Party Poker Blog

"To check-raise with a hand with which you want to thin out the field, you want the probable bettor to your right so that people will have to call a double bet to stay in. With a very strong hand and most come hands, you want the probable bettor to your left so the other players in the hand might call that bettor's single bet and then be invited to call the raise."
David Sklansky, Theory of Poker

Damn blogger.com. Couldn't post. Hopefully this uber-long post will make up for the delay.

So, it's been awhile since I've said said this, so allow me to reiterate:

I LOVE PARTY POKER! Especially on Friday nights. I was already up about $60 when I somehow lucked out and found an uber-loose, maniac, chat filled 3.6 table.

Vitriolic chatty table > silent serious table

I used to utilize chat as a weapon much more than I do now. Now I tend to only chat if I want to regale a friend sweating the table, or to deflect attacks from a fish who's giving away money. I had both reasons last evening. A young punk was browbeating the table fish, who was handing out brutal river beats. That, in and of itself, is uncalled for, but the hilarious thing was, he was quoting Phil Helmuth's book the entire time. Let's just say hilarity ensued.

But anyway, with the action on this table, you would have thought this was 50.1, with several players on tilt for good measure. Insane. I lost a massive pot with AA to J4o early on but managed to dig my way out of the hole by winning a $160 pot when nobody called my river bet.

DoctorJ_CA: wow - that might set a record for largest uncalled pot on party poker

There's actually a ton of hilarious lines from last evening, but I'll just post this one:

sandos: nice kicker XXXX face

If only I could play on a table like that every night, I could die a happy man.

K, enough about Friday night maniacs. Ready for a rambling, chock-full of poker goodness post?

I had two good questions in my comments that I'll address here.

#1 If I only have one PC, would it be better to join Party Poker or Empire?

Party Poker and Empire are identical with the exception of one thing: multi-table tournaments. Despite the overlay in the big weekly Empire tourneys, Party's selection of multi's is far superior. There's just a ton of them, running around the clock. So for that reason, I'd go with Party Poker if I had to pick one.

#2 What do you think about poker stars vs party poker?

I've certainly blogged about this many times, but I'll state the facts one more time for my new readers.
I've played on PokerStars since beta. There's no comparison. PokerStars has the best software and customer support, hands down, but they are lacking one very important feature: 20,000 fish.

There are *far* more fish in the aquarium at Party. The play is far looser on Party. Thankfully, Party Poker doesn't show the inane stat of "players seeing flop" like at Stars. Stars has many skilled European players, something I rarely see on Party. There's simply no comparison. If game selection is important to you, play on Party Poker.

To recap:

Party Poker > Poker Stars

Speaking of Party/Empire, here's some news:

Empire Poker has launched their Vegas Dreams tournament where 10 World Series of Poker seats are available to be won. The qualifiers cost $10 to enter so all you Chris Moneymaker wanna-be's go read the details here.

PartyPoker.com Million IV qualifiers starting on March 1st
The fourth Party Poker million qualifiers will start on the 1st of March and the estimated prize pool is $6 million. Entry is either by a $1 lucky dollar tournament, a $25 qualifier or a $200 semi-final. For every 50 participants in the semi-finals, one entry will be available for the finals. The Party Poker million IV final will take place onboard a cruise ship.

News about one of my favorite poker authors:
Mike Caro leaves Planet Poker
When Planet Poker (the Internet's first play for cash poker room) started up 6 years ago, Mike Caro (the legendary Mad Genius of poker) joined forces with them to promote the cardroom and online poker in general. After a very fruitful partnership, Mike has decided to leave Planet and pursue other interests. Roy Cooke, the renowned poker expert, professional poker player, and Senior Columnist at Card Player magazine, will be taking over Mike's duties at Planet Poker.

I sure miss Mike in RGP. Speaking of which, there is yet another movement to create a Moderated Rec.Gambling.Poker newsgroup. I found this interesting take about a potential moderated group:

--
Proposed RGPM
In regards to the guidelines you posit, would the following be permitted? Quotes are inexact but sufficiently close for debate purposes:

"You're approaching worthlessness." Carson to Negreanu

"I'd cheerfully spit in your face." Phillips to Carson

"Whoosh. That's the sound of the point, whizzing over your head."
Weideman to Treesong

"Annie Duke is really lame, for the following sixty reasons, including her smelly feet."
Negreanu to the world.

