Championship Game Recap

Sorry this post took so long to pull together. I have been crazy busy at work. Well, here it goes. I was asked a bunch of times and felt a little like Brian this week, except people were asking me for the tourney write-up. (turn down your sound if you're at work).



We had 20 players donkeys. We got started pretty much on time, which was good because we started at noon.

The chip stacks were as follows:
25K buy-in
5K bonus -for RSVP and showing up on time
15K add-on

The blinds times were long and gradually deceased as shown below:
* Level 1 - 100/200 - 40 minutes
* Level 2 - 200/400 - 40 minutes
* Level 3 - 300/600 - 40 minutes
* BREAK - 10 minutes - Add-on Period Over
* Level 4 - 400/800 - 30 minutes
* Level 5 - 500/1000 - 30 minutes
* Level 6 - 600/1200 - 30 minutes
* Level 7 - 800/1600 - 30 minutes
* BREAK - 5 minutes - chip up whites
* Level 8 - 1000/2000 - 20 minutes
* Level 9 - 1500/3000 - 20 minutes
* Level 10 - 2000/4000 - 20 minutes
* BREAK - 5 minutes - chip up reds
* Level 11 - 3000/6000 - 20 minutes
* Level 12 - 4000/8000 - 20 minutes
* Level 13 - 5000/10000 - 20 minutes
* Level 14 - 6000/12000 - 20 minutes
* Level 15 - 8000/16000 - 20 minutes
* Level 16 - 10000/20000 - 20 minutes
* Level 17 – 15000/25000 – until it’s over

We gave out prizes, donated by PokerStars. They gave us hats and shirts if I agreed to hang up some posters. I gave the prizes out as follows:

Before play got underway, we did a couple random drawings and Armando and Cindy picked up a shirt each.

12:10 PM - Start

Play was tight, as expected, since this was a freeze-out.

1:13 PM - Todd was faced with a couple of bad calls and suckouts and was, unfortunately, the first one out in 20th. He was out before the break.

At the break we had another drawing and Joe picked up a shirt.

4:00 PM - Ian would be the 2nd victim at the hands of Armando. Armando was in the BB wih 83o. Ian flopped top pair with a Q83 flop and went all-in. Armando called and his monster hand held up. JK - he was in the BB!!! Ian was out in 19th.

4:54 PM - Justin was short stacked at about 7K. He went all-in blind and Joe called with A5h. The hand played out as: KK332. Justin turned over 94o and was out in 18th.

5:01 PM - Cindy and Stacey went at it with JK and J7. The better hand won, and Stacey was out in 17th. Stacey only won a single hand all day.

5:43 PM - Rocky got knocked out by two of us. Jeff and I had AJ, Rocky pushed his last 1500 chips with 52o. An A on the flop and a J on the turn had Jeff and I all in, only to chop. Rocky was out in 16th.

5:47 PM - I had an M of about 5 and should have jammed my 99. Instead I raised 3x to 12K. Rico called. The flop was 355. Rico checked as did I. The turn was a 10 and Rico pushed his larger stack all-in. I called and was blown away when Rico showed me 33. I had 4 outs, but the river sent me packing in 15th. Had I pushed all-in preflop - Rico folds and I live to play another hand. Bad decision. Earlier Rico had crumbs and was down to less than 5K. What an indestructible roach!!!

5:54 PM - Cristine was out in 14th when her QJ was no match for Kevin's runner runner straight with 89.

6:02 PM - Kitty got whacked in 13th. She pushed with 55 and Jeff called with K10. The turn brought a K and Kitty was out.

6:05 PM - Mike Baa got knocked out in 12th. He had Q9 and Joe 7T. The flop gave Joe a 7 (suck), the turn gave Mike a Q (re-suck), and the river delighted Joe when a T fell (re-re-suck).

6:11 PM - Clara was our unfortunate final table bubble girl. She had QQ against Michael's 66. Michael got a set on the flop, and QUADS on the river. Clara was out in 11th.

We had a final table. The chip stacks were as follows:

6:27PM - As we got under way, Stuart pushed all-in wit 33 and Armando called with TT. The T's held up and Stu was out in 10th.

6:30PM - Another shorty was knocked out when Joe ran his A3 into a Monster - AA. Jeff chipped up and Joe was out in 9th.

6:53 PM - Toby got his AQ involved with Jeff's KK. Toby saw a Q on the flop to make Jeff sweat, but Toby was out in 8th.

At this point a $20 safe was declared for 6th and 7th place. So Toby became the official bubble.

7:15 PM - Rico handed a bad beat to Jeff. They got it all-in preflop. Rico had AQd and Jeff AsQc. The odds for each pre-flop are shown below.

Jeff had no chance of winning and a 36% chance of losing after the two diamonds on the flop.

The turn brought another diamond and Jeff was out in 7th. Jeff got $20. Not bad considering the field had so many good players and he has only played for about 7 weeks.

8:26 PM - The next hand to eliminate a player (or two) was a three way all-in situation. Cindy (JJ), Melissa (77) and Michael (A3) played it out and Cindy wound up winning with a full-house. Michael had Melissa out chipped so he got 5th and she got 6th.

