BBT 5 Helps Feed My Poker Hunger

The hunger is back!

The World Series of Poker Circuit Events here at Harrah's-St. Louis (April 1-15) are successful history. Unfortunately, I didn't cash in any of them. But that's a story for another day.

Being around live poker players, plus watching lots of (mostly new) poker once again on TV -- WSOP reruns starting last night on ESPN, Heads-Up Championship began today on NBC, NAPT starts tomorrow on FSN, High Stakes every Sunday on GFN -- has me once again thinking seriously and deeply (for me, anyway) about the game. And the WSOP is just around the corner, barely a month away.

And guess what I found? Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 5 actually starts today at Full Tilt, running 6 weeks and offering quite a few seats in WSOP events. I haven't played with many of my blogger compadres in a while. Time to change that!

So, without further ado, here's the banner to the BBT 5 info:

Rah, it worked!! (Fourth try.) Thank you Dave McCarthy!!! Yeah, it's ugly, but so's my poker ...

And here for now is a backup link to the BBT 5 explanation page:

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/poker-from-the-rail/bloggers-on-the-rail/battle-blogger-tournaments-5

Play when you want, watch when you can, and cheer for your favorites. Including, I hope, me. I'll play the next couple Wednesdays and go from there; the goal is to take one down and get a TOC seat!

More later about BBT 5. Meanwhile, I got dumped today from the TeamBattles at Tilt (thank you pokerzentrale.me and Mixed Games Forum for the wonderful series!) sooner than I wanted, 81st/134 players. Not many points from me for my team River of No Return today (and this after my solid 12th/138 last Sunday). Now to get ready for GML 18 at PokerStars (Mixed Omaha today) and GFN Forum Wars at Absolute Poker later today.

I'm playing better. But there's a lot to do, a long way to go. Come and enjoy the ride!

It's NBC Heads-Up Championship time!

I wish I was in Las Vegas this weekend. Caesars Palace, to be exact. It's time for the 2010 NBC Heads-Up Championship, one of my favorite events annually.

Here in St. Louis, I don't get to see much of it when NBC gets around to the broadcast. Sundays are dominated by the local affiliate showing St. Louis Cardinals baseball games. Who cares about those losers??? Gimme my phenoms and flashes from the felt! I'm left waiting for the shows to rebroadcast on CNBC or somewhere. So I expect to be keeping up with the action as it happens this weekend live, via the online poker news reports or NBC's blog.

I'll put observations in my blog this weekend. But I'll put them at the end of a post, and say SPOILER WARNING!, so that folks who want to be kept in the dark and suspense until the tournament airs don't read something they don't want to know.

OK, prediction time! I consider this good practice for the NCAA Brackets I'll be filling out later this month. But in the Heads-Up Championship, anybody can truly beat just about anybody. Thanks to NBC for the event bracket, posted at its website after Thursday night's Pairings Draw Party at Pure Nightclub in Vegas.

I'm doing two brackets, so it's me against me. First, here's the summary of my initial bracket which I posted in several forums I belong to, such as Poker Analysis and Holdem Poker Chat:

"Jiminy Christmas, what matchups! What potential matchups!!!

"Didn't know whether to go with who should win or who I want to win. Who'll play serious or who'll play drunk. Old school or new wave. As usual, decided to go with a mix ... which is when my cute crabs usually run into pocket rockets. Oh well.

"How're these for real first-round matches: Seidel-Seed, Negreanu-J.Mercier, Lederer-Hellmuth, Greenstein-Rousso, Hansen-Raymer and the Duel of the Jennifers (Tilly-Harman)? Wow. The Diamonds Bracket is definitely the "Region of Death." I'd love to see Hellmuth-Obrestad in the second round, Negreanu-Dwan in the third. And one of my predicted semifinals would set the internet afire if it materializes.

"Sham's Final Four: Patrik Antonius vs. Tom Dwan and Doyle Brunson vs. Antonio Esfandiari. Bracket darkhorses: Ted Forrest, Shawn Rice, Annette Obrestad (shoulda been Doyle as that group's darkhorse, I shoulda picked Chris Ferguson to win it, but oh well -- and if Doyle doesn't play the Chrisis the man to win the Hearts) and Jen Harman.

"And the winner is: Antonius over Antonio. But as bad as my picks were last year, those two are probably hexed for good. Good luck all; more in my blog."

That's my starter. But I always liked pairs ... twins ... two at once ... diversity ... you know what I mean ... So I'm doing another bracket right here, right now, my Blog Picks. And I just know I can beat me -- the Forum Picks, dirty mind!