"You like to smear feces all over yourself?"
Rowdy to Treesong

"What I really hate is those people who just MAKE SHIT UP."
Phillips to Treesong
--

That's actually kind of a lame 'highlight' reel of flames from RGP but it will have to suffice.

So I really wanted to pontificate about a few poker concepts, especially Fancy Play Syndrome, but I've got some linking I want to get out of the que. I'll ramble about that stuff tomorrow.

Here's a new poker blog from LiveJournal. Thoughtful posts from a newish player, I hope he keeps it up.
D's Journal
I don't know if he reads me or not, but he's wise enough to echo my sentiments exactly:

--
I should start by singing the praises of PokerTracker. If you aren't using it and you are playing online, you are literally throwing money away.
--

Thanks to Chris & Pauly, I discovered Wil Wheaton posting about poker in his hugely popular blog. A must read:
Lying in Odessa Part I

Per Felicia comes Sgt. Rock's trip reports. A worthy read.

The Poker Vegan had a pro gay-marriage, accusatory homophobe finger-pointing post, continuing his bizarre sense of morality. Let's see if I follow this, Meat is Murder but packing meat is OK?

Oh the humanity.

I actually had a Redd Foxx like rant about the Vegan, but deleted it. Maybe next time.

Yikes - Poker Perspectives is back from the dead and he's up and posting again.
Poker Perspectives

WSOP tournament director, Matt Savage, has announced the blind structure for the 2004 World Series of Poker. That seems worthy of sharing. I humbly apologize for the all caps, but I'm too lazy to re-key it in.


WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
NO LIMIT TEXAS HOLD'EM
$10,000 BUY-IN
MONDAY, MAY 22, 2004, 1PM
SCHEDULE OF PLAY

DAYS ONE AND TWO
LEVEL ANTE BLINDS
1ST - $25-$50
2ND - $50 - $100
3RD - $100 - $200
4TH $25 $100 - $200
5TH $50 $150 - $300
END OF DAYS ONE AND TWO
\6TH $50 $200 - $400
7TH $50 $250 - $500
8TH $75 $300 - $600
REMOVE $25 CHIPS
9TH $100 $400 - $800
10TH $100 $500-$1,000
END OF THIRD DAY
11TH $200 $600 - $1,200
12TH $200 $800 - $1,600
13TH $300 $1,000 - $2,000
14TH $400 $1,200 - $2,400
REMOVE $100 CHIPS
15TH $500 $1,500 - $3,000
END OF FOURTH DAY

DAYS FIVE, SIX AND SEVEN
16TH $500 $2,000 - $4,000
17TH $500 $2,500 - $5,000
REMOVE $500 CHIPS
18TH $1,000 $3,000 - $6,000
19TH $1,000 $4,000 - $8,000
20TH $1,000 $5,000 - $10,000
21ST $2,000 $6,000 - $12,000
22ND $2,000 $8,000 - $16,000
23ND $3,000 $10,000 - $20,000
24TH $4,000 $12,000 - $24,000
REMOVE $1,000 CHIPS
25TH $5,000 $15,000 - $30,000
26TH $5,000 $20,000 - $40,000
27TH $5,000 $25,000 - $50,000
REMOVE $5,000 CHIPS
28TH $10,000 $30,000 - $60,000
29TH $10,000 $40,000 - $80,000
30TH $10,000 $50,000 - $100,000
31ST $20,000 $60,000 - $120,000
32ND $20,000 $80,000 - $160,000
33RD $30,000 $100,000 - $200,000

EACH LEVEL WILL LAST TWO HOURS. THERE WILL BE A 15 MINUTE BREAK AFTER EVERY
LEVEL. 75 MINUTE DINNER BREAKS WILL FOLLOW THE THIRD COMPLETED LEVEL EACH DAY.
FIELD WILL BE SPLIT OVER FIRST TWO DAYS AND COMBINE ON THE THIRD DAY. THE
FOURTH DAY WILL PLAY FIVE LEVELS. THE FIFTH DAY WILL BE PLAYED DOWN TO 36
PLAYERS. THE SIXTH DAY WILL BE PLAYED DOWN TO THE FINAL NINE PLAYERS. PLAY
RESUMES AT NOON EACH DAY.
--

Doh, I forgot to link to this excellent post by Clarkmeister about luck on 2+2, so here ya go:
Running bad or playing badly?

