So You Think You Know Your Candidates?

So you think you know who you're going to vote for this year?

So you think you know where your chosen candidate stands on the issues?

So you think you know where you stand on the issues?

So you think you know how the candidate's stands converge and coalesce with your own?

Well then, here's a fun quiz to take (courtesy of WQAD News 8 outta the lovely Quad Cities, Iowa area):



I'll say this much, the results for me were a bit surprising, in that both remaining leading Democratic candidates scored exactly equal to one another vis-a-vis my stands on the issues. (I am staunchly independent, but typically lean towards most Democrat candidates.) If any of you are at all like me, you've probably also played that game of "if my candidate loses, who from the other party can I actually live with?". Well, for me, the most shocking result of this decidedly non-scientific poll was that, strictly on the issues, the one candidate I felt I could live with from the Republican Party scored the most divergent from my views, from every single other candidate of that party, including the candidate most often considered to be a walking wackjob, the homophobic fringe candidate who would set science back 200 years, and the candidate who's talked out of so many sides of his mouth over the years, that his baby pacifier must have been in the shape of an octagon.

Anyway, take the quiz. It's fun. It's quick. It's not nearly based in enough actual science to begin to offend him. But it is a down and dirty way to measure your opinions on about 10 issues (and how importantly you weigh each issue) to the candidates' preivously-expressed views.

Please to Be Joining Us

Many of you already know about this wonderful online poker tournament series that Smokkee has worked hard to get us donkalicious bloggers, from the folks over at Bodog. Well, thanks to Smokkee's efforts, things are going to get a whole lot more interesting, and perhaps a whole lot more rewarding, as well.




Huge Overlay! Leaderboards! What more can you ask for from online poker? I, for one, cannot wait. A tournament series with what is sure to be a very nice grand prize, and friendly competition amongst some of the more interesting and talented players out there -- you guessed it, poker bloggers.

Play Bodog's Online Poker Blogger Tournament Tuesday Nights!

Bodog invites Poker Bloggers to play in it's Online Poker Blogger Tournament with a total of $600 in bonus money.

If you are 1 of the 5 money bubblers, you'll have your $11 buy-in refunded and if you finish in the top 5 you will win an entry for Bodog's Sunday $100K Guaranteed tournament.

This poker blogger tournament runs weekly on Tuesday evenings and requires the password bodogblogger for entry.

Tournament Details

* Day of week: Tuesday Nights
* Start Time: 9:05 pm ET
* Tournament Name: "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" at Bodog
* Entry Password: bodogblogger
* Buy-in + fee: $10 + $1
* Starting Chips: 3000 (Double Stack)
* Payout: Standard Bodog payout structure
* Bonuses:
* T$109 bonus paid to the top 5 finishers.
* T$11 bonus paid to the 5 players that are eliminated prior to payouts.
* These bonuses will be awarded within 24hrs of the tournament completion.
* T$ = Tournament Credits. These can be used as a buy in to almost all scheduled tournaments at Bodog and have a ratio to cash of 1:1.
* T$ can also be combined with cash to buy in to tournaments.

To be eligible to play, all that is required is that you have a regularly updated Poker Blog online and a Bodog Member player account.

If you haven't played at the Bodog Poker Room before, please download and install the FREE software client at:
http://www.bodoglife.com/poker/how-to-play/download-poker.html It only takes minutes!

If you are not a Bodog Member yet, sign up for your FREE account by clicking the "Join Now" button in the Poker Room client.

Getting Started at the Bodog Poker Room
http://www.bodoglife.com/poker/how-to-play/getting-started.html

Practice FREE Online Poker at the Bodog Poker Room
http://www.bodoglife.com/poker/how-to-play/free-online-poker.html

For assistance with signing up for the tournament or with starting a Bodog Member player account please call or email:
Bodog Poker Customer Service Number: 1-866-909-2237
Bodog Poker Customer Service Email: poker@bodoglife.com

Daily Tournament Updates at Blogger Tournament Host Site
http://smokkee.blogspot.com/


IMPORTANT NOTICE:
EFFECTIVE TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2008 THIS BODOG POKER BLOGGER TOURNAMENT BECOMES A LEADER BOARD WITH PRIZES

Details of the Tournament:
The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series will begin Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 and will provide the point totals for every player that has played in the qualifying tournaments. The top 30% of players in each tournament will receive points according to finish which at the end of the qualifying tournaments will ultimately determine who will move on to the Final Event. At the end of the 18 qualifying tournaments, the top 18 points earners on the Tournament Leader Board will receive an invitation to participate in the Final Tournament on June 10th, 2008.

Prizes:
Details for the weekly tournaments will remain the same:
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prizes: As per standard payout structure
Bonus Prizes: T$109 for top 5 finishers + The top 5 bubble players win T$11 in order to play again next week at no cost

Final table prizes, how to register and further details to be announced Friday February 1, 2008

What are you waiting for?
Sign up today and may the best poker blogger win!

Tuesday Night Recap

Alrighty-roo. Yea, the dust doth settle, and yea, another night of bloggerments are in the books. I'd like to congratulate Buddy Dank and Zeem for their outstanding play last night in the Blogger Skillz Series. Given your stacks and play, I was quite content to take home the bronze last night. Zeem, isn't it about time you actually start posting to your blog?

Before I recap further, I'd like to extend the biggest props of the night to PokerPeaker, for his stunning final table comeback from 65 chips, all the way to the headsup chiplead, in the bloggerific Bodonkey. The fairytale ended with a runner-up finish, but damn, Peaker sure does represent the Rockies quite well, indeed. I would be remiss if I did not also congratulate Lightning36 for putting an eventual end to Peaker's juggernaut, by winning his 4th Bodonkey. Right now, he has to be the favorite for heading the upcoming leaderboard, details of which will be bestowed on the blogger community by Smokkee, just as soon as THE MAN allows.

I'd really like to thank all the little people for my 2nd consecutive cash, but I reserve special appreciation for those whose chips got me to the end:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5048473591: Blogger Skill Series (35811805), Table 1 - 60/120 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 22:45:39 ET - 2008/01/29
Seat 1: HighOnPoker (1,420)
Seat 2: Mondogarage (3,568)
Seat 3: twoblackaces (3,050)
Seat 5: riggstad (1,964)
Seat 6: Donkette (1,992)
Seat 7: NightRanger (5,826)
Seat 8: Fuel55 (6,315)
Seat 9: corron10 (4,180)
HighOnPoker posts the small blind of 60
Mondogarage posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [Tc Ac]
twoblackaces folds
riggstad folds
Donkette folds
NightRanger folds
Fuel55 folds
corron10 folds
HighOnPoker calls 60
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act
Mondogarage raises to 360 (let's see how strong Jordan is, steal with fair hand?)
HighOnPoker raises to 1,080 (from reading HighOnPoker, this looks like resteal)
Mondogarage raises to 1,800 (ATs not great, but I'm ahead of lots of his range here)
HighOnPoker calls 340, and is all in
Mondogarage shows [Tc Ac]
HighOnPoker shows [5d 5c] (off to the races)
Uncalled bet of 380 returned to Mondogarage
*** FLOP *** [Td 2d 2h] (presto not so good this time)
*** TURN *** [Td 2d 2h] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [Td 2d 2h Jc] [Qc]
Mondogarage shows two pair, Tens and Twos
HighOnPoker shows two pair, Fives and Twos
Mondogarage wins the pot (2,840) with two pair, Tens and Twos
HighOnPoker: gg
HighOnPoker stands up



This hand put me in a decent position, and resulted in one of my only two bounties of the night. The other was Donkette, for the 2nd consecutive week. Last week, I think I took her out of both Tuesday bloggerments (and I think I did damage to her in last night's Bodonkey), so I suspect her bullseye may be finding it's way to my forehead soon.

