW...... YAWN.......

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/17/2008

Half-assed reporting and my stupid EGO....

559 !

That's how many came out for last nights WBCOOP event.

Just as the event was about to start, I asked Peb's if she'd like to play the game with me. Her natural instinct was to say, "No, I just can't sit there and watch you play hun!" I told her I didn't expect her to just watch, I wanted her to play with me. I even promised her final say on any decision. That won her over.

Now as I've mentioned several times in the past, playing together isn't always the easiest thing for us to do. We have very different styles and thoughts about the game. Her's mostly succesful and correct, mine........... well let's just leave it at they're mine OK!

During the first hour, we communicated our thoughts very well and both made what ended up being great decisions. After watching two seperate players at our table, I believed that I'd found the chips that should make their way into my stack. I just needed the opportunity and I told Peb's as much. She had been focussed on another player entirely and made a decision to call a bet he'd made, "because it was an obvious steal!" She was right and our pair of Queens, was plenty good enough to win that hand.

With a healthy but still only average chip stack, we were shuffled off to a new table. We found ourselves at a table with Baywolf and Lightning. The first words out of Peb's mouth were, "stay focussed. Don't go getting all chat distracted!" You'd think she'd seen me play with my friends before or something! Sheeeeeesh.....

My personal favorite hand of the night? I think I was on or near the cut-off and holding pocket Kings. The player to my left had been playing the part of calling station ATM and I had a good hunch that he may just get sick of spewing them slowly, and make a big play with the last 900 or so. I made it 4x the BB to go and he instantly went all-in for the rest. It folded back around to me and it was a no brainer call. My K-K managed to hold against his 9-9 and another one was out of the game. That was fine and all, but the best part came when that player came back in the chat and called me a "fishie." Peb's ranted at the screen, calling the guy, "a Donk-assed idiot" I believe was the term! I just laughed and said, "Honey, I am a fishie. A fishie with about 75% of that Donk-assed idiots starting stack!"

And then we LOL'd. :)

Part of the title for this post comes from this scenario. After putting about 10% of my stack into the pot post-flop with an incredibly strong draw, my C-bet did nothing to deter my opponent who raised it up immediately after. Peb's said fold, I said he's stealing. Peb's said, "Fine, let him steal when you have nothing." I should've folded! I made the decision to call off a little more than 1/2 my stack and try to set up the hand for the Turn or River. Remember the part about Peb's having final say on a decision? Yeah..... I forgot that part for a split second. It cost me about 3/4 of my chips in the end, to come to the decision to fold after all and I was down to scraps. I'm actually not as mad about my decision in the hand and what it cost, as I am about breaking a promise to my Peb's. Now THAT's a Donkey play!

It came down to Bay's BB and me holding the Kd-Qd with only about 1000 chips back. My only chance to make it any further in the game, was to push and pray. Bay had a no brainer call and off we went..... and out I went! At least my chips went to a friend. :)

Speaking of friends, I had a ton of them in this game. So the first part of today's title, is what comes up next. I couldn't watch them all of course, but I did try to keep track of all my friends as best I could. Here's what I know about the ones I could keep an eye on.

Top finishers that I knew,

MEMPHIS MOJO in 4th. ! WooOOOooT Memphis!
Numbono ran all the way up to 17th.
Gadzooks had another impressive finish in 42nd.
Bay took my chips to an 80th. place finish.
Lightning busted out just ahead, in 85th.
MiamiDon out in 168th.
IronGirl in 177th.
Your's truly out in 181st.
Change100 busted 187th.
Spaceman 199th.
Julius Goat at 202nd.
Astin ran out of Aces in 224th.
AlCantHang in 275th.
Schaubs out in 331st.
BuddyDank in 380th.
MeanhappyGuy just before in 384th.
CKBWoP out 392nd.
and my fellow BB, felted in 456th.

I also want to throw a shout out to Grouse. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and say hey. Of course I remember you! I never forget any Blogger cherry I pop Sir!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/15/2008

The Drive to play....

Well, day 1 of the WBCOOP is in the books for yours truly.

I finished 124th. of 450 runners in the PLO game. Hmmmmmm... I'm an Omatard and I still finished close to the top 25 percentile? Bizarre I say!

It all started out fairly simple enough for me! "Hey, (insert random I/T guy name here!) Can you do me a little favour? Can you turn your back on anything that looks like it's happening on my computer for say...about..... 2 hrs.?"

"UH sure, I guess so."

And so it started! In full stealth mode, I downloaded Stars at work and got myself into the game. My goal? Be at around $2500 chips, (starting stack) at 3:00pm and head home to see if I survived. Anything more than that, was pure gravy.

