another good night

i just finished 2nd in the 25k ko on ftp for ~4k. i got a nice stack early, then lost some of it, and then hung around and played solid poker. i almost went out when we were down to 3 tables when i played AQ pretty badly and ran it into AA. i waited for some good spots and chipped back up, and made it to the final table in decent shape. i wish i remembered to take screen shots, but i'm so bad at taking them while i'm playing. when we were down to five handed i got massively coolered, running TT into AA and AA, and going from 3rd in chips to 5th i chips. somehow i came back, and ended up hu w/ a player who had been to my left at the entire final table. i lucked out when i raised A5hh, cbet nothing on the flop and was committed to call his shove w/ A high (i think flop was T73, he had 76 same suit as me). an A on the river gave me a 2-1 chip lead. a victory was not meant to be, though. i flopped top 2 w/ T7 on T7x board, and got all in, but he had KT and obv K hit on the turn. :( eventually got it all in w/ middle pair when he flopped top pair, and i took bridesmaid honors once again.



almost final tabled another tournament, but ended up 12th in the 10r on stars. i made a resteal on the money bubble that crippled me and gave me 7bbs 10 from the money. i doubled with TT v. AK, and chipped up from there. i was the cl when we were down to three tables, but i overcalled a 20 bb shove w/ TT, saw QJ and was dismayed when J hit on turn. that knocked me down to 10 bbs, and i basically treaded water for the rest of the tournament. i finally shoved 33 on the button w/ about 11 bbs, and got called by ATdd. i think the T came on flop, and i was done. sigh. if i won that TT hand i would have had about 1 million chips and a ton of play left.



i had built up a big stack in the 15k on ftp, but lost a 30k pot that would have put me 2nd in chips with about 60 to go. i raised from the button w/ 66 and the bb three bet me. i know he's a good player, and thought there was a decent chance he was making a play, so i shoved, he called w/ AK, and he hit an A on the turn. it was a super tough spot, and in hindsight it was maybe an easier fold, given that i still had a nice stack and could have waited for a better spot. i just put him on a very wide range there, and thought i had a ton of fe. obv not when he's holding AK. :)

even though i failed (once again) to take first in a big mtt, i'm still happy with my play. if i can curb some tilt (hello 5r) and learn to play hu when massively card dead, i'll be in great shape. :-)

67

i made a pretty deep run in last night's million and finished 67th out of around 6500. it was only good for 2k, a far cry from the 105k (+30k) that the final three chopped, but it's my best finish in the tournament out of around 10 times playing. i lost some retarded pots late, including AJ < A9 when we got all in on a TT3 flop and i watched him hit an 9 on the river. in another pot for about 600k when blinds were 12.5/25k a player w/ 11 bbs shoved in mp, i re-shoved w/ AQ from the co and he turned over A8. the flop came A98 and i was down to less than 10 bbs.

i then had a few hands after where i was ahead pre, fell behind on the flop, but managed to catch up before the money went in. i limped AA and the flop came TT4. the bb (second A8 dude, who ended up finishing 13th) check called my min bet on the flop, we both checked the turn, and then an A came on the river and i raised his river vb. he had JT and i was saved by a two-outer on the river. the very next hand i picked up AK utg, got one caller, and made a cbet on a QJx fop. he called. a T came on the turn making me a straight, and he doubled me w/ his JT.

i went out when the cutoff made a raise, i reshipped from the bb w/ 33 for over 6x his raise and tons of fe and he SNAP CALLED with QTss. a T on the flop and i went out. he only went out about 15 spots after me, which i was not surprised to see.

i'm really happy with the way i've been playing. i re-watched most of my msop, and i saw very few decisions that i questioned after the fact. i still am making a few mistakes here and there, but i'm thinking so much more about every play i make, and it's definitely a nice boost heading into the main event.

overall weekend was fun -- hit up two mets/yankees games, although mets lost both. :( got to see some friends, own at big buck hunter, and relax (go spain!). also, i finally saw shaun of the dead, which i really liked and def recommend.

i'll probably play a bit over the next few days, and then thursday i leave for vegas -- I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

ps happy belated birthday to bayne

bridesmaid (again)

one of these days i'm gonna win a big online mtt, and it's gonna feel so damn good.



i had some interesting hands, and will try to post more tomorrow once i've loaded hh. i entered hu about a 5-1 dog, and after a few hands i raised w/ 77 and he called. flop was 923 and we got it all in. obv he had a 9. :(



it still felt good to get deep and get more experience at a shorthanded final table. the 5k also helps. i did not have biggest blogger score of the night, though. congrats to lucko, who once again pwned the 50 1r on stars.

i called it before the tournament even started:

lj22 (4:47:17 PM): i'm tempted to play 50 1r
lj22 (4:47:20 PM): you'll prob win it tonight

