500 Hands of Progess



Nothing extraordinary, but it feels good to have some sustained progress. First the cash at Mohegan last weekend, now some wins after moving back up to full ring NL100. I feel comfortable despite playing 4 times higher than I have for the last few months. I think my playing style is more suited for full ring vs 6 max, but it seems that some of the extra aggression needed at 6 max has carried over to full ring. Not that I'm playing like a maniac, but definitely more aggressive than I have in the past.

It's only 500 hands over 6 short sessions, and I still need to work on my hand-reading and thin value betting, but it's a step in the right direction.

My First Day Two

Just wanted to jot down some highlights & oddities from this weekend's $150k Guarantee at Mohegan Sun ($300 buy-in):

- got to see a flop from the big blind with 4-2 sooooooted in a multi-way pot, flopped the flush, and actually won a decent-sized pot
- limped under the gun with 3-3, flopped a set, and actually won a decent-sized pot
- guy in Gehrig pinstripes called a 4-bet with Q-Q for 3/4 of his stack, folded the K-J-x flop, and then proceeded to get a chair massage while ordering food from room service...quite the spectacle watching him eat a massive steakburger at the table...room service cart at his side, replete with linen tablecloth, vase/bouquet, and three glasses of ice water
- "You can't do this at Foxwoods!" he bellowed, which got a laugh from the room
- 12k starting stacks, 16k at first break
- 3-bet with K-K, got called, got it all-in vs Q-Q after a raggedly flop & turn, doubled up to 32k
- 3-bet with A-K, got called by steakburger (who was now over 30k), got it all-in vs A-A on a K-8c-7c flop, and spiked the King on the river! Someone had folded a King, so the one-outer saved my bacon...up to 75k
- folded to me in the small blind, I peeked at an A & raised, called by the big stack in the big blind...flop was K-x-x, now I had to squeeze out the other card...Ace! Got him to call all three of my bets with some type of pocket pair that never improved, and I was up to 100k & double the average chip stack
- some guy moved to our table with a smallish stack, and about a dozen room service-sized jars of mayo & mustard?! Turned out to be a uniquely funny guy - who also took down a monster pot when he raised with Kc-4c and turned trip 4's - and kept our table chuckling for the rest of the 12-hour day one
- finished with 96k, average was 71k

- Sunday was not as fun as Saturday
- blinds were up to 3k/6k, guy to my right shoved for 55k, I squeezed out A-K and shoved over him for 85k...another guy hemmed & hawed before finally folding (supposedly a decent pair), shorter stack also had A-K & we chopped
- big stack to my right had been bullying the rest of the table with lots of pre-flop raises, so I shoved over his 17k with K-J on the button for about 80k total...big blind put in his last 22k, big stack agonized before folding (my guess: A-T)...blind had Q-T and spiked a Ten on the flop...turn gave me a gutshot & flush draw to go along with my two overcards, but I whiffed on all 17 outs
- 499 entries, paying 55 spots, mayhem ensued when we reached the bubble...a few guys started lobbying for everyone to chip in $10 to pay the bubble, tourney director stopped the clock, and money is collected...10 minutes and $504 later (??????), the clock was re-started
- blinds up to 4k/8k, I shoved 55k with K-J again, called by short stack in SB with As-Ts, he hit an Ace on the turn
- Luke stopped by to say he was out 47th
- shoved my last 21k after looking at an Ace, big stack raised to 40k..."I hope I have something good to go with my Ace," I said as I flipped over Ac-Jc...he had A-A, nice...Ace on flop, and then running Jacks to rub salt in the wound
- out 46th for $584
- dealt a grand total of SIX pairs during the entire tournament: A-A, K-K, J-J (won blinds & antes), 6-6 (won blinds & antes), 3-3, and 2-2 (won small pot without showdown)...that was out of 400-450 hands, so I should've expected to see about 25 pairs

Let's Put Some Positive Comments Into This Here Blog

Making a bit of progress with the poker...I'm probably down $25 or so this week playing cash games, but I did win a small MTT qualifier to tomorrow night's $80k Guarantee on Full Tilt. I may play it, or I may just bank the T$ for another time and hang out with my brother & neice instead.

