High On Poker

I woke up Saturday morning with a lightness to my step. Sure, I lost $467 playing NLHE yesterday, and sure, looking back on my two posted hands, I hadn’t played my best, but today was a new day.

The group didn’t have any hard-set plans. Roose was interested in some more poker followed by one of White House Sub’s famous heros. TwoDiamondPhillips is a degenerate. Hole is too, but he had a commitment on Long Island to get to by late afternoon, early evening.  Me, I had some money to win back.

We checked out of the hotel and made our way downstairs. I saw that there was a really pathetic 1/2 NLHE game going, but decided to sit anyway. There were probably 6 players tops, with one geriatric lady, a couple of middle aged guys one of which had a dropped eye like Quasimoto, an Asian man who looked too serious to be playing in this Special Olympics game, and a nerdy guy with parted black hair and glasses but wearing an oversized black leather jacket and an Ed Hardy shirt. Nerd Hardy and maybe the Asian were the only players with reasonable stacks. Nerd was clearly the chip leader with a little over $200. Maybe Asian had $200-150. The rest had under $100. As I said, Special Olympics.

I played a couple of pots early for small amounts, noting that it wasn’t going to be easy to get action unless I loosened the table up. The old lady called me down with top pair after I made a weak bluff bet on the river after checking around on the flop and turn. I exposed my bluff, which hopefully would pay off later.

Roose and Hole must’ve seen the soft spots, or more likely, there were no other options, so they sat down as well. I was in the 10 seat or maybe the 9 seat, with Hole in the 1 seat and Roose in the 2 seat. Maybe the Asian was between us.

It was clear that Roose, Hole and I are friends, so we got some great reactions when one of them and I butted heads in a hand. I don’t remember who won, I think I did, but I remember Nerd Hardy chiming in that he thought we were friends. It was a friendly table, so I just joked about how I was in the hole and would take money from my friends just as happily as anyone else. Roose added, “We don’t play that game,” referring to soft play.

I puttered around for a bit and added some chips to my starting stack of $200 when the Aces Conundrum occurred. I was finally dealt a premium hand and had already done enough advertising to get some action. I decided to raise from early position for $12. Amazingly, Hole and Roose called. Even better, Nerd Hardy decided to re-raise to $62, a $50 raise. Clearly, he had a monster.

The action folded back around to me and I considered my options. The truth is, the only thought on my mind was how to double through Nerd Hardy. My two buddies were at this point pure afterthoughts. I realized Hardy must have a good hand to make his raise. If he had absolute crap and was just taking a shot at the loose friends, then I want to push him out preflop, since the $98+ pot was a nice size already and I wouldn’t have much chance of getting more out of him post-flop unless I was in trouble. But if he had a big hand like KK, I could potentially get all-in preflop.

Then I turned my attention, albeit briefly, to my two compadres. WTF. I don’t slowplay the guys, but I also didn’t want them in this pot. More players meant more cards to dodge. I had to make it clear that they were all behind and hope that Nerd Hardy thought I was either making a play on my friends or overconfident in a weak hand. I had already established that Nerd Hardy was a regular based on his chat with the floorperson, and based on his stack size, he was serious about poker, even in this guppy pond. So, hopefully, he picked up on the loose image I was putting out there.

I moved my stacks in the middle and waited. “I call.” “I call.” WHAT?! I look to my left and both Roose and Hole are already in the pot. I didn’t necessarily target their money, but I’d take it…assuming they didn’t draw out. Nerdy thought for a bit and finally folded. He claimed to have folded QQ. I can believe it, especially since he was saying aloud, “Do you have AK?”

What did Roose and Hole have? After I showed my Aces, Hole showed J9h. Yes, folks. It was like he was giving me his money. Roose didn’t show but later claimed TT; I believe them.

I dodged the outs and sent both of them walking. Roose stormed off, pissed at losing. The table was abuzz with all of the action amongst three friends, but all I could say was, “I didn’t bust him. He busted himself.” Meanwhile, Roose was roaming the casino grumbling.

The guys basically forced me to quit, but I can’t blame them. Besides, there wasn’t much money left on the table. I walked to the cashier and cashed out $420, for $220 in profit. It was not enough to undo the $467 hole I dug the night before, but I’d rather be down $247 any day.

On the walk back to the car, Roose was still steaming. I am not a fan of sore losing. I think in some perverse way, I don’t mind losing because it means I have a challenge to overcome. I mind it a lot more in poker because of the monetary aspect, but if you are going to play this game, you have to expect to lose some times.

I tried not to goad Roose, which is my usual way of dealing with sore losers. Instead, I explained that I had no choice in my actions and that he and Hole essentially busted themselves. My all-in push screamed Aces, or at the very least JJ and up, all of which had Roose dominated (maybe AK, but that’s still not putting him in the best of spots). “I suck at poker,” was Roose’s lament, but it simply isn’t true. “No, you made an awfukit play.” I explained the concept first taught to me by Tripjax. “Once you saw my all-in raise, you knew you were beat, but you were so frustrated, you just mentally said ‘awfukit’ and shoved your stack in.” He agreed. He knew he was beat.

All poker players have leaks in their games. This weekend, I think I learned of my greatest leak. My C-game (and I’m being generous with the “C” designation; “Z” may be more appropriate) is terrible. When I’m not playing well, I’m a spew monkey. My patience level is not there and, as had happened on Friday night, I look for spots and take chances even when none exists.

But that’s what poker is about. Learning. Improving.

After packing up the car, we headed over to the White House Sub Shop. It was probably a little after noon and the place was already hopping, although well below the usual huge crowds. We all ordered, still stuffed from the breakfast we had pre-poker at the Country Kitchen. One of the best things about White House Subs is that the heros are as good, if not better, after a 2 hour drive (or an evening in the fridge).

The rest of the ride home was uneventful. I didn’t get to play in the LO8 tournament, but I got to spend time with my crew, play some poker, and have a great time. That’s +EV any day in my book.

Until next time, make mine poker!

The online hot streak continues! After cashing in a 2-7 TD tournament for around $80 and a PLHE/PLO game for around $90, I really broke through last night with this win:

First out of 234 players in a $27.50 buy-in NLHE big ante tournament. The payout, $1257 and change. This win places me atop all three of my Summer Bankroll Challenge – Southern Hemisphere Edition bets. My bankroll has increased 985%, the previous largest win was $200 (also mine), and my win means I placed in the .43%, covering all prior submissions in the Slayer of Donkeys bet.

