Two in One Night...

July 22nd

The Games began with Stacey back in town.

The list of players were as follows Armando, Cristine, Joe, Kitty, Rico, Toby, Todd, Stacey, and me. Stacks to start were 15,000, with rebuys for the first hour (for stacks <= 5,000) and either a 5,000 or 10,000 add-on after the first hour. There were three rebuys and the tables played pretty tight.

Tourney 1

We played on one table with 9 players. There were only 2 rebuys and everyone added on for a po of $200. I don't remember too many details (old bastard) but I did see a full house get cracked by runner runner for quads. About 1000 to 1 shot to get slapped like that!

Here's the math (I think, comment if it's inaccurate, as I said I am old, so maybe I forgot this stuff):



Since each player had 4 cards and the board had 3 cards there was an opportunity to pluck the two cards needed from a remaining 45 cards. So there was a 2/45 chance to pluck one of the cards on the turn (4.44%). Now, once the first card is caught, the odds for catching the remaining card on the river are 1/44 (2.27%). Statistics says to multiply these together for the overall odds. We get 0.0444 * 0.0227 = 0.00100788. Converting to a percent, we get 0.10079%. Taking the inverse we get 992. So it was 992 to 1.

I think Joe took third, making it a heads-up match for Stacey and I. I got it all in with KTs, but it was no match for Stacey AQ. She took it down. Welcome HOME!

Tourney 2

Todd left and Justin (Toby's son) came by for a second freeze-out tourney. I had a big hand against Kitty - she slow-played a straight to the 9 and I slow played on with a straight to the 10. We got it all in and I was able to chip up nicely.

This won ended up with Toby, Armando, and I in for the money. Mook and I went heads up, luckily I had a big chip lead at the start and was able to pull out the win.

One of the best outcomes was that Armando's oldest and my daughter got to meet and hang out. They hit it off pretty well and are reportedly IM'ing each other. Mook's daughter is a pretty good player (something about an apple and a tree (trees in this case (Clara and Mookie)). Maybe her poker smarts will rub off on my daughter.

July 28th at the Big O

Stacey and I did well, you can read all about it on Mookies Blog. There are some cool pictures and a great story too. Stacey and I made it to third and second, respectively. We had a really fun time.

I didn't blog this until nearly a week later because we had flooring put in two rooms - one was the PC room and it was a crazy week.

We are hosting another game at our house on the 5th.

Not much Poker this week....

Been a slow week for Poker. I couldn't play the Mookie this week (sigh) and it doesn't look like a Thursday live game is taking shape. This has been a busy week otherwise. I am closing on a house in AZ (Grandma's estate (another sigh). Also we picked some new flooring for the house., took Rocco, our dog, to Agility training. It's a lot of fun and I should soon have some videos of him (and I) practicing. We are also having a massive garage sale this Saturdsay AM we have been getting ready for.

We have a game this weekend on Saturday. Hoping to have 16 people again. We will see...

If anybody knows the best way to incorporate video in a blog on blogspot, or can recommend another site I can use hosts them, let me know.

Poker this week

This has been a good poker week. I played well at the Thursday Motive game with Wes, John, Rico, and Jerry. I took it down. That's two in a row for that one.

I (Stacey has been in AZ for the last week (btw - she was tearing it up on the 3-6 limit tables at the AZ Casino)) hosted a NL hold-em tournament at our house. We had 16 players sign up and we started pretty close to on-time.

The list of players were as follows (no bloggers): Ann (Cristine's Mom), Brad, Cristine, Diane, Michael, Godfrey, Hoa, Joe, Julian, Kitty, Henry, Carol, Audi, Sara, Stuart, and me.

Stacks to start were 15,000, with rebuys for the first hour (for stacks <= 5,000) and either a 5,000 or 10,000 add-on after the first hour. There were three rebuys and the tables played pretty tight. Brad and Audie were more aggressive on table 1. I started off on table 2 with (in order from my left) Michael, Godfrey, Kitty, Henry, Hoa, Cristine, and Sara. Our table started off with action right away.

I got some good hands early AK, KK, AA, QQ, TT within the first hour. My QQ led up to a Kitty rebuy when her A4s found a 44T flop, but my QQ found a Q on the turn.

