Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves, their families and the holiday season. I hope next year is everything you want it to be. In the coming days, I'll be posting a column on Exit Strategy (why you always need one) and a little personal story Meet The Parents. Funny moment as the future in laws all got together for the first time. In the meantime a quick hand that I played on Sunday. I had crap in the big blind. Somebody makes one of those pot building raises to like 7 and everybody calls to me. I have to pay 5 for a $65 pot, yes, I'll play just about any two cards. Flop is KK2. I have a 2 and it's checked around. Turn is an 8. I figure I'll take a stab because people might buy I have a K. I bet. Folded to a kid in the small blind whose decision making is wild at best. He calls. Okay. I'm going to shut her down. He's liable to call with an 8 or slowplay his king (thought doing it twice is strange). If he can call that turn bet, he'll call my...

Played in the Houma Dead Money satellite tournament. Was second out--stellar performance I know. My final hand involved me trying to steal with AQ suited and short-stacked in the face of a min-raise and call. I had 2500, blinds were 100-200, so 1100 in the pot. The initial caller called, a steady player named Craig, and he had Kings. Well played, I had no idea he was that strong. I hit my Queen on the flop so probably would been the hand I died with regardless. I also bled off some chips with AQ earlier v. AK when an ace hit the flop. I raised, after leading out preflop and the eventual winner of the tournament shoved all in. I had a good read of strength from him ('You mean besides the fact he put all his chips in?' Captain Obvious). I thought his insta-call of my preflop raise, which brought two other callers along, and his predatory lean in doing so meant I was trailing. The Ace came and I fired out hoping he had a pocket pair or something besides AK. His shove confirmed t...

Yet when I get called out in the comments section I have to respond. As Dooleyera wrote, "When did you get your Aces in... pre-flop or post flop? regardless to get knocked out that many times with em is tough.been a week since your last update. your loyal readers are dissapointed.lookin to play some pokah in Jan....down in nawlins. time to own. gotten beat up online. comin to learn from the pros. that means you gulf coast bloggers." Umm. Mostly get in preflop. That time postflop. That boomtown tournament has had me look down at Aces in the big blind with somebody all in for more too many times. I can't not call and invariably they hit their set of... 2s. Actually, I've been running pretty well. I usually post less when I'm doing well, because like bad beat stories I'm sure brags are pretty annoying also. Guess there isn't much to talk about otherwise so maybe I have to a little bit. Also, as one friend told me he checks in on my blog to see me com...

Let me put some of my own thoughts back into this blog. Course the story here is the success of David at the 7 clans. We met up with him on Thursday and offered him a spot on TEAM GCP after playing with him n the event. We'll set him up with a blog so I won't have to repost his thoughts here. He's a solid player who should do well, excuse me, is doing well with the deep stack of the main event. With over half the field eliminated David has the potential to get a big score. Considering he confided he was card dead on the first day I'm hoping he gets a mini-rush and can go even deeper. Lots of poker this week. Got another live cash and that was fun. However, it felt like Deja Vu all over again as the bubble to the final 20 (the money) consisted of three tables with my table being the only one knocking out players. Literally, with 29 left we were responsible for knocking out 8 to get to the money (yes, they were moving players over). I Outlasted 172 players and ne...

Lemme catch up here. Tuesday was the Tag Team event, and I didn't get a voucher for it with the mega satellite prize package. Wednesday I showed up, and I busted out real early. I couldn't get started, I missed continuation bets, I got real tentative and people drew out on me. Thursday, you and Gene showed up, and I played kinda deep--it started with 150-200 entrants, I got to like 35. I busted out trying to steal blinds with a 6-9 suited. Not so swift, but I felt really pressured to make a move with blinds catching up. I also lost $200 in the 2-5 no limit cash game after the tourney on Thursday, but I caught that back up Friday morning when I flopped 2 pair with AK suited and got a call from a lady who was outta postion, but thought her pair of Aces would get her there since the guys at the other end of the table were dragging pots with second pairs. She'd check, I'd bet, she'd call, on the flop, the turn, and on the river. Maybe she figured I was playing ...

