Click here for the Cardplayer Magazine article. The sum of 60 million has been edited to $6.1 million. Others to be named. And if anyone ever listened to the PokerRoad podcast with Barry Greenstein and Joe Sebok we now know Russ Hamilton is a liar as well as a cheat.
But then again didnt he load his pockets up with cans to win a weight prop bet?
Hope they take his picture down from the Amazon Room.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Football picks week #4/week in review
Well I'm trying to do a weekly post on picks and my results, as I am the scorekeeper for the IG/SNAKE game and have to do it anyway. So here were my picks for all three leagues for the week:
CIN> JAX> ATL> DEN> NO> AZ> TB> TEN> SD > BUF> DAL> PHI> > Monday game> > PIT> > POINTS - 48
I had a blech week as you can see... 6-6 heading into tonites game.. The Snake vs IG challenge saw Snake pull within one of a tie for the season top spot. We picked three games differently and he won two of those three. Obviously this week saw me fall in both Tao of Poker and California Rob's league. I suppose I could call that the California techies/420'ers league as I'm sure most of them are techies (programmers, hardware and software developers etc) and I know at least one still smokes them if hes got them!!
I knew this was a week that the horrible teams would need to show they had a reason take the field for the rest of the season and there were some division leaders who look better then they are. That is the trick isn't it? seeing which of the match-ups would upset the apple carts. I went with the majority and picked favorites.
Sadly my 3-0 CU Buffs are now 3-1 as we lost to Florida State. Our QB Cody Hawkins, son of the coach threw a few interceptions in the early goings which put lots of points on the board for the Seminoles. And then penalties killed any hopes of CU gaining ground on FSU. It was such a disappointment for me and it ran for like 4 hours (that is with no OT!!) that i fell asleep in the 4th quarter and slept thru my concert. I was supposed to head over to Troy to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals but woke up too late and bleary to want to get myself together to see if i could catch any of the show. I think the change in the seasons is running havoc with my allergies and sinuses.
I finished 2nd in a little forum freeroll on Bodog a few nites ago. Two months ago i was second in same tourney. Thanks to LJ for staking me in the Mookie on Waffles nite. I played but went out really early on a typical FTP hand. I get nothing playable and when I do get a pair its an overpair to the board but a person in later position has a bigger overpair to the board and all the money goes in post flop etc etc. blah blah blah. Im always going broke on-line there. Live I can actually get away from those scenarios. I had withdrawn all my money off FTP and if it hadnt been for her transfer I wouldnt have played. I have no intentions of playing on FTP anytime soon so my appearances in blogger tournies will be NADA.
I played live last nite. I finally got it going on about three-four blind levels in. Then when my table broke, I got moved and my nice chip stack got depleted when I raised from EP with a strong hand and got reraised I think from one of the blinds or the button. I made the call and got away from the hand for a severe dent when I flopped air and I saw my opponent flash KK into the muck. Lets just say he had most of my outs there and AK sucks. I went down to a low of 4k from about 17k in chips in the course of a like two hands. I worked that stack back up to over 40k with some open shoves that no one called but I scooped blinds. Then a double up when I needed it when i flopped two pair(top and bottom) in a three way pot and checked first to act. A check behind and an all in from a bigstack with just top pair for him. I called and my two pair held. A few other big hands were raked in by me.
There was a lot of HBL'ing (high blind limping) going on. And I actually love it although I try not to be the first to do it because if i do I only do it if its a hand i may call a raise with depending on the number of people still in the pot. HBLing builds pots and if you flop a monster in position you get paid off. Only the real aggro guys 3-Bet so that is a tactic reserved for the final table But at the final table there was really no HBLing, that i could take advantage of and i was miserably card dead (92os three times in my big blind doesnt help and if i hadnt been raised out of one of the hands it would have flopped a boat!!!) There were 281k chips in play so with my 40k plus stack I was up near the chip lead, but there were probably 4 of us with about the same and maybe one with a little more. The shorties were shoving for their lives and some people pushed others out of hands when the correct play would have been to keep other strong hands in to knock out someone. I saw my chips dwindle and when I finally called the BB with 107os (the Negreanu) and hit trip tens on a board of TT6 I checked. Marilyn who is a very good player shoved and of course i called with my trips only to see she had flopped a boat with pocket 66's. I couldnt catch the case ten or a 7 for a bigger boat and IGH. Out 8th on the money bubble as they chopped in 7th place.
No poker for me for a few days probably. Heroes, my newest favorite show is on tonite, as is football. Thursday I will be out of town for the day and Friday I am going out to dinner and to see Le Grand Cirque as an early birthday outing (my bday isnt till the 13th but the show is a touring Cirque and only here October 3rd-5th). I have never seen one in Vegas so am looking forward to it.
And the financial debacle this country is in has made me cautious as far as spending any money. Fortunately one of my former employers who I have a pension thru was taken private when American Express sold parts of Shearson Lehman Hutton off in bits and pieces and is now part of Goldman Sachs. THEY LIVE!! I have a little blog post planned on some history I was round about part of in an outsider kind of way when i have some time.
CIN> JAX> ATL> DEN> NO> AZ> TB> TEN> SD > BUF> DAL> PHI> > Monday game> > PIT> > POINTS - 48
I had a blech week as you can see... 6-6 heading into tonites game.. The Snake vs IG challenge saw Snake pull within one of a tie for the season top spot. We picked three games differently and he won two of those three. Obviously this week saw me fall in both Tao of Poker and California Rob's league. I suppose I could call that the California techies/420'ers league as I'm sure most of them are techies (programmers, hardware and software developers etc) and I know at least one still smokes them if hes got them!!
