APL WEEK #8 - Live Play

Prologue:

Once again IG is living the life of Riley and has Friday off. I really can get into this working 4 days a week gig. The big news for me is that in about two months give or take I will no longer be driving the Northway in rush hour traffic. I will be working from home!! As soon as the separate phone line and cable line can be run into my house and my other equipment arrives I will be a Work-at-home Customer Service Rep. So Im not being Bangalored yet. I just read somewhere that Bangalore, India is thinking of changing its name to Bengaluru because of the negative connations the city has as a leader in outsourcing.

I take myself out to a late lunch at Moes (fish tacos) and then I head on up the Northway. My musical selection for the evening is a Dick's Picks with a great St Stephen and the Eleven Jam. Now I never heard the Eleven in concert with original Dead members until Phil relaunched it at an Other Ones show. When I saw the Dead in the 80's and early 90's Jerry was too sedated to play the chord changes that go into this great song which is in the tradition of a childs counting rhyme. It's a quirky piece with 11 beats to the bar. BFF Kim is a music teacher and says this is tough to pull off sucessfully. We've listened to many a great jam together.

Week #8 would turn into quite the week not so much because of any interesting hands I was dealt or that unfolded for me, but because of some of the player interactions that were observed and brought to my attention. We also have our biggest field with 28 taking to the felt.

Joyce and Juddy in particular are having a hard time dealing with a couple of the guys swearing. Zoe mentioned it to me the night before how two of the guys in particular are constantly using the fbomb and just being vulgar around her mom. Now I'm sure its a generational thing but I tend to me immune to it and frankly it doesnt bother me. I have also not been at the tables when the swearing has been going on.

Now, one of the guys who is named as a swearer, I have some insight on based on some info Snake shared with me. He's the dude who knocked me out in 4th place two weeks ago on my birthday when my QJ got nailed by his 89 two pairing. That was my first run-in with DMoney but I will remember his words: "Okay, I cant wait all night lets Gamble." So this week, hes at my table and I see a pattern emerging that only becomes more blatantly obvious as the night goes on and DMoney will now be known as the Eric Molina of the APL. I heard lets Gamble a few two many times. I saw steam coming out of his ears when his trip tens got nailed by Bill's boat of 222TT. Bill happens to be Zoe's dad and when that hand unfolded I gave her a nudge under the table. I had laid down AK to DMONEY (where the flop missed me completely) to what I am sure was now a bluff at the first table and got steamed for a few minutes. Fortunately I shook it off and recovered. But I now have enough information to know how to outwit outlast and outplay our Eric Molina.

Then there is Wade who is the epitomy of Poker for the mathematically challenged. No matter what the size of the pot early on.. A pink (500 chip) or Yellow (1000 chip) would be pushed out from his stack when he had position. I think he just liked betting in even increments. He was catching cards but he was bluffing a heck of a lot too. I need to get Wade a 'Pot Odds are your friend" shirt in the spirit of Phil Laak's Math is Fun shirt.

So the evening was getting off to an interesting start and then Ray raises from EP into Steve's BB. On the next hand Ray is in the BB and Steve raises into Ray. Ray mutters 'You Prick" and I my head comes up and I utter "Raymond" pretty much in unison with Karen. Ray apologizes (which he didnt have to do. It was amusing and so unlike him) and says 'Im in rare form tonite". He certainly was because he wound up being second out when our short-bus poker player called with some absurd hand and caught a one or two outer. I must say I was dumbfounded.

I then make my read of the evening (to bad I wasnt in the hand) on Karen who raises big. Wade calls here and the flop comes with baby rags that will make a nice wheel low if it fills for someone holding Ace with a low rag. When Karen bets out I am pretty sure I know what she is holding. Call from Wade who I know is chasing but he has chips... the card comes to fill the possible baby wheel and Wade makes a huge move on the pot. Karen goes into the tank then mucks. I look at her and say. "Sucks having to fold those Kings" She just gave me a look like how did i know that and flashes the emasculated cowboys. Wade shows he had the goods.

I then get my revenge from week 1 or 2 on Bruce the dude who over-values baby pairs. I am kind of low so I move in with QQ figuring I can join the second chance tourney as I still have not seen AA or KK (and I wont all night). Bruce is the only one who calls me. Not to worry. He has TT and I stack him. Thank you for the donation. I honestly dont believe he had me on any hand and he will call with any wired pair. He would have run those tens into AA.

