Obie's VIP

2011-07-20T18:25:00.001-04:00

http://bloggratis.org.ua/wp-content/themes/twentyten/pla20.htm

My Life, Photo Journal

2011-02-28T07:13:00.052-05:00

Earliest picture of me, about 6 months old. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Earliest picture of me, about 6 months old, taken during the summer of 1963. The Beatles were popular in Europe, but had not yet crossed the Atlantic, JFK was president. All was good, no wonder I had such a big smile.

My first birthday. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

My first birthday, stuck my foot in the middle of that cake right after this was taken. I still have that Dutch cabinet in my laundry room.

Me at two years old. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at two years old, I briefly decided to become a vegetarian and ate the dirt from the flower pot.

Me at three. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at three. I wish that guy taking the picture would hold that silly bird still, he's going to give me ADD.

Me at four. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at four. I had heard Brett Farve was going to retire from pre-school, so I got his number.

Me at five. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at five. I could have been the Wendy's logo if only they let me grow my hair longer.

Me at six. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at six. Although my pants are still at four. My younger brother has the same problem. I blame the parents.

Me at seven. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at seven. Can't imagine why I would need a watch. Maybe it was a fashion statement.

Me at eight. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at eight. I was wearing converse before they were retro.

Me at nine. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at nine. Discovering that girls really like this party stuff.

Me at ten. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at ten. Yes, I was a member of a para-military organization.

Me at eleven. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at eleven. I love how Instagram can make really old pictures look old.

Me at twelve. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twelve. Before free agency ruined baseball.

Me at thirteen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirteen. Chillaxin.

Me at fourteen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at fourteen. OMG on that hair, well it was the seventies.

Me at fifteen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at fifteen. Family portrait and that's what I wore? I need to be on queer eye.

Me at sixteen with my mom. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at sixteen with my mom. Got my drivers license the day I turned 16, wrecked the car the very next day.

Me at seventeen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at seventeen. The world is my oyster, life is good.

Me at eighteen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at eighteen. Graduated from high school and time to get a real job.

Me at nineteen. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at nineteen. What are you going to do with your life?

Me at twenty. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty. Joined the US Air Force. Now this was a life changing experience.

Me at twenty-one. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-one. On the riffle drill team, they gave us guns and taught us how to march. However, in the Air Force we don't shoot people, we push buttons.

Me at twenty-two. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-two. Just bought my first car, I'm going to miss walking.

Me at twenty-three. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-three. Do you think these polo shirts will catch on?

Me at twenty-four. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-four. These were the largest goggles I could buy.

Me at twenty-five. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-five. Before Al Gore invented the Internet, he invented the newspaper.

Me at twenty-six with my younger brother. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-six, with my younger brother. I got the brains and he got the, ohh wait, I got that too.

Me at twenty-seven. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-seven. This was a backyard bar-b-que party, why did I show up in a toga?

Me at twenty-eight with my mom & dad. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-eight, with my mom & dad. It may be hard to see me cause I'm wearing camouflage.

Me at twenty-nine. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at twenty-nine. The camera adds at least 10 pounds, looks like I ate three of them.

Me at thirty. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty. I moved closer to the North Pole for a 9-3 job.

Me at thirty-one. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-one. Obliviously going through a mid-life crisis. My coworkers called this the Barbie Ferrari.

Me at thirty-two with my son. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-two, with my son. He fractured his wrist at Skydome, but that did't stop me from dragging him around the country to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Me at thirty-three. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-three. No, I'm not on a hangover, I normally looked like that.

Me at thirty-four. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-four. Traded in the beard, and curtains for a goatee.

Me at thirty-five. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-five. Rocking out some karaoke with Pink Floyd.

Me at thirty-six. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-six. Senator, I deny those allegations, and what's more, I deny the alligator.

Me at thirty-seven. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-seven. Does this tie make me look fat?

Me at thirty-eight. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-eight. New Years Eve party, searching for intelligent life on this planet.

Me at thirty-nine with my daughter. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at thirty-nine, with my daughter. Why does she only cry whenever I sing to her.

Me at forty. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty. Cruising the Caribbean, looking for Margaritaville.

Me at forty-one. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-one. Pink, it's the new black.

Me at forty-two. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-two. Touring the Great Wall on my first trip to #China, can't wait til I get to the end of it.

Me at forty-three with my wife Ling. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-three, with my wife Ling. She takes extremely good care of me, and if I screw up...she whacks me with the mop.

Me at forty-four. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-four. Bringing the Fab Four to the masses in #China, think of the 1.3 Billion potential iTunes downloads.

Me at forty-five. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-five. I'm not kidding, it really is this big.

Me at forty-six. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-six. Domestic Goddess.

Me at forty-seven. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-seven. It's Vegas baby.

Me at forty-eight. a photo by ObieVIP on Flickr.

Me at forty-eight. Doing what I do best, holding up the wall. This concludes my photo journal of a picture from each year of my life, at least for now since this is my current age. Of course I do hope to add more in the years to come...hehe maybe even 48 more.

Disaster

2010-05-29T22:26:00.013-04:00

These images from The Big Picture website, owned by The Boston Globe, depict the disaster currently happening in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon oil well. Visit their site for more pictures of the containment and clean-up effort.

Collected oil burns on the water in this aerial view seven miles northeast of the Deepwater Horizon site over the Gulf of Mexico, May 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

A ship maneuvers and sprays water near a rig in heavy surface oil in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico May 18, 2010, as oil continues to leak from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

A shrimp boat is used to collect oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana on May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A helicopter flies over surface oil in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico, May 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

Crews try to clean an island covered in oil on the south part of East Bay May 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

Oil floats around booms and through marshlands of the Mississippi Delta on May 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)

A Greenpeace activist steps through oil on a beach along the Gulf of Mexico on May 20, 2010 near Venice, Louisiana. (John Moore/Getty Images)

A BP cleanup worker rakes oil from the beach on May 22, 2010 on Elmer's Island, Louisiana. Authorities closed the popular tourist beach to the public and media wishing to visit the beach must be escorted by a BP official. (John Moore/Getty Images)

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This is an horrendous disaster of global proportion. I've included some of the comments below from The Big Picture website. Clean-up and contain, complain, point the finger, and blame, but first things first, plug the damn hole.

Comment # 1073: So sad and depressing! And I feel partly to blame because I drive a car.... :(
Posted by Jon B Good May 28, 2010 06:09 AM
Me: You can assuage your guilt and take comfort in the fact that the carbon dioxide from your car is giving life to the trees and plants your drive by, which they turn into oxygen for you.

Comment # 1074: OVERPOPULATION and OVERCONSUMPTION are two major contributors to this statistically probable accident. Consider vegetarianism (meat industry is energetically wasteful), local food (to reduce transportation costs), and abstaining from having children.
Posted by Anonymous May 28, 2010 08:13 AM
Me: Yes, great idea, if we could all just abstain from having children we wouldn't have these terrible oil spills after about ohh, lets say a generation or so.

Comment # 1082: Anyone saying "drill, baby, drill" or that this is not a "learning moment" is a ****ing idiot! This needs to stop!! The resources ARE available...the resources have been there...with so much hydro, wind, water and countless other ways, we are truly an ignorant species to be doing this to our future generations; if, indeed, there will be many more.
Posted by kv466 May 28, 2010 10:32 AM
Me: Hydro, wind, water, solar...none of these are efficient or available enough to replace oil. You cannot fly a 747 on solar power. Now, if you want to explore nuclear...

Comment # 1083: Everybody has got an agenda... The oil companies have an agenda, the government has an agenda, you have an agenda and I have an agenda. I admit that I am plenty at cause for the oil demand; I imagine very little of what I own is not factory made at some point. However, I also believe there is a sliding scale of blame to be dispersed.
First the corporations for not taking the time and care with their mechanism to ensure that disasters such as this do not happen. This however would increase cost and set back operations for oil harvesting, not just for this well, but worldwide. Take a moment to ponder how this would affect you individually. Higher prices, slower advancement is what comes to my mind. Therefore, while companies are profiting from these oversights, it cannot be said that it is not driven by the mass of individuals.
Government... Government should be regulating and demanding more with regards to environmental safety from these corporations. The government should stop companies from walking all over it. But these are the times that we live in. Until this kind of interaction between corporate and government changes, this is what we have to work with. And I can't even afford the space in this response to even go into the nuance of that interaction. These governments give us many things that we can easily take for granted, and life would be be considerably more uncomfortable without them.
Yes... it's a tragedy, but the world will recover from this: I mean, Earth used to be a ball of fire... it has buffering mechanisms. Just remember, everyone, that we all add to this, even by enjoying "civil liberties." Also, we are all into this together, and finger pointing is not constructive. And please please do not rant on your holier than thou BS. Thanks!
Posted by Ian May 28, 2010 10:38 AM
Me: Reasonable

Comment # 1107: People always whine and cry foul, then they kick on their air conditioners, drive their cars, turn on their television sets, use their stoves, cook with plastic utensils, etc. Oil/carbon are not the enemy. They're part of nature. Sure, this is a disaster, but whining about it solves nothing. Complaining about the "greed" of corporations or the rich does nothing except for prove the jealousy of those with less of those with more.
What needs to be done is analyse the situation, find the weak points and fix them. Not some huge government regulation, or playing the blame game. Government isn't the solution. Regulation isn't the solution. Correcting the procedures and improving the technology/training of the equipment/personnel involved will solve these problems.
In the mean time, we will continue to live our lives. We can continue to educate ourselves, and we can continue to make improvements to the world we live in by developing better technologies and working to improve ourselves.
Posted by Daryl May 28, 2010 03:18 PM
Me: Without oil, the means of production come to a halt.

Comment # 1188: We are all going to die ! This is a world wide planet problem . If we do not come together on this , the whole planet and the ice caps will see oil within 2 yrs. THIS IS NOT JUST A PROBLEM FOR AMERICA . LIKE IT OR NOT ; THIS STUFF IS COMMING EVERYBODYS WAY. DROP EVERYTHING AND FIX THIS OR WE HAVE NO HOPE.
Posted by Ron May 28, 2010 03:43 PM
Me: Imagine if this thing continues to spew oil for the next few years, or decades. We have to plug the hole or any clean-up and containment efforts are pointless.

Comment # 1112: We do not need oil. Let the little microbes stay where they belong. We have wind, we have candles, we have the sun. We only use oil because Big Companies like BP make Big Money. We must stop or we will soon find ourselves in the 6th Major Extinction. Money is useless, except perhaps to paper your walls with. STOP IT!!!
Posted by Judith Harris May 28, 2010 04:49 PM
Me: We do need oil, we just need to get it from places more accessible than a mile under the surface of the Gulf.

Comment # 1121: When did this big dependency on oil and gas happen? Thousands of years ago? Come on, we're not that trapped by it. People consume way too much, every single person, every company, on a daily basis needs to be aware of what their impact is. Imagine a world where our impact and the suffering we bring to this planet are minimal, and then make it your reality every day. Dream it and Live it.
Posted by Community Spirit May 28, 2010 07:13 PM
Me: About 1942. The Utopic notion that we can all just get along and live in unison with nature exempts the fact that we humans are already part of nature, just like oil. So are earthquakes, volcanos, and hurricanes.

Comment # 1131: Thank you for the pictures that tell 10000 words....I will call my Senators and Reps Tuesday to urge a permanent ban on offshore drilling. I urge others to do the same. BP has amassed more power than any government, and reining them in will be very hard, but the President must take the reins and push for better controls both at the regulatory and legislative levels.
It seems we always see the light when horrific disasters take place. Prevention and eternal vigiland are the price we must pay. But the new Surpeme Court ruling that removes limits on campaign spending by corporations may truly be the death blow of our fragile democracy - look at the harm unchecked power by global coporations has already brought us.
God, save the Earth from the major corporations.
Posted by Kristin May 29, 2010 01:18 AM
Me: Unchecked power? The oil industry is one of the most regulated and restricted industries in existence. let's "drill baby drill" where it is easier and safer to get the oil.

Comment # 1133: Its not earth or nature we are killing..We are trying to kill our future generations..who knows..we are killing ourselves too..Stop blaming others...Each one of us is responsible for this..Our greediness is the reason for all..
Unless every one of us takes the blame and take steps, nothing can help from saving ourselves..Rather than blaming a particular person(Obama) lets accept the blame and start working towards it..
Posted by Satya May 29, 2010 01:54 AM
Me: The spill is not Obama's fault, or Bush, or anyone else for that matter. It was an accident. Now, you can say the response from the Obama Administration has been slow, or sketchy, or photo-opportunistic. But I wouldn't say they are to blame for the spill.

Comment # 1135: in response to post 1033 - Are you willing to give up your way of life to keep that promise? How are you planning on getting to work? Does your job have the charging stations necessary to recharge your car? Mine doesn't. I agree that promising to give up oil would be the dream situation but it is not at all realistic right now. Businesses would all have to have parking set-ups where all employees and customers could charge their vehicles (or stables for the horses :-P). With many companies struggling to stay afloat, how can we possibly expect them to be able to afford the charging stations necessary for the parking lot "remodeling"? Then you have the millions of people that are unemployed trying to figure out where to find the money to purchase an electric car to replace the gas powered ones that they already have.
Posted by Dee C May 29, 2010 03:22 AM
Me: Somebody gets it.

