Bubble and cash game win

Bubbled in the tourney at Dave's Saturday night. AJ didn't catch against 10-10. PLayed a good game just got shit cards at the final table. 29 entries, I finished 6th.

Did well in the cash game after starting out down. Made a great move switching tables when I couldn't catch any cards. Had a $100 swing in about an hour and cashed positive. Got home at 3:45, which is early lately.

Vitamin B12

I started taking a B12 supplement a few weeks ago, and it has made a huge difference. My energy level has skyrocketed, my head is less foggy and I can focus on whatever I'm doing, and my whole attitude is better. Go out and get some today!

Win at Dave's

Got a nice win last night, after going $310 deep in the $1-1 cash game last night. Dave was cool enough to loan me a buy-in after the last of my chips went in with AJ suited vs AA and got no love.

Andre was there and it was only 9:15, and Dave offered up the loan, so I decided to stick around for another go at it. Good thing too, because I nailed some hands. Got AA 3 times, and they held up! Flopped a set of 5's (Presto!!) against Andre and let him bet all the way, getting my whole stack in the middle. Later, I flopped a boat with 10-10 (board was 10-7-7) with Dave and (forget his name) in the hand, and the other guy had a 7 and went all-in.

Got into a hand with Colin where I had JJ and a 9-high board. He had 10-10 and laid it down after my $50 turn bet. That was another nice pot.

Ended up with a $200+ win, which is great compared to the small wins and big losses I'd been taking recently.

Side note: Congrats to Julie who has made it through Day 1 at Borgata. That would be pretty cool if another member went deep in a big tourney. Homeless Sam has done it a couple times, and Dohar made a final table in a WSOP "2nd chance" tourney when we were all out there a couple years ago. One of my goals is to win some decent $$ in a big tourney. Just gotta build up a decent enough bankroll to buy into one :)

Heads-up challenge

There is now some pressure on the CPMG message board for a heads-up match between me and Chan. We've been tossing the idea around for a couple months. I have laid down my personal requirements (the usual rock star stuff...a bowl of M&M's with the brown ones removed, 3 teenage hookers, 2 cases of High Life, yada, yada, yada) and haven't heard much from Chan, although he is willing to play. I want basically the same structure that me and Data played a couple of years ago: Best-of-3 tourney with 20-30 min levels and a decent starting stack. I know Chan has read my blog, so I wont discuss strategy here, but I think I can take it down. Data and I played for about 6 and a half hours during our bout. A few have recommended doing it on the chili cookoff Saturday, but being the cookoff organizer, I think another date is in order.

I also issued the same heads-up challenge to anyone willing to accept. Being 2-0 in such challenges (vs Data and Eskimo), my confidence is high, although Chan is an odd opponent, and difficult to read. He does some strange shit at the table, but with only 2 of us in on every hand, I'll be better able to study him. It will be an educational investment whether I win or lose.

What a comeback

Chalked up a decent win at Dave's on Sat night, after being $285 deep, and down to my last $50 or so. Lost a big pot with A-10 clubs when Jack hit his 2-outer for the straight flush. He had a big run and had over $500 in front of him at one point. I managed to take some big pots off him later on to rebuild my stack.

I also got dead-lucky on one hand against Joe (not Italian Joe or father time, just Joe). I had AJ suited and raised preflop. Joe decides to straddle and show a card. It's a K. The flop is J-high, rainbow, and the other 2 cards are low. He bets out. The only card that can beat me is another K, and he'd just had KK like 2 hands earlier. I push, thinking I had him crushed. As he called, I said, "please dont show me another K"...BAM! There it is. Ace on the river...2 pair. I'll take it. I got about a hundo from Joe on that one.

I later went on a nice run where I hit a couple of sets against Dave, where he'd hit top pair and bet into me the whole way, and I also hit a couple of boats, straights, and a flush.

Mailman made a pretty good laydown after we both flopped 2 pair, but I boated on the turn. He had KQ and I had Q7. Flop was KQ7. I check-raised on the turn when the 7 fell, and Greg laid it down. I dont think he would have bet the river, but he may have called a bet, possibly the same $25 he bet on the turn. Oh well, it was a nice pot anyway.