Start in the CLUBS Bracket -- FIRST ROUND: Patrik Antonius over Chris Moneymaker seems good. Eric Baldwin over Lee Wolpert just because. David Williams over Joe Cada because Williams is one of the solid bets who could easily run the table with six wins in three days. Huck Seed over Erik Seidel, gotta go with the defending champ and someone (think it was Daniel Negreanu in his blog picks) noted unlucky Seidel has yet to win a match here. Erick Lindgren over Dan Ramirez, one of the unknown qualifiers I figure. "Elky" Grospellier over Peter Eastgate, a tough matchup. Ted Forrest over Stephen Quinn; although Forrest hasn't been in the news much lately, he like Seed and Chris Ferguson have a tremendous track record here. And Dario Minieri over Jamie Gold in a tossup. SECOND ROUND: Antonius over Baldwin. Williams over Seed, I think David's motivation will be very high especially against the defending champ. Grospellier over Lindgren, largely due to Erick's seeming inactivity in recent months. Forrest over Minieri, because it's Ted's "home." THIRD ROUND: Williams over Antonius, because I have to make some major picks different from Forum Sham. Forrest over Grospellier, I just like Old School best (so boo me). FOURTH ROUND: Williams over Forrest. I think it's David's time.

SPADES bracket -- FIRST ROUND: Phil Ivey over Gavin Smith, depends on how many golf games and other things Ivey has scheduled this weekend, I just think he's made it a project to tear up the major tournament circuit in '10 -- and the Biggies start here. Scotty Nguyen over Richard Edwards, should be easy, and I just noticed how small the Asian delegation enterred this year is, disappointing. Shawn Rice over Joe Hachem, a good tough match. Gabe Kaplan over Johnny Chan, another tough one but Chan never seems inspired. Jason Mercier over Daniel Negreanu, one of the best first-round pairings and the winner's likely to go all the way. Pieter de Korver over Mike Sexton, tough to pick but I'll risk it. Tom Dwan over Phil Gordon, like Ivey "durr" has a goal of being a breakout star on the tournament swing in '10. John Juanda over Phil Laak, another difficult decision that will depend on timing, cards and chip stacks. SECOND ROUND: Ivey over Nguyen. Rice over Kaplan. Mercier over de Korver. Dwan over Juanda. THIRD ROUND: Rice over Ivey, the upset of the event, but I think Phil loses concentration a tad in his second match of Saturday. Mercier over Dwan, another coinflip and another disappointment for those wanting an Ivey-Dwan Quarterfinal Super Showdown. FOURTH ROUND: Mercier over Rice, going with the hottest of two hot new stars.

HEARTS bracket -- (Got a tournament in 13 minutes so I'm going to speed this up; sorry ... more later.) FIRST ROUND: Jason Hougaard over Allen Cunningham, who's another player who seemed inactive in recent months. Eli Elezra over Greg Mueller, one to the experienced guy. Craig Ferguson over Annette Dworski. Dennis Phillips over Kara Scott. Doyle Brunson over Brock Parker, although Parker beats any late sub. Don Cheadle over John-Paul Kelly. Phil Hellmuth over Howard Lederer, a great first-round match. Annette Obrestad over Orel Hershiser. SECOND ROUND: Hougaard over Elezra, one against the experienced guy. Ferguson over Phillips. Brunson over Cheadle. Obrestad over Hellmuth, and won't that be fun to watch! THIRD ROUND: Ferguson over Hougaard. Obrastad over Brunson, with two toughies in one day, the king is "dead", long live the queen. FOURTH ROUND: Ferguson over Obrastad, the old guard still rules.

DIAMONDS bracket -- FIRST ROUND: Barry Greenstein over Vanessa Rousso. Antonio Esfandiari over Sammy Farha. Jennifer Harman over Jennifer Tilly. Mike Matusow over Jerry Yang. William Huntress over Darrin Moon. Andy Bloch over Annie Duke. Paul Wasicka over Andrew Wilson. Greg Raymer over Gus Hansen, one of my upset specials, to cap a very very tough bracket. SECOND ROUND: Esfandiari over Greenstein. Matusow over Harman. Bloch over Huntress. Raymer over Wasicka. THIRD ROUND: Esfandiari over Matusow. Raymer over Bloch. FOURTH ROUND: Raymer over Esfandiari.

SEMIFINALS: Williams over Mercier. Raymer over Ferguson. And does this seem familiar ... FINALS: Williams vs. Raymer -- and this time David Williams wins! (No relation, durn it...)

