Doyle is Back!

No, not the person, the site. DoylesRoom.com is back in the US market. Signup and play again. If you refer me, Glacier1, I will get $25. I will transfer $15 to your account when I get it. Also, use Berglar as the referral code, and I should be able to hook you up with more cash. Thank you Doyle. It is about time.

Big Freerolls

Do you hate it when you forget when a big freeroll is? Check out the BustSomeFools calendar to see when they all are. If you want to be informed about smaller freerolls with low player counts, email me and I can hook you up. It is easy money.

Quest for WSOP

I have doing very well online lately, playing mostly freerolls and small stakes addons. As of now, I am up $498.75. This does not count any deposits I have made. My new goal is to get this over $2500 and enter the WSOP HORSE tournament in 2008. If I can win $100 a week, I should have enough for my goal. I am aware that some of the poke rooms may refuse to give me my money, so my goal is over $2500, not just exactly $2500. I will not uses any of my live winnings for this goal. That goes to having fun and paying bills (which is fun too?).

Free $5 No Deposit and Free $10 at VegasPoker247

This deal is back. Register a new account at VegasPoker247 using the promotion code "PPFIVE", and you will receive $5 real money in your account. Please allow 24 hours for free money. If you deposit $25 or more, you will receive an extra $10 real money in your account. Please allow 24 hours for this free money to show up in your account as well.

This site has lots of freerolls, especially my favorite, the private freerolls and addons. These have few players and makes it very easy to cash. I have made over $600 from these.

For those US players, withdrawing money from this site is easy and quick since they offer Western Union. Get your money the next day at your nearest Western Union office.

Thank you Daniel and PPUS for this amazing deal.

Hot streak

I have been very hot lately in poker tournaments. Here is how things have been going.

Last week I played in a $500 guaranteed HORSE tournament that I qualified for in a freeroll on Bugsy's Club. 119 players started, and I came in third.



The same day, I played in a private $350 freeroll on FullTilt, I was very short stacked when I got to the final table. In fact, only one other player had less than me, and with blinds at 2500/5000 and antes of 600, my 35,207 chips was quite difficult to play with.



I managed to build up a decent chip stack, roughly 150k, when I ran into this hand and got knocked out in 6th place.



I played in another freeroll last week and came in 3rd. This gave me enough in my G2G account to buy into the Deathmatch that was three days later.



Three days later (yesterday) I played in four tournaments at the same time. I have five montiors, so I had plenty of room, but I felt like my head was on a swivel and could not keep up. The first one was the OFC, a $2500 freeroll with a lot of players. The seconds was the Deathmatch, which only had 59 players. The third was a private freeroll on CarbonPoker with 76 players, and the last was another private freeroll with 74 players on LiveForTheFlop. I have never played four tournaments at the same time before, and never want to again.

I decided to play very aggressive in the three freerolls and if I get busted out of one of them, I would concentrate on the other three. Well, early on, I busted out of the OFC. I played well in the other three, and at one point, was at the final table of all three. At the same time, I was having a chat session with some people to determine which Forum I was playing for in the Deathmatch. It was kinda nuts. Finally, I got knocked out of the CarbonPoker tournament in third.



This left me with two tournaments left. I finally found the email confirmation that showed which forum I had signed up for in the Deathmatch, so that was another thing I didn't have to distract me from my poker playing. Finally, I won the freeroll at LiveForTheFlop.


(Glacier is the name of my dog, but he was tired, so I played for him)

This left me with only the Deathmatch, the only non-freeroll, and with $500 added to the prize pool. I played well the whole time, rarely took any chances, and found myself with a nice chip stack at the final table. Unfortunately, the blinds were getting very high, and any time the blinds went by you, you seemed to be low on chips and had to make a move. I managed to get down to heads up, and that is when the luck hit me. I bad beated my opponent on one hand, and then on the final hand, she seemed to make a desperate allin move, and since I had a big chip lead and could afford the gamble, called with an iside straight draw. It was ugly to see her with top pair and top kicker, and my inside straight draw get filled on the turn, giving me the win.



This win gave the forum I signed up with to get a $300 freeroll, so hopefully I can cash in that one as well and keep my hot streak alive.

Deathmatch Results

$25000 Freeroll Today

Play only 25 raked hands to qualify for their $25000 freeroll at 3:30EST. If you miss this one, I am sure the next one won't be to far off. Signup at Doyle's Room if you do not have an account.

WSOP for Only a Penny

Poker4Ever is running an amazing promotion. For just one penny, you get to enter a SnG. If you come in second, you get your penny back. If you win, you move to Stage 2 SnG. The winner of Stage 2 goes to Stage 3 and so on. The winner of Stage 7 wins a seat on the 2008 WSOP main event. For those that are good at SnG, or those that are just lucky, this is an awesome deal. See you at the penny tables, busting those fools together.

Poker is Back

After a long time off from poker to focus on starting up my hedge fund, I decided it was time to take a break and play some poker. I played live on Friday night, and then online yesterday. An interesting story follows. Sorry for the length.

Friday I went to my friend Jimmy's house to play in a .25/.50 game that is filled with fish. Maybe 1 or 2 players knew even what hands to play. Most people played anything and called any raise with anything, even when the raise was huge, they called.

I started playing tight, and didn't play many hands for a long time. After about an hour, I got to check from the BB and see a flop. 57J came with me holding 57. The SB checks, and I check hoping that someone has a J and bets. No one bets and a 9 turns. This makes me nervous, and after the SB checks, I bet the size of the pot. Everyone folds to the SB who raises the minimum. I make a stupid move and reraise allin. The SB calls and says she has the nuts, showing 68. I knew that wasn't the nuts but I was not about to correct her as I fealt bad for making such a bad move. The rivier didn't help and I had to rebuy.

About an hour later, I get dealt QQ and am second to act. The UTG raises 24x ($12) the BB, a rather large raise even for this game. To get a read on what she has, I reraise her to $24. If she repops me, she probably has KK or AA, and possibly AK. She plays anything, but doesn't reraise unless she has a good hand. She thinks about it, and asks me if I have a hand. I said I do, and it is a good hand. She calls and the flop comes 239. The only hand I am worried about is 99. Anything else, I want to extract as much money from her as I can. I bet $24 again, and she goes into the tank. I told her I have her, and she says that she can't lay down this hand, and she calls the $24, then checks in the dark. The turn brought a J. This card scares me. She checked in the dark, so I could not get a read on her based on her betting, and JJ explains a lot of her actions. I say ok, I'll check it down with you, and I check. The river came an A. She immediately moved allin for $100. At first the river scared me, but then I thought that she could not have an ace. She is one of the few players at the table that could lay down AK, so I thought I was ok. I no longer put her on 99, but thought that JJ was the only hand she could beat me with. There was over $200 in the put, so I was getting better than 2 to 1. I could only put her on TT or JJ. Since I was getting a little better than 50-50 pot odds, I called. She immediately announced trip jacks and showed her proud hand. She apologized and told me I outplayed her and didn't deserve the beat. I took it like a Pro (not Phil or Mike), and said "No problem, it happens." I had no more money, so that was my night.

Yesterday was different story. I started out playing in a HORSE tournament online at Bugsys Club. It was a freeroll with 38 players. Since I had not deposited any money to this site, I was unable to rebuy or addon, but it was free and the winner won an entry into a $500 guaranteed HORSE tourament. I started playing loose and lost a lot of chips early. After 25 minutes, another freeroll I entered had started. This one was a NLHE tournament with 71 players and the top 3 places won an entry into a $100 guaranteed tournament later that night. I had to wake up at 4:30am to drive up to Boulder to take care of a friends cat, and get back before 6:30am when I start my morning stock news analysis, so I wasn't going to make it a late night. But it was all free, so what the hell.