Dennis was there and being his usual dick self, but I didn't let him get to me too bad. He never shuts up and cannot fold a hand, which can drive me up the wall. He also calls ANY bet I make, hoping to crack. He got me on one hand but I got him back later on for more $$. Saw him make a couple of completely awful calls. He called with bottom pair and hit his kicker (with 4-8) to crack someone's KK (after calling like $12 preflop mind you), and claimed he "had pot odds". "I was getting 3-1" he says. Way to go Pythagoras. MIT called, they need you to solve the mysteries of the universe. What a donkey. He's one of the few players that I really derive pleasure from seeing get stomped. He dumped 2 buy-ins when his luck and "pot odds" ran out.

Brrrr...

OK, so it's only mid-January and I'm already sick of this weather. Even my dog limps around outside when I take her out.

I'll probably get tomorrow off though, and along with MLK Day on Monday, it's a 4-day weekend! I've shoveled my 120' driveway twice this week and stockpiled a bunch of firewood. Got a roaring fire going right now.

At least I wasn't with these people...

Tues night at Ken's

No love...very few hands. KK cracked by JJ. Another idiot (Adam's roommate...Nick I think?) calls a $20 river bet in a $30 pot (of course, I missed my straight and flush draw, but knew he was weak) with pocket 4's, on a board of AK887, or something close. WTF? He then says "it was only $2o to call". I would think $20 would get most real poker players to fold pocket 4's here. He called a bet on the flop as well. Oh well, I'll never bluff him again. He's on the "unbluffable" list. He had well over $500 in front of him and lost it all. Well played sir.

Anyway, I lost a couple of $100 buy-in's. Did quite a bit better than Charlie Ha, who was down $750 on the night. Hey Charlie...it's a $.50-$1.00 game!!! You aren't going to make that up. That's OK though. I have come to the conclusion that Uncle Bob and Charlie are like the Fed injecting huge amounts of cash into our little poker economy, which has definitely been hit by the economic downturn. We used to have $1-2 games everywhere with the occasional $2-5, although the $1-2 plays much like a $2-5 in our group. I would hate to see what would happen to the game if those guys stopped showing up. No pot would be over $20.

Dave and Busters

GeoTagged, [N41.47208, E81.90436]

Had a side job last night, but got a call just before from Karl muthafuckin Tsu that he an Matt G were at Dave and Busters right down the street. How convenient. Gross and Dohar showed up as well and we had a little free throw tourney. I came in 2nd to Matt G. Not only does he have a laser arm, but he can shoot too. Dohar won the race car challenge.

The Monterey burger is pretty good. Mushrooms, onions, and cheese. Mmm!
Monday is a great night to go, it was pretty dead.

An evening with the Meats

Went out for some grub for Meats' birthday last week. ERock and Danielle stopped by as well as Slacks, Hip, Dohar, and Twitch. Ate some wings and a tuna sandwich that was pretty good. I ordered "hot" wings and there wasn't much bite to them at all.

Didn't do much in the way of poker over the weekend. Friday it snowed like crazy and my little Eclipse sucks in the snow, so I didn't chance going to TK's. Glad I didn't anyway, I am hearing the grisly details of the gamblefest it turned out to be. Nguyen showed up and dropped a ton of dough in fine fashion. Paoli cracked Jeremy's AA with 7-2 after calling $25 preflop...the list goes on. That aint poker.

No game at Dave's, but Julie hosted her first tourney(s) on Sat and Sun. Hopefully everyone behaved like human beings so she'll continue to host. Thanks Julie! Looking forward to plating at your place.

So Saturday was a blast digging out my 120' driveway...woo hoo! No snow blower for me, just blood, sweat, and tears.

5 questions

I have been thinking about a new segment to add a little spice to the blog. I'll pick a CPMG member and do a little bio on them, along with 5 poker-related questions. I'll ask for age, occupation, and other hobbies/interests, then 5 poker questions, like "what's your favorite hand besides AA?", "what's the worst beat you ever took?", etc. Maybe once every week or 2. It will add some easy material to satisfy my hungry readers.

