Absolute Tournament Victory Key Hand Review

The great feelings were hardly dampened by what would otherwise be considered a miserable Sunday. I ran poorly, couldn't win coin flips and accidentally misclicked my way out of about 8k in chips in the 1k buy in on Pokerstars when I only had 19k in chips. I cashed in one tournament today, but I can't help but feel great about the win still on Saturday because it's been what I've been looking for since I've been a professional. More to come hopefully soon.

I did figure out my P0kerTracker issues, so I thought I'd post some hands like the last time I won a tournament, so you can see how amazing I ran and some fun hands.


STAGE #1136249760 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $150 - 2008-03-29 17:54:02 (ET)
Table: 31 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MCBILL ($3345 in chips)
Seat 2 - KICE32 ($5710 in chips)
Seat 3 - CUNNINGCAT 2 ($10539 in chips)
Seat 4 - DAFORCE ($3815 in chips)
Seat 5 - BMW_M6 ($5070 in chips)
Seat 6 - VEGASMIKE123 ($7125 in chips)
Seat 7 - HOLDAMENTS ($8515 in chips)
Seat 8 - CASPER1984 ($6365 in chips)
Seat 9 - CHIM17 ($11620 in chips)
CASPER1984 - Posts small blind $75
CHIM17 - Posts big blind $150
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Kc Ad]
MCBILL - Folds
KICE32 - Raises $450 to $450
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Calls $450
DAFORCE - All-In(Raise) $3815 to $3815
BMW_M6 - Folds
VEGASMIKE123 - Folds
HOLDAMENTS - Folds
CASPER1984 - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
KICE32 - All-In(Raise) $5260 to $5710
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Folds
KICE32 - returned ($1895) : not called
*** FLOP *** [7h 2d 6h]
*** TURN *** [7h 2d 6h] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [7h 2d 6h 9d] [10c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Shows [Kc Ad] (ace high)
DAFORCE - Shows [Qd Qh] (One pair, queens)
DAFORCE Collects $8305 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($8305)
Board [7h 2d 6h 9d 10c]
Seat 1: MCBILL Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: KICE32 HI:lost with ace high [Kc Ad - P:Ad,P:Kc,B:10c,B:9d,B:7h]
Seat 3: CUNNINGCAT 2 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: DAFORCE won Total ($8305) All-In HI:($8305) with One pair, queens [Qd Qh - P:Qh,P:Qd,B:10c,B:9d,B:7h]
Seat 5: BMW_M6 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: VEGASMIKE123 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: HOLDAMENTS (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: CASPER1984 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: CHIM17 (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS


So after about an hour an a half of little pots and here or there this big hand comes up. I have AK a hand that I will start taking to war when blinds are picking up. In this situation, I feel like I have a pretty easy call here and it's America's race AK vs QQ.

I lose and am down to a little under 2k chips about 12 big blinds (BB's).

STAGE #1136253898 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $200 - 2008-03-29 17:58:23 (ET)
Table: 31 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MCBILL ($3120 in chips)
Seat 2 - KICE32 ($1645 in chips)
Seat 3 - CUNNINGCAT 2 ($10639 in chips)
Seat 4 - DAFORCE ($8105 in chips)
Seat 5 - BMW_M6 ($5070 in chips)
Seat 6 - VEGASMIKE123 ($7125 in chips)
Seat 7 - HOLDAMENTS ($8515 in chips)
Seat 8 - CASPER1984 ($6290 in chips)
Seat 9 - CHIM17 ($11595 in chips)
DAFORCE - Posts small blind $100
BMW_M6 - Posts big blind $200
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Jh Kd]
VEGASMIKE123 - Folds
HOLDAMENTS - Folds
CASPER1984 - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
MCBILL - Folds
KICE32 - All-In(Raise) $1645 to $1645
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Calls $1645
DAFORCE - All-In(Raise) $8005 to $8105
BMW_M6 - Folds
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Folds
DAFORCE - returned ($6460) : not called
*** FLOP *** [Jc 4d 10s]
*** TURN *** [Jc 4d 10s] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 4d 10s Kh] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Shows [Jh Kd] (Two Pair, kings and jacks)
DAFORCE - Shows [Jd Ad] (One pair, jacks)
KICE32 Collects $5135 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($5135)
Board [Jc 4d 10s Kh 8s]
Seat 1: MCBILL Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: KICE32 won Total ($5135) All-In HI:($5135) with Two Pair, kings and jacks [Jh Kd - B:Kh,P:Kd,P:Jh,B:Jc,B:10s]
Seat 3: CUNNINGCAT 2 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: DAFORCE (small blind) HI:lost with One pair, jacks [Jd Ad - P:Jd,B:Jc,P:Ad,B:Kh,B:10s]
Seat 5: BMW_M6 (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: VEGASMIKE123 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: HOLDAMENTS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: CASPER1984 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: CHIM17 Folded on the POCKET CARDS


I'm at 8BB and I have KJ far good enough for me to push since I am opening the pot. I do and I do the old turn King bink to more than triple me up. Lucky by the results, but nothing wrong with my play here.


STAGE #1136287628 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $400 - 2008-03-29 18:31:05 (ET)
Table: 1 (Real Money) Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 1 - YABOYSTU ($11535 in chips)
Seat 2 - CUTIEPI314 ($13710 in chips)
Seat 3 - KICE32 ($6325 in chips)
Seat 4 - TSPINELLA ($9165 in chips)
Seat 5 - JLEGGZ ($6655 in chips)
Seat 6 - SAFRON ($8205 in chips)
Seat 7 - POKERBABY03 ($10235 in chips)
Seat 8 - KEHEFISH ($4410 in chips)
Seat 9 - RIDEMYRIVER ($20798 in chips)
YABOYSTU - Ante $50
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $50
KICE32 - Ante $50
TSPINELLA - Ante $50
JLEGGZ - Ante $50
SAFRON - Ante $50
POKERBABY03 - Ante $50
KEHEFISH - Ante $50
RIDEMYRIVER - Ante $50
POKERBABY03 - Posts small blind $200
KEHEFISH - Posts big blind $400
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Jd Qd]
RIDEMYRIVER - Folds
YABOYSTU - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
KICE32 - Raises $800 to $800
TSPINELLA - Folds
JLEGGZ - Folds
SAFRON - Folds
POKERBABY03 - Calls $600
KEHEFISH - Calls $400
*** FLOP *** [9d Ah 2c]
POKERBABY03 - Checks
KEHEFISH - Checks
KICE32 - Bets $800
POKERBABY03 - Folds
KEHEFISH - Calls $800
*** TURN *** [9d Ah 2c] [6c]
KEHEFISH - Bets $400

GET THAT WEAK STUFF OUT OF HERE

KICE32 - All-In(Raise) $4675 to $4675
KEHEFISH - Folds
KICE32 - returned ($4275) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Does not show
KICE32 Collects $5250 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($5250)
Board [9d Ah 2c 6c]
Seat 1: YABOYSTU Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: KICE32 collected Total ($5250) All-In HI:($5250) [Does not show]
Seat 4: TSPINELLA Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: JLEGGZ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: SAFRON (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: POKERBABY03 (small blind) Folded on the FLOP
Seat 8: KEHEFISH (big blind) Folded on the TURN
Seat 9: RIDEMYRIVER Folded on the POCKET CARDS


Not many big hands from that hand until this one almost 45 minutes later...patience as my Grandpa says is bitter, but the fruits are sweet.

STAGE #1136331945 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $1000 - 2008-03-29 19:15:45 (ET)
Table: 7 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUNNINGCAT 2 ($29083 in chips)
Seat 2 - SCHUM1 ($31935.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - JPEAHS ($7678 in chips)
Seat 4 - NORCALSURF83 ($9152 in chips)
Seat 5 - SOWERSUNCC ($34658 in chips)
Seat 6 - BLUFFN101 ($6963 in chips)
Seat 7 - LOTSOLUCK ($13390 in chips)
Seat 8 - STEVOL_ ($27813 in chips)
Seat 9 - KICE32 ($16560 in chips)
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Ante $75
SCHUM1 - Ante $75
JPEAHS - Ante $75
NORCALSURF83 - Ante $75
SOWERSUNCC - Ante $75
BLUFFN101 - Ante $75
LOTSOLUCK - Ante $75
STEVOL_ - Ante $75
KICE32 - Ante $75
STEVOL_ - Posts small blind $500
KICE32 - Posts big blind $1000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Qs Qd]
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Folds
SCHUM1 - Folds
JPEAHS - All-In(Raise) $7603 to $7603
NORCALSURF83 - Folds
SOWERSUNCC - Folds
BLUFFN101 - Folds
LOTSOLUCK - Folds
STEVOL_ - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $6603
*** FLOP *** [5d 7s 9c]
*** TURN *** [5d 7s 9c] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [5d 7s 9c Ad] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JPEAHS - Shows [6h 6d] (Two Pair, nines and sixes)
KICE32 - Shows [Qs Qd] (Two Pair, queens and nines)
KICE32 Collects $16381 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($16381)
Board [5d 7s 9c Ad 9h]
Seat 1: CUNNINGCAT 2 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: JPEAHS HI:lost with Two Pair, nines and sixes [6h 6d - B:9h,B:9c,P:6h,P:6d,B:Ad]
Seat 4: NORCALSURF83 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: SOWERSUNCC Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: BLUFFN101 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: LOTSOLUCK (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: STEVOL_ (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($16381) HI:($16381) with Two Pair, queens and nines [Qs Qd - P:Qs,P:Qd,B:9h,B:9c,B:Ad]

This next one could be voted best hand of the tournament. Unfortunately, I actually really like this STEVOL's game a ton and the guy just never seems to make a mistake when I'm playing against him.