The NLHE tournament was a deep stack touranment, with an amzingly slow structure, which suits my play perfectly. The less luck and less chances I am forced to take, the better I do. Now, I have not played online poker in a while, and playing two at a time was a little too much. Since I am used to watching 200 stocks at the same time, I adjusted quickly. After 2 hours, both tournaments were down to the final table. I soon took a bad beat, and was crippled. With only 8 players left, this is how the chip stacks stood:

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 19,600
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 18,500
Seat 3 : AKP99 starts with 14,700
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 7,700
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 12,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 26,600
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 54,000
Seat 9 : msbell starts with 13,400

I needed 5 players to go out before me, but so did everyone else, so I switched my game up, and started stealing a lot. Unfortunately, it didn't always worked and soon I was even more short-stacked.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 15,200
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 15,100
Seat 3 : AKP99 starts with 11,300
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 6,300
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 12,200
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 36,400
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 60,600
Seat 9 : msbell starts with 9,400

At this point, I am down to three players left in the HORSE tournament, with top stack.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 20,500
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 16,700
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 8,250

But quickly, I lose my way, and get knocked down a little. Only first places pays, so I go for the win.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 18,900
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 22,700
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 3,850

In a hand that I sat out, things evened out some in a 7 stud hand.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 18,400
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 18,850
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 8,200

In the next hand, I get dealt the best top card and completes the bet, and Gertie calls. Things look like this:

Berglar dealt up 9d
Berglar dealt down 3c Ks
Gertie dealt up 5h
woohoosue dealt up 8s

I get a Q and Gertie gets a J on fourth street. Again I have a better looking visible hand and I keep up the bluff. I bet and Gertie calls. Fifth street brings both of us an ace, Gerties suited to her 5. I continue the bluff into stubborn Gertie and bet, and Gertie calls again. Sixth street gives me a lucky card, a K, while gertie gets a 3. I am showing 9d Qs Ac Kd. My bluff is looking more real, and is only a semi-bluff now with a big pair, and I bet again with Gertie showing 5h Jc Ah 3d. Gertie finally folds and I move into the chip lead.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 20,400
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 13,550
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 11,500

The very next hand is a nice one.

Berglar dealt up Th
Berglar dealt down Td Js
Gertie dealt up 2c
woohoosue dealt up Qc

After brings-in low, and woohoosue calls, I complete the bet. Gertie folds and woohoosue calls. I get a 6h on fourth and sue gets a 2d. I can beat sue's exposed pair, but need to know where I stand, so after she checked, I continue my aggressive play and bet. Sue calls. Fifth street brings me a Qh and woohoosue gets a As. She checks again, I bet, and she calls again. She must be on a draw, an expensive draw as the bet is now $1400 each. Sixth street exposes a 5s for me and a 5h for her. She continues her passive play and checks, so I bet again, and again she calls. Now I am worried. I still only have a pair. Te river brings me an 8h, no help. She checks again, and check also, figuring the pot was too big for her to fold. Amazingly, my pair holds up and she shows Jh 9h Tc. I have no idea what she was doing in this hand, but I do not mind, because I have a nice lead.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 25,300
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 13,050
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 7,100

Meanwhile, over in the NLHE and still the shortstack, I make a move allin with Ah4h UTG. With 300 ante and the blinds at $1k and $2k, the pot is already sweet. I only could raiase it $4k, which didn't scare Pharoah who calls. HE shows Kc5h and the best hand wins. I now have $17,400 and third in chips. The very next hand I am dealt 88 in the BB. Pharoah calls the BB, and everyone folds to me. I raise 2,900 to 4,900. Kinda a small raise, but I was using the slider and was jumping back and forth between windows. I didn't mind it too much, cause it pumps up the pot, and I most likely have the best hand preflop. Pharoah calls, and the flop comes Tc 6c Kh. TO find out where I am, I bet $3,300, and Pharoah raises 19,800. I know where I am at, and I fold knocking me down to under $10k. Pharoah shows 8h 7c, and I feel stupid. I bet too small on the flop giving away my weakness.

Back over the the HORSE tourney, I get dealt high card again.

Berglar dealt up Ks
Berglar dealt down 3d 2h
Gertie dealt up 7h
woohoosue dealt up 2c

I complete the bet, Gertie calls, and sue folds. Here we go again. Fourth street gives me a 3h, pairing me, which Gertie gets a Ac. She checks, and I bet my exposed pair. This time she folds, and I increase my lead.

The game switches to Stud Hi/Lo, and I continue the aggressive play, stealing a lot of bets.

Unfortunately, I get too aggressive with (As 2s) Kd. I end up losing, buth they both split the Hi and Low pots, so they did not gain as much ground on me as if one of then won both pots.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 17,850
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 15,300
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 12,300

I soon win a decent pot against woohoosue with a pair of kings. I am still low on chips in the NLHE tournament, but am not out. I get dealt A5o, and move in UTG with my small stack. I get one caller, the BB with K9o. I flop a 5 and win the hand, knocking out the only person with less chips than me. With all of the antes and the SB, I am up to 15,000, and am forth in chips.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 9,500
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 8,500
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 15,000
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 28,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 25,500
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 77,500
Seat 9 : msbell starts with 4,000

Back over at the HORSE, I get a decent low starting hand.

Berglar dealt up 4d
Berglar dealt down 7s Ac
Gertie dealt up 5s
woohoosue dealt up Kd

I bet UTG, and sue calls with her high card. Fourth gives me a 9d, and she gets a 4h. She bets and I call, hoping for a low card on the fifth street. I get my prayers with the 8c, while sue gets 5d. Sue bets again, and I call with my draw, even though she now has a chance of taking both pots. I get my low on sixth with the 5h while sue gets a Qd. She checks this time, but just in case she gets lucky on the river, I check as well. The river gives me a better low with a 2s. We both check and I take the low while sue wins high with a pair of jacks.

Over in the NLHE, I get 78o in the SB and get to limp. With $500 antes and $1500/$3000 blinds, the pot is getting big with no action. The BB checks and the two of us see a flop of 6c 2d Ts. I bet $3k to steal, and it works. I am up to 24k and tied for third in chips right behind second. Things are looking better to make the top 3.

I take a bad loss in the HORSE tourney, and am knocked down to second, but I am not giving up. HORSE is my event, and I will win it.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 13,250
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 26,400
Seat 8 : woohoosue starts with 5,800

Everyone tightens up, when the games moved to Holdem. I get dealt a beautiful hand, KK, in the BB. Gertie folds and sue raises from the SB and is allin. I call and her 77 doesn't hold up. We are down to two players but I half as many chips as Gertie.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 15,300
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 30,150

In the NLHE, we are down to 6 players when I get 9Jo in the SB. One limper, I call, BB checks. The flop comes 369 rainbow, and everyone folds to my 4500 bet. I am second in chips.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 19,000
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 19,000
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 26,500
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 24,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 24,000
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 55,500

Back over at HORSE, I get 23o in the SB. Gertie lets me see the the flop for cheap, and with the As 8h Kh, my bets scares her away, moving me closer to the lead.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 18,300
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 27,150

The very next hand, I get rockets, first time of the night, and a perfect time. Gertie calls, I raise, she calls. With a low flop (8s Tc 3c), I bet and she folds. We are very close now.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 21,300
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 24,150

With the poker gods still watching over me, they deal me QQ. I raise from the SB and Gertie folds. I now have the chip lead.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 22,800
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 22,650

Gertie starts folding and only betting made hands. I steal some more chips. Meanwhile, I make a nice raise with AJs in the NLHE and take down another pot.

A few hands later is when I make another big move in the HORSE event. The poker gods must have only gone to the bathroom, because they were back, and they dealt me KK. Switching up my play, I decide to slow play them. The flop came 7h Jh 4s, andI check as well as Gertie. The turn brought a 5c and she falls into the trap by betting. I raies her and she calls. Another J on the river is followed by my bet and Gerties call. She mucks her hand and I take down a 21,000 pot, giving me a big lead.

Seat 3 : Berglar starts with 32,550
Seat 7 : Gertie starts with 12,900

It couldn'r get easier as I am dealt K9 and a flop came K39. Another win, and Gertie is left to gamble with only 8400 chips.