OK, who wants to be first?

So far, so good

Chalked up a win at Ken's last night, despite absolutely DISMAL cards all night. At one point, I had (in this order) 8-2, 9-2, 10-2, J-3, Q-5, K-3, and 4-6. I'd see 7-8 suited and almost wet my pants with joy. I switched tables about halfway through, thinking that might help, and it did early on, but then flatlined shortly thereafter. Played about 4 hours with my initial $100 buy-in, managed to double it, then hit the road. Played tight and a few of the hands I took to the river held up for decent pots. New year, new attitude. Leave when ahead!

Saw a few old faces...Tom Wilson, L'il Fag, Adam, and Italian Joe were there...hadn't seen them in a long time. Good to see everyone. TK was WAY up and hitting everything. Charlie, Uncle Bob, Hip, Gross, Paoli, Sadd, Big Josh, Gary, Linda, Reigler, and a couple others completed 2 full tables.

The ride home was pretty slippery, but not as bad as a couple weeks ago.

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Small victory!

Got a win at the $1-1 last night. Was up quite a bit, almost $200 for a while, then made the mistake of trying to bluff TK, and of course Special K's slow-playing her set is always fun to run up against. Then you have Ryan S who never thinks I have a hand, calling with bottom pair and nailing his gutshot. Oh well, $55 in profit is better than a $300 loss, which was where I was headed. I had $310 on the table and was down to about $30. Managed to stay off tilt and get back in the game. I even had AA a few times that held up.

The tourney started out great as usual, but lost a monster hand with top-top where I knew I was good at the moment but Bernie called off the last of his chips with a flush draw and hit it. Eskimo had lead out, Bernie called, and I re-raised trying to isolate, which worked perfectly in getting Eskimo to fold. Not a bad call on Bernie's part but if I had held up I'm pretty sure I would have cashed. Instead, 2 weeks in a row I go out in 10th place, just before the final table. I pushed the last of my measly stack in with J 10 suited, and Mailman killed me with KQ. Greg is now right behind me in the POY race, with Julie a close 3rd. Gonna have to win big in the deeper stack, which is a much better structure and the payouts will be higher. I also plan to win the chili cookoff, so my confidence level that night will be pretty high.

Happy Birthday to me

I am 41 today, woo-hoo! Today is also my grandmother's birthday. She would have been 90 today but passed away about 15 years ago. Reminds me of a story...I was walking into the supermarket about a week ago, and there were 2 people in front of me. The guy was in his 60's and the lady was a bit older, probably mid 70's. They recognized each other and exchanged pleasantries..."how have you been?" yada yada yada. Then the lady says "your mother's name was Vera, right?" "Thelma" he says. "Oh, that's right. I used to style her hair, do you remember me?" "Yes, sure I remember you" he says. Then she says to him "I haven't seen your mother in a long time", and he replies "that's probably because she passed away in 1981"

So anyway...I really wanted to go to Mountaineer tomorrow but totally forgot about a couple of side jobs I have lined up and I also promised my mom I'd let her buy me a birthday dinner. I'll probably just play at Dave's Saturday. Back to work on Monday, ugh. This vacation has been great. I did have a few side jobs and bought/sold about a dozen laptops on eBay. This laptop gig has been pretty profitable for the most part. I bought one for $60 and it sold for $190...nice.

Hopefully I can get more posts in this year. I did start out pretty good last year but fizzled down the stretch. Story of my life :)

A couple of resolutions for the new year:
1. Drop 15-20 lbs. My gut is getting a little too big.
2. Eat healthier. Less sugar, salt, and fat. More veggies.
3. Save more $$ I just set up a recurring transaction via my online banking to put more $$ into my savings account, which is pretty dry. I also doubled my contribution to the 403b through work, and the new company it's through adds 7.5% for the next 5 years. Not bad.

So happy new year to all. Hopefully '09 will be better than last year. It really sucked, aside from getting back together with my wife.