Also started talking hands through with my friend at work, and he told me about the week of free videos on Deuces Cracked. Watched one so far, and now starting the Road to Robusto series by TubaSteve. Might not make it through the entire series, but at least I'll pick up some good fundamental training on things like table/seat selection, opening hand ranges, etc. Once the free week is over, I still have a handful of videos I downloaded from Poker Savvy before my membership ran out.

A group of us met with the new exec heading up our department at work (who also was my "big boss" when I first started this job back in 2007). It was refreshing to hear from someone who has a clue. When he first ran our area, we had something like 14 consecutive quarters of sales growth; his successors felt that many changes were needed, basically ignoring the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. Of course they ended up breaking up lots of relationships we had with other departments we rely on, cut our comp plan, and did everything else short of re-naming our area The Titanic. This recent recession/depression didn't help matters, either. Hopefully the new (old) leaders will make things right again, make it easier for us to do what we do, and pay us fairly for our accomplishments.

And I've managed to drop a couple more pounds...nothing dramatic, but progress nonetheless.

One-Way Ticket Out of Limbo

So I've been basically just treading water in life over these last few months. Looking back on my 2009 goals (lose weight, be a winning player at higher limits online, qualify for a major poker tourney, get a new job), the only one I've made a dent into is the weight loss. Jen & I started eating low-carb about a month or so ago, and we've lost about 10 pounds each, so that's something positive. My goal was to drop 30 pounds by June, but I'll be content if I'm there by year-end.

My online pokering has stalled. Even after watching a lot of training videos, constantly reviewing hands with a buddy at work (who's also serious about poker and even won a seat to the World Series main event this summer), and even paying for some group sessions with a respected poker coach...I'm no better than I was six months ago, or at least that's how I feel. I went from playing every night to not playing at all, protecting my psyche/ego from further beatdown. I couldn't go on having another crappy day at work, and follow it up with another online session ending with a two-outer or cooler or poorly-played hand. I'm not thinkly clearly when "in the moment." It's easy to look back and see that I should've folded that hand, I should've check-raised that one, etc. I need to get my brain on that next level and strategize, do a better job of hand-reading while I'm playing the hand. I know I'm smart enough to be a profitable online poker player, I just need to focus more, study more, want it more. It's easy to say you want to make gobs of money playing poker; it's another thing to put in the time and dedication.

Poor results online + making less money at work + little vacation time left = not plunking down a couple hundo here or there for live-tourney qualifiers. Enough said about that goal.

Job prospects have been few and far between, as to be expected in this economy. I thought I had a decent shot at a position within my company, but never heard a peep from the hiring manager. I thought I had more than enough qualities listed on my resume that would warrant at least a callback and/or a first interview, but nada. Rumor has it because so many people in my department had posted out for other jobs in the company, certain managers were told not to hire away too many of us. Of course I have zero proof of this, but I heard too many things from multiple people (both within and outside of the company) that I can't help but think that it might be true. I'd love to be able to call BS and confront the powers that be, but I know all I would get would be a denial. I'd definitely call their river bet with just ace-high. But all I can do is feel angry and slighted, grit my teeth and keep plugging away, hoping that the most recent re-re-re-realignment of my department within the company's organizational structure will bring positive change.

I keep thinking about switching careers, going into business for myself, having more freedom and flexibility in my professional life...and more money. But what would I do instead of working in the field I'm in now? Oh yeah, that's right, I was going to make money playing poker.

I've GOT to break that mental barrier and learn to be a better player. It feels like there's an internal wall I need to break down...I need to get that light bulb to burn, or that switch to flip, or whatever cliche you care to use. I need to have that "a-HA" moment in my head that allows me to implement strategies, exploit other's playing tendencies, put the pieces together during the course of a hand that helps me hand-read more accurately.

