Congratulations...

...to Otis, for once again demonstrating his superior poker acumen by placing in the top three of a PPM IV super-sat last night and qualifying for the cruise, something I failed to do. Way to go!

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WPBT Radio: All Poker Blogger, All the Time

Just the usual late-night hijinks on Party Poker. In order around the table: Derek, me, Studio Glyphic, Drizztdj, helixx, Brother of Boy Genius, Otis, Iggy, Pokeramarama, and AlCantHang. Not pictured: SirFWALGMan, BadBlood, Jason from Catching the Antichrist, and casinogosain.

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2004: The Year In Poker

How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?
--Homer Simpson

The clock is winding down on 2004, and what a crazy year it's been! Poker really became a dominant force in my life. I played tournaments and cash games in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, and Atlantic City, in addition to online at Party Poker and Poker Stars. With just a few days left until 2004 enters the history books, I thought it was an appropriate time to reflect on my progress in poker.

The numbers tell part of the story, so let's start with a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of my bankroll. At one point early in the year, my total bankroll was close to $500 in the hole, but here's how it wound up:

As of Quarter Total Roll
03/31 -112 -112
06/30 +116 +4
09/30 +2171 +2175
12/26 +3552 +5727

Anyone want to guess when I started seriously trying to improve my game? Hint: it coincided with a severe cash crunch and the realization that if I applied myself, I might be able to cover my rent payments by playing poker, until I could find a job.

Keep in mind these are my total numbers. I could try to separate it out by type of game, limit, SNG, MTT, etc, to get a better breakdown of my strengths and weaknesses, and maybe for myself I will. Unfortunately, my spreadsheet doesn't necessarily allow me to do that very easily. That's definitely a change I'm going to make to the spreadsheet for 2005.

All of that aside, there's no disputing the bottom line: I made over $5700 playing poker this year, almost all of that in the last six months as I've really started applying what I've learned through constant play and reading many of the poker blogs. That's not a huge number, but it's not exactly chump change, either; it paid my rent and utilities for those six months.

There were some highs and lows along the way. The highs:

* Qualifying for the Borgata Poker Open $1500 NLHE tourney in a $40 super-satellite;
* Winning $2500 in a $210 tournament on Party Poker by placing 5th out of 346;
* Attending a Hollywood home game with poker pro and all-around great guy Andy Bloch;
* Discovering the poker blogs;
* Attending the inaugural WPBT event, the 2004 Holiday Classic;
* Winning at 15/30, and thinking that I can be a consistent winner at 15/30.

The lows:

* Busting out of the $1500 Borgata Poker Open event during the first hour;
* Driving 4 hours to Binions during the WSOP only to drop $250 on two single-table satellites. It's so clear to me now how wrong my strategy was for those tournaments;
* Several bad tilt instances in the first half of the year, where I would go on skids in which I dropped 10 big bets per hour for a period of hours;
* Stepping up to limits (15/30) for which I wasn't properly bankrolled;
* Realizing that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

BadBlood recently said, "I truly feel that financial indifference is one of the keys to being successful". To a certain extent, I believe he's correct. I am so much more comfortable (and better, I think) at playing NLHE tournaments than I am in NLHE cash games because to me, the chips in a tournament don't have a monetary value. The money is already long gone -- in the form of the tourney buy-in -- when I push my stack into the middle of the table. On the other hand, in a cash game, those chips represent actual money, and I think that subtle difference affects my style of play (negatively).

But, it's also my belief that having a financial stake in your play does have some helpful implications. It forces you to refine and narrow your focus to laser-like intensity so that you can accomplish whatever those financial goals are. For me, they were making my rent payment. I've talked about this before. Did I -need- that money to make my rent payment? No. Was it a big help for me to have it? Yes. And with that incentive, that financial stake in the outcome of my play, I tore into the tables.

Now that I have a job again and can comfortable pay my rent again, I've been considering what my new financial goals should be. I've set some goals for 2005, but I'll save them for the subject of a future post.

I really think I've turned a corner in the development of my game the last few months. Clearly, I still have so much to learn. But I firmly believe that if I grow my bankroll properly, I'll be able to move up in limits and hold my own, and I also think that 2005 is going to be a good year for my MTT results (shout out to HDouble for a recent confidence-building compliment, even if he was just blowing smoke up my ass). Time, and 2005, will tell. In the meantime, I want to give several shout-outs for my 2004 success:

* to the Above Malibu crew, for continually helping me refine my game;
* to all of the bloggers, for all of your valuable writing that I've read and comments to my own writing that you've left for me;
* to Pauly and PokerProf for organzing the first WPBT event; and last but not least
* to Dawn Summers at Clareified, for so insistently and shamelessly promoting her own blog that I was forced to read it, which led to me creating my own blog, which ultimately led me to Rick's Cafe and from there to the poker blogs.

Happy New Year!

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LHC Update No. 3

This is just a quickie - I got my game back on track and took down 24 big bets in an hour the other night to make up for the awful 20 big bet loss. My total roll now stands at $92.80 (from a starting $25) after 12.1 hours of play, or an average of just over 8 big bets per hour. 1/2 is just around the corner!