Anyway, my extra special thanks goes out to JDSchellnutt (what's yer blog?) for getting me to the final table by putting me all in on the turn:



I didn't save the history, but as I recall, I'd made a 3x BB bet from the SB, which JD called, and after a check/check on the flop, I check/called the turn with the flopped boat. I don't even remember what he showed down, but I don't think he'd hit the board at all. This hand pretty much carried me to the final table. But with only five spots paying, and my lil' stacking sitting 8th of 9, I needed some help, especially after I had to fold to AgSweep's resteal shortly before the final table:



But then, what's a bloggerment without at least one attempted Hammer steal? That's okay, AgSteel, because the furiously fickle fates of fives would have my back. This is what happened shortly into the final table:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5049563618: Blogger Skill Series (35811805), Table 4 - 500/1000 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 0:15:43 ET - 2008/01/30
Seat 1: MiamiDon (15,296)
Seat 2: cemfredmd (13,085)
Seat 3: Mondogarage (8,761)
Seat 4: AgSweep (9,190)
Seat 5: Zeem (12,610)
Seat 6: TNSpaceman (20,086)
Seat 7: Jestocost (15,572)
Seat 9: BuddyDank (31,400)
AgSweep posts the small blind of 500
Zeem posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [5d 5c]
TNSpaceman: well, one or the other
TNSpaceman folds
Jestocost folds
BuddyDank: waffles sucked off a donkey? (part of why I love bloggerments)
BuddyDank folds
MiamiDon folds
cemfredmd folds
TNSpaceman: no he JERKED it off (the other part of why I love bloggerments)
Mondogarage raises to 3,500 (I'm probably ahead, but would be thrilled with the blinds)
TNSpaceman: difference.
AgSweep has 15 seconds left to act
AgSweep raises to 9,190, and is all in (he knows I folded to his earlier resteal)
Zeem folds
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act
Mondogarage: cmon...presto (is that a tell? lol)
Mondogarage calls 5,261, and is all in (I'm ahead, right? Um, right?)
AgSweep shows [Jh Js] (D'OH!!!!!)
Mondogarage shows [5d 5c]
Uncalled bet of 429 returned to AgSweep
Mondogarage: eew
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9d 8s]
*** TURN *** [Ts 9d 8s] [5h] (BOOM! - Presto works for me both ways tonight)
TNSpaceman: aye, it were a powerful one
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9d 8s 5h] [6s]
AgSweep shows a pair of Jacks
Mondogarage: gold!!! (JJ can't fade the almighty presto)
Mondogarage shows three of a kind, Fives
Mondogarage wins the pot (18,522) with three of a kind, Fives

And yeah, for once, I was able to dodge the 10-out resuck on the river. If my stack is higher, and if AgSweep hadn't twice previously restole from me, I can probably fold the 55 in that spot. But, given I was in for 1/3 with my steal, I had pretty much resolved myself to go to the mat with this hand, given our previous history in this particular tournament.

I ultimately went out 3rd, when I shoved my then supershort stack from the small blind, and Zeem called. As you can see, I went out to a bit of a cruel suckout, but one in which Zeem was live, and with the best draw all day:




Anyway, just like last week, I was also pushing my way forward in another tournament. This time, it was a $5.50 Razz on Full Tilt that started with about 65 runners. Early on, I was getting a lot of nice starting cards, followed by enough bricks to build a mansion, to the point where I was something like 56th of 58, when I finally started catching some cards:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5048634733: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (38236198), Table 9 - 120/240 Ante 20 - Limit Razz - 22:58:06 ET - 2008/01/29
Seat 1: oscar057 (2,514)
Seat 2: PayDragon (1,877)
Seat 3: JMAVIS25 (212)
Seat 4: Mondogarage (848)
Seat 5: tnittany10 (1,655)
Seat 6: wireman09 (2,056)
Seat 7: LBanyard (4,925)
Seat 8: favrefan1987 (1,868)
oscar057 antes 20
PayDragon antes 20
JMAVIS25 antes 20
Mondogarage antes 20
tnittany10 antes 20
wireman09 antes 20
LBanyard antes 20
favrefan1987 antes 20
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to oscar057 [Qh]
Dealt to PayDragon [3s]
Dealt to JMAVIS25 [4d]
Dealt to Mondogarage [2d Kc] [4c]
Dealt to tnittany10 [2h]
Dealt to wireman09 [8d]
Dealt to LBanyard [7h]
Dealt to favrefan1987 [4h]
oscar057 is high with [Qh]
oscar057 brings in for 40
PayDragon calls 40
JMAVIS25 folds
Mondogarage calls 40 (two low cards with a looksee, I can't keep bricking forever)
tnittany10 folds
wireman09 folds
LBanyard folds
favrefan1987 completes it to 120
oscar057 folds
PayDragon calls 80
Mondogarage calls 80 (was this bad, given stacks?)
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to PayDragon [3s] [2s] (I don't like this, but he didn't complete, may be weak underneath?)
Dealt to Mondogarage [2d Kc 4c] [Ad] (thank you, I can play now)
Dealt to favrefan1987 [4h] [9c] (his 9 and my K cancel out one another)
PayDragon bets 120
Mondogarage calls 120
favrefan1987 calls 120
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to PayDragon [3s 2s] [8h] (even if not weak underneath, a made 8)
Dealt to Mondogarage [2d Kc 4c Ad] [6c]
Dealt to favrefan1987 [4h 9c] [6s] (I think I'm ahead; at worst, both drawing to a 6)
Mondogarage bets 240 (I'm committed now, no brick 1 time)
favrefan1987 raises to 480
PayDragon raises to 720
Mondogarage calls 348, and is all in
favrefan1987 calls 240
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to PayDragon [3s 2s 8h] [9s]
Dealt to Mondogarage [2d Kc 4c Ad 6c] [8c] (not a complete brick but...damn)
Dealt to favrefan1987 [4h 9c 6s] [3c] (aw crap, made his 6)
favrefan1987 bets 240
PayDragon raises to 480
favrefan1987 raises to 720
PayDragon raises to 897, and is all in
favrefan1987 calls 168, and is all in
PayDragon shows [4s 6d 3s 2s 8h 9s]
Mondogarage shows [2d Kc 4c Ad 6c 8c]
favrefan1987 shows [2c 5c 4h 9c 6s 3c] (just as I thought, I'm drawing to 5 outs at best, and have to dodge three aces)
Uncalled bet of 9 returned to PayDragon
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to PayDragon [4s 6d 3s 2s 8h 9s] [Jh]
Dealt to Mondogarage [2d Kc 4c Ad 6c 8c] [3h] (BOOM!)
Dealt to favrefan1987 [2c 5c 4h 9c 6s 3c] [Qc] (BOOM!)
oscar057 has been disconnected
PayDragon shows [4s 6d 3s 2s 8h 9s Jh] 8,6,4,3,2
favrefan1987 shows [2c 5c 4h 9c 6s 3c Qc] 6,5,4,3,2
oscar057 has reconnected
favrefan1987 wins the side pot (2,040) with 6,5,4,3,2
Mondogarage shows [2d Kc 4c Ad 6c 8c 3h] 6,4,3,2,A
Mondogarage wins the main pot (2,684) with 6,4,3,2,A

I still have a nagging feeling I misplayed this on the short stack. If I was getting desperate, should I have reraised 3rd street? Or should I have folded until I got, say, staring three cards where I'm drawing to a 6 or 7?

