Google test!

So I noticed that my pic with the governor showed up on a google search. I hope this one does also. So,

This is picture of Steve Friedlander taken with Ron Paul in Reno, Nevada 2007.

That's it.

Doomswitched

Step 6, on the bubble for money. Now, its true, the villain did call with the nut flush draw, although he was only getting 2-1 on the river. So I get my money in very good here and he hits a King.

Rigged, obv, imo.


PokerStars Game #18386267397: Tournament #93410347, $2000+$100 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2008/06/25 - 22:54:47 (ET)
Table '93410347 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: marg101 (3740 in chips)
Seat 3: bbbbb33 (7510 in chips)
Seat 4: Jeromen (2620 in chips)
Seat 6: beaverFE\/ER (3835 in chips)
Seat 7: M0n3y0nf1r3 (2885 in chips)
Seat 8: jellyeater (2290 in chips)
Seat 9: Axinar (4120 in chips)
bbbbb33: posts small blind 50
Jeromen: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jellyeater [Ac 8s]
beaverFE\/ER: folds
M0n3y0nf1r3: folds
jellyeater: raises 200 to 300
Axinar: calls 300
marg101: raises 200 to 500
bbbbb33: folds
Jeromen: folds
jellyeater: calls 200
Axinar: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Th 6s Ah]
jellyeater: checks
Axinar: checks
marg101: bets 100
jellyeater: calls 100
Axinar: calls 100
*** TURN *** [Th 6s Ah] [6h]
jellyeater: bets 1690 and is all-in
Axinar: folds
marg101: calls 1690
*** RIVER *** [Th 6s Ah 6h] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jellyeater: shows [Ac 8s] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
marg101: shows [Kd Kh] (a full house, Kings full of Sixes)
jellyeater said, "**** me"
marg101 collected 5330 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***

Board [Th 6s Ah 6h Ks]

Seat 2: marg101 (button) showed [Kd Kh] and won (5330) with a full house, Kings full of Sixes

Seat 8: jellyeater showed [Ac 8s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sixes

The icing on the cake, redux

No one reads this blog. At least no one comments on it. That's sort of why I post a picture of an attractive, blonde, australian woman with a gun holster on her hip (which perfectly describes my wife) and try to induce at least one snide comment. Oh well.

So a year ago, for you non-readers, I had a Vegas trip that was about as bad as my recent one. Just to be complete, here is how the day went on Saturday, after I busted out of the 2500 NL.

I had set up a credit line at the Venetian last time but haven't used it yet and thought I should. I just wanted to cash a check but again, they give me grief and want me to take a marker. Fine. I end up at the crap table. Amazing. I take $5K and play quarter craps with full odds and cover some numbers. I play for about 30 min and win $125. yes- I WON MONEY PLAYING CRAPS!!

Then I decided to take another shot at the 5-10 game at the Venetian. Its not soft, and I can't tell if its really nitty or only slightly nitty. There is some decent action with $40 preflop raises getting called often and some decent post flop play. I see the flop at least 6 more times with pocket pairs and still no set comes (that's 52 times in a row now for those of you keeping score).

Then this: Laggy utg raises to $40, gets a caller. I have two red Kings and make it $240. Folded to the button who has played less than the average number of hands and he asks me what denomination the purple $500 chips I have are. Ugh. He says he's gonna raise and he makes it another $500. Folded to me. I have very sensitive Ace detectors I think and they are going off. But really, what the fuck- can I lay down Kings preflop in a cash game 300 BB's deep? I don't think so. Should I repop? I think back to my Aaron Kanter hand and how bady l played Kings. I'll call and see what the flop brings. If there is any non-King paint or an Ace I'm done. It comes like 9-3-3 with two hearts. I really don't know what to do now, cause the AA detectors are going off again. Blech. I'm not going to check-fold, so I push, he snapcalls and shows AdAs. I nod. Another heart comes on the turn, just so the poker gods can tease me a little. The river bricks. Snirt stands up.

Glutton for punishment

meh.

there was a brief stretch of time during the 2500 NL today that I thought I could win/do well/cash/make the dinner break/make day 2 blah blah blah.

Brief stretch.