My success around the same time as the SBC is no coincidence. I often enter these contests to force myself to play better. For instance, in the last BBT, I was able to win May’s Leaderboard for $2000, even though my play outside of the BBT was minimal and probably not terribly profitable. The extra competition and transparency causes me to play better. It’s one thing when I choose a random game to donk around in while sitting at home in my BVDs. It’s another when I know the results will be publicly announced amongst fellow bloggers. I was more than willing to lose my entire online bankroll of $172 when this contest started; monetarily, it didn’t concern me. But the shame of going busto in front of your peers, that’s a different story. And the result is that I’m playing better.

There are some negative aspects of the prop bet. The biggest one is that it encourages a bankroll-building strategy that is normally ill-advised. A smart bankroll builder will grind out small wins without over-exposing him or herself. But the bets in the BBT actually encourage playing above your bankroll. With bets like the biggest payout and biggest % bankroll increase, one smart strategy (not the only one) is to simply play higher to go for those bigger payouts. It’s part of the reason I was willing to try a $44 tournament, higher than my usual $20-range fare, mostly because I wanted a shot at a decent payout. It worked, too, netting me $200, which at the time was the highest payout before I demolished it with my sextupled figure.

Another peculiar aspect is that it encourages starting with a meager bankroll. If you can start with $1 and make a go at it, you have a much better chance of winning the biggest % increase than if you started with $1,000. I suppose with $1,000, you have a much better chance of avoiding busto, but with $1, you don’t really care about busto anyway, so its like betting $1 to win tens of dollars  on the side bets.

Final thought, if it weren’t for the SBC, I probably would’ve went to the Tuna Club last night. Wifey Kim had dinner plans and I usually use her social gatherings as an excuse to degen it up. That usually means live poker, but last night, I wanted a chance to do some SBC damage. Ka ching!

As for strategy, I won the tournament by playing smart poker, at least in the later stages. Admittedly in the earlier stages, I was multitasking. Once we got down to maybe 60 or so players, when I was at about 27th place, I decided to really focus. From there on out, I watched my screen intently, opting for some talk radio instead of television so that my eyes would stay on the screen. I stayed fairly tight, until I could pick up information on my opponents. It was amazing how much difference a little concentration makes. For instance, one guy would min raise with any two suited cards. I’m talking K9 twice, K4, J9, etc., always suited. Because of this, I was easily able to call him light or re-raise him preflop and push him off of his hands. That’s worth a pretty chunk of change, considering the blinds were high and this was a big ante game.

When we got down to the final table, I was above most of my competition by almost 50%, but a hand or two brought me closer to the pack. I mostly played tight and looked for spots to throw my weight around safely. Down to three people, I was again in first place, before another series of hands brought me low. How low? Less than 5,000. Keep in mind, at that time, my two opponents each had more than 150,000, and one of them had over 400,000. I ended up with less than 5,000 when I got into a betting war with one of the other players. I ended up on the wrong side of it, but at the river, instead of pushing to his bet, I just called. On some level, I wanted that small amount to keep me in the game. Keep me in the game, it did. Four hands later, I had increased my stack back to over 50,000, and from there, I didn’t look back.

One negative about the SBC. After a win like this, I’ll usually withdraw a chunk, but since we are in the SBC, I think it best to leave it online. At least I can try some higher buy-ins.

Until next time, make mine poker!

This AC trip starts where they usually start, with me grabbing my shit from my office and rushing out the door on a Friday night. This time, I left a tad early. I had already committed myself to working on Sunday to catch up with some stuff (thankfully, my decision to skip the Omaha tournament really helped), so I figured that my early exit was justified. It didn’t help that Roose had been out of work since about 4pm and was sitting on my couch in my apartment with Robbie Hole waiting for me. Out the door, a quick subway ride, and I had joined my compadres.

Allow me a moment to shoe-horn in some props and pimpage to my buddy Edgie, who recently started his own poker blog, Chasing the Dream – Edgie’s Poker Opus. Edgie plays in some of the same underground rooms as I do in NYC, and has appeared in a variety of acting gigs, so he’s got a unique background that should make for a good read. Check him out!

Okay, back to the report. I got home and tried to rush through my routine, since my buddies were anxiously waiting. Lord knows why they were rushing me, because we were also waiting for Mark, aka TwoDiamondPhillips, another one of the Roose Crew. Mark is a fucking comedian and a half, non-professional, of course. So naturally his presence was more than welcome.

Shit, though, Roose rolls deep. I had offered to pay for the hotel room, but I had expected to share it with one other person. Now that it was me plus three, I simply had one requirement: I get my own bed.

The ride was mostly uneventful, but it did take us first to Robbie Hole’s apartment in Jersey City, NJ. Hole lives in the lesser half of that city, so the trip involved a PATH train ride, and a brisk walk through a couple of parking lots, some scary alley ways, and a what felt like a trip through a rabbit’s hole before we ended up in his hood. The guys waited in the car as Hole and I went up to his apartment for provisions. Once set, we hit the road.

Oh, that uneventful ride, maybe there was one event. We had been on one of the roads for a while when I asked to see the ticket needed for the exit toll. That’s when I realized that we were 2 exits past our intended exit. We quickly did some map work and decided to just ride it out, which probably took an extra 15 to 20 minutes, but at least added some variety to our trip.

We arrived at the AC Hilton at around 10:10pm. Roose had found an outdated website that listed a 10pm poker tourney, but once we got to the “poker room” we realized that the tourney was a relic. The poker room used to be a large, separate section on the second floor of the Hilton. More than a year ago (or at least that’s how it seems) that room was changed to the Asian Pit and the poker room was reduced to three or four tables literally in the middle of the casino floor. It’s like, Craps, Craps, Roulette, Roulette, Poker?

There were two 1/2 NLHE games going, but they were both full of what appeared to be amateur hour. I can’t say it was anything specifically; it’s that the games seemed shortstacked and slow.

We dropped our stuff off in our room, which was pretty decent given the small price tag. I had found the Hilton through my High on Poker Atlantic City Hotel Room Algorithm –> find the cheapest room in a casino/hotel on the Boardwalk. I don’t usually stay at the Hilton (in fact, never before) but the price was right.

Once suited up, we returned to the casino floor. I had already announced that this was a P&P trip (Poker and Pai Gow). When I said that, some of the guys agreed that this was a good idea, but within 5 minutes of returning to the casino floor, Roose was playing roulette. Ug! I walked over the to poker “r0om” put in my name and followed the amateur hour action. My suspicions were confirmed, but unfortunately, it didn’t look like anyone was leaving anytime soon, and there were already two names before me on the list.

