Daydream Believer

Vegas in 45 days!

And I've got it all planned out... As soon as we check in at The Rio on May 29th we walk past the poker room toward our suite, suitcases in tow. Hecklers from a $10-20 NL game point and laugh, shouting obscenities at us such as "tourists!" and "guppies!" I immediately signal to my troops to halt. We exchange a confirming glance, simultaneously drop our wheeled luggage for the girls to grab and converge on the misguided. The floor respectfully starts a new table for us as they sense our aggression. We tell the hecklers to bring it and we suddenly find oursleves squared off versus these wanna-bes at our $20-40NL table. They begin to tell us they're here for the $1k event tomorrow, but we cut them off, explaining that they're the reason it's being called a donkament. We then make $500 last-longers with each of them before telling them to shut their mouths. I hear someone calling my name, so I turn around and it's Danny (Negreanu), asking me how I liked his last book.

"It was okay, Danny-boy, but I'm busy right now."

"Sweet, bro. Call me later."

I say nothing and look down at my first hand. I get 7h8h on the button, and I re-raise my main man's EP raise to let him know I have the strength. Small and Big (Douche crew) call and glare. The flop comes 5h6hAs. SB bets half the pot, BB calls, and I wink at them as I raise it 3x. One whispers in the other's ear until I snap my fingers and he stops with the look of kicked puppy. SB calls and BB folds. Turn is the 9h of course, and the idiot bets the pot. I smooth call and give my boys a confident glance. Dealer burns and turns the Ad. SB douche announces "All-in" with a grin. I scoff, tell my boys to watch this, call, and turn over the nuts. I scrape the $8k pot as the douche whines about his pocket Aces, and he and his crew scatter. We hop up, I give my boys some cash, and we head to the sportsbook.

We pull out our wads as we're glancing over the bets and two waitresses come right over. We order whiskeys. They tell us we're handsome and that they like our Georgia accents. We tell them we know and get back to our sports betting. We all make bold, risky wagers on the Braves to cover the spread cause we ain't scared. We bet $5k between the four of us. I also take the under on the length of the national anthem, being performed by Oasis. I know the bossy Brits front and back and there's no way they're letting it last longer than three and a half minutes. We finish our whiskeys and head up to our room.

Our suite looks amazing and smells even better. The Braves are on ESPN, so we turn on the game while the girls take showers. Liam and Noel crunch out a poppy, psychedelic version of the Star Spangled Banner in a whopping 2:45. Chalk up another sweet score for B. Then Chipper cranks a three-run dinger in the top of the first to put me on a super high. I feel so great I become convinced that I'm actually floating. I look to my left and I see clouds and sun. I think, man this is awesome, I've always wanted to fly. Then I hear Aimee's voice call my name, but she's supposed to be in the shower. I look to my right, confused, and it's Aimee sitting next to me, the sun on her face. "Brantly, wake up, it's the strip!" I blink my eyes a few times and turn to my left. Out the plane window and through the bright clouds I see The Luxor, and just past that I see The Excalibur and a mini-New York City approaching. I look back at Aimee, laughing at myself "Oh awesome, we're almost there."

About an hour later we pile out of our taxi-van and walk into The Rio, bags in tow. We're already having fun and giddy with excitement. I check us in and get our room keys. I pass them out, and we start looking for the elevators. We round a corner, and there it is with all its glory and appeal, the poker room. I quickly look around for a juicy table and any hecklers. I see neither, but I drop my wheeled luggage anyway, turn to Aimee with determination and ask her if she'll take it to the room while I go do some quick work. She laughs and says, "Yea, fat chance." I sigh, say okay, retrieve my wheeled tote and keep walking.  It's the real Vegas.  The one where daydreams are made, but more are crushed.

Dodge the Donkey Punch

73 days until Vegas!

This year I'll be playing in the first ever $1,000 buy-in WSOP event. It'll also be my first ever WSOP bracelet-tournament and my first time staying at The Rio. We got a great deal, too. Sin City is having a hard time attracting folks to its casinos right now, so the great deals are aplenty.

It turns out that The World Series of Poker isn't recession-proof either, so they'll be offering their least expensive bracelet tournament ever--a $1,000 No Re-buys/No Add-ons NLHE event. I've read a lot of complaints about this, too, saying that it's breaking the tradition of the usual $1,500 event being the first NLHE tourney each year. The "donkament," as I've heard it called, is expecting an extra large field. My guess is between four and five thousand. Last week they posted the tournament structure on wsop.com, and I was a little disappointed to see that everyone will be starting with only 3,000 in chips. I know that it's a relatively low buy-in tournament, but it'll be the most expensive tournament I've ever reached into my pocket for, so I was hoping it would be a little more deep-stacked. That gives everyone 120 big blinds at level 1 with levels lasting 60 minutes. It's not exactly a Turbo, but I'll still need to make some moves with less than premium hands to stay afloat.