8:49 PM - Mookie had Rico on the ropes with his 7's against Rico's K6. Mook raised all-in and it was 17K more for Rico to call. Rico thought he was out and was two steps down the stairs when a K on the river brought him back to his seat. Mook was out in 4th.

9:03 PM - Rico continued his poker conquest when Kevin's A2 was beat by Rico's Q8 with a miricle 88833 flop. Kevin was out in 3rd.

We were heads-up.

Cindy vs. Rico - about even in chips.

9:32 PM - They played it out for about 1/2 hour. Rico came out on top with very aggressive play. Very few flops were seen. Congratulations to Rico for the WIN!!!

Before the tourney, Rico suggested I get a trophy and give it to the winner. I didn't have ime to get one and wanted a trophy so I hooked him up with this virtual trophy.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out and thanks to those that brought food.

We had a great time and appreciate everyone taking their Saturday to play some cards. Let me know what changes you might suggest for the next championship.

Review of Online-Casinos.com site

What is Online-Casinos.com? Its a guide to online casino gambling that offers site reviews, information on which sites give the best bonuses, game rules and strategy advice on how to play lots of casino games correctly. It's designed to help maximize the return on your gambling time and money.

I checked it out and here's my review:

Pro's

A wealth of information. If you want to try some online gaming, this is the place to do it. It caters to the different goals of the user.

The tutorials are really cool. I checked out the craps and baccarat. Both are helpful for online play, or for study before a trip to Vegas. The blackjack strategy guide was nice too.

The poker odds calculator is a little more intuitive and easy to plug cards in than others I've used.

Con's

The combination of the half chip on the top of the page and the reverse colors on the vertical slider (slider had light color, slider background is dark) had me thinking I wasn't all the way scrolled to the top. A little annoying at first.

No search portal. Although the site is laid out well, sometimes it's nice to be able to search for site specifics.

Not easy to find which sites will allow US players. I happened to find this under "Top Picks", but it wasn't prominent. This is a big concern for the experienced US online gamer and should be a little easier to get too. Perhaps making an American flag and listing these sites with the translated versions you get when you pick the country flags would be a nice addition.

Overall this is a great site and the Pro's outweigh the Con's. I bookmarked it. Check it out.

Vegas Trip Update - Viva La France

Turns out we got an invitation to play in a slot tourney at Paris. The invitation included 3 nights and $50 food voucher. I called Stacey's Dad, Vince, and wanted to see if he got the same offer. He did and after a few minutes we each rang them up and tried to change our reservations (they were also staying in Harrah's). I couldn't get in. WTF? I got the invitation TODAY.

I called her Dad back and he was psyched because he was IN, with an extra day, and luckily still on the phone getting his confirmation number. we were like you lucky @##^% you got the last spot!?!?!

Vince seized an opportunity. The girl helping him was from . On top of that she was Italian. We did the relay phone thing for my rewards number and other personal info and he managed sweet talk her a little and got us in, with the fourth free night, the $50 food credit, and adjoining rooms.

We are in Paris, comped, with a Grant's worth of food - NICE.

Here is a shot of her Dad and his gangsta car on one of our Vegas trips. We have gone to Vegas with her parents more than 10 times. They are a lot of fun. I actually had her Mom yelling for a "Monkey" on the blackjack table (any ten is a Monkey). You can call for it when you need it, or when you need the delaer to have it. I learned about this magic from the master blackjack playa - Rico - from my first Poker Gang Vegas trip back in '05 (click the link to an early Mookie Blog) with Armando, Clara, Rico, Henry, Carol, Scott, and a fun, hillarious, guy named Joe. Rico picked it up from this CMT show.



Is it obvious we are psyched to get to Vegas?

Championship Poker on the 11th... Update

PokerStars has offered to supply some stuff for the game. They will be supplying hats, T-shirts, posters and maybe some other stuff. (props to Armando, the original loot moocher)

We have 19 people signed up. We are going to take alternates after 26. So hurry up and get your spot.

Payouts:

Currently as it stands if everyone adds-on, the pot should be $579. I will pay 5 spots, until the pot climbs to 650 or higher, then I will add a 6th spot.

I am working on one or two more things for this game.

Also, we will have another tourney later in the day, probably about 7:30. So if you can't make the day game, or get knocked out, come on over, we'll start again at 7:30.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Things got started a little late and a few didn’t get their bounties. The Bonus Nazi, Stacey, didn’t allow some people to get their “On-time Bonus” because they were tardy. She will now be the official Bonus Nazi. Her chant is, "No Bonus for You!!", so be punctual next time!

We had 16 players including: Mike Baaaa, Jim, Michael Allan, Carol, Henry, Stacey, Cindy, Alper, Clara, Jeff, Brad, Nick, Todd, Armando, Toby, and Justin. We used my program to randomly pick a head for a bounty and it was Apler. Whoever knocked out Alper, got an extra $5 from the pot.

Everyone but one added on and we had 13 rebuys. Henry and Jeff used both their rebuys and their add-on before the break. Only 7 people got the “no rebuy bonus” of 5,000 chips.