At the break Coach P gives me my second half game plan. He turns and points to Joyce's big stack and says "You are going to get a piece of that". Visions of chips start dancing in my head if only I can get the cards I need to maneuver. I'm gonna have to run a no huddle offense. I then turn our conversation to his tourney of Wednesday nite...A nice 14th place finish for over $100 but shy of a final table appearance and the big bucks. I had watched him take a riverstars beat for a good chunk of his stack when he was in the top 5. His 44 hit the set only to get flushed. I believe the 4 of clubs gave the other dude the club flush.. Good Cheerleader I am I had typed in chat "You're still good". He recovered nicely only to enter a few pots that had me in a tizzy.

"Are you reading the Harrington's yet". I ask as I've lent mine to him. "Yeah, I've started them"...."You havent gotten to the M and Q section yet have you?". I can read the look that says I have no idea what you are talking about...."You need to read that next" I add. So now I know he hasn't gotten to inflection points and the zones... I ask.. "What were you holding when you raised to $24000 from EP first in and then had to lay down to the all-ins, You did that like twice and lost a good chunk of your stack (blinds were 4000/8000 and the antes had kicked in).... one of your famous QT, or KJ or 9T hands (I knew he didnt have what I now refer to as the snake)?" "Yes, probably you know me too well.(Yup I say to myself.. I told you week two I would figure you out). "You need to read Harrington II which will explain why certain hands and small pairs lose their value when the players at your table have the low M's. You have to be ready for the push from the shorties, dont bet 4xBB if you arent willing to call the all in".... "Why didnt you call me, you have my number"..."Not the first three digits of your cell phone... you have my number". "Oh thats right its XXX." I then make a comment about being a geek with a photographic memory and head off to win some pots.

Joyce's hubby Al is a patient and nice man. He always tells me how nice and sweet I am in a fatherly way. He takes two horrendous beats in a row. The first hand he gets flushed on the river when he should have knocked the person out (cant remember who it was but it may have been Darren). On the next hand he is the dealer. Im not sure who moved in first but its his KK against Zoe's QQ. For the second time he says I am so unlucky I always lose with the best hand. I tell AL not to think that or it will come true. He is now dealing his own fate. BURN>>> X X X ....He breathes deep and relaxes a little... BURN... X.... BURN. He places the river card face down and says to Tracey.."flip it I cant look". As Tracey flips the river card I see the case Q hit and I let out a blood curdling scream that wakes everyone up. There is silence. Poker is a cruel mean game. I apologize for my scream and Wade says. That hand was worth the scream and that was a good scream.

I manage to survive by taking down a nice pot that I hit my set with the IG-- The IG is 99. I get some of joyce and zoe's and someone elses chips. I manage to nurse my anemic stack to a 9th place finish. Im down to 2400 chips in the BB with 1000 up and decide to push in with A6os... Wade calls holding the biatches.. I pair the 6 but not the Ace IGHN.. Out 9th.. Good enough I think to move me up to 4th as Doug went out early and was only a few points ahead of me and perhaps third due to Ray's early out. Lex pulls me aside and says Im surprised you moved there with that hand. SIGH...That was the best hand I had seen in a while.

I go sit down with Ray at the second chance tourney.... Raise.... call from Juddy, Raise..... call from Juddy.... Repeat .. "You're gonna call me every time arent you?" he says. Yeah she will Ray (im trying to get him to read what my mind is thinking) and of course she does. So after he busts out we go rail Silo. I make a comment that Rich has been playing well and that he is due for a win with two runner-up finishes. Rich pushes all in and shows his bluff with 7T!! Ray says yeah he has been playing well. So we are figuring out the possible standings and determining that it would be to both our benefits if Chris or Wade went deep since they are the cellar dwellers. We figure we should all be bunched up Me, Ray, Zoe and Doug with Edawg and Steve-O in the top two spots... I look at Ray and say PROP Bet? and then say No, No better yet Roshambo. I turn to Zoe and say Rock Paper Scissors as Im pretty sure she hasnt the foggiest what Roshambo is. We turn around and Rich has pushed all in again and is all out. "What were we just saying about him playing well?" Ray says.

When Mike posts the results on Sunday I have in fact moved into the three spot a few points above Ray in 4th with Zoe in 5th and Doug in 6th...Bill and Silo have now joined the top ten. Still a long way to go but Im happy with 5 Final table in 8 outings and 3 cashes. Not bad for someone who was pretty much solely an internet player before a trip to Vegas turned her world upside down.

WSOP 2007 June 1st thru Mid July. As soon as the actual schedule is announced Im putting in for time off. I get 28 days off next year and Im caring over 5!! I was out there July 8th thru the 13th last year and hopefully can get the first two weeks of July off or part of it as the week of the 4th is a tough week. Ive got time and seniority and some pull with a manager. If worse comes to worse we will do a week in June and then back out in July.