I'm still here

Sorry for the lack of updates. Between getting back from LV, my laptop dying and being swamped at work this week, I haven't had time to post my final WSOP trip recap. I'll try to put it up tomorrow or at the very latest Monday.

In all the craziness, I think there are a few emails from the last week or two that I haven't responded to. I will get back to you this weekend.

After following the ME coverage online, I'm wishing that I would have gone out for the Main Event and at least attempted to win a ME seat. (I didn't play one ME sat this yr - live or online after spending way too much trying to win a seat in '07)

It feels good to get my laptop back up and running again!!!

My Laptop joined MJ

I still plan to finish my WSOP trip report (at least two - cash games and the 2k recap).

I was having laptop issues before I left for LV. It wasn't a huge deal - my battery (and replacement battery) wouldn't charge. I had a few other glitches related to an attached monitor and incredibly long load time at startup. Dell decided the fix was to replace the motherboard.

The replacment motherboard and tech arrived Friday morning. After he finished installating the new mb, he turned it on and everything seemed to work fine.

I got home early Friday night to watch the kids because my wife, sister-in-law and nephews were heading to the Dane Cook show. I decided to pass on the show after falling asleep at his last Orlando show (combination of lack of sleep, too many beers, him coming on 1 1/2 hr late, and him just not being that funny). After I got the kids to bed, I fired up the laptop with plans to play a long cash game session. My laptop had other plans. Windows XP wouldn't load all the way and I could only start it in safe mode. After 4 hours on the phone with Dell and several diagnostic tests later, they informed me that it had to be a software issue because nothing came back on the tests. I suggested, "Umm, I dunno much about these here computer thingies but it seems like the new mb might have a loose connection or be bad since I didn't have this problem until it was replaced earlier today." The Dell rep from India named "Bob" informed me that because the tests came up negative for hardware problems that it HAD to be a software problem.

Sunday, I got around to calling Dell back and they walked me through the reinstallation process. The Windows XP re-installation was complete about 45 minutes later. The machine went to start and wound up in the exact same loop as before. Yeah, definitely a software problem. aklfjafkdlafjslkl.

They are now sending another new mb and hard drive (with some preloaded software) tomorrow. Hopefully, this fixes the problem. As of now I am working on a new desktop that I bought today that will double as our new server once my laptop gets fixed.

I'm jonesing a little for online poker since I wasn't able to play over the weekend.

Careful what you tweet at the poker table

A few hours into the $2k NLHE WSOP event that I played, I was moved to a new table. My new seat had been previously occupied by Vanessa Rousso. She was the talk of the table when I sat down. They were not only talking about how poorly she played her bustout hand, but also how she had dogged the entire table on twitter. Apparently, a friend of one of the players at the table follows @VanessaRousso on twitter. This is what she tweeted about her table:

"Just sat down...danny wong at my otherwise weak table"

LOL. It doesn't seem to say much, but this could be useful information and probably was useful information to the solid player two to her left. His friend had texted him the tweet.

Below is the description of her bustout hand:

"Vanessa Rousso moved all in for 5,300 after a flop of KdJd3s and got a call. She didn't like what she saw when she tabled AhKc while her opponent showed AsAc.

Rousso failed to catch her two-outer when the board ran out 6 6, sending her to the rail."

From the description it sounds like she got unlucky, but from what the table was saying it sounds like she played her AK very poorly against the "otherwise weak table." (FWIW, I always seem to play AK poorly.) Also, for some reason, I could have sworn they said she had KQ. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt though.

What I was told is that she had around 5k to start the hand (call it 5,300) - blinds 75/150. It folded to her otb. she made it around 600. The SB raised to 1,800. The BB smooth called the 1,800. She thought for a while and finally flat called the additional 1,200. King high flop - SB/BB check. She shoves. SB folds. BB insta-calls with his AA.

Maybe if she didn't think the table was so weak, she would have either folded or shoved the AK preflop. The BB was a very solid internet player living in a house with a bunch of other internet players. After a short time at the table, I knew that he wasn't smooth calling in a situation like that without an absolute monster.