I got time off from work, so I'll be able to play in all the tournaments I won entry into, except for today. Today is a tag team tournament, and I don't have a voucher for that because it wasn't part of the prize package. I'll try to keep better notes about what happens. Lemme know if there's any info you'd like to have for the website that I haven't thought of. For example, I know that they are running satellite tournaments in the poker room all week for the main event, I heard they're like one table tournaments, shoot out's. I think if you win a shoot out, you get free entry into some other satellite, not sure, but I'll find out. I'll talk up the site, as usual.

"Yesterday, Monday December 3, I picked up receipts for the rest of the weeks tournaments at the poker room. I played in the Monday tournament which started out with 167 entrants. Once again, I got short stacked early playing around with suited aces, putting in bets on the turn and the river with 3 and 4 flush draws and middle pair, draws not getting there and the Ace not hitting to make my 2 pair. I busted out at the 4th table which I think is still pretty deep in the tournament. My last hand, I was short stacked and looking to double up before the blinds busted me out. I got AJ suited, went all in and was called by Freddy, from Alexandria with a huge stack. Freddy flipped up pocket queens, but I felt good about it, I had to do it with a short stack and the blinds about to knock me out in a few more hands. I flopped 2 pair, no queen, and I figured I had it in the bag. Turn was a blank, the river was a queen. I felt like I got shot in the chest:) I was crushed, felt it al...

"The 7 Clans Mega satellite started Sunday at noon with 267 entrants. The round were 30 minutes each. I started out playing pretty loose like everybody else and my stack dwindled down quick because of it. At the first break at the conclusion of the 100-200 round, I was already short stacked--about $1200 in chips and I'd started with $4000. I started thinking about the tourney in terms of just make it to the next break, and that's all I did. After the second break the blinds went up to $600-$1200. I kept catching shitty cards, nothing to go all in with, the big blind got to me, and I got dealt a 3-5 offsuit. Everybody at the table was telling me to throw in the last $500 chip, and I said no, I can't go all in with this, I want to see the next hand. The dealer said I could go all in on the small blind, so I mucked the 35 and looked at another hand. I got a suited king in the small blind, 3 or 4 callers, and I made the flush with it. 2 hand later I went all in ag...

GCP's main man at Coushatta in his own words: "I've been playing Hold'Em since 1996. I started in college. I'm an engineer, so Iike math and I like weighing pros and cons to different technical solutions, which is how I approach decision making in poker. The first time I ever saw it played, I was in high school in 1987. They were playing it at a titty bar that I was in illegally. I wanted to play, i was immediately intrigued, but I figured it'd be way outta control to sit down and start playing cards in the only well lighted place in the whole club when I was just 16 years old:) In 1998 or 1999, I started playing 7 card hi/low split with some old men in Crowley on a daily basis. I also started playing the the white chip hold em games in the casinos in lake charles and baton rouge. I got my fill of poker about 2 years ago, and i swore off it. I was sick of watching J9 offsuit suck out on the river, and losing money to them, in the white chip games so i j...

A friend of GCP's, David Spicer, won the Coushatta mega satellite, giving him a seat into every one of their events this week. He might not be able to make a couple of tournaments because of work, but don't worry, I've certainly volunteered to play them for him, and chop the winnings in some way. If possible we are going to try and track his progress as part of our coverage of the event. Maybe we'll be able to get him some GCP gear too. Obviously, to win the mega Davids got skills, but I got to play with him in Lafayette and I saw first hand as he sliced and diced the weak players at the table. So good, luck to David and check out www.gulfcoastpoker.net for details on the tournament and David's results. www.gulfcoastpoker.net

