The BULLDOZER is back!

Hevad "Rain" Khan just took down the Ceasar's Poker Classic for a cool Mil. I love the winner photo Cardplayer took of him, shows his personality so well. Here's the recap article. Ryan Lucchesi writes:

Khan let out a loud scream and picked up his chair in celebration. A crowd of drunken night clubbers came into chant with the champion as he showed a bit of the old "Rain" Khan after more than a year of self-imposed silence.

Just something devilish-looking about this guy, but I like it. :)

Today's LOL moment

If you haven't seen Team America World Police don't even read this you won't get the punchline. On lunch I found Tony "Bond18" Dunst's blog link at Two Rags. He's written a series called "Things It Took Me a While to Learn" (look under Required Reading) and the ones I've read were very helpful in adjusting my tournament game.

So I'm back at my desk and I'm reading part 2 on position and I finish it. Then I look at the comments and I see the last one and I just start cracking up. Click below for a bigger picture:

Tranny Ken

Pokerroad Rules

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Obama wannabe assasin looks like.....

Throw a goatee on Mike and a few extra pounds and I think the resemblance gets that much better.

This is the other genius involved in the "plot":



One of the managers in my office asked if he was wearing makeup in the above Myspace picture and I had instant flashbacks of Eric Molina, one of the biggest douchebags to ever get attention at the WSOP. He got hammered and made an ass of himself on national television only to have some incredibly embarrasing Myspace pictures plastered all over 2+2. Like this one:



If you saw the coverage you couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this picture. Watch this at 3:40 in to see his epic clash with eventual winner Jamie Gold. The funny part is the next day when they put him on the feature table and his mommy and daddy were in the audience he didn't have two words to say to anyone. And honestly that may have been his undoing in the tournament because sometimes if it ain't broke don't fix it. I have a feeling he'd have no qualms about his reputation being in the gutter if he had 12 million bucks in the bank. He already ruined it and only got 300K!

My sister had her baby!

Kaylee Grace Stoute is the latest addition to my family. She was born Sunday evening and weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces (Seven Four LOL!). This is her 2nd child. Ashton is 4 years old and is always entertaining which is probably evident by some of his photos. Enjoy.

Brad Booth story

Was perusing the Pokerroad forums and found this gem of a story about Brad Booth that Shronk the producer posted:

This is from '06. Huff and I are playing 1-3 at the Wynn. Brad is playing in some other higher game.

Brad gets involved in a preflop raising war with a guy; they are both really deep. Brad eventually moves in on the guy. After a few minutes go by and the guy is still in the tank, Brad asks the floor if he can show his hand. For some reason they say he can't. Brad takes out his phone, lifts up his hole cards and snaps a picture. He slides the camera across the table to the guy, who looks at the picture showing Brad's A-A and he folds.

A little bit later, Brad tells Scott and me, "That picture was from months ago."

F-ing brilliant. I'm going to try and post more entries like these in addition to recaps of tournaments and cash games. BTW just played a $2.25 "Matrix" SNG where you play 4 tables at a time against the same players and points are awarded based on how high you finish, how many people you outlast, how many you knockout. Best I did on any one table was a 2nd place. I ended up getting like .85 cents back. Weeeee!

It was kind of fun but I'm not rushing to play another one any time soon.

60 minutes story set to air Sunday November 9th

A large part of this piece was put together this summer at the WSOP. The buzz from everyone that interviewed with them is that it is going to make online poker look VERY bad. The term used was "hatchet piece". It's going to be focused on the Absolute Poker scandal which is a pretty incredible story when you get all the details. I was following the threads on 2+2 as it was developing and it was like a live soap opera: every day the shit just kept getting thicker and crazier.

Let me sum up the essentials of the story as best I can.

There was an account named Potripper that seemed to have an uncanny ability to play every situation to perfection no matter what. A well-known online player named Marco Johnson took 2nd to Potripper in a big tournament on AP one weekend where the last hand was so ridiculous that everyone was left wondering. (Marco semi-bluffed [not having the best hand, but a draw that could make a winning hand] all in on an 9 high flush draw and got called by a Ten high flush draw and T high won)

Marco requests his hand history file from AP but instead of sending him just his hands they send him a file that shows everyone's hole cards. This was a complete accident and Marco didn't realize what he had until a month later. He gave the file to people that could interpret it better and they publicized it so EVERYONE could see that Potripper was a superuser.