I knew this was a week that the horrible teams would need to show they had a reason take the field for the rest of the season and there were some division leaders who look better then they are. That is the trick isn't it? seeing which of the match-ups would upset the apple carts. I went with the majority and picked favorites.
Sadly my 3-0 CU Buffs are now 3-1 as we lost to Florida State. Our QB Cody Hawkins, son of the coach threw a few interceptions in the early goings which put lots of points on the board for the Seminoles. And then penalties killed any hopes of CU gaining ground on FSU. It was such a disappointment for me and it ran for like 4 hours (that is with no OT!!) that i fell asleep in the 4th quarter and slept thru my concert. I was supposed to head over to Troy to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals but woke up too late and bleary to want to get myself together to see if i could catch any of the show. I think the change in the seasons is running havoc with my allergies and sinuses.
I finished 2nd in a little forum freeroll on Bodog a few nites ago. Two months ago i was second in same tourney. Thanks to LJ for staking me in the Mookie on Waffles nite. I played but went out really early on a typical FTP hand. I get nothing playable and when I do get a pair its an overpair to the board but a person in later position has a bigger overpair to the board and all the money goes in post flop etc etc. blah blah blah. Im always going broke on-line there. Live I can actually get away from those scenarios. I had withdrawn all my money off FTP and if it hadnt been for her transfer I wouldnt have played. I have no intentions of playing on FTP anytime soon so my appearances in blogger tournies will be NADA.
I played live last nite. I finally got it going on about three-four blind levels in. Then when my table broke, I got moved and my nice chip stack got depleted when I raised from EP with a strong hand and got reraised I think from one of the blinds or the button. I made the call and got away from the hand for a severe dent when I flopped air and I saw my opponent flash KK into the muck. Lets just say he had most of my outs there and AK sucks. I went down to a low of 4k from about 17k in chips in the course of a like two hands. I worked that stack back up to over 40k with some open shoves that no one called but I scooped blinds. Then a double up when I needed it when i flopped two pair(top and bottom) in a three way pot and checked first to act. A check behind and an all in from a bigstack with just top pair for him. I called and my two pair held. A few other big hands were raked in by me.
There was a lot of HBL'ing (high blind limping) going on. And I actually love it although I try not to be the first to do it because if i do I only do it if its a hand i may call a raise with depending on the number of people still in the pot. HBLing builds pots and if you flop a monster in position you get paid off. Only the real aggro guys 3-Bet so that is a tactic reserved for the final table But at the final table there was really no HBLing, that i could take advantage of and i was miserably card dead (92os three times in my big blind doesnt help and if i hadnt been raised out of one of the hands it would have flopped a boat!!!) There were 281k chips in play so with my 40k plus stack I was up near the chip lead, but there were probably 4 of us with about the same and maybe one with a little more. The shorties were shoving for their lives and some people pushed others out of hands when the correct play would have been to keep other strong hands in to knock out someone. I saw my chips dwindle and when I finally called the BB with 107os (the Negreanu) and hit trip tens on a board of TT6 I checked. Marilyn who is a very good player shoved and of course i called with my trips only to see she had flopped a boat with pocket 66's. I couldnt catch the case ten or a 7 for a bigger boat and IGH. Out 8th on the money bubble as they chopped in 7th place.
No poker for me for a few days probably. Heroes, my newest favorite show is on tonite, as is football. Thursday I will be out of town for the day and Friday I am going out to dinner and to see Le Grand Cirque as an early birthday outing (my bday isnt till the 13th but the show is a touring Cirque and only here October 3rd-5th). I have never seen one in Vegas so am looking forward to it.
And the financial debacle this country is in has made me cautious as far as spending any money. Fortunately one of my former employers who I have a pension thru was taken private when American Express sold parts of Shearson Lehman Hutton off in bits and pieces and is now part of Goldman Sachs. THEY LIVE!! I have a little blog post planned on some history I was round about part of in an outsider kind of way when i have some time.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Weekend End
First go wish Dr Pauly a happy birthday. I happened to be catching up on PokerNews yesterday. The lovely Change100 is covering WSOPE over in merry old England, handling live blogging duties (as well as also covering WCOOP for the Pokerstars blog). I knew she hadn't posted on Pot Committed in a bit and when I went to her blog I saw her post for the good doctor. The stinker kept it quiet and didn't even mention it on Tao of Poker/Pauly or Coventry. Nor did he drop it casually in an email I got from him (we are both Wall Street alums or rats who left the sinking ship that is our financial system).
Here are IG's Week III football picks. Remember they are straight up not against the spread:
> ATL> BUF> NYG> NE> TENN> TB> AZ> CAR> DENVER> SanFran> SEA> PHILLY> BAL> INDY> DALLAS> > Monday game> > SanDiego> > POINTS - 45
Congratulations to local phenom Shaun Deeb for taking down the WCOOP Event #25 - PLO w/rebuys for a cool $144k.