I've always had the feeling that I've underachieved, never used my intelligence to its full potential, and now I find myself stuck in a career with no clearly-defined career path. Poker has given me small tastes of success, but I haven't dedicated myself 100% for a long enough period of time to become a better player. I KNOW I can do it, I just need to buckle down and do it.

Self-Therapy Session #49

- flop top set, donk turns flush, board doesn't pair
- call minraise from SB w/JJ, flop KJT, minraiser has KK
- raise w/AK, SS donk in blinds calls, get it all in on KQ2x, he has 22
- raise w/88, aggressive SS shoves, I call, he has KK

Guess I should be happy that I lost only one buy-in...

Grinding Out of a Hole/Resolutions Update

It feels like I've been just spinning my wheels with my online and live casino play. I'll book some small wins on Full Tilt, then go into a huge slump, then grind my way back to my last high point...only to repeat the process. Thank goodness for rakeback or else my account would never go up!

I didn't qualify for Mohegan's big tourney...I played the final $280 qualifier the night before day 1A, big mistake as there were plenty of solid players looking to win an entry on the cheap. Again, I made the mistake of dueling with the most aggressive player at the table, only to have him catch his top pair on the turn and snap call my hesitating river shove (worst play I've made in a long time). Then I just played in a $150 Act II super satellite at Foxwoods on Saturday. Built my stack from 4k to 8k pretty quickly, only to have Ms. Weak-Tight run down my flopped two pair and river her straight...I was back down to 4k with blinds at 200/400/50 and struggled from that point on, lost K-9 vs A-8 for most of my chips, and ran a blind shove from the SB for my last 900 into kings...I woke up with 7-2, haha me.

The '09 resolutions aren't any more promising:

- Lose 30 pounds by June 1st: I'd be lucky if I haven't gained weight
- Become a winning player at $5/10NL by December 31st: just one decimal place away!
- Qualify to play in a major live tournament, no later than the WPT at Foxwoods in November: hope to give the April WPT at Foxwoods one more shot
- Post at least once per week: how about once per month?
- Improve my position at work (or find a new job) by June 1st: business is very slow, and everyone's holding their breath waiting for the new bonus plan to be announced...early rumors are that most of us will be eating Ramen Noodles and Mac & Cheese for quite a while.

Well I've gotta get back on the dieting bandwagon, that's for sure. Warmer weather will bring more opportunities for some outside activities (walks, golf, etc.). Spend more time reading poker books/strategy sites, maybe get a coach if not too expensive? Keep plugging away at the live tourney qualifiers; the odds say I should make it through one of them sometime!

Why, Mother Nature, Why?

So of course the 1-3 inches of snow we were supposed to get Monday night into Tuesday morning morphed into 4-6 inches between noon today and now. Took me 1 1/2 hours to get home from work, so getting to Mohegan by 7:30 for the qualifier was not going to happen.

But if I did play in the tourney, then I never would've played with this fine fellow:


Seat 2: let's call him "DB" ($172.60)
Seat 5: me ($106.50)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to me [Jd Js]
DB raises to $4
me calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Jh 3d 6s]
DB bets $10
me has 15 seconds left to act
me raises to $20 (I could've raised more but flop is dry & I wanted to get the other two pre-flop callers to fold, which they did)
DB calls $10
*** TURN *** [Jh 3d 6s] [Ac]
DB checks
me checks (thought there was a chance he had aces since he almost never raised pre-flop, so I keep from committing my stack...plus it's very deceiving in case I'm way ahead)
*** RIVER *** [Jh 3d 6s Ac] [Ah]
DB has 15 seconds left to act
DB bets $20
me has 15 seconds left to act
me raises to $82.50, and is all in

DB waited almost 10 sec, then...

DB calls $62.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
me shows [Jd Js] a full house, Jacks full of Aces
DB shows [Ad Jc] a full house, Aces full of Jacks
DB wins the pot ($219.50) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks

DB: toug river
DB: weird check
me: thanks for the slow roll
DB: no slow roll
DB: i am playing multi tables
me: ohhhhhhh

A few minutes later, DB calls my $8 river bet w/AJ on a Q-high board...

