Halloween Poker at OhCaptain & OhCountess' House II

This past Saturday night, OhCountess and I opened up our home again to friends and fellow poker degenerates. 23 runners in our little home game. Not to shabby. We even had a guest appearance by none other then Gentleman Jim!

This particular night, we were celebrating Halloween. Costumes were encouraged.

I believe this was roughly my starting table. Although I see that it probably wasn't Gentleman Jim is there. The priest that knocked up the nun is not. Oh...and I have chips. You can see the back of OhCountess - she was dressed as my beer bitch - :-)

A little better on the lighting. I really think I need to thank the priest that knocked up the nun. I'm thinking he took these pictures since the nun he knocked up took him out of the tournament fairly early. Didn't he win this thing last year?

Even with a 17mm lens, I couldn't pack all 23 into one shot.  You get the idea of what 23 poker players look like in my basement.

Table 3. Thanks to Marshall for sharing the extra table with us! Yes. I'm a poker degenerate and have 2 poker tables. One I built and one I bought. 20 seats baby!

Table 2. That's Bodie25...he's the blond in the stripes.

Sexy dead babe busts...

OhCaptain is about to go busto...like my expression? Look closely. I'm short stacked, about 5 BBs left. In the cutoff with AJh. Knocked up nun finds 2 more aces in the deck. Son of Julius Goat! Will I ever win my own friggin' home game?

And the winner was Todd (tmoneyb on FTP). He takes down the $110 top prize. I believe he won the final hand with dinner for two off suit (6-9 for the short bus riders out there).

Wish I could tell you I played great and made this fantastic move that totally dominated but I'd be bluffing. I folded for 2 hours stealing a little hear and there but eventually being run over by the blinds until the AJh. I had a couple of pocket pairs...from UTG and they were, let me check, yeah one was 4's and the other ducks. This is a fairly loose game, I chose to play it tight and get chips with a big hand...the big hand never showed up. AJ was seriously the biggest hand I got all night. D'oh!

I will let the bloggersphere know that when it came time to play Gentleman Jim in some heads up razz, the stack of chips ended on my side of the table. Finally, crappy cards paid off for me. I should have know that was coming. He'd had his aces cracked earlier. Never a good sign going into razz.

By the time I got done schooling him in razz, we moved over to the cash game. I liked the cash game...people were very drunk and lost their ability to do math. I think some had even lost their ability to read. I was up a buyin in no time. eventually ending up almost a buyin and a half. I like money.

I'll have to wait for the next game to keep the trophy at my house. Yikes. I'm starting to feel like Mr. Seventhbok himself. I have more bubbles or 2nd place finishes than any of the players that come regularly to my game....but I've never won this thing. I figure I just need to get more bloggers to show up. I can beat bloggers...anyone up for "You betcha" Vegas at my house? 

Again, losing was fine, this was a lot of fun. I love hosting these games. I think each one goes smoother. Hope everyone else had fun. Thanks for coming!

Shuffle up and deal!

Live poker in OhCaptain & OhCountess' basement. If you look closely
you can See Gentleman Jim ( jimdniacc)

Live Poker in 1 hour

I think I have it all ready. Live poker ~45 minutes!!!!

Was that Buddy in the backroom with a pig?

Yep. I played in the NumbBlowMe Invitational. Yes I had fun. Yes, I did 45 rebuys. Yes, I bought the add-on. No, I did not win, but holy crap was that fun. My biggest tweak request...get more people at my starting table pushing early. We started with 3 dead stacks...so sad.

But that wasn't the only fun. We played a blogger cash game. Nickel/Dime. Let this be a warning to all you would be tourists crashing a blogger cash game. We like the breaks that tournaments provide...sucka!

Until I get some sleep...I am outta here!

Dude! Look out! Life is coming RIGHT AT YOU!

Sorry for the complete lack of updates here. Work is piling up. Home life is VERY busy. Oh, and we are hosting a Halloween Poker bash at our house Saturday night. Every time we host one of these, I refine the process at little more to make things just right. Seriously...I think these are run better then the casinos and I don't even take a rake. Whatever.

I've been pokering it up only a little bit. Here's my nightly routing on Poker Stars or Full Tilt:

• Step 1: Lose 3 or 4 sngs
  
• Step 2: Win back at least half the money lost playing LHE cash game
• Step 3: Take pent up anger out on some poor unsuspecting chap at NLHE Heads Up sng by playing hyper aggressive. Win slightly more then half of these.
• Step 4: Go to bed realizing this was not profitable and vow to do better tomorrow night
• Rinse, Lather, Repeat following night.