STAGE #1136346231 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $1200 - 2008-03-29 19:31:53 (ET)
Table: 7 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUNNINGCAT 2 ($52445 in chips)
Seat 2 - SCHUM1 ($31204.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - C00KEMONSTER ($23645 in chips)
Seat 5 - SOWERSUNCC ($23254 in chips)
Seat 6 - SIREAGLE ($6193 in chips)
Seat 7 - LOTSOLUCK ($42046 in chips)
Seat 8 - STEVOL_ ($20088 in chips)
Seat 9 - KICE32 ($17014 in chips)
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Ante $100
SCHUM1 - Ante $100
C00KEMONSTER - Ante $100
SOWERSUNCC - Ante $100
SIREAGLE - Ante $100
LOTSOLUCK - Ante $100
STEVOL_ - Ante $100
KICE32 - Ante $100
SOWERSUNCC - Posts small blind $600
SIREAGLE - Posts big blind $1200
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Jd Jh]
LOTSOLUCK - Folds
STEVOL_ - Raises $3500 to $3500
KICE32 - All-In(Raise) $16914 to $16914
CUNNINGCAT 2 - Folds
SCHUM1 - Folds
C00KEMONSTER - Folds
SOWERSUNCC - Folds
SIREAGLE - Folds
STEVOL_ - Calls $13414
*** FLOP *** [4s Kh 9h] COMPUTER GETS TOSSED TO THE SIDE!
*** TURN *** [4s Kh 9h] [7s] i GLANCE BACK JUST IN CASE
*** RIVER *** [4s Kh 9h 7s] [Jc] YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*** SHOW DOWN ***
STEVOL_ - Shows [Ad Ks] (One pair, kings)
KICE32 - Shows [Jd Jh] (Three of a kind, jacks)
KICE32 Collects $36428 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($36428)
Board [4s Kh 9h 7s Jc]
Seat 1: CUNNINGCAT 2 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: C00KEMONSTER (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: SOWERSUNCC (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: SIREAGLE (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: LOTSOLUCK Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: STEVOL_ HI:lost with One pair, kings [Ad Ks - P:Ks,B:Kh,P:Ad,B:Jc,B:9h]
Seat 9: KICE32 won Total ($36428) All-In HI:($36428) with Three of a kind, jacks [Jd Jh - P:Jh,P:Jd,B:Jc,B:Kh,B:9h]



The big pairs just keep on coming.......


STAGE #1136366186 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $2000 - 2008-03-29 19:53:28 (ET)
Table: 27 (Real Money) Seat #9 is the dealer
Seat 1 - TSPINELLA ($66230 in chips)
Seat 3 - KICE32 ($40328 in chips)
Seat 4 - _TREVOR_ ($24809 in chips)
Seat 5 - PLETT25 ($19768 in chips)
Seat 6 - BARRYG1983 ($19787 in chips)
Seat 7 - DEALACE1 ($19710 in chips)
Seat 8 - CUTIEPI314 ($77566 in chips)
Seat 9 - MRPUMPKIN107 ($32579 in chips)
TSPINELLA - Ante $150
KICE32 - Ante $150
_TREVOR_ - Ante $150
PLETT25 - Ante $150
BARRYG1983 - Ante $150
DEALACE1 - Ante $150
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $150
MRPUMPKIN107 - Ante $150
TSPINELLA - Posts small blind $1000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $2000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Qh Qd]
_TREVOR_ - Folds
PLETT25 - Folds
BARRYG1983 - Folds
DEALACE1 - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Raises $5000 to $5000
MRPUMPKIN107 - Folds
TSPINELLA - Folds
KICE32 - Raises $13000 to $15000
CUTIEPI314 - Raises $29000 to $34000
KICE32 - All-In(Raise) $25178 to $40178
CUTIEPI314 - Calls $6178
*** FLOP *** [3h 9c 2s]
*** TURN *** [3h 9c 2s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [3h 9c 2s 6d] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Shows [Qh Qd] (Two Pair, queens and nines)
CUTIEPI314 - Shows [4d 4h] (Two Pair, nines and fours)
KICE32 Collects $82556 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($82556)
Board [3h 9c 2s 6d 9s]
Seat 1: TSPINELLA (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($82556) All-In HI:($82556) with Two Pair, queens and nines [Qh Qd - P:Qh,P:Qd,B:9s,B:9c,B:6d]
Seat 4: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: PLETT25 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: BARRYG1983 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: DEALACE1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: CUTIEPI314 HI:lost with Two Pair, nines and fours [4d 4h - B:9s,B:9c,P:4h,P:4d,B:6d]
Seat 9: MRPUMPKIN107 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS

Welcome to 2nd place in the tournament kice32!!

Not a single post flop confrontation until this one 50 minutes later...patience..patience.


STAGE #1136418189 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $6000 - 2008-03-29 20:43:13 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 1 - SOWERSUNCC ($52129.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - JWARREN19 ($24630 in chips)
Seat 3 - RON UBL ($15350 in chips)
Seat 4 - ITURNU ($109517 in chips)
Seat 5 - CHICKENRUN__ ($99461.50 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($66356 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($143659 in chips)
Seat 9 - BIGJOHN270 ($13525 in chips)
SOWERSUNCC - Ante $300
JWARREN19 - Ante $300
RON UBL - Ante $300
ITURNU - Ante $300
CHICKENRUN__ - Ante $300
KICE32 - Ante $300
SCHUM1 - Ante $300
BIGJOHN270 - Ante $300
SCHUM1 - Posts small blind $3000
BIGJOHN270 - Posts big blind $6000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [5h 4h]
SOWERSUNCC - Folds
JWARREN19 - Folds
RON UBL - Folds
ITURNU - Folds
CHICKENRUN__ - Folds
KICE32 - Raises $12000 to $12000
SCHUM1 - Calls $9000
BIGJOHN270 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [8d Qh 9h]
SCHUM1 - Bets $6000

In the words of Austin Carr.....GET THAT WEAK STUFF OUT OF HERE!!!!

KICE32 - Raises $54000 to $54000
SCHUM1 - Folds
KICE32 - returned ($48000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Does not show
KICE32 Collects $44400 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($44400)
Board [8d Qh 9h]
Seat 1: SOWERSUNCC Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: JWARREN19 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: RON UBL Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: ITURNU Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: CHICKENRUN__ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (dealer) collected Total ($44400) HI:($44400) [Does not show]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 (small blind) Folded on the FLOP
Seat 9: BIGJOHN270 (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS

I actually learned this from Darrell Dicken since he did it every single time he was in the situation at the WPT final table and it seemed to work. No, but seriously I wanted to represent like I had a big hand and was trying to protect my hand so he would fold some second and third pair because I didn't see top pair betting out the min bet there (maybe a flopped straight, but I still have outs).


The bittersweet moment.....

STAGE #1136422496 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $6000 - 2008-03-29 20:47:22 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 1 - SOWERSUNCC ($52899 in chips)
Seat 2 - JWARREN19 ($25360.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - ITURNU ($105017 in chips)
Seat 5 - CHICKENRUN__ ($103361.50 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($91256 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($143709 in chips)
Seat 9 - BIGJOHN270 ($3025 in chips)
SOWERSUNCC - Ante $300
JWARREN19 - Ante $300
ITURNU - Ante $300
CHICKENRUN__ - Ante $300
KICE32 - Ante $300
SCHUM1 - Ante $300
BIGJOHN270 - Ante $300
CHICKENRUN__ - Posts small blind $3000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $6000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Ac Ah]
SCHUM1 - Folds
BIGJOHN270 - All-In $2725
SOWERSUNCC - All-In(Raise) $52599 to $52599
JWARREN19 - Folds
ITURNU - Folds
CHICKENRUN__ - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $46599
*** FLOP *** [Kc As 10s]
*** TURN *** [Kc As 10s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Kc As 10s 9d] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SOWERSUNCC - Shows [8c 9c] (One pair, nines)
KICE32 - Shows [Ac Ah] (Three of a kind, aces)
BIGJOHN270 - Shows [Kh 4h] (One pair, kings)
KICE32 Collects $100023 from side pot-1
KICE32 Collects $13000 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($113023:$13000,$100023)
Board [Kc As 10s 9d 2c]
Seat 1: SOWERSUNCC HI:lost with One pair, nines [8c 9c - B:9d,P:9c,B:As,B:Kc,B:10s]
Seat 2: JWARREN19 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: ITURNU (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: CHICKENRUN__ (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($113023) HI:($113023) with Three of a kind, aces [Ac Ah - B:As,P:Ah,P:Ac,B:Kc,B:10s]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: BIGJOHN270 HI:lost with One pair, kings [Kh 4h - P:Kh,B:Kc,B:As,B:10s,B:9d]


Bittersweet here because Sowers is an excellent player, class act, and someone I've enjoyed shooting IM's about poker back and forth with since I met him in Aruba, but sweet because I picked up a nice pot when I covered my cards on the BB and pinched them one by one to reveal aces. GET THOSE BIG PAIRS COMING ON THE BB!!!

