Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

There are a couple other just terrible spots with passive players willing to call off stacks with weak holdings so I know I got time. A big chipleader on my left and I mixed it up a couple of times. He won more hands but I won the biggest pot. I raised an unopened pot with pocket fives. In the SB he thought about it and called. The BB called too. The flop was King high with a 5. A set, I almost forgot what it was like to flop them. We all check the rainbow. The turn is an Ace. Okay one of these guys has to have an A or a King. If it's just a king that might kill my action a little bit but let's hope not. Check, check to me. I put out a nice bet (have an ace, have an ace, have an ace). The chipleader pauses for a while and puts out a raise. Other guy folds. Yes, he has an ace. Then I mull maybe he's trying to bully. Okay, I feign some weakness just in case he is, subtle almost imperceptible movement, not a great acting job but if he is on a bluff maybe enough...

The IP has really outdone itself and it's a shame more people aren't there to experience it. The tables are all brand new, the space redone, and the dealers all competent or better. Great structure and a well run event. John P and I signed up and agreed to exchange 10 per cent of each other. I thought about doing a last longer bet but he's relatively inexperienced so that wasn't fair. Exchanging 10% even if it was -ev for me seemed like it could make it more fun for him if I cashed and the same for me if he did. The last longer would have been over in one hand. John flopped a boat, on the turn a flush draw got there and he got it all in hoping the guy hit his flush. He didn't. He held pocket queens. River queen ball. Okay, at least John had me to sweat after doing everything right and getting crushed. Later that night in a cash game I told the table my buddy busted on the first hand. A reg asked "How do you bust on the first hand." Flop a boat, ...

I won some pots early and built up my stack a bit. Southpaw Rounder, Tex and his friend Merle were also in the field. So too, Dave Anderson. I saw Alex Wood as well so I knew that there were some real players signed up, that plus the normal 10 to 20 folks that usually make the final table, and it wasn't your typical donkley. Fewer and fewer weak spots. The field had swollen to over 100 which I love but many of the extra players can play, so that's not necessarily a good thing. Early on Davey busted out I believe it took a two or three outer for his opponent to pass him. He came over and we caught up. I looked down at KK in the Big or small blind. There was a hefty early raise, a quick call from early position and then Larry Price, a very good tournament player who came in second in one of the New Orleans main events recently ( I think ), who paused and put in a bigger reraise. I considered just taking it down with a shove or at least isolating Larry. I mulled it over. ...

Very happy with all the positive feedback we've gotten from Lake Charles to Florida. The mag has popped up in a ton of places and we've gotten a lot more hits to the site. Good stuff, keep the compliments (and critiques) coming. That's the positives. The negatives... We've run into only one place that won't put it on their magazine rack. Remember we are giving these away. We were, frankly, stunned. So, if you can't find it where you play and you ask if they got it, and they say no they don't carry it, you'll figure it out. We've gotten some criticisms from folks too, but that's more a positive then a negative because we appreciate those and can improve. It's a start, we can't be Cardplayer from the word go and we didn't aim to be. However, we hope to grow with the poker community and one day who knows. Going forward, we are excited about the event at the IP and finding our next cover story, a local like Tyler Smith, going on...

You could argue Auburn's shafting a few years back to another overhyped Pac 10 school, was the death knell of another short period of disrespect thrown at the league nationally and things have kind of flipped (if anything it might be given too much respect today--funnily, the Big 10 with the least amount of respect right now is also given too much respect). So, in this environment seeing fans of other schools cheering for league rivals is a head scratcher unless you understand the history. I know this sounds like a complex round about way to justify me rooting for LSU when it doesn't hurt Auburn but I'm not. I'm merely stating I'm not alone. Leagues that feel solidarity in being overlooked or shafted like the A10 or MVC or CAA (in basketball) and once upon a time SEC football (even if it was 70 years ago) develop that esprit de corps. The Big East had it a couple of years ago, when Rutgers fielded a D1 competent football team, and the wheels had yet to come of...

Despite my in-laws rabid love of the purple tigers my kid will not grow up rooting for any football team but the Auburn tigers on the college level. Not going to happen. The first sporting event I went to as a kid was Auburn football at Wake Forest. My brother still has the orange and blue pom pom when the visitors made the place feel like it was Jordan Hare. My grandfather was a stud athlete at Auburn and both my parents went there. The only sporting events either of my parents care about, on their own, is Auburn football. Yeah, the only time either one of them voluntarily decided to put a game on TV was when it was Auburn football. Not really the sports types. Seeing my mom who used to cheer when the other team would score when I was a kid, thinking any basket was a good thing, ask about the Auburn football game, made me know it was something important. She told me a story of her church in rural alabama many times. Every sunday they would alternate an Auburn fan and an Alaba...

But if I can't be swayed this year, shaping up to be one of the Saints finest (drew brees has this super bowl or nothing look in his eye), what year could I elevate the black and gold. But here's where things will change... I do forsee that one day when my kid sips the kool aid and roots for the team that's on TV every week and plays down the road vs. the team that's on TV every week (lol... America's team is always on TV) but plays all the way in Texas. How can I not root for the team my son is going be wrapped up in. I mean I want to brainwash him to root for all the correct squads but at the same time I want him to be able to choose at least one of his own. Likely it'll be the local team, and I'll be fine with that. Gear, tickets and all else will be cheaper because I can go down the road to the Dome and not have to travel to Texas. I'll allow him to pick the Saints if he wants but if my kid has the balls to be a fan of the non-local team, god b...

