High On Poker

Hey all. I was reading through my Google Blog Reader and I read a post from a recently added blog to my list called Dad Gone Mad. I found it through a very irreverant “Diaper Diary” or whatever they call parenting blogs. I go for the irreverance and not the kid stuff, since wifey Kim and I are a family of 2, but I found a recent post very interesting.

The author at Dad Gone Mad is at the SXSW thingee in Texas, as part of a panel regarding monetizing parenting blogs. It’s very similar to the issue facing poker bloggers, and I would bet, any blogger out there that has a modicum of success and a topic that appeals to advertisers or a niche group. Whatever the case, here is the long quote that sounded like an echo to the feelings surrounding the monetization and privatization of poker blogs, and the poker blogging community in general (with bold text for parts I thought particularly related to our motley crew:

“What really struck me about being with other parenting writers is the sense of unity we share almost automatically. Because only one of us relies upon blog income to sustain our lifestyles, we are able to avoid the trap of taking ourselves too seriously and believing that every entry we write about potty training or Elmo is powerful enough to change the world. Still, there are “issues” to confront when you invest so much of yourself in a pursuit like this. How can we take advantage of our hard work and good fortune without alienating our readers, who made us what we are, and our passion for the work? Is snagging a paying blog gig worth sacrificing the control of our own writing pace and content and self-satisfaction? There was even discussion about the exceptionally low number of dad sites (in comparison to moms’) and why that disparity exists.”

The LINK

Well, I don’t have all the answers, but it is interesting to see others asking the same questions in a different field of blogging. I won’t offer any suggestions either, as some bloggers can smoothly transition to a new location without any harm. The only thing I will say definitively is that I don’t think there is anything wrong with making money from your blog, although I personally want to strike a balance between that and staying true to my readers. But you feel free to do what you want. After all, we aren’t curing cancer. We are writing about donkeys and check-raising.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Not much in the way of well-wishers on my 2nd Bloggiversary, you ingrateful sons of bitches. But I do thank those who left a comment, and thank them greatly. Even so, the rest of you ruined it for the well-wishers, and so, no AC Trip Report yet. Hell, I may just can the thing altogether. How you like dem apples?

So, I was watching the tevvie last night and came across two shows that touched on poker. I consume way too much drivel in the form of entertainment, but it still surprises me that I don’t see other people pointing out the ever-preseent (and growing) poker influence on television. It goes beyond the WPT and WSOP and has crept up in such shows as The Wire, where it was a predominant theme for a whole episode, Lost, as an anecdote to the survivors’ intellect and mauevering about one another, and finally Desperate Housewives, in a stale and repeated attempt to give the gals some bonding time. So, let’s move on to our two new entries, one show that has butchered the game of poker for several episodes in the B-story, and a great show that dropped a simple three line poker quip with great success and then deftly moved on. Let’s start with the crap:

The L Word is not that bad of a show. For one, it has lesbians. For two, as far as Showtime dramas are concerned, its well written and acted, and fairly entertaining. Now, I wouldn’t say this for all of the shows, nor all of the seasons, but this recent season has been pretty solid throughout, with good character development and real-feeling stories. The one place that this season has repeatedly fallen short is setting up silly artificial competitions, like the episode where Alice, the busy-body gossip of our Lesbian Den, challenges lebsian-lothario Poppy to a game of basketball. Alice, of course, rallies her lipstick lesbian friends and suddenly we are supposed to get wrapped up in a sub-par basketball montage. Yeah, definitely trying to attract the WNBA crowd.

Well, while that is fine and dandy, don’t you dare desecrate my game of choice! The poker storyline goes like this: Rich girl Helena who was disowned and now has to start over broke ends up at a party with the rest of the Lesbian Den. It’s a posh after party, and there is a game of high-stakes poker going on. I’m pretty sure that this is another one of those Alice-creating-a-silly-unreal-competition with another Lesbian clan, but whatever the case, Helena sits in without any real knowledge of the game. She summarily loses $50,000, without even knowing what stakes they were playing in the first place. SCREEEEEEEECH! (that’s the screeching car sound effect). Hold on! She didn’t know the stakes? So, what happens? Why, the head of the game, another lipstick lesbian, conveniently, lets Helena pay her debt by proposing that she come to her penthouse to pay it off physically. Okay! We are back on track.

