Howdy Bloggers! I have not been inspired to write in a very long time. However, for some strange reason I decided to read some of the old blogs. Scotts' post of the song by DropKick Murphy for some reason inspired me. Perhaps I will see you at that show. Never heard of them, but I liked it!

My state in the poker world is simple. I have no cash at any sites, so I am back to chasing the freerolls. I am not finding very many good freerolls. At poker time I can no longer consider their site a freeroll. They require one raked hand per day to play in their freerolls. That is a crock. Others freerolls have 5000 players so it is a crap shoot. If anyone knows of good sites were I have a shot to win cash please send me a comment or e-mail. I did finally get my last little bit of stash back from Neteller. I still enjoy playing SNGs for FPPs at PokerStars.

Locally I play in a couple tournaments a month. I thought I would share my experience on Monday night. There were 22 persons in the tournament. Essentially I played AJ suited, pocket kinds, then AJ suited again. Both times with AJ I lost to AKo. I was out with the second AJs. I felt I played the hands correctly, so I was not upset. I then moved to the cash game.

The first couple of hours it was a normal NL Holdem cash game. Soon we had 11 players so we split to two tables. I landed at the crazy table. We ended up playing pineapple, crazy pineapple, Omaha, and Holdem. They would do straddles and double straddles. I thought it was totally insane, but I sat there drinking whiskey and water and more importantly extremely patient. I was down to my final 6 bucks when my luck changed. I built up a stack of something around $30 when they decided to play Omaha H/L. The river brought me the nut flush and the nut low. I raked in an $80 pot. It was a nice feeling. So for the first outing ot 2008 I am plus $42. Perhaps I should quit! :o)

To end 2007 I lost with pocket Aces to 57o to finish on the bubble. I was totally on tilt! I still have no clue how he could call a 4X raise. The flop came 553.

What else can I complain about. My back is mucked up, so I can not play golf. It has been a long time since my back was this whacky. Hell to get older.

I doubt anyone reads this silly blog, but once again I am going to attempt to post more often.

Play on!

"Nice to have a huge Stack"

I am not sure why but it is really hard to be motivated to post. I continue to grind at the low limits on Poker Stars, but I am definitely lacking inspiration to blog. Just now in a micro SNG I lost with jacks full of aces to queens full of aces. I had top pair all-in and my only caller hit a king on the turn to topple my queens. Maybe I should not be playing tonight.

Any way I wanted to share what happened a couple of Monday nights ago. There is a live tournament in Cedar Park. This time I believe there were 24 players. I was sitting at a table of very tough players, so my MO was to be aggressive early and hopefully build up a stack.

The third hand of the night I had pocket Kings. I made it 3x and got two callers. The flop came 67Q rainbow. I think I made it about 6x and same two callers. The turn and river were small cards and not chance of a straight or flush. My only fear was two pair. I made it 8X which would have left me short stacked. Both players called instantly. I went "oh shit"! On had AQ and the other had QJ. I almost tripled up.

The remainder of the night I could raise in position and force action. I called one all-in and lost, but other than that things went my way.

Two interesting hands came later in the evening. I was under the gun with QJ of clubs. The flop came AAK with 2 clubs. There was a reasonable bet of 2X the BB. I called. The turn came the ten of clubs, giving me a royal flush. Here is where I think I made a mistake. The raiser after the flop checked. I immediately went all-in hoping he would think I was stealing the pot and I assumed he had an ace. He thought about calling me for a long while then mucked stating "I bet you have JQ of clubs". I definitely had to show the cards to the table! If I had this situation again I would have checked and hoped that he caught something on the river. Oh well!

Another hand that was interesting was a player went all-in from early position. Everyone folded and it was up to me. I felt obligated to call even though I had 96o. I commented nines have been hitting the flop all night. A nine hit on the flop and my pair of nines held up to the two over cards.

