Not "whole" as in "complete"....

...but "hole", as in dirty stinky...

Well, you'll just have to laugh your asses off yourselves. Most definitely NSFW, but very entertaining, and the reason I won't be playing any poker tonight:





In fact, it's been pretty much a poker-free week for me. I've been out collecting cans and bottles so that I can afford my buyins to a few events at the BBT-cubed. With no tokens to my name, and my Monday's tied up, it's gonna be a tough nut to crack, but well worth it.



Oddly enough, it seems Lisa Lampanelli and Kathy Liebert have never been seen in the same place at the same time...coincidence?

A Bit of Unexpected Coolness

Back in the day, in the not-so-long-ago, before moving out west, I played bass in a little Washington, DC band called The Jet Age. We were a new band, nearly finishing our debut album. Well, the university job market being what it is, and the Good Doctor Mondo finishing her Ph.D., it was time to go west young man, and I had to take my leave of my dear friends and their most wondrous jangly jarring indie rock.

Fast forward 2.5 years, and The Jet Age are not just surviving, but thriving.

And today, I am thrilled to write that Eric, Pete, and Greg have been named Spin Magazine's Artist of the Day for today, 2/27/08. Hah, on Hammer Day, no less!

Please stop on by and pick up your free download of "False Idols", one of the best tracks on their most excellent new album, "What Did You Do During the War, Daddy?"

While your at it, you can still stream the entire record here:



Speaking of coolness, but of the entirely expected variety, tonight is more Mookie madness, now supersized with bounties, and featuring Buddy Dank Radio:



The Good Doctor's got a lil' something after work, so I may even be able to show up tonight and put that Dookie buy-in from a few weeks back to terrible use.

Tuesday Night Bloggerment Pimpage

While everyone else creams over (and on) Sir Al for putting together the most wonderful BBT3, I wanted to take a quick moment to plug Tuesday night's regularly scheduled bloggerment madness, staring with Week 4 of the Bodog Blogger Tournament Series:



The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!


Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

Of course, the weekly tournaments continue to feature Bodog's more than generous T$600 overlay, and who doesn't like free money?

Bodog Blogger Tournament Leader Board
The Tournament Leader Board is available at http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ throughout the course of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. It 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. The top 18 players on the TLB at the end of the qualifiers will earn their way to the Final Event.

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

I've been absolutely dead money in this thing so far, but the chase has a ton of race left to run, and if you haven't joined this series yet, what's keeping you?

Tuesday night also features Chad's most fun Blogger Skillz Series, with tonight's edition feeling as cheap as a $12 HOE. No, not the east Colfax variety, we're talking a rotation of Limit HE, Limit O8, and Limit Stud 8, with double stacks and bounties. Come get some.



Sadly, I won't be around for any of the fun tonight, as I've got a mandatory office function that will keep me away from my appointed bloggerments, yet fill my tummy quite nicely. Since I'm away, the tourneys will be that much harder, as my dead money won't be in the pool...

But at least I'll get to try out a 1000 Flower Martini. That's right, Sapphire Gin and Tuscan 1000 Flower Honey. I'm presuming it's shaken, not stirred...

And yes, it's coming, it's coming, it's almost here:



Just remember, Al, while you're wiping the collective spunk of a hundred bloggers off your face, you have only yourself to thank*. And we thank you, too...





*and Hoy, and Miami Don, and Mookie, and yes, even the mighty King of Donks...

Bar Poker Is (Still) Eazy...

Won my 2nd straight Monday night at the Bit, and in the last three weeks, have finished 2nd, 1st, and 1st. Keep shipping those gift certificates, I tells ya. And to Cory, yes, we can definitely make it bigger.

Anyway, the game itself was fairly routine -- doubled up in the first hour, and pretty much doubled up in hour two, but things got interesting when the 50-runner field was narrowed down to the final three. Of the trio, I was short stack, was slightly covered by middle stack, and the big stack had at least 55% or so of the chips at the table.

As most of you already know, aggression is the key in short-handed tournament poker, and last night was going to be no exception. The first hand of three-handed saw me on the button, where I found a suited A. So I shoved, and got two folds. And that continued for a bit, where I'd shove any A, any pair, and any suited paint. Obviously, any of those three hands could have been vulnerable, but keeping the pressure up was vital, and successful. Of course, I gave a few chips back, and had to make a few folds, and eventually, the chips stacks were almost right back where they were when 3-handed begun. Nevertheless, the tone was set.

A couple hands later, and I'm heads up with the chipleader, who has me about 5:3 in chips, and we're playing for the not-so-mad-mobnies. And then comes the fun.

Second hand of heads-up, and I look down to see the glorious, wondrous Hammer. Given my earlier agression, there was only one thing to do. Shove into the big stack. When he calls and turns up AK, I'm really liking my chances, and the flop 7 and river deuce give me the chip lead. The very next hand? AA in the big blind. Nevermind the fact that he folds to my min-raise after a call...the fun part is getting 72o followed immediately by AA, from worst to first. How often does that happen? Like once in every 220x220 hands? The fact I won far more chips with the Hammer was only more sweet, and espeically against a nemesis who has more than once knocked me out by calling my top two pair with a naked gutshot or flush draw that hits on the river.

Anyway, it felt good to take down another tourney, and yes, I just wish I could translate final table success there to my online endeavors, where going out 6th or 7th seems to be the standard. That said, a win is a win is a win, and the main reason I prefer tournament poker to cash games is, I like to win tournaments, titles, and championships. Winning a bar game sometimes just feels better than taking 7th in a Stars 4/180, even if it's far less profitable.

To Our Shadowy Puppet Masters

It's over. Done. Finito.


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

"After the break, researchers say they have found a cure for awakeness."

I so heart the Onion.

Weekend Roundup

Before going further, please take thee quickly to the inernational house of Hoyazo and congratulate him on his massive win in FullTilt's fitty/fitty last night for nearly $11 large. That's his third major cash in just a couple of weeks, and he must be over $20k in MTT cashes just this far in 2008 already. Dude, we're all proud of you.

