Always Optimistic

This was a very nice e-mail to receive:

"Hello Shamanalix,

"Congratulations, you've successfully registered to play in this year's
World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker (WBCOOP)!

"Your account has been credited with a ticket which is good for entry
into any and all of the Qualifier tournaments beginning on December
15th. ...

"The qualifying tournament schedule is as follows:

124189658 - Dec 15 - 14:00 ET - Pot Limit Omaha
124189659 - Dec 16 - 17:00 ET - No Limit Hold'em
124189660 - Dec 17 - 22:00 ET - Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
124189661 - Dec 18 - 14:00 ET - No Limit Hold'em
124189662 - Dec 19 - 17:00 ET - 8-Game Mix
124189663 - Dec 20 - 15:00 ET - No Limit Hold'em

"Registration opens two hours before the start of each event."

Fantastic! Now I have something to look forward to every day next week!! No modelling gigs, so I get to concentrate on my favorite job! These are going to be fun, and tough competition. I accept the challenge and am eager to see how I'll fare.

Things have been looking up lately for me on the faux felt. Won a Shark's Home Game (Shark Poker Tour Forum) on Thursday at Absolute Poker ($57.60), then poker101a's Midnight Madness on Friday back at Absolute ($15). In between I should have cashed at another Shark Poker Tour event, but with 16 players left (9 got paid) I went for it all when the flop gave me an open-ended royal flush draw and couldn't finish anything, coming up short against my rival's set. Ah well. Can't win 'em all. Although I want to...

Busy weekend ahead. Nothing to show so far today (Saturday) after two tournaments, but I'm getting in the groove. My top targets today are the OnTiltRadio Bad Azz TPL games at 1 and 3 pm (CT) at Pokerari and Suited Pockets' Sober Saturday Bounty game at 9:30p at Cake. Sunday includes SP's Razz-A-Ma-Tazz at noon at AP, a Shark game at 1p at Ultimate Bet, Holdem Poker Chat's 3rd Day of Christmas at 2p at Reefer, the Poker Analysis Buy-In League at 5:30p at Nordica, MaximumPokerLeague's Bounty Freeroll at 6p at Carbon and Rounders Radio's UB Games With Annie Duke, which start at 9p after she's on the radio with the gang at 7p. And maybe others; I'm a spur-of-the-moment kind'a guy!

Always lots of poker fun and challenges to be found on the net. Now to try and close the year with a strong finish and a couple of solid cashes. Them holiday bills won't pay for themselves, and I do like being generous!

G'luck all.

A "Winning" Streak

Hey, it may only be a fourth-place finish, but I'm not complaining. Especially since it came in Online Forum Challenge #49, the Poker PayDay Buy-In at Wass. There were 253 entrants paying $5.50 each today (Sunday), and the generous and awesome folks at OFC added $5,150 to the prize pools for players and the forums they played for. Thanks, Wolf, Tara and company!

Fourth for me meant $158.56 into my Wass account (and here I was all ready to give up on that site, since I was under $2 after the buy-in and I don't care for a number of cosmetic things at Wass, or in the Merge Network software). Plus, I'll get $100 a month for three months added to my Wass bankroll as a bonus. I'd have preferred first place, which was worth about $1,300 in cash and bonuses ... but the way things have been going I won't complain.

Shoot, the rest of Sunday was a wash with the normal bad luck and bad timings. Did win a Suited Pockets Forum razz tournament at Absolute before the OFC event ($7 prize), but I ran awful later in the Real Poker Players League game and the Rounders Radio Buy-In, both at Ultimate Bet. And I lost three first-round matches at Full Tilt in the start of its final week of NBC Heads-Up '09 Qualifiers-Round 1. I'll be back at those heads-up games A LOT trying to make next Saturday's Round 2; all I have to do is win eight straight matches! That's all...