Nothing two eventful until I was heads up. The player I was heads up against had played extremely smart all night. Twice he slowed played pocket aces perfectly and took down enormous pots. I think heads up I only had him by $500 in chips. I alternated between agressive and conservative. I was waiting for a moment to win this tournament. WE exchanged chips for about 30 minutes. I was in the SB and limped in with A5. The flop came 529 or something like that. I made a small bet and the other player went all-in. I felt he was trying to steal so I insta-called. He turned over 54o and my kicker won me the tournament. It was nice to win $187 in profit.

The good news is that I shared the spoils with the family and my better half will let me play again. These games are on a Monday night so it does impact our weekly flow of life. Now I am working my bachelor points so that I can play twice a month.

Play on!

Well I obviously have not blogged in a long time. I have been meaning to, but for some reason never make it a priority. Here goes a quick shot at catching up.

Two weekends ago I went to Plano, TX for some baseball, golf, and gambling. It only took 2 hours to get through Waco, but we did make it to the Rangers Indians game. Here is a great game if you go to a baseball game, Pass the Cup! In our case it was cap night so we played pass the cap. Rules to the game are:

1. Everyone in your party puts $1 into the cup
2. One person starts with the cup
3. The person with the cup is now attached to the batter at the plate.
4. If the batter gets out you put in another $1, if he gets a hit you take out $1, double $2, and a triple $3, if he hits into a double play you put in $2, if he hits a homerun you get all the money in the cup (everyone then re-antes)
5. Pass the cup and the next person has the next batter.
6. Odd rules - Fielders Choice put in a buck. An error put in a buck, a walk or hit by a pitch is a push and you pass the cup. End of the game all money in the cup is divided back out equally.

It is really a fun game.

We also played a dice game called ships, captain, and crew. Everyone put $1 in the pot. You roll five dice. You must roll a 6,5, and a 4. One you do that then the remaining two dice make up your score. Every player gets three rolls. The person with the highest score drags the pot. So I roll and I get 654 on my first roll and two 4's my score is 8. Since I have two more rolls I can stay put or try to improve my eight. The person who drags the spot and starts the next round. A round is complete when everyone has had a turn.

Saturday night we did manage to play some dealer's choice. I was down most of the night until we played 5 card draw 6's are wild. I hooked up with a straight flush.

I did play in one big tournament here in town with 38 players. I had a full house only to get beat by a bigger full house. I knew it, but could not let my boat go!

Monday night I am going to give it another shot. Hopefully I will have better luck and make it into the money.

Soccer boot camp has been going on all week, so I spend 3 hours per day at the soccer fields. It has been fun for me, but I can not say the same thing for our daughter. The run their asses off in the morning, then work on skills at night.

Hopefully I will be able to get back to doing one post per week. My fingers are tired, so I am not in typing shape.

Peace!

"Victory Casino"

It has been awhile since I posted. We have been traveling across the US. Our first stop was Memphis. There was a poker room across the street from our hotel and Binion's was just 14 miles away. I resisted and did not play. Next stop was St. Louis. I had played at the Ameristar in the past. Once again I resisted the urge to play. Next stop Chicago. No casinos in Chicago area that I was aware if, but did manage to catch a Cubs game. Note I did have wireless access and played on-line at every Hampton Inn. Final destination was Boyne Falls Michigan. There was a casino 12 miles from the resort. I set out Tuesday night to play poker. I arrived and put my name on the $1-2 NL Holdem table. I only had the minimum bankroll. As I was waiting to be seated I saw the dealer take chips from every player and make an announcement. I asked someone what was going on. It turned out that they were taking their rake. I immediately thought $5 every thirty minutes was steep, especially for a conservative player with a tiny bankroll. I opted to take my name of the list. I went to the sports bar and watched the Yankee -vs red Sox game with a couple of cold beers. I thought the rake was unreasonable, but it could have just been the way it was done. Any thoughts from my two readers would be appreciated.