A while later, there was this hand, which pretty much highlighed my comeback into the money:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5049146888: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (38236198), Table 4 - 300/600 Ante 50 - Limit Razz - 23:39:35 ET - 2008/01/29
Seat 1: GeeHeeb (9,936), is sitting out
Seat 2: murjac (4,249)
Seat 3: Mondogarage (2,944)
Seat 4: olenanner (8,779)
Seat 5: chasebird24 (3,066)
Seat 6: backword (14,238)
Seat 7: Shortpoolguy (2,478)
Seat 8: LBanyard (6,786)
GeeHeeb antes 50
murjac antes 50
Mondogarage antes 50
olenanner antes 50
chasebird24 antes 50
backword antes 50
Shortpoolguy antes 50
LBanyard antes 50
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to GeeHeeb [8d]
Dealt to murjac [5s]
Dealt to Mondogarage [2h 5d] [3d] (nice, a monster draw)
Dealt to olenanner [2s]
Dealt to chasebird24 [Kh]
Dealt to backword [Ks]
Dealt to Shortpoolguy [7s]
Dealt to LBanyard [9s]
backword is high with [Ks]
backword brings in for 100
Shortpoolguy folds
LBanyard folds
GeeHeeb folds
murjac calls 100
Mondogarage completes it to 300 (thought about just calling, to induce raise by olenanner, but think I'll be all in by 7th street this hand, anyway)
olenanner calls 300
chasebird24 folds
LBanyard has been disconnected
backword folds
murjac calls 200
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to murjac [5s] [6s] (he's not going anywhere)
Dealt to Mondogarage [2h 5d 3d] [Ah] (the monster grows)
Dealt to olenanner [2s] [2c] (bricks, with one of murjac's likely outs, time to slow down)
LBanyard has reconnected
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act (slow playin' fool)
Mondogarage checks
olenanner checks
murjac bets 300
Mondogarage calls 300 (wanted to CR, but didn't want to lose olenanner)
olenanner folds (damn, must have been weak underneath)
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to murjac [5s 6s] [Qc]
Dealt to Mondogarage [2h 5d 3d Ah] [9d] (me no likey, but still well ahead)
LBanyard has been disconnected
LBanyard has reconnected
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act
Mondogarage bets 600
murjac calls 600
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to murjac [5s 6s Qc] [4s] (did he just make his 6 high?)
Dealt to Mondogarage [2h 5d 3d Ah 9d] [6h] (who cares, I just made better 6 high)
Mondogarage bets 600
murjac calls 600
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [2h 5d 3d Ah 9d 6h] [5h]
Mondogarage bets 600
murjac raises to 1,200
backword has returned
Mondogarage calls 494, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 106 returned to murjac
*** SHOW DOWN ***
murjac shows [Th 2d 5s 6s Qc 4s As] 6,5,4,2,A (7th street A sealed his fate)
Mondogarage shows [5h 5d 3d Ah 9d 6h 2h] 6,5,3,2,A
Mondogarage wins the pot (6,588) with 6,5,3,2,A

I know I chipped up huge here, but I still have questions as to my betting on that hand -- any suggestions would be more than welcome. I do think I may have ultimately induced murjac's river raise by my slow play on 4th street, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, once we did hit the money, I completely bricked everything possible, and went out 5th, but I'm pleased with the comeback.

Next week's Blogger Skillz game, Stud 8 - boy oh boy, do I suck in that game, but you can't stop the bum rush now, can ya?

Bloggerments Are Easy

Will post more about it tomorrow, but I am now officially two-fer-two in cashing at the Blogger Skillz series, first in Limit Omaha, and tonight, in Pot Limit Hold Em:



No victories, yet, but bloggers are a tough crowd. Still, with an average finish of 4.5 in these things (yay for sample sizes), I'm fairly pleased, and the addition to my FT bankroll is useful. I doubted playing in these things, because I only had the $100 roll from FlopTurnRiver, but so far, it's working out.

Oh yeah, also took 5th in a $5.50 Razz MTT, but donked out of the Bodonkey about halfway through the field, when I shoved my ATs from the button into a blind's AA, ack.

Are We There Yet?

First things, first - thank you JJOK, Al, and especially, Mookie, for recognizing what can only be considered award-worthy writing.

2nd Place ($5.50 Dookie buy-in): “After much deliberation, the Asshat Frat Crew unanimously voted Scott’s sack the true lucksack, and much gheyety ensued.”

I would also like to recognize the Asshat Frat Crew for...well...for being so ghey!

No blogging for a few days - the Good Doctor Mondo and I were off in North Carolina and Virginia seeing relatives of hers. I must say, that's a long way to travel to go to a five year old's birthday party, but much fun was had, and it was probably the first time in at least a couple of years when the Good Doctor was together with her parents and all her siblings at one place.

Red Lobster is entirely overrated. Ick.

Got back to a bit of poker yesterday. Chipped up very nicely early on in several Stars tourneys, only to suffer repetitive, yet intermittent, internet outages. Of course, they only seemed to come up when I'm dealt QQ or AA in one of the blinds (fack!). There were literally occasions where I'd be dealt a monster, try to raise, have my raise count, and then be autofolded on the next street. As a result, I only managed to cash in one early tourney, and just barely. It really does suck hard to reset your cable modem and router a million times and see your "safely in the $$$ stack" completely disappear over the course of an hour or so.

More than anything else, that is the single biggest reason I won't buyin online for any sort of a significant buying (say, above $10 or so), and why I won't ever deposit any "real" bankroll online. Imagine if this had been the Sunday Million, or an FTOPS, or some other tourney where I actually bought directly in for a couple hundred dollars, only to lose all my chips because my fucking internet provider can't keep a decent connection for $49.95 a month (I'm looking at you, Comcast), and you're stacked off for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with your play.

Of course, the outages eventually worked themselves out (but only after I was out of all my $5 and $10 buyin tourneys), and once I did some home handiwork, I entered a couple of micros. Wouldn't you know it, I final tabled a limit Omaha on PokerStars for 6th place. Naturally, it was a $1.10 buy-in, my lowest of the day, and 6th was good for about $15. It seems to always be the case that my deepest run is in my lowest buyin tourney in a session. I wonder why that is? I know it's not the level of play, because I went out to 2- and 3-outed in a couple other tourneys, and Omaha Hi is so high variance that the deep finish can easily be attributed to hitting draws. There must be something axiomatic that no matter what site I play at, the online godz will laugh at me, granting charity only in the smallest possible ways.

