My take on Tieds' Poker Game

Tieds had a really nice 8 person tourney on Tuesday, and what a better way to relax than playing a little poker. The structure was nice and deep starting with 5K in chips and blinds at 25/50. The first hand of the night i picked up 7h8h. I raised it in MP to 150, and just Ditty called. The flop came 7s3s3c. He checked, I bet 300, and he flat called. The turn came a blank and he checked. I think I bet around 500 or so, and he folded. He later claimed to have had a 7, but figured me for an overpair. Wbew.

I ran into some cold cards after that, and came into a cheap pot with 59d on the button. Dennis called in the SB and Bob checked. The flop came 743 with one diamond. It checked around, and a 2 came out on the turn, checked around again. Finally a 9 came out on the river and Bob bet out 600. I didn't think this was a play that could net me more money if I raised, I'd either get re-raised or he'd fold, so I decided to call. Bob mucked before I could show my pair, I assume he had a hand like K high or something. As I wrote this, I realized it was really boring.

Long went on a pretty cold streak apparently, and never really entered any pots. When he did, he was able to triple up, but then was soon eliminated. Ditty went quickly as well. Dennis had built up quite a stack at this point and was being quiet, followed by patches of agression. I figured he would try to steal whenever, but I had a hard time picking up a hand to counter with. We'll deal with Dennis at the end of this blog.

The swing hand of the tournament came after Tieds busted Bob (who for having a lot of chips to start with, played quite quietly.) It was only fitting though because Tieds and Bob love to tangle, never played a hand against each other all night, and then the one hand they DID play together, one of them was eliminated.

Anyway, the swing hand went like this. The action folded to Tieds on the button and he raised to 1200 with blinds at 200/400. Simpson folded in the SB and I wake up with 66 in the BB. I elect to call, after thinking about re-raising in this spot. I did some math and didn't want to get pot commited to the hand before a flop with this hand out of position. I called the 1200 and we saw a flop of AJx. I ran through the possibilities on this hand and decided that it could go 3 ways: I check (I lose), I go all in (It looks too obvious, I probably get called by a better hand), or I make a modest bet (in which I put him to the test, and can fold if he moves in.) I decided to bet 2400, but then took one $500 chip and make it $1900. The pot now was around 2800. Tieds had about 7K left so I figured this would be a good play. Also, the J gave me some cover if he had an underpair to it. My only way to win this hand is to bet, and hope for the best. Tieds actually looked like he was going to move in on me, but folded his 9's face up. I did the same just for advertising for later.

This gave me a nice stack and Tieds wound up exiting in 4th place. Now onto Dennis. He had quite a stack going in and was being really agressive whenever he had the button and in the blinds preflop. I had to make a stand to let him know I wouldn't let him control the table all the time. Dennis was on the button, and raised it to 2500 with the blinds at 400/800 and a 100 ante. Simpson folded and I found AQo in the BB. I had 8400 left. I thought about it for a while and decided that calling was a very weak play here, and I certainly couldn't fold. Based on the amount of times he was raising per round, I had to take a chance that I had the best hand. I moved in for a raise of 5900. Dennis pondered and folded.

Next hand, I have AK in the SB and I raise it to 2600. I collect the blinds again. Then when Dennis was on the button again, he raised it to 2500 again, and I find 99 this time. Again, I go all in hoping that he'll call this hand with A rag hoping I was just setting him up for before. He folds again, and is now the short stack. 2 hands later, on the button, I find A5 and raise it to 2600. Dennis now decides to go all in after much deliberation, and I immediatly called as I knew I had the best hand. He had K10 of clubs, and the door card was an Ace. Now it was down to Simpson and I, heads up.

We played many hands just with limping and checking it down, and I realied that he didn't want to play any big pots with me, so my best bet was to flop a monster and hope to trap. He probably had the same thing going through his head. Hopefully I could try and steal as much as I could. Turns out I didn't need to as I picked up a pair, AJ, and AQ all fairly quickly and won some pots preflop uncontested. The last hand went like this: Simpson raised double the blinds and I called with 57d. The flop came J46, and I was first to act. I decided to bet 3500, and win it right there. Then Simpson moved in on me! Hmmm well, I know 7 high can't be the best hand here, but Simpson is offering me all his chips if I can draw to the nuts. I have him covered so if I lose, the tournament is not over. I rationalize that Simpson will not give me another opportunity to get his chips like this in such a spot where I have enough outs, so I decide to call. He has JT and the turn is a 5. Ok, so now I have 14 outs instead of 9. The river is another 5, and my trips win the pot, the tournament and I go home $100 winner.

I liked my play tonight as I didn't need to bluff alot, and got cards when I needed to, but made the correct plays with the cards I was given. Well, that's all from me now, on a short note, I placed 12th in Eddie's last night out of 31 players. I really padded my lead a bit for the top spot, with only one week remaining. If I'm on my game next week, I could be hard to pass for the chipleader of the freeroll. Let's all hope so anyways.

Ditty, thank you for posting, it makes me feel as though people actually read this mess. People should follow suit and say what's up!

Welcome to Florida

So I'm here in the lovely state of Florida, visiting my parents. It's a great vacation and I spend the mornings at the pool catching some sun, listening to my Ipod and going for a swim. But...I found some card rooms too! First stop was on Thursday all the way down in Hollywood to visit the Hard Rock Casino. Fun little place, but it was then I realized some major differences with how we gamble up north.

First off, there's no table games. None. So you're probably thinking, Gregg, what do they have? Well, they have slot machines. But they're not really "true" slot machines. They're basically video bingo. Picture this: A bingo card above the animated slot graphics. Then you put your money in and hit the button. You see what happens and get paid accordingly. But...if you just look above at the bingo card when you hit the button, you can see before the graphics ever load, if you have a winner by seeing if the line is complete with red marks. So, it's instant gratification if that's what you like, but to me it just felt cheap.

So, blackjack is illegal, which I hear they're working on, so the only other thing they have is poker. Perfect! So what game did I play? Let's see, was it 3/6, 4/6, 5/10? Well, after looking for a game higher than 2/2, I was told that Florida only allows a max bet of $2. $2? WTF?

I put my name on a list and get one of those beeper/pager dealies that lights up and vibrates when you have a table at TGI Friday's. I waited for about 20 min and got a seat at the 2/2 game. It's weird just saying it...2/2.

So how do you play a 2/2 game? Well, the blinds are 1/2 and you bet $2 on every street. No doubling on the turn and river here folks, no way to trap anyone for extra bets or check raise on the turn for value...nope, just bet it out, and hope your good hands hold up. Well, we were kind of on a time restraint at the Hard Rock so I could only play for 90 min or so. In that time period, I made a profit of $165 in a game where you can only bet $2. It was crazy, and I didn't make a flush or a straight at any time. The best hand I was was a set of Queens. Top pair was ALWAYS good and you got overcalls like crazy. This is a new thing I try not to do, as it's a loose part of my game. Well, I got paid off like crazy, and it was time to go.

The next day, not much was going on and I decided to go down to West Palm Beach to go to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Yes, a dog track, but the signs on I-95 told me they had a poker room with "new, higher limit games!" So I went on down, and signed up for....oh shit, they lied 2/2!!!

I began to think that maybe they had run .50/1 at one point, and this was their "new higher limit game." Well, I sat down at a 1/2 game first while I waited for a "straight 2" game to open up. Well, the 1/2 game threw me for a loop too. First off, there's only 1 blind....I'll repeat that. In a 1/2 game, there's only 1 blind. The Small Blind for $1. Then I figured you can raise up to 2 preflop. Ok, then the button raises from 1 to 3! Huh? I ask the dealer and you can raise in 1 or 2 dollar increments. Ahhh so up to $7 preflop, and you can lead out for either 1 or 2 on the flop, and raise in that increment. Gotcha. Well, I won $14 on this table and got called to my other game. This one was brutal. The long and short of it was that I got beat up and was a $85 loser. I guess it was beginner's luck.

Funny story I actually read online at Josh Arieh's website today that said he lost $1000 playing 2/4 the first time he played. And he only had $1100 to his name....haha..

I went back again today, Sunday. Again, nothing really going on. I decided to play a tournament as they're offered Sun-Thurs. Everyone who reads this is going to rib me, but it was a $45 tournament where you start with 800 chips, the blinds start at 25/50 and they go up every 10 min. Oh, and the fee works out to be 32+13, for about 29% juice!!!!

They call them "Turbo Tournaments" and I can see why. I wanted to try a strategy of "if i get a pair and there's action before me, I move in." Basically the same thing with any 2 big cards. It was definitly a gamble, I won't lie. Ok, on to the action!

The first hand I pick up 2 black Q's. Only having 800 chips and I'm UTG +1, I raise to 225. The player to my left quickly calls and everyone else folds making the pot 525. The flop comes A96 rainbow, and I hate this flop. I plan to check/fold, and the player checks behind me! The turn came a J, and I bet 300. The player folds, and I win the first pot. I'm in the BB 2 hands later a bunch of people limp and I have KJd. The SB bumps it another 100 and everyone calls. The flop comes K89 and the SB checks. I bet 300 and the guy to my left calls, everyone else folds. The turn is the Ad, and I push all in. The guy only has 100 left and he couldn't reach for it faster, it's now obvious he had A9 and I say "I think you got me, and he has AJ! Called 3/4 of his chips with no pair on the flop!!! WOW...the river is no help and I'm in trouble now.