I returned to roulette, but the guys were gone, having moved to a Three Card Poker table. Roose and Hole weer basically giving their money away with that dumbass game, and I told them so. Finally, I got them to walk away, and we made our way in the freezing cold to the nearest casino, the Tropicana. I put myself on the 1/2 list and waited for about 10 minutes before I was called to a seat. Hole went to another 1/2 table. Roose and TwoDiamond sat in a 2/4 game with the sole goal of getting drunk.

When I sat down at the 1seat, it didn’t take long to sum up the situation. A player across from me was doing well, but other than that, everyone else on my side of the table were fucking miserable. They were grumbling to each other about how they hadn’t been dealt a playable hand in hours, nor had they hit any flops. It was a bitch-and-moan fest, with each miserable dude upping the one before him. “I haven’t seen a flop in an hour.” “Well, I haven’t seen a flop in 2!” Whatever. You all are unlucky saps. Good for you!

I eventually moved seats twice, because I, too, was not getting much going, and besides, the 1 seat didn’t allow me to eye the people who were in most pots. Those two included a fat kid who was there with friends and a thin Hispanic guy who was ravaging the table with his loose aggressive play.

I suffered my biggest loss against Fatso. It was clear that the kid thought he was better than her really was. He was talking a big game, but none of his play seemed to support his pride. He was trying to be too fancy, and I was hoping to exploit that.

I had initially sat with $300, but was probably down to $250 when this hand occurred. As a bit of background, I had literally folded every for the first three or so orbits. I maybe limped one time in the fourth orbit. But this was a much tighter-than-usual strategy for me. I sincerely wanted to get a handle on the table before I began to play more hands.

With that caveat, you’ll have to excuse my shame when I tell you that I opted to raise preflop to with 94c to $12. I was in position and thought that I had probably built a sufficient image as a grinder, since I was so tight, but also had a card cap and sunglasses. I got a couple of callers, including one of the Complainers on my immediate and Fatty, who was in the 4 or 5 seat.

The flop came down T97, with two spades. It checked to me and I put out a $25 continuation bet with middle pair, shitty kicker. I got two calls from the complainer and Fatty.

The turn was another 7. It checked to me, and here I thought for a moment before deciding to continue my story. As I saw it, I was representing an overpair most likely, so a $55 bet made sense, since an overpair would fear the flush and straight possibilities and a $55 bet seemed like a protection bet, given the play at the table. The Complainer folded, but Fatty took some time before pushing for $89 more.

Now, I think most people reading this are thinking it is time to fold, but I had been watching Fatty and he was more than capable of making a move here. I considered this, what I saw earlier, and his present demeanor. It felt like he was weak. At this point, I put him on a flush draw or maybe even an underpair, like 66 or 55. I think perhaps here I was doing a bit of wishful thinking. I made the call, relying on my read, and we saw a blank river. My opponent then showed his hand: T6o. WTF.

I mucked and the table was shocked. I tried to let on (without saying anything) that I missed a monster draw, so as to save some face. My opponent, meanwhile, was explaining himself. “I thought I was on a bluff! I thought I was bluffing you!” I answered, “I thought so, too, but as it turned out, only one of us was right.” That one was me. I read his bluff correctly, but he was wrong about his own hand strength relative to mine. I just tried to shake it off, though. I guess I let a little bit of tricky play screw me too.

I lost another chunk of change when I was dealt AKs. Preflop, the scrawny, aggressive Hispanic guy led out with $6 in EP. By the time it got to me, there was a caller, and I expected more to join. I opted to just call, since I wanted to see how the flop helped me before getting too deep into this pot. There must’ve been 5 or 6 players to the flop.

The flop was AJ9, with two spades. That was a pretty great flop, giving me top pair, top kicker with the nut flush draw. Hispanic Guy bets out $25, which doesn’t really concern me much. I decide to just flat call and toss in my $25, since it is all too likely that my preflop passivity allowed a AJ or A9 to see the flop. Unfortunately, as soon as I called, the guy on my right, clearly a more skilled player, points out that he was next to act. I pulled back my $25 and he raised to $75.

I took my time, now. I had a strong hand, but it was very vulnerable to two-pair. A set was also possible,  but AA and JJ would’ve raised preflop and 99 probably would’ve raised as well. I had about $250 at this point after rebuying, so I pushed the entire stack into the center and announced all-in.

It folded back to the guy on my right, who asked me if I was making a play, since I had originally showed a call but then switched to a raise. I think we exchanged some light chatting. I did my best to seem cool and collected. Honestly, part of me thought I was still ahead, and if I wasn’t, I could possibly push him off of most two-pair hands. Alas, he eventually called. The turn and river didn’t help, and at showdown, he had 99 for a flopped set. And I lost some more money.

All this while, I was doing my best to have fun. These two debacle hands were broken up by mostly tight play. When Fatty left, I took his seat and was able to make some of my money back, but eventually, Roose and the crew wanted to leave and I had to cash out. At my lowest, I was down over $550, but by the time I walked, I was down $467, which is still pretty awful. Yet the entire time, I did it smiling. What can I say? There is no benefit to being a sore loser.

Two other notable occurrences at the table. The first is that Matty Ebs stopped by. It turned out he was in town for a bachelor party. Matty Ebs is my little brother’s age and my lil bro’s buddy. That’s how I know Ebs, at least originally. In fact, I used to babysit for him and his two brothers, all of whom are now bigger than me by a conservative foot. The bachelor party was for a friend that Ebs and my little bro grew up with, so my bro was also in town. And the soon-to-be-groom was also in my fraternity in college. For what its worth, the only guy I saw at Trop, though, was Ebs. Why? Because we love poker, don’t we?

At some point, a dipshit preppy looking douche joined our table. He claimed to be drunk, but really just seemed like an attention whore. When no one was reacting to his obnoxious routine: “This is my first time playing poker? Anyone have any tips for me?”, he became more aggressive with his shit talking, “Oh, look at all these 1/2 grinders. I’m surrounded by pros.” I finally got fed up when he annoyed a player enough to get him to leave. I wanted to keep the attention whore at the table, though, so I mostly toyed with him. I just needled him with little lines like, “How are you doing over there, Amateur Hour?” That was the nickname I gave him. “Learn anything yet?” He bit back, “Do you give lessons? I am really impressed by 1/2 grinders.” I laughed, “Who is a 1/2 grinder? Anyone?” I directed this to the table. Then I turned back to him, “Listen, Amateur Hour, if this is too much for you, I’m sure we can set up a play money table in the back. You should go play some roulette or something. It’ll be less intimidating for you.” There isn’t much of an end to this story. He eventually busted and walked, but I just love the fact that I can get some aggression out at the poker table without shoving all-in.