Well, hell's bells, I shoulda gone to Vega$, given my Oscar picks. In a surprise, I managed to correctly predict six out of eight categories in my blog yesterday, and during the show, I correctly called Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing on the fly. I coulda been a contenduh!

At any rate, the show was fun enough. I'm glad no cheeseball Disney song won this year, which saved me at least one trip to the bathroom to hurl at such sugarcheese overload. In a surprise, the 2nd biggest winner was The Bourne Ultimatum, which is a really cool thing indeed.

I'm writing short today, since I'm writing late today, but just wanted to update a bit of weekend pokering. The theme of the weekend was, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Much like last week, I was able to final table a Bodog guarantee tourmanent, yet my bankroll was pretty much neutral, since picking up cash elsewhere was difficult, at best. However, in a tribute to some other blogger's recent bloggery...



Dems Quads, Bitches.

But it gets better:



Dems Quad Bitches, Bitches -- and getting bet into, no less.

Unfortunately, aggro-Euro LaGork folded to my less-than-pot-size-raise:



This was in the PokerStars $3 rebuy, a tourney I love dearly, but one in which I barely profited today. I've recentely tried playing rebuys without an upfront rebuy, and waiting for semi-premium hands to double up early. Well, yesterday, that did not work, and I was in this tourney for four rebuys and an add-on. At least I survived into the $$$ this time, but going out shortly after the bubble, I only managed to barely cover my buy-ins for this tourney, as I went completely card dead in hour three, and sunk like Ashlee Simpson's recording career.

The Stars Sunday $100k donkafest was even worse, as my QQ got cracked by AKo very early, for most of my chips. And no, not by an A or a K, but by four miserable little spades, none of which were higher than an 7. But all was not lost, thanks to Bodog.

After crashing two $11 attempts to squeeze into the field for their $100k, I managed to stay alive in a $2k guarantee (that was over $3k, with about 320 runners), and nursed a short stack until the bubble. At that point, it was fly baby fly, double double toil and trouble, until the final table, where I sat down in 6th. Well, we get down to 7, with first paying about $800, when I see AKs in late position. I don't recall what blinds were, but i had about a 5th place stack at this point, and I went my normal 3x to 3.5x preflop raise. Clearly, this must have looked like a steal, because big blind, who had me covered by a small bit, decided to shove.

So I call.

He flips AQo, yay me, we're playing for what would be a 2nd place stack. And then the Q hits the flop, and I go home. Once again, the final tables are there for the taking, and I can't avoid having a 70/30 or better hand getting beat on the way to a likely Top 3 cash. And, apparentely, I'm going to need one of these mythical top threes to actually grow my roll. Someday, kemosabe, someday. In the meantime, I'll have to vicariously live through Hoy's cashes, I suppose.

Anyway, good luck on the virtual felt this week. I leave you with the three-outer that knocked me out of the $100k satellite, only about 10 spots from the seats. As you can see, it took a miracle turn to even make a three outer possible (the all-in was on the flop):

Oscar Overload

Yesterday was a zero poker content day for me yesterday. Why? Because of fun times at this:



For the second straight year, AMC Theaters ran a special promotion where, for $30 and 12 hours of your life, you could sit through all five Best Picture nominees in one sitting. And, for the second straight year, the Good Doctor Mondo and I stepped up to the batter's box for this marathon of movie madness.

The Good: The films. All of them. The only nominee we'd seen previous to this was Juno, a film the two of us already adore. My twee as fuck musical taste dovetails with the soundtrack nicely, we're both huge fans of cast members from Arrested Development days (and news of an A.D. movies makes us swoon), and yeah, pretentious yet cute dialog is a major turn on. So we got to see Juno again, awesome.

But more importantly, we got to see films we've been waiting months for this very event, to see. Having done so, I think we both would love to see Juno get Best Picture, but that seems unlikely. The Good Doctor Mondo would have voted for Atonement in a heartbeat, except for a glaring problem to be mention in The Bad. Michael Clayton was a fantastically acted and shot movie, with great pacing, and enough suspense to be riveting all the way to the end. However, the ending itself contained what, for me, was one really large hole of logic that required enough suspension of reality to make it not Best Picture material.

No Country For Old Men was was, simply, amazing. Of course, in my book, the Coen brothers can pretty much do no wrong, going all the way back to Blood Simple and The Hudsucker Proxy. I am an Achiever, after all -- even if only in my feeble mind. That said, No Country is so dark, so wantonly violent, and for some, so unresolved, that it may fall short in the voting, to the one film that seems objectively, the Best Picture of the Year. That, folks, is There Will Be Blood, a character study tour de force, in which Daniel Day-Lewis pretty much chews up half of California. The supporting actors are all stunningly talented, the cinematography is stark and really hints at the roughhewn nature of life in 1910's California, and Jonny Greenwood's score is just about perfect.

With that, I predict the following:
Best Picture - There Will Be Blood
Best Director - Joel & Ethan Coen
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actress - either Ellen Page or Julie Christie
Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem
Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton (but I've not seen them all)
Best Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody (Juno)
Best Adapted Screenplay - No Country For Old Men

The Bad: This particular theater's print of Michael Clayton, or at least, the audio of same. The sound kept cutting from what sounded like blown speakers, to not, that the theater was forced to give us all two passes for any other movie, just to keep the natives from getting restless. I mean, tix to this were $30 a head, and no, we weren't settling for anything less than Best Picture-nominee sound.

Also bad, in Atonement, there were at least 4-5 separate occasions where boom mikes popped right down on the screen enough that the entire audience laughed. I won't say this ruined the movie, because, while it only looked like a period piece, it was in truth more a story of deception and deceit. The style of movie-making (costumes aside) was actually far more modern. However, that many obvious gaffes in simple filmaking automatically disqualify you from best anything. I mean, really. How much of the film did the nominating committee actually see? Obviously, not enough.