Dealer: me shows a pair of Fours
Dealer: me wins the pot ($27.10) with a
pair of Fours

me: pity call?
me: or just bad
DB: good info
DB: called for info
me: bet you do that a lot
DB: is that a jab at me...
me: i guess
me: since you slow call with the nuts &
then question my play
DB: remember i raised the hand that you
had jacks
me: whatever dude
DB: you should have bet that turn real hard (which gave him top 2 pair & he wouldn't have folded anyways)
me: you're just better than me
DB: and not check
DB: i am better than you
me: thats what i just said
DB: but i have played with you before and I
am just trying to help you. (I've never seen this guy before)
me: i dont remember you
me: i must have a bad memory
DB: i keep notes on players
me: how do you do that
DB: right click on the other players avatar
me: oh
me: i thought you used a diary or something

At least I got my money's worth ribbing him...still haven't given up hope on qualifying for Mohegan's big tourney next weekend.

The Need to Succeed

Trekking back to Mohegan tomorrow night, weather permitting, to qualify for their big ol' tournament. Not trying to qualify, but to qualify.

Super Sunday, Terrible Call

Played in the $125+25 qualifier for Mohegan's $2500 tourney...60 entries, we were down to 2 tables, and I had a slightly above-average $22k stack...blinds $600/1200, I had already opened a few pots in this level, and raised MP to $4000 with Ah-Qh...the most aggressive player at the table was in the SB, thought for a min, and shoved for $16k more...back to me, I thought for a minute or so...I saw him push earlier over a check-raise on the flop with just middle pair & gutshot, so I put him on a pretty wide range...I have K-Q and A-J crushed, racing against most pairs, and worried about A-K/queens/kings/aces.

Since only the final 3 would win a seat, I decided to gamble & called...he showed aces, and I was dead by the turn...got knocked out the next hand.

I'll be thinking about this one for a while...I could easily have folded & still had an average stack...first thing I thought when he shoved was "everyone gets knocked out with A-Q." But then I also thought it's most likely we're racing or I'm ahead, and felt it was a good spot to try & put myself up near the chip lead. So much for that.

Good news is my buddy Luke also played in the tourney, and he won one of the seats to the big dance. Now the pressure is on me to qualify, since this was all my stinkin' idea to begin with!

Insert Title Here

Not much new and/or exciting to report. Getting re-motivated at work. Live poker trips scheduled to Mohegan Sun & Atlantic City over the next couple weeks. Working off my year-end Iron Man bonus on FullTilt. Monthly poker tournament at the Lounge is set for next Saturday. First weigh-in for Biggest Loser contest on Thursday. It'd be nice if at least half of these things lead to some positive results.

Since the weigh-in isn't for a few more days, Jen & I are braving the snow to cash in gift cards at TGIFridays...yay food!

In 2009, I Resolve to...

- Lose 30 pounds by June 1st
- Become a winning player at $5/10NL by December 31st
- Qualify to play in a major live tournament, no later than the WPT at Foxwoods in November
- Post at least once per week
- Improve my position at work (or find a new job) by June 1st

More to come as they come to mind...2008 was a pretty crappy one on a lot of fronts, but poker was a bright spot. I need to build on my poker success and continue to learn, move up in limits, and make more money. It doesn't guarantee happiness, but money can certainly help alleviate that financially-related stress cloud that's been rumbling over me (and most everyone else, I know).

And the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Poker Tournament Goes to...

My weekly poker league ended last night, as 16 of us played in the finals. There was just over $1,800 in the pot, with 5 spots paid ($800/500/300/200/160). I experienced the full range of starting hands and tough situations, coin flips and bad beats (both given and received).

After playing 3-handed for about half an hour with blinds so high that none of us had more than 10 big blinds left, we decided to each take $500 and play it out for the extra hundo and coveted championship trophy (minus the hockey sticks).

I got to heads-up against Andy, crippled him when my A-6 outdrew his Q-Q, and took it down shortly after. Obviously the suckout was the main reason I won, but there were two hands earlier in the night that I'm especially proud of. Both ended up being big pots, and I won them both, enabling me to make it to the final 3 and get lucky for the win...

