dumb ass = Me

Played in the Starts WBCOOP PLO8 event tonight. I don't play much (any) PLO8 but I figured I would give it shot. You really are trying to place in the top 72 so that you win a seat in the main event so this is really just a satellite. Sure, top 10 places pay out some extra goodies, but 1-72 all get a seat in the final event. With that in mind, when I sucked out on a guy with a 2 outer on the river and found myself 12th in chips with a little over 130 to go, I should have just walked away. The poker gods had smiled down on me and rewarded my stupidity (in my defense, I had a straight and 2nd nut flush draw, I just didn't realize that he already had his straight and had the nut flush draw) at which point I should have just stepped away, washed the dishes and let myself coast into the top 72.

But did I do that? Nooooooooo.....

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

HORSEing around

Been playing some .50/1 HORSE on Full Tilt and play money Badugi on Stars just for shits and giggles. I've been having a good time brushing up on the mixed games and managing to book a couple of wins at the same time. It's also been a good exercise in patience. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experience this, but it seems like I get rolled up pairs in Razz (especially Kings and Queens) way more than I do in Stud. I think my record was 5 bring-ins in a row at one point. Razz and Stud are especially fun when the table gets short-handed and people are winning with a J low or A high. The turnover at the tables is pretty high. People sit down with $10 and burn through that pretty quick and leave. Good starting hand selection and patience resulted in 1.5 buy-ins in a couple of hours.

I'm still trying to figure out Badugi. I could see how there could be some big swings if you were playing for cash. Right now I'm just playing with play money so people are chasing and drawing 3 and 4 cards regularly so I'd be interested to try my hand playing for real money some time.

FTP cash for PS cash?

Anybody have some money on PokerStars that they would like to exchange for Full Tilt or Ultimate Bet cash? I'm looking for a 1-for-1 exchange. Maybe $100 or so.

A beautiful sight.

My son recently emptied a deck of playing cards onto the floor. Without coaching he first picked up the joker and then the Ace of spades. I almost cried. I don't agree with Norman Chad on much, but I do think that the Ace of spades is the most beautiful card in the deck. Unfortunately by the time I grabbed the camera he had dropped the cards and was playing with my car keys. Now if I can only teach him to say "All in."

WBCOOP

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 258691

I should just stick to MTT

Took down another 45-man MTT on FT today. Nothing too exciting, just stuck to sound, fundamental poker until I had established a tight image and then loosened it up a bit to steal a pot here and there. After my first steal with T7o I mis-clicked the "Show cards" button and gave away a little more information than I would have liked. When we were down to two tables, the short stacks started a shove-fest right about when I went card dead. I managed to stick around and finally pick up AA to knock out the 10th place guy and get us down to the final table. I went into heads up with about a 3-to-1 chip lead against a Danish guy who liked to type "ups" whenever he won a big pot. Once I moved him off a pot I typed "Fed Ex." I guess they don't have Fed Ex in Denmark because he didn't get the joke.

end of a drought

Took down a 45-man MTT on FTP tonight. It felt good to go deep into the tourney. Never caught aces but had kings twice. A couple of well-timed bluffs really made the difference and even when my bluffs got picked off, I made my bets look like value-bets and was able to lose a little instead of my whole stack. Once we were at the final table I was catching a lot of big aces. I think I had AQo twice in a row and maybe 3 times in 10 hands with an AJ in there as well.

Poker and Politics don't mix

A sure sign that I've been playing too much poker and that I'm constantly being bombarded by news of the Presidential race:

Last night I had a dream where John McCain was at the final table of a major tournament. I don't know what tournament, but it was a big, multi-day event (probably because I had been following the WSOPE final table all day). As I was watching the tourney I realized that if McCain won the tournament, it would be a great argument that he was fit to run the country plus it would give him an extra boost of media attention.

And then I woke up.

Happiness is ...

Just won three straight sit-n-gos off a guy on FTP. Besides the actual winning, it was totally dominating the guy that felt good. I just knew when I could push him off a hand. I was definitely playing the player as much as my cards. Not to say I didn't get lucky here and there - one hand he slow played Kings versus my Queens but a 7-high straight on the board chopped it- but on top of that I was able to control the game with bet sizes and well-timed aggression. This was definitely one of those situations where I would have played this guy as long as he was willing because I felt I had a serious edge.