<---- bge

bad beats

i was going to write a post bitching about how i blew a big stack in the 32k, have been losing massively in chippies, and ran AK suited into AA in my step 4, but it all seems trivial in comparison to what bayne is going through right now. despite his luckboxery at the cash table, he is one of my favorite e-friends, and i hope you all join me in sending good thoughts/prayers to his wife.

weekend/selling myself

had a lovely weekend down at the jersey shore, but not much poker. i finished around 150th in the 750k on ftp and also went fairly deep in a stars tournament sunday, but couldn't close any tournaments down. congrats to tba and rambler (who is hosting some sort of tournament tonight, check out his blog for deets) for their recent deep runs in the 32k, and huge props to wendy from wsp who took down the 32k on sat night for around 7k. lucko went deep in the sunday million on stars, but finished brutally in 13th after two retarded hands in a row.

i'm just plugging away, trying to fix some leaks, and make smarter decisions. for the most part i'm accomplishing that (drunken late night poker last night being the exception) and i can feel myself thinking much more before i make plays, which is my main goal.

getting very excited for the main event next week, and along that line, i am going to be selling a percentage of myself, so if you're interested shoot me an email at princeharibo@gmail.com

blogger drama?

yes, shocking as it may be, there has been some drama lately. i strongly regretted the last blogger drama i was involved in (which, ironically, evolved out of a hoy post), but as you can see from this loretta post, which summarizes the hoy/icb saga, one of my february blog posts was, um, "mentioned" by icb. in an earlier post he completely butchered how i went out of bodog one week, which was actually when i first started thinking it might be hoy behind the blog, lol. it felt too much like someone was baiting me, so even though i read the posts, they were so full of shit that i decided to ignore. then hoy outed himself (kinda?) and lots of bloggers have been discussing the ethics of signing up under a different name, having different accounts, etc. meanwhile, hoy has claimed ownership of the icb bodog name, but has denied writing the blog, making me wonder why, if he's not the actual author, he's so carefully hiding who did the actual bashing.

i have taken a ton of shit for my stars/ftp names, and even though i still dig the haribo moniker, i decided to play on bodog using a nickname given to me by ck (which appears all over her blog archives) and added my favorite number. i didn't strongly publicize my participation on bodog, nor did i think i was doing anything unethical. i played coy for awhile but at a certain point i decided i just didn't care about any small edge that i gained from having an unknown username, and after that whenever someone asked me i revealed my name. i also (early on) chatted sometimes w/ people at the table, including skidoo, mentioning having seen him in nyc, and even once engaged icb in a convo since his username said he was from ny also. he kept up the lie contained in his blog, that he was a consultant who traveled on business and no longer lived in ny. by the end of bodog i never looked at chat b/c of bodog's stupid window sizing, and i only ever had the game window open.

i know reasonable people disagree about this, but i personally don't think there was anything wrong with me, or hoy, or anyone else, signing up on bodog and not revealing their participation to the blogger community. i had an opportunity to sign up with a new, different username, and i don't see why i shouldn't gain an advantage doing it. ryan daut recently wrote a blog post on cardrunners about how he played a 1k tournament under a new username and what a difference it made. when he got to the final table, he felt bad not telling people it was him, and revealed himself as the unknown username to numerous players he knew at the table. in his post he even talked about how he can understand now why people might multiaccount, b/c the edge is strong. here's the last line: "On a serious note id like to say that after playing the tourney today i really got to see all the sick advantages people get by multiaccounting, buying accounts, new names, etc. It was amazing what i could do in just 1 tournament and im by no means one of the best online tourney players in the world. Its kind of sickening to know that people take advantage of the system so much and get away with it. I wish i could go back and start with no image again, but unfortunately i cant and i have to deal with it, as does everyone else. anyways im heading to bed, gnight all."

to me, though, there is a difference between me signing up on bodog as haribo, and then signing up with a different username and playing with both accounts (or switching mid tournament contest), versus signing up on a site where i've never played and choosing a username that is different from the one i use on ftp or stars.

this differs in stark contrast to allegations made by hoy in his latest post, where he alleges that in last night's mookie bloggers were multi-accounting. i'm not 100% sure what this means, but i read this as him saying that people in a $12 ko tournament decided to play under two different usernames in the same tournament. um, is that not the most retarded thing you've ever heard? if it's someone who signed up for rakeback and changed names on ftp and is only playing with one account, etc. i couldn't care less. i remember not knowing who killinkegz was for awhile, and yeah, it's a bit ironic that smokkee once changed his name, since much of icb's ire was directed toward him and vice versa, but it really doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

i do think that if one person was playing under two accounts, thus entering a tournament with two usernames, it's highly unethical. i like to believe that bloggers are ethical and not retarded enough to risk banishment from a poker site in order to gain a very small edge, but given what i've seen in the past from a small percentage of people in the blogger community, i don't think anything would surprise me anymore.