So the question became who's behind the account? This is where all the drama started because you had all these internet "detectives" on the message boards that kept getting more and more damning info that it was someone INSIDE THE COMPANY. Turns out the owner Scott Tom (young rich frat boy ) was in on it, but his friend AJ Green who he had left in charge while he was away was the person playing the Potripper account.

The best part to me in all the drama that ensued was that Absolute Poker issues a press release in response to the allegations saying "We've conducted our own personal investigation and there is no way that anyone can see hole cards." 2+2 naturally responds saying we're not idiots and this hand history file is damning evidence that it is possible so stop lying. Turns out AJ Green was the author of that release so he was covering his own tracks!

My understanding is that in the end Green cut a deal to where his name wouldn't be released in return for information so who knows if it will come up in 60 minutes. But after everything I read about him and Scott Tom they both sound like grade-A douchebags. It's just a shame that they're in Costa Rica so they'll never really receive justice for the million bucks they stole from their own customers.

Now the big scandal is on Ultimate Bet where previous ownership seems to be involved, including a former Main Event champion Russ Hamilton. This one's apparently even worse because it involves nearly 4 million and has been going for much much longer. Check out this article if you're curious for more detail. This post has already turned longer than I intended. :)

By the way I updated the last post so that you can actually SEE my hands. Didn't realize the converter wasn't showing them if they didn't go to showdown. Ooops. I'm sure that was GREAT reading. LOL

Reverting back to one table cash games

I'm down to $360 now in my account, which is roughly half of what I peaked at in August. I don't like it but I'm not demoralized by it either because I've come to realize that it's just going to happen. The only way to combat it is to keep dropping down in levels and buyins to adjust so I don't go completely broke. THAT would be demoralizing.

The ironic part is I can't drop down cash game levels because $10 buyin is as low as they go on Full Tilt. However, what I've decided to do is stop two tabling like I have been and just stick to one table. My primary motivation for 2 tabling anyways was to build a big hand sample size in Poker Tracker quickly so I could analyze my play. I've still got a ways to go though, so I'm less concerned about getting there so quickly these days. Until then I can just blame everything on variance which is easy! :) Honestly I'm not underrolled (not having enough bankroll for the stakes) for buying in full at NL10 (No limit $10 buyin) and that still makes me happy.

Wanted to share a few hands from last night's session which I came out a small loser, but overall I felt I played pretty well. I listened to the latest Cash Plays with Samoleus and was intent on following some of his instructions on preflop play. Basically he talks about keeping the pot small before the flop so that you can get your money in after the flop with greater edges against bad players.
--



Full Tilt Poker Game #8629570921: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:28:44 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 1: mikednuts ($11.45)
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase ($9.80)
Seat 3: Still Life ($10.30)
Seat 6: Dray ($10.30)
mikednuts posts the small blind of $0.05
OMG Vinny Chase posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [2s Kc]****
Still Life folds
RiverRat2432 sits down
RiverRat2432 adds $10
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $0.30
mikednuts folds
OMG Vinny Chase calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [Tc Kh Td]
OMG Vinny Chase checks
Dray bets $0.40
OMG Vinny Chase calls $0.40
*** TURN *** [Tc Kh Td] [5c]
OMG Vinny Chase checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray checks
*** RIVER *** [Tc Kh Td 5c] [9c]
OMG Vinny Chase bets $1
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OMG Vinny Chase shows [5d 5h] a full house, Fives full of Tens
Dray mucks
OMG Vinny Chase wins the pot ($3.15) with a full house, Fives full of Tens
Dray adds $1.40
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.45 | Rake $0.30
Board: [Tc Kh Td 5c 9c]
Seat 1: mikednuts (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase (big blind) showed [5d 5h] and won ($3.15) with a full house, Fives full of Tens
Seat 3: Still Life didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Dray (button) mucked [2s Kc] - two pair, Kings and Tens