Maybe the tweet didn't influence the way he played the hand, but it might have. Careful how much information you tweet at the poker table. You never know who is reading, especially if you are a known player.

WSOP Trip Report - Part 2

I guess I can call this part 2 since I posted a quick random update while I was in LV.

The Results (of 7 days in LV)

Tourneys = -$1,760 ($2k NLHE WSOP-report to follow; $340 DS Venetian - $580 cash)
Satellites (incl. tequila shots) = -$150 ($125 sat, $20 last longer, $5 towards tip for shots)
Magic Game Bet = -$55 (I didn't have much faith with them down 3-1)
Cash Games = +$1,400 (report to follow - last day saved me here)

Net Loss = -$565

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Live Bloggers

Thanks to everyone that I met/hung out with in LV!! I had a great time!!!

It was great to meet up with some of the bloggers that were out in Las Vegas while I was there - some new faces and some that I have met before. I'll try to remember everyone that I ran into (although a couple of nights were a little fuzzy):

CK - Was able to sucker me into playing HORSE+Triple Draw where I didn't win one pot. She is going to be worn out by the end of the WSOP after being the unofficial blogger LV host. Good Luck today in Day 2 of the $2.5k O/8. She is kicking ass and taking names so far. Hopefully, she will break through to a final table.

LJ - Got to see her tear through the field in the $1.5k HORSE. A win would have been great, but 10th is pretty freaking awesome for her first time playing HORSE live. She is out there to, ummm, work. It seems like she has reasonable bosses and can set her own schedule, which is definitely a good thing in a 24 hour city. Kick ass in your next events!!!

Bayne - Only saw him briefly since he was in town with his wife and daughter and he had to spend a lot of time with them. (with them = at the craps tables methinks)

F-Train - No rest for the weary. He is doing a kick ass (trying to see how many times I can say kick ass in one post) job covering the WSOP including the $1.5k HORSE that LJ was in. We had dinner a few nights while his IPhone timer was counting down the minutes until the usually 60 minute dinner break ended for the tourney that he was covering.

AlCantHang - Was looking forward to meeting him after all the kick ass stuff he has done for bloggers (BBTs, free stuff, etc). For some reason I thought it was a good idea to have a couple of double SoCo shots with him after I busted out of the 2k NLHE. It seemed like a very good idea at the time. The next morning, not so much. If you don't follow his twitter account, you are missing out.

MeanGene - Ran into him at the bar with Al. I don't think he wanted SoCo shots but somehow we coerced him. That consisted of: "Do a shot with us." "Naah." "Ah, come on." "OK."

ShabazzJenkins - Seems like a great guy. I only got to hang out with him for a short time at dinner and the HORSE+TD. I'm looking forward to reading his trip report. I'm guessing that he probably went deep in at least one Venetian DS.

Lightning36 - When I ran into him, I was expecting to see a seventy year old man with a cane since he said that he was going to be playing the Senior's event - just kidding. I knew that he had just barely qualified for the senior's min age of 50. We had lunch while I was nursing my hangover. I really thought he was going to tear through the senior's event field, but I guess the short starting stacks had other plans.

Blogger sprstoner - I wasn't going to put him on the list because he hates being called a blogger. Blogger, Blogger, Blogger, Blogger. I seem to randomly run into him every year, usually at the Hooker Bar - hmm. He is kicking ass at the WSOP and everywhere else this year. So freaking huge. If he really was a blogger, he would probably just be bubbling the money instead of making deep runs. Still a few more events for him to win his bracelet which would be a great accomplishment for a BLOGGER.

Lucko21 - I ran into Lucko briefly during the drunken hours after the $2k NLHE. I had met him once before (again briefly 2 years ago at the pocketfives party.) It is very fuzzy, but he did hang for a few mins while I degened it up at the Roulette table at the end of the night. I'll be rooting for him at the ME - time for the run goot!!