The Ugly: AMC Theaters. Last year, our $30 smackers apiece also got us popcorn and soda, with free refills. This year, only ONE refill on the soda. Cheap bastards. The profit margin on that pop is enormous, and we're there for 12 hours? C'mon.

That'll pretty much take care of that. Perhaps the neatest part of the whole event is that I'm much more charged up for the awards tonight, than I otherwise would have been. By all accounts, 2007 really was a great year for movies, and there are certainly deserving films not in the category this year, if only because of room.

Happy viewing!

Gigli - It's Not Just A Crappy Movie

Gigli - that was my name last night in the Bodog Blogger Tournament. For the first time in my career, I was the first player to the rail in a bloggerment, and I must say, it feels like utter crap. I'm feeling a bit like Pokerpeaker, after whiffing for the third time in three tries in this series (though without the benefit of his great early year run into tons of $Ts).

Funny thing is, the guy who crippled me had the one hand I tried to attribute to him, but couldn't. To set things up, it's early. Damn early. Maybe 10 hands in? I'm dealt AQo either UTG or in 2nd position. I raise 3x the BB, which seems standard, and I'm called by one player on my left. Flop comes QJT rainbow, and I'm feeling good. Top pair top kicker, gutshot Broadway, and pretty sure player behind didn't have AK. Still, I bet, probably something like 1/2 to 2/3 of pot. Aaaaand, he raises.

Did he flop a set here? It's early; I can fold the hand at a somewhat smallish loss and move on. No, he didn't flop a set. Did he flop Broadway? I dunno, I sort of doubt it, as I think he would have reraised preflop, but I could be wrong. Does he have KK or AA? Again, rather unlikely here. But it's a bloggerment, he could have the Hammer, so I call.

Turn comes the lovely Queen. I've got top set, Broadway draw, and certainly a number of outs to a boat. But still, I don't like his flop raise, and I'd really hate to check/fold here, so I bet. I bet big. 2/3 of my remaining stack. And he gooes all in. Sick! No way...he didn't have JJ or TT, did he? If he had the overpair, he's burnt toast, drawing to two outs at most. If he has Broadway, I still have outs - and I have him covered by like 200. I call, he shows JJ (dammit), and I miss my river boat draw. I was behind the whole time. Not sure how I could have played it differently, but eager for guidance.

Anyway, that leaves me with 250, and one orbit later, I pick up AA under the gun. I can't go all in here, I need the chips. I can't call, because I don't want six players seeing the flop, so I bet 3x the big blind. And NOBODY called. Wow. It's as if my cards were dealt face up. Smokkee could only laugh, and I don't blame him.

So the tourney series is only three weeks old, but already, I feel as if there's no way I'm going to finish in the Top 18 for the final tourney. There's already over 30 players with points, and I'm not one of them. However, the $T overlay in this thing is so sweet, I'm obviously going to continue with it.

As for the Skillz Series, I had to fold a big hand early for 25% of my chips, and could never ever get anything going. I semi slowplayed flopped trip kings, and ultimately had to fold on a very ugly board with many straight and flush possibilities, to a large bet that had me covered. Every hand I had with real potential, usually went tits up by the turn. I went out something like 30th, but PLO8 can be an uncaring bitch like that, sometimes.

Which brings me to this...last night was a really fucking weird night of poker. I crashed both bloggerments, got river three-outed a few tables from the money in the Bodog $10k, missed cashes in both PLO tournies I played, and yet managed to break even for the night (except in the sleep departement; I'm fucking exhausted this morning). I did manage cashes in a Stars $4/180, and in the Bodog $3k, but just barely, but in the Full Tilt $1 rebuy, I took a short stack and crashed the final table for a 6th place finish (77 < AKo), turning $4 (two rebuys and add-on) into about $66. I really would have liked a deeper run, but 1/3 of the final table was playing so lagtardy and calling every raise, that I wasn't going to be able to wait for a bigger hand.

This is pretty much the 2nd consecutive session where I had entirely crappy finishes in the vast majority of my events, but cashed deep enough in one to cancel out my losses. Given Peaker's post today, describing the sensation seems appropo, because "The Middle Suck" certainly fits. I can't seem to get off the breakeven, and I'm definitely running in the middle.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly complaining. Running in the middle certainly beats one of the alternatives by a long shot. But much like eating a dry burger without cheese or ketchup, it's just not that fulfilling, and I'm left with more questions about my play. Sometimes, when you completely bollocks up a move, not only are the results obvious (you're broke), you can often identify where you went wrong. But when you're running in the middle, the task becomes seemingly far more difficult. In this case, I have actually managed to make more final tables in the last week or two than I have in a good while. But is that disguising bad play with good luck? Is it simply variance that my deepest runs lately are all in the $1-5 tournies, instead of the $10 tournies? Can the difference in play quality truly be that extreme going from a $5 to a $11? Somehow, I doubt it.

All of these will be questions I attempt to answer over the next couple of days, whilst trying to catch up on my sleep and watching total lunar eclipses with the Good Doctor Mondo, and going to Cowboy Curse shows, instead of playing poker.

Speaking of tits up, I'd like to welcome another Virginia bar poker refugee to the blogger community. Please extend a pint to Evy and her Top Pair, as she starts slinging chips in all the old familiar places.

Bar Poker Is Easy...

...especially when, you guessed it, when Presto is Gold!

In what can only be described as a mathematical anomaly, yours truly was dealt the blessed 55 three times over a four hand span. The first time, I was able to take down a decent pot by betting a paired flop, with the mighty presto underpair. The second, I had to fold to aggressive betting on a Broadway-possible flop. The third? Well, here's where the gold became a trophy.

Blinds are 500/1000, I'm sitting at roughly 15k, early position. I pop it to 3k with the mightly 55, and middle position shoves for either 5k or 6k total. It folds around to me, and having played this guy before, his range here can include a bunch of hands that are racing me. Of course, in this spot, it doesn't matter whether he has AKs or KJo, it's still a race. The blinds folded, so it's 2-3k more to win about 10k, so I call.