Wanted to revisit my online experiment. As some of you know, I've started a Pokerstars account with that tiny amount I won via a freeroll. http://sleepwiththefishesdineonthewhales.blogspot.com/2007/10/monday-column-online-play-sounds-dirty.html Now for the First Update: playing micro limits very infrequently, I've raised that "bankroll" to over a whopping $12. At the same time, I've also played a few 12000 people freerolls hoping to satellite into a bigger event and met with zero success. Well, less than zero because I've gotten to the bubble a few times. Anyway as of this morning that's $0.00 invested to $1.75 to $12.90. The zero to a million is the dream, but I've also laid out goals of seeing a lot of hands and refining other aspects of my game to help with my live play. How's that working out? At first, I was surprised by how true the play is regardless of the penny stakes, and to keep myself honest, in my head I was just moving the deci...

I've decided to play the juicy cash games running concurrently to the donkaments. I've heard how outrageous the busted tournament players are but I had no idea. Why aren't I a busted tournament player and now merely a cash gamer? I'm tired of the bubbles or min-cashes. Like Austin Martin alludes to in his blog, I feel entitled to win because I see "lesser" players riding luck to bigger cashes. The frustration has built to a head. So, I should take a break from the heartache. That means, I'm heading to Harrahs early 2morrow morning. If I win $340 plus before the 3:00 tournament, I'm playing it as freeroll. I never learn. Playing stictly cash today I was amazed at how EVERYBODY takes a bad beat to get knocked out of the field. Nobody gets their money in bad anymore? I thought it was just me (sarcasm). Every 5 minutes somebody walked into the poker-room talking about flopped sets and runner-runners to put them on ice. Granted as stacks get sm...

Played in the first event. Thought I did well. Ended up in the 60s or 70s out 380 players. They pay 36. Seemed every time I got some momentum I took a beat. Three or four times I had to rebuild my stack after getting snapped back to starting chips. Fun stuff like Ak getting called by A2 for all his chips when we hit an A on the flop. Hello 2 on the river. A critical hand for me had nothing to do with a bad beat. Got Q rag in the big blind. Middle position min raises with one caller. Small blind folds. With the antes I feel I'm getting the right price, plus the raiser and caller are somewhat tight so I can steal when the flop misses my weak holding. Flop gives me nothing, but my image has been so tight I planned on firing away if the texture was weak. It's 10 6 4. Two clubs. Not too bad. As I calculate what to bet and read my opponents, I see both guys double check their hole cards. Hmm... I put this as a good sign. Lots of time in the face of an impending bet...

My sister is active in this. Please help the cause and sign the petition. Click the Banner to get there... November 26, 2007 According to a recently revealed source, the US Army Corps of Engineers conducted an early intentional plan to hide their role in the metro New Orleans levee failures. Dr. Ray Seed, co-chair of the respected U of Cal Berkeley levee investigation submitted an ethics complaint on October 30 documenting how the Corps of Engineers systematically hid their mistakes in the flooding and intimidated anyone who tried to intervene. All of this was done, according to Dr. Seed, with the help and complicity of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the same group the Army Corps chose to peer review the official Corps-sponsored levee investigation. Write your members of Congress and demand the 8/29 Investigation , a truly independent analysis of the flood protection failures in metro New Orleans.Click here: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=CurSw...

Virge, or The Verge... as my candidate for MTV's new True Life "I'm an Online Poker Player." After talking with Lusky, Virge, seems a great candidate, though I feel Lusky and Eddie are equally capable and would give us some good drama. Anyway, tomorrow the Bayou Classic at Harrahs begins. I think I'm firing my first bullet at noon depending on the turnout. See ya'll there.

So with 20 left in the tournament today, payout the final 10 and usually chopping at 1k a person, I've amassed 10% of the chips. I've built my stack at that point with ruthless aggression in the tight bubble play aspect of the tournament after spending 4 hours convincing everybody I'm the tightest at the table. No need to mention the suckout I made in a battle of the blinds with A10 suited against Kings to give me half that stack. I raise almost half my stack against the big stack in the BB showing him I was pot committed. He quickly looks at his cards and sez... "All in." Oops, once again dug my own hole. He's got kings. Ace spikes for me. Sweet, I think, finally a tournament where I get the suckouts. Oh, the karmic justice headed my way. I played with Parfait from Houma, and watched him get knocked out of the tournament with pocket Jacks vs. a guy who called with 3s. He said to the table, "I'll never win those because I never play that bad." It...

