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Who the Heck is Al Alvarez?

I won't answer the question in my subject, but I wanted to share something I heard quoted by Mr. Alvarez:

All poker is a form of social Darwinism: the fit survive, the weak go broke.

This quote caught my ear as I have been watching/listening to some downloaded videos of the World Series of Poker Europe. I am not sure this was televized here "across the pond" from its original location, but I have enjoyed watching some of the action. I have watched as some of the current "greats" like Jamie Gold and Kenny Tran have played a lot of different starting hands and have either hit or have gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It has flashed me back to an article in the most recent Bluff magazine with Annette Obrestad where she explains how she played an entire tournament, except for heads up, without looking at her cards. She used a post it note to cover her hole cards and ended up winning the tournament. What the combination of the two has really shown me is why playing lower limits can be one of the hardest challenges in poker right now.

As newer players watch TV, which has to be the number one reason people are coming to the tables now, they are seeing raises and calls with hands like Q-4 suited (Jamie Gold) and making their flush. What they do not see is that the majority of the time, that hand is completely dominated (as it was here pre-flop) and a good majority of the truly great players fold this. But this brings about a new way of thinking in many ways. Well...not new, but it is something that Hellmuth has been preaching for years now. This method is "Small Pot Poker". There are two approaches that I have seen...I want to look at those now.

1. Loose Aggressive Small Pot Poker - LASPP is the majority of what you are seeing from the internet players and the newer players that show up on TV. They are willing to raise or call a raise with most hands in order to bluff later. It is calculated small pot poker in that they are using a "Kill Phil" philosophy and are not scared to lose all of their chips on any hand. The philosophy is toned down, thus the small pot distinction, but the problem with this approach is that small pot can turn into huge pot very quickly if the player is not controlling the action or is not a strong enough player to walk away and surrender a pot...and that is the key to small pot poker. You must walk away and surrender money often. If you are more interested in winning every pot, SPP is not the best method for you. But I digress...When you see a player like Jamie Gold, who plays agressively and wins, its hard not to be tempted to emulate that style of play. I can be honest and say I have no idea how Gold won the ME, but he did. It could be that Johnny Chan was coaching him. It could also be that it was his time to do so. The great thing about this method is that you can drag several pots and accumulate chips a bit faster than the 2nd method.



2. Tight Aggressive Small Pot Poker - TASPP is what is preached by Phil Hellmuth and he puts on a show on day 1 of the WSOPE playing nearly every hand they showed on the edit. I realize of course this doesn't mean he is playing every hand. Preflop raises are common, but the action is controlled and methodical. The idea is not to ever risk your entire chipstack and retreat as is necessary. Several bluffs and reraises are not usually in order, except when changing gears. What TASPP has in common with LASPP is that most starting hands are good to go with. The difference comes in post flop play and only players who are confident in their post flop play can execute this style. Newer players rarely tend to move into this style until they are more experienced because it requires something that newer and most of the "donkeys" you will play against at lower limits. This is why I believe this to be the better style to play at smaller levels. The problem is that you must be good with your post flop play and willing to fire bullets at an empty flop in order to just get a feel of where you are in the hand.

So what's best for a Tuesday night at a local bar? I can't tell you that. I can say that if/when I adopt one of these styles, I can almost guarantee that I will take flack from someone for playing too loosely. If you are a tight player, this is a great way to change speeds. The problem comes in that this doesn't exactly adapt to sit-n-go type tables or cash games. You can adapt certain portions of this to the sit-n-go, but it will take some adjustment to your normal style. In any case, good luck with whichever method you choose to use and I hope you decide to try it against me when I am reading well.