Up flips AA. Ick. Flops an A, but with two diamonds. Turn comes a diamond, and the river comes the lovely 7d, giving me the four flush, cracking the flopped set of aces. This hand ended up being my launching pad for taking down the 60-some player tournament. 2nd last week, 1st last night, bar poker is easy. Heads up took two hands. I came in a bit behind in chips, shoved the first hand from the big blind (opponent folded), and turned a flush on hand two (opponent was four to a smaller flush at the time). It feels good to nail my first bar poker win in several months. Normally, bad play get rewarded very well in these things. Raises are not respected, preflop bets of 5x the big blind get called by Q3 soooooted, etc. So yeah, it feels good. Ship the $20 bar/restaurant tab for next time, which pretty much equals what I gave out in dealer tips...

Of course, tonight is week three of Bodog's Blogger Tournament Series:




How it Works
The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!

Prizes
Weekly Tournaments
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prize Pool will be distributed as per Bodog's standard multi-table payout table. In addition, the top 5 players each week will also win T$109 to be used to buy-in to the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET. The top 5 bubble players each week will win a free buy-in to next week's Weekly Tournament. (T$11 will be credited to these players' Bodog account within 24 hours after the completion of the tournament)

Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

Bodog Blogger Tournament Leader Board
The Tournament Leader Board will be available at http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ throughout the course of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. It 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. The top 18 players on the TLB at the end of the qualifiers will earn their way to the Final Event.

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

Finally, Chad has returned the Blogger Skillz game to a game I actually quite enjoy - Pot Limit Omaha 8. Between the doublestacks and bounties, this one is going to get crazee. Come join us!

You're All Savages

Or at least, Doug Savage is. From today's Savage Chickens cartoon:



Speaking of chickens, I cooked my goose this weekend. First bankroll-down weekend in a while, but not too badly. Didn't cash in my bigger buy-ins, and cashed a couple smaller ones, but a bit shy of final tables. Fun, however, was surely had.

Tried another 2-7 Triple Draw SNG, and donked out 5th, after enough pre-draw field-thinning raises, followed by not hitting enough draws, to make me think Kenny Rogers was smarter than he let on.

Good luck at the tables this week, and see you guys at the Bodonkey tomorrow night.

Loose Ends

Not a ton to report on the poker front -- haven't played much since the Tuesday bloggerments, where I combined playing bad with running bad, but...

Yesterday, I finally saw folks registered in a single table 2-7 triple draw SNG, so I thought I'd give it a go, after my middling run in the 2-7 Triple Draw MTT a couple weeks back. Ended up 2nd for a small cash, after playing fairly solidly, and taking down enough position bluffs to stay ahead of the short stacks. I did make one early mistake -- after taking down the first pot and playing the 2nd, I called down with four to a 7-high, not realizing there were no draws left. GG me, take my chips, please.

Took 2nd in the 50-runner bar poker game on Monday -- ship the gift certificate and Bit burgers.

Highlight of the week for me was Tuesday, though. After donking out of both bloggerments in colossally stuperific fashion, I managed to overcome some early beats to final table my 2nd $5.50 PLO MTT in a row, and with a better finish than last time:



(I was unable to improve and went out 3rd.)

I really do enjoy this particular tourney. Though I don't play it very often, I have managed to cash in it probably more often than I have any other regularly-scheduled MTT, probably 6-7 times over the past year. It's doublestacked, so nits like me can be patient. It's Omaha Hi, so you don't see folks playing stupid with a four-suited A27J. Well, not too often, anyway. I've seen anywhere from 140-200 players on a typical night. And even the final table tends to wind down at an hour where I can still get a good six hours sleep before work.

A small bonus is, I regularly run into this guy playing the same event.

So yeah, the 10:45 PM EST $5.50 DS PLO should be a regular part of your donkament diet, too. It's tasty and nutritious to one's bankroll.

Hoping to play some later today or this evening, but brunch with the Good Doctor Mondo, and my favorite bar poker dealer and his girl will likely keep me away from the Stars $100k.

Oh yeah, today's also the 50th Daytona 500 -- boogity boogity boogity. My boy Jamie Mac's been a relative disappointment, and the Fords truly appear to be Found On Road Dead this season, but he did win the summer race at Daytona last year, so go go go #26!

Happy Hallmark Day!

Or, Singles Awareness Day, or any other way you want to put it. May your stockings be hung with care, and...oh wait, that's a different day. Do you roast ham on February 14th, or just donkey?

Okay, I keed, I keed.

The Good Doctor Mondo and I will, of course, celebrate this joyous occasions with much pagan ritual burnings and sacrifices, some of which will surely involve my friends Porcupiny, Rabbity, and Squirrely:



Okay, okay, I keed, I keed. (I think.)

It is, however, a day of blowing kisses. May your stacks be full of red and white chips (because pink chips are kinda ghey), and remember, the rose goes on the front, big guy.

By the way, if the Clinton campaign starts sending SweetTarts heart-shaped candy to a certain address in Tennessee, you'll understand why after reading Michael Medved's column on why you won't see either an Obama/Clinton or Clinton Obama ticket. As Medved writes,

If Hillary decides she needs a black running mate to make up for the wounded feelings of the campaign, there’s a better option for her than Obama himself. Aside from pie-in-the-sky talk of appealing to General Colin Powell to cross party lines to join a Clinton ticket (a nightmare for Republicans, obviously), there’s another selection that would also play in to a possible Southern strategy. Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. now heads the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council), the same moderate, centrist group that Bill Clinton himself (and Joe Lieberman) once led. He’s an outspoken Christian who ran surprisingly well among white evangelicals in his close 2006 Senate race in Tennessee. He’s also even younger (he’ll be 38 in May) and better-looking than Obama, with the same sort of suave presentation and blue-chip academic credentials (University of Pennsylvania, and University of Michigan Law School). During his five-terms in the House of Representatives he compiled a conspicuously moderate record (supporting limitations on abortion, backing a stronger military and the war on terror) that could help Clinton run to the middle.