Yesterday, I had a pretty good run. At critical time I utilized some tells and though I didn't turn a profit on those hands, in fact my tournament strategy told me to go against my reads, it did get me thinking about tells, when you should listen to them, and the perils of internet strategy in live play because they don't listen to them. Rewind to yesterday. I got that warm and fuzzy feeling as my stroked ego told myself, "You are the best poker in the world" as I luckboxed into these 3 hands: 1. Middle set over bottom set. I'll double up thank you. Yes, I'm a genuis not just lucky. It was amazing how I extracted every possible dollar out of that hand (sarcasm alert for those who can't read it). 2. Short stacked and bubble time with two short handed tables left, I got 6-4 in the big blind. SB limps. Flop is A57. I bet out with my draw. He calls. For some reason I'm fairly confident he doesn't have an Ace. Actually I'm sure, he's raised ever...

The two day tournament to benefit the United Way was in a way a victim of its own success. I talked to a number of players there and they told me last years event had over 700 people play. The event was slammed and understaffed to accommodate such a swell of people, again this is according to the players. This year, with a great effort by the Small Town Poker Tour, they had plenty of tables, dealers, chips, drinks, and anything you could ask for. Unfortunately, I fear many of the players didn't return because of the chaos of last year. Team GCP didn't get on board to promote the event until three weeks prior to it and I think the traveling players from New Orleans, and Mississippi were really torn. The IP Classic, which Team GCP attended on Wednesday and Thursday, had started and held their biggest event turnout wise that Friday. We were in Lafayette and heard stories of many of the players we know opting to go East instead of West. To be honest, they missed out. The Acadiana P...

He represented TEAM GCP well this weekend. I sweated him a good bit in his mega on Friday and was very impressed with his play. He induced calls when he had the best hands and he laid down when he needed to. There is tactic of Gene's, which I won't give away, but he is a big proponnent of that he really worked to his advantage. For those in the know, he "worked" it. At one point, the only stack at the table that could knock him out, when they were 5 handed (4 seats) went all in for just the blinds. It got to Gene and he mulled it over for a long time. In my own head, maybe the only hand I play there is Aces (don't need to win the tournament just need to win a seat) and I might even lay that down. After an excruciating amount of time he pitched it. A couple of hands later he asked if the guy could beat pocket 10s. What?!? Pocket 10s. I figured I had to call a T.O. and get Gene's head straight. I actually tapped him on the shoulder and got him to step...

Tough Friday night in southwestern Louisiana. Had a blast at the United Way Acadiana Series of Poker. There was a great opportunity to play for prizes and it was an entertaing field interested in having fun. Those that didn't make it really missed out on a well-run tournament and a great facility. My strategy was simple. I thought there was going to be a lot people being a little too aggressive with their rebuys as a plan B and the blind schedule gave me enough time to wait around to snap them off. I made it through the rebuy period, doing just that and doubling up on some big hands: AA, and AQ (vs. AJ who called my button semi-bluff). I had plenty of chips to make it through the first night and I was glad to see at my table the best hand for the most part was holding up. Well, with one exception. A gentleman kept getting it in bad and kept sucking out (44 vs. AA). Though he kept overplaying his hands to see flops but if he didn't hit he'd get out. I look down at 10...

Just another reminder the acadiana poker series is tomorrow. We hope to have hand outs at the event. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Cajun Dome.