The guys got me and we took the chilly walk back to the Hilton. Once there, we headed to the diner-like dining establishment for some late night grub. It was either that or room service, and room service can be slow in the early AM hours. The guys all ordered different variations of burgers and I had the official casino meal of High on Poker, a grilled cheese. Delicious.

On our way up to the room, I bumped into none other than my actual little brother, Dave. We caught up for a bit. He and his group came to the Hilton for the cheaper table games. They were all done, though, and were looking for a cab to the Borgata, where they were staying. How the fuck is my non-gambling brother staying at the Borgata and I’m in the P.O.S. Hilton? I guess its all about priorities.

Back at the room, I got in a quick game or two of Israeli Poker before we all went to bed. We didn’t have much in the way of plans for the next day, but I still wanted to play some more poker, Roose wanted a White House Sub, Hole had to get back to LI by late afternoon, and Two Diamond, was, well, Two Diamond.

Next time, we’ll get to the Aces Conundrum with a little more early morning poker action!

Until next time, make mine poker!

As you all should know from the notes you took on last week’s lecture, your Professor spent some time in Atlantic City over the weekend to play some poker with his buddies in lieu of the Omaha 8b tournament at the Borgata. I’ll give you the end of the story before I give you the details; for details, you’ll have to wait a day or three. I’m a busy man.

So, the result: I lost money. That’s about as much as I can give you right now, but I saved some hands and I have an idea for a post dedicated to a moral conundrum of a hand, so I hope to have more content up about the trip this week. In the meanwhile, I wanted to bask in the rush I’ve had online and discuss a couple of hands where I was able to maximize value.

One general concept of poker that I think I learned from former blogger DP at WiredPairs, was that if you would have done the exact same thing as your opponent in a given hand, you’ve really just broken even. This involves an appreciation of the long term view of poker.  If you were to play an infinite number of hands, eventually, you will be on the opposite situation of the hand, and if you expect that you will act the same way as your opponent, the two hands will even each other out.

Here is a brief example: You have AA and your opponent has KK. You get into a raising war preflop and you both end up all-in. You double through your opponent. Congrats! But technically, in the long term, this profit will be nil, assuming you are the type of person who never folds KK preflop and likes to get it all-in. Eventually, you’ll be on the opposite side of the AA>KK hand, and you’ll lose all of your profit.

The incremental profit, then, is dependent upon being more skilled than your opponent. In my very simple example, it may mean folding the KK after the third re-raise, assuming you have a read that your opponent has you beat. Hell, even gathering that read may be the skill-difference that earns you money.

Now, this is only relevant in a circumspect way. Because of this Zero-ing Out phenomenon, it makes sense that you must optimize your big hands to earn as much as possible. In limit games, its even more tricky in some ways because you don’t have the benefit of bet sizing to lure in a few more dollars. It is also easier in other ways because your options are a lot more limited.

Back to my online poker rush. For what its worth, last night I took 2nd place in a 2-7 Triple Draw tourney and fourth or third in a PLO/PLHE tournament. I also won a PLO8 HU SNG for $22 and a 6-person NLHE SNG. Plus, I’ve been playing and grinding out small wins at some limit games, mostly LO8, but more recently Badugi and the 8-Game Mix. As a result, my bankroll has gone from $172 or so in the beginning of 2010 to $530 as of today, an increase of over 300%.

This first hand was at a $1/2 Limit 8-Game table. The 8-Games consist of 2-7 Triple Draw, the H.O.R.S.E. games, NLHE and PLO Hi. I had bought in for $40 and was up to $41.25 when this hand occurred. There were only 5 people sitting at the 6-max table.

I was on the button when I was dealt 22 in the Limit Hold’em round. It folded to me, and since we were short handed, I raised from $1 to $2. The SB folded and the BB, Mako, raised. He had over $50.

The raise was odd, but in mixed games, the limit hold’em (and NLHE) round can play a bit different than at a dedicated LHE game. Players seem to be influenced by either the aspects of the other games in play (Ex., there is a latent feeling of, “Oh, this is the easy game” when LHE comes around), or perhaps they are already loosened up from playing LHE on the tail end of the action-packed 2-7TD or the PL or NL games that precede it. It may just be that the mixed game players are less skilled at LHE compared to the players who are dedicated to LHE (I’m looking at you, old people and F-Train).

So, he raises, which would normally make 22 appear weak, but it was just as likely that I was ahead to AK or even KQ or KJs. This was, after all, a shorthanded mixed game. I considered re-raising to $4, but I was assured he would call the extra $1 and I didn’t think I was in good enough position to pump the pot.

The flop was 237 with two clubs, giving me three 2s. Mako was first to act and bet $1. I considered my options. I will often flat call here and wait for the turn when bets are worth $2 before I raise, but I still believed that Mako could have been on two high cards and was continuation betting. In that scenario, I still thought he’d call an extra $1, but I knew that if I waited for the turn and he missed, I’d lose him with a $2 bet. So, I opted to raise immediately. Of course, if he had a good hand (pocket over-pair), he’d likely call the $1 and still bet out on the turn, so that scenario didn’t bother me either. I saw the flush draw out there, but I didn’t want to start seeing monsters under the bed, and it wasn’t like I was going to push him out of the pot if he had the draw. When I raised, he called.

The turn was a 9 of hearts, creating a second flush draw on the 2c 7c 3h 9h board. Naturally, Mako now opts to check, probably because he saw my aggressive re-raise. I bet out $2 and to my surprise, he raised. This gave me a moment’s pause. What made sense here? Draws were still possible, with top-kicker, like A9c. An overpair, though, was more likely, like TT or even AA. So, I re-raised to $6, securing another call, which re-assured me that I was not facing a superior set.

The river was an 8d, which did not help either flush draw. Mako checks again and I bet $2, getting one last call. At showdown, he showed AKh. He had nothing on the flop, but I knew another $1 would keep him around. He picked up the nut flush draw on the turn and I was able to squeeze in another re-raise on his check-raise once I could decipher that his check-raise was likely done with inferior cards. And on the river, I got one last awfuckit call. I don’t think this hand could’ve been better maximized, especially since I was ahead the whole way. On the flipside, I would’ve never gotten as tangled up in the hand with AKh as my opponent did, so the profit was well earned.

The second hand is from an Omaha Hi/Lo game, with blinds of 100/200.  I think this was single table turbo SNG with a $16 buy-in. I held 2119 chips, up from the original 1500 starting stack. There were still 7 people left. I was UTG when I was dealt As Qs Qh Td.

