High On Poker

The Donkeys Always Draw Invitational is tonight, and I can guarantee a good time. Several bloggers are offering bounties, so there will be a whole lot of mail sent out following the tourney. I invite you to play. For more info, please see the post below!

In other news, I am working on overhauling this here blog. If you look at Notable Posts, I have a new listing, Glossary, which is probably useless to most readers. However, if you were ever befuddled by my use of initials like UTG or terms like rainbow, take a look. I know, bloggers, to you UTG is clear as day. But we all can’t be as cool as you!

I’ve also added a page called Trip Reports which provides links to my various trip reports since this here blog started in March 2005.

Soon, I will be adding a You Decide page, instead of the current long list of links on the right. I do this all for you, dear reader. That and because I like to procrastinate the important stuff.

Last night I got several hours of 2/4 limit in at Gaming Club. It’ll only take another 50 or so raked hands to release the $50 bonus (I believe its $50), but after that, I think I need another 100 or so to finish the PSO promotion. I was thinking about getting another Best Buy giftcard through PSO, but now that I have the new TV and surround sound, I don’t know if I need anything else. I already have a $50 giftcard through VPP that is gathering dust. Maybe I should finally get myself a decent MP3 player. But not too decent. I’m not made of giftcards!

As a result of my play, I brought the Gaming Club bankroll up to almost $200. This is far from spectacular, but it is a positive move from the original $150. While I was playing, Sox Lover and I were chatting. He suggested we play heads-up, but I told him I wasn’t feeling up for it. “Let me rephrase that,” he added, “Do you want to play heads up, bitch?” His tone of voice was flat. The sentence was the same one he asked a mere 10 seconds before. But that five letter word was all it took. Let’s do this!

Or not. As it turned out, I was having trouble with UB, so we decide to do PokerStars. Now, Stars rooms fill up very fast. Unless you are doing a private tourney (DADI, achem), you’ll have trouble coordinating. This is especially true in HU matches. As a result, I ended up playing against a stranger. I won, but for a while I was the short stack. In fact, I won about 2-3 hands in a row at the end after losing most hands. That was all it took. I went from a low of under 300 chips (you start with 2000) to winner in 5 hands or so. The entire time, I was calm and cool. I didn’t mind loosing chips. The blinds increased slowly and I knew I could win it back. Sox seemed concerned about my shortstack, but I let him know it didn’t phase me in the least. Either I lose or I win. That’s all there is to it.

I finally had the advantage with 2900 or so chips to his 1100. In the last hand, the flop was 2d3d4h, and I held Ad6h. Preflop I bet small and he called. On the flop I bet small and he raised. I re-raised, he pushed. I called. He held Q4. The turn was an Ace and I won.

Sox thought it was hysterical that I sucked out. I didn’t see it that way. I had momentum and the chiplead. I had two overcards, a straight draw, and a backdoor nut flush draw. Out of all of those things, I think the chiplead was most important. In these games, you have to take chances. BUT you want to take those chances when they won’t wipe you completely out.

After that win, Sox and I tried again…and failed again. The new competitor ended up beating me. So be it. I was done for the night anyway.

Tonight is the night, and I’m excited as hell. The DADI. Bring your friends. Bring your family. But most importantly bring your money and bounties.

It’s all in the chips. It’s all in the chips…