Bubbles can be fun

Today is going to be a hellacious Sunday, tournament-wise. There are so many that I'm afraid I'll be ghosting a lot, and skipping others I wish I was in. Gotta choose my spots, though, and give my best attention to the ones I decide to concentrate on. Being half-assed or distracted would mean I might as well not even play. I'm out to win, or do the best I possibly can.

Didn't win my first event of the day, but that's a good thing, really. Long story short: Pocket 5's Forum, of which I'm a largely silent and background member (hey, those guys and gals are probably the best online, definitely in top 3 mobs) ... anyway, Pocket 5's was holding a $10+$1 Ultra Turbo (2-minute levels) this morning guaranteeing at least 5 seats (worth $1,050 each) to the UBOC $1 million Main Event later today (3 pm, all times St. Louis). Thought I'd give it a go, my day's kickoff and warmup plus a chance to play some of the best.

So the Shamster Luck continues. I finished sixth. No UBOC Championship seat. That's OK, I have a ton of other games this afternoon. Plus the P5s thing paid six places; the seat bubble got the leftover cash, which was $85. Sweet!!! That I will not complain about. Sure, the UBOC ME would've been fun if I could devote my full attention to it. But it wasn't guaranteed money, either, so this prize is fine.

The P5s game saw me playing some of my best poker. Rah! Plus the quickly soaring blinds and antes made it a pushathon. I was in the right place at the right time, even having AJ hold against two foes (that hand has killed me lately). Finally was crippled when my AT at the final table went heads-up against low stack's AK, leaving me only 2K chips. Trippled up with the powerful Q3 as two pair materialized. Then came the end, courtesy of Shamster Luck:

Stage #20284967 Tourney ID 5087039 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 3,500 - 2010-01-31 09:41:40 (ET)
Table: 6 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dealer
Seat 2 - JOEPO (10,374 in chips)
Seat 5 - TRAILERACES (26,595 in chips)
Seat 6 - PWNYEXPRESS (24,696 in chips)
Seat 7 - 2XQUIZIT (13,607 in chips)
Seat 8 - XTJBIRD13X (13,774 in chips)
Seat 9 - SHAMANALIX (5,454 in chips)
JOEPO - Ante 350
TRAILERACES - Ante 350
PWNYEXPRESS - Ante 350
2XQUIZIT - Ante 350
XTJBIRD13X - Ante 350
SHAMANALIX - Ante 350
XTJBIRD13X - Posts small blind 1,750
SHAMANALIX - Posts big blind 3,500
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to SHAMANALIX [10s 10h]
JOEPO - Folds
TRAILERACES - Folds
PWNYEXPRESS - Folds
2XQUIZIT - Folds
XTJBIRD13X - Raises 5,250 to 7,000
SHAMANALIX - All-In 1,604
XTJBIRD13X - returned (1,896) : not called
*** FLOP *** [6s 8h 9s]
*** TURN *** [6s 8h 9s] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6s 8h 9s Js] [5d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
XTJBIRD13X - Shows [4h 7d] (Straight, five to nine)
SHAMANALIX - Shows [10s 10h] (One pair, tens)
XTJBIRD13X Collects 12,308 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(12,308)
Board [6s 8h 9s Js 5d]
Seat 2: JOEPO Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: TRAILERACES Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: PWNYEXPRESS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: 2XQUIZIT (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: XTJBIRD13X (small blind) won Total (12,308) HI:(12,308) with Straight, five to nine [4h 7d - B:9s,B:8h,P:7d,B:6s,B:5d]
Seat 9: SHAMANALIX (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, tens [10s 10h - P:10s,P:10h,B:Js,B:9s,B:8h]

Ah well. Got the cash and the experience. Now the madness really begins. Here's how the schedule shapes up, only listing the things I'll probably play or qualified into, and leaving out the Gaming Forum Network, UBOC, PStars Million, H0 Radio, Nationwide Poker Tour Weekly and many others I'd like to be playing:

-- 1 pm: Forum Poker Series $500 Kickoff Freeroll at Easy Play Poker. Playing for Team Poker101a. Getting three eligibility tokens to Valentine's Day games at EPP just for playing. Plus trying to help Team2Win's forum (101a) win the FPS's prize.

-- 2 pm: GridIron Sweepstakes $50 Freeroll at Easy Play. Very small field of 30 max, people who won teams in EPP's GridIron Sweepstakes regular season (I won Da Bears. Lucky me. But they did earn me $30-some bucks one week. Wish I had Colts and/or Saints...). I won't be here much because Easy Play and Reefer are both Merge Network sites and you can't have both open at same time (wish I had another computer...). And over on Reefer...