Of course, Clinton/Ford Jr. goes down in flames to McCain/Rice...

Tough Spots Late In MTTs, Part Deux

So when we last left our intrepid non-hero, he was in the midst of discussing three hands late in MTTs, and asking you fine folk what you would do. Thanks to those who commented, both here, and at the Poker In Colorado forum. You've given me grist to consider, on several accounts. At any rate, here is how I played the hands.

First Hand (about 10 spots short of money, around average stack):



I chose to fold in this spot. Given the raise and reraise, even assuming the big stack button doesn't go aggro re-shove, the original raise is likely to call, and at best, I'm probably facing a race against at least one of the two previous raisers, and quite possibly a higher PP against the other (or a lower PP, in which case I'm still racing one player). I put the UTG raiser on eithier AK or a medium PP, the reraiser on at least TT. Unless both have AK, my JJ is not okay, so to speak. If I'm looking at QQ, the decision becomes much tougher. If I play the hand and win, I'm in a final table chip position (but still pre-bubbleburst), but if my read is correct, losing this pot leaves me an effective M of about seven or eight, and vulnerable to having to play pushmonkey shove with the next couple of orbits on a less than optimal hand.

I didn't necessarily like the fold, but it really wasn't that difficult. I didn't get a screenshot of the rest of the hand, and have no idea how it turned out, but I think the fold was probably +EV long term, but only given the stack sizes and positions.

Second Hand (just past the bubble, slightly below average chips):



The general consensus seemed to be suggesting a shove, and I agree. Calling here is bad, and just about any reasonable raise either makes me pot-committed, or folding post-flop, leaving a true microstack. The flat call by MP seems scary, but this looks as good a spot to chip up big time for a final table run, or go home. As played:



I really think the only viable option here was the shove. If I get folds from the blinds, original raiser, and flat caller, I gain roughly 40% on my stack without a flop. It's not going to look like a re-steal, but I don't really mind a call. I was ready to double up for a final table run, or go home. And one person was willing to oblige:



And we're off to the races! Frankly, when he turned over TT, I was pleased, because I knew I had to be up against at least a mid PP, and TT was pretty much at the bottom of the range of hands I'd face. Seeing something like AQs would have thrilled me, but this was late enough in the tourney that I don't think 2nd to act is going to flat call an UTG raiser with a hand like AQ. That said, I'm surprised he called, as his spot with TT was somewhat similar to my JJ in the previous hand. He was only in for 10% of his stack, and could have found a better spot. The only reasonable conclusion for me is that he did put me on a steal attempt. Anyway, this is how it played out:




Thank goodnees he wasn't fishy enough to be playing AQ in that spot, eh?


Third Hand (final table bubble, 10th of 10 remaining):



This hand seems to be the only one of the three that engendered any real level of disagreement amongst responders. A bit more than half would have instacalled, suggesting you're playing for Top 3 payouts, not just to make the final table, whereas the rest would have mucked, recognizing that just one more spot would double the payout, when previous action in the hand makes that a distinct possibility. I chose to fold, again thinking that I was facing at least one A-something hand and one pocket pair, at best, and possibly even two pocket pairs. This was the toughest fold to make, because winning this pot would have given me stack a real chance to finish top three. However, my read (one PP, one A) was correct:



Frankly, I have to thank the AQx donk for calling, because I was ready to mash "call" when it was just the UTG raiser. Five-handed, you can steal from any position, and I wasn't folding AKs to any raiser. But with the button calling off 3/5 of his stack in that spot, the fold felt right. If stack sizes had been different, I probabaly call, but it just goes to show that folks will make really fucking stoopid calls with less than optimal hands, even on a final table bubble. In this case, the donkey inadvertently saved me....

...but only for a moment, as I went out the next hand open shoving 98s into the BB's JJ.

Tuesday Night's Alright For Donking

Just a reminder that tonight's docket includes two of the most bloggerlicious bloggerments anywhere to be found in the bloggerverse. (Substitute "smurf" for "blogger" and try not to laugh while reading.)

Over at Bodog is Week 2 of Poker Blogger Tournament Series. If you've been living under a smurfy rock for the last few weeks, here's the scoop:



How it Works
The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!

Prizes
Weekly Tournaments
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prize Pool will be distributed as per Bodog's standard multi-table payout table. In addition, the top 5 players each week will also win T$109 to be used to buy-in to the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET. The top 5 bubble players each week will win a free buy-in to next week's Weekly Tournament. (T$11 will be credited to these players' Bodog account within 24 hours after the completion of the tournament)

Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

Bodog Blogger Tournament Leader Board
The Tournament Leader Board will be available at http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ throughout the course of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. It 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. The top 18 players on the TLB at the end of the qualifiers will earn their way to the Final Event.

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

Also on the calendar is another edition of Chad's Blogger Skillz Series over at FullTilt! Boy howdy! More knockout bounties! More double stacks! Remember, don't rattle the fish tank! Tonight's edition is 6-max Limit Hold'em, this one promises to be pretty freaky. After my failure to cash in this event last week, I'm hoping to start a new streak. Come and join us:



I may still be in the top five in this year's Hoy Hater standings, but I would be truly remiss if I didn't send all of you over to his blog today. After several months of tilting off great opportunities, Hoy hits it big -- last night's Full Tilt 50/50, 3rd place for nearly $5k, and without being a cardrack, to boot. Go congratulate him, it will make you feel good.

Speaking of hitting it big, those of you regular bloggers who haven't been reading newbie writer Scrupboy, should head over and check him out. He a local here, who's working on his modified Ferguson challenge, trying to build up a PokerStars bankroll from sixty cents to infinity, and beyond...well, he finally brought out the boomstick, and after hitting it sorta big in Sunday's $11R, he's up to...drumroll...$410. I can't even wrap my wee brain around the return on investment in just the last 4.5 weeks.