Comment # 1144: How many of you crying about stopping using the oil have actually stopped using cars and refused all plastics and drugs in your lifes? This is rediculous...
Posted by Kate May 29, 2010 06:07 AM
Me: Somebody else gets it too.

Comment # 1171: Boycott BP! Do Not Buy Gas From Them!
Posted by Anonymous May 30, 10 12:41 AM
Me: Yes, lets put them out of business so they cannot afford the containment and cleanup costs. No worries, the taxpayers will cover it

Superbowl XLIV (44)

2010-02-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

Superbowl Sunday is here. Football fans have been waiting all year for this day. Colts fans have been waiting since the 2006 season to get back here. Saints fans have been waiting their whole life.

I thought it would be fun to blog some predictions before the game so I can see who was close or even right on.

President Barrack Obama predicts on Diane Sawyer Saints because of Katrina.
CNN Sister Jen predicts Colts 31-22.
NFL Network Host Tom predicts Colts 31-24
James Sheldon of http://www.manolith.com predicts Saints 34-27
Dean Russin of http://www.thedailystar.com predicts Saints 45, Colts 39
P.J. Harmer of http://www.thedailystar.com predicts Colts in a shootout.
Sportswriter Rob Centorani predicts Colts 3, Saints 2.
Poker pro and “Amazing Race” contestant Maria Ho predicts Saints.
Online poker pro Dan “Wretchy” Martin predicts Colts.
Ten-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson bet $100K on the Colts vs the Pats, he has hedged that bet with $50K on the Saints. If the Colts don't cover the spread...he'll win both.
Twitter user @JTMONEY1967 Glad to see someone has some sense! Go Colts! Colts 31, Saints 23.
Twitter user @dilaff: My guess - Colts 21 / Saints 17.
Twitter user @dolaff my guess saints 35 colts 31 but I'm rooting for colts.
Twitter user @JMFlyer1454 Super Bowl XLIV prediction... Colts 38, Saints 27.
Poker Player and Blogger @BobbyBracelet @ObieVIP Commercials cater to the retard masses, drunk by 8, miss all squares, GF nags me to stop watching, Saints in a close one.
Pro Poker Player @markseif Indy wins 24-20, in final drive! Manning to Garcone for 60 yard (plus) game winning play.
The Blogfather @Iggylicious Wager down on Indy. Time to start cooking in prep for gametime.
Twitter user @arieliondotcom Today the #Saints go marching in & ride the Colts like ponies! Saints for the win!
Playboy Playmate @JennPershing If the Saints don't win today my friend Elisse will flip a bitch...so GO SAINTS.
Poker player and Blogger @notlikeyou @ObieVIP Indy-40 No-24
Twitter user @rediscover_me My Super Bowl pick for today is Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Poker Blogger Chilly43 @ObieVIP #SB44 I predict I will eat too much chili and get drunk.
Actress and poker player ShannonElizab Gotta root for the underdogs-so-go Saints!
Reality TV Star @KimKardashian In route to the stadium. Let's go Saints! The energy is in the air!
Blogger @smokkee Let's go Brees and the #Saints !
Phil Mickelson hit the Saints golf ball longer than the colts ball on the CBS Pre-Game show.
Twitter user @jakatkin: Rooting for the Saints.... betting on the Colts.
Poker Player and Blogger @joesebok: city of New Orleans deserves a win today! Come on!

As for myself, I grew up in Baltimore as a fan of the Colts. in 1983, unannounced, they moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. Earlier that year I had left Baltimore when I joined the USAF and moved about an hour east of New Orleans. Over the next decade I became a fan of the Saints. I'll be pulling for the Saints today but I think they will come up short...Colts 31 Saints 28.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2010-01-09T07:23:00.001-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 596989

The System Worked

2009-12-30T19:13:00.011-05:00

Picture from ABC News Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's charred underwear where he hid explosives.

The President’s unique understanding of muslim countries, coupled with his apparently unique understanding that “our future and our security is tied up with our ability to work with other countries in the world” will ultimately make Americans safer. I defy you to disprove that statement. It cannot be disproven.

It’s akin to the mythical “jobs saved” argument: “yeah, so unemployment exceeds 10 percent, but guess how many jobs would have been lost without the stimulus?”

You think this attempted bombing was bad, well guess how many terrorists acts were averted by our unique understanding of muslim nations? We changed their will with our understanding of muslim nations.

Then, they can trot out some economists to show that the President’s understanding of the world averted countless terrorists acts which would have otherwise taken place. If anyone questions them, the economists can dutifully apply the same mathematics used for the climate change models, and the media will acknowledge that the debate is settled.

Posted by An Objectivist on HotAir on December 29, 2009 at 8:32 PM

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It is very clear that Obama does not know what to do when he isn’t constantly being told how smart he is. The lower his poll numbers have gone, the more disassociated from reality he seems to be getting. We joke about TOTUS being the real speaker but today’s attempt at undoing the damage of the lapses of his administration were just pathetic.

Posted by highhopes on HotAir on December 29, 2009 at 7:54 PM

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He’s been told his entire life that he was special. Not just special but, like, ‘royally’ special. And people have bent rules, voided requirements, paid and appeased for him his entire life, such that, he exists today in some super-terrestial twilight, to borrow a phrase from a novelist.

Posted by Lourdes on HotAir on December 29, 2009 at 7:36 PM

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T00:00:00.007-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

A Bellagio Christmas

2009-12-13T23:00:00.007-05:00

The Christmas display at the Bellagio Conservatory.

Ling in the conservatory at Bellagio taking in the Christmas display.

We asked a random tourist to snap a shot of us together.

Official Bellagio gift wrapping seal.

This picture made from live flowers and shubbrey.

Christmas Polar Bear patting my Ling on the head.

Wouldn't be complete without a toy train set.

Oops! This one is from Caesars Palace. I kept waiting for them to move and I was going to tip them a dollar, but they never did.

Peace Out.

Football Sunday at Lagasse Stadium

2009-12-13T16:30:00.003-05:00

CJ got us a swanky suite at Lagasse's Stadium and Sportsbook at The Plazzo on Sunday to scream and yell and gamble on football like a rock star.

Pauly the Rock Star.

CJ, the man with connections.

2009 WPBT Holiday Classic at Caesars Palace

2009-12-12T20:45:00.015-05:00

The only poker I played this trip was the 2009 WPBT Holiday Classic at Caesars Palace this year. 86 bloggers from all over North America put their skills to the test.

For CJ's Luckbox Last Longer Challenge, I teamed with Iggy, and Rooster on Team "Bonus Code Iggy". As luck would have it, Iggy and I were seated next to each other at Table 44. Rooster got 86'd early so Iggy and I knew it would be an uphill battle to get into the Last Longer money. With blinds at 300/600 I raised to 1800 with pocket sixes, Iggy siting to my left pushed all his chips in and had me covered. I figured he must have a made hand so I laid it down. Iggy showed AK. I didn't want to flip for it at the point of the tourney anyway.

I built my stack back up and eventually got moved to F-Trains table. He was the clear chip leader and running the table. Raising almost every hand and taking the substantial blinds and antes. He raised to 5500 and I pushed all in for about 15K with AK. F-Train thought a while and folded, he said he had AQ. A few hands later he raised again, I pushed with AQ Crubs, this time he called and he had the AK. Two crubs on the flop another on the turn and yet another on the river for good measure. CK is right...crubs always ger there.

Iggy got knocked out in the thirties, eventually we were down to two tables, then one. I made the final table and in the money again. This is my fourth final table at a WPBT live event out of 5 events played. I finished 6th twice before at Aladdin and Imperial Palace, 2nd last year at The Venetian and now this year at Caesars Palace. 4 final tables out of 5 times, not bad. These are my people, hehe.

Final table play went a long time before anyone was knocked out. Eventually my 8-7 took out Elissa's short stacked QJ. A few rounds later I open shoved with KJ and got called by Joe Speakers 88 which held up and I was on the rail. Astin held on to beat Speaker and AlCantHang heads up to take the title and the golden hammer. Congratulations Astin...well played.

Christmas Shopping in Las Vegas

2009-12-11T14:30:00.003-05:00

We spent the better part of the day Christmas Shopping at the various shopping malls and outlets around Las Vegas.

We took the Deuce south down the Strip to Las Vegas Premium Outlet Malls. Found many great deals, really cheap. Snapped a few pics on the way back.

Our favorite place to shop is The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Ling loves to shop for deals and we always find stuff here that you don't see at most traditional shopping centers.

The Palazzo Las Vegas

2009-12-10T11:30:00.009-05:00

Pretty easy flight, 3 hours to Houston and the another 3 hours to Vegas. We caught a cab to The Palazzo where we have 4 nights comped plus $25 food credit and $50 in match play chips from the casino.

The lobby had this three story warping lighted Christmas decoration thingy.

Christmas Polar Bears floating on the last remaining ice berg in Las Vegas due to Global Warming.

My Ling sitting next to a sea of cranberries.

We got to our room and we were impressed. Much like the Venetian, the room is divided into two parts, king sized bed and then a sitting room closer to the window.

The view from our suite at The Palazzo.

Even the spare toliet paper is especially nice at The Palazzo.

The waterfall between The Palazzo and The Venetian.

Counting Down to Vegas

2009-12-07T08:28:00.015-05:00

In three days I will be on a plane to Vegas to hang out with bloggers and play in the WPBT Winter Classic. This is an annual event organized this year by April from thisisnotapokerblog at Ceasars Palace.

CJ from Up For Poker has issued The Luckbox Last Longer Challenge and Poker Stars has graciously added $2000 to the last longer prize pool.

Photos from The Palazzo website

I am looking forward to 4 nights comped at The Palazzo. Never stayed there before, but I think its pretty similar to their sister property, The Venetian.

CJ also set up VIP access for Football Sunday at Palazzo's Lagasse Stadium Sports Book.

Jewel

2009-12-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

http://www.jeweljk.com/
Jewel has always been a favorite of mine. I saw her in concert a few years ago at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ. Jewel is known for her interaction with the audience between songs, telling stories and taking requests. So I was not surprised when she offered to answer questions from her Twitter followers on her blog. So I Twittered her a question about her song "Little Sister" from the Pieces of You album.

The Mookie

2009-11-25T23:00:00.003-05:00

Played in The Mookie with 25 other players and made the final table, but was knocked out ninth. Was fun to see some familiar players, haven't played much online in the last few months. Getting back in to in before the WPBT Winter Classic next month.

Wheels Down in Vegas for March Madness

2009-03-19T11:39:00.024-04:00

Wheels down in Vegas Thursday morning.
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Wheels down in Vegas Thursday morning for the NCAA March Madness tournament and some live poker. Ling and I break away from the daily grind to help stimulate the Vegas economy with Poker, Craps, and Shopping. We used Frequent Flyer Miles on Continental to get here and we have three nights comped at The Mirage. Seems like the casino's are trying to stimulate us.

Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

We arrived around 10:30 am and after we got our luggage we headed for the taxi line, which to our surprise snaked inside the baggage claim area and extended beyond the third baggage turnstile. After we got outside it went around the corner of the building and all the way to the next corner before doubling back and entering the normal taxi line. It took over an hour to get a cab, never had to wait more then 10 minutes before. Needless to say, there is an in flux of spring breakers, college alumni, and degenerate gamblers descending on Vegas.

Mirage
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

View from our room at The Mirage

View from our room at The Mirage
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Night time view of The Venetian and Harrah's from our room at The Mirage

Caesars Fountain
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Ceasars fountain with Flamingo in the background.

Caesars Palace
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Caesars Palace

Forum Shops at Caesars Palace
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Forum Shops at Caesars Palace

Imperial Palace
Originally uploaded by ObieVIP

Finally...Change

2009-01-21T23:13:00.003-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

From The Daily Show: Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech
Jason Jones maintains Obama's inaugural address was a new message, and in no way like any of Bush's speeches.

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T09:32:00.002-05:00

2008 WPBT Holiday Classic at Venetian

2008-12-13T23:45:00.005-05:00

Seriously, the only poker I played this trip was the WPBT Holiday Classic at the Venetian which was the main reason we came to Vegas. 82 Bloggers or friends/family of bloggers (FOB)'s put down $135 for a shot at blogger immortality. Levels were 30 minutes and we all started with 10K.

My starting table included:
Derrick
F-Train
CK BWoP
Grubby
Grubette

Falstaff did a great job organizing the tournament, he came by our table and called us “The Asian and those with an Asian Fetish Table.” He was right on. CK would say about every other hand..."Looks like an Asian is gonna win this pot."

Soon, Iggy and John Kitkan joined us. It was alot of fun playing with all these folks. I played slow and tight. I doubled up with flush over flush and picked up a bounty of some nice copag cards and a green Las Vegas visor I was sporting. By the 2nd break had about 23k.

I was moved to new table and ran into AA twice in the first orbit. First, I lost with KJ to Aces, then a few hands later I lost with KQ to Dawn Summers Aces. Somehow I managed to keep most of my chips despite loosing to AA twice.

Eventually we got down to 2 tables with only 11 players left by the 4th break. I managed to double up with KK to 56K.

In reaching the final table and in the money I was pretty relived. I have played in 4 of these live WPBT events and this is my 3rd final table. I finished 6th twice before (Aladdin & Imperial Palace).