With blinds at 100-200, I opened from the cutoff with 9-5. I hadn't seen many good cards or played many hands, and I needed to start growing my stack, so I figured my raise could get some respect from the button & blinds. Roy and Mike did fold, but Bill thought for a few seconds and called. Luckily, the flop came a raggedy 9-high with 2 suits...but Bill bet out 900, leaving him with only 1,200 behind.

This would normally be a tough spot for me, but over the course of the league, I had seen Bill bet a good portion of his stack...only to have someone else come over the top and get him to fold. As soon as he made the bet, I pushed in my stack and waited. I had Bill covered, and he started agonizing over his dilemma. He asked, "So you have Jacks? Queens?" I knew at that moment Bill had pocket tens...I had to get him to fold.

He asked if I'd show my cards if he folded, and I told him I could show him one. That was a huge mistake on my part; if I indeed had a big pair, showing him just one card wouldn't prove anything. Showing one card indicated that I probably hit a pair on the flop, meaning his overpair was way ahead. So as he kept looking at me, I camly told him twice that I "have a hand," and tried to act as 'normal' as possible. I must've projected just enough perceived strength; after another minute or so of waffling, Bill finally mucked his cards, and I flashed the nine. "Did you have tens?" He nodded quite painfully. Whewwwwwwwwww.

At the next level, Mark min-raised the 400 blind to 800. I peeked down at an ace...squeeeeeze...another ace! Of course I'm looking for action, so I made a smallish re-raise to 2,000. Hoping to isolate and get heads-up with Mark, that's just what happened, and we saw another raggedy flop, this time Queen-high. Mark checked, and I asked him how much he had left: the count was 2,700. "Okay, I bet 2,700." I tried to say it with a twinge of doubt in my voice, hoping to raise some suspicion on his part. My read on Mark is that he usually doesn't believe that others have him beat, so I wanted to induce a heroic call. First I started fidgeting a little, putting my hand over my mouth, trying to look uncomfortable. Finally, after another 30 seconds of waiting on Mark, I went for the final false tell...I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms on top of my remote control cradle (a.k.a. my belly). I'm not sure if was due to my perceived weakness, but Mark made the call with just A-K, and he was drawing dead after the turn.

Now who knows if all my acting and posturing actually factored in my opponents' decision-making, but the bottom line was I accomplished the two biggest goals when playing poker: getting a better hand to fold, and getting a worse hand to call.

It's That Time Again...

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 339231

Oops, I Did It Again



I hadn't played Saturdays with DrPauly in over two months...always something going on Saturday afternoons. Last time I played I was fortunate enough to win; this time around I was just plain lucky.

Don't remember the details, but I played two all-in pots early on...and rivered them both. Felt weird to administer the beats instead of suffer them.

I think I was in the lead when the final table started, but behind almost 2-to-1 to jeciimd when it got to heads up. We got it all in on a two-diamond flop; jeciimd flopped two pair, I was chasing with Kd-Qd-x-x...and runner-runnered a higher two pair. Pretty gross, but no apologies!

Kept picking up decent hands, applied pressure, and ground down jeciimd to about 5,000. We finally got it all-in on J-J-x-x board, I had slowplayed A-J-x-x and jeciimd unfortunately had J-T-x-x. He wasn't able to boat up on the river and I wonned da tournaments...sorry, the post-tourney celebratory margaritas from Pancho Loco are talking!

Thanks again to the Good Doctor for running a fun, laid-back tourney for his friends & faithful readers.

Which reminds me, a solid Eff You goes out to the IT department at my job for blocking Pauly's site! Now I must wait till evenings for my daily fix...

Nobody Believes Me

I know nobody likes to read blogs full of poker rants, but nobody reads this blog, so awaaaaaay we go!

Background- I was chipleader with seven to go in tonight's bounty tournament at the lounge, and the only hand I had played to this point at the final table was a limp of pocket deuces which became flopped quads...let the beatings commence.