This final table did make for a bit of an unusual situation. Mondays are usually the day I play bar poker, and yesterday was going to be no exception. But once we got to the final table, I was running late, and had to get to the bar. So after hauling ass with my laptop, I played the first couple orbits of my bar poker game with my laptop in front of me, finishing off my meager score. Fun times, it's like two-tabling, but...well yeah, two-tabling. Now if I could just get folks with Q2 to respect my button raises with AA, all would be well in the world.

When changing smoke detector batteries, don't stand on chairs with wheels. Bad idea.

Today is Tuesday, which means more Bodonkey and Blogger Skillz fun. Dunno if I'm going to make it, yet. I may have to sit out tonight in order to be available tomorrow to play the Dookie tomorrow, thanks to Mookie.

What Happens When You Piss Off...

...a member of pro poker's D-List:



Thanks, 2+2! Now I won't have to feel so bad about not stopping by while I'm outta town.

I must say, it's rather interesting how certain 2+2 mods define trolling, given the tone of others' comments in the thread, but then, I wouldn't really expect anything different from the type of passive-aggressive personalities who would likely be happy to suckle at the teat and smoke the cock of any pro player whose made a TV table, because you never know when you might want to hit them up for a $5 transfer on Stars, lol. Yawn.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure after being away from there for the next week, I may not even miss it enough to care; we'll see. Good luck on the felt this weekend.

"Million Dollar Pro Poker Winner Steals $600"

At least that's how I imagine the headline in the NoCo papers.

Wow. I don't know whether to roll on the floor laughing, or just allow my head to asplode at the obnoxiousness of it all.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's a wonderful thread going on over at 2+2 right now, where it appears a young net scammer wannabe tried to lighten the online pokerz account of one Randy Jensen. I did not recognize the name until I looked him up, since the IM transcript in the thread indicates the guy is local. This guy right here:



Yup, that's him, Randy Jensen, the dude who once took 2nd place at a World Poker Tour Main Event (the 2005 Jack Binion World Poker Open).

Anyway, the 2+2 thread is pure gold, and Randy is coming off as pure asshat. In response to

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone JStrangle's conduct in the least. But really, in an era where the poker community is trying to gain a reputation for good living in society, we have professional players stooping to stealing $600 from college students? And offering in 2+2 to steal even more from this guy? Yup. Head asplode.

Someone should tell Randy that Paul Wasicka would never stoop to such conduct.

Someone should also hit up PokerPeaker in the girlie chat, this is good stuff, and he's pretty much in the neighborhood -- time to write a feature for the Tribune? I say grab the scoop while it's hot!

More Fun on the Radio Rail

I didn't play a lick of poker last night. However, that did not stop me from having 4-5 tables open on FullTilt. This wasn't poker, this was pure entertainment, woohoo! After not playing in the bloggerlicious Mookie for what...a year maybe, I chose to spend last night railing while listening to what I shall affectionately call Asshat Frat Radio, in honor of said fraternity's spring break outing to Montezuma Beach, as memorialized here:



“After much deliberation, the Asshat Frat Crew unanimously voted Scott’s sack the true lucksack, and much gheyety ensued.”

I never knew they let donkeys on the beach in Mexico, but I guess you really can learn something every day.

We kid because we care. And we kid because we can.

In truth, I wanted to thank Hoyazo, Miami Don, Buddy Dank, ScottMc, and the Gheyest Blogger of All for providing us much entertainment last night. Wish I'd been a bit better rolled on Tilt right now, as I was *this* close to registering for the first 50 FTP $11 flipament. (Flipping for 10% of your roll is balla degen, but not very bright!)

I would love to have been in the shoes of one of the non-bloggers in those satellites. I can only imagine what they were thinking (and what notes they were taking) of all these fishy players going all in every hand with every two cards. The comedy!

Congrats to Byron Biggestron for taking down the Mookie. Oh yeah, I predicted it with 2-3 tables left, woohoo! (sorry Surflexus!)

And, oh yeah, double congrats to Pokerfool (latest addition to my blogroll), for the having the heaviest lucksack of the night in winning not one, but two all in flipaments in a row.

Two-Fer Tuesday (well, almost, but long post anyway)

So last night was the bloggerment daily double, consisting of the Bodonkey and Blogger Skillz tournaments, the latter being Omatard 8. Much fun was to be had all around, and for myself, it turned into a decent showing that was close to being a lot better.

Of course, Bodog's software is pretty pathetique in terms of it's amenity towards posting hand histories and such here, but it's easy enough to recall. The first hour was pretty quiet for me, though I was able to pick up a couple thousand chips when I induced a raise all in by someone who held TPTK, when I'd flopped top set. However, we only dropped 2 of 37 runners in the 1st hour, and I was squarely on the top end of midpack, chipwise. Unfortunately, when folks started dropping left and right during the 2nd hour, I couldn't catch a hand to save my life, and survived on a couple of blind steals, and in the third hour, I made my fatal mistake.

We were down to 11 players, with 10 making either money and juicy T$ overlay, or a T$ refund of one's buy-in (which I was able to score last week). I'm in the SB for essentially 1/3 of my remaining microstack, and the only caller was the other shortie who was UTG at the time. Looking down, I see a craptastic J3o, but as I said, I'm already in for 1/3. Big blind had a healthy stack, probably 3rd or 4th of the remaining players. So I jam. In retrospect, I should have suspected the other shorty would have a hand and call, given his UTG smooth call, and I could have folded and waited to shove ATC from the button next hand. But I didn't. I shoved from the SB. As it turned out, BB called, and the other shorty folded. BB showed K-rag offsuit, and neither of us improved, and I go home on the bubble.

In retrospect, it was a misplay on my part, but if I don't get to open shove next hand from the button, I have zero fold equity and am forced all in by my next BB. That said, the other shorty may have gone out by then, and I could have regained the buy-in, who knows? I'd really like a top five finish here soon, as the T$109 overlay would be worth a couple months of Bodonkeys, ya know? And with the soon-to-be-announced enhancements, I think we're all going to want to be over there soon.

Of course, the Skillz game started up during the first hour of Bodonkey, and that tournament was a completely different story for me. I chipped up some in the first hour, but by 90 minutes in, I was in the top three chipleaders for most of the next two hours, complements of hands such as these:





and,



In most cases, I was folding preflop unless I was holding three to the wheel (including A3 or better), three to Broadway, double suited AA or KK, or essentially, a small subset of hands that would pretty much allow me chances to be drawing to nuts on flops. I played very few speculative hands at all, and for once, most of my draws caught and held, to where out of my first 24 showdowns, I was able to scoop 11 and split 11. Early and midstage cardrackery. During this time, I was able to score 2.5 knockouts, which recovered over 1/3 of the buy-in well before the money spots rolled around.

