The Lovely wakes me up early as she is leaving for the Grand Canyon nice and early. She has to get a couple of "you should be going with me" shots in there before exiting. I am tired from the late night tourney last night (and blogging the results before turning in).
But I am up and what the heck. It's Vegas baby!
I hurry to the close by O'Shea's tourney ($45) - which gets group of twenty one entries.
I squeak into the final table when my all-in with (66) spikes a [6] with four callers!
They are paying three spots {$300, $175, $110) , and I stay around as my (JJ) outlasts an (AK).
Down to five as the short stack and I am in the BB with (Ks Qs). It folds around to the SB and chip leader, who limps in. I have some fold equity so I go all-in. After a long think, he calls with (55).
The good news is I flopped [KQ], but the lone spade is ...of course [5s]! Well, at least I didn't bubble. I got that going for me.
On to Bally's for a little bigger and classier tourney - $65 entry and 39 entries. Paying five places {$768, $480, $288, $211, $172}.
I don't make it past the second blind increase. My (JJ) gets caught by (AK) and my desperation all-in with (Ac 5h) never had a prayer.
But Bally's has a nice poker room. Real nice.
So I head over to Planet Hollywood for the next available tourney. It is a $70 buy-in. When I go to pay my entry an hour and a half early, the young poker manager says if I join the PH Player's Club, instead of $4000 starting chips, I will get $4500 - and of course no cost to join.
I state that I am not in Vegas enough to make use of it. But he is persistent and says, "The line is right over there and will only take like ten minutes."
I glance over at the line of - Oprah watching, 5-cent nickel slot and George Clooney loving Clinton voters - snaked around a roped off queuing line that appears a 1st glance will take at least a half hour to get thru.
I say, "Wow. I don't know," wondering if 500 more chips is worth the hassle as fast as blinds go up in this town.
He says in a real smart tone - remember, he is half my age if he is a day - "Listen pal, I'll sell you 4000 in chips right now. But if you don't want 12% more chips just for standing in line for a couple minutes, I can't help you."
I stare at him for a moment wondering if my hat says, "Be rude to me" instead of "Kimber" on it. I say, "You talked me into it," and walk right towards the line, then right past the line and out of Planet Hollywood probably for good.
I walk over to the MGM Grand (the place with some bad memories of I think poker cheating many years ago) and check it out.
The room is 1st class and the busiest of any of the rooms I have seen this trip. They hold a nightly $90 buy-in tourney at 7pm and the poker room manager says they usually have 90 to 110 players.
I may do that tomorrow for my last tourney. On to Caesar's Palace this evening I think.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Faldo Unsuccessful in O'Shea's Tourney
My wife got tired after seeing her first Las Vegas show with her sister (Beatle's show of some kind) and the walk to the Bellagio. Besides they are heading to the Grand Canyon tomorrow and wanted to turn in.
I still had my poker legs so Idropped her off and headed to O'Shea's. I got in a 30 - player tourney there with a $45 buy-in.
It's a little casino on the strip and is part of the Flamingo family and is basically right next door to the Flamingo and across the street from Caesars Palace.
They run six tourneys a day: 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, midnight and 3am! So you can find tournament action around the clock there. Sweet!
Plus, O'Shea's has their live action ring just inside the casino, and passer's by can sweater the action there. The tournaments are held deeper inside the casino.
I forgot to get the payouts, but they are permanently posted on the wall in the event of 2, 3, 4 or 5 full tables of players. Maybe I will get them later if I remember to or play there again.
I was not too happy when I left. Not mad as much as wondering if I will ever get a decent run of cards in a tournament this trip. It may not happen. No law says I will.
My tale of woe was another string of 73, 84, 93, K2, and 72 hands. At least these did not flop winners of gigantic pots for me if I had stayed. I was not hitting hands or flops with anything. In the first 3 levels of blinds, I played exactly 2 hands and had to fold after the flop. I was getting low in chips.
I finally get (QQ) and simply limp in from UTG +1, because I know the man on the button will raise. One limper follows me and the button fires in a big raise. Easy all-in call for me, and the limper folds.
The Button holds (KsTs) and hits a [T] on the flop. but a [Q] on the turn allows me to make the break with some chips.
After the break, my garbage collection of hands continues. I finally make a stand and go all-in first with (Kh Qh), while I still have five times the blinds.
A big stack in the big blind considers folding as everyone else has. But he knows I have been sitting there like a tree stump except for the (QQ) hand and makes the call with (Ad 4d).
I get my [Q] on the flop but two diamond are also there. He hits a diamond on the turn and an Ace on the river he didn't need and I am out in 12th.
The bride is heading to the Grand Canyon tomorrow and I will try to break out tomorrow.
It sure was exciting watching JW win it all!
I still had my poker legs so Idropped her off and headed to O'Shea's. I got in a 30 - player tourney there with a $45 buy-in.
It's a little casino on the strip and is part of the Flamingo family and is basically right next door to the Flamingo and across the street from Caesars Palace.
They run six tourneys a day: 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, midnight and 3am! So you can find tournament action around the clock there. Sweet!
Plus, O'Shea's has their live action ring just inside the casino, and passer's by can sweater the action there. The tournaments are held deeper inside the casino.
I forgot to get the payouts, but they are permanently posted on the wall in the event of 2, 3, 4 or 5 full tables of players. Maybe I will get them later if I remember to or play there again.
I was not too happy when I left. Not mad as much as wondering if I will ever get a decent run of cards in a tournament this trip. It may not happen. No law says I will.
My tale of woe was another string of 73, 84, 93, K2, and 72 hands. At least these did not flop winners of gigantic pots for me if I had stayed. I was not hitting hands or flops with anything. In the first 3 levels of blinds, I played exactly 2 hands and had to fold after the flop. I was getting low in chips.
I finally get (QQ) and simply limp in from UTG +1, because I know the man on the button will raise. One limper follows me and the button fires in a big raise. Easy all-in call for me, and the limper folds.
The Button holds (KsTs) and hits a [T] on the flop. but a [Q] on the turn allows me to make the break with some chips.
After the break, my garbage collection of hands continues. I finally make a stand and go all-in first with (Kh Qh), while I still have five times the blinds.
A big stack in the big blind considers folding as everyone else has. But he knows I have been sitting there like a tree stump except for the (QQ) hand and makes the call with (Ad 4d).
I get my [Q] on the flop but two diamond are also there. He hits a diamond on the turn and an Ace on the river he didn't need and I am out in 12th.
The bride is heading to the Grand Canyon tomorrow and I will try to break out tomorrow.
It sure was exciting watching JW win it all!
'JW' Wins at the Paris!
Forty-nine players (45 and 4 alternates) signed up for this turbo SNG for the standard $65 buy-in. Tournament over in just over two hours! Faldo, Bronco76 and JW (Aqualung's and my nephew) were part of it. I told them about the payout at the Paris being friendly and they wanted to try it. Good judgement!
I didn’t see how Bronco got knocked out, but his report was that he was basically card dead and lost his coin flip all-in with 3 tables left.
JW was at my table. We hooked in a hand where I re-raised his standard raise, to let him know I had a great hand (KK). He called with (AQ) and spiked an [A] on the flop. JW bet a lot, and I had to lay them down.
But as the action continued, JW was – at one point – with less chips (1200) than I had (2500) {blinds 200 – 400}. He went all-in with (KQ) and got a caller with (AJ). The flop was a super friendly [AJT], and no boat arrived. That was the kick-off to a great run!
I finished 15th as my all-in with (AJ) lost to a (KQ) who hit the [K] on the river.
I did not see the action until it went to a final table of nine players. JW stood 7th in chips when he arrived there.
With seven players left and now being low chip man, JW calls an all-in with (66) and is thrilled when his opponent turns over (55). A nice double up! The 55 guy is gone shortly.
The chip leader takes out the bubble man when his (Q8) beats the short stack, who held (A8) when a [Q] hits the turn. Five left and all get paid.
JW picks up some chips uncontested with raises. Finally the chip leader calls with (44) and JW has (AA). With three left, JW has the lead!
JW’s (AK) beat (AQ) to take out the 3rd place chip count guy, setting up the heads up competition. JW has the much bigger stack.
It doesn't take very long to end as JW's (AT) is all over the short-stack with (8d 4d). But an all-black flop with an [A T 6d) in it and JW wins his first Las Vegas tournament!
1st - $966 – nice payday JW!!!
2nd - $604
3rd - $362
4th - $266
5th - $217
JW was VERY kind by returning Bronco’s and my entry fee back to us, and then he told Bronco, “The drinks are on me!” – and away they went into the Las Vegas night! I was considering tagging along but my wife wanted me to see the flower garden in the Bellagio and the light show outside the Bellagio with her.
Going partying in Vegas with two young guys with found money - or looking at flower arrangements with my wife? Decisions, decisions.
I never saw so many chrysanthemums, and the light shows I noticed are fifteen minutes apart.
I didn’t see how Bronco got knocked out, but his report was that he was basically card dead and lost his coin flip all-in with 3 tables left.
JW was at my table. We hooked in a hand where I re-raised his standard raise, to let him know I had a great hand (KK). He called with (AQ) and spiked an [A] on the flop. JW bet a lot, and I had to lay them down.
But as the action continued, JW was – at one point – with less chips (1200) than I had (2500) {blinds 200 – 400}. He went all-in with (KQ) and got a caller with (AJ). The flop was a super friendly [AJT], and no boat arrived. That was the kick-off to a great run!
I finished 15th as my all-in with (AJ) lost to a (KQ) who hit the [K] on the river.
I did not see the action until it went to a final table of nine players. JW stood 7th in chips when he arrived there.
With seven players left and now being low chip man, JW calls an all-in with (66) and is thrilled when his opponent turns over (55). A nice double up! The 55 guy is gone shortly.
The chip leader takes out the bubble man when his (Q8) beats the short stack, who held (A8) when a [Q] hits the turn. Five left and all get paid.
JW picks up some chips uncontested with raises. Finally the chip leader calls with (44) and JW has (AA). With three left, JW has the lead!
JW’s (AK) beat (AQ) to take out the 3rd place chip count guy, setting up the heads up competition. JW has the much bigger stack.
It doesn't take very long to end as JW's (AT) is all over the short-stack with (8d 4d). But an all-black flop with an [A T 6d) in it and JW wins his first Las Vegas tournament!
1st - $966 – nice payday JW!!!
2nd - $604
3rd - $362
4th - $266
5th - $217
JW was VERY kind by returning Bronco’s and my entry fee back to us, and then he told Bronco, “The drinks are on me!” – and away they went into the Las Vegas night! I was considering tagging along but my wife wanted me to see the flower garden in the Bellagio and the light show outside the Bellagio with her.
Going partying in Vegas with two young guys with found money - or looking at flower arrangements with my wife? Decisions, decisions.
I never saw so many chrysanthemums, and the light shows I noticed are fifteen minutes apart.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Faldo Moves to the Paris Casino to Donk Some More
Well, I found poker heaven in Vegas, although I didn't stay long.
The Paris Poker Room had a tourney with a $65 buy-in. They cut the entries off at 36 players. I huslted over after my loss at the Monte Carlo, but was not in a great frame of mind.
I entered the tourney, and entered the sports book where I lost two horse bets while waiting. That help my attitude. Then my son just called to tell me that both him and his couzin failed to cash also at Monte Carlo.
Just as I asked him for details, I was told rudely by a sports book worker that cell phones were illegal in the sports book. If my $65 for the tourney was not already 100 feet away in their cash register, I would of told the guy what he could do with his sports book. But I told my son that some, "This asshole says I can't use my phone. Talk to you later," and I hung up. The guy seemed to contemplate a response, but walked away.
I tend to get surly when losing. Another improvement in my frame of mind before the next tourney.
The Paris tourney is first class. Tourney clock on the wall and the payouts are generous! Thirty-six players makes a pool of $2100. They paid five places -
1st - $768
2nd - $480
3rd - $288
4th - $211
5th - $173
This means The Paris Poker Room only took $180 out of the pool of $2100! Compare that to the Imperial Palace taking $440 out of a pool of $1320.
The Paris is the best bargain I've seen so far!
I continued playing like a donkey as the promise I made in the last article was not made until after this tourney. Again I folded - as I was supposed to - two weak hands that would have won me some big pots.
This was stacked on top of my Monte Carlo misses and donkey play, the horse losses and the rude Paris employee. I was trying not to get tilty, but I don't think I was thinking as clear as I usually do. I won't blame it on being tired because I didn't feel tired.
Here is the hand that spelled the end for me. I am medium-low in chips and am in the big blind after the first break. I have 1100 left after posting the 200 big blind. It folds around to the small blind who calls. I look at (Ah 3h) and decide to raise it to 500 and he calls. Not what I wanted to hear.
The flop is [7s As Qc]. Yeah, that may be my salvation or my tap out. The small blind checks. What to do?
Checking is totally wrong, but is all-in correct? I will be able to see another full lap to pick a spot if I don't go out here. A small bet will get me a call - which I don't want. So I bet $500.
There is an old adage, 'try not to play a big pot with a small hand.' I ignore that wisdom. This was almost as stupid a play (I'm thinking now) as checking. I just committed myself, but didn't use the all-in hammer. If I wanted him to fold, all-in was the move, not this weenie bet.
He calls and now I have no idea where I am at. Like I said, someone else has taken over playing my cards and my brain must be out on the strip handing out call-girl cards to passer-byes with the illegal aliens.
If anyone wants to dispute my play on this hand as being 'not so bad', I would love to hear why. ...Somebody? Anybody?
The turn is [6c]. Well, that did nothing for me, but built another flush draw I none of. He checks and I check. Again, showing weakness, but I'm lost in the hand and on tilt besides.
The river is a [4d]. That's a blank I think, but the SB goes all-in and after a think, I fold leaving me with next to nothing in chips. I double up once but fail on the second attempt. I exit wondering why I am going for Donkey of the Year honors in Las Vegas my first day playing.
The SB guy didn't show what he had, but he got knocked out soon after as his trips ran into a runner-runner straight. I happen to be just outside the poker room calling my son when he exits, so I asked him what happened to him - and what did he have in our hand (As6s).
Definitely heading back to the Paris for some tourneys. The payouts are ripe, but I will still hit some casinos for poker I have never played in before also.
I WILL REPRESENT NPP TOMORROW!!!!! - Nik Faldo
The Paris Poker Room had a tourney with a $65 buy-in. They cut the entries off at 36 players. I huslted over after my loss at the Monte Carlo, but was not in a great frame of mind.
I entered the tourney, and entered the sports book where I lost two horse bets while waiting. That help my attitude. Then my son just called to tell me that both him and his couzin failed to cash also at Monte Carlo.
Just as I asked him for details, I was told rudely by a sports book worker that cell phones were illegal in the sports book. If my $65 for the tourney was not already 100 feet away in their cash register, I would of told the guy what he could do with his sports book. But I told my son that some, "This asshole says I can't use my phone. Talk to you later," and I hung up. The guy seemed to contemplate a response, but walked away.
I tend to get surly when losing. Another improvement in my frame of mind before the next tourney.
The Paris tourney is first class. Tourney clock on the wall and the payouts are generous! Thirty-six players makes a pool of $2100. They paid five places -
1st - $768
2nd - $480
3rd - $288
4th - $211
5th - $173
This means The Paris Poker Room only took $180 out of the pool of $2100! Compare that to the Imperial Palace taking $440 out of a pool of $1320.
The Paris is the best bargain I've seen so far!
I continued playing like a donkey as the promise I made in the last article was not made until after this tourney. Again I folded - as I was supposed to - two weak hands that would have won me some big pots.
This was stacked on top of my Monte Carlo misses and donkey play, the horse losses and the rude Paris employee. I was trying not to get tilty, but I don't think I was thinking as clear as I usually do. I won't blame it on being tired because I didn't feel tired.
Here is the hand that spelled the end for me. I am medium-low in chips and am in the big blind after the first break. I have 1100 left after posting the 200 big blind. It folds around to the small blind who calls. I look at (Ah 3h) and decide to raise it to 500 and he calls. Not what I wanted to hear.
The flop is [7s As Qc]. Yeah, that may be my salvation or my tap out. The small blind checks. What to do?
Checking is totally wrong, but is all-in correct? I will be able to see another full lap to pick a spot if I don't go out here. A small bet will get me a call - which I don't want. So I bet $500.
There is an old adage, 'try not to play a big pot with a small hand.' I ignore that wisdom. This was almost as stupid a play (I'm thinking now) as checking. I just committed myself, but didn't use the all-in hammer. If I wanted him to fold, all-in was the move, not this weenie bet.
He calls and now I have no idea where I am at. Like I said, someone else has taken over playing my cards and my brain must be out on the strip handing out call-girl cards to passer-byes with the illegal aliens.
If anyone wants to dispute my play on this hand as being 'not so bad', I would love to hear why. ...Somebody? Anybody?
The turn is [6c]. Well, that did nothing for me, but built another flush draw I none of. He checks and I check. Again, showing weakness, but I'm lost in the hand and on tilt besides.
The river is a [4d]. That's a blank I think, but the SB goes all-in and after a think, I fold leaving me with next to nothing in chips. I double up once but fail on the second attempt. I exit wondering why I am going for Donkey of the Year honors in Las Vegas my first day playing.
The SB guy didn't show what he had, but he got knocked out soon after as his trips ran into a runner-runner straight. I happen to be just outside the poker room calling my son when he exits, so I asked him what happened to him - and what did he have in our hand (As6s).
Definitely heading back to the Paris for some tourneys. The payouts are ripe, but I will still hit some casinos for poker I have never played in before also.
I WILL REPRESENT NPP TOMORROW!!!!! - Nik Faldo
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Faldo Donks Off His Chips the Next Tourney at the Monte Carlo
I don't know why it started but I know when. Actually, I know why too. And I will fix it tomorrow. I should have fixed this leak in my game before, burt sometimes it takes a kick in the teeth ...and looking like a donk in Las Vegas to bring it home.
I will represent us better tomorrow.
My next stop was the Monte Carlo and another $50 buy-in and another $10 got you another $1000, and who wasn't taking that? My son Bronco and my nephew JW are playing also. 27 players enter.
It is a beautiful poker room with HD TV's on the wall for sports. But none had a tournament clock operating. Everything was handled the old fashion way - on a call out from the tournament director. Very strange considering how classy the room is.
I never did get the payouts. I was not there that long.
Here is when I became a donk. Two limpers come in before me on hand 3 and I find (87) in middle position. I decide to much and the flop comes [864] A a small bet and 5 callers. The turn is a [5] - naturally. I folded. Another small bet and a standard raise, and four callers!
The river is a [K] with three all-ins and my straight would have taken it down as trip 4's did. Huge pot and I got none. GRRRR - but no problem - it's early.
2 hands later - (JT) one from under the gun. UTG calls and I muck. Six callers - flop [JJ6]. Action and bets with a [T] on the river. Another monster is not mine!
Button (Ks Qs), raise four callers and they all call. Flop [Ad 5d 4d] and two call a good bet and I have to fold.
Late middle position with [99], raise again and the same woman that raised me out of the last hand I played goes all-in. I muck it.
I am officially starting to tilt as every move I make or don't make is wrong. Not that I am playing badly, but my attitude and confidence is starting to slide.
Now I am medium low in chips. One lap later in middle position, I enter first with a raise with (Kd Td). This same woman raises double and I am the only caller. Maybe a re-raise here gets me the pot - maybe.
The flop is [KKJ]. I bet half of what I have hoping to win it here. I hope she wants to fold any straight draw or smaller pair. She calls. The turn is a [Q]. Now the straight is out there.
I check but I think I have to call her bet. She checks too. Maybe my small pair read is correct and now I think maybe I missed my chance to take the pot. The river is a [2]. Safe enough.
I check hoping my trips win but she goes all-in. Straight? Or did she have (KJ) from the jump or did the [Q] turn give her the boat? I still have chips left although not much. I can't think of a single hand I can beat unless she is on a pure bluff - and a bluff attempt would be silly considering how short stacked I am.
I want to fold, but my hand shoves the rest of my chips in and she does have (KQ).
My nephew whispers, "What a cooler!" But was it?
Or did I misplay the hand on every street and then simply throw the rest of my chips away?
I have to quit letting past results in hands upset my judgement later in the tourney. I should be past this point by now, but I have not been.
I will be tomorrow.
I will represent us better tomorrow.
My next stop was the Monte Carlo and another $50 buy-in and another $10 got you another $1000, and who wasn't taking that? My son Bronco and my nephew JW are playing also. 27 players enter.
It is a beautiful poker room with HD TV's on the wall for sports. But none had a tournament clock operating. Everything was handled the old fashion way - on a call out from the tournament director. Very strange considering how classy the room is.
I never did get the payouts. I was not there that long.
Here is when I became a donk. Two limpers come in before me on hand 3 and I find (87) in middle position. I decide to much and the flop comes [864] A a small bet and 5 callers. The turn is a [5] - naturally. I folded. Another small bet and a standard raise, and four callers!
The river is a [K] with three all-ins and my straight would have taken it down as trip 4's did. Huge pot and I got none. GRRRR - but no problem - it's early.
2 hands later - (JT) one from under the gun. UTG calls and I muck. Six callers - flop [JJ6]. Action and bets with a [T] on the river. Another monster is not mine!
Button (Ks Qs), raise four callers and they all call. Flop [Ad 5d 4d] and two call a good bet and I have to fold.
Late middle position with [99], raise again and the same woman that raised me out of the last hand I played goes all-in. I muck it.
I am officially starting to tilt as every move I make or don't make is wrong. Not that I am playing badly, but my attitude and confidence is starting to slide.