I'm Flooded With Rivulets of Thought

It's been two weeks since I posted. It's not that I don't have anything to talk about or haven't had things to post about, I have just been too busy, too tired or too apathetic. I am not sure, but without such an outlet, my mind gets clogged and that came to a head last night at the poker table. Sometimes you can have great hands and somehow just get beat, outplayed or outflopped. I went from flopping quad aces to dive bombing my chipstack in about 3 hands and eventually pushed at the wrong time with the magically alluring Q-J. I know Q-J is a horrible hand and is dominated by so many other hands, but I had less than 2 and a half big blinds left and made a move hoping to just pick up blinds. Small blind has 10s and big blind has aces. What can you do?

In the last 2 weeks I have discovered that somewhat careless flagrance with chip stacks is an amazing way to win a sit-n-go where the players are either tight or are too new to understand when someone is making a move. The good thing about playing at restaurants and bars is that most of the players fall into the 2nd category, about 10% of the players at most tables fall into the first category. The rest are just donkeys and fish that you have to have the patience and a bucket to wait and catch the chips they dump. Last night was not the night for me to do that, so I ended up being the dumper...not the dumpee in relation to the chips.

However, when you use well timed aggression, you can pick up blinds and antes often enough so that when you have a monster, you will get called and you will get more than just the blinds and limpers. It is something I should have seen a long long time ago, but my tight nature wouldn't allow me to use the "Kill Phil" method to win in such a way. There is also the issue that at certain tables you will get called with any naked ace or king that can be played. Cautious aggression may seem like an oxymoron to most, but it definitely applies in this case.

There is no fixed rule...that's where the challenge comes. Sometimes finding the rule of the game you are in leads you to walking away early...sometimes you are the last man standing. Its action...and isn't that what we do this for anyway?

I will be back soon with thoughts on politics, Brett Favre and the upcoming season of football...like the title says...Rivulets of Thought...

I Wouldn't Lie To You

Perhaps the best thing you can do for yourself today would be to go to this link:

Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog - Act 1

UPDATE:  The site is www.drhorrible.com if you want to visit it again.  They just dropped Act II...so check it out as well!

WSOP: The Final 9

If you want to be surprised in a few months when ESPN shows the final table of the Main Event, please ignore this post.

With that said, it should be no surprise to anyone that poker fans will not recognize the names on the list of the final 9 players who will walk to the final table later this year. With over 6800 people in the Main Event, it was only a matter of about 7 days (more than that actually, but we are going by "tournament days") to weed the pros out and solidify what I would say is a completely unrecognizable table. The yearly donkey fest will give us another unknown to watch try and exist in the new prime time poker that we all love and enjoy since King of the Donks Chris Moneymaker turned $3 Canadian (or some amazing small amount of money as the story goes) into millions because he out-donked 1000 people. If anyone has ever seen the "amazing bluff" he pulled on Sammy Farha to solidify his win, you know that he was walking the very fine line between "Holy crap I can't believe that worked?!?!?" and "Holy crap what a horrible player!!!!" His results since winning show that he was a fluke.

My opinion of the last 5 ME winners isn't very high with a couple exceptions. Joe Hachem has went on to win a WPT event and Greg Raymer has had some good finishes elsewhere, but isn't exactly a solid winner. So with the exception of one and a half winners in the last 5 years, we have seen donkeys take home the once coveted bracelet. Noone can actually defend Jerry Yang or Jamie Gold as real, solid, challenging poker players. I look forward to reading their books so I can learn how to play online freeroll style poker and win millions of dollars. But I digress...I haven't seen the players who are left play, so perhaps the video when ESPN shows it will give me a better picture. The final 9 are:

Dennis Phillips
Ivan Demidov
Scott Montgomery
Peter Eastgate
Ylon Schwartz
Darus Suharto
David Rheem
Craig Marquis
Kelly Kim

So who is the Joe Hachem at the table and will the Jamie Gold or Jerry Yang sitting to his right just scoop his chips and move on to a huge win? Is it a good thing that anyone can win the ME? Do the pro's think it's as big of a challenge as they thought it was years ago OR are they just hoping to win to prove that the donkey boom is at an end?

So many questions...so many donkeys still winning huge tournaments.