I guess I was feeling a tad aggressive, because I raised to 600 (3x the BB) from UTG. AQQT single suited is not a monster hand, but if the board is all high, it is a good scooping hand. I probably raised to push out some of the players who would play a weak low draw for a limp. It folded to the SB, Kookie, who had 2015 in chips. Everyone else folded.

The flop was JJQ, rainbow. I had flopped the second nuts. Only JJ could beat my Queens Full of Jacks. So, it was quite a surprise when my opponent bet out 200, a min bet.

Normally,this would be a tempting time to raise. However, a lot of min-bets are draws or weak hands. In any event, I was near-invincible, so I didn’t mind giving my opponent some rope to hang himself. I just called.

The turn was an 8c, creating a club flush draw. Kookie checked and I considered my best move. Considering his small bet followed by a check, I did not expect him to be strong, but I also wanted to make sure I got some value for my hand. It may be tempting to check here and hope he either makes his lesser hand by the river; however, if he misses the river, you are not going to see another penny from your opponent, so it was time to make a value bet. I bet 400, still tiny compared to the now 1100 pot, and reasonable given my opponent’s stack. He called.

The river was a7d, which appeared useless. Kookie checked again and I decided to bet the same amount, 400. Remember, Kookie started the hand with about 2000, and he had already put 1200 into the pot (600 pre-flop, 200 flop, 400 turn), so he only had 800 left. I reasoned that if he did not have a monster hand, he would be reluctant to call an all-in. But 400 looked weak coming from me and, hopefully, justifiable to him. He called and we reached showdown.

He showed AA28 rainbow, for an unimproved pair of Aces (technically 2-pair with the board’s JJ). I took down the pot and almost doubled through Kookie.

If there is a lesson to learn about these hands, its that you must really take your time when making decisions about maximizing your hands. The typical responses may not be the best one, especially when you consider what your opponent may have and what cards may kill or bring additional action.

Later this week, I’ll recap AC, write about the Aces Conundrum and hopefully continue my online streak.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I arrived at the Tuna Club a bit later than usual. I had all my usual poker gear except for a card cap and sunglasses (bad planning), but I was delayed due to work. The Big Bossman gave me a file just before quitting time and asked me to analyze it in advance of a settlement conference today. “Work on this tonight,” was his instructions, so instead of my plan to head to Tuna Club earlier than necessary (as I usually do, only to wonder why I arrive so early), I got to work and grinded out several more hours.

Once done, though, I was on my way for 5/10 LO8, which runs every Wednesday at the Tuna Club. I walked in and the table was already in full swing. I got a seat, ate my quick dinner (steak and jalapeno quesadilla from the Chexican restaurant next door) and then got to work.

It was clear that I was not the only person heading to AC for the weekend. W mentioned that she had extra space in her hotel room if anyone wanted to split the cost. Boat, a big, 50-year old black guy who could pass for 25, was also chatting about accomodations. One guy, though, seemed to have more information than most.

I had never previously met the guy wit the answers, but at a poker table, its usually easy to strike up a friendly conversation. I piped in, “So, you played this tournament before?” AnswerMan said yes, so I followed up with some more questions.

How many runners did it get last time? 225 or so.

How did you do? 10th place.

How much did you win? A little over $1,000.

What was the buy-in? The same. $350+50.

What day of the week was the game last time? Friday and Saturday.

When did the game end on Friday? 1:15 AM, once down to 27 players.

When did action start on Saturday? 1 or 2 PM. (This time, action restarts at 2)

How late did you play on day 2? Until 6 PM, at which point, there were still 9 players left.

I mulled all of this over. I had planned on this trip for weeks, if not months. This was going to be my coming out party for 2010, out to the world of higher-stakes (but not high-stakes) tournament poker. And here I was feeling iffy about it.

Nothing seemed to make sense. I had already co-opted Roose and Hole to join me for the trip. Unfortunately, they both planned to only come down for Friday night and leave Saturday, which left me in AC alone and without a ride home. W mentioned that the busses from AC to NY are actually more expensive than the busses from NY to AC roundtrip, which makes some sense, since the AC casinos will subsidize you coming to them, but won’t subsidize you leaving. That meant that potentially, if I were to win the event or even final table, I would complete play around 6-8 PM Sunday night, then have to find a bus, take almost 3 hours door to door, and then appear at Court the next morning for work.

That is not how I play poker. One of the things i learned in my online poker junkie days was to never start a tournament you couldn’t finish. There was nothing worse than starting a tournament only to stare at the clock several hours later, kinda hoping to lose just so you could sleep. It would be much worse in AC, since I had so much traveling before I could rest. But if that was the only problem, perhaps I could make it work.

It wasn’t. That payout really stuck in my craw. I could make $1,000 profit at Showboat’s soft-as-butter tournaments with a $120 buy-in. I’d done it before, on several occasions, so why spend days in a tournament for a similar payout for 10th place. Let’s be real here. I play with the intention of winning, but I also am aware that sometimes, you can do everything right and still lose. Final tabling was a noble goal, but if I needed to be in the top few spots to see some real money, maybe I was putting too much emphasis on this one particular tournament.

These things danced in my head: timing and money. Timing and money. Timing and money. And then it became clear. I was putting too much pressure on this one tournament. Much like how wifey Kim and I decided that in two years we’d buy a house, only to learn that two years later, our feelings had changed, so to had my initial feelings changed. I was no longer looking forward to this tournament, but was almost anxious about it. I didn’t want to travel to AC with my buddies only to ditch out on them the entire time and play one single tournament whose potential profit, aside from the top spots, could be reached at a cash game or a lower buy-in tournament. I did not want to place myself in a situation where I was essentially losing (either monetarily or by wasting time and making my life more difficult) unless I took down a top tier spot. It just wasn’t adding up.

Thankfully, I have good degenerate friends, and when I informed them of my thoughts, they still wanted to go to AC. So, I’m still going. We have a cheapo room at the Hilton (another hitch, since its as far from the Borg as possible while still being a casino/hotel), so we’ll probably spend our time in the Trop poker room or even make it out to the Showboat late night tournament.

We’ll head back to NY on Saturday, likely in the early afternoon, but my poker doesn’t end there. Perhaps the straw that broke the camels back, Dawn decided to throw her monthly homegame that night. It’s a $30 rebuy, and I’ve had some success in the past, so I’m excited to play. I also haven’t attended one of these in months, so its always fun catching up with people.

