Weekend Part II - "How you feelin..??!!"

So obviously, I was a little "peeved" that my WSOP tourney didn't go as I had hoped, but thats poker and thats why we play, only being on the other side of the beats is much more fun. I ended up talking to my boy Chris later that night, and we played some triple draw on UB, and hopefully he will not go broke because I like having him around to play with. I think I lost a little that night playing TD, but I haven't really been running to well in that game lately, so it didn't really "phase me".

On Sunday we had plans to go to "Artscape" in Baltimore. But, before we went, Mo wanted to see the "Shark" on the Discovery Channel building in downtown Silver Spring. Here's a picture we took:


We have gone to "Artscape" every year for the last 3-4 years and it is always a fun time. They basically section off like 10 blocks of the city and they have about 4 stages for live music, as well as hundreds of tents for artists of all varieties. This year I was psyched to see Michael Franti and Spearhead. I have only seen them one time before at Jazzfest in '04, and it was one of the best shows I had ever seen. I couldn't wait for Mo to see them because I knew she would love it. The guy is just amazing live. Mo kept saying how "happy he looked" and that he always had a smile on his face. I was interested to hear his new songs since he has an album coming out today. I had heard that it was very "reggae-based", so I was hoping that it wasn't too inaccesible. I like reggae, but too much can get repetitive and boring to me. Well, he didn't dissapoint. So good, so good. I told Mo that he would say "How you feelin" about 100 times, I think it was about 150 :) Not only did he play his new stuff, but he played a few songs from each of his albums. Some may say he is too preachy, and too political. But in all honesty, everything this guy stands for, I believe in as well. I joked that that he should be a religion. Mo said we were "Frantish". I like that.

Last night I played in that CP league thing on 'Stars, and the bad-beats continued. Top 2 got me when my QQ lost to his soooooooooted K8 or something crappy like that. Did he really think I was stealing from 3rd position? Anyway, I don't know how much more I will play on there, since I lost the $160 from the sattelite, I don't have much more on there, and unless I move some bankroll around, I doubt I will keep it up. I do like playing that private tourney, mostly because it's a lot of the +1 guys, and they are fun and usually pretty good.

Thursday night we are going to see Keller Williams down in Easton, MD. I am very excited about this show since it is another "loopless" show and in a very quaint small theatre. We saw Martin Sexton there, and it felt like we were sitting in a living room listening to the guy (He is awesome by the way, if you like folky acoustic, awesome singers, the guy doesn't hit a bad note!). We will then probably go to the beach on Friday and we are bartending Saturday night for some extra dough.

The "Fantasy" weekend

I guess it was a fantasy...making it to the WSOP main event this year. This weekend was really fun, but a little heartbreaking to say the least (as far as poker goes). Saturday night was basically my last "shot" at winning a satelite into the main event. Pokerstars even had it on its "popup" that this was the last weekend for double shootouts. So, since I had the house to myself, and since I had a spare $160 left for my foray into satelites, I figured what the hell! I said to myself, "this is your last chance to do it, and you took $200 out of your bankroll just for this night, so make it happen!!"
Match #1: You have to get lucky sometimes right?
I didn't realize that these things had 15 minute levels. Now thats some poker. Most of the tourneys I play in online have 10-12 minute blind levels, and 'stars has 10 minute levels for the majority of their regular tourneys. I was quite pleased, since this structure seems to reward tight/aggressive play. Through the first 3-4 levels I played good, solid poker and worked my starting stack of 1500 up to about 2100. Nothing special really. We actually had a break after the 4th level and I think there were only 2-3 people busted. After the break came and went I was on cruise control, only I had no hands...so it was a cruise control folding lesson. Q2, J4, 72, etc. Finally I looked up and I was down to about 1500 in chips blinds 100/200 and I am 3rd out of 3 left...yes, shortstack. Then this hand:
PokerStars Game #5647959959: Tournament #28557498, $150+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level VI (100/200) - 2006/07/22 - 21:40:52 (ET)
Table '28557498 4' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 4: pp06 (4405 in chips)
Seat 5: jamfreek (1590 in chips)
Seat 7: killerdeb (7505 in chips)
jamfreek: posts small blind 100
killerdeb: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jamfreek [Tc Kd]
pp06: folds
jamfreek: raises 1390 to 1590 and is all-in
killerdeb: calls 1390
*** FLOP *** [6s Qd Kh]
jamfreek said, "nh"
*** TURN *** [6s Qd Kh] [As]
*** RIVER *** [6s Qd Kh As] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jamfreek: shows [Tc Kd] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
killerdeb: shows [Ks Ah] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
jamfreek collected 3180 from pot
pp06 said, "wow"
jamfreek said, "eww"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3180 | Rake 0
Board [6s Qd Kh As Jd]
Seat 4: pp06 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: jamfreek (small blind) showed [Tc Kd] and won (3180) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 7: killerdeb (big blind) showed [Ks Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings

Yes!!! Runner Runner Suckout!!