This has left me in a slight decline in my bankroll. Being high stakes phobic, this has made only a slight dent. Thank goodness I have High Stakes Phobia...

Last Friday night, it was Bourbonators at my house. I was well rested and ready to enjoy a night relaxing with the guys. The highlight of the night: I had accumulated a goodly size stack of chips. I might have even been the chipleader. We were approaching the money bubble. I got dealt KK in MP. It folds to me. I put in a lame 2X BB raise (T$ 4000). Yeah, 1 bet for the BB to call, I think I want action there, the entire other side of the table was short stacked. Button goes all in for ~ T$4900 and gets 2 more callers before its back to me. Yeah, like you'd fold here. Since it was only T$900 more to call, I did and knocked a total of 3 guys out of the tournament with one hand. That sent my stack into the stratosphere. Only a matter of grinding the last 2 guys out of existence and I won the tournament. Second sng...card death followed by the stench of rotting card death. I held out as long as I could until KK ran into A2o and the AK into something else that sucked to lose to and I can no longer remember.

Saturday night: wife goes out shopping for the evening. Kids go to bed. Dad fires up a $2 MTT on Full Tilt. I've played these on occasion and bounced nice and early every time. Following the expert tutelage of many of you bloggers, I manage to cash for the first time in a non-blogger MTT that wasn't a SNG. Yeah bitches...this guy has never one a MTT that wasn't hosted by one of you. I can take down the Mookie. I can take down the Donkament (2X thank you). I even took down LPR, but I have never won any other MTT. Well, I didn't win this one on this night either. I did finish 36th out of 495 for a very tiny cash. I will keep playing these in warm up fashion to blow off a $26 present and a few Tier One Tokens. I think I might just try to win a few of these...

Tuesday night: Poker League. Played very tight/very aggressive poker. Picked good spots. Even floated a guy based on my read of being on a draw. Finished 4th. Not too shabby. QQ shoved into AA can't be expected to win every time, although, I'd expect AKs shoved into KQo to win more times then it did. Frickin' variance.

Tonight: The mother of all rebuys. I have been looking forward to this since I first saw it. I'm ready to blow off some tight/aggressive anxiety and turn it into crazy/loose/ATC/lucksackery.

I hope to see you there!

 

Don't forget to check out 4dbirds story about her families ordeal (links here, here, here, & here). Leave her a note...a good note.

I just can't imagine...

If you aren't currently reading 4dbirds (Katiemother on FullTilt), get you ass off this page and head over and get reading. I'm a parent and this story scares the hell out of me. 

Here's the links:

When 90 Pounds of Girl Meets a Car

Girl vs Car Part II

The Matrix + Live Poker + Meme

It's true. I've been to the Matrix...on Full Tilt. Looks LJ has tried them as well. Her review in her words,

"it was super fun, though, i'm definitely gonna play a few more. it's perfect if you get bored w/ one sng too, cause the multi-tabling is built in."

Now, she played the $20 variety. Quite sure this (me) tight ass ain't playing that big in this, but I did try the $1 6 max variety. These, were pretty crazy, as you might expect. I broke about even. I think I might be a nickel down, but in the grand scheme, they weren't impossible.

They play a lot crazier then your normal $1. Seems these donkeys are now rushing to make bad decisions. My biggest problem with these was variance. The suck outs come fast and furious and at least at these low stakes, pot odds mean nothing and everyone is drawing to flushes. Keep that in mind when you flop top two pair with the board having two cards to flush...they will call your all in.

The next ones I try will definitely be of the 9 player variety and up the food chain. The 6 max only pay two spots in each area. I also HIGHLY recommend not playing on a laptop screen. Way to small to see what your doing...

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I played in a home game this past weekend. It was loads of fun with rebuys. I usually try to avoid doing rebuys, but I found out that the girl to my right's favorite hand is Q6o. Yes, she pair her 6 and my AKh was no match for it's awesomeness.  Yikes.

Last night was also league night. I fealt I played really well. In league, I find it very important to avoid unnecessary risk at times. ATC poker is the norm...plan for it.

I was quite proud of how I took my final hand. There have been numerous times I've left a live game doing my best Phil Hellmuth impersonation. Here's how the hand went:

We are pretty short handed at 5 people left. I'm UTG with A7 and give it a standard raise. Grant, the guy on my left, calls. Grant is a loose/agressive that a times can make some really crazy calls. The flop comes AQ9, all clubs. His reaction to the flop seemed to be one of indifference. I CBed with my ace. He just calls. Unfortunately for me, the CB was half of my remaining stack. The turn was 8d. I fired out with my remaining 2500 chips. He calls. I asked him if he had clubs, he said no. "Do you have an ace?", I asked. "No, and I don't think you do either." - What the hell? What the hell does he have? I turned over my A7 for top pair. His reaction was priceless..."Oh crap! I thought you firing with air," he said and table 77. For the love all things warm and cuddly. 4 over cards and 3 cards to flush and he called every bet with 7s. Hey! That means he's drawing to the case 7...and of course it hits on the river. One outed.