Before the first hour was up, we lost Carol. After receiving 4 brutal beats from Brad and going through one rebuy, she wasn't in the mood to continue the madness. It happens and sometimes its better just to chill. I think she had a good time railing us all.

After the first hour we had a lot of add-ons. We played for about an hour and a half before we went to the final table of 10. The total prize pool climbed to $300 (for all the crime stoppers out there - I DIDN"T TAKE A RAKE).

Carol was not alone - Michael took one in the junk when his AA were brutally cracked by Sara's QQ. Michael played well all night, but that was it for him. The chip stacks at the final were as follows:

Player	Count
Brad	60.1K
Audie	59.2K
Godfrey	50K
Me	48K
Kitty	38.1K
Joe	35K
Henry	32.8K
Diane	32.6K
Cristine	14.2K
Hoa	9.9K

The aggressive play from Brad and Audie paid off as they were the chip leaders. They bullied the table quite a bit. Joe made a stand with AQ but ran into Brad's AK and Joe was gone. Brad had what seemed to be an insurmountable chip lead at this point.

Next we lost Henry to Cristine. Down to 8.

Next, we had a three way all-in. Preflop I had QQ and raised to 3K - Kitty went all-in for about 13K more - I called (mistake*), it came around to Diane and she called. I had about 7K left and Diane had about 10K. The flop came Ah7hx. I figured my queens were no good. I checked, Diane put me all in. With a 42K main pot, plus the 7K I was getting 7 to 1 pot odds and had to call. Diane had ATh, Kitty had 88. Diane got the flucs (she didn't need it) and took it down. Kitty and I were out. Down to 6.

* had I went all-in instead of calling, maybe Diane would have laid her hand down pre-flop, I don't know. Nevertheless it would have been the better move to protect my hand and getting your money in with the best pre-flop hand is never the wrong thing to do.

I don't know the details but Brad was out next (and not very happy). I know Hoa, Audie and Cristine had nice stacks after he was gone so I think they chopped him up. If anyone remembers let me know.

Diane became the bubble girl. She had 42 on the BB. Cristine's A8 ran her over with a boat over boat situation. Flop = 777, turn 4, then river 8. WOW.

Godfrey avoided the bubble this time and took fourth when his straight draw didn't pan out against a made straight. Down to 3.

Cristine, Hoa, and Audie battle as the titanic three (in order of smallest to biggest stack, but it's anyone's game). Remember Hoa had 9.9K and Cristine 14.2k for the 9 and 10 spots at the start of the final table. Great play from all three took them this far.

Audie played aggressive and Cristine bled. She took third and played very well. Hoa and Audie went heads up. The chip lead flip flopped a few times. Hoa took it down with an impressive win.

The cash flowed as follows:

Place	$$$
1st - Hoa	$135
2nd - Audie	$82
3rd - Cristine	$52
4th - Godfrey	$31

Thank you to all those that broguht food and stuff. I really appreciated it. Also special thanks to Cristine and Diane for helping through the set up and clean-up!

Well thats all for now, Stacey gets back tonight... better start cleaning.

Stay tuned - we are planning one for next Saturday the 22nd!

Long overdue, BUT A BIG LESSON LEARNED

This blog entry is long overdue. I have had a very busy week. I had meetings with the VP of my department almost everyday. I had to be to work at 7AM 3 days this week (brutal for me, as I am a night person) and I put in at least 50 hours. I had to prepare for a trip this week and I worked on creating 2 DVD’s from 40 8mm home movies, damn, I was busy. Oh yeah, I took Rocco (our dog) to Agility training on Wednesday, wrote and ad for an estate sale, packed for the trip, packed and shipped 6 ebay items, and played poker on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (all live games).

I felt really good on Friday morning… I was energetic and my wife commented on it. I told her I felt good because I finally got 6 hours of sleep. I will try to rest a little in AZ this week.

OK so lets start blogging the last live games with a few comments on some online play I squeezed in.

