Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

Took down a 22 person tournament in Houma. Have to get lucky to win these things. I played badly in a number of spots, mangling pocket Aces once, making a bad call three handed with A5 running into the hand I thought my opponent had preflop AK and of course hitting my 5. I got short and ended up with AA in the blind and Frank woke up to an AK and got a very timely double up. Started out on a very strong table,11 handed. I was not happy to see Gene D there or Davey, Ruttley, and a couple others. Gene D, organizes and runs these things, and it's a huge disadvantage. He spends so much time after the game has started figuring out the money that he's away from the table too much. We don't get enough chips that you can afford to miss that many hands, I feel like when he's fully ready to play he's coming back to a shortish stack and forced to make moves. We all owe him and Dinger a thankyou for the tournament. In fact, I forgot to ask Dinger how much his baby sit...

I've gone back to some rules of my cash game that I used to have. I used to have a far better ROI then I have recently live. I need more discipline, plain and simple... Rules I used to live by and will do so again: 1. Limit my buy-ins per sitting. Instead of being prepared to go deeper and deeper into the pocket (UNLESS the table is especially JUICY), I'm back to my limits. Just about everything I've read or heard on the subject says that if you feel you have an opportunity to make money or an edge on the table you should play. It's one long poker game and you want your next hand to be played on a table with an edge. Doesn't matter if the next hand is tomorrow or today. However, I've definitely had bigger losses chasing lost money. Probably I go on a slight tilt at some point after digging in my wallet. Don't know why, but I don't play as well. Bad beats seem to come in batches too. 2. Be prepared to table jump more frequently. If I'm a...

So like those f'ing teenagers I'm on the YouTube. (You can never show your age better than throwing a THE before something that doesn't need it, like "I saw it on THE Television (better yet call it The BOOBTUBE ), maybe it was on THE Cable", or maybe " I found it on the THE Goo gle --adding inappropriate ssss enhances the effect, "I was shopping THE Internets" ). and I found some pretty good videos from Dook University. Normally, I hate all things dook related but I love the mental aspects of poker and trying to understand decision making processes. They have six videos dealing with different aspects of irrationality. Lots of decision being made based on irrational thought process at a table so a lot to be mulled over. I got a lot out of few of these videos applying them to poker. I will probably review them and some of the rather elementry lessons I took from them. In the first video, on arousal, they show how emotions effect motivations and d...

As hinted at in my last post, me and Big Smoove played yesterday at Harrahs. Got there at about 1:00 left about 5:00. 4 hour day? Actually 16 hours--wish I could say it was all dragging pots and highfiving Ray about the donkeys around us but it was a grind. Though it certainly had its moments. I got there before Ray and immediately sat down at a new table and it instantaneously became the wildest table I'd ever played at. Hand 1, two all-in prelop and a double up to a Yuppie in town for blackjack tournament (yitfbt or YIT for short). Hand 2. 3-way all in and YIT wins again. Hand 3, another guy, local business owner and carouser, a guy who laughs at everything ( HAHA for short) with plenty-o money to burn doubles up from through YIT. Hand 4 another 3 way all in to YIT. 5 hands into it, where your initial buy-in is capped at $200 YIT is sitting with over 1k. And for the most part the showdowns have been marginal holdings vs. one another. Guy to my right says he's goi...

What have I been up to? Have I played any cards at all? When will I be in Vegas? These questions answered and more in the latest, thrilling installment of the death of single Bill. Went to Delaware, met my 2nd niece and got to talk to my first niece. My first niece calls me Uncle Bull, I like that. That's part of the reason I sometimes use the Bull picture on the www.gulfcoastpoker.net page. The 2nd niece doesn't say much. She's not walking or crawling either. I saw the family and crunched a years worth of visits in one weekend. Surprising how much you can condense in a short amount of time. We were almost comfortable enough to fall back into the familar pattern of bickering around old sibling rivalries but didn't quite make it. I guess as you get older you get more civil. Bad thing was, I didn't have time to call up old friends or really visit with anybody. Watched my brother graduate from his master's program. He only got a 4.0. He maintained a ...

Satellited in. Arrived an hour late. Not on purpose though, assumed because the window didn't open when I was on full tilt the tournament hadn't started. It had. Finally an hour later it opens with my stack shorter and the "I'm Back" button on. What? Doubled up with Aces, which actually held. Got outplayed with a better ace rag then mine. Board had the Ace but was scary and big blind had more guts then me and fired an all in over the top after some action. I'm a nitdonk. From there I literally got a live action zombie session of 83, 72, 29, 49 for about two rounds. Finally, I'm moving with anything before the blinds hit me, and for some reason I'm focused on something else and click fold with what for that table looked like the nuts to me 89 o/s. Argh. The break hits and I'm in the BB for half my stack when I get back. Yeah! I'm a nitdonk can't you read, I've already said that. We return and before the action gets to me w...

