Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Snakster Family Death Match Part II
My son, knowing an easy mark when he sees one, challenged me to a dollar tournament again tonight. I reluctantly agreed, and we ended up playing twice. So I flip for deal, yadda yadda yadda, I'm out $2 and I still have not won a hand against him in real money play.
The big hand in the first match is when all the money went in preflop. I was short stacked and shove with A-3. It not being a big raise, he rightfully called with ATC. His ATC happened to be 10-3 and I'm digging my dominating position. I'm digging it more when the flop comes A3x. Turn 10...ummmmm. River 10. Ooooooooooo-kay.
Game 2 more of the same. The big hand was me flopping top pair of Queens and I watch the pot grow through the river. He tables Q-4 which I soon discover is two pair. Thank you come again.
Final updated score: three $1 games, three losses. Hands won: zero. I think I'm going to have him play the next BBT game for me.
The big hand in the first match is when all the money went in preflop. I was short stacked and shove with A-3. It not being a big raise, he rightfully called with ATC. His ATC happened to be 10-3 and I'm digging my dominating position. I'm digging it more when the flop comes A3x. Turn 10...ummmmm. River 10. Ooooooooooo-kay.
Game 2 more of the same. The big hand was me flopping top pair of Queens and I watch the pot grow through the river. He tables Q-4 which I soon discover is two pair. Thank you come again.
Final updated score: three $1 games, three losses. Hands won: zero. I think I'm going to have him play the next BBT game for me.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Pippet!! Here Pippet!!!!!
I suspect there will come a day when young men will realize beforehand that taunting large, wild, carnivorous animals is not a wise recreational activity. Fortunately for this dude there is no picture #4 of the crocodile shitting him out. For the full play by play, go here.
BBT3 Debut Tonght!!!
God willing and the powder stays dry, I should be in the Mookie tonight. It will be real interesting to see how big the field gets.
Okay, that's it for the good news. Now I shall relate to you all how deeply I have descended into the bowels of patheticalness. It's bad enough that I was sitting at my computer last night watching the "skill series" game and listening to Buddy Dank Radio. (The radio part was good, but listening to riggstad talking through what sounded like an empty tin can connected by twine with a half a tin of Skoal in his lip was enough to make me try to scoop out my inner ear with a grapefruit spoon.) Anyway, that was bad enough, but then I started playing Main Event Race freerolls. I think that pretty much defines "rock bottom".
Interestingly....or not....I almost advanced to round 2 in one of them when I finished 4th (top 2 advanced). I'm actually trying to figure out now which path to the WSOP is the biggest lottery...it's a horse race at this point.
Speaking of horse races, The second of three Kentucky Derby Future Wagers pools starts tomorrow and ends Sunday. I was unable to get to the Turf Club for the first one. I was gonna put some down on two horse that time. I'm half glad I didn't. I wouldn't touch the one with a 10 foot riding crop now. But I still might put some on my other horse this time if his number is still decent. For the record, that would be El Gato Malo. Pyro is really starting to look like the strong favorite, but his number is so low, it doesn't make sense to put anything on him at this time. I'll probably find a second horse to take a flyer on before I head out. Frankly, I'm really just looking forward to a good mint julep.
Lastly, I am at work all alone today, and will be for the rest of the week. It seems the place I am working at (not working for) met their performance goals last year, so the company packed them all up and shipped them to Atlantis in the Bahamas for 4 days. They promised to bring me back some sand. I suggested that them bringing back malaria might make me happier.
Okay, that's it for the good news. Now I shall relate to you all how deeply I have descended into the bowels of patheticalness. It's bad enough that I was sitting at my computer last night watching the "skill series" game and listening to Buddy Dank Radio. (The radio part was good, but listening to riggstad talking through what sounded like an empty tin can connected by twine with a half a tin of Skoal in his lip was enough to make me try to scoop out my inner ear with a grapefruit spoon.) Anyway, that was bad enough, but then I started playing Main Event Race freerolls. I think that pretty much defines "rock bottom".
Interestingly....or not....I almost advanced to round 2 in one of them when I finished 4th (top 2 advanced). I'm actually trying to figure out now which path to the WSOP is the biggest lottery...it's a horse race at this point.
