Quick update

I'm on vacation this week, so just a quick update.

Had my first loss in a very LONG time down at Nautica last Tues. Was up about $400 ($400 deep as well) and got KK cracked by A-10. Got all his money in on a 10-high flop (I even told the guy I had an over pair) and he caught an A on the turn. That got about half my stack, then I donked off the rest trying to make it back. This was actually a tough table for the most part. There were 1-2 seats where the donks would sit down and give away a buy-in or 2, but everyone else was fairly solid.

Went to Julie's yesterday for her tourney. There were only about 13 players. I busted out in about 7th or 8th when Special K hit her 2-outer to take out me and another guy. The other guy, Mike I think it was, hit 2 gutshots on me. Gary hit 1 gutshot on me as well.

So, I hit up Nautica and sat down at 5. Cashed $900 even at 8pm on a single buy-in. Chipped up to $400 very slowly, then flopped a boat with 10-10 (board was AA-10, and my opponent had an A) and also hit a set of A's with a guy betting into me. Tom Gross was at my table and couldn't get any love. Linda, Caveman, TK, Unclce Bob, Mailman, and Andre were all there as well. Not sure how everyone did, but I guess after I left, Gross started hitting hands and got himself out of the hole.

I'll be back again this week for sure.

Too Fat to Fish

Book Review:

Go buy this book. It's hilarious.

Move along...nothing to see here.

Had some friends in from out of town this week, so I didnt get out until Saturday for poker. Dave's heads-up tourney, which I had high hopes for, was a dismal failure. I drew RR Dave, which was cool I suppose. Better than Mailman, Data, or Meats. Very first hand, I get AJ, raise, flop TPTK, bet all the way, hit trips on the river, bet, and get raised big. Dave has a straight with J-10.

Next hand, I hit 2 pair and got beat (forget what he had).

2 hands later, I flop a straight, only to get rivered by the nut flush. I was pretty much done after that. Buh bye.

Oh well, I went to Nautica and won more than the winner of the heads-up tourney. Up $600+ after a few hours. Hand of the night...I had been up most of the night after rebuying once early on (2nd nut flush with open ended royal draw cracked by nut flush), but with only 20 min left before closing time, everyone was in their usual gamble mode, and I was about even. I had a couple of real donks at the table, so I figure all I have to do is make a real hand to get paid off. I call a $12 preflop raise with 7-4 of spades, with about 6 people in the hand, then it gets popped to $40. 2 others call, so I come along for the ride. The Iraqi Minister of Information (see pic) is sitting on my left. He really looks just like this. He is an incredible donk, as you will soon discover. I've played with him several times and he is great to have at the table. According to him, "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!", and if there were, the enemy will be slaughtered in battle. Which reminds me, there was a guy on my right at Nautica last week that looked just like Eskimo...except he was black! Hilarious. Same mannerisms and everything. I wish I could have snapped a pic.

Anyway, flop is 5-6-7 with 1 spade. Information minister bets a hundo, and the only other caller is all-in for like $98, creating a small side pot after I make the call. I am putting the Iraqi on JJ/QQ, and the other guy on pretty much anything, as I had seen him raise/call with some strange hands.

The turn is a total blank, and I check. Thankfully, the Iraqi also checks. The river (that beautiful river) is an 8, giving me the donkey end of the straight, but I am certain I am good. I shove $312 into a dry side pot with an open-ender on the board, and the Iraqi Minister of Information cannot lay down his AA. WOW!! Thanks buddy. He slams the table with his fist, swearing "We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels - We have driven them back.", and I pull in a $1000+ pot. The other guy says he had JJ, but didn't show. Who cares.

So I immediately rack my chips and hit it, heading back to Lorain. Data and Meats ended up the final 2 in the tourney, with Data taking 1st.

Dave W was the big cash game winner. He couldn't miss. He cashed out $1000+...not sure how deep he was. I gave back about $140 of my profit after getting pretty deep myself. Could have been up, but Dave made a great laydown (he had a set of 8's) when I turned the wheel and pushed on the river when I hit the nut flush. Not sure how he folded, I guess it was just his night.

Played some pineapple as well, which is always fun.

The Hangover

If you haven't seen The Hangover yet, drop what you're doing and head to the movie theater. Hilarious movie, and fairly well-acted.

We come out of the movie and a cop rolls up and asks Slacks to come over to the car...Are you Mark? Your car was broken into. Damn! Crackheads smashed his window took his GPS.

Had some dinner with my wife, Meats, Slacks, and Gail at Texas Roadhouse before the show. Big-ass t-bone baby.