Unfortunately (for me), I got a bit cute and lost a large pot when MarsMan2001's turned quads beat my turned smallish boat, and when the final table started, things looked like this:



From there, I had a hard time catching playable hands, though I did score one more nut/nut off of dino_burger:



Thanks, dino!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that was the last pot I took any of. I do know I lost my last five showdowns in a row. LJ was raising preflop just about every hand, and was collecting chips like they were going out of style. I lost most of what I had left on an attempted bluff smartly called by Rake Feeder (pretty sure it was him), such that by the time a big blind hit me for about 80% of my last few chips, I shoved and showed the following:



A horrible hand, to be sure, but given the only caller was superstack LJ (who had around 90,000 at this point), I actually felt I had a reasonable chance to catch one end or the other...at least until the Q7Q flop hit both her suits. gg, IGHN, but hey, I actually managed to cash, woohoo! And in my first ever Blogger Skillz tourney, to boot.

So, in the world of bloggerments, I squeezed into the cash in one tourney, and just barely squeezed myself out of the cash in the other.

All in all, I'll take it, especially as it salves the wounds from a savage misplay on my part during a concurrent $5 NLHE at FullTilt. I'd managed to chip up early by twice inducing donkeys with underpairs to put in all their chips to my sets or boats, when the following hand occured. To set up the situation, I had just moved to this table a couple hands previous, and really had no reads.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4960220056: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (37013156), Table 47 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:23:29 ET - 2008/01/22
Seat 1: KINGTODAY (1,767)
Seat 2: jwraimee (1,025)
Seat 3: Turd Hurder 130 (1,220)
Seat 4: LickMyAce (1,260)
Seat 5: Mondogarage (3,290)
Seat 6: roadie (2,935)
Seat 7: Digger Micka (3,800)
Seat 8: drymouth9 (1,090)
Seat 9: tough chip (1,375)
jwraimee posts the small blind of 25
Turd Hurder 130 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [Kc As]
LickMyAce has 15 seconds left to act
LickMyAce folds
Mondogarage raises to 175
roadie folds
Digger Micka calls 175
drymouth9 folds
tough chip folds
KINGTODAY folds
jwraimee folds
Turd Hurder 130 calls 125
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ad 3s]
Turd Hurder 130 checks
Mondogarage checks (check to try to induce player behind to bluff)
Digger Micka checks
*** TURN *** [Kh Ad 3s] [3h]
Turd Hurder 130 checks
Mondogarage bets 350 (time to build a pot, my two pair is g00t)
Digger Micka calls 350
Turd Hurder 130 raises to 1,045, and is all in (?????????)
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act
Mondogarage calls 695 (no need to isolate, I have best hand, right?)
Digger Micka calls 695
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ad 3s 3h] [3d]
Mondogarage has 15 seconds left to act
Mondogarage bets 500 (well shoot, I misplayed my top two pair into a chopped boat, likely)
Digger Micka has 15 seconds left to act
Digger Micka calls 500
*** SHOW DOWN ***



Eww. Eww. EWWWWW. Fack. Obviously, I got way too cute at a new table with top two pair. Any close to pot-size bet from me has to chase out the blind, right? Do'h. Maybe not, since the donkeyfucker did call a 3.5x raise from UTG+1 with five-fucking-three offsuit. Of course, the quads on the river wasn't even just to rub it in, it cost me a chunk of side-pot action, because I think Digger Micka makes that call there regardless, unless river comes a K.

Still, I was bruised and battered, but not broken, and was in fact, still above starting chips, which I managed to nurse to about 6,000 (thanks to two flopped sets), when I see a lovely QQ below. So I raise UTG. And I'm called by a shorty. And the tourney chipleader on the button shoves for 13k. I can't fold here. He's been aggro. He wouldn't shove AA or KK, right? AK? Well with a caller already, I put him on less than six outs. So I call. And I'm more right than I thought. By the turn, I'm mentally stacking my chips. That, my friends, was a mistake:



And that, was that. Evil. 6 outs? Try 3. Of course, I had no redraw. Anyway, I wasn't leaving the non-bloggerment portion of the evening a punk like that, so during the latter stages of the Skillz Game, I fired up a $3.30 KO 90 player SNG, where I did manage to finish 5th with some knockouts, to clear about $12 for my efforts. I don't recall the name of the Eurotard who doubled me up on three consecutive pots, taking me from 3k to 26k and busting you clear out, but thanks for making my night a bit more profitable!

Anyway, it was quite the fun night of cameraderie, and congrats to LJ and Drizztdj on taking down the bloggerments.

Oh yeah, as a side note, there was much slinging back and forth between Miami Don and Jeciimd, with regard to Jeci's having won the TOC and playing the Aussie Millions, yet for all intents and purposes, not blogging about it at all. Frankly, I think Don was over the top, in the sense that Jeci was free to do whatever he wanted, but I can't help thinking it's time for Jeci to rename his blog to something along the lines of A Month Late... nevertheless, the shit talking was enjoyable to read.

Whew, long post, and my crayons are worn down from the screenshots. Probably no poker for me tonight, but for those of you playing the Mookie, may you get it in good.

Tuesday Night Bloggerlisciousness? Times Two?

All ye, all ye, step right up! That's right, it's Tuesday night, and time for another edition of Smokkee's Bodonkey -- and one of the last before the new juiced up tourney series begins. I'm going to be there to try to better my 8th place finish of last week (three more spots to those juicy T$109 overlays), and perhaps even unseat WilWonka as reigning champ.

However, I'd also settle for just being able to observer chat the final table after my inevitable bustout. I noticed PokahDave was able to do so last week, maybe he can school my ignorant ass on that, because Bodog wasn't letting me open up tables I was not playing at, nor chat once I bustoed. Anyway, join us tonight for gobs of fun and plenty of bloggerific weaktight shenanigans here:



As for times two? Well, tonight is also another edition of the relatively new Blogger Skill Series over at FullTilt. Tonight's game is Limit Omaha 8 (is that anything at all like the Butterfield 8?), and we're going with deepstacks and bounties all up in this hizzle.



I suspect this tourney may last a bit longer than I'm looking for tonight, given a relative lack of sleep lately, so I may sit this one out. (Plus, this would be playing a bit above my current FTP roll.) But I loves me some O8, even better than V8, so I just may give it a go. If I do, thank you to be folding to all of my 2nd nut draw bets, k thx.

Fun Times on the Rail - Weekend Recap

Played a bit of poker this weekend, but spend much more time railing PoWdA (a fellow poster on the Poker in Colorado forums), and good times were had by all.

Saturday was pretty much a non-factor poker-wise, though I managed to play about 50 hands of .50/1.00 limit 2-7 Triple Draw over at PokerStars, and ended up 1/2 a buy-in. Played about 100 more hands of it on Sunday, and between the sessions, I must have ended up with a winrate of maybe 3BB/100 hands. Nothing to speak of, but makes up for some small Razz losses. One of these days, I'll learn how to play 2-7 Triple Draw profitably, but right now, it's okay to essentially tread water. I've already tightened my game up enough to where I won't chase draws unless I'm dealt at least three to an 8, unless I'm in an unraised blind. That may be a bit nitty, but probably saves me a few big bets when I'm looking at a rough nine after two draws, and I'm in front of someone who stands pat.