So, Helena goes to the penthouse a couple of days later, and she’s upset that she essentially has to whore herself to a beautiful women. Alright… Anyway, when she gets to the penthouse, the poker host, let’s call her Host, since I forgot her name, says that she doesn’t want to have sex with Helena. They play a heads-up game of strip poker and Helena wins, both her debt and freedom, and then, in a clever and obvious twist of fate, decides to screw the Host anyway. Bingo! It’s like the freaking Brandi Rose story with less Penises in the Back. Has anyone copyrighted Vagina in the Back, cause if not, you heard it here first (copyright pending).

Fast forward. So, the Host is starting to exploit Helena. How, you ask. By, get this, staking Helena in highstakes games because somehow Helena became a shark overnight without even realizing it. Then the Host holds the money and is clearly controlling Helena. Okay folks, this is where I lose it. From fish to shark without any effort? Puh-lease. And, the way to exploit younger poker players is to abscond with their money, not put YOUR money on the line with the expectation that Helena the Fish will win 100% of the time and then you’ll abscond with her winnings. Shiyit! Can you imagine Capt. Tom buying Brandi into 50k buy-in tournaments (another BS plot point) with the expectation that of course Brandi will win, and then he’ll claim to have lost her money at the horses on an insiders tip with Brandi’s consent? Okay, I’m nitpicking, but the real issue is the whole fish who is a natural shark overnight, the 50k buy-in tournament, and a scene in which the Host is whispering in Helena’s ear during a game of poker in a casino. Lesbians, puhlease!

And now, for the great two lines from the Simpsons this week. The setup: Homer spent a ton of dough on a rec room for the Simpsons’ basement and tries to file for bankruptcy. The judge assigns him a financial adviser who is in the kitchen with Homer and Marge talking about where they can save money.

(paraphrased)

Advisor: It says here you spend $1000 a month throwing coins into wishing wells?
Homer: Of course, stupid. I’m wishing for more money!
Advisor: And how about this? $500 a month for TotalPoker.com?
Marge: What?! It’s educational . IT’S EDUCATIONAL!

Right on the nose. (And kudos for the subtle reference to Marge’s gambling problem from past episodes).

Now enjoy your education at TotalPoker.com.

Until next time, make mine poker!

Two years down, and just six months to go before I’m burned out, busted and bitter about how ghey blogging is!

Yes, folks, if you’ve been following me from the beginning, you have sat through 730 days of poker drivel and 833 posts filled with assorted nonsense.

All kidding aside, I thank you, my reader, for making this endeavor something slightly more than a self-imposed ego trip/booster/soul-crusher.

Now, I know you are “all” here expecting a recap of my Lost Weekend in AC, but I’m suffering a bit of a poker hangover, oddly more like a booze hangover than ever before (splitting headache, exhaustion, and irritability, hooray!), so I’ll give you this brief recap using numbers and a more complete recap later today or tomorrow or whatever:

Minutes that I lasted in the WSOP $300+40 event: 90
Players I outlasted out of the 1155 entrants: 120 or so
Rumored amount of players heard by AlCantHang: 3000+
Cash games profit/loss: -$175
Table Game Texas Hold’em Bonus profit/loss: -$100
Times I hit AA (30x bonus): 1
Times I didn’t have money down on the bonus: 4 out of approximately 50, and yes, one of those 4 times was when I hit the AA…lesson learned.
Table Game Let It Ride profit/loss: -$100
Craps profit/loss: $200 (offsetting all other table game losses)
Times SoxLover hit a hard ten in a row to win me back a bucket load of cash: 2, and quite enough, really. He’s my craps lucky charm.

In other words, overall, I lost a pretty penny. However, I had a great time, and it was all worth it.

Until next time, make mine Advil!

Let’s get this beyotch crackalackin’ with the return of You Decide after months of hiatus. And if you are interested in past You Decide posts, check out the You Decide Index. Feel free to leave new comments on old hands. I get email notification of all comments along with the name of the post that is the subject of the comment, and I’m always interested in new analyses of old hands. This one is a bit odd for a You Decide, mostly because it was a very quick hand. To direct you a bit, let me add that I won the hand with a bluff check-raise, but whether I won or not, was it a smart play when you consider all of the information? I’m on the fence, so here we go:

We are playing in CC’s Thursday Bash, 15/30 blinds (level 2), and we are sitting on 1635 chips, a little more than the 1500 starting stack. There are a couple of juicy super LAG players at the table, along with a spattering of strong players and a generally jovial crowd. In the BB, we are dealt JdTh. In early position (UTG+2), one of those juicy LAGs, Alexe (T1,795, raises from 30 to 90. I don’t know him/her (let’s go with her), but I’ve watched her loose action, making calls on raises with crappy cards preflop and making a play earlier in the evening that just seemed to be a bluff raise (she did take down that hand, so she may have had the goods). In general, though, she seems like a player who will try to make a play for a pot at any opportunity. It folds to me in the BB, and I decide to flat call, hoping that I hit and get paid off.