Here are IG's Week III football picks. Remember they are straight up not against the spread:
> ATL> BUF> NYG> NE> TENN> TB> AZ> CAR> DENVER> SanFran> SEA> PHILLY> BAL> INDY> DALLAS> > Monday game> > SanDiego> > POINTS - 45
Congratulations to local phenom Shaun Deeb for taking down the WCOOP Event #25 - PLO w/rebuys for a cool $144k.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Big thank you and props to Waffles
I know a lot of folks were recently burned by lending money to other bloggers (or one in particular). That didn't even dawn on me when I asked to trade Pokerstars for Full Tilt. Waffles was the first and only blogger to respond to my plea. We exchanged a few comments and when I got home from Starbucks Thursday night the money was in my Stars account without me having shipped to him on Full Tilt. We didn't even have a girly chat going. I promptly shipped him what i had on full tilt ($13 less due to a Mookie buy-in) and the balance back on Stars.
Normally Snake5970 is who I do business with but he hadn't played on Full Tilt in months ( WSOP Main Event multi-seat giveaway was it) and has no desire to do so at least for the present time so a plea to someone who plays mostly on Full Tilt was going to be my best shot.
So thank you Waffles for not only helping me out but for posting those nice remarks on your blog about my trustworthiness. I know there are a few others out there who can vouch for me but they aren't part of the normal blogger crew who plays on Full Tilt.
So my FTP balance is now at Zero. It is easy to get money on to the site but difficult as all hell to get it off. I mean you have to fax in ID and do a bunch of other calisthenics and for what I had on there it wasn't worth it . I have plenty of money on Bodog (horse racing winnings) and plenty of $T on Bodog to last me till next year for poker buy-ins but had decided I wasn't going to redeposit onto any site. Plus you cant do player to player transfers on Bodog. I prefer playing on Pokerstars vs Full Tilt for numerous reasons. Plus its easier to withdraw. I mean they send you a check without you having to provide proof of who you are and its to you in a few days and they never bounce.
As for the IG vs Snake Pigskin Challenge I maintained my two game advantage thru week II. We picked 5 games differently and split on 4 of them. The other game was the rescheduled Baltimore vs Houston game. So I maintained my week I lead.
Current standings: IG 20-11
Snake 18-13
(BTW I can hang with the experts over at Bristol University and then some. I think they need some girl power in their expert analysis).
I keep getting these delusional emails from Snake that I better start bowing to the king because all my homework is/will be for naught. He also wanted to know how much I paid Ed Hochuli for that blown call in the Broncos-Bolts game as I had picked the Broncos. I mean really he must be joking right???!!!! He knows I take my football as seriously as I take poker (at least the live version) and this is going to be 17 weeks of tough competition.
And how about them CU Buffs!!!! I will admit it was a little hokey listening to John Denver's Rocky Mt High whenever they featured CU and Country Roads when they featured West Virginia. But there can't be a more beautiful setting for a college football game. I'm just jealous we never had Thursday night games broadcast on ESPN when I was attending CU. Of course ESPN much like MTV was in its infancy when I was attending school. Besides my Buffs were horrible circa 1980-1982 and would never have been featured on a national prime time broadcast. I mean Jim McMahon was attending BYU at the time and passed for a gazillion yards each time he had the ball when BYU played CU back in 1981. How horrible were we: 1980-1981 record was 1-10, 1981-1982 record was 3-8, 1982-1983 record was 2-8-1 (a tie is a win right?).
**IG graduated CU in May 1983 earning two degrees (Business & Psychology which serve me at the poker tables today) . I attended Boulder for three years, my first two years were at the University of Vermont.
I''ll have my week III picks up tomorrow.
Normally Snake5970 is who I do business with but he hadn't played on Full Tilt in months ( WSOP Main Event multi-seat giveaway was it) and has no desire to do so at least for the present time so a plea to someone who plays mostly on Full Tilt was going to be my best shot.
So thank you Waffles for not only helping me out but for posting those nice remarks on your blog about my trustworthiness. I know there are a few others out there who can vouch for me but they aren't part of the normal blogger crew who plays on Full Tilt.
So my FTP balance is now at Zero. It is easy to get money on to the site but difficult as all hell to get it off. I mean you have to fax in ID and do a bunch of other calisthenics and for what I had on there it wasn't worth it . I have plenty of money on Bodog (horse racing winnings) and plenty of $T on Bodog to last me till next year for poker buy-ins but had decided I wasn't going to redeposit onto any site. Plus you cant do player to player transfers on Bodog. I prefer playing on Pokerstars vs Full Tilt for numerous reasons. Plus its easier to withdraw. I mean they send you a check without you having to provide proof of who you are and its to you in a few days and they never bounce.
As for the IG vs Snake Pigskin Challenge I maintained my two game advantage thru week II. We picked 5 games differently and split on 4 of them. The other game was the rescheduled Baltimore vs Houston game. So I maintained my week I lead.
Current standings: IG 20-11
Snake 18-13
(BTW I can hang with the experts over at Bristol University and then some. I think they need some girl power in their expert analysis).
I keep getting these delusional emails from Snake that I better start bowing to the king because all my homework is/will be for naught. He also wanted to know how much I paid Ed Hochuli for that blown call in the Broncos-Bolts game as I had picked the Broncos. I mean really he must be joking right???!!!! He knows I take my football as seriously as I take poker (at least the live version) and this is going to be 17 weeks of tough competition.
And how about them CU Buffs!!!! I will admit it was a little hokey listening to John Denver's Rocky Mt High whenever they featured CU and Country Roads when they featured West Virginia. But there can't be a more beautiful setting for a college football game. I'm just jealous we never had Thursday night games broadcast on ESPN when I was attending CU. Of course ESPN much like MTV was in its infancy when I was attending school. Besides my Buffs were horrible circa 1980-1982 and would never have been featured on a national prime time broadcast. I mean Jim McMahon was attending BYU at the time and passed for a gazillion yards each time he had the ball when BYU played CU back in 1981. How horrible were we: 1980-1981 record was 1-10, 1981-1982 record was 3-8, 1982-1983 record was 2-8-1 (a tie is a win right?).