UPDATE: Movin' on up! Took down the last needed bets tonight. It's interesting - after my little debacle last weekend, I took down 53 BBs in 5.3 hours. Anyway, here are the updated stats as I move up to 1/2:

Hands: 933
Time: 14.3h
Vol. Put $ in Pot: 21.44%
Preflop Raise: 8.15%
Postflop Aggression Factor: 3.39
Total Roll: $104.55

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Quick WPBT Question

Have any of the WPBT attendees (other than Felicia) received their jacket from CheckNRaise poker? I haven't.

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What Choo Talkin Bout, Vladimir?

"Today, the state, using absolutely legal, market mechanisms, is ensuring its interests - I consider this perfectly normal," Mr. Putin told reporters at a news conference in Moscow, referring to the purchase by Rosneft of the Baikal Finans Group, which had widely been thought to be a shell company.

"Some market participants got multibillion state assets using different tricks, including some violations of then-existing legislation," Mr. Putin said. By contrast, he said, the purchase by Rosneft "was done in absolute conformity with market means."
--

So, in the end, state-controlled Gazprom will get Yuganskneftegaz anyway. Surprise, surprise. If you haven't been playing along at home, the Kremlin used trumped-up back tax charges to seize the crown jewel of the Yukos oil empire and then "auctioned" it off to itself in a typical Russian auction (meaning everyone knew who the putative winner would be weeks before the auction took place). That's democracy and the free market at its finest, folks.

It's interesting that Putin is trying to defend his actions by referencing the bad acts of the oligarchs during the privatization wave of the 1990s. Nobody disputes that the oligarchs plundered Russia's wealth, but Putin's comments reek of the pot calling the kettle black.

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Whacking Day

"Gentlemen -- start your whacking."
--Miss Springfield

Well, the blogroll was getting a bit untidy, with several of the listed blogs capable of being alternately classified as languishing, comatose or dead. Thus, I've given it a few nicks and tucks, whilst (ooo, look, I'm British) simultaneously adding the blogs of several of the fine folks that I met in Las Vegas ten days ago that, for whatever reason, never made it into my blogroll. They're all at the top of the list, as always. Check 'em out!

I'm working on a 2004 retrospective post, in all its gory detail (and maybe even a 2005 prospective post). Unlike the mythical JJ/KQ post, this one really is being written. Stay tuned...

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LHC Update No. 2

Well, things were going well at Level 2 (.50/1.00) until I decided to act like a maniac this weekend and had my ass handed to me. I compounded the problem by zigging when I should have zagged, consistently playing inferior cards and attempting to blow people off their hands (which generally doesn't work in low-limit, where people are content to call call call) and, of course, getting outdrawn a few times.

It was bad enough that I dropped 20 BBs in an hour and a half on Saturday, totally wiping out my gains in .50/1.00. Yikes. The PokerTracker numbers were ugly: I came in from the SB almost half the time (way too much), I raised preflop 12% (I like to keep this under 10%) and most ugly of all, my "Won $ at Showdown" percentage was under 45%, which is awful -- it should be closer to 60%. Yep, I was playing like a jackass. I thought I could just run over the table and, well, I was wrong.

It's been a while since I dropped 20BBs at *any* level. Generally, I'm much more disciplined than that. In the long run, it's only $20 and obviously I'll make it back, and I know that most of it was from just thinking I could steamroll the table, but I'm still throwing chips off in dumb spots -- when I know I can't shake somebody, but insist on firing "all three barrels" anyway. This is an even worse problem when I do it with position, because in that situation I can get away with a check on the turn and check or fold on the river (saving myself 2 big bets) if I miss my hand. Two big bets every time adds up quick.

Long story short, I basically had to start over at Level 2, as my idiotic play completely wiped out two hours of bankroll building, and made my net take for 3.5 hours at .50/1.00 a whopping .50. At this point, I'm up 18BBs, almost having made it all back, but it's taking a bit longer -- a total of three hours invested so far, which means total BB/hour for .50/1.00 is under 3, and that's just terrible. I should be beating this game at a better pace than that, but that's what a 20BB drop will do to you.

The upside to all of this is that I'm building a brand new database on myself, since I never had played ring games at Stars before. Hopefully, after a few thousand hands, I'll have a better picture of where the leaks are. I see some already, and they're not new, but apparently I still haven't plugged them. It doesn't help that I've only been dealt aces and kings once each in 675 hands (and the kings went down to a flopped set). But it's good -- if I ever hope to play 10/20 and higher, I need to know where these leaks are right now.

Here's the ugly update to the LHC bankroll (total to date):

Hands: 674
Time: 10.9h
Vol. Put $ in Pot: 23.29%
Preflop Raise: 8.90%
Postflop Aggression Factor: 3.12
Total Roll: $68.05
BB/hour: 6.64

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Go Ahead, Reraise - I Dare Ya!

Hee hee hee. This was the second time in two days I got called down with quads. Updated to how I'm doing on the Limit Holdem Challenge coming this week!