Last year I played in a WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica. It was a cheap little $125 Turbo event. I remember we were nearing the end of our trip, and I was coming close to the end of my money, so I just bought into the cheapest event they had. Aimee and I were on our New Year's vacation with Paul and Ashley, and Paul and I had each originally planned on playing in the $300 (I think that was the amount) event, but neither of us had done quite as well as we'd hoped up to that point, so I played in the cheaper tourney and Paul just played in a couple satellites (to no avail).

The night before Paul took a 1-2 donkey punch combo to the teeth at the $1-3 NL table after turning $75 into $600 in about two hours. I had gone busto and was watching him for a bit because he had built a monster stack. He was on a rush and was really dominating the table like I'd seen him do before. At one point I remember he even had one of the players surreneder his iPod over to him. I think he actually had the guy hypnotized or some shit. He was on quite a roll, but I was wishing he would just call it a night and cash out as it was getting late. It would have been a huge win. I know how he felt, though. A rush like that is hard to get up and walk away from. Something takes over, and you get greedy. Just as I was becoming convinced that he might break the entire table I saw it all come crashing down in two donkalicious hands. It was like watching that clip of George Brett's pine tar incident--sickening. I don't remember all the specifics, but I think one of the hands involved some gutshot straight-chasing by a donkey puncher on the far side of the table. Some people can only take so much domination before they go on tilt and start making bad decisions. I'm sure Paul remembers just how it went down. He lost that entire stack. His teeth probably still hurt.

Anyway, there were only about 100 entrants in my turbo tourney with the final table of nine finishing in the money. I think we started with 2,500 or 3,000 chips and blinds at 25-50 with levels lasting only 40 minutes. I remember feeling pretty nervous and not very confident coming out of the gate. I wasn't in a very aggressive mood which is pretty much required for success in short-stacked tourneys. I also had a guy two seats to my right who came out making monster raises left and right, so I didn't have much room to maneuver anyway. After three or four orbits, I had seen and missed a few flops, and my stack was down to about 1,800 or so. We were at level two, 50-100, and I was two off the button when I looked down at Qs2s. Surprisingly, the super-aggressive guy folded after just one early position limper, so it was a good spot for me to get aggressive. I made it 350, and everyone folded to the big blind, who called, as did the EP limper. I had decided to be aggressive on the flop no matter what, so I was planning on a continuation bet at the very least even if I missed. A sight for sore eyes appeared on the felt, though. Dealer turned A-Q-2, rainbow. I flopped two pair. The two EP players both checked to me. I fired what I wanted to look like a standard continuation bet out of about 2/3 the pot, around 700. I didn't put much thought into it at all. It was pretty automatic. I was quite confident I had the best hand. The EP limper called and the other guy folded. Going to the turn I only had about 700-800 left in front of me. Dealer burned and turned a 5, leaving the board still not very draw heavy, but I felt that I needed to go ahead and get it all in there, so when the guy checked to me, I went all in for my last 700 or so. He went into the tank, which I took as a good sign since any hand he would have to think about was probably worse than mine. I still wanted him to fold. He did not. He said, "I'm gonna make what's probably a bad call here." He turned over A-4, top pair. I turned over my two pair which got a couple "Oohs." I looked at his cards and then back at the board. The first thing I noticed was that he had a gutshot draw, but I quickly dismissed that outcome since it was highly improbable. In fact, I was just about 3 to 1 to win after the turn. Any A, 3, 4, or 5 (12 outs) would win him the pot and send me packing, and any of the other 32 cards would double me up. Feeling pretty good about it, I watch the dealer burn and turn the river--the 3.

The guy reached into a bag of four marbles and pulled out the the only one that would win him the pot. I was done. It felt like I had just walked behind a horse and got kicked in the junk. Somehow I managed to make it up from my chair and hobble away, though.

I can't ask for much more than getting it in good. I'll take that all day. Let's just hope I'm able to bob and weave come May.

An Afterthought

Vegas in 80 days!!

I haven't played any poker since my last post, but I'm currently irked by a hand from that last session. I've been trying to decide if I could have possibly played it any differently for a better result, and I don't really think I could've, but you be the judge.

The $2-2 NL game I played in last week at The Poker Room was pleasantly light with little pre-flop raising and a lot of limping taking place. As you may recall, I started the session playing pretty tight like I usually do. About an hour into the game, I look down at 4h5h on my BB after 4 or 5 limpers and a check from the SB. I gladly check as well, craving a flop with this holding. The dealer burns and turns J-4-2, rainbow, with six or so players in the hand. I check middle pair with not much of any draw, and someone throws a min-bet into the pot, which was becoming fairly common at this table. I think everyone called to me, and I almost just folded out of annoyance. I don't really see the point in making a min-bet at all here. I just can't think of a single argument for it that can't be countered by a better one (think about it), but since I had a small piece of the flop, I called the $2, as did most everyone else.