The flop is an ugly 3c 4c 2h. I have nada. I check. Alexe bets 120 into the 195 pot. I think for a moment and decide to re-raise to 450. Alexe folds. There are a few reasons why I made this play, and the amount I bet, 450, was chosen with particularity. I’d give the explanation here, but then I wouldn’t get to hear your thoughts, so let’s just sit on this for a while and I’ll come back later and post my full analysis.

ADDENDUM: It’s later now. Roose has left to pick me up for AC, so let me just get to this and analyze my play. The two responses I received were positive, and winning the hand often makes me look at a hand with rose-colored glasses, but in this case, something was nagging me. Yes, it was a good play, but I think it was too early in the tournament for me to try to start stealing pots. First, let’s look at the play, ignoring the level of play we are in.

In the first place, I had a decent read on the LAG (loose aggressive) player, so calling with JTo is not such a bad play. If I hit big, like AKQ, I’m going to get paid off big, and the call was not large compared to our stacks.

After the flop, I like the check, because I can expect him to bet here, no matter what. He has likely missed the flop, and my tight image and the fact that I’m playing out of the blinds for a call should make Alexe wary of my check, but after the check-raise, she has no choice but to fold unless she has an overpair. Any other combination is folding, providing that the bet is enough. The thing is, she might have a hand, or because she is LAG, she might call with a flush draw. So, I needed a bet that would leave me with enough chips to come back if I had to fold on the turn or to a re-raise. I don’t like to min-raise unless I have a monster, so I had to raise more than 120. Normally, I’d bump it to 3x, or 360, but since her initial bet was low (120 into a 195 pot), a raise of 240 would be small compared to the pot. Plus, she is a LAG. So, I raised it to a higher amount. I started the hand with 1635, put 120 in the pot preflop (1515 left), and by betting 450, it does two things: (1) it says, “this is a third of my stack, and I’m ready to play, beyotch” and (2) allows me to actually fold and have over 1k in my stack. In other words, I had the hand planned out no matter what happened. I must add, I went through all of this analysis before I raised.

So, great play. But here is the thing. The pot was only 320 or so when I decided to put in 450 to bluff it. That is my problem, if there was one. The pot was still small, and if I had just folded preflop, I would’ve lost 30 and been onto the next hand with minimal risk. Instead, early in a tournament, I got fancy and put myself in a position to lose more than 1/3 of my chips on a hand I didn’t really need to win. If there is a saving grace, it was the fact that I chose my opponent with particularity and wanted to win her money before someone else got it from her.

So, any more thoughts? I’d be glad to hear them. Back to the rest of this post, as written earlier today.

I suffered a bad omen last night. After busting in CC’s Heads-Up tournament, I went about preparing my bag for my AC trip today. While getting my things together, admittedly in a headache medicine-induced haze, I grabbed my iPod and prepared to turn it on in order to check my reserve of podcasts. As I held down the power button, nothing happened. Okay, I thought, the battery is dead. I walked over to the computer, plugged in the USB charger and waited. Nothing. Hmm, I thought, let’s see if it is a problem with my crappy ole desktop. I walked over to the kitchen, set up the outlet charger and plugged in the iPod. Nothing. Okay, don’t panic. I held down the power button again. Nothing. Damn. I started looking for solutions. I had my AM/FM “walkman” (just AM/FM folks, no cassette tape player, cause I ain’t that old school) and satisfied myself with the thought that I could at least listen to some of the great local radio in NY while walking to and from the train.

As I continued to pack, I realized the greater implication. No iPod meant no music during the $300+40 tournament. I don’t listen to my iPod the entire time I play, but I like it there to cut out the noise or help me relax in particular situations. You probably know from my poker uniform and OCD-ish array of poker paraphenelia I carry to the table, that I like to have everything set up a particular way when I play. The iPod was a key component to that setup. Reality being what it was, though, I knew I had to shake that feeling of anxiety before I brought it to the table. The loss of the iPod felt like a bad omen, but I had to turn that around.

