High On Poker

In case your head is stuck in a cold (or warm) dark place, you should be signed up for the next DADI event, dubbed It Ain’t Easy Being Shorthanded. The game will be tables of 6, which should make for a lot of action and even more interesting table chat. Its scheduled for Monday, which is right around the corner. Pokerstars at 9pm, $10+1, private tournament, password: BlogsAreGay.

Speaking of those gay bloggers, the 45-player SNG Challenge has actually gotten some interest. Some players make great points about logistics, but there must be some way to make this work.

In previous Challenges (like the Limit and SNG challenges), the bloggers were on an honor system to keep track of wins and losses. Unfortunately, this time around, I don’t see how we could do that. Back in dem olden days, the group of us playing was relatively small. The stakes, therefore, we relatively small. Plus, there is an unspoken code of honor amongst gamblers, which I suppose is probably even stronger amongst bloggers. However, I just don’t feel comfortable with that format for the 45SNG Challenge. I can’t tell you why exactly. It’s just like that.

So I was thinking, what if we have set dates for the games, and then we have almost a league system. Play in 5 out of the 8 days and pay the $25 entry fee (to be paid as prize money to the eventual winner and maybe 2nd place) and you are entered. This way we will all see how we did. But then I thought, I never know when I, specifically am available, and I don’t think I can lock up a given time for several weeks in a row.

Then I thought, how about a buddy system. You don’t have to have everyone present when you play/win your game, but you just have to get one other competitor to verify it, by IMing any given competitor online when you are finishing up. But what if no one is online?

In the end, I just can’t figure it out. Right now, the most logical solution would be to have a short-form league, with 3 tourneys to qualify and 5 tourneys set up over the course of 2 weeks. I think I can probably get the thumbs up on that from wifey Kim, but to be honest, she’s been uber patient with me and mistress poker enough.

Basically, I’m a man without an answer. That’s why playing 1st to 3 wins or 1st to 5 moneys or some variation is easiest. All we need are screen shots. Unfortunately, some people have more free time than others.

I’m a man with a whole lot of questions, but little answers.

On that note, I have a question for Veneno. V recently asked me about the next Heads Up Challenge, to which I responded that she should run it. She is the heads-up aficionado, and there was enough interest amongst bloggers to start a new bracket system. So, where are you V? If you start the HUC3 as new Commissioner, I can sit back and let the 45pSNG Challenge incubate. Get to it!

If you are interested in playing an extended heads-up bracket system, check out the HUC link (above) and then hop over to Veneno’s site and ask her to set it up.

One last thing. Tonight, I’ll be at Genoa. Last night was a decoy. Actually, wifey Kim has plans tonight, so I like to work our schedules to be sort of parallel or something. I haven’t invited anyone of my poker degenerate friends to join me, mostly because I have been super busy. But part of me thinks it will be interesting flying solo, without anything but poker to concentrate on. If anyone cares to join me though, send me a comment or email.

As always, have fun and play poker. I sure will.

I’ve been throwing some ideas around in the ole cabeza and have come up with two concepts that might be a good time.

The DADI events were really an outgrowth of the Limit, SNG, and HU Challenges (see Notable Posts in the sidebar). Well, now that DNasty and SteelerJosh seem to be back into the pokah swing of things, I’m thinking of a new Challenge. How about a race to see who can win (or place in the top 3) in the Stars 45-person SNGs the most within a month? Or, how about a race to 3 top 3 finishes? It might make for an interesting experiment in SNGs and blogging. Winner will get some dough from the losers. Screen shots would be required for each win.

The other idea came about Saturday night, as several bloggers were drinking while playing. Is it plausible to do a DADI event that incorporates drinking? How about everyone does a shot whenever the blinds go up? The obvious problem is the honor system. If it isn’t something official, though, I could see it being a side bet last longer amongst some bloggers.

Well, I’m putting it out there. Let’s see what happens.

“Alpacas are without a doubt one of the most beautiful animals that roam our planet earth.”
-AlpacaFarm.com

Um, I think someone is a bit biased.