I raised it because the table was playing tight and a lot of hands were just getting folded around. I called the flop because I was either way ahead or way behind. Checked the turn to keep the pot small because my hand's not strong enough to bloat the pot. I ALMOST thought about raising the river because I thought he might be full of shit but I decided to take the conservative route. I thought there was a good chance my hand could be good because it's hard for me to put him on a ten or a King when the flush comes on the river. Turns out he got lucky when he was way behind.
--

Full Tilt Poker Game #8629826580: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:45:51 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 1: mikednuts ($11.80)
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase ($10)
Seat 3: CheddaChasa ($6.25)
Seat 4: mike327 ($9.25)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 ($17.20)
Seat 6: Dray ($10)
mikednuts posts the small blind of $0.05
OMG Vinny Chase posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Kd Ad]****
CheddaChasa calls $0.10
mike327 folds
RiverRat2432 calls $0.10
Dray raises to $0.60
mikednuts folds
OMG Vinny Chase has 15 seconds left to act
OMG Vinny Chase raises to $2.25
CheddaChasa folds
RiverRat2432 folds
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $1.65
*** FLOP *** [Jd 2h Jh]
OMG Vinny Chase bets $3.85
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray adds $2.25
Dray folds
Uncalled bet of $3.85 returned to OMG Vinny Chase
OMG Vinny Chase mucks
OMG Vinny Chase wins the pot ($4.30)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4.75 | Rake $0.45
Board: [Jd 2h Jh]
Seat 1: mikednuts (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase (big blind) collected ($4.30), mucked
Seat 3: CheddaChasa folded before the Flop
Seat 4: mike327 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Dray (button) folded on the Flop

Same player. I had him labeled as a fish because I saw him lose a full buyin with A9 2nd pair of nines against someone earlier. He's playing aggressive post flop. I elected to call in position for that reason and I just didn't feel like coinflipping with the guy for a full $10. I think it's very possible I could get calling by hands I dominated but there few compared the hands he's ahead and I don't want to give him that edge. Missed and folded, move on and wait for a better spot.
---
Full Tilt Poker Game #8629845063: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:47:06 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 1: mikednuts ($11.75)
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase ($12.05)
Seat 3: CheddaChasa ($6.15)
Seat 4: mike327 ($9.25)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 ($17.10)
Seat 6: Dray ($10)
OMG Vinny Chase posts the small blind of $0.05
CheddaChasa posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jc Qs]****
mike327 folds
RiverRat2432 folds
Dray calls $0.10
mikednuts folds
OMG Vinny Chase raises to $0.40
CheddaChasa has 15 seconds left to act
CheddaChasa folds
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.30
*** FLOP *** [Td 5s Jd]
OMG Vinny Chase has 15 seconds left to act
OMG Vinny Chase bets $0.65
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.65
*** TURN *** [Td 5s Jd] [2c]
OMG Vinny Chase checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray checks
*** RIVER *** [Td 5s Jd 2c] [7c]
OMG Vinny Chase checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.50
OMG Vinny Chase folds
Uncalled bet of $1.50 returned to Dray
Dray mucks
Dray wins the pot ($2)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2.20 | Rake $0.20
Board: [Td 5s Jd 2c 7c]
Seat 1: mikednuts (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: CheddaChasa (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: mike327 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Dray collected ($2), mucked

Here's my better spot! Pretty much the same line I took with the K2 except I limped/called with it instead of raising. Way ahead/way behind scenario on the flop. Hand not quite strong enough to build a huge pot with on the turn but glad to see no diamond. This time I came out on top.
--
Full Tilt Poker Game #8629981078: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:56:13 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 1: mikednuts ($11.85)
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase ($10.40)
Seat 3: CheddaChasa ($7.70)
Seat 4: mike327 ($7.60)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 ($17.85)
Seat 6: Dray ($10.30)
Dray posts the small blind of $0.05
mikednuts posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Jc 8h]****
OMG Vinny Chase folds
CheddaChasa calls $0.10
mike327 folds
RiverRat2432 folds
RiverRat2432 stands up
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.05
mikednuts checks
*** FLOP *** [3h 8s 7s]
Dray checks
mikednuts checks
CheddaChasa bets $0.30
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $1.20
mikednuts folds
CheddaChasa calls $0.90
*** TURN *** [3h 8s 7s] [9s]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
THE RIFLEMAN sits down
THE RIFLEMAN adds $10
Dray bets $1.80
CheddaChasa calls $1.80
*** RIVER *** [3h 8s 7s 9s] [Qs]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray checks
CheddaChasa checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [Jc 8h] a pair of Eights
CheddaChasa shows [4s 5h] a flush, Queen high
CheddaChasa wins the pot ($5.70) with a flush, Queen high
Dray adds $2.80
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $6.30 | Rake $0.60
Board: [3h 8s 7s 9s Qs]
Seat 1: mikednuts (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: OMG Vinny Chase didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: CheddaChasa showed [4s 5h] and won ($5.70) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 4: mike327 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: RiverRat2432 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Dray (small blind) showed [Jc 8h] and lost with a pair of Eights