The best part...I just walked away after laughing it up. No rant, no pout - just laughs. It seems I realized something last night, I want this guy to make this play EVERY SINGLE TIME. If I'm truly a 97.73% favorite to wins this hand...let's rock!

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Instant Tragedy tagged me with this question, "I would do these 11 things:"

In order of priority -

1. Pay off mortgage and other debt - this is brain dead simple. No matter the size of the win, this sets us up to live incredibly comfortably.
2. Fully fund retirement - I worked in a small start-up for 10 years. My new job has a pension and I expect that as much as I expect the Social Security to be there...I'm way behind where I should be. This will be funded to where it should be. Damn, I wish I was dumping money into the market last week.
3. Fully fund college funds for the girls.
4. Damn, that OhCaptain is practicle. For me, the fun comes later. Getting rid of all of this makes the future less stressful which, after all, is my goal anyways. I don't think I would pay off family debt. Long story...let's just end it there.
5. I would set up college funds for all of my nieces and nephews.
6. Now the fun begins. New camera. I'm not sure all of you know how broke you can go when you dive into high end cameras and equipment...this is a bigger bullet point then - buy stuff. It would be nothing for this bullet to reach 5 figures +.
7. One dream would be to play the WSOP. I wouldn't want to do it alone. Several close friends would get fully funded trips.
8. I love to travel. That shiny new camera and my family and I would definitely be doing more travel.
9. Fund BBTx. Only this time...invitation only. Sick prizes and more fun. Maybe even a scholarship for bloggers I like that aren't bankrolled for this.
10. "You Betcha!" Vegas. Dudes...party at my house. Bloggers will be crashing my place...on my dime.
11. I'm a pretty practicle guy. I'm sure there would be some frivolous spending. I'd love to get a tv that's not using electron beam accelerated at a chemical screen. 

For me, winning the lottery would be awesome and I hope I think long term with it.

If you've read this far...consider yourself tagged!

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I bought the Hold 'em Poker app for my iPhone. I'm working on a review and strategy guide on that topic. Anyone else try it? Let me know. I'd like to hear what you think...

Um...that is all...

Friggin' Kat, Riggs, Waffles, LJ, RecessRampage, Gadzooks64, PirateLawyer, HeffMike, JJOK, Astin, Cheer_Dad, Corron10

I must have missed the memo about this being a poker blog requirement or something, but after seeing Kat, Riggs, Waffles, LJ, RecessRampage, Gadzooks64, PirateLawyer, HeffMike, Astin, Cheer_Dad, Corron10 with special mention to JJOK for the seriously funniest take on this meme, I guess here is my Taro card...

You are The
Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating
to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often
considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down
to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with
realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with
worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to
create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's
only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he
is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What
Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find
Out.

Go figure, me, a stubborn and unbending traditionalist...

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UPDATE:

Add to the list IT, 23skidoo - for the love of Pete...we need lives.

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UPDATE of the UPDATE - It's now officially the widest spread meme in recent memory. Wholesale proof that poker bloggers need lives...desparately.

Adding to the list Memphis MOJO, Evy, DuggleBogey, CK, BamBam - Have we missed anyone?

Add Lightning36, DrewFours, Bayne_S, Mondogarage, Nutzcarson, oossuuu754

---

Very late entry - Add muchtim

Some pimpage that just boggles the mind...

Ok. Some NumbBono guy announces that there is gonna be this:

NumbBlowMe Invitational

Tournament # 63820195
10/23/2008
8:30 pm CST
NLHE - 0.10 + 1.00
Unlimited dime rebuys until first break
Dime add-on of 1500 chips at first break
password = bdankradio

And I think to myself...hmm...in the Donkament, I try to budget myself to around $10 worth of rebuys...maybe $15 if I'm feeling saucy. Now, seriously, if I stick to my budget, I can do between 100 and 150 rebuys...GET OUT OF TOWN!

But then, my mind gets really twisted up with this thought. If TwoBlackAces beats his personal best of 73 rebuys + the addon...that's more then 730 rebuys in 1 hour. OMFG! That's seriously gonna be some kind of record...right????

And then the horseshoe fell out of my...