-- 2 pm: Online Forum Challenge $2,000 Freeroll at Reefer Poker. Go Team PA! Trying to bring glory to my main forum, Poker Analysis, even though this is not a team competition. Thank goodness they moved the game back an hour, it was originally supposed to start at same time as FPS. (I hate corporate rivalries and one-upsmanships, although I benefit from such.)

-- 2 pm: World Blogger Championship of Online Poker Final at PokerStars. I should be in this game, it should be my big game of the day. But I am very unenthused. The WBCOOP has been no fun this year: too many sitouts, ill-mannered 4-year-olds pretending they're players, hooligan behaviors, uninspiring prizes. I love PStars, but they really bombed here. I wouldn't pay to play in these circumstances. Last one (December '08) was sensational, and I cashed in its final. Now I'm yawning and real disappointed.

-- 3:20 pm: RP League Winter Series II Final at Reefer. With $500 added and a $109 coupon for the winner, plus 124 entrants max, this one has my attention and focus. Hopefully I'll still be on Reefer for the OFC; hate to multi-event, my record is awful, but I'll give it a go if necessary.

-- 5 pm: Shark Poker Tour at PDC Poker. A $2 buy-in with $50 added. I have't been playing much with the Sharks lately. I miss them. I want to be there more. But we'll have to see what my situation (tournament positions, emotional strength) is when this one comes up.

-- 6 pm: Sunday Football Special I at PokerStars. Now this is a tournament!!! For $10+$1 I get a shot at Super Bowl tickets plus spending money. So what if the full 40,000 entrants show. I will play ... although probably not until SFS II at 9 pm!

-- 7 pm: Suited Pockets $50 Freeroll at Doyles Room. I love Doyles, and I love the Pocketeers. But we'll have to wait and evaluate my situation.

-- 9 pm: SFS II at PStars. See 6 pm. See me cap the day with a big score. I hope. I've had my fun bubble; now for bigger and better things!

Dontcha love quickies?

A week since my last post? Geez. Time flies when you're having real life...

Mom's better. As of last night my poker game's better. More on everything later (four days off in a row starting Thursday -- ahhhhhhhh!!!)

Just wanted to make note I played my first World Blogger Championship of Online Poker yesterday (Tuesday). Work kept me out of Monday's, and will sideline me again today. But starting Thursday I'm registered for four in a row. Tuesday's WBCOOP #2 was Pot Limit Omaha, and it was not a memorable experience -- I finished 755th/1,634 entrants. Blah. For an excuse I'd explain I was still in a Mixed Games Forum league game (Limit HA) when the WBCOOP started, at a tough final table, and I do not do well dividng my attention -- proven fact, look at the records, it's just my game/temperment. On the bright side I won the GML #26 game, my first win in the league (which I only joined mid-January). That league is fun; I'll have to had them to my forums menu at right soon!

Tuesday night I played Mini UBOC 12 (Limit HORSE) at UB (formerly Ultimate Bet). I made some really dumb moves (will post three really bad hands next time), but somehow survived them and finished 18th/308 for a $56 cash. My first UBOC game (in this series); with my schedule I hope it's not my last. Fun and educational.

Speaking of education, off to work I go at St. Louis Community College-Meramec. A lot of buses, trains and walking ahead getting there and back. Hope the weather holds. Not driving can be a pain (dang panic disorder). But whatever is and will be, so be it. Peace...

A small pause

Sorry I've been quiet, and unfortunately it'll probably be that way until the weekend. Got a couple viruses on my computer I'm trying to get eradicated and repaired. School's started back up, which means back to the modelling grind (rah!). And mom has carotid artery surgery tomorrow; she's 80.

Meanwhile, if you want good poker games for a great cause, play tonight (Wednesday Jan. 20). At Ultimate Bet or Absolute Poker is a Play for Haiti benefit at 20:30 ET; $5+0, turbo, rebuys for first 30 minutes, one add-on, capped at 750 players, Annie Duke among those already registered. And at Doyle's Room the regular 21:30 ET Wednesday Bounty has been tweaked into a Haiti Relief Celebrity Bounty Tournament, featuring Doyle and the gang plus celebrities like Mickey Rourke; it's $25+2.50 well-spent.

Be nice and stay happy.

PStars' WBCOOP is coming!!!