Yet another interesting 2+2 post and reply about John Feeny and his excellent book, Inside the Poker Mind.

--
In your book, you say a good player should see about 15% of the flops and that an excellent player can squeeze profit out of an additional 10-15%. Does the 15% include hands in the blind without having to any additional bets, does it include hands in the blinds that you have to call a raise? or is the 15% limited to hands played that are not in the blinds.

reply:

The 15% figure refers to hands when you are not in the blinds. You might want to check out the essay "Playing 15 Percent" in Poker Essays II (by Mason), which is where it seems the number originated.
--

Allrighty then, that oughta keep the poker beast in you satiated for a bit.

Oh wait, I almost forgot WPT pro, Richard ("I had to drink my coffee from a styrofoam cup - what is the world coming to?") Brodie, updated with a new post, woohoo!
Lion Tales

Word Perfect^TM sucked, by the way, Richard. ;) Kidding, of course. I'm a pretty big Brodie fan.

I've been hearing some rumblings in the background that some esteemed poker bloggers are trying to find us a home base for a weekly private tourney. Who knows, though, maybe everyone will be content with TruePoker. We're only eleven days away from tourney #2.

Sadly, I don't have cool prizes to throw into the prize pool ala Grubby, but I WILL throw in a Party Poker jacket for the winner. That seems worthy.

So again, thanks for reading. If you enjoy this here blog and ARE NOT playing on Party Poker, you need to get your head checked and sign up on Party Poker with bonus code IGGY! Do it NOW! Seriously, use whatever bonus code you want (IGGY!), but MOVE YOUR GAME TO PARTY. You'll thank me later, believe me.

Link of the Day:
He Will Gore the Nations
Vutant.Com: "Gore fans, don't let the fact that this film is about Jesus put you off. There is almost no religious content at all. Jesus is too busy getting stabbed, scouraged and beaten to do much preaching."

Poker blogs, Poker blogs, and even more Poker blogs

“If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: The rules of the game, the stakes and the quitting time.”
Chinese Proverb

45,000 FREAKING PLAYERS ON PARTY POKER TWO NIGHTS AGO!

Oh the humanity. I'm questioning if their ticker was correct.

Anyone who IS playing online and not playing on PartyPoker, is profoundly retarded. I hate to say that, truly I do, but DAMN, the games are seemingly getting softer and softer. I played on a 3.6 table last evening that had three players seeing EVERY flop for over an hour. One maniac reloaded twice before losing yet another $150 and leaving, it was that insane.

Of course, I only scooped one pot in that entire time. Is there anything more frustrating in poker than watching a nutball give away his money to everyone but you?

On top of that, I made the mistake of only half-watching a NL ring game and _I_ became the fool, giving away money.

Note to self: pay attention, damnit.

I wanted to make a quick note about EmpirePoker. I've received several emails over the last few weeks from players taking my advice and trying to sign up on Empire to no avail. So I'm here to give you the skinny. How and why should you play on Empire?

First of all, the tournaments on Empire have some serious overlay. You may have seen some of the other astute bloggers writing about this. Empire is actually losing money. They are now guaranteeing $50,000 every Sunday and $10,000 every Wednesday. In fact, on Sunday there were only 212 players - meaning this is one of the best tournament overlays around. Also, Empire Poker is still adding $20,000!

I probably shouldn't mention this, but Empire is AGAIN offering reload bonuses and such, so there is still opportunity for those of you who want to bonus whore. Hell, it's free money. I went and scooped up my $100 bonus in a flash yesterday. Made up for my beatings at the NL table. So anyway, for all of you Party players who want to take advantage of a second screen name on Empire, here's what ya got to do.

#1 Don't play on Party for 30 days. Then you can open an Empire account.

This, of course, is unacceptable. Sooo, here's the work around:

#2 Use a second computer to open your Empire account. That's it. Party does it's tracking by IP so all ya need is a second box to take advantage of the insanity going on at Party/Empire. Easy fix. If you want to use my bonus code of IGGY1 ($100 bonus - 20%) on Empire when you signup, I'd be deeply appreciated. But regardless, you owe it your bankroll to take advantage of this. I like using my Empire account when I find a table with a couple regulars, guys I've played a lot of hands with.