Only having 450 left, I need to pick up a hand. The blinds have now gone up to 50/100 and I fold for a couple of hands. I eventually get AhQs in the cutoff and one player goes all in for 150, I push in for 450, I get called by that pesky player to my left, who I want a call from now, based on his crappiness earlier, and the SB goes all in for 275. Side pots a plenty and here's what I'm up against. SB has K2, MP player has A2, and the pesky guy has KJ, 2 live cards. Well, the flop came QJ3 alll clubs. The guy to my left has the Kc and honestly, I didn't even see that I had flopped the best hand, all I saw was that he paired his J and had a club draw. When the club draw hadn't gotten there, I announced that I was done, and started to get up. The dealer informed of my tomfoolery and I felt like an ass.

After busting 2 players getting a nice stack, I went on a run on the motormouth of the table in the 8 seat. The player in the 10 seat raised to 300, and I looked at 88 in the BB. I had to keep to my strategy and reraise with any hand I thought had value in it. I asked how much he had left, and he had another 300, which was definitly going in on the flop. I took a bunch of chips out of my hand and proceeded to make it 600, but I had 7 chips in my hand. The dealer told me that all the chips I brought out played, so the bet was 700. I was not too happy but obliged to the rules. The motormouth, who was the chipleader at this point, called quite smugly, and now I was concerned. The flop came KdJd8c. I was first to act, and no doubt had the best hand in my mind. Here's where the other guy made a cruicial mistake in my eyes. I only had 700 left roughly and would he call all of it here? It was then that I noticed him eyeing my stack and putting chips in his hand. Why would he do that and let me know he would call? I've seen plenty of people do that and be bluffing to get a free card, shit I've done it. But it was here that I knew I had to push in, no sense to trap, the pot was 2K. I pushed in and he called quickly with....99....yes, 99. Now why woud he call so quickly with 9's when those overcards came out and I had reraised before the flop. He almost seemed proud when he did it too, which made the next moments all that much sweeter. The dealer asked us what we had, to which I replied "just a set." The dealer lost it, apparently never hearing that one before. The other guy told me he had a set also, he was just gonna get it on the river, with no joking in his voice at all. Well, he didn't get it, and thankfully so. I then busted the pesky player to my left when we were 3 handed and I found A5c and moved in. He called with Q9o. The flop came A43, and it as over for him. After playing a few hands we decided to chop the pot, with both of us taking $160. We each tipped the dealer and with the cash game I played for 2 hours, I was a $101 winner today. Well, I leave on Tuesday, and I'll finally tell all about Eddie's game 2 weeks ago, and this past week, (one is more interesting than the other). Later, and leave comments dammit!!

Strong showing in 2nd Bohemia Game

I went to Simpson's Bohemia game again last night, and enjoyed a 10 person deep stack tournament. At this game, you can pick wherever you want to sit, and with the other players probably not too keen on the art of position, I sat myself to the left of Tieds, and the most aggressive player that I remember from Tuesday. After noticing that I was on Tieds' left, he smoothly stated "You know what, this chair isn't that comfortable, I think I'll sit over here" and sat down directly to my left. Pretty funny stuff if you're Long, Simpson, Tieds or I.

The game as they see it, consists of hanging out and drinking beer and being loud. I almost think that some people think that if they lose a pot, their masculinity is in question, and are forced to call to "be a man." One guy did it with 5 high last night after Tieds went home.

I never drink anymore when I play cards, too many losing sessions. I prefer to play the game as well as I can, whenever I can. This being said, the beer started flowing promptly, and off we went to start the game!

I waited patiently for a little bit to see what kind of hands were being showed down. I caught alot of hands being won with middle pair, little kickers. I then raised every time I got 2 picture cards, KT, any Ax (with x being above 7). Funny that I mention KT, but I bluffed off alot of my chips when I got called down on the river with 4th pair! Tieds and I then conferred that why should I bluff off my chips here? They're going to call anyway, just don't get impatient. So, I buckled down and played some boring ass poker for a while.

The aggressive player from my right opened up with a raise to 14 with the blinds at 2/4. It folded to the player to the right of Simpson who re raised to 24. The button then went in for 165. He got 3 callers, and we only started with 265 chips. There was a side pot, then another side pot for another player who went all in with a flush draw that missed. The original raiser showed QJh, another player showed AJ, and the all-in player showed 89o!!! The AJ took it down when he turned an A.

Now, this player was obviously very late to a date with his girlfriend and she would keep calling him during the game. It was obvious that he was going to dump his chips eventually, I just had to be there to pick up the pieces. The problem was, he had so many, that playing recklessly with him could get costly.

Tieds would eventually raise with JJ and Long would move over the top with AA. They got it in and Tieds was eliminated.

I was now the short stack at the table, and when it was time for the blinds to go up, Long mentioned it. The owner of the house said that they should stay where they are because "we were betting." Knowing that I would be crippled if the blinds went from 5/10 to 10/20, and I only had 135 chips left, I thanked him verbally. To this he said "why are you thanking me?" It was then that I realized that he didn't know the logic of raising the blinds. I proceeded to say something in jibberish and shut up about it.

I managed to pick up some hands and had a slightly less than average stack when we lost another player. Now we were down to 4 people, and I found 7's in the SB and decided to call a raise from the HUGE stack with the girlfriend problem. I figured If I found a favorable flop, I could move in. The flop came 885. I moved in for 435, and it folded to the big stack who thought for a bit, and decided to call!!! The only problem was he flipped over 99!! DOH! I thanked everyone for the game and grabbed my jacket, and a 7 peeled off on the turn!!! No 9 came, and I was right back in it.

He was eliminated soon thereafter going in blind with J6 against Long's AQ. I had 7's again, and called his all-in, but Long pushed me out with a re-raise to 400. I questioned him on it at the time, but my 7's would've been no good as he flopped a J and Long turned an A.

Now we were down to 3. Long, myself, and the owner of the house who was...drunk....Well he had at least 9 beer cans behind him. Well, this hand came up and changed alot of things.

I got KhJs and decided to raise 3x the blind to 60, we were at 10/20. Both players called and the flop came Qh9h4h. I liked my hand here as to me, I had 15 outs that would give me the best hand. 9 hearts, 3 10's and 3 K's. I checked here, hoping to get a free card but would call any modest bet. It checked to the button and he bet 200, which was a huge bet so far. With the pot laying me a little less than 2-1 and my odds being close to 55%, I made the call. The turn was the Kc. I instantly moved in now for 435, and the button began to think...and think....and think...I figured I was good now, but he waited and waited and made the call. He flipped over J6h for a flopped flush!!! Geez....well, now I was down to 7 hearts in the deck giving me a 12% chance to win. Well, the 2h came on the river, and I took out the other player as I had him covered by 50 chips. Talk about getting lucky!

Heads up now between Long and I and we traded blinds like no tomorrow, rarely seeing a flop. The last hand went a little something like this. I called on the button with J6, and Long raised me 150 more. I called because this was his standard play. I planned on taking this hand away from him later. Well, the flop came TJQ rainbow and he bet 400 and I moved in. Questionable play? Probably, but I felt it was the best move at the time. He thought about for a long time and decided to call and flipped over AJ! Wow, that whole time he thought he was beat. I guess he gives me more credit than I thought. Well, the turn was a 8h, and the river was a 6s giving me two pair and the win for the evening. I got lucky 3 times exactly when I needed to last night, and it paid off in dividends. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

NOT...the King of Clubs...

Well, quite a hefty update for today. Since our last chat, many events have taken place. Let's start with some live ring game action the night after the heads up tournament.

I went to Hall's and played for a while and had a losing session. Probably around -$30 or so in a 3/6 game. After working in the city for most of the week I was home on Wednesday and went to Eddie's game as per usual. I forget how many people he had, probably around 26 (that's the danger in me taking time off during reports, I forget details and stuff.) Actually, after checking his website, http://www.freewebs.com/lpt1 there were 26 people. Nothing really eventful happened and I made the final table, and was busted out first, coming in 10th. I seem to be having trouble in these events lately. Overall, I'm just about even in my winnings/event fees, cashing 2 times with one win. The win was $265 and I had a 3rd place for $90. So I'm +25 for this season so far. Oh well, better than being down $330.

I came home again on Friday night and ended up playing a tournament at Hall's for what reason I'm not sure. I don't know why, but it seems to me that I feel like every time I play there I feel rushed. I asked Mike to raise the chip amount to play some more solid poker as I felt like we were moving in every hand after an hour. He agreed, and we played a good game actually. I had a big hand where I had 2 black aces 2 off the button. With the blinds at 75/150, I raised to 525, and Hall just called, but looked like he wanted to raise. I'm guessing he didn't put me on a big hand and was going to try and take it from me later. We got one other caller, a very loose guy in the SB. Flop came 3 rags with all spades. I decided to bet 2/3 of what Hall had left so he had no choice but to push in if he wanted to call. He pushed in and I called. Hall showed QsQh. I had him down to the last 2 queens because of my As. No help for him, and Hall made an early exit. I made it down to the final 4, and was knocked out after my 6's did not hold up against AJ.