The first hour was......... interesting! In that way that says, I'd like to repeatedly drive a sharp object into your eye socket and when it's not in there, you can win a hand or two. I went two orbits without playing a single hand. Then on about the 19th. hand of the game, I'm dealt As-Ks-Ad-Qd. I like it and after 3 limpers, I make it pot to go. Six of the eight at the table, make the call. I figured this was a sure sign of things to come.

The next sign, was this hand. I got in for cheap, (1/2 pot) and get to see a flop. It was after that flop that Jam-a-haulics unanimous took over. I'm sitting there with nothing of any strength except, a pair of Kings and an open-ended middle straight draw. With three others in the hand, I figured that at least one set had to have been made and with the way everyone was chasing early on, it was only a matter of time until a Flush was made for sure. I dumped my hand......... Only to see the turn and river do this.


Later I flopped a boat and slow played it until the river. I get my chips in and get the call I'm looking for, from a poor soul that made a smaller boat on the river card. I felt bad! Well....OK..... not REAL bad!

Two hands later, I flop a boat again. Shifting gears, (as it were!) I get lot's more chips in the pot before I un-coil the beast from within. Only to have calling station numero uno, make a larger boat on the river that time and, I'm back to square one!

I managed to get back to $2300 right at the break. Of course this was right after having back-to-back rivered Flushes get there against me, after I'd made two top sets and my opponents were both holding NADA until those rivers. Ces't la vie !!! It is after all, OmahahahaDRAW.

So off to the wheels I go. I jump into the Deathmobile and set a new personal best for I.T.D.T.! (In The Door Time) My normally one hour commute, was shortened to just a measly 41 1/2 mins.! WooooOOOOooooT ! I sit down, log on and get ready to play.... only to see this.


All that rush to get back in the game and I see that I'm all-in on my BB. Surprisingly, my pair of two's does not improve and I am done.

Seems my table played 6 or 7 handed for the vast majority of that second level. Also seems, they got a few, (TONS!) extra hands in too! Three of the originals from the start, had amassed stacks upwards of $13,000 and the guy two to my left (who was sitting out) had $24,600 in his stack! Apparently, my table was where you came to get knocked out of the game. Anywho.... My calculations ended up being a little, (WAY!!!) off. I go home in the 124th. spot and only really played for the first hour. Thanks to Tan and Drew for the early rail. Great to see you both as always.

So now I have all this extra time on my hands and no real plan to use it. I took a look to see who was left in the game that I know and was pleasantly surprised to see four familiar names. So I opened up the four tables and railed, Tan, VinNay, Scotty and Gadzooks. At first I thought I was going to be the ulti-railer! As both Zooks and Tan took down pots in the first minute I was watching. Then Zooks took down another pretty descent pot just a little bit later. Look over and see that VinNay is gone. NOPE !! He's jumped over to Tan's table. Only three tables to watch now, sweet!

Scotty never really got anything going and busted out 104th. (20 better than me! ;) ) VinNay hung on and hung on, but ultimately busted out in 95th. Then with only five players left until the magic #72, Tan made a move and then backed away at the last second. That left him with a grand total of one BB plus a little change. That was the beginning of the end for my friend. But 77th. out of 450 in the minefield that was Blogger Omahahaha, not too shabby in my books Sir.

So I was left to focus on Zooks. Just before Tan busted out, Zooks took down a pot that brought her stack up to about $13,000. I knew right then that she had enough to qualify and win her ticket to the finals, and she did. Finishing in 50th. overall and playing some good solid Poker, all the way through that I could see. Congrats to you Zooks!

While watching two of the tables, I saw something that just totally blew my mind. Take a look at the Dealer chat in both screens.


Two tables in the same event at the exact same time, had boards that read particularly Flushy and even Straight Flushy to be honest. And a player at each table makes the correct call with nothing more than a pair of Aces? I don't know what those odds would be on that ever happening in just one game, but to see it happen on two tables at the same time, kind of surprised the hell out of me.

TuckFard games ran last night. Good friends showed and muhc laughter was had. Despite my making it to the final table, Suzy_Q kicked my ass in the NLHE game. My second place finish to Wolfy in the Omaha/8 game however, helped me make a little profit for all of my hard work, dedication to the game and of course, last but not least, plain old stupid luckboxery.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

300 huh....

The little tab counter up in the top right corner as I look at and review my writing here says, 301 posts. Subtract the one draft from that, ( the post that I just can't seem to get just right! Does anyone else have one of those? ) and I guess this is post #300. Who the hell thought I'd ever have enough to say to spit out 300 posts of drivel and fodder? Oh wait! After reviewing my very first post here, I guess I did huh!

It was an interesting weekend of Poker for yours truly, with several on-line variations played and joining the TuckFards for some live Poker in their league play games, down at the Pub.