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Spotlight: Russia

Working in an office with no fewer than five native Russian speakers has stoked my passion for one of the world's most beautiful languages. Trolling through this morning's news from Russia, I came across the following "language" piece in the Moscow Times. The language columns are a recurring feature of the MT -- an explanation of some facet of Russian language -- but I found this one to be quite interesting, as it was an example of my long-held belief that the entire Russian language is premised around economy of words.

A Whole Lotta Nothing
by Michelle A. Berdy
(reprinted without permission; (c) 2004 Moscow Times)

Очень даже ничего: it's really terrific / s/he's very attractive (depending on context)

Ничего is one of those little words that foreigners learn right away, if only because we hear it so often from our Russian friends and colleagues. In addition to meaning "nothing" (я ничего не сделал -- I didn't do anything), it is one of the standard Russian answers to the question Как дела? (How are you?) and means "not bad," "pretty good." But according to a dandy little book on Russian speech etiquette, there are no less than nine meanings of ничего, depending on context and intonation. As usual -- just to make life interesting for us non-Russian speakers -- the meanings range from high praise to strong objection, with a philosophical shrug in between.

Often you hear it in response to a query along the lines of "are you okay" or "is this okay": Ты не ушибся? -- Ничего. Рука болит, но быстро пройдёт. ("Did you hurt yourself?" "It's nothing. My hand hurts, but it will be fine.") You can also use it when someone apologizes for something. It means "don't worry about it," "never mind." Извините, пожалуйста, что я опоздал. -- Ничего. Самое главное -- доехали. ("I'm sorry I'm late." "Don't worry about it. The important thing is that you made it.") It can also be a gracious response to an expression of gratitude: Спасибо, что согласились выступить на конференции. -- Ничего, ничего. Я рад приглашению. ("Thank you for agreeing to speak at our conference." "It's nothing. I'm delighted you invited me.")

You can also use it to ask permission to do something: Ничего, если я сейчас поеду домой? Ты закончишь отчёт без меня? (Is it okay if I go home now? Can you finish the report without me?) It can also be the answer to the same kind of question: Ничего -- поезжай. Тут мало осталось. (Sure, you can head off. There's not much left to do.)

Then there's ничего as a kind of general word of consolation, three little syllables that convey the sense of "this too shall pass." This is my favorite use of the word; instead of tea and sympathy, it's tea and ничего: Мы с Владиком решили развестись. -- Ничего. Сначала будет трудно, но ты справишься. ("Vladik and I decided to get divorced." "It will be fine, you'll see. It will be hard at first, but you'll manage.") Here it has the sense of ничего страшного -- nothing terrible.

But listen carefully to intonation; when said with a harsh tone of voice, ничего can mean objection to what was said. Sometimes this is accompanied with a hand gesture of pushing something away, as if the person were showing "enough already": Вряд ли им удастся закончить отчёт сегодня -- уже поздно. -- Ничего, ничего! Пусть сидят до двенадцати! ("They probably won't be able to finish the report today -- it's already late." "Don't give me 'late!' They can sit here until midnight for all I care!")

And then there's ничего себе. Sometimes this can be a variant of the "just fine, thank you" response to "how are you?": Ничего себе. Грех жаловаться. (Not bad; can't complain.) But if said in tones of astonishment, with each syllable of ничего stressed and an upward lilt at the end, it means "I'm flabbergasted." -- Ты не поверишь -- он женится на молоденькой девушке. -- Ничего себе! ("You won't believe it -- he's getting married to a young girl." "You're kidding!/I'll be damned!") Or you can add another word or two: Ничего себе «колечко»! Этот алмаз стоит пять тысяч баксов! ("Little ring" indeed!/Some "little ring!" That diamond costs 5,000 bucks!)

Finally there's очень даже ничего -- literally, "very even not bad." This is one of those Russian double negatives that is stronger than a positive and means "really great." Я прочитал его книгу -- очень даже ничего. (I read his book -- it's really quite good.) Она приятная девушка -- и очень даже ничего. (She's a nice young woman -- and really quite attractive.)

And if you find this confusing at first, well -- ничего.

Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.

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I've Been Saying That For Two Years!

From today's NYT op-ed page:

The bottom line is that the West has been suckered by Mr. Putin. He is not a sober version of Boris Yeltsin. Rather, he's a Russified Pinochet or Franco. And he is not guiding Russia toward free-market democracy, but into fascism.

I think it's two years ago (almost to the day) that I first compared Putin to Stalin. Nice to see the rest of the world is starting to get on board.

ADDENDUM: Now that Clareified has linked up this post, let me expand a little. At the time I first made the comparison, I was living in Moscow and the Kremlin had recently bungled the Nord-Ost hostage crisis. In response, Putin tried to muscle a series of "reforms" through the Duma that spelled out what sort of access the media should have in such situations. Now, admittedly, the Russian media f-ed this one up by, for example, airing live interviews with strategists who were explaining that the military might possibly attempt to storm the theater through a secret passage from a neighboring building. Because terrorists don't watch television, you see, and don't have any kind of communication with people who do. Despite that, the reforms were little more than a prior restraint on the media. They never passed, because all of the major media heads meekly agreed to self-censor, for fear of invoking the wrath of the Kremlin.