This guy hadn't been sitting here for very long but let me explain my thought process. I limp for the straight possibilities, these days I prefer J8 over J7. Probably not the best play but not horrible either. Since I'm out of position and the flop is draw heavy I prefer to check raise this spot. I can get some better hands to fold and if the draw hits I can lead out on the turn and represent it because my play is strong and I have control of the hand. To me this works better than betting the flop right out, getting called and wondering if he's got a flush draw when it hits. That's the pains of being out of position. It was VERY tempting to bluff the river again but I have to assume he's got a spade or a strong hand when he calls my turn bet. It's just unfortunate he got there but I took it very well.
--
Full Tilt Poker Game #8630135500: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:06:41 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 3: CheddaChasa ($10.30)
Seat 4: Dray ($10.05)
Dray posts the small blind of $0.05
CheddaChasa posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [9d Qs]****
Dray raises to $0.30
CheddaChasa calls $0.20
*** FLOP *** [8d 5h 9h]
CheddaChasa bets $0.30
Dray calls $0.30
*** TURN *** [8d 5h 9h] [Th]
CheddaChasa bets $0.90
Dray calls $0.90
*** RIVER *** [8d 5h 9h Th] [Ts]
CheddaChasa bets $2.60
Dray calls $2.60
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CheddaChasa shows [7d Kh] a pair of Tens
Dray shows [9d Qs] two pair, Tens and Nines
Dray wins the pot ($7.95) with two pair, Tens and Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $8.20 | Rake $0.25
Board: [8d 5h 9h Th Ts]
Seat 3: CheddaChasa (big blind) showed [7d Kh] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 4: Dray (small blind) showed [9d Qs] and won ($7.95) with two pair, Tens and Nines

The table broke up which I wasn't happy about but I decided to stay and just play whoever came. I didn't think this guy was the greatest player and he hadn't left he was just sitting out. I know I'm a good heads up player too so I relished an opportunity like this. I was surpised at his aggression in this hand. I almost folded the turn but I just wasn't convinced my hand was bad. Once the 2nd ten on the river comes I'm confident he doesn't have it and therefore my hand is probably good. Was happy to make some money back off him.
--
Full Tilt Poker Game #8630785844: Table Energy (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:51:34 ET - 2008/10/23
Seat 1: nolaDante ($11.35)
Seat 2: KillswitchND ($8)
Seat 3: Jasza_Blatny ($10.30)
Seat 4: Dray ($13.50)
Seat 5: fullfour ($16.80)
Seat 6: jjcoolay ($7.20)
jjcoolay posts the small blind of $0.05
nolaDante posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [9s Qs]****
KillswitchND folds
Jasza_Blatny folds
Dray calls $0.10
fullfour folds
jjcoolay raises to $0.50
nolaDante folds
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.40
*** FLOP *** [2c Qd Js]
jjcoolay checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $0.80
jjcoolay calls $0.80
*** TURN *** [2c Qd Js] [3c]
jjcoolay checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.50
jjcoolay calls $1.50
*** RIVER *** [2c Qd Js 3c] [8s]
jjcoolay checks
Dray checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [9s Qs] a pair of Queens
jjcoolay mucks
Dray wins the pot ($5.15) with a pair of Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $5.70 | Rake $0.55
Board: [2c Qd Js 3c 8s]
Seat 1: nolaDante (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: KillswitchND didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Jasza_Blatny didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Dray showed [9s Qs] and won ($5.15) with a pair of Queens
Seat 5: fullfour (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: jjcoolay (small blind) mucked [Jd Ac] - a pair of Jacks