Now I am medium low in chips. One lap later in middle position, I enter first with a raise with (Kd Td). This same woman raises double and I am the only caller. Maybe a re-raise here gets me the pot - maybe.
The flop is [KKJ]. I bet half of what I have hoping to win it here. I hope she wants to fold any straight draw or smaller pair. She calls. The turn is a [Q]. Now the straight is out there.
I check but I think I have to call her bet. She checks too. Maybe my small pair read is correct and now I think maybe I missed my chance to take the pot. The river is a [2]. Safe enough.
I check hoping my trips win but she goes all-in. Straight? Or did she have (KJ) from the jump or did the [Q] turn give her the boat? I still have chips left although not much. I can't think of a single hand I can beat unless she is on a pure bluff - and a bluff attempt would be silly considering how short stacked I am.
I want to fold, but my hand shoves the rest of my chips in and she does have (KQ).
My nephew whispers, "What a cooler!" But was it?
Or did I misplay the hand on every street and then simply throw the rest of my chips away?
I have to quit letting past results in hands upset my judgement later in the tourney. I should be past this point by now, but I have not been.
I will be tomorrow.
Faldo Fails at Imperial Palace
The $60 buy-in tourney only attraced twenty-two players, so it was more of a SNG than a tourney.
What I liked: The Poker Room Floorman was Rick Marianetti - who will be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on Monday night. He will be the bald guy.
He was very helpful and gave me a sheet with all the tourneys within walking distance of the Imperial Palace. A very nice gesture indeed.
The tourney was well run, the tourney clock always visible, and the dealers were fist rate.
What I didn't like; The rake!
22 players is a total pool of $1320. It played three places.
1st - $440 (50%)
2nd - $264 (30%)
3rd - $176 (20%)
So far, so correct.
But the rake was $440!!!! The casino came in 1st place too!
Freddie Deeb, who forgot more about poker odds than I know, says that the casinos normally finish 3rd - 4th every tourney. So where does the Imperial Palace get off taking 1st - 2nd?
[Ed. Note: If you take the full prize fund, normally the casino takes 10% of the prize pool - which equates to taking 4th in a tourney. Imperial Palace got a 2nd place finish percentage on the entire pool - which then equaled the payout for 1st place.]
The dealer mentioned that they seem to only get 3 tables or less of players for the weekend tourneys, but 4 or 5 tables going during the week. Maybe they back off the rake with more tables - but I doubt it.
These tourneys are no way profitable long term. The rake is just too massive.
I also didn't like the fact I finished 12th. Not blaming my loss on it, but 4 of the 11 guys on my table were poker buddies and some whip-saw betting and Robin Hood poker took place. I guess two guys in the same posse were on the other table.
Anyway, it is on to the Monte Carlo for a $60 tourney over there. My son and nephew are getting in also. Should be a good time. Report to follow. - Nik Faldo
What I liked: The Poker Room Floorman was Rick Marianetti - who will be on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on Monday night. He will be the bald guy.
He was very helpful and gave me a sheet with all the tourneys within walking distance of the Imperial Palace. A very nice gesture indeed.
The tourney was well run, the tourney clock always visible, and the dealers were fist rate.
What I didn't like; The rake!
22 players is a total pool of $1320. It played three places.
1st - $440 (50%)
2nd - $264 (30%)
3rd - $176 (20%)
So far, so correct.
But the rake was $440!!!! The casino came in 1st place too!
Freddie Deeb, who forgot more about poker odds than I know, says that the casinos normally finish 3rd - 4th every tourney. So where does the Imperial Palace get off taking 1st - 2nd?
[Ed. Note: If you take the full prize fund, normally the casino takes 10% of the prize pool - which equates to taking 4th in a tourney. Imperial Palace got a 2nd place finish percentage on the entire pool - which then equaled the payout for 1st place.]
The dealer mentioned that they seem to only get 3 tables or less of players for the weekend tourneys, but 4 or 5 tables going during the week. Maybe they back off the rake with more tables - but I doubt it.
These tourneys are no way profitable long term. The rake is just too massive.
I also didn't like the fact I finished 12th. Not blaming my loss on it, but 4 of the 11 guys on my table were poker buddies and some whip-saw betting and Robin Hood poker took place. I guess two guys in the same posse were on the other table.
Anyway, it is on to the Monte Carlo for a $60 tourney over there. My son and nephew are getting in also. Should be a good time. Report to follow. - Nik Faldo
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
BigLou93 Wins NPP #18-6, for 2nd Win of the Quarter
Eight players finally made it to the game this evening. Rownder was a little late registering and Nahanni was a little late starting and ArcticBlast were a lot late getting started. But all made it in plenty of time to be factors.
21 min: Beerhog gets crippled early as his (AQ) ran into BigLou93’s (QJ) with a flop of [QJ5].
25 min: Mikeniks-Faldo gives Beerhog some life as my (55) fails as his (A3) hits an [A] on the flop. Don’t give chips to Beerhog as he will make you pay for your generosity.
39 min: Nahanni gets her stacked whacked as she tries to take ArcticBlast out with (33) and a flop of [A24]. But Arctic puts the freeze to her as his (KK) holds up against the straight draw and trips catch.
44 min: Last week’s winner Tigercub8189 (8th) exits first as his big hands early earned him no chips. Then with a flop of [448], he goes all-in with a semi-short stack and (A8). BigLou9393 calls him with (48)! Ouch!
48 min: A short-stacked Nahanni (7th) doesn’t get the Faldo gift pack of chips. She goes up against real card players, instead of me, with (AT). Both BigLou93 and Duder (K9) call her. The flop is [359]. Duder bets and BigLou93 gets out of the way. Duder trips his 9’s on the turn to end the lady’s night.
59 min: I’ve (Faldo) told everyone – never, NEVER go all-in short-stacked right before the break. I am convinced the Poker Stars software is designed to clean up the debris right before breaks.
I’m (6th) short-stacked, thanks to my 70 hand run of garbage cards and rotten play. I read BigLou9393 for a draw of some kind with a flop of [As 7s 2c]. I go all-in with (KJ) hoping to buy it or hit a pair. BigLou93 had paired the ducks, no help arrives of course and I am out of there.
Gee, yet another bubble finish for Faldo. Go figure.
Break:
BigLou93 4345
ArcticBlast 2850
Duder 2835
Rownder 1000
Beerhog 970 (way to come back!)
64 min: ArcticBlast (TT) and a shorter-stacked Rownder (AT) hook up with Rownder all-in and hitting an [A] on the flop. They virtually change positions in chip count.
66 min: ArcticBlast (5th) gets hit with nearly simultaneous death blows as his (QQ) runs into Rownder’s (AA). A tough run for Blast after the break, that is for sure!
73 min: Rownder (4th) tries to make a grab for the gusto but the cards do not cooperate for him this time. Now short-stacked again, he makes his stand with (JT) and runs into BigLou93’s (KT).
75 min: Duder (3rd) was getting grounded into dust by the big stack, BigLou93 (as was Beerhog). Duder goes all-in with (77) and BigLou93 calls with (QJ) and BigLou93 hits the straight on the turn to end the night for Duder.
80 min: That leaves the Beerhog (2nd), who made a great comeback and dodged the bullets without ever having a big supply of chips the whole night. He dribbles in his last little bit with (Ts 3h) and a flop of [8s 7s 3s], for a pair of 3’s and a flush draw. BigLou93 calls with (54) and hits a straight on the river to close it out!
Nice win BigLou and way to tough out a place finish Beerhog.
1st – BigLou93 25 pts
2nd – Beerhog 7 pts
3rd – Duder 11 pts
4th – Rownder 20 pts
5th - ArcticBlast 13 pts
6th – Mikeniks-Faldo (12pts)
7th – Nahanni 26 pts
8th – Tigercub8189 16 pts
Boother 14 pts
Aqualung (6 pts)
Sev4TSev 3 pts
McGuiness 3 pts
Total point standings are on the right side of the blog.
21 min: Beerhog gets crippled early as his (AQ) ran into BigLou93’s (QJ) with a flop of [QJ5].
25 min: Mikeniks-Faldo gives Beerhog some life as my (55) fails as his (A3) hits an [A] on the flop. Don’t give chips to Beerhog as he will make you pay for your generosity.
39 min: Nahanni gets her stacked whacked as she tries to take ArcticBlast out with (33) and a flop of [A24]. But Arctic puts the freeze to her as his (KK) holds up against the straight draw and trips catch.
44 min: Last week’s winner Tigercub8189 (8th) exits first as his big hands early earned him no chips. Then with a flop of [448], he goes all-in with a semi-short stack and (A8). BigLou9393 calls him with (48)! Ouch!
48 min: A short-stacked Nahanni (7th) doesn’t get the Faldo gift pack of chips. She goes up against real card players, instead of me, with (AT). Both BigLou93 and Duder (K9) call her. The flop is [359]. Duder bets and BigLou93 gets out of the way. Duder trips his 9’s on the turn to end the lady’s night.
59 min: I’ve (Faldo) told everyone – never, NEVER go all-in short-stacked right before the break. I am convinced the Poker Stars software is designed to clean up the debris right before breaks.
I’m (6th) short-stacked, thanks to my 70 hand run of garbage cards and rotten play. I read BigLou9393 for a draw of some kind with a flop of [As 7s 2c]. I go all-in with (KJ) hoping to buy it or hit a pair. BigLou93 had paired the ducks, no help arrives of course and I am out of there.
Gee, yet another bubble finish for Faldo. Go figure.
Break:
BigLou93 4345
ArcticBlast 2850
Duder 2835
Rownder 1000
Beerhog 970 (way to come back!)
64 min: ArcticBlast (TT) and a shorter-stacked Rownder (AT) hook up with Rownder all-in and hitting an [A] on the flop. They virtually change positions in chip count.
66 min: ArcticBlast (5th) gets hit with nearly simultaneous death blows as his (QQ) runs into Rownder’s (AA). A tough run for Blast after the break, that is for sure!
73 min: Rownder (4th) tries to make a grab for the gusto but the cards do not cooperate for him this time. Now short-stacked again, he makes his stand with (JT) and runs into BigLou93’s (KT).
75 min: Duder (3rd) was getting grounded into dust by the big stack, BigLou93 (as was Beerhog). Duder goes all-in with (77) and BigLou93 calls with (QJ) and BigLou93 hits the straight on the turn to end the night for Duder.
80 min: That leaves the Beerhog (2nd), who made a great comeback and dodged the bullets without ever having a big supply of chips the whole night. He dribbles in his last little bit with (Ts 3h) and a flop of [8s 7s 3s], for a pair of 3’s and a flush draw. BigLou93 calls with (54) and hits a straight on the river to close it out!
Nice win BigLou and way to tough out a place finish Beerhog.
1st – BigLou93 25 pts
2nd – Beerhog 7 pts
3rd – Duder 11 pts
4th – Rownder 20 pts
5th - ArcticBlast 13 pts
6th – Mikeniks-Faldo (12pts)
7th – Nahanni 26 pts
8th – Tigercub8189 16 pts
Boother 14 pts
Aqualung (6 pts)
Sev4TSev 3 pts
McGuiness 3 pts
Total point standings are on the right side of the blog.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tigercub8189 Wins His First NPP Tourney
It may have been a shorter table with only six starters, but all were previous winners – so it was not going to be cakewalk. But with the cards the Tiger was getting, maybe it was. He hit a ton of hands – especially down the stretch – which is always nice when it happens to you.
I would not know about that phenomenon …but I hear things.
53 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (6th) is the first victim. Duder crippled me early. Then Biglou and Nahanni tag-teamed my panic all-in by both of them calling. Biglou hit the wheel straight and I was left to keep score alone in Cleveland.
58 min: Nahanni (5th) followed me out the door by breaking the cardinal rule: Short stack never plays with less than 2 minutes to go before break. The software will kill you.
She has (67) and the flop comes [A68]. She was two-timed also by ArcticBlast and Duder, who both had an Ace and split her chips.
Break:
Tigercub 3260
Biglou 2577
Duder 1918
ArcticBlast 1245
ArcticBlast starts the 2nd round with a couple of big blind special hands of (72) and (32) that double him up quickly!
68 min: This was not good for the early chip leader Duder (4th). Duder is now forced to make a move with (AJ) and runs into ArcticBlast’s (AK).
83 min: A lot of hands were being hit by Tiger who slowly ground his two opponents into Cat-chow. Last week’s winner Biglou (3rd) has to go all-in with his (A6) when the flop comes [687] with a [7] on the turn. But the Tigercub is lying in wait with (KK).
88 min: The end comes with another run of cards for Tiger. ArcticBlast (2nd) is forced to put the rest of his chips in with (K7) and Tiger can easily call with (97). Flop [65J], and Arctic is alive. But a [9] on the turn and a [9] on the river and Tigercub8189 has his first win!
Good job Tiger!
1st – Tigercub 16 pts
2nd – ArcticBlast 12 pts
3rd – Biglou 15 pts
4th – Duder 6 pts
5th – Nahanni 26 pts
6th – Mikeniks (12 pts)
Rownder 17 pts
Boother 14 pts
Total Point Standings are on the side of the blog.
I would not know about that phenomenon …but I hear things.
53 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (6th) is the first victim. Duder crippled me early. Then Biglou and Nahanni tag-teamed my panic all-in by both of them calling. Biglou hit the wheel straight and I was left to keep score alone in Cleveland.
58 min: Nahanni (5th) followed me out the door by breaking the cardinal rule: Short stack never plays with less than 2 minutes to go before break. The software will kill you.
She has (67) and the flop comes [A68]. She was two-timed also by ArcticBlast and Duder, who both had an Ace and split her chips.
Break:
Tigercub 3260
Biglou 2577
Duder 1918
ArcticBlast 1245
ArcticBlast starts the 2nd round with a couple of big blind special hands of (72) and (32) that double him up quickly!
68 min: This was not good for the early chip leader Duder (4th). Duder is now forced to make a move with (AJ) and runs into ArcticBlast’s (AK).
83 min: A lot of hands were being hit by Tiger who slowly ground his two opponents into Cat-chow. Last week’s winner Biglou (3rd) has to go all-in with his (A6) when the flop comes [687] with a [7] on the turn. But the Tigercub is lying in wait with (KK).
88 min: The end comes with another run of cards for Tiger. ArcticBlast (2nd) is forced to put the rest of his chips in with (K7) and Tiger can easily call with (97). Flop [65J], and Arctic is alive. But a [9] on the turn and a [9] on the river and Tigercub8189 has his first win!
Good job Tiger!
1st – Tigercub 16 pts
2nd – ArcticBlast 12 pts
3rd – Biglou 15 pts
4th – Duder 6 pts
5th – Nahanni 26 pts
6th – Mikeniks (12 pts)
Rownder 17 pts
Boother 14 pts
Total Point Standings are on the side of the blog.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Legend of the White Whale – Part IV
In Part III, I described the poker game run by my travel softball team’s coach, sponsor, general manager, .990 batting average pinch-hitter, bookie and big bettor – Frank.
In the game were only three real players; Frank, Fat Russ and Frank’s protégé - and game starting shill – Nik Faldo. And I was not a real ‘playa’. But the competition was so weak, that I was able to squeak out about $200 a poker night on average. Which $200 a week back in the 1970’s was some decent cash for a starving college student.
Our softball team played against the best in Michigan and sometimes, the country. We did it on a budget completely paid for by Frank – at around $50,000 a year. We played against many corporate sponsored teams like Stroh’s, Miller High Life, and big manufacturing company sponsors that would spend about $250,000 to $500,000 a year – for a softball team, if you can believe it. So it was serious stuff.
I found the team thru Frank’s brother ‘Ted’, who had played baseball with me in high school. We met by chance, and he told me to try out, and the rest is a 15 year softball career – waste of time! But it was great fun and adventures.
As a ‘small market’ team, Frank was forced to take a lot of the great softball players that had been thrown off the other teams for bad behavior or that were attitude problems. We truly were the Oakland Raiders of Michigan softball and Frank had us in black and silver uniforms to boot. Teams were uncomfortable playing us and had absolutely no desire to get – let us say – on our bad side. And with just about any team we played, one of our players had an axe to grind with them – so even though we were not the best all the time talent wise – we were always motivated.
The police on more than one occasion escorted some player of ours off the diamond (in cuffs) for some parole ‘paperwork problem’ - and some of our tournament games always seemed to have extra ‘security’ around. Frank once told me as I stood in the on deck circle, “You know Little Faldo (I was the smallest player by far at 5’ 9”, and a weight-lifting, solid 200 lbs.), I think you are the only guy in the starting line-up who has not been in jail.” A few of the guys on the team also worked as Frank’s ‘Fund Allocation Collection Agents’.
I was working at a plating company – hanging parts on the line - on midnight shift, showering, going to college, then going home and passing out. I would get up, study and do a little homework, then go to work.
Frank called me and said, “I rented a gym so you idiots can play catch and maybe do a little basketball and volleyball to stay in shape – as long as you don’t kill each other. Be there at 7pm.”
I told him I couldn’t because of my schedule. He said, “How much are you making in that stupid job?” I told him my take home was $125 a week. He said, “I’ll give you $100 a day to answer my phones on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.” My introduction to sports betting, booking and real poker playing was about to start!
I did this for a couple of years, which really helped me get thru my college classes. Sleep, study time and nearly triple pay sure helped. Plus I was making money betting and booking bets at college. But when I started dating the current Mrs. Faldo, she was not impressed at all with my ‘day job’, so I had to quit working for Frank.
My replacement? Enter the league bench player, - The White Whale.
The first night the White Whale was there for the start of the poker game (he was not playing – just there because the phones had just quit ringing), he sits down to watch. The Whale knows me and Frank, and is in awe of the ex-Detroit Lions. He doesn’t know the McDonald’s franchise owners or the building contractors, but does know Fat Russ thru doing business with him for Frank.
This is who the White Whale decides to start on. As I told you before, the White Whale had a quick and sarcastic wit that makes the stuff on this blog look lame. Heck, Don Rickles looked lame compared to the White Whale. And ‘Fat’ Russ is an easy target. Russ is always in a good mood and is laughing the barbs off, but all of a sudden he can’t win. He gets a little on tilt and the cards turn ugly. He really takes a pounding and loses a bundle (I got some of it).
The next week – the same. The next week – the same! Russ can’t seem to win with the White Whale watching the game! Although the jokes and the put downs don’t appear to be upsetting Russ, they must be. It is helping Frank and I immensely however! In addition, Russ goes on a month long sports betting losing streak, with The Whale answering the phones at Frank’s!
Frank tells me later what happens. Russ meets Frank for lunch and tells him to fire The Whale and ban him from watching the game . Russ is convinced that the White Whale is a jinx! If Frank doesn’t ban The Whale, he’ll quit the game.
Frank knows that Russ is his only competition in that poker game and that Russ is winning thousands in the game and really doesn’t want to quit. So he basically tells Russ – fine – quit. But Russ threatens to hurt Frank’s betting layoff ability if he doesn’t do something about The Whale. They compromise and decide that Fat Russ will pay The Whale $100 to stay away from the table.
But in addition, Frank must call Fat Russ from now on. If Russ wants Frank, he will page him and Frank can call Fat Russ back. Russ is afraid that The Whale would pick up the phone if he calls Frank. And Russ cannot be able to hear The Whale’s voice while talking to Frank and the Whale cannot be mentioned while conducting business.
So the first poker night of the arrangement, the Whale leaves as planned and Russ cleans up! Hurt me pretty good too! He hurt everyone! He won everything! Sports included!
The next week, the Whale leaves, but Russ starts off losing again – big time. He says loud enough for just the table to hear, “That fucking Whale is still here!”
He gets out of his chair and as fast as his 345 pound frame could move, he goes up the stairs. There in the living room is The Whale – watching TV with the sound down, eating the last of a submarine sandwich and drinking beer he had brought in a cooler! Russ literally throws The Whale out of the front door (no small feat because The Whale was not tiny either) and locks the door!
Fat Russ spent the rest of that game checking to see if the Whale had snuck back into the house. Russ, by the way, lost most of his sports bets that night too!
And for every game after, if Russ lost a tough hand, the search for the Whale was renewed.
Another legend of the White Whale is made - and this one will literally change the course of poker history -within a year. More in Part V.
In the game were only three real players; Frank, Fat Russ and Frank’s protégé - and game starting shill – Nik Faldo. And I was not a real ‘playa’. But the competition was so weak, that I was able to squeak out about $200 a poker night on average. Which $200 a week back in the 1970’s was some decent cash for a starving college student.
Our softball team played against the best in Michigan and sometimes, the country. We did it on a budget completely paid for by Frank – at around $50,000 a year. We played against many corporate sponsored teams like Stroh’s, Miller High Life, and big manufacturing company sponsors that would spend about $250,000 to $500,000 a year – for a softball team, if you can believe it. So it was serious stuff.
I found the team thru Frank’s brother ‘Ted’, who had played baseball with me in high school. We met by chance, and he told me to try out, and the rest is a 15 year softball career – waste of time! But it was great fun and adventures.
As a ‘small market’ team, Frank was forced to take a lot of the great softball players that had been thrown off the other teams for bad behavior or that were attitude problems. We truly were the Oakland Raiders of Michigan softball and Frank had us in black and silver uniforms to boot. Teams were uncomfortable playing us and had absolutely no desire to get – let us say – on our bad side. And with just about any team we played, one of our players had an axe to grind with them – so even though we were not the best all the time talent wise – we were always motivated.