OK. I don't know how to put this on the margin at right. I'm lucky when I make a post and it takes. Besides, this thing deserves its own prominent space. So here goes nothing (which is what I usually think/say before playing anything):

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 609843

Hmm. Looks good in preview. Let's put 'er up. And good luck, fellow bloggers! If you want in a separate last-longest on the side for certain events, reply here (I love getting mail. Even spam. Such a feeling of power to trash it...) ...

Still hungry for more BLT

Taking a break before evening action, and thought I'd go ahead and put something up. You're not limited to one blog post a day, are you? Over three years here, 10 years online, and I still don't understand nuttin'...

The third BLT was today at Full Tilt. One more BLT next Sunday -- another turbo like last week. I prefer the regular speed; I'm now 2-for-2 at cashing in them. But I should've done better today. The killer, as Sham's Law finally ends the fun:

Full Tilt Poker Game #17681184600: The Big Little Tournament (125975242), Table 100 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:18:32 ET - 2010/01/17
Seat 1: PavliX (65,078)
Seat 2: x-Rocky 36-x (9,940)
Seat 3: Zarachr (27,027)
Seat 4: syenite (24,732)
Seat 5: Itch52 (33,441)
Seat 6: bamfer77 (34,728)
Seat 7: shamanalix (6,470)
Seat 8: bailli (26,158)
Seat 9: badmoouth (36,427)
PavliX antes 150
x-Rocky 36-x antes 150
Zarachr antes 150
syenite antes 150
Itch52 antes 150
bamfer77 antes 150
shamanalix antes 150
bailli antes 150
badmoouth antes 150
shamanalix posts the small blind of 600
bailli posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to shamanalix [Ac As]
badmoouth raises to 2,400
PavliX raises to 10,350
x-Rocky 36-x folds
Zarachr folds
syenite folds
Itch52 folds
bamfer77 folds
shamanalix calls 5,720, and is all in
bailli folds
badmoouth has 15 seconds left to act
badmoouth has requested TIME
badmoouth folds
PavliX shows [Tc Th]
shamanalix shows [Ac As]
Uncalled bet of 4,030 returned to PavliX
*** FLOP *** [7s Td 2s]
*** TURN *** [7s Td 2s] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [7s Td 2s 7h] [Qs]
PavliX shows a full house, Tens full of Sevens
shamanalix shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
PavliX wins the pot (17,590) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17,590 | Rake 0
Board: [7s Td 2s 7h Qs]
Seat 1: PavliX showed [Tc Th] and won (17,590) with a full house, Tens full of Sevens
Seat 2: x-Rocky 36-x folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Zarachr folded before the Flop
Seat 4: syenite folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Itch52 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: bamfer77 (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: shamanalix (small blind) showed [Ac As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 8: bailli (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: badmoouth folded before the Flop

Finished 1,944th of 33,030 entrants, earned $15. But I (always) want more... dang big stacks and Sham's Law.

More real soon. Gotta start plugging the World Blogger Championships of Online Poker coming up later this month at PokerStars ... before I miss the whole thing! That was a lot of fun last year!!! Unfortunately, classes and work will likely keep me out of the fun the first three days. Durn.

Wrong way to end a slump?

Finally broke out of a mini-slump (I hope!!!), as well as feeling better from the stomach flu and actually starting to get my hearing back from the Lady Gaga concert. So why am I not happy?

Guess it's because I played "dumb" in "ending" the current slump. (Postive thinking -- I insist the slump is over, and good things lie ahead!) I finished 45th/246 entrants a little while ago in one a $1.10 Satellite to Sunday's Big Little Tournament at Full Tilt. My $4 prize will pay for most of my entry in the 12:45pm (St. Louis time) BLT.

Of course, if I'd finished one spot higher I'd have got a ticket for the full $5.50 entry. I made the money, but bubbled the 44 tickets. And I should have coasted in for one. But I got KK the last hand and pushed my 5K, got called by the big blind -- who had been the table big stack and bully and whom I had a history with in my short time at Table 22 in the 5-minute turbo event.

I didn't think anyone would challenge my push, since we were one spot from the money and two from the tickets. But my foe had me covered, must've figured he had nothing to lose and could embarass me, and called with AK. And of course, as per Sham's Law, an ace flopped.

I shouldn't have gotten personal and taken riskes. I should have coasted. But I want to win tournaments, not just survive them. I folded my QQ to him a few revolutions earlier when an ace flopped and he push-raised my check (that was when he had twice as much as anyone at the table, before he went on a small losing streak). As bad as things have been running for me, I wanted to attack now that I had KK and get momentum on my side. And the poker gods and goddesses are still laughing at me.