- blinds were 300/600, I raised to 1800 with 8h-7h...it's folded to the big blind (let's call him Villain #1), who thought for a bit, said "Oh well," and went all in for 1700 more. I grudgingly called, and he showed T-9 offsuit? This was someone I thought to be a good player (at least from what he's told me in the past), but I guess he's never heard of such phrases as hand ranges and zero fold equity. The board blanked out, and his ten was good. "I thought you were trying to bully me...I thought you had suited connectors or a small pair." Yeah, I'm targeting the big blind from UTG, and there's no way I could have any ace, king, queen, jack, or pair nines and higher...UGH.

- next hand, everyone limped to the small blind, and Villain #1 folded, which totally tilted me...willing to get it all in pre-flop with T-9 knowing I'll call him 100% of the time, and now with double the amount of chips he folds the small blind getting a bazillion-to-one odds? I knocked the table from the big blind with 9-2. Flop was 9-7-4 rainbow, I led out for 1000, and Villain #2 pushed all in for 1900 more. I had seen this kid raise and call down bets earlier toinght with second & third pair, so I'm either way ahead or outkicked and way behind. I called, he showed K-9, and the board blanked out.

- down to 3200 from over 10 grand a few minutes ago...still at the 300/600 level, I peered down at Ad on the button and shoved, pretending to look at the other card (5h) but not really...big blind (AKA Villain #3) said, "I don't have anything, but I'm going to call." He flipped over Q-8 (might've been sooooooted, don't remember), and guttered a straight on the turn. I had him outchipped, so that left me with 800...I tortured myself by folding until the 800 big blind came around, with my J-5 going down in flames to Villain #1's J-6 small blind special. I walked away from the table, and VN1 grunted, "You owe me your bounty." If I could've just checked my blood pressure at that exact moment...

- I moved over to the three-handed cash game & bought in for my last $35 (max is $40)...more pain please! $1-1 blinds, I raised to $4 UTG with Ad-2d, dealer folded, both blinds called. We all checked the Qx-Qs-6s flop. Turn was 7x, checked to me, I bet $6, called by big blind. River brought a third small spade, checked to me, I bet $10. Villain Numero Quatro looked into my soul for about 10 seconds and made the call on a paired, suited board with A-T.

Double you. Tee. Effffff.

I've Been a Baaad Blogger

...especially since I hung out a bit with Dr Pauly & AlCan'tHang and haven't blogged a word about it.

Jen & I drove down to AC on a Thursday in late-September for a few days of gambooooling. We were supposed to meet up with friends Scott & Jamison from DC, but they weren't able to make it. Made good time driving through New York & Jersey since most schmucks were still at work, and rolled into the near-empty valet area at Borgata as the final table for the World Poker Tour at was running...knowing that Pauly & Al were covering the event, I had to track them down.

I snooped around the ballroom area until I saw some Borgata employees head into the darkened Salon D...there were no posters or signs advertising the WPT final table, but I followed the help inside. Sure enough, there was the WPT set...bleacher seating, monitors, flat-screens, and a poker table complete with a dealer, two players, and a mountain of cash. I didn't recognize either player, but here's the winner of a cool $1.4 million. He had a big chiplead and cracked AQ with AJ on the final hand. Yep, suckouts happen live, too.

I eventually found Al in the makeshift WPT lounge/bar (big shock), and later met up with him and Pauly in the B Bar for a few rounds. Even though there were a bunch of more important WPT/Borgata muckety-mucks in the group, Pauly & Al still were kind enough to chat with me between their schmoozings.

Genuinely friendly dudes.

Tao of Omaha

I played in this:



...which lead to this e-mail:

PokerStars Tournament #107477542, Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
37 players
Total Prize Pool: $370.00
Tournament started - 2008/09/13 - 16:20:00 (ET)

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $148.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I doubled up early when my river shove of a full house was called by someone who I guess thought we were playing Omaha H/L...at least he had the nut low, lol.