I still wanted to play poker and the next casino was an hour away. I had enough driving to do so I opted against the adventure. The next best thing was a freeroll at a bar in Petosky Michigan. I arrived and downed a Guinness as I got the scoop. The game was upstairs and the players were fighting for a chance to play in the Michigan regional tournament. Win the regional and you get a trip to the WSOP 2007. Since I was not there for the points I basically was playing for fun. They were a nice group. Toby greated me and made me feel comfortable. He bought me a Pabst Blue Ribbon. I had not had a Pabst in 20+ years. The part I liked most is Pabst bottles have a poker card under the cap. If you guess the card correctly you get a free beer.

I got seated at a table with Toby who had already secured his spot in the regional. I was not getting very good cards. One hand I had KQo. The flop came AQ7 rainbow. I made a modest bet. Toby raised. I called. The turn was uneventful but I just checked. Toby made it $150. I did not put him on an ace so I called. I do not recall the river but Toby bet out again. I still did not feel he had the ace. I thought about it for quite awhile which is unusual for me. Usually I am quick to react. I decided I had the best hand, but I did not raise. I was not ready to go home. Turned out I had a great read on him and significantly increase me stack. I made it to the final table, but I was getting short stacked. I decided to go all-in with AJs. I got two callers, AQo and K8s. Of course the K8 caught the flush and I was eliminated 7th. I need to look up the name of the bar, but I must say they were very hospitable and I had a great time. Cheers to the Petosky poker players and best of luck at the regional.

One side note I did not play this but they did have a cool bar poker game where players had remotes and played on the TVs located in the bar. We need that in Austin. Also Cheers to Toby for making me feel part of the group and buying me a tequila shot. The shot seemed watered down, but hey who can knock the generosity.

I just doinked my entire bankroll on Pitbull poker going all-in with pocket jacks. I was up against pocket queens. I still have my Pokerstars bankroll and hope to get back into some freerolls.

Before I conclude I must share a funny story. My boss went to pick up some lunch today. he game back to the office with his adrenaline pumping. "You will not believe what I just found." When he got into his truck he saw a tuft of hair stuck to his front bumper. I popped open the hood to see a hariy thing caught in the fender well. He pounded on the hood and saw two beady eyes. It was a racoon. i suggested we take a stick and go try to prod him out of the engine. My boss was still astonished that this creature survived the 90 mph trip into the office. As we poked with a yard stick we realized there were two racoons. We decided to leave the hood up and perhaps they would work their way out and escape. After about an hour I saw one of the racoons on the engine. My boss started sounding the car alarm to scare it away. All he managed to do was scare it back into the engine and get others interested. After another inspection there were not two racoons, but three. Around 3:00 PM today all three managed to venture out and make it to the ground. My boss ran down the stairs and moved his truck. The mystery question is what vehicle did they choose next. I thought it was hilarious. They were so cute! :o)

Anyway we had a great time in Michigan. I definitely plan to go back to Memphis and play poker at Binions.

Play on!

"Tilt of the Worst Kind"

For all two readers of this humble blog I apologize for taking so long to post. This Sunday I experienced the ultimate tilt and I have to share. For those of you who are parents this is a must read.

I take our 7 year old to a birthday party. There are approximately 15 children at this party. The had the "Mad Scientist". Most of these kids would not listen. The Father of the birthday boy told this one boy 5 times to put all four legs of his chair on the floor and quit hitting the wall. The sixth time my tilt began. I walked across the room and set all four legs on the ground. Please leave the chair on the floor. No sooner than I get back to my seat the kid is at it again. Fortunately for him the Dad made him get out of the chair.

The entire presentation kids would push each other wanting to participate in each activity. It drove me absolutely nuts. I tried focusing on the 5 kids who were behaving. That goodness our son was one of them. Focusing on the positive did not help. The kids kept pushing, kept playing with balloons, stealing balloons, and ignoring adults. Oh the tilt was incredible!

If it were my party I would have put the Hammer down and I am not talking 72 off suit.