to personalize this a bit, i think my desire for a toc seat was well documented, and my boyfriend won not one, but three effing toc seats (me? bitter?), yet not once did it ever occur to me (or him) to cheat. if two people as close as we are, who have played in the same tournaments over and over again and don't share information or try to gain an edge, aren't doing it, then who in the world would?!? i remember playing the uncle chuck tournament from his house, and we had to re-arrange ourselves when we were at the same table, so we could be sure we couldn't see one another's cards. it was me, him, and change in the final three, and i ended up sucking out on him, and remember him being pretty pissed off about it. we weren't chip dumping, we were playing poker, and i highly doubt it ever occurred to change that we might be colluding, just like it would never occur to me that just b/c change and pauly were in the same tournament that they'd be doing something unethical to gain an edge.

i wish i had some grandiose way to close this post, but i really hope that bullshit like this latest drama doesn't come up again anytime soon. as for the whole donkette drama, recently described on bwop and a few other blogs, i don't have much to say, other than it sucks to lend someone money on faith and not get paid back and sucks to believe in another blogger and now realize that their trust was misplaced. alan once fronted me 1k on ftp having met me once, for about ten minutes, in a nyc poker club, and although we were and still are gchat buddies, there is definitely a level of trust involved in giving a poker player that kind of money! so thanks for trusting me alan*! :-)

last night's mookie was a good time. i had a hilarious suckout late from the button v. a short stack sb and got berated in chat, which was ~ awesome, and then at the final table folded my button three orbits in a row only to see joanne (link?) in the sb fold to instant tragedy's big blind. the fourth orbit i decided to shove Q4cc w/ 12 bbs, and this time joanne picked up AKo and took me out. good times. hoping to go see sloan tonight and then catch up w/ a friend, so not sure there will be much poker going on.

final table/vegas recap

i think i might be getting my groove back. i played a few tournaments yesterday and final tabled the stars $20 1r. i lost two key flips, one was 77 < A8 when we were down to 10, and the other was AQ < JJ for 7th place. i'm disappointed in my finish, and there were a few spots that could have made a huge difference.

when we were down to two tables, about 16, i got moved. two hands in i picked up AQo on the button (blinds 800/1600) and the bb overshoved for about 50k. i tanked and eventually folded, thinking it was a lot to call off w/ AQ for, but the more i think about the hand, the more i think i made a massive error in judgment. if he had a really big hand i don't think he shoves there, and lately the shove from the bb has become almost standard. i would not have been surprised to see something like A6/A7 or even KQ there, and i'm upset i didn't pull the trigger. if i ended up winning the hand, i would have been able to steal wider, also, b/c people would be more scared that i had a hand and would call.

long before the AQ hand ever came up i made a crucial error in each of my other tournaments, the 10r and a 90 person ko. the mistake in the ko cost me a cash, and i bubbled 10th, and the mistake in the 10r was something that i told myself not to do as i played the hand, and yet i did it anyway.

it's something i've mentioned before on my blog, but thinking actions through and being vigilant about following a thought process is HUGE for me, and definitely makes the difference between my tournament success and my tournament early busts. obviously you never totally know what the right move is, especially when you fold, as i did w/ the above AQ hand.

the key for me is staying mentally alert, and it's something i'm definitely going to work harder on as the main event approaches. this will be the biggest tournament of my life, and i don't want a brief lapse to cost me a day two or day three. i still ~ regret not three betting with my AQ in that early hand i played in the 2k event, but i think in the long run i will get over my hesitation to three bet that early in the tournament.

one thing i noticed as i was playing yesterday was that i was in much better spots than i'd been recently -- i was getting dealt better hands, and was able to pick spots much more easily than i felt i had in the last couple weeks. getting premium hands to hold and winning flips makes a ginormous difference.

as for the rest of my vegas trip, i didn't cash in any of the tournaments i played. i lost w/ trips to a flush in my second caesar's tournament, and bubbled the second chance when my 55 was no match for KK. that one hurt a bit, b/c i came very close to cashing.

my plane out of vegas was delayed four hours so i decided to play the turbo fiddy. special thanks to pauly for letting me be his temporary intern. sadly i bubbled, finishing one spot from the money. this was another mistake, as i think if i'd folded and been all in the next hand in my bb i would have cashed. i ran TT into KK, then lost w/ AK v. JJ, and then i was just trying to cash. it didn't work. :(

i had a blast hanging out w/ vinnay, cmitch, bayne, ck, ftrain, astin, change (special shout out to astin and change, who were the recipients of much drunken rambling after i won my main event seat), and all the others in vegas. see some of you again in a few weeks!

main event satellite recap

i'm still ~ speechless, but i'm going to give a recap a shot. before i do that, a huge thanks goes out to lucko, stoner and todd, who helped me tremendously, especially at the end. winning a seat was bittersweet b/c todd (gbiff) was the bubble boy, and since i was almost bubble girl i know it must hurt.