Now on to Tuesday of this week. I did not go to Hall's season tournament because I don't like the idea of paying extra money that I can't compete for later in the freeroll as I am not available for the whole season. (Run on sentence maybe?) Instead, Simpson brought me to a new game in Bohemia that is detailed on http://www.tieds.com/pn. I had a hard time adjusting to the game and the way that it was run. In my opinion, they took the action out of the game, by increasing the blinds when they felt like it instead of at predetermined times. I got bored and antsy about 2.5 hours sitting through and bluffed off alot of chips with KJ and someone called on the river with A2 for top pair but no kicker. The horror was that as he was calling he said "I know I'm beat." I don't know why you would put money into a pot if you "knew you were beat." That's just assinine to me, I don't mind anyone calling me down, but don't say you're beaten as you do it.

I left there and went to Hall's 3/6 game around 11:30. I sat down and was stuck about $84 out of my $100 buy in in about an hour. I then went on a run of cards like you wouldn't believe and went from having $14 to $245 at my highest peak. I had KK and the flop came K33, and I couldn't get any action. But my good hands held up most of the night, and I was able to get paid off most of the time. I went down to even for the night, and thought about cashing out. I decided to stay however, and ran my stack up to $180 and cashed out.

Now....Eddie's last night. Well, I ran well in the tournament and the field was pretty deep, 29 players. I got Aces in the first level of the tournament and there was a raise before me to 250. I decided to smooth call it in MP with hopes of action before me to build a pot. This being the relatively smart game it is, people respected the action, and got out of the way. Flop came KQ7 rainbow. He led out 200 and I thought about a good amount I could get out of him, but the KQ scared me as this was the only 2 pair I could see him having if he had me beat. I decided to find out and raise it to 600. He eventually folded, and he asked the dealer to run out the cards. He was happy to see the 10 on the river and said he would've won, so I assume he had AJ. Good way to win that pot when I did.

I then ran into the force that is Joline, Eddie's girlfriend at the table. She has an uncanny way of getting a huge amount of chips early on in a tournament, and where was she? Directly to my left. She lost a couple of big pots by calling all ins with AJ when she was dominated and other assorted situations. So, I think mentally she decided her only move was all in. However, I didn't find this out until I opened 2 pots with a 3-4x raise, and she went over the top for like 15x more. I had to wait for a hand where I could trap her into doing this again, but I literally could not pick up a hand until we made a final table.

So down to the final 10, I have 5500 with the blinds at 300/600 with a 100 ante. It's costing me 1900 this orbit alone, and the blinds are going up to 400/800 in 6 minutes. I have to double up or go home. I basically just want to find an Ace and move in. Well, it didn't take long. Sof went out in 10th place after having a nice stack and getting decimated by Eddie in a hand before and losing with his JJ the very next hand. Down to 9, I found an A in MP. There were 2 folders and I saw the Ac, and didn't look at the next one, ala Doyle on the WSOP freeroll. I moved in for 4800 and got a short stack of 600 and another short stack of 2000 to call me. Now Joline, my archnemesis in the BB, goes all in!!!! We all flip over and short stack #1 has A2o. Short stack #2 has A10o. I have A4c...well...er...they're suited...and Joline?? Well of course she was KK! The flop comes 993 with 2 clubs!! I couldn't ask for a better flop, cause I'm dead to any A. I scream for a club, but NOT the King of Clubs. Well, almost like I had asked for it to appear, the turn was the Kc, and I nearly lost it. I was dead to her full house. I left in 7th place because of all the short stacks, I had the most chips. What I didn't like was that there were people below me on the stat sheet who will now catch up to me and now my ranking is perhaps in jeopardy. Well, that's all for me. I'm going to Simpson's friend's crazy game tonight. I have to make a better showing this time. Later!

Heads Up Tournament, and some reckless play...

I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:

Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka

I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.

It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.

I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.

I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.

I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.

Heads Up Tournament, and some reckless play...

I drew Dennis in the first round of the Heads Up tournament. The brackets were:

Dennis/Gregg
Long/Lehman
Tieds/Moneymaker
Simpson/Dycka

I had said going in that our match would be the longest. I would think that the Simpson/Dycka match would be long too, and most people were done within 40 min. But not us...nope, we played for just over 2 hours! It was grueling, and Dennis is a tough opponent as he bluffs a hell of alot more in heads up, I guess you have to. I hit a couple of rough spots early on and lost confidence and was done about 700 chips. I then went on a spree of 2 pair flops and nut draws that developed and worked my way to be up 50 chips.

It was then that Dennis slowed down finally and I got to play my game, or at least control how it would be played. As long as I stayed patient I was sure that I could win this game. I eventually raised 4x the BB 7 hands in a row, regardless of what I had and wore him down until he came back at me preflop one hand and I had Q9. I called his raise this time and the flop came A94. I checked, he went all in, and I called. He said "oh...shit" and that's when I knew it was pretty much over. He had J8 i believe and almost hit runner runner straight, but did not.

I then played Long and was quite frankly tired. We battled back and forth, and I set the tone early with my aggressiveness. Against Long, I think you have to because he loves to push chips around when he has them. I turned a straight against him and went all in on the river after he raised my bet. I bet 250, and he raised to 700. I could have MAYBE gotten a little more out of him, but the play looked too strong in retrospect.

I got 99 and won a nice pot, and out of nowhere, I seemed to lose a lot of chips. I don't even know how it happened, but he must have chipped away at me, and I didn't even realize it. I guess calling too many preflop raises and folding when I miss. He raised typically preflop and I had AK. I decided not to go all in, but raise 700 more. He called, and the flop came all spades with no picture cards. I had no spades but pushed all in, and he called instantly with A6s for the nuts. I was drawing dead and that was it.

I then jumped into the NL cash game which was .25/.25 blinds and a max buyin of $20. I played almost every hand and actually won some of them, but for the most part I was the big loser. I just couldn't focus on the game when a raise preflop was cheaper than the BB for the game I usually play. But Tieds was right, and by calling that many hands, I wasn't leaving myself enough to play after the flop for the most part. Oh well, these things happen.

Ahhhh, the swings

Part 2 of what I started last week but never finished. Later that night, Karen and I decided to play craps. Well, I've decided that I don't really like or hate this game. When I win, I love it, when I lose, I hate it with a passion. One of the fastest ways to lose $100 and your confidence all in one. The dice passed ONCE while we were there, and they crapped out 5 times out of 7 before a point was thrown. So, we decided to play some blackjack. Admittedly, these are not my games, but Karen feels more comfortable playing them, so I obliged. All in all, down $100 in less than 30 min. Not good.

I go off to a 7 handed NL table with $250, and Karen goes up to bed. First hand I pick up is in the 4th hand I see. 2 black Aces. I raise it to $12 preflop, and actually get a re-raise from 2 seats down to $24. It passes back to me, and I don't even fuck around, moving one stack of nickles to the center for $100. He knows what I have and flips over 2 black 7's. I show as well.

Granted, this is not the best way I could've played this hand, but god forbid he hits a set and all undercards, I'm gonna lose a fortune.

Next rotation, I get QQ, and raise to $12 again. I get 4 callers this time. Flop comes Jc9h2c, and it's first to me. I bet $25 and get a raiser from the seat next to me up to $50. It passes back to me and I call, putting him on KJ. Now watch what a retard I develop into. The 4d comes on the turn, and I check. He bets $60, and with the best hand I JUST call. I should've gone all in as the pot was about $220 now. The Kc comes on the river, completing the flush and my imaginary 2 pair. We both check, and he shows KdJh. I lost about $130 in that hand, and could've won $220 right there on the turn, but I played it like an idiot, and quite frankly, deserved to lose.

Another hand, I flopped top two pair on a board of 467 with 67d in the BB, and lost to bottom set from the button. Another killer. I even got all my chips in with A9 on the flop for like $16 and hit top pair, but another guy flopped a straight. It was just one of those nights.

I get back to NY, and hit up Hall's 3/6 game on Friday night, and make $130 in a pretty short time. No game on Saturday, and I go back on Sunday for the NL at night. I make another $150 and I'm close to even for the week. Then Tuesday, after the tournament, I play a little 3/6 and see the biggest pot I've ever seen in that limit, the pot was $300+! Was I involved? Hell yeah!

I get 44 (a hand I would get a total of 5 times that night) and there's a preflop raise and I'm in the cutoff. The button is quite conservative and I figure he'll fold, thus giving me the button. I call the raise and Mike Hall in the BB 3 bets it. The original raiser caps it, and since there's 6 people in, I'm getting a good price to flop my set. The flop comes 4d6c7h. It gets bet by Hall, raised by the original raiser, call call, and I 3 bet it. Casey who is by far the tightest player at the table, cold calls the 3 bets and it gets capped around. A 3d comes off on the turn, and it's bet and 3 bet by the time it gets to me! Hmmmm, someone snuck in with A5 I'm guessing. I call, hoping to pair the board on the river, and the 2c comes off. I get checkraised into paying off 2 bets on the river and Maltese has A5 and Casey of all people got involved in the hand with J5d. He did turn a flush draw though. They chopped it up and got $150+ each. That kind of killed me and I never recovered, leaving down $100.