The police on more than one occasion escorted some player of ours off the diamond (in cuffs) for some parole ‘paperwork problem’ - and some of our tournament games always seemed to have extra ‘security’ around. Frank once told me as I stood in the on deck circle, “You know Little Faldo (I was the smallest player by far at 5’ 9”, and a weight-lifting, solid 200 lbs.), I think you are the only guy in the starting line-up who has not been in jail.” A few of the guys on the team also worked as Frank’s ‘Fund Allocation Collection Agents’.
I was working at a plating company – hanging parts on the line - on midnight shift, showering, going to college, then going home and passing out. I would get up, study and do a little homework, then go to work.
Frank called me and said, “I rented a gym so you idiots can play catch and maybe do a little basketball and volleyball to stay in shape – as long as you don’t kill each other. Be there at 7pm.”
I told him I couldn’t because of my schedule. He said, “How much are you making in that stupid job?” I told him my take home was $125 a week. He said, “I’ll give you $100 a day to answer my phones on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.” My introduction to sports betting, booking and real poker playing was about to start!
I did this for a couple of years, which really helped me get thru my college classes. Sleep, study time and nearly triple pay sure helped. Plus I was making money betting and booking bets at college. But when I started dating the current Mrs. Faldo, she was not impressed at all with my ‘day job’, so I had to quit working for Frank.
My replacement? Enter the league bench player, - The White Whale.
The first night the White Whale was there for the start of the poker game (he was not playing – just there because the phones had just quit ringing), he sits down to watch. The Whale knows me and Frank, and is in awe of the ex-Detroit Lions. He doesn’t know the McDonald’s franchise owners or the building contractors, but does know Fat Russ thru doing business with him for Frank.
This is who the White Whale decides to start on. As I told you before, the White Whale had a quick and sarcastic wit that makes the stuff on this blog look lame. Heck, Don Rickles looked lame compared to the White Whale. And ‘Fat’ Russ is an easy target. Russ is always in a good mood and is laughing the barbs off, but all of a sudden he can’t win. He gets a little on tilt and the cards turn ugly. He really takes a pounding and loses a bundle (I got some of it).
The next week – the same. The next week – the same! Russ can’t seem to win with the White Whale watching the game! Although the jokes and the put downs don’t appear to be upsetting Russ, they must be. It is helping Frank and I immensely however! In addition, Russ goes on a month long sports betting losing streak, with The Whale answering the phones at Frank’s!
Frank tells me later what happens. Russ meets Frank for lunch and tells him to fire The Whale and ban him from watching the game . Russ is convinced that the White Whale is a jinx! If Frank doesn’t ban The Whale, he’ll quit the game.
Frank knows that Russ is his only competition in that poker game and that Russ is winning thousands in the game and really doesn’t want to quit. So he basically tells Russ – fine – quit. But Russ threatens to hurt Frank’s betting layoff ability if he doesn’t do something about The Whale. They compromise and decide that Fat Russ will pay The Whale $100 to stay away from the table.
But in addition, Frank must call Fat Russ from now on. If Russ wants Frank, he will page him and Frank can call Fat Russ back. Russ is afraid that The Whale would pick up the phone if he calls Frank. And Russ cannot be able to hear The Whale’s voice while talking to Frank and the Whale cannot be mentioned while conducting business.
So the first poker night of the arrangement, the Whale leaves as planned and Russ cleans up! Hurt me pretty good too! He hurt everyone! He won everything! Sports included!
The next week, the Whale leaves, but Russ starts off losing again – big time. He says loud enough for just the table to hear, “That fucking Whale is still here!”
He gets out of his chair and as fast as his 345 pound frame could move, he goes up the stairs. There in the living room is The Whale – watching TV with the sound down, eating the last of a submarine sandwich and drinking beer he had brought in a cooler! Russ literally throws The Whale out of the front door (no small feat because The Whale was not tiny either) and locks the door!
Fat Russ spent the rest of that game checking to see if the Whale had snuck back into the house. Russ, by the way, lost most of his sports bets that night too!
And for every game after, if Russ lost a tough hand, the search for the Whale was renewed.
Another legend of the White Whale is made - and this one will literally change the course of poker history -within a year. More in Part V.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
BigLou93 Wins His 1st NPP Tourney!
Biglou’s run of dead cards in this league came to an end in a big way. He had the goods all the way thru the night. He beat eight players on his way to the victory. On to the action:
47 min: Forty-seven minutes? That is a testament to how tough this tourney is.
A short-stacked Rennzzo (9th) has to make a move when his (76) pairs the turn. But BigLou had paired his (AK) on the flop.
52 min: Tigercub, McGuiness and ArcticBlast (8th) all see a flop of [Jd Qd 5s]. Only Tigercub and Arctic bet and call and see the turn of [8c]. Another bet and call to the [8d] river. Danger Will Robinson! They get all-in and the Tiger shows a higher two pair.
53 min: The next hand, Rownder (7th) raises and gets called by BigLou. The flop of [Th 7s Kh] gets Rownder to bluff all-in with (Ad 8d) and Biglou calls with (KT). Rownder got no miracle runner - runner.
Break:
BigLou93 4360 (would the jinx be broken?) YES!
Tigercub 2300
McGuiness 2265
Mikeniks-Faldo 2070
Nahanni 1720
Duder 785 (sitting out all tourney)
67 min: Tigercub calls the blind and Nahanni (6th) checks the blind. The flop is [4c 2d 7c]. Nahanni bets with (5c 4d) , Tiger raises with (Kc Ks) and Nahanni calls. The turn is a [8c] which gives Nahanni the straight and flush draw.
She checks and Tiger bets. Nahanni raises and the Tiger just calls. The river is a death card for Nahanni [Ac], as it gives her a flush that loses to the bigger one. Her chance for a three-peat is over. Nice run Nahanni! I still lost my MC card over this.
75 min: McGuiness (5th) got a little unlucky here. We have Duder1123 sitting out with his chip stack being blinded off. If we can just hang on, we all know at least two ‘free’ points are available just for breathing. But by the same token, if you are playing to win, sitting on your hands will not get you 1st place.
McGuiness sees a flop with (A3) and bets a flop of [4A7] and is called by the red hot Biglou with (TT). When you are as hot as Biglou was, you know help is on the way. The turn is a [T] and Biglou sets up the trap net.
Poker Stars adds some more bait with a killer [3] on the river and McGuiness bites for a double up and sees the trip tens end his night.
77 min: Insult to injury for SpoonyG as Duder (4th) blinds out 2 minutes later.
88 min: The hand of the night! BigLou calls the blind with (Kc Qc), I (Mikeniks-Faldo) raise with (AK), and Tigercub (3rd) re-raises with (66) and is called. The flop of [4c As Ac] is a possible cooler for all involved.
Tiger is the short stack and is basically committed. Does Faldo try to take the Cat out by himself or keep Biglou around for side pot profit? The way the cards were rolling for Biglou – and with the size of his stack, he probably only folds with an all-in bet by me – provided he doesn’t have pocket 4’s. I screwed up by not betting him out on the flop.
Tiger goes all-in as expected and both me and Biglou call. The turn is a [Js]. There is the card I had to avoid Lou seeing. At least it was not a club. Now I am worried he could have a straight, but I incorrectly put him on a small pair he is hoping might win with no betting.
We both politely check as we try to put the Tiger to sleep.
The river is an ugly (for me) [Tc]. I bet a good size bet telling BigLou I have the Tiger beat with trips or the straight I am bluffing – but he has me beat with a real straight - and a flush! Ouch!
I see my card reading ability remains awful. Almost as bad as my heads up play - as you will see.
92 min: The night ends for Faldo (2nd) as short-stacked, I get all-in with (QJ) and Biglou correctly calls with (85). I get a [J95] flop for the lead and am pretty happy with my chances to fight on. But an ugly [5] on the river ends it.
Congratulations to BigLou on his 1st NPP win. It won’t be the last.
1st – BigLou93 10 pts
2nd- Mikeniks-Faldo (12 pts)
3rd – Tigercub8189 6 pts
4th – Duder1123 3 pts
5th – McGuiness 3 pts
6th – Nahanni 25 pts
7th – Rownder 17 pts
8th – ArcticBlast 5 pts
9th – Rennzzo
Boother 14 pts
Total point race available on the side of the blog.
47 min: Forty-seven minutes? That is a testament to how tough this tourney is.
A short-stacked Rennzzo (9th) has to make a move when his (76) pairs the turn. But BigLou had paired his (AK) on the flop.
52 min: Tigercub, McGuiness and ArcticBlast (8th) all see a flop of [Jd Qd 5s]. Only Tigercub and Arctic bet and call and see the turn of [8c]. Another bet and call to the [8d] river. Danger Will Robinson! They get all-in and the Tiger shows a higher two pair.
53 min: The next hand, Rownder (7th) raises and gets called by BigLou. The flop of [Th 7s Kh] gets Rownder to bluff all-in with (Ad 8d) and Biglou calls with (KT). Rownder got no miracle runner - runner.
Break:
BigLou93 4360 (would the jinx be broken?) YES!
Tigercub 2300
McGuiness 2265
Mikeniks-Faldo 2070
Nahanni 1720
Duder 785 (sitting out all tourney)
67 min: Tigercub calls the blind and Nahanni (6th) checks the blind. The flop is [4c 2d 7c]. Nahanni bets with (5c 4d) , Tiger raises with (Kc Ks) and Nahanni calls. The turn is a [8c] which gives Nahanni the straight and flush draw.
She checks and Tiger bets. Nahanni raises and the Tiger just calls. The river is a death card for Nahanni [Ac], as it gives her a flush that loses to the bigger one. Her chance for a three-peat is over. Nice run Nahanni! I still lost my MC card over this.
75 min: McGuiness (5th) got a little unlucky here. We have Duder1123 sitting out with his chip stack being blinded off. If we can just hang on, we all know at least two ‘free’ points are available just for breathing. But by the same token, if you are playing to win, sitting on your hands will not get you 1st place.
McGuiness sees a flop with (A3) and bets a flop of [4A7] and is called by the red hot Biglou with (TT). When you are as hot as Biglou was, you know help is on the way. The turn is a [T] and Biglou sets up the trap net.
Poker Stars adds some more bait with a killer [3] on the river and McGuiness bites for a double up and sees the trip tens end his night.
77 min: Insult to injury for SpoonyG as Duder (4th) blinds out 2 minutes later.
88 min: The hand of the night! BigLou calls the blind with (Kc Qc), I (Mikeniks-Faldo) raise with (AK), and Tigercub (3rd) re-raises with (66) and is called. The flop of [4c As Ac] is a possible cooler for all involved.
Tiger is the short stack and is basically committed. Does Faldo try to take the Cat out by himself or keep Biglou around for side pot profit? The way the cards were rolling for Biglou – and with the size of his stack, he probably only folds with an all-in bet by me – provided he doesn’t have pocket 4’s. I screwed up by not betting him out on the flop.
Tiger goes all-in as expected and both me and Biglou call. The turn is a [Js]. There is the card I had to avoid Lou seeing. At least it was not a club. Now I am worried he could have a straight, but I incorrectly put him on a small pair he is hoping might win with no betting.
We both politely check as we try to put the Tiger to sleep.
The river is an ugly (for me) [Tc]. I bet a good size bet telling BigLou I have the Tiger beat with trips or the straight I am bluffing – but he has me beat with a real straight - and a flush! Ouch!
I see my card reading ability remains awful. Almost as bad as my heads up play - as you will see.
92 min: The night ends for Faldo (2nd) as short-stacked, I get all-in with (QJ) and Biglou correctly calls with (85). I get a [J95] flop for the lead and am pretty happy with my chances to fight on. But an ugly [5] on the river ends it.
Congratulations to BigLou on his 1st NPP win. It won’t be the last.
1st – BigLou93 10 pts
2nd- Mikeniks-Faldo (12 pts)
3rd – Tigercub8189 6 pts
4th – Duder1123 3 pts
5th – McGuiness 3 pts
6th – Nahanni 25 pts
7th – Rownder 17 pts
8th – ArcticBlast 5 pts
9th – Rennzzo
Boother 14 pts
Total point race available on the side of the blog.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Legend of the White Whale – Part III
Writing this to ease the pain of losing yet another player from the NPP Tuesday game:
In this segment we will have to veer away from the White Whale himself – before continuing with the continuing saga that is - the White Whale. I have to set up the situation first.
Fat Russ was a bookie, just as my softball coach “Frank” was. But Russ was a much bigger bookie than Frank. Frank usually laid off bets he didn’t want or were too big to handle - to Russ.
Russ, I’m pretty sure, dealt with the top of the bookie chain in those days in the Detroit area. Organized crime guys and money movers to Las Vegas itself. Russ was not involved in any of that mob stuff, but that is where you had to go in those days to move the volume of action he took and wanted.
Fat Russ would come to watch our softball games when he had to give or get money from Frank. But what Russ loved to do was watch the other teams practice before the start of their game and have Frank make a run line on this game.
Frank would make a line and Russ would pick a team – either giving or getting runs – and these two would bet $1000 a game. Now there might be one, two or three games in between our game time - and some on multiple diamonds! I never found out who came out on top in these bets, but I'm positive it was Frank. Russ, since he was there anyway, just wanted the ‘action’.
I might have told some of this story to some of you at our NPP card games.
Russ also played poker at Frank’s regular game. It was a Wednesday night game of rich plumbing contractors and electricians, local TV sports reporters, McDonalds’ restaurant owners, Detroit slum lords, other bookies and ex-Detroit Lion football players.
Frank had recruited me as a shill to help get the game started. He basically gave me my 'real' poker start. He taught me the game and staked me in the game. All profit was mine and all losses were on him. The stakes for the game were $10 - $20 limit – but unlimited betting when heads-up. Which back in the 1970’s was not considered a small game. What a deal for me!
I was to play until I got the ‘signal’ that he needed that seat for a pigeon. Obviously, he could only beat me out of his own money. Not a good situation for him. I would usually play from 7pm to midnight, then claim I had class in the morning (I usually did too) and cash out.
Texas Holdem, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo was dealt some. But the game we played the most was 5-stud Hi/Lo and you could exchange a card (3 times) for $5. That means there were seven betting rounds ($10 normal - $20 with a pair showing or when the five cards were out) and most reached $80 a player per round. It got real bloody – but everyone had a ton of cash. There were thousands of dollars on the table and in everyone’s pockets – but mine. I occasionally walked out with some of it.
Well most of the time I did walk out winners. I was doing well enough to where Frank still funded me, but I had to pay him back for bad nights before I could take the gravy. I was not a good player, but these guys were even worse. Except for Russ and Frank of course, I was the best player there.
What I remember about playing against Russ was; he was never late to the game and always took the seat to left of Frank. Worst seat in the game, except probably to Russ’s right. I never understood why Russ sat there.
Russ played poker without any fear of losing. Russ let absolutely no pain ever shown on his face. He was always in a joking mood – win or lose - and completely fearless. And he was capable of any move at any time for any amount of money.
Even Frank couldn’t get a handle on Russ or wrestle control of the table away from him – even though he had position on him every single week!
But Russ did have one Achilles Heel, despite his steel resolve at the poker table.
That weakness was – the White Whale! I will explain that in Part IV.
In this segment we will have to veer away from the White Whale himself – before continuing with the continuing saga that is - the White Whale. I have to set up the situation first.
Fat Russ was a bookie, just as my softball coach “Frank” was. But Russ was a much bigger bookie than Frank. Frank usually laid off bets he didn’t want or were too big to handle - to Russ.
Russ, I’m pretty sure, dealt with the top of the bookie chain in those days in the Detroit area. Organized crime guys and money movers to Las Vegas itself. Russ was not involved in any of that mob stuff, but that is where you had to go in those days to move the volume of action he took and wanted.
Fat Russ would come to watch our softball games when he had to give or get money from Frank. But what Russ loved to do was watch the other teams practice before the start of their game and have Frank make a run line on this game.
Frank would make a line and Russ would pick a team – either giving or getting runs – and these two would bet $1000 a game. Now there might be one, two or three games in between our game time - and some on multiple diamonds! I never found out who came out on top in these bets, but I'm positive it was Frank. Russ, since he was there anyway, just wanted the ‘action’.
I might have told some of this story to some of you at our NPP card games.
Russ also played poker at Frank’s regular game. It was a Wednesday night game of rich plumbing contractors and electricians, local TV sports reporters, McDonalds’ restaurant owners, Detroit slum lords, other bookies and ex-Detroit Lion football players.
Frank had recruited me as a shill to help get the game started. He basically gave me my 'real' poker start. He taught me the game and staked me in the game. All profit was mine and all losses were on him. The stakes for the game were $10 - $20 limit – but unlimited betting when heads-up. Which back in the 1970’s was not considered a small game. What a deal for me!
I was to play until I got the ‘signal’ that he needed that seat for a pigeon. Obviously, he could only beat me out of his own money. Not a good situation for him. I would usually play from 7pm to midnight, then claim I had class in the morning (I usually did too) and cash out.
Texas Holdem, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo was dealt some. But the game we played the most was 5-stud Hi/Lo and you could exchange a card (3 times) for $5. That means there were seven betting rounds ($10 normal - $20 with a pair showing or when the five cards were out) and most reached $80 a player per round. It got real bloody – but everyone had a ton of cash. There were thousands of dollars on the table and in everyone’s pockets – but mine. I occasionally walked out with some of it.
Well most of the time I did walk out winners. I was doing well enough to where Frank still funded me, but I had to pay him back for bad nights before I could take the gravy. I was not a good player, but these guys were even worse. Except for Russ and Frank of course, I was the best player there.
What I remember about playing against Russ was; he was never late to the game and always took the seat to left of Frank. Worst seat in the game, except probably to Russ’s right. I never understood why Russ sat there.
Russ played poker without any fear of losing. Russ let absolutely no pain ever shown on his face. He was always in a joking mood – win or lose - and completely fearless. And he was capable of any move at any time for any amount of money.
Even Frank couldn’t get a handle on Russ or wrestle control of the table away from him – even though he had position on him every single week!
But Russ did have one Achilles Heel, despite his steel resolve at the poker table.
That weakness was – the White Whale! I will explain that in Part IV.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Nahanni Wins Two in a Row!
Ok guys. Time to man up! The Lady is kicking our butts!
I, Faldo, not only had to burn my Male Chauvinist Card because of this, but I was so traumatized by Nahanni’s win last week, I hit LIMIT instead of No Limit for the tourney.
My mistake, but it really didn’t take any longer - a little over 2 hours.
On to the game:
35 min: BigLou exits (10th), but I didn’t see the hand as we were still at two tables, and I was on the other one.
53 min: Duder (9th) bet all his chips with (A9) pre-flop and was called by McGuiness with (Q9). The flop had a [Q].
That took us to the break and much cussing at Faldo was begun. But Faldo mentioned that it really would not take that much longer than a NL tourney.
Trust Faldo. They didn’t.
Don’t ever doubt Faldo. They did.
Aqualung 3395 (hint: curse held)
McGuiness 2840
ArcticBlast 2447
Nahanni 2165
Mikeniks (Faldo) 1440
Rownder 1403
Sev4TSev 735
Tigercub 575
65 min: A short-stacked Tigercub (8th) bets it all with (A5) and is called by Aqualung’s (JJ). Good night sweet Cat.
75 min: Sev4TSev (7th) has to go with (AT) and runs into McGuiness and his (AJ).
90 min: I (Mikeniks – Faldo) (6th) went card dead since about the 45 minute mark. Shocking, I know. I finally get (AK) to make a stand and McGuiness correctly calls me with a straight draw and hits it. Bubble boy AGAIN for Faldo!!!!
102 min: McGuiness (5th) points as his (A6) runs into ArcticBlast’s (JJ).
110 min: Aqualung (4th) goes out. I was emptying the Heineken - via bladder - that was being forced on me by the waitress in the hotel bar. Damn her!
Not really damn her. I think she has been programmed by a foreign government to over-serve potential WSOP Champions. Not her fault and certainly not mine. How could it be?
2nd Break:
Nahanni 9634
Rownder 4142
ArcticBlast 1224
Anyone catch that WSOP comment? Beer talking.
121 min: ArcticBlast (3rd) has to move with (A4) and Rownder (64) paired his sixes.
130 min: Rownder (2nd) had to go with (A5) and Nahanni’s (T8) got tens on the flop and it was over. Congratulations to Nahanni for two in a row – even with a change in games. Impressive win!
1st – Nahanni 25 pts
2nd – Rownder 17 pts
3rd – ArcticBlast 5pts
4th – Aqualung (6 pts)
5th – McGuiness 2 pts
6th – Mikeniks(Faldo) (5 pts)
7th – Sev4TSev 3 pts
8th – Tigercub 1 pt
9th – Duder
10th - BigLou
Boother 14 pts
Total point race is on the blog.
I, Faldo, not only had to burn my Male Chauvinist Card because of this, but I was so traumatized by Nahanni’s win last week, I hit LIMIT instead of No Limit for the tourney.
My mistake, but it really didn’t take any longer - a little over 2 hours.
On to the game:
35 min: BigLou exits (10th), but I didn’t see the hand as we were still at two tables, and I was on the other one.
53 min: Duder (9th) bet all his chips with (A9) pre-flop and was called by McGuiness with (Q9). The flop had a [Q].
That took us to the break and much cussing at Faldo was begun. But Faldo mentioned that it really would not take that much longer than a NL tourney.
Trust Faldo. They didn’t.
Don’t ever doubt Faldo. They did.
Aqualung 3395 (hint: curse held)
McGuiness 2840
ArcticBlast 2447
Nahanni 2165
Mikeniks (Faldo) 1440
Rownder 1403
Sev4TSev 735
Tigercub 575
65 min: A short-stacked Tigercub (8th) bets it all with (A5) and is called by Aqualung’s (JJ). Good night sweet Cat.