After the break, the chips were up to 506,000 in play.

I played tight, and managed not to rebuy. After the bonuses and add-on I had 32,500 chips. The average was 31,600. The blinds in round 4 are 400/800 so my M was greater than 20 and my Q was about 1. I was happy with this situation; I thought I had a shot at a final table.

For those that may not know:

M = the ratio of tour stack to cost of an orbit. > 20 is where you want to be.
Q = the ratio of your stack to the average. A Q > 1 is where you want to be.

You can learn about Q and M, inflection points, zones, , what they mean and how to play with these in mind in this book (links don't work since I shamelessly copied from Amazon):

However, you should read this book first.

These two books have really helped me and I am less of a donkey since I have read them.

Nick knocked Justin out in the 4th round. Nick had 77 and Justin A7. Justin loved the A on the flop, and the 7 on the turn. Nick loved it more and Justin was out in 16th.

Toby was out in 15th. Not sure what happened, but the father and son duo, had an early night.

The notes say that Armando flopped Quads and Nick rivered a straight flush, but I don’t believe it. If this is true, leave a comment. Armando was out in 14th.

Todd had a smallish stack of about 18K. He jammed his 47d when he saw a A73 flop. Henry looked him up with AJd. No help for Todd and he was packing in 13th.

Stacey ended Nick’s night when her AQ out paced the Jimmy (KQ). Nick was out in 12th..

Baaaaa played the dreaded KJh against Brad’s A5h. They got it all in when Brad hit a 5 on the flop, but Baaaaaa got lucky and found a J on the turn. Brad was out in 11th and we were at the final table.

The chip stacks were as follows:



I was in big trouble here. My M = 5 and my Q = 0.6. Very bad spot. No calling any more, no limping either. It’s either all-in or fold out of the blinds.

I was lucky to win the blinds a few times and catch an occasional limper out of position. I managed to climb to a Q ~ 1, but stayed with an M between 5 and 8 as the blinds went up. It’s like walking a tight rope, one wrong read or beat and you’re a big stain on the floor and spoiling the circus.

As play continued, Jeff was our first final table casualty. By the way, Jeff was even more generous than he was last time when he brought me the Mickey Mantle Ball. He brought me a Mickey Mantle “official” bat. I am rigging up a cool spot for the bat and will include a picture when I have it hung up. I have heard that poker players are the most generous and giving people around. Jeff has convinced me! Thanks man.

Carol raised to 12K and Jeff moved all-in with QQ. Carol called and showed AJs. Jeff was a 70/30 favorite. Jeff dodged Aces until the river. Jeff was out in 10th.

Clara and Mike Baaaa basically tangled with the same situation as Jeff and Carol. Baaa had KK and Clara had AJ. The flop brought a J, giving Clara three more outs. The turn was a K and Clara was in trouble. An A on the river didn’t help and Clara was out in 9th.

The next elimination had some 3 way action. Baaa who had the biggest stack, then Carol, then Alper. Alper pushed pre-flop. Mike and Carol had him outchipped and checked the all spade flop. Baaa bet the 6s turn. Carol took a looooooooong time to call. I didn’t get suspicious, but she was inducing another bet. Carol had turned the nut flush. The board paired on the river and Mike and Carol checked it down. Mike mucked, and Alper was out in 8th. Carol got a $5 bounty.

Cindy and Henry went head-to-head with another AJ vs. KK mega match. Henry caught an A on the river and Cindy was out in 7th.

Stacey jammed her 51K stack in early position. I looked down and woke up with a hand, KK. I immediately called. Stacey flopped a J on the flop and I began to sweat as she picked up 2 more outs. I managed to get comfortable on the couch. Stacey was out in 6th.

Now we were on the official bubble. We safed out for a 5th spot. We took $5 from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. There was a 3 way pot and Carol pushed with 99 and 17K, Henry went all-in for 51K, and Baaaa called. The board ended up as 44AJT and Carol was out in 5th. She got the bounty too.

Henry and Baaa would clash. Henry flopped middle pair with 95 and Mike called on the draw with JQ on a T96 board. The turn gave Mike the Straight and Henry was out in 4th.

At this point, I had about 116K in chips. Michael Allen had about 100K and Mike Baaaaa had about 300K. Unfortunately for me, Mike A lost an all-in with Baaa with A6 vs. AJ. No 6 for Mike A and he was out in 3rd. Baaa and I were heads up with him having 390K and me with 116K.

We played it out. With Blinds at 5000/10000 it didn’t allow me any mistakes. I fell to about 50K, doubled up, and managed to climb to about 150K. A cold deck brought me down again to around 50K. I pushed with JQo and Mike called with 79d. A 7 on the flop ended it for me and Mike took it down.

Thanks to everyone that brought food. We now freeze the Jackpot and put that into the POKER CHAMPIONSHIP. The POKER CHAMPIONSHIP is scheduled for August 11th at Noon.

Pre-evite signups include: Mike Ba, Rico, Joe, Kitty, and Jeff and I responded on the evite for the, The evite is sent, so respond because I can’t take anymore than 26.