Rant: My Fellow (ignorant) Americans

Listening to NPR and reading the papers lately (something I think a large portion of the people I am about to discuss probably don't do), I have been flabbergasted. I feel like someone who's best friend has suddenly turned to me and professed that they are a card-carrying member of the Nazi party who also believes this planet was created by omnipotent insects from another dimension. I am at once and embarrassed and ashamed to have any association to this person. Someone you think you knew, who you trusted and loved turns out to be a completely irrational idiot.

It would be bad enough if this person were indeed my best friend, but even worse when it is my fellow countrymen (and women too). I mean, I know that there are a lot of Americans out there who don't share my beliefs and values, I can live with that. But deep down I want to believe that inside each American is an intelligent person who can think for themselves and look at the information out there in plain sight and make an informed decision. It appears that I am badly mistaken and in reality a large number of Americans can be easily manipulated and swayed.

The recent surge in popularity of the McCain/Palin ticket just stuns me. I cannot understand how a senator who has voted 95% with Bush can suddenly rebrand himself as an agent of change and his running mate can claim in speech after speech that she was against earmarks while supporting, then accepting, the money for the bridge to nowhere and the American people will lap it up and accept these claims while ignoring the irrefutable mountain of evidence against them.

Sadly the only explanation I can see is this: Fear of a Black man. Why else would any former Clinton supporter turn around and support McCain? These women (and men) would quite possibly relinquish their right to choice and put a women, who just months ago quipped she would accept the Vice presidential nomination as soon as someone told her what the VP did, into office because they feel the Democratic party wronged Hillary? If this isn't cutting off your nose to spite your face, I don't know what is.

And it would be one thing if these people would just come out and say "I'm just not ready for a black man as president." Then at least I would respect you for being honest. Racist, but honest. But the lengths that people will go to justify their choice?

"I look at Obama, and I have a question in my mind," she says. "Years ago, was he taken into the Muslim faith? And my concern is the only way you are no longer a Muslim is if you are dead, killed. So in my mind, he's still alive."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94523754

I mean, this woman is just ignorant. Racist and ignorant.

What about McCain? I mean, he spent five years in a Vietnamese POW camp. a Communist POW camp. How do we know he wasn't brainwashed and is some sleeper cell? I've seen the Manchurian Candidate (the one with Sinatra) so don't tell me this can't happen.

"I look at [McCain], and I have a question in my mind," she says. "Years ago, was he [brainwashed by Communists]? And my concern is the only way you are no longer a [Communist] is if you are dead, killed. So in my mind, he's still alive."

So please, to those Americans (and you probably have no idea who you are), do your country a favor and just don't vote. Or better yet, move to Texas (or Alaska) and cecede from the nation.

Fish say the funniest things...

FullTiltPoker: $5 + $0.40 Heads Up Shootout, Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 1: Fish (1,350)
Seat 2: Tmo (1,650)
Tmo posts the small blind of 15
Fish posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tmo [Kh 6c]
Tmo calls 15
Fish has 15 seconds left to act
Fish checks
*** FLOP *** [6d 5c Ks]
Fish checks
Tmo bets 30
Fish raises to 120
Tmo raises to 420
Fish raises to 1,320, and is all in
Tmo calls 900
Fish shows [Ts Kd]
Tmo shows [Kh 6c]
*** TURN *** [6d 5c Ks] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6d 5c Ks 3c] [Ac]
Fish shows a pair of Kings
Tmo shows two pair, Kings and Sixes
Tmo wins the pot (2,700) with two pair, Kings and Sixes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,700 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 5c Ks 3c Ac]
Seat 1: Fish (big blind) showed [Ts Kd] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: Tmo (small blind) showed [Kh 6c] and won (2,700) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

Dealer: Fish finishes in 4th place
Fish: seriously ?
Fish: lol
Fish stands up
Fish (Observer): donkey
Tmo: ok
Tmo: fold 2 pr?
Fish (Observer): no wonder ur a losing player

I love this. Guy limps in, flops top pair, mediocre kicker, and calls me a donkey for calling with top two. I guess he is incredulous that I didn't take his check-raise-all-in to mean that he had slow played pocket Kings, sixes or threes.