Down to six left and I am pretty short. I had about 30K left and knew I would not survive another round. Blinds were 6K and 12K with 2K ante. Under the gun I pushed pre-flop with 34 off-suit hoping to just steal the blind but got 2 callers. The board came all low cards and when the 5 hit on the river…it was a beautiful thing. I rivered a straight and tripled up to over 90K and that was enough to keep me in til the end.

Maigrey eliminated several players and eventually found myself heads-up against her for the title. She had a 3:1 chip advantage when we started heads-up play, but I started getting good hands and was able to double up and make us pretty even. The all-in fest was short lived and we started seeing some flops and some post flop play. We each would bet just enough to make the other think hard about the call. Lots of folds. I went on a mini heater with AK, JJ, and AQ in back to back to back hands to take the chip lead. She came back with some good post flop raises forcing me to fold an open ended straight draw. We went back and forth for about an hour. I called a raise with AK and when she bet out on the J high flop I pushed and she called with 10 10. Turn was a Q but no help on the river and she won the tourney. A well deserved victory. Second place was $1660.

2008 WPBT Holiday Classic Final Table Results
1 Maigrey
2 Obie
3 Shai (Karols fiancee)
4 Katkin
5 Oh Captain
6 Pokerpeaker
7 Dawn Summers
8 $mokkee
9 BuddyDank
10 Astin

Thanks to CaApril for tweeting the final table, so I was able to recall some of the hands.

It's A Nice Day for a White Wedding

2008-12-13T14:30:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning rise and shine. I like the early morning craps tables, mostly full of folks who don’t know its morning yet. Ling and I played at the same table in the Luxor from the other day and won $100. So far I’m up $125 for the trip. After craps we headed out to catch the deuce up to the Sahara. I have some football wins from my last trip in October I needed to cash in. In and out pretty quick, this is the first time since I have been playing poker that I didn’t play in any Sahara tournaments.

We walked over to the Stratosphere for lunch and then took the deuce to downtown and Freemont St. We played at Binions, got out picture taken with a million dollars, and won $125 at craps in a half hour. Now up $250 for the trip.

Around 1pm, we walked down to the Clark County Marriage License Office to meet up with Gracie, Sweet Sweet Pablo and about 30 other bloggers to attend their wedding. Afterwards we rode the party bus down the strip and to the Venetian.

Christmas Shopping Vegas Style

2008-12-12T22:36:00.019-05:00

Headed over to Mandalay Bay to check our the action and passed the ice lounge Minus 5 on the way in from Luxor. From their website: “Minus5 means minus five degrees Celsius (23-degrees Fahrenheit), and is an ice lounge where you can touch, feel, and explore intricately handcrafted ice sculptures and ice architecture made from 100% pure Canadian ice. Enter an icy wonderland where everything that surrounds you is pure, crystal-clear, glacial ice from the seats you sit on to the glasses you sip your unique premium vodka-based cocktails from. You and your guests will be treated to the coolest experience in all of Las Vegas.”

Pure Canadian ice, not that crappy ice like we have here.

Posed for pictures with the headless statue of Lenin, then we took the Mandalay tram up to Excalibur, then walked over to MGM Grand sports book to make some football bets. I never do well with the spread, or straight up for that matter, but I have won some money in years past on the over/under. I took Titans/Texans and Ravens/Steelers for the under and took Skins/Bengals and Cowboys/Giants for the over.

On to Bellagio to check out their winter display in the conservatory. Caught our reflection in the huge mirror wrapped presents. The display featured a huge Christmas tree and arching water sprouts you can walk under. The place was really busy, and although the weather was not dreadful, there was a feeling of Christmas in the air. Something really wrong though about listening to Christmas carols in the casino.

My ling has been in the USA a little over a year. We got married in Vegas last year. Many people asked me where did we meet, or how did I trick her into marrying me. Our story is chronicled over at my other blog: Made in China.

After Bellagio, we went Christmas shopping at The Forum Shops in Caesars Palace.

Wheels Down in Vegas

2008-12-11T20:23:00.011-05:00

Landed in Vegas on Thursday afternoon, just Ling and I, and about a 100 poker bloggers from all over North America for a weekend of gambling, entertainment, and oh yeah…a wedding. We got our luggage and took a taxi to the Luxor, where I have 2 nights comped, and 1 night at the casino rate of $48. We came down on Continental frequent flyer miles, so this will be a very cheap 4-day getaway.

Luxor Las Vegas.

Can’t really say I like the new interior. I guess it appeals to some people, I think it’s a little monotone in color, everything is grey now. They have abandoned the Egyptian theme inside to go with LA hipster. I guess to draw in more people to their LAX nightclub. It doesn’t work; I mean your hotel is a pyramid…go with the theme.

Fortunately, I am able to overlook the dreary design since its free. We hit the craps table and played for about an hour…left up $25. We then headed over to the MGM Grand for lunch, worked our way up the strip to the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. Spent a long time shopping and wondering around the re-vamped property.

Unlike the Luxor….they got this makeover right. The Aladdin was plastic and plaster and cavernous. The casino ceiling was 3 stories tall and you felt like the decorations were taken off an old Disney ride from the 50’s.

The new Planet Ho is hip and modern. Light fixtures rotate through colors and hang from the ceiling to give the illusion you are in a room instead of a cave. Listen to Steve Friess interview Planet Hollywood CEO Robert Earl on The Strip Podcast and talk about the new design and if they purposely left the marquee as Planet Ho for a few days during construction.

Outside, we took a few shots of the CityCenter construction site. CityCenter is a joint venture between MGM Mirage and Dubai World, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Aria will serve as the core of CityCenter, which has 18 million square feet of public space and is considered the largest privately financed development in the United States. Aria will have CityCenter's only gaming space."

"The three nongaming hotels are the Mandarin Oriental, Harmon Hotel and Vdara. Veer Towers is CityCenter's only strictly residential building. The Crystals is a 500,000-square-foot retail, dining and entertainment district. Aria will also house a Cirque du Soleil theater that will host a production show based on the music of Elvis Presley. The hotel will also display portions of CityCenter's planned $40 million public arts program."

"MGM Mirage officials are extending Harmon Avenue from its yet-to-open Interstate 15 overpass through the development, creating Harmon Circle, a raised roadway with off-ramps into Vdara and Aria. Harmon will continue underneath as an east-west connector. An aboveground people mover system will connect Aria with Bellagio and Monte Carlo."

We had planned on meeting up with the other bloggers at the Imperial Palace Geisha Bar, but we were tired and hungry, and the IP culinary options weren't very appealing so we hopped on the deuce, and headed back to Luxor for dinner and an early crash.

Pokerstars Blogger Event

2008-12-05T11:11:00.002-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 430680

We Need More Change

2008-10-25T20:09:00.002-04:00

From http://www.youtube.com/user/DhimmiTube666

WFTV Channel 9's Barbara West puts Joe Biden on the hot seat over ACORN, voter fraud, and Barack Obama's "Spread the wealth" comments, and even asks if Obama is a "Marxist".

Change We Can Believe In

2008-10-06T19:20:00.003-04:00

"I believe that most Americans would agree on the problems this country faces and which the next administration must solve. They include the need, once again, for an economy that works. The economy today is in very, very bad shape, the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, 50% higher than when Mr. Ford took office, raging inflation. The latest wholesale price index is once again raising the specter of double-digit inflation. The purchasing power of the average American has slipped so much that it's now the equivalent of the purchasing power in 1965. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. All the leading indicators now point downward. Stock investors are losing confidence. Over $50 billion of value has disappeared from the stock market in less than a month.

We need a government that works, we need a government that cares, and once again, we have to get back at work on education, on health, on housing, on the environment, on energy. And we need a foreign policy that once again reflects the values and the beliefs of the American people. This will take leadership, and we need leadership, too. The Republican administration, the Republican Party has had eight years to solve these problems. All of them have gotten worse.

The Republican ticket does not offer new plans for their solution but is engaged in a frantic effort to defend the past. This nation desperately needs new leadership. The Carter-Mondale ticket would offer a new generation of leadership dedicated to solving the problems I have listed, and that is the basis of our appeal."

Walter Mondale in his opening statement in the vice presidential debate in 1976 against Bob Dole, 32 years ago.

More of the Same

2008-10-04T10:50:00.002-04:00

2004: Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

2008-09-29T22:53:00.003-04:00

From http://www.youtube.com/user/NakedEmperorNews

Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis.

At a 2004 hearing see Democrat after Democrat covering up and attacking the regulations to protect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (their Cash Cows) that are now destroying our economy because the Democrats let them cheat.

And from Andy McCarthy of National Review Online
Republished on Michelle Malkin's blog

"And as for alternatives:

- How about reinforcing FDIC to give people confidence in their savings? Maybe more support for money markets?

- How about cutting corporate taxes or cap gains taxes?

- How about buying up (or financing the purchase of) the AAA securities that currently are having trouble moving but are not “toxic,” in order to increase liquidity and help with possible insolvency for healthier institutions rather than the old line investment banks?

- How about doing something about the silliness of the $62 Trillion Credit Default Swap market (e.g. the margin requirements, etc…)?

- How about immediately changing mark-to-market rules?

- And – heaven forbid – how about belt-tightening in Washington? Don’t hold your breath – but imagine what a signal that would send – a freeze in discretionary spending, a moratorium on earmarks and a real plan to educate America about entitlements and talk about the need to get our fiscal house in order. "

Beleive It

2008-09-26T19:54:00.002-04:00

Lisa Nova Does Sarah Palin

2008-09-01T19:45:00.004-04:00

**Questions to answer from Lisa Nova:

1) What do you think of Sarah Palin, McCain's choice
for VP?
Answer: Love it. A strong woman who got there on her own....not on who she is married to.

2) Do you think he chose her solely for political reasons?
Answer: Yes of course, all decisions in an election year are for political reasons, did you get your stimulus check?

3) Are people being too tough on her?
Answer: Yes, but the left would go crazy no matter who he selected.

4) Is her inexperience equivalent to Obama's?
Answer: No. She served as Governor of Alaska for 2 years which includes Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard. That’s more leadership than Obama, Biden, and McCain combined. Senators negotiate and compromise, executives lead.

5) Would you be comfortable with her as President?
Answer: Yes...in a heartbeat.

6) Who is going to win the election in November? Do
you care?
Answer: The democrats will be the real winners because they will have succeeded in getting rid of Bush, something they have been trying to do since 2000.

7) Do you think having Sarah Palin as VP will sway a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters to vote McCain?
Answer: I think Palin as VP will sway some Hillary voters, but it is likely to sway more Republicans to vote for McCain.

Trouble at Wal-Mart

2008-08-02T13:53:00.009-04:00

Shopping at Wal-Mart today for some back-to-school supplies for my 6 year old daughter. Virginia is running a tax holiday this weekend so the place was packed. After we checked out, we headed out the door and passed the greeter/bag checker on the way out, my daughter told me we forgot to get the little stickers they give out.

Okay, so I went back, but the lady was busy checking someone’s cart, and there was line forming behind her. I saw the stickers on a roll hanging on the wall, so I peeled off a few and headed out the door. When we got in the car we had the following exchange…

“Daughter: Why did you steal those?”

Me: I didn’t steal them….they are free.

Daughter: Was there a sign that said they were free?

Me: No, but they give them away to people.

Daughter: You should of said “excuse me maam…”

Me: Well, I didn’t want to wait.

Daughter: You shouldn’t steal them.

Me: I didn’t steal them, but if the police come to our house, I will tell them that you have the stickers.

Daughter: Well, I’ll just tell them to go check the video camera.

She is six years old and she outsmarted me!

Freeway

2008-07-29T19:14:00.001-04:00

The Mookie

2008-07-10T01:41:00.008-04:00

Played in The Mookie tonight and took it down. 54 players, a lot of 72 offsuit raises, and a heck of a lot of fun.

I had pocket Kings hold up twice, including this key hand that Mookie posted on his blog. This hand gave me the chip lead and the ability to play some big stack poker.

Hand replay from Mookie's blog.

When we got to the final table, I was surprised to find out I had a 4:1 chip lead over most of the other players. I hadn't been paying attention to the leaderboard or other tables. I raised a lot trying to put other players into a decision to play for all their chips. It worked pretty well. One by one the other players dropped out. At the third break, we were down to 3. I had over 100K and the other two were just over 20K each.

Screen shot from Mookie's blog.

AK beat A10 on the final hand. I never saw the King on the flop until I saw this screen shot on Mookie's blog. I got so excited after the final hand, I think I banged on the computer and lost mouse and keyboard functions....had to reboot.

In Vegas for the WSOP

2008-06-26T21:44:00.003-04:00

Arrived in Vegas tonight to play in WSOP Event #48 tomorrow, a $2000 buy-in NL Holdem tournament at the Rio. My flight was delayed out of DC, but made it to Denver in plenty of time to catch the second leg to Sin City.

Checked in to my comped room at the Luxor and headed out to the Rio to check out the action. I was able to snap a shot of Doyle Brunson playing in the $50,000 HORSE Championship.

Stoped by the Media Press Box to say hello to Dr. Pauly. He's got the best coverage of the series on the web I would say.

I bought in to Event #48 and then headed back to the Luxor to prepare for tomorrow.