**IG graduated CU in May 1983 earning two degrees (Business & Psychology which serve me at the poker tables today) . I attended Boulder for three years, my first two years were at the University of Vermont.
I''ll have my week III picks up tomorrow.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Meet Ralphie V (aka Blackout)
She's a beauty but at only about 500 lbs she hasn't reached top weight which can be up to 1300 lbs for a female bison. Ralphie IV is still alive and well but is semi-retired.
Here is V at her Spring Debut. She slipped her harness and all but one of her handlers
For the histoy of Ralphie's I thru V click here.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
FTP to Pokerstars swap anyone?
Contact me by email or send me an IM. Or leave a comment. I want to move what I have on FTP over to stars. Its only $122.74.
I'll do the transfer with any of the regular blogger crew.
I'll do the transfer with any of the regular blogger crew.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
NFL Week 2
My CU Buffs are off till Thursday night when we play ranked West Virginia, but I am gearing up for the OSU Buckeyes vs the USC Trojans which should be a ballgame. I know this gal will be rooting for her Buckeyes.
The Minnesota Vikings rivered me as usual and I wound up falling to third in California Rob's league. I told him he iced me when he emailed me to wish me luck and that he had a feeling I would take it down. His reply was: "Nah, you can't ice a real roll, your fate has already been decided, we're just gonna find out what fate's decision was tonight."
I did take a two game lead on Snake5970 in our heads=up season long challenge and I finished in a multiway tie for second in the Tao of Poker's ESPN pick-em league.
I'm not going to be as entertaining with my analysis as this dude or this dudette. In fact I'm not going to provide any witty or deep analysis at all. Here are IG's picks for this week:
CIN> JAX> KC> IND > CAR> GB> NYG > NO> TB> SEA> NYJ> DEN> AZ> HOU> PIT> > Monday game> > DAL> points 43 for Rob's league and vs Snake5970, 44 for Tao league.
Congrats are in order to Action Hank. His horse: Battle of Britain won (and broke her/his maiden) at Delaware Park on Tuesday. BoB was stabled at Saratoga during the meet but never ran and I know Hank was disappointed about that. Per Snake5970 he went off at about 4:1 odds. Snake's horses have still not left the barn but one may debut in October.
How about the "I hit bottom pair so will call a pro's post flop bet and suck out two pair with 62os on him move" during Tuesday nights WSOP broadcast by Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. That was the most painful poker I have watched. I almost didnt want to mention it because he could kick my ass but ZOMG!!!
Observation/rhetorical question while railing some WCOOP (because its much better watching a pro get two outed on riverstars then it is being two outed yourself). Does AK ever win against a rag ace on pokerstars? Inquiring minds want to know.
Time to plate up my deli sandwich (from Gershon's) with kosher dill pickle and shrimp and settle in for some football.
The Minnesota Vikings rivered me as usual and I wound up falling to third in California Rob's league. I told him he iced me when he emailed me to wish me luck and that he had a feeling I would take it down. His reply was: "Nah, you can't ice a real roll, your fate has already been decided, we're just gonna find out what fate's decision was tonight."
I did take a two game lead on Snake5970 in our heads=up season long challenge and I finished in a multiway tie for second in the Tao of Poker's ESPN pick-em league.
I'm not going to be as entertaining with my analysis as this dude or this dudette. In fact I'm not going to provide any witty or deep analysis at all. Here are IG's picks for this week:
CIN> JAX> KC> IND > CAR> GB> NYG > NO> TB> SEA> NYJ> DEN> AZ> HOU> PIT> > Monday game> > DAL> points 43 for Rob's league and vs Snake5970, 44 for Tao league.
Congrats are in order to Action Hank. His horse: Battle of Britain won (and broke her/his maiden) at Delaware Park on Tuesday. BoB was stabled at Saratoga during the meet but never ran and I know Hank was disappointed about that. Per Snake5970 he went off at about 4:1 odds. Snake's horses have still not left the barn but one may debut in October.
How about the "I hit bottom pair so will call a pro's post flop bet and suck out two pair with 62os on him move" during Tuesday nights WSOP broadcast by Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell. That was the most painful poker I have watched. I almost didnt want to mention it because he could kick my ass but ZOMG!!!
Observation/rhetorical question while railing some WCOOP (because its much better watching a pro get two outed on riverstars then it is being two outed yourself). Does AK ever win against a rag ace on pokerstars? Inquiring minds want to know.
Time to plate up my deli sandwich (from Gershon's) with kosher dill pickle and shrimp and settle in for some football.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Football Musings
So it looks like the Patriots have lost Tom Brady for the season. I'm not sure if California Rob loves the Pats (and Red Sox for that matter) more then Phish. It may be too close to call there but my condolences to him if so. I read an interesting tidbit in USA today I believe, that for the first time in a long time Brady was not listed on any injury report leading up to Sunday's game, meaning he would start. Maybe that was a curse. I know he didn't take a snap at all in preseason. Maybe he was a bit rusty.
How about Brett Favre? I mean I have to get excited about a 40- something scrambling around on a football field (I mean he is hot in that Wrangler's commercial!!!). And being a NYer I do root for the Jets and Giants (and have been to quite a few Jets games).