In the OFC, I played tighter and more patient than usual in the early going, letting almost every speculative hand go. No missteps meant I hung around, and in Level 15 when my all-in 77 cracked KK thanks to a flopped 7 (all right, so my timing still leaves a lot to be desired!), that set me off on a heater that made up for the last two weeks. I could do no wrong, soared from 20th/37 left to 4th immediately and eventually into the lead. From there I was mostly second coasting to the final table, and it was a lot of fun playing with other Forum heroes until I went out suddenly in a three-way all-in -- I flopped top pair, but both rivals also did and outkicked me! Shoot, if I hadn't been over-cautious and too patient I'd have won two big pots in the time between 15 and 10 left, gone way over 100K chips, and eliminated the eventual champion and runner-up! Ah well...

My finish and teammate Wassuuup's 14th place scored 47 points for our Poker Analysis Forum team, good for fourth place overall (what is with me and fourths?) and a forum prize of a $100 freeroll. Uuup and I were the only ones who played for PA Sunday. And support and congratulations were rare after the event (guess folks are busy elsewhere). Think I'll be offering my services to Shark Poker Tour, poker101a and MaximumPokerLeague in upcoming OFC events. I'm such a mercenary. And there're folks I really like at each forum.

My depression peaked today with family problems. I feel miserable and lousy. Thank goodness for this $458 (eventually) cash. And with things to look forward to like Tony Holden's The Tuesday Night Game on Dec. 16 and the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker on Dec. 15-20 (both at PokerStars), and Michael Craig's Relay for Life charity event Dec. 21 and the "Extra" Holiday $100K Dec. 28 (both at Full Tilt), I have plenty to psyche me up in the weeks ahead and carry me through the holidaze doldrums. I hope...

May yours be happy.

PokerStars Is Doing It Again!

As promised, here's the info on the PokerStars World Blogger Championships of Online Poker. The events are Dec. 15-20, and are open to anyone with a longstanding blog -- and it doesn't even have to be about poker! From past experience, these games are a lot of fun. Following on the heels of the World Cup of Online Poker, Meet Mats Sundin, PCA Freerolls and PCA Boot Camp games, the fun just seems to keep on coming at Stars. There are just too many events ... but you won't hear me complaining! Hope to see ya at the WBCOOP; even if you can't play, come watch and cheer and play other tourneys or ring games at Stars ... and start a blog for next year! More details, info and full schedule at www.pokerstars.com/blog_tournament.

More later on that. I'm still playing pretty awful and getting few good breaks ... but I did finish second in a Poker Analysis Buy-In League game tonight for $36 -- a good way to start that league's December action. I'm due for a good streak!!! Tonight's game was at PDC; but yes, the league plays at PokerStars, too! Wouldn't be a good league if it didn't!

Now I'm back to my immediate target: qualifying for the NBC Heads-Up '09 TV show. One more week of Round 1 qualifiers at Full Tilt. Last night I won four games before being knocked out -- halfway to what you need to win (an 8-match, 256-player s&g) to advance to next Saturday's Round 2.

Keep smiling...

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 894023

... And be patient and nice!!!

Blogger Championships Coming Soon

Look like PokerStars is finally ready to hold its annual Blogger Online Championships. No official announcement yet, but I see games scheduled Dec. 15-21. Perfect timing; school ends and I'm on a break that week. Sweet! Although the way I've been running the past couple weeks, I must be crazy to set myself up for more bad beats and disappointments...

Stay tuned. More info here as soon as PStars lets us know! Meanwhile, be gentle -- and Happy Holidaze!!! See y'all at the Online Forum Championships events this weekend, plus elsewhere...

Bad Beat on Kidney Failure with J. Harman and Friends

OK, I've been bad. If I'm going to be a semi-fulltime writer again, it's time to begin. Blame my nephew. I'll tell you about Justin another day. For now, short notice on a great tournament for charity I plan to play Wednesday night (tomorrow) if other work doesn't interfere. Come say hi. Come compete. Come help a very good cause...