Oh...weekend update. Went to Nautica on Saturday, and got VERY deep. I had $1k on the table at the end of it all. At my first table, I had 3-4 total donks with stacks everyone got a piece of except for me. No matter what I had, they beat me with a straight or flush. If I had the nuts, it was like they could see my cards. So 3 of them left at once, and I jumped ship to another table, which had an equal number of donks at it. There was a kid that was so hammered he could barely speak (that sounds familiar) with a stack of well over $1k, and another guy that looked like he just got out of the joint. I couldn't get a hand at that table. Missed every flop. at 11 pm, I had $39 in front of me, and shoved when I hit my A with A3 in the BB. Tripled up. I tripled again, but dont remember what I had on that one. The monster came just before the end of the night. I make it $12 preflop with A9 of diamonds, the old Asian (uh-oh!) makes it $40, and prison guy puts a hundo on top. I figure Asian guy for some kind of hand, but prison guy was re-raising with crap like K5 suited, pocket 3's, etc. I decide to see a flop. Screw it, it's almost last hand and I am WAY stuck. I flop the nut flush draw and a gutshot with a Q-10-8 board. I push in my last $200 and they BOTH call. Hit the gutshot on the river!! Asian guy had KK, prison guy had AA. WOW. Crazy luck on that one. I cashed $887 and took a relatively small loss compared to the disaster it could have been.

The session did however remind me that I can still get killed with idiots at the table, and without going on tilt. I played OK for the most part, although after getting 3-4 buy-ins deep, your play HAS to be off somewhere. It certainly was with that last hand.

Quick update

Kinda busy today (and tired). Went to Nautica last night...up $917 in 45 minutes! Got smacked by the deck, but who cares?

Grabbed some grub with Meats and Slacks, then went to Adam's game and gave back almost 2/3 of my profit. Hands cracked and outkicked all night. I was outkicked like 6 times. Got 2 flushes cracked, trips cracked by boats a couple times...ugly.

Good luck to all those who are headed to Vegas. Now that everyone is on their way, I'm kinda wishing I had bought a ticket. Vegas is always fun. But when they come back, I will still have my bankroll.

Mailman...delivering beats to donkeys nationwide

Mailman is certainly one of the most solid players in the group. He is always the quiet one at the table, scooping up small pots until his stack is 2-3 times its normal size. I've never seen him lose more than a couple hundo in a single session. Also, my timing is always off with Greg. I'll fold when he's bluffing (which he rarely shows) and call/raise when he has me beat. Lately, I just stay out of his way.

Greg is always there to lend a helping hand, whether it's TD'ing, dealing, holding the bank, monkeying the pot, etc.


Name/nickname:Greg da Mailman

Age: 38

Occupation: Duh!

Home town: Elyria

Hobbies outside of poker: That sounds like a good idea. I should look in to it.


1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)
Way back in December 2005, I stumbled upon the Meetup.com website, and found the CPMG. My first game was a Dealer's Choice game at El Diablo's home in Elyria, which was just a few miles from my place.

I won $120 that night, and been hooked ever since. Looking back on it, I was a Card Rack that night. For example, one of the games was Triple Draw Low Ball (A-5). I was dealing, and Bricker raised in the Cutoff. I didn't have much of a hand, but I was the Button, and I had three draws, so I called. Bricker stood pat, drawing no cards. I ended up discarding four cards and just keeping a 5. The four cards that I recieved were 4 3 2 A, which gave me the A-5 Wheel, which is the best possible hand.

Bricker bet again, and I raised. He raised back, and so did I. After a quite a few more raises, we got to showdown. He showed a 6-low that he was dealt, and I showed the Nuts. He was not happy.


2. What’s your key to bankroll management?
Keep acurate records with as many details as possible. Some players use a spreadsheet, but I use a database. Also, be honest about your losses. Don't fudge the numbers to make yourself feel better.

It's a good idea to stay away from the table games like Blackjack or Pia Gow when you're at the casino. I should probably start doing that.


3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneys
Like most poker questions, it depends. Factors include how many BB deep we are playing, am I limping in or raising or calling a raise, who's doing the raising, what position am I in, and what position is the player who is raising.

They write entire books on this subject, so it's hard to simplify in just a few sentences.


4. What pro player do you think you play like?
Probably Allen Cunningham or Erik Seidel. They have the image of being solid, no-nonsense players, who can shift gears when necessary. They are also considered tournament players, and are underrated as Cash game players.


5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won
I'm the wrong person to ask this questions. I don't play big pots. I rarely ever stack someone at the tables, and I almost never get stacked. How often does anyone ever see me with a monster stack of chips?

But since you asked, here's one from my old blog:

$1/$2 at Four Winds Casino -
Many limpers. I'm in the SB, and look at Kh Kc. Pop it to $12. BB calls. UTG calls. Two others call. Five players are going to the Flop, and I'm out of position. This should be fun

Flop: Qh 9c 3d - I bet $40. BB calls. Player A (mid position) calls.