75 min: Sev4TSev (7th) has to go with (AT) and runs into McGuiness and his (AJ).
90 min: I (Mikeniks – Faldo) (6th) went card dead since about the 45 minute mark. Shocking, I know. I finally get (AK) to make a stand and McGuiness correctly calls me with a straight draw and hits it. Bubble boy AGAIN for Faldo!!!!
102 min: McGuiness (5th) points as his (A6) runs into ArcticBlast’s (JJ).
110 min: Aqualung (4th) goes out. I was emptying the Heineken - via bladder - that was being forced on me by the waitress in the hotel bar. Damn her!
Not really damn her. I think she has been programmed by a foreign government to over-serve potential WSOP Champions. Not her fault and certainly not mine. How could it be?
2nd Break:
Nahanni 9634
Rownder 4142
ArcticBlast 1224
Anyone catch that WSOP comment? Beer talking.
121 min: ArcticBlast (3rd) has to move with (A4) and Rownder (64) paired his sixes.
130 min: Rownder (2nd) had to go with (A5) and Nahanni’s (T8) got tens on the flop and it was over. Congratulations to Nahanni for two in a row – even with a change in games. Impressive win!
1st – Nahanni 25 pts
2nd – Rownder 17 pts
3rd – ArcticBlast 5pts
4th – Aqualung (6 pts)
5th – McGuiness 2 pts
6th – Mikeniks(Faldo) (5 pts)
7th – Sev4TSev 3 pts
8th – Tigercub 1 pt
9th – Duder
10th - BigLou
Boother 14 pts
Total point race is on the blog.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Aqualung Finishes 8th in Poker Stars Omaha H/L Tourney
Another final table by a NPP stable member. Aqualung bested 608 players and won 14 times his entry.
The fatal blow when his great hand of (2s Kd Kh Ac) gets killed by a (234Q) on a board of
[7Q6]
[Q]
[A]
The villian gets the nut low and trip Queens, and that ended the run - but a great run it was! Nice going Aqualung.
PS: Faldo cashed in 2 of 5 tourneys yesterday to break about even, but no final tables.
The fatal blow when his great hand of (2s Kd Kh Ac) gets killed by a (234Q) on a board of
[7Q6]
[Q]
[A]
The villian gets the nut low and trip Queens, and that ended the run - but a great run it was! Nice going Aqualung.
PS: Faldo cashed in 2 of 5 tourneys yesterday to break about even, but no final tables.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Faldo Sat and Went in Hudson, MI
Biglou runs a Sit 'n Go (SNG) tourney game at a house in Hudson - by invite only. Plenty of beer and pizza is ordered without incident. Rennzzo was there also - of the NPP Tuesday group.
I did get some more advertizing out for our Tuesday league so we may see some more new players from that area.
There is a pregame warmup at an American Legion hall near the house - driver, PW away, so everyone can 'warm up' and still stumble to the game.
(But for DavetheDog - driver, 4 iron punch out, 3W, 3W (cuss), rescue club, 5 iron, 9 iron, PW (chunk- cuss), PW, putt, putt, putt (cuss), putt)
The buy-in is a friendly $20 and the blinds go up in big increments. Not that fast (every 20 min with one jump up per twenty minute cycle if one player gets knocked out), but big jumps. A table of nine usually finishes in an hour and a half.
The ousters play a variety of $1 poker games on the side table until the next game starts. It is a $1 ante and you may bet a buck and call the buck if you think you can win. Cards speak. Total dealer's choice. Hey, it's $2 a hand.
One of the players had purchased two domestic rabbits from another player for breeding. They were at the game and that brought every 'rabbit on a stick' joke you could think of to the fore front.
The dinner of $2 coney dogs at the bar had it's effects on the players as the night wore on, if you know what I mean.
It was my second time playing (0 - 0 - 1 = 3) and I finally won the last tourney of the evening to break about even (1-0-0=4) = (1-0-1 = 7).
The hand that saved me went like this: the blinds had just kicked up to $50 - $100. And when you start with only $150 in chips...uh, it's go time!
I get all in with (66) and am called by a bigger stack with (AK). Ok, a race. I'll take it.
The flop is [QJT]. Ouch. Well, it looks like I am going to match the Tigers and go 0 for 7. But the turn is a [K] and the river is a beautiful [A]. Splitsville! That was the turning point.
A great time and plenty of laughs.
This American Legion hall holds holdem tourneys on Saturday - paying $1000 for first and paying eight places for a $50 entry. Cash bar and food available. There is a golf course right next to the hall. Are you all thinking what I am thinking? Road trip!
I did get some more advertizing out for our Tuesday league so we may see some more new players from that area.
There is a pregame warmup at an American Legion hall near the house - driver, PW away, so everyone can 'warm up' and still stumble to the game.
(But for DavetheDog - driver, 4 iron punch out, 3W, 3W (cuss), rescue club, 5 iron, 9 iron, PW (chunk- cuss), PW, putt, putt, putt (cuss), putt)
The buy-in is a friendly $20 and the blinds go up in big increments. Not that fast (every 20 min with one jump up per twenty minute cycle if one player gets knocked out), but big jumps. A table of nine usually finishes in an hour and a half.
The ousters play a variety of $1 poker games on the side table until the next game starts. It is a $1 ante and you may bet a buck and call the buck if you think you can win. Cards speak. Total dealer's choice. Hey, it's $2 a hand.
One of the players had purchased two domestic rabbits from another player for breeding. They were at the game and that brought every 'rabbit on a stick' joke you could think of to the fore front.
The dinner of $2 coney dogs at the bar had it's effects on the players as the night wore on, if you know what I mean.
It was my second time playing (0 - 0 - 1 = 3) and I finally won the last tourney of the evening to break about even (1-0-0=4) = (1-0-1 = 7).
The hand that saved me went like this: the blinds had just kicked up to $50 - $100. And when you start with only $150 in chips...uh, it's go time!
I get all in with (66) and am called by a bigger stack with (AK). Ok, a race. I'll take it.
The flop is [QJT]. Ouch. Well, it looks like I am going to match the Tigers and go 0 for 7. But the turn is a [K] and the river is a beautiful [A]. Splitsville! That was the turning point.
A great time and plenty of laughs.
This American Legion hall holds holdem tourneys on Saturday - paying $1000 for first and paying eight places for a $50 entry. Cash bar and food available. There is a golf course right next to the hall. Are you all thinking what I am thinking? Road trip!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Nahanni74 Wins Tourney #2 of 2nd Quarter
The Lady is a player! Taking down a tough field of eleven gents, she captures her first win of the year.
Herbavor and Beerhog tried to get in also. But Herbavor’s field rats couldn’t generate enough power out in Iowa for the internet to work. And Beerhog used his gerbils for other purposes and was late getting them back into their cages, so he missed.
Matchy I assume was buying high powered fans or building a windmill farm in his back yard.
SpartanToJo made his return to the NPP circuit and was given a rude greeting by the Poker Stars dealer. Welcome back to our nightmare! Sparty on!
On to the action:
4 min: McGuiness gets crippled as his (KJ) turns two pair but they also made Nahanni a straight.
7 min: SpartyToJo (12th) and Sev4TSev call Boother’s raise. The flop is [Jd 3d 2s]. Boother bets, Sparty raises with (Qd Js), 747 folds, and Boother re-raises with (33). Sparty calls. The turn is a [Q] and that gets them both all in.
28 min: ArticBlast (11th) is the next one out and I missed the hand on the other table. I tried to get it but I got involved in a hand and then the table closed.
29 min: The short-stacked McGuiness (10th) makes a stand with (A9) and I call from the blind with (QJ). A [Q] on the flop and the dark beer is emptied.
39 min: Rownder (9th) goes all-in with (55) against Boother’s (AK) and loses the race. No three-peat for Rownder, but an impressive double win!
43 min: Boother, Duder (8th) and BigLou get involved in a pot. The flop is [9c 7d 8c]. A short-stacked Duder gets all-in with an open ended straight draw (AT), but runs into Boother’s (TT) and no straight hits for a split and no {A} comes to save him.
47 min: Faldo is the short stack now but doubles up as his (KQ) beats Boother’s (KT). This starts a rash of small stacks surviving to fight on.
49 min: Bad beat of the night. After a flop of [7 6 8], short-stacked Tigercub (44) and Rennzzo (JJ) get all-in. Rennzzo is a 75-22 favorite at this time. When the turn is a [Q], Rennzzo moves to a 86-14 favorite. But a [5] spikes on the river and Tigercub is still breathing.
52 min: The new short-stack Biglou gets all-in with (A3) and is called by Boother’s (AJ). As a 70-23 dog, Biglou spikes a [3] on the flop and it holds on.
58 min: This streak ends when the slightly shorter stack Rennzzo (7th) gets all-in with (AT) but runs into Biglou’s (AK).
Break:
Boother 5955
Nahanni 4125
Sev4TSev 2655
Tigercub 24430
Biglou 1895
Faldo(Mikeniks) 940
66 min: Boother, Biglou and Sev4TSev see a flop of [T J 5]. Biglou (6th) gets all-in with his top pair (QJ), the airplane flies away and Boother calls with slow-played (KK). Ouch!
79 min: Tigercub (5th) makes an all-in move on Sev4TSev with (97), but 747 calls with (A9).
89 min: Sev4TSev (4th) tried to buy Nahanni off any draws she had, going all-in with (Q7) and a flop of [J 3 Q]. But Nahanni had (KK) and that returned 747 to the hangar.
97 min: Faldo(Mikeniks) was the new short stack and called all-in with (Jh 7h) against Nahanni’s (98). An [8] fell on the flop and your host was done.
99 min: This was a quick finish. Nahanni had a 12500 to 5500 chip lead but a flop of [Jc 2c Jh] got all the money in! Nahanni had (Qc 8c) for a flush draw and over cards. Boother (2nd) had hit two pair on the flop holding (4d 2d). The turn was an [8] giving Nahanni the lead and a [J] on the river was over kill.
Congratulations Nahanni and Boother has two 2nd’s in a row!
1st – Nahanni 15 pts
2nd – Boother 14 pts
3rd – Faldo(Mikeniks) (5 pts)
4th – Sev4TSev 3 pts
5th – Tigercub 1 pt
6th – Biglou
7th – Rennzzo
8th – Duder
9th - Rownder 10 pts
10th – McGuiness 1 pt
11th – ArcticBlast
12th – SpartanToJo
Aqualung (3 pts)
Grand totals for points are on the side of the blog.
( ) means seat already won.
Herbavor and Beerhog tried to get in also. But Herbavor’s field rats couldn’t generate enough power out in Iowa for the internet to work. And Beerhog used his gerbils for other purposes and was late getting them back into their cages, so he missed.
Matchy I assume was buying high powered fans or building a windmill farm in his back yard.
SpartanToJo made his return to the NPP circuit and was given a rude greeting by the Poker Stars dealer. Welcome back to our nightmare! Sparty on!
On to the action:
4 min: McGuiness gets crippled as his (KJ) turns two pair but they also made Nahanni a straight.
7 min: SpartyToJo (12th) and Sev4TSev call Boother’s raise. The flop is [Jd 3d 2s]. Boother bets, Sparty raises with (Qd Js), 747 folds, and Boother re-raises with (33). Sparty calls. The turn is a [Q] and that gets them both all in.
28 min: ArticBlast (11th) is the next one out and I missed the hand on the other table. I tried to get it but I got involved in a hand and then the table closed.
29 min: The short-stacked McGuiness (10th) makes a stand with (A9) and I call from the blind with (QJ). A [Q] on the flop and the dark beer is emptied.
39 min: Rownder (9th) goes all-in with (55) against Boother’s (AK) and loses the race. No three-peat for Rownder, but an impressive double win!
43 min: Boother, Duder (8th) and BigLou get involved in a pot. The flop is [9c 7d 8c]. A short-stacked Duder gets all-in with an open ended straight draw (AT), but runs into Boother’s (TT) and no straight hits for a split and no {A} comes to save him.
47 min: Faldo is the short stack now but doubles up as his (KQ) beats Boother’s (KT). This starts a rash of small stacks surviving to fight on.
49 min: Bad beat of the night. After a flop of [7 6 8], short-stacked Tigercub (44) and Rennzzo (JJ) get all-in. Rennzzo is a 75-22 favorite at this time. When the turn is a [Q], Rennzzo moves to a 86-14 favorite. But a [5] spikes on the river and Tigercub is still breathing.
52 min: The new short-stack Biglou gets all-in with (A3) and is called by Boother’s (AJ). As a 70-23 dog, Biglou spikes a [3] on the flop and it holds on.
58 min: This streak ends when the slightly shorter stack Rennzzo (7th) gets all-in with (AT) but runs into Biglou’s (AK).
Break:
Boother 5955
Nahanni 4125
Sev4TSev 2655
Tigercub 24430
Biglou 1895
Faldo(Mikeniks) 940
66 min: Boother, Biglou and Sev4TSev see a flop of [T J 5]. Biglou (6th) gets all-in with his top pair (QJ), the airplane flies away and Boother calls with slow-played (KK). Ouch!
79 min: Tigercub (5th) makes an all-in move on Sev4TSev with (97), but 747 calls with (A9).
89 min: Sev4TSev (4th) tried to buy Nahanni off any draws she had, going all-in with (Q7) and a flop of [J 3 Q]. But Nahanni had (KK) and that returned 747 to the hangar.
97 min: Faldo(Mikeniks) was the new short stack and called all-in with (Jh 7h) against Nahanni’s (98). An [8] fell on the flop and your host was done.
99 min: This was a quick finish. Nahanni had a 12500 to 5500 chip lead but a flop of [Jc 2c Jh] got all the money in! Nahanni had (Qc 8c) for a flush draw and over cards. Boother (2nd) had hit two pair on the flop holding (4d 2d). The turn was an [8] giving Nahanni the lead and a [J] on the river was over kill.
Congratulations Nahanni and Boother has two 2nd’s in a row!
1st – Nahanni 15 pts
2nd – Boother 14 pts
3rd – Faldo(Mikeniks) (5 pts)
4th – Sev4TSev 3 pts
5th – Tigercub 1 pt
6th – Biglou
7th – Rennzzo
8th – Duder
9th - Rownder 10 pts
10th – McGuiness 1 pt
11th – ArcticBlast
12th – SpartanToJo
Aqualung (3 pts)
Grand totals for points are on the side of the blog.
( ) means seat already won.
Monday, April 07, 2008
SpartyToJo Hosts a Great Game
Sorry for the delay. Golf started!
Great snacks and dip, sandwiches, chips, nuts and beer available! Oh yeah, we played cards too. Five were able to make it; SpartyTojo, Herbavor, Sev4TSev, Larry P and me (Faldo).
The big winner was Larry P. Some idiot (me) introduced the Boother crew’s Omaha Hi – Lo double bed with the 3-cards touching option. I did it as we discussed how the ‘no-limit’ Boother crew and the ‘limit’ Faldo crew don’t mesh for home game ring play. Tourneys no problem.
But to show that the Boother crew does play some interesting games, I introduced the Omaha Hi-Lo variation where there are two beds and you can use any three cards touching in any way. Truly and action game as the first pot the first time I dealt it was huge - even though it was limit!
Larry P. took it down as I mis-read my low lock, but I had to stay with a middle boat anyway. Meanwhile, Herbavor got killed by a bigger boat on the river, and Larry scooped the monster pot. Herb and I had a slight profit up to that point, but now we were close to even.
Later, Sev4TSev dealt it. Again only Larry P, Herbavor and I were in the pot. I had the best low possible on the flop. Herb had flopped quads, although we of course didn’t know that. On the turn, my low got better and boated me too! The betting capped out.
The river brought the Ace of clubs that put a connected board of [Ac 3c 5c] all in a row. I checked as an Aces over full house beat my boat and a (2 4) now beat my low. Herb bet his quads and LarryP raised!
Ouch! Well, I’m beat one way for sure and Herb looked like he had no intention of folding. I now hold the 2nd best high and the third best low and I could be sandwiched between two raisers! Herb asks Larry if he has the straight flush?
I now know Herb has the quads.
So now I have the 3rd best high and 3rd best low. I fold. Herb makes a crying call to see his quad 7’s lose to Larry’s straight flush wheel.
Herb and I are now stuck big time! Larry is up big time.
Thanks a lot Boother!
Sparty, it was a great game and thanks for hosting. Hopefully we will see you in the internet tourney.
Herb, good luck in Iowa. Take it easy emptying the farmer's wallets as farm subsities are already too high.
Herb did vow to kiss and make up with Poker Stars so he can play on line on Tuesday!
Great snacks and dip, sandwiches, chips, nuts and beer available! Oh yeah, we played cards too. Five were able to make it; SpartyTojo, Herbavor, Sev4TSev, Larry P and me (Faldo).
The big winner was Larry P. Some idiot (me) introduced the Boother crew’s Omaha Hi – Lo double bed with the 3-cards touching option. I did it as we discussed how the ‘no-limit’ Boother crew and the ‘limit’ Faldo crew don’t mesh for home game ring play. Tourneys no problem.
But to show that the Boother crew does play some interesting games, I introduced the Omaha Hi-Lo variation where there are two beds and you can use any three cards touching in any way. Truly and action game as the first pot the first time I dealt it was huge - even though it was limit!
Larry P. took it down as I mis-read my low lock, but I had to stay with a middle boat anyway. Meanwhile, Herbavor got killed by a bigger boat on the river, and Larry scooped the monster pot. Herb and I had a slight profit up to that point, but now we were close to even.
Later, Sev4TSev dealt it. Again only Larry P, Herbavor and I were in the pot. I had the best low possible on the flop. Herb had flopped quads, although we of course didn’t know that. On the turn, my low got better and boated me too! The betting capped out.
The river brought the Ace of clubs that put a connected board of [Ac 3c 5c] all in a row. I checked as an Aces over full house beat my boat and a (2 4) now beat my low. Herb bet his quads and LarryP raised!
Ouch! Well, I’m beat one way for sure and Herb looked like he had no intention of folding. I now hold the 2nd best high and the third best low and I could be sandwiched between two raisers! Herb asks Larry if he has the straight flush?
I now know Herb has the quads.
So now I have the 3rd best high and 3rd best low. I fold. Herb makes a crying call to see his quad 7’s lose to Larry’s straight flush wheel.
Herb and I are now stuck big time! Larry is up big time.
Thanks a lot Boother!
Sparty, it was a great game and thanks for hosting. Hopefully we will see you in the internet tourney.
Herb, good luck in Iowa. Take it easy emptying the farmer's wallets as farm subsities are already too high.
Herb did vow to kiss and make up with Poker Stars so he can play on line on Tuesday!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Rownder Wins Game #1 of the 2nd Season
Hope sprang eternal as the 2nd quarter got underway with eleven players, but the same old refrain played out. Rowder wins again! That is two in a row! After leaving us alone for most of the 1st quarter, Rownder decides - no more Mr. Nice Guy!
We had a new player – Bigcat1967 – join the festivities. Welcome!
Your host took the night off to relax and pound beers in Tennessee. A well deserved rest for me, having clinched a seat in the finals. It’s lonely at the top so I’ll be back to the pits next week! On to the action:
25 min: Beerhog is crippled by Boother as Beerhog’s King high flush loses to Boother’s Ace high one.
42 min: Beerhog cripples Duder as his 9 kicker takes the pot.
43 min: Obviously not Duder’s (11th) night as his (KK) lost to Aqualung’s (A4) when a flop produced both an [A] and a [4]. This opened the flood gates.
44 min: ArcticBlast (10th) had to try with his (22) and ran into Boother’s (88).
49 min: Short-stacked Tigercub (9th) gave it a go with (KJ) but ran into Rownder’s (A3) and an [A] on the flop.
Break:
Nahanni 3490
Boother 3290
Aqualung 2835
Rownder 2790
Beerhog 1575
Bigcat 1065
McGuiness 975
Matchy 480
I was sitting on the sidelines and I was still trembling from the line up at the final table. What a mine field!
66 min: A short stacked Beerhog (8th) makes his stand with (A8) and sees Nahanni’s (A9) take him out.
71 min: Aqualung on a bluff goes all-in with (A9) and is called by the short-stacked Matchy (7th) with (Qc Tc), who does not improve.
75 min: Our newbie Bigcat (6th) has to go all in with (77) and is called by Rownder with (K9). A [K] on the flop and the new guy fails to point on his first attempt.
80 min: Bad beat of the night here folks. The first of two suffered by Aqualung. A shorter stacked Nahanni makes a move all-in with (88) and is dominated by Aqualung’s (AA). But Nahanni pulls out a 9 high straight from the board.
83 min: A severely short-stacked McGuiness (5th) must call Nahanni to get chips with (54). Nahanni’s (KJ) gets help with a [K] on the flop and Spoony G is gone.
90 min: Bad beat number two for Aqualung (4th). He sees a flop with Boother with (42). Boother bets the flop of [335] with (K5) and Aqualung calls – probably planning to abandon the hand if he fails to improve. But the money card [A] appears on the turn and Aqualung has to go all-in and Boother has to call the short stack. Boother gets his full house on the river.
91 min: With more points assured, Nahanni (3rd) goes all-in with (44) and is called by Rownder’s (K7). A flop of [727] (who missed tonight’s game by the way) and the lady is singing the blues.
This sets up a great heads up battle against two giants – Boother and Rownder - that lasts 25 minute! They are about even in stacks at this point.
103 min: Boother is hurt as he hits top pair only to watch Rownder pull a straight and take a 2 to 1 chip lead.
105 min: Boother hits a flush to take a 2 to 1 chip lead!
107 min: A full house gives Rownder a 13 to 2 chip lead.