What: Bad Beat on Kidney Failure
Where: Full Tilt Poker (private folder)
Date: Wednesday Nov. 12 2008
Time: 21:00 (9p ET)
Cost: $10 + $10, the latter fee going to the charity
Password: CailtyssRulien
Pros enterred as of last look: Andy Bloch, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, shamanalix (hey, this is MY post ...)

Thanks, and have a wonderful day, week and life!!!

Must it end?

Summer's just about over. Pooh. Double-pooh, even.

I like it hot, weatherwise. And actionwise. Come next week, though, it'll be back to working: lots of modeling assignments scheduled for schools and groups and such. And massage appointments. And writing. The creativity and the socializing will be great; the travelling and the public anxieties won't be.

Been a good summer. Undisciplined a tad, perhaps, but on the whole good. Went from the lows of a $4K bath in Vegas to a bunch of wins and cashes online, including a personal record of around $1,200 while finishing fourth in a knockout tournament at Full Tilt.

I've been picking and choosing my games more and more, instead of just plunging in willy-nilly. That works. So does doing my best to avoid playing more than one at a time, although I still fall into that rut far too often. Still a negative expected value (-EV) for me.

Big shoutouts to Pauly for the Saturday afternoon tournament he runs weekly at PokerStars; also fun to table with him during The Tuesday Night Game hosted by author Anthony Holden. And to Irongirl, who finally won herself a Mookie blogger tournament (shame she's so down on online playing, she could be ... nevermind, to each their own). And to sharbear, making MaximumPokerLeague a busy and fun place and about to try her luck at Poker Analysis, basically my home forum, and its stupendous leagues. And to billmaxx, for winning the MPL Fantasy Baseball League (I won the regular-season best record, but couldn't beat Bill in the playoff finals). And to AAs88s, about to dump another bridesmaid role on me in the Poker Analysis Fantasy Baseball League. And to all my friends at PA, Aces Cracked, poker101a, Real Poker Players, Suited Pockets, Ray101Bassman and on and on. I believe you can learn a lot playing good rivals over and over, and the training's benefits become apparent on down the line when you tackle major events for bigger stakes. One big finish more than balances 50 frustrations.

My goals for the remainder of the year: Cash in the Blogger Championships at PokerStars in October; take down a major tournament; beat my cash record; continue to improve; win a monthly title at PA (won't be easy with the busy school/work schedule making me miss a lot of games); post more regularly; get a keyboard that doesn't make so many errors and puts up with my fat fingers; re-learn how to put html links in my posts; learn more about poker, and myself; and, most of all, to have fun, and help other people enjoy themselves on the faux felt. Life's too short not to do things you love and have a good time with. And so it goes. Busy weekend ahead -- here's hoping it's a successful one, in many ways.

Stay happy.

Do-over (with Phillips and MPL plugs)

Yeah, I'm still "alive." Still recovering from worst Vegas trip in over 2 decades to tune of $4K contributed to that local economy. Hope they don't go bankrupt before I return to claim what was mine. Hope I live that long. No October trip for sure. Looks like no December trip. Slight chance January? At least next summer? We shall see.

Back to the online and local live grinds ... with big congrats to fellow St. Louisan Dennis Phillips for making WSOP Main Event final table as chip leader. I don't envy what he'll have to go through between now and November. Doubt he'll be at Harrah's, Ameristar or Lumiere/President much in the meantime. He is really a nice guy, and if there's justice in the world he'd win the big magilla. But if I was a betting man I'd have to pick Scott Montgomery or David Rheem over Phillips.

Main reason for this post is a plug for Maximum Poker League, one of my favorite online poker leagues (link as always in list at right). It's planning an end-of-July freeroll at Reefer for bloggers who link to the MPL forum and back. Since I need Reefer always, I'll do anything for a shot at more! MPL has a good, tough group of players and poker knowledgeables -- and most of them nice to boot! In the recently finished WSOP Fantasy Poker League at Full Tilt, three MPLers finished between 101st and 150th ... just missing the exclusive freeroll for top 100 finishers, but still awesome considering how many took part in the five-week fun (20,000 at least, I'd guess -- seeing as how I was 15,000th-plus with NO points in the Main Event (dumb), the only non-scorer in my 5 leagues). Me, I was in the low 2,000's when all was said and done. Played 4 or 5 freerolls, but missed 10 because of the Vegas trip. Next year a laptop!