lots of people have asked if i'm going to play. i really, really want to. i am not sure how i can arrange it with work, especially given that i just took a vacation, but i'm going to try. if i can swing getting work on board w/ me needing some flexible time off i think there's a good chance i'll play. if i do play, i will definitely be selling percentages of my action, but will post more deets about that once i know for sure.

i woke up just before noon ready to try and qualify. i hung around in the moneymaker satellite, but busted way before getting close to one of 19 seats. i played the $109 satellite into the ftp satellite, and won my buy in to the $535 150 seat guarantee. i didn't last long in the other stars satellite, which i satellited into last week before i left for vegas, although i played really aggressively/stupidly and it didn't work out. i called an ep min raise from late position w/ AJdd (probably the biggest mistake, i shoulda just folded) and flopped the nut flush draw on a raggy board. ep raiser bet out, i shoved, and he called w/ AA.

i thought about not even playing the ftp sat after that but once i won the seat i figured what the hell. i stayed in my hotel room all day to try and win a seat, so why leave now.

thanks to everyone who railed/texted. i'm gonna attempt a hand by hand recap, but it's probably gonna be long so read at your own risk of boredom.

hand 5: picked up AKdd, raised a limper, two callers, flop T44, bb leads out for half pot and i folded

hand 15: called a raise w/ AQ,flop 522, raiser bets, i fold.

hand 21: blinds 20/40 i look down at KK. utg +1 limps, hijack limps, i raise it up to 6x and get two callers. flop K43, he checks, i check. turn 7. he bets, i raise, he shoves, and he shows 77. Q on the river and i double. sick turn card for sure. i def owe that check to lucko, cause in the stars sat i flopped top set and when i sent him the hand later he said he woulda checked flop. :-)

hand 47: TT, i raise utg, button min rres me. KKJ flop and i decide to bet once and if i get called i'm done. he calls my flop bet, but then we check down and he shows 55. yeah, wha??? i label him a donkey.

hand 48: walkage, woot

hand 49: i complete w/ K4, flop top pair, i check, bb bets into me, i call. same on turn. i probably shoulda vb river when i make trips, but we check down and i win another pot.

hand 57: i call donk from above's late position raise w/ AJdd and bet out on K34 flop. he calls. we check turn, and i bet ~ big on river w/ air and he folds.

hand 62: donk min raises from utg. i consider rring him w/ TT, but decide to flat, as do two others. pot is 600, flop is J32, donk shoves for 3k and i fold.

hand 76: KK in sb, folds to me, i raise bb and he folds. :(

hand 92: KK utg, everyone folds to my raise. :(

hand 106: i raise 77 from mp, and bb re-raises. i flat call. he then bets out 2/3 of the pot and i fold on T94 flop. i am convinced he is just fucking w/ me and has shit, cause he has been super aggressive, but i'm not strong enough on my read, and can't be sure he didn't hit the flop.

hand 107: after getting bitch slapped the last hand i shoulda just folded 22, but instead i raised, and see an A63 flop w/ the sb and bb. they check, i cbet, same aggro guy (now sb) from last hand raises me, and i have to fold. i am pissed at myself.

hand 108: i now pick up AK, raise and get one caller. Q54 flop, and my cbet takes down the pot. if i was the guy in the pot w/ me i think i'm raising me there every time given that i just folded the previous two hands to raises, but phew.

hand 116: utg limps and i play super weak and just limp along w/ my JJ. bb comes along and we see AKT flop. it checks around. sb bets out half pot on turn and we both call. we all check river and utg shows AQcc (bb had A7o).

hand 119: i am not involved, but aggro guy from my 77 hand raises, bb re-raises him and he calls. on a 74x flop the bb bets out, aggro guy shoves, and bb calls. aggro guy shows 56dd and bb has KK and takes big pot when straight doesn't get there.

hand 139: KK in sb, blinds 100/200. button has almost 4k, and min raises to 400, i rr (have about 7.5k) to 1200, he shoves and shows AJ. J on flop, A on river, and i'm back below starting stack.

hand 153: AQ, i raise and get 5 callers. flop T9x and i check fold. TT flopped set and gets it all in w/ JJ, J on turn.

hand 172: i see AQo in sb. blinds 140/280, early position guy raises to 1200. i have a sort of awfuckit moment and decide i'm going to shove him for my 4700. my thought was i have tons of fe, his raise seemed very weird, and i was really just hoping for a flip. instead he practically instacalls my shove w/ A9o. flop 335, Q on river, and i double. poker is easy.

hand 180: AK in bb, co raises, i three bet, he folds.

hand 184: AA (finally, woot!). i raise from co, sb calls. flop comes 556, he checks, i cbet, he calls. i bet half pot on turn, he shoves, i call, and he has 88. i scoop a nice pot.

hand 207: i fold 88 from bb w/ raise and rr in front of me.

hand 233: i raise AQo, sb calls. flop 633, he checks, i cbet, he folds. phew.

