Yup...a month and a half since my last post!

I keep trying to get my blog going, but every time I do I run into who knows what. I have been so busy lately that I have played poker once since my last blog, and before that time...it had been weeks! But hopeful now things will start to slow down. I am a coach, and my season just ended. It was an awesome season. We finished with an impeccable record.



So what's been going on in poker?



My buddy Shaunbusted got his cash game league started up. It is a pretty freakin' sweet concept. Here are the basics:

• 9 teams- teams made up of 2 to 5 players


• each team buys into the league for X dollars


• each team is then given a 1,000,000 bankroll (play money obviously)


• the teams face off from week to week and their losses and profits are tracked by the "banker"


• if a team depletes its 1,000,000 they are out of the league!


• at the end of X number of weeks (I think its 8) whichever team has the largest bankroll wins it all- and they claim the cash prize (real money)

I couldn't play this season, for various reasons...the main one being my coaching was still in season. But I have been talked to shaunbusted about it. It seems like a pretty cool format. Each night a team can buy in for a minimum of 25,000 or a max of 100,000. If they get felted they can re-load as many times as they want (as long as they have money in the "bank"). Busted went out and got stacks of fake 100 dollar bills, and made some 10,000 dollar bricks. So when you see the photos it looks like you are watching High Stakes Poker.

Busted and I have been talking about what works well and what might need to be tweaked. I can't wait for season II. I am trying to get some other poker games in the mix if I can. I'd love to play some 7 stud (hi or O8) and some Omaha O8. We will see!

I said earlier that I played once since my last post- here is my update: I bubbled.

Not bad. I was glad to get to the final table...especially considering how little I had played leading up to that point, But I really wanted to at least cash. I think I played pretty good. I did manage to loose all my races for the night. To make things worse, I folded once where I knew I was racing (for almost half my chips) had I called I would have actually won. Oh well, I was just glad to have a pretty good showing!

This weekend I will not be playing any cards. I will be heading to God's Country, also known as Athens Georgia, to watch my Georgia Bulldogs take on the Kentucky Wildcats for our last home game of the season.

GO DAWGS!!

Check out the black out from last week's game:

Back at the Tables.....well, sort of!!

I played live for the first time in about 4 or 5 weeks!! Man, it was ugly. I was going to go over to a larger buy in tourney, but since I haven’t been playing much lately my brankroll has taken a little hit (mostly from the wife). My funds forced me to play in a smaller buy in tourney.

Holy crap!! It was nasty. I sat at the table and really only had one player that had some skill. I was loving it, that is until I saw a few hands play out. I was at a table of 8 players. I am not kidding…4 of them were the biggest CALL STATIONS I have ever been at the table with!! I saw a girl call down all three barrels of a bet with bottom pair (a pair of 6’s) on a board of 6s 10s Jc Ks 9d. And no, it wasn’t a good call of course the guy hit his flush. The girl had no clue what was going on. Now don’t get me wrong. Call stations can be awesome!! But you have to hit a hand first, then call stations rule. You get paid big!

I did see one guy try to run a bluff on a super call station. It was really pretty funny. I can’t blame the guy for firing out on the flop. If the C.S. didn’t have anything a fold was immanent, but the bluffer had no such luck. He got a call on the flop. Then he proceeds to bet more on the turn….another call followed. He tried it again on the river…..and guess what?….yup….another call. The bluffer had King high, and the C.S. had a pair of jacks…with an 8 kicker!! The bluffer just gave away 70% of his stack, and now the super C.S. was the chip leader!!LOL. Hint hint- don’t try to bluff a call station!!

I didn’t really get much going on. The blinds were moving fast, and the chip stacks weren’t the largest (although I have played in much worse). I ended up pushing in with Ah10h from the button. The small blind, who is one of the tightest players ever, wakes up with A K, and I’m out.

It was fine. I was just glad to get back out to the tables again. It literally had been close to 5 weeks since I had last played live. I made a couple of good plays against the non-call stations. I raked a few pots, but nothing big. It was just nice to get back on the felt.

IDIOTS!!

So I haven’t been playing much at all lately. I have just been way too busy with family and work stuff. I was able to get on line and play a little 7 stud O8. Nothing too crazy. I was so stinkin’ tired that I called it a night at 11:00pm, but I did manage to double my buy in.

I was watching a little of the ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP main event last night. This is what gave me the title for this blog. The coverage was great. ESPN does a pretty good job. They get camera’s over to tables. They introduce some interesting side stories on the players. They do a great job (except that Norman Chad is a tool). The thing I have a problem with are all the freakin’ morons who dance, scream, stand on their chairs, play with toy sharks, and do who knows what when they win a pot! I wanted to reach inside the TV, take that stupid “chark” from Humberto Brenes’ hand and crush it bugs bunny style with a gigantic sledge hammer!! And as for “Rain” that guy need to just get a good butt whoopin’.

If you are act like one of those idiots here is a little advice….DON’T!! Take a page from Gus Hansen for example. He made a bad call with pocket 10’s Vs pocket queens and managed to suck out and hit a set. Did he jump around and act like a brainless chimpanzee. Instead, he had, what looked to me to be, a look of disgust on his face. He knew he made a horrible call and just got lucky. He was cool and calm.