Online Forum Challenge this Saturday. At Reefer, which is another reason to build my funds at that site. Wish the Merge Network sites (poker.com, Carbon, Reefer, Iron Duke, Nordica, Oddsmaker, ...) allowed transfers from one place to the other! Back to the grind...

Vegas Summer '08 Prequel

Just a little more than 24 hours and I'll be winging my way to Sin City. Finally!! So much going on, so much still to do, but things will change once I'm on that plane for the rest of June in Vegas. Aaaahhhh.

Don't know if I'll be able to get internet access out there (no laptop, no cel, I'm old and old-fashioned). I'll try to post updates here, and PROMISE a big report when (IF) I come back. Meanwhile, here's the teaser I planted in Suited Pockets Forum (they're one reason I extended my stay to the 30th, their convention is June 26-29 downtown):

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help cure the young old man of his shyness and add to his "happy?" memories of Vegas Summer '08. The target: middle-aged needs-sun-badly male almost always wearing bucket hat, either black leather or gray/blue WSOP or red StL, plus glasses on a cord (hasn't lost a pair in 11 years!). Usually found at poker tables or penny slots or chasing women/girls/anything that moves, with pen or sudoku or magazine in hand or shoulder bag to make sure there's always something to do. Answers to "shamanalix" or "sham" or "Bruce Williams" or "want to make an easy $20?". Approach with caution as can be dangerous if hungry or horny or losing or winning or breathing; but his madness is not contagious ... sometimes. The password is: "Call it for a quarter: heads or tails?" This tape will self-destruct and the fun begins with landing in Vegas in less than 36 hours; then June is busting out all over (with sham helping her, and trying to talk April and May into joining the pile...)."

So that's where we stand. Just crashed from Carbon (Merge) Father's Day Special in 160th/376. Went all in when my 8's became a set on the flop, but foe turned straight and I couldn't pair the board. Ah, well, played good, and now comes the weekend's last Big One in 9 minutes: OFC's World Series of Online Forums Main Event, with a WSOP ME seat to the winner. It's a $50+$5 game; I satellited in, and there are only about 150 enterred.

Time to get the poker on. More later...

So Close to a WSOP Seat

Been sick with strep throat, depression and poor card judgment the last week or so. Almost got well tonight. It was The Bluffers League WSOP Final, the long-awaited wrap-up to a series we began at Vegas Poker 24/7 before that site was bought by Absolute Poker.

The Bluffers is a great league, a fine forum and a good bunch of people. Thanks to everyone there for a lot of fun!!! Check 'em out and come play with us all sometime! Link on the right...

Tonight's final had 34 qualifiers/entrants. It was winner-take-all for $2,100. I didn't really break out of my recent poor card run, but I did get better results for once -- almost like my old self. I even led much of the tournament after there were 10 left. Heads-up, KeithG13 (keithg) and I began about even; then he won a big hand to take over a 3-1 chip lead on me. I hung in and nibbled away, until this:

Stage #1189864267 Tourney ID 2017319 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $1000 - 2008-05-28 20:48:12 (ET)
Table: 3 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 2 - SHAMANALIX ($17155 in chips)
Seat 3 - KEITHG13 ($30915 in chips)
SHAMANALIX - Ante $75
KEITHG13 - Ante $75
KEITHG13 - Posts small blind $500
SHAMANALIX - Posts big blind $1000
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to SHAMANALIX [4h 5c]
KEITHG13 - Raises $1500 to $2000
SHAMANALIX - Calls $1000
*** FLOP *** [5d 5s Kc]
SHAMANALIX - Bets $1000
KEITHG13 - Calls $1000
*** TURN *** [5d 5s Kc] [Ks]
SHAMANALIX - Bets $2000
KEITHG13 - Raises $4000 to $4000
SHAMANALIX - All-In(Raise) $12080 to $14080
KEITHG13 - Calls $10080
*** RIVER *** [5d 5s Kc Ks] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SHAMANALIX - Shows [4h 5c] (Full house, fives full of kings)
KEITHG13 - Shows [Kh 5h] (Full house, kings full of fives)
KEITHG13 Collects $34310 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($34310)
Board [5d 5s Kc Ks 8d]
Seat 2: SHAMANALIX (big blind) HI:lost with Full house, fives full of kings [4h 5c - B:5s,B:5d,P:5c,B:Ks,B:Kc]
Seat 3: KEITHG13 (dealer) (small blind) won Total ($34310) HI:($34310) with Full house, kings full of fives [Kh 5h - B:Ks,P:Kh,B:Kc,B:5s,P:5h]

Bad thing is, on the flop, I just sensed he had a king. But what ya gonna do? (siiiiiigh) Back to the sick bed...

Gotta Remember the Big Picture

(sigh!!) Will I ever learn? Was in a $26 token tournament at Full Tilt. Two from the tokens. I've got 3K left, but there are 10 folks worse off and we're playing hand-for-hand.

Table members are colluding, talking folding to the blinds and "everyone here makes it." I hate collusion; it's cheating. It puts me on tilt, because it's wrong.

My Big Blind ($1K/500, ante 125). Pocket cowboys! The button who has about $5K calls the BB. And I push. And he calls. And he turns over big slick. And an ace flops. And I'm out without a token.

Moral of the story? Would I have played it different in a regular tournament? A league game? A freeroll? The WSOP? I'll have to think on that. It's what I did this time, and it did not turn out well. That's poker. I have to remember to give more study to the bottom lines...

Help the Computer Challenged

Yeah, I'm still here. Survived the March floods and sick friends/family and the ups and downs of poker (happily the month was mostly ups!; more on that at another time).

It's now April (didn't even get to play any April Fool's jokes, except not posting), and month two of the Battle of the Bloggers III Tournaments. Congrats to those who've won seats in the big Tournament of Champions at the end, and to the march monthly champion. We'll get names and numbers at another time. Still many WSOP seats to be won!

This is on the fly, so it's brief. Just wanted to remind folks of the events at Full Tilt, and post another of AlCantHang's banners (smaller than the last). Get over to the events, they're fun and challenging. The shamalamadingdongdorkdonk's plan is still the same: pick and choose my games, win one, then roar at the TOC.

And if anyone can teach the old old old shamster how to post links and banners on the sides of this boring blog, I will be eternally greatful (maybe even scrape up some thank-you bucks)!!! A week of playing and experimenting with it have gotten me nowhere. I miss the old copy- and type-setting paginators!

Brought to you by the
Online Poker Room Full
Tilt Poker and the
Dead Money Poker Blog by
AlCantHang

Random Thoughts

Random short thoughts on a Thursday afternoon, having cancelled my modelling gig today (too far to travel, too much time, too little pay) and hiding inside from what's left of the 10 inches of snow St. Louis got Tuesday over primarily a five-hour span (hey, that ain't much to a New Yorker or a Rocky Mountaineer, maybe, but it's more than I've seen here in 10 years back!). Anyway:

-- Read Doyle Brunson's blog!!! (Link at right.) Sorry, Eric Clapton, but Doyle is god! The March 4 entry is classic, featuring the scoop on the NBC Heads-Up outcome, Doyle at a country-western concert on Fremont, downing 10 beers, giving his hat to a musician, Phil Hellmuth drunk and dancing to country at a biker bar, Clonie Gowen and Doyle's daughter on the bar, and so much more. Reading Doyle makes me want to write more and more. And get my move to Vegas finalized.

-- Started reading Michael Craig's superb "The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King" last night. Awesome. Love the insights, behind-the-scenes and thought processes. Well done. Gonna be hard to put down; I read slow, but will be done with it before dawn Saturday.