I am not under the control of my things, I thought to myself. The only thing to do was to change everything up to prove to myself that I didn’t need the iPod or any of the security blankets that I carry to the table with me. I packed my $uperman shirt, but decided not to wear it. I would change everything up and I would see it as a chance to free myself. I also grabbed my old mp3 player and fit in as much techno/trance songs as I could that were not from iTunes directly (they don’t play on the crappy 20-song mp3 player). I tossed it in my bag, got the rest of my stuff together and put it all behind me…after trying two more times to turn on the iPod.

This morning, I went about my usual business preparing for the workday. Right before leaving, I decided to just take one more look. I walked over to the short supply cabinet near wifey Kim and my computer desk and pulled out the iPod. I hit the power button…Nothing. I got ready to put it back, and then I saw it, that charcoal gray Apple that appears during startup. My eyes widened like a starry-eyed hooker seeing my very own Richard Gere. It was back, ole jPod.

So, all in all not a bad omen, but an odd one. I’m glad that ole jPod is back, and I can rest easy knowing that I can shed my neuroses any time I want (I swear! I just don’t want to right now). Meanwhile, I’m going to wait out this day, anxious for 3pm when Roose rolls up in our AC shuttle and we are on the road.

On that note, if you are going to be in AC this weekend and would like to get drunk and gamble with a bunch of degenerates, the I Had Outs girls have scheduled a happy hour at Showboats (!!) House of Blues Restaurant Bar for 10pm on Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll still be in the WSOP Circuit event starting that day at noon, but if not, expect me there, until around 10:55, when I’ll be running upstairs to register for the 11pm $100+20 tournament (they allow late registration).

Until next time, make mine AC poker!

Late last night, I lied in bed with wifey Kim, turned on my side to get whatever light I could from the nearby lamp while I read a book. Wifey Kim was tired and trying to sleep, but I just couldn’t close my eyes. I knew I was keeping wifey Kim up, so I turned around and decided to engage her.

“I hate sleeping,” I confessed. This was nothing new, and something I have said many times before. This time, however, I went a bit farther. “When I go to sleep, I can’t help but think. There’s no TV, book or radio distracting me, and I just think, and its never good.”

Wifey Kim nodded in understanding. She was tired, but I had already started following a mental trail that I just couldn’t stop chasing.

“I’m nervous about work tomorrow.” Tomorrow, being today, consisted of a trip to New Jersey with the Boss Man to depose a nurse involved in one of my client’s injuries. “I’ve been dreading work lately,” I continued. It was true too. Every night this week, I’ve been dreading the next day’s work. It isn’t that work has been bad. Quite the opposite. Things have been quiet, almost too quiet. But part of it was a seeping sense of self doubt, not dissimilar from the one I have been experiencing in poker since the three buy-in loss at Salami last week. In fact, I silently wondered if the poker self doubt was really the starting point of the work self doubt. “I need to get over myself. I need to re-find my confidence.”

There it was, the answer to all of my problems. I needed to re-find my confidence.

As a kid, I dealt with bouts of depression. I remember one in particular. My first real girlfriend Melissa told me that she didn’t love me anymore. I was 15 or 16 at the time, and it crushed my world. I was miserable for months, and sulked around highschool with the hair combed down over my face, akin to a sloppy pre-Clooney Caesar’s cut, and a long trenchcoat, akin to a pre-Columbine depressed dumb kid (in my case, never Goth). I was like this for months, depressed, miserable and mentally isolated from the world. And then one day I thought to myself that all I needed to do to stop being depressed was to stop being depressed. Like hitting a light switch, suddenly I was no longer depressed (ignoring, of course, the long term implications of depression that would rear its ugly head again, but never as bad as that first extended bout).

I thought about that after saying I had to re-find my confidence. And then I thought, the only way to be confident is to just be confident. And again, like a light switch, I changed things. I decided that I had nothing to worry about at work. I was on top of all of my cases and the only thing causing this self doubt was myself. I decided that the same is true for my game. I have the abilities, and self doubt does nothing to help me, so I had to shed it from my being. I have re-found my confidence.

After all, I’ve always felt that 90% of confidence is merely acting confident. The rest will fall into place.

WSOP Circuit event his weekend, baby! In less than 24 hours, I’ll be with Roose on our way down to the Boardwalk, and I’m glad to say that there will be a few bloggers meeting up as well.