Two months later, I was walking through Moscow on a typically ass-cold night with my... girlfriend? mistress? eh, let's just settle for "companion", and we were discussing Mr. Putin. She was a big fan, impressed by his "strength". Russians, you see, had long grown tired with soft, pudgy Boris Yeltsin, who allowed a handful of oligarchs to "purchase" a huge chunk of Russia's wealth at fire sale prices.

Anyway, I was trying to impress upon Masha the idea that too much government interference and intervention isn't always a Good Thing, and that an unfettered media is one of the cornerstones of a solid democracy. She wasn't buying it, instead clinging to the idea that Putin was a good man because he spoke German (and if there's one thing I've learned from the Simpsons, it's that nobody who speaks German could possibly be evil) and because he was strong. Oh, and probably also because 1,000 years of Russian history taught her that ruthless oppression is a leadership quality to admire.

"Stalin was strong too, you know," I responded. "Putin is starting to act like Stalin in some ways."

Masha just gave me a "foo!" and dismissed the notion that Putin was anything like Stalin, but over the last two years he's only moved closer to the Man of Steel by consolidating his power at every opportunity. Who knows where it all will end?

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Vegas Final Thoughts

When you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get.
--Homer Simpson

There was plenty of drinking going on throughout the weekend of the WPBT Holiday Classic, that's for sure. When AlCantHang, Big Mike and MrsCantHang showed up to the 10am breakfast on Saturday, they were carrying glasses of SoCo. Good God. Liver failure is just around the corner, Al!

Just a few final thoughts on a stellar (but sadly too short) weekend:

1. "That Asian chick". Well, first off, I suppose I should give the masses the one (poor) shot of Evelyn that I managed:




Keep in mind that this was taken while Charlie Shoten was speaking about his Ten Commitments, in a large, dimly lit banquet hall, while Evy was standing clear on the other side of the room. That explains the poor quality. As soon as Charlie was done, she left with Kiril and Marcel Luske to go play in the $3000 NLHE event at the Bellagio. No chance to chat, but it's ok. Not only was she swilling that Red Bull at 11am, but she also lit up, and if there's one thing that's a big turn-off, it's smoking. My dreams of a poker girlfriend will have to remain unfulfilled.

2. Lack of blogger time. Yes, it's true. I went all the way to Vegas to play cards with, and meet up with, other poker bloggers, most of whom are (surprise!) degenerates aka my kind of people, and then wound up ditching them for half the weekend. Mea culpa. In my defense, friends from LA were also in town, and I unfortunately I couldn't make both worlds come together all that well. Despite the lack of blogger time, it was fantastic to meet everyone. Truly. God willing, we'll all meet again in WPBT II: The Search for More Money, rumored to be taking place at Hollywood Park -- not far from my old stomping grounds in Santa Monica, CA -- sometime soon.

3. The "Meet and Greet". What a stellar line-up! In no particular order: Charlie Shoten, Ron Rose (who provided free copies of his coffee table book Poker Aces to all bloggers), Marcel Luske, Kiril whatshisname, Tom McEvoy, and Eveyln Ng. Wow. I was privileged to have some one-on-one time with both Charlie and Ron, and I can confirm that they are very nice guys indeed. Ron has a sense of humor, too -- after Felicia protested the inclusion of John Bonetti in Ron's book, he ripped her copy out of her hands, tore out the pages for John Bonetti, and then gave it back to her, saying, "There. John's not in the book anymore." I wish I had been able to chat more with Kiril and/or Evelyn (ah, Evelyn) but them's the breaks.

4. The Weather. This one's really just a personal thing. Standing in the Denny's parking lot with a belly full of greasy meat and basking in the 70-degree sunshine, I kept asking myself, "Self, why did you move back to NYC?" Oh, how cold and lonely the winters here seem in comparison. Of course, I spent most of my Vegas time indoors in dimly-lit, smoky poker rooms and thus didn't really get to enjoy the weather, but that's neither here nor there.

5. Thanks. Again, in no particular order, huge kudos and thanks to: all of the aforementioned pros for taking a break from their schedules to attend a geek convention; Pauly, the Head Geek (even tho he likes to deny it), for coming up with the idea of the WPBT Holiday Classic and working to make it reality; PokerProf, for being Pauly's liaison in Vegas and hammering out a fantastic schedule (he also has a much, MUCH better photo of Evy at the top of his page right now); Dick Gatewood, poker manager of Sam's Town, for securing us breakfast, a banquet room, and three tables for the tournament, in addition to allowing bloggers to stay in the hotel at the bargain poker rate of $70 (made even cheaper when split with a friend); Jeff from CheckNRaise Poker, for providing some really nice jackets to each of the players (Jeff also jumped into the 4/8 game while the tournament was raging and seemed to hold his own); and last but not least, each of the bloggers that made it out to Sin City to poker it up. See y'all at the table again some day soon!