Finally we go outside to make some slime. Oh man the tilt continued! I want yellow, no I want red! No I want yellow! Can we eat this stuff? No! I want green. Can we eat this stuff? NO! I was so on tilt I wanted to force feed them the slime.

So the moral of this story is a 7 year old birthday can put you on Tilt. Give your child $150 and avoid the party.

I think I am still on Tilt!

Play on!

"Size Does Matter"

I was excited yesterday because I was going to play in the Monday Night Cedar Park tournament. I really like the structure because you only get $1500 to start. It was $20 buy-in.

I arrive a little bit on tilt because the baseball coach called for a last minute batting practice and I still needed to stop at the store for beer and money. I did arrive 5 minutes before the start but I hate cutting it that close. I quickly downed a couple of beers and I was ready to go.

At my table there were 2 players that appeared to be easy marks. The second or third hand I got pocket aces. I wanted to profit so I bet $200. I got one caller. I continue to bet $200, because nothing was threatening on the board. I managed to take half the stack of one of the strongest players in the tournament.

I moved away from the easy table to a tougher table of players I have never played with before. I was holding my own and grabbing a few more chips here and there. The broke down one of the tables and we shifted to two tables. The second hand of the new table I get AQo. I make a small raise and get one caller. Flop comes Q74 (2 diamonds). Other player bets $500, which was about a fourth of my stack. I put him on a queed but I knew I had the better kicker. What I did not pay attention to was the size of his stack. He had a huge stack of chips. My all0in did not make a dent in his stack, so he called my all-in chasing a flush. Of course he hit it on the turn and I was drawing dead. Out in the middle of the pack. Man I hate that!

I played in a cash game afterwards. It was a lot of fun but I managed to lose $8.

My lesson was that size does matter and when there is a table change I need to look around, spending some time analyzing the table, the new players, their position, and the size of there stack. I may not have played the hand much differently but in hind site I should have put him on the flush draw and just called his $500.

Play on!

"Sailing and Poker"

It has been a little while since I updated this humble blog. This past Sunday I had the pleasure of crewing in a regatta. There were only three of us, so I actually had to do some work. Other than a less than ideal start we had a pretty good race. We did have a little luck in that the fastest boat made a navigation error. The boat ended up correcting course, but the mistake did cost them. They had to spot us 33 seconds per mile so when the math was completed we won by just 9 seconds. Man it was fun! Sailing across the water is so peaceful. I must say the captain did one hell of a job to keep us in the race. There was another San Juan 7.7 that we constantly changing positions with. I think we ended up beating them by only 28 seconds.

I could go on about sailing, but the unique thing is that they hosted a freeroll NL holdem tournament after the regatta. I learned an interesting lesson during this tournament. Many of the players had never played NL Holdem before. I tried playing my normal game and I really should have shifted gears and been the aggressor. I ended up going all-in with pocket tens. I was called by A7o and of course an ace hit on the river. People who have never played in a NL holdem tournament can be dangerous in that they do not have a clue as to what they are doing. If I am in this situation again I am going all-in early and often.

Somehow I managed to sweet talk my lovely wife into letting me play poker Monday night. It was an interesting tournament. There was one new player that I could not get a read on. There is one hand I wish I would have played differently. I truly should have used Slansky's advice on this hand. I had AK of spades. They player to my right raised it to $4K prior to the flop. That was a quarter of his chips. I think I should have raised him all-in and taken my chances. Unfortunately I folded. He showed an ace, but I do not think he had a strong kicker. He may have called my all-in, but hind sight tells me it would have been worth the chance.

I ended up going all-in with KdQd and got walloped by a set of two's. I finished in 5th place. It may have been worth it to play big slick early and take a shot at the new guy. it turns out that he was a loose aggressive player. At one point he went all-in with T5o and of course ran into a big hand.

I am not sure when I will play poker again, but I do know I am going sailing on Sunday.

Peace!