Failure at the Final Table

After a night when I dreamed many poker hands and scenarios, the big day arrived on Sunday. I drew the 4 seat, which has been a good one for me. No huge stacks at the table, and both shorter stacks are here, hooray!! I had been telling anyone who would listen about my genius strategy....wait for aces! On the third hand, my hopes were realized, pocket rockets! I thought for a second or two about how to bet. If I "limp" in, then I allow both the small and big blind to get in for cheap or free which could be disaster if the flop comes little and ugly. However, if I limp, I also tempt someone later to raise me, in which case I can re-raise all in. What to do, what to do. Finally I decide to "overbet" the pot, raising 12,500 all-in, in the hopes of catching someone with a big hand who puts me on AK or a medium pair. Unfortunately, everyone folds and I just pick up enough to get me through the upcoming blinds.

Long story short, I play pretty even for almost 2 hours, doubling up briefly when my pocket 10's find another one all-in against pocket queens. I give back most of the chips when my A/10 goes against A/J on a 10/j flop to the same player! I make two fatal errors late when I fail to raise all-in with pocket 2's against the blinds (even if Ramon calls with KJ, it is a tossup). I fold my big blind to a big raise (8/3 offsuit).....two live cards and dead money plus blinds made that a no brainer....only to end up with 3,000, not even a big blind. I go all in against Hector/s big blind with KQ os, only to see AJ suited. He flops a J, then another one.... I go out in 14th place (out of 100 players), with only the top 10 paid. I watch briefly as Bob P. loses all his chips to go out 13th. We had a deal to pay the other 10% if we won the 1st place, 6,000 bucks, so I am doubly disappointed. I have to play much better at Wildhorse next week.

The Big Freeroll

At last the much anticipated day arrived. I warmed up with a quick Sit 'N Go tournament, winning it easily. Then off to the casino for the regular 10 a.m. tourney. Dark clouds on the horizon, I am knocked out just before the final table. Just not getting cards worth playing. The tournament starts at 1:00 and there are 17 in our flight (a total of 5 flights will play). Only the top 4 will move on to the finals on Sunday, and we will carry forward our chip count, so it is important to not only get a seat, but to collect as many chips as possible.

The tournament starts slow for me, up and down from the original starting count of 10,000 chips. I maybe hit 14,000 on my maximum. I survive to the final table, but pretty short stacked. I get all in against Ramon, known as the "golden horshoe up his azz" guy, for his good luck. He has AJ vs my AQ, looking good. The board double pairs and we end up chopping the pot. He retains his seat, I fail to double up through him, and a couple of hands later a guy knocks 2 players out on one hand and we are in the final 4. I am second in chip count with only 12,500.
The leader has run over the table collecting 141,000 in chips!!!! So, now I am in the finals, with a very short stack, and will have to go all in within the first 30-60 minutes. Oh well.

I play in the live game later, and make $120 in about 4 hours of play. I had a great night the day before, making $400 in 2 hours, so poker is paying for me this weekend.

In The Groove

Yesterday was a great poker day. I played in 3 sit 'n go tournaments, winning 2 and coming in 2nd in the other. I also was playing in a freeroll with over 3500 players and was in 5th place when I had to go run errands. When I got back, the tournament was over and I had come in 14th place, winning $1.00 plus entry into a $1000. freeroll on Saturday. It is eerie how sometimes you just seem to win effortlessly, while other days you can't buy a pot.

Break Even Day at Spirit Mountain

The thing about playing poker at Spirit Mountain is that it is a killer drive. One hour forty five minutes of windey coastal roads. If you play too late, like I did today, you are faced with the drive in the dark and rain. It is always a longer drive home if you lose, which technically I did today, to the tune of $7.00 if you count the $10. free coupon I got in the mail and redeemed. So, anyway, a 3 and a half hour round trip drive, plus 7 hours of play for a loss of $1. an hour plus gas...thank goodness for cheaper gas (2.99/gal}. The one bright spot I can find is that I probably lost the least at the table. There was only one winner, and he was up maybe a couple of hundred, which is not a big win on a 4/8 kill game table.

It was interesting to check out the game at the next table. It was a 2/5 no limit game, and there were some players with several thousand dollars in front of them. I peaked over the shoulder of one player and watched him call an early position $40. raise with 4/6 offsuit! Scary!!!! I guess that is how you bust aces, but after the flop came with an ace he was out of there. I think I will skip that game for a while.

Friday Night at The American Legion

A disappointing night at the Legion tonight. I was basically card dead and lucky to make it to 11th place (out of 25). The smoke in that place is unreal. I have to strip down immediately and dump my clothes for the wash because they absolutely reek! Starting in January there will be no smoking allowed in private clubs, so that should really improve things.

Good Day Not To Play

I had a big day of poker planned today. I was planning on leaving around 9 a.m. and driving to Spirit Mountain Casino...about a 1hr 45 min drive. I was planning to play poker all day, meeting my boss and best friend, Geoff, sometime in the evening and end up in Salem spending the night there. I love the Spirit Mountain poker room. There are 17 tables with every limit and type of game available. Plus, they are having an anniversary celebration this week with prizes and great promotions. I even have a $10 free ticket for cash if I go during the week. But there was a snag. I wanted to bring Helene along with me so she could visit with her good friend, Geoff's wife, Lark, and she couldn't leave until Friday or Saturday. Oh well, if we leave Saturday I can try to qualify for next quarter's freeroll tournament at the American Legion. A bright spot!