STAGE #1136437014 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $8000 - 2008-03-29 21:01:38 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($153596.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - JWARREN19 ($65442 in chips)
Seat 4 - ITURNU ($92196 in chips)
Seat 5 - CHICKENRUN__ ($75761.50 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($175280 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($124000 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $400
JWARREN19 - Ante $400
ITURNU - Ante $400
CHICKENRUN__ - Ante $400
KICE32 - Ante $400
SCHUM1 - Ante $400
CHICKENRUN__ - Posts small blind $4000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $8000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [As Ks]
SCHUM1 - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
JWARREN19 - Folds
ITURNU - Folds
CHICKENRUN__ - All-In(Raise) $71361.50 to $75361.50
KICE32 - Calls $67361.50
*** FLOP *** [4h 6h Js]
*** TURN *** [4h 6h Js] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [4h 6h Js Ah] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CHICKENRUN__ - Shows [8c Ac] (Three of a kind, aces)
KICE32 - Shows [As Ks] (Three of a kind, aces)
KICE32 Collects $153123 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($153123)
Board [4h 6h Js Ah Ad]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: JWARREN19 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: ITURNU (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: CHICKENRUN__ (small blind) HI:lost with Three of a kind, aces [8c Ac - B:Ah,B:Ad,P:Ac,B:Js,P:8c]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($153123) HI:($153123) with Three of a kind, aces(king kicker) [As Ks - P:As,B:Ah,B:Ad,P:Ks,B:Js]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS


After starting to turn up the heat near the final table bubble, I find a neat little AK on the BB and it holds. I made a crucial fold a few hands earlier when Chickenrun limp raised me from the SB when I raised with an A8. I ended up folding after much thought about the situation. I was happy to get those chips back.

STAGE #1136443879 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $10000 - 2008-03-29 21:08:41 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($188218.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - JWARREN19 ($46842 in chips)
Seat 4 - ITURNU ($80096 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($246719.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($124400 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $500
JWARREN19 - Ante $500
ITURNU - Ante $500
KICE32 - Ante $500
SCHUM1 - Ante $500
ITURNU - Posts small blind $5000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $10000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [8c 8s]
SCHUM1 - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
JWARREN19 - Folds
ITURNU - All-In(Raise) $74596 to $79596
KICE32 - Calls $69596
*** FLOP *** [Qh Ad 7c]
*** TURN *** [Qh Ad 7c] [10h] LOW CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*** RIVER *** [Qh Ad 7c 10h] [6d] YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ITURNU - Shows [Js 3s] (ace high)
KICE32 - Shows [8c 8s] (One pair, eights)
KICE32 Collects $161692 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($161692)
Board [Qh Ad 7c 10h 6d]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: JWARREN19 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: ITURNU (small blind) HI:lost with ace high [Js 3s - B:Ad,B:Qh,P:Js,B:10h,B:7c]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($161692) HI:($161692) with One pair, eights [8c 8s - P:8s,P:8c,B:Ad,B:Qh,B:10h]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS

Hands are actually holding up!!!!! I can't believe it. At the same time, I'm completely neglecting another final table where the winner gets around 8700.

STAGE #1136448851 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $10000 - 2008-03-29 21:13:50 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #5 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($222060.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($92272 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($404497 in chips)
Seat 4 - COIN GUY ($69392 in chips)
Seat 5 - RIDEMYRIVER ($84582 in chips)
Seat 6 - BAZEMAN11 ($76232 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($304093.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($139122 in chips)
Seat 9 - RKRUOK ($107749 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $500
_TREVOR_ - Ante $500
CHIM17 - Ante $500
COIN GUY - Ante $500
RIDEMYRIVER - Ante $500
BAZEMAN11 - Ante $500
KICE32 - Ante $500
SCHUM1 - Ante $500
RKRUOK - Ante $500
BAZEMAN11 - Posts small blind $5000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $10000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [6h 6c]
SCHUM1 - Folds
RKRUOK - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Raises $25000 to $25000
COIN GUY - Folds
RIDEMYRIVER - Folds
BAZEMAN11 - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $15000 I thought about reraising here, but I wasn't afraid to play post flop here as our stack sizes were 1st and 2nd at the table, so I was just looking almost for a set value situation here.
*** FLOP *** [4d 5d 3h]
KICE32 - Checks I wanted to keep the pot small here
CHIM17 - Checks
*** TURN *** [4d 5d 3h] [7s] Bingo!!!
KICE32 - Bets $40000 Let's make a cute little bet.
CHIM17 - Calls $40000
*** RIVER *** [4d 5d 3h 7s] [10h]
KICE32 - Bets $100000 Value City: Population: 100,000
CHIM17 - Calls $100000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Shows [6h 6c] (Straight, three to seven)
CHIM17 - Mucks
KICE32 Collects $339500 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($339500)
Board [4d 5d 3h 7s 10h]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 HI: [Mucked] [As 5c] (looks like from his cards it was the right size)
Seat 4: COIN GUY Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: RIDEMYRIVER (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: BAZEMAN11 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($339500) HI:($339500) with Straight, three to seven [6h 6c - B:7s,P:6h,B:5d,B:4d,B:3h]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: RKRUOK Folded on the POCKET CARDS


STAGE #1136454698 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $12000 - 2008-03-29 21:19:02 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($239560.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($173221 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($238997 in chips)
Seat 4 - COIN GUY ($46692 in chips)
Seat 5 - RIDEMYRIVER ($90082 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($501493.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($209954 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $600
_TREVOR_ - Ante $600
CHIM17 - Ante $600
COIN GUY - Ante $600
RIDEMYRIVER - Ante $600
KICE32 - Ante $600
SCHUM1 - Ante $600
RIDEMYRIVER - Posts small blind $6000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $12000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [6h 6c]
SCHUM1 - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
COIN GUY - Folds
RIDEMYRIVER - All-In(Raise) $83482 to $89482
KICE32 - Calls $77482
*** FLOP *** [Ah 4c Ks]
*** TURN *** [Ah 4c Ks] [10c]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 4c Ks 10c] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RIDEMYRIVER - Shows [10h Ac] (Two Pair, aces and tens)
KICE32 - Shows [6h 6c] (One pair, sixes)
RIDEMYRIVER Collects $183164 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($183164)
Board [Ah 4c Ks 10c 9c]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 4: COIN GUY (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: RIDEMYRIVER (small blind) won Total ($183164) All-In HI:($183164) with Two Pair, aces and tens [10h Ac - B:Ah,P:Ac,P:10h,B:10c,B:Ks]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, sixes [6h 6c - P:6h,P:6c,B:Ah,B:Ks,B:10c]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 Folded on the POCKET CARDS


Easy call here with my stack and I lose the race.


Hand of the Tournament by far.....


STAGE #1136467182 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-03-29 21:28:53 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($394959.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($175021 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($199597 in chips)
Seat 5 - RIDEMYRIVER ($222764 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($350612.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - SCHUM1 ($157046 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $800
_TREVOR_ - Ante $800
CHIM17 - Ante $800
RIDEMYRIVER - Ante $800
KICE32 - Ante $800
SCHUM1 - Ante $800
RIDEMYRIVER - Posts small blind $8000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Kh Kc]
SCHUM1 - All-In(Raise) $156246 to $156246
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
RIDEMYRIVER - All-In(Raise) $213964 to $221964
KICE32 - Calls $205964
*** FLOP *** [2d 9h 9d]
*** TURN *** [2d 9h 9d] [Qc]
*** RIVER *** [2d 9h 9d Qc] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RIDEMYRIVER - Shows [Jh Js] (Two Pair, jacks and nines)
KICE32 - Shows [Kh Kc] (Two Pair, kings and nines)
SCHUM1 - Shows [4d 4s] (Two Pair, nines and fours)
KICE32 Collects $131436 from side pot-1
KICE32 Collects $473538 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($604974:$473538,$131436)
Board [2d 9h 9d Qc Ac]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: RIDEMYRIVER (small blind) HI:lost with Two Pair, jacks and nines [Jh Js - P:Js,P:Jh,B:9h,B:9d,B:Ac]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($604974) HI:($604974) with Two Pair, kings and nines [Kh Kc - P:Kh,P:Kc,B:9h,B:9d,B:Ac]
Seat 8: SCHUM1 HI:lost with Two Pair, nines and fours [4d 4s - B:9h,B:9d,P:4s,P:4d,B:Ac]

Supercooler in my favor for once at these final tables. I once again pinched the cards with my cell phone and saw a K and basically knew it either had to be an A or K to call. (Don't know what I would do with AK as I did consider RidemyRiver as playing very solid. I certainly expected to see a big hand from him. I was screaming HOLD ON THE RIVER CARD!! HIGH FIVE LUMPP!!! HIGH FIVE THE MUPPET DOG!!

OK, so we are 4 handed now and I want to continue applying pressure.