Meanwhile, Pharoah has been picking on everyone, building a big lead. I like it because it helps me get to the top 3 spots since I am staying out of his way.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 17,000
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 13,500
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 26,000
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 14,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 90,000
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 7,500

With Pharaoh in the BB and me one off the button, I call with KsJs. Rudster raises allin and I decide he is desparate and I take a chance by calling for 9500 more. He shows the same hand except not suited. Whe chop the blinds and antes moving up some.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 16,500
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 13,000
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 29,000
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 17,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 85,500
Seat 8 : mothman61 starts with 7,000

The final hand of the HORSE tournament was still Holdem. I get dealt As 2s and raise from the BB. Gertie calls and the flop brings Ts Tc Ks. I bet my nut draw, and Gertie calls. The turn brings another T, improving my hand a little. I bet and she calls. The river brings my 3s, and with a final bet, she calls, mucks, and hands me the victory. (Actually she had 150 left, but that didn't last very long)

After almost 3 hours, I had won the HORSE tournament.

Now I was down to just one tournament.

We were soon down to 5 players but was tied for second now.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 9,000
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 27,500
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 27,500
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 15,500
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 88,500

I lose a hand to rocknut, and am quickly knocked down to third in chips.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 8,500
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 33,500
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 23,000
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 15,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 88,000

Then I lose another hand and am down to fourth in chips.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 24,500
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 33,000
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 20,500
Seat 6 : Rudster starts with 10,500
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 79,500

Rocknut knocks out Rudster, and we are on the bubble, me tied for third.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 19,500
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 48,000
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 19,500
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 81,000

I predict that everyone miht tighten up, so I lososen up and steal some pots where I can.

Then, with a real hand of A9s, I raise, get a call by Pharoah, and get a flop of AKQ. I move up to third.

Seat 1 : cara_too starts with 16,000
Seat 2 : rocknut starts with 40,500
Seat 4 : Berglar starts with 32,000
Seat 7 : Pharoah starts with 79,500

The next hand Pharoha takes out cara_too and I am in.

Less then an hour after my previous tournament win, and I made the top 3 of the NLHE tournament. At this point, I just kept going allin until I was out.


The $100 guaranteed tournament was starting in two hours, so I made some dinner, ate, and relaxed.

Again, I started playing loose, but since this tournament was a deep stack, I didn't mind, but after loosing more than half of my 5000 stack, I got nervous. This tournament had such a friendly blind structure, I became patient and made my moves when appropriate. There were a few bounties, and I took out one of them, and lifted my bankroll. I started stealing alot of blinds, and made a few hands, and made the final table with the second biggest chip stack.


Since the top 3 places paid cash, I decided to keep playing smart. When we were down to 5 players and only 3 spots paying, I soon got crushed with QQ against AA and AK, but since I had more chips than both of them, I was not out, but way hurting. I made the it in the money, it was late (after midnight and I was getting up at 4:30am), so I called an allin raise with 22. The QQ beat me and I took third, and went to bed.

If anyone is still reading this, I am truely amazed.

Later

Vegas Report

I am back from my Vegas trip and boy, do I have a lot to report. This is the first time I have booked a Vegas trip through a third party. It was interesting, to say the least.

On the flight to Vegas, the head poker tour guy on the flight announced over the loudspeaker that all of the tournaments were canceled. The Colorado Gaming called Nevada Gaming who called Binions, who apparently freaked out and canceled all of our tournaments. Not only that, but he said that Binions canceled all of our reservations and that were had to find a place to stay on our own. Now this was a fight weekend, so finding a room would not be easy. Luckily, before we landed, the guy announced that we can still stay at Binions, but we would have to pay them ourselves, and APT would reimburse us.

When we got to Vegas, Laurie, the girl I brought with me, and I decided to start off the gambling early and try to cab it to the hotel instead of waiting for the bus that was arranged but had not shown up yet. The taxi line was long, but it moved fast. When we got to the hotel, the checkin line was out the door. We got in line and wait, and waited, and waited some more. After about an hour, we were finally standing inside. Inside, we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally, we checked in. Our non-smoking room turned out to be a smoking room. So glad he asked what I preferred when I checked in. NOT!

I played 2.5 sessions, 1 MTT, and 1 SNG. I started with a $60 MTT at TI. I played loose and aggressive and donked off all of my chips quickly. I went over to a cash games and joined a $1-$3 NLHE table. I continues to play loose and stupid. This is common for me until I get settled in and got my fill of action. Then I play smarter and make money. I donked off about $500 before I called it a day. I went back downtown, had some dinner, relaxed, and caught a few z's.

I hit the Binion's poker room around 3:30am and saw two empty seats, one at each NLHE table. One table had a drunk obnoxious guy, so I went to the other table. Stupid me! Little did I know before sitting down, but this guy about 3 grand in front of him and was bluffing like crazy. I asked to be moved to his table, but was put on a transfer list. I played smart and didn't lose any money when I was finally called to move tables. I was put a couple of seats to the left of the grunk guy. He was loud and rude, but no cared because he had so much money to give away. After about 20 minutes, the drunk guy asked to be moved to the other table. Ugh. I decided I was going to stay and learn how these players played. I rarely played during the 8.5 hour session. I was very selective. I ended up winning 3 large pots during the session moving my $200 starting stack to around $900. The $700 profit more than covered my $560 loss from the previous day, so I was up $140.

I had a great dinner that night at Hugo's Cellar. If you ever want to impress a girl, take her to Hugo's. It is a very very nice restaurant. Later that night I went to TI to meet my friend Anthony who drove out from LA. We played some Pai Gow Poker and I won about $200.

The next day Laurie and I joined my poker friends, Neval and Scooter, to the MGM poker room. I started off loose and aggressive and donked off $100 in 3 hands before a seat opened up at Neval's table and I moved. I settled down and won back $55 before a SNG started. The structure was crazy. Start with $1000, blinds at $25-$50, and they double every 12 minutes. After winning a bunch of small pots, I got my queens cracked by kings. Down to about $1300 with the blinds at $200-$400 I knew I was in trouble. I took a chance from the small blind after 4 limpers came in by popping it for the rest of my chips. Everyone folded except for one person who had A2o. I had 78o. No help and I was out in 6th place.

The flight home was less eventful, but the promised that they would make this up to us by rescheduling the tournaments for another time. I hope I can go. I think I might arrange my own room and fight though.

It was nice to end the trip ahead. Not only did I end up ahead at poker and pai gow, but I ended up ahead by winning my $165 Mayweather-DeLahoya bet after losing my $35 Kentucky Derby bet.

Too much poker = too little everything else

I have not played much poker in the past week because I have a back log of other things to do. I want to get all of these other tasks done before my next trip to Vegas, which is in 8 days. This should be an interesting trip. A few hundred of us Coloradans are heading out and playing in some poker tournaments, some of which are set up just for us. 130 of us are flying out on a chartered flight.

We land at 4:30pm and our first tournament is at 6:00pm. I can see everyone's game being a little off after all of the traveling and scrambling around. This tournament is only for about 170 qualifying players, and is free except for an optional $50 addon. We start with 2500 in chips and can addon 2000. The blinds starts at 25/50 with 20 minute increases. This should be a fast pace luck-fest in my opinion. I do not like these fast blinds, but for the cost and the cash prizes, I can't complain much. The prize pool is $10,000.

The main event starts the next day and continues the following day. This is a $500 buyin with a $50 addon and is open to all amateurs. This time we start with 5000 chips and can addon 2000 more. We will start at 25/50 blinds and will increase every 40 minutes. This is better, as skill will be more of a factor. Play starts at 6pm and stops at 2am. We continue the next day at noon until we finish. Everyone that makes the final table gets a key. One of the keys starts up a new Harley. This would be a sweet prize. First place wins $75,000 plus a seat in the WSOP main event. Second place wins $10,000 and a satellite seat into the WSOP main event. This, to me, is a huge imbalance. Oh well, I won't complain much if I win $10,000. I definitely won't complain if I take first. The top 30 places pay, but 21-30 only get $500, so if you added on for $50, you are still losing.