hand 272: aka ginormous mistake. i have about 12k to start hand, blinds 400/800. folds around to button, who makes 3.5x raise. i decide to put him on a steal and shove, but i really didn't have fold equity and plus i don't think he was ever folding AT. i had A9, and i lose almost all my chips.

hand 273: i have 63o in the sb, but refuse to make it my last hand. when the hand ends i have 2889 in chips.

we go on break. i am pretty bummed at blowing a chance at a seat. i go down to the store and get some beers. the line is taking forever, and i get back to the room to see my time bank expiring. i'm on the button w/ 2764, and i don't even really see the action in front of me, but know that two people who have me covered have already put chips in. i figure i have to go w/ it and hit call.

upon closer look, utg raised to 3750 (blinds just went up to 500/1000, so i had 2.7 bbs lol) and got flat called by the hijack. i call on the button and flop comes KJ8 two diamonds. turn is a 7 of spades, and river is a 9 of diamonds. blech.

they both checked down the whole way, and utg shows 44 (which i woulda instamucked utg, even w/ his stack) and hijack shows AQ. i had the worst hand but sucked out, and now i'm back to 10 bbs.

hand 279: i pick up AA and decide to 3x raise, basically announcing (imo) to the table that i have AA. later position shoves, and i am dismayed to see he also has AA. we chop.

hand 284: i agonize about shoving Q9o from the co when it folds to me, but can't do it.

hand 285: i shove A7o from the hijack and everyone folds

hand 292: i shove T9o from the button w/ 9600 (blinds still 500/1k) and sb reships. ruh roh. he has AT and i'm pretty annoyed to not even have two live cards. flop KQ9, 9 on turn, and brick on river. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM. i'm up to 21k.

hand 299: i shove Q8o from sb onto bb when it folds around and he folds. woot.

hand 305: i make a standard raise w/ 77 and get no action.

hand 310: i make another standard raise w/ KK from co and bb (aggro calling station) called. flop came AJ5, and we both check. turn is a Q and we both check again. at this point i'm pretty sure i'm good, but don't know how he plays well enough to be sure. he basically min bets the 9 river for 1500 and i call, and he shows 94hh. ship.

hand 318: i raise A6o from the button and thankfully big stack to my left folds, and shortie (4 bbs) in bb also folds.

hand 325: KK (jesus, i got KK a lot in this thing, huh) in bb. button raises to 5500 (800/1600 blinds) and i shove on him. it's the same guy who beat me w/ AT to my A9, and ironically he shows ATo again. thankfully no A, and i take him out.

hand 341: i make a somewhat loose raise in ep w/ AJhh and thankfully everyone folds. i wasn't getting any hands and felt like i needed to chip up whenever i could.

hand 354: blinds 1200/2400, and i have 33k, and big stacks to my left. i decide to shove 33 on the button thinking they can't call w/o big hands, and they fold.

hand 377: blinds 1400/2800, i raise AKo utg and everyone folds.

hand 378: i have ATo in the bb, and the sb who has 67k goes all in on me. i have 37k and go into the tank. i know i'm way ahead of his range, but i hate calling w/ ATo. last year i played a satellite to the big 2500 ftops, and we were down to 5 where 4 got seats. the button shoved on me, and i decided to call off w/ AT. he had 73, but flop came 73x and he boated on turn, and i didn't get seat. i know it's rot to remember that at a time like this, but the point in my head was there is a decent chance he has two live cards, and i'm not that much of a favorite. i agonized, and finally decided that i wasn't likely to pick up a much better spot.

i called, he had J3o. flop was a beautiful TTQ, turn 8, river 7, and i have 77k.

i fold every hand until

hand 396: i'm in bb w/ 63k and look down at AA. button w/ 47k behind raises to 18.5k (blinds are 2k/4k) i reship him, and he FOLDS.

hand 404: i fold JJ utg. it hurts. i am thinking at this point i might be able to fold to seat, and don't want to risk it w/ a pair having to get through the whole table. it hurts, though.

i fold everything until it folds to me in my sb in hand 415. i shove Q4o on the bb and he folds. hand 424 i do the same w/ A3o.

hand 426: it folds to me in co and i shove JJ for 73k. they all fold.

hand 443: i think a mistake. it folds to me on the button. i have 43k. the sb to my left has 306k, and the bb has 65k. i am pretty sure that sb will call me w/ atc, so i fold my AQo. sb FOLDS to ~ shortie bb, and i am pretty sure i missed my best chance to cash.

stupid bubble won't break. i am down to 36k w/ blinds 8k/16k.

hand 447: i pick up AKo utg +1, but am getting called like a million ways if i shove, so i fold.

hand 449: i have 73o in bb, it folds to sb, who shoves on me (bastard!) and i fold.