Set Over Set...That's all She Wrote.

2008-06-15T17:54:00.003-04:00

So Close

2008-06-13T11:40:00.000-04:00

A third way into the WSOP Main Event through PokerStars is by playing in their $370 ME Qualifer on June 15th where at least 200 ME Packages are up for grabs.

I played in an $80 satelite for this tournament yesterday and came so close. 27 players with 5 seats to $370 ME Qualifer, 6th place gets their $80 back. We are down to 6 trying to bust that last player, the short stack pushes with 10-8 on the button, I call with KK. I'm in I think. flop has an 8, turn is an 8 and river is a 10. Okay, I am cut in half but still alive. Next hand I am SB and have AQ, I raise for half my chips again and the BB pushes. I call and am up against 33. Well I hit an Ace on the flop but he hit a 3 and another 3 on the river. So close.

I will try again tomorrow.

Team Moneymaker Qualifer

2008-06-07T22:37:00.003-04:00

A second way to a WSOP Main Event seat from PokerStars is the Team Moneymaker promotion.

From the PokerStars website: "All you have to do is take part in our twice-daily Team Moneymaker $39 tournaments. If you finish high enough, (depending on how many people enter) you’ll be awarded a ticket to the Team Moneymaker Final. Finish in the top 15 of the Final and you’re in The Team!"

I played in one of these today with 139 runners, playing for 23 seats to the Moneymaker Final, and I made it into the top 23 and won a seat in the Moneymaker Final to be played June 15th. Currently there are over 500 others that have qualified and probably will be a thousand more by the time it starts.

The Moneymaker Final will give away 15 seats to the WSOP Main Event valued at $12,500 each...wish me luck.

Playing for a WSOP Main Event Seat

2008-06-07T20:17:00.002-04:00

PokerStars is running a number of promotions offering players a chance to win a seat in the WSOP Main Event. Along with the $50 SNG's, I have been feverishly playing these satelites to earn a seat.

Once a week you can play in a Freeroll Donkfest where they give away 50 seats to a Main Event Qualifer. There are dozens of ME Qualifers to choose from on the weekend ranging from 1 to 4 ME seats.

I won one of these satelites last week and played with 2322 others in the ME Qualfer today with 3 WSOP ME seats up for grabs. I doubled up on the first hand when my AA held up against K-10 on a 10 high board. I lasted through the first two breaks but ultimately, short on chips, lost out when my JJ ran up against QQ. I finished 376.

I have been going deep in large field MTT's lately, finishing in the top 50 out of 3572 to qualify, and recently finishing 45th out of 5064 in an FPP Freeroll for cash.

Never Complain About a Bad Beat Again

2008-05-10T19:37:00.018-04:00

Well I get my share of bad beats just like anyone, and I don't complain about them too much, just part of the game. I take pride that I got my money in with the best hand and just got outdrawn. But after this hand, and the Bad Beat I put on poor ole Cobra234, I promise never to complain about a bad beat ever again....check this out.

This was in a $50 SNG, down to the final two, Cobra234 had a 3-1 chip lead on me, I pushed all in after the flop thinking I was in the lead, but I wasn't.

Battle of the Planets

2008-04-30T08:34:00.001-04:00

The fun is back. I have been playing the $50 SNG's on Poker Stars all month trying to qualify for the leaderboard prizes. Have not done that but I have managed to almost double my bankroll. These games are juicy.

Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 3

2008-03-02T08:33:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Al Can't Hang for organizing the third and probobly last Battle of the Blogger Tournaments on Full Tilt Poker

Here is the schedule:

Tournament: Blogger Big Game
Where/when: Full Tilt, Sunday March 2nd 21:30ET
Game: Superstack NLHE
Buyin: $69+6 or Tier II token
Password: donkey

Tournament: MATH
Where/when: Full Tilt Poker, Monday 22:00ET
Game: NLHE 6-Max
Buyin: $24+2 or Tier I token
Password: hammer

Tournament: Blogger Skills Series
Where/when: Full Tilt, Tuesday 21:30ET
Game: Rotation between non-NLHE games
Buyin: $12+1
Password: skillz

Tournament: The Mookie
Where/when: Full Tilt, Wednesday 22:00et
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Tournament: Riverchasers Online Tour
Where/when: Full Tilt, Thursday 21:00ET
Game: Bi-weely rotation of NLHE and non-HE games
Buyin: $10+1
Password: riverchasers

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2007-10-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7026797

WBPT Summer Classic

2007-06-09T22:28:00.000-04:00

In Vegas again for the WBBT Summer Classic at the Orelans Casino.
Should be a blast seeing some familar faces.

Friday Night Home Game

2007-04-19T12:06:00.001-04:00

I am hosting a Friday Night Poker Tournament at Deneen's house near Docs.

The tournament will be No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, $50 Buy-in, with no re-buys.

Deneen lives a few miles from Doc's subdivision,

It is a few miles past Ukrops, off Gordon Road.

Friday Night March 20th.

Sign-up at 7:00 PM, play starts at 7:30 PM.

Cash game will be running afterwards.

Hope to see you there!

Obie

Benny Wins 1Q Leaderboard

2007-03-26T16:30:00.000-04:00

Benny held on to his lead and edged out Ron 23 to 21.

I can dodge bullets…baby…and pocket Kings

2007-02-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

The regular Friday night poker tournament is back in full swing. We played again tonight at Deneens house. She has a great house, really large with lots of room. Deneen always puts out some great food for everyone. Either pizzas or burgers, or sometimes she will make obie dip. Tonight was no exception; she had a great spread laid out for us.

We start with 5000 in chips and I was up about 1000 when things started to go south. Robbie was to my right and got pocket kings in back to back hands. Blinds were 50/100 and he raised to 300 each time and showed his kings each time when no one called. The very next hand I get 10-10 and raise to 300. Robbie calls. Flop is 10-2-2 so I flop a full house and of course I am slow playing it. Turn is an Ace, and I am hoping it hit him so I still slow play but there is no action. River is a Jack, I bet 200 just to try to get a little something. Robbie raises to 600. Times past I would push right here, but I learned my lesson recently in Atlantic City, so I just call. He flips over pocket Jacks for a better full house than me.

A little later I am down to about 1600 in chips. I get A-9 suited and throw out a 600 dollar bet to an un-raised pot. Katie calls and I think up-ohh. Katie is known as a tight player and anytime she is in the hand…she usually has the nuts. John S. is next to act and he pushed all in for about 5500. Wow. A smooth call and then a raise all in. I know I am beat and instead of taking the pot odds or rationalizing that I am pot committed and trying to get lucky, discipline kicks in and I fold. Katie calls him and flips over AA. John is holding KK. The flop comes with a King and Katie is eliminated.

I don’t think pot odds really apply to tournaments unless you are the chip leader, or the chip leader of all those in the hand. Pot odds means that you find a situation where you may win the hand 1 in 4 times, but there are enough chips in the pot the time you win, to more than make up for the 3 times you lose the hand. This is a cash game phenomenon.

In a tournament, unless you have the most chips, you really don’t have pot odds to call and put yourself all in, because if you don’t win the hand, you’re out. Tournament is over. You never get to play the other 3 times when the odds say you will win at least 1.

So after the hand….in my best Helmuth impression, I stand up and say: “I can dodge bullets…baby…and pocket Kings.”

Now Comedy

2007-02-02T23:30:00.002-05:00

Now that I am settled into my new house, I got the Friday night home going again. 21 players showed up Friday night to battle for leaderboard points. Well that’s what I tell them, there really here for the money. We have raised the buy-in this year to $50, so we had over $1000 in the pot tonight.

A few people who have not played with us for about a year, so it was good to see them again. SB in particular used to play every week; he has since gotten married and has a baby now. I asked him how old his daughter is; he said I dunno, 17 or 18 months. I chuckled, you don’t know the age of your daughter? Now embarrassed, he says I’m a guy. I have a penis. I can’t count. I said, well, if you have a penis you should at least be able to count to 11.

Kathrine chimes in… "I don’t get it".

Devin was new to our game. Didn’t have much luck in the tournament, he was the first one out. But he found his groove in the cash game collecting over $200 in chips in a 50 cent/$1 NL cash game. Devin came to the game with a group of friends. He almost didn’t make it when they stopped at the 7-Eleven to get some beer. His friend backed the truck into a different parking spot while they waited for him. Devin came out and hoped into the truck that has taken the spot. He says he knew right away, because this was a nicer truck. He just sat there as the seconds ticked away. The driver, a stranger says whats up dude? Devin says nice truck. The people in the back seat are cracking up. After a while Devin says well I guess I will go find my truck. Frickin hilarious.

Nuclear Apathy

2007-01-27T16:25:00.001-05:00

So my ex-wife thought it would be cute to post some comments about me in my last blog entry.

The Ex Wife said...

Since you make over 100k a year why is so hard for you to help pay 60 dollars toward your daughters karate?
You post poker winnings on this blog but can't come up with 60 dollars? Shame that you expect me to pay 50/50 when you make a ton more than me.
How is that fair for me to struggle to pay for her activities while you fly to china every two months to visit your girlfriend?
Keep posting your winnings and I will keep asking you for your help - 60/40 is not asking a lot. $20 makes a difference on my salary - not yours. Real Sad Obie!

Well, if you want to do this in a public forum...that is fine with me.

I already pay you $1000 a month for child support which makes our income pretty even. I agreed to pay 50% of the cost for Belle's karate lessons which are close to $100 a month.

You refused stating that you want me to pay 60% of the cost.

It's not $20, its a $10 difference and if that really makes a difference in your salary, maybe you should cut back on your trips to Atlantic City, Cruises to the Caribbean, and stay away from Poker Stars, peanut.

No Nirvana for Nirav

2007-01-13T03:20:00.000-05:00

Now that I am settled into my new place, I decided to start hosting a regular game again at my house. So Friday nights we kicked off a new season of the Obie Poker Tour (OBT). Check out the Leaderboard.

I think I am starting to figure out why I am such a terrible cash game player. Most of my winnings, and I am up overall since I started playing poker on a regular basis, have come from tournament wins. I just play better in tournaments, play tighter, and really limit my mistakes. At the cash table, I’m a donkey.

Well since I busted out of the tournament early, QQ vs KK. I was playing the cash game for the rest of the night and this hand comes up:

Pretty wild, we were playing loose and clowning around and having fun in a $.50/$1.00 home game. John K. is SB and I am BB. There are about 6 or 7 at the table.

Nirav limps from early position. John calls and I check with 5 7 off-suit. Pot = $3. Before the flop, John checks in the dark. Not to be outdone, I quickly bet $3 in the dark. The flop is Q – 3 – 4 rainbow.

Nirav raises my blind bet to $6, John folds, and I look at the flop for the first time and see a gut-shot straight draw.

For a $3 call I can win $15, so that is 5 to 1 on my money. There are only 4 cards out of 47 that can make my straight, that is less than 1 in 10, so even at 5:1, I don’t have odds to call.

Of course, that doesn’t stop me. I put him on a steal because of the bind action before the flop, I think he is just trying to take the pot away. We’re having fun, slinging chips, and $3 isn’t that much. I just bet that much blind on the flop. I call, hoping to get lucky, or steal the pot back with a bet on the turn. Pot = $15.

Turn is a blank and I bet out $6 to try and take it down right here. If he was on a steal he will fold now.

He was not on a steal, he raised me $9 up to $15. So now I have to donk off another $9 to win $45, still getting 5:1 on the money and still only have 4 outs. Of course, I call.

The river is a 6, I hit my 4 outer. I push in the rest of my chips for $77. Now Nirav starts to unravel. He says he can’t lay this down, he sees the straight draw out there, also now there are 3 diamonds on the board.

But unfortunate for Nirav, he calls and turns over Q-3 of hearts for 2 pair. I was way off on the read, and I sucked out on him to rake in a $199 pot.

That was the suck-out of the night.
I now see why I always lose at the cash game.

A Dangerous Wheel

2007-01-01T23:13:00.000-05:00

I was invited over to my friend Deneen’s house for New Years Day. She was having an open house, with folks coming and going all day. Deneen is a regular in the V-Vegas circuit around Fredericksburg, and has hosted many of my tournaments while I transition to the new house.

Since people were coming and going, we only played a cash game to accommodate the constant flux of players. I was starting the new year off pretty well, tripled up from my original buy-in, causing Deneen to re-buy twice. Then the following hand:

I am dealt A5 off suit and call an un-raised pot. The flop is 2 – 4 – K rainbow, Deneen bets the minimum and gets two callers, including me on the gut-shot wheel draw. Turn is a 2 and everyone checks around. River is the money card for me, a 3, I hit my straight.

Deneen bets the pot and I double it with a raise. She pushes all-in and I of course call. Before I can scrap the pot, Deneen turns over pocket two’s for Quad two’s….ouch!

Dem’s QUADS Beeitches!!!

Oh, well I was back down to my original buy in and she had most of the chips.
So much for starting the new year off on a winning note.

Christmas in Vegas

2006-12-28T09:42:00.002-05:00


View of the Las Vegas strip from the top of the Stratosphere Hotel & casino

For years, I had promised my oldest son, Aaron, I would take him to Vegas to celebrate his 21st birthday. December 22nd of this year was the day so I met him and his girlfriend, Melanie, in Vegas, to show them a good time, and teach them how to roll like a VIP.