I then went on to tear it up. I played PERFECT. The last hand was seriously a work of art if I don't say so myself. Basically I had AQ, flopped a Q and slowplayed it, knowing that my opponent would push anything that was mid-pair or top pair, plus I had him outchipped 3.5-1.

Match 2: Get all worked up over nothing..
At this point I couldn't believe that I had made it this far, and that I was soooo lucky to get there. I told myself, I can't be the first one out, not that the $160 meant that much to me, I mean it was good money that I worked hard for, but this is what it was all about! I took a look at the prize pool and obviously, first place got the seat plus $1000, and 2nd through 8th got there $160 back, and poor old 9th gets $30. Well, this table was playing TIIIIIGHHHHHHTTTT! And I got absolute shit for cards. The best hand I could find was QTs and I played it badly, losing about 200 or so. I stuck around middle of the pack until this hand:

I have AKs UTG +1...UTG player has been shortstacked since early in the tourney, but for the last 3-4 hands has been pushing all-in picking up blinds, and growing his stack from about 500 to about 900 or so. I have a little over 1100 in chips, and of course, he pushes again, I call, figuring i'm dominating him, and of course I am, but this is Pokerstars, where worst hand always seems to come out on top. Sure enough he turns over KQs. He ends up turning a Q and I am down to about 250 or so in chips. Of course I am in the blinds after my next hand (which I had to fold), and of course the blinds go up to 50/100, my blinds are of course raised, and by the time the button rolls around I have exactly 85 in chips, and I end up pushing with K7s, it gets called by AQ, I flop a K and he rivers an A and I get my poor ass handed $30 from "River"stars.

More to come later...

Damn has it been that long since I updated?

Well, I guess I have been doing ok...bankroll-wise, I am almost out of the hole I put myself in during the month of May. It has been quite a struggle. Seriously, when you lose 85% of your bankroll in one day, and look back on it two months later it is kind of funny. I am pretty proud that I still have not re-deposited on UB. At one point I was down to $12! Thats pretty ridiculous if you ask me. I'll call it an $800 lesson. I don't want to "jinx" anything, but my run at the tables has been tasty. The TD games on UB have been staying pretty juicy, and I am finally learning what players are decent and what players are morons. Last night, I should've just gotten up after about 45 minutes of play because my table was full of the "decent" players. Usually what happens is the table will be full of 2-3 awful players, and the the other 2-3 that will basically know eachother and pretty much stay out of eachothers way. I ended up staying and winning about 6 BB's over 1.50 hours. Even though I have been saying for essentially the whole year that I wanted to stay away from these bigger buy-in games, I think by taking my lumps over the last couple months, I have learned when to quit. The game can be so frustrating when your draws don't hit and you seriously have to be patient.

I FINALLY finished importing my store-bought cd's onto my IPOD...yeah that took about a month!! I was almost right on with about 36 gigs. I haven't really added any of my "live cd's", that would probably take a whole other 60 gig ipod. I have been playing a bunch of guitar lately. I learned a bunch of My Morning Jacket songs, my favorite being "Golden". It has a weird Em tuning with a capo on the first fret. It is hella fun to play. They like to use capos all over the place on their songs. I mean there's one where they capo the 9th fret! Last night I basically played through the whole "Z" album. Good Stuff! Next album I am buying is ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), they have this song called "Wasting Time", it is almost like sublime'ish and they sing about getting high, listening to the Dead, going to shows, all of which sound like fun to me :) There's actually a list I have going of about 4 cd's that I want to get. Well, make that 3 since I just bought the newest Phish live album/DVD. Live in Brooklyn is a nice little package. My phish-buddy Chris and I went to see that show that was actually streamed in theaters back in '04. My favorite parts of the show were The Curtain (With), 46 Days, and Divided Sky encore. I remember focusing so much on all of their botches at the time. I guess because they were basically winding down, they stopped practicing, etc. But, now listening again, this was actually a pretty hot show!

Oh yeah, I still have $$ on 'Stars. Trying to qualify for the WSOP was not very fun. I never got better than a 46th place in any of the Super's that they had running all day everyday. I really didn't put my ALL into it, and I think I could've at least won a seat into either a $160 double shootout or the 150 seat guaranteed, if I had put more effort into it. There is still time, but I don't really feel like it at this point. Maybe next year, unless online poker goes out the door (God DAmN It!!). Actually, I have been doing great in the $5.50 SnG's. I'll probably keep playing those and build and build and build until either I have to "shut down" or move up.

Getting back to TD, I think I need to tighten up a bit in early position. I want to post about it on Plus One, but those guys hardly ever pay attention to the "Other Games" section and most don't really play the game at all. Because I play SOO aggressive in the game, I think I should be folding some of my rougher drawing hands in EP. For example 268xx. This is pretty rough and can only make #6 at best, but usually makes a rough 87. As I was saying earlier, if you can't hit draws, and you can't get dealt good starting hands, those 268xx in EP start to look pretty good. It's almost like in hold'em when you get crap cards over and over, you know like Q2o, 92o, until finally you get QJo in EP and it looks like AK. You raise it up and go broke. So I am now trying to fold those cards and only play them from LP and the button. We'll see how it goes.

Back to work now!