108 min: Boother claws back to only a 2 to 1 deficit!
115 min: Almost back to even, Boother (2nd) and Rownder (K8) go all in. Boother’s (A7s) has the lead, but a [K] on the flop gives Rownder the victory.
Well played guys!
1st – Rownder 10 pts
2nd – Boother 7 pts
3rd – Nahanni 5 pts
4th – Aqualung 3 pts
5th – McGuiness 1 pt
6th – Bigcat1967
7th – Mikemach
8th – Beerhog
9th – Tigercub
10th – ArcticBlast
11th – Duder
Total point race standings available on the side of blog!
We had a new player – Bigcat1967 – join the festivities. Welcome!
Your host took the night off to relax and pound beers in Tennessee. A well deserved rest for me, having clinched a seat in the finals. It’s lonely at the top so I’ll be back to the pits next week! On to the action:
25 min: Beerhog is crippled by Boother as Beerhog’s King high flush loses to Boother’s Ace high one.
42 min: Beerhog cripples Duder as his 9 kicker takes the pot.
43 min: Obviously not Duder’s (11th) night as his (KK) lost to Aqualung’s (A4) when a flop produced both an [A] and a [4]. This opened the flood gates.
44 min: ArcticBlast (10th) had to try with his (22) and ran into Boother’s (88).
49 min: Short-stacked Tigercub (9th) gave it a go with (KJ) but ran into Rownder’s (A3) and an [A] on the flop.
Break:
Nahanni 3490
Boother 3290
Aqualung 2835
Rownder 2790
Beerhog 1575
Bigcat 1065
McGuiness 975
Matchy 480
I was sitting on the sidelines and I was still trembling from the line up at the final table. What a mine field!
66 min: A short stacked Beerhog (8th) makes his stand with (A8) and sees Nahanni’s (A9) take him out.
71 min: Aqualung on a bluff goes all-in with (A9) and is called by the short-stacked Matchy (7th) with (Qc Tc), who does not improve.
75 min: Our newbie Bigcat (6th) has to go all in with (77) and is called by Rownder with (K9). A [K] on the flop and the new guy fails to point on his first attempt.
80 min: Bad beat of the night here folks. The first of two suffered by Aqualung. A shorter stacked Nahanni makes a move all-in with (88) and is dominated by Aqualung’s (AA). But Nahanni pulls out a 9 high straight from the board.
83 min: A severely short-stacked McGuiness (5th) must call Nahanni to get chips with (54). Nahanni’s (KJ) gets help with a [K] on the flop and Spoony G is gone.
90 min: Bad beat number two for Aqualung (4th). He sees a flop with Boother with (42). Boother bets the flop of [335] with (K5) and Aqualung calls – probably planning to abandon the hand if he fails to improve. But the money card [A] appears on the turn and Aqualung has to go all-in and Boother has to call the short stack. Boother gets his full house on the river.
91 min: With more points assured, Nahanni (3rd) goes all-in with (44) and is called by Rownder’s (K7). A flop of [727] (who missed tonight’s game by the way) and the lady is singing the blues.
This sets up a great heads up battle against two giants – Boother and Rownder - that lasts 25 minute! They are about even in stacks at this point.
103 min: Boother is hurt as he hits top pair only to watch Rownder pull a straight and take a 2 to 1 chip lead.
105 min: Boother hits a flush to take a 2 to 1 chip lead!
107 min: A full house gives Rownder a 13 to 2 chip lead.
108 min: Boother claws back to only a 2 to 1 deficit!
115 min: Almost back to even, Boother (2nd) and Rownder (K8) go all in. Boother’s (A7s) has the lead, but a [K] on the flop gives Rownder the victory.
Well played guys!
1st – Rownder 10 pts
2nd – Boother 7 pts
3rd – Nahanni 5 pts
4th – Aqualung 3 pts
5th – McGuiness 1 pt
6th – Bigcat1967
7th – Mikemach
8th – Beerhog
9th – Tigercub
10th – ArcticBlast
11th – Duder
Total point race standings available on the side of blog!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The “Send Herbavor to the Iowa Rail” Game is Friday, April 4th
Friday, April 4, at 7:00pm at SpartyToJo’s in Troy.
SpartyToJo says:
“We will be playing in my HEATED basement where I have a bar, couches, cable TV, and a FRIDGE. We will be playing until AT LEAST 2:00am, and can play until morning if folks are up for it.
My house is painfully easy to find: Get on I-75, get off at Big Beaver Road, Exit 69. If you pass Hooters on your right you've gone too far.
You do not need to knock, just come right in. You also do not need to remove your shoes unless they're really nasty.
Isn't it great that I get to write Big Beaver, 69, and Hooters when giving directions to my family's home?”
I (Faldo) will send the rest of the directions out to the mopes that can make it - via e-mail. Get your RSVP’s in ASAP.
IN
SpartyToJo
Herbavor
Faldo
Larry P
Sev4TSev
OUT
Biglou (Mexico)
McGuiness (Cleveland)
Boother (SpoonyG concert)
Matchy (Ferndale - for some 'pride' parade)
Aqualung (Pistons game)
Nahanni (doesn't play limit poker)
Beerhog (Grand Rapids)
SpartyToJo says:
“We will be playing in my HEATED basement where I have a bar, couches, cable TV, and a FRIDGE. We will be playing until AT LEAST 2:00am, and can play until morning if folks are up for it.
My house is painfully easy to find: Get on I-75, get off at Big Beaver Road, Exit 69. If you pass Hooters on your right you've gone too far.
You do not need to knock, just come right in. You also do not need to remove your shoes unless they're really nasty.
Isn't it great that I get to write Big Beaver, 69, and Hooters when giving directions to my family's home?”
I (Faldo) will send the rest of the directions out to the mopes that can make it - via e-mail. Get your RSVP’s in ASAP.
IN
SpartyToJo
Herbavor
Faldo
Larry P
Sev4TSev
OUT
Biglou (Mexico)
McGuiness (Cleveland)
Boother (SpoonyG concert)
Matchy (Ferndale - for some 'pride' parade)
Aqualung (Pistons game)
Nahanni (doesn't play limit poker)
Beerhog (Grand Rapids)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Rownder Wins NPP #12 – New Quarter Starts Next Week!
Rownder should have maybe saved this win for next week. Of course, the way he plays there will be plenty more where this one came from.
Another new player, Passen, joined us tonight! Welcome. As you will see, he held his own against the 12 NPP sharks that joined him for the action.
On a side note, this was the last game for the 1st quarter, and of the starters me (Mikeniks – Faldo), Aqualung, Sev4TSev and Matchy all had seats on the line for the Championship in December.
9 min: Sev4TSev went all-in with (AA) on a harmless looking flop of [367] but ran into Aquariums’ (33). This crippled the Airplane.
21 min: Sev4TSev (13th) finally had to make a move with (AJ) but ran into Rownder’s (AK), and 747 will have to wait until next quarter to secure a seat.
26 min: Boother gets crippled when his (AQ) runs into Rownder’s (QQ).
30 min: We get four callers to this pot and a flop of [K47]. Boother (12th) bets and only Duder calls. The turn is an [8]. The short-stacked Boother moves all-in with (Kh 2h) and is called by Duder with (Kd Td), and no help comes for last week’s champ.
47 min: Four of us see a flop of [4A9]. It’s check around to a turn of a [T]. Duder (11th) bets and Rownder calls. The river is a [K]. Duder bets, Rownder raises with (QJ) and the straight . Duder calls with (94) for the two pair - and is gone.
54 min: ArticBlast (10th) goes all-in with (KQ) and runs into Aquarium’s (A4) and gets no help.
58 min: That started a flurry as Passen (AT), Tigercub(9th)(A2) and Aquarium (T7) get all-in. Only Tigercub is a casualty as Passen’s straight wins the main pot and Aquarium gets the side pot with two-pair.
59 min: A short-stacked Matchy (8th) goes all-in with (JT) and runs into Biglou’s (AQ).
Break:
Aquarium 6412
Rownder 2770
Biglou 2470
Aqualung 2335
Mikeniks 2260
McGuiness-SpoonyG 1755
Passen 1472
An interesting twist here. If Mikeniks finishes ahead of Aqualung, they both get a seat. If Aqualung overtakes me by finishing 1st and I don’t finish 4th, only he gets a seat.
70 min: Knowing this, I push a mediocre hand out of position and give a ton of chips to Passen early. “Bad judgment!” Only years on a psychiatrist’s couch would figure out why I did that. Now I am the short stack. All I can say to myself is, ‘nice going donkey.’
77 min: A short-stacked McGuiness-SpoonyG (7th) goes all-in with (77) and gets called by Aquarium with (KQ). A [K] on the river and the big stack got bigger.
78 min: A short-stacked Biglou (6th) makes his move with (66) and runs into Aqualung’s (AA). Biglou misses his first NPP point on the bubble.
I will soon meet a similar fate, but for now, this pump up of chips for Aqualung is a concern to me. I need to get to 4th somehow. But as the short stack, it don’t look good so much.
91 min: I have not improved that much but Aqualung has sunk down a little closer to me. Aqualung (5th) goes all-in with (QJ) and a flop of [9KJ]. Passen calls with [AK] and a bigger stack.
And when a [K] hits the turn, I got my seat in the NPP Final – along with Aqualung.
97 min: I want your guy’s comment on this hand! I am the short stack and get (JJ) in the big blind.
Aquarium raises a standard raise. What do I do now? He could have three hands that beat me or he could hold a host of hands that a flop will kill me.
I have seven big blinds left in chips. I decided before Aquarium bet that I (4th) was going all-in to any heat. Aquarium raises a standard raise and I go all-in. Was it the right play?
Aquarium calls me with (AA) and I am money bubble boy again! Was I just cold decked there and had no choice? Or not?
117 min: Passen (3rd) goes all-in with a flop of [594] and Aquarium calls with (76). A [7] falls on the flop and we are two-handed. Nice job Passen, cashing in your first game. That is a rarity with this group of players to wade thru.
Break 2:
Aquarium 12600
Rownder 6900
126 min: It takes Rownder 6 minutes to even the stacks.
129 min: Rownder raises and gets called and the flop is [7AT]. Aquarium (2nd) goes all-in with a semi-bluff with (J8). Rownder calls with an inside straight draw of his own with (KQ). When neither straight gets there, the {K} plays and Rownder wins it.
Question: Did Spitzer's room service show up at both your houses or something? That was an awfully quick finish.
Not that there is anything wrong with that - contrary to any woman's opinion.
1st – Rownder 31 pts
2nd – Aquarium 7 pts
3rd – Passen 5 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo 46 pts (seat)
5th – Aqualung 36 pts (seat)
6th – Biglou 0 pts
7th – McGuiness 18 pts
8th – Matchy 30 pts
9th – Tigercub 13 pts
10th – ArcticBlast 12 pts
11th – Duder 16 pts
12th – Boother 20 pts
13th – Sev4TSev 34 pts
Beerhog 26 pts
Nahanni 13 pts
Congratulations to Rownder for yet another NPP victory.
Congratulations to Aqualung for a seat in the finals!
Remember the point counts are back to zero for the next quarter.
Although grand totals will be kept as the highest point getter without winning a quarter also wins a seat!
So a minimum of four seats are still available in the final. Good luck!
Another new player, Passen, joined us tonight! Welcome. As you will see, he held his own against the 12 NPP sharks that joined him for the action.
On a side note, this was the last game for the 1st quarter, and of the starters me (Mikeniks – Faldo), Aqualung, Sev4TSev and Matchy all had seats on the line for the Championship in December.
9 min: Sev4TSev went all-in with (AA) on a harmless looking flop of [367] but ran into Aquariums’ (33). This crippled the Airplane.
21 min: Sev4TSev (13th) finally had to make a move with (AJ) but ran into Rownder’s (AK), and 747 will have to wait until next quarter to secure a seat.
26 min: Boother gets crippled when his (AQ) runs into Rownder’s (QQ).
30 min: We get four callers to this pot and a flop of [K47]. Boother (12th) bets and only Duder calls. The turn is an [8]. The short-stacked Boother moves all-in with (Kh 2h) and is called by Duder with (Kd Td), and no help comes for last week’s champ.
47 min: Four of us see a flop of [4A9]. It’s check around to a turn of a [T]. Duder (11th) bets and Rownder calls. The river is a [K]. Duder bets, Rownder raises with (QJ) and the straight . Duder calls with (94) for the two pair - and is gone.
54 min: ArticBlast (10th) goes all-in with (KQ) and runs into Aquarium’s (A4) and gets no help.
58 min: That started a flurry as Passen (AT), Tigercub(9th)(A2) and Aquarium (T7) get all-in. Only Tigercub is a casualty as Passen’s straight wins the main pot and Aquarium gets the side pot with two-pair.
59 min: A short-stacked Matchy (8th) goes all-in with (JT) and runs into Biglou’s (AQ).
Break:
Aquarium 6412
Rownder 2770
Biglou 2470
Aqualung 2335
Mikeniks 2260
McGuiness-SpoonyG 1755
Passen 1472
An interesting twist here. If Mikeniks finishes ahead of Aqualung, they both get a seat. If Aqualung overtakes me by finishing 1st and I don’t finish 4th, only he gets a seat.
70 min: Knowing this, I push a mediocre hand out of position and give a ton of chips to Passen early. “Bad judgment!” Only years on a psychiatrist’s couch would figure out why I did that. Now I am the short stack. All I can say to myself is, ‘nice going donkey.’
77 min: A short-stacked McGuiness-SpoonyG (7th) goes all-in with (77) and gets called by Aquarium with (KQ). A [K] on the river and the big stack got bigger.
78 min: A short-stacked Biglou (6th) makes his move with (66) and runs into Aqualung’s (AA). Biglou misses his first NPP point on the bubble.
I will soon meet a similar fate, but for now, this pump up of chips for Aqualung is a concern to me. I need to get to 4th somehow. But as the short stack, it don’t look good so much.
91 min: I have not improved that much but Aqualung has sunk down a little closer to me. Aqualung (5th) goes all-in with (QJ) and a flop of [9KJ]. Passen calls with [AK] and a bigger stack.
And when a [K] hits the turn, I got my seat in the NPP Final – along with Aqualung.
97 min: I want your guy’s comment on this hand! I am the short stack and get (JJ) in the big blind.
Aquarium raises a standard raise. What do I do now? He could have three hands that beat me or he could hold a host of hands that a flop will kill me.
I have seven big blinds left in chips. I decided before Aquarium bet that I (4th) was going all-in to any heat. Aquarium raises a standard raise and I go all-in. Was it the right play?
Aquarium calls me with (AA) and I am money bubble boy again! Was I just cold decked there and had no choice? Or not?
117 min: Passen (3rd) goes all-in with a flop of [594] and Aquarium calls with (76). A [7] falls on the flop and we are two-handed. Nice job Passen, cashing in your first game. That is a rarity with this group of players to wade thru.
Break 2:
Aquarium 12600
Rownder 6900
126 min: It takes Rownder 6 minutes to even the stacks.
129 min: Rownder raises and gets called and the flop is [7AT]. Aquarium (2nd) goes all-in with a semi-bluff with (J8). Rownder calls with an inside straight draw of his own with (KQ). When neither straight gets there, the {K} plays and Rownder wins it.
Question: Did Spitzer's room service show up at both your houses or something? That was an awfully quick finish.
Not that there is anything wrong with that - contrary to any woman's opinion.
1st – Rownder 31 pts
2nd – Aquarium 7 pts
3rd – Passen 5 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo 46 pts (seat)
5th – Aqualung 36 pts (seat)
6th – Biglou 0 pts
7th – McGuiness 18 pts
8th – Matchy 30 pts
9th – Tigercub 13 pts
10th – ArcticBlast 12 pts
11th – Duder 16 pts
12th – Boother 20 pts
13th – Sev4TSev 34 pts
Beerhog 26 pts
Nahanni 13 pts
Congratulations to Rownder for yet another NPP victory.
Congratulations to Aqualung for a seat in the finals!
Remember the point counts are back to zero for the next quarter.
Although grand totals will be kept as the highest point getter without winning a quarter also wins a seat!
So a minimum of four seats are still available in the final. Good luck!
Herbavor Heading to Iowa
Herbavor (Hlam14) is heading to Iowa to terrorize the poker players of the corn.
This is a blow to the NPP stable of players for sure, as the stat pages on this blog indicate. Hlam14 has four NPP titles - and if not for Aqualung - probably would have had them all!
And despite hardly playing in the internet game at all - only really playing in the few tournaments held after the ring game at NPP - he is still THIRD in NPP tournament wins!
Hlam could tell us what we had and what he had, but take the pot anyway. He is a Daniel Negreanu clone!
His first day at his new job is April 7th.
Rumor has it that if his old employer tells him to leave today, he will be at the Motor City Poker Room reloading with Michigan money before leaving to empty Iowa farmer's overalls of their government subsidy money.
Gonna miss you Herb, but I WILL make a trip out to see the soft seats you find out there at the felt and to play a little golf.
Here's hoping you continued success in your career.
And if you and Poker Stars can kiss and make up, you can still join your buds for the Tuesday Night Tourney!
This is a blow to the NPP stable of players for sure, as the stat pages on this blog indicate. Hlam14 has four NPP titles - and if not for Aqualung - probably would have had them all!
And despite hardly playing in the internet game at all - only really playing in the few tournaments held after the ring game at NPP - he is still THIRD in NPP tournament wins!
Hlam could tell us what we had and what he had, but take the pot anyway. He is a Daniel Negreanu clone!
His first day at his new job is April 7th.
Rumor has it that if his old employer tells him to leave today, he will be at the Motor City Poker Room reloading with Michigan money before leaving to empty Iowa farmer's overalls of their government subsidy money.
Gonna miss you Herb, but I WILL make a trip out to see the soft seats you find out there at the felt and to play a little golf.
Here's hoping you continued success in your career.
And if you and Poker Stars can kiss and make up, you can still join your buds for the Tuesday Night Tourney!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Boother's Game Goes On Despite Another Dose of Global Warming
As usual, Boother was great host to a fine game - even with awful weather as the forefront.
I was late to the game due to the weather. I was waiting on McGuiness to arrive from Hudson, MI., where he had been playing in another game. I don't understand poker junkies!
The normally one hour drive to my house from there took 3 hours! Beerhog was also scheduled to make an appearance, but his drive from north of Grand Rapids took over 7 hours, so he just headed home.
Since I missed the tourney, we eventually started a side game. I held my own at the second table. Maybe up slightly. But when the tourney broke and we moved the side game to the main table, I never won a hand at that table! Not a single hand in around 2 hours.
Matchy won the tourney! I believe it was win #2 at Boother's. I know Matchy sent Rownder to the rail as he was on tilt when he showed up at the side game table.
But Rownder recovered and crushed the live action game by night's end.
I was late to the game due to the weather. I was waiting on McGuiness to arrive from Hudson, MI., where he had been playing in another game. I don't understand poker junkies!
The normally one hour drive to my house from there took 3 hours! Beerhog was also scheduled to make an appearance, but his drive from north of Grand Rapids took over 7 hours, so he just headed home.
Since I missed the tourney, we eventually started a side game. I held my own at the second table. Maybe up slightly. But when the tourney broke and we moved the side game to the main table, I never won a hand at that table! Not a single hand in around 2 hours.
Matchy won the tourney! I believe it was win #2 at Boother's. I know Matchy sent Rownder to the rail as he was on tilt when he showed up at the side game table.
But Rownder recovered and crushed the live action game by night's end.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tight Race for the 1st Seat in the Championship!
Right after the NCAA Tournament Committee cleared out of the hotel ballroom where they worked on the pairings, the NPP Committee filed in - with real work to do.
The delegates were counted and the super-delegates banned, unlike some voting processes used by crooked outfits.
The decision was hammered out and ratified and it is this:
1. IF Mikeniks-Faldo gets overtaken, then that player has the seat in the NPP Championship in December..
2. IF Faldo hangs on to the total lead after the final round is played next Tuesday, the 2nd place player also gets a seat.
The Committee is being consistent with past precedence of Faldo being an invisible Wild Card.
It will be an exciting finish. Here are the players involved as Round 1 comes to a close:
Mikeniks-Faldo 43 pts
Aqualung85 35 pts
Sev4TSev 34 pts
Matchy 30 pts
Beerhog 26 pts
All have a shot at the 1st seat. Good luck to them, and we expect the same hard play from the rest of you mopes come Tuesday. - The Committee
The delegates were counted and the super-delegates banned, unlike some voting processes used by crooked outfits.
The decision was hammered out and ratified and it is this:
1. IF Mikeniks-Faldo gets overtaken, then that player has the seat in the NPP Championship in December..
2. IF Faldo hangs on to the total lead after the final round is played next Tuesday, the 2nd place player also gets a seat.
The Committee is being consistent with past precedence of Faldo being an invisible Wild Card.
It will be an exciting finish. Here are the players involved as Round 1 comes to a close:
Mikeniks-Faldo 43 pts
Aqualung85 35 pts
Sev4TSev 34 pts
Matchy 30 pts
Beerhog 26 pts
All have a shot at the 1st seat. Good luck to them, and we expect the same hard play from the rest of you mopes come Tuesday. - The Committee
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Aqualung85 Wins 7-stud Hi-Lo Tourney
Fresh from his good 5th place finish at NPP the night before, Aqualung triumphs over a field of 83 players over on Absolute Poker!
He won 23 times his entry in the tourney with the win.
NPP players ….are players.
He won 23 times his entry in the tourney with the win.
NPP players ….are players.