Here was a post about this very topic:

---
You do NOT need a different name or email address to sign up at a skin. All you need to do is use a different computer/IP and you can keep all the other info the same. There's no reason to sign up as your aunt or wife or whoever.

It's fine if an existing Party player signs up to a skin. I have been told that they're just trying to cut down on some bonus abuse. There are some unique features about each skin that you can use as justification. You make it sound like you need to completely change your identity when all you need to do is sign up from a different computer.
---

K, enough about that. I just wanted the guys who tried like hell to sign up on Empire to know what the deal is. Happy bonus whoring, boys. Thank me later. :)

Hrm, weird, just noticed I got a few hits from Cracksmokers.

Woohoo, two new poker blogs! Sprouting like weeds, aren't they?

down to the felt

tp’s tidbits

I love the new blogs. It's really been fascinating to watch the poker blogging scene take off. Speaking of which, a new blogger, Russ, that I pointed out in my last post, is up and running now thanks to my prodding.

Go visit:
The Russ Has Spoken

And it appears as if Chicago Phil moved from Blogger to Live Journal. Here's his new home:
Chicago Phil's Poker Blog

Here's a couple more random links. First off, from uber-blogger, Felicia, who opens this post with this matter-of-fact statement:

--
Don, as you may remember, is the elderly racist who exposed himself to me last week.
--

LOL. Oh the humanity. Felicia rules.

Damnit, I read that our British blogger couldn't play in our blogger tourney cause of zee Germans. Doh! I sure hope you can play in the next one.

Go read Cardplayer X's trip report:
Tunica LAND OF THE LOSS

Check out Mister Decker's interesting follow up post on the DOS attacks on poker sites:
Mister Decker

Alrighty then, I'm dying to play some poker but it will have to wait till tonite. I am going to fully concentrate tonight, damnit. Maybe two tables of 3.6 for me to make up for last nite's idiocy.

Thanks for reading. Please note the links on the right have been updated.

Link of the Day:
Naked Came the Reporter
Grant Stoddard slept with a RealDoll floor model in the interests of journalism: "The initial pleasure of Karen's tightness was tempered by the feeling that I was humping a cadaver and was about to experience my first morgueasm."

Damn, it's been fun reading all the poker blogs and the reports of last evening's epic tournament. Gentle reader, you owe it to yourself to plow through the list on the right, if you haven't already.

FatGuy's full writeup

So while driving into work today I was thinking, how the hell did we ever get this tourney thing going? It truly was an off-handed comment.

From December 13th: "One of these days we'll need to get a private table and have a poker bloggers only game. Or can we arrange a private SNG? That could be purty fun, imho."

from Hdouble: "The Great Blogger Hold 'Em Experiment!"

from Grubby: "Let's do it!"

And he did.

We proceeded to get turned down by Party, Empire, PokerStars, Paradise and Ultimate Bet before Grubby saved the day, landing us a home at Choice Poker. A hearty hoist of the Guinness, to you, Grubbs.

It can only go downhill from here.

I know people were bashing Choice for the software (I was guilty, too, of whining about the turbo blinds) and what-not, but honestly, we should thank them for hosting the tourney for us. Beggars can't be choosers. I was content with Grubby finally finding a place for us to play. No need to take a $20 blogger tourney more seriously than it is.

But, I _really_ wanted to see the hand histories. So I've been harassing Choice Poker support today. I finally received this response:

--
We apologize about the inconvenience but we have had some problems with the hand history feature. We will send you the information as soon as we have it back working.
Choice Poker Support
--

For the love of God, there's only FOUR people playing there and I'm sure they're all props. Cmon, Choice, it's not like there is a ton of data to go through here. This makes me realize I should prolly cut PartyPoker some slack when they are supplying this data for 36,000 players.

Speaking of which, my Party Poker buddy list hasn't worked in weeks.

But back to the tournament for a moment - I completely forgot about Felicia (who of all the players I would least like to have on my left, of course, was on my left) trash-talking our table. I don't think anyone was expecting the fart and/or p*ssy jokes. Talk about a missed opportunity for an over/under bet.