Eddie's on Wednesday night was a joke. I got there 20 min late, and never made it past the 2nd level. I played 7s9s to see a cheap flop and checked then folded. I raised with A9 on the button after everyone passed to me, and the BB went all in for 1700 more. No thanks. My last hand I called a raise with Ad9s. The flop came KdTd8d. The pot was 1200 and checked to me and I was last to act. I bet 800 and got one caller in the SB who is very conservative. The As came on the turn and he checked, I bet 1200 not leaving me much more, about 625 to be exact, making it look like I had a good hand but not going all in. He put me all in right away, and I called with the nut draw and top pair. He had QdJs for the nut straight. No diamond, and I was gone in the blink of an eye. At least my car was still warm.....

After starting my new job in the city last night, I decided to take Karen down to Atlantic City this morning so she could get to her 2pm show. I hit up the NL tables of course, and went on the coldest streak of cards I've hit in a while. Actually, I've been cold decked for the past 10 days, and granted in the grand scheme of things, I have to accept it, it's just a part of the game. I only won 2 pots in 3 hours and those I completely bluffed at with K high both times on the flop after I got in fairly cheap in multiway pots.

After that, I was down about $50, and Karen got back from the show to sweat some action, and brought a friend who I haven't seen in about a year and a half. When they got there, I picked up some hands. I got 99 and raised and got one caller, the BB. Flop came 744. He check/called me 2x and then I checked on the river too, and he had 88! He had me nervous for a bit.

Same thing happened later with TT. I caught a flop 9 high and he check called me all the way down again, and I never saw his cards. By now I was up $96. I probably should have left but Karen said she was going to go to the room, come back and we'd get some dinner. I'm starting to believe in good luck and karma because as soon as she left, I got A10 in the BB and the pot was unraised with 5 players. The flop came T75. I bet $10, 1 caller. This guy was a crazy Asian guy who had a Scotty Nguyen-like attitude. He called and the board paired 5's. I bet $20 and he called again and did a little dance with his arms in his seats, pretty funny. Another 7 peeled off on the river, and I checked, and he said "no, no more checks, I bet $40." He then proceeded to say that we had the same hand and he's like "i have a 10" blah blah blah. I decided to call and he flipped over J7. Oh well, lost $70 in the hand. Overall, after a few more beats, I was down $25 and went to dinner. More info later as I go back for my next session.

I got called in to play drums as a sub for a show last night in Smithtown. The show went well, and afterwards I went to Hall's for a little 3/6 action. It was 2 rounds of Hold em, and 1 round of Omaha high. After 20 min, I was up $105.

In Omaha, I had Ad6d8c5h in the BB. I checked in a 5 way pot and the flop came 8s8d5s. Having to check my cards as did everyone, I made sure I had top full house and the SB bet. I raised and everyone called. The Kh came on the turn, I bet again, and everyone called. I cried out "NO SPADE" on the river and the beautiful 6s came off the deck. The SB then bet out, and I thought about it for a minute, then realized I had an even better full house now and raised. Everyone folded and he called with As2s for the nut flush. While I would have liked if he got there on the turn, at least he got there and gave me 2BB on the end.

Same rotation, I picked up AKQT. I limped in from the cutoff and Pete raised on the button. 4 others called, as did I and we saw a flop of J96 rainbow. Gregg bet out in the SB and was raised by a MP player, Bill. I called the 2 bets and Pete did as well and Gregg. The turn was the Ks giving me the nuts right now. Gregg bet again, Bill raised, and I 3 bet it. Gregg capped it and Bill called the cap as did I. The 2h came on the river and Gregg bet again, and Bill raised, I 3 bet it and Gregg capped it. I expected a 3 way chop, but it was only 2 ways, as Gregg and I had the QT. Bill had flopped top set with JJ. It was a $220 that was chopped up, probably the biggest I've seen in a 3/6 game.

Well, I lost some pots here and there too. Bad preflop calls and chasing too much, so I got up and got a drink and came back to the table. All in all, I was up $40 when I left and I played for 3 hours for a profit of about 2.2BB/hr. I approve.

Well, since the last posting some 2 weeks ago about, I've been playing quite a bit of poker. I've been to Eddie's twice, Hall's a bunch of times, and the SPT championship event. Where do I begin? I guess from the beginning.

Starting with Eddie's after my last post, I busted out early when I made a huge bluff for a huge pot and I got called by bottom set. Good trap on the other guy's part. The following week I went to see 2 shows in NYC. Saw Wicked at 2PM then saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at 8PM. Having seen Wicked before, I realized that I didn't really need to go see it again, although I love the show. DRS though was quite a surprise. Much funnier than I imagined it to be, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. Look for it to be nominated for some Tonys in June.

There have been some cash games at Hall's as well, mostly 3/6 limit. I had a couple of losing sessions in the game at about $10-$20 at a clip, and then an $11-$25 profit here and there was well. It's funny how people view the game and if they don't make $100 dollars when they only start with $60, the view it as a loss, or just poor. The times where I made $20 bux in 3 hours, I was slightly better than average when you think about it, I was thrilled, and considered it to be a successful day.

I seem to be on somewhat of a good roll in the month of February. I made a nice comeback to take 2nd place in the SPT overall rankings, finishing just 150 chips short of Tieds. I won the Saturday tournament, came in top 5 in the next game, and then won the Omaha 8/b tourney the following week. I showed up to deal the satellite only to gather information from who would win and how I could play against them the next night. Lehman ended up winning and my gameplan going into the Championship table was clear. Get involved in pots with Lehman and hopefully trap him as he was the most inexperienced player at the table. (Sorry Lehman, nothing personal, just strategy!) It turned out to be in my favor as I flopped the 2nd nut straight against him and trapped him for almost all his chips. Ditty finished him off the next hand with TT.

From there, I got real real lucky. I was dominated against Tieds in a hand when he called my all in with AQ and I held AT. (I believe I had AT, Tieds help me out) I ended up flopping my undercard and doubled through. I got it all in again with KQ and Ditty called with 77. Flopped a K to stay alive again. Eventually I tumbled in 3rd place when my AJ went up against Eddie's A5 and the board came 7755x. It was time for me to lose when I was in a dominant position, it was only fitting.

I then went to Hall's game and dropped around $100 at his 3/6 game. Poor poor play on my part, I should have never gone. I said that I probably wouldn't go back on Sunday for the tourament, but I showed up for the cash game at night. Not enough people decided to play a cash game, so I played a 10 person tournament, and won, beating my arch nemesis Gregg Maltese (another Gregg M).

Then I had the dreaded task of taking Karen down to Atlantic city which is like throwing Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. I played 1-2 NL from 11-4am on Sunday night and from 12:30-7 on Monday. I made $425 and look forward to playing again when I go down there. I bluffed a guy off a hand, but it cost me a lot to do it. The risk/reward was enticing.

I raised in the cutoff with 9Td to $15. There was a European guy who had sat down at my table and he was calling every bet cold to the turn and then usually folding. I figured I could get him in and just try to outplay him to see what happens. He called as did 1 other. With a pot of $48 the flop came J64 with 2 diamonds. The action was checked to me, and since I had a pretty tight image to people who were paying attention, I bet $35. The one player that I wanted to call, called, the other folded. The turn came a 8c, giving me an inside straight draw for 6 more outs. He checked again and with the pot at $118, I fired $60 and thankfully he folded. He asked the dealer to rabbit hunt the last card to see if he hit his draw. I said to go for it, and flipped over my cards to show my bluff. The guy was irate and played super aggressive on every hand I was in, but I showed him the nuts 3 times in a row and he paid me off every time. I flopped a straight one time when he had QQ and didn't raise preflop. Then I slowplayed my flopped set of 9's and took out his AA. All in all it was a great experience. I'll probably get my ass kicked the next time I play this game. Karma...

Then I've been back to Hall's and I won his tournament this past Tuesday for $130 payout, and then played a shorthanded $3/$6 game on Wednesday night, waiting for Karen to get home from AC. I played for about 100 min or so and won $130, or as I like to thank about it, 21.5 BB. Damn, I would've been happy being up $9 or $10 bux, but I'll take it! The game was perfect really, people raising me on the river with an underpair when I have top two, or even just top pair. He tried it on me 2x, and I just called, so every time he did it to me again, I would just 2 bet him and consider it a value bet in my mind, because he was so weak.

One hand of note: I was in the SB with ATh and it was raised by Maltese, and 3 bet by Frank. Normally I wouldn't play this hand here, but a) we were shorthanded, b) the players are weak. So I just call the 3 bet and so does Maltese and 2 others. The comes 653 with 2 hearts. Normally I don't bet out here, but the implied odds are that a)Frank will raise in the middle, thereby trapping 2 other people for 2 bets and b) if everyone just calls, I'm getting 5-1 on a draw that I'm going to get there 1 in 4 times. Sure enough, Frank does raise it up and everyone calls 2 bets, which is perfect. The Jh on the turn shows up and I think if Frank will bet this hand. I decide to not risk it and just bet. Frank raises it again! and it comes back to me and I 3 bet it and everyone calls. The 5c comes on the river to pair the board and I still bet and it's just call call call call. I show my nut flush and everyone folds, but Frank says he had 88. Wow what a pot. As my friend Phil says "you just need a pulse in these easy games and people will pay you off through the nose"

Ahhh, if all days could go as well as this. I'm going to hit up the cash game tonight and then tomorrow he's spreading a 1/2 NL game. I'm interested to see how the competition is for this game. Well, that's all for now. I'll post tomorrow during work. Seacrest, out!