Okay, that's enough for now -- I'll be back later to revisit the three MTT hands I posted yesterday.

Tough Spots Late In MTTs

I saved a few screenshots from some of yesterday's tourneys, three of which I post below, along with a description of the general sitation in each tournament. On the surface, these hands would appear to present relatively similar situations, with relatively similar hand strengths, but may call for entirely different actions on the part of the player. If you're so inclined, I'm curious as to what your actions would be in these spots.

This first one is approximately 10 spots from the $$$ in a FTP $5.50 Double Stack NLHE. Blinds are 300/600/75, and if my recollection is correct, I'm safely in the money spots, but nowhere near having a final table chip stack. If I win this pot, I probably am in a final table stack position, but still around the money bubble:



What do you do here? UTG raise seems to indicate strength, MP re-raiser can have anywhere from mid PP (which I crush), to a racing hand. Is this a gambool spot, or an easy fold? Smooth call, or re-shove to isolate?


This second hand is from the 800-runner $3.30 KO, and again, right around the bubble, but this time, on the other side of it. Again, UTG raiser seems strong, the flat call behind him possibly stronger. You've already made the $$$, but haven't picked up more than a couple KOs, so what do you do:



Do you smooth call hoping to hit the flop? Instashove? I doubt you simply bet pot here, because that would commit such a stack.


The final situation is on the final table bubble of the same $3.30 KO:



You're the 10th place stack of 10. Even gaining one spot doubles your payout in the tourney. UTG shove actually seems week, but the flat call from the button for 1/2 his stack would appear strong. Do you call and pray for your tourney life with the great draw, or fold and pray the UTG shove loses?

Post your opinions, I'd love to hear what you have to say. I'll post my actions and screenshots of outcomes later on.

The Early Daily Double Gets the Worm?

The $100k gets cancelled (duh), so we're going a different route today.

Both Early Daily Doubles, 'natch (went out around 162nd, cashed daily doube B for 1.5x buyins)

The Bodog $2k guarantee (presto truly gold...TWICE, out 6th for about $130, 12x buy-in, best Bodog payday yet)

An 838 runner $3.30 KO MTT (bubbled the damn final table for $19 and KOs, but oh-so-close to mad mobnies)

Full Tilt $5 DS NLHE (out 61st for 1.5x buyins)

Full Tilt $10+1 KO (out 5 tables from $$$, but with a few KOs), and,

a Stars $25k guarantee, where I crashed out. Raised JJ on button, BB goes all in, and after an instacall, his KK is gold. Oh well...

Overall, a pretty solid day, but damn, it could have been so much better. I was in the top 15 or 20 of the Daily Double for most of the first 2.5 hours, and could have run truly deep.

Anyway, I plan on posting a couple of screen caps and asking what you'd do in those spots tomorrow, but for now, I leave you with yet another example of why I should play every pocket 5 on Bodog (as should you):



Of course, I keed, I keed -- but Lisa at the Bit would have played it, right?

A Light Weekend (Thus Far)

So far, not much on the poker front. The only tourney I played yesterday was a $3/90 KO over at FullTilt, where I did manage to final table with one KO, but went home 7th. A little bit of low limit Omaha and Razz at the same time, and the Tilt roll is almost up to...drumroll please...a whopping $200. No complaints, it was under $8 at the start of the year, but the fine folks over at FlopTurnRiver set me on my way.

Friday night was far more interesting and fun. One of my favorite local bands, a Britpop-ish outfit called King For A Day, was playing a full night (3 sets) at the Waterloo Icehouse. (For the Austinites amongst you, the Icehouse is owned by the same folks who started and originally owned that legendary institution of great tunage, Waterloo Records.

Anyway, the Icehouse has free wireless, and I thought I'd donk around a bit before the KFAD show, but alas, there was only one table in the entire joint that was near enough to a power outlet for me. So, I stood around for about 110 minutes, waiting for that table, while the couple who'd actually finished eating even before I walked in, spent about two goddamn hours nursing 1.5 drinks apiece, before they would abandon the ONE table I was waiting for. Finally, they bail, and I get my coveted power outlet table, only to have to give it up for the soundman about 20 minutes later, so I move to the front, just before the stage, and the sound and KFAD are so good, previewing new tunes from their upcoming EP, I completely donk off my chips in three of the four tourneys I'm in. But only three -- I'm holding my own in the $5.50 PLO tourney, though scraping the bottom of remaining players.

Eventually, we're down to about 28 left (18 pay), and my battery is at about 18%. Lo and behold, the soundguy is using only one of the two outlets, and has empty space at his table. Go Mondo! Not only does he let me setup shop for the final rounds, he's curious about what I'm doing, and quite friendly, to boot. So, to Tony, I thank you for giving me the juice I needed until I could chip up and stagger into a final table 7th place finish. The timing could not have been more perfect, as the band finished up about 15 minutes later. To the Icehouse, and Tony, and Goose and KFAD, I thank you for a wonderful Friday night's entertainment. Boca burgers, beer, music, and pokerz, yay me.

BTW, downtown old town Louisville, Colorado - don't go changing to try to please us, yer beautiful as you are.

As for today, it's a rare Sunday indeed, when I can actually play donkaments, but Stars is really screwing the pooch today, and as of now (3:15pm EST), it certainly appears as of the $10+1 $100k ain't gonna run. My only chance for three weeks, up in server dust, it seems...

To all my fellow bloggers in FTOPS #8, I wish you all good luck, and large pots.

Why I'd Wanna Be An Online Pro

So that I could work from home and not have to completely re-route tonight's commute, because of this:




Um, I don't think I'll be making Riverchasers tonight....

On the other hand, it can't be long before fish start jumping out of that new fishing hole up there on that durn innerstate highway.