Ah well. I won something. That's a step in the right direction. I also finished 3rd/6 Saturday morning in a Pot Limit Omaha High/Low tourney (ray101bassman's weekly PokerStars $1.10 fun) for a 10-cent profit.

Another lesson learned from having kings cracked in an unnecessary bubble-time risk? Nah, not the way I felt, and as little as I had to lose. I already intended to buy in direct anyway to Sunday's BLT; just decided to try one more satellite as a warmup and game-sharpener.

I'm playing to win. I'm thinking positive. I'm learning, and using (some of) what I learn.

Bring it on, felt Foes and poker Fates! The Shamster will always bounce back. Eventually.

Good results on Reefer

Hmmmmm, that title may get me in trouble at a casual glance. Oh well. Coming down with a stomach flu (something I ate?), just want to go to bed, don't care about much of anything right now.

What I do care about, and what has me feeling a little better in my pain, is that I just got out of my slump a little. Played the Reefer Poker League Winter Series II's Event 3 (why'd nobody alert me that the Series started with two games last week??), played mostly solid (though far too card-dead and thus over-cautious the third hour), and finished 6th/58 entrants for a $23.40 payday. Would have liked to do better; I was tournament leader most of the first six levels (flopping a set of kings to crack aces on a three-way all-in in the first five minutes sure helps!). But the way things have gone the last few days, I'll take any rays of sunshine!

Winter Series II runs all January, games every Tuesday and Thursday (8:15p CT) for $5.50 each. The eight-game series qualifies coupon-earners to The Final at 16:20 Reefer time on Sunday, Jan. 31 -- and that championship features $550-added plus a $109 coupon for the winner.

If only Merge Network software wouldn't freeze up so often, primarily on its "refreshes", and be so slow to update the standings or translate my wagers. I was about ready to throw the computer through a wall a couple times. Why can't computer/software geniuses come up with good dependable solid smooth programs for poker????? But surviving so long/well (and cashing) against such a tough field made the frustration a little easier to bear. If Reefer (a member/skin of the Merge Network) only ran smoother, and if it only got the old agreement with PIC Club going again, it might become my favorite site of all the poker internet. Ah well...

I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I'm playing live at Lumiere Place casino in downtown St. Louis. I sure hope I feel better...

(Full) Tilted again ... and again

I do not believe or agree with the paranoids who say all online poker is fixed, and that the RNGs (Random Number Generators) ain't really random at all. Why would poker sites take such a chance and cheat as an institution (we won't talk about random individual cheating right now)? Why would sites care about any one account, especially a small one, when they make so much money off rakes and fees?

Then bad luck smacks me in the face, and all I can do is shake my head and repeat one of my mantras: "This too shall pass; I'm a good person!"

Sunday was basically an out-and-out disaster for me on the faux felt. The imperfect ending to the imperfect day came when I was knocked out of Satellites to Full Tilt's Big Little Tournament, not once, but twice, on rivered flushes when I was ahead. Don't tell me the odds...

The first time, I was sitting pretty in about 25th place of 70 left in a chase for 41 BLT seats. I should've just sat out and backed in. But I flopped a Broadway straight, looked at cementing my seat by taking the pot by pushing all my chips to scare others, and got called by the only stack at the table bigger than me. I should have gone slow with two clubs having fallen in the flop; another club turned, Stackie had two clubs in his hand, and I was out in 65th with no seat and down a buck-10.

Another 1.10 satellite was just starting, and I jumped into it, really ticked at myself for blowing one game but confident I could maintain the steady good play I'd been doing and win a seat this time. But I was card-dead early, which is not a good thing to be in a turbo (5-minute levels) event. Finally I pushed my last 800 chips with T9 from early position, and got called by one player who showed AKo. Wouldn't ya know it, I flopped another straight and got the lead! But the shamster (me) is the unluckiest of players; there were two spades in the flop, caller's A was a spade, and the turn-river came 2 of spades, 3 of spades. Flushed again! Why me???

Sunday had started horribly with me 22,239th/33,736 in the weekly Big Little Tournament finale. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't pretty; it was also 5-minute turbo, and I wasn't in sync or in the right frame of mind ... I guess. I do promise to do much better in next Sunday's BLT (regular 10ish-minute levels) -- and I will cash!

Bombed in two other tourneys Sunday to make the day a total washout. Was much more fun watching the Arizona-Green Bay NFL playoff scorefest. Today I haven't played anything yet; a touch of sinuses and depression and just not feeling in the groove. We'll see what the evening brings. I will play something somewhere sometime!