This will be a quick update for today. On Sunday, I went to Hall's. He had a $40 tournament with $20 rebuys, and an optional $20 add-on at the end of the 3rd level. I generally am not a fan of this for many reasons. 1) The loose style that people play are favorable to the better players, but it leads to flipping coins for $20 a pop, in the first hour or so. 2) By the end there are SO many chips in play that the final 3 or 4 take hours to complete because of the blinds. 3) I just think that once you're out in a tournament, you're out. Yes, it creates action and the house can take more of a cut, but I think the game is just plain different (read worse) because of the style of the game. Should you take more chances to build a stack so you don't have to addon at the end of the period? Otherwise you turn a $40 tourney into a $100 or $100+ tourney. I myself got knocked out once and got back in and then took the addon, for an $80 tournament. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous. I'm much more a fan of one buy in and for god's sake, a slow structure. Again, back to flipping coins for your entry fee. I could've done that in the parking lot with an actual coin.

But I digress...

So I had the loosest player I've ever played with to my left to start the tournament, and Dycka to my right. It always seems like we end up sitting next to each other. The rest of the table was fine. I lost an occasional pot here and there, nothing really to make a note of. Then in the 2nd level, the loose guy just keeps going all in. I assume that he knows he has to make a move before rebuys are over, but he's goin all in for like 11x the BB. I really want to get him and I find 88 in the BB and he goes all in UTG, everyone folds like usual, and I call. He flips over AK, great! now he has a hand...He flops a K and it's rebuy time. I made it to the final table after taking an add-on and have about 6Kin chips, below average by all means.

Now Dycka is to my left when we start the final table. Right off the get go, I get 10's in MP and go all in. It was for a good amount, about 10x the BB, so it was enough to hang around and play or go home. After much thinking, a smart player who I respect, Kevin, called me with AK and everyone else folded. Flop came K high. But the turn peeled off a 10, and I was right back in it with a nice double up. Dycka would later get involved in a similar spot with Kevin, who again had AK against Dycka's 44. Again Kevin flopped an A, but Dycka rivered a 4 to stay alive. He couldn't catch a break it seems in coin flips that night.

Blinds 300/600 with a 50 ante, I get JJ and re raise all in after Frank had made it 2500 to go. It folds around to the loose guy to my left at the first table. He's now down the table from me and can't decide what to do. If it was anyone else I'd be worried that he has QQ, cause he can't make a decision. But it's this guy so I put him A10 or some other hand that a guy like him can't get away from. He decides to call eventually, and Frank folds for another 10K. Frank folded 77, and the loose guy flips over 910D!!!! What a call! Well, the flop came 8K2. The turn was a 6, and now he needed 1 of the last 2 7's in the deck. Well, of course the river was a 7. I had him covered so I was able to stay around.

Then I played the biggest pussy in the game. I just waited for blinds to come around and eat other people up so I could get in the money. Eventually it worked and I ended up chopping 2nd and 3rd's prize money to take home $160. I'm sorry I don't have more hands for this time of the game, but nothing really happened with me, or really worth writing about. Another cash, and tonight I have Eddie's game that I won 2 weeks ago. Let's see if the ride continues....

Just a quick note, after sticking up for Phil Hellmuth for the past couple of years, I'm done with him. Does he still play poker? I honestly haven't read a NEW article from him on cardplayer since Tobey Maguire won his tournament. This week's article is from his book and from Foxwoods 2003!!! The past few weeks of his posting has been articles or stuff from YEARS ago against TJ, and even that was a horribly written hand. Has he not played recently and can't dwell on recent events? His lack of work ethic is terrible. Shit, even I'm doing more posting than him, granted he has a lot more bracelets.

He who makes the least mistakes...(or how to win a NL Hold 'Em tournament)

I apologize for stealing your format of title Ditty, but you stole it from Dr. Strangelove anyway.

Poker @ Ditty's last night...good times. 3 handed I had more than 1/2 the chips in play. Did I win? No. How did I lose all my chips? Well, like a good episode of Alias, let's flashback to the beginning and go over some key hands of how I amassed my chips before getting to the terrible end.

At the first table, blinds 25/50, Hall raised from MP to 175. Rich calls, and I find AQh in the BB and call as well. Flop comes Kh9h3s. I bet out 350 to take it right there and/or find out if Rich has AK. Hall just calls (a weak play imo) and Rich raises it up to 700. I decide to call because with Hall's money I've got some good odds here. Hall ended up folding. The turn is the 4h and I lead out with a weak 600 into a 2300 pot. Rich didn't bite though, and just called. I wouldn't have minded another heart on the river but the Kc came for a final board of Kh9h3s4hKc. With not much else to do I went all in with the hope that he didn't have a boat, and he had AK.

I had a side bet with Dycka that for every pot Hall and Maltese were in, if they were heads up by the turn, I would lay 2-1 that Maltese would win the pot. Unfortunatly, they only got into one pot and Hall won. I slid $2 under the table to Dycka.

Another pot, Dycka raised UTG while I was in the BB. Blinds were 50/75 and he went up to 275. I found AK in the BB and just called. I didn't want to be on the losing side of a race, out of position, and especially with the comfy stack I had. We took a flop of 10 rag rag. I checked and Dycka bet 300. I called with the hopes of pushing him off the hand on the turn. Another 10 came to pair the board, and it was decision time. Would he fold to a bet here? Would he believe that I check called top pair? I decided that this was the worst card for my previous action and decided to check again, bascially giving up on the hand. Dycka bet 300 again, a smallish bet, which I commented on, but folded. He flashed 2 rockets at me, and I felt better. That one's filed away in the mental filing cabinet.

Artem and I got involved in a hand soon after. He raised from LP and I got AJ in the BB. I wasn't re-raising alot in this game for some reason, prolly cause I didn't think I could get Artem to fold preflop. I'm not saying anything about his game, but last night he seemed to want to play alot of pots and I figured if I could get in cheaper and hit it hard, I could make more money. Anyway, the flop comes A34. I check hoping for a bet, and Artem fires out 300. I go all in for about 1275 more, and he calls instantly.....with 34o!! What a steal gone good! Well, I spiked a J on the turn, and then an A on the river.

Later on, I got pocket 10's in UTG +1 and raised it up to 4x the BB. Jack had limped in before me and called the bet. Flop came 8h9s3c. Jack checked, and I bet 800, about the size of the pot. Jack thought about it and I told him to roll the die and see what happens. He did roll and got a 20! I don't know much about it, but that's the best possible roll I believe. So he decided to call. Turn came the 7h. Even better for my hand, Jack checked again and I decided to go all in for another 2250, now that I picked up a redraw in case my hand went bad. Jack decided to call because the die had rolled a 20 previously and flipped over A6h! Now if I hit my set, I lose to a straight, and any heart beats me too. The 4s came on the river and I won a huge pot as Jack was 2nd in chips next to me at this point.

Now I sat well at about 7800 chips. Artem went on a little bit of a tear before we broke for the final table and he was sitting well also. Final table was a little tough, I enjoyed Tieds' sarcasm about the situation. I had CK and Ike to my left, Ike I've never played with. He took the place of DGlove with his methodical calls and deliberate actions. To my right, I had Artem and Bob with Tieds and Long in the middle.

No real craziness here. I ran well and got some big pots here and there. There was one hand where I may have had a winner, but I folded preflop. UTG CK raises to 925 with blinds 150/300. Long asks how much to re-raise and makes it 2K to go. I look down in the BB to find AJ. I would've played against CK, but the re-raise here makes me hate my hand. I force it into the muck. Flop comes KJ7. They both check the flop and and after a deuce hits the turn, CK checks and Long puts CK all in. CK mucks Q 9 and the more I think about it, it's very possible for Long to have QQ there.

Artem goes all in on the button and I find 88 in the SB and re-raise all in to push CK out. He folds and Artem tables A6o. No help for him and we are down another player. CK and Ike got involved in a hand as well where the action folded to them and CK went all in. Ike thought about it and decided to take a stand and call. CK has 23h and Ike has 103d. Flop comes 102x I believe. Turn is another 2. River? Case deuce. CK doubles up with 23h!!

Ike was down to about 4x the BB and I picked up ATd in the SB and planned to get him all in but Bob raises in front of me. Hmm I wanted this pot, so I call and not play back at him, but I put him on a weak ace. Flop comes JTx. With a sidepot of 400, I checked hoping that Bob wouldn't bet me out of a sidepot when a player elimination is one the line. He checked as well. I spiked an A on the river and thought about betting because I figured I'd get some action. But I did not, and I took the pot down with 2 pair, and eliminating Ike.

Eventually we are 3 handed with Long and Bob. We were really trading blinds back and forth with no real action. I got K9c on the button and decided to raise 1/2 of Long's 6K chips to see if he wanted in. I figured he's not going to call, he'll go all in or fold, and for some reason, I had a good feeling about the hand, call it intuition if you will. Long decides to go all in and Bob folds and I call. Long has 5h5s and it's race time. Flop comes Kh9hx. 2 more hearts come on the next 2 streets, and Long's flush beats my hand. 3 hands later, on the button again, I got A3o, and I went all in for 8K, a GROSS overbet on my part, but I was rattled for the first time in weeks and decided to push it in. Long didn't want to right away, but he did call with 77, and eliminated me when the flop came 232 and no more help.