Now I may be a losing player, but I seriously question how much of a winning player he is when he is playing $5 sit-n-gos and can't get away from top pair with a ten kicker.

Live Blog MTT

$24+2 90-man MTT on FTP.

First hand, AKo. Raise, two callers, c-bet, take it down.

20/40 blinds: T3,220

down to 410. Called min raise with 8h8d. 5 to the flop. Flop an OESFD, turn a straight. All in. Villain has AhTh.

Out in 82nd.

Bleh.

Sitting with a legend

I only had about 2 hours until we had to leave for the airport so I decided to swing by the Caesars poker room and see if I could jump into a game. The list for 3/5 NLHE only had one name so I put my name on the list. As I was waiting the brush announced that he had two seats open for a $65, 10-man sit-n-go. What the hell, I think, this shouldn't last too long so I book over to the table and draw for my seat. I draw seat number 4. As I'm walking around to my seat I pass seat 5, an older gentleman wearing a jacket with the "Oklahoma Johnny Hale" screened across the back.

Now I know it's a cliche that poker is the only sport (let's not get into that debate here) where any amateur can sit down and play with the pros, but this was truly happening. I don't know why Mr. Hale was playing a $65 buy-in game, but there he was, complete with his Best All-Around bracelet from the 1980 WSOP. For someone in his 80s, he sure played as aggressively as any young gun. Unfortunately Mr. Hale had to watch me move all in with 6c Tc vs. pocket Aces. A 6 on the flop and a second club on the turn made things interesting but I couldn't hit any of my 14 outs and I was quickly dispatched.

Icanhascheezburger

OK,
I know I'm way late to this party, but I heard about this website on NPR yesterday and had to check it out. For those of you even more out of the loop than me, the premise of this website is pictures of cats (and other animals) with captions that the cats themselves would make. And therein lies the fallacy. Because we all know that cats could never be bothered to actually type a caption, it would be way beneath them. But except for that minor detail, there are some pretty amusing pictures.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Suckouts that don't hurt so much

Ever wonder what poker players dream about besides winning the WSOP main event?


http://thetrooper97.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-sickest-night-of-poker-ever.html

Short and Sweet

I love these. One and done.

FullTiltPoker Game: Tier One $13+$0.75 Sit & Go, Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 1: Tmo (1,500)
Seat 2: Villian (1,500)
Villian posts the small blind of 10
Tmo posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tmo [Js 9c]
Villian calls 10
Tmo raises to 70
Villian calls 50
*** FLOP *** [7h 9s 4c]
Tmo bets 80
Villian raises to 1,430, and is all in
Tmo calls 1,350, and is all in
Villian shows [8c 6d]
Tmo shows [Js 9c]
*** TURN *** [7h 9s 4c] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [7h 9s 4c Jh] [4d]
Villian shows a pair of Fours
Tmo shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
Tmo wins the pot (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Villian stands up
Tmo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [7h 9s 4c Jh 4d]
Seat 1: Tmo (big blind) showed [Js 9c] and won (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 2: Villian (small blind) showed [8c 6d] and lost with a pair of Fours

I realize that he could have very easily turned over 74s in that situation, but it just didn't make sense. This guy immediately accepted a rematch and the second match was a little more sane. I definitely felt that I had the edge on him and would have kept playing all night if he were willing. Sadly, he declined. Now I have to figure out how to use these tournament tokens.

2nd

Poker time has been hard to come by lately but today I came home to an empty house and decided to hit FTP. Just a $20+2 SnG. Nothing too exciting. Managed to take 2nd without ever catching a big pocket pair or coin flips. What I really need to work on is my heads up play. I'm just not picking my spots well.

Iggy busted from the ME. The magic run is over. But what a run it was, and thanks to Iggy and Pauly we bloggers got to live vicariously through the whole thing. Even more inspiring than Moneymaker, he makes me want to take my shot.

I remember the first time I ever played poker in Vegas I hit a bad beat jackpot at the Luxor. We were playing 7-card stud and I had quad fours on 5th street. The bitter old rock at the other end of the table made a straight flush and I couldn't understand why the guy next to me was telling me I had won money, a lot of money (for me at the time). I was so shocked and stunned when they counted out my $1,400 that I literally couldn't speak and had to go back to my room and lay down. If I cashed in the Main Event they might have to carry me out on a stretcher.