Sorry if you are disappointed in me, but I do this for you, my dear readers. Ah, who am I kidding. I have to be true to myself, and that means not standing on ceremony.

Until next time, make mine poker!

I had an action-packed weekend, but very little poker.

Thank god for wifey Kim. If it weren’t for my way better half, I’d probably be a poker hermit, spending all of my hours playing games or looking for games, whether they be online or in person. Thanks to wifey Kim, though, I actually have something that resembles a social life, even if it does get in the way of poker.

Friday night, we met up with another couple in New Jersey for some dinner. Saturday night, we had a birthday party at Pop Burger. Pop Burger is a burger joint with a lounge that is semi-hidden. Wifey Kim and I spent a long time at the party eating and drinking befroe we decided to head home. On the way to the door, though, I walked by a chick who caught my eye. She and I squinted at each other in the dark bar before that look of recognition dawned on both of our faces. It was my ex-girlfriend from high school and the beginning of college. In fact, when wifey Kim and I first, ahem, got to know each other, I was still dating this ex, even though I think we had both checked out of the relationship. This was not quick fling either. I had spent over 2 years dating this chick, and here I am, running into her at a random NYC bar. I knew she was in NY thanks to Facebook and that she was married to a definite downgrade from the J-Man, but what the hell do you say to an ex in this type of situation.

Naturally, I introduced wifey Kim, who, not surprisingly, was looking as beautiful as ever. I then tried to come up with small talk but came up empty. Instead, I switched to, “We are on our way out, so see you around!” I then turned away to where I thought the exit was, but realized that I was walking with wifey Kim into a dead end. We had to double-back, where I saw the Ex and asked, “Any idea where the exit is?” She decided to lead me over there, where we bumped into her hubby. Ex introduced us and the dude got up to shake my hand. I shaked it quickly, allowed myself a moment to bask in the fact that I deflowered his wife (ok, I am a bit petty) and then made the same lame excuse, “Well, we are on our way out…”

Awkward!

I spent most of Sunday looking at rental apartments in Brooklyn. Wifey Kim and I will probably stay put, but if we find an apartment with more space, a better price and a decent location, we’d be willing to move. The evening was spent with buddy Jefe and the Jets’ surprising victory.

Poker, therefore, was relatively light. I got some games in Saturday afternoon, but after losing two $20 HU SNGs and a $16 PLO SNG, I decided to heed my own advice. I seem to lose the most consistently when I have a lot of time to play, so I decided to cut off the action.

Yesterday, my time to play was a lot more sporadic. Since I have the LO8 tournament this week in AC, I decided to stick to the LO8 tables, eventually ending up at a shorthanded limit cash table. I played for a little while, grinding out a small win, and then two-tabled later in the evening for another small score.

The plan for the week is LO8 Madness. On Wednesday, I will hopefully return to the Tuna Club for the 5/10 LO8 game. Otherwise, I’ll be trolling online for LO8 games. I hope to be in fighting shape by the time the weekend rolls around.

Until next time, make mine poker!

My online bankroll keeps growing day in and day out as I slug away at the Summer Bankroll Challenge – Southern Hemisphere Edition. This challenge, like several of the challenges I had participated in in the past, has reinvigorated my game. Instead of playing for the sake of playing, I am playing with a goal in mind. I suppose the extra transparency doesn’t hurt either. When I am only person seeing my online bankroll fluctuations, its easy to de-emphasize the importance of results. When I have to compare my results with a half-dozen or more fellow bloggers, suddenly it matters a lot more to me whether I bubble or min-cash.

On that note, last night was min-cash night. I entered a slew of SNGs, mostly 9 or 18 person $16 PLO8 SNGs but one 45 person $27 NLHE SNG as well. I took 6th in the 45-person SNG for something like $67 or so, along with a fourth in an 18-person SNG (~$27, or $11 profit) and a couple of third places in the 9-person SNGs (worth $27 apiece). That’s all fairly loose. I’m certain about the 45-person results, and I remember a lot of min-cashing, but my exact recollection may be a tad off.

The result, though, is that I have now cracked $450 or so. That’s roughly a 260% increase in my bankroll thanks to the Challenge. Not too shabby.

CK, who incidentally remains one of my favorite reads, has been playing a slew of PLO8 tournaments as a part of the SBC-SHE. Unfortunately for her, she’s been focusing on lower buy-ins ($5 or less, from what I’ve seen) and she’s been suffering a lot of min-cashes that net her a fairly measly payout, even though she is consistently cashing. Those tournaments make sense for one of the sidebets of the SBC, the highest percentage finish in a tournament. Presumably, since the players are weaker at the lower stakes and more plentiful, and since PLO8 naturally attracts worse players than any given NLHE affair, these small buy-in PLO8 tournaments are good value if your goal is to go deep. Still, I couldn’t help but think that with CK’s skills, she ought to be playing higher stakes and consequently taking down bigger prizes.

I asked CK about this in her comments and she made a fair point. Her goal is to build her online bankroll without having to reload. So, bankroll management makes perfect sense. In and of itself, this is an argument that I would not and could not deny. If you accept that you will not (or don’t want to) replenish your online bankroll with outside cash, then of course you should be careful and responsible with your online roll. That has always been a hallmark of my online play until I finally stopped seeing online poker as a real avenue for my poker success. That’s right. I don’t consider online poker a real possibility for success for me. Maybe I’m wrong, and more and more, thanks to this challenge, I am reconsidering that notion; but at the time, I had come to the conclusion that I was not good enough at online poker, mostly because of the distractions and my inability to really focus.

I haven’t completely abandoned that thought. I still don’t see online poker as the way I will actually “make it” in poker. It just takes a certain set of skills, and I think my skill set favors live play. But alas, I do have a larger theory of online poker bankroll management that is worth mentioning, but hardly revolutionary.

Simply put, I don’t have an “online bankroll”. I simply have a bankroll. So, when I played the $44 tournament earlier this week with less than $200 in my online bankroll, I wasn’t really playing above my actual bankroll. My actual bankroll includes the cash I have for live play. That money might not be in my online account, but it could be if I wanted it to, so I see no reason to limit my online play to smaller stakes. I’m playing with my actual bankroll in mind, and not just my online bankroll.

All that said, that does not mean that if I bust out online, I will reload. I may reload, just so I can play certain games or kill time, but ideally, I’d rather just walk away. That’s right. Walk away from online poker. At least for a little bit. Because on some level, I still don’t see online poker as my most likely means to success. It’s just what I do to kill time.