Boother Returns to the Winner’s Circle in NPP #11
Get the big tourney and the big money out there and the cream rises to the top. Dormant so far this year, Boother explodes to the victory against the biggest field this league has seen.
Thanks to the four new players - Aquariumco, Biglou93, KButterboy and Rennzzo, we set a record for starters with sixteen!
If this continues, points for Round 2 are going to be hard to come by. Anyway, welcome guys and get your email addresses to me at npokerp at yahoo dot com, so I have them in case I have to change the password.
On to the action!
28 min: A short-stacked Aquariumco (16th) goes all-in with (KcJc) and gets called by another newcomer Rennzzo with (A9). They both hit a full house, but the A out kicks the J.
36 min: This tourney usually treats newcomers roughly and our first two players out were newcomers. Biglou93 (15th) has to make a move and does with (KJ) when a [K] hits the flop. He runs right into another newcomer’s (KK), held by KButterboy. Ouch.
44 min: Last week’s winner, ArcticBlast, raises and gets called by Bronco and McGuiness (14th). The flop comes [3 K 7] and it is checked around. An [J] comes on the turn and Arctic bets and McGuiness calls. Bronco folds. The river is an [8] and Arctic makes a good bet and Mc goes all-in with (AK). Arctic calls and wins with (KK).
52 min: Three players see the flop of [8 8 K]. A short-stacked Bronco (13th) goes all-in with (KQ), raising Arctic’s bet and getting KButterboy to fold. But Arctic calls with (Q8). No helps comes for Bronco.
55 min: A short-stacked Sev4TSev (12th) has to make a move all-in with (A6) and is called by Duder and his (KT). A [K] hits on the flop and no there is no safe landing for the airplane.
59 min: Short-stacked Beerhog (11th) goes all-in with (QT) and is called by Rownder with (KJ). Behind as it is, a [J] on the flop leaves only ladies available to save Beerhog. And we all know how good he is at attracting ladies. Bu-bye.
Break:
Sorry guy. I didn’t get the break totals off of the two tables. I was too busy throwing furniture and suitcases around the hotel room as I lost a heart break hand - and almost all my chips at my table - right before the break.
Also, I had to run downstairs and pick up my laptop. Somehow it fell out of the 2nd story window and I had to bring it back upstairs to continue playing. But I noticed the computer didn’t work quite right when I got back in the room. Why, I don’t know. Fickle computer I guess.
So I had to load PS on my work computer and by the time I got to the table the next round was starting.
72 min: ArcticBlast (10th) is eliminated by Duder’s full house. I didn’t get the hand as the table collapsed and I was in survival mode at what was now the final table.
81 min: Now for my tale of woe.
I’ve had nights of bad cards in these tourneys. I’ve been bad beat and run down. I’ve had bad timing for hands before. But never all at the same time!
I was pretty much card and flop dead tonight. When I did hit a hand, someone hit a better one. I saw three big pocket pairs all night (TT, KK and AA) and all of them in the big blind that was folded around to me.
Then I hit a miracle straight flush(!) and won - the magical amount of - one and a half blinds. This run of hands could be the new Webster definition of ‘not your night.’
A short-stacked Rennzzo (9th) and I {Mikeniks-Faldo}(8th) go all-in. Rennzzo has (J6s) and I have (AQs). Matchy calls us with (J9) and hits a flop with [J9]. A nice double kill by Matchy.
85 min: KButterboy and Tigercub (7th) check a flop of [J 3 9]. The turn is a [K] and KB bets. Tigercub goes all-in with (K7) and is called by KB with (QT) and the straight.
Now the tourney slows down as we are near the point bubble and getting close to the money bubble.
105 min: Duder (6th) goes all-in with (AK) and is called by Matchy with (TT) and Duder loses the coin toss.
107 min: The now short-stacked Aqualung (5th) moves in with (85s) and runs into KButter’s (AK). They both pair on the flop but there is no more moisture.
118 min: The now short-stacked Rownder (4th) moves in with (Q5s) and is called by the big stack, KButter with (94s). KButter melts away Rownder by hitting his flush.
2nd Break: Well, I pieced together the furniture, got one wheel and half a strap back on my luggage and got most of the letter keys back on my original computer. I couldn't figure out how to re-attach the screen, so I had time to get the chip totals.
Matchy 9500
KButter 8500
Boother 6000
134 min: The now short-stacked KButter (3rd), having run into the Boother buzz saw, goes all-in with (T9s). Matchy calls with (J5s) and hits a [J] on the flop. Great job by KButter – cashing in his first attempt against this group!
136 min: I didn’t think they would wait too long. Matchy (2nd) has (Q9) and runs into another (KK) for Boother and it’s over. Nice job Boother.
1st – Boother 20 pts
2nd – Matchy 30 pts
3rd – Kbutterboy 5 pts
4th – Rownder 21 pts
5th – Aqualung 35 pts
6th – Duder 16 pts
7th – Tigercub 13 pts
8th – Mikeniks(Faldo) 43 pts
9th – Rennzzo 0 pts
10th – ArcticBlast 12 pts
11th – Beerhog 26 pts
12th – Sev4TSev 34 pts
13th – Bronco76 0 pts
14th - McGuiness 18 pts
15th – Biglou93 0 pts
16th – Aquariumco 0 pts
Nahanni 13 pts
Thanks to the four new players - Aquariumco, Biglou93, KButterboy and Rennzzo, we set a record for starters with sixteen!
If this continues, points for Round 2 are going to be hard to come by. Anyway, welcome guys and get your email addresses to me at npokerp at yahoo dot com, so I have them in case I have to change the password.
On to the action!
28 min: A short-stacked Aquariumco (16th) goes all-in with (KcJc) and gets called by another newcomer Rennzzo with (A9). They both hit a full house, but the A out kicks the J.
36 min: This tourney usually treats newcomers roughly and our first two players out were newcomers. Biglou93 (15th) has to make a move and does with (KJ) when a [K] hits the flop. He runs right into another newcomer’s (KK), held by KButterboy. Ouch.
44 min: Last week’s winner, ArcticBlast, raises and gets called by Bronco and McGuiness (14th). The flop comes [3 K 7] and it is checked around. An [J] comes on the turn and Arctic bets and McGuiness calls. Bronco folds. The river is an [8] and Arctic makes a good bet and Mc goes all-in with (AK). Arctic calls and wins with (KK).
52 min: Three players see the flop of [8 8 K]. A short-stacked Bronco (13th) goes all-in with (KQ), raising Arctic’s bet and getting KButterboy to fold. But Arctic calls with (Q8). No helps comes for Bronco.
55 min: A short-stacked Sev4TSev (12th) has to make a move all-in with (A6) and is called by Duder and his (KT). A [K] hits on the flop and no there is no safe landing for the airplane.
59 min: Short-stacked Beerhog (11th) goes all-in with (QT) and is called by Rownder with (KJ). Behind as it is, a [J] on the flop leaves only ladies available to save Beerhog. And we all know how good he is at attracting ladies. Bu-bye.
Break:
Sorry guy. I didn’t get the break totals off of the two tables. I was too busy throwing furniture and suitcases around the hotel room as I lost a heart break hand - and almost all my chips at my table - right before the break.
Also, I had to run downstairs and pick up my laptop. Somehow it fell out of the 2nd story window and I had to bring it back upstairs to continue playing. But I noticed the computer didn’t work quite right when I got back in the room. Why, I don’t know. Fickle computer I guess.
So I had to load PS on my work computer and by the time I got to the table the next round was starting.
72 min: ArcticBlast (10th) is eliminated by Duder’s full house. I didn’t get the hand as the table collapsed and I was in survival mode at what was now the final table.
81 min: Now for my tale of woe.
I’ve had nights of bad cards in these tourneys. I’ve been bad beat and run down. I’ve had bad timing for hands before. But never all at the same time!
I was pretty much card and flop dead tonight. When I did hit a hand, someone hit a better one. I saw three big pocket pairs all night (TT, KK and AA) and all of them in the big blind that was folded around to me.
Then I hit a miracle straight flush(!) and won - the magical amount of - one and a half blinds. This run of hands could be the new Webster definition of ‘not your night.’
A short-stacked Rennzzo (9th) and I {Mikeniks-Faldo}(8th) go all-in. Rennzzo has (J6s) and I have (AQs). Matchy calls us with (J9) and hits a flop with [J9]. A nice double kill by Matchy.
85 min: KButterboy and Tigercub (7th) check a flop of [J 3 9]. The turn is a [K] and KB bets. Tigercub goes all-in with (K7) and is called by KB with (QT) and the straight.
Now the tourney slows down as we are near the point bubble and getting close to the money bubble.
105 min: Duder (6th) goes all-in with (AK) and is called by Matchy with (TT) and Duder loses the coin toss.
107 min: The now short-stacked Aqualung (5th) moves in with (85s) and runs into KButter’s (AK). They both pair on the flop but there is no more moisture.
118 min: The now short-stacked Rownder (4th) moves in with (Q5s) and is called by the big stack, KButter with (94s). KButter melts away Rownder by hitting his flush.
2nd Break: Well, I pieced together the furniture, got one wheel and half a strap back on my luggage and got most of the letter keys back on my original computer. I couldn't figure out how to re-attach the screen, so I had time to get the chip totals.
Matchy 9500
KButter 8500
Boother 6000
134 min: The now short-stacked KButter (3rd), having run into the Boother buzz saw, goes all-in with (T9s). Matchy calls with (J5s) and hits a [J] on the flop. Great job by KButter – cashing in his first attempt against this group!
136 min: I didn’t think they would wait too long. Matchy (2nd) has (Q9) and runs into another (KK) for Boother and it’s over. Nice job Boother.
1st – Boother 20 pts
2nd – Matchy 30 pts
3rd – Kbutterboy 5 pts
4th – Rownder 21 pts
5th – Aqualung 35 pts
6th – Duder 16 pts
7th – Tigercub 13 pts
8th – Mikeniks(Faldo) 43 pts
9th – Rennzzo 0 pts
10th – ArcticBlast 12 pts
11th – Beerhog 26 pts
12th – Sev4TSev 34 pts
13th – Bronco76 0 pts
14th - McGuiness 18 pts
15th – Biglou93 0 pts
16th – Aquariumco 0 pts
Nahanni 13 pts
Thursday, March 13, 2008
NPP Game At Matchy's Saturday - Cancelled!
It's in trouble!
In
1. Matchy
2. Beerhog
3. Sev4TSev
Maybe
1. Faldo (fighting a cold)
2. Aqua (possible basketball conflict)
3. SpartyToJo (no response)
4. Herbavor
5. Larry P
OUT
Dave E
Boother
Rownder
Farell
Greg
Another guy
DavetheDog
Cigar4John
Bronco
In
1. Matchy
2. Beerhog
3. Sev4TSev
Maybe
1. Faldo (fighting a cold)
2. Aqua (possible basketball conflict)
3. SpartyToJo (no response)
4. Herbavor
5. Larry P
OUT
Dave E
Boother
Rownder
Farell
Greg
Another guy
DavetheDog
Cigar4John
Bronco
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
ArcticBlast1 Wins NPP #10
Ten players made it to the table in spite of two regulars I knew would not make it; Aqualung and Tigercub.
10 min: We started on two tables and all the fireworks were on the other one! Sev4TSev, McGuiness (9th) and Boother (10th) went all-in, and the Airplane had the biggest full house.
Welcome to the final table.
32 min: Sev4TSev was on a mission. Duder (8th) goes all-in with AA after a harmless looking flop of [639], but Sev4TSev has pocket (33).
37 min: Soon after Rownder’s (7th) (99) runs into Sev4TSev’s (JJ). He is destroying the field all by himself!
45 min: The onslaught continues as Sev4TSev goes all-in on a flop of [TJ8]. Beerhog (6th) thinks for a very long time and decides his (AA) is good and calls. De Plane shows his (Q9) for a flopped straight! What is going on here? The man has 5 scalps on his belt already!
51 min: A late arrival to the game and short-stacked Nahanni (5th) takes a stand and runs into Matchy’s trip kings.
55 min: A still short-stacked Matchy (4th) makes his stand with a flush draw, but it doesn’t get there and ArticBlast’s pair close out the Match Game.
Break:
Sev4TSev 7650
ArticBlast 5210
Mikeniks-Faldo 2140
Now my run of cards begins! I take the chip lead about ten minutes into the second session and look like I might just steamroll thru.
80 min: The now shorter stacked, but not short stacked Sev4TSev (3rd) has hit a dry run of tickets and makes his stand with probably the only hand he has seen since the break (TT). But I am holding (QQ) and the early dragon is slain.
Heads up, I have a 9000 to 6000 lead and build it slowly. This is going to be a 40 minute heads up battle. Not my strong suit.
90 min: I get my waterloo moment as I have to try and end the match. I have (Ah Th) with a flop of [4h 5c 7h] and decide that it missed ArticBlast. I make the massive raise and get re-raised all-in. Another great read by me (my trademark – not!). I feel I am pot committed. Besides, if he is taking a stab at the flush, he is in a bad way. If he has a pair, I have over-cards. If he has the straight, I still got outs. He has (74) for two pair and my flush doesn’t get there.
That got us close to even, but I still have a slight lead. But that is about to change.
94 min: I get a piece of the flop with (Q7) and a flop of [7A8]. We bet and call. A [Q] on the turn and I think I got him. How much do I bet here? He could have a straight draw or A-rag and kill me with a river pair. I really think I have him beat at this point.
I make a good size bet hoping for the fold, but will call an all-in. He calls.
The river of an [A] was not the card I wanted to see at all. I check and Artic moves all-in.
Maybe my reading ability improved from 4 minutes ago because I know he has an (A). I will still have 3000 chips left after this fold and can fight on – so I do. I tell Arctic I had Q7 and he graciously shows his (AK)! Nice hand and a good play all the way around.
I went from leading 11-4 to losing 12-3 in 4 minutes! I hate this game!
What time are we playing Saturday? 7pm at Matchy’s. I’m in!
110 min: I hit a flush to get back to close to even, but lose a couple must calls and fall back to a 11 – 4 dog again.
120 min: I (2nd) go all-in with (Jd Td) and Artic calls with (Js 6s) and hits the spade flush to end it. Congratulations ArticBlast on his first win of this year – and I guess his first full win. He was already in the Walk of Fame from a split – tourney win with DavetheDog last year, however. But this will move him up the ladder.
1st – ArcticBlast 12 pts
2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo 43 pts
3rd – Sev4TSev 34 pts
4th – Matchy 23 pts
5th – Nahanni 13 pts
6th – Beerhog 26 pts
7th – Rownder 18 pts
8th – Duder 16 pts
9th – McGuiness 18 pts
10th – Boother 10 pts
Aqualung 34 pts
Tigercub 13 pts
10 min: We started on two tables and all the fireworks were on the other one! Sev4TSev, McGuiness (9th) and Boother (10th) went all-in, and the Airplane had the biggest full house.
Welcome to the final table.
32 min: Sev4TSev was on a mission. Duder (8th) goes all-in with AA after a harmless looking flop of [639], but Sev4TSev has pocket (33).
37 min: Soon after Rownder’s (7th) (99) runs into Sev4TSev’s (JJ). He is destroying the field all by himself!
45 min: The onslaught continues as Sev4TSev goes all-in on a flop of [TJ8]. Beerhog (6th) thinks for a very long time and decides his (AA) is good and calls. De Plane shows his (Q9) for a flopped straight! What is going on here? The man has 5 scalps on his belt already!
51 min: A late arrival to the game and short-stacked Nahanni (5th) takes a stand and runs into Matchy’s trip kings.
55 min: A still short-stacked Matchy (4th) makes his stand with a flush draw, but it doesn’t get there and ArticBlast’s pair close out the Match Game.
Break:
Sev4TSev 7650
ArticBlast 5210
Mikeniks-Faldo 2140
Now my run of cards begins! I take the chip lead about ten minutes into the second session and look like I might just steamroll thru.
80 min: The now shorter stacked, but not short stacked Sev4TSev (3rd) has hit a dry run of tickets and makes his stand with probably the only hand he has seen since the break (TT). But I am holding (QQ) and the early dragon is slain.
Heads up, I have a 9000 to 6000 lead and build it slowly. This is going to be a 40 minute heads up battle. Not my strong suit.
90 min: I get my waterloo moment as I have to try and end the match. I have (Ah Th) with a flop of [4h 5c 7h] and decide that it missed ArticBlast. I make the massive raise and get re-raised all-in. Another great read by me (my trademark – not!). I feel I am pot committed. Besides, if he is taking a stab at the flush, he is in a bad way. If he has a pair, I have over-cards. If he has the straight, I still got outs. He has (74) for two pair and my flush doesn’t get there.
That got us close to even, but I still have a slight lead. But that is about to change.
94 min: I get a piece of the flop with (Q7) and a flop of [7A8]. We bet and call. A [Q] on the turn and I think I got him. How much do I bet here? He could have a straight draw or A-rag and kill me with a river pair. I really think I have him beat at this point.
I make a good size bet hoping for the fold, but will call an all-in. He calls.
The river of an [A] was not the card I wanted to see at all. I check and Artic moves all-in.
Maybe my reading ability improved from 4 minutes ago because I know he has an (A). I will still have 3000 chips left after this fold and can fight on – so I do. I tell Arctic I had Q7 and he graciously shows his (AK)! Nice hand and a good play all the way around.
I went from leading 11-4 to losing 12-3 in 4 minutes! I hate this game!
What time are we playing Saturday? 7pm at Matchy’s. I’m in!
110 min: I hit a flush to get back to close to even, but lose a couple must calls and fall back to a 11 – 4 dog again.
120 min: I (2nd) go all-in with (Jd Td) and Artic calls with (Js 6s) and hits the spade flush to end it. Congratulations ArticBlast on his first win of this year – and I guess his first full win. He was already in the Walk of Fame from a split – tourney win with DavetheDog last year, however. But this will move him up the ladder.
1st – ArcticBlast 12 pts
2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo 43 pts
3rd – Sev4TSev 34 pts
4th – Matchy 23 pts
5th – Nahanni 13 pts
6th – Beerhog 26 pts
7th – Rownder 18 pts
8th – Duder 16 pts
9th – McGuiness 18 pts
10th – Boother 10 pts
Aqualung 34 pts
Tigercub 13 pts
Monday, March 10, 2008
Nik Finishes 5th on BoDog!
Ending a one tiny cash in a 23 tournament streak, I finished 5th going out when the big stack calls me down with QT against my KJ and hits a [T] on the river.
My 5 3 beat an all-in A7 suited to knock the first guy out of the final table. That gave me enough chips to hang around.
I won ten times my entry in the 141 player tourney.
My 5 3 beat an all-in A7 suited to knock the first guy out of the final table. That gave me enough chips to hang around.
I won ten times my entry in the 141 player tourney.
Friday, March 07, 2008
The Legend of the White Whale – Part II
This part of this series doesn’t really have anything to do with poker. But it will help you to understand how The Whale could – and did – affect those around him.
As I said, in my youth as a frustrated baseball player, I had joined a travel slow-pitch softball team. We were not the top tier, but we played against the top tier often. What I liked about our Sponsor-GM-Coach was that he was a softball junkie. Actually, he was a medium sized bookie and sports betting and action junkie too - But a winner! We were called the Trailblazers because he had bet $10,000 at 12 to 1 odds that Portland would beat the Celtics in an NBA final.
Anyway, during the summer he hunted for softball tournaments to get our team into every weekend. That was perfect for me, because I wanted to play every weekend. Now the problem with our team finding tournaments in which to play in was not because there were not several going on every weekend (softball was in a boom at this time). It was because of our Class A and Class B status - and the reputation that our team had. Most tournaments were closed to us - unless they were sactioned Class A or B tournaments.
Our GM – let’s call him Frank – got us in a Detroit Recreation Tournament right in the inner city, with a fake team name. This normally would be no problem for us -blend-in wise - as easily 1/3th of our team was made up of black athletes. However, in order to not get throw out of this tourney, we were going to have to leave most of our big home run hitters off of the line up. This was no problem as most wanted the 4th of July weekend off - except for us softball junkies.
We went to this tournament with only four starters (me – 2nd base, our pitcher, shortstop and our left-center fielder - all lily white). We filled out the rest of our team with our minor-league Friday night team and our usual bench players (only one non- starting black player). This means the Whale was starting! Trust me when I say, we still had more than enough talent to win this tournament easily.
We are in the final game naturally and the only team left for us is the team in first place in the big league at this Detroit park. We had beaten them by 3 runs earlier with a last two inning rally to do it. They had to beat us twice to win the tournament. We had not lost a final game of a tournament in the 14 years I played for the team, and this was only year 3 of the streak, so you know who won it.
In that first game, our opponents had jumped on us for eight runs in the first inning – helped greatly by a grand slam hit over the head of the Whale – who had been playing right field at the time. Frank had told him repeatedly to back up – as had I from second base. But the Whale yelled in that the ‘girl’ couldn’t hit it that far.
Nice way to get the tension going in the house early. Of course the guy smoking the Whale with a blast, them taunting the Whale - and the Whale just smiling and shrugging in the outfield - quieted the agitation that had started. But the crowd and the other team gave it to the Whale when he came up to bat unmercifully. But, he deserved it.
So here we are in the finals, and most of the other teams had come to watch their complex champs beat this ‘white’ team from the East Side of the suburbs. Let me tell you, it looked like a NAACP rally – only louder and more emotional!
Frank has moved the Whale to first base. Our shortstop had a family outing to go to, and since this was not a big tourney, he took off. I had moved to shortstop. We are up by 6 runs in the top of the 6th inning, but the bases are loaded with two out. Our team bench was on the third base side and is now completely empty except for our coach, our coaches brother with his arm is in a cast and his wife, who is pregnant and keeping score. Our five big pig home run hitters and six-foot four inch shortstop are not in attendance.
