Is this 2007?

I need a new band. TheMumbles are done as a gigging entity. All my fellow former Palisades have their current projects up and running. And the less I gig and rehearse, the more I rebuy. Heh. That said, perhaps this could bring a $1500 buy-in, if I hang it up for good.

Anyway, as Pokerpeaker can attest, we're getting pounded again, with another foot or two expected by Sunday, so perhaps some time at the tables is in order.

Good ideas

Nice post on slb159 poker today, which is giving me lots to think about.

Some of you fellow bloggers are gonna make me turn my Stars account into a $$$ account...not least for the rakeback. (Dumbass that I am, I never knew of rakeback when I started my FTP account, and I have no intention of giving up my player name, just to start a new account. So no-no on the FTP rakeback for me.)

Anyway, the FTP Tier Ones are working well for me this week (5 tokens out of 8 tries). But here's where I could use some advice...I'm losing my tokens in the $26 guarantee tourneys, usually getting close to cash, but falling short. On slb159, there's a discussion about "climbing up through the tier tourneys". For all of you far smarter players out there, would you consider that more of a gamble, or less of a gamble, than continuing to use tokens in the various $26 buy in guarantee tournaments? Does the smaller field size of 2nd tier token tourneys, versus their lower # of places paid make sense for someone in my position (e.g., a dude who isn't successfully maximizing ROI on the tokens won thus far).

Hit me up if you have a thought.

Oh yeah, mucho funno busting my blogger tourney cherry in the Riverchasers last night. Much enjoyment had, but busto in 19th after being near the chip lead the whole first hour. The middle levels of HORSE seem to be my true nemeses...

Happy New Year, and fo'reals, check out these guys: Voxtrot from Austin. Amazing pop band, who are primed to truly break through next yet.

How do you scoop a pot with 8888A on the board?

When the stone cold nuts are on the board, there truly is only one play to make. SHOVE!

I still don't have that damn screen capture trick working yet, but here's the hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1485806460: $3 + $0.30 Tournament (10622261), Table 52 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:48:54 ET - 2006/12/27

Seat 1: Teetz (905)

Seat 2: 1Whooty1 (1,440)

Seat 3: OneAceMiller (3,365)

Seat 4: siceman11 (2,830)

Seat 5: shanks11 (7,080)

Seat 6: kali9 (930)

Seat 7: Mondogarage (2,710)

Seat 8: krafty1 (2,205)

Seat 9: mimgan45 (2,530)

kali9 posts the small blind of 60

Mondogarage posts the big blind of 120

The button is in seat #5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Mondogarage [Jh 9d]

krafty1 folds

mimgan45 folds

Teetz folds

1Whooty1 folds

OneAceMiller folds

siceman11 folds

shanks11 raises to 240

kali9 calls 180

Mondogarage calls 120

*** FLOP *** [8h 8c 8d]

kali9 checks

Mondogarage bets 120

shanks11 calls 120

kali9 folds

*** TURN *** [8h 8c 8d] [8s]

Mondogarage bets 120

shanks11 calls 120

*** RIVER *** [8h 8c 8d 8s] [Ah]

Mondogarage bets 2,230, and is all in

shanks11 folds

Uncalled bet of 2,230 returned to Mondogarage

Mondogarage mucks

Mondogarage wins the pot (1,200)

kali9: dude

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 1,200 Rake 0

Board: [8h 8c 8d 8s Ah]

Seat 1: Teetz didn't bet (folded)

Seat 2: 1Whooty1 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 3: OneAceMiller didn't bet (folded)

Seat 4: siceman11 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 5: shanks11 (button) folded on the River

Seat 6: kali9 (small blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 7: Mondogarage (big blind) collected (1,200), mucked

Seat 8: krafty1 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 9: mimgan45 didn't bet (folded)

Shanks is probably thinking of shanking himself right about now :-)

Unfortunately, out of 729 players, I finished 144th. Only 126 paid. Argh. Still, this hand makes it all worthwhile.

The Weather Outside is Frightful...

though not nearly as frightful as the beats. I swore this wasn't going to be a blog about bad beats, so that's all I'm gonna say about that. But reloading my FTP account sucks ass, that's all. Okay, except for one...just ask me this. How do you call a 2nd re-raise on the flop, and an re-reraise on the turn putting you all in, with three diamonds and a pair on the board, with nothing more than an over PP? Like I said, enough of that.