-- Talking about gambling and high rollers gave me an "aha!" moment. (I love those!) I'm the kind who'll bet $20 on Mizzou, $20 on Texas, $20 on whoever's playing Kansas, etc., rather than playing one or two games heavy and solid. It's the action junkie in me. Hmmmmmm!!! And at the poker tables I'm trying two events at once, instead of pouring full focus and effort into one? And playing micro rings, instead of stepping up to brick-and-mortar-size contests? Aha!

-- Get well soon, bwop and ig and anyone else hurting ...

-- Classical music is far and away the best. Classic rock is a solid runner-up. Rap is missing a letter ...

-- My early Kentucky Derby money is on Fierce Wind, Colonel John and Z Fortune. War Pass (who will probably be the winner May 3) and Pyro are awesome and will be in my exotic wagers, but I gotta go with the best-paying prospects in the Future Pools.

-- World Series 2008: Detroit vs. the New York Mets. The Cardinals won't make .500 at the wire. Looking forward to two fantasy leagues I'm going to play (well, one I'm in, the other I'm hedging). Both of those leagues draft next Monday evening.

-- I forgot what I was going to put here. Siiiiiigh ...

-- I can't believe it's been almost exactly 10 years since I moved out of Austin. I miss the Hill Country. Hope to make it back there for the first time in 6 years for Weekend at Mookie's or whatever the Blogger Bash is called. The wallet's ready; it's up to the work commitments ...

-- Speaking of Poker Bloggers, I'm plunging back into the BBT3 wars tonight at Full Tilt; the weekly $10+$1 Riverchasers game is at 8 pm St. Louis time.

-- No poker Friday. Off to model at my favorite, Principia College up in Ilinois, and will make a day of it at the Argosy Casino, Fast Eddie's restaurant and a number of clubs I get to all too rarely, sadly. This class ends the quarter at Principia (they're one of the rare schools who don't go by semesters), and figure drawing is only offered during this "third" quarter. But there's encouraging talk of a figure painting class in the fourth quarter, so ...

-- Busy poker weekend ahead, altough not as big as the five-star events ths following weekend. My schedule will include: (3:05p Saturday) Nationwide Poker Tour online satellite to Sunday's $500 Bodog Open Main Event, at Bodog; (7p Saturday) Final Four Package Tournament, at Oddsmaker; (3p Sunday) either Bodog Open Main Event or Bugsys Championship Series Main Event, a $110 buy-in NLHE with $15K guaranteed prize pool; plus the usual assorted games and leagues from Aces Cracked, Poker Analysis, Maximum Poker League, The Bluffers, Real Poker Players, AJ Poker and so on. What was that I said about picking and choosing???

Peace. Back to the book ...

That's A Winner!

The Bugsys Championship Series is currently under way at Bugsys Club. It offers 27 events through Sunday, with a Championship Playoff on March 15. It may not be as big or lucrative as FTOPS or WCOOP, but I wanted to give it a try in my steady dive into tougher challenges and competitions. Even though I hadn't played at Bugsys since April '07 (I don't know why).

(This is where the screenshot of Sunday March 2's Event 5, Limit Omaha H/L, $1,000 guaranteed (prize pool eventually closed at over $2K), buy-in $25 + $2.50, should go. If I can ever figure out how. Thank you pal sharbear of MaximumPokerLeague et al. for taking the screenshot at Bugsys for me; I could cut-and-paste from your PM into an e-mail for my records, but haven't been able to c&p the shot into any forum posts or here yet. (siiiiiigh!) Some day...)

Anyways, if you were looking at the screenshot, you'd notice that 82 players enterred, and when the smoke cleared the $615.00 first prize belonged to shamanalix. Yup. A solid payday for the shamster. I'm still walking on air a bit!