But, now to the heading, not a good day to play poker. Since I was home today, I played in several low buy in tourneys (50 cents- dollar). I got crushed!!!! I didn't come in higher that 4th in any of them....and since they only pay 3 places, not so good. I have found that playing online is a good indicator of how my cards will run at a live casino. So, I probably saved myself a couple of hundred dollars by not going today. I am becoming a big believer in luck that runs in streaks. When you are hot, you're hot, and when you're not, you're not.

Champion of Champions

Yesterday was a great day of poker triumph for me. The weekly American Legion tournament awards points for your finishes, 6 points for a 1st, 5 points for 2nd, etc. The top 20 point earners for the quarter get to play in the "Tournament of Champions". I just missed with 5 points, but was the #1 alternate. Yesterday morning I got a call telling me that there was a cancellation and I was in!!! The last time I qualified was a disaster. The very first hand (yes the 1st hand), I had pocket 4's. I put in a small raise, got a couple of callers. The flop was 4-6-6, a full house for me. I bet the pot and was check raised by a blind. I re-raised all-in and Carl, the re-raiser, said " I don't think you have aces". I replied, "Don't call me if you like pizza". They were serving pizza at the break in 45 minutes. Anyway, he calls and shows pocket K's....wayyyy behind, however the next card is another 6, so he makes 6's full of k's to beat my 4's full of 6's. OUCH/Double OUCH.

So, with that experience in mind, at this TOC I arrive fashionably late, after the 1st hand has been dealt. I played pretty well, got some great hands (and great flops) and managed to double up before the break....so that is what pizza tastes like! I went a little card dead for a while but made the final table with below average chips. I won a couple of hands and was back in contention until running up against slow played trip 6's going all in. I ended up the short stack at the table with 7 players left. Two players went out on one hand which got me into the money, which is always my first goal, other than survival. I then got a little hot, doubling up thru a big stack, and watching another player get knocked out. I then doubled up thru the second chip leader and went into 2nd place. As always, I proposed a "deal" for chopping up the money, but no interest. Two hands later, the short stack raises 4,000 out of the blind (which he had been doing a lot, as a steal, I suspected). I called with J/Q and watched the flop come J/Q/3. He checks, I go all-in and he calls with....pocket Aces! Wow. I would have done the same thing with just the queen or Jack, putting him on Ace/anything. The board failed to produce another ace, or pair the board with something other that a jack or queen and he was eliminated. The other guy, Gary, and I agreed to each take $500 and play for the rest, $260. The very next hand I have 2/10 (the Doyle Brunson, he won 2 back-to-back world championships with that hand), and the flop is 4/4/10. I go all in, am called with 6/K (was he just tired?), and my 10's hold up! Sweet! After tipping the dealers $80 and buying drinks for the players, $40, I register a $620 net win (no buy-in).

Now I just have to hope that the same thing doesn't happen to me that happened to "Old Jim". I come home, reeking of smoke, putting all my clothes on the landing and taking a hot shower. I give Helene $100 as a reward for putting up with my poker, and to assure that the money doesn't re-enter the gambling world. Life is good.

Poker Nicknames

I am fascinated by the nicknames we acquire when we are regular poker players. My own name, Dr. Phil, was given to me by the manager of the casino I play at regularly. He thought I looked a little like the TV star, and I have kind of a methodical, professorial style. Anyway, the name stuck so well that I am asked every week what kind of doctor I am. Sometimes I mess with them, telling them that I only have a PHD in computer science, worked for Microsoft, invented the auto underlining when you type in a web address in email. Other times I am an orthopedic surgeon, dermatologist, etc. Some of my favorite local nicknames are:

"Miami John"
"White Hands Rick"
"Triple Gutter"
"Lucky Leo"
"B Man"
"Curly Hair Joe"
"Pony tail Bob"

An update to my previous post. "Old Jim" was actually only 73, yikes! 12 years older than me!!! I must say however that in 12 years there is no way I will look that bad, unless of course I
begin a meth addiction or something.

The Way To Go

The past two years I have played poker with a guy known as "Old Jim". I have been told that his age was in the 90's, but he could have been younger than that. He was a smoker and had a lot of trouble breathing, plus he was rapidly losing weight and becoming bent over almost double. Once he dropped some poker chips on the floor and could not pick them up. He was very frail and seemed to have lost weight every time I saw him. Anyway, Old Jim was a great poker player. He played in tournaments almost daily and did very well, winning lots of them. "White Hands" Rick told me that his wife gave him a monthly poker allowance of $400, but I suspect that he did not spend much of it given his winning ways.

Once a month there is a "Tournament of Champions" at the casino. Anywhere from 80 to 160 players qualify each month by winning one of the daily tournaments (there are several tournaments each day). Old Jim of course qualified and he won the championship on Sunday. I think it was his first TOC victory. The next day he passed away quietly in his sleep. I like to think that it was a perfect finish to his life, as he loved the game and his success is now commemorated on the "wall of fame" with an engraved nameplate and a picture of him holding his winning cards.

So, anyway, I think that loving something and reaching the top on your last day on earth is not a bad way to go.