Until next time, make mine poker!

While surfing the web (does anyone still use the term surfing?) I stumbled upon an article by Phil Gordon. Sometimes it feels like there is only so much left to discover in poker, and then you experience something or read something and a whole new door opens. For me, this was one of those moments, discoverying the GPP or Gordon Pair Principle.

The Principle basically helps find the odds that a player after you has a higher pocket pair when you are dealt a pocket pair. I suppose it is mostly a tournament aid, but also provides some mathematical insight to those times when your Queens run into Kings or your Kings run into Aces.

The probability (C) that a player acting after you has a higher pocket pair roughly equals the amount of players left to act (N) multiplied by the amount of pocket pairs higher than yours (R) divided by 2. As a formula, it appears like this:

C=(N x R)/2

Admittedly, I am doing nothing here other than reiterating Phil Gordon’s concept, but I find it to be an interesting one. So, if you are UTG in a full 10-person table of a tournament and have pocket Jacks, what are the chances that your Jacks are dominated by Queens, Kings or Aces? There are 9 players left to act (N), and there are three possible higher pocket pairs (R), so the chances are roughly 13.5% (9 x 3 = 27 / 2 = 13.5%).

Its an interesting concept, especially as I head into the WSOP Circuit even this weekend. Hands like pocket sixes to pocket nines can be tricky to play from middle position, and once shorthanded, it can be very tempting to push and hope for the best. Now, I have a better way to calculate whether such a move is likely to run into trouble. Two overcards are always a possibility, but those are less scary because overcards won’t dominate the hand and will have a 50/50 chance of winning at best. On the other hand, those over pairs are the real threat, often giving your opponent an 80/20 lead.

So, you are in MP (5 players left to act, including the blinds) with 88 and you have a stack of about 9x the BB. To me, this is a push-or-fold situation, and at first glance, I would likely push, hoping to take the blinds and/or face a race or underpair. Let’s do the math. The chance that I am facing a dominating over pair is (5 x 6)/2, or 15%. Okay, let’s go for it. If I had 66 there, the chance of facing an overpair becomes (5 x 8)/2, or 20%. Suddenly, I am a little more concerned. If I’m sitting with a lowly pair of 2s, the probability jumps to (5 x 12)/2 or 30%.

Hmmm…interesting information. Practically speaking, I’m not too sure if this would effect a decision too strongly. After all, I am generally playing my table image and my opponents, so a push with 22 in middle position with a stack of 9x the BB could be used to push out slight overpairs like 33-66, and suddenly the real range of calling overpairs shrinks. Likewise, if I have a severe shortstack that cannot push anyone out of the hand, I still might have to make my move because of escalating blinds. But still, as theories and deep thought about poker goes, this is an interesting concept.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I played in the WWdn last night. Well, I didn’t really play, so much as I publicly embarassed myself and then made a hurried exit. I may have been the Gigli, but I was too ashamed to look.

My play was just horrible. I tried to make something happen with AQo, and when it didn’t improve, I tried to bluff my way out of the situation. Instead, I just bluffed my way out of the tournament. Looking at it now, it kinda reminds me of that post-it note I used to put on my laptop screen when playing a long tournament. It was just two words, “No Bluffing,” and its advice that I have to recapture.

The bottom line was, I was playing horribly, worse than my worst days when I was a daily online poker player. Part of it, I’m sure, is due to the usual problems I have with online poker, the lack of concentration and the tendency to be inebriated, but it felt like the other issue was ole fashioned ring rust. I was just not in tune with the game. Can I fix it? Probably, by returning to a schedule where I play online poker more often. Will I fix it? Hell no.

Ring rust sucks, but I just cannot recommit to the pursuit that is online poker. I have about $100 left online, and it will keep me in blogger tournaments for as long as I need. Ring rust sucks, but at least it hasn’t affected my live game.

At the very least, I’m glad I don’t play online as much because I’ve found myself to be prone to poker hangovers. If you haven’t experienced this soul-crushing phenomenom, this is how it goes: You play poker and lose. You wake up the next day feeling like shit because you lost at poker. It might not be obvious that that is the reason you are in a crabby mood, but for me, I can read the writing on the wall. In fact, after I lost the three buy-ins at the Salami tournament last Friday, I woke up Saturday and stared my poker hangover right in the face. I had a restless sleep, complete with anxiety nightmare, and woke up feeling like a loser. I even said it to wifey Kim, “I’m still fucked up about the loss last night.” She was comforting, albeit in passing while she prepared for the day, but it was enough that I was able to face the poker hangover reality in the face.