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Vegas Day 2

After a restless five hours of sleep, during which I was awakened at least four times, I crawled out of bed and took a shower. Rob was soon up after me, and after he showered we hit the mid-Strip Denny's for some breakfast. Nothing like a little grease to start off the day!

As I mentioned yesterday, my initial plan was to catch the Jets game with other bloggers and then jump into some cash games, but Rob wanted to try his hand at his first ever NLHE tournament. With a copy of Poker Player picked up at the ST poker room, we decided that the 2pm tournament at the Horseshoe seemed like the best bet: $60 buy-in, one $40 rebuy and no concerns that I would miss my 11:30pm flight.

I have to say that whoever was in charge of running the tournament was very friendly and helpful. He answered all of my questions about the tournament and generally gave off a positive attitude. Unfortunately, I didn't ask the right questions. Most notably: it slipped my attention that up to $200 of the prize pool would be set aside for a drawing one hour after the tournament concluded, AND that to win the drawing you had to be seated in a cash game or tournament. Boo, Binions. This is an awful policy. Find better ways to get players into your poker room than holding part of their prize pool ransom.

The other question I should have asked was how much juice was taken. The tournament was advertised simply as a "$60 buy-in" with a $40 rebuy. At registration, you could pay an extra $10 for an extra 50% in chips. I assumed (bad idea, asphnxma!) that the structure was 50+10(+10). Upon seeing the prize distribution, however, it seems more likely that it was 40+20(+10). 50% juice! What a rip-off. Probably, though, even if I had known, we would have played because Rob wanted to get his feet wet. If it had been just me, though, I would have told Binion's to take a flying leap.

Be that as it may, we registered and took our seats at 2pm. A total of 89 players were in the tournament. I've played enough of these small live tournaments to know what to expect -- a few players who had a clue, and a bunch who didn't. I needed some patience, but I also needed to hammer those players.

I started in the cutoff (T1500, 25/50). On the first hand, I picked up TT. Two limpers to me, and I slightly under-bet, raising to 200. Both limpers called. The flop was A-4-3, two hearts, but I didn't put either player on an ace. It didn't matter when the player to my right pushed. I chuckled and folded. He showed 43s.

I picked up one small pot to get back to even before the blinds went up to 50/100. Late in Level 2, in my big blind, I picked up 44. There was a pot-sized raise to 350 from MP, a guy who had shown up late enough to miss all of Level 1. Everyone folded to me. The player had been tame up until that point, leading me to believe he had either AK or a big pair. What to do. I decided to call and then push the flop if no ace or king showed up.

My plans changed when a four, but no ace or king, fell on the flop. With about 1000 in my stack, I was trying to decide how to get him to double me up. The logical course of action was to check, assuming that he would feel obligated to bet the pot because of his preflop raise. I checked, and he complied with a bet of 450. I thought about pushing -- was he the type who was unable to let go of AK? The better course seemed to be to call and did so. When a king showed itself on the turn, I happily put my last 600 in the pot, which he immediately called. He did indeed have AK, with no redraw on the river. Very good.

I caught a few more good hands -- AA which took out two small stacks (one of whom rebought), another small hand -- but three players at my table rebought and busted before the first hour was over, dumping lots of chips onto my table. With 5 minutes to go in Level 3 (75/150), I used my rebuy for an extra 1000 chips. This proved fortuitous a few hands later when my button brought AQo. Four players limped in for 150. I raised to 1000. The SB mulled it over before folding. Only one player, in MP, called the raise.

The flop came J-high, unconnected. I missed. But I was watching the other player as it came down, and he didn't seem to like it much either. He checked. I asked him, "How much do you have?" He fumbled with his chips and counted out "about 1200", and then frowned and mucked his hand! I shrugged and took down a big pot. At the first break I was around 6000 in chips. During the break, he approached me and told me he realized afterwards that he had folded before I bet, and that he thought that he "probably had me". Tough noogies, pal!

Meanwhile, Rob was hanging on. He used his rebuy to increase his stack, and at the first break was about even with 2600.

In Levels 4, 5 and 6 I turned up the aggression. A caught a couple of pocket pairs which I brought in for raises. Few people were inclined to call, leading my stack to grow some more. I busted another short player. Things were going pretty well. Rob's table broke, and I soon joined him, seated immediately to his left. He was nursing a small stack into Level 7 as the blinds went to 300/600/50. He had a few opportunities to push -- folded to him in the CO, for example -- but passed, concerned about the strength of his hand. We discussed it afterwards, and I pointed out that blind and ante stealing is crucial in the middle stages.

Finally, he pushed 1800. I looked down and saw the black tens. Poor Rob! It looked like I would be the one to take him out. I reraised to 5000 to isolate him. He opened A5o. He had a chance. I groaned when the flop came A-5-6. A spade on the turn put three spades on board, however, and Rob didn't have any spades. Wouldn't you know, a spade fell on the river! I felt bad about eliminating him in such an ugly fashion, but that's poker. Rob went out 22nd out of 89, not a bad showing at all.