Pokerin' on Politics Night

Well, last night certainly was a mixed bag, wasn't it?

Last night was the Colorado caucases, and wouldn't you know it, the Good Doctor Mondo was selected as a delegate to the county convention coming up in a couple of months. If she's really lucky, she could end up being a delegate at the national convention in Denver, and not even have to stay in a hotel.

Anyway, the caucus was pretty cool, with something like 500% normal turnout. Oddly enough, our precinct really was a microcosm of the whole state. Obama won the caucus by a near exact 2:1 margin of Clinton, and our precinct voted exactly 2:1 for Obama. Interestingly enough, there was not a single person of color at the caucus, and probably 60% of the voters were female. Small sample size, but it shows Obama has a widening base. Though wifey is a Clinton delegate, here's hoping Obama can come back from his current 70-something delegate deficit.

On to poker...

It was nice to get home and realize I was only blinded out of about 8% or so of my stack in the Bodog Blogger and Skillz tournaments. Unfortunately, I wish I could have taken advantage of still having a stack. I went out somewhere in the final three tables of the Bodonkey, after never being able to get any real momentum or cards. Congrats to Kurokitty for taking down the first leaderboard edition, and jumping in front of the leaderboard race. My own Bodog success would come later in the evening.

In the Skillz game, I was actually able to chip up a few times (picking up Dawn's bounty in the process), but by the time the antes and bringins jumped up, I transmogrified from a poker player into a bricklayer. Awesome 3 card deals, only to catch enough bricks on 5th, 6th and 7th to build an office block. Appropriately enough, I blew off the rest of my chips against the only other short stack on my table (Jeciimd, maybe?) when the 643A I had by 4th street failed to fill a low, and his one pair held up for high.

So no dice in the bloggerments, but they were fun as always. I wasn't really counting on a chance at Week One points in the Bodonkey, knowing I'd miss a lot of early play, but I would have liked a 3rd straight Skillz Series cash.

That said, given later events, it's all good. I was also playing the $10k guarantee at Bodog (where I finished 28th for $50), a $10+1 2-7 Triple Draw tourney, the $1 NHLE rebuy at Full Tilt, and managed to run deep in all, when my internutz decided to go completely tits up for about 15 minutes (when antes were the order of the day). Sick sick sick. Given the time when it took place, I surely would have blinded out of both bloggerments, unless I'd built huge stacks. Lost 1/2 my stack in the $10k, and even when I got service back, Bodog was automucking me, until I re-closed and re-opened the software. When I finally had control of my chips, we were down to 56 players (45 paid), and I was on the morphine drip. I managed to triple up and squeak into the money, but eventually, my 88 all in was called by A4o and A6o (gotta love the fish!), and I go home when the board comes aces and fours.

By then, I crashed out of the 2-7 TD tourney in around 12th place (side note, what's up with Stars only paying 3 of 36 spots?!?!?, I'll never play that event again), but I had managed to amass a final table stack in the $1 rebuy. Unfortunately, I was rivered three hands in succession to get low, and went out around 30th, for a measly $9. Still, I never had to rebuy, and was only in for $2, so I can't really complain, but going from 7th in chips to out, in the span of three hands where I was up be well more than race percentages as of the turn, kinda stung.

Overall, it was a slight bankroll loss night, mostly thanks to the $20 I lost playing limit Omaha during all this, but learning the lesson of not playing NLHE, 2-7 Triple Draw, Limit Stud 8, NLHE w/rebuys, and PLO at the same time will benefit me and my sanity to no end.

Tonight's the Mookie/Dookie two-fer, but I won't be around -- our state senator and rep are speaking tonight, and the Good Doctor Mondo and I will be there. But you aren't here, so instead, you should be here:



Enjoy the felt, and I leave you with this wonderful preflop fold from last night:

New Music Alert - The Jet Age

This is something I've been sitting on for a little bit, but can now share with both of my faithful readers. Maybe there's three now, I dunno, but I digress...

One of my former DC bands, The Jet Age, has now officially released their 2nd full length CD, entitled "What Did You Do During the War, Daddy?" I suppose the sound could best be described as angular, propulsive indie rock, with flavors of jangle and Weddoes and 'Oo influences. At any rate, it's really good stuff, and now, you can stream the entire album right here:



The Jet Age's previous CD, "Breathless", was well received by the folk at places such as Pitchfork, Magnet Magazine, etc. They were the most difficult band I've ever had to leave (about 2/3 through recording "Breathless", but the West called, and wifey and I answered the clarion.

At any rate, "What Did You Do During the War, Daddy?" is a wonderful album, best played loud. My own favorites are False Idols and O Calendar, but there's nary a clunker on there. Enjoy it, and if you do enjoy it, please buy it and help support the creation of original music that isn't simply some production factory's flavor of the month.

In the meantime, don't forget the Bodonkey and Skillz games!

Money Deader Than Most - Come Git Some

Today is Tuesday, which means it's time for two of the neated blogger tourneys out there. Of course, I'm sure you're already well familier with the juiced up Bodog Blogger Tourney Series:



If you haven't yet heard of it, you obviously aren't reading this blog, or are living under a rock. Here's the highlights"

The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!

Prizes
Weekly Tournaments
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prize Pool will be distributed as per Bodog's standard multi-table payout table. In addition, the top 5 players each week will also win T$109 to be used to buy-in to the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET. The top 5 bubble players each week will win a free buy-in to next week's Weekly Tournament. (T$11 will be credited to these players' Bodog account within 24 hours after the completion of the tournament)

Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

So how can I play? That's easy:

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

Tonight is also my favorite non No Limit Hold'Em blogger tournament, King of Donk's Blogger Skillz Series over at FullTilt:



Doublestacks and Knockout Bounties? How can you miss this one? Tonight, we're playing Limit Stud Hi/Low, and the chips will fly like there's no tomorrow.