STAGE #1136469538 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-03-29 21:30:50 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($394159.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($174221 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($171597 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($760022.50 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $800
_TREVOR_ - Ante $800
CHIM17 - Ante $800
KICE32 - Ante $800
KICE32 - Posts small blind $8000
CUTIEPI314 - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [6s 6h]
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
KICE32 - Raises $40000 to $48000
CUTIEPI314 - Calls $32000
*** FLOP *** [Ah 10d Kh]
KICE32 - Bets $64000
CUTIEPI314 - All-In(Raise) $345359.50 to $345359.50
KICE32 - Folds
CUTIEPI314 - returned ($281359.50) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CUTIEPI314 - Does not show
CUTIEPI314 Collects $227200 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($227200)
Board [Ah 10d Kh]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 (big blind) collected Total ($227200) All-In HI:($227200) [Does not show]
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (small blind) Folded on the FLOP


Even with this terrible flop, I wanted to make a continuation bet because this guy was very aggressive on the resteals, so I either assumed that he would have made a reshove with the hands in his range that the board hits. This hand though doesn't leave my memory and sets up another hand later on.


STAGE #1136472042 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-03-29 21:32:59 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($499759.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($156621 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($197197 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($646422.50 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $800
_TREVOR_ - Ante $800
CHIM17 - Ante $800
KICE32 - Ante $800
_TREVOR_ - Posts small blind $8000
CHIM17 - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Jc Js]
KICE32 - Raises $40000 to $40000
CUTIEPI314 - Folds
_TREVOR_ - Calls $32000
CHIM17 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [2c 2d Ac]
_TREVOR_ - Checks
KICE32 - Checks
*** TURN *** [2c 2d Ac] [6s]
_TREVOR_ - Bets $16000
KICE32 - Calls $16000
*** RIVER *** [2c 2d Ac 6s] [5s]
_TREVOR_ - Bets $16000
KICE32 - Calls $16000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
_TREVOR_ - Shows [9s 9c] (Two Pair, nines and twos)
KICE32 - Shows [Jc Js] (Two Pair, jacks and twos)
KICE32 Collects $163200 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($163200)
Board [2c 2d Ac 6s 5s]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ (small blind) HI:lost with Two Pair, nines and twos [9s 9c - P:9s,P:9c,B:2d,B:2c,B:Ac]
Seat 3: CHIM17 (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 won Total ($163200) HI:($163200) with Two Pair, jacks and twos [Jc Js - P:Js,P:Jc,B:2d,B:2c,B:Ac]


This is an interesting hand. First off, the ace shut me down right away, but my read on him here is just way off. I would never in a million years say he had 99 here because I would assume all the chips were going in the middle. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't realize he had a hand and with his stack size, I would definitely be all in. He saved his tournament though in hindsight because I would have called with the JJ and won the pot. He just bet too little on the turn and river (minimum 16k bet) for me to believe that I didn't have the best hand here. A weak ace hand is certainly in his normal range, but I would almost except those hands to be shoved in the middle also. Either way, misreads here worked out.



Now bad to old cutiepie


STAGE #1136472831 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $16000 - 2008-03-29 21:33:38 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($498959.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($83821 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($180397 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($736822.50 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $800
_TREVOR_ - Ante $800
CHIM17 - Ante $800
KICE32 - Ante $800
CHIM17 - Posts small blind $8000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $16000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [9h Ah]
CUTIEPI314 - Raises $36000 to $36000
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $20000
*** FLOP *** [Ac 9s 8d]

I have to type in here because this is a crucial hand. I feel like in these situations I mix up my play enough that I have no problem betting out, check calling, or check raising. In this situation though, I know he just saw me fold a big continuation bet to his raise. Since we were doing a fair amount of reraising to each other, and since any hand that doesn't contain an ace or a set would probably shut down with a bet out or check call, I decided to make a check raise.
KICE32 - Checks
CUTIEPI314 - Bets $48000
KICE32 - Raises $128000 to $128000
CUTIEPI314 - Raises $208000 to $256000
KICE32 - Raises $528000 to $656000
CUTIEPI314 - Folds stop!!!!!!
KICE32 - returned ($400000) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KICE32 - Does not show
KICE32 Collects $595200 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($595200)
Board [Ac 9s 8d]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 Folded on the FLOP
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) collected Total ($595200) HI:($595200) [Does not show]


Now I'm a massive chip leader. The very next hand, we have the same guy.

STAGE #1136473861 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $20000 - 2008-03-29 21:34:32 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - CUTIEPI314 ($206159.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($83021 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($171597 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($1039222.50 in chips)
CUTIEPI314 - Ante $1000
_TREVOR_ - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Posts small blind $10000
CUTIEPI314 - Posts big blind $20000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Qh Qs]
_TREVOR_ - Folds
CHIM17 - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $10000 (LIMP TIME)

I limped here because I didn't limp strong all day and I had a few hands of limping then cautious play post flop at the final table.

CUTIEPI314 - All-In(Raise) $185159.50 to $205159.50
KICE32 - Calls $185159.50

NO ACE

*** FLOP *** [6d Kd Jh] NO ACE
*** TURN *** [6d Kd Jh] [2h] NO ACE
*** RIVER *** [6d Kd Jh 2h] [5s] YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CUTIEPI314 - Shows [4d As] (ace high)
KICE32 - Shows [Qh Qs] (One pair, queens)
KICE32 Collects $414319 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($414319)
Board [6d Kd Jh 2h 5s]
Seat 1: CUTIEPI314 (big blind) HI:lost with ace high [4d As - P:As,B:Kd,B:Jh,B:6d,B:5s]
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (small blind) won Total ($414319) HI:($414319) with One pair, queens [Qh Qs - P:Qs,P:Qh,B:Kd,B:Jh,B:6d]



STAGE #1136474756 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $20000 - 2008-03-29 21:35:17 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #2 is the dealer
Seat 2 - _TREVOR_ ($71,021 in chips)
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($149,597 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($1,279,382 in chips) Yeah take off the million chips and I still have them covered.
_TREVOR_ - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Posts small blind $10000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $20000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Kd 5s]
_TREVOR_ - All-In(Raise) $70021 to $70021
CHIM17 - Folds
KICE32 - Calls $50021 This is really just a pot odds call here. I'm getting 70+33= 103 in pot and I need to call 50, so a little better than 2 to 1. Against a 3.5 BB range, easy call especially with my stack.
*** FLOP *** [Ks Jd 9d] NO ACE
*** TURN *** [Ks Jd 9d] [8h] NO 10 NO ACE
*** RIVER *** [Ks Jd 9d 8h] [Kc] WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
*** SHOW DOWN ***
_TREVOR_ - Shows [7h Ah] (One pair, kings)
KICE32 - Shows [Kd 5s] (Three of a kind, kings)
KICE32 Collects $153042 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($153042)
Board [Ks Jd 9d 8h Kc]
Seat 2: _TREVOR_ (dealer) HI:lost with One pair, kings [7h Ah - B:Ks,B:Kc,P:Ah,B:Jd,B:9d]
Seat 3: CHIM17 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($153042) HI:($153042) with Three of a kind, kings [Kd 5s - B:Ks,P:Kd,B:Kc,B:Jd,B:9d]


WE ARE NOW HEADS UP FOR ALL THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!

STAGE #1136476009 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $20000 - 2008-03-29 21:36:23 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($117597 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($1382403 in chips)
CHIM17 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Posts small blind $10000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $20000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Qc 5c]
CHIM17 - All-In(Raise) $106597 to $116597
KICE32 - Calls $96597
*** FLOP *** [4s 10c 5d]
*** TURN *** [4s 10c 5d] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [4s 10c 5d 8d] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CHIM17 - Shows [10d 3c] (One pair, tens)
KICE32 - Shows [Qc 5c] (One pair, fives)
CHIM17 Collects $235194 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($235194)
Board [4s 10c 5d 8d Kd]
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) (small blind) won Total ($235194) All-In HI:($235194) with One pair, tens [10d 3c - P:10d,B:10c,B:Kd,B:8d,B:5d]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, fives [Qc 5c - B:5d,P:5c,B:Kd,P:Qc,B:10c]

I decided to call here because I knew this guy as not to be a tight player and I have 1.3 million chips and just wanted this thing to end. I was ahead and lost.


Another double up.....

STAGE #1136476824 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $20000 - 2008-03-29 21:37:02 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($246194 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($1253806 in chips)
CHIM17 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Posts small blind $10000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $20000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [Qd 10c]
CHIM17 - All-In(Raise) $235194 to $245194
KICE32 - Calls $225194
*** FLOP *** [Js 6s 5h]
*** TURN *** [Js 6s 5h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Js 6s 5h 5s] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CHIM17 - Shows [3d Kh] (One pair, fives)
KICE32 - Shows [Qd 10c] (One pair, fives)
CHIM17 Collects $492388 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($492388)
Board [Js 6s 5h 5s 7d]
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) (small blind) won Total ($492388) All-In HI:($492388) with One pair, fives(king kicker) [3d Kh - B:5s,B:5h,P:Kh,B:Js,B:7d]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, fives [Qd 10c - B:5s,B:5h,P:Qd,B:Js,P:10c]


Now, here is how I feel about this. I thought about this for a while because I didn't want to double him up again and Q10 doesn't play well against many hands he's doing this with. I did think that his range was fairly wide here as he just showed the 10 3 off suit. I made the call. Today I tried to run the numbers and the pot odds on pokerstove and through a math equation and I came up with pretty much an even money call when I really thought about the actual range here. So as an even money call, I don't really mind it given my stack that much, but it's not something I love to do.