I was searching for a picture of “Genoa” on Yahoo because of my upcoming trip to the Genoa card room and found this lovely creature, named, interestingly enough, Genoa. So, in honor of this beast, I will now be calling all “donkeys”, alpacas. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Last night, I was able to play in the PSO League game and the SirOldFart’s Tiltfest tournament. Coming off of my 2nd place finish in a 45-person SNG and my MTT place yesterday, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Like the last time I played in a PSO League event, I left the window in the background, while I concentrated on another tourney, namely SirOldFart’s. Unfortunately, sitting to my left for the entire tournament was SoxLover‘s wife. I don’t know why, but damnit that woman intimidates me. I guess it’s because you must be tough as nails (and a little demented) to marry SoxLover. (All in fun, now, Sox.) Regardless, I played good, aggressive poker, staying within the top 5 or so chipleaders for a long period of time. I then self-destructed on two hands. The first was against Katitude. I held two high-cards, or maybe a low pair, but whatever the case was, she kept pricing me into the hand. So, I kept calling until I went from 3500 or so to 950. I managed to make the final table only to lose to, you guessed it, Mrs. SoxLover. I was a bit, erm, loud at the table in general, whooping it up and all, so, as I often do, I would like to apologize to anyone I may have offended. I don’t mean to be a prick. I just find it to be entertaining. There is little I enjoy more than typing, “BOW TO ME!” after players fold to my raises.

Meanwhile, I chipped up at Absolute for the PSO League game by playing more aggressively than I’m prone to playing in these games. Eventually, however, I took a chance on a flush draw which did not connect. That droppped my top 20 stack into the bottom 20, and I had no choice but to push all-in preflop with TT on the button under the Rule of 10. My opponent called with QJ and flopped a jack. Out in 100th place out of 142 or so. At least its a round number. Until that stupid call on the flush draw, I was playing well. After that though, pure alpaca.

Boo hoo hoo. This makes me want to discontinue the PSO events, but I’m not going to. I may not be in the running right now for a top spot or that WSOP seat, but winning one of the events or placing in the top 3 provides cash winnings and PSO points, which I’d immediately put toward Party Poker gift certificates. It’s just another way to build the bankroll.

On that note, I’ve reached the elusive $800 mark. This is the second time I’ve reached that mark, after my $650 win placing 4th out of 1008 or so at PokerStars a while back. After that win, I withdrew a chunk of the roll, so I never played with a $800+ bankroll before. Should be…interesting. I’m still sticking, predominantly with 1/2 Limit and $10+1 SNGs. When I hit $1K, we’ll see about an adjustment. The $800+ bankroll does not include $100 that I just withdrew for wifey Kim’s uses. After all, what is the point of poker if you can’t enjoy some of your winnings.

So, if all goes as planned, I’m off to Genoa card club tonight for the $50+10 tournament. Last time I was there, I embarassed myself by forcing the action. Tonight, it’s all business and I’m putting my game face on. Have a good one and wish me luck!

Due to Full Tilt’s servers being down (or some other technical mumbo jumbo) the new location and time for the POKERSTARS at 9PM. See you there.

I made 87 people my bitches over the last week. By now, you should all know about my stellar win against 44 people in a 45-person SNG on Stars, netting about $150 in profit.

Today, wifey Kim was on Long Island visiting family and friends. I was at work for about 2 hours, making up for lost time due to my Dr. appointment on Friday. When I got home, with no wifey around, the poker gods called my name.

The first round was two-tabling a Doyle’s Room MTT (191 players, speed, $11 buy-in) and a 45-person SNG on Stars. The DR MTT was insane. I knew it was a speed, but it may’ve been a Turbo (which is even faster at DR). The blinds seemed to go up before the first orbit. I played tight, rule of 10 poker, and doubled up when needed. In one hand, I had 2x the BB on the button, so half of my money was already in the pot. I ended up all-in preflop with T5 v. AK v. A9, and hit my 5 to triple up. In the end, I went out 13th, which is quite an accomplishment, outlasting more than 90% of the field. Of course, I was in the money, for my 2nd ITM finish in a row in Doyle’s Room MTTs.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t getting anything going in the SNG, and eventually went out when I raised from the button on a looks-like-a-steal-but-isn’t-a-steal play with AJc. The SB pushed all-in, presumably (I thought) because I had pulled the steal several times. I call and face his AK…and lose. 22nd place or so.