Played Halloween day at the IP and it was ghoulish for me. In the noon tournament I finished in the 30s in a small field. With only 119 entrants it felt like a Harrahs wednesday tournament, except the structure allowed for some play. I started out pretty hot, flopping a flush in the big blind (82) and winning a pot as chasers called and didn't connect. Got aces with everybody folding to the button who limped. I raised, BB folded, button called. He folded post-flop. Then I made a good read on a guy that he held more than me. His Ace-five (Aces full of 5s) would have crushed my AK (aces and 5s with King kicker). I list those hands because they were the only significant ones I got involved in until I went card dead. When I say card dead I mean zombie dead. 7-2, 7-2, 7-2, 8-2, 8-3, 7-2. It was also one of those days where I didn't even get to sweat flops. Even my folded hands weren't connecting. I guess if I were a better player I could have made something from nothing. However...

Annette somethingorother. She just won the WSOPE as an 18 year old. Her story is as old as time itself, or maybe not. Maybe it's only as old as two years. Used to be women at an early age would discover a hidden talent and then get stepped over by men with less talent and then get informed barefoot and pregnant was all they could aspire to. Of course before that, in say 2005, the only talent or industry a woman could go into was the oldest profession, so I guess this online poker pro business is a relatively new thing. Anyway, enough with the chauvinistic history (and ladies, I'm joking) and on to Anette. Playing strictly freerolls about two years ago, the Norwegian Nightmare (her build is kind of Christian Okoye except instead of muscle she's all meat), did the closest thing to exersize a poker player can do and that's left mouse button click over and over again in 12 hour sessions fueled by Tobelerones and goat's milk. She parlayed her free rolls into real ...

Cash game expert Joe Bush got a piece of the bad beat jackpot at Harrahs on Thursday night. Pot was pretty big considering one guy flopped quad 10s. I hope he was just smooth-calling the pocket aces that got the needed third ace on the river. Also, Joe "Bullets" Comeaux got his aces cracked on the same night for $100. Nice wins fellas. Played at Boomtown today. Once again I ran into the painkillers during the tournament and beat a hasty exit. Good thing is I picked up a tell on the guy that had them. He did two distinctly different things when he had nothing and he had something. Unfortunately, it took me calling with a pocket pair of my own to figure it out. Guy is a good player who I've seen at a number of local final tables so this might really help me out in the future so even without a cash I might have earned some money today. I'm so tired of running into aces or losing with them in these tournaments. Pretty brutal stretch of late. Going to be a busy...

Couple of big hands from this weekend... Dug a hole with this one because I am a donkfish sometimes. Raise preflop with AK. Had my standard Martian image at the table. A borderline LAG calls out of position from the blind. Flop is 443. I check or continuation bet (can't remember exactly but 90% sure I bet). If I bet he just called. Turn is a 10. I check. He bets fairly large in relation to the pot. I find myself being such a nit, that on flops like this I get a lot of action because people put me on AK or high cards and bet into me with air. I've made a number of profitable calls with nothing in just this situation. Course his air could have just improved on the turn as a 10 is a very playable hand with a huge range of for the second card for a lo0se player. All cards above it and probably down to the 7. Granted a pair, of say 8s ,on his part is good at this point but I'm not giving him credit for that hand based on the action. I decide I'm going to let m...

I have commented previously about odd happenings on Absolute Poker. Now there is verified proof cheating exists there. Ugh. Read all the ugly details... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21381022/

Always a nailbiter in a series of close games. Every year you see something you've never seen before. This time was a battle of two highly respected coaches trying to outdo each other in the stupid department. Miles won the game but was he the winner in the "more dumb coach department of stupidness?" Category 1: Back-up QB Both brought in their second string quarterbacks for mediocre to horrible results. Tuberville for Auburn sought to stymie his momentum by bringing in his running qb at LSU's 20. The defense keyed in on the run and stopped it. The idea would have been a solid one at say, first and goal from the five, where a slash type athlete could do some damage. Bringing him in on the 20 to run was a waste. If they wanted to be clever, and offensive co-ordinator Al Borges is certainly that, as he is a creative strategian normally, why not tweak the obvious and line up with both in the backfield, but have Cox stand where the halfback normally does and then...