I am intrigued after finding out Absolute Poker is holding AP Touchdown Wednesday tournaments this month, with Super Bowl packages as the prizes. I'm going to have to look into that, especialy its satellites. Also hoping PokerStars has a new round of NAPT-Venetian qualifiers this week; nothing on their schedule yet, but then again they didn't start playing them last week until Wednesday.

As a final thought on Full Tilt's reputation for unbelievable bad beats on rivers and an inordinate amount of worst-hand-wins ... well, it happens everywhere. Even live. There's no perfect online site for a good game. The software hangs up too often on the Merge Network, the Cake Network, worst of all on Microgamings (I grandfathered in so I can still play some of those). Even PokerStars, my first site to play online and to play real money, is not always dependable. I got royally rooked by them when they did their Player Quiz; I got the survey all correct I am certain, but they never gave me the ticket to tournaments that they promised and I earned. Probably because I didn't capitalize the "S" in my site name or something trivial? You'd expect a lot better from "the best." Nevertheless, grumpily, PokerStars remains my favorite site, followed by Full Tilt, Doyle's Room, Reefer Poker and ... let's call it about a seven-way tie for fifth.

If you hear a scream later tonight, you'll know I just got flushed again...

Ready for another sweet Sunday

I can't believe the year is already 10 days old. Man, life flies when you're having fun ... and also not. I know I already broke my resolution of a post a day here, but what the heck -- how many resolutions survive a full year? So might as well get it over early in breaking 'em!

One thing I'm hoping not to get over early is my participation in tournaments today. Specifically, Full Tilt's The Big Little Tournament. Qualified in a satellite on Friday for this week's $5.50 event, which guarantees $250K prize pool. Today's 12:45 pm (all times Central) game is Turbo (5-minute) NLHE, so it's going to be wild from the get-go. My goal is to do better than last Sunday's regular-timed-levels BLT, when I finished 5,676th (of 46,105 entrants) and pocketed $7.50. A couple good hands early today, please, dealers!

Also on tap for me today will probably be the Gaming Forum Network's $5.50 buy-in with $50 added at 3p at UB (formerly Ultimate Bet) (and more on GFN in a moment), plus maybe the H0 Radio games at 9p at UB (weekly freeroll and $5.50, $100-added buy-in run simultaneously, bonus if ya win both, which I don't think anyone has done yet). The H0 Radio games are co-sponsored by Rounders Radio, and that's where we get the passwords, either via the broadcast at 7p or in the Rounders Radio Chat Room. I may also play one of Poker101a's games, depending on how things are going today; eric's gang has games at 7p (freeroll) and 8p (buy-in) at UB/AP, and they're part of the Poker Forum Network that plays at 4p (freeroll) and 6p (buy-in) at Doyle's Room. Yup, busy busy day.

Saturday wasn't that busy -- mainly because I was in the GFN (told ya I'd get back to them) $100 Freeroll at UB for almost 5 hours. The satisfying news was I made the final table, learned from some very tough rivals and some big stacks in action, finished 4th/222 entrants and pocketed $10. The frustrations included not winning, getting "so little" payoff for playing so long, and that the final table overlapped the start of the Poker Analysis Heads-Up Challenge III that I hosted at Doyle's. Needless to say, two things at once didn't work well for me (although it went a bit better than normal). Didn't get a first-round bye, faced very tough PA regular dcrat (known as rattler3 at Doyles), fell behind early and finally bowed out after a 22-minute struggle. At least our first-round match lasted longest of the 7 opening matches, thus giving me a little solace. Congrats to mjo (Jack8 at Doyles) of Grove City, Ohio, for winning PAHU III, and to fitchjr1 as runner-up!

So I only played 3 tournaments on Satuday. Also cashed in ray101bassman's PLO H/L at PokerStars, finishing 3rd/12 for $2.40 (on a $1.10 entry). So I profitted $9.10 for the day ... if ya don't count the $25 stake I put up in PAHU III.

Bring on bigger and better results today, poker world. And be gentle, goddesses!

Where'd everybody go?

Ok, I know June through December exist. I was there -- I think. I wrote -- I think. I think -- I think. Where is everything?

I hate computers. If it wasn't for online poker, I'd go back to woman-chasing and the real world. (Thank you, online poker!)

Been playing a lot of poker lately. Success rate is increasing, but still missing out on the big scores. Those will come. Meanwhile, keep learning.

Got a lot of writing to do to make up for what disappeared. Wonder if I can re-post from the forums, what I was writing in them about the same time? This is painful! (Yes I can re-post, Blogger says! Thank goodness! I can recreate what's gone before...)