By the time it got down to 15 players, we hit another break. Blinds were about to go up to 1000/2000/200. I had about 9,000, not enough to be comfortable. There were a few big stacks, including one woman who kept hitting hands. She wasn't a very good player, and certainly didn't know how to play her big stack. She just kept making monster hands that got paid off. Anyway, with most of the chips so evenly spread, it was going to become shove time.

On the first hand after the break, I caught AKs on the button. Someone with about 14,000 actually tried to limp in from MP. LOL! I pushed my stack in and got no callers. Between the antes, the blinds, and the extra 2000, I practically doubled up. We slowly whittled down to 10 players, the final table. There was a redraw for seats and the button; I picked up seat 3, starting 3 to the right of the button. Blinds soon went to 2k/4k/400, and I was just looking for something to push. I didn't find it, and my big blind found me with only 4300 behind after posting the ante and the blind. MP raised to 8000, the button called for 6800, and with Q5s I figured this was as good of a chance as I would get. My hand was fairly live: AK and AJ were what I was up against; twodimes had me at 33% equity. I didn't improve though, and went out in 10th. My reward for 4 hours of work: $131 back on my $110 investment. Oh well!

By that time, it was after 6pm. Rob and I picked up our friend Charolette and her current beau at Bellagio, then headed back downtown to the Main Street Station buffet -- which was reasonably priced and quite good. As we were headed back to the car after dinner, Charolette received a phone call from her ex-boyfriend, Andy Bloch, who agreed to meet us for drinks at Quark's in the Hilton. His current girlfriend was in tow, which of course stressed Charolette out to no end. When we all assembled at Quark's, we discovered that Quark's was closed for a private party. After chatting for 15 minutes, Charolette was so stressed that we decided not to accompany Andy over to the Bellagio. Instead, the three other members of my party drove me to McCarran so I could catch the redeye back to New York.

The story doesn't end there, though. At McCarran Airport, I ran into Mas, who was on the same flight back to NYC as I was! We chatted it up until boarding time.

Final thoughts, wrap-up and odds and ends later tonight.

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WPBT Results - Vegas Day 1

Out in 27th. Out of 30. So much for winning. I'm not too disappointed though. I played the hand that crippled me the way I thought it should have been played. Here, then, is my brief WPBT Holiday Classic recap:

I avoided the Table of Death -- the one that had Felicia, Charlie Shoten and Max Pescatori. Here was my draw:

Seat 1: PokerProf
Seat 2: -EV? I can't remember.
Seat 3: Mas [Edit: actually, apparently it wasn't Mas! Once again, shows how much I was paying attention. Who was sitting here? A little help?]
Seat 4: Derek
Seat 5: Julie from the Blue Parrot
Seat 6: Ferrari
Seat 7: me
Seat 8: HDouble -- I think. I can't remember. How bad is that? This was the player on my immediate left!
Seat 9: MrsCantHang
Seat 10: Maudie

I started in the small blind, T2000, blinds 25/50. My first hand, the action folded to me. With K7o, I raised to 150. The big blind called and then folded to my bet on the flop. For the record, a king hit.

Next hand, I found ATo on the button. Once again, the action folded to me. Again I raised (175 this time). Both blinds folded. I folded the next few hands, but the table was playing tight, no question. I made a mental note to be a bit more liberal with my raises. Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a chance to take advantage of it, because on my next small blind I hit disaster.

I was in the small blind with J6o (a killer hand if ever there was one). MrsCantHang at UTG, Maudie at UTG+1 and Ferrari on the button all limped in -- maybe someone else as well. The blinds were 25/50, and I figured "What the heck, it's only 25, let's see if we can flop something interesting." The big blind checked.

The flop was A-6-6, two clubs. Interesting indeed!

With the ace on board, I was not afraid to check my hand to try to trap some money in the pot. I was sure that someone would bet the ace. I was wrong. Instead, it checked around. That didn't make me very happy, but the turn was an offsuit 3. My hand was probably still best. I bet 200 into the pot. Folded around to Ferrari on the button, who raised to 400. I've known Ferrari to try to push people around quite a bit. I discounted K-6 and Q-6. A6s maybe, but more likely clubs or something like 76s. I pushed.

And into the tank went Ferrari. He asked me "You don't have A-6, do you?" and I got just a tad uneasy. I responded, "I don't know. I haven't looked yet." He took his time, thought it through some more, and then called. I showed him my trips, and he showed me... pocket 3s. Apparently the look on my face was priceless, but despite there being innumerable digital cameras in attendance, nobody took a picture of it. None of my seven outs came on the river, and I was down to 500. Ferrari gave me the obligatory "I was out if you bet the flop" but I just shrugged. That's poker. Like I said up top, I have no reservations about how I played the hand. With 20 minute rounds and an aggressive blind acceleration, I wanted to trap a little extra money in the pot and had what I perceived to be a good chance to do so. Who knew that none of the other five players would have an ace?

Oh well. Down to 500, I pushed A7s, got no callers, then pushed KQ against MrsCantHang's preflop min-raise (at 50/100). She called with 77, no help for me, IGHN. 27th out of 30. At least I avoided the Gigli booby prize. And MrsCantHang now has a very attractive black t-shirt with a large white "F" in an orange circle to add to her wardrobe.