As their big hitter comes to the plate, the crowd goes wild. As he steps in and the noise dins a little, Frank motions for our right fielder to shade the line a little more. Frank then yells to the Whale, “Is this the guy who burned you earlier?”
The Whale replies equally loud and in a pissed off voice, “I don’t know. They all look alike to me!”
I was much too big to hide under second base and even then - much too slow to make it to my car in time.
As I said, in my youth as a frustrated baseball player, I had joined a travel slow-pitch softball team. We were not the top tier, but we played against the top tier often. What I liked about our Sponsor-GM-Coach was that he was a softball junkie. Actually, he was a medium sized bookie and sports betting and action junkie too - But a winner! We were called the Trailblazers because he had bet $10,000 at 12 to 1 odds that Portland would beat the Celtics in an NBA final.
Anyway, during the summer he hunted for softball tournaments to get our team into every weekend. That was perfect for me, because I wanted to play every weekend. Now the problem with our team finding tournaments in which to play in was not because there were not several going on every weekend (softball was in a boom at this time). It was because of our Class A and Class B status - and the reputation that our team had. Most tournaments were closed to us - unless they were sactioned Class A or B tournaments.
Our GM – let’s call him Frank – got us in a Detroit Recreation Tournament right in the inner city, with a fake team name. This normally would be no problem for us -blend-in wise - as easily 1/3th of our team was made up of black athletes. However, in order to not get throw out of this tourney, we were going to have to leave most of our big home run hitters off of the line up. This was no problem as most wanted the 4th of July weekend off - except for us softball junkies.
We went to this tournament with only four starters (me – 2nd base, our pitcher, shortstop and our left-center fielder - all lily white). We filled out the rest of our team with our minor-league Friday night team and our usual bench players (only one non- starting black player). This means the Whale was starting! Trust me when I say, we still had more than enough talent to win this tournament easily.
We are in the final game naturally and the only team left for us is the team in first place in the big league at this Detroit park. We had beaten them by 3 runs earlier with a last two inning rally to do it. They had to beat us twice to win the tournament. We had not lost a final game of a tournament in the 14 years I played for the team, and this was only year 3 of the streak, so you know who won it.
In that first game, our opponents had jumped on us for eight runs in the first inning – helped greatly by a grand slam hit over the head of the Whale – who had been playing right field at the time. Frank had told him repeatedly to back up – as had I from second base. But the Whale yelled in that the ‘girl’ couldn’t hit it that far.
Nice way to get the tension going in the house early. Of course the guy smoking the Whale with a blast, them taunting the Whale - and the Whale just smiling and shrugging in the outfield - quieted the agitation that had started. But the crowd and the other team gave it to the Whale when he came up to bat unmercifully. But, he deserved it.
So here we are in the finals, and most of the other teams had come to watch their complex champs beat this ‘white’ team from the East Side of the suburbs. Let me tell you, it looked like a NAACP rally – only louder and more emotional!
Frank has moved the Whale to first base. Our shortstop had a family outing to go to, and since this was not a big tourney, he took off. I had moved to shortstop. We are up by 6 runs in the top of the 6th inning, but the bases are loaded with two out. Our team bench was on the third base side and is now completely empty except for our coach, our coaches brother with his arm is in a cast and his wife, who is pregnant and keeping score. Our five big pig home run hitters and six-foot four inch shortstop are not in attendance.
As their big hitter comes to the plate, the crowd goes wild. As he steps in and the noise dins a little, Frank motions for our right fielder to shade the line a little more. Frank then yells to the Whale, “Is this the guy who burned you earlier?”
The Whale replies equally loud and in a pissed off voice, “I don’t know. They all look alike to me!”
I was much too big to hide under second base and even then - much too slow to make it to my car in time.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Beerhog Wins NPP #9
Nine of us got in from the 6th big winter storm to hit this area - caused of course by Global Warming. Nahanni just missed making it, Bronco did miss it and Tigercub was late due to shoveling …rain. (Can’t have snow on an overheated planet can you?)
Anyway, on to the action:
32 min: Matchy (9th), still trying to shake off the flu bug, gave it a shot tonight. Short-stacked, he goes all-in with (AT) and gets called by both Beerhog and Rownder! That’s trouble whether you are well or sick. Beerhog has (JJ) and Matchy is out and Rownder ‘s (55) cost him a lot of chips. Way to tough it out there Matchy.
36 min: Sev4TSev goes out in (8th) and I missed the hand. Sorry guys. Had to scold the wife. My beer was 14 seconds late on delivery. Can't have that.
48 min: A short-stacked Rownder (7th) goes all-in with (A8) and gets called by Mikeniks-Faldo (99) and a short-stacked McGuiness (KT). Kings and Tens arrive on the board eliminating Rownder.
55 min: McGuiness (6th) is forced to make a stand with (AT) and is called by Beerhog with (Q2). A [2] on the turn and it’s over for Mc.
Break:
Beerhog 5500
Boother 3000
Tigercub 2500
Aqualung 1600
MikeniksFaldo 900
75 min: I (Mikeniks-Faldo) have been set upon by Beerhog this night. So what else is new? He busted me at BWW with J4 for crying out loud. Tonight, I escaped early death by folding so his {AA} didn’t kill me and then checking down my full house to his higher full house. But as low stack, I had to make moves. As the big stack – and with the current mojo over me – Beerhog had to stay attacking my chips.
I (5th) go all-in with middle pair and an open ended straight draw holding (87) and a flop of [9c7s6s]. Beerhog calls with (Ts 2s). I hit a nice [Th] on the turn for my straight, but an ugly spade lands on the river. Not only does Poker Stars kill me – but it has to twist the knife.
Does the same computer deal for both BWW and Poker Stars – with Beerhog paying both of them? I’m just sayin’.
81 min: Hand of the night. Beerhog and Aqualung call the blinds and Boother checks. Tigercub checks his shorts and wonders. “What the heck am I doing at a table with these sharks?” Good question. I was thinking about that about my own darn self.
The flop comes [9h Jd 6d]. Boother throws out a standard bet and gets called by the Beerhog. Aqualung submerges and gets out of the way.
The turn is [5h]. This gets a bet from Boother (Jc 2c), and all-in by Beerhog (Js 9s) and a call by Boother (4th) – who is drawing dead.
90 min: Tigercub (3rd) decided to make a stand with (AK) on a flop of [4Q6]. Must have figured Beerhog whiffed. He didn’t as he had (Q2) and hit a [2] on the turn for good measure.
Beerhog holds a 3.5 to one chip lead going into heads up play.
94 min: Aqualung (2nd) and Beerhog call the blinds. The flop is [8d 8c 9d]. A routine bet and call follow and the turn is [5h]. Aqualung bets big. Beerhog raises big. Aqualung (7d 3d) moves all-in with the flush draw and Beerhog (76) calls with the made straight. No diamond and Beerhog wins for the second time this year!
He led wire to wire. Nice job Beerhog!
1st – Beerhog 26 pts
2nd – Aqualung 34 pts
3rd – Tigercub 13 pts
4th – Boother 10 pts
5th – Mikeniks-Faldo 36 pts
6th – McGuiness 18 pts
7th – Rownder 18 pts
8th – Sev4TSev 29 pts
9th – Matchy 20 pts
Duder 16 pts
Nahanni 12 pts
ArticBlast 2 pts
Anyway, on to the action:
32 min: Matchy (9th), still trying to shake off the flu bug, gave it a shot tonight. Short-stacked, he goes all-in with (AT) and gets called by both Beerhog and Rownder! That’s trouble whether you are well or sick. Beerhog has (JJ) and Matchy is out and Rownder ‘s (55) cost him a lot of chips. Way to tough it out there Matchy.
36 min: Sev4TSev goes out in (8th) and I missed the hand. Sorry guys. Had to scold the wife. My beer was 14 seconds late on delivery. Can't have that.
48 min: A short-stacked Rownder (7th) goes all-in with (A8) and gets called by Mikeniks-Faldo (99) and a short-stacked McGuiness (KT). Kings and Tens arrive on the board eliminating Rownder.
55 min: McGuiness (6th) is forced to make a stand with (AT) and is called by Beerhog with (Q2). A [2] on the turn and it’s over for Mc.
Break:
Beerhog 5500
Boother 3000
Tigercub 2500
Aqualung 1600
MikeniksFaldo 900
75 min: I (Mikeniks-Faldo) have been set upon by Beerhog this night. So what else is new? He busted me at BWW with J4 for crying out loud. Tonight, I escaped early death by folding so his {AA} didn’t kill me and then checking down my full house to his higher full house. But as low stack, I had to make moves. As the big stack – and with the current mojo over me – Beerhog had to stay attacking my chips.
I (5th) go all-in with middle pair and an open ended straight draw holding (87) and a flop of [9c7s6s]. Beerhog calls with (Ts 2s). I hit a nice [Th] on the turn for my straight, but an ugly spade lands on the river. Not only does Poker Stars kill me – but it has to twist the knife.
Does the same computer deal for both BWW and Poker Stars – with Beerhog paying both of them? I’m just sayin’.
81 min: Hand of the night. Beerhog and Aqualung call the blinds and Boother checks. Tigercub checks his shorts and wonders. “What the heck am I doing at a table with these sharks?” Good question. I was thinking about that about my own darn self.
The flop comes [9h Jd 6d]. Boother throws out a standard bet and gets called by the Beerhog. Aqualung submerges and gets out of the way.
The turn is [5h]. This gets a bet from Boother (Jc 2c), and all-in by Beerhog (Js 9s) and a call by Boother (4th) – who is drawing dead.
90 min: Tigercub (3rd) decided to make a stand with (AK) on a flop of [4Q6]. Must have figured Beerhog whiffed. He didn’t as he had (Q2) and hit a [2] on the turn for good measure.
Beerhog holds a 3.5 to one chip lead going into heads up play.
94 min: Aqualung (2nd) and Beerhog call the blinds. The flop is [8d 8c 9d]. A routine bet and call follow and the turn is [5h]. Aqualung bets big. Beerhog raises big. Aqualung (7d 3d) moves all-in with the flush draw and Beerhog (76) calls with the made straight. No diamond and Beerhog wins for the second time this year!
He led wire to wire. Nice job Beerhog!
1st – Beerhog 26 pts
2nd – Aqualung 34 pts
3rd – Tigercub 13 pts
4th – Boother 10 pts
5th – Mikeniks-Faldo 36 pts
6th – McGuiness 18 pts
7th – Rownder 18 pts
8th – Sev4TSev 29 pts
9th – Matchy 20 pts
Duder 16 pts
Nahanni 12 pts
ArticBlast 2 pts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Faldo Wins NPP #8
Well there goes the neighborhood. How did you guys and gal let this happen? I'm the only one in the world with a longer history of losing than the Detroit Lions, Chicago Cubs and Toronto Maple Leafs - combined!
I almost played this one at BWW. But my wife was not feeling well and decided to help her out and stay home. That way she didn’t have to drive up there to make sure I had beer and didn’t need anything. Don’t tell me I’m not compassionate.
A very aggressive group of 9 players made it to the felt this night. McGuiness and Tigercub failed to register in time, while Nahanni, Rownder and Aqualung just slip in under the deadline. Maybe this is why everyone played like they had a plane to catch. It was just last week that nine players made it to the break! This week, only four survived until then.
18 min: Boother (9th) made a small raise with his (QQ) but got some callers. The flop of rags seemed to miss everyone and he goes all-in. But a Poker Stars big blind special has Duder hitting two pair on the flop with (74).
20 min: A short-stacked ArticBlast (8th) goes all-in when he gets a pair on the flop. But my (Faldo) suited over-cards catch a flush on the river.
Things slow down now until ten minutes before the break. Then Nahanni decides to gut the table like a fish.
50 min: Aqualung (7th) goes all-in with (AJ) but runs into Nahanni’s (AQ).
54 min: Beerhog’s (6th) goes all-in with (AT) but runs into Nahanni’s (AK).
57 min: A short-stacked Rownder (5th) goes all-in with (Q9) but runs into Nahanni’s (AK).
Break:
Sev4TSev 5825
Nahanni 3475
Faldo 2740
Duder 1460
70 min: The ‘sick’ hand of the night. A short-stacked Duder (4th) goes all-in with (AQ) with a flop of [Q72] and gets called in the big blind by the chip leader, Sev4TSev holding (Q6). But there is a [Q] on the turn and the death card [6] on the river.
76 min: Poor Nahanni (3rd) tried to make some moves but kept running into slightly better hands that I was holding. I probably took 7 of 8 pots from her either out – kicking her or pairing a small card on the turn or river to edge her out. Normally I am the person losing those, but not this night.
Now short-stacked Nahanni goes all-in with (QJ) and runs into Sev4TSev’s (66). A [6] on the flop ends the drama.
Heads up now –with 8500 and Faldo with 5000. Now I do to Sev4TSev what I did to Nahanni – win every small pot from here on out. This turns the tables and now I have an 11000 to 2500 lead!
We both take a flop of [Ks 7c 9d]. I make a 400 bet with middle pair (9h 3h), and why not? I have been running over the card dead Sev4TSev (2nd) to this point. He calls. The turn is the [6d].
I check here still undecided as to whether I will call an all-in or not. My hearts are not out there but now diamonds are. For some reason I am not convinced Sev4TSev has a {K}. I’m thinking (or wanting to believe) he has something like {Qd} and another small diamond like a {7d} or {8d}. When he checks too, for some reason my feeling he has a {K} goes from 10% to 40%.
The river is a [6c], and Sev4TSev goes all-in. Think time. Do I go with my original read of a busted straight or flush draw – or fold to the higher two pair or trips I may have let him draw to? I’m 60-40 that he missed his draw, so I call and he shows his (8d 7h) for a lower two pair.
I win my first NPP of the year. Is it November already?
1st – Mikeniks (Faldo) 35 pts
2nd – Sev4TSev 29 pts
3rd – Nahanni 12 pts
4th – Duder 16 pts
5th – Rownder 18 pts
6th – Beerhog 16 pts
7th – Aqualung 27 pts
8th – ArticBlast 2 pts
9th – Boother 7 pts
Matchy 20 pts
McGuiness 18 pts
Tigercub 8 pts
I almost played this one at BWW. But my wife was not feeling well and decided to help her out and stay home. That way she didn’t have to drive up there to make sure I had beer and didn’t need anything. Don’t tell me I’m not compassionate.
A very aggressive group of 9 players made it to the felt this night. McGuiness and Tigercub failed to register in time, while Nahanni, Rownder and Aqualung just slip in under the deadline. Maybe this is why everyone played like they had a plane to catch. It was just last week that nine players made it to the break! This week, only four survived until then.
18 min: Boother (9th) made a small raise with his (QQ) but got some callers. The flop of rags seemed to miss everyone and he goes all-in. But a Poker Stars big blind special has Duder hitting two pair on the flop with (74).
20 min: A short-stacked ArticBlast (8th) goes all-in when he gets a pair on the flop. But my (Faldo) suited over-cards catch a flush on the river.
Things slow down now until ten minutes before the break. Then Nahanni decides to gut the table like a fish.
50 min: Aqualung (7th) goes all-in with (AJ) but runs into Nahanni’s (AQ).
54 min: Beerhog’s (6th) goes all-in with (AT) but runs into Nahanni’s (AK).
57 min: A short-stacked Rownder (5th) goes all-in with (Q9) but runs into Nahanni’s (AK).
Break:
Sev4TSev 5825
Nahanni 3475
Faldo 2740
Duder 1460
70 min: The ‘sick’ hand of the night. A short-stacked Duder (4th) goes all-in with (AQ) with a flop of [Q72] and gets called in the big blind by the chip leader, Sev4TSev holding (Q6). But there is a [Q] on the turn and the death card [6] on the river.
76 min: Poor Nahanni (3rd) tried to make some moves but kept running into slightly better hands that I was holding. I probably took 7 of 8 pots from her either out – kicking her or pairing a small card on the turn or river to edge her out. Normally I am the person losing those, but not this night.
Now short-stacked Nahanni goes all-in with (QJ) and runs into Sev4TSev’s (66). A [6] on the flop ends the drama.
Heads up now –with 8500 and Faldo with 5000. Now I do to Sev4TSev what I did to Nahanni – win every small pot from here on out. This turns the tables and now I have an 11000 to 2500 lead!
We both take a flop of [Ks 7c 9d]. I make a 400 bet with middle pair (9h 3h), and why not? I have been running over the card dead Sev4TSev (2nd) to this point. He calls. The turn is the [6d].
I check here still undecided as to whether I will call an all-in or not. My hearts are not out there but now diamonds are. For some reason I am not convinced Sev4TSev has a {K}. I’m thinking (or wanting to believe) he has something like {Qd} and another small diamond like a {7d} or {8d}. When he checks too, for some reason my feeling he has a {K} goes from 10% to 40%.
The river is a [6c], and Sev4TSev goes all-in. Think time. Do I go with my original read of a busted straight or flush draw – or fold to the higher two pair or trips I may have let him draw to? I’m 60-40 that he missed his draw, so I call and he shows his (8d 7h) for a lower two pair.
I win my first NPP of the year. Is it November already?
1st – Mikeniks (Faldo) 35 pts
2nd – Sev4TSev 29 pts
3rd – Nahanni 12 pts
4th – Duder 16 pts
5th – Rownder 18 pts
6th – Beerhog 16 pts
7th – Aqualung 27 pts
8th – ArticBlast 2 pts
9th – Boother 7 pts
Matchy 20 pts
McGuiness 18 pts
Tigercub 8 pts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Matchy’s Game Great Fun Again!
Six of us made it there and a good time was had.
It was a weird night card wise. 5 sets of quads appeared. A straight flush also appeared but Sev4TSev moved the card to the other board when he saw the ‘impossible to read Faldo’ start break-dancing when the card hit. 747 then moved the 9 of clubs to the other board and my now busted flush for some reason failed to win.
He mentioned some silly rule of dealing consistently. Thanks a pantload!
How is this for a weird one? ArticBlast, DaveE and Beerhog are in a high-low seven stud game that ArticBlast must have thought of while sitting at home in his underwear and reading the back of a Brokeback Mountain video. You deal 7-stud normal – then for extra rounds of betting, you pick the cards up, discard two and roll your hand out – like we do with Screw Your Neighbor.
Anyways, all three players look like they have full houses when the 5-stud rollout is over! ArticBlast realizes it and when they declare – he declares low with a 3’s over 7’s full house and wins! That has to be the biggest hand ever to win a low pot! DaveE took high with Q's over and Beerhog got the entire sum left over in the 'I Got Screwed' pot. I think we all know how much that is worth.
In the exact same game in a different hand, ArticBlast deals this hi-lo game under the rule that you can’t go both ways. You can only declare high or low - but not both. This left Sev4TSev in the weird predicament of having to decide who to give half the pot to.
He had the 7-high straight, I (Faldo) had a pair of Aces showing and probably was going high and ArticBlast had an 8-low possible showing. In our normal game, Sev4TSev goes both and scoops, and Artic and I would then bitch about what a lucky stiff 747 was. But that is not how ArticBlast calls the game.
After much thought and careful consideration by Sev4TSev (and the fact that I pulled a .45 out of my jacket and casually mentioned it holds 7-hollow point rounds, and I’m still not quite over the straight flush pimp job), he went low and I got the high pot with my trip Aces.
I know the decision was a tough one, but gee, I wonder why he decided the way he did? I guess we will never know.
Anyways, I will be sending ArticBlast his quarter of the pot via Poker Stars. He wouldn’t take it at the game, but I think it is the only fair way to do it. The one who got really killed (almost killed? – LOL - just kidding) by the rule was Sev4TSev. It was really his whole pot. That’s a shame!
Matchy kept feeding Beerhog Apple Pucker and Crown Royal, plus the normal flood of beer. I was waiting for the Herbavor Apple Beer Reflux scene but Beerhog maintained. U da man!
Great music in the background all night. Thanks, Matchy and Mrs. Matchy for the great hospitality.
I will see if I cannot get the old NPP re-lit for the March game. - Faldo
It was a weird night card wise. 5 sets of quads appeared. A straight flush also appeared but Sev4TSev moved the card to the other board when he saw the ‘impossible to read Faldo’ start break-dancing when the card hit. 747 then moved the 9 of clubs to the other board and my now busted flush for some reason failed to win.
He mentioned some silly rule of dealing consistently. Thanks a pantload!
How is this for a weird one? ArticBlast, DaveE and Beerhog are in a high-low seven stud game that ArticBlast must have thought of while sitting at home in his underwear and reading the back of a Brokeback Mountain video. You deal 7-stud normal – then for extra rounds of betting, you pick the cards up, discard two and roll your hand out – like we do with Screw Your Neighbor.
Anyways, all three players look like they have full houses when the 5-stud rollout is over! ArticBlast realizes it and when they declare – he declares low with a 3’s over 7’s full house and wins! That has to be the biggest hand ever to win a low pot! DaveE took high with Q's over and Beerhog got the entire sum left over in the 'I Got Screwed' pot. I think we all know how much that is worth.
In the exact same game in a different hand, ArticBlast deals this hi-lo game under the rule that you can’t go both ways. You can only declare high or low - but not both. This left Sev4TSev in the weird predicament of having to decide who to give half the pot to.
He had the 7-high straight, I (Faldo) had a pair of Aces showing and probably was going high and ArticBlast had an 8-low possible showing. In our normal game, Sev4TSev goes both and scoops, and Artic and I would then bitch about what a lucky stiff 747 was. But that is not how ArticBlast calls the game.