As for my football results, I'm in the hunt for the weekly win for California Rob's pool. I need Minnesota to win and then it will go to the Monday nite game points tiebreaker. One dude is 11-3 right now. I'm tied for second in a three way tie. We all picked Denver to win. I am the only one who picked Vikes over Green Bay. I'm also in a multi-way tie (before tonights games) for 2nd in Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker ESPN pick-em league. VinNay is in a tie for first. My guess is he picked the Bills (being a western NYer) and that was a big win for the Bills over Seattle. Seattle does not look like a super-bowl contender after that loss. As for the Snake5970 vs IG steel-cage heads-up challenge I currently have a one game lead. If Denver wins make it two. We have decided that the winner takes the other to dinner at Carrabba's at season's end. Just another game in our mixed game rotation. I missed out on Miami Don's survivor league and I'm playing no pure fantasy football leagues with drafts etc.
My Colorado Buffs won over the Eastern Washington University Eagles, who I dont think we ever played before. I just checked and I'm correct we had never played EWU. Next week things get a bit dicier as we play West Virginia (another 1st time game) currently ranked in the top 25 (24th or 25th depending on the poll). I'm excited about this because it will be a Thursday nite game broadcast on ESPN on September 18th.
I did not see any of the VMA's. From what I have heard on various message boards Russell Brand, the Brit host (a former junkie well lets just make him an addict ) was unfunny. Of course Brit humor is an acquired taste so I dont know if this is true or not. The new issue of Rolling Stone has an article on Brand titled Stand-Up's New Bad Boy.
I do not watch the Hill's I caught a clip where Spencer called Heidi (yes I know who they are thanks to their frequent appearances in EW and other weekly magazines) down to his car while she was working to address an issue. First of all, I would never have left my job on company time to hold court with a boyfriend. Okay, I forget that this is" reality TV". The issue was that Heidi's older sis is crashing with them and she erased three shows of his that he had TIVO'd. Oh, the horror. So, I found him completely annoying and the male version of a dumb blonde. Another annoyance for regular Hill's viewers was that MTV had all these banners up for the VMA's during the Hills and it covered up half the Hills dialogue and stuff that was being posted at the bottom of the screen.
Yesterday was the clamsteam poker tourney. When I sat down I decided to adjust any expectations for the day. I felt like I was playing a senior citizen's version of no limit holdem. I decided to just have fun and just roll with it by not taking the game seriously. Snake5970 was having issues of his own at his table. The dealers, folded themselves out of turn at his table, and didnt act as table captains. Snake even said to me, about one person at his table who I had taken several huge pots off of the Friday nite before and given him my dead on assessment of... 'That woman you told me about, is a miserable bitch." I reminded him that she was just as miserable the one other time we all were seated together at the former APL location. There are some good solid players amongst the older then me set ( Action Hank and Marilyn) but they were outnumbered by the weak tight, no foldem holdem, chasers (who shall be unnamed).
We started with 6k in chips, 20 minute blinds (vs the usual 10k chips Shane's tourney's usually start with) since we had to be out of there by 8PM and had about an hour break for our dinners. I figured if I bust out early I can go suck down more raw clams. I could get nothing going. When a new player got moved to our table and raised, I shoved all in with AKc since I only had about 4k left and I'll shove when calling a raise amounts to 25% of my stack. Into KK I ran and i was down to scraps. From a low of 375 chips I quaded up on the next hand with AJ, and got back to 4k+ after three allins in a row with AJ, AQ, 88. With the blinds at 300/600 and me in the BB an early position player raised to $1600. Again that was more then 25% of my stack so I shoved again with AQ ran into QQ and to the rail I went. I mean I'm not going to waste my time and wait for a hand or blind a way to nothing. My motto is chip up or go home!!. As Chad and I said there is no difference in going out first, 15th or on the bubble. I'm playing to put myself in position to win. So this was my first none final table in my last 5 outings. Got it out of my system and Ill be ready to roll again come this weekend.
A lovely day off for IG. I went over to Border's and browsed thru the magazine racks. Spending time in a book store has to be one of my most favorite ways to spend an afternoon off. I sat down latte in hand and combed thru ESPN the magazine and Rolling Stone. I had a desire to read MAD magazine which I loved as a kid but couldn't find at my smallish Border's. I made a list of some books I want to read, one being The Road by Cormac McCarthy which Dr Pauly himself just read. I also checked out Eat Love Pray which LJ just read.
On Saturday at Target, for $19.99 I picked up the first season of a show I loved: Millennium. Does anyone remember that show starring Lance Henriksen? It was by Chris Carter of X-files fame. It appears that a millennium movie may be in the making. I also just found out that next month all three seasons will be released in a box set.
Soon it will be time to order a pizza and wings and settle in for some Monday Night Football. Does life get any better?. I suppose if I had a flat panel Big screen TV with a Bose sound system to watch it on it would be. Add in a profitable night of poker and chocolate cake and it would be enough to curl my toes!!!!
How about Brett Favre? I mean I have to get excited about a 40- something scrambling around on a football field (I mean he is hot in that Wrangler's commercial!!!). And being a NYer I do root for the Jets and Giants (and have been to quite a few Jets games).