When the final table started, I was about 5th in chips and stayed on the lower end of the totem pole until I busted AlCan'tHang. I was dealt an ideal Omaha drawing hand: 9d-8c-7d-6c. Al raised pot, which was about 2/3 of his chips, and I decided to take my stand & shoved my 9 BB stack. Al called with Ad-Kh-Jh-7c, making me a slight underdog...until the flop came 5-5-6 with two diamonds. Al still had tons of outs, but there were a handful of cards that would lock it up for me, and the 4c on the turn did just that. He wasn't too happy about it, hopefully I can make it up to him with a little SoCo if we cross paths in AC later this week.

We were stuck on the money bubble for a while, but it eventually broke...then I took the chip lead three-handed on a flopped boat, and made it to heads-up against 777GMoney with a better than 2-to-1 chiplead. GMoney started to open up his play, raising and taking down a number of hands, and took the lead away from me. I then found Ad-Kd-Kh-2h on the button and decided to lay a trap by limping. Sure enough, GMoney raised, I bumped it up, and we got it all in pre-flop. He showed Qh-Qs-9s-8d, so I was ahead...but that never means much in Omaha with five cards still to come.

The 7h-8s-4h flop gave me a heart flush draw to go with my Kings, and the 6h on the turn locked it up for me. Good thing I hit that flush, since the river brought a third Queen for GMoney. This whole having-others-drawing-dead-on-the-turn thing, I could get used to it...

Holding a 10-to-1 lead, I called GMoney's pre-flop shove with Ks-Ts-8c-7h. He was ahead with Js-6d-6c-2c, but I spiked a King on the river to seal the deal.

Thanks again to Dr Pauly for hosting the tourney...I'll owe him a drink or two at the Borgata as well!

As far as Atlantic City goes, Jen & I planned to drive down Thursday afternoon for a long weekend of poker & slots...but she might have a doctor's appointment at some point over the weekend, and we won't know if/when until Monday.

Keeping fingers crossed...

Saturday Tilt

In chronological order:
- lost power for two hours
- laptop acted up, had to reinstall AOL & other programs
- had chiplead at final table of Saturdays with Dr Pauly, finished fourth
- guys' night out for UFC PPV cancelled due to stupid tropical storm
- on FullTilt NL $100 table, I raised w/KK, get re-raised to $12, I raised to $37, he called...got it all in on Q-x-x flop...you know what he had (QQ)
- on another FT NL $100 table, I raised w/77 & flopped a set in a multi-way pot...I bet & got a caller, turn was an A, I made weak-looking 1/2 pot bet, guy shoved all in for TWO DOLLARS MORE, I mis-clicked & FOLDED.

There, now I feel a little better...go Patriots.

Mohegan Sun's New Poker Room: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Since I played $1-5 Stud on the opening night of Mohegan's first poker room back in '96 (wow, time flies), I just HAD to be there when they opened their new poker room, in their also-new Casino of the Wind...good excuse.

THE GOOD: the new room, and the entire Casino of the Wind for that matter, is super-duper-ultra-uber chic and gorgeous...take a look here. It took less than 30 minutes for me to get on a $1-2NL game, which I didn't expect for a Friday night, opening night, Labor Day weekend night. Must be the economy talking. The tables are slick- blue felt, silverish faux-snakeskin padding, auto-shufflers, with players club card swipers built in (ala the MGM Grand in Vegas). The chairs are oversized and very plush, with an adjustable-height lever...reminded me of Borgata's poker room chairs. Some people might not like this, but they take a $4 max rake instead of a $5 half-hourly "time" fee. It annoys me when I get dealt rags for like two hours at Foxwoods, and have to pay twenty bucks for such pleasure...I'd rather pay The Man after I win a pot.

THE BAD: the tables are jammed together pretty tightly...my chair was smashed into a few times by people getting up/sitting down at the table behind me. I'm sure some a few of the 40-plus tables will be removed after the inital new poker room buzz dies down, making it more roomy & comfortable. No drink holders of any kind, no side tables, nothing. I wonder how many times over opening weekend a game had to be stopped to clean a spill? They also use jumbo index poker cards...Harrah's poker room in AC uses the same size. Not easy to squeeze out your hole cards, have to shield them more than usual from nosy neighbors when you take a peek. I also didn't win a hand in an hour and a half, but my card-deadness kept losses to just $60.