About 5 hands later, Long won the whole thing. I wasn't watching the final hand because Ditty put in an awesome Ali G DVD with Borat in the Hamptons. I can't really complain except that I wish I had played the hand slower to get away from it at the end. But I hate taking stands now with 4x or 5x the BB. I wanna double up big or just stop. I think that was my problem before, I would just whittle away and not be afraid to gamble. As much skill as there is in this game, it's still gambling and you must treat it as such in certain situations. Another cash and more points to move me up the leaderboard as well. I'm very happy with the way I've been playing lately and that A3 is the real only big mistake that I've made in the last 3 weeks. Tonight, is a 2/4 game at Hall's. I'll prolly go to work on my limit game as the aquarium is fresh to be tapped.

*Quick update*

I got a call from the electrician today and he was at my house to run another line down from my satellite so I can get my TIVO. I figure I'm +400 and change this week in cards alone, might as well splurge. I don't know how they can do it so cheap, but TIVO from DirecTV is only $99 for the box, and $5 a month for the service. The reason I needed another line is because it's a dual tuner box so not only can I tape one thing and watch another, I can tape 2 things that are on at the same time. Gotta love it!

Report from Eddie's game on 2-2-05

I almost didn't go. Having my first class of grad school this semester and getting into my car at 7:30, I gave up all hope of getting to Eddie's by the 8PM start time. Somehow though, I got to his exit at 8:02 and decided to swing by and see if I could still get in. Luckily they were JUST about to start and I was able to get a seat. Buy in was $30, and there were 23 players on 3 tables. I pulled a table of almost unknowns to me, so I played the waiting game early to see who was capable of what. I actually got no hands for a while and lost 1/3 of my stack early on in a hand that I did have.

I saw a free flop in the BB with 94o. Flop came J96 rainbow and I bet 200 into a 300 pot. I got one raiser and no callers, I called with hopes of hitting big or folding. A 9 peeled off on the turn and I checked and the guy put me all in. I called and he had KJ and I had life once again. I really don't remember winning any more hands before we combined for the final table.

When we combined, 2 people had half of the 69,000 starting chips. I had 2800 and the chipleader sat directly to my right. The rest of the players had very low stacks too, so it was a constant all in battle between the short stacks. I ventured to guess that I could wait for other people to gamble crazily before I picked up a hand and maybe move up into the money. Final table was 10 handed and only 4 paid out. This would be an uphill climb.

I was dealt into the SB with binds of 300/600 and got 24o. Action before me and I folded. I picked up nothing for about 5 hands. 1 player got eliminated and in the SB again, a player in middle position limped in and the button chipleader, raised and said he'd put me all in. I hadn't looked yet and saw AA. I thought about it and the guy asked me, "what do you have, aces?" I told him no but it was good enough to gamble with. The limper also called here and we took a flop of QQK. The limper bet out 4K, and the chipleader after much thought folded. I asked him "AQ?" and he said "jacks". WOW! I was still alive. After more than tripling up with the antes and other blind, I was back in business.

Very next hand on the button it passes to me and I find AT. I'm up against 2 blinds who are very short stacked with 1500 and 1200 total. I go all in and just the SB calls with J9. Flop comes JK3. I shout for a Q. Turn is a 4. River is a Q! Another player down and more chips for me.

The chipleader then became relentless and I guess was pissed that he wasn't dominating the table anymore. So he started to run over everyone, and now that I wasn't in a position to gamble anymore, I let him and he picked off 2 more people. Now 5 handed, we're on the bubble. I find AK on the button. The chipleader raises 4K more from the 600. Now I have a decision. No doubt I have the best hand, but do I want to gamble with a 60/40 all in here? Or what if he does have a pair? Then I'm 50-50 and I don't really HAVE to gamble here. The blinds are coming around so fast, I'm pretty much guaranteed money here. I decide just to call, and the flop comes with garbage. He bets 3500 on the flop and I raise to 8000. He folds and I show him the AK to show that I had a hand, not necessarily on the flop but that you can't run over me everytime.

A few hands later I get AA again! C'mon really? It was ridiculous the cards that kept coming. Chipman raised it again, and I decided that he wouldn't call my all in so I re-raised him about 3x his raise. He called and we saw a flop of QQ9. He checked and I bet 10K. He folded and I showed it again. He was really getting upset at the cards I was catching, and frankly, I couldn't blame him.

5th place busts out, and now we're in the money. We trade back and forth for a few hands and on the button the following hand occured. Blinds 400/800 with a 100 ante. The chip leader raises out another 5000. I look down to see KK. I didn't want to see a small pot develop here, so I go all in for about 16K. The SB calls and BB folds and the chip leader says that he would call if the other guy didn't. SB shows AT. Flop comes ATJ. I shout for another Q to save me like last time, and on the river AGAIN, another damn Q comes out. I couldn't believe it.

We play 3 handed for a little while and I start to chip away and the old chipleader, as I've taken the lead now. One hand he raised to 4K and I called in position with 86d. Flop came 9T6. He checked and I bet 6K. He thought about it and asked how much was in the pot. Eddie said 8300 and he called. Now what could he have? What kind of draw that he wanted a price on? He hasn't done this the entire game, so I put him on QJ or something similar. A 3 peeled off on the turn and he checked again. I bet 8K this time, not leaving me with much, but I the pot was huge. He eventually folded and I didn't show it this time. He wanted to see a river card and an 8 came off and he groaned. Maybe he did have the draw I thought, the world may never know.

I eventually got AQ and just went all in after the player on my right had raised on the button and I was in the SB. The BB folded and he decided to take a stand with A6d. No help came for him and now we were heads up.

Next hand, I get AQ again and go all in and SB folds. I go all in 3 more hands in a row. No calls. Finally, the guy raises half of his stack on the button to 2800, and I have A4c. I go all in and he calls with K9o. No help for him and I take down the victory and a $265 1st place. I should play more often when I'm sick as I seem to be on somewhat of a roll lately. Being outchipped almost 10-1 when you get to the final table and winning is nothing short of miraculous/lucky as hell. I got AA 2x KK once and a plethora of big aces. This game's easy when you get the cards! And to think I almost didn't go.....

The Poker Gods, They DO Smile

I went to Hall's place again last night, only on the condition that the same person who was there the previous time, would not be there. In a nutshell, the guy there was very abrasive and when I commented on his decision to tell people to just throw their money in the middle, he told me that "while you were swimmin, I was dealin'..." He then proceeded to call my all in of AK with an A on the board with A4 after checking to me. He hit a 4 on the river and proclaimed his hand to be great and this that and the other thing. Also their blind structure was a joke and I ended up paying $60 for 3 hands and leaving.

So....

I go back last night and he has a 16 person freezeout tournament. Some reason, we only started wtih 1500 in chips so I decided my strategy was to gamble early on and build up a stack. My first few hands were 92c, turned a flush, 64h missed, but I was showing some random hands that people didn't expect me to. Also, the game was tight as can be, and at this structure, if you waited for a hand, you'd be blinded to death. No one else picked up on this, so off we went.

About 10 min into the game, there was a raise before me to 200 at the 25/25 level. The whole game and before I was reading Supersystem 2 about Omaha 8/b to get ready for Thursday, and not really paying attention to the players. I look at my cards to see KK, and reraise to 450. The BB reraises to 700, orginal raiser calls, and I figure with that much in there already, we're gonna get it in on the flop, so let's do it now, and make it another 1900 to go. BB folds after a while and the original raiser calls and I tell him nice hand cause I know he has AA. I start to put my coat on when we see a 1092 flop. But a K on the turn more than doubles me up, and the coat goes off.

6 hands later, there's a raise to 250 and I get KK again! I reraise this time and the SB goes all in for 650 and the raiser calls. Flop comes 10 high and she goes all in, I call instantly and she has a set of 10's. I say nice hand again, and the SB flips over QQ. Turn comes a Q! Oh man...and the river? A King!!! We all had sets, unbelievable, and I eliminated 2 more players.

I ran well until the final table and lost some pots here and there. But people started getting knocked out left and right. Finally 5 handed, I had QQ and with blinds of 100/200, I raised to 900 into a player with alot of chips who ONLY calls, and usually with marginal hands, nothing great. He calls and we see a flop of AJQ. I think he might have an A so I go all in for 3200 and he calls after thinking about it for a while with KJ. The damn 10 comes off on the turn and I get my coat. But the river is another 10! I swear to god, I couldn't believe how lucky I was getting.

3 handed, I was shortstacked, and a player who has improved made a crucial mistake by going all in on a flush draw when Hall flopped 2 pair and basically gave me 2nd place. He didn't really have to gamble as I was running low, but he did it anyway. I went all in dark 1st hand heads up with 104s. Hall woke up with AK and it was over. +80 for the night, not bad. But seriously, the gods did smile upon me last night.