Congrats to Iggy. But it sounds like he's been bitten by the bug and is already dreaming of next year.

Go Godfather!!!

Iggy, the godfather, or maybe more appropriately, Blogfather, of the poker blog made the money in the main event. Nice parlay of pokerstars satellite. According to Pauly, Iggy might get some TV time as he was playing at a table with some pros. It will be exciting to see how far he can go.

Running Bad

Not poker, but Scrabulous. Gone 3-5-2 over my last 10 games. I've been catching some terrible tiles- plenty of times where I've had either no vowels or all vowels while my opponents have caught good tiles. Scrabulous must be rigged. At least I'm not losing money.

3/45

After losing a couple of heads up Sngs - in one match there were two straight flushes, including the last hand that knocked me out- I decided to try my hand at a little MTT. Decided to play a 45 player MTT on FTP. Got knocked down to a pretty small stack but managed to battle my way back to be in the top 5 for most of the later part of the tournament. With 2 tables left, the top four stacks were all at our table. When we were down to 10 we had the 4 biggest stacks and the smallest stack. He managed to hang on for a while until I made the comment "cue the Rocky theme song" after he won a hand. Of course that was the kiss of death and busted out on the very next hand.

Not only does it feel good to cash, it feels even better to have hung tough and protect a small stack and manage to make it to final table, especially considering I never had aces, kings or jacks and only had queens once and that wasn't until the final table.

0 for ...

Haven't played much lately but found a few minutes last night to jump on UB and lose three straight heads up SnGs. Basically I sucked and the coin flip didn't go my way. My last hand of the first sng I I shove with pocket 4s and get called with AJo, flop a set and then go down in flames to runner-runner straight.

Hard to believe that the WSOP has run for three weeks now. I've given up my frantically trying to read every single blog out there and now just read whatever I feel like. It is great to have so many choices, though.

Euro 08 final Germany vs. Spain. I didn't see Russia v Spain, but Germany looks strong and will be tough to beat. The Turks were great and gave us one hell of a show.

Go Celtics

I'm not a big basketball fan. Although, when I used to play people would call me the Asian Dennis Rodman (without the dyed hair, multiple piercings and body art). I could rebound and play D like nobody's business. I can't shoot worth a lick, but that's another story. If there was an under 6'0 league, I could probably have been a pro.

I did watch parts of last night's game and was rooting for Boston. Not that I'm a big Boston fan, but I'm rooting for Ray Allen. He suffered long enough at Seattle, if anyone is due, it's gotta be him.

Of course, Father's day dinner is going to be a rather chaotic affair. Half the people will be glued to the TV screaming and yelling.

Euro 08: Sweden v Greece

Is it just me, or does Zlatan Ibrahimovic look a lot like the Dungeon Master on "Good Eats"?

Great games today. Spain and Sweden looked good. One of the perks of being a stay at home dad is that, baby willing, I can watch a lot of the matches. When I was watching the Sweden v Greece game I thought the stands looked mighty empty and then I realized that it was just the Swedish fans were all wearing jerseys.

Watching Poker After Dark right now. This is the week where Gus Hansen takes on 5 women. Why does JJ Liu insist on wearing those hideous outfits? Clonie Gowen and Jessica Schoenberg, yummy. Vanessa Rousso just doesn't do it for me. I just can't see past her bad playing.

Euro 08: Netherlands v Italy

O-M-G. OK, the first goal was a joke. Even the refs in our co-rec league could have spotted that offsides. I mean, COME ON. That said, that second goal was sick. That was a textbook counter attack goal. That shot? If I ever made a goal like that I would end my soccer career right then and there so that could be my last soccer memory. I have no idea how the second half went since I'm still figuring out TiVo and didn't record it, but the Dutch definitely looked like the better team. And you got to hand it to men who are confident enough to wear orange and baby blue.

The Other Home Game

The other game that Mrs. T and I play is Scrabble, with actual tiles and on a board. Last night's match was fairly balanced, no bingos for either of us. In the end, I was able to hold off Mrs. T and win 335-288.