What’s a man to do? Round 2. I start a 45-person Turbo MTT, which is the same format as the one I won (as opposed to the regular SNG format). I also started a single table SNG on Doyle’s. I’ll fast forward at this point. I lost the DR SNG in 7th place. I couldn’t get anything going, and no one was going out. But, I whooped ass in the 45-person. Usually, nothing much is happening until it is down to under 25 players. Then, I kick it into gear, concentrating and making plays when opportunities arise. Overall though, I’m always looking for excuses to keep out of people’s way. When we were down to 13 or so players, I chipped up while taking out a couple of players. At the final table, I started with 2nd in chips, and ended with 2nd in chips. My heads-up play was not stellar, but I am still proud of the overall accomplishment. That’s a little bit short of $100 profit. This is also my 2nd win out of 3 attempts at 45-person SNGs. If you want to get very specific, this is my 2nd win in a row at the Turbo 45-p SNGs. Between the two, I made 87 people my bitch.

I think the turbo 45-p SNGs may suit me better because of my style. I’m very conscious of the blind structure, and, as I’ve always said, I’m dangerous on a short stack. I also had no fear at all today. If I was behind or ahead, if I sucked out or was sucked out upon, I kept an even keel. For that I am glad.

Exciting other news: I was invited to All In Magazine‘s launch party, hosted in part by Party Poker, held at the ESPN Zone in NYC. I don’t know what to expect, but I got invites to wingmen and fellow poker degenerates Dave Roose and Robbie Hole. Free food, free drinks, and maybe a free poker tourney. I have to imagine that the tourney will be for some sort of prize, and have a quickly escalating blind structure. I’d love to make a good showing amongst what I must guess will be some poker elite. The most exciting part was that I got the invite because this here blog. I’m all smiles.

If I miss the SirOldMan‘s Tiltfest, tonight at 8:30pm n FullTilt, I must apologize. Wifey Kim wants to spend some quality time with me tonight, and I can’t deny her the pleasure of my company. But much birthday wishes to SirOldMan. Do me a favor readers, go and play in my stead.

The match v. Poker Champ was tentatively scheduled for tonight, but I haven’t heard back from him. I’m going to assume it is off. We’ve got to do it sometime this week though, or else I’m going to forget what all the hype was about. Looking forward to it Champ. Bring your A-game, and I’ll bring my B-game, so we can have a nice even match.

Good news. Trip pulled through and we’ve arranged the DADI Shorthanded Event, aka DADI, “It ain’t easy being Shorthanded.” Enjoy this lovely picture.*

* Picture does not depict a well-known blogger.

In other news, I entered a 45-person $10 SNG, inspired by Sir Waffle‘s recent win. I’m a competitive guy, even if I don’t like to admit it (I can admit it better than you can though!!), so when Waffle won one of these, I thought I had to give it a go. Waffle is one of two players who really have the ability to tilt me (DP a/k/a Fluxer, being the other) on tap. But one cannot deny his ability at multi-table tournaments. So, following in his shoes, I decided to play a 45-person myself. Usually, I don’t try these because of timing. However, Friday night I was in the mood for an MTT and all of the sites’ scheduled MTTs were all wrong. They were either too big (1000+ players! Fuck that!), too expensive, or too cheap. So, I decided to go for the Stars 45-p SNG.

And I won. The payout was $150 or so, and it’s a much needed boost to my bankroll. I just withdrew $100 and I planned on withdrawing $100 more. I figure that once my PSO points come in, I’ll be able to get another $100 gift certificate to Party Poker, so it’s all coming back to me. But I digress.

A couple of days ago, I posted some actual strategy on this here blog. It didn’t get a single comment, maybe because it was a bit long, or a bit boring, or a bit already done better elsewhere. Well, it was that strategy that helped me win. When it got down to the final table, I had a healthy stack and decided to steal early and often. When blinds get high enough, you can min raise and win the SB, BB and antes. Any Ace will do, and sometimes even less.

When it was down to 3 players, I held probably 70% or more of the chips. The small stack pushed all-in and I called with Q8. He had Ace or King high, but I hit my 8 and won the hand. SoxLover was railbirding and called it a suckout. I disagree. Let’s see what you think. Just because I am behind, if I hit here, it doesn’t make it a suckout to me. If we were all-in on the turn and I had an 8-outer or less, then it’s a suckout. If you are behind pre-flop all-in, but its only a weighted coin-flop (or, actually, slightly worse), then I’m going to have to rule it just a beat. It happens, and it sucks to be him, but it wasn’t egregious. I then followed it up by taking out the remaining player with my J-high preflop all-in against his K-high. Was I being stupid? No. I was being a heavy chipleader. And it worked.