It was a very enjoyable event: calm, straightforward play, only a couple of jerks. A number of luckouts and bad beats, but you get those everywhere, even live ... and this game I was able to avoid most of them. We started with 2,500 chips each. At the first break I was 29th of 60 left, my best hand having been quad aces in level 3 that won me a 1,425-chip pot (no low). The second hour I played steady and picked my spots and mostly avoided mistakes and chases, so that at the second break I was 6th/16 remaining. Ten got paid.

I seriously had my eyes just on cashing, not on winning the whole thing, but the first hand after Break 2 alterred my thinking. Level 13, blinds 2,000/4,000. A 2 turn and 3 river gave me a small boat and got me firing back at the table bully/big stack until I was all-in. He'd hit a flush on the river, but I had him and scooped the 31,000 pot. And that's when my gear-shifting and gameplan intensified.

We hit the final table (and the money) with the shamster 4th/10. My strategy and cards had me in and out of 1st place in levels 14 and 15, the latter when we were down to 7 players. Then I beat the bully again with 2s full of As and soared to 102K chips -- about 80K ahead of second place! I eased the attack, then I couldn't land a filler/killer, and my big lead shrank; but so did the field size.

Finally we were four-handed in level 17 (8K/16K blinds), me barely ahead as we all had about the same amount of chips. I took out the bully in fourth for a 92K pot; I flopped trip 6s, we built it till he was all in and his chasing couldn't catch me. Eventually I was heads-up against MiaLauren, who'd done a superb job of bouncing back from being ultra-low-stack a couple of times. She took the lead from me when she got quad 7s and I folded to her river bet; this was level 18 (10K/20K). But pots were big, I got the lead back in a couple hands and then wrapped it up with a 10-high flush as she couldn't fill her boat. I had a bigger two pair than her (quit thinking dirty, Al and ck!) until the river, when the 10 of spades gave her a bigger two pair (hush ig) but completed my flush. We both had straight draws to boot, and no low qualified, and it had been over 3 hours for the tournament, so this hand was the final showdown.

It was just my night/game. The universe needs more of those! Sorry I missed the Big Game of Miami Don's that kicked off Battle of the Blogger Tournament 3 at Full Tilt, but there'll be plenty more of those. This $615 payday will give the sham's bankroll a boost in picking and choosing points of attack at BBT3. Likely starting Tuesday with the Blogger Skill Series (if it ain't stud!). For sure Thursday with Al and riggs' Riverchasers game. (I didn't know my Poker Analysis pal wolfshead, aka herb, was a Riverchaser from Pennsylvania; dang!...)

One good game like Bugsys on Sunday can erase 10 frustrating games, and give insecurities a necessary boost. The adages are really true: Just keep playing your game and try to maintain an even keel, and it all works out in the end.

On the WSOP front, I can get a Vegas studio apartment for June and July for about $2K. Anyone want in? Still not 100 percent sure with my mom's health that it's wise to get away for so long. I do have my eyes on WSOP events 2 ($1500 NLHE, the monster-sized "opener"), 42 ($1k seniors), 51 ($1.5k HORSE) and 54 ($10k Main Event), plus some others. I'll preregister for sure it the next 10 days for the Seniors to get on their players list, and then we shall see what develops.

Meanwhile, back to the journey. Can't over-enjoy a success, just like I don't dwell on the non-successes. But this sure feels real real nice...

The Real 3 R's

Some may have you believe the "3 R's" of learning are readin', writin' and 'rithmetic. Sorry, not true. To a poker player like me, the 3 R's are reading, reacting and 'rmadilloing.

The education picks up a notch today with the official start of BB3, a.k.a. Battle of the Blogger Tournament 3. Three months, 55 tournaments, a Tournament of Champions at the end for individual event winners only ... and even World Series of Poker prizes amongst the swag put together by the legendary Sir AlCantHang and Full Tilt Poker. The official information is at http://alcanthang.blogspot.com/2008_02_24_archive.html#5035587135491417942. (Dang, why can't I make copy one thing and html link a separate thing? Like worked finally with the BB3 banner? Grrr. And the link's not even a live one to click? Sorry. Siiiiigh...)