Blogger Tourney Recap

OK. Now that I'm done kicking around our imaginary dog (Mrs. T threatened to call the imaginary SPCA), I can sit back and reflect. As we were making dinner, Mrs. T asked me if I had fun and without hesitation I said "yes." I got to play poker for a couple of hours with a bunch of bloggers and experience the dream. Now, I have to admit going in I had no illusions of winning it all; I just wanted to play well and go deep. But as we got closer and closer to the final table I started to wonder if it was really possible.

Early on I payed fairly tight, but of course I couldn't pass up the chance to play the hammer:



Didn't catch many hands early on but I was able to make a few moves and take a few pots. My image must have been pretty tight because I showed only a few hands. Got lucky with a couple of outright steals, then when we hit the final table I got hit with the deck. I had KK twice in a row, Tens, Jacks twice, AK twice in a row. At one point I limped on the button with 45s and flopped the straight.

Going into 4 handed play I had about 50% of the chips and that's where it went all horribly wrong. Mistake number 1: I limped with the HAMMER. Shoulda raised. Mistake number 2: I called a fair-sized bet with a gutshot (4 6 8). Mistake 3: I called an all-in on the turn with a double-gutter. Of course, had I won, I would have been the massive chip leader and got to type "HAMMER!" Instead, I doubled up the second place person to give them the chip lead. And that's when the dream began to die a little piece at a time.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I learned a few things, got to chase a dream and can walk away knowing that I can hang with the bloggers.

Blogger Tourney update

At the first break I'm 5th out of 59 remaining. I've caught a few breaks. Played the sooted hammer once for a win. More later.

2nd Break: 6th of 14 left. The smaller stacks are shoving with impunity. Going to keep grinding away.

Out: 4th (of 122). Blech. Oh well. It was a great ride. 4th was just as good as 2nd or 10th or DFL. Sucked out with AQ vs. AK to take a chip lead and managed to blow if trying to play the hammer against 2 pair. In my defense, I had a double gutter and would have had more than half the chips if I had caught. But ultimately it was my downfall.

Congrats to Lightning36 for taking it down. At least I feel a little better that the person who took me out went on to win it. Thanks be to AlCan'tHang for putting together the blogger tournament.

Win and Loss(es)

To prepare for today's Blogger tournament on Full Tilt, I decided to play a 1-table sit-n-go. At the same time I was playing Settlers with Mrs. T and the Q. While I was successful on Full Tilt, Mrs. T went 2-0 and handed me my ass on a plate in Settlers. It was a combination of strategically placed settlements and a bunch of lucky rolls; 12 (where she had a settlement) was rolled three times in one game while 2 (where I had my settlement) wasn't rolled once. I was on a bit of tilt towards the end. Luckily I had pocket Kings over Queens hold up when were down to three to mollify me a little bit.

I don't know what it is about FT that I don't like. Maybe it's just because I started on Ultimate Bet but I just like UB's tables better. The whole avatar thing on FT was really annoying; I know you can hide them, but when I started either you couldn't hide them or it just took me a while to realize how to hide them. I do like that you can play HORSE sit-n-gos on FTP. I'm slowly adjusting, but you know what they say about old dogs.

Looking forward to the Blogger Tourney on FT today. I realize my chances are slim, but 122 to 1 ain't too bad. Besides, I expect there to be a few empty chairs so really it's probably closer to a 100 to 1 shot. And being my only realistic chance at going to the WSOP this year, what have I got to lose? If nothing else it will be an hour or two of entertaining play.

Wish me luck.

1-hand SNG

Ultra Turbo $10 heads-up SNG on UB.

I'm dealt 2h3h on the button.
I call the BB.
He raises it to 60, I call.
Flop: Qh 2x 4x
He bets 120, I call.
Turn: Kh
He checks, I bet 160, he pops it to 500, I call
River: 9h
He goes all in, I call. He has Ad2d

I wish every game were that easy.

The Biggest Game

I'm not talking about the game that goes on in Bobby's room. I'm talking about the big game for the president of the United States of America. You know how in poker one big mistake can ruin you in a game? How about a game that goes on continuously for almost 2 years where any mistep will most likely be caught on video and haunt you forever? The decisions these people make will most likely affect almost every single person in this country for at least the next four years. Now that is a gamble.