My table was the softest I've had. There was a guy who reminded me of the Melbourne players who thought Ace-rag was the nuts. Thing is, the guy would always call to the river and then catch an Ace and then bet out. It was hilarious. He took a huge pot from a good player this way, and I was just thinking to myself- "Dude- he has like Ace-four or somethng- wtf are you doing?"

While I still have seen 42 straight flops with pocket pairs and yet to flop a set, I did win my first race of the WSOP when I got all in with AKs vs QQ and flopped an ace. Got me up to 8000 chips or so and I was feeling pretty good. I got pocket 5's like 5 times, and each time I was up against something like AQ that missed and I was good.

Except the last time.

At 100-200 (i didn't even make the antes!) I call a raise in position with 55, against an aggressive internet type who I barely cover. So we see the flop of T-3-3 with two hearts and he fires out a C-bet of 700. I consider raising him right there but it looks goofy-- if I have A3, TT, AT, or any other hand really, I think I would be calling and let him bet again on the turn. So I call. Turn is an offsuit 4. He checks. I'm so brilliant. It's so easy to put him on any non-pair two high card hand here, and if that is what he has, he's gonna give up most of the time. I had already decided that if he bet the turn I was gonna shove on him anyway, so I was a little disappointed he didn't fire the second barrel. So the pot is about 2700 I think and I have roughly 6000 left. I bet 2K pretty quickly and he tanks. He tanks a long time. He looks so weak. He is trying to summon the courage to make a play at this pot with his whiffed AK and the longer he tanks the more I'm confident that I'm good and that I'm calling if he shoves. He picks up his cards at one point, just barely off the table like he's gonna muck, but then eventually he gathers his chips and ships them in.

Crap.

I have to trust my read here. He is weak, he doesn't like his hand and he's making a move. OK. I call. He looks dejected. "You got me" he says, as he tables pocket 7's. F-word. No dude, you got me and you were making your move with the best hand. Crap on toast.

I have 550 chips left and I ship it in with A8 against two players with AQ and KQ and I catch an 8 to triple up to like 2000 chips or 10 BB's. Nice. Good resteal stack. I'm in the BB with A4s and the button raises and I instashove and he instacalls with AQs and its gg me.

$5K Shootout

360 entries roughly, on 36 tables. You win your table you are in the money, and play 6 handed the next day. There is a bad player in seat 1. A very good player (Adam Levy) in seat 3, me in 4, and the rest of the table is at least competent if not very good. They are all internet players I think. Oh, and Phil Ivey sits down in the 2 seat. At least I have position on him.

Table 16: Phil Ivey (2), Adam "Roothlus" Levy (3), Amit "Amak316" Makhija (8), David "dpeters18" Peters (9), Brian "tsarrast" Rast (10)

We start with 10,000 chips which seems like a lot except the blinds are 100-200 and the second level is 150-300/25, so it goes up quick. The table is pretty tight, except for Ivey who wins a lot of small pots just by being in them. I pick up KQs and call a raise and its 3 players to the flop of K-8-5 rainbow. The raiser bets out 1200, I make it 3200 and both fold. Nice.

The 1 seat limps from the cutoff, Ivey limps, SB completes, and I check with 34o. Flop comes 2-5-8. SB checks, I check (hoping Ivey will bet) CO checks, Ivey bets 600, I call. Turn is another 2. Check-check. River is a blank, I bet out 1200, and I bluff out the best poker player in the world with 4-high.

Ivey then doubles up, knocking out seat 1 who slowplays AA and Ivey pushes the flop with a flush draw and gets there. Ivey then goes out when he flops top two and all the money goes in on the flop and the villain has a flush draw and gets there. Poker.

I chip up to about 13000 and then make the only real mistake of the day. I'm in the SB. A guy min-raises to 400, the button makes it 1800 and I call, set-mining, with pocket 9's. Unfortunately the min-raiser now pushes and we both fold. I still am pretty aggro though and win many pots without confrontation. I wake up with JJ in the big blind and 3-bet a raiser who folds. I open raise with AA and the big blind looks like he is itching to repop me but he doesn't. Sigh.