The last day, May 6, we have our Battle-of-the-Sexes. We each get 2000 in chips for $100 buyin with an optional 2000 chip addon for $25. If we register for this event at the same time as the main event, we get an extra 2000 in chips. Duh, who is not going to do that? We play men vs men and ladies vs ladies until each sex is down to 5 players. The the final 10 each start off with 4000 in chips at the final table and battle to see which sex is a better poker player (or luckier poker player depending on the blind structure).

We return back home late that night, hopefully with our pockets full of cash. I probably wont get much other poker in, as I am bringing a lady friend with me, and will probably be spending my free time with her. I am feeling good about my game. My only worry is that I do not get tired, bored, or frustrated. Otherwise, I think I can bust some fools, make the final table, and bump up my bankroll for more poker events.

Saturday Night's PLO8 live cash game

We started out with 10 people at Manny's, a guy I met playing poker at the local bar. The game was $1-$2 Pot-Limit Omaha High Low. This was my favorite game a year ago, but after playing so much PLO lately, it has dropped off my radar. Luckily it did not long to get back in the saddle. Everyone cashed in for $100, but money on the table played, so some of the players put cash under their chips. I did not to start off, but after an hour of dead cards and blinds eating away at me, I slipped a $100 bill under my chips. Down about $50 after 1.5 to 2 hours, I started getting cards. I slowly built my chip stack, and by the end of the night, I was $350 ahead. There was one hand played where over $1400 was in the middle. This was chopped between Scooter, who is one of the dealers at the bar game, and Chuck, another player I met at the bar game. Scooter was up nearly $750 after this hand, and ended the night up about $450. Chuck was down about $350. Manny, the host was down a little, and Jamie, a younger player from the bar game, won about $250. Frank, the older guy I just met at the game, and who called almost every raise, lost, as well as the other players that came, lost, and left early. It was fun night of poker, jokes, food and drink. I am looking forward to next month's game.

12 hours and still feeling the pain

Yesterday I played in the monthly APL Pot-limit Omaha tournament. We started at noon with 290 players after a 45 minute drive up to some town called Ft. Lupton in the boonies. The first hand, the dealer dealt quad queens. The next hand, my flopped straight was cracked on the river by a chasing flusher. A few hands later another quads was dealt, this time kings. I slowly built my chip stack back up to where I started ($4000) when I got moved to a different table. At this new table, I had a long streak of dead cards, followed by a few bad beats. I got all the way down to $1400 with the blinds at $100-$200. I picked my moment, and I doubled up. The on the next hand, I doubled up again. Two hands later I win a nice pot. I go to the lunch break with over $10,000.

After lunch, I continue the run, busting out players and winning nice pots. Next thing I know, they announce that there are 29 players left. Since this is a free tournament (you had to qualify), they only paid the top three spots. The top ten spots won entry into next month's tournament. I kept up the smart playing when we were down to 19 players and I was being moved again. I went to my new table with $72,000 in chips, bu the blinds were up to $2000-$4000. There was a lady at this table with $380,000. She played every hand, and only folded pre-flop if their was a raise. She started knocking players out left and right, and before long, we were down to 10 players and up to $5000-$10000 blinds.

I was at $70,000 when we went to the final table. Two players at the table only had $10,000 in chips, just enough to post the big blind. I was 6th in chips. Everyone started off very tight. Few saw the flop, and most folded when there was a post-flop bet. I worked my way up to $110,000 in chips when the first player was knocked out. She was one of the players who started the final table with $10,000. Then another player got knocked out. The other player who started the final table with $10,000, Matt, was up to $50,000. Soon afterwards, Matt was well over $100,000 in chips. Then the painful hand happened.

I was dealt 9TJQ rainbow in the big blind. There were three limpers and the small blind. I checked and the flop came TT5 with two spades. The limper bet the pot, $50,000. This was almost half of my chips. I went through the possible hands he could have. 55 beat me, but I had ten outs. T5 beat me, but I had nine outs. TA and TK also beat me, but I had nine outs, minus his outs. Just a 5 and I was way ahead, and any other T besides TQ and I was way ahead. I knew I needed to make the final three to cash, and the blinds were getting close to moving up to $10,000 - $20,000, so I decided to chance it and play. The only decision was, call or go all-in. Calling would leave me with too little chips to play with, and I felt that this was the hand to gamble them on. I reraise allin, and he slowly called. He showed 789T rainbow. I was way ahead. He needed a 7 or 8 to suck out, and the 9 to tie. Anything else and I win the pot and move up to around second in chips. The turn was a 3, and the river was his 8. I busted out in 8th place. I hate losing with the better hand. I hate played seven and a half hours of perfect play only to get a bad beat to knock me out of the money.

I stayed around to watch some of the action and to cool off from my beat. My friend Cheyenne was still in it, so I was rooting for her to win. The big stack was donking off chips and was now down to a little over $200k. Then this hand happened. Chip leader limped, small stack limped, Matt called from the small blind, and Cheyenne checked from the big blind. After the flop (all I remember was two spades, no pairs), Matt checked, Cheyenne checked, chip leader checked, small stack moved allin. Matt called, Cheyenne folded, big stack called. The turn brought a blank and Matt and the chip leader checked the dry pot. The turn brought a third spade to the board. Matt checked, the chip leader bet into the dry pot, and Matt reraised her allin. She called and Matt showed the nuts with the ace high flush. The chip leader was no longer the chip leader and was severely crippled. Matt had a huge stack. Amazing since he started the final table with only enough to post the big blind.

I decided to leave and did not ge to see how thing finished, but am looking forward to Thursday when I see some people that can tell me what happened. At least I qualified for next month's tournament, and can get a chance at revenge.

Later, I will post about my Saturday night PLO8 $1-$2 game I played which included a hand that had a $1400 pot.

No Poker

I did not get to play any poker yesterday, but I did get to play poke-her. I was a little bummed I missed the mookie yet again, but the happy ending last night made it worth it. Also, I met a hot young waitress yesterday at lunch and she invited me to the bar last night. After my first date, I met up with her. She was drunk and very flirtation. Needless to say, I am a little tired and hung over today.

Tonight I hope to play in the APT tournament at the local bar, but snow is in the forcast, so we will see. Also, tomorrow is the monthly cash tournament, so the weather will be a determining factor on if I miss that game two months in a row. New tires tomorrow morning might help that. We shall see. If we get a lot of snow, online poker, and finishing my taxes, will be the plan.

MATH Recap

I played in my first MATH tournament last night, and all did not go so well. I started at a table where I did not know anyone. The chit-chat was quiet. The play was tight.



I also started tight but used this as an opportunity to steal. I make a successful blind steal in the first 10 hands, and again in the second 10 hands, and again in the third 10 hands. Not once did I get a decent starting hand, and not once did the flop hit me, but my bets and raises won the pot, and my bankroll was slowly growing. On hand 35, I was one off the button when everyone folded to me. Perfect steal op again. I raise with Q9o. Fold, fold, reraise. Reraise? Uh-oh. But it was a minimum raise, so I called, putting him on AK or AQs. The flop was 93J rainbow. I felt my middle pair was good and bet out after he checked. He called. Another J on the turn and I bet out again after his check. He called. After this second check-call, I put him on a jack or TQ. A jack was crushing me, but if he was on a straight draw, I was still ahead. The river brought another 9. I had a boat, but he could have a bigger boat if he held the jack. He checked again, and I was a little suspicious, so I checked also. He showed A7s and I won the hand.