I mentioned earlier how I broke the ice at our table, the first to go all-in, coming over the top of Dan at PokerWatch on the flop. I really enjoyed reading his take on that play:

PokerWatch
--
I fared poorly. Placed 22nd out of 32. I think I got thrown off my game early on when I folded trip-9s-with-an-Ace-kicker against I don't know what. The dude (he goes by Iggy) was betting like a maniac and I couldn't figure out what he might have, so I ran like a scared little girl -- regretting the move only half-a-moment after I pressed the fold key. He claimed a hand or two later that he was bluffing into me with 2-7 offsuit, known in poker-blogger parlance as The Hammer, for which there was a special $250 bounty out there for anyone who could play it and win.

From that point on, I somehow believed everyone was playing The Hammer against me always -- a classic Dan mistake. Putting your opponents on a constant stream of 27o's is no way to win a poker tournament.
--

Too damn funny. It's worked, we finally have people muttering to themselves, "could he; could he, possibly be holding THE HAMMER?"

For the record, I was indeed bluffing so I thank the Poker Gods for Dan's fold, or I would have won a months worth of poker lessons, instead of Liquid Swords. Felicia says playing The Hammer didn't count because I didn't show it, and she's correct, but I had the damn auto-fold button still on. I figured the all-in move was win-win, either I get the fold and the pot or I have a good laugh if I get called.

I've also been meaning to link to Dan's fun story about Clonie Gowen playing in his poker game, so here it is:
POKER WATCH: DO YOU SMELL FISH?

Shaynamouse, who didn't get a chance to play, had a philosophical take on watching us:

--
Isn't it weird how the love of a certain passtime coupled with the internet can actually create weird community? It was SO ODD saying hello to people that I spend my days reading about...
--

I thought it was cool as hell. I didn't mind one bit when Mr. Decker outkicked my top pair early in the tourney, using me as his own personal chew toy. It seemed fitting. And I amused myself by spilling virtual beers on grubette, directly to my right, as she attempted to figure out Choice's chat software.

Thanks to Pauly for posting this:

-

"thefatguy: you don't know how talented my asshole is, sir..."

-

Damn, we need to have a weekly Sunday night tourney. Sure, it's -EV, but the laughs more than make up for it.

Alrighty then, enough of this incestous post. The tourney was all that I expected and much more.

Ready for the next one?

What: Poker Blogger World Poker Tour II
Where: TruePoker
When: Wednesday, March 10 @ 21:00 (9pm EST)

Email me for the tournament password.

I think you'll find the TruePoker experience to be quite different from any other site you've ever played on. I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just different. Much more of a social bent, which should provide some jocularity with our gang.

I'll go ahead and put a bounty on MeneGene's head. Prize to be announced at a later date.

Ready for some non-poker-blogger tournament content? I've got it in spades, per usual.

I'm loathe to mention this BUT: I read Felicia's post about bots so I might as well follow her lead. Plus MS Sunshine is posting about it in 2+2.

http://www.pokerbot.com/
Scumware, imho. It's likely one of two things: terrible AI and not worthy of the attention given it or better yet, a trojan horse. I've posted several times in the past about poker bots and generally have great disdain for them. I've played nearly every type of hold em software out there and the AI just doesn't cut it. Read prior posts for why this is so, when compared to a game like chess.

Humans (thus far) > poker bots

That being said, it's important to track these trends, even though I personally don't care. Hell, even Scoopmonster could play as a bot, back in the day, although you'd certainly lose alot of money if you let it. I've found that even the best software, is better used at running sims and refining your play in certain situations (defending blinds, for example) than actually taking the time to beat it. Your mileage may vary. This is especially true at no-limit.

WSOP tournament director, Matt Savage, had updated info on this year's Big Tourney:

--

The Horseshoe is set to open on April 1st and the WSOP dates are set for April 22-May 28th, 2004. The schedule on the Binion's Website is slightly incorrect, for a more accurate schedule see PokerPages.com, CardPlayer.com, or the PokerProfessor.com.

I am happy to announce that Susan Albrecht is on board and already taking room reservations for the 35th Annual World Series of Poker. Please call 1-877-FOR-WSOP or for immediate results call 702-278-3226. Rooms are already filling up fast and we are making every effort to place everyone in rooms for
the dates they want. Susan also has information on the Schedule, Supersatellites, Double Shootouts, Turn $50 into Millions, Single Table Satellites, and Second Chance Tournaments.