A side note, Poker Stars looks to have sealed most of the final table up to endorsement deals. My hope for the delayed final table was that we would see the players actually take longer to make decisions on their endorsements. I semi-supported the move to a delayed final table because it might create situations where we could get behind people, but I have to say if Mike Matusow or Phil Hellmuth were at the final table, I would have an easier time. I guess time will tell and it will come down to the ESPN coverage as to how each person is portrayed on camera.

Roberts Rules of Poker

This is considered the general "manual" for running about any type of poker game you like.

A bit of information directly from the rules:
"“Robert's Rules Of Poker” is authored by Robert Ciaffone, better known in the poker world as Bob Ciaffone, a leading authority on cardroom rules. He is the person who has selected which rules to use, and formatted, organized, and worded the text. Nearly all these rules are substantively in common use for poker, but many improved ideas for wording and organization are employed throughout this work. A lot of the rules are similar to those used in the rulebook of cardrooms where he has acted as a rules consultant and rules drafter. Ciaffone authored the rulebook for the Poker Players Association (founded in 1984, now defunct), the first comprehensive set of poker rules for the general public. He has done extensive work on rules for the Las Vegas Hilton, The Mirage, and Hollywood Park Casino, and assisted many other cardrooms. Ciaffone is a regular columnist for Card Player magazine, and can be reached through that publication."

Here is a link to the information:
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/poker/rules.php

And a handy link to my Google Docs version of it so you can get to it on a mobile device:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhdw7fmq_6f7jpb4f7

You never know when a situation may arise where this will come in handy!

How To Not Play King-Queen Suited

I have had a complaint about many of the players that I sit with on a weekly basis.  They will raise and call raises regardless of position with K-Q.  Many times suit doesn't even matter, but God help us all if they get it "sooted".  The problem, as I have outlined aloud every time I see it flipped over no matter what the result of the hand was, is that so many hands have this hand dominated!  A-K, A-Q, K-K, Q-Q, A-A at least have it beat outright with a few other pairs slightly better statistically.  I have a bigger problem with calling out of position, rather than raising, but 7-10 handed, I am not sure I see an instance where raising in a BFP setting is helpful seeing as how any A will follow along.  With that said, I decided to play K-Q of hearts a couple weeks ago and filed this hand away to share here. 

I am in early position.  I limp, as do a couple others.  My right raises 3 times the big blind.  We are 10 handed so I should fold.  Because I was testing out a BFP theory, I call.  As well, I had good pot odds at this point to play a suited face card hand.  The flop comes J high with 2 hearts.  The BB is first to act and was the previous raiser.  He throws in 3x the big.  Thinking he is continuation betting, I call.  Others fold and we are heads up for the turn.  Another blank...no heart, no face card.  He bets 3x and I call.  At this point I made my 3rd mistake.  The river comes K.  At this point the BB throws in 6x the big letting me know that the entire flop through turn missed him and he is sitting on A-K, thus proving my teachings on K-Q!

I tank for a minute or two, call his hand A-K suited and fold.  He shows me A-K of diamonds.  Here were my mistakes:

1. I should have folded preflop.  No doubt, no question!  The raise could have been a position raise or could have been a situation where he had me dominated.  I ignored the first option and called. 
2. On the flop I started chasing in an incorrect manner.  I believe if I bet my draw here and raise the BB, he might fold.  He admitted that me might have called depending on the bet. 
3. On the turn I again did not raise.  I am positive if I raise here I get the pot.  Instead I called and made myself have to think about the river. 
4. Here is the worst case scenario with a hand like K-Q.  I hit my K!  I have a good kicker.  Is he stealing?  I correctly called his hand and made the correct read, but if I had thought about each step as closely as I considered the river, I wouldn't have had to think about it at this point and would have saved myself chips.

So many people blog about how they dominated someone else or how they took the worst beat ever.  I wanted to break that trend and tell you how I messed up.  I make these mistakes often enough to bother me.  Hopefully, by giving you this situation, you can make that read earlier and save some chips and some face when you flip over a bad hand to show your idiocy.