I had a decent stack when I made a big mistake. I was kicking myself after this next hand. We were 7 handed and I was dealt ducks UTG. I limp hoping to see a cheap flop, which I was able to do. The flop comes T2T, giving me a beautiful boat. The blinds check, I check, hoping the next card gives one of them something. The turn was an 8, suited with one of the tens. The SB bet, and I was happy. The BB folded, and I only call, hoping for a bigger bet on the river, and a raise by me to capitalize on my nice hand. Unfortunately, another 8 came on the river. Anthing but a ten or an eight and I was golden. This card stung, and before I knew it, the SB bet big. I thought for a while, and then some more, trying to find a way to call, but I knew me boat was beaten by a bigger boat, and I laid down the hand. At least I didn't lose much, but man, did this hand suck. I am not sure if I would have played this hand any different if it happened again, but I need to analyze it some more before I stick to that conclusion.


The hand I went out on was ugly as well, but at least I lost with the worst hand when I moved allin. I had 56o in the BB and everyone folded to the SB who limped. The flop came K56. I thought my two pair was the best hand and raised his bet. He reraised me and I had enough chips to reraise allin or fold. I put him on a K, so I went allin. He called and showed his K and his 5. Ugh, a higher two pair. There were no sixes on the turn or river, and I was knocked out of my first MATH tournament.


Thinking back on the last hand, I probably should have folded after he reraised me. These were not donk FT players. These were bloggers and I should have given a little more respect to his reraise. Oh well. Next time.

Tournament Results

Last week I managed to play in a quick online tournament. Since I was sick, I knew I may not be able to play very long, so I found a HORSE SNG that was close to filling up. I played smart and aggressive in the games I am good at (Omaha, Holdem, Stud) and played smart and cautious in the games I need work in (Razz, Stud 8). I won the single table SNG wish relative ease. I wish there was more live HORSE tournaments with buyins I can afford.

In my last post, I mentioned that I played in the Railbird freeroll on Sunday. Here is a recap of how it went. We started of with 867 players with the top 81 places paying. When we got into the money, I opened up the payout page, and noticed that everyone who places higher than 10th place earns less than one dollar. That would be a waste of my time, even though I get good experience from these MTTs. My goal was to make the top 10 places.

When we got down to 25 players, I was second in chips, but way behind first place who had more than double my stack.

Not too long after, I knocked out a smaller stack and had increased my stack to over 100k. Unfortunately, jmopga had about 80k more than me, but at least I had pulled away from third place.

Everything was going well. I was playing smart. Didn't take any unnecessary risks. No bad beats (oops, did I say that? Doh!) until this hand. We had 6 players at my table and I was in the BB. Everyone folded to the SB who raised. I had QsKs and since this could easily be a steal attempt, and I had a good hand 6-handed, I reraised. SB called and the flop came 4sKc3c. SB checked this flop and I led out with a 3/4 pot size bet. SB called. Hmm, flush draw? Middle pocket pair? A3? A4? I thought he could have any of these hands. Hell, maybe even 56 or 25. I could not put him on any specific hand, but I thought these were his possibilities. The turn brought a 7h. The only hand that had me nervous was 56, but out of all the possible hands he could have, I put a 12% chance that he had 56. He checked again and led out with another feeler bet of 3/4 pot size bet. He called again. It really felt like he was chasing, so I put him on a flush draw, with a possible inside straight draw as well, so maybe Ac4c. The river brought a 5h. No flush and only one of the possible hands I put him on would beat me. I bet 1/4 pot which put him all in and he called. He showed a 6h7s for a straight on the river. HOLY CRAP! He chased an inside straight draw to the river for almost all of his chips! How did this guy get make it this far with over 800 players?


I accepted the loss and didn't let it effect my play. My stack was hurting, but I kept playing smart, and I finally made the final table, and my goal. Mr 67 offsuit (vlkn06) still was in it, and still had most of my chips he donked off of me.


When we got down to 6 players, I was dealt 7sTs in the SB. Everyone folded to me and I raised 3x the BB to semi-bluff steal the blinds. The BB called. The flop came 2dTd3d. I had top pair, but with three diamonds on the board, there was a possible flush. I was low on chips and needed to double up and with top pair, I was feeling pretty good about this hand. I went allin which was a little less than the size of the pot and the SB called. He showed 3s9d for middle pair and a flush draw. The turn brought a 9s giving him two pair and the river was a blank knocking me out in 6th place.


Mr donk went out next followed by Mr. Lucky (jmopga - the guy who hit his two pair on the river to knock me out). Here is how the rest finished.

I am very happy with 6th place out of a field of 867. If I could do this in a live tournament for big cash, I could bank some sweet coin. My next big live tournament is in May, so lets hope I can play in a similar fashion and make the final table.

103 fever is worse than getting beat with a 1 outer

I have not posted is a while, mostly because I was knocking on death's door. I went four days without eating or sleeping. It was miserable. It has been two weeks now, and I still have symptoms. I think I caught this at the poker tournament I played at two weeks ago. Anyway, on days that I was feeling a little better, I would drug it up, and try to play a little poker.

Last Sunday I played in a large Holdem tournament which was awarding a trip to Las Vegas and entry fee to a $500 tournament. I didn't make it too far, but played in the secondary tournament which was Omaha. We stopped playing when we got down to 3 players, since the top 3 players all won entry into the monthly $5000 tournament. This is my second certificate I won for the month in Omaha, so I will start the monthly tournament with an extra $1000 chips.

Last Wednesday, I played in another Holdem tournament, and took first, winning my first entry into the monthly Holdem tournament. I was Mr Patience until I got a nice run of cards late in the tournament. Then I became Mr Bully. I pretended to still be on my run of cards, and everyone believed me.

I played in another Holdem tournament on Friday, but lost all my chips sending me to the Omaha tournament when I was dealt AT and the flop came A82. I got all my chips in against a guy who slow played AA. I played solid PLO, and managed to win another cert, which will give me another $1000 at the monthly. I am getting fairly good at PLO, but know that things can be quite different when I play more with people who know what they are doing.

Last night I played in the Railbird freeroll on Full Tilt. There were close to 800 players, and I came in 6th place. I will go into more details about this tournament in another entry.

This looks like a busy week for me. Finish my federal taxes tonight, dinner date tomorrow, movie date Wednesday, poker on Thursday, pool league on Friday, Omaha Hi Lo game on Saturday after I finish my state taxes, PLO tournament on Sunday.

Results and News

Thursday I played in a holdem tournament and a omaha tournament at the bar. I had my pocket jacks cracked on the two-outter river by my friend Kimme who had pocket nines. Then I came in 4th in the omaha tournament which paid the top 3 spots. Ugh!

Last night I played in two tournaments at the same time. Both were private freerolls. Both tournaments had between 100 and 200 players. The first one only paid the top 5 spots. The second paid the top 20.

I was building a nice chip stack in the first one, but was card dead in the second, folding almost every hand. I eventually got knocked out of the second on a bad play by me, where I called a raise, then called an allin reraise which was called before me. I had TT, a very stupid call by me. A short stack after me even called. The first 2 allins had KK and AA, the short stack had KJ. AA took it down and I finished in 35th.

I played solid poker in the first tournament. We were down to 6 players and on the bubble when this hand happened. The short stack was small blind and didn't have enough to call the full big blind. The big stack limped as did I with JJ. I was assuming that the small blind would call with anything and we would check it down. But... the small blind folded. I guess his thinking was that the big stack might knock me out and move him into the money. He was almost right. The flop brought 8 high, and the big stack bet 1/2 my stack. Knowing that the small stack was going to be anted out soon, I did not understand why he would bet, let alone so much. I thought if I took a stand, he would realize he could not steal this pot and might change his mind. I called, the turn came another rag, and he bet 98% of my stack. I was furious. If he somehow flopped two pair, I would be knocked out and not win anything, so I folded my jacks, even though I thought I was ahead. I fought tooth and nail, and came in 3rd.

In the news, Fossilman had his Poker Stars account hacked. Some schmuck figured out Raymer's password and started to donk off chips to his account. A player watching thought the play was suspicious and notified PS. They froze both accounts. Greg confirmed that it was not him playing, and his money is getting returned. That is one way to Bust A Fool.