I'm sure alcohol is making me forget a couple of others


More to follow...................

FT of FTP 50/50 - out in 4th :(

I played the FTP 50/50 tonight mainly due to jetlag after coming back from LV. I'm glad I did because I wound up final tabling and busting in 4th for $3.5k. I was really hoping for a win, but I'll take it since it is a nice way to end my LV week before heading back tot he real world in about 3 hours.

I couldn't win the race at the end for 800k chips with 55 vs. AQ.

I had a blast in LV and will update tomorrow or the next day.

WSOP Quick Update

Random Thoughts...

Magic choked bad, but I'm still happy that they made it to the Finals. Oh well, there is always next year.

Sunday - Two short cash sessions +50 and -250, watched Magic lose :(

Monday - Woke up way way too early and couldn't go back to sleep (6:30 am)

Went over the Venetian around 8:30, registered for $340 mtt, played cash for a while, was down almost two buy-ins after losing set to flush draw, and KK to a medium stack flush draw. My hands held up after that and I finished up barely to then negative side (-70), which I consider a big win after being down 800-900 at one point.

Played the Venetian $340 (819 players - 72 paid) to get back into the live tourney swing of things. Never got anything going and after a couple of breaks I was sentenced to perpetual short stack hell. I was in shove/fold mode and wasn't getting a lot of opporutunities to shove because a lot of the big stacks were raising and 3-betting before I could even act. When I did get a chance shove, I rarely got called. I doubled up a few times here and there. I eventually cashed in 53rd for a $570. It was brutal to play that long, finally get some chips to work with after the bubble burst and then lose a big pot where I was way ahead to become a short stack again. I can't complain though. I feel like I played great despite riding the short stack.

After the tourney I headed back to the Rio to see how LJ was doing in the 1.5k HORSE. I got there right before they ended for the night at 24 players. Day 3 starts at 1 today. Goooooo LJ!!!! TID!!!!

Was going to play the $1.5k NLHE donkament today, but made the decision last night while still in the Venetian tourney at 1 am that I wouldn't be worth a crap today. I am leaning towards playing the $2k donkament on Thurs.

Cash games and maybe some satellites today.

Funniest comment that I heard yesterday after two guys in their late 40s/early 50s got into it and then were apologizing to each other:

"Come on man, let's just calm down. It's just a game. I'm sure both of us are successful and worth a ton. I mean, I have $100 Million in the bank. I am just playing this for fun." LOL $100 Millionaments.

WSOP Tweet Tweet

I'm heading out to LV in the morning. If you are interested in following my play out there, I have signed up for a twitter account.

You can follow me at @seemitch

Poker Prop Bets

It seems like all the poker pros at the WSOP are making prop bets to keep their interest in the grueling daily grind of playing long hours often with nothing to show for it. I listen to a lot of the poker podcasts and still have trouble keeping up with all the prop bets players have with each other. The one that everyone knows about is Phil Ivey's bracelet bet that he won earlier in the week, but the it seems like I hear a different number every time the story is told.

So, instead of trying to keep track of what all the prop bets out there, I have decided to make a few of my own on Bodog. Looking through the list on their site, a couple jumped out. My bets are as follows (I am sure some will disagree):

Which player will last longer in the 2009 ME
Phil Hellmuth -110
Tom Dwan - 130

My Pick - Hellmuth -110 (I know durrrr is a cash game monster, but Hellmuth somehow seems to always tear up donk filled large tourneys)

Which player will last longer in the 2009 Ante Up for Africa tourney
There are 14 Celebrities on the list and I'm guessing a few of them probably won't play or will register/donate the money and not show up, so it is probably more like a last longer out of 10 players.

My Picks - Hank Azaria 8-1 (He seems like he a more of a clue than most)
Charles Barkley 10-1 (I had to pick him since he was the only one that gave the Magic a chance against the Cavs. Prob a bad bet since he will be itching to hit the table games)

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2 days til I leave for Vegas!!!!!!!!!