WOP (Weekend of Poker) 2005

Well, I was sick on Friday, ruining my plans of going to the city for Karen's roomate's birthday party. They even got a Hummer Limo and everything. Saturday, Karen came out early on the train and we headed to Ditty's for a 12pm tournament, specially added for the SPT Season 2. Still not feeling very well, I pulled the usual "alternate" table. I've only started at the actual table once this whole season. Kudos to Tieds though for bringing his card table though, it was better than usual.

My opening table went something like this. Me, Lehman, Artem, Bob, Simpson, Moneymaker, Tieds, and Rich. I had to say I was pleased with my spot, and the table overall. Actually, whoever sat in my seat was going to get my cards, so I guess I just got lucky. Here's how the first 2 levels went.

I put alot of pressure on other people with good hands and didn't bluff once. I was hoping people would think I was at some points, but my hands were too good to bluff. For instance, I had built up some chips when the blinds were 25/50 and CK raised UTG to 200. I decided to take a flop with 33. Bob also called. I didn't care who was in the pot when the flop came QJ3 with 2 spades. CK bet out 300, and I raised to 700. Bob folded and CK called. Turn came another spade, and CK checked, and I wasn't sure what to do. CK is definitly capable of pulling a check raise bluff here, but I figured I had to bet something here to see if I could win it here, or if he really had a big hand. Now how much could I bet? He had about 2K left, so I bet 600. He called. The river brought a red 10 and he fired out 700 real quickly. I couldn't raise him without the best hand cause now a straight was out, and the flush was out there too. So I called and showed my set, and he mucked, but told me later he had AQ, which is the only thing he could've had if he was in the hand that long.

A few hands later I picked up KQ in middle position and called a raise from Bob with Rich also calling. Flop came AJx. We checked to Bob who bet 200 and Rich called. I called because it was not heads up and IF I hit a 10, I would get alot of action I'm sure. Also, I was using my big stack effectively here and I wanted to represent a strong hand. The turn came the perfect 10c and now Rich bet out 400 into me. Again, how much could I raise where he'll still call? Rich is a notoriously tight player so I had to be smart about this. I raised to 900 and Bob folded and Rich called, albeit reluctantly. The river came a Q so I felt like we might chop it up, but Rich checked and I bet 1K. He folded and Tieds said "you couldnt' have had KQ, how could you call the flop?" So, I advertised that hand.

Karen went out in the next few minutes. She hit her flush card on the river which also gave DGlove his full house. Tough times when those things happen. I applaud her efforts and she gets an A+ in my book just for showing up, only having played a few times prior.

Around now I had about 8K or so in chips, more than doubling up from our 3K start. I was UTG, blinds 25/50 still and Lehman opens HUGE for 500 after I fold. Everyone folds to him and he collects 75.

NEXT hand. I'm in BB and Lehman opens again for 400. Not having looked at my cards yet, I said that I can't play this hand for that much unless i have Aces. When it was my turn, as fate would have it, I had AA and raised it to 900. Lehman just called, leaving himself with 600, which I bet on the flop of I Don't Remember. Lehman called and was out and I added some more chips to my stack which was the biggest of the tournament at this point, hovering around 10K.

I limped into a 4 way unraised pot on button with 7c8c and got a flop of 776. Bob, who was in the BB, bet out 200 and I raised to 500, he called. A K came on the turn, and this time he checked, and I bet 600. He called again, and now I expected a huge bet on the river with a better hand than I had. The river brought a J and he checked. I should've bet here, this was my mistake, but I didnt' think he would call anything I bet so I announced trip 7's and he mucked. I wonder what he had.

One of the last hands before the final table, after Rich was taken from our table to even up the other one, Tieds was now directly to my right. Blinds were 75/150 I think, and he raised on the button to 450. I find 66 in the SB and decide that I likely have the best hand so I'll re raise, which I do to 1175. Tieds called and we saw a flop of K87 with 2 clubs. We both checked the flop and it was now that I put him on AJ or AQ, wasn't sure which one yet. A blank came on the turn and I bet 1600. After much deliberation he folded and I showed him that I did have a pair, we're friends and I didn't want him to think I was being a jerk with my big stack, and that I was actually playing back at him with the best hand. We broke for the final table and I had a commanding chip lead with about 15000 of the 51000 starting chips.

Going into the final table I wanted to avoid situations with marginal hands. In middle position and with blinds at 100/200, I raised to 650. DGlove, directly to my left, calls, and Jack after watching Celebrity Poker during the break, said that the TV told him that when he felt like he had to, to go all in. So he did just that for about 2400 or so. I called and DGlove folded. He showed A9, I showed AK. Flop came 10 high and Dennis said he folded pocket 10's. Whew. Turn A....good...river 9.....bad....So, I double Jack up on the first hand of the final table.

I stay kinda quiet for a little while and eventually get some hands here and there that are all won preflop. Then, the action limps around to me in the SB where I have A9s. Simpson on the button had just called as had 4 others. I raised to 650 again and it folded to Simpson, and after thinking he pushed all in. Based on what he had been doing earlier in the day I put myself on the best hand, and called very quickly. He had Q3o I believe. Flop came 345 of spades. YES I flopped the nuts. Turn comes a 7s. Hmmm...Simpson on a 1 outer to just chop the pot, yes we get the miracle 6s on the river to have a straight flush on the board. I've never seen that happen before.

Myra and I got into an interesting 2 hands in a row. First one she was in the BB and saw a free flop of 9 6 4. I had A6d and she bet and I called. She went all in on a turn of a blank and I thought about it, and for some reason called. She had 9 3 for top pair, and I got no help and doubling her up. The very next hand, I get 88 and bump it up to 700. She thinks about it and goes all in again! Ugh...now what to do...yeah yeah, fold sounds good. But I put her on AK for some reason and decided to "race" for my chips back that I had just given her. Well, she flipped over QQ and I was in a world of hurt. I got no help and just like that I had lost 12K of my chips in just a few hands by doubling people up, and Myra back to back!

It was at this point that my head got completely out of the tournament and I started to think that it wasn't meant for me to win this one. For about 20 min, I gave up all hope until Tieds got pushed around in a hand by Pete and went all in on his button for 2100. I had 3600 left and had Q10d in the BB. I felt like he was on a steal, and I needed chips too at this point, so I decided to gamble. He flipped over 5 7 and I hit a 10 on the flop to get some much needed chips back in my stack.

From here I was kind of unstoppable hitting hand after hand. I eliminated Simpson with AK when he had QJ, and even took out Pete with 108h when he had 2 undercards. Finally it was heads up with me and DGlove. With the table full of railbirds and the blinds at 400/800, the following hand came up.

I had 64o and was first to act on the flop. Flop came 10 6 3. I bet 2000 and Dennis called after a while. (Each move Dennis makes is very deliberate, and thus can take a long time to complete.) The turn hit a 7, and I had a big decision to make here. Now, 2 times before this, Dennis and I had gotten to the turn and I had checked and he went all in after I led out on the flop. I felt like he might do this to me again, and the only way I was going to win this pot was if I countered his bluff with a semi-bluff of my own. So I went all in on the turn before he could go, and just waited. He eventually folded.

On the button I raised to 3K. Dennis re-raised me another 4K. I thought about how to play this hand, and decided to go all in right there. I had Dennis covered so I knew I'd see another hand if this one didn't hold up. He called and said "YES!" when I flipped over A6 and I felt like I was dominated. But he had 22, so let's race!!! I ended up catching a 6 on the turn, and winning the tournament! My first win of SPT Season 2 and it was the biggest game of the year so far, putting me in 4th place if my calculations are right. After getting into the money on Thursday and a win on Saturday, it renewed my confidence in my playing, and I look forward to hopefully participating in the Championship table. I will post later about Hall's rebuy tourney and my lack of appreciation of it. Later. Thanks for reading.

Long Time, No See

Well, it's been a month since the last posting, and a lot has happened. Went to see Hairspray in New York over the holidays in a fun gathering of family, then went out to the S T L to see Karen with high hopes of maybe meeting Nelly and/or Chingy. Alas, it was not meant to be and I ended up hanging out with Rockettes and was dubious of a really good time.

Another girl's boyfriend was there, Dave, and he liked to play cards too, so we decided on our down time (i.e. they were at their show) we would search St. Louis for their casinos. First up was Harrah's, and I have to say I was dissappointed. It was basically a smaller Foxwoods and the whole "casino inside a shopping mall" vibe was ever present. You walk in and there's 2 entrances, with a players club booth right in the middle. We tried to get in and were instructed to go to the booth, because every player needs a card for admission. While waiting on line we read the pamphlet about Missouri gaming commissions, and found that you can only buy in for $500 every 2 hours. Since everyone needs a card it just tracks how much you're in for and will not give you chips until the window is up. What I found interesting was that they were running a 5/10 NL game in the poker room and people had mountains of chips, clearly more than $500 so people must be bringing chips home with them.

As for the casino itself, I found it to be very small and a TON of slots with not many table games to speak of. The poker room was also very small and had maybe 12 tables. I guess I'm spoiled. Anyway, we only had a little bit of time to play and make it back (the casino was 9.3 miles away from our room, almost too good to be true) so we put our names on 3/6, yeah i'm a pussy, and waited to be called. It took a while and I met another guy on the rail who had told us about the Ameristar Casino that was much nicer that had Bad Beat Jackpots and High Hand Jackpots, they also had more tables. I put in a quick 45 minute session and lost $3.