Dealer turns another 4. At this point I have three fours, and I'm ready to pop the hell out of somebody's bitchy min-bet with a check-raise, so I check my trips. As I expected, the donktard to my left playfully tosses two white chips into the pot with a grin on his face like it's a fucking friendly game of Tiddly Winks. After everyone insta-calls around like robots with down syndrome I donkey-punch 'em with a check-raise to $10. Now, a couple of things to note here:

1. I had been playing noticeably tight for over an hour, so I felt a 5x check-raise when the board paired 4's would scream trips, especially coming from a player in the blinds.
2. I play much more online poker than live poker, and a 5x check-raise online apparently screams louder than in a live game (which I already knew, so this was a mis-step--I should have raised more).

I get not one, but two callers, so, headed to the river, there's about $50 in the pot. At the time I suspected one of them probably had a Jack, but in hindsight it seems like someone would have raised with top pair on the flop. A few hands earlier, though, the Tiddly Winks player to my left had limped in late position with pocket aces (which, again, I don't understand at all), so he was surely capable of donkey-playing top pair on the flop. Nonetheless, I was pretty confident my hand was good at this point, though I didn't completely rule out someone else holding a 4. So, three players to the river, and dealer burns and turns one of the three possible cards that I did not want to see. Another Jack. The board reads J-4-J-4-2.

Now, this is where I lose my bearings a little. I sheepishly check the river, and the TW player shoves all in for about $80. The other guy quickly folds, and my hand doesn't seem that strong anymore. At all. I scrounge for an excuse to call but don't find one, so I tuck my tail, flash my 4, and muck my boat. Before I could ask, "You have the Jack?" the cheeky bastard turned over 6c9s--nothing.

Looking back, I guess my check-raise on the turn did scream trips after all, and he figured he could get me off the hand after the Jack came. Plus he knew I had been playing tight and that I probably wouldn't call with the low end of the boat. But if I bet the river, does he still shove all in? Or, is there any way I can call the river bet after I check? I can't think of one. It was just a bad card for me. Nice ballsy bet, sir.

Intro

A first post warrants an intro, so here it comes.

While this is going to be primarily a semi-serious, analytical poker blog, I do have a shitload of irresistible anecdotes that are sure to make it on here and keep it fun and light at the same time. I'm looking forward to making fun of myself and all my friends and ranting about our hijinks. I've been reading a lot of good poker blogs for some time now and decided to start my own to sort of chronicle my poker career (yes, career, because I'm a bad-ass pro (not really)) and to help make sense of my thoughts on poker among other things. Writing seems to force that to happen. Plus it puts me in a good mood and exercises the brain. I also have shitheaps of downtime at work, and I need something more productive to do besides nap in the bathroom and deflect broken Spanglish all day.

I'm also gonna give Dr Pauly some cred really quick. His blog helped inspire me to blog it up, too. You can check him out here http://taopoker.blogspot.com/. I like his style.

I recently graduated from UGA (Go Dawgs!!) with an Economics degree, and I'm a serious Bulldog fan. College football is my favorite sport to follow, and I don't think anything puts me on uber-mega-tilt more than seeing the Dawgs lose--especially in Jacksonville when I'm at the game, stuck in the Gator section with the Dawgs getting schellacked, and I have a giddy eight year old constantly poking me in the side spouting off eight year old kiddy shit-talk about how he bets I wish I wasn't a Bulldog fan anymore--or when I'm in downtown Athens inhaling Jack & Gingers after Alabama crushes us 31-0 in the first half, and I watch a flock of Crimso-rostitutes pour into my favorite bar screamin "Go Aylabayama!" But more about that story later..it deserves its own post, and it's sure to be Zilch's favorite. I think he pisses himself laughing every time Justin brings it up. But moving on from that tilted rant, I now live in St. Marys, GA and work in Jax, FL for a shipping company called Trailer Bridge, which I think is a pretty cool name for our company since at any given time we have a barge in the sea somewhere between FL and Puerto Rico. We put so many trailers on those barges I bet they probably could bridge the gap between FL and Puerto Rico if we wanted them to. I always wonder if our Harvard-grad of a CEO came up with it. I also wonder if he or any of our executives ever play any poker. I can picture our cool-ass VP who's always vacationing in St. Simon's buying in to a secret high-stakes game somewhere smokin cigars and drinkin some Glenlivet. He's gotta be a Dawg fan. I can just tell. I bet I could beat that game...if I could afford it.