The Flea Market has it all

I had to post this picture that I took the other day. Strange what you can get at the flea market.





EDIT: Not sure how I could have posted this without putting up the Oldie but a goodie:

Live Poker - It's OK to talk

I know that Tommy Angelo advocates "Mum Poker." It definitely has it's place, but I think talking at the table, especially, to those that like to talk also has it's place as long as you are mindful about what you are saying. People like to talk about themselves and generally, the more they talk the more information they are giving you. When I sit down at a cash game I always try to strike up a conversation with the guy on my left and right. If you know their thinking/how they play then you have a huge advantage. They won't tell you flat out how they play, but they are usually more than willing to tell you if it is the first time at the WSOP/playing live poker/etc or how great of an internet/live player they are. If you ask where they are from, they may volunteer more information like where they play poker on a daily, weekly, every few month basis. You may even be able to give them just enough information about yourself for them to think you don't know as much as you do. You don't have to lie - just don't tell them everything.

Even though I rarely play live I can think of a couple quick examples off the top of my head:

Example 1
Last year, I was over in Tampa at a deposition of the opposing expert witness in a hurricane damage case. I'm a consultant that sometimes works on legal cases. I'm definitely not a lawyer and don't dress like one, but I dressed like one that day. After we butchered the opposing expert, I headed over to the Tampa Hard Rock. I was minus the coat and tie, but I still looked like a business guy that wandered into the HR to gamble after work.

After a couple of hours, I wound up in a SNG (equivalent of an online turbo SNG). A few orbits in, it folded to me in the SB. I completed with I think 2 face cards. The BB, who through conversations thought that I could send some work his way, over shoved all-in. I folded. Not a big deal - nothing too unusual about the hand for a live SNG, until he started to give me lessons on how to play poker. He told me to never just limp from the SB because the BB can just shove and you will have to fold. He went on to further explain some of the "finer nuances" of poker to me. I politely thanked him for all his advice.

There was no reason to let him know that I had ever played poker before. He created a better image for me at that table than I ever could have created on my own. The entire table now viewed me as a businessman without much knowledge of poker.

Example 2
Last year, I sat down at a 2/5NL game in the Rio after one of the donkaments thinned out enough for them to open cash tables. The guy to my immediate right and I were talking a lot about poker. We talked about FTP and PS. I let him ramble on and on and I was soaking it all in. He went on to tell me how easy and juicy live cash games are. "All you have to do is raise and then c-bet and everyone folds." I noticed that he was getting way too liberal with this plan and was always firing 2nd and 3rd barrels whether he connected or not. His pattern became predictable, even more so because of our hand discussions.

About and hour or so into the game, I called him down very light on every street including his river bluff. His line made no sense. He wasn't playing his made hands the way that he played this one. He went ballistic and couldn't believe how horrible my call was for calling him down so light. He wasn't talking to me anymore. He was no longer my "friend."

It is OK to fold AA

I was reading some of the coverage of the 1st level of the $40k NLHE WSOP event yesterday. The starting chip count was T120,000 and the blinds were 200/400/w 50 ante. There were several players that got all-in with AA in the 1st level. I will put in the caveat that I wasn't there so I may not know all the cirucmstances surrounding the hands/player's histories with each other, etc, etc, but on the surface and from the pokernews descriptions it just seems like horrible play.

First Example:

Jim Bechtel Eliminated by David Chiu

We already have a man down only thirty minutes into this event and unfortunately, it was 1993 Main Event Champion Jim Bechtel.

Bechtel, David Chiu, and Per Ummer saw a flop of {9-Diamonds} {2-Spades} {2-Hearts}. Bechtel checked, Chiu bet 6,000, Ummer folded and Bechtel called. The {6-Diamonds} cameon the turn and Bechtel checked again. Chiu fired out 9,200 only to be met with a shove from Bechtel for his entire 119,000 stack.

Chiu made the call and flipped over {9-Hearts} {9-Clubs} for a flopped full house, cracking Bechtel's {A-Clubs} {A-Spades} . The river was the {3-Spades} and Bechtel's tournament was over while Chiu doubled up to 245,000.