The last hand I played. The guy was pretty active from what I remember. These are the kinds of hands I want to get better at: getting value out of hands that are somewhat marginal. I kept the pot small preflop by limping and calling. I figured I could get 2 streets (slang for cards, turn= 4th street, river=5th street; stud has 6th and 7th street too) of value against a worse hand. I'm probably going to post this hand on 2+2 to see if I should have bet the river or not. I was just thinking that once he calls the flop and turn he could be drawing with 9T or slowplaying two pair or something. Basically I don't know if a worse hand is going to call a 3rd bet. He actually had AJ, 2nd pair. Maybe he could call another bet but if I'm in his position and a guy has bet 3 times into me I have to give him credit for at least top pair and would throw it away.
--
So that's that!

I'm building a stockpile of post labels so if you like certain types of posts over others like "player stories" or you prefer "tournaments" over "cash game", "live poker" over "online poker", you can click the label beneath a post and only ones that are labeled as such will come up on your screen. Blogs R k3wl!

Hellmuth is a clown - has a panic attack @ 3am in his home

Hellmuth hates losing so much he has a panic attack

This is one of the greatest threads I've ever read. Nothing brings out sarcasm like a good Hellmuth blog. It's priceless that he'd actually admit to this publicly. You'd think it would belittle his carefully crafted image to do so, but he doesn't make sense sometimes.

It really makes me sick that he is probably the most well known player even to people who don't play cards at all. I do think he's a good person away from the table as many people have attested. It's just that his demeanor and the way he treats other players is awful and yet THAT'S what gets him noticed, and it sets a very poor standard for new players coming into the game: it is ok to act this way.

Bottom line, it isn't, and we should all strive to act the exact OPPOSITE of Hellmuth at the poker table. Less ego, more humility and just having general respect for other human beings at the table regardless of their playing abilities.

And for THAT reason I don't feel the least bit guilty in taking pleasure in his panic attack. Karma's a bitch Phil.

The American Tragedy? Long term vs short term and why poker's different

This past weekend I celebrated my one year anniversary. Kristina and I have been together since high school, 9 years altogether. We stayed at the Hilton downtown, the same place we spent our wedding night. We checked in around 5 and took a cab to Vivo, a tex mex restaurant on the east side of I-35. Rather than get ready for the rest of the night we went casual with what we already had on. I was wearing my Poker Players Alliance shirt that says on the back "Poker: An American Tradition".

Dinner was good. We both got hammered on $9 margaritas. I was ESPECIALLY happy because of the Sudafed I had taken earlier in the day. After it was over I had a really interesting experience with the valet attendant that started with my shirt.

We were waiting on the cab to come back to pick us up and I had to run back to the bathroom. So I'm washing my hands and in comes this skinny guy with long brown surfer-esque hair and he says "Poker the American Tragedy!" I'm like WTF are you talking about??!?! For the brief minute that I'm in there he's basically talking about degenerate gamblers and how people have lost everything, their houses etc. So right away I know this guy doesn't have a freakin' clue as to what he's talking about. Honestly I'm thinking he's exactly the kind of person that would rally against the PPA's cause.

I don't remember what I said to him in there exactly, but it was something along the lines of not everyone's a sick gambler blowing their paychecks. But he was still of the opinion that these responsible people were the exception not the rule, and that most of us were gambling our lives away. The weirdest part of it all was I left the bathroom, walked out through Vivo the way I came in and bam! he's already in the parking lot saying hi to me again. I'm like shit, either this guy's a magician or I'm drunker than I think I am.

Anyways, Kristina and I ended up waiting over an hour for our cab before we called another company. We ended up talking to the valet for a little bit out in the parking lot and I tried to explain to him why poker was different from all other forms of casino gambling. So for those who still don't understand the difference here it goes.

The difference lies in short term vs. long term expectation. Everyone knows that casino games are always rigged in the houses favor and that you may win in the SHORT TERM, but if you play LONG TERM you can never win. That is true.

The reason poker is different is because you are NOT playing against the house, you are playing against other humans. The casino makes money off poker by taking a small percentage of each pot (the rake), but as a poker player you are making money by playing better than your opponents. Humans make mistakes and if you know how to exploit those mistakes well there you go, you're making money. That's where skill comes in. Now let me explain the luck factor because it can't be ignored.