When I played online a lot, I remember a stretch of nights when I was winner steadily. I slept happy. Then came a cold spell and I was miserable. Each morning preparing for work became a energy-sapping task. I just could not get in gear. So, at the very least, those days are less common. Now I just need to work on eliminating them altogether.

Truth is, the poker hangover has changed from a hangover to a latent tilt. Since losing those three buy-ins at Salami on Friday, I’ve been wary of live poker. I haven’t set up any days to play this week, and while I could squeeze in a Salami tournament tonight, I just don’t wanna. I’m practically scared, and its god damn humorous because prior to that loss, I moneyed in all 4 Salami tournaments I played this year and in 70% of the live tournaments I played in general. I was on a freakin’ tear, and I can say with utmost confidence that it was not due to amazing hole cards (although in isolated instances, I did get lucky, but no moreso than I got unlucky in other instances).

So, what to do? Well, I need to get over myself. I have the WSOP Circuit this weekend (I’m giddy as a school girl), and I am praying that I can get in via a satellite, but even if I don’t, I have to remind myself that I can win. I have all of the things I need. Self-doubt is not something that anyone should carry with them to the poker table. I’ve said time and time again, to win, I need to believe that I can beat everyone at the table. Some people need to feel like the underdog. I need to feel super confident. So, from here until Saturday, my goal is to keep positive. I lost three buy-ins in a Salami tournament. Whoopdeedoo! I will lose from time to time, but that is not a reflection on my lack of ability (here is where self doubt comes in and reminds me that, yes, I lost that tournament — at least one of the buy-ins, because of my lack of control). But I can reclaim that loss of control, and I have to believe that I can win, because if you go in a loser, you’re going to come out a loser. Game face on.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I feel dirty already.

While I was eating me bangers and mash recently at the local pub, I was watching footie on the telly and was daydreaming about online poker and ye olde brick and mortar poker. Manchester United was daft that night, so I headed home, grabbed my laptop from the boot of my car, and took the lift up to my flat.

Then I realized I wasn’t British. But, hey, maybe you are. If so, you may want to check out UK Casinos, a website dedicated to UK poker in its online and live forms. Hell, even if you are heading to the UK and can’t take a vacation without some gambling (you degenerate), you might want to check out UK Casinos first. Follow a couple of links and you can find a directory to brick and mortar casinos throughout the UK. They even have an interesting page under the heading “Casino Groups” that gives some background as to how things are done over in the Old World. Things I found particularly interesting are the fact that poker rooms generally allow players who are 18 and older (as opposed to 21, generally, in the US), and you have to apply to be a member to the rooms. Well, there goes that travel plan.

Admittedly, UK Casinos seems to lack content in some of its headings, but from the looks of it, it is a decent portal site, where you can link up to other poker rooms and sites about poker.

So, there it is, my first sponsored post. I have to go shower now. So dirty.

What a weekend! This weekend saw my attempt to win my 5th straight tournament at Salami fall woefully short, my return to binge drinking, and a delayed attempt to win an iPod. Let’s get this crackalackin’!

Wifey Kim’s birthday was last week, and the plan was to celebrate all weekend. On Friday, she had dinner plans with her friend M.E., and since I was left out of the festivities, I decided to hit up Salami again. I had moneyed in the last 4 tournaments I played there, and truthfully was not feeling up to it on Friday 100%. I received an email from a law school acquaintance about his home game, one that I had yet to attend. I said I could make it, and I was curious to see how their game played. It’s a cash game (I don’t even know the stakes, but I imagine $50-100 buy-in at most, and likely less), and once there are three players at the game, the game starts with Hold’em. Once they reach 5 players, though, it switches to dealer’s choice games, limited to stud and draw variations only. Weird! I guess we have some serious Hold’em haters, but I’m game for whatever, and pride myself on my ability and willingness to play a variety of games.

Ultimately, and sadly, the game wasn’t able to go, and I found out it would be the host (John), me and only one other guy. Well, Jordan don’t play that, so I suggested that he and his friend join me to Salami.