After much thought and careful consideration by Sev4TSev (and the fact that I pulled a .45 out of my jacket and casually mentioned it holds 7-hollow point rounds, and I’m still not quite over the straight flush pimp job), he went low and I got the high pot with my trip Aces.
I know the decision was a tough one, but gee, I wonder why he decided the way he did? I guess we will never know.
Anyways, I will be sending ArticBlast his quarter of the pot via Poker Stars. He wouldn’t take it at the game, but I think it is the only fair way to do it. The one who got really killed (almost killed? – LOL - just kidding) by the rule was Sev4TSev. It was really his whole pot. That’s a shame!
Matchy kept feeding Beerhog Apple Pucker and Crown Royal, plus the normal flood of beer. I was waiting for the Herbavor Apple Beer Reflux scene but Beerhog maintained. U da man!
Great music in the background all night. Thanks, Matchy and Mrs. Matchy for the great hospitality.
I will see if I cannot get the old NPP re-lit for the March game. - Faldo
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Duder1123 Wins NPP #7
Another 1st time winner was crown tonight. Duder did it the hard way. He had to skillfully stay away from my rush of cards early – and then had to slay the most prolific tourney winner on this site. Beautifully done!
Eleven made it tonight, so we started with two tables. Maybe the cold weather kept everyone house bound. Nice turnout in spite of missing two regulars – Nahanni and ArticBlast.
Let’s get my sorry tale out of the way early. Maybe I should not write so close to the end of the tourney when the steam has not quit coming out of my ears yet! But my tourney story was early.
I (Faldo) knew I had no chance to win right away. I start off on a table of five with one sitting out - and I get absolute great cards and flops for the first 20 hands. I take down 8 of the first 20 pots and 23 of the first 40 pots, but not much in the way of chips! The guys knew I was hot and let me burn out quietly.
When the cards level out, I don’t win but one showdown the rest of the way – getting run down 3 times and missing my life-saving open ender straight draw at the end. I finished 4th – again! That is the 3rd time in a row too.
I wish Poker Stars would only pay two places. That way I could finish 3rd all the time - for more points at least. I hate this game!
Good thing I play tomorrow night. On to the rest of the action:
39 min: It was on the other table so I don’t have the particulars, but a short-stacked Boother (11th) gets knocked out by Aqualung.
58 min: If you are into computer software conspiracy theories – this hand is for you.
It is close to the break and we are still at two tables – with a few short stacks lurking about. The shortest stack remaining, McGuiness (10th) gets his dream hand (AA) – imagine that - and gets all-in with a rag flop - imagine that - of [629] against Duder holding (A8). But a [T] is on the turn and the perfect [7] hits the river. Imagine that!
And we are magically at one table. Convenient just before the break – don’t you think? I mention this idea about the software in the chat box. To quote Teddy KGB - “Bad judgment!” My cards were crap the rest of the way. Probably just another coincidence right? Right?
Break:
Sev4TSev 3660
Mikeniks 2510
Rownder 2360
Aqualung 1630
Bronco 1465
Duder 1390
Matchy 1235
Beerhog 1180
Tigercub 1070
64 min: Aqualung (9th) goes all-in with (Q5) and a flop of [QJ4], only to run into Sev4TSev’s (QJ).
71 min: Matchy (8th) and Sev4TSev hook up for a flop of [Kh Kd Qd]. Sev4TSev bets and Matchy calls. The turn [Td]. Danger Will Robinson! Matchy goes all in with his flush and runs into a full airplane – I mean house! Ouch! Another ouch comes along in eleven more minutes.
73 min: Rounder (7th) makes a move with (A9) and runs into Duder’s (TT).
81 min: A short-stacked Bronco (6th) makes his move with (35) and a board of [257], but Duder has (99).
82 min: Tigercub (5th) flopped a dream with (A7) as [2A7] came down. Beerhog laid in the weeds with (AA) and when another [7] fell on the river, the Tiger was bagged. Ouch squared!
85 min: My (Faldo - 4th) tale of woe already spewed at the opening. I get to whine early and longer - writer license. I got knocked out 50 minutes ago at this writing and I am ok now. Down to only one #@%!@#% swear word per sentence I have to fix while typing. That’s progress.
100 min: The three remaining see the flop of [Qc Kc Jc]. Beerhog (3rd) bets, Sev4TSev folds, Duder raises with his straight (Td 9c), Beerhog goes all-in with his 2-pair (KQ) and Duder calls. No ship comes in for Beerhog and he’s off the pier.
Down to two and what a battle it was! When it started Duder had a slight lead at around 8,000 to 7,000. He built it up to 14,200 to 2,300!
But Sev4TSev – as we all know – “has alligator blood. All night long – check, check, check. Can’t get rid of him.” Sorry – love the Rounder’s schick.
At the 120 min mark and 2nd break – its:
Sev4TSev 13,700
Duder 2,800
Complete reversal. But we were not finished yet! A couple of straight and flush catches and it’s a ball game again!
131 min: Finally Sev4TSev (2nd) goes all-in with his (99) against Duder’s (Ac Jc). The flop has a [J] in it and we have another 1st time winner! Great battle guys!
Congratulations Duder and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – Duder (13pts)
2nd – Sev4TSev (22pts)
3rd – Beerhog (16pts)
4th – Mikeniks (Faldo) (25pts)
5th – Tigercub (8pts)
6th – Bronco
7th – Rownder (17pts)
8th – Matchy (20pts)
9th – Aqualung (27pts)
10th – McGuiness (18pts)
11th – Boother (7pts)
Nahanni (7pts)
ArticBlast (2pts)
Eleven made it tonight, so we started with two tables. Maybe the cold weather kept everyone house bound. Nice turnout in spite of missing two regulars – Nahanni and ArticBlast.
Let’s get my sorry tale out of the way early. Maybe I should not write so close to the end of the tourney when the steam has not quit coming out of my ears yet! But my tourney story was early.
I (Faldo) knew I had no chance to win right away. I start off on a table of five with one sitting out - and I get absolute great cards and flops for the first 20 hands. I take down 8 of the first 20 pots and 23 of the first 40 pots, but not much in the way of chips! The guys knew I was hot and let me burn out quietly.
When the cards level out, I don’t win but one showdown the rest of the way – getting run down 3 times and missing my life-saving open ender straight draw at the end. I finished 4th – again! That is the 3rd time in a row too.
I wish Poker Stars would only pay two places. That way I could finish 3rd all the time - for more points at least. I hate this game!
Good thing I play tomorrow night. On to the rest of the action:
39 min: It was on the other table so I don’t have the particulars, but a short-stacked Boother (11th) gets knocked out by Aqualung.
58 min: If you are into computer software conspiracy theories – this hand is for you.
It is close to the break and we are still at two tables – with a few short stacks lurking about. The shortest stack remaining, McGuiness (10th) gets his dream hand (AA) – imagine that - and gets all-in with a rag flop - imagine that - of [629] against Duder holding (A8). But a [T] is on the turn and the perfect [7] hits the river. Imagine that!
And we are magically at one table. Convenient just before the break – don’t you think? I mention this idea about the software in the chat box. To quote Teddy KGB - “Bad judgment!” My cards were crap the rest of the way. Probably just another coincidence right? Right?
Break:
Sev4TSev 3660
Mikeniks 2510
Rownder 2360
Aqualung 1630
Bronco 1465
Duder 1390
Matchy 1235
Beerhog 1180
Tigercub 1070
64 min: Aqualung (9th) goes all-in with (Q5) and a flop of [QJ4], only to run into Sev4TSev’s (QJ).
71 min: Matchy (8th) and Sev4TSev hook up for a flop of [Kh Kd Qd]. Sev4TSev bets and Matchy calls. The turn [Td]. Danger Will Robinson! Matchy goes all in with his flush and runs into a full airplane – I mean house! Ouch! Another ouch comes along in eleven more minutes.
73 min: Rounder (7th) makes a move with (A9) and runs into Duder’s (TT).
81 min: A short-stacked Bronco (6th) makes his move with (35) and a board of [257], but Duder has (99).
82 min: Tigercub (5th) flopped a dream with (A7) as [2A7] came down. Beerhog laid in the weeds with (AA) and when another [7] fell on the river, the Tiger was bagged. Ouch squared!
85 min: My (Faldo - 4th) tale of woe already spewed at the opening. I get to whine early and longer - writer license. I got knocked out 50 minutes ago at this writing and I am ok now. Down to only one #@%!@#% swear word per sentence I have to fix while typing. That’s progress.
100 min: The three remaining see the flop of [Qc Kc Jc]. Beerhog (3rd) bets, Sev4TSev folds, Duder raises with his straight (Td 9c), Beerhog goes all-in with his 2-pair (KQ) and Duder calls. No ship comes in for Beerhog and he’s off the pier.
Down to two and what a battle it was! When it started Duder had a slight lead at around 8,000 to 7,000. He built it up to 14,200 to 2,300!
But Sev4TSev – as we all know – “has alligator blood. All night long – check, check, check. Can’t get rid of him.” Sorry – love the Rounder’s schick.
At the 120 min mark and 2nd break – its:
Sev4TSev 13,700
Duder 2,800
Complete reversal. But we were not finished yet! A couple of straight and flush catches and it’s a ball game again!
131 min: Finally Sev4TSev (2nd) goes all-in with his (99) against Duder’s (Ac Jc). The flop has a [J] in it and we have another 1st time winner! Great battle guys!
Congratulations Duder and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – Duder (13pts)
2nd – Sev4TSev (22pts)
3rd – Beerhog (16pts)
4th – Mikeniks (Faldo) (25pts)
5th – Tigercub (8pts)
6th – Bronco
7th – Rownder (17pts)
8th – Matchy (20pts)
9th – Aqualung (27pts)
10th – McGuiness (18pts)
11th – Boother (7pts)
Nahanni (7pts)
ArticBlast (2pts)
Beerhog Finishes 6th in HORSE Tournament
Armed with his new laptop computer, Beerhog settled in on Poker Stars and almost walked away with enough to pay for it. He had the lead going into the final table, but was knocked out in a Razz lap.
He bested 234 of the players and got back ten times his entry. Nice job Beerhog.
He must have taken a break from his favorite video – Farm Animals Gone Wild!
He bested 234 of the players and got back ten times his entry. Nice job Beerhog.
He must have taken a break from his favorite video – Farm Animals Gone Wild!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Faldo Wins Spade Club NL Holdem Tourney
I bested 125 players in a freeroll for my eighth on-line tournament victory. I won some cash but you have to join as a member to collect it. I think the fee is $20 a month to join. I won half that.
It’s an internet poker club run by Card Player Magazine. The software is not that great and they want to know your social security number to join. I am wary of that.
But you never know. It may be the wave of the future. I'm still considering it.
It’s an internet poker club run by Card Player Magazine. The software is not that great and they want to know your social security number to join. I am wary of that.
But you never know. It may be the wave of the future. I'm still considering it.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
NPP Live Action at Matchy's on the 23rd @ 7pm
Ok guys, lets get the RSVP's in;
IN
Matchy
Faldo
Beerhog
Aqualung
OUT
Boother
DavetheDog
Cigar4 John
Herbavor
IN
Matchy
Faldo
Beerhog
Aqualung
OUT
Boother
DavetheDog
Cigar4 John
Herbavor
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
McGuiness Wins NPP #6 – For His 1st NPP Title
Well, he no longer can be called ‘rookie’. The newest member of the NPP stable of players, McGuiness007 (Tim), wins his first tourney on one very snowy night. The weather made Nahanni, Rownder and Tigercub late and stopped Matchy from playing all together.
But the worst of it ...was finding out Boother was in the Bahamas! That - I did not need to hear. On to the action. Slow start - fast finish.
40 min: A rare three-way all-in when a short-stacked Sev4TSev (7th) went all-in with (65) and was called in two places by Tigercub (A8s) and Nahanni (TT). The flop had an [A] in it, so the plane crashed, the cat got fed and the lady lost with the lead. A sign of things to come.
50 min: McGuiness calls Nahanni’s (6th) big blind. The flop of [443] gets a bet from McGuiness and a call from Nahanni. A [5] on the turn give Nahanni two pair and she goes all-in – only to run into the Scot’s trip 4’s.
Break:
McGuiness 3800 (taking pots from tourists)
Mikeniks 2465 (made up from slow start)
Rownder 1765 (dangerous amount of chips)
Tigercub 1540 (Not the best card run)
Beerhog 930 (Mikeniks hurt him 5 min before the break)
78 min: A short-stacked Beerhog (5th) goes all-in when his (K2) hits the flop of [229]. But McGuiness calls with (99)! Beerhog ran into a hot player. Watch this.
80 min: Mikeniks (4th) - I got hurt by McGuiness earlier in a blind battle and now I am the short stack. I hit the flop [Q64] with my (J6s) in the blind - again - and make my stand. But McGuiness is holding (99) and I get no pardon from the governor.
82 min: Rownder (3rd) also had his two pair run into a McGuiness set of trips. Sorry I don’t have the details. I wrote down the wrong hand number. Hands were flying by. Note the minute counts.
83 min: Tigercub (2nd) goes all-in with (Q7) and a flop-turn of [766A], but McGuiness has (AJ) and no lucky seven for the Cat.
Congratulations on your first win at NPP, McGuiness - and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
(by the way that also only puts you 12 wins behind Sev4TSev (another Tim) in the Grand Total count!)
1st – McGuiness [18 pts]
2nd – Tigercub [7 pts]
3rd – Rownder [17 pts]
4th – Mikeniks [22 pts]
5th – Beerhog [11 pts]
6th – Nahanni [7 pts]
7th – Sev4TSev [15 pts]
Aqualung [27 pts]
Matchy [20 pts]
Boother [7 pts]
Duder [3 pts]
Articblast [2 pts]
FYI – a note from Poker Stars to your host:
“I appreciate the time you took to write us regarding your concern. After reviewing the chat log, ChipMe01’s chat privileges have been removed for repeatedly accosting players for chips.”
I told you guys I would turn them in if I was at my email. – Nik Faldo
But the worst of it ...was finding out Boother was in the Bahamas! That - I did not need to hear. On to the action. Slow start - fast finish.
40 min: A rare three-way all-in when a short-stacked Sev4TSev (7th) went all-in with (65) and was called in two places by Tigercub (A8s) and Nahanni (TT). The flop had an [A] in it, so the plane crashed, the cat got fed and the lady lost with the lead. A sign of things to come.
50 min: McGuiness calls Nahanni’s (6th) big blind. The flop of [443] gets a bet from McGuiness and a call from Nahanni. A [5] on the turn give Nahanni two pair and she goes all-in – only to run into the Scot’s trip 4’s.
Break:
McGuiness 3800 (taking pots from tourists)
Mikeniks 2465 (made up from slow start)
Rownder 1765 (dangerous amount of chips)
Tigercub 1540 (Not the best card run)
Beerhog 930 (Mikeniks hurt him 5 min before the break)
78 min: A short-stacked Beerhog (5th) goes all-in when his (K2) hits the flop of [229]. But McGuiness calls with (99)! Beerhog ran into a hot player. Watch this.
80 min: Mikeniks (4th) - I got hurt by McGuiness earlier in a blind battle and now I am the short stack. I hit the flop [Q64] with my (J6s) in the blind - again - and make my stand. But McGuiness is holding (99) and I get no pardon from the governor.
82 min: Rownder (3rd) also had his two pair run into a McGuiness set of trips. Sorry I don’t have the details. I wrote down the wrong hand number. Hands were flying by. Note the minute counts.
83 min: Tigercub (2nd) goes all-in with (Q7) and a flop-turn of [766A], but McGuiness has (AJ) and no lucky seven for the Cat.
Congratulations on your first win at NPP, McGuiness - and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
(by the way that also only puts you 12 wins behind Sev4TSev (another Tim) in the Grand Total count!)
1st – McGuiness [18 pts]
2nd – Tigercub [7 pts]
3rd – Rownder [17 pts]
4th – Mikeniks [22 pts]
5th – Beerhog [11 pts]
6th – Nahanni [7 pts]
7th – Sev4TSev [15 pts]
Aqualung [27 pts]
Matchy [20 pts]
Boother [7 pts]
Duder [3 pts]
Articblast [2 pts]
FYI – a note from Poker Stars to your host:
“I appreciate the time you took to write us regarding your concern. After reviewing the chat log, ChipMe01’s chat privileges have been removed for repeatedly accosting players for chips.”
I told you guys I would turn them in if I was at my email. – Nik Faldo
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Aqualung Wins #5 – and is the 1st Double Winner
Aqualung called it with a “Here I come!” and then proceeded to roll his opponents. I'm smelling the start of a Boother-then-Rownder-then-Sev4TSev - NOW Aqualung steamroller. I hate when that happens!
Nine of us made the game, which is the average this year – two players higher than last year even with some regulars from last year missing! Nice job.
15min: Beerhog (9th) is the first casualty as his (AK) runs into Sev4TSev’s (AA).
33min: A rare three-player all-in! Very exciting! The short-stacked Boother (8th) rightly goes all-in preflop with (AQ), but is called by ArticBlast and Nahanni. “Danger Will Robinson!” The flop is [Tc 6c 8c] and ArticBlast goes all-in with (Kc2c), Nahanni calls with (AhAc) and Boother is drawing dead! The turn is a [Qc] and now ArticBlast is drawing dead!
The turn was deadlier than the river tonight.
35min: Crippled ArticBlast (7th) has to go all-in with (KT) and gets no help when called by Sev4TSev’s (A7).
43min: McGuiness gets crippled when his (AK) runs into Rownder’s (QQ) and he over-bets his straight draw with a flop of [J7Q].
McGuiness then proceeds to run that 300 into over 2000 in seventeen minutes!
Break:
Rownder 3845
Sev4TSev 3420
McGuiness 2010
Nahanni 1990
Aqualung 1705
Mikeniks (Faldo) 530
85min: McGuiness (6th) slow-plays his (JJ) and doesn’t believe Nahanni’s bet on a flop of [9K5] and goes all-in. But Nahanni’s (KJ) holds up.
96min: A short-stacked and card-dead after the break - Sev4TSev (5th) has to make a move with (KhQh), but gets no help against Nahanni’s (A9).
100min: Mikeniks-Faldo (4th) (I) make my last stand in the big blind with A-rag. But I get no help and Rownder’s pair of Jacks on the flop finish my night.
106min: A now short-stacked Rownder’s (3rd) (Q8) can’t catch Aqualung’s (AT).
Aqualung has a 10,000 to 3,500 lead at this point.
111min: Nahanni (2nd) goes all-in with (Qc5c) and is called by Aqualung (1st) with (QsTs). The board of [Js 6s 4h] [Tc] [Qh] takes the lady home from the prom.
Congratulations to Aqualung who is the first double winner of the year so far!
1st – Aqualung [27 pts]
2nd – Nahanni [7 pts]
3rd - Rownder [12 pts]
4th - Mikeniks-Faldo [19 pts]
5th - Sev4TSev [15 pts] card dead after the break
6th – McGuiness [8 pts]
7th – ArticBlast [2 pts]
8th – Boother [7 pts]
9th - Beerhog [10 pts]
Matchy [20 pts] missed tonight
Duder [3 pts]
Nine of us made the game, which is the average this year – two players higher than last year even with some regulars from last year missing! Nice job.
15min: Beerhog (9th) is the first casualty as his (AK) runs into Sev4TSev’s (AA).
33min: A rare three-player all-in! Very exciting! The short-stacked Boother (8th) rightly goes all-in preflop with (AQ), but is called by ArticBlast and Nahanni. “Danger Will Robinson!” The flop is [Tc 6c 8c] and ArticBlast goes all-in with (Kc2c), Nahanni calls with (AhAc) and Boother is drawing dead! The turn is a [Qc] and now ArticBlast is drawing dead!
The turn was deadlier than the river tonight.
35min: Crippled ArticBlast (7th) has to go all-in with (KT) and gets no help when called by Sev4TSev’s (A7).
43min: McGuiness gets crippled when his (AK) runs into Rownder’s (QQ) and he over-bets his straight draw with a flop of [J7Q].
McGuiness then proceeds to run that 300 into over 2000 in seventeen minutes!
Break:
Rownder 3845
Sev4TSev 3420
McGuiness 2010
Nahanni 1990
Aqualung 1705
Mikeniks (Faldo) 530
85min: McGuiness (6th) slow-plays his (JJ) and doesn’t believe Nahanni’s bet on a flop of [9K5] and goes all-in. But Nahanni’s (KJ) holds up.
96min: A short-stacked and card-dead after the break - Sev4TSev (5th) has to make a move with (KhQh), but gets no help against Nahanni’s (A9).
100min: Mikeniks-Faldo (4th) (I) make my last stand in the big blind with A-rag. But I get no help and Rownder’s pair of Jacks on the flop finish my night.
106min: A now short-stacked Rownder’s (3rd) (Q8) can’t catch Aqualung’s (AT).
Aqualung has a 10,000 to 3,500 lead at this point.
111min: Nahanni (2nd) goes all-in with (Qc5c) and is called by Aqualung (1st) with (QsTs). The board of [Js 6s 4h] [Tc] [Qh] takes the lady home from the prom.
Congratulations to Aqualung who is the first double winner of the year so far!
1st – Aqualung [27 pts]
2nd – Nahanni [7 pts]
3rd - Rownder [12 pts]
4th - Mikeniks-Faldo [19 pts]
5th - Sev4TSev [15 pts] card dead after the break
6th – McGuiness [8 pts]
7th – ArticBlast [2 pts]
8th – Boother [7 pts]
9th - Beerhog [10 pts]
Matchy [20 pts] missed tonight
Duder [3 pts]
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