Think about it this way: if you've ever watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN you'll often see them display percentages next to hands that show how often this hand will win and that hand will lose. For example lets say all the money is in pre-flop and you've got KK to someone's JJ. KK is 80% to win and JJ is only 20% before the community cards are even dealt. Or lets say you've got AK to someone's AQ. AK is 70% to win and AQ is 30%.

These are situations if you play enough you'll see again and again, and bad players will consistently put their money in with the lower percentages more than good players will. This again brings me back to long term vs. short term. In the SHORT TERM you can get lucky and hit your winning card 20% or 30% of the time in the above examples. But in the LONG TERM the 80% and 70% hands will win more than they'll lose.

So is there luck involved in poker? Absolutely. Is there really skill involved? Absolutely. The skill is in exploiting players who will put their money at risk when they're behind more often than not and you have them crushed percentage wise. You do that often enough and you will win more than you lose.

That's why poker is different than all other forms of gambling: the human element and being able to choose positive expectation situations. When you play craps or roulette or slot machines you'll always be behind in the percentages and therefore will never win in the LONG TERM because the casinos simply won't let you. That's the way their business works.

The moral of the story: don't be ignorant like the Vivo valet and lump poker into same category as sports betting or casino gambling. It's not the same. And while there are degenerate gamblers in poker that don't know how to manage money, they're the exception and not the rule. If I've convinced you of this at all I suggest you check out the PPA's website. They're fighting ignorance on this issue up in Washington in the attempts to make online poker legal and regulated in the United States.

74 alert!

For those who don't know my favorite hand is 74 (preferably suited). You're probably thinking WTF mate? The reason I've chosen this hand is a) it's unique and it'll be very rare anyone else chooses this as their favorite, b) it's not much different than other suited connectors/gappers like 56, 78, 89 which others will profess to be their favorite, and c) I've won a few memorable pots with it that I'll never forget.

The original pot was in the Lone Star Poker League's team tournament. This tournament was structured to where you had a team of four players that each played their own one table sit n go essentially. Where you finished determined the amount of points you earned for that round and then you combine all your teammates scores for your total. At the end of each round x amount of teams are eliminated if they don't earn enough points. Our team was called Bustanut (the nuts=an unbeatable hand) and it was me, Travis, Pat and Bruce.

We did VERY well and made it to the 2nd to last round, just barely missing out on the final. I ran extremely well that day with a 1st, 1st and two 2nds. Then in the 5th round it seemed I was going card dead...

So I pick up 74 of hearts in early position (under the gun to be exact). I raise 2.5 times the blind and I get called by Tony from the blinds. Tony is one of those unforgettable poker characters. He's a tall skinny black guy and looks like he would be in Snoop Dogg videos. He's always dressed very flashy ghetto, and he also had a "thing" for my one follower Lindsey (see the right sidebar). :) I won't get into that, though hehe.

Tony's a very loose player. If he has chips he will call with just about any mediocre piece of the board and he LOVES to check in the dark (before the cards come out). He was doing it all day. I took full advantage of this by checking behind him when the board came with two hearts. Lo and behold, I make my flush on the turn and he's checked in the dark again. At this point there are 2 or 3 face cards up there, straight possiblities, etc. Rather than slowplay I bet my flush knowing he'll call with a ton of hands I beat - this concept is called getting value or if you're cool with slang, taking him to valuetown.

The river makes a 4 card straight on the board. He checks again. I don't remember what the chips were but basically I knew that he could very well have a straight and since he was the big stack and wouldn't bust, he wasn't folding if he had it. So I pushed all in, he called and I showed the 74! Looking back I wish I'd have shouted out to whole room "I just doubled up with SEVEN FUCKING FOUR EVERYONE!" Ahh hindsight.

All my poker buds know my favorite hand and lately I've been seeing it pop up in big live tournament hand histories online, and on TV in some cases. There was a WSOP episode recently where Patrick Antonius had a full house with 74. And now on lunch I'm reading a hand from the latest WPT tournament on the Poker Road Forums and famous online player Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke talks about another player, Marc Karam, making a move with 74:

"Another friend of mine went out on day 2 (?) when he 3bet (reraised) Marc's open in middle position with AK and Marc immediately moved in with 74s, and this spot looks MUCH better to be making a play than that one."