As for my football results, I'm in the hunt for the weekly win for California Rob's pool. I need Minnesota to win and then it will go to the Monday nite game points tiebreaker. One dude is 11-3 right now. I'm tied for second in a three way tie. We all picked Denver to win. I am the only one who picked Vikes over Green Bay. I'm also in a multi-way tie (before tonights games) for 2nd in Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker ESPN pick-em league. VinNay is in a tie for first. My guess is he picked the Bills (being a western NYer) and that was a big win for the Bills over Seattle. Seattle does not look like a super-bowl contender after that loss. As for the Snake5970 vs IG steel-cage heads-up challenge I currently have a one game lead. If Denver wins make it two. We have decided that the winner takes the other to dinner at Carrabba's at season's end. Just another game in our mixed game rotation. I missed out on Miami Don's survivor league and I'm playing no pure fantasy football leagues with drafts etc.
My Colorado Buffs won over the Eastern Washington University Eagles, who I dont think we ever played before. I just checked and I'm correct we had never played EWU. Next week things get a bit dicier as we play West Virginia (another 1st time game) currently ranked in the top 25 (24th or 25th depending on the poll). I'm excited about this because it will be a Thursday nite game broadcast on ESPN on September 18th.
I did not see any of the VMA's. From what I have heard on various message boards Russell Brand, the Brit host (a former junkie well lets just make him an addict ) was unfunny. Of course Brit humor is an acquired taste so I dont know if this is true or not. The new issue of Rolling Stone has an article on Brand titled Stand-Up's New Bad Boy.
I do not watch the Hill's I caught a clip where Spencer called Heidi (yes I know who they are thanks to their frequent appearances in EW and other weekly magazines) down to his car while she was working to address an issue. First of all, I would never have left my job on company time to hold court with a boyfriend. Okay, I forget that this is" reality TV". The issue was that Heidi's older sis is crashing with them and she erased three shows of his that he had TIVO'd. Oh, the horror. So, I found him completely annoying and the male version of a dumb blonde. Another annoyance for regular Hill's viewers was that MTV had all these banners up for the VMA's during the Hills and it covered up half the Hills dialogue and stuff that was being posted at the bottom of the screen.
Yesterday was the clamsteam poker tourney. When I sat down I decided to adjust any expectations for the day. I felt like I was playing a senior citizen's version of no limit holdem. I decided to just have fun and just roll with it by not taking the game seriously. Snake5970 was having issues of his own at his table. The dealers, folded themselves out of turn at his table, and didnt act as table captains. Snake even said to me, about one person at his table who I had taken several huge pots off of the Friday nite before and given him my dead on assessment of... 'That woman you told me about, is a miserable bitch." I reminded him that she was just as miserable the one other time we all were seated together at the former APL location. There are some good solid players amongst the older then me set ( Action Hank and Marilyn) but they were outnumbered by the weak tight, no foldem holdem, chasers (who shall be unnamed).
We started with 6k in chips, 20 minute blinds (vs the usual 10k chips Shane's tourney's usually start with) since we had to be out of there by 8PM and had about an hour break for our dinners. I figured if I bust out early I can go suck down more raw clams. I could get nothing going. When a new player got moved to our table and raised, I shoved all in with AKc since I only had about 4k left and I'll shove when calling a raise amounts to 25% of my stack. Into KK I ran and i was down to scraps. From a low of 375 chips I quaded up on the next hand with AJ, and got back to 4k+ after three allins in a row with AJ, AQ, 88. With the blinds at 300/600 and me in the BB an early position player raised to $1600. Again that was more then 25% of my stack so I shoved again with AQ ran into QQ and to the rail I went. I mean I'm not going to waste my time and wait for a hand or blind a way to nothing. My motto is chip up or go home!!. As Chad and I said there is no difference in going out first, 15th or on the bubble. I'm playing to put myself in position to win. So this was my first none final table in my last 5 outings. Got it out of my system and Ill be ready to roll again come this weekend.
A lovely day off for IG. I went over to Border's and browsed thru the magazine racks. Spending time in a book store has to be one of my most favorite ways to spend an afternoon off. I sat down latte in hand and combed thru ESPN the magazine and Rolling Stone. I had a desire to read MAD magazine which I loved as a kid but couldn't find at my smallish Border's. I made a list of some books I want to read, one being The Road by Cormac McCarthy which Dr Pauly himself just read. I also checked out Eat Love Pray which LJ just read.
On Saturday at Target, for $19.99 I picked up the first season of a show I loved: Millennium. Does anyone remember that show starring Lance Henriksen? It was by Chris Carter of X-files fame. It appears that a millennium movie may be in the making. I also just found out that next month all three seasons will be released in a box set.
Soon it will be time to order a pizza and wings and settle in for some Monday Night Football. Does life get any better?. I suppose if I had a flat panel Big screen TV with a Bose sound system to watch it on it would be. Add in a profitable night of poker and chocolate cake and it would be enough to curl my toes!!!!
Friday, September 05, 2008
Poker & Clams, Football and Ponies
There is joy in IG-land. My CU BUFFs opened with a win against our in-state rivals the CSU Rams which in recent years has been our traditional season opener. Then the defending SuperBowl champion Giants opened with a win over the Redskins last night. Funny in all the years that the Giants have held summer camp at the University at Albany, I have never attended a training camp session. I have however, run by their practices and thru a calvacade of occupied Giants SUVs while marathon training on the University of Albany and State office building campus grounds.
I'm entered in Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker free ESPN pick-em league which operates much the way California Rob's football pool runs. I'm entered in Rob's league once again and carry the honors of being the participant who lives 3000 miles from everyone else. Mostly a bunch of techie guys that Rob works with or worked with. We pick the games without the spread. Snake5970 and yours truly are also having a season heads up death match. Will I be able to pick football better then he can pick horses?