Interesting as in kooky!

The RnG was having a little fun at both Tilt and Stars, as I lost to Quads over Quads on each site and won with Straight Flushes over Full Boats on both as well. Here's one screen cap., for one of those Straight Flushes... because I always thought I was one of the worst players going, in NLHE.


The hand played out as follows;

I'd just taken a massive hit, when my flopped set of Jack's was no match for a rivered Straight. That set me back $2600 in chips to skunkiblack. It was my BB the very next hand and there are two limpers. I check my option with the 4h-5h and we see a flop of 6h-7h-Jd. I now have an open ended Straight Flush draw. I bet out small and both call. The turn brings me the most beautiful card in the deck, the 3h. BAM !!! I check to hopefully induce a bet from one of them and I'm not disappointed as the player to my left Mickey, makes it pot to go. Amazingly, skunky fires his entire stack at the pot! My dreams of a double up, just turned into a triple! I obviously, get them all in. What catches me totally off-guard, is Mickey has skunky covered and makes the call. When the cards actually flip up, I'm amazed at their holdings. maybe I shouldn't be, but I was!

The jam with air by skunki makes no sense to me at all, especially the way the hand and board played out. Call it a play if you will, I'm just sayin' it makes no frickin' sense to me, AT ALL! But what I'm really wondering is, does anyone else make the call with Mickey's set, with that board and two jams in front? Now it obviously worked out for him, but I don't think I make that call.

The next hand was just too funny not to talk about. Peb's was actually the player in the game and I was just killing a bit of time, watching her play. Pre-flop, two players raised and re-raised each other at minimum increments no less, until they finally got one of them all-in. It was a slow and painful process to watch actually! Funny as hell! but it really dragged out. Anywho..... here's how to lose with Aces full of Kings, with the fourth Ace, NOT in play.


After all of that goofy betting and dragging the hand out for so long, I was quite literally, ROTFLMAO as the cards were dealt out.

Sunday Peb's and I both stood in as spares for a couple of teams in the league game that the TuckFards are playing in again. We had said we'd spare, as long as we did not or could not, impact the TuckFards out come. I guess because of the number, (or lack there of!) of players that showed up, Peb's ended up being sat at table with NutzFirth. Then, I found myself seated beside Betraisefold a little later on. Not at all what we were hoping for! Up at Peb's table, it turns out that the only real impact that Peb's had on the outcome was running over the table early on, and finally finishing third after being knocked out in a Flush against Straight Flush situation against NutzFirth. If anyone was ever worried about TuckFards helping each other and trying to stay out of the way, I think that one hand alone, should put an end to those worries! Very good game to both of you kids!

Betraisefold was seated immediately to my right. DAMN! We've played a lot of Poker together and I knew there was a chance, we could get into a few rather large pots together. I was just hoping it would be later, rather than sooner! Apparently three of the players at our table, were among the top 10 in individual points for the league. I was also hoping, that this meant some pretty good Poker would be played. WELL !! It WAS Poker! :)

For the first three levels, Betraisefold ran all over me. My TPTK would have to be folded by the turn. Top two pair looked useless to a very coordinated looking board. ETC... ETC.... ETC. Then he made the biggest mistake he could make! he turned to me and said, "I love being a spare!" "A SPARE?" I said. "You're not playing for the team this week?" After nearly knocking him to the floor with a pretty good right cross to the left shoulder, it was time to REALLY play some Poker! Game on!!!

Now to set the record straight, I was not giving in to a fellow TuckFard! It was more like I was being a little more careful not to influence his outcome in the game. I would try not to impact his stack size, either for or against. That way, I could hopefully avoid negative comments from either side of the debate. But that all changed, knowing that I could not affect the team results in this game.

I think I outlasted Betraisefold by exactly one position yesterday, as right after I crippled him with a set of fives, he was put out of the game when he whiffed on a draw with a gazillion outs and had no chips left to scare anyone away. I then ran quite a few orbits with nothing playable coming my way and increasingly escalating blinds. I ended up going out in almost the exact same fashion, holding the Ah-Qh, with a flop that read, Kh-Jh-6s. I was up against pocket 6's. (almost never see those coming!) I had any heart and any 10 two times, but failed to improve. Still a ton of fun though, as Peb's and I have really missed Team TuckFard Poker this year. It was great to see everyone again!

And speaking of great friends! I can't wait to start reading all of those great trip reports from the WBPT Winter gathering kids! Let's get them up here kiddies!

Finally, I found a bit of wisdom over the weekend as well. I thought it prudent to share with you, the faithful readers of my little corner of the intertubes.



My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

12/14/2008

I finally got a code....

I guess I really do exist after all!

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 653893



My sincerest thanks for dropping by....