At the far end of the table there is a euro-player who has gotten short and has started to open-push. He's done this about 4 times-- at one point he gets called and shows Q8s and manages to double up. So when he open pushes again and I look down at AQ on the button I think I'm probably way ahead of his range and this is a good time to knock out a player and get some chips. I call off 3800 and he shows pocket 4's and I miss. Damn it.

After the break I find myself with less than 6000 chips and blinds at 200-400/50. Not good, but a healthy stack to resteal with. So I wait for an opportunity. It comes when there is a raise to 1000 from the Adam "Roothlus" Levy in the cutoff and I push on the button with JTs. He calls with 22. The flop comes Q-9-x and now I have 14 outs twice to double up. For you non-poker people this means I need any King, Eight, Jack or Ten. Needless to say I brick out and its good game me. fwiw, Roothles went on to win the table...

Blondes rule

I'm going to try to get Rina in this outfit. (The holster won't be empty though)

$1500 6-handed

OK, psyched for this event. Good thing I pre-registered as they sellout and about 200-400 people get shut out. Joe Sebok is at my table. I get the old Jack-duey in the SB in the first hand, its folded to me, I raise and win.

This is the high water mark of the day I think.

On the second hand there is a raise and two calls. The flop comes K-8-6 and there is a bet, raise, push, fold, call, and the poor bastard who flopped a set of sixes is on the rail to the set of 8's. (The third guy had AK and the sense to get out of the way)

I end up making some late position and button raises with hands like QTo which sometimes get played back at. One guy seems to always have a hand, showing AK several times as well as QQ, KK etc.

I play one hand (very badly) with Sebok-- he raises UTG and I call in the SB with AKo. Flop comes Q-J-x and I check-call and then check-fold the turn. Blech. Not the way to play a tourney where you have such a short chip stack to begin with.

I then play a hand against the heater guy-- I raise in LP with QJ and he calls. Flop comes Q-high monotone and he check-calls twice before firing on the river. I get like 5-1 on his bet and know I'm beat and indeed he tables AQ. Blech.

Now I'm really short and ship it in with KK to be called by 66. Flop comes 7-5-4 and I know I'm toast. Turn is a 3. GG me.

I head over to the Venetian to play the Omaha 8OB $540 they are running. They have over 200 runners, paying 18. Its a gross game, but I like to play it a bit as I'm still learning a lot. Its limit poker, high-low, so having the hands is pretty crucial. I donked up and down for a while eventually busting out around 50th.

Then the Lakers lost.

Tomorrow (with the $5K shootout) will be better. I hope I get a decent table draw....

WSOP 2008

Arrived this evening and checked into my comped sweet suite at the Palazzo. Nice. High floor with good view.

Went to the Rio to get my registration in order. Table 23 Red, Seat 1 for the short handed event tomorrow. Saw that Zak still had chips in the $2K today and was nearing the money. Decided to try a satellite and a $525 started up. Some strange play (big overpushes early) but for the most part everyone was solid. We started with 2000 chips at 25/25 and 20 min levels. No one busted for the first 4 levels. Sick. This turns it into a shovefest. I chip up and down and then knock a guy out who pushes from the button and I call with JJ. Very next hand a guy pushes UTG and its folded to me on the button and I have JJ again. This guys range must be huge, and since he has only 9 BB's he prob just open pushes with his whole range. I think I'm usually ahead here and I call. He has QQ and I miss. Now I'm short. With blinds at 150-300, I post the BB and have 450 left. Yuck. The button goes all in, the SB (who I think is only 19 and has a Millennium Falcon chip protector) tanks and then goes all in. I just go all in blind. I hae QJo, the SB has ATo and the button opened with KQ. Someone the board comes 8x9xT and I make a str8 to triple up. Whoot. We get 5 handed and the kid has a monster stack and he's raising a lot. He raises, I have KQ and push and he calls with AQ and its GG me.

I head over to the tourney that Zak is in and they are hand for hand on the money bubble. I watch this complete donkey call off his last chips with AQo only to lose a raise against a big stack who had open raised with 77. The caller had at least 6-7 BB's left, and it sure looked like he could have folded into the money. I hope the dumbass factor is as high tomorrow.