Poker shouldn’t be about choreographing your best dance routine for when you scoop a pot. Poker is a game of skill. Treat it that way. Of course there is a little luck involved, but not nearly as much as people think.

In short…don’t act like Humberto Brenes!

PLO Again...

Sorry that I didn't get some of the hands up from my last little PLO tourney! I have been SWAMPED over the last few weeks!!!

I did play that same PLO tourney again. I did a little better- 14th (out of 257). The hand that I got knocked out on was sick! I was a 70% favorite. Now, I was a short stack, so I can't be too upset. The guy who called me had me about 4 to 1 in chips. I held 8 8 9 10 double suited. There was a limper or two. My pot size raise put me all in. I got one caller. He turns up 4 4 8 9. I am loving it....well...until he flops a 4, and busts the snot out of me!

Oh well, next time I hope to final table it!

Later!

PLO

Lately I have been playing a bunch of NLHE and some 7 Stud Hi/Low. I have been neglecting my other games. So, last night I decided to play a PLO tourney. I did pretty well. I got a little over aggressive a time or two but for the most part I feel like I played solid. There were 250ish players in the tourney and I finished 16th (with 27 getting paid).

Just like the rest of the on-line world...there were a ton of overaggressive donks for the first few levels. I honestly just sat back and waited for some solid hands, and would just try to see some flops cheap. It worked really well for me. When we were down to about 100 players left I had the chip lead. I was sitting on just over 55,000, and the next closest player had about 36 or 37,000. I was killing it.

Now, I know I got a little over aggressive in a few hands and doubled up a couple shortstacks, but I really did take some nasty beats too. I guess that is to be expected in a game like PLO. Pre Flop, no hand has a real dominating hand over another, and most of the time you find yourself on one side or another of a 60/40 situation.

I will try to post some hands from it later today or tomorrow.

I am an Idiot!

So I just donked off my whole stack in about 3 hands. I am so disappointed. I really played it poorly.

It was just a 5 dollar tourney on Full Tilt, but still...it did have about 600 players in it. We were down to 150 players left I was 5th in chips, and I think I busted in 144th. To go from 5th to out the door really stunk, but at the same time, it was my own fault.

Here is how it went down: Wait, it might help to know that 2 hands earlier I double some idiot up with my AK vs his A9. I may have been a little tilty for this hand. At any rate...I got moved to a new table. Maybe played one button round. The blinds were 100/200. I had about 14,000 (even after I doubled up Mr. A9). I am in the BB with a Q8. I know...don't laugh. I was trying to make a move. It folds all the way to the button. He makes it 600 to go (and was sitting on about 13,000). I remember he raised last button too. I just figured he was playing his position again. So, I was going to see if I could re-steal. Well the small blind (a shorter stack) flat calls the raise. I am thinking this is actually good for me. I see it as an opportunity to take the lead. My thought was raise it up, get the button out, and play it with just the SB since he really couldn't do too much damage to my stack.

I decide to make it 1800 to go. The button thinks for a minute and calls. The SB folds...pretty much the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen. The flop comes out 8 high rags. I decide to stab at it with top pair. I bet out about 3/4 the pot, somewhere around 3500. The button thinks for about 2 seconds and re raises me, a smaller raise. As soon as this happens bells go off! I am thinking 10's. It makes since that he might play 10's that way. I know I should fold, but then the little maniac voice inside says, "push all in and make him fold."

I see my hand reaching for the mouse pad, my brain is saying fold, fold, fold, but I don't think the signal got to my hand fast enough. I had already clicked it. He calls and turns over JJ (a hand that plays out just like 10's in that spot).

Man I played it bad.

Mistakes:
1- Clicking the raise button pre-flop: I should have just let it go. I came into a hand with a player who could do some serious damage to my stack while I'm holding a sub-par hand . So what if he is stealing. There will be plenty of times to set him up later...or just steal from someone else.

2- Trying to run a bluff too early: I like to feel my tables out. Spot the weak players, the tight players, the maniacs, and then adjust my style to them individually. I didn't do that. I had been there for about 10 hands. You can't get information off of 10 hands. I had automatically figured he was stealing, but I couldn't have even told you what style of player he was.

3- Putting in that final re-raise: this had to have been the worst of the mistakes. I have bells going off in my head, I know I should fold, but I push it in instead. There is pretty much no excuse for that. I deserve exactly what I got.

4- I think I might have been a little tilty from the AK vs A9 hand. I would like to think I am not an easily tilted player, but for some reason that hand ticked me off.

Oh well.

Up to that point I was playing some good poker. I did have one lucky hand where I got a little to aggressive with AQ. I ran it into someones KK, but spiked an Ace. Other than that. I thought I was playing well. I got my money in good most every time, and was able to create maximum separation between my opponents and their chips.

Hopefully I'll not play like such an idiot next time. If I do...I am sure I'll get what I deserve, just like with this situation.

Thanks for listening to the ramble. I just needed to berate my play for a minute.

Man, I am a donkey!
Dawgfan98

Domination

I think I'm in the lead! Hahahaha. If you want to see how it played out take a look:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1357076

Got to love the weak lead.