hand 450: another agonizing decision. it folds to me in the sb, i have less than the bb behind, so if i call, i am going head to head w/ the bb for a main event seat. i'm pretty sure if i bust this hand i am bubble girl, though there might be two more to go at this point. i have A7o. same conundrum as the ATo hand earlier. A7 is probably ahead, but if he has 23o and hits a 2, i'm out. i decide to fold.

hand 451: now i'm on the button, and i pick up 77. problem is, now i have to get through two people, the sb and the bb, who are both calling me, and i am not sure 77 is good enough hand. i'm not really sure what i'm doing at this point, and am regretting not calling hte hand before w/ A7o.

ok, i admit it, at this point i start wimpering like a total girl, and am freaking out, repeating over and over, omg i'm gonna lose, omg i'm gonna lose.

hand 452: aka the biggest hand i've probably ever played. i have 2,496 and am in the co. it does not look like anybody is going to be all in at the other tables ahead of me, and i'm basically all in on the next hand. so when it folds to me i decide i have no choice but to call off my last 3k w/ A2o. i know i'm probably behind, and i'm still freaking out, and i am thinking about how upset i'm going to be that i came so close and didn't get the seat.

the big stack to my left calls w/ his 360k behind, sb folds, and bb checks. flop is 994. check, check, turn is J. now my freaking out gets louder, cause i'm figuring that is terrible card. check, check. river is another 4. fantastic card. if neither of them have a 9, 4 or J, i am at least chopping. i got incredibly lucky, b/c big stack showed ATo, and bb showed KTo. i chop my teeny side pot and have 13k, and one hand later i have a seat.

if the board doesn't pair on the river i'm done. it still makes my stomach a little queasy. i got super super lucky to get the seat. my puff was 93, not shocking considering all my KKs. ok, time to eat breakfast. i'm leaving vegas today, and will probably do a another recap at some point.

i am speechless right now

vegas part 1

i had one of the best flight experiences ever coming out here. i hopped the subway near work and exactly an hour from the time i left my office i arrived at jet blue. there was no line at security and i cruised through to the gate. we then left ten minutes early, and i arrived in vegas 30 min ahead of schedule. off to a sweet start.

checked in to the rio, registered for the 2k event, and grabbed a bite to eat at the american grill. some of the other bloggers had gone to N9NE for dinner, which i was super bummed to miss, but they headed over to the rio after and i met up with ck, vinnay, cmitch, bayne, pebbles and bambam for drinks at the hooker bar (i'm too lazy to link now, will try to remember to add them back in when i get home). i forced bayne to play craps with me, cause i'd never played before and thought it would be fun. i lost a hundred pretty quickly and decided craps wasn't as much fun as everyone makes it out to be.

woke up psyched to play poker, grabbed a bite and headed over to the amazon room. my first hand i played i raised AQo in mp. the sb called and we saw a Q high flop w/ two diamonds hu. he checked, i bet out, and he raised me. i was in a quandary. if i three bet him i was committing my stack, and if he had a flush draw i wasn't sure he was folding. people at the table were showing down AA and KK after flat calling pre, so i felt i couldn't rule out an overpair. i elected to call, and when a third diamond came he bet out 3/4 of the pot and i folded. i have no idea how i should have played the hand, and feel like i messed up by not three betting him on the flop, but i'll never know.

i raised AQ again at the next blind level, and an ftp pro named roy winston called. flop came KQx, i bet out, and he shoved. i talked to him a bit then folded, and he showed AA. i bled chips for awhile until i had a little less than half the starting stack. an aggressive guy named jimmy tran raised, i shoved w/ TT and he folded. a few hands later he raised my bb, i saw AK and shoved again. he called w/ 44 and i won the race. i went to the first break with a little above the starting stack.

two hands past break i picked up AQo in mp, raised, and winston called on the button. the flop came AKT all hearts (no heart for me) and i cbet about 2/3 pot. he shoved, and i was in a situation. if i folded i'd have about 14 bbs, and would be in pretty bad shape. i didn't really put him on a flush, but thought there was a decent chance he had one heart and a pair. i decided to call, he showed AA again for flopped set. my few outs disappeared on the turn when another K came, and just like that my big wsop event came to an end. i had a ll w/ cmitch, vinnay and hoy, which hoy won. i think he busted just after the dinner break after nursing a short stack for awhile.

i had some lunch w/ bayne and then decided to play a satellite. i couldn't get anything going and eventually shoved KTss and got called by AK. flop came T high, but river was an A. decided to buy in short at 2/5, posted and got 88 first hand. i re-raised the other poster who raised and decided to gamble and called his all in. he had AK, i flopped an 8, and doubled. then i missed every flop i saw and left up a hundo.