--

Food for thought: we cut it too close this year, but starting in May, I think we could start a Poker Blogger Series Tournament that sends a poker blogger to the '05 WSOP championship event in our name. It wouldn't be hard to do. There are two monthly local tournaments here, that do just this. I dunno, just drinking thinking out loud.

I've got a ton of poker news links, but screw it. I'd rather pimp these new poker blogs.

First and foremost, make sure to bookmark School of Hard Knocks. You'd never guess by his Photoshop work that he's a cop, but you'd be wrong. That alone makes his blog compelling, but here's why you wanna bookmark it:

--
I have worked long and hard to get the David Ross story up. Luckily he allowed me to put it on my site so you no longer have to do the BS search that 2+2 will put you through to read it.
--

Yup, all the David Ross posts in one place. Go visit now.

From a policeman poker blogger, to a surgeon in residency.... Damn, aren't we a diverse group?
Another keeper.
Casino Gosain

Another new blogger who played in the tourney last evening.
Single Malt Poker

From Chicago:
Chicago Phil's Poker Blog

What my blog should be named:
Poker Flatulence

Here's an empty poker blog. C'mon Russ, I'm waiting!
The Russ Has Spoken

No, he hasn't. Not yet.

Finally, World Poker Tour pro, Richard Brodie, wisely chickened out of the blogger tourney, but as a mitigating factor, he has a new post up.
It Rains in Southern California:
The 2004 Los Angeles Poker Classic

Great stuff.
I suppose I'll have mercy on my readers and not post a dozen poker news links.

Let's post poker pro's online names, shall we? From RGP.

--

Pros & Name Players At Ultimate Bet

dill pickle Mike Matosow
psykokwak is Bruno Fitoussi
Erik123 Erik Sagstrom
atl-angela Josh Arieh
formerly devastator now spirit rock = prahlad friedman (Best NLHE player online, crushes guys heads-up)
Annie Duke - AnnieDuke
Phil Hellmuth - PhilHellmuth
Devilfish/David Ulliot
LayneFlack Layne Flack (has another name on UB but nobody knows it)
joe buttons - Phil Ivey
Tallphil - Phil Gordon
empty chair - Eric Sidel (has a new name, unknown)
scottynguyen - Scotty Nguyen (seldom plays on UB)
Ticker Erik Lindren Swede - (won this years UB Aruba Tourney)
Peasant - Juha Helpi (Last years winner of the Aruba Tourney)
bizingo is ben affleck (does well in pro NLHE game, extremely tight)
tiltboy Rafe Furst
Krullis Daniel Larsson 2nd aruba UB won 300K 2003
wetspot Harley Hall
Zhuge Liang John Juana

---

Ditto for Poker Stars, only from 2+2:

--

Daniel Negreanu - doublesuited
Tom McEvoy - Tom McEvoy
Paul Wolfe - DOUBLEDUECE
Minneapolis Jim Meehan - actiondonkey
Chris Moneymaker - Money800
Pete Giordano - TheBeat
Dutch Boyd - KidDutch
MrPokeJoke - Mike Matusow
LuckBox - John Juanda
Tigerma - Tony Ma
EDOGN - Erick Lindgren
Razorbax - Josh Arieh
DeOhGee - Joseph Cordi
reload this - Layne Flack

--

I've got plenty more to blog about but it shall have to wait.

Thanks a ton for reading. Consider using my bonus code IGGY on Party Poker if you've found any value in this blog.

Time to Ralph
Ralph Nader is a money-hiding, union-busting, corporate-investing, worker-abusing, glory-hounding, germophobic secrecy freak who scammed his way into receiving millions in college student service fees. And he hates dogs.

World Poker Blogger Tour

That sure was a blast, thanks again to the Grubmiester for putting this tourney on. Go hit his site for the final standings. 32 players in all.

The Mighty Mene Gene battled the thefatguy and eventually took first. Go hit their sites for the respective write-ups. Should be some funny blog posts today.

Third place winner, Sean of Anisotropy, has a good write-up, too.