The goal this trip was to see some shows and have some fun, with a little gambling and poker mixed in, not the usual hedonistic debauchery we usually enjoy...save that for the next blogger weekend.


I put a dollar into a quarter slot machine at the airport, and began to teach Aaron how to gamble. What a valuable lesson to learn at this young age.

We all arrived Friday afternoon and made it to the hotel, VIP check in and comped rooms at the Stratosphere this time. The room was on the 8th floor and had no view, but hey...we didn't plan to spend much time there anyway.


Insanity, the ride on top of The Stratosphere Hotel and Casino

We spent the first evening on top of the Stratosphere tower. They rode all the rides, including the newest one...Insanity. That one is named correctly. I saw several people visible shaken as they got off that ride. it dangles you 110 stories in the air and spins you around like a top. I would imagine there is a huge pile of hurl growing directly below it. Beware.

The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage.

Saturday night we had tickets to The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage. If you like The Beatles, and even if you don't, LOVE is a great show. The songs come to life and kind of followed a story. The Circue du Soleil performers are incredible. There is so much happening; I was immersed in the performance.

Aaron & Melanie with Blue Man Group at The Venetian.

Afterwards we headed accross the street to The Venetian to see Blue Man Group. They have added a few new twists but basically it is the same show that ran at The Luxor. Aaron and Melanie absolutely loved it. The twinkie scene had them rolling on the floor.

After the shows each night, I did get a little poker in, I played in the Sahara 11PM tournament each night and got eliminated promptly after the first break each night. Also I bought in late to the Stratosphere midnight tournament each night and proceeded to win it each night. It was like ground hog day. I like the new structure of the Stratosphere tournaments, 4000 in chips, 20 minute rounds, no ante's, and plenty of bad players.

We had one of those cariture drawings made to commemorate the trip.


Jingle Bells....you tard.

Merry Christmas on the Red-Eye back.

Vegas Baby...Without My Baby

2006-10-09T23:00:00.000-04:00

As you can imagine, it has been a hard time since the accident that took Alex from us. My family continues to struggle through life without him. But I know we must continue to live. Continue to eat, sleep, laugh, play, and of course cry from time to time,

I have been out of touch with the poker world since it happened; only playing a couple times including his charity fund raiser, where we raised $1200 for his memorial fund at his school.

I had a spur-of-the-moment chance to get away for a weekend in Vegas and I took the opportunity to get back in the poker game.
I landed in Vegas on Thursday night and checked in to the MGM Grand, two nights comped and two nights at the casino rate, I am a VIP after all. I then headed over to the Sahara for their 11PM $62 Donk Fest.

I have said before, I love the Sahara tournaments; I made the final table and finished 4th out of 89 players for $258 profit. Nice way to get welcomed to Vegas. The next morning I played in the 11AM tourney and finished 7th to clear $108. Since I seemed to be on a roll, I played the next one and finished first for $841.

With my new found money, I decided to buy an entry into the Festa Al Lago $1500 NL Texas Hold’Em event at the Bellagio. This is the highest entry fee I have ever paid, and I expected the competition to be much better then the level I am used to playing. They were, several of the players at my table make their living playing poker. I played tight and got lucky once when I spiked a King on the turn, KK vs AA. I got short stacked after a bluff that I had to abandon, and finally got knocked out 90th. Top 27 out of 356 got paid with first place over $200,000. Oh well, at least I know I can play with the big boys.

The next day I played the afternoon tournament at the Venetian and chopped for first, taking $720. I also took first in a small one at the Monte Carlo for $400.

Over the 3 day Columbus Day weekend, I played in 10 tournaments, made the final table 7 times, cashed 5 times, and took first 3 times. I won about $2300 overall including Craps, and would have been close to $4000 if I didn’t play in that Bellagio event. I’d say it was a successful trip.

Tragedy

2006-07-05T07:20:00.001-04:00

My son, Alexander Nathaniel "Alex" Overby, 14, of Stafford County Virginia, died Monday, July 3, 2006. Hit by a car walking beside the road. Alex had just completed 8th grade at Gayle Middle School where he participated in chorus and drama. He had played SRSL soccer for several years and enjoyed skateboarding, computer games, and playing poker.

Alex with a Royal Flush in clubs.

Survivors include his parents, Lowen A. and Kristina K. Overby; one sister, Isabella Nicole Overby; two half-brothers, Lowen Aaron Collins and Matthew Edward Collins.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 11 at Covenant Funeral H\Service, 4801 Jefferson Davis Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22408. Burial will follow at noon in Quantico national Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. o Monday, July 10 at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to Gayle Middle School for use by the chorus, 100 Panther Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22405.

Alex Memorial Web Site
Funeral Service Online Guestbook

PokerStars 2nd Annual World Blogger Championship

2006-06-04T06:44:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3818296

Fredericksburg Poker Tour Tournament of Champions

2006-04-09T12:02:00.000-04:00

Saturday afternoon was the Tournament of Champions (ToC) for the Fredericksburg Poker Tour (FPT). The FPT is a series of weekly No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournaments in the town with some of the best players from the area. A percentage of the pot each week is set aside to pay for a seat in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. The winner of the Tournament of Champions gets it.

You can’t buy a seat in the ToC, you have to win one of the weekly FPT events, plus you have to play in at least 7 of them through out the year.

Thirty-three people qualified including myself. The organizers of the FPT tried to structure the ToC to mimic the Main Event. Blind structure and starting chips were the same but the rounds were 45 minutes instead of ninety. But, it was a nice deep stack tourney with lots of players that can play.

I played really tight, knowing that you can’t win it in the first round…..but you can sure lose it. Johnny World found that out the hard way. Nobody wanted to be the first one out, but when he pushed with T$7100 with pocket aces, a look of fear came over him as Ben called him with 5-6 of diamonds. Rocket busters he mumbled before he dealt the board that included a 5 and a 6.

I hit a gut-shot straight on the turn with J-10, Mike D pushed and I called him instantly to double up. Had to fold A-Q to a raise and a re-raise that would of put me all in. Raiser had pocket 7’s and re-raiser had pocket jacks. Everyone folded so we never saw the flop.

Made it to the final table….that was pretty kool, I said…”one of us is going to play in the Main Event this year.” I doubled up with pocket aces and had about T$25,000 of the T$330,000 chips in play. Burns, the chip leader has about T$80,000 until I game him all mine when A-J didn’t improve against his pocket kings. I finished sixth.

WPBT Satellite for WSOP Event

2006-04-02T18:59:00.000-04:00

Iggy has set up another WPBT Satellite for a $1500 WSOP Event

Excerpt below from Guinness and Poker
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Token poker blogger tournament mention at PokerStars. Playing for a $1500 WSOP event seat of your choice. Any and all bloggers are welcome. Please sign up asap. We need 50, damnit. Support your own!
Blogger WSOP Satellite TourneyPokerStars - Private Tab
April 3rd - MONDAY9PM EST
$30 +3 No Limit
Password: socoshot

2006 WSOP Satellites Underway

2006-03-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

Well, satellites for the 2006 WSOP have begun.

The WSOP kicks off this year with a the casino employee's event on June 26th, the Main Event starts on July 28th and runs for two weeks. I plan to be there during the first week of July to play in some of the early events and maybe a WPBT event.

Full Tilt Poker has started there satellites.

Although Poker Stars is not running official WSOP satellites yet, fellow blogger MissT74 has set up a series of satellites for several of the lower buy in events.

I am playing in several of them beginning Wednesday March 8th.

These are private, invitation only satellites, so you must go though her website to sign up.

Hope to see you there!

Nice Call

2006-02-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

It’s Saturday night and the biggest game in town is at Doc’s house tonight. Doc lives in a nice house and runs a popular home game in his basement twice a month. Its $100 buy in with no re-buys, you start with $5000 in chips and the blinds are 40 minutes. A nice deep stack tournament and there were 83 playing tonight. That’s right….83 people in a home game. Doc has 7 felt tables in his basement, needless to say it guts a little busy.

I have played well in Doc’s tourneys, even won one on them last October. Tonight, I’m sitting next to this tool that’s playing lots of hands and calling lots of raises with draws…and hitting them. He was the early chip leader at the table and I couldn’t wait to get a piece of him.

In the third round, blinds are 100/200 and I raise it to $600 with K-9 off suit on the button just to try a steal. The tool calls from the small blind, everyone else folds. Flop comes 10-9-3 with two hearts. He checks, so I bet $1200 which is about equal to the pot to see where I am at, he thinks for about 30 seconds then calls. I put him on A-10 or something - 10 and figure I must be behind.

Turn is a blank, he checks and I check behind, river is the King of hearts which gives me two pair. He checks, I figure no sense betting, he will either fold or call me with the flush. He turns over Q-5 of hearts. This is where it gets interesting.

As he is stacking his chips, I said “nice call on the flop” he said, “yeah, I always bet the odds”. Yeah, but I made a pot sized bet on the flop. He says, “I had 12 outs, times 2, times 2, so I was 48%, that’s 1-2, and I was getting 2-1 on the $1200 call. I always play the odds”

Oh, okay I said. Good call then I told him. He’s confusing winning percentage with pot odds. In reality, he has 12 outs (9 hearts and 3 queens) out of 47 unseen cards after the flop. That is roughly 1 out of 4 cards, not 1-2. Basically he is going to make a winning hand 1 out of every 4 times he plays it.

He had to call $1200 to win roughly $3600, getting 3-1 on his money. So if the odds held up he would have called $1200 4 times spending $4800, he would of hit his hand one of those 4 times and raked $3600. Overall, his call was -$1200 expected value (-EV). Nice call.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to bust him….but there’s always next month.

Poker Goals for 2006

2006-01-01T18:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year

Poker goals for 2006:

Get the poker bankroll above 5 figures.

Win a seat in a WPT $10,000 Buy-in Event
Win a seat in a WSOP or WSOPC $10,000 Buy-in Event

Finish in the money in a major event.

Focus on Limit Hold' Em instead of No Limit Hold' Em
Play $5/$10 Limit comfortably

2005 WPBT Winter Classic

2005-12-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

It’s Showtime!!!

Today we are here in Vegas to play in the 2005 WPBT Winter Classic, hosted at the Imperial Palace poker room. Just over 100 bloggers from all across North America will converge to play in this event.

The event was kicked off by our host Bill Rini, who had arranged for several professional poker players and poker book authors to address the players. Barry Greenstein gave a great talk about his 2005 WSOP bracelet win and how Charlie Tuttle had inspired him. Author Michael Craig talked about his new book The Banker, The Professor, and the Suicide King, which is about the biggest game in town.

Just before the tournament began we drew tables, I was seated at Wil Wheaton’s table. He played pretty tight, as did I. I tried to trap Laurie from Full Tilt Poker with AQ when she had AK when I hit two pair on the flop. She felt something was fishy and folded, she told me she never does that.

My table was near the rail, and I figured it would be the final table once we got down far enough. Other tables would break-up and we received a constant flow of new players, hour after hour. Amazingly the 5 players on my end of the table remained….even though the other end of the table turned over several times.

I was nearly eliminated by Boy Genius on the last hand before a break. Players were anxious to get away for a smoke or break and were leaving the table even before it was their turn to fold. There were 3 or 4 players after me so I pushed all-in with J-8 of clubs hoping to steal the blinds and then go on break. I was behind when BG called with A-3 off-suit. The flop was 3 clubs and BG was out the door before I even got to say a word.

After that I went on a pretty good run until we got to the final table. Except for Studio Glyphic, we were all about even in chips. I went all in with pocket tens, but got no callers. The second time around I’m under the gun with 7-2 off-suit. Huge crowd of people watching, it seemed like the timing was right, I pushed all-in with the hammer. When Cujo called…I figured I was behind…..since any 2 cards he might have are better than 7-2 off-suit. When I flipped over my cards, the crowd roared, but I was right, he had pocket 10’s and they held up. I was eliminated in 6th place….again.

I won about $370, but probably cost myself about $1000 with the hammer, oh well it was a Grande Bloggers Tournament. Studio Glyph hung on to win against SheVerb heads up.

Another Gay Friday Night in Vegas

2005-12-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Friday, I played in the 11:00 AM tournament at the Sahara. I really like the Sahara tournaments because they have no antes and lots of starting chips with 20 minute rounds. Not to mention all the fish. I finished in eighth place, in the money for a nice $120.

My friends Kevin & Amy arrived in Vegas around 2 PM, and I had set them up with a suite at the Venetian. I headed over to meet up with them to play some Craps and possibly see a show.

We saw Zumanity last year which I really liked, but Kevin thought was gay. There were some gay parts….and I mean gay like men kissing and rubbing each other, not gay like blogs. But, overall it was very artful and entertaining.

Well, this year we got tickets to the most un-gay show on the strip, Rodney Carrington from the ABC sitcom Rodney. Rodney is a cowboy, and a comedian, and he sings and plays guitar. He was pretty funny and catered to the cowboy rodeo audience at the Luxor.

After the show, Kevin & Amy retired and I headed over to the MGM Grand poker room with the other bloggers. They had several mixed tables running, thanks to Joaquin. I bounced around a bit and got to watch the famous Roshambo match between Phil Gordon and Mrs. Head. Hung out at the MGM sports book bar with Bill and Grubby, and Iggy, and others the rest of the evening. Called it a night around 4AM….had to get some sleep before the big WPBT Winter Classic on Saturday.