I turned on the TV last night, admittedly to watch some poker on the DVR, and caught the tail end of Barack Obama giving his victory speech. Say what you will, that man can give a speech. And even if 75% of what he says is just meaningless fluff and empty promises, you have to admit that what he's pushing is a little infectious. As I sat there listening to the speech I was a little saddened to know that there are people out there who are not going to vote for Obama simply based on the color of his skin. I just pray that those closed-minded, ass-backwards anachronistic tards do us all a favor and just stay home and not vote and not vote for McCain. I've already told the missus that if McCain wins we're moving out of the country.

Things to chew on

One of those eternal questions that always come up right around the start of the WSOP is: "would you go all in with pocket aces on the very first hand of the WSOP main event." In my mind, unless you were in the big blind and every single person in front of you had already shoved, you're a pussy if you say no. What part of "best starting hand in hold'em" don't you understand?

A situation that is much more likely to come up in your life is what happened to Terrence Chan during event 5 at this year's WSOP:
http://terrencechan.livejournal.com/246673.html

In summary, some guy keeled over during the tournament and a guy from Terrence's table who happened to be a doctor went to help out. Of course, while doing his good deed, the good doctor was also missing hands. Terrence proposed that the players give the doctor a walk in the park when it was his big blind. While his intentions were good, although technically collusion, I'm not sure I would be able to go along with his proposal. When (if) I ever go to the WSOP, my goal will be to win it. And I am going to do everything (legally) within my means to win. In the abstract, the gesture seems fine, and I'm sure I'd be inclined to throw away a marginal hand if it was the Doctor's BB, but what if I looked down to see Aces?

Also, Shane Schleger has a great post on how to act when at a tournament:
http://shaniaconline.blogspot.com/

Would you walk up to an NBA pro while they walked to the locker room at halftime and start asking them about plays they made or for advice on your jumper? Shane makes the point that for pros, a poker tournament is their job and not all of them want to hear your bad beat story or talk about chip stacks when they are on break. Good thing to keep in mind when (if) I go.

Short and sweet

Jumped on Full Tilt just to check on the Blogger tournament going on this weekend. For some reason I put it down on the Calendar as happening Sunday when it's actually happening Saturday. Of course I invited some friends over for a BBQ at the exact same time. Arrrgh. Only 46 entrants so it won't be an all day affair, but what kind of host will I be if I just neglect my guests? Maybe I'll jump on and play ultra aggressive hoping to build a stack quickly and then I can sit out until the final table. hmmmmm... Or I can realize that my friends matter more than some lousy $2,000 buy-in to the WSOP.

So while I was there I decided to just play one heads up Sit-n-go. It was over in three hands.
Hand 1 (on button): I limp, he raises, I fold.
Hand 2: He bets pot, I call with J9o. Flop comes J high, I check raise, he folds.
Hand 3: I limp with AJc, he bets pot, I raise pot, he goes all in with red 6s. Flop comes A J x with two diamonds. Turn is another diamond and I'm bending over ready to get reamed but instead the river is another Ace. Thank you and good night.

WSOP: Event 2 $1,500 NLHE

From PokerNews:

A New Leader Emerges

We arrived at a table where a lot of chips were being pushed around on the flop.

The board showed {K-Clubs} {J-Clubs} {5-Diamonds} , and Ginikachukwu Izuogu passed the betting over to Michael Goetsch. Goetsch fired out 10,000, and Izuogu put in a check-raise to 35,000. Instantly, Goetsch jams it harder, all in for 75,000.

Izuogu digs for information. "Do you have aces? You have aces?"

Goetsch tells him, "Call and find out," so Izuogu obliges him and puts in the call.

Be careful what you wish for, Goetsch sees he's in trouble with his {4-Spades} {4-Clubs} against Izuogu's {K-Spades} {Q-Diamonds} . The last two cards on the board are {7-Spades} {5-Spades} , and Goetsch heads to the rail.

After the hand, we have our first three-hundredaire, as Izuogu sits with 305,000 chips in front of him.

I don't know who this guy is, but I want him at the final table just to hear Norman Chad say his name.

The Home Game

Three nights ago a very peculiar thing happened. The missus asked me if I wanted to play a card game. At first she suggested Gin Rummy, but as both of us couldn't remember exactly how to play, her second suggestion was poker. Now, this may not seem so odd at first unless you know Mrs. T. My wife asking me to play poker with her is somewhat akin to Mother Theresa asking you to watch a porno with her. I love my wife dearly but one of the qualities she does not possess is a love for anything sports/gambling related, which, sadly, includes Las Vegas.