I drove down to Orange Park this morning to sit at a cash table at The Poker Room for a couple hours before work. The Poker Room sits on the second floor of a dog-racing establishment and looks over a dog track that's usually lined with all sorts of people--some not-so-normal-looking degenerates, some completely normal-looking degenerates, a shit-farm's worth of senior degenerates, and even some degenerate-to-be-children of degenerates--all betting on the quickness of racing canines that don't even know they're racing. All they know is that they can't resist chasing that fake rabbit. I'd love to see one of them catch it. I wonder if they'd take a bet on that. "Yes, ma'am, I'll put twenty on 6 to catch the rabbit, please." All I know is I'd better get some good odds. The poker room always fires up right at Noon, which is when I got there since I wanted to get a decent session in before work at 3. When I walk through the doors I immediately have to take a short detour around a protruding line of seniors waiting at a counter with a nearly-senior-looking woman behind it. I've never known what purpose that counter served, and I still don't, but I navigated around it and thought about how these retired guys probably come here every day and spend their pensions and social security checks. I'm sure they have a blast though and probably don't give a rat's ass about what anybody thinks about it.

The law here is that you can only buy in for $100 at the most at any of the tables. I always play the $2-2 NL game, but they also have a whopping $5-10 NL game which is pretty much like playing Bingo given the $100-max buy-in. So I got my hundred in reds ($5 chips) and barely made it into a newly-formed table, which I liked because there wouldn't be anyone with $500 in front of them to bully the newcomers. I played pretty tight for the first few orbits, like I usually do, trying to get a feel for everyone. I actually saw every flop from my blinds during this time because there were rarely any pre-flop raises, which seemed odd, but I didn't mind seeing some free flops. A lot of people there always seem to be trying to chase down one of the ongoing jackpots, so there's usually a pretty high percentage of players to the flop each hand-a lot of limpers. The senior to my left called it a "friendly" game.

I think it was on the third orbit or so that I got Qs8d on the BB. After 5 or 6 limpers I check, of course, and the flop comes 9s-Jd-2h. I check, and so does everyone else around to the Asian guy who min-bets $2, everyone calls around. There's about $20 in the pot. The turn comes the 10c, no flush draw out. I hit my gutshot! I'm a little less than pumped about my straight, though, with 5 people in the pot since KQ would have me crushed and that's a very playable hand, especially at this table, so I check, senior checks, short, dirty guy with a skater hat fires $15 into the pot, Asian guy folds, next guy folds, SB calls, I call. Three players to the river. Pot's about $65. My heart beats about 60 times, and then the river falls the Kd. While I felt my made straight was just counterfeited by the K (giving anybody with the 10 the same K-high straight), I was relieved that it also counterfeited anybody's already-made K-high straight. Nonetheless, I figured I'd check to the aggressor. Sure enough, short dirty guy who I decide looks about like my thumb with a hat fires $30 into the pot. SB insta-calls, and I tank for about 20 seconds. I figure at least one of these guys has a 10 with me, and I quickly rule out SB having A-Q because he would have surely raised the nuts, but I couldn't rule out short guy semi-bluffing the turn with A-Q, so I just call and turn over my Q-8. SB turns over Q-10 and thumb with a hat mucks and says "I had two pair!?" like he had been robbed or something. So SB and I chop the pot, but at least I showed a winner, which meant it was time to loosen up.

Two hands later I get As8s on the button. I insta-call thumb guy's pre-flop raise to $7. Four to the flop. 10h-8d-4s. All checks to me. I think I may have the best hand and fire $10 to see where I stand. I get 2 callers, one is thumb guy. At this point I'm a little unsure of where I stand, but I feel safe from a set. The turn comes the Jh. This is a pretty big scare card. Everyone checks to me again, though, and I cautiously check as well. River is a blank. All checks again! I was a little shocked, and thought I may have had the best hand. Expecting to fold to a bet on the river, I was happy to just table my pair of eights and see if they were good. They both turn over a pair of fours with a small kicker, and I rake the pot.

The next decent hand I get is A-Qos on the button again and I'm feeling confident and open-raise to $10 after a few limpers. I only get one caller, and it's thumb guy again who's obviously on tilt after a very Hellmuth-esque blow-up after someone called down his big bluff with a small pair after he missed a flush. He only has $19 in front of him after he calls my $10, and the flop comes 10-9-9, rainbow. I decided immediately that I was insta-shoving no matter what he did, so I did after he checked, and he insta-calls and tables K-9os. Great. Nice catch. Whatever. In retrospect, I think I might should have been more cautious, but I was thinking, "Attack! Attack!" and I thought I had him pre-flop since he was steaming, and I was right, but he outflopped me and took the pot. Oh well. I felt good about my play anyway. I ended the session at 2:15 up $43. I'll take it.

And that's my first post. Hope you enjoyed.