Bloggers Arrive in Las Vegas

2005-12-08T22:30:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Las Vegas Thursday evening and headed over to the MGM Grand......where all the bloggers were coagulating. I bought in to the $3-$6 NL Game and sat next to Iggy. I told him that he has probably cost the Government about $60,000 worth of workplace productivity this year as I have spent half my time reading his blog. The ManBeast and Spaulding stories are outragous. I played for an hour or so, catching several hands and found myslef up about $80.

Iggy had to leave to pick up Dr Pauly & Derek at the airport, and I cashed out soon after he left and headed for the Excalibur for Storming of the Castle. I bought in to the $1/$2 NL Hold Em table for $200. Joe Speaker, Bad Blood, Mark, and several other bloggers were at this table. Bad Blood and Mark were playing super aggressive. A local was getting wiped out by them and had to re-buy at least once.

Pauly arrived like a rock star with his entourage and the buzz around the table from the non-bloggers was....Is he a movie star? Seriously, someone asked that. Lost my buy-in when I pushed on the turn with a king high diamond flush, only to have another diamond hit on the river giving him the Ace high flush.

Bought in to the $2/$6 Blogger table with Pauly, Derek, Gracie, and others. Donked off my $100 buy in after playing only 3 hands, TPTK loses to Gracie's set of 5's, then 99 loses to Derek's AA, then my QQ loses to KK. I was down about $265 at this point.....but it would be the last time I would loose any money the rest of the weekend.

Sit-N-Go Money-Maker

2005-11-14T22:30:00.000-05:00

Played in another $20 +$2 180 Player Sit-N-Go.

Worked my way up to a decent stack as we approached the final 18 which would be "In The Money". Took a bad beat and lost most of my chips when my pocket Aces ran into runner runner flush. I was getting blinded down to just over $800 chips with blinds at $300/$600 with 26 players left. I doubled up with pocket 5's. Doubled up again with A-K when I flopped a King and was setting pretty good with around $3000 chips as we broached the bubble.

Kept increasing my stack as more prople got eliminated, I found myself with about $20,000 when we reached the final table. After eliminating a couple more I was the chip leader and really never lost the lead for the rest of the tourney.

I have played 10 of these 180 player Sit-N-Go's and finished in the money 4 times, including 2 first place finishes. Gotta like that.

Two 1st place finishes out of 10 tournaments played

Poker Stars Big Money Sit-n-Go

2005-11-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

Poker Stars is now offering $20 + $2, 180-player Sit-n-Go’s around the clock. These take about 4 hours to play, and offer a nice payout schedule for the final 18 giving $1080 for first place.

Another big money Sit-n-Go in the books

I played in one Sunday night. I pretty much folded every hand for the first hour and then doubled up just before the first break for about $2600. Started getting better hands during the second hour and worked my stack up to over $20,000. Played really tight through the third hour until we got down to 18 and I was assured to be “In the Money”.

My goal was to finish at least 6th which would be a nice payout of $180. Once we got down to six, my new goal was to make it third which paid out $418. With three players left I was delt King-Deuce suited on the button and raised for a steal. BB raised me all in which about doubled my bet, since I had plenty of chips I called and hit it big.

Quad Kings....perfect timing

Heads-up play only lasted a few hands when I hit a Jack holding K-J off suit against pocket 7’s. Ship ‘em and book another $1,000 win.

Aces Cracked

2005-11-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Too bad it wasn't in a Dr. Pauly Hilton Sisters Challenge.
It would pay double.

Its nice to be on the giving end of one of these for a change

The Fate of Evil Jesus

2005-10-22T20:00:00.001-04:00

So Saturday night, Jim is hosting a poker tournament at his house, but instead of the normal $20 or $30 buy in, Jim has made this on $300 Buy in to limit the number of fishy players. With my recent success in the Fredericksburg tournament circuit, I can easily afford to play. His game doesn’t start til 8:00 PM, so I figure I will kill some time online and sign up for a $20 tournament on Poker Stars.

We start at 1:30 PM and I manage to work my chip stack up to just over $2000 when I am dealt A-K of diamonds. I raise, someone pushes, it’s not that much more so I call. He turns over Q-Q and it holds up. Woops, I am now significantly short stacked with only $760 in chips. A couple hands later I am up against another short stack with 10-J suited against pocket 9’s. I lose again and am now down to $340.

I am in the SB with 7-4 hearts, I call the $10 to see a flop which comes 2-5-3 rainbow giving me an open ended straight draw. Everyone checks, the turn is a Queen, he bets I call. The river is an Ace completing my straight. I push my last $180 in and he calls, I double up to $820.

I double up again to $1685 when I spiked an Ace on the river to beat pocket Kings. A little later I triple up to $3615 with pocket 3’s on a board of 2-4-5-8-6. I beat pocket 4’s and pocket 9’s in that hand. Lucky….yes!

Now that I have some chips, I raise with J-9 suited and get 1 caller. Flop comes 7-5-J with none in my suit. I bet $150, Evil Jesus raises to $300, I re-raise to $1200 and he pushes all-in with another $1500 and I call. He turns over 9-7 off suit. C’mon, he called my pre-flop raise, re-raised me with second pair then pushed all-in after I re-raised his re-raise…with 9-7 off suit. I thought I played it pretty aggressive, but he railed on me for what a terrible player I am. Telling me I would never make it in the money. He challenged me to a heads-up game for $200 but then disappeared spouting off something about he doubted I even had that much in my Poker Stars bankroll. I said “so long 9-7”.

So thanks to Evil Jesus I now have over $7500 in chips and have the chip lead at my table by a 5-1 margin. For the next hour I oscillate between $6000 and $10,000 when I push all-in with pocket Jacks and get called by pocket 8’s. My Jacks hold up and I double up to $16,820. I improved to $23,000 with A-10 on an Ace high flop, then I get the big hand.

Blinds are $400/$800 and I am in the BB with AK off suit. The button pushes all-in for $4000, I raise to $8000 and draw another all-in for $7800. They each have A-Q off suite and my beautiful Anna Kounrakova wins the pot and I now have $39,736. I am also the tournament chip leader with about 250 people left. Top 81 are paid.

And, Evil Jesus said I wouldn’t last another hour….Ha!

I worked my stack up the over $48,000 but then lost about 1/3 of it when my pocket Jacks lost to A-Q off suite when a Queen hit on the turn. I won it back a few hands later when my A-Q beat pocket 4’s when I turned an Ace and rivered another one. Less than 81 left, so I am “In the Money”….where is Evil Jesus?

I moved up the over $65,000 when I got consecutive hands of A-10 and A-K and hit an Ace both times. I hit $100,000 when pocket 9’s held up against pocket 6’s. We had a power bump and lost internet connectivity for a few minutes. I got blinded down to $91,000 by the time I got back online and dropped down $72,000 before I inched my way back up to the $100,000 threshold.

Pocket Queens got me up to $124, 964. K-Q off suit and Pocket 9’s back to back made it $146,564. Played 8-4 off suite in the BB and hit an 8 and a 4 on the flop. By the time I got to the final table I was in second place with $164,564. Crossed over $200,000 when I hit a 7 high flop with K-7.

I bet $60,000 with A-Q off suite and had to lay it down to an all-in raise of over $160,000. I would have survived if I had called and lost, but I would have been short stacked. Better to lay it down, never saw what he had, probably KK or AA. That knocked me back down to around $160,000. I lost another $60,000 with AJ versus AK, which dropped me down to just over $100,000.

A-K suited and pocket 10’s brought me back up to $148,009. I pop it up to $270,418 when my A-8 suited hits on the flop and someone calls me with pocket 7’s.

Final Results from the October 22nd $20 NL Hold'Em Tourney

I hit $300,000 with 8 people left. I am hoping to get at least 5th which pays out over $1000. When we got down to the final 5 I was 4th in chips with $206,910. Since I made my goal, maybe I should aim a little higher….like 3rd which pays out over $1600. When we got down to three, I was second in chips with $383,410.

I eliminated the smaller stack when my A-J out flopped his pocket 6’s, that gave me the chip lead with $921,820, and began our heads-up play. I doubled him up once when his pocket 3’s held up against my A-10, a few hands later I eliminated him with pocket 3’s against his A-10. Six and a half hours after I began this little “time-killer” I had all the chips, $1,398,000 of ‘em and first place money of $4660.

Even Evil Jesus would be proud; hey I’m ready for our heads-up match.

The Hat Trick

2005-10-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

Playing for the hat trick this weekend, I played in a third poker tournament. This one was at Doc’s house. Doc runs a $100 buy in with no re-buys. It’s a pretty popular tournament, and this was my first time playing at Doc’s. I usually play with the FPT group on Saturday night, but they were directing all their players to Doc’s.

56 people spread over 7 poker tables in Doc’s basement. We started with 5000 in chips and the blinds went up pretty steep, but we had 40 minute rounds so plenty of time to play at each level.

I was down to about 2500 when I tripled up with pocket kings. A little later I had A-8 of diamonds. I limped in and hit top pair on a board that was 8 high with two diamonds. Early position led out with a $1200 bet, I raised all-in with TPTK, and the nut flush draw. He thought for a long time, even mumbled something about me being on a flush draw and then called with pocket tens. Turn card was Queen of Diamonds and I made my flush and doubled up nicely.

Now that I had some chips, I was able to push them around and get people to fold their hands. We got down to two tables and I was thinking, let’s get in the money. Doc pays out 9 places so I could play tight and wait it out till we made the money.

Once I was in the money, I began to play a little more, one hand I had A-8, off-suit, both red, flop comes A-8-9 with two spades. I check, LP bets 3000, I check-raise to 6000, he calls. Turn is 10 spades, I check, he bets 6000, I check-raise to 12,000. He goes in to the tank and thinks a long long time. I never look at him, I stare at the board….after what seemed like 7 or 8 minutes he mucks JQ. Whew, he put me on the flush, and even though he made his straight, he didn’t have a spade so he mucked.

I was chip leader by the time we got down to three players. Blinds were 5000/10000 and I was playing tight. Each hand one of the shorter stacks would push all-in and I would fold. I did this about 5 or 6 times and I was no longer the chip leader. Once again, I get A-8 and call the new chip leaders all-in. He has King high, my Ace hold up and now I have most of the chips on the table.

After I am heads up, I have A-3 against his A-6, luckily, lots of high cards hit the board so we chop instead of allowing him to double up. He kept going all-in and I kept folding til I got A-8 again, I called, he had 7-4 and I took him out. I played in my third tournament this weekend, and I finished first for the third time. I made the hat-trick. First place was over $2000 which made this my best win at poker.

Obie Friday Night Poker Tournament

2005-10-14T23:30:00.000-04:00

We had a great turnout for our weekly Friday Night Poker Tournament, 22 players spread over 3 tables. We have had an influx of new players thanks to our advertisements on homepokergames.com Skill level varies in these tournaments, but with re-buys available for the first three rounds, you can afford to play loose…..if you can afford to that is.

I played with an average stack, growing it slowly throughout the night, staying out of trouble after the re-buy period ended. Made it to the final table without any remarkable plays. There were two huge stacks at the final table and I managed to double up through each of them. One of them had announced that they were ready to drop out because the cash game was heating up and it was looking juicy. He made a big bet and I pushed all-in with A-3 clubs. I really figured he was dumping chips because he is an excellent cash game player and had expressed an interest in getting in it. He called and had me dominated with A-J off-suit. Two clubs on the flop and one on the river sent him packing to the cash game.

I found myself the chip leader with three left. I raised 3x BB with K-9 suited, Katie pushes all in and DJ quickly calls…..I think for a while and fold. Katie turns over pocket Queens, DJ has pocket Kings. They hold up and DJ is now the chip leader and we are heads-up. We exchanged blinds back and forth for a while, I raise with a pocket pair, DJ goes all in and turns over pocket 7’s, I turn over pocket Aces. I doubled up and am now the chip leader and went on the win the Friday night poker tournament. First place was $480, and I’ve won two tournaments this weekend. Check out the latest leaderboard.

Bar-Room Free-Roll Bingo-Poker

2005-10-13T23:30:00.000-04:00

Played in the Hard Times Café free roll tournament tonight. The Hard Times Café is a little bar/restaurant/pool hall in town. It’s actually a pretty nice place, not at all run down or creepy. Fredericksburg is a college town for Mary Washington University, and a lot of the players were from the university. So it’s Bingo Poker at its best. Any face card would warrant an all-in by some people. Trick was to figure out who those players were and wait for a good hand to engage them.

About 6 tables started, we got down to three tables and I found the hammer as the small blind. With one limper, I called and the big blind checked. Flop was 7-7-Q and I had people betting in to me. Turn was the case 7, still betting in to me I pushed after the river and got called by A-Q. I announced “The Hammer” as I showed it, that should teach ‘em not to limp in.

As we got down to two tables, the quality of players was improving. I limped in with 6-7 clubs hoping to connect on the flop. It came 10-7-3 with two diamonds, he bet I called. Turn was another 10, he checked I checked. River was the 7 of diamonds giving me the smaller full house. I bet out 4x the BB and he pushed all-in. He had me covered so if I call and loose I am out of the tournament. I started talking and asked him if he had a 10. I said “I bet you don’t have a 10 because you would of bet on the turn with trip tens, I bet you made a flush”. I called and he flipped over Q-4 diamonds and I took most of his chips with my boat.