There's plenty of action, and plenty of chances along the way to have that one miraculous in-the-zone game and win a TOC seat. Or perform steadily and win a monthly prize. And since they're all buy-ins (of various amounts, at varying games), there's oodles of greenbacks to be earned. I'll pass the rich opener tonight, the Blogger Big Game ($69+$6) hosted by Miami Don. Got a seat in Bugsy Championship Series Event 5 (Limit Omaha H/L), so that takes precedence and sham's limited attention/focus. But with BB3 events nightly Monday through Thursday, I'll be gathering the shekels and tokens and showing up there often.

Saturday went well. Won the MaximumPokerLeague TPFC qualifier at Nordica, as me and four teammates qualified for the final there in two weeks. Picked up a little cash at DoylesRoom ring games, the first time I've played those since they let the Yanks back in (well some of us, they still ban residents of the O'Shunned Eleven states).

Full schedule today, resuming sortly with The Bluffers League game at Absolute Poker. Bluffers are a fun group, you should check them out. Link at right. (I'll learn how to put more links into the copy slowly but surely, thanks to the patient teachings of folks like Al and Irongirl. Maybe.) Also I'm playing a lot with Real Poker Players league; $25 for a year to join, then lots of league games and monthly prize events, plus about a buy-in a week at Ultimate Bet ... and these folks play tight/tough.

Gotta keep improving and learning, while the escalator continues the climb to whatever's ahead...

Flowing

Anger. Frustration. Disappointment. Tiredness. Poker. Arrrrgggghhhhh. Close. Cigar? No. Way.

Satisfaction in recent results and play. Perturbed by near-misses and short-handed meltdowns -- twice tonight (Friday)!! Adjusting my game, but so many adjustments and tweaks and one-way streets that truly hold a thousand options. My head and my gut and my heart tell me it'll never work, never get better, never get ... it. But they're not really telling me that. What are telling me that are the things that are right, yet all wrong. So I'll ignore "them" and plug on.

Won 18 cents in the Quick Draw at Doyle's (249th/2,454 freerollers). Made $15 for taking 2nd/23 in TheBluffers game at Reefer. Earned 12 points as 3rd/44 in Real Poker Players League's Limit H.O.R.S.E. at Ultimate Bet. Three-for-three "good" outings. After my 7-days-of-profit streak had turned into 2-days-of-losses, we're headed back in the right direction.

And I should have won those last two tournaments. Long heads-up with Bluffers rival (sorry, bad with names, forgot already); led most of the way until I finally lost one big hand and gave him a lead I could never overcome. And in RPP game I was a maniac at final table, dispatching foes and building 20K-chip castle, 10 times more than my last two rivals each had ... yet it all disappeared in Omaha 8/b, normally one of my best games. The poker goddesses were sure having fun with me.

Gotta not let the results and the immediate happenings bug me. Just like loud-mouth sore losers (no names of juvenile clown bloggers who could use a swift kick in their humanity-lessness). Too sensitive, too nice, the shamster. Gotta shrug it all off. One hand at a time. All that matters. And nothing really matters.

Big weekend of games ahead. Model Saturday morning, which'll put a crimp in my participation but offer a nice distraction, a good opportunity for reflection and re-planning. Then back to the faux felt starting Saturday dinnertime. There are big events at Bugsy's Club and Bodog and elsewhere to choose from, plus the usual league challenges. And the BB3 is right around the corner.

(Weird, I type a word and a different word appears on the screen. Haunted keyboard? Or bad misconnect between "brain" and "fingers" -- plan and execution? Just old? Pooh...)

Maybe that's the trouble. Maybe there's no trouble. Definitely there's a bed calling. Morning is another day. One big success will more than erase a thousand defeats and disappointments. And it IS coming! Meanwhile, we'll continue savoring every little victory, every step in the right direction ... while not making a big deal of them, just like we treat the oopses.

You can stop shuffling. For now. New deal soon...