Two doublestack bloggerments, and I'm gonna need the huge stacks in both. Why, do you ask? Because I'm strictly dead money for the first hour or so in both. (And thank goodness for Bodog's structure!) Today is Thoooper Tuesday, and Colorado is caucasing, which means the House of Mondo is caucasing. As this is the first presidential election year where I've ever lived in a caucus state, it actually means a lot to see the process for the first time.

The Good Doctor Mondo is caucusing, and I'm there to watch. As a registered independent, no tickie, no votie for me, but I'm trying to nudge the good half to try to become a county delegate. She's a big Clinton supporter, and stridency gets you far at the county level, I suppose. I'm hoping I have the chance to vote for Obama in November, but it's important to me to not tie myself to a party, where my vote will be taken for granted.

The pertinent thing here is, I've got dead money walking for probably the first 75 minutes of the Bodonkey, and the first 45 minutes or so of the Skillz game, so ya'll should really register and get some of my free money. I actually thought of not signing up for the Skillz, since it is about 8% of my BR in an ante game where I'll miss 40 hands, but fuck it, I'm two for two cashing in this bloggerment, and I will obviously quadruple up within four hands on my return when I luckbox Bayne's normal pockets. Here's to hoping I'm only anted to about 2500 by the time I return...

Monday Morning Mentions

So the Giants won the Super Bowl? Good for 'em. I really had no vested interest in either team, other than to the extent that having grown up in Miami as a kid, it was nice to see the '72 Fins get to continue their claim to fame for another. But I tend to dislike all NY professional sports teams, because of the general misplace arrogance of fans of said NY professional sports teams, and I dislike (though respect) the Cheatriots on many levels.

However, the game was very taut, and largely well-played. Most of the poor offensive plays could be attributed to the fact that both teams played very good defense, and the Giants, in particular, put pressure on Brady like he hasn't seen in years. So, it was fun to watch. Blue Moon with orange slices washed down the wings and things nicely, and the Good Doctor Mondo and I had a very nice time of it.

In a moment of very unexpected coolness, an old acquiantance of mine's band, TheBoss Martians, had their music in two Super Bowl commercials - the eTrade commercials with the talking baby:



The track is called "Hey Hey Yeah Yeah", and is off their forthcoming new album, Pressure in the Sodo. (Iggy Pop even lends vocals on one track on the album.) The Boss Martians started out, nearly 15 years ago, as a an old school traditional surf/Gary Usher-style hot rod band (which is how I came to know them), and have evolved over time into a balls out power pop outfit that can hang with anyone, anytime, anywhere. It's been fascinating to hear the evolution of Evan, Nick, and their current rhythm section.

Evolution via album covers/photos:






As a big fan of surf, garage rock, and power pop, I've pretty much been a fan of everything The Boss Martians have ever done, and I can't wait to hear the new one. The snippet played over the last 6-8 seconds of the eTrade ads was spot on.

Sadly, I never got to share any bills with them over the years, but they twice crashed at my house while on tour, back when we were living DC-stylee. Good folk, and a fantastic band. Pressure in the Sodo is their 7th full length release (not counting Evan's solo instrumentals album or their interim Mystery Action record, both of which are quite good), and I wish them the best for big things in '08 - don't forget to stop in Denver while on tour!

Anyway, for reasons having nothing to do with the music, those were our favorite commercials of the day, with the fire breather Bud Light commercial a close third. The fact the eTrade baby commercials didn't seem to rate in anyone else's Top 5 pretty much flabbergasts me. All I hear about are the Will Ferrell and dog-trains-horse commercials, and sure, they're cute, but Will's just being the same Will he is in every movie, and the Bud horses just aren't that creative. Can't stop the bum rush, though.

EDIT: This just in, according to TiVo, the talking baby was, in fact, the top ad. I suspect their measurement is based on number of users who recorded and watched it?



As for poker? Hell, I didn't sling a single chip all weekend long, how's about dem apples? I'll start making up for that tonight, however.

Oh, and a special bonus for tomorrow's Bodog Blogger Tournament -- an hour of Mondo's dead money! Come get some!

Bo Diddley? More Like Bodoggedy!

Oh yeah, it's on!



Now I see why Smokkee's been sitting on this news, it's huge! Are you a blogger? Yeah? Then get to it! Are you not? Then it's time to start. Why? Because Bodog is sending a blogger to the 2008 World Series of Poker, main event stylee! The Bodonkey has just gotten a whole lot sexier, see below:

Bodog Introduces Poker Blogger Tournament Series

Bodog is proud to host the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series opened to any Online Poker Blogger. Join up and challenge other Poker Bloggers each week in our Bodog Poker Room and live to tell about it. Earn points and work your way up the Tournament Leader Board for a spot in the final tournament for your chance to win a $12,000 World Series of Poker* prize package and be a part of Team Bodog 2008.

How it Works
The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!

Prizes
Weekly Tournaments
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prize Pool will be distributed as per Bodog's standard multi-table payout table. In addition, the top 5 players each week will also win T$109 to be used to buy-in to the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET. The top 5 bubble players each week will win a free buy-in to next week's Weekly Tournament. (T$11 will be credited to these players' Bodog account within 24 hours after the completion of the tournament)

Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

Bodog Blogger Tournament Leader Board
The Tournament Leader Board will be available here throughout the course of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. It 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. The top 18 players on the TLB at the end of the qualifiers will earn their way to the Final Event.

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

Bodog Blogger Tournament Host Site
Bodogbloggertournament.com will host this tournament series and will provide poker bloggers with weekly updates on:

* tournament results for winners and losers
* announcements for special promotions or guest players
* the latest in Bodog Poker Room news and gossip
* tips on how to succeed at Bodog Poker

I don't know why everybody doesn't just give me their chips right now, I really don't. But since you won't, won't you instead please join me on Tuesdays and let me take them then? I'm already giving Smokkee 5% of my action, just for getting this thing started, even if he doesn't know it yet.

Good luck at the tables, and Happy Blogging!