Does this make any sense? Basically, I simply mean that I do not treat my bankroll as its own entity or even as a limiting force, since I know that more poker is always available in the real world. Because of that, I can take chances at higher buy-ins than would normally be advisable based on my online bankroll alone; but I can also bust much more easily online. That second scenario does not bother me that much, though, because I devalue online poker.

Now, lest this seem like a criticism of CK, let me just re-emphasize that CK is actually being smart about her bankroll management. I simply am putting forth the alternative view.

I should also add that this is not how I always feel about my online bankroll. I’ve played lower to avoid having to deposit funds, and I’ve played according to stringent bankroll requirements in the past. Hell, I don’t even think that my current approach is the best approach or even advisable for many of you out there. But its been working for me, especially in context of the SBC.

Until next time, make mine poker!

The Limit Omaha Hi/Lo training has been going exceedingly well. Last night, a little over a month from my actual birthday, I went out to dinner with my parents and wifey Kim to actually celebrate. If you recall, I was actually in Vegas for my birthday hanging out with my invisible internet friends, so it was a nice surprise that the parents insisted even a month later to take us out.

Dinner was eaten at a local small restaurant by the South Street Seaport called Table Tales. The place is great, mostly because it is so unexpected. The place looks like a nondescript coffee shop or something. It sure as hell does not look like a restaurant, with the few, mismatched tables. But the food there is so…authentic. And by that, I mean not processed.

After a dinner of Rigatoni in Sunday Gravy (homemade pasta in a meat sauce loaded with shortribs, brisket, sausage and probably more) and a bottle of Pinot Grigio, wifey Kim and I returned home.

It wasn’t long before wifey Kim was watching Bachelor, so I did what any self-respecting future Gambling Anonymous member would do, play poker compulsively.

I started off with a couple of SNGs, one PLO8 and another LO8. The LO8 SNGs take a while to fill up, since most people are not looking for Limit SNGs, let alone split game limit SNGs. So, while I waited, I opened up the tournament lobby to see if there were a smaller field tournament worth entering.

PokerStars often has tournaments with 1000 or more players. If you have 6 hours to kill, have at it. Frankly, though, I don’t have that kind of time, or, more accurately, that kind of stamina, so I scanned the tournaments for games that had a smaller field. I ended up locking into a tiny tournament with only 7 or so players. The tournament had already started, so we were in Late Registration, which I think can last an entire hour. The tournament field was tiny, but with Late Registration, it could balloon easily to 5x its current size, so I decided to look into the tournament a bit more closely.

Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. It was a perfect setup. It’s my game of choice (at least for now), and the amount of players were manageable. Then I realized why. The buy-in was $40+4.

My current PokerStars bankroll (which is frankly my only online bankroll worth mentioning) was at about $180 or so after entering the two other SNGs. Now, proper bankroll management will tell you that risking almost 25% of your bankroll on one tournament is not an intelligent move, but that never stopped me before. It was almost like my hand had a mind of its own as it clicked the Register button. Once done, though, I knew that I had to play well.  After all, it was practice, and thanks to my poor money management, it was practically a must-win situation to keep myself rolled properly to take a shot at the Summer Bankroll Challenge.

The LO8 tournament ended up topping off at a measly 9 players, or one table. I started off fairly slow and tight as I concentrated moreso on the PLO8 SNG, which was in full swing. I was down to probably 5 players in the PLO8 SNG and still had a full table at the LO8 tournament when another window popped up, the $16 LO8 SNG I had registered for a while ago. I had since forgotten it, but it hadn’t forgotten me.

I three tabled for a while, eventually bubbling in the PLO8 SNG when the blinds were ridiculously high. I ended up taking second in the LO8 SNG when blinds were once again absurdly high. That was a funny ending, since it was me and three other players on the bubble, with one player holding over 10k and me and the other two holding something like 2 big blinds apiece. I positioned myself with some well time gambles, always conscious of whether the other players were about to be forced all-in. Eventually, I ended up against the 10k guy, but the chip deficit was just too high to come back.

Meanwhile, in the LO8 tournament, I was playing super tight. Admittedly, the higher stakes had caused me to use this strategy early on, but once the re-registration period ended and I saw the prize pool, I had to shift my strategy. As it turned out, the tournament was Winner Take All with a $360 prize pool. Now, there was nothing that notified anyone ahead of time of the W-T-A format, so I have to assume it had something to do with the tournament setup. It was probably designed with the expectation of a large field, so maybe 10% payouts were set up, or it was set up for 1 payout per table, or whatever. I don’t know the programming, but the point is, the W-T-A format was a real wrench in the works. Suddenly, I had to win the damn thing!

So, I focused. I knew that I could not just wait for the other players to knock each other out before amassing chips and angling for a cash position, like I admittedly did in the LO8 SNG. Instead, I took opportunities to go after pots and make educated gambles. I began to pick out players’ personalities, and more importantly, I kicked up the aggression just as the blinds got to the point where they mattered. I was able to move from 7th out of 7 to 1st out of 5, when suddenly it felt like I was the 10k player and the others were the tiny stacks. It wasn’t quite as pronounced as in the LO8 SNG, but it was clear that I was the big stack and the others were playing for 2nd place. The only problem they had was the fact that there were no second place prize money.

By the time it was down to 3, I was severely abusing my opponents with aggression. In O8, its a general principle that no hand is at that much of an advantage preflop. Therefore, it can sometimes make sense to gamble it up if you are the big stack and can afford to gamble. I used that principle to essentially force my opponents out of pots, increasing my lead for HU play.

One of my two remaining players eventually started picking up hands and took out the other player. Suddenly, we were heads-up, and while I still had the lead, it was a little less impressive. At 7700 to 5800, my opponent suggested a deal. Blinds were at 400/800, so both of us were officially shortstacks.As I mentioned, no starting hand is that far ahead in LO8, so if I were to play an entire hand betting or calling all the way to the river only to lose, I would be out 2400, and suddenly I would be the one in 2nd place. That’s assuming no preflop raise and no re-raising, so you can see how things were not as secure as one might hope.

This is when my opponent suggested a deal. I agreed that we could work something out, and we settled on 200/160, with 200$ for me. Since he actually held 42% of the chips to my 58%, I was actually giving him about 2% equity (160 is 44% of the 360 prize pool), but I was happy to lock in the win, particularly in a game that could easily devolve into a push and pray fest.

So, to recap, I’ve played a lot of online LO8 tournaments and SNGs in the last week and its been largely a promising experience. Now, this all may mean nothing next weekend when I play the LO8 $400 event at the Borgata, but at least it puts me in nice position in the Summer Bankroll Challenge and I’m riding a poker high.