I must admit that I probably share part of the blame for Mrs. T's aversion to poker. The few times she has played socially (and I can count those times on one hand), she is the SLOWEST and LUCKIEST person I have ever seen and I'll admit that times I have been a little impatient with her. It is painful to play poker with her. I have no idea what her exact thought processes are, but the time that she takes for each hand make Chris Ferguson look very speedy. On top of that, she catches ridiculous hands. Playing heads up she has had more full houses then I get in a month. A perfect example. I'm on the button with 55 and she raises. Flop comes Q 6 2 and she bets out. Each time she makes very small bets relative to the pot. In the end the board is something like Q 6 2 8 6 and she turns over pocket queens. Two sevens on the board? she has A 7. It's sick.

So for the past three nights we have played an ongoing game. We each started with 500 in chips and at the end of each night we count up how much we have and start with that amount the next time we play. The first night, the night of the slow played Queens, Mrs. T jumped out to an early chip lead that I was able to erase the next night. Last night I gained a few more chips so that I'm now a 640 to 360 leader. It's been interesting to try and figure out what she's thinking. We will stop and talk about a hand here and there but for the most part she is playing on her own. I can't read her to save my life. We'll see how long her enthusiasm for the game goes on, but for now I'm just riding the wave. Who knows? maybe she'll becoming hooked on poker and want to go to the WSOP one day. A man can dream, can't he?

How is anyone supposed to do any work?

While jumping between blogs and Poker News Live reporting, how is anyone supposed to get anything else done? Why can't we take a cue from the Europeans and take the month off? This is going to be one very unproductive month.

It Begins

In just a few hours the first event at the WSOP will start. Who will claim the first bracelet? Will it be a named player or a one-hit wonder?

Thanks to the folks at Up For Poker have compiled a list of WSOP blogs for those of us who can't be there:

http://www.upforanything.net/poker/2008-wsop-poker-blogs-and-news.html

UB Making Good?

Terrence Chan just posted a blog about getting a refund from Ultimate Bet due to the Super User scandal that took place there. If the story as it is laid out at 2+2 is true, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, it was definitely a black eye for UB in the time they took to address the issue and the apparent steps taken to protect the accused or at least look the other way. Since I'm a nickel-and-dime player at UB, I was never really worried about being a victim of superuser but would have considered moving my money out of UB if that UIGA didn't make it near to impossible. Still, I have to admit a certain affinity to Ultimate Bet since it is the first site where I deposited money, and I still prefer the UI over the other sites I play (FTP). Plus, it's the only site where I seem to be able to hold on to my money. Hopefully this will close the chapter on the whole sordid affair and I can go back to UB without fear that someone can see my cards. Now if I could only be sure that the donkeys won't hit their 1-outers.

Siren's Song

Being the center of gambling world (for now), Las Vegas exerts a pull on all gamblers. The pull is similar to gravity in that the more gamble in a person, the stronger the pull. 1100 miles away from me, thousands of people are making their pilgrimage to the yearly event that is the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Every poker player dreams of being at the (3 month delayed) final table of the Main Event, but to play in any event something that everyone schemes to do, even if just once just to say they were there. I was in LV for the first days of the main event back in 2006. Even though I was just a spectator, the experience was amazing. The site of the row upon row of poker tables in the Amazon Poker room was staggering.

Unable to attend, I'll have to live vicariously through the legion of bloggers who will be in attendance. Always a perennial favorite of mine is The Tao of Poker. Pauly's untiring capture of the less seen side of the WSOP is something to look forward to every day. It truly is the next best thing to being there. In fact, even if I was in LV at the WSOP I'd still read Tao of Poker just to know what I was missing.

The first post

Now that I've been keeping up a fairly consistent pace over at Poker Night blog, I though I would go solo and start my own blog. This will allow me to comment not only on poker, but all the other games I like to play: Scrabble (and Scrabulous), Boggle, Settlers of Catan and the game of life.

Originally I wanted to call this "The Games I Play" but it looks like some spook already has that.

So we're off. Let's see how long I can keep this up.