On Saturday I pulled a rabbit out of my hat. Albeit it was two horses in the Forego stakes race during the last weekend of the Saratoga meet. I happened to read an online Times Union article about a horse out of Mr Greeley. They also mentioned another horse. On a whim i decided to box those two horses along with the favorite in a $1 exacta box ($6 total). Well dang the two horses came in and my $6 bet paid $276. Of course i regret not having $12 or more invested for the big score. I have to play hours of poker to get a score like that. Much easier to throw darts at two horses names and only sweat for 2 minutes or so!!!!
I am looking forward to this Sunday: Lots of football, plus a poker tourney and clambake combo at a local venue. Most of the regulars I play against will be in attendance and Snake5970 will also be making a local appearance. We never teamed up on any superfectas so Sunday may be the day as OTB is only a hope skip and jump from the picnic grounds.
My buddy Ringtone Rich was up in Canada over the Labor Day holiday visiting his fiance and emailed me this article about a shooting outside the River Cree casino while a major poker tourney was in progress. You can check out the article here.
Mohegan Sun's new poker room is now open. I got this email from Casino City Times about the new state of the art poker room and Casino of the Wind. Mohegan is hosting a full slate of daily tourneys. October will offer their first major event with a $750k guaranteed superstack tourney. The buy-in for this is only $1000 which is a far cry cheaper then Foxwoods Mega-stack series or Borgata's Deep Stack tourney.
While on the subject of poker. Go send congrats to Evy on her final table and 20k score at the $300 buy-in Borgata event. WTG girl!! If it weren't for the clambake tourney I probably would have been headed to AC for one of the Borgata events.
I ran into two friends from the old running days in the Hannaford parking lot in Clifton Park today. I have known Dick and his wife Teresa since I was a young spry fast filly of 31 (16 years) . While catching up with Dick we heard "I know you two!!" and it was another running friend Joe who is a 70+ runner now and still going strong whereas Dick and I are off our feet. Both men have endured some pretty serious health issues but look great. One of these years it will be time to get moving again.
I watched America's next top model (cycle 11) the other night. Hats off to the real lady of the bunch Isis. She is the first transgender (pre-op) contestant on the show. While the other girls are worrying about her being there and if she should be there and going on the model version of tilt. Isis is behaving with class and dignity. Hope she rises above the fray much like Heather did last year.
I also caught most of the new 90210 last nite. I loved the original one (what gal didn't love Dylan McKay?) and Melrose Place. Rob Estes, who was on Melrose and who is now on the new 90210 makes it much easier on my eyes. Is it me or did he get better looking as he got older. I'm also looking forward to Christian Slater's show debuting as well as the return of Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty.
Be sure to read the Pokerstars blog during WCOOP. CK is working for the blog while F-train toils away on the other side of the world in Macau.
A trip to Starbucks is in order before I watch me some shorthanded WCOOP no limit holdem. Sitting out live tourney action tonite as I have to get up early to get my hair colored (meaning my touch of greyness touched up).
I'm entered in Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker free ESPN pick-em league which operates much the way California Rob's football pool runs. I'm entered in Rob's league once again and carry the honors of being the participant who lives 3000 miles from everyone else. Mostly a bunch of techie guys that Rob works with or worked with. We pick the games without the spread. Snake5970 and yours truly are also having a season heads up death match. Will I be able to pick football better then he can pick horses?
On Saturday I pulled a rabbit out of my hat. Albeit it was two horses in the Forego stakes race during the last weekend of the Saratoga meet. I happened to read an online Times Union article about a horse out of Mr Greeley. They also mentioned another horse. On a whim i decided to box those two horses along with the favorite in a $1 exacta box ($6 total). Well dang the two horses came in and my $6 bet paid $276. Of course i regret not having $12 or more invested for the big score. I have to play hours of poker to get a score like that. Much easier to throw darts at two horses names and only sweat for 2 minutes or so!!!!
I am looking forward to this Sunday: Lots of football, plus a poker tourney and clambake combo at a local venue. Most of the regulars I play against will be in attendance and Snake5970 will also be making a local appearance. We never teamed up on any superfectas so Sunday may be the day as OTB is only a hope skip and jump from the picnic grounds.
My buddy Ringtone Rich was up in Canada over the Labor Day holiday visiting his fiance and emailed me this article about a shooting outside the River Cree casino while a major poker tourney was in progress. You can check out the article here.
Mohegan Sun's new poker room is now open. I got this email from Casino City Times about the new state of the art poker room and Casino of the Wind. Mohegan is hosting a full slate of daily tourneys. October will offer their first major event with a $750k guaranteed superstack tourney. The buy-in for this is only $1000 which is a far cry cheaper then Foxwoods Mega-stack series or Borgata's Deep Stack tourney.
While on the subject of poker. Go send congrats to Evy on her final table and 20k score at the $300 buy-in Borgata event. WTG girl!! If it weren't for the clambake tourney I probably would have been headed to AC for one of the Borgata events.
I ran into two friends from the old running days in the Hannaford parking lot in Clifton Park today. I have known Dick and his wife Teresa since I was a young spry fast filly of 31 (16 years) . While catching up with Dick we heard "I know you two!!" and it was another running friend Joe who is a 70+ runner now and still going strong whereas Dick and I are off our feet. Both men have endured some pretty serious health issues but look great. One of these years it will be time to get moving again.