Speaking of horse races, The second of three Kentucky Derby Future Wagers pools starts tomorrow and ends Sunday. I was unable to get to the Turf Club for the first one. I was gonna put some down on two horse that time. I'm half glad I didn't. I wouldn't touch the one with a 10 foot riding crop now. But I still might put some on my other horse this time if his number is still decent. For the record, that would be El Gato Malo. Pyro is really starting to look like the strong favorite, but his number is so low, it doesn't make sense to put anything on him at this time. I'll probably find a second horse to take a flyer on before I head out. Frankly, I'm really just looking forward to a good mint julep.
Lastly, I am at work all alone today, and will be for the rest of the week. It seems the place I am working at (not working for) met their performance goals last year, so the company packed them all up and shipped them to Atlantis in the Bahamas for 4 days. They promised to bring me back some sand. I suggested that them bringing back malaria might make me happier.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Belated Report
Well, I have mixed reviews of my trip to Harrah's Marina on Sunday. I like the poker room there. It is cozy (read: small) yet comfortable. It certainly is not on the scale of the Borgata or the Taj, but I don't suppose they are shooting for the clientele of those rooms. The dealers were okay; some were a little challenged when guiding novices on what was and was not acceptable, but no major faux pas. However some seemed to be a little disinterested in their task.
The tournament itself was worse than expected. It turns out the opening blinds were 100-200. So in essence, it was a $50 Riverchaser tournament (before RPT raised their starting stacks to 200 this year). I was disappointed with how I played my uber-passive table. I took a few pots down preflop with aggression, but could have done much more. Overall I played terribly and got what I deserved, which was a fairly early exit.
Not too many good stories to relate. But there were some players who clearly had no idea what they were doing. Botched raise attempts were frequent. "I see the 200 and raise 800." Ummmm.....no you don't.
If I go back there, I do not plan on playing that tourney again. The juice is too high (as a percentage) and the structure is terrible for a casino tournament. I would be happy to bring extra money though and sit at the cash tables. Just casual observation leads me to believe the game there is soft and profitable. Apparently you get free drinks if you're sitting at a poker table too. Why don't people tell me these things?
Moving on...the BBT seems to be a hit so far. 105 players for the Big Game, and 103 last night for the MATH. I plan on making my debut in the Mookie on Wednesday. This may be my only shot this week. I'm not too comfortable dropping $11 on Thursday to play a PLO tourney (how pathetic is that?). Such is the life of a low-roller who doesn't want to deposit any money. I'll make do with what I have (such as it is) for as long as I can.
The tournament itself was worse than expected. It turns out the opening blinds were 100-200. So in essence, it was a $50 Riverchaser tournament (before RPT raised their starting stacks to 200 this year). I was disappointed with how I played my uber-passive table. I took a few pots down preflop with aggression, but could have done much more. Overall I played terribly and got what I deserved, which was a fairly early exit.
Not too many good stories to relate. But there were some players who clearly had no idea what they were doing. Botched raise attempts were frequent. "I see the 200 and raise 800." Ummmm.....no you don't.
If I go back there, I do not plan on playing that tourney again. The juice is too high (as a percentage) and the structure is terrible for a casino tournament. I would be happy to bring extra money though and sit at the cash tables. Just casual observation leads me to believe the game there is soft and profitable. Apparently you get free drinks if you're sitting at a poker table too. Why don't people tell me these things?
Moving on...the BBT seems to be a hit so far. 105 players for the Big Game, and 103 last night for the MATH. I plan on making my debut in the Mookie on Wednesday. This may be my only shot this week. I'm not too comfortable dropping $11 on Thursday to play a PLO tourney (how pathetic is that?). Such is the life of a low-roller who doesn't want to deposit any money. I'll make do with what I have (such as it is) for as long as I can.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Atlantic City Tomorrow
Looks like I'll be making my first foray down to AC tomorrow. My buddy (millerd33 on FT) is looking to get some big stack practice in, so he's heading to Harrah's tomorrow to play in a 40+10. Yes it's kind of a rip off with a $10 fee for a $40 tourney, but I guess it's a moneymaker for them. I'm sure each casino down there needs to find a niche and I guess Harrah's is a cheapo daily tourney for tourists. Anyway, the starting stack is 10K (though I'm willing to wager starting blinds are 50-100 so what's the point?). There are also no antes, so that's a plus.
I expect the play to be at least as bad as the freerolls run by Riggstad's RPT. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it's worse. I fully expect a tourist paradise in this tourney, full of people whose poker knowledge comes solely from watching the World Poker Tour final tables.