Turn: (Qh 9c 3d) Ks - I hit top set, but J T just hit their open ender. Good thing nobody would ever play that hand. I think for a moment, and decide to check and see what happens. I'm not slow playing my set. I just have no clue what everyone else has.

BB check. Player A pauses, then bets $125. Now I go into the tank. I've only got $230 left, and decide to shove. If he's got me, then he's got me. BB folds AQ. Player A calls the extra $105 and shows 3 3 for bottom set. He misses his one-outer.

So I more than doubled up, but I really hate playing out of position.

Ultimate hit and run

Stopped down to Nautica last night. Sat down with $200 at 4:40, paid my $5 seat fee, TRIPLED UP on the 3rd hand, and left at 5:00 with $617 when they came to collect fees again.

I had Q-10 in mid position, and called $12 or $15 preflop from a guy I know to have a wide range of starting hands that he'd raise with. Flop is J8x, rainbow, and it checks around. 9 on the turn gives me the nuts. There is about $55 in the pot, and a girl on my right bets $25, I make it $50, and the original raiser makes it an even hundo. She pushes for about $30 more, I push for about $80 more, and he calls. I say "I have the nuts right now", and the girl shows a slow-played set of J's, and the original raiser shows 7-10 for a lower straight. River is a K, and I still have the nuts. Ship it. Thanks for slow-playing that set of Jacks! I sure wasn't calling much of a bet on the flop.

So I ended up winning a couple more small pots, and got the hell out of there a few minutes later. My little man wasn't screaming at me or anything, but I figured what the hell, it usually takes a few hours to build a $600+ stack, and the table was actually not completely made up of donks, so I took the opportunity and bolted. I met Meats at Champps for a bite and was home by 7:00. Took the dog for a walk in the park, then hung out at home the rest of the night. And they all lived happily ever after.

Fantastic weekend

Had a great time at Mosquito Lake this weekend. Tons of laughs. Rented a pontoon boat to do some fishing, and even had a man overboard. Funniest thing I've ever seen. My friend Phil tries to make a monster cast (this is before he even popped his first beer), lost his balance, tried to grab a nylon cord attached to the canopy, and fell right out of the door and into the 3 feet of water. Trashed his phone and lost my fishing pole, although we did fish the pole back outta the water. Absolutely hilarious. You should have seen the look on his face as he was falling in.

Played some free NLHE, just screwing around, and actually accumulated a stack. You know, hitting the usual 2-3 outers.

I have a couple other stories that I'll have to tell in person for you to really appreciate. They are a bit long, but pretty funny.

Anyway, I highly recommend Mosquito Lake State Park if you are looking for a great place to camp. Only took about an hour and 20 min to get there too.

Another weekend off

Going to Mosquito Lake with a few friends this weekend to do some fishing, so there will not be any poker for me. I will be trying to get my buddies into a game, possibly some very low stakes NLHE. Not that they can't afford it, but they have heard some of my stories of winning/losing hundreds in a session, and that is way out of their comfort zone.

Either way, it should be a good time.

NASCAR Tina's 5 questions

Name/nickname: Tina, Kristina, NASCARTINA (I think I need a nickname that actually fits....I hate NASCAR)

Age: I'm 36.

Occupation: Litigation Legal Secretary

Home town: Brook Park

Hobbies outside of poker: There is life outside of poker? O.K. Hobbies I once had: Scrapbooking, writing, reading, hiking, bowling (170 average ya'll), beer pong (I am awesome!), cornhole tournaments, and anything that interests my daughters somewhat becomes a hobby of mine as well.

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

Went to a charity tourney in Brook Park a few years back. Some guy came up to me after I busted out and chatted me up about the CPMG (I don't know who it was, nor has anyone come forward so I can blame them for ruining my life). I went online to look up CPMG and started to play the Monday Night Pokerstars games. First tourney was at Pyxis' place. Doug Poker gave me a ride since we both lived in Brook Park. I won the tourney. I remember beating Yosh head's up (I'm sure it was all luck). After that...I was hooked and somewhat became a "regular"

2. What’s your key to bankroll management?

I have no keys to my bankroll and no bankroll for my keys.

3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneysI will NOT describe my starting hands (nice try though). I get killed enough out there. I will say this.....I've learned so much about the game through the people I play with in the CMPG. I am no longer the scared little girl who was afraid to enter a pot - even with a great starting hand.

4. What pro player do you think you play like?

I'm not good enough to play like any pro....however, I like Gus Hansen's style alot. Female...I'd say Annie Duke is my fav. (Donald Trump is an ASS!)