This will be a multi-part post. Recently, I received some flack from my friends for being a bit of a fairweather fan. I support an NFL team that is not native to the Gulf Coast, just as I am a transplant, I brought with me my foreign biases, however, for sometime now, I've adopted a couple of local teams. That comes with caveats. The Saints from the start have been my second NFL team. My friend has some great season tickets and has been kind enough to offer me a freebie quite often over the years. Never pulled against them and always had a good time. Course the few times they play my own team, I haven't gone. I would pull for the orignial team. Despite my hatred of many things Cowboys related (yes, I admit, I'm a America's team fan) related, starting with the introduction of Deion Sanders to the team... They will always be my favorite NFL team. However, it is possible that one day it will be the cowboys as team 1A and the Saints 1B, in my heart. I certainly...

What about the Big Itch? Well, this is not truly an online poker blog if I don't talk about something completely tangential to poker. I got to the tournament buy in area and walked around the ropes to enter the line correctly as there was a guy walking in there when I arrived. I could have just stood at the front, but I believe when there are ropes there the first guy to enter is the first guy. Can't really start at the finish line you know. So, I walk around to the back of the ropes, and it's not like the ropes are long or anything, however, by the time I get there, another dude did exactly opposite and just walked to the front of the line ignoring the ropes and the guy who by this point is standing at the front of them. He looks back at us like he had been there all day. I wished for him to get an embarrassing itch. He didn't scratch it. I desperately wanted to point out this breach of social etiquette. I take stock of the situation and clearly the dude didn't giv...

I ended playing 7 hours on the day, donkley plus cash and I never saw a high pocket pair. In fact, I believe the best hand I was dealt besides a couple of AK, AQ suited, was 99 (which I had to fold to a reraise). The other pocket pair? Deuces. Still, I ended up pulling out a winner on the day and probably due to my lack of big pairs never really had too many tough decisions. The 99 played somewhat interesting, I don't hate my decision but I feel like I'd rather pull the trigger more often and click reload so to speak. I got them on the button and after a small raise and a few calls I got frisky with them. My table image was solid at that point so I thought I could take the pot down right there. I put out a healthy bet and the big blind, an able lady I've played with a few times, called the raise and we got one more caller. The flop came out 8 high with two hearts. She shoved. Yeah, 150 to call with about 100 in the pot. I looked at my two red 99s and started thinking ...

A gentleman cut in line yesterday. I don't like that. Kharma worked that out. I got the dryest run of cards in the tournament. I don't like that. Kharma worked that out too. Three quick posts (okay maybe not quick, how about three posts: Donkley, Cash Game and Kharma: Let's start with The Harrahs weekly tournament dubbed the Donkley. I finally found a moment for some live poker. After dropping off the infant at my mother-in-law's I headed over to the Big H with what I would call a good night of sleep (these days 4 hours feels like I hibernated for winter). I was surprised to see a fellow GCPer there. We traded our standard 10 per cent and then the deck whiffed on one of us. While I enjoyed the breeze I'd rather have been hit by it. In the sixth level I was dismissed and "reported" to the rail. Even if I played every hand I would have won exactly one hand that went to showdown. Also every hand I played I lost. Mostly, I folded garbage offerings. I was in a ...

Electric Eclectic... This guy is pretty inspirational. Watch the video even if you don't care about this paragraph... Spiders are still undefeated and number 1 in the country. Already knocked off Duke who later gave VA Tech a solid game for 3/4s. Realize this ain't quite LSU football, but the Spiders handled Appy State last year who had many of the same players that knocked off Michigan in the big house. The line between the best FCS programs and the lower top 25 to 50 FBS teams isn't as distinct as many would have you believe. At one point Richmond's football conference was 2 or 3 and 1 vs. the ACC. The lone loss a heartbreaker at Maryland for JMU who had them on the ropes. Well, I guess you could argue the ACC isn't big time football. Lol. One thing I know for sure is next year when the ACC plays the CAA I'll think twice before betting on the bigger school. Been busy with the little one. He's growing like a weed. I can't believe he's so...

Gene and I are really excited about a project we've been working on the last couple of weeks and have to apologize for the content lagging behind normal. In the near term I'm excited about the event at the IP. I ran pretty good at the Beau last go round after running bad there for a while so hopefully I can flip the script at IP too. Had family in town and the wife's family is having a wedding this weekend so really have been out of the loop poker wise. So I'm just going to post a couple of pet peeves today: Ladies after you pay for an item, they give you your change and the receipt, take the monstorous bag you call a purse and slide it out of the way so the people behind you can pay. If you have to repack your life in a bag, do it 20 inches to the right. Man that irritates me to no end. They got a thousand pockets in that purse, the receipt goes in one, no not that one, that's the wrong one, the change goes in a change purse that comes out of pocket, not tha...