STAGE #1136478151 TOURNEY ID 1983202 HOLDEM MULTI NORMAL TOURNAMENT NO LIMIT $20000 - 2008-03-29 21:38:11 (ET)
Table: 2 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 3 - CHIM17 ($503388 in chips)
Seat 7 - KICE32 ($996612 in chips)
CHIM17 - Ante $1000
KICE32 - Ante $1000
CHIM17 - Posts small blind $10000
KICE32 - Posts big blind $20000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to KICE32 [4c Kd]
CHIM17 - Raises $50000 to $60000
KICE32 - Calls $40000 I decide to call here to play a pot postflop.
*** FLOP *** [10c Kc 6s]
KICE32 - Checks
CHIM17 - Bets $80000
KICE32 - Raises $580000 to $580000 This play really isn't standard for me, but the board is very draw heavy and I thought at the time that if I keep applying pressure this chops him down a good chunk. His bet to me though now that I look at it signifies that he thinks it's draw heavy also. The other line is to check call because it's kind of a -EV shove against the calling range. Not my favorite hand of the tournament, but...
CHIM17 - All-In $362388
KICE32 - returned ($137612) : not called
*** TURN *** [10c Kc 6s] [4h] 4 ball AND I HAVE THE NERVE TO YELL HOLD!!!
*** RIVER *** [10c Kc 6s 4h] [7s ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CHIM17 - Shows [Ah Ks] (One pair, kings)
KICE32 - Shows [4c Kd] (Two Pair, kings and fours)
KICE32 Collects $1006776 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($1006776)
Board [10c Kc 6s 4h 7s]
Seat 3: CHIM17 (dealer) (small blind) HI:lost with One pair, kings [Ah Ks - P:Ks,B:Kc,P:Ah,B:10c,B:7s]
Seat 7: KICE32 (big blind) won Total ($1006776) HI:($1006776) with Two Pair, kings and fours [4c Kd - P:Kd,B:Kc,B:4h,P:4c,B:10c]

In retrospect, I think this hand plays out the same no matter what because I either flat call or shove on the flop and then when I hit the 4, I'm going to check and he's going to probably either push or make a bet he can't get away from.



GOOD TOURNAMENT!!!!

Leave comments and questions if you have any because I love discussing big hands even though I really didn't see myself making that many tough decisions in this tournament. I just tried to stay aggressive when I picked up a big stack and I didn't make many dumb calls which is always good.


Then I went and paid attention to the other final table I was playing to earn a respectable 4th after riding the short stack all the way from 19th of 19 to 4th.



WPT at Bellagio starts Wednesday, so I'm excited for it. I'll be playing the first event for sure either through buy in or satellite. Then, I get a visit from the beautiful Anna Honey, so I won't be playing any tourneys until at least the next Tuesday. These are bigger buy in events, so I'll see what happens throughout the course of the tournament. I'm definitely going to play a satellite to the main event which is the WPT championship $25k event. Winning a seat to this would be amazing and winning that event makes you a legend.

kice32 has a day

1st Absolute Poker $530 Weekly Tournament for $37,500
4th Full Tilt $75 for a little under $3,000
283rd Pokerstars 11 Rebuy for $71.02 Hahahahaha


I am so excited right now by this victory. I have been so patient and frustrated and all the emotions in between and it couldn't come at a better time. I was very fortunate throughout this tournament and won several key hands. I'll be happy to go over some of the big ones when I look through my hand history, but I think I need to finally celebrate a great day. I'm very happy with how I played and playing well, running well leads to great things in this game. I can't even explain how a win like this feels right now because it's been a rough patch in my early months as a professional where I felt like I was always fighting for these big wins. Finally, it all went my way and I can't complain about one thing.

On a side note, my dad got a phone call from Bubby saying the vase cost $40,000. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'll wrap up the tournament and some cool hands at some point later in the week.

Good Time with the Family, Bubby's Vase, The Next 3 Months

I've been having a great time with my mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and cousin over the last 4 days, so I haven't played much poker. When I did play live for a short period of time, I had a neat little cooler hand against a guy so much resembling Mr. Z it was scary (for those of you that know him.) I had KK under the gun and raised to 10 at a NL 1/2 game. There were 6 callers. With $60 in the pot, the flop came down AK4 all hearts. Mr. Z checked to me and I bet 40. Everyone folded to Mr. Z who announced "100" in perfect Mr. Z tone and everything. I basically decided that I'm not getting away from any hand here as I'm never drawing dead as he never has AA here. We get it all in. Turn 7 diamonds river A spades. He shows the hearts and I caught luckily on the river to win the almost $500 pot. Of course, I gave it all back on the craps table because that is what my dad and I do when he comes to Vegas. The last time he was here, we won a decent chunk, but this time I lost 3 of 4 times. I hate gambling. Either way, it's great to see family and friends and I will do anything to hang out with people I know here because it's fun to experience it all.


Earlier in the week for those of you that know about Bubby's Vase, I was accused as the suspected breaker of the vase. In the name of how much fun we actually had in Florida (we pretended like it was still college with a few drinks and long nights), I cannot confirm nor deny these accusations. I have always had a 30% chance odds on me being the one that broke the vase based on people's reactions and denials about the vase. Basically, I have no recollection of ever breaking a vase and Bubby's grandson knows this. I will lay a few odds on Bubby's vase now just for those that know about it.

Odds that I solely broke the vase: 2 to 1
Odds that I was partially responsible with 1 other party involved: 1 to 1
Odds that I was partially responsible with 2 other parties involved: 6 to 1
Odds that the accuser was involved: 2 to 1
Odds that the accuser was the only one who knew who really broke the vase: 8 to 5
Odds that we drank a lot of gin when the vase was broken: 1 to 11999
Odds that the vase cost less than $5: 5 to 1
Odds that the vase cost less than $20: 7 to 4
Odds that the vase breaker also put pieces into the vase: 15 to 1
Odds that I am in some way responsible for breaking the vase: 1 to 3
Odds that the vase cost more than $40: 100 to 1
Odds that Bubby knows the vase was broken: 24 to 1
Odds that vase will be broken again: 600 to 1
Odds that the accuser is fourth level thinking all of us and framing me: 1500 to 1



The next 3 months will be a huge determinant in the future course of my plans with poker. There are plenty of great live tournaments including the World Series of Poker. Financially, it's a big commitment in the next 3 months, but I have succeeded in this game by playing it careful and managing my own bankroll correctly for 4 years. I'm to the point where I can be taking some shots in bigger events like I have been, but only if I can maintain a certain rate of success in these events. What a lot of players don't realize is that if you play 20 big buy in events averaging maybe $2000 per buy, that's $40,000 of winnings to break even. If you have a great cash rate of even 25% (5 out of 20), you still need a final table finish in a normal sized event to have a shot at breaking even. A sample size of 20 tournaments is extremely small in determining if you are actually successful at live tournaments. This is part of the reason online tournaments have flourished with great players because it is an easy way to increase sample size and show the long run edge of skill in the game. I have played several live tournaments since being here with only 1 cash. My best live finish is at Borgata $500 event in October where I placed 8th after a brutal beat at the final table. I have played well in several live events, but have also learned from my flaws. TO SAY I'M FOCUSED AND READY FOR MY RUN is an extreme understatement. I've never felt more challenged and ready to take on every tournament with my best. Success in the next 3 months would make my decision about the next year or so very easy.

My real goal is probably to do well enough financially that I can buy a place here and somewhere back closer to home or more people I know. That way, if I continue to progress in the poker world, I'll always have a place for the 4-5 months that are good out here and a place to go that seems more like home when I'm not here.

Why the game is really about luck

I've really come to appreciate luck and how is just affects every ounce of the game all day. Now, poker will always be a skill game, but it's really just all luck at times and it sucks.

I had a good result yesterday with a 4th place finish in the Full Tilt 163 for around 4500. The problem with these finishes is that for the second consecutive big final table, I ran extremely poorly (barring one hand).

I can't even get into PokerTracker to retrieve the hands right now for some reason and it's kind of irritating me.

I had KK as chip leader on BB with 11 players left, a short stack shoved for about 30k another guy called 30k of his 75k. I shove thinking he has to call, but the caller folds and the other guy shows Ad3d. He runs out the diamond flush on the river. Then we get to the final table. Right away, I raise the button and BB short stack moves in and I have to call with AJ and lose to QQ.

Then I pick up AK and lose to and AQ shove. After this hand, I am just steaming out of my mind. I have A10 and raise it up. Big blind call and flop comes Kc 10c x. He shoves his stack of about 80k into the approximately 40k pot. I made the call probably on a whirlwind of tilt and he showed K10. I puked and walked downstairs and I was about to quit the game and leave Vegas entirely when my roommate yells "Hey you clown you won the pot." I was refreshed and thought it could have been my break.

I then won an all in with AA vs 10 10 and I was again chipleader.

Then, I have AK on BB. A good internet player shoves for 89k with blinds 3k/6k 750 ante. I can't remember how many chips I had at this point but over 200k, so it was an easy call and he showed 88 and won the race.

Then we played around for a while and while table played incredibly weak tight except for two good players, I was the one getting reraised every hand.

When we were down to 4, I had to call the short stack with 10 8 and he showed 9 7. He binked a 7 on the river and I puked.