Anyway, I'm looking out over 35" of freshly fallen snow, and wondering why the hell I didn't play more MTTs while being snowed in for two days. Oh yeah, the shoveling and back pain afterwards. Heh. Anyway, there's one more forced day off work coming. After shoveling all day yesterday, everything's clear...except the fucking street. Not one plow has even sniffed the road in front of my house yet. I think all the plow drivers are too busy trying to download "Casual Sex" off of FTP somewhere.

Maybe today is a day to play. Sitting on one token, can try to win a few others. But there's nothing really as beautiful as seeing two to three feet of the fluffy white stuff out your window, under a completely cloudless blue sky. Today may be spent hiking instead. If we'd have celebrated Xmas early, I might have had snowshoes.

Anyway, have a great day, and if you can't roll around in the snow, please roll some chips around the felt. Rock on. Now playing: Mission of Burma - "Spider's Web"

If I had a Hammer...

So this Hammer thing...I clearly don't have the hang of it quite yet. Ended up playing the pub league freeroll on Friday, since I had to meet two players there to pick up a camcorder for my Good Doctor Mondo to use over the weekend. Anyway, I get there and tell a friend of mine that, if I'm big stacked at the table and get the Hammer, I'm all in.

Guess what. Of course. I'm big stacked, triple up in first hour, and get the hammer. In the BB. I totally chicken out. Flop comes Q87. I check-fold to an all in. Deuce on river. KK wins the hand. I feel worse than a donk.

Anyway, I end up finishing 2nd in the first tourney, out of 55. Nice. So, early in the 2nd tourney, I get the Hammer. Again, in the BB. Blinds are 25/50, and six players call. I go all in. Called by pocket tens, and crushed. I think the lesson is, "grow a pair before it's too late".

Crushed the home game Saturday night, but got rivered by a straight over my flopped two pair in HU and finished 2nd. Not bad. I'll take 2.5x buy-in payoff anytime. Spent most of my FTP time this weekend in .10/.25 and .25/.50 NLHE, and damn if I didn't end up down one buy in after being up four buy-ins. I know, I know, you WANT a caller to your re-raise with nut flush on turn. What you do NOT want is for that fish to hit his four outer on the river. Yes, that happened. Twice. I hate FTP sometimes. Heh. Went from running awesome, to running shitty, in about two hours of play. The bankroll's down to five max buy-ins at .10/.25, but this whole thing of playing NL is still new, and yea, I'll reload if I have to.

Anyway, it was great to hear of smokkee's satelitte rockage this weekend. Wonder how he did in the $500k. Good luck in the Aussie qualifier tonight. Also great fun following the Doyle Brunson WPT stuff.

Someday, I'll learn to take notes. There were actually a couple of interesting FTP hands. Finding the fish at most of the tables wasn't difficult. Avoiding their suckouts was, unfortunately, occasionally impossible. But the real difference between a roughly break even weekend and being up a bit was a bad call with KQ on a K-high board, seeing villian turn over AK. Lessons, lessons, lessons...

Today, I sit at work in a virtually empty office. All the shelving's gone to make room for new carpet tonight. Which makes today utterly fucking boring, and yet I can't leave...argh. There's good midday tourneys up the hill, as well. Still, finding a $75 iTunes gift certificate in my mail inbox is suhweet...gonna start it off with The Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E. - McAwesome organ driven spy-fi from Europe. Maybe followup with Switzerland's, The Giant Robots, if the US iTunes store carries it. Great, great stuff. This band gets the Mondo's stamp of approval, and if they ever gig in the US, I *will* find a way to get them to a Denver show.

If Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting...

...then what the fuck is Friday night good for?

Choices, choices, choices.

Nobody in the poker blogging world knows who I am, yet, but one thing is key. Aside from poker, the other major timesuck in my life revolves around music. Playing it, gigs, attending shows, etc. Which leads to me to tonight's conundrum.

First off, my one good half, whom I'll refer to as the Good Doctor Mondo, has to attend graduation ceremonies at her university tonight. Which means, the Mondo's got a kitchen pass. But I've got three choices, and dunno which way to go.

There is the smooth call, aka going home and playing FT for a few hours, hopefully rocking the $3.30 turbo NLHE, a couple PL Omaha MTTs, and my new habit....25/.50 NL (earned nearly two buy-ins in two hours last night, yay me, yet gave up 80% of it chasing tokens, ugh me.)

Then, there is the over the top raise, aka, going up to Blackhawk to rock the 2/5 tables at the Gilpin.