I made it to the final table as the chip leader and managed to retain them til the end. Yes I won the free-for-all free-roll bar-room bingo poker tournament. Not sure if that makes me a fish. I got $25 in gift certificates for food or beverage at the Hard Times Café, and invited entry into the regional championship bar-room poker tournament coming up in December.

Online Poker Blogger Championship

2005-09-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 8219603

The 2005 Borgata Poker Open

2005-09-16T22:30:00.000-04:00

I am in Atlantic City this week playing in satellites for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open.

I won a Stage I Satellite which was a $50 buy in, 99 people, where they gave away 8 seats to a Stage II Satellite. I finished 3rd and won one of those 8 seats.

The big play came when we were down to two tables, I got pocket Kings and re-rasie all-in for about T8,000 someone calls with pocket Queens and the original bettor calls with pocket Jacks. My Kings held up and I tripled up. The very next hand I got pocket Queens, I raise, someone goes all -in for just a few thousand more with Ace Jack. I call and they hold up again. I sitting with T36,000 with 13 people left. Its an easy coast into the money.

I play tomorrow in the Stage II satellite which is a $500 buy in satellite, where they give away one seat for the WPT Borgata Poker Open, $10,000 main event for every 20 people in the satellite. I expect about 200 people which means about 10 seats.

Wish me luck!

We will resume our normal Friday night tournament next Friday, September 23rd.

A Monster Birthday Bash

2005-08-20T21:30:00.000-04:00

My sister-in-law, Kathrine arrived in Vegas today to celebrate her 21st birthday. Several years ago when we planned this trip, she wanted to party like a rock star and hit all the clubs all night long. Now that she’s here….she only wants to play poker.

I have two VIP nights comped at the Stratosphere and two at the MGM Grand. I took her right to the poker room at the Stratosphere and set her up in a game. We were playing No Limit Hold’ Em, $1 & $2 blinds. She only brought $130 for the weekend and bought in for $100 at the Stratosphere. She won a couple pots and was up about $80 when she lost a pig pot with pocket kings and was back to her original buy-in. I took her out to diner and then we headed over to the Sahara so she could play in the ring game and I could play in the tournament.

We both bought in for $100 while I waited for the tourney to start. This was a loose table to say the least, people were calling $12 blind, calling $30 and $40 bets on a draw. We were either gonna make a lot of money, or loose a lot. Kathrine was involved in a big hand where I watched her call off all her chips with AK, the other guy had pocket threes, Kathrine hit an Ace on the turn to double up. Whew, I thought she was going to go broke. A little later Kathrine is in the BB and one of the loose players raises all in for around $200 with AQ, the next guy calls for about $200 with AK. I’m looking at Kathrine who is only in for $2 as the big blind, I’m thinking fold….fold…this is day 1 of your Vegas trip and I don’t want to have to cover you for the entire rest of the weekend. She calls and turns over pocket Aces and takes down a $600 pot. Shows how much I know, I don’t think I’ve ever raked a $600 pot.

Birthday Bash on Hold

2005-08-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

Flew into Las Vegas today for the weekend, I promised my sister-in-law, Katherine, that I would take her to Vegas for her 21st birthday….which is tomorrow. So here I am. As luck would have it, her plane was delayed, so she won’t get in til tomorrow. So I headed over to the Sahara Hotel and Casino to play in their $40 buy-in NL Hold’ Em tournament. Just under 200 participants, mostly beginner or intermediate, a few regulars. I do pretty well in the Sahara tournaments, last time I was in Vegas I played in 9 tournaments finishing in the money 4 times…including winning it twice.

I was sitting next to this pleasant South African fellow, he won a big multi-way pot early, flipped the dealer a green $25 tournament chip for a tip and started to gather up his chips to cash out. We were cracking up while trying to explain to him the concept that this was a tournament and he could not cash out.

I managed to make it to the final table, second in chips when my monster pocket aces ran into pocket jacks and got cracked when a Jack hit on the flop. I was cripples after that and went out in 10th place. In the money, but a disappointing finish.

Poker at the Showboat

2005-08-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Showboat Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. The Showboat has a brand new beautiful new poker room, and I participated in their inaugural tournament kicked off by WPT Champion Paul Darden, and Erin Ness. The showboat has about 15 tables and runs a variety of games including a juicy 1-2 No Limit Hold' Em. The poker room is on the second floor, across from the buffet and new House of Blues event center. The Showboat has undergone quite a renovation including the hip new House of Blues Casino, and a HoB restaurant.

The tournament was a standard $50 Buy-in with about 75 participants. Rounds were 20 minutes with ante's after the third round. With 4 tables left I found myself a little above average in chips with about 15K. I have A-Q off-suit in the big blind and call a raise from the button, the SB calls too. After an Ace hits on the flop, I raise, the button, who is about as obnoxious as they come, goes all in for about 15K. The SB thinks for a long time and the button tries to goat him into folding. He turns over 1 ace and the SB finally mucks pocket 7's. The floor man gave him a warning for showing his card calling it a bush-league play. He argued claiming he won a bracelet in 2004 and that was a play the pro's use. Apparently not at the Showboat, plus this wasn't a heads-up situation; this was a three way pot. I call and have him out kicked. The turn is a 7 which sends the SB off flying. I eliminate the obnoxious a-hole and the table applauds as he departs.

I made it to the final table near the chip lead. I took two players out with pocket 8's, got them a third time and went up against the Hilton sisters woops lost half my stack. I wound up finishing 6^thfor $210.

The Showboat will host a WSOP Circuit event the first week of December, where the main event will only be a $5000 buy in. They will of course have satellites leading up to this event.

I highly recommend the new Showboat Casino poker room in Atlantic City. The room is beautiful, the staff is friendly, and the fish tank is full.

Back on the Leaderboard

2005-07-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

Finished 3^rd in the Friday night poker tournament. Played tight and did not loose a showdown until the last hand that eliminated me. I had pocket jacks and went all-in for about 12K, Claire called me with K-10 off suit and hit a King on the flop. In the money and made some leader board points though.

Lightening Strikes

2005-07-27T21:30:00.000-04:00

Playing cash ring game on Poker Stars is not a good idea during a thunderstorm. After loosing $100 pot I get dealt pocket 10’s on the $1-$2 No Limit table. UTG bets $12 and I raise it to $26 in mid position, he calls. Flop comes [7s 2s Kc]. UTG bets $22, I raise it $22 to see where I’m at, he re-raises it $22 and I foolishly call. I’m pretty sure he has me beat with a King…..but I’m on tilt after loosing that other pot. Anyway the turn is my money card…[10h]. Just as it hits the screen……Ka-Boom!!!

Lightening strikes…..Thunder Booms….and Virginia Power drops out. The lights go out….the TV goes out…I’m on the laptop on battery so I can still see the Poker Stars table with $185 sitting in the pot, but the DSL modem and wireless router are both dark…..and I’m screwed.

The power came back on after about a minute…..but it took 3 or 4 minutes for the internet to recycle and connect back up. I was sure I had timed out and lost that $185, but to my surprise, I logged into my Poker Stars account and it took me right to my table….waiting for me to call a $12 bet. Holy cow, I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy to call. The River was the [7d], he bet $30, I raised all in for my final $51 and he called. He turned over Ks 5s. I took in a $314 pot with my lighting-bolt full house 10’s over 7’s.

I shut it all off as soon as possible after that one, whew!

The Streak is Over

2005-07-08T23:50:00.000-04:00

Finished seventh in the Friday night poker tournament, the streeak is over.

The China Syndrome

2005-07-01T22:45:00.000-04:00

Haven’t had a Friday night poker tournament for a couple weeks because I was in Beijing China. Played tonight and finished first. I’m pretty sure people are going to quit coming if I keep winning each week.

Back in V-Vegas

2005-06-10T23:30:00.000-04:00

Finished third in the weekly Friday night poker tournament at my house. We had 16 players and although I didn’t win, I managed to keep my streak of cashing alive.

Sit-N-Go's at the Aladdin

2005-06-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

Played in a couple Sit-N-Go tournaments at the Aladdin. $55 buy-in and I took first in one for $360 and 6^th in another one. –EV was playing there as well and I got to hang out with him for a while.

World Series of Poker

2005-06-04T17:45:00.000-04:00

Most of the bloggers headed over to the AlCantHang after party at the La Salsa Cantina. They have 345,875 different types of tequila.

I wanted to head over to that, but my friend Tommy from V-Vegas was playing in the WSOP Event #3 Pot Limit Hold 'Em so I thought I'd go sweat him for a while. Tommy qualified online through Full Tilt Poker. Since he couldn't get in to yesterdays sold out event, he decided to play today.

The Rio was jamming and ramming, poker chips flying. I saw a lot of pro's; Daniel Negreanu, Eric Lindgren, Eric Siedel, Howard Lederer, John Juwanda, Chris Fergurson, Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon, Cyndy Violette, Clonie Gowen, Evelyn Ng, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, and Marcel Luske. Saw a couple celebrities too like James Woods, Tobey McGuire, and Jennifer Tilley.

If you want to get a feel for what it's like on the floor, Dr. Pauly is now reporting for Poker Player Newspaper from the WSOP, check out his late night final table reports, and his contributions to Las VegasVegas.

In case you haven't heard, check out Phil Gordons podcast from the floor of the WSOP. Phil interviews players at his table and other pro's during breaks, and talks about his strategy on specific hands throughout the tournament.

*Photos courtesy of http://www.lasvegasvegas.com

WPBT Aladdin Classic

2005-06-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

The World Poker Blogger Tour (WPBT) Aladdin Classic was epic.

71 bloggers took over the Aladdin poker room, and they treated us like celebrities.

We had an Emcee, photographers, fans, tourist on-lookers, cheering and screaming every time someone dropped the hammer. I had the honor of having Otis and AlCantHang at my table. I won a couple big hands and became the chip leader at the table. I played aggressively and bullied everyone to steal their chips.

I knocked out AlCantHang and won his bounty….a fine SoCo ballcap. Sucked out on Otis to eliminate him. The PokerProf, BG, and Poker Nerd joined my table. BG had about the same amount of chips as me and we both stayed out of each others way.

Got moved to another table with Allan, and Bill Rini, who was down to just a couple of chips. Eventually made the final table of 10. We got down to 6 and I was second in chips. CJ who was about to be blinded away went all in for his last couple of hundred. I looked down to find AJo and raised to T$6000. Matt, the chip leader smooth called.

Flop is A x x and I push all-in, about T$24,000. I figure if Matts got a pocket pair I now have him beat, if he has an Ace it must be with a weak kicker because he didn’t raise pre-flop. Well he turned over AQo and took the rest of my chips. CJ made a flush on the hand and stayed alive to begin his rush to the final 2. As you probably know by now, Bill Rini won. I finished 6th for $238.

Poker Ambassador

2005-06-03T19:30:00.000-04:00

Played craps and won back my $500 I blew on poker lessons in the WSOP satellites yesterday. I played in the 11:00 AM tournament at Aladdin. Didn’t win a single hand and was knocked out early. I did manage to win $200 in the NL ring game there.

Tommy, a friend of mine from V-Vegas won a seat into a $1500 WSOP event on Full Tilt Poker and chose to play in the Pot Limit Hold ‘Em Event #3 on Sunday since today’s event is full. We decided to meet at the new Wynn casino. Tommy was playing in a $2-$5 NL ring game and I sweated him for a while.

Daniel Negreanu is the Poker Ambassador for the Wynn casino and was playing his heads up match with Barry Greenstein for $500,000. Barry had a 2-1 chip lead when I went to play craps for a couple hours, when I returned Daniel had made a comeback and had ¾ of the chips in front of him. They each had double high stacks of $1000 and $5000 chips and smaller stacks of $25,000 chips. I’m watching them sling these things around and scoop these monster pots….I’m thinking, they’re betting my house. They were playing with $1000 chips like I would play with $1 chips. It was amazing.

I invited Daniel to our blogger tournament tomorrow…..hope he can stop by.

H.O.R.S.E. at the MGM Grand

2005-06-03T02:30:00.000-04:00

Hit the MGM Grand around 10:00 PM to play HORSE with the bloggers. I got a seat at a $1-$2 No Limit table while I waited. Spotted Dr. Pauly and Derrick on the rail so I introduced myself. Figured out that the HORSE game was already running in the posh, private room upstairs. I popped in and recognized several of the players from their blog profiles.

Felicia Lee was great, like the queen of diamonds at the poker table. She set up this HORSE game with the MGM Grand poker room manager. She could talk an Eskimo into buying an ice maker, and she convinced a major casino on the strip to turn over a couple of their tables for our game. Once they did, word spread around the poker room that the MGM was running a mixed game and they developed a waiting list. They opened a second table on the main floor and when my name came up on the list I jumped in.

Let me just say…..this table was crazy. We had blind bets, even blinder raises and calls, straddles, rocks, razz and pineapple. It was like sitting around your dining room table playing cards with professional dealers in this beautiful casino card room. They were bending over backwards to accommodate us.