THE UGLY: Oh my everloving Maker, the dealers were the worst I've ever encountered. Slow, very clumsy with the cards and chips, clueless...and that was just the first dealer. Players had to instruct dealer number 2 how to divide a side pot from the main pot. A min-raise was declared as an all-in by the same dealer, followed by a "so sorry!" I got to hear her say "so sorry" about 15 times during her down. Twice I kindly asked dealer number 3 to give me a second card, in back-to-back hands no less. We had about 6 misdeals in 90 minutes. The combination of zero pots won + crappy dealer tilt = me leaving the poker room. Supposedly these dealers had to graduate from a lengthy school at the Sun, but who knows what they were studying for that month or so.

I'm hoping the dealers were just experiencing opening night stage fright, and that my next visit will be less agita-inducing. Or at least that they hire some Hurricane Mikey-quality dealers. But the bottom line is I now have live poker 15-20 minutes closer to home than before (Foxwoods), and both the wife & I like Mohegan Sun so much more. If you've been to both casinos, I'm guessing you feel the same way.

Next goal: qualify for Mohegan's $750k guaranteed tourney at the end of October...

A Bland Writeup of a Fun Weekend

Jen & I spent last weekend in the D.C. area to visit my bud Scott K & his man Jamison. Plans were to hit up a local steakery that Scott's been raving about for years, but nasty weekend traffic in New York & New Jersey delayed our arrival in Arlington, VA until after 9:00 Friday night (next time we're flying!). We settled for the always-solid Cheesecake Factory and called it a night rather early...the 7-plus hour drive wore me out.

We were up pretty early on Saturday, since a trip to this greasy spoon was on the agenda. We always hit this place up for breakfast when we visit Scott K...it's crowded, cramped, and loud, but they have good grub. I opted for my usual diner breakfast: bacon & American cheese omelet, home fries, toast, and coffee. Jen went with hash & eggs, and Scott K feasted on waffles with blueberry topping. It's the simple things like breakfast with "my crew" that make me happy.

The afternoon was low-key, highlighted by a trip to the local Harris Teeter supermarket for snacks and a couple bottles of cheap Australian cabernet. Scott K & I (well, mostly Scott K) polished off the wine while we kept tabs on our fantasy baseball teams. Jen worked on her knitting...yes, it's August and my 30-year-old wife is knitting herself a scarf!

I had a nice wino buzz by late-afternoon, which is needed if one is to endure an evening of Washington Nationals baseball. To make sure we were thoroughly primed, we first stopped at an Irish pub for a couple pints of Killian's. Then it was a quick train ride to their new, generically-named Nationals Park. As expected, it's a beautiful stadium, and boasts the largest HD jumbotron in the country...all the better to see replays of the Colorado Rockies beating up on the Nats. Twenty bucks each got us seats in the very top row of the upper deck behind home plate. I gorged on a chili cheeseburger, fries, and helmet sundae while the home team stumbled their way to a 13-6 loss. At least I got to see Troy Tulowitski rack up some points for my fantasy team. Scott K had beered himself into "Sloppy Scott" mode, so I drove us back to his place & we called it a night after watching Michael Phelps win his record eighth gold medal.

Jamison had spent the week in Oregon & Cali, and flew back just in time to join us for Sunday brunch at another Irish pub. They didn't have much variety, but they did have the best Shepherd's Pie I've ever tasted...along with some perfectly medium rare roast beef and standard brunch fare, I thought it was a good value for $15.

Scott K had 4 free tickets to the Nats/Rockies series finale (complete with free food & booze vouchers), but I didn't feel like getting home past midnight and have to drag ass into work on Monday, so Jen & I hit the road around noon. We hit more traffic on the way home...I HATE gridlock! Made it home 7 long hours later.

Hated the drive. Loved the food, drink, and baseball-fueled weekend.