Mookie and the Texaswheel Buy-in

I played in two tournaments last night. First, I played in the Texaswheel Buy-in on VegasPoker247. For some reason, they did not charge anything, so it was a freeroll. This resulted in only the top 5 places paying instead of the advertised 18 places. With about 100 players in this thing, it was a challenge to make the money. I was doing really well throughout the whole tournament until we got to the final table. Then I went card dead and my steal attempts failed. I was slowly falling from top 3 in chips to bottom 2 in chips. Then the clouds parted, the light shone through, I was dealt pocket rockets. I got all my money in was ready to be second in chips, when the clouds moved back in, a jack came on the river, rain and sleet pounded from above, as my opponent's pocket jacks beat my pocket aces. Out in 9th with no money.


While this tournament was going on, I finally played in my second Mookie. I traded chips back and forth until I got pocket tens. A flop of KKx looked pretty good against my single opponent, but it was not. His big slick thumped me and I was out in 30th or some bad result like that (out of 38).

Tonight is my live tournament at the local bar to try to win another qualifier into the monthly cash prize tournament. If I am doing poorly, I may dump my stack to get into the omaha tournament that they also run. My omaha game is hot and my holdem is not.

For all you soccer fans out there, I will leave you with this great photo.
http://wickedchopspoker.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/keeley_soccer.jpg

Tuesday's Results

I played in two online tournaments at the same time last night. One was the Riverchasers HORSE tournament with 224 players. I played well, except there was one player who I could not beat. He was musselmang, and he was extremely lucky. He would get a raising hand every time. At first I thought he was stealing or bullying, but after people started calling him to the river, I saw he was playing it correctly. He ended knocking me out in 43rd place, out of the money. AlCantHang was still in it when I got busted.

The other tournament I played was the Texaswheel $1 buyin with rebuys. I finished in 3rd place and in the money. I did not have to rebuy, so it was a decent night.

Tonight there are 3 freerolls I want to play and the Mookie. I doubt I can play in all of them, but we will see. Not sure if I can bust that many fools at once.

Couldn't Get More Poker, Even If I Injected It

Last week was poker week. I played every day, mostly live. This also meant that I drank every night, since most of my poker was at bars. This is often a bad thing, but it turned out to be good and educational. I find that I play PLO much better when I drink than when I don't. Not the same with holdem, but that might just be because I was mixing holdem and omaha. My body does not like ity when I mix alcohol, and my game does not like it when I mix poker.

Saturday I played Big Deuce for the first time. I did not do too well. I dropped $50 in about 4 or 5 rounds. That is not too good considering I won about $0 in one round.

Sunday I lost a 180-person Omaha tourney. Damn, I forgot to drink. I started a single table satellite to next month's tourney, and was doing really bad as I got the nut flush on the river only to be beat by a boat. I started drinking about half way through the tournament, and strangely, my stack started growing. There was one lady at the table who was super aggressive. She was playing everything and often raised the pot preflop and post flop. She was knocking people out left and right and built up a huge stack. When we got down to heads up, she had a 5-1 chip lead over me. In two hands I knocked her down to practically nothing and made it three in a row to win the satellite.

Feeling good about myself, I called a girl I knew in the area and we got together, had a few drinks, and made out in her car in the parking lot like we were in high school.

This week will be another poker week, but this time it will mostly be online. I have 1 or 2 private tournaments set up each day except for Friday. Thursday I will play in the live game at the bar as they are giving away a bunch of qualifiers for the monthly cash tournament for $10,000, in which I only have one. The more qualifiers you win, the more chips you start with.

Bust Some Fools!

Poker, Violence, and the oh-so-close Non-Victory

Last night I went to a local bar and played in a poker tournament they were having through the amateur poker series. The first tournament of the night was NL holdem and about 40 people showed up. With only 3 tables, it was looking to be a long night.

Toward the end of the first hour of play, I finally got hand, a pair of black jacks. Under the gun, I raised 4x the BB to $400. Everyone folded to the BB, who called. The flop brought a JK3 with two hearts. The BB threw in three $100 chips. I threw in two $100 chips along with a $1000 chip. I said nothing. He told me that I had to say 'raise' if I wanted to raise. I told him that I did not have to say 'raise' in this situation, only if I was tossing in a single overchip. He proceeded to argue with me. At first I held my ground, but after asking the dealer, who was very quiet, I decided to let it go, but this guy did not. I told him I have been playing this game for 20 years in Vegas and no one plays like this. He started getting very angry and asked me to settle this outside. At this point I asked the dealer to remove the player. She finally called over to the dealer at the next table and asked him if I had to say 'raise' when tossing in multiple chips. This dealer knew his stuff and backed me. My dealer was new, and was friends with the irate man. The guy finally folded, I took the pot, and we went on break.

On break, a dealer I knew came over and he overheard me talking to my dealer about the situation. It turns out he was also friends with the irate man, but he asked me what happened and proceeded to find the guy and give him a 10-minute penalty. It was nice to see that even though he was friends with the guy, he knew that to keep their business out of trouble, he had to do the right thing. While the guy was serving his penalty, other players at my table told me that the guy was wrong for acting the way he did.

I went card dead for the rest of the holdem tournament and busted out, out of the money, but in time to enter the Omaha tournament starting up.

The Omaha tournament was good. Many of the players did not know how to play. The guy to my right kept misreading his hand, but in a bad way. He kept thinking he lost while I had to point out that he won. Five hands in a row this happened, except for the fifth hand, in which he could read that he had quad-aces by himself. I managed to make the final four, when my flopped trip-jacks got busted on the turn by trip-aces. The guy to my right went on to win the tournament.

I am looking forward to playing again on Thursday. This time I hope to not have any threats against me, and win one of the two tournaments. Check back on Friday for my results and any interesting stories that always seem to find me when I play poker.

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Next Bust Some Fools Tournament

This Saturday is Bust Some Fools next tournament. It will be at Full Tilt. All details, along with the password, can be found at www.bustsomefools.com.

Vegas Report

This was my third Vegas trip of the year, and by far the most fun. I met so many cool people, at the poker table and away. All I did was play poker and party. The perfect Vegas trip.

The first night I played way too long. I was playing at Hooters and wanted to catch the monorail back to my hotel before it closed, which I thought was 4am. I wanted to stop playing at 3:30am. By 3:30am I was tired, but didn't leave. I was up a couple of hundred and proceeded to donk off my chips until I was behind in chips. I ended up having to catch a cab back to my hotel at 5am.

All night I dreamt poker. I kept waking up and seeing what time it was. I forced myself to stay in bed until 9am so I could make it through the entire day without getting too tired. I got ready and went downstairs and played some PaiGow until I woke up enough, then headed back to Hooters for their noon holdem tournament.

I was the last person to sign up before they closed the tournament signup. 20 players, $35 buyin, unlimited $15 rebuys, and a $5 addon. I had to rebuy once and used my addon, so I spent $50. I sat next to this very attractive girl named Lindsey. She was a good player and had a lot of attitude. She had some crazy tattoos and lots of ear piercings. She got a bad beat early and was cursing under her breath for a long time. I stopped talking to her while she was steaming. We both made it to the final table, where again I was seated next to her, but this time I acted before her. I was low on chips the whole time but have learned patience and waited. Only 2 placed paid, so I knew I had to make a move to double or triple up. When we were down to 5 players, I made my move with JJ against A5o. My jacks held up and was able to be patient again for a few more blinds. The blinds doubled every 15 minutes, so things were getting expensive. When we got down to 3 players, I was low stack and suggested a deal so that third place got $100. They both accepted. I then won a hand on the button and was second in chips. The next hand the button, who was now low chip stack, goes allin. I call heads up with KK (lucky me). Her QK didn't improve and now I was chip stack leader. I made a deal with other player and we ended the tournament.

I think I am getting better at small tournaments. Need to work on my big tournaments now. Not that many opportunities to do that without spending alot of money, or playing online, which is not the same to me.

