Tournaments and Poker Games

March 2008

March 25
In my last entry, I said I wasn't going to play any tournaments, but at the last minute on Friday I decided to play the $335 No Limit Holdem event at the Bike.

There were 195 players and I never had a huge amount of chips, but I was doing a great job at moving the last of them at the perfect time and ended up smelling like a rose until we got down to three tables.

The whole thing was actually amusing because I told two of my friends, Tricia and Terry (check out his Stu Ungar profile), that I was short stacked and was ready to double up or go out to dinner. Terry was standing on the sidelines during one of my all-ins when I  flopped a set of queens. His response was, "Fucckkkk, a set of queens.? I am starving!"

I ended up making it down to 20 players (they were set to pay 18 spots) with my pitiful little stack and doubled up a couple times and had more chips than a few players. I know that the players at the Bike like to pay the bubble, so I figured I would get paid if I could outlast one other player. That player finally got eliminated and nobody objected to taking money off the top to pay the bubble. I ended up pushing on the next hand after the deal was made with A5 (on the button) and got called by AQ. I was paid, but it didn't show up in my results which kind of sucked.

My Easter weekend was great as always. The usual family tradition of the Easter Egg hunt followed by this great obstacle course game. We ended up getting the whole family including all the old-timers to play with us and run around like a bunch of nuts. I think I like Easter more than any other holiday.

March 20
The Bike tournaments didn't go well for me this time around, but I was a good luck charm for my friends. One of my good friends, Scott, visited this weekend and played two tournaments and finished in the money in both. The other night, Steve and I played the Omaha tournament and he ended up winning the whole thing.

While they were in the tournaments winning, I decided to play some live action. It is very rare that I sit down and play No Limit Holdem ring games anymore and for the most part I enjoyed it.

The first night was much more enjoyable because the players were having a good time. Even the two players whose hands I cracked were having fun. I beat both of the players on separate occasions with suited connectors while they held AA and KK.

The second night was kind of enjoyable, but the tempers were flaring. We all started a new game and on the first hand of the evening one player had to laydown KK (which wasn't a difficult laydown on the ace high flop), but he wouldn't shut up about it. He kept on complaining and he seriously talked about it for fifteen minutes. I finally told him "You should have just called if it was going to torture you all night." There was another guy who snapped two players with some really weak holdings (J2 and K5) and his opponents were so pissed. There was a lot of jabbering and a lot of smack talking. I finally got up after a couple hours because I knew Steve was getting close to the money and I wanted to be in the tournament room to root him on since he is so supportive when I make it into the money.

I don't have any tournaments coming up soon, but I will probably go play some live action this weekend.

March 12
My trip to Florida was nice and relaxing. I was only there for a few days, but had enough time to go kayaking through the canals, attend the Boston Red Sox training camp game, and just hang out in the sun at the beach and pool. I got back on Thursday night and had plans to play in the NL event at the Bike on Friday, but never got around to it.

I did play in the Omaha event yesterday though and my story is still the same: close but no cigar. There were about 120 players in the event, so they paid two tables. I got knocked out at three tables.

After the tournament, I played some live action No Limit which is something I don't do very often anymore. I was a little nervous about sitting down into a higher limit game, so I sat in the $200 restricted game with $2-5 blinds. Right out of the gate, I lost $100 with AK versus AJ when my opponent was short stacked and ended up flopping a jack. I made a nice hand or two after that and ended up winning a very small amount for the night. The experience made me miss being a prop and playing the live action games for hours and days on end. I should be going back on Thursday to play in the Omaha Hi/Low tournament, but don't know when I will play the ring games again.

My poker definition section is expanding. Take a look at stacked deck, to-go, marked cards, and sandbag.

March 1
The Bicycle Casino's Winnin O' the Green tournaments started last night, but I haven't had a chance to get down there to play. I actually don't think I will be playing until next week because I am going on a short trip to Florida on Monday. So I am looking to play my first event on Friday and then after that, there are a few Omaha tournaments and a HORSE event.

I have been playing some Omaha online this week and I decided to play a small Omaha tournament last night for the hell of it. I ended up finishing in third place and it paid a few hundred dollars which is probably less than what I would make in a ring game, but I enjoy playing in tournaments and I could always work on my game especially my 3-handed game. It appears that my 3-handed game still needs a little work considering that is where I ended up finishing.

This week's World Poker Tour event was amazing. Over the past couple years, I have not followed the results very much and I haven't watched it on television either. I can almost guarantee that I will be watching the first one in a long time once this week's tournament airs. I am extremely happy that Phil Ivey won and it was very exciting hearing about it as it happened (one of my friends from the WPT called as three key hands were taking place, including the last one).

One of my friends is dedicated to doing what she can to help find a cure for MS. She has a team called "MS Team PokerPadz" and each year they raise money and walk 50 miles to help find a cure and to show that the poker world is generous in donating to charities. Phil Hellmuth pledged a large sum of money on the eve of his WPT final table at the LA Classic and it would be great if others would follow suit.