I put myself on the list for 4-8 and finally got in after an hour. It was mostly older locals, with one young carpenter who didn't have a clue. The game was pretty rocky, so I just turned into a semi-loose aggressive raising machine while I waited for the tournament to finish. I couldn't put much of a rush together though, AND the table calling station sucked me out twice. Then there was the hand where I lost a bunch with a king-high flush to the ace-high flush. End result, I only finished up about $40. Oh well, again.

Ferrari, Julie, Pauly, Derek and I shared a cab back to Excalibur. We hit Sherwood Forest for dinner, where we ran into Bad Blood, Maudie and CJ from Up for Poker. Ferrari made the dubious choice of getting the fish and chips for dinner (he hardly touched it when it came) while the rest of us stuck to burgers. Not a wise move, Ferrari. After dinner, we joined Pauly and Derek in their room so Pauly could "unwind" and then Ferrari and I went and hit the poker room.

The options at Excalibur: 1-3 spread holdem, 2-6 spread holdem, and 1-2 $100 min/max NL holdem. None of those options were very attractive, so we hopped the tram over to Mandalay Bay. I've played there twice before, and although the room itself is nice enough, I absolutely hate the way it is run. This experience was no different, and I'm quite sure I'm never going to play there again.

The options at Mandalay were 2-4-8-8 holdem with a half-kill, 2-4 $200 min/max NL holdem, and maybe one other limit (1-2-4-4?). We popped into the 4-8 game. A pretty typical 4-8 game. I think it was three hands before either of us noticed -EV sitting at the other end of the table. I guess Saturday was just not a good day for my powers of observation! Not long after we noticed him, he and I had a fun hand.

From MP, he raised to $6. Action folded to me in the SB with 99. I decided to get aggressive and three-bet him. Ferrari folded his BB, action back to -EV who capped. I called.

The flop was raggedy, maybe 7-5-2. Whatever it was, I definitely had an overpair and weighed my options. I had a sneaking suspicion he had AK. I checked. He bet, and I called, thinking I could check-raise him on the turn. The turn was a blank. I checked. He thought about betting, then changed his mind and checked. The river was an ace. Not a good card. I decided to make one last stab at the pot - nothing about how I played the hand suggested that it was impossible I had AK. He seemed surprised by my bet -- probably had already put me on a pair -- and raised. I mucked my hand.

"Misplayed on all streets", as Iggy would say. Well, maybe not preflop. But trying to get fancy on the flop and turn cost me the pot. I said to -EV "You had to check behind on the turn, didn't you!" and he laughed and said that he got the sense that I was going to check-raise him. Do I have a tell? Hmm.

Ferrari left after a bit, up a good $100 and tired. I stayed for a while, but wound up dropping $30 over two hours. Just couldn't get it going. Back to Excalibur!

Everyone who was anyone was at Excalibur. As soon as I walked in, I spotted Pauly and Derek playing 2-6, HDouble, Grubby and MrsCantHang on a $100 NL table. Iggy came by later. I put my name on the list for 2-6 and for $100 NL. The 2-6 list moved quickly and I was soon called. I probably should have taken the seat, but a friend from LA arrived and wanted to play NL, so I passed on the 2-6. Both my friend (Rob) and I were soon seated at HDouble et al's table.

This was probably a bad table to be at. HDouble and Grubby were playing pretty tight, as was a young cowboy to HDouble's right. As a result, there was very little action on the table. When there was action, someone's solid hand was getting killed by someone else's more-solid hand. And the structure didn't help... my Hilton Sisters ran into aces. There went $100. It was tough. There was a raise preflop from the cowboy; Grubby called. With QQ in the SB, I reraised to $22. Both called for $68 in the pot. I only had about $70 left in my stack, so when the board came 9-high with no made straight or flush, what else could I do but push? A bet of $45 or more was committing me to the pot and leaving me no ammunition for the turn, so I had no choice but to push. The Cowboy called with aces, and that was that.

Later on, MrsCantHang raised to $10 preflop. With the Hammer, I reraised to $30. She pushed all-in for $20 more and I groaned. Forced to call. She showed KK. Surprise, surprise, KK held.

And that was my night. The rest of the night was more or less break-even, but those two hands put me in the hole $150. At 3am, Rob and I finally gave up after moving to a looser table where Rob had KK cracked; AA cracked by J9; and a flopped queen-flush to a guy who called Rob's flop shove with a draw to the king-flush that got there on the river. We drove back to Sam's Town and tried to get some sleep for the next day's festivities, which promised to hold watching the Jets lose and drinking with Iggy. Only none of it worked out that way.

Well, almost none of it - the Jets did lose. More to come...

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Off to Vegas -- Again

Well, it's raining again here in the NYC. Forecast for Saturday's departure is clear and cool, with weather forecasts for my... sixth? Vegas trip looking great. Awesome.