No real explanation needed on why this was horrible. What was he thinking? Is worse hand ever calling?

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Phil Laak (mr uber-tight on High Stakes Poker) was involved in the 2nd one:

After a flop of {J-Clubs} {8-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} Phil Laak announces to the entire tournament floor that he is all in. Camera crews rush over to see Laak turn over {8-Clubs} {8-Hearts} for middle set against the pocket aces of his James Calderaro. The turn and river are blanks and Laak doubles up to 245,000. Calderaro drops all the way down to 7,900.

The Laak showmanship plus his ultra-tight early tourney play makes this seem very bad by his opponent. Maybe there was more to the hand since the description doesn't have how the action went down, but it just seems bad, bad, bad.

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Not too sure about Tony G's getting all in with Aces either - even though we won:

With the board showing {5-Diamonds}{3-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}, Tony G just got it all in with {A-Clubs}{A-Spades} versus Erik Cajelais' {8-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds}. The turn was the {A-Hearts}, further improving Tony G's hand. And the river was the {8-Hearts}, giving Tony G the large pot.

Tony G is quickly up to 248,000, while Cajelais falls to 3,800.

I think we need to know more information on how this hand went down.

-----------------------------
As LJ pointed out to me - Brian Townsend also posted on his blog that he couldn't believe how horrid the play was, especially considering players had to shell out $40,000 to play the event.



*****EDIT*******

Short Stack Shamus at Hard Boiled Poker (which happens to be one of the many places I am following the WSOP) pointed out Tony G's interview about the hand. It makes it seem a little more reasonable. The other two still seem horrible, especially the first one.

PokerNews Video

Last two BBT4 Events this weekend

Both are on Sunday. I can't play the Brit Blogger Game because I will be watching the kids, but I'm definitely in for my last shot at a BBT4 TOC seat on Sunday in MiamiDon's Blogger Big game.

Tournament: Brit Blogger Game
When: Sunday's at 16:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $5+.50
Password: donkament

Tournament: Blogger Big Game
When: Sunday, May 31st at 21:30ET
Game: Superstack NLHE
Buyin: $69+6 (or token)
Password: donkey

Go Magic!!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Orlando is now up 3-1 despite the refs trying to give the game to Lebron...err Cleveland. (Just ask Charles Barkley) The town is going nuts!!!

BTW, Charles Barkley is a genius. He predicted that Orlando would beat Cleveland. Hopefully, the Magic will make him look like Kreskin.

ESPN article on the game - breaking down the fouls/controversial travel call.

My question is why wouldn't this be a foul on Lebron instead of a good "no-call" for not calling a foul on Dwight Howard.

"n the closing seconds of overtime, I think everyone was sure Dwight Howard would be called after he bit on a LeBron James fake, and made contact while James released the shot. It looked like a play we have all seen called a foul a zillion times. But replays revealed that at the time of contact, Howard was upright on the ground, and James jumped into him."

WSOP will be streaming FTs

It looks like they will be streaming 24 WSOP Final Tables on ESPN360 and Bluff. Hopefully, ESPN will allow access to people that subscribe to ISPs other than those they are affiliated with. I remember it being a huge clusterf%ck last year.

This may effect my decision on which event(s) to play - not because I think I am going to be at a TV table, but because the field sizes may be slightly bigger for the events that are going to be streamed.

Hard Boiled Poker has a pretty good post about it

Link to Pokernews story with streamed event list

Plugging Leaks

I am going to work hard this weekend plugging leaks. It seems that I have a major one. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to plug the leak, but I'm sure I'll find other leaks while I'm trying to correct the major one.

The first step in plugging leaks is discovering them. This one wasn't hard to discover thanks to five straight days of rain, water dripping through the window, pelting the back of my recliner and creating an extremely large puddle on our (luckily) brick floor.

Oh yeah, I guess I should have said "non-poker related post" in the title.