When we arrived, the place was fairly busy and by game time there were two full tables, spreading to three by the time the re-register period was over. I was seated at a table with John and a bunch of players, half of whom I kinda know. It seems like everyone knows each others’ names and games at Salami sometimes, and I am just an interloper. Truth be told, I’m also somewhat anti-social there, happy to arrive for the game, play and chat at the table and leave immediately after. I’ll read a book or listen to a podcast while the players are mulling about, and while I have tried to make small talk to a few players, I always feel, well, odd-man-out. Of course, I do this to myself, but in the end, I’m just there to play poker and not join an Elks Lodge or something.

So, I am sitting at the table and I’m in my first BB when I am dealt Q3o. There are four limpers before me (including the SB) or so, and I just check. The flop is a beautiful 334, with two hearts. I check, since I’m in good position, and a player to my immediate left who I remember was somewhat loose from the past (yet by appearances one would presume he was tight) bet 200 into the 250 or so pot. I believe there was one caller in MP and I decided to simply call and wait for the turn to raise. I was wary of the flush draw, but I knew I could get away from it if it came and I sensed it out there. The turn was an offsuit 7, and I was in good shape, from what I could see. I was a bit worried about someone playing A3s, but if that happened, I would just accept the cooler of a hand. I check and the bettor bets 200 again, a weak move. The MP folds and when it gets to me, I consider and decide to raise to 600. Now, we start with 2000 in chips, so after the preflop call, the flop call and the turn, I’ve put 850, or almost half of my stack, into the pot. He pushes all-in, and I call. I fear the A3, but he shows 47, for two pair. The river is a 4. I lose. REBUY!

I knew I had to rebuy, mostly because I could do very well against such a loose table. My second bust of the night, though, was part tilt and part bad luck. I held K8s and decided to limp in LP. It was cheap and I was in position, but admittedly I should have folded and saved myself the horror that came next. I don’t remember betting amounts, but the flop came down K-high (K24) with two spades, and after it checked around on this loose table, I bet out a decent amount in an attempt to win it right there. I got one caller in EP. The turn was an offsuit 5 and I thought I was good. He checked and I bet again. He pushed all-in and by this point in the hand, I was committed to calling. He flipped over and announced that he had a flush draw. I showed my top pair, glad that I had such a good read. Then I noticed his flush draw consisted of a suited A3. He actually had a made straight and he didn’t even realize it. REBUY!

Now, this last one was really simple. Someone raised from MP, I re-raised, he pushed, I called. I had JJ. He had AK. It was as expected, but he hit it and I quit it. I had enough rebuying. Down $180, I went a short half-block to where wifey Kim was with M.E. having dinner. They were, by coincidence, right next door, leaving me to wonder who the unlucky charm was: wifey Kim, M.E., or my new Flash t-shirt (it ain’t no Superman).

The next night, wifey Kim and I went out to a lounge called Mantra for drinks to celebrate her and her twin brother’s birthday. A bunch of my buddies came along, including Roose, Randy Hole, Ilan the G-lan and others from their crew. After a long night drinking (for me, the drink of choice was red bull and stohli vanil), we headed across the street to go to David Ruff’s girlfriend’s birthday soiree. There, I got even more 72o’ed with wifey Kim, my older bro and his fiance, and a bunch of other friends. The night ended at the diner, followed by passing out at home. The next morning was torture, as you can guess.

Finally, on Sunday, I excitedly turned on the computer to participate on PokerOnAMac.com‘s Blogger iPod freeroll. Sadly, FT’s server was down, so it was rescheduled to next Sunday, probably when I’ll be either on my way home from AC, or in a poker-induced coma. Oh well.

That’s all for today. Since my last post was sorta unclear, if you are going to be in AC this upcoming weekend for the WSOP Circuit event, you may want to keep an eye on I Had Outs. The ladies were kind enough to pick up some of my excessive slack (I am a slacker, after all), and will be hosting a happy hour somewhere at sometime that will likely last more than an hour.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I have to make this brief (for now), but I want to direct your attention to I Had Outs. The ladies have foolishly fallen into my trap and have decided to take it upon themselves to spearhead a happy hour for any bloggers in the area. Ironically, they point out my own planning deficiencies, but then neglect to decide if happy hour will be on Friday or Saturday (let alone a time and place). But alas, at least they have officially taken the onus upon themselves. And yes, ladies, I suck at planning these sorts of things, but on the other hand, I am great at getting people to do it for me. This clever plan to pass the buck is a big success!

The second plan, not such a success. Long story short, I returned to Salami on Friday, and lost three buy-ins in the $60 “re-register” (aka rebuy for $50+10) tournament in under 30 minutes. Highlights to come.