I did warn you all about Scott in my post yesterday. He plays big, damnit. I watched him hit quad kings with his K2o. That was when I truly thought he would win it all. But Mene Gene persevered.

Gene won $256, poker chips, book, magazines, $20+2 entry into next blogger tourney. Not a bad haul.

For the record, I ended up 18th, getting knocked out by Hdouble. The blind structure moved pretty dern quick and I failed to adjust - I should have seen alot more flops in the early going. But whatever, I did what I could with the meager cards I was dealt. I was the first to go all-in on our table which was fun - hell, someone had to do it.

As the tourney began, I crowed about reading Phil Helmuth's book in preparation. And in true Helmuthian fashion, I overplayed pocket sevens against a short-stacked Grubette, doubling her up and knocking my stack down to t600. The blinds crippled me quickly and I was forced to move my tiny stack in on the big blind with j2o.

I did, however, knock John out.

Jeremy over at LoveandCasinoWar cracked pocket aces with, you guessed it, The Hammer. Go read UpForPoker's take on this tragedy.

BTW, did anyone get hand histories from Choice? I requested them several times to no avail.

I'll put up a proper post tonite, I'm too groggy right now.

Poker Blogs

"Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways, women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one."
Pope John XXIII

My humble apologies for the lack of posts - work has been especially hectic this week. What little free time I had could either be spent on a post or actually playing. Because I've been running so well on Party, it's an easy choice.

Friday night was especially juicy at the 2.4 and 3.6 tables. Damn, I love friday nights. I even hit one of those dream hands, a boat versus two high flushes. A couple nice scoops like that one made for a profitable evening.

Later on, I took my fellow poker bloggers advice and sat some NL ring and doubled through twice.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I had the pleasure of sitting NL ring games with thefatguy and showed him the art of trash talking back to a trash talker. I think I put the entire table on tilt at one point - or at the very least, they were VERY anxious to take my stack, which thankfully never happened. Kudos to the fat guy for feeding me with some damn funny lines.

Favorite line of the night:

thefatguy: coal black hand, blood red board
thefatguy: story of my life

Don't underestimate Scott in the epic blogger tourney tonite. He plays big, folks, no pun intended.

Speaking of which, that's only a few hours away, isn't it? Can't you feel the pressure rising? Scott has a great post quoting all the different poker blogs and their thoughts on tonights battle. Again, I haven't played a sit and go in over a year, so I'll be making an early exit, I'm sure. Plus, I'm sure my fellow bloggers would love to be the one that knocks me out. There's nothing quite like playing with a big red target on you.

Damn, I just logged into Choice and see that we're up to 25 players!

Last nite was my home poker game. Our gracious hosts, Filmgeek and Meaux, pulled out all the stops. They had a huge spread of kickass food and we played on an actual poker table that Meaux bought for her man for Xmas. Woohoo! Since it was Filmgeek's 29th 39th birthday, there was also a giant, dark chocolate cake that we descended upon like a plague of locusts. I truly had a blast, per usual, despite losing and getting utterly and completely toasted. I was a drooling pile of goo by the time the game finally broke up. Someone wrote me today and said I was in rare form - yikes.

Too many funny lines to recount. I had the big winner, Dann, on my right, cracking me up all evening. Stay tuned as this Major League Baseball writer is soon to join us poker bloggers. Dann encouraged me to market the Iggy^TM brand with playing cards, t-shirts, bobble-heads and even Iggy pogs.

'The Hammer' was referred to several times last nite, BTW, so I think it's officially catching on. One related footnote about The Hammer. When Grubby began the contest, I stupidly thought you had to type "HAMMER" into the chat box at the beginning of the hand, which I always did. Damnit, is it any wonder I rarely got any action?

Last home game note: Kudos to Filmgeek for turning me on to mixing Guinness with that hard cider stuff - surprisingly tasty! Called it a Snakebite.

I'm extremely hungover and need some quality couch time, so I'll save my links for tomorrow. Also, I have some great new poker blogs to pimp so make sure to come back. Hell, I may end up posting later tonight.

Good luck tonight in the tournament!

Link of the Day:
How to Earn Extra Credit
The secret to sexing your teacher is hands-on private study time, suggests Rant Morgan: "If they've let you touch them, alone, without supervision, they've already crossed the line. It won't be hard to push them over the edge."