Tournaments were a slightly better proposition, where I played two, and cashed in one fairly deeply. In a $3 KO tourney on FullTilt with 1100 runners, and me down to 600 chips by the 2nd blind level, I was able to marshall the forces of ninja poker to end up collecting three bounties and going out 24th. With the 23rd place stack and A9o on the button, shoving into a BB who is holding wired Jacks is not often a winning proposition.

Now what is ninja poker? I'm not sure this qualifies, but what the hell:



And yes, I waited until after the flop to shove. Ninja poker is putting him on a Q, and knowing your three outer won't hit until the river, for dramatic effect. Or something. A more typical example of ninja poker is here - let them bet into you when you're holding top two and nut flush draw. And then, send them home with a smile.

Unfortunately, my favorite Stars $100k donkey fest was full, and I was unable to register. Next time I satellite in, I should know better than to turn it into $Ts, until I'm sure I won't be around to play. In my other tourney, a 4/180, I again ran a bit short of the money, but played well, and was probably one double-up from a cash. Ironically, it was a typical Eurodonk betting A-rag into my JJ (all in preflop), but flopping the miracle trip aces. What's the lesson? If you have JJ, you beat me. If I have JJ, play ATC, because you beat me. I'd rather have AJ than JJ at this point. The end result of my weekend was very much bankroll neutrality.

The real fun was railing PoWdA, however, in the $10+1 Stars Deep Stack, that starts at 10am in this timezone. I've played this tournament a few times previous (though not in a while), but had never made it more than 4-5 hours in. Wow. I had no idea at all how long this took, but I swear the Sunday Million started later and ended earlier than this. Thanks for the lesson, PoWdA, as I will never play this tourney again. The only way to make this tournament worth anything in terms of hourly rate is to finish in the top six or seven spots, given the length. I just can't play 13.5 hours in one online tournament in one day. PoWdA, however, can -- finishing 4th for about $1200, with a good handful of Holla Colorada poker players on the rail. Very very well done. PoWdA has the PoWa!

As far as I know, PoWdA isn't a blogger (yet), but this guy is, and he's degenerate enough to be entertaining. It's a new blog, but Scrupboy is on his own Chris Ferguson-ish quest to restore his Stars bankroll from...drumroll, please...SIXTY CENTS, to respectabiliy. He's up to about $11.50 already, and well on his way.

Speaking of well done, please head over to LJ's blog and congratulate her on a very nice five figure score this weekend. If I knew I could increase my winrate proportionate to the number of beers I quaffed at a live tourney, I'd follow the green glass diet, too.

Oh, and this just in: The people's champ for National League Rookie of the Year is about to sign a six year extention with option year. Woohoo! Duh duh duh-duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh...TULO!



You, sir, are a shortstop stud.

Careful Man, There's A Book Here!...

...aka, this is what I am currently reading:




I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski - Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You is an absolutely delightful book that exposes readers to the the cultural quirks that are Lebowski Fests (and their attendees), and introduces you to the man whose rug really did tie the room together. If you've enjoyed the movie The Big Lebowski even a little bit, it's a quick and enjoyable read, available at all the usual suspect locations, of course.

If you've enjoyed the movie as much or as often as myself, you are most likely already an Achiever. If not? Then get thee to your Netflix queue, now. As we are now in the ascendant cycle of what is pretty much biannual awards season critical fellating of the Brothers Coen, it seems appropriate to again celebrate not only what is it is about those talented, twisted fucks that makes them so entertaining, and their scripts so quoteable, but what also makes them so goddamn funny.

In the meantime, spend a few minutes today with the most Dude-like poker blogger* in the blogosphere today.




*Obviously, the very idea of tilt represents a failure to abide, but life really is like poker -- strikes and gutters, ups and downs, a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-yous...

Please to Be Backing a Blogger, Herr Craig

If you haven't read, Full Tilt and Michael Craig are running a contest of sorts, where Michael will back the winner in to Event #1 of the upcoming FTOPS #1 series. You can read about it here.

I would really like to see a blogger win this opportunity.

I would really like it to be me, 'natch.

However, if that is not to be, I would be very nearly almost as happy if it were any of our fine feathered friends, however.

Except for this guy, of course, who's already won his way into damn near every FTOPS VII event he cares to play, and hardly needs the backing (grin).

As Michael Craig says, however, you're going to have to work for it...

Bodonkey Goes Hee-Haw

So yea, I finally got to burst my Bodonkey cherry last night, and boy, did it feel good. I'm not even sore this morning, though I'm not sure what the donkey did to give me this crick in my neck.

Anyway, let me just say that this was the best played blogger tournament I've ever had the pleasure of participating in. How well played was it? Out of 30 runners, only three headed to the rail in the first hour (one was a QQ < KK AIPF hand). With 3000 starting chips, and opening blinds of 5/10, the structure allowed for lots of play, and players seemed patient enough to not openraise with a hammer just to get to show their cards.

As for myself, I drifted mostly down in the first hour, after having to fold several marginal-to-decent pockets to reraises on flop bets on scary boards. I was able to chip up some in hour 2, and doubled up when I was able to induce a call of an overbet for value of AA by AT on a Txx flop, and things were solid. Unfortunately, during hour 3, I was mostly card-dead, and three times had to fold to resteals when I held hands with little showdown value and a stack with little remaining fold equity, and rereraises would have committed me to being all in. As a result, Once we got down to the final table, I was 7th or 8th in chips, where I saw ATo on the button, and my shove was called by AK in the big blind, and IHGN in 8th.

But this being the Bodonkey, 8th was good for a return of my buyin -- you gotta love that. In a tournament of 30 runners, 5 got cash money AND $109 in tournament buyin credit, and the next five got their buyins back, meaning a full 1/3 of the field got paid. Bless the Bodonkey, and thanks to Smokkee for putting this series together.

I'd also like to tip my hat to PokerPeaker, Jordan, Blinders (had no idea you were "What's the Nuts"), WWonka (again, no idea MoFo69 was you), and Chayse Tilton (nice to make your acquaintance) for cashing in the Bodonkey and playing so well.

Smokkee's got a big announcement coming soon with regard to a full-on tournament series, replete with a Tournament of Champions -- I can't wait for this to start. I know it can be tough for some to put $$$ on Bodog, but then fuck it, we don't get to play that ATM known as PartyPoker, so pffffft.

I'm really looking forward to this tournament series, because unlike the recent blogger series at FullTilt, this one will be one tournament, one night a week, and thus, something I should be able to manage to enter on a consistent basis, provided I kill off playing bar poker on Tuesdays. I can only imagine what awaits the TOC champion -- given Bodog's history of overlays, I suspect it may be something truly cool, like a WSOP Main Event buyin, or something. Beyond that, the play level was better than any $10+1 event I play at any other site, and that really means a lot to me.

Now, if I can just figure out why I'm unable to chat as an observer in Bodog...

This Just In...

Intrepid correspondent Harry Shearer (yeah, that Harry Shearer) has uncovered evidence that Katie Couric is, in fact, human. Beyond cussing and making fun of husky voices, she doesn't seem to think too highly of Rudy G's chances in the presidential race...



So you tell me, is she still America's Sweetheart, or just another flustered over the hill teevee personality who'd rather be microballin' the online freerolls? Frankly, I don't much go for the deer-in-headlights look, myself. I'd rather get my news from Gus Haynes -- I like a bit of honesty with my reportage, if'n ya know whut ah mean.