Until next time, make mine poker!

The Summer Bankroll Challenge – Southern Hemisphere Edition continues on. When I last left you, I was at about $190+ up only about $20 from my starting roll of $172. I’ve since made a tiny amount of additional profit, inching past $200. At least it’s progress in the right direction.

I had intended to play at a new venue last night, the Comedy Club, after Alceste was able to arrange an invite. Sadly, though, I was too tired (read: lazy) to play, especially after I arrived home to wifey Kim and six buttermilk soaked chicken cutlets nearing their expiration date.

The buttermilk soaked chicken did not work out that well, and I’d be glad to take any tips out there from the poker cooking blogging community, or as I like to call it the PoCoBoCo. Ok, I don’t really call it that. But I should.

So, PoCoBoCos, here is the deal. I had some thin sliced chicken cutlets. Ideally, I just wanted to make a good grilled chicken that could be used for all sorts of dishes (tossed with salad, sliced with pasta, eaten on its own or as part of a sandwich). The night before, I noticed I had some leftover buttermilk, so I basically used it as a marinade or brine (I’m not too familiar with brines, other than knowing the concept vaguely), along with some dried, fresh cracked Italian seasonings. I let the buttermilk soak in overnight, and the next evening, I drained the buttermilk, got rid of most of the excess, and cooked four of the six cutlets on the George Foreman Grill. Mine has an adjustable temperature, so I started at 350 for about 5 minutes, but the chicken ended up very pale. I was hoping for grill marks and maybe some nice browning on the exterior, but instead, I had a pale milky-white cutlet that was ironically pretty dry. I tried to increase the temperature to 400 for the grill marks, but by then, the chicken was already DOA.

In hindsight, the soaked-up buttermilk probably poached the chicken in the Foreman. The Foreman itself was likely a mistake. I should’ve used the grill section of my stovetop griddle.

Here is my simple request: Can anyone give me some tips or a recipe on how to make simple grilled chicken?

And for what it’s worth, I took the last two cutlets, covered them in breadcrumbs and fried them up over olive oil. They came out just fine.

Back to poker. With the $400 O8 event coming up in AC in two weekends, I’ve been thinking a lot about the game. For the record, O8 = LO8 = Omaha Eight or Better = Omaha H/L = Omaha Hi/Lo. It seems that each time I mention the game, I use a different moniker. For that, my apologies.

I played a 9-person LO8 SNG last night on PokerStars to practice. It was a Turbo, so it isn’t exactly perfect for the type of patience I will need in AC, but it was my best opportunity to practice tournament OE. I ended up in 2nd, so at least that went well.

I plan to hit up more LO8 SNGs before the big event. I also hope to play some live cash LO8 next Wednesday at the Tuna Club. The goal is to be in prime fighting condition come next weekend.

My main concern, though, is that O8 and most limit games are not really ideal for tournaments. If I get an unlucky streak later in the tournament, that’s all that is really needed to be knocked out. Then again, I guess the same is true for any tournament.

I guess, then, my REAL main concern is to get confident. If I enter the tournament with doubts, I will play like I have doubts. No doubt about that.

Until next time, make mine poker!

After running my online bankroll from~172 to over 300, I felt like I was moving in the right direction for the Summer Bankroll Challenge – Southern Hemisphere edition. I had been playing the $16 PLO H/L SNGs almost exclusively, alternating between the 18-person version and the 9-person version. I would generally start with one or two games and once I made headway, would start up a third and then a fourth. I tended to notice a pattern emerging. I started off with a couple of losers (usually, they were shaping up to be winners, but a late bad hand would set me on a different course), consider giving up, and then win whatever games I had left or had just started up.

As far as patterns go, it wasn’t a bad one to have. Literally, it felt like I was making my nut last minute, but at least I was making it.

Sometime this weekend, that scenario fell apart. My worst online poker days seem to be the days when I have the most free time. If I’m home with hours to kill, I’m playing online poker. And unfortunately, I am not playing particularly well. The result. I went form $300+ to a little over $120. Not good.

While that sucked, I kept slugging away. Thanks to a couple of wins last night, I’m back in the black, hovering around $190. I’ve begun to add more PLO Hi Double or Nothing games into my rotation. These things are easier, insofar as the real strategy is to play very tight; they are harder, insofar as I hate playing tight and the payouts are low, so if you win one and lose one, you are a net loser (thanks to rake). In comparison, if you win one (1st or 2nd) and lose one of the PLO H/L SNGs, you are in the black and potentially very profitable. Regardless, I think bringing in the other game (Double or Nothing) will hopefully keep me from playing on auto-pilot.

I have an opportunity to play in a live game tonight at the Comedy Club, thanks to an invite from Alceste. I had considered playing, but I’m on the fence now. The game starts at 8pm, which leaves me an awkward amount of time between work and play. I can stay at the office late, but I’m not particularly in the mood for that, and regardless, I left my poker cash at home. If I head home, though, I’ll be home for maybe 30-45 minutes before I have to head out for poker. To make matters more complicated, I don’t like playing too late on weeknights (11pm cutoff, usually) and there is a facility fee that may cut into profitability. Woe is me! I’m glad I have access to another game, since that was my goal in the new year (play more poker), but now I need to get out of this lackadaisical funk and actually play.

On a somewhat related note, I am incredibly excited for the LOE tournament at the Borgara Winter Open. It’ll be my highest buy-in event ever at $400, just slightly higher than the WSOP Circuit Events I played in AC in the past. The game, though, is the key. Maybe I can even get the Tuna Club to host an OE tournament for warmup.

The plan right now is to head to AC with Davey Roose. Roose is riding on my dime, since I pretty much just want the company. Naturally, Roose is also recruiting amongst his poker-playing pack, since Roose always rolls deep.

The room rates in AC are actually pretty reasonable, so it isn’t so bad. The tournament starts at noon on Saturday, so the plan is to take the bus out there Friday night to allow me a decent amount of rest. I’m not talking a full 8 hours here. I’ll be lucky if I can squeeze in a solid 6 hours. But its all for the poker.

Damn! Do I need to go to the Borg on Friday night to register? Anyone have any advice/tips? I’ve gone to register the day-of before and it can be a madhouse.

If all goes well, I’ll be playing the tournament for all of Saturday, stumbling back to our hotel that night and then picking up again at 2pm on Sunday.

The tournament is first and foremost in my mind. If I can actually have a good showing, it will put my year on the right path. If not, I’m likely starting in the hole. But poker is a looooooooooooong term game.

Until next time, make mine poker!