I'm hosting the Poker Analysis (Forum) Heads-Up III tournament at Doyles Room starting at 7 (CT) tonight, Jan. 9. Only $2.20, with $50 added. Come join us. Lots of great people and poker players in PA.

Have a good day and play nice...

Townsend, isildur1, Hastings, $4 mill, suspension ... hunh?

Merry Christmas?

Let's see if I've got this right: Brian Townsend and Cole South shared hands histories with Brian Hastings, who then took a $4 million win against the mysterious high-stakes super-maniac isildur1 at Full Tilt heads-up. Townsend is subsequently suspended one month by Full Tilt for TOS violation: You can't share hand histories on others.

Say what?

Read about these goings-on first at Poker Road just now, which led me to the following Poker News interview. Opinions on this situation, and what "sharing hand histories" means, compared to discussing individual/tournament action(s)? Ah the world of big-time poker; glad I'm happy in Little Land (for now)...

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/12/p ... n-7714.htm

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With the tools and such out there in the internet world, I wonder how Full Tilt could hope to instigate such a rule, much less enforce it. I too fear bots and IM hookups and collusion. But studying a player's tendencies away from the actual event ... that's something entirely different. In the current CardPlayer magazine Phil Hellmuth brags of training Jeff Shulman by going over the rest of the November Nine's entire available plays and TV tapes, and immitating the enemy. That sounds like just strategy -- but isn't that just what Townsend and South and Hastings allegedly did?

Gotta make things as black-and-white as possible, because the grays will just be uber-optimized. (Bad wordage but ya know what I mean...)

(... Great cover story on isildur1 and the nosebleed FT heads-ups in above-mentioned CP, and a short blurb that Hastings' big score just happened at presstime.)

PokerStars $1M Challenge Head Hunt on Jan. 4 '10

From Poker Analysis Forum post on 12/19/09 promoting the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge Head Hunt:

OK, I'll put this here instead of under Tournaments. Don't want it wind up double-enterred like Reindeer Games. I already bought straight in for $11 (40K entrants max); may play satellites to get my money back, but this is one I want to be sure I won't miss!

"Win cash for busting celebrities and Team PokerStars Pro!

"Help celebrate the grand final of the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge TV show with our exclusive Head Hunt tournament. On January 4, 2010 at 19:00 ET you can play in an exclusive online tournament featuring the stars of the show, including Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Each guest player will have a cash bounty on their head, which means you’ll win money for busting them. What’s more, you’ll also be playing for a share of a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

"In case you didn’t already know, the Million Dollar Challenge has been a phenomenal success. Millions of you tuned in to watch, helping to make it the US’ most popular poker TV show of all time! Millions of you tuned in to watch PokerStars qualifiers get the chance to play against celebrities and Team PokerStars Pro for up to $1,000,000. The Million Dollar Challenge Head Hunt is our way of thanking you for watching, and your chance to play tournament poker against the biggest names in the game for cash.

"Visit the Million Dollar Challenge page to find out more about the show and how you can become a contestant in Season 2.

"How to Enter the Head Hunt $100,000

"The Million Dollar Challenge: The Head Hunt $100,000 Guaranteed tournament takes place at 19:00 ET, January 4, 2010. You can enter in a number of ways:

"Direct buy-in -- $10+1 will get you to the front of the queue for the Head Hunt $100,000.

"Daily $1.10 satellites -- These will take place every day from now until January 3 at 20:00 ET and 23:00 ET.This is a great way to qualify with 1 in 11 players winning a seat.

"Freerolls -- Every day from now until January 3, we’re running freerolls at 19:00 ET and 22:00 ET. The top 18 finishers from every freeroll will win a seat to the Head Hunt $100,000.

"Prizes

"The $100,000 guaranteed prize pool will be awarded according to PokerStars standard payout structure.

"Cash prizes for busting pro and celebrity players will be awarded as follows.
Player Prize
Daniel Negreanu $1,000
The MDC Defenders - Vanessa Rousso, Chris Moneymaker, Barry Greenstein and Joe Cada $750
Any other Team PokerStars Pro $500
MDC Celebrities - John Salley, Tito Ortiz, Jayde Nicole and more $250
MDC contestants - Father Andrew Trapp, Denny Luna, Mike Kosowski and more $100

"Please Note:
* The tournament is only open to players in the US and Canada.
* The line up of celebrities and pro players taking part is subject to change."

That's it. Be there! And g'luck!

Happy birthday to me!

OK, where are my presents? Are we really here? I'm not that old! Testing...