Played the shootout satellite for the Full Tilt Mini Series of Poker. Won my first table and then got a cold deck at the second table. They were giving away three seats and we were 7 handed. I got KQ vs. AK with a king on board. He limped preflop. That merely rounded out a series of second bests. Standard top two pair vs. a superchaser who got to his flush, and kicker problems when I'd hit top pair in the blinds. I managed to minimize the bleeding but eventually I was short-stacked. I've been playing a lot of hands online recently, obviously not at Absolute or Ultimate Bet, and I feel I'm really improving as a player. Unfortuately, when I say improving as a player it's a very specific range. I've developed a successful strategy for multi-table donkaments which I don't think is as effective or even the right skillset vs. anybody but the standard low buy-in fields (sit 'n gos and mtt). Certainly, I think some things translate well, such as trying to ...

I prefer to remain faceless, anonymous, and just the regular average/bad poker nit that I am. Okay, I don't really think I'm a bad poker player (what player does) but I haven't done anything significant yet so, until then I like playing from the shadows. Gene knows this and likes to tease me a little bit with that random picture of that dude... that looks like me. I took it down as I don't want to confuse anybody about who I am. That guy is a fine looking fellow... but I have to say I'm even better looking. Sorry ladies I'm taken. I do have a story where I met a guy who is kind of enough to read this tripe and recognized me, which I'll get to later. Speaking of pub, I'm not sure my bubbling was worthy of front page material for http://www.gulfcoastpoker.net/ . Everybody does it, but I do appreciate Gene giving me some props. Before I continue to ramble about myself I want to congratulate Monkey for another stellar tournament showing. He's put up some...

Yesterday, I endured another bad run with big cards and had to keep pushing money into the pot because I knew it was the right thing to do. Still, that at times requires almost as much guts as a bluff when you are running so bad. Courage was important yesterday and I actually lacked it in a critical place, very odd because I talked myself out of making a move when I knew it would work. Still, it wasn't all bad. I ran much better in the sit n gos yesterday. 1 win. 1 chop. 1 second (money back) and 1 third and 1 fourth. The game I came in third I had aces twice. Yes. I won with them both time... the blinds. The 4 of 5 is so misleading because I think all my wins are blinds or preflop folds. All the ones I lose are the suicide bombers that cripple my stack or knock me out. The game I came in fourth, KK knocked me out, yeah guy chased his open ender-(had an overcard to the board too but a bad call because he was priced out and would have had plenty of chips... still with s...

Had a couple of good sessions in a row. Won the hourly best hand prize for quad kings while my man Ed completed his tournament tour down here by chopping the Isle of Capris tournament. Yeah, he officially was 4 for 4 in successive tournaments. Good job Ed. The tournament was painful as once again I build a big chip stack and once again I look at Aces in late position after a medium stack in early position has open shoved. I call. Small blind shoves too. EP has 64 o/s (Hello suicide bomber, my name is collateral damage). SB has 22. I came in third. Yeah, fun. Then I get a call station to my left that refuses to release a hand until the river. She says she loves the river because that's where she makes all of her hands. I lose the minimum to her with my AK vs. her K10. She later rivers a straight, then pairs her kicker to give her bottom two vs. my top pair on the river--almost considering just not playing until someone else wounded her, but realized that was cowardly--...

Turned down watching the Pfunk to play poker. I got some pfunk of my own... Flop a straight, get it in, he turns the full house. Bye-bye 1 buy-in plus small winnings. Flop top pair, gut shot and flush draw, bet, raised, brick, remaining chips get in brick. Bye-bye 2nd buy-in plus small winnings. Pocket Kings. Couple of limpers. I raise. Call, call, call, call. Flop has straight possibilities but all low. I bet. 1 caller. Turn brings a flush draw. I pound it. Call. River is a brick. He bets the rest of my stack. Call. Hello Aces. Wow. I'm not good enough to play them that way. 3rd buy-in gone. Lose half my stack. In big blind with a table full of limpers. I look at AA. Big bet for our table. 1 caller (dude that had Aces vs. my kings). Then the button shoves. I barely have him covered. Dude that I wanted folds. My aces hold up over his 9s. I say, "way my night is going I thought for sure I'd lose to a set of 9s." Win some more pots. Stackn back ...

There are no 6 pm tournaments in Biloxi. Stayed local for a bar tournament. Ed eked out a 4th place finish playing solid, solid poker. Typical bar tournament with more knuckleheads than players. I listened to a guy whine about people making bad calls after he called me with second pair and no kicker. Yes, he hit his crappy kicker on the river to beat my top pair. He astutely thought I had AK and was "bluffin'" him. We were the two chip leaders at the table and I had a little to survive. Later in a multi-way pot, I moved all in, he folded this time and this genuis knew I had at least top pair. I wonder what tipped him off? Putting all my chips at risk in a five way pot? The same guy sucked out on a stable player that had a lot of chips to my right to take a commanding chip lead. I think he was gone about 10 hands later. I got to about 13th until I ran into K8 o/s. Ed played the final table great. There were probably two good players besides him and they all m...