Then he won 99 vs KQ when he hit a K.

Then I lost with KJ vs A7 good game. Win a race please.


I ended up winning a 55 PL Omaha Hi/Lo tourney for about 1000 later in the night and had a good 4500 day after all the buy ins and small cash game loss.


Come today, I again felt like I played well throughout the day and just got knocked out before the money in 3 different bigger tourneys. Then I played a guy heads up NL 1/2. I was up about 2 buy ins on him ($400) when this hand comes up.

I have 33 and raise to $6. He reraises to $20 and at the time, I was really outplaying this guy throughout the hour we were playing. He just really didn't stand much of a chance over the long run. I had just given back about $200 to him and I wasn't happy about it. We both have around $450. I call with the 33. Flop comes A 10 3. He checks and he did this often when he just wanted to give up three-betting light. I checked behind. Turn was a 2. This time he checked again, so I was pretty sure he had nothing at this point so I bet $25 hoping to get some action. He raises to $80. At this point I'm positive he has a strong hand and really I'm just hoping for AK or A10 as he has tried to make big hero calls so I shove all of my chips in there and he calls shows 10 10 good game. So set over set in a heads up cash game happens just about never, but always seems to get me real good. I'm happy with the last couple of days though because I played about as bad as I have for a period of 3-4 days and was not happy about it.

I'll probably play some Saturday tourneys and watch some basketball tomorrow. I don't think I've won on a Saturday since I won the Absolute Poker tournament for $37,500 in June. I just never seem to get anything going on these days and play too many tournaments. The plan for tomorrow is going to be play at max 2 big ones (over $100) and then play the rest at smaller levels. When I have all my focus on one table, I really feel like I can compete with anyone in this game. When I have my focus on 9 tables, I'm just playing cards and missing a lot of details.


Congratulations to Lebron James for breaking the Cavaliers scoring record tonight in a statement game where we walked over Toronto. I would not want to be the team that has to play this guy in the playoffs. I'm already prepared to talk as much smack as I can to any Boston fan ready to go at me.


My bracket is pretty much bust as I had Vanderbilt going to the Elite 8 and they simply embarrassed me tonight along with their entire college. They got drilled by 13 seed Siena. The only thing Siena reminds me of is the crayon color I used to play with when I was 4 called burnt sienna. Seriously, I have no idea where this college is so I'm going to guess the first ten states and see if I can get it right.

1. Washington
2. Missouri
3. Kansas
4. California
5. Pennsylvania
6. Indiana
7. Arizona
8. New Mexico
9. Utah
10. Georgia
11. Alabama
12. New York
13. Connecticut


OK if I haven't guessed it yet, it will just be random. I can't wait to Google this and check it out.


WE HAVE A WINNER AT NUMBER 12 NEW YORK!!!!

Congratulations Vanderbilt for blowing it!!

Obama Speech and Questions

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there hasn't been much to write about. Nothing has been even semi-interesting on the poker front as I failed in my attempt to satellite to the main event at the Wynn by getting impatient in the satellite and making a terrible move. The cards don't even matter really or the hand. It was more a matter of impatience clouding my poker judgment. This is something I think every player accustomed to the online game has to fight.

I want to take some questions from readers and lead into some of the topics I wanted to talk about today.

Dave writes "my question for you is would you vote for John Mccain and if not why, even if that why is because you want to punish the republicans?"

I would be open to voting for any candidate Dave and usually try to base my decision on what the candidate says during debates and speeches as opposed to endorsements and attack ads. I know a lot of Americans respond to attack ads and this is why Bush beat Kerry in '04. I think any dumb material that comes up in the news is also unrelated including the current Obama pastor controversy. Before I talk about that though, I just wanted to make it clear that I could possibly vote for McCain, but I do feel Republicans in some sense need to be held accountable for the war decision.



This speech from Obama though is going to solidify my vote for the Presidency hands down. One of my biggest problems with politicians today is that they never make a solid stand on something that is a political hotbed. Obama shattered that yesterday with his speech. He tackled the issue of race in America head on to bring the conversation to a higher level. This kind of speech is something that never happens in the USA anymore. Politicians are too worried about their own popularity to ever take a stand on something. Obama gave a thoughtful, eloquent, reflective speech yesterday that I think challenged every single American. That's what I want in a President and any politician. This speech alone is on a whole different level from anything McCain, Hillary or anyone else can do. Whether it gets a great response or not, it was representative of the type of politician he is. He's different and someone not afraid of people perceiving him as different. Unfortunately, and this is being realistic, the majority of people in America just don't care and around half of people won't vote.


Dave, I also like your poker tip of the week idea. So I'll do something simple every once in a while. For people that play often, this will be extremely watered down and simple and you probably already know it.


Poker Tip of the Week: The Value Bet. In No Limit Hold 'em, we are often faced with situations where we aren't sure how much we want to bet. Let's say for example, you are playing a No Limit cash game with $200 and all the other players have $200. The blinds are $1/$2. When you have a strong hand, you always want to maximize the amount of money you get from the opponents while always making them pay an appropriate price to continue in the hand. You basically want to make a bet that is not too small or too big, but just right. So let's say you have AK and the board runs out AK3 7 2. Let's say that hypothetically, you raised to $10 preflop and were called by your opponent, then after the AK3 flop you bet $10 and were called. Then you bet $20 on the turn card and were called. Now you are at the river. With the $3+$10+$10+$10+$10+20+20 bet amounts between you and your opponent in the pot = $83.

You still have around $150 in your stack. If you assume that your opponent is calling you with an A and another card and you have them beat, you want to bet the amount that they are going to call that is just right. This is the value bet. The best kind of value bet maximizes the amount of money we can make from our opponent. You don't know what your opponent has here, but you want to bet the amount that a hand you think he has will pay you. If you think he has a hand like AQ AJ A10 A9 A8, then make the bet he will call. With $83 in the pot, bet around $50-$70. Too many players just push all $150 in the middle and someone with AQ AJ A10 A9 A8 won't pay them off.

I would love to have some feedback from this tip, so let me know if it makes sense or if you want something simpler out there.


Final Four

Memphis, UNC, Duke, Wisconsin.

This is my final four and I won't reveal my champion until after all you donkeys have your polls in. I really have slacked in college basketball this year, but did catch a few of the big games near the end of the season.

What I do know is that UNC is the clear favorite as they should be. This team plays gritty, tough defense and solid basketball. They have a solid all around game, but the defense is impressive.

Memphis is probably the most underrated of the favorites. This was the team that almost went undefeated, but now everyone seems to have forgotten.

Duke got a favorable match up in the brackets in my opinion. I think UCLA is the weakest 1 seed and Xavier is arguably the 3rd or 4th 3 seed.

Wisconsin is in the toughest bracket of them all. This bracket is not fair period.
USC, Kansas St, Wisconsin, Kansas, Georgetown, Davidson, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, Clemson.

I just have things all shaken up in this bracket, but what I do know is that to beat all these great teams, you need a tough defensive team that I think Wisconsin possesses. Picking a winner out of this bracket is seriously impossible and it's most likely going to be the bracket that determines the winner of any bracket.


Enjoy the madness and I can't wait to talk about LOST this week.

LOST Recap

I had to write about LOST right away tonight, so there are tons of spoilers in this if you haven't seen tonight's episode yet. Don't read it if you don't want anything given away.

So I paused the Tivo on the tombstone of Jin noticing it says 9/22/2004 as his date of death, the same date of the crash. This means that there is still a chance he isn't dead for all of you Jin fans. I believe that he is just part of the lie that is being perpetuated by Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron (although Aaron really just cries and has two hot moms). My prediction is that Jin is not dead, but part of what is left on the island. That being said, revisiting the odds is important as Sun is now a 15 to 1 winner as is Aaron at 4 to 7. (Read the previous blog I wrote today for more LOST info). Kevin Johnson, on top of being an excellent 3 point shooter in his hey day is also a candidate for mayor of Sacramento along with the new alias of Michael, Ben's apparent mole. Ship the 2 to 1 on that one.

Other than that, it is implied by the captain that Ben staged the crash meaning he has resources that we can't even imagine. That being said, I believe that Ben is now behind the Oceanic Six's lie considering he is already conspiring with Sayid as we've seen. I think that Ben is either holding the people on the island ransom, so that the Oceanic Six produces the lie that they were the only six on the island that survived, or he has thought up some other way to manipulate the Oceanic Six into their own lie.

Don't count on Jin being dead just yet ladies and gentlemen.

LOST and Poker

The best show on television will air it's seventh episode tonight and I'm looking forward to it. In honor of the odds my friend Keith and his kidney stones and LOST blog odds (Keith's blog link), I'm going to assess my own odds. Oh neat, I have KK in a sit n go. Maybe I'll inject some hands in while I'm writing this from the two $225 sit n gos. OK maybe that was a terrible sign of bad luck. I just pushed for 10 BB with KJ suited on the cutoff and got called by AJ gg in one sit n go.