It's been a busy week. Birthday on Monday, birthday on Tuesday, office holiday party last night... You know, it seems there's always That One Person at the office holiday party. You know the person I'm talking about. The one that makes such a complete fool out of themselves (usually from consuming several gallons of alcohol) that they ascend to a place of legend and lore in the annals of the company, to be talked about at holiday parties for years to come.

That One Person has never been me, thankfully. I have been the subject of That One Person's "wandering hands" on more than one occassion, but I have never abandoned all judgment as to actually become That One Person.

Last night, however, I was seated at the same table as That One Person -- the office receptionist. She spent all night telling me how overqualified she is for her job, and how great she is, and how smart she is. Not smart enough to know when she's about to puke on herself, however. I must say she was fairly discreet about it, despite the fact that it happened right at the table. The problem was that she couldn't hide the stench afterwards, and her red-faced and apologetic boyfriend was forced to help her outside. What a pleasant cab ride home that must have been.

In other news, I'm on an extended solid streak playing limit holdem. Currently beating the (admittedly soft) 3-6 tables on Party at a clip of just over 5 Big Bets per hour. It's not gangbusters, I admit, but it's all I need.

This is probably my last post until after I win the Vegas blogger tourney. Yes, that's right, you read it here first. I will win the whole shebang. I'll be bringing my camera, so expect some pictures of drunk-ass bloggers, hot asian women, and the entire spectrum in between, when I get back.

Myxlplyx, signing off.

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Rants

1. Do not steal my mozarella sticks. I ordered them because I was hungry. They were placed on the bar directly in front of me. That does not mean that you and three of your friends who I've just met can reach in -- without asking -- and scarf down half of them.

2. Another thing - whether you're talking about me or not, it's really fucking rude to speak a language that not everyone understands in mixed company. At the very least, it is extremely exclusionary. Maybe that's what you were going for though. You were kind of a dick, after all. And with a name like "Ass-Tick", it's no surprise.

3. Conductor-guy, we're not dumb. We know there's no train directly behind this one. Come on. P.S. You sound like a tool when you call a malfunctioning signal a "track circuit condition".

4. You with the umbrella. There are basic rules of engagement on the sidewalk on a rainy day. Learn them and live them, or I'm going to turn my umbrella into a javelin and spear you with it.

That's enough for now. Quite stoked about the latest pro announced to be joining us on Saturday at the breakfast before the WPBT Holiday Classic in Vegas:


Could she be any cuter?

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LHC Update No. 1

First update for the limit holdem challenge - I have successfully graduated to .50/1.00! Here were my stats for .25/.50:

Hands: 280
Time: 4.7h
Vol. Put $ in Pot: 22.14%
Preflop Raise: 6.43%
Postflop Aggression Factor: 2.29
Big Bets Won: 52.6
Big Bets / Hour: 11.19

Nothing surprising about any of these numbers. Now we'll see what the next limit level brings.

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Limit Holdem Challenge

Bad beat, bad beat, whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when I bad-beat you?

(That should be the subject of a whole different post -- singing at the poker table -- but it's not what I feel like writing about right now.)

I took fellow Brooklynite Monte Christo (of the now defunct blog (you can find a link somewhere to the right) out to a Brooklyn poker room last night, to play some live NLHE ring. I had a hairy moment early on -- check-raising a 4-4-6r flop all-in with pocket 8s against a preflop raiser -- but came out unscathed. My net profit for 1.7h was $100, but then I made the horribly -EV decision to take the subway home. "It's only 4 stops," I thought. "How long could it take?"

Half an hour later, as I stood on the bitterly cold and windy elevated platform, I cursed my cheapness for not springing for the $10 for a cab. But that's also not what this post is all about.

What the hell IS this post about then, you ask? Well, as anyone who reads Chris Halverson's blog knows, he has lately been participating in a limit holdem challenge. The idea is that you start with a tiny bankroll playing tiny limit holdem, and then slowly work your way up to some of the bigger limits. Your maximum exposure is the tiny amount you start with, and it's a competition against other players to see who can get to the predefined "finish line" first. Pretty neat idea, seen it done a few times before.

I thought, "We should do something like this at Above Malibu!" and posted such to our message board. It got a somewhat tepid response, as NLHE is the game of choice amongst that crowd. Thing is, I'm bored of NLHE all the time. In the absence of a razz game I can play (tho Poker Nerd says razz is spread on FullTilt), a limit challenge seemed like a fun way to stretch my limit legs. It also gives me a use for my piddly Stars bankroll that I deposited for the blogger tourney a few months back and haven't touched since.

I've modified the rules slightly from the typical challenge, so that it's not as much of a race. Instead of the first player to the goal ($2200 from $25, in our case), the winner will be the player who gets there in the shortest amount of time played. I'm sitting on a .25/.50 limit holdem table right now on Stars. Man, I had forgotten what the game is like at this level! The first hour saw me up 5 BBs, then down 14, then even, then down 10 until I finally remembered how to play at a table of loose callers. I'm at a comfortable 16 BBs up right now, about 1.5h into my session, helped tremendously by the raising station to my right. Seriously, this guy's preflop raise percentage has to be close to 90.

That's fine with me. Only 34 BBs more to go before I'm out of .25/.50!

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