The next day, the girls had 2 shows, so we decided to make it an all day affair at the Ameristar, which was 1.4 miles futhur than Harrah's. Now, I didn't think it would be nicer off the bat, because it sounded like a casino from the makers of a generic form of soda from Costco. But sure enough it was nicer, albeit just like the atmosphere of Foxwoods too, but overall, nicer. I played 3/6 there for about 6 hours and ended up making $145. *Memorable hand* This backwoods-ish guy with a trucker hat and stringy hair and possibly 8 teeth sat down and was your stereotypical raise every hand guy. He won a fair amount of pots as people at this limit do, but I called his preflop raise with 72o in the BB, and he as 2 to my right. Flop came T72 rainbow and I checked, the guy next to me checked and raiser fired $3. I called and the player to the left called. Turn came a J and I fired out $6, got raised, and 3 bet by the original raiser, I capped it and everyone called. River came a 4, I bet out $6 got raised, got called, I 3 bet it and they both called. I showed my 2 pair and the original raiser showed me KJs and the middle player had AJc. Nice $154 pot.

Flew home on the 1st and spent some days relaxing with Karen. Hall's season then had their freeroll, and they were nice enough to wait for me to come home before they had it. Top 10 people played and Top 3 paid out. I honestly don't remember any key hands except that Maltese almost got eliminated and the river card doubled him up and he went on to be chip leader about 4 hands later. I was severe short stacked (nothing new, and more on this later), and for some reason, 5 handed the 2 big stacks of Erod and someone else decided to get into it on a hand with Casey joining them. Casey took out both players, and somehow, I found my way into the money. I was eliminated soon after and took $50 for not much work really. Casey ended up winning the prize, with Maltese after him. Congrats to both.

There were a few weeks off from Eddie's game which just started last week again. He upped the buy-in to $30 and the chips from 2300 to 3000. He also just has one game a night now instead of 2. Last week, I finished on the bubble, and at Ditty's game I finished on the bubble again. Last night at Eddie's out of 20 i was the 6th person out. Here's how a key hand went down:

Blinds 25/50, I limped in with 78h. 4 others did too including Eddie, right to my left. BB raises it another 100, and everyone calls. With 600 in the pot the flop comes T96 with 2 clubs. What a flop! BB checks, middle position bets 100 and I raise to 650. Eddie smooth calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes a 4s and I bet 750 and Eddie calls. River comes the dreaded 2c and I check and Eddie bets 700 into a pot of 3400. It was a damn good value bet and a hell of a suck out when Eddie flipped over 57c. I felt terrible after this hand, and it seemed to be representative of the way cards have been going for me lately. I always have a good attitude going in, and then something happens and it's over.

Now, looking back, the turn bet was too weak by me, i bet a little less than 1/3 of the pot, and without knowing it, Eddie picked up 6 extra outs on the turn with an open ended straight draw. So, as much as I hate going all in during the first level, I guess I had to do it on the turn to shut out all the draws. This was my mistake and it cost me everything. I was able to double up with 6's when the BB called me with K 10. But after that I got anted to death and went all in with A10s and got 2 callers. Flop came 46Q and one guy bet 500, the other folded, he flipped over 35o, wow I was ahead! Turn came a 5...doh...river came a 7...doh doh! And again, another night of poor play. I went home and indulged in another terrible episode of Alias and impossible to get away from, yet addicting MTV reality shows, then cried myself to sleep*

* not really true

Did I deserve better? (to steal a quote from Phil Hellmuth)

I had Eddie's freeroll last night, and all in all it was alot of fun with some good, albeit interesting, poker action. I'm looking forward to season 3.

Eddie took an idea of mine for the final table and he decided to have everyone have descending chip counts from 1st ranked to the 11th seat (yes we played 11 handed). I moved up from 7th to 4th in recent weeks, so I started with 32,000 in chips. 1st started with 50K, and 11th had 7500. I thought it put an interesting feel to the game, and with the blinds starting at 100/200, the top people got to play with deep stacks for the first time in a while. They held a satellite earlier in the night with all the money going towards the prize pool. Final pot = $1050. Top 5 pay out.

Somewhere in the first 4 hands, I picked up KK in middle position. There was a raise UTG by the satellite winner to 600, and a caller 2 seats over. I made it 2400 to go, and it folded to the raiser who called as well as the original caller. I like this raise alot because if the flop comes with no Ace, which is what I put the raiser on, he would have to call if he hit the flop because he has 5K left or so, and there's 7500 in the pot. Flop comes Q 10 7 rainbow. Action is check, and the middle player bets 2000 into me. I decide to raise to 4000 and the original raiser goes all in for 5100 which doesn't open the raising. We both call, and check down the turn and river, and I say "just kings". I never saw what Anthony, the middle player, had. The original raiser had AQ, and I took down the pot and eliminated a player early on.

In fact, the first 4 players gone were the 11th, 10th, 9th and 8th in a row. Anthony built up a huge chip lead (pushing 100K) early on and was seated 2 to my right. He put alot of pressure on me when he had the button or was in the cutoff. At the first break i had 55K in chips for 2nd place so far, and with blinds going up to 800/1600, some people were going to have to make moves, and I'd have to be careful where to gamble. If there was one crazy thing about the game, it was that most people were scared to play postflop, so they would go all in for like 20x the BB preflop, and usually have like A 10 or something, but get no callers. I was waiting for a hand that I could pounce on.

Tim, who finished first overall, and started with the most chips had a healthy stack and raised in middle position to 8K. I wake up with QQ in the small blind, and having about 32K left after taking a hit, I decide to go all in to make it look like a semi-weak hand like everyone else was showing. Now, Tim's a smart player and I could tell he thought I was up to no good, but he called the extra 2300 or so, and flipped over AJ. No Ace for him and I won a really nice pot. Tim was soon out after I crippled his stack. Down to 5 people now, we were all in the money, the next one out would get $50.

We played for well over an hour, and with the blinds at 1600/3200 and a 400 ante, I raised to 8000 UTG with 66. Anthony, who granted had my number all night, called in the SB, and we took a rainbow flop of 6 9 Q. He immediatly bet 10K into me, and finally the situation I had been dreaming of all night came about. There was 18K plus the 10K that he bet, and I had 32K left. Just for Tieds, I did my best acting job, and said that I didn't have enough to fold, and went all in. He thought about it for a while, but I guess he felt since he hit, he'd have to call if I was bluffing. He flipped over K 9 for middle pair, and actually hit a K on the river, but it didn't matter. I had taken a nice chunk from the chip leader who was now down to 83K and I had upwards of 72K or so.

I was waiting for one of the short stack to die, but she wouldn't, she would keep surviving her all-ins, then ante her chips to death, then survive again. Everyone seemed to be playing for the money, and being very timid. I felt like Negreanu in Paris last year, NO ONE would go broke, so I volunteered myself....

I'll be damned if I don't remember this hand for the rest of my life. I'm in the SB and pick up AA. One player there had been all-in for a ton of chips preflop many times. He raised under the gun to the minimum of 6400. I decided to just smooth call (we'll discuss this play later, and Ditty/Tieds/Will, feel free to leave comments on what you think I should have done). Flop comes As10h8c. I check and he goes all in!!! I call before he can push his chips, and he flips over Jd6d. Turn brings a Qc, and I joke with Eddie that if he flips over a 9 or a K, I'll punch him. The river brings the 9s, and I lose 38,000 chips due to a perfect runner runner. I had him covered but with blinds at 2k/4k with a 500 ante, I had to make a move soon. I picked up A 10 on the button and went all in and the guy who took my chips before called my with AJ! Oh well, it was not meant to be, and I finished in 5th for a winning of $50.

After the game, I kept thinking about that hand. Obviously, if I bet the flop I win, but I really wanted the big score there, and to also send a message to the other players that I can trap them easily too. I was an 80% favorite to win that hand preflop and an 85% favorite on the flop. I think I'll get my money in there the same way every time.

After my exit, I gave Eddie $5 that he's collecting from people for the purchase of a table for the next season. I look forward to it.

Some ramblings, and a much needed break

I have decided to take a break from playing cards for a week or so. After tonight's freeroll at Eddie's, which I'm trying to get excited about, but lacking enthusiasm, I will not play until next week in St. Louis. Honestly, the thought just isn't that exciting anymore. This all stems from a beating I took at the 5/10 game the other night. I was pissed about losing my buy in, and I've just been in a funk ever since. Also, I haven't been feeling well lately, just very run down, but I know why. A good break from the game will hopefully invigorate me, and I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing 5 days in St. Louis. Oops, then I have Hall's freeroll the Tuesday after that.

So anyway, shopping in the mall I came across the conclusion that FYE and Saturday Matinee are in fact the same goddamn store. FYE focuses more on music, but carries movies, while the latter just carries movies. The prices there are absurdly expensive compared to Best Buy and even Amazon sometimes, but it apprears that people don't know any better and are price fixed into spending more money, regardless of which in-mall store they choose. I guess they figure, kids are going to hang out in malls anyway, so they'll pay whatever prices we tell them too. You don't see kids congregating at Best Buy to shoot the shit.

Well, for the 6 people that actually read this, have a happy holiday and the best of luck to everyone in the new year. I will post after Eddie's game tonight, but after that I probably won't have anything until '05. Rock, rock on!