Friday June 23rd – Poker at our house

We had 9 players, I have to say I do not remember much from this tournament. I remember I was out first, Stacey didn’t money either. The players included:

Mookie
Mrs. Mookie
Todd, Stacey
Becky
Mike
Godfrey
Ian
Me

The format was $20 fee, $20 rebuy if you’re down to zero, and a $5 add on after the first hour. I rebought after I failed believe Mike had the wheel. He had been playing aggressive and stealing pots, I had 2 pair and knew I could rebuy, and that’s what I did. Just before the end of the first hour, Godfrey made a move with about 11K in chips, I had AJ off and called, turns out all he wanted to do was rebuy and my had held up, I can’t remember what he had , but it wasn’t connected, suited, paired or paint. I managed to win. After the add-on I was chip leader. I donked my chips away so fast I don’t remember what happened, except a little while later I looked down at a troubled stack with 22 and met Clara’s bigger pair and I was out – first – at my own house – bummer….

Mike played well, but Godfrey caught him bluffing a few times and took some chips from him. Mike ended up in third and Mondo and Godfrey chopped.

All in all it was a lot of fun and I am glad everyone came out.

Wednesday June 28th – Online with the Mookie

Got home from Agility and entered the tourney a little late, got real good cards and chipped up to about 11th place. I lost a couple of pots and fell back a lot. I finally had AK beat by QQ and bowed out. I hope to log in from AZ and play this week. I really enjoy this one a lot.

Thursday June 29th – Motive game

This one was a five player game. I managed to win this one after playing heads-up with Jerry for a while.

Friday June 30th – Live play at Mookie’s house

Stacey and I played at Mookie’s before our tip to Phoenix on Sunday. We had a good time. There were a lot of new players and it was a bit difficult to navigate through some really bad play and maintain your sanity with some pathetically slow play. Some people were new to a well run game. I did hear a funny comment. One guy said, “pot odds depend on how big your chip stack is.” I got a kick out of that one. I managed to navigate my way to a third place money finish. I was pleased with that as Mookie made a great comeback to take it down. I was impressed with his play – don’t let him fool you with all his “Donkey” talk – he’s good! Nice job Mook!

Saturday July 1st – Live play at Rico’s house

Stacey bowed out of this one as we were leaving at 6AM the next morning for Phoenix. I played, of course, and had a great time. The format was the same as Mookie and my tourneys. There were only 11 people. We started at 2 tables and one guy on my table doubled up very early. He played well and the cards went his way OFTEN. He consistently went into big pots with decent cards, but behind before the flop. He would always end up winning these situations. Some astronomical odds went in this guys favor. Here’s a couple… A5 off vs. AJ suited – he catches a wheel, TT vs. 99, he gets set over set, and other one or two outers coming through, over and over!!! Anyway, he ended up winning, I got third when my short stacked QQ went up against is 88, I caught the set on the flop, he caught runner-runner for QUADS!!! What a horrible way to end a tournament.

Well, here is where I learned a BIG lesson. We played a second turbo mini-tourney with 5 players. I was a little tired and I was on a bit of tilt after watching this guy beat the crap out of everyone with inferior cards. I made a really, really bad mistake that has kept me thinking I may have been transported to and from grade school on a little bus.

I had Q7 and limped on the big blind. The flop came Q72 rainbow. I check, lucky bet, I called, one other player called. I put him on either A7 or AQ. The turn gave us a 5. I was sitting pretty with 2 pairs, I bet ½ the pot, the third guy folded, lucky put me all in and I immediately called. He turned over 78 suited, no flush draw. I said I have two pair and dropped my cards in front of me. Assuming he would suck out, I said, “watch him get trips with a 7!” Sure enough the river was a 7. I said nice hand, pushed my chips to him, correceted him for apologizing on the suck out, and said I can’t believe you beat me with trips! I left and was running the hand through my head on the way home. I actually won the hand with a boat!!! QQ777 vs. 777. Actually, I was a 100% winner and the last card had no consequence.

I didn’t sleep well that night. Not for the money lost, or anything like that, it was for being so stupid! I let my emotions of assuming I would lose the hand to a guy that consistently got lucky against lots of people in lots of hands. My pre-determination of this biased me to the point I didn’t even look at the cards. WOW. I thought I was a lot better player than that, but I had a real reality check. I have not played poker since (haven’t been able to, as I was running my Grandma’s estate sale in Phoenix). I learned a very good lesson there and I need to ALWAYS keep my emotions in check.

Question to the readers of this blog: “Have you ever done anything like this in Poker or another situation?" If so, tell me about it. I would like to know I am not alone, but maybe I am…

I played the Mookie and the Motive Thursday game and I will post those results tomorrow.