5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won

I scored a pound of pot once :") That was huge......
Seriously..I do not remember the exact amount of the biggest pot I've won and I may be a little sketchy on the details. It was at Seneca though and I had just won a decent sized pot 2 hands before and had about $450 in front of me (a small amount compared to what could be in front of you at Nautica). I called a small raise with 22 in the cutoff position. There were 4 people in the pot preflop, that much I remember. Flop 2Q2 (two diamonds - quads bitches). Player A bets the pot...Player B folds, Player C raises, I call, Player A calls. Here comes the turn. It was a K or an A of diamonds. Player A pushed all in and had roughly $250 behind. Player C goes over the top and goes all in for about $400 more. I had like $400 in front and called his all in. I do not remember the river card :-/ Player A and Player B had a flushes on the turn. I had quads. They were stunned. I couldn't even stack my chips b/c I was shaking. I called for a rack...stacked the chips in it...went to the cashier, cashed out, smoked 2 cigarettes and then proceeded to lose a lot of it playing Let It Ride :)

Nautica win...again!

I soooo love that place. I played 2-2 limit for about an hour before my NL seat opened up, and ended up losing $40 there. I woulda been up quite a bit but got 4's-full cracked by K's-full. The fish at that table were unreal. We had a couple pots with 9-10 in the hand. I also saw a guy call a 2-bet on the river with Q-9 suited (no draw at all), who then pointed to the K on the board and said "Aww man, I thought I had a pair of JACKS"!!! Swear to God. I may sit at a 5-10 limit if available next time. Just winning 1-2 pots would be great.

So I got to my NL seat and Grayday sits down next to me after a few minutes. I chased an open-ender early on and lost most of my first buy-in, re-bought, then added on another hundo later when nothing was hitting. Went a long time before hitting a flop.

Nothing really exciting to speak of, but I did catch a set of 10's, and had KK and a set of 6's betting into me. That pot put me back on top after being down almost $400. I later took 2 pots off Chan when I hit 2-pr with a 10-7 and a pair of 8's with K8 suited. I called his $20 preflop with the K8, then checked it down, which I told him I would have done with the other hand, but he HAD to bet at me. He bet like $80 on the river when I had the 2-pr.

There was one guy at the end of the table that me and Grayday were gunning for. This guy was in every hand and calling big raises. He had a monster stack and lost it all on a flush draw with 2 others in the pot (AA and a flopped set). He bought back in and I got the last of his re-buy...don't remember the details on that one, but Grayday and I both knew he'd leave without any chips. Correct-a-mundo!!

Ryan Sadd, Ryan Thoms, Hip, Chan, and Grayday were all there. Not sure how anyone did, but I think Grayday was up a little when I left at 10pm. Final score: up $270 after seat fees and limit game loss. I haven't been keeping accurate records lately (I ALWAYS go on a losing run when I start keeping records) but I am somewhere around 8-1 at Nautica since they opened up NL.

Dave's Summer Blow-out

Had a great time on Saturday, and thought for sure I was gonna cash, if it weren't for Tina and her well-played pocket Q's. She just called all the way when I hit top-top with my A-10. Ouch. I was chip leader before that hand. I doubled up Grayday when we both hit 2-pr, and then I chased a couple draws after that but didn't catch, then Hip finally knocked me out with his flopped top-2 against my A-8. NH sir. Hip didn't look back after that and took it down for a nice cash. Well played bro, you deserved the win. He cracked AA a couple times early on as well.

I took out 2 players in a single hand, twice! I was running good, hitting flops, and stayed focused. Made the final table out of 38 total. I really like the longer rounds and deeper stack. There are still quite a few players that play every pair like A's-full, so you have to watch out for them, but overall the structure was great. A cash would have put me at least 3rd in the POY race. No biggie; I am happy to be in the top 4. I promise a top-10 finish in the next round as well.

HUGE cash game with 3 full tables, but I ended up losing like $88. Meats put Grayday on tilt with a great bluff. One thing I can say is ALWAYS SHOW GRAYDAY THE BLUFF. It will really pay off. I was way down most of the night, then got back up about $25 (my little man was screaming at me, but Grayday still had chips), and I did manage to bust Grayday with 5-7 suited, but Holiday Inn Jim joined us for the last couple orbits (shoulda been 1 orbit but we squeezed out as much as possible for Jim's sake) and I didn't catch against him. He went to his pocket TWICE after 4am for more chips. How could we say no? TK got some off him, but I think HI Jim cashed a few bucks.

Anyway, the food was good, we had a great time, and Dave's season ended in fine fashion. Thanks Dave for being a great host.

Check out the pics...Data without a hat, that's a first. His reply: "I'm defragmenting", LOL. Those are DP's Fruit O' the Looms. He offered to bare ass, but that's plenty of DP right there. Check out Hip's stack, which was taken even before he made the money if I'm not mistaken. And that sweet-ass belt buckle. Hip and Meats are my heroes! I am taking a 6.66% stake in Hip for his WSOP seat. Let's hope it pays off.

I'll have to hit up a couple of Julie's tournaments now that my Saturdays are free. We'll have to get a cash game going. :)