played the second chance and doubled early when some guy committed all his chips w/ A4 on a J43 flop when i had QQ. i chipped up nicely and had about 13k when blinds were 200/400. the guy to my right was ~ crazy (alex). i watched him shove a limper when blinds were 100/200 (for about 10k) and the guy called him w/ KK. Q on the flop and Q on the river and his AQ cracked KK. awhile later a guy who he had been talking shit to limped his bb. the sb completed and alex raised 1k, and limper called. J high flop and alex instantly went all in. the other guy thought for a bit and called w/ QJ. alex turned over AT and the turn was an A. so we're at 200/400 and he's third to act, and raises to 20k. yeah, 50 bb raise, why not? i look down at AKo and call, figuring i'm way ahead of his range. sure enough he turns over QTo, but Q on flop and instead of having a massive stack i'm out. sigh.

i drown my frustration in beers w/ vinnay, bayne and cmitch, they wandered off to play roulette while vinnay and i played vid poker (blech, never again), and i decided to head back and give the turbo hundo a shot. i ran TT into KK, and then shoved utg the next hand w/ AJdd. 2nd utg calls me w/ KJo (great call). T on the flop, A on turn, Q on river, and i'm out of that in about ten minutes.

realize that drinking hasn't really helped my frustrations and head to bed.

i still am not really sure how to handle getting beat so much. i don't like losing. i don't think i'm a bad player and i'm trying not to let it affect how i play, but i think that's hard to do, and also hard for me to recognize. still, i'm out here for four more days, and am going to try to keep my head up and play solid poker. to that end, i think i'm going to head to caesar's today for their tournament, and i think a bunch of bloggers are gonna play at the venetian tomorrow.

will update more when i have time.

wed woot

off to vegas in less than 12 hours. poker's remained dismal, and i haven't been super happy with my play, but i was in the exact same spot last year when i went out to vegas and it ended up being a good trip. look forward to meeting some other bloggers who are out there, and playing in my second wsop event. now i just have to get through a very hectic day at work...

almost vegas

three days of work this week and then i'm off to vegas. woot!! reunion was a blast (no, weak, didn't go to rpi, though we played them in soccer and lax -- brewers ftw!) but very tiring. i made the terrible error in judgment to stay in the dorms rather than getting a hotel room, and it would have been fine except for the whole no air conditioning/hottest weekend in months thing. most people i knew were also in the dorms, so it was convenient, but waking up hungover in 90 degree heat is not an experience i hope to be repeating anytime soon.

as my last post illustrates, yesterday frustrated the shit out of me. i haven't been playing well the past couple of weeks, and i feel myself doing it but can't quite break the chain. getting in w/ the best hand and losing big pots doesn't help too much either. i can't seem to win when it counts the most. in a million satellite i shoved AKcc from m/l position, got CALLED behind by AJo who i had covered and watched a J flop, in a pot that if i won i would have cruised to a seat. i got all in w/ the nuts (nut straight) on the flop in the million and watched A2 turn the flush to take me out. i know i can't control these beats, and some days people seem to hit on you more than others, but it's definitely not great for my confidence going into vegas. gonna try to get my shit together over the next few nights, cause i'm still super excited to play in vegas, and i have a feeling that a little regrouping will be good for me.

i hate sundays sometimes

aka QQ can't win

warning: retarded hands below

but first, congrats to loretta and omgitspokerfool for winning the main event seats in the bbthree toc, and to lightning for winning the freeroll today.

750k bust

Full Tilt Poker Game #6747909385: $750,000 Guarantee (49655057), Table 261 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:53:11 ET - 2008/06/08
Seat 1: fAkKa0UR (9,545)
Seat 2: NICOFAB (3,025)
Seat 3: phasiox (2,990)
Seat 4: Noruego (3,170)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (4,560)
Seat 6: strutt (3,160)
Seat 7: Randy Rio (3,520)
Seat 8: Asni01 (2,480)
Seat 9: Skierrr (1,750)
pvanharibo posts the small blind of 30
strutt posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [Qd Qh]
Randy Rio folds
Asni01 folds
Skierrr folds
fAkKa0UR raises to 210
NICOFAB calls 210
phasiox folds
Noruego folds
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo raises to 900
strutt folds
fAkKa0UR calls 690
NICOFAB folds
*** FLOP *** [3d 5h 2c]
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo bets 1,440
fAkKa0UR raises to 8,645, and is all in
pvanharibo calls 2,220, and is all in
fAkKa0UR shows [2d 4d]
pvanharibo shows [Qd Qh]
Uncalled bet of 4,985 returned to fAkKa0UR
*** TURN *** [3d 5h 2c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [3d 5h 2c 6s] [5c]
fAkKa0UR shows a straight, Six high
pvanharibo shows two pair, Queens and Fives
fAkKa0UR wins the pot (9,390) with a straight, Six high
pvanharibo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9,390 | Rake 0
Board: [3d 5h 2c 6s 5c]
Seat 1: fAkKa0UR showed [2d 4d] and won (9,390) with a straight, Six high
Seat 2: NICOFAB folded before the Flop
Seat 3: phasiox didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Noruego (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: pvanharibo (small blind) showed [Qd Qh] and lost with two pair, Queens and Fives
Seat 6: strutt (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Randy Rio didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Asni01 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Skierrr didn't bet (folded)