1. Pick up Ed on Tuesday at the airport (he comes in every year for jazzfest and will be going to all four days). 2. Drive to biloxi for a 6 pm tourney. Haven't decided between Beau and IP. 3. Drive home. 4. Wednesday am, Harrahs 11 am. Chop for a grand. 5. Boomtown 7 pm, piss away money in the 3-6 limit game before hand to brutal beats. 6. Thursday maybe take in a day of Jazzfest at reduced price. 7. Harrahs Thursday night. Welcome to the city guys. Glad you got some poker in before the fest tomorrow. 8. Friday am, do wedding crap. Harrahs Friday night. Oh, you are drunk and fresh from the fest, please have a seat. 9. Saturday am, I do my second day at the fest. 10. Depending on Eddie's frame of mind, I probably foolish return to Harrahs only to have others prey on my state of mind. 11. Sunday recover and play some online. Updates to follow.

I watched the Hornets crush the Mavs much to Tex's dismay. Of course I weathered bad beat after bad beat before the poker even started. 1. Took me 30 minutes to get to I-10 from my house. On a normal day that's a 5 to 10 minute trip. 2. Took a cab from harrahs to the arena. The fare is $7.00 for an arena event or the fare on the meter whichever is less. Oddly, when the meter reached 7 the cab driver told me it'd be another 10 minutes and I'd be better off walking. We were stopped at the back of a line at a light. I said fine and got out and hoofed the rest. I get to the light to turn the corner and the last couple of blocks were clear sailing. Well played sir. 2.5 As I'm late, see number 1, Tex hangs out at the smoking section and gives me his ticket and mine. Can't remember which one he scanned. When I get to the lady of course I lose the coinflip and chose wrong. When I offer the other ticket you'd have thought I tried to board an airplane with...

Gene and I didn't get to play in the Helping Hands Invitational tournament on Friday night. We really wished we could have made it over there but we were focused on Big Ray's bachelor party. The IP is running a pretty good promotion right now. If you play 5 hours of cash play on Friday, you get to buy into their $120 tournament for $20 on Saturday. As we were playing Saturday anyway with Ray and his crew, and as we figured we'd be playing 5 hours of cash somewhere Gene and I decided to head down a day early. We had hope to get to the Beau to meet up with Mobile's finest Reid G, but couldn't get over there. The Friday night action had some weird things going for it. I quickly got up $300. I flopped top two with AK. Guy pushed me on the turn with the queen coming. I had tried to protect myself with a large post-flop bet that he called. I was committed and anticipated him showing J10. Didn't get to see his cards as another A hit the river but he didn...

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...

I got engaged on saturday to this lovely girl. Who somehow accepted this wrecked grill as good enough. On sunday took 35th in World Championship for Poker Bloggers on Pokerstars. Really wanted to make top 10 to get the site's name out there. But I'll take the 80 gig iPod I won in the free roll.

Went back to the Stone as I mentioned in last week's column. I'll also say this, and sorry to let out the secret for the three or four decent players there but... TURNING STONE IS THE SOFTEST POKER ROOM in the U.S. They mostly spread 1-2 games with max buy-ins of $100, $200, and $500. The $500 table looked pretty good but by the time I got in they all had 5-10 type money. I guess I could have bought in for $500 and kept rebuying but my wallet wasn't that thick (especially after last monday). My friend and I decided to sit down at the $200 table. After I ran a bluff, unsuccessfully, on a guy I was one buy-in deep. I realized this table was mostly going to be showdown poker and tightened up. It was almost insufferable to listen to the strategy conversations going on at the table. These guys made me feel a competent player. I wonder if a top pro ever overheard me and my friends talking and would also want to take a nail gun to their stomach to just end drivel. When gutshot cha...

I'm at Harrahs on Monday night playing some poker against the New Orleans regulars and the folks from Biloxi that come into town to steal from drunk Monday Night Football fans. Sorry Titan fans if we were inhospitable t o you on the felt but you realize you are walking targets, and the entire time you are playing three or four people that barely know one another are exchanging glances about your pisspoor-I-saw-it-on-TV-play and are just sitting there waiting to snap you off when you overplay two facecards or AJ or a low pocket pair. Anyway, I get there early to try and squeeze juice from the walnuts. The walnuts being the other regulars all biding their time until the football game is over and the unhappy or happy drunks show up. Yes, they are a bunch of Martians (very rocky) for the most part like myself, so shown down hands are usually premium holdings vs. one another. Why even bother to get there early? I like the Harrahs Football Box promotion where they give you a score and yo...