The above link is a great poker forum where recognized pros can post hands and get critques only by other red pros. This helps keep the discussion relevant and clutter free. It's great and I can already tell it's going to be a HUGE hit with all the online players. Check it out if you're have the itch to be a poker n3rd like me.

2 posts in one day I'm making up for lost time! I should be blogging on my church's site. Oh well, sorry God. You understand. :)

Play tournaments if you enjoy torture

Seriously. Last night Kristina went out to a movie and I jumped in the $28 40K guarantee on Stars with Pat. Finished 52/1485 players but *Teddy KGB Russian voice* I feel so unsatisfied. Poker players who have gone deep understand what I mean when I say tournaments are torture, but for those who don't let me explain (JayAre, Benny shoutout)!

Tournaments are torture because when you start you have a lot of chips and that inherently means luck is less of a factor because you don't have to risk as much. Your goal is to slowly accumulate or, in some cases if you have big hands, capitalize big on them against the bad players that haven't busted out yet. However, in "tourneys" the money is almost always weighted near the top. Unfortunately as you get closer to the top only the top 3-5 chip leaders have a stack even close to resembling what you started with in comparison to the blinds and antes. So tournaments esentially go: play good for hours and then when it counts, hope to run like God (getting lucky and not UNlucky) to get to the good money.

That's why a lot of serious players call them "donkaments" (complete phrase LOL donkaments) because any donkey can get lucky and win a tournament, even the World Series of Poker. Most players will agree the test of a truly good tournament player is not one big win, but consistency in getting deep and to final tables.

So back to my tournament, I thought I played well and effectively utilized some tweeks I've made in my overall endgame strategy. I got most of my chips early from a crazy Norwegian who the poker gods thankfully put to my right. Not long after he moved to my table I cracked his AA with my TT when the flop came T high. You could tell he was on tilt after that by his chat and how he was playing after we got back from break.

I kept waiting patiently to get involved with him again and take some more off of him since he had built his stack back up by playing just about every hand. I got the opportunity when I limped in with 89 of clubs. The flop came 8 8 J with two diamonds. I don't remember the action but I know we got all the chips in on the blank turn and he had Q9 of diamonds for a straight and flush draw, and he thankfully missed. I later crippled him with AQ vs his KQ when he tried to bluff me unsuccessfully. :)

I sat for a while until the luck factor started creeping up. Last 3 major hands I played were AJ against 77 where I had to sweat it all the way to the river before hitting my J. Then I tried a resteal all in against a different player on my right with K9 and he called with AQ (40% me, 60% him). Flop came 7 8 T and turn a 6 to give me a straight.

The final hand I had about 60K in chips and the blinds were 2/4K 600 ante. At this point I've been playing for 4 1/2 hours and Kristina's made it back home. We're already in the money and I pick up QQ. I raise to 11K from late position. Big stack two seats to my left reraises me and I push in. He tables KQ. I'm a 70% favorite, one of the best situations I can ask for this late in the game. Flop comes T x x. A turn and J river to give him a runner runner straight. :/

The thing that sucks about going deep like that and falling short is it's REALLY hard not to see dollar signs. Every time it happens I try my best not to think about it and just play my best game and the table I'm at, but hey 7K is not chump change to me. When you play 20+ hours a week online all year with no MAJOR results and you get close to a big payday it's damn near impossible to keep a clear head.

But good ol' poker will smack you right back down to reality a lot of the time! Only sick people that love torture would play tournaments as a profession. But hey it's OK. The point is to have fun and enjoy the game and I can say I did that and I didn't throw anything across the room when that river card hit. Progress is all you can really ask for right?

Going to play Craig's game tonight, hopefully the good play and good cards will continue. Peash!

Cash plays / hand from last night

Cash Plays is a fantastic cash game radio show on http://pokerroad.com. It's a very strategy oriented format that goes into a lot of details in analyzing hands. The host Bart Hansen talks to a lot of prominent live and online professional players. The show is really tailored more for nerds like me that understand the language, so it's not for beginners. But if you've played enough to follow what they're talking about, it's really one of the best programs out there to learn.