Anyway, LOST odds are as follows (spoilers in LOST and you don't want the best show spoiled now do you)

Odds to be part of the Oceanic Six (We already know Kate, Sayid, Jack, Hurley and I think Aaron, so his odds are reflected in that)

Desmond: 80 - 1 Aaron: 4 - 7 Claire: 50 - 1
Locke: 80 - 1 Rose: 40 - 1 Juliet: 192 - 1
Jin: 3 - 1 Sun: 15 - 1 Sawyer: 90- 1
Vincent: 8000000 - 1 Bernard: 40 - 1 Charlie 9000000000000000- 1

Sun and Jin are a packaged deal in most things, but Sun is pregnant on an island where pregnant women die. Charlie is dead, Vincent is a dog, Desmond is a potential dark horse candidate for the spy. Locke is most likely tied to the island forever. Claire is a high odds candidate because Aaron is not with here assuming she is on the island. Rose and Bernard are fake. Sawyer is highly unlikely to be the candidate because he has made it clear he doesn't trust anybody and doesn't want to leave.

Odds to be the mole on the boat.

Michael: 2 to 1
Desmond: 5 to 1
Sayid: 20 to 1

These are the real only options.

Poker is real frustrating and I just busted in 8th and 9th in the two sit n gos. A clear and stellar performance by me. I have really started to hate sit n gos to be completely honest since I've started to play the step sit n gos. When you get under 10 BB's in a sit n go, there is no way to play post-flop, so it's just luck and a shoving contest. I consistently shove in late position only to run into a monster dominating hand and it just happened again. I think turbo sit n gos are a terrible idea for any player that thinks they have a skill advantage in the game, but who really cares because the game is all luck.

Here is my current problem with the game of poker. There are many instances where no matter what you do, you can't win. Last night was the pinnacle of this comment when I was playing 2/4 NL heads up against a guy that had no speed but 100 MPH. I ended up swinging up 4 buy ins to down 2 buy ins in a period of a little over an hour. When you play heads up for a long time, you can really pick off good reads of how people are playing if they don't properly mix it up. If they don't mix it up enough, the same rules apply to a lot of the betting patterns they exhibit. For example, extremely small or extremely large value bets are almost always the same betting pattern tell of a player. The all-in overshove on the river is one of these tells. The very small value bet could also be a tell. I picked up so much information about my opponent that it was almost impossible for me to not have a significant edge, but when you are playing heads up, you will absolutely not win no matter what you do at least 1 out of 4 times you play. I got set up on a nice 1600 pot to end it all with a flush draw against AA when the AA had a higher flush card and the board went flush card flush card to give him the ace high flush and counterfeit my lower flush and I just quit. Even though the opponent now had 2200 in front of him with over 1400 being his own, I felt the amount of emotional play that I would invoke into the game would not help me. Sometimes, we just have to slow down and cut our losses in this game. It's not that I wouldn't have an edge, but I wouldn't play with a straight mind against this guy. I picked up so many good sized pots with well-timed bluffs and calls only to have it all thrown away in a series of about 3 hands where in one of the 3 I decided to gamble hard as about a 42% underdog. In the other 2 hands, I had my opponent significantly outclassed. The one hand was K9 when I made my standard raise to 12 and was called. The flop came K 3 2 and I was check raised (with this opponent, he really never had the winning hand on a check raise because he refused to mix it up). Instead of pushing, I played it off for value when a non scare card hit the turn maybe an 8 or something he fired the pot and I called. River 2 and he again fired pot and I called to see A2. Now maybe I can make an argument for ending the madness earlier in the hand, but when you against a player that holds the gas down no matter what, I think it's wrong to not let them hang their chips out to dry. At the same time, it's extremely frustrating to not have the deck ever cooperate in situations like this. The game is so unbelievably swingy that it's scary sometimes. One day you can go from being on top of the world to the next day feeling you are significantly outclassed. The only thing to do is to always try to get better and make correct decisions and constantly evaluate if they are correct. I think it's easy to ignore the bad plays we do make sometimes in honor of our own pride. I'm going to evaluate my sit n go strategy and really look if I need to push in these 10 BB spots with some of the hands I have been pushing with. Either way, I still feel that I have been running bad for the last 6-8 months and I'm still hanging in there.

Las Vegas happiness

So I haven't played much online except for a few heads up cash games where I always seem to get involved in enormous pots, but either way end up $100 each time I play. Don't ever complain about small profits. I also haven't played much online because I had my first official Las Vegas visitor, avid comment poster, Mike Z.

Here is the summary of the game of poker Mike and I played. We started off playing usually the NL game with a 500 max and trying extremely hard to win. Usually, we make good moves and win a little bit of money. Then we tend to have a few cocktails and deciding that we really need to see every single flop, and if we ever sit at the same table, the dealer tries as hard as possible to cooler us. So, I want to run through some of the exciting hands.

Some character of a Rush Hour 3 shoved for 10 BB into Mike Z. AA at the Orleans $105 tournament to show A9 and jam Mike Z. out of that tournament. Everyone knows that A9 can make three of a kind and frushes. Yes, I said frushes.

I played the H.O.S.E. event at the Wynn for 1k even though I really don't enjoy buying into big events when I'm not destroying online poker. At the same time, I really enjoy HORSE/HOSE events online because I feel I have a very good understanding of every game and have had success in HORSE tourneys online along with my 16th?? or so finish in the Stud Hi/Lo WCOOP. Anyway, it wasn't meant to be for me. I can honestly say that I did make a few mistakes here a few times made a couple bad river calls in Hold Em. Limit Hold em is not a very strong game of mine, but I think I usually have a good mentality in these tournaments. I just always want to be the aggressor, and it's something that can give you action in other games as well.

Anyway, I had a very interesting hand come up with a player that always seems to have my number when we play. That player is gank AKA Brett Jungblutt. I'm fully aware he is no slouch certainly in the game of Omaha Hi/Lo. The hand that really set me back though was a Stud Hi hand.

99 Q
XX 5

I completed to 150 and he called.

99 Q J
XX 5 4

I bet he called. At this point, I was trying to narrow down his hands to a possible hand like a 3 flush that decided to peal another one off or maybe just a 5 5 or maybe even 4 5 6 or something like that and it just picked up a pair.

99 Q J 9
XX 5 4 2

I bet 300 he calls.

99 QJ9 X
XX 5 4 2 2.

At this point he leads out into me and I'm almost positive I'm ahead, but he only has 2.5 bets left I think, so I believe I raised and we put the rest in.

He turned over a 5 in the seventh card giving him 5's full of deuces and I failed to boat up.

After that I think I played poorly because I just don't know how to play short stacked limit hold em. Stud Hi/Lo was extremely cold as well.

I tried to get my last 900 chips in when I completed with an A showing and I really didn't even look at my hole cards at that point but I got two callers so I decided to look.

KK A
XX 5
XX 2

KK A Q
XX 5 9
XX 2 10

Really just an absolutely perfect 4th street. I bet 150 and both still called.

KK A Q A
XX 5 9 A
XX 2 10 J

I bet 300 and the A 5 9 showing put the rest in there which wasn't much.

He flipped over 5 5 A 9 7 to put me in great shape to scoop outright, but he went 2, 6 I think to get half the pot.

It was still a great experience to play a different game and I enjoyed a different dynamic.



So, I usually never gamble in Las Vegas, but when friends come in town, it's really time to put that rule aside and throw a few hundreds out there for the entertainment.

I was at the hottest craps table in the world at MGM with Scott Storch look a like and two hot women shooters. Women shooters are simply the nuts and we'll get back to that in just a bit. Anyway, we were hitting everything and I believe I left up about 800 units. Take some of that to the roulette wheel where thanks to some super coolers that would simply not get on our team in roulette I gave back about 300 units. If you are at the roulette wheel and everyone in on a number, you have to get on board. You must focus all karmic energy on that one number in order to beat the house. It's that simple.

We also went to a comedy show at Tropicana earlier that night for $20 bucks and a show that was certainly worth the value. Earlier we played 1/2 NL at Tropicana where I have evidence of the dealer cooling us off.

Some guy moves UTG for $29 I think. I call with K2 of clubs because why not. Mike Z. calls and two other players call. So with approximately $150 in the pot, flop comes KQ7 with two spades. I immediately push a stack in and Mike Z. immediately calls and shows K5 of spades, uh oh.

The initial pusher flips over the A5 without the A of spades. Turn is a card that ensures Mike and I split the pot if a spade doesn't come, river is A of hearts sending the main pot to the $29 utg raiser.

We ended up at Planet Hollywood in a 1/2 NL game with strizzaddles and $25 blind bets. I picked off a bluff with Q 10 on a 10 7 2 5 J board when AK pushed hard and that gave me a little money. I'm really not trying to play these things as serious as possible, but rather as an experiment for different styles of play and to have some fun.