I watched America's next top model (cycle 11) the other night. Hats off to the real lady of the bunch Isis. She is the first transgender (pre-op) contestant on the show. While the other girls are worrying about her being there and if she should be there and going on the model version of tilt. Isis is behaving with class and dignity. Hope she rises above the fray much like Heather did last year.
I also caught most of the new 90210 last nite. I loved the original one (what gal didn't love Dylan McKay?) and Melrose Place. Rob Estes, who was on Melrose and who is now on the new 90210 makes it much easier on my eyes. Is it me or did he get better looking as he got older. I'm also looking forward to Christian Slater's show debuting as well as the return of Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty.
Be sure to read the Pokerstars blog during WCOOP. CK is working for the blog while F-train toils away on the other side of the world in Macau.
A trip to Starbucks is in order before I watch me some shorthanded WCOOP no limit holdem. Sitting out live tourney action tonite as I have to get up early to get my hair colored (meaning my touch of greyness touched up).
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Politics
I watched zippo of the conventions. Although I usually consider myself a tree hugging/left leaning hippie chick who loves to recycle I feel both major parties are out of step with the American people. BFF Kim and Mama IG were moved off their socks by OBAMA. My fondest memories of the Reagan Administration was that I was out on Dead tour for most of the decade of the 80's and its mostly a blur. I cant say the same about the W years.
This guy recently weighed in on the conventions. Quite the uproar from the left leaning bloggers in the comments. This guy (who is an awesome writer) summed up precisely why I feel the way I do about our current administration and the legacy the past eight years will leave:
Goat Quote follows:
Well Said Julius Goat. Very Well Said.
This guy recently weighed in on the conventions. Quite the uproar from the left leaning bloggers in the comments. This guy (who is an awesome writer) summed up precisely why I feel the way I do about our current administration and the legacy the past eight years will leave:
Goat Quote follows:
I don't know if I am "the left", but I'm angry because the president has acted with astonishing arrogance in the past eight years. I'm angry because he claimed and was given a habeas corpus exemption. I'm angry because he has been found to have been illegally wiretapping the citizens of this country with an illegal program that is illegal, and continually lied about the extent of that program.
I'm angry because so many people who allegedly want a small, non-intrusive government support this yahoo, and don't see the irony.
I'm angry because we went to war under false pretenses, and stayed without ever defining the mission. I'm angry because we went from surplus to record deficits in record time through. I'm angry because my kids are going to have to foot the bill.
I'm also sad. I'm sad because our leaders these many years now lead those of us that they still lead, not by inspiration toward a common theme, but by the nose, using our own fear as the ring. "Be afraid, be very afraid" indeed.
I'm sad because we seem so eager to toss the real freedom of the Constitution in the name of our safety and comfort, and we call it "resolve", not realizing that true resolve would be to accept the danger that our freedom brings us, and hold fast to our ideals.
Either we are a nation of principles or we aren't. Right now, we aren't. If a nation can have a debate over whether or not torture is OK, that nation has lost it's way.
I'm hoping we find it again.
That's why we blah blah blah yammer yammer yammer about hope all the time.
Get it now?
Well Said Julius Goat. Very Well Said.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Turning Point with Online Poker
I had two live final tables this weekend Friday nite 8th place and Sunday nite 10th place but alas no cashes in them. Regardless the fact that I can consistently achieve these results proves that I can definitely play live. Without a doubt when i sit down in a live MTT in my local area i fully expect I can win.
Online is a different story. After bouncing out of the Sunday nite game in 10th running 99 into QQ when I open shoved I went home and fired up Pokerstars. I blew thru some coin there and yesterday same old same old on full tilt. Nothing to speak of and my accounts are $150 or so lighter between tourney fees and money lost in PLO8. I bubbled two sngs in 4th and went deep in the 32k on stars and the $22 deepstack on stars but nothing to speak of.
So I decided that I may ban myself on stars/Ftp for awhile and just stick to live play. My stars balance is down to like high $4 and that was after a miniscule cash which amounted to a double up of my account in a PL08 tourney. I was down to under $3.
I dont want to be a player who bleeds money and maybe once in a blue moon wins a big one to get them unstuck or slightly unstuck. I honestly believe I would need to win a sunday major to ever be an in the black MTT player online. I think that is true for most of us. I honestly think most of us delude ourselves into thinking we beat the online game.
I need real chips, real people and real cash in hand to make this game work for me it seems.
Online is a different story. After bouncing out of the Sunday nite game in 10th running 99 into QQ when I open shoved I went home and fired up Pokerstars. I blew thru some coin there and yesterday same old same old on full tilt. Nothing to speak of and my accounts are $150 or so lighter between tourney fees and money lost in PLO8. I bubbled two sngs in 4th and went deep in the 32k on stars and the $22 deepstack on stars but nothing to speak of.
So I decided that I may ban myself on stars/Ftp for awhile and just stick to live play. My stars balance is down to like high $4 and that was after a miniscule cash which amounted to a double up of my account in a PL08 tourney. I was down to under $3.
I dont want to be a player who bleeds money and maybe once in a blue moon wins a big one to get them unstuck or slightly unstuck. I honestly believe I would need to win a sunday major to ever be an in the black MTT player online. I think that is true for most of us. I honestly think most of us delude ourselves into thinking we beat the online game.
I need real chips, real people and real cash in hand to make this game work for me it seems.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