16k bust

Full Tilt Poker Game #6749126147: $16,000 Guarantee (50581129), Table 94 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:29:50 ET - 2008/06/08
Seat 1: Seabee27 (7,353)
Seat 2: MickoRot (38,046)
Seat 3: pvanharibo (27,256)
Seat 4: a_zuzolo (8,210)
Seat 5: rbend77 (729)
Seat 6: Lagoinha (25,345)
Seat 7: uscollie (6,156)
Seat 8: jimpoker24 (7,908)
Seat 9: hitman2b (10,405)
Seabee27 antes 75
MickoRot antes 75
pvanharibo antes 75
a_zuzolo antes 75
rbend77 antes 75
Lagoinha antes 75
uscollie antes 75
jimpoker24 antes 75
hitman2b antes 75
pvanharibo posts the small blind of 300
a_zuzolo posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to pvanharibo [Qh Qd]
rbend77 folds
Lagoinha raises to 1,750
uscollie folds
jimpoker24 folds
hitman2b folds
Seabee27 folds
MickoRot folds
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo raises to 6,525
a_zuzolo has 15 seconds left to act
a_zuzolo folds
Lagoinha raises to 25,270, and is all in
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo has requested TIME
pvanharibo calls 18,745
Lagoinha shows [Ad Jd]
pvanharibo shows [Qh Qd]
*** FLOP *** [3h 9s 9h]
*** TURN *** [3h 9s 9h] [6c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 9s 9h 6c] [As]
Lagoinha shows two pair, Aces and Nines
pvanharibo shows two pair, Queens and Nines
Lagoinha wins the pot (51,815) with two pair, Aces and Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 51,815 | Rake 0
Board: [3h 9s 9h 6c As]
Seat 1: Seabee27 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: MickoRot (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: pvanharibo (small blind) showed [Qh Qd] and lost with two pair, Queens and Nines
Seat 4: a_zuzolo (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: rbend77 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Lagoinha showed [Ad Jd] and won (51,815) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 7: uscollie folded before the Flop
Seat 8: jimpoker24 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: hitman2b folded before the Flop

rough week

this was a ~ stressful week work-wise, and i'm very glad for it to be over. my poker game has been suffering, and i haven't been making good decisions when i've been playing. i won't be playing again until sunday, b/c i'm off to my ten year college reunion!!!

for a long time i thought of my time in college as "yesterday" and it's finally dawning on me just how long ago it was. i will be up near my two poughkeepsie readers, in beautiful hudson valley, ny. two of my closest friends from college live in san francisco, and i only get to see them once every couple years since i left the west coast. my other closest friend lives in dc, but i missed her the last time she was in ny cause i was out visiting our other friends in sf.

it's gonna be a crazy couple of weeks, as i get back from reunion in time for a busy few days at work, then i'm off to vegas for five days. i'm definitely going to play the 2k event on thursday the 12th, but not sure about anything else yet. hope to meet up with some of the bloggers who are around that weekend, along with some who live in vegas full time.

then the following weekend i'll hopefully make it to the jersey shore, which will be three weekends away from my apartment. that's normal for many new yorkers who head to the hamptons or their country houses every weekend, but personally i love nyc weekends in the summer, cause the city clears out and it's the time of year to hit all the restaurants you usually can't get into.

best of luck to all who are playing in the toc this weekend, though obv the majority of my well wishes go to lucko. i'll be taking my shot in the freeroll on sunday, and prob playing a few other tournaments. have a great weekend!

obligatory wrap up post

finally, it's over. don't get me wrong, i had fun in bbthree, but as i've mentioned before, it was frustrating to play so many events and not have a toc seat. the irony is, the toc falls in the middle of my college reunion this weekend, and i'm not sure how i would have dealt with the awkward situation of trying to play a tournament in the midst of something i've been looking forward to for five years. it would have put me in a really difficult position, so in a weird way it actually works out very well that i didn't win a seat.

normally a wrap up post might have stats, but work has been a complete shitshow and doesn't show any signs of abating. i played 53 events and i think i made about $200 bucks, although the 500 profit from the side bet definitely helps. alan put up a tough fight, but in the end lucko took first and i took second, so that was ~ cool.

my weekend was so so pokerwise. i did really well in the $50 1r on saturday, my first time playing it, but went out 12th when my QQ couldn't beat AQ all in pre. i cashed, but woulda been cl if i'd won that pot, so definitely a bummer. nothing else really noteworthy, played more chippies (<3 chippies) and went out of big game when my flopped nut straight couldn't beat a flopped set which boated on the river. it was a three way all in, straight v. set v. nut flush draw, so it wasn't an ideal situation for my poor straight, but i certainly wasn't folding.

aight, back to the grind.