Or, I can simply fold, and go see Hot IQs and Everything Absent Or Distorted, two of my favorite locla bands, play an Xmas Rocksplosion down in loverly Denver. (As an aside, for those of you partial to anything indie hipster, both bands are getting major love these days.)

Here's the rub. Normally, this blog would be tits up no poker tonight. I haven't gone to see the rock in ages. But that's because I recently quit smoking (again), and know beyond knowing that if I go to the show, I'll be tempting and bumming cigs. Bad bad juju. Which pretty much leaves calling or raising. Calling looks good here, because up in Blackhawk, it seems the only game running these days is No Fold'Em Hold'em. And while I'm up a good bit for the year, mostly thanks to rocking a few home games and winning a $60 tourney at Sahara over Labor Day, I'm stuck near $400 my last two sessions of $2/5. Think about that. Losing $50 and hour at a $2/5 LIMIT table. Gack.

Besides, I have a pub league freeroll end of season final tourney tomorrow afternoon, and a $10 NLHE (+4 rebuy) home game tomorrow night. And the Good Doctor Mondo will play both events with me, so that's probably all the live poker I can justify. And no matter how donkfish the ring game play is up the hill, it's 10x worse in the pub league here. I don't need that frustration twice, when I can work on my bankroll.

Oh, why no tourney up the hill tonight? Because it's the Psycho Fifty. $50, with up to NINE rebuys. Sick. Most take 3-5 within the first hour. To my limited way of thinking, the variance of that many rebuys, at a relatively low cost, is just way too high. -EV all the way.

Okay, so checking it is. Anyone who wants to tilt the Mondo can find me at just about any of the $5 or $10 MTTs that start at FTP tonight between, oh, 7-9:30 mountain time. Because we're so special, we get our own fucking time zone that doesn't work with ANY network TV feed times.

Big ups to Falstaff for pointing me to some screen cap stuff. When I grow up, I want to be a decent blogger, just like him. Some of you have some seriously suhweet looking pages.

Choices, choices...

Mondo's First Post - check out the training wheels

Okay, okay. Seems time to finally start writing about the trials and tribulations of my poker life, online and off. Equal parts both, but out here in the Rockies, the casino game is a hell of a lot more limited. Ring games are limited to 2/5 limit HE, with the occasional 5/5 limit HE or 2/5 choice (which is invariably 80% O8, 10% O-Hi, and 10% Crazy Pineapple). If you dig multiple rebuy tournaments, weekend nights are the time to be there. I hate multiple rebuy tournaments up here. Multiple rebuys seem to truly encourage the donkeyfish, and getting sucked out six hands in by 94o to a KK, just so they can start the rebuys...eeshk.

Anyway, as this is my first ever blog post, I'll keep it short. But I want to acknowledge the real reason I'm doing this. After enough boring days on the job recently, I finally discovered the world of poker blogs, a few in particular, and without discovering the vast amounts of edutainment from these fine folks, I wouldn't be bothered to contribute. So without further ado, I'd like to thank the following bloggers in particular for unwittingly leading me down the path of righteousness:

Pauly - perhaps the Don and dean of all poker bloggers

Mookie - the first poker blog I ever read, and I WILL play your tourney someday

Hoyazo - the only reason I ever got the stones to try the Hammer in MP, and a deep-thinking, thought-provoking writer

Waffles - most likely to earn bank at standup comedy, post bankroll-implosion

Smokkee - for writing clean, concise, yet most informative on poker

Dawn & Karol - the Oasis in the Desert was the final spark to put forefinger to keyboard

Anyway, I'll try to hit on the small stakes trials and tribs of poker, of getting one's good half even more supportive of my avocation, and maybe even post some random musical musings. I'll do my best to achieve +EV in the interesting post department, without going too far -EV in the actual poker department....

Most of what I play are $5+.50 and $10+1 MTTs on FTP, and $24+2's whenever I can token up. Lately, I've been fortunate enough to earn tokens in 80% of my SAGs, but haven't been able to follow through. Getting ITM in most of my recent Omaha MTTs, including a 3rd place on Tuesday, for about 25x the buy-in. But I still suck at poker. Hard.

Of course, in the utter and complete absence of any l33t blogging skills, this n00b has taken an hour to format. All of which only proves that there are donkeys in the blogging world, as well. But thanks to those who inspire me to try to follow in footsteps, and I'll try to have some fun. Now, can someone 'splain to me how to take a screenshot of an FTP table?