That night ended as a fun one and the next day was fun as we played 1-4 spread limit Stud because the Mirage would just not call our names to get into the no limit game. After losing around 50 units, I decided to hit the craps table one more time. Earlier in the night, we hit the $5 craps at O'Sheas for a little bit of fun and a little bit of winning. So we start at the Mirage and there is a high roller on the table betting close to about 2k on various places on the board per round. After a few rolls around and being up a little bit of money, the high roller comes up when two young attractive girls walk by the table. He calls the two girls over to the table and asks the one cute blonde girl to the table to say "honey please roll these dice for me." She looks a little tentative, but of course, obliges to the man's request. She immediately rolls a 7 on the opening roll and the high roller gives her 100. Then she does it again, another 100. At this point, Mike is just freaking out and I'm trying not to explode in laughter as the jealous friend is looking at her with the most jealously calm stare. Then she rolls a number and hits the point for another 200. At this point, we are now just about freaking out. He puts up 50 on the 11 or 12 and she rolls a 12!! Another 100. Then she puts up a 5 on the point and the place was just ready to erupt because he had about 1200 on 5 and said "Honey, if you hit that five, you will get five hundred." After probably 10 rolls, she finally hits the 5 and everyone is cheering and going for high fives. He flips her a nice purple chips and now she has a stack of around 1400. Then the table got cold as ice and he certainly gave a lot back as did I. We decided to go play blackjack with this guy and these two girls and suddenly ran into the most ruthless dealer I've ever met. This lady was not only making a horrible argument for Penn St. football vs. Ohio State, at one point we all had decent hands to when she flipped up something like 13, ran out a 2 and a 6 and said something like "YEAH right there." I've never heard a dealer do that, but I gave back about 400 units to really just kind of break even on gambling for the weekend. Either way, I'm still scared of this dealer and her ruthless interrogations at the table. She kept asking me if it was my first time to Vegas and when she found out I lived here, she wanted to know what I do. I never gave her the pleasure, but she destroyed what could have been a positive gambling trip.


Now I have all the gamble out of me and am certainly ready to get back to a normal schedule, but it was great to have a great time and a visitor and whoever comes out, you are in for just as much fun as it all sounds.

I'll take Jay's question about American Idol. Jay basically asked if David Archuleta was unstoppable. David is the youngest guy on the show and while I'm crossing the line admitting I've actually watched every episode this season as the first time I've ever done that with this show, I don't think this kid is stoppable. He is the best, and the class of girls is completely weak. I think Jason Castro, the guy with the dreads is second best or more like something I would probably listen to. I don't really like what these shows produce in the end most of the time because I don't listen to that music, but I think this season has promise. Obviously, in a voting game though Jay, anything can happen, but expect him to be in the top 4 for sure.


That's all for now, it's been a good time being away from playing so many tournaments online and my new article is up on Pocketfives.

We have a lot to talk about

So let's start with the most obvious question. Why are humans so incapable of minimizing a bottleneck in traffic situations? The intelligence of the human race really comes to fruition when faced with such a daunting task of merging into one lane from two freeway lanes. There is the obvious sign something along the lines of "left lane closed 1/2 mile" or the obvious merge sign. While most patient humans sit in the lane that is actually open, thousands of rude humans with no idea how to act continue to symbolically say "F&$# you" to the rest of us. Even when there appears to be no cars in the lane, idiot humans either say "I'm going to cut because someone will let me in" or "durrrrr look at that lane there are no cars in it, I must be a genius because I'm the only one noticing." Sorry sir or madam, but you are helping no one but yourself and ruining thousands of people's days. Luckily for everyone who reads this blog, I have come up with a solution to this problem and a way that we can all make everyone's life easier. I have a few solutions to this problem and both take courage and leadership, but I can assure you that we will break this as a human race. We will siphon out the greed whenever presented with this situation and we will say "F&$% you" right back. Now, if you are a person who tries to get to the last possible point and cut over thus increasing the bottleneck, I have nothing to say for you except enjoy the fires of hell. Only a terrible, inconsiderate person would do such a thing (exceptions do include an expecting mother or dying passenger).

I have come up with 2 main strategies to minimize this bottleneck.

1. As soon as you recognize what lane is closed immediately merge to that lane and then continue to follow the pace of the car to your right. Make sure the car to your right knows that you are helping him or her by clogging the bottleneck. Hand signals, a good thumbs up or a smile will let them know perfectly well that you are on their team. Now, every single car behind you is going to be super pissed now. I mean why are you blocking their God given right to cut every other patient person off. You have to hold your ground. Honking and swearing and even the occasional swerve around cannot unnerve you. You do, however, have to do your best to block the traffic from passing because as soon as one greedy, incompetent human gets an idea, everyone behind him is likely to follow. Remember that this is truly for the benefit of every single person. Traffic is slow because people have to stop and go and wait for last second merges. If people merge prior to the bottleneck, the bottleneck will increase and time will be cut in half.

2. The only other strategy to combat this and I don't believe it is possible is to never let anyone into the line after the lane closed sign. This can only be done by universal discipline by every driver. Unfortunately, I think this will lead to bad results in terms of crashes and road rage deaths. Strategy 1 is possible, but if it does not work, it is perfectly fine to not let a single person in and stare that them with disdain as you don't let them in.


Moving on, I'm not sure how I feel about the election results from yesterday. Congratulations to John McCain are certainly in order, but I don't know who to believe is the actual winner of the Democratic primaries and caucuses. If Obama maintains a large enough lead, it's almost mathematically impossible to beat him in delegates with as close of a race as it is, yet superdelegates are going to rally around a winner. Hillary has won every single big state. I just don't think you can ignore that. While she is completely unelectable, she apparently has a passionate following in the big states. Now California and New York really don't matter that much because despite what the Governator does with California, in a close national race, it will never go Republican. If California goes Republican, it will likely be a landslide. What I don't know how to process is Obama's success in the deep South. Are these states even winnable for Democrats ever? I can only imagine if these states went Democratic what it would do to the landscape of America. Either way, the Democrats are probably gaining a lot of excitement from voters on each side and I think a long race has pros and cons like everything. You can't just say the longer they stay away from McCain the more it will hurt them because the more interested people are in a part race, the stronger the party base will be when one candidate finally emerges.

Cleveland Browns

Let's get down the to real business. Cleveland has a QB controversy for another 3 years guaranteed, we just gave a lazy D lineman a 6 year huge contract and we traded our best cornerback. I suppose that is a negative way to look at things. I want to address all the big moves.

Derek Anderson: I think it was a win-win situation, but I do believe that one side was better. It is nice to have a proven average starter though when you are developing a possible star. It's also nice to have a guy that knows the system. The money we paid for him is steep, but I don't think the Browns care. A consistent playoff football team in Cleveland would be the best thing in sports in Cleveland since probably the '48 World Series.

D Line moves: Pro: We have two starters that we can plug in right away. Cons: We paid a steep price for them. We lost 2nd and 3rd round picks this year. With the ability of Savage to draft, I like my chances in the draft that we gain a large amount of talent. Leigh Bodden is also our best cornerback at a position with no depth. If we can't put together another free agent acquisition here, we have a big glaring hole in our defense. Can Wright and McDonald fill this gap? I don't know the answer to that. I do think that on average our cornerbacks don't have to be as good because we will theoretically be getting more pressure on the quarterback.

Nick Sorenson: Who?

Donte Stallworth: I love this move. In my opinion, Stallworth will thrive here for the next 6 years. Joey J. will likely be retiring at the end of this season leaving a glaring hole in our receiver core. We don't have a good third receiver. We don't even have an average third receiver. Josh Cribbs will never be a receiver in the NFL. He will always be an explosive return guy. Tim Carter stinks. Travis Wilson never developed into anything, and you can't count Winslow because he's a tight end (although he should play receiver and can't block). This secures another quality receiver in an offense that has come to be explosive.

Kellen Winslow: He will be a problem this offseason. The audacity of this guy astounds me. After further proving that nothing good comes from "the U" by destroying his knee in a motorcycle accident, his contract should have never been honored. Cleveland showed a ton of good will and faith in this guy and he has played well, but don't you think you need more than one good season to prove you have arrived in Cleveland? I have never trusted this guy, but I've always loved his heart on the field. Let's just hope he really cares about the Browns and not just about using his high profile agent to start a war with the front office.


Poker

I just finished my second article in the 2 part series for Pocketfives. It should be up in the next couple of weeks. I'm still upset at how close I was to winning the Pokerstars Nightly the other night. 21k between 1st and 3rd is a big difference, but I can't complain too much. I'm a very emotional player. It's something I've come to terms with, but something that can absolutely not affect your play. At times, I really let it effect me, especially on large losing streaks. I can think of several times in the last 2 weeks where I was in multiple tournaments and with one tournament left, I just simply gave up and made a dumb move. At the same time, I'm struggling with always having a short stack. I want to do more things to give myself a better chance from dodging my tournament life. When you are losing races, having a short stack ensures your demise. I'm really not sure where to take this blog on a poker level. Any suggestions or questions would be great to know because I feel like to make a great poker blog you have to do much more than complain about bad beats and say how well you play. I pretty much never stick with a poker blog because it's always the same. I want to avoid that with my blog.

Back to the Winner's Circle........sort of

3rd in the Pokerstars Nightly $162 for a little over $12k. There was a lot of things that went well in this and then with a large chip lead with 5 and 4 left some crucial huge hands did not go in my favor. I will be sure to do a blog about some big hands in this, but I basically lost an AK vs Q4, AQ vs 6 9 to take me out of this. There was also a very tough cooler hand that I think I may have made one bad move on the river with, but I'll post all this later. I'm super tired and I don't even know how to work the hand history on this computer yet since my other computer is under repair. Also, I'm planning on writing part 2 of the PocketFives article, but I need to wait until my computer is repaired to get the data. After the Dell guy came last week to fix my computer, he forgot to reattach the fan, so the processor is just frying until a guy comes out to replace the fan.

It does feel great to run well in a tournament even though I did get a little robbed in this one since the difference was about $20k between 3rd and 1st.