Damn, I’m proud. Now I need a good showing in a game with fellow bloggers. In the last two, I pretty much held on long enough to make the final table in 18-person SNGs, but little else. No complaints though. I rather win the 45-person.

Finally, did you sign up for SirOldMan’s Tiltfest? Well, why the fuck not! Here’s the banner with the NEW CORRECT TIME!

Finally, I must sign off by saying, Hi Jeff. There, I hope the prick’s happy.

There it is folks. All fixed. It’s at 8:30pm. Now, go sign up right away. If you are having trouble finding it on Full Tilt, just click Find a Player… and look for HighOnPoker. I’m already signed up and waiting to take your and Waffle‘s money.

Check out TripJax and myself on The Flop radio show, coming out of Florida. We discuss blogging, poker, and blogger poker.

I have to thank everyone today. I just looked at StatCounter, and on Wednesday, I had just short of 200 hits. More importantly, I had 107 unique return visitors.

I guess I’ve said this all before, but I’m saying it again. This blog started as a pet project. It was a way to think about and “play” poker when I couldn’t play poker.

From the blog, I’ve met great people. That goes without saying. What still amazes me is that people seem to like what I am doing. As an amatuer artist, I was once put on artist tilt by a fellow artist when he told me that I always sought other people’s opinions and acceptance of my work. Well, he can go fuck himself, because, to me, part of art is putting yourself on display. I wanted people to respond to my art because, in a way, they were responding to me. I feel the same way about this blog. If no one reads it, if no one ‘gets’ it, then it is little more than literary masterbation. Not that masterbation isn’t fun.

So, let me say thank you to All In magazine, which has added a blog watch on their website. It’s good to see some more poker blogging legitimacy.

Thank you also to Pokerworks, home of Linda, the bestest dealer/blogger around. If you don’t read Linda’s Table Tango, you are missing out big time.

And of course, thanks to Mark and The Flop radio show for having Trip and me on (yes, that is correct grammar) to discuss blogs, poker and the DADI events.

I don’t know what happened to the WPBT, but I must admit that I am a big sadenned that I was a little late showing up for the ‘party’, so to speak. The WPBT is the World Poker Bloggers Tour, which was set up to run blogger events. There was a leader board and everything, but in my recent search, I’ve found nothing. I don’t know if it has been officially disbanded or what, but I suppose the DADI events, Wheaton events and Mookie events, as well as random other blogger made tourneys, like April‘s HORSE tourney and the upcoming SirOldMan’s Tiltfest tourney (this Sunday at 8:30pm) have filled the gap. All I know is, I would like to see a new leader board for these things.

Okay, so onto my daily update on my trials and tribulations. I played some 1/2 limit on Doyle’s. I lost a couple of bucks, but under $5. As for online cash games, its going to have to be limit for me. Either that, or I need to drop in levels when it comes to online NL, to .10/.25, I guess. Bottom line, anything that involves fractions of dollars smaller than 1/2 kind of bothers me. I mean .25/.50 blinds I can handle, but when I have to conceptualize posting a dime, I feel like I may as well use play money. It’s a bad attitude, but at least I’m handling it maturely by avoiding the NL cash games all together.

I played two 18-person $10 SNGs on Stars. In one, I was the chipleader when it was down to 5. But I lost some focus and lost a lot of my lead. My QQ finally went against A9 on a player I barely had covered. We were all-in preflop, due, I’m sure, to my constant betting and bluffing (this was how I initially took my lead, stealing the massive blinds repeatedly). Alas, he hit his Ace on the flop, and I was hurt badly. I eventually went out in 4th, netting $8 profit. Lovely. I lost the other SNG after being cold decked most of the way. That’s the way poker goes. At least in the 2nd SNG, GCox, SirFWalGman and DNasty were in on the action. I think it was DNasty, but it may have been Surflexus.

In addition, I played a 70+ person MTT on FullTilt. It was Stud h/l, and I sucked donkey balls most of the way, but managed to eke out a 28th place finish for no money.

All in all, I think I lost about $15. But this doesn’t bother me none.

Today, I leave the office at 2:15 or so for a doctor’s appointment. I don’t plan on returning. I feel like crap. My throat is sore, and I think I might have some type of polyp or something in it. I also am achey all over. At least when I get home, I’ll have some time for pokah!

Take it easy like Sunday morning.

Here’s a thought:

Do you know of any homosexual poker players, either professional or personally? I don’t.