Having never played razz, or Omaha 8 hi/low or pineapple for money before…..it was quite an experience. My best hand came in Hold’ Em when SpacemanTN did a live straddle and I looked down to find the hammer…I raised, he called blind. The flop came 7 10 2. I bet and he called blind. Turn was a blank and river was a 2 to complete my hammer house. I bet and he again, called blind. He turned over pocket Queens, but the celebration was short lived when I turned over the hammer. Arrgggg, blogger nirvana.

Poker Lessons

2005-06-02T20:30:00.000-04:00

I made my way over to the Rio and walked forever to get to the convention area where they were running the WSOP.

Okay, this place is big; I mean it’s like Africa big. Poker tables lined up in rows like the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery for as far as you can see. They have taken the convention room and turned it into poker headquarters for the next month and a half.

The tables are all numbered and they are kinda sectioned off, they have a section for cash games, a section for satellites, of course most of the room is for the main tournament they will run everyday. Then there is a section for the ESPN set for each final table.

They run 2 Super Satellites everyday which are MTT for seats in the Main Event. Buy in for the Super Satellites is $225, or you could play a $55 Sit-N-Go where 2 players win a buy-in to the Super Satellite.

They have other Sit-N-Go’s that they run around the clock….(table space permitting).
The cheapest is a $65 which nets a $650 payout minus the WSOP juice. They don’t pay you in cash though, you win special tournament chips that can be used for a buy-in to any of the WSOP events. Other Sit-N-Go’s include $125 for $1250, $175 for $1750, $225 for $2250, and $500 for $5000. Win two of those and you can buy in to the Main Event.

Many people play the Sit-N-Go’s and sell the winning chips to people standing in line to buy in to WSOP events. There’s even a capitalistic market influence where folks will buy the $500 chips for less then cash value then sell them for full value. You gotta love this country.

I signed up for a $175 Sit-N-Go so I could win at least $1500 for a WSOP event buy-in. Finished eighth, okay so back in line and into another one. Finished third this time, there was talk of a chop but we didn’t have unanimous agreement, I could of at least had one chip, oh well. Back in line and into another one, this time I finished second and should of won it. Folded K-2 off suit three handed on a board that came K92K6. The other two ended going all in……arrggggh the pain.

Well, at least I got a $500 poker lesson.

V-Vegas Touchdown

2005-06-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

My American West flight landed in Vegas at 10:30 AM direct from Washington DC. No checked luggage so I grabbed a cab and made my way to Harrah’s. Although I have stayed at Harrah’s in other states, I’ve never stayed at the one on the strip.

I received a WSOP mailer a couple weeks ago for 3 free nights at either Harrah’s or the Rio during the WSOP. Rio was full for this weekend so that’s how I ended up at Harrah’s. The line for check-in was long, but I’m a VIP Platinum card holder which gives me access to the VIP registration desk. Got my strip view room in minutes and dumped my bags. Room was standard but with a great view of Caesars Palace and The Bellagio.

Since I planned to meet up with the other bloggers tonight at MGM Grand, I figured I’d have most of the day to check out the WSOP and play some satellites to win a seat in the NL Hold ‘Em event. Caught the shuttle to the Rio and made my grand entrance.

V-Vegas is Born

2005-06-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

Pack up the bankroll, kiss the family goodbye, I'm on a flight to Vegas this morning to make my mark on the 2005 WSOP.

I'm also gonna hang with other bloggers and play in the WPBT Classic hosted at the Aladdin Casino.

Goodbye Virginia....V-Vegas is born!

Friday the 13th Poker

2005-05-14T02:30:00.000-04:00

Hosted our regular Friday night tournament tonight, 23 players, over $1200 in the pot. The action was fast and furious with lots of Re-Buys and lots of All-ins, only topped by the action in the cash game afterwards. It was a perfect night for Friday the 13th Poker.

Tripled up with pocket Kings and made it to the final table, only to get knocked out on the bubble when my pocket 5’s lost to pocket Kings.

The cash game afterwards was wild, over $1400 on the table and I took about 1/3 of it. First place in the tournament took $600, I cashed out of the cash game with over $500.

The cash game is a $.50/$1.00 NL Hold’Em, but the pots were averaging around $80. Loose is not the word for this game tonight, people would call all-in with any 2 cards hoping to hit a flop. Usually they’ll hit once in a while, not tonight, big cards held up most every time and my stack just kept growing.

Squeaking By

2005-05-07T02:30:00.000-04:00

Many of our regular players were playing in a higher-limit game in Springfield tonight. So we had a smaller field for our Friday night tournament. I managed to squeak out a win, thats 2 weeks in a row.

Pocket 7's...Not Good

2005-05-01T02:30:00.000-04:00

Each week I look forward to the weekend, for my tournament on Friday night, and the Fredericksburg Poker Tour (FPT) game on Saturday night. And tonight, it was a good one. The format changed this week, from a $30 with Re-Buys to a $60 no Re-Buys. Thirty-two players and we got about the same amount in the pot.

Everyone had to adjust to this new format, it made for a much tighter, nicer game. Usually the mindset is “good enough to call…good enough to go all-in”. Tonight, it was on from the opening shuffle.

I got crippled early when I missed my nut-flush draw. Thank God I did, my wife had slow played her monster 4-2 off-suit on a board that came 4-2-2. I was able to eventually get back to near the original starting amount when we combined tables.

I doubled up against Rod when pocket 8’s held up against AQ. Stole a few more blinds here and there and made it to the final table with a respectable stack. Scored another big hand when I went all-in with a King high busted straight draw and caused Rod to fold his Ace high busted straight draw. This put him on tilt when I showed my bluff and two hands later he came over the top all-in with rags and I took him out. Rod has had my number for months and it was nice to extract a little revenge…not to mention a few chips.

By the time we got down to 3 players and in-the-money I was the chip leader. After the short stack was eliminated I found myself head-up with Charlie and a slight chip lead. We traded blinds back and forth for a while and then I got pocket 7’s. Raised…re raised…re- re raised and in a flash, we were both all in. Charlie turned over A-4 clubs. The flop was all clubs and that’s all she wrote…7-7 no good.

I finished 2nd and took $300, not bad with my winnings from last night, but I really wanted to win an FPT event and a coveted seat in their Tournament of Champions.

I'm On A Roll!

2005-04-30T02:30:00.000-04:00

I’m on a roll!

I host a weekly No Limit Hold’Em Tournament in my home every Friday night. It’s listed on http://www.homepokergames.com/ so we have a steady stream of new players interested in playing in a local tournament. Over the last six months or so it has grown from a small single table format of 6-7 players, to upwards of 30 people spread over 4 tables on some nights.

Tonight we had 14 players competing for a first place prize of $330. Second and third were $160 and $90 respectively. The final table wound up with some of the best players in the area as expected, all about even in chips. I made a big move when my Hilton Sisters held up against Baby Burns AK off suit. That put me in the chip lead with only 3 players left. I eliminated John W. when my A4 spiked an Ace on the river to beat his pocket 5’s. Three hands later I had all the chips when I beat DJ who was basically about to be blinded out.

Victory! It’s the first of the year for me in my own home tournament, ack!
But, I’ll take it, baby I’m on a roll!

A Winner at Last

2005-04-24T17:30:00.001-04:00

Played in a $5 MTT with 678 other PokerStars fanatics. Worked my way into the top 100 and ITM, made it to the final table, and then final three. I eliminated them both on consecutive hands to win first place and $848.

Final Results from the Sunday $5 NL Hold'Em Tourney

The final two hands went as follows: I have about 460,000, the other players have about 250,000 and 310,000. Blinds are 6,000/12,000 and I'm the big blind with Ad 2s. Button folds and SB goes all in for 250,000. I call figuring I will still have over 200,000 if I loose. He turns over 6d 6h, I'm way behind. The FLOP comes [Jc Kc 8h], no help for either of us. The TURN pairs the board with [8d]. The beautiful RIVER hits...[Ks]. This makes his sixes irrelevant and my Ace kicker is the winner.

Now we are heads up and I'm dealt pocket 8's on the very next hand. My opponent goes all in, I call, and he turns over Ad 2c, sound familiar. This time the pair held up and even improved with an 8 on the flop.

All in all, it was a great way to kill 4 hours on Sunday. My overall stats for the tourney:
Dealt 338 hands and saw flop:
- 21 out of 52 times while in big blind (40%)
- 9 out of 48 times while in small blind (18%)
- 30 out of 238 times in other positions (12%)
- a total of 60 out of 338 (17%)
Pots won at showdown - 21 of 27 (77%)
Pots won without showdown - 51

WSOP Satellite on Poker Stars

2005-04-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Poker Stars is running their 2005 WSOP Main Event satellites around the clock. Their $160 Double Shootout looks like a pretty good bet to win a seat.

81 players play in a single table sit-n-go format, the winners from each of these nine tables make up the final table. 1st place gets a seat in the WSOP plus hotel plus cash. 2nd through 8th gets $160 so you break even, 9th gets screwed with only $30.

They run $5.50 (R) satellites to the $160 satellite. These are fast paced turbo's with blinds increasing every 5 minutes. They last about an hour and an aggressive player with a little luck can win one of the 20-30 seats into the $160 Double Shootout. I've played about 4 of them and won a seat twice.

You can un-register and save the $160 for other selected tournaments, but you can't cash it out. All in all I think its a pretty good deal and a cheep realistic way to get a WSOP seat.

Atlantic City...Here I Come!

2005-03-27T21:55:00.000-05:00

Oh what a week! I’m in Atlantic City for the week on a work related project, what better time to check out the poker scene.

I entered the Sunday night Taj Mahal $100 + $20 NL Hold' Em tournament. I played extremely tight all night, as a matter of fact, I never had a showdown. Six hours of poker and I didn't have to turn over my cards until the final 3 hands when people were all in on the blinds.

Unfortunately, one of those people was me, I finished 19th. The Taj paid the top 18. That’s right, I was the bubble boy.

Oh well.....better luck tomorrow.

It's Superbowl Sunday

2005-02-07T01:30:00.000-05:00

It's Superbowl Sunday and I'm in Vegas for the fourth year in a row.

I landed tickets to a private Superbowl party at the Golden Nugget. They catered this event in their covered courtyard with a huge 10 x 10 foot screen for the big game with gourmet food lines on both sides of the room. They set up hundreds of recliners and love seat couches for a comfortable afternoon. The Nugget set up Craps and Blackjack tables in the rear so that us hard core gamblers wouldn't have to miss any action....while watching the action.

I played in the morning poker tournament at the Nugget, made it to the final table but got knocked out before the money. I played a NL Hold'Em ring game afterwards and left about $200 up.

Gotta love Vegas baby!

It's Vegas Baby

2005-02-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

I rolled into Vegas on Thursday for 4 nights as a VIP guest at the Luxor. In addition to getting some money on the Superbowl, I figured I'd play in some Vegas poker tournaments and test the waters.

I entered the Luxor morning tourney but did not fare well, as almost everyone says, their blind structure goes up way too fast and it becomes a session of bingo poker. All in every hand.

I was out in time to enter Binions afternoon NL Hold' Em tourney. Now this was a classic. Here I was playing poker underneath the Poker Hall of Fame. Doyle & Moss & Stu watching over us. Poker royalty.

I played in the Sands tourney that evening and finished 5th and ITM.
No time to sleep because Binions runs another one at 1am.
You can literally play poker tournaments around the clock.

It's Vegas Baby!

Tuesday NIght Negreanu Open

2005-01-05T16:20:00.000-05:00

fullcontackpoker.com hosts a $10 weekly No-Limit Texas Hold-em tournament every Tuesday night on Poker Stars. The site is Daniel Negreanu's blog and the tournament is named in his honor.

Great competition and great comoradardie as these folks are more than just anaymous opponents. We get together online after the tournament and talk about plays and strategy.

Went on a rush midway through and held the chip lead for most of the tourney, finished third for $111.

Kool time.

I'm In The Money

2005-01-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday was the second Fredericksburg Poker Tour (FPT) event of the year. The FPT is a weekly $30/$30 No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament with some of the better players in the area.

First place is usually close to $1000 and $200 from the pot goes into a fund for a seat at the 2006 WSOP. 52 weeks times $200 equals $10,400. The FPT holds a Tournament of Champions at the end of the year to decide who wins the WSOP seat.

You must win one of the weekly tournaments to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. I have played about 9 or 10 times over the last several months, finishing in the money (top 3) only once. I placed on the bubble twice and sixth once.

Until Saturday, what a great night. The tournament started around 7:30 pm. They had about 33 players spread out over 4 tables with dedicated dealers.

It wasn't long before I was the chip leader at my table and dictating the action.
And, it was the hammer that got me there.

I have about T2000 and blinds are 20/40. I'm UTG with 72o and I raise 4xBB. Got 4 callers including Button, SB & BB. Flops comes 7A7, fireworks are going off in my head.
Its checked to the button who raises all-in, about T1200, SB folds and the BB calls all in for about T700. I couldn't wait to call. They both flip over Ax and are asking me what’s my kicker.

I sent them on a spiral when I dropped the hammer on them. Turn and river were rags and I was now the chip leader.

I continued to build my stack and made it to the final table and then to the final 3 and ITM. I finished second and took $530, but no Tournament of Champions entry.

Oh well....Saturday can't get here quick enough.