So the post on 2+2 I just made about a hand I played last night is kind of a reflection of how religiously I listen to this show. Speakin' the jargon!

I'm feeling very poker obsessive this morning but now that I've got that and this out of my system I think I'm ok for the rest of the day.

Blogging through phone call ONSLAUGHT

I know I've been neglecting this thing for over a week. Haven't been playing a lot online and what I have been I've been losing for the most part.

I kicked ass two Sundays ago in our home game taking home an 8 buyin profit and damn near breaking the game. That's the benefit of playing .10/.20 cash games with guys who routinely play 1/2. They're not afraid to blow through 80 bucks. :) Played again this past weekend because Nick was in town for his birthday. This time HE was the 8 buyin profiteer, and he pointed out that it's the same weekend a year later when we were in LA for my bachelors weekend and he kicked ass then too. So we've both figured out that the later part of the year we seem to run better. I was happy for him, although I wasn't happy when I donked off quite a bit of money with AQ top pair in pineapple to his set of Jacks.

I'm still sitting on my live roll to go play just waiting on the right timing but I'm definitely more confident than I was a week and a half ago. 8 buyin profit session will do that to you I guess.

Congrats to my good friend Pat the professional online plo grinder. That same Sunday I was wrecking shop he made a 5K score in a Stars tourney, and then made an additional 1500 right after in the cash games. So he shipped me the 50 I lent him a while back to run up for me. We're planning on coordinating playing a medium stake tourney together. I'm not going to keep notes on Stars unless I get a decent roll going there. It's a pain in the ass keeping track of more than one site. :)

Lazy Saturday

It's almost 1pm and I'm still in my jammies. LOL Got my laptop hooked up to my TV and have been playing since 10am and still going.

I'm still sitting on my $ for the 1/2 game for two reasons. One, Kristina's been getting off early all week so I've been spending a lot of time with her and it's been great. Two, I don't feel like I've been on my game at all this week. I think I've lost every cash session I've attempted online this week. I haven't really reviewed the sessions but in general I feel a major leak in my game is playing sheriff too much lately and not being willing to fold when my instincts tell me to. I think that stems from the games being really fishy and good this week though. So basically until I start winning a bit more and get my confidence up I'm going to just use my little live roll for the Sunday games and Craig's bimonthly tourney. I'm 2 for 3 in that thing with a 1st, 2nd and a 13th (first out). But that means I play to win motherfuckers! :)

Point balance still hovering around 18K. Check out this bustout hand of the 600 2 table I just finished. Made for TV:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8345521559: Poker After Dark Satellite (63448862), Table 2 - 120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:33:39 ET - 2008/10/04
Seat 1: airmax98 (895), is sitting out
Seat 2: Zschens (5,185)
Seat 3: 301rounder (355)
Seat 4: Death Tilt (1,840)
Seat 5: Dray (2,590)
Seat 6: SP250 (3,505)
Seat 7: Zocki Hook (7,460)
Seat 8: DAZZZZLING1 (1,395)
Seat 9: lekif (3,775)
Dray posts the small blind of 120
SP250 posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [5c 7c]
Zocki Hook folds
DAZZZZLING1 has 15 seconds left to act
DAZZZZLING1 folds
lekif folds
airmax98 folds
Zschens folds
301rounder folds
Death Tilt folds
Dray raises to 2,590, and is all in
SP250 calls 2,350
Dray shows [5c 7c]
SP250 shows [Qd Qs]
*** FLOP *** [6d 3c 4d]
*** TURN *** [6d 3c 4d] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [6d 3c 4d Qh] [4h]
Dray shows a straight, Seven high
SP250 shows a full house, Queens full of Fours
SP250 wins the pot (5,180) with a full house, Queens full of Fours
Dray stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,180 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 3c 4d Qh 4h]
Seat 1: airmax98 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Zschens didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: 301rounder didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Death Tilt (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Dray (small blind) showed [5c 7c] and lost with a straight, Seven high
Seat 6: SP250 (big blind) showed [Qd Qs] and won (5,180) with a full house, Queens full of Fours
Seat 7: Zocki Hook didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: DAZZZZLING1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: lekif didn't bet (folded)