Oh Yes, There Will Be Poker

I'm in, how about you?

T$ overlays? - check
Donkeriffic bloggers - check
Jolly good fun - check

Almost as worthwhile as waiting for the Brit to show up for a custody hearing!

Sometimes, Persistence Does Pay

Cool. After who knows how many attempts at this mini-donkerama, and two 2nd place finishes, I was finally able to take one down. My first win in a PokerStars $4/180 20-table sit-and-go. It feels good, and doubly so in that I came into final table as chipleader, and only once had to truly luckbox a hand. When we were down to final three, I was 3rd in chips, picked up AT soooted in the BB, and re-shoved all in to an AJ, Jack on the flop, and caught the runner runner flush on the river. Obviously, HAWKAHOLIC99 hadn't read this guy's views on playing Jackace. Heads-up went back and forth until about 20 hands in or so, at which point I picked up a couple monsters to crush.

I love what this has done to my Sharkscope:

What really made this special was that it was my first victory in any online tournament greater than five tables. I've had several higher cashes, but those were all 2nd and 3rd place finishes in larger tournaments -- this was my first flat out victory other than freerolls.

Anyway, there was really only one notably unusual sequence during the tournament, and I didn't get histories, because the table closed as soon as the 2nd hand in the sequence occurred. At a point during final three tables, I picked up AA in mid position, and put in a standard 3.5x raise (at that point, I had a lowish mid-size chipstack). Player at cutoff or button called, and blinds folded. Flop came Txx, and I checked to caller who made a roughly pot-size bet, and I let the timer come on before I re-raised all in. Players calls and shows ATo, and my AA holds for a double up. Only two hands later, I pick up AA under the gun, and make the same size raise. I am called by the very same player, and again, everyone else folds. Flop comes 9xx, and I check. Player makes roughly pot-size bet, and I again let the timer come on before I re-raised enough to put him all in. You guessed it -- he turns over A9o, and my AA holds up to knock him out, and put me up to about 3rd in chips.

Along the way, I did significantly misplay a hand, which I posted over here without showing results. If you have any thoughts on how this hand was played, please let me know. I did not post the results. Needless to say, I lost the pot, but not in the way you'd think.

Anyway, given the amount of time I spent playing yesterday, I got the "you're not playing any more poker for a while" from the Good Doctor Mondo, so I will likely not be making my Bodonkey debut tomorrow night, after all. To those who are playing bloggerments this week, I wish you all high cards and no suckouts, unless you can rant about them as entertainingly as he can, in which case, may a 72o crack your AA on the bubble (strictly for comedic purposes, of course).

Speaking of which, I would be highly remiss if I did not extend my sincere appreciate for Waffles' having distilled the latest Brandi drama into a version I could actually finish reading on my lunch hour. Oh, the insanity! Good thing the Brit doesn't play cards, I suppose.

As Douglas Adams wrote, "So Long, and Thanks [PokerStars] For All the Fish"

Goodbye to an anti-Beatle

Today is a say day for a lot of fans of relatively obscure garage rock music, myself included.

From Eddie Shaw:"Two days before the birthday of his hero, Elvis -- Dave Day of the Monks suffered a heart attack and massive brain injury. He has been taken off the life support system today. His work is done."

This development truly makes me very sad. I got to hang out wiht Dave Day in Vega$ after their Las Vegas Rockaround set a few years ago, and found him extraordinarily engaging and humorous, and even at his advancing age, at 3am, and after a raucous set, he was still ready to toss down with all the fans. The world is a bit less today. To many, the monks were the original punk band. Comprised of five American G.I.s stationed in Germany in the early 60s, they traversed the gap from playing the standard club covers of the day, to tribally savage and rhythmic feedback-fueled stompers that reflected the angst and antipathy of their time and place.

It's beat time, it's hop time, it...was once...monktime.

Dave Day is actually the second monk to pass away, but somehow, this one hits me a little harder, perhaps because of the sheer uniqueness of an electric banjo punk rocker, and just the constant smile he had when we met.

In extremely minor poker news, I managed to fire up a couple of turbo SNGs last night, to no avail, but got into a $1.10 2-7 Triple Draw SNG, where I managed to get heads up with a 5:1 chip lead and proceeded to lose in about 10 hands. This is not too hard to do once the doomswitch is turned on. Had an 8-6 go down to an 8-5, got dealt 2nd nuts and shorty drew out to the nuts, etc. Ah well. Cash is cash, but being up 5:1 and losing, in a limit game....ack.

I think I played a total of five games, consisting of the aforementioned $1.10 SNG, a $3.40 5-table SNG, 1 $3.40 HORSE SNG, and 2 of the $2.20 4-table satellites to the Stars Sunday Hundo. All were turbos, except the 2-7 TD, and in all but one, my money was in ahead, but random fish seemed all too eager to call an all-in, more often than not with a crap ass ace-rag. I think it's because of the turbo structure of these things.

Welcome to the Funhouse

Playing a bar poker single table SNG, of a real turbo variety, and a lot of 'orrible non-poker playing mofos who like TV shows of people with funny reflective glasses. 11 players, starting stacks of 2000, blinds of 200/400 (with about 5 minutes to 500/1000):

1st hand in, I lose 400 by calling from the SB.

2nd hand, on the button: AA (woohoo!)

FIVE flat calls in front of me (I told you play was 'orrible). Jam 1600 from the button. Only the SB folds. BB reshoves for his 2k stack, and all five of the flat callers call the rereraise. So I'm seeing five cards with AA 7-handed. Sick. I haven't plugged that into the PokerStove, but I'm pretty sure I could not have been more than 30% PF with all those callers. I can't get AA to hold heads-up, much less 7-handed?

I don't even remember the full board, but flop was something like 337, couple more random cards, and yeah, AA held. So two hands in to an 11-player tourney, we're down to 5 players (lost one on 1st hand), and I've got about 58% of the chips. The rest was easy, gg me. Ship the $10 gift certificate to be used on a future Chicken Monterey sammich. (Sadly, I went out of the $300 real portion of the day by calling quads with the raggiest boat I've ever been in.)

Tonight is either more bar poker, or I'll fire up a few 7pm tournies at a couple of the sites. Undecided for now, since I'll be playing the BoDonkey tomorrow for the first time. Yeah, baby.

Oh yeah, these guys are looking for a new bass player. I lurves me some deep wet reverbed surf. In fact, I taught myself bass playing playing Dick Dale surf guitar riffs on an old Fender Mexican Jazz Bass. Methinks there may just be a chance to jump once more into the breach.

New Music Alert

Since I sometimes don't play nearly as much poker as I'd like to play, nor as much as many of the other bloggers play, it's time to expand ye olde wee blog a bit. Other than poker, music is far and away my most passionate recreational avocation, so yeah, let's talk about the rawk.

I know it's awfully early in the year, and a lot of new music is likely to find its way onto folks' playlists this year, but I'd like to submit for consideration a record released about six weeks ago, as one of the coolest things any of you may ever hear in quite a while:

The band is Graham Day and the Gaolers, and the album is Soundtrack to the Daily Grind. It's probably very unlikely that poker bloggers have ever heard of Graham Day. However, he's long known to afficionados of garage rock and the Medway sound as one of the original members of The Prisoners, one of my favorite bands from the original garage rock revival days, and part of the same scene as Billy Childish, Thee Headcoats, Thee Milkshakes, etc.