One thing that peeved me was after the tournament, I was going through my money to tip the dealer. I was planning on giving him $10 which would be $15 total since I gave the dealer from my first table $5. Since I an fairly new to winning tournaments, I have no idea how much to tip. While going through my money, I came across a $5 bill. I dropped it in front of the dealer and kept searching through my bills for another $5 bill. The other player, very loudly, said 'Is that all you are going to tip?' I told him I needed change and was planning on tipping more. He gave me a look of disgust. What really upset me, was it turned out he was a off-duty dealer at this casino and all dealers split tips, so he might be getting a portion of my tip. I thought it was very wrong of him to comment on my tip since he worked there, even if my tip was low.

I would love to get feedback as to what others tip, or what the norm is.

That night I met four college girls from Los Angeles and we went club hopping. We started at Coyote Ugly, where they danced on the bar, and ended up at Studio 54 where we stayed until about 5am. We all got loaded and danced until we were falling down, which some of them did. I got an invite to visit them in LA. Since LA has poker and some of my best friends, I told them I would take them up on their offer.

I may skip my next trip to Vegas, and go to LA instead. Still have not made up my mind. Until I do, I will be busting fools in the local scene and online.

Tournament winner

I am on a roll with my tournament play. I won a small tournament in Vegas this weekend, which I will tell you about in a later post, and I just won the PokerPlasm League Night Game 7 Omaha PL tournament. The playes were tough, and I had lowest chip stack at one point at the bubble. Here are the significant hands.


There are 10 players left in the tournament, 9 positions pay. I have only $305 left, lowest chip stack of tournament. The blinds were $75/$150. I was dealt As 10s 10c 5h. Two folds before my action, I move allin on the button. SB folds. Huff3 in the BB calls for $155 more. Flop brought Jh Js 9h. Huff3 had a 9, but my tens held up bringing me to $685.

9 players left, final table. I only have $535 in the SB. I had Qc 5d Jc 2c. 3 callers before my action. I wasn't crazy about this hand, but new if I got lucky, I would be in better shape for only half price. I call, BB thankfully checked. Flop was 8h Qs 8c. First to act, I take a chance and go all-in with my two pair. No one folds quickly. It was very scary. one by one they folded until the button, who calls with Ks 10c Kh 5s. I got extremely lucky with a Q on the turn giving me a boat and I a total of $1520.

Two hands later I get 3s 7h As Ah and raise. BB, Huff3, calls. The flop was 3h Kh Jd giving me an over pair and the nut flush draw. Huff bets the minimum, $150, and I move all-in with my last $995. He cals and shows Kd 7d 2c 7s. My aces beat his kings and I am up to $3115.

Later, in the BB, I get Kc 10s 7s 9h. Huff3 limps as well as the SB. I check and the flop comes 4h Jc 10d. SB checks, Huff3 bets the minimum, $200. I call with second pair. The turn was a Qd giving me the second nut straight. I check and Huff3 moves in for his last $605. I call and he shows a pair of jacks giving me $4120 and Huff3 out in 8th place.

I do not win a hand for some time, until I get a pair of aces twice in a row. The first time I raise max and get no callers. The next hand I do the same after one caller, and the caller, Jade0511 calls all-in. He shows 6c Jh 10c Kh and with an A on the flop, I bust another player out.

Five handed, I get Kd 5h 2h 6s in the BB with the blinds at $250/$500 and me with $4040. Only the SB limps and I get to see the flop, which was 6c 6h Kc, the perfect flop. Shamanalixx bets the min, $500 and I just call. The river was a 9d, and with another flush draw on the board, I hope he is makes his flush and I just call his min bet again. The river was a Qs. No flush on the board. I can only hope he has a 6 or maybe a K. He again bets the min. I try to figure how much I can get out of him. I only raise to $1500. He called quickly and showed Kh 2c Ac 5s. I win the $6000 pot, my biggest pot to this point.

When I got heads up with RTR528, I got 3c 7d Ad 4d and raised my $900 SB another $1200. He reraises me to $2400. I reluctantly call. The flop comes Kd 8s Kc. I bet trying to slow him down, but it doesnt work. He raises me and I muck. I am down to $5700 to his $15360 way too quickly.

The very next hand I lose a $6000 pot with my straight on the river to his nut flush on the river. I am now down to just $2700 to his $18360.

I smarten up my play and win a few smaller pots until I get dealt 10d 8c Ah 4h. I just call from the SB and he checks. Flop comes 8s Kh 10c and he checks. I bet with two pair and he calls. A Jc on the turns brings another check from RTR528, in which I try to get him out with a $1800 bet. He goes over the top with a raise to $3600. I feal good that I have the better hand, but if I am wrong, I have 8 outs. I reraise all-in for my last $1200 and he calls. The river brings one of my outs, the Qc. He showed 9c 5h Qs 10h for a straight to the king. I had the straight to the ace giving me the $12000 pot. I was ahead preflop and post flop, but he got lucky on the turn. Luckily the luck came back my way with the river card.

I have $9600 to his $11460. The hand that pushed it my way was when was dealt Kc 3s 6s Ac. I like AK heads up, and the double flush draw was a bonus. I raise to $1800 and RTR calls. A beatiful flop of 5s 6d 3h gives me two pair. RTR checks and I try to collect the pot right here with a $3600 bet. RTR raises to $7200 and reraies all-in, which RTR calls. He shows 2s 5d Ad Qd for second pair and an inside straight draw. I was ahead preflop again, and ahead post flop. The turn brought a 3d giving me the full house. The river was another 5, but that only gave him three of a kind. For a moment I thought he pulled a higher boat out of his butt. Luckily I was wrong and he was down to $1860.

RTR asked me how I could have called with raise. I told him I flopped two pair, why wouldn't I. He argued with me that I did not flop two pair. I kept to my guns that I did, and he got quiet fast.

I finished him off with Ks 8d Js 3h in the SB which I get to see the flop of 6c 8h 3d for half price only. He checks, I bet, he raises all-in with 6d 5s 10c 9h. I won the hand and the tournament for cash and a UPC entry fee.

I am joining the fight

I am sick of all of the poker sites changing their policy and not allowing US players to play on their sites. Just the other day, Doyle's Room switched to being non-US. For god sake, Doyle is the American of Americans. How can he do this. Are they that afraid of the government? Everyone knows we have a right to do with what we want with our hard earned dough. They should stand up and fight for our rights. Even Hollywood Poker doesn't accept United Stated players. It is called Hollywood Poker! How could they not accept us?

I am going to do my part for the fight for our rights, and focus all of my Bust Some Fools poker tournaments to poker sites that accept United States players. I am already a PPA member, but I am going to make a donation to the cause. I love playing poker. I do not bet any money that would go towards necessities. I think I should be able to play poker online.

I am a Republican. I have been all of my life. I will never vote Republican until Americans are allowed to play poker online. I will vote for a party that is for the people, that believes in the rights of the people, and knows that we are adults and do not need to be told what we can and can't do if it doesn't effect anyone else.

Ok, that was enough of a rampage. I need to go withdraw all of my money from non-US player accepting poker sites. If you are a government employee reading this, I do not play poker online. I never have. I always wait for the green hand before I cross the street. I never speed. I even eat my vegetables. ;) Lets all go to the US player accepting poker sites and Bust Some Fools.

Resizable Windows at Full Tilt FINALLY!

I hate to copy from another blog, but this is too awesome to not share it. Thank you Bill for the info.

"

Some notes:

THIS IS A BETA. Use it at your own risk. Read the beta page thoroughly before downloading so you know what to expect. Post your thoughts and general feedback in this thread, but if you find a real bug that isn’t on the “known bugs” list, please write in to beta@fulltiltpoker.com and include as much information as you can (how to reproduce, exactly what is wrong, screenshots, etc).

This beta will install in a new directory. To have your preferences and player notes in the beta client, you need to move your username.dat file from your current FTP directory
(default C:\Program Files\Full Tilt Poker) to the beta FTP directory
(default C:\Program Files\Full Tilt Poker Beta)

"

Our Prayers Have Been Answered

So long Neteller, Hello YouTeller. Next month we will have an even better way to fund out accounts, and its name is YouTeller. Check it out at http://www.youteller.com/index2.php.