Monday nights at our house are just a zoo. The whole transition from the weekend to the week just doesn't flow well. OhCountess is usually working until 7. The kids are not liking being back in school and I get to hold the universe together regardless of my state of mind.

I've really wanted to join the TuckFards at their tournaments on Monday nights. Bam-Bam has had the most inspiring pictures as of late (here & here), it's almost impossible not to have good clean thoughts and be clear thinking while looking at those.

The first one is at 6 PM CST. This one is probably a long shot that I'll ever make it. OhCountess is really not a huge fan of me playing online poker at the dinner table. That being said, I was a tad late getting dinner on the table and played the TuckFard Open II at 7PM. I really appreciated the help in setting the table.

That tournament is of the HORSE variety. I've got to admit, omaha is a complete mystery to me and for the most part, so is stud. So, that leaves me with Limit Hold 'em and Razz. I really seemed to rock the H portion of the night. It was usually during this that I'd shoot to the chipleader position...then come the O. O - MG. Back to the dank position I go. Seriously, I should just never play omaha.

I survived half the field. Not too shabby playing with 3 of my 5 hands tied behind my back.

After busting, I was chatting with Gentleman Jim about flaming out in razz. I'm positive that there is no way I don't go broke there. I'm extremely short stacked and get dealt 42A, catch the 3 on 5th street...and then brick out. What are you going to do?  Instant Tragedy sends me a reminder IM about the LivePokerRadio.com Tour. Late registration was still going on. 3 people started the tournament, then me and lastly LJ joined in.

I could bore you with the details, but I got hit with the deck. I believe the entire tournament lasted 20 minutes. I took out everyone but NutzCarson, he was gone before I sat down. Flopping the nuts straight with a redraw to the flush and my over shove for value was called by LJ and IT. Not that their hands sucked. IT had top pair with the draw to the straight and LJ had hit bottom set. Yikes, I was running good. Later I got someone all in. I had AA and they had 77. Not much you can do there...like I said, I got hit HARD with the deck.

I was heads up with TheGoatLady. Is this Julius Goat's wife? Someone please clarify that for me. I was surmizing it from the conversation, but never really knew for sure. Either way, she has game. She put up quite a battle heads up, but I was ducking, dodging and wielding an extremely large stack. I avoided doubling her up at all costs and only get it in good when I had a big hand. I mean really, the blinds are 20/50 and I'm sitting at ~14,000 chips. ~300 BBs and I'm really not feeling anything.

I waited it out until I flopped a set of 8s on a very strange looking board and that was all she wrote. I was pretty stoked to have another blogger tournament under my belt. Although, the field being 5 people, 1 of which had busted before I got there, isn't nearly as impressive, but I'll take it none the less. Congrats for those that participated. Not much you can do when someone is running this good.

I've got some live poker to play and have just scheduled 3 more live home games in the coming weeks. Two are at my house. OhCountess and I will be hosting the annual Halloween game. Bring your costume! Seriously, if you are going to be in the area, with a costume and pass a background check, let me know and I can add you to the eVite list. Drop me a comment!

What a game...wait til next year

My hats off to the Sox. What a game. Lightning36, your summary said it, what a fitting end to a season. These two teams battled last night like it was the last game they would ever play.

Any doubts about intensity were definitely set aside when my boy Michael Cuddyer nearly removed the left arm A.J. Pierzynski. Seriously, did either player look like they were worried about losing a limb? Joe Mauer's comment on MLB.com summed it up pretty well, "That's guys playing the game hard, that's baseball at its best right there."

(I played catcher in my youth, trust me, that's what we live for right there...we are the only guys on the field who's job description includes "Protect the plate"...you ain't lived until you've dropped the shoulder and sent someone into next week...hehehe)

One pitch. That's all it took. Thome's home run was the only offense of note. Sweet Jeebus, both pitchers are still wondering what that fuzzy stuff is on their chins. Blackburn, the rookie and Danks in season Two of his career. Both had amazing games with the weight of the universe on their shoulders. Isn't that the dream of every little leaguer?

I'm quite proud of my team. Please remember, at the beginning of the season, this group of youngsters was said to be in the "rebuilding" phase. Holy Crap! If this is rebuilding, I can't wait to see what happens when they are done with that.

Like the previous 30 winters, I'll be warming up for the next season, just a bit sad this off season is starting so early.

Now, the Chi Sox are in the playoffs. What we gonna do with that boys? You showed the heart and character it takes to play the best last night...let's bring home the Series to the Midwest. You got what it takes?

PS. I'm in a pissy mood today. It better be important...just sayin. ;-)