At any rate, the new Gaolers record is awash in perfect raw pop masterpiece writing, the sounds of Medway guitar, sitar, organ, and wonderful rhythmic goodness supplied by Dan Electro and Buzz Hagstrom, who some may better know as the rhythm section of The Woggles (my absolute favorite live band, and the band I was most jazzed to ever get to share a bill with).

Obviously, this sound isn't for everyone. If your idea of the pinnacle of entertaining rock is corporate crap, then Graham Day & the Gaolers are probably not to your taste. However, if you're at all familiar with anything this guy might play on his show, then you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.

In other news, my former D.C. band The Jet Age, is on the verge of releasing their second album, to be titled, "What Did You Do During the War, Daddy?" I'm really excited for them. Of all the bands I've ever played with, they were, objectively, the best, and other than Jealous Lover Targets, the most difficult to leave. Of course, as usual, it will probably go over well with the reviewers at Pitchfork and Magnet, but only sell a few hundred copies -- such is life in indie rock when you're not a flavor of the month.

Happy listening.

Not A Good Day to Be A Hokie

There's nothing quite like the look of defeat. Oh well. At least the Good Doctor Mondo and I made the right decision to view the debacle from the comfort of our sofa, instead of amongst the tears of her fellow Hokie alums in a Denvah sports bar.

The irony is, Kansas won the game pretty much by playing Hokie football - big special teams plays and turnovers. Much like Sean Glennon, I can barely watch.

But hey, at least my Colorado Rockies are about to sign...you guessed it...Josh Towers. Pardon me if I contain my enthusiam.

Once More Unto the Heart(land Poker Tour)

Got this off of 2+2 today:

Golden Gates Casino
Black Hawk, Colorado
April 1-13, 2008

$300+40 Qualifiers
NO Direct Buy to Main Event

For those not from the Rockies, the reason for no direct buy ins is that Colorado gaming laws restrict maximum tourney buyins to something like $500. This meant that when the HPT was last here, folks winning seats via the qualifiers were able to sell seats for up to $3,000 (when the actual value of the qualifying seats, based on $340 x number of players/20 was something like $2,000 or so).

Allegedly, the Main Event will be spread over three days instead of two. And this time, I'm not scheduled to be out of town during the ME, so I can actually try to win a seat to this thing. Yay me!

Last time, they ran a bunch of 1 table $45 and $70 sats to the $340 supersats, but 1-table SNGs really are not my strong suit, and I think I'm more likely to just trying to buy into a $340 straight off. If I manage to win one seat, maybe I'll take one or two cracks at the SNGs to try to get a 2nd seat to sell, but who knows. It's still a ways off.

Still, it's pretty much in my backyard (just an hour away), and very nearly in PokerPeaker's backyard, so I'm hoping he gives it a shot, as well. There's very little hotel space in Blackhawk, but plenty in Denva!

If any bloggers come out, let me know, and we can maybe have a mini-blogger gathering somewhere.

Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards

Since just about every other blogger in the sphere is doing it, it's gotta be healthy and taste good, right? I am, of course, referring to looking back at last year's goals. With no further ado, here they are, along with a healthy bit of "wha'happen" to them.

1. Play an event at the WSOP - BIG FAT ZERO - For two years, I've thought I would get to this. However, the fact I never even went to Vega$ this year meant, by definition, I did not play at the WSOP. For 2008, I will modify this goal to be "Play a WSOP Circuit Event". I don't care the location or the buy-in, I would like to get this one done.

2. Win a Blackhawk casino tourney - WE HAVE A WINNAH! - I played five tournaments in Blackhawk this past year, with buyins from $50 - $110, bubbling two final tables, but finally chopping three ways in a $60 buyin. As I no longer play $2/5 spread bingo, and while there's a fair number of home tournaments in the $50 or so buyin range, there's at least a decent likelihood I don't even go up the hill this year, so it was good to get that one out of the way.

3. Attend a blogger weekend - BIG FAT ZERO There were two chances, and I missed them both. I still want to watch Waffles drink a sixer of Soco from a plastic baseball hat, but this time, I'd like to add that it would be so much funner if he were insulting this guy at the time.

4. Get a positive win rate at NL ring games - STATUS UNKNOWN - I really did not play a lot of ring games at all this year. I did manage to hold my own at .50/1.00 limit 2-7 Triple Draw for a while, but breaking even is not the same as being profitable. I ended up focusing most of my efforts on microballin' the big field MTTs. In fact, I've gone back to microballin' .05/.10 games, to the limited extent I even play ring games. So, I suppose, to the extent I play ring games, I haven't done too badly, but I made little progress, either.

Of course, the larger the MTT field, the larger the variance, and while I managed to have a few decent cashes (57th in a 17,500 runner $100k guarantee, 2nd in a couple $4/180s, etc), I rarely made it truly deep enough to make the large fields profitable. As such, I barely had a profitable year at all. Essentially, what I made in a few live tourneys, I mostly gave back in online deposits to fund my MTTs.

As for 2008, it's actually gotten off to a good start already. Since I got my handy dandy new laptoppy last month, but haven't installed my image grabbing software, I have no screenies. However, I managed to take 3rd yesterday, in a PokerStars $3.30 HORSE tourney, and picked up about $150 by besting 597 of the 600 runners. Unfortunately, when we got down to the Final Four, we were into the Omaha 8 portion of the event, and the variant nature of Omaha caught up to me bigtime. No complaints, as I'd been about 95% tourney-long in showdowns up to that point. A bit of ninja banzai poker after losing 90% of my chips helped me get to 3rd, but that was that. Anyway, it was a nice way to add to my micro roll to start the year.

I really don't know what to come up with in terms of goals for this year, mostly because of what I learned over 2007. Specifically, I much prefer tournament poker to ring games, however, the Good Doctor Mondo really dislikes the fact that getting deep in online tourneys is typically a 4-6 hour proposition. As such, I suspect making anything tournament-related a real "goal" for this year is probably setting myself up for failure. However, I would like to:

a. Blog more. This is a blog. It is meant to be used. And abused. And used some more. Blog it. Just do it.

b. Play a few blogaments. There was once I time when I was a fairly regular participant in the Mookie. I would really like to do so again. However, this will require a re-up at Full Tilt. Especially if I want to join these guys, too.

c. Play the $mokkee over at Bodog. I downloaded and deposited over there for the explicit purpose of it. I won't exactly plug his tourney yet, when there's others already gettin' paid to do it, but there's a real nice T$ overlay factor, and the fields are both talented and small.

d. Write more reviews. This is actually a non-poker goal, as it involves writing more for these guys. Last year, I freelanced a bit of music writing for them, and enjoy it. I'd like to do more this year than I did last year, especially since I've had fuckall luck actually finding a new band to join myself.

Hmm. Reading the above sure looks like I'm laying out a plan of mediocrity. If so, then so be it. Embrace your inner averager, I say. Have a great '08.