Absolute Poker Upping their fee

Effective: Thursday, February 22nd


Absolute Poker is still holding a strong position in the U.S. market providing poker players from around the world with the very best online poker experience. We are 100% committed to staying in the U.S. and provide your players with the easiest, fastest, secure deposit and cashout options. However, in light of Neteller and other popular ewallets leaving the U.S. ,our processing fees have increased upwards of 5 times. These costs are higher due to the new and only deposit options available to U.S. customers, some of these deposit options also require Absolute Poker to cash guarantee all funds - please note we keep a cash reserve to cover all of our player balances. Due to this increase in costs, Absolute Poker has ammended its terms and conditions so we can stay in business to enable you and Absolute Poker to keep making money and not be forced to leave the US market.

Blogger Pods 2

I’m registered in the free BloggerPods poker tournament.
Poker Mac

Freeroll might be tricky to find

When you get into poker.com, choose real money, then go to Tournament, Private, Satellite. There you will find the Bust Some Fools freeroll. Check out www.bustsomefools.com for details.

Bus Some Fools Poker Tour

The Bust Some Fools Poker League has just started. Our first tournament will be a $60 freeroll at poker.com. Sign up for poker.com at the league's website, www.bustsomefools.com. This will make you eligible for all bounties that will be offered on my head in future poker.com tournaments we hold. The freeroll will be on the 16th of this month. Sign up for the tournament today. Check back with the site schedule often, and play in each tournament and win the league's championship. See you on the felt busting some fools.

Awesome New Online Poker League

Bust Some Fools is starting a new poker league. Guess what it is called. BUST SOME FOOLS. Check it out at www.bustsomefools.com. We are starting off the league with a freeroll at Poker.com, a great poker site that stands out from the rest. We will be adding other sites, as well as other fun things, like bounties, and other poker games.

One of my favorite features is the rabbit hunt feature. You get to see what the next cards were going to be, but you have to show your cards. I love to raise with 27o, get everyone to fold, then rabbit hunt. Then I tighten up and get people to think I have crap when I raise. Of course later on, when my image has been figured out, I do it again.

The league is open to everyone, so come on and join up. It is absolutely free. If you use the links from this blog to download and install Poker.com, you will be eligable for all bounties we offer on that site. If we get too many players, we may limit the field to anyone that has already played in one of our tournaments.

Since I, like many of you, are in the United States, it can be hard to fund your poker accounts. I found an easy way to do this. Go to Walgreens or www.Gift2Go.net and buy the Gifts2Go visa cards. They come in various amounts. There is a small service fee, much like Neteller charged. I used one for Poker.com, and it worked perfectly. If you can't make it to Walgreens, I can transfer funds to your account in exchange for cash.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Bust Some Fools poker league busting some fools.

Back from Vegas

I am back from Vegas. It was probably the worst gambling trip I have had in a long time.

I started the trip with the $500 Sinsation Poker Classic at the Imperial Palace. The girls were hot, but my cards were not.

The only time I had a hand was when one of the girls came over and started to massage my shoulders when the blinds were $50-$100. I looked down and saw pocket kings. I raised to $300 and got 2 callers. The flop brought J high rainbow. I think a bit, looking a little upset, then bet $300 again. I got one caller. The rainbow ace came on the turn, scaring me a bit. I had him on AK or a middle pocket pair. I checked it after some more thought, but tried to look less upset, hoping he would think I might be slow playing my ace. He checked also. I fealt pretty good that he did not have an ace. The river was a blank, and I bet $300 again, hoping to squeeze some more money from this guy. He folded. I was up to $3500 after starting with $2500.

Then a few hands later I got moved to a new table. I hate that. I had a good read on most of the players, and had to start all over again. I then got a long cold streak of cards. Nothing playable at $75-$150. Nothing at $100-$200. My only playable hand was 3-3 when the blinds were $150-$300, which I had to call a minimum raise just to play. The flop didn't hit me and I folded to a pot size raise. I tried to steal a few blinds, but kept getting raised and sometimes reraised. Most of the time, one guy, he big stack, kept raising preflop, and when everyone folded, he would show a monster. If anyone called him, he would bet on the flop, then show his nuts after his opponent folded. I did not try to steal anytime he was in the blind or if he limped, which he also did with monsters. I was able to steal the blinds with A3o, and KQs.

After 4 hours of play, the blinds had withered me down to $1800 with the blinds at $150-$300 and we were 14 minutes from breaking for the day. The blinds were going to start at $200-$400 the next morning. I was in Vegas with a young, hot, partier. I really didn't want to have to wake up early the next day after a night of partying, only to last 30 minutes, if that. I decided to try to steal the blinds from one off the button with an all-in KTo. The guy to my left immediately called. The blinds folded, and he flipped over AQo. A flop of JTQ gave me an open ender, but when the Q on the turn came, I lost 4 of my outs. None of my remaining 6 outs came, and I was done, feeling pretty shitty. I regretted that move and thought maybe I should have sacrificed a partying night, and hoped to get some better cards in the morning with my tiny stack.

After going to my room and replaying many of the hands over in my head, I went back down to the poker room. I got seated at a $1-$2 no-limit game. I immediately went into aggressive mode, and was rolling over everyone. I had increased my $200 buyin to over $300 in 30 minutes, rarely having to show my cards. Then Vinny Favarito sat down on my left. Vinny is the standup comic at O'sheas. He was hiliarious. I was still playing many hands, but noticed that he did too. I got A3o and raised to $15. He called. The flop came A3T. I bet the pot, $45. He called. The turn brought an 8. I bet $100. He called. The river brought a 7. I bet $100 again, he reraised me allin. I only had about $50 more, I called. He showed 9J for the straight. Ugh.

I rebought for $200. Vinny took the seat that emptied to my right so he can hit on the girl that was across from me easier. Later we get into another hand together. He limped, I limped with ATs. The flop came 78T rainbow. He checked, I bet the $20. He called. The turn came another T, giving me three of a kind. He checked, I bet $50. He called. The river brought a 6. He bet $100. I asked him if he had 9J again. He shifted his eyes to me after he heard me ask, but didn't say anything. After about 60 seconds, I muck my AT face up. He was shocked. He flipped over one of his cards showing an 8, and smiled. Then he showed his 9.

I still had about $130 left when I get Q9 in the small blind. I pay the extra $1 with 5 other players. The flop comes QKQ, giving me a set. A player bets $12 (the pot). I put him on a K. Everyone folds until me, I call, big blind folds. The turn came a 2. I bet $35. He thinks for a bit, then calls. The river came an 8. He goes allin. I curse, and lean back in my chair. There is no straight, no flush on the board. I put him on K8, or a busted straight. I call. He shows Q8. Vinny tells me where the ATM machine is, but I tell him that with the way my luck is running, I am done for the day.

The next day I head over to Hooters and get into the empty seat at one of their $1-$2 no-limit games. So many calling stations. The table next to me is loud and rowdy. Chips flying as much as the curses. My table is quiet. The other table was flashing wads of hundreds. They were ordering bottles of Dom at $300 a pop. They were going allin for $1000 with nothing. It looked like a crazy game. I asked the manager to move tables when a seat opens, and he replies that I am 3rd on the list. Later a seat opens and the only action guy at my table moves over. Shortly after, I see a security guy standing next to me. He radios for more security. They come in and escort one of the players from the other table out. Then all of the people from the table, rack up their chips, and cashout. Some of them had 4 racks of $5 chips. I am bummed I missed the game. It turned out one of the players that was not with the young rich crew complained about one of them cursing. What a moron. Listen to cursing, or take a few thousand from some rich kids? Hmmm, tough choice. NOT! I lose a bad beat, but roll over most of the table with aggressiveness and end up about even.

That is it for this trip. Not very impressive, but I have booked my next trip for February 23, and will be staying at Hooters. So look for me in the poker room if you are there, and we can bust some fools together.