But a trip is a trip and it will be nice to get down to AC. Hopefully I'll get a good story or two out of it to relay. Good luck me.
I expect the play to be at least as bad as the freerolls run by Riggstad's RPT. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it's worse. I fully expect a tourist paradise in this tourney, full of people whose poker knowledge comes solely from watching the World Poker Tour final tables.
But a trip is a trip and it will be nice to get down to AC. Hopefully I'll get a good story or two out of it to relay. Good luck me.
Friday, February 29, 2008
A for Effort
Or perhaps that should be E for Effortless. After all, it doesn't take much effort to fold crap. Perhaps the best paraphrased cliche' to describe the RPT for me last night is, Slow and Steady but loses a Race.
Here is my tournament in a nutshell. The first river I saw was the 4th hand after the second break (which I believe was hand 138 or so of the tournament). By rights, I shouldn't have seen that river either. I was in the SB and it folded to me so I raise it up about 4x with Kh8h. The BB repops and I tank. I know I should just let it go, but this exact thing happened on the last hand before the second break. I think I had something like A8 on that hand and decided I didn't want to go busto on the last hand before the break, and I'd hate to make a stand by calling all-in with A8.
With that in mind it made sense to fold the K8 suited, but I pretty much decided to gamble. Up to that point I had not had a hand better than one pair. I had seen only 3 turns, and as I mentioned, no rivers. So I put the rest of my money in and he calls the extra couple hundred. I find, not unexpectedly, that I am up against AQ. Miraculously I river a flush and keep going.
An orbit or so later I flop an open end straight draw and bet out with one caller. The turn gives me the nut straight, but puts three hearts on board (I had one heart but it was fairly weak). I am relieved when my turn bet gets a fold and not a shove. That was the second of the only two hands in which I had better than one pair...out of a total of 190+ hands.
I somehow managed to squirm my way into the final table with a decent stack; a little better than 12K. But my final table experience did not last long. In the BB I get 77. It is folded to the button who position raises. The SB reraises to about 4k or so. I figure the button will fold his position raise, and I put the SB on a big Ace (at least that's what I was hoping), so I make a move and shove with my 77. The SB goes in the tank, and I figure I was right, but I'm still begging for no call. Ultimately he decided to call with his AJ and spiked a Jack on the flop; thanks for playing. The downside of Pyrrhic victories, is that the victor gets destroyed.
All in all, I should be relatively happy with the run I made considering I got virtually no help from the deck. But at the end of the day, it's another non-cash and that doesn't help my BBT3 schedule. Congratulations to whomever the donkey was who ended up winning.
Here is my tournament in a nutshell. The first river I saw was the 4th hand after the second break (which I believe was hand 138 or so of the tournament). By rights, I shouldn't have seen that river either. I was in the SB and it folded to me so I raise it up about 4x with Kh8h. The BB repops and I tank. I know I should just let it go, but this exact thing happened on the last hand before the second break. I think I had something like A8 on that hand and decided I didn't want to go busto on the last hand before the break, and I'd hate to make a stand by calling all-in with A8.
With that in mind it made sense to fold the K8 suited, but I pretty much decided to gamble. Up to that point I had not had a hand better than one pair. I had seen only 3 turns, and as I mentioned, no rivers. So I put the rest of my money in and he calls the extra couple hundred. I find, not unexpectedly, that I am up against AQ. Miraculously I river a flush and keep going.
An orbit or so later I flop an open end straight draw and bet out with one caller. The turn gives me the nut straight, but puts three hearts on board (I had one heart but it was fairly weak). I am relieved when my turn bet gets a fold and not a shove. That was the second of the only two hands in which I had better than one pair...out of a total of 190+ hands.
I somehow managed to squirm my way into the final table with a decent stack; a little better than 12K. But my final table experience did not last long. In the BB I get 77. It is folded to the button who position raises. The SB reraises to about 4k or so. I figure the button will fold his position raise, and I put the SB on a big Ace (at least that's what I was hoping), so I make a move and shove with my 77. The SB goes in the tank, and I figure I was right, but I'm still begging for no call. Ultimately he decided to call with his AJ and spiked a Jack on the flop; thanks for playing. The downside of Pyrrhic victories, is that the victor gets destroyed.
All in all, I should be relatively happy with the run I made considering I got virtually no help from the deck. But at the end of the day, it's another non-cash and that doesn't help my BBT3 schedule. Congratulations to whomever the donkey was who ended up winning.
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