Vacation

This week I have been on vacation.  Because Amanda and I are traveling this weekend to VA, I decided to take a 9 day weekend and catch up on some stuff.  With the recent job change...did I mention that?...I needed to clean the house, look at some homes and just do ernie stuff.  It has been a good week for that.  We spent most days quite busy.  I am writing from the Holiday Inn Express in Pounding Mill, VA.  Luckily, there is a Walmart near...a Wendy's and free wireless internet.  While Amanda works on wedding things with her friends and such, I look to play some online poker and enjoy my real free time.  I may even hit the pool shortly.

Happy 4th to you all!

Scotty Nguyen Baby

Scotty took down what many consider to be the true test of poker prowess late last night, the $50k H.O.R.S.E. tournament. He joins Chip Reese (one of the greatest ever R.I.P.) and My Main Man Freddy Deeb as champions of this event and takes home $11k shy of $2 million, a bracelet and the Chip Reese Trophy.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/event-45-50000-h-o-r-s-e-world-championship/

The Seven Year Itch

Tomorrow, seven years ago, was the first date I had with my fiance Amanda. She remembers much more about the actual date than I do because her mind remembers those details better. Its a female thing and she is good at exercising that skill. I know I picked her up at her grandmother's place, we saw A.I. (worst movie ever) and I dropped her off with no goodbye kiss. The thing about this date was that before I met her, I had rules. No goodnight kiss on the first date, makes a 2nd date harder to come by. If you don't reach over and unlock my door after I let you in, I don't go out with you anymore. Silly things like that. After that date, my rules were gone.

I realized that night...actually before that date...that she was special and would be a big part of my life. There was a connection on my end that she did not catch on with until a few months later. She wanted to take things slow because she had been hurt. I had been hurt too, but I knew this was worth my risk. What's odd is that after that date, we just kinda fell into a rhythm. We started dating and about the 3-4 year mark, I decided to take a position in Knoxville...2 hours away. To be honest, I was being selfish with the outward appearance of "doing it for our future". I wanted to make the move, even though I requested not to. She loved me through it all and even though she hated Knoxville with the same hatred Hitler had for the Jewish people, she visited me twice, sometimes 3 times a month. I drove here, she drove there. It was hard on us and we did disconnect at times. I personally blame my own selfishness for this.

She stood by me until I grew through this situation. We grew together. I moved back to the area a little over a year ago and within a week, I knew the next step had to be taken. I bought a ring and asked her to marry me. In a way it was a reward for standing by me through the entire Knoxville debacle, but it was 3 years late by my mark. She deserved the same connection to her that she had shown me. The only way to give her that connection was to propose, in my mind. I have not regretted that decision even one day. After the shock wore off that fateful night, she said yes. Thus began the next chapter of our 7 year book, thusfar.

The opinion is that couples get what is called "the seven year itch" in their 7th year of marriage. We are not married, but we do see the things that occur when couples fall into a rhythm...or a rut. We know what each other is thinking, we know each other's non-verbal cues. I probably get on her nerves more right now than in the 7 years previous combined. I still fail her daily in not loving her as she deserves, not listening to the things she doesn't say and sometimes just because I am stubborn, but this is not an itch I care to get rid of.

She finally gave me a goodnight kiss a few months after that first date. I got a car with automatic door locks, so she never has to unlock my door for me. I still should be opening her door sometimes, but I just stink at it. Much like those first 2 rules I had have been solved within our relationship, many others have come and gone. She loves me despite my attitude, my failures and the things I do that just bug her completely. She even loves me no matter the music or movies or TV shows I like. Over the years we have discovered everything we don't have in common, but with seven years under our belts, I know more than ever that we have the important things in common now more than ever. We love each other and we love God.

Amanda - I know you don't read my blog, and I don't blame you, but I love you more today than 7 years ago and will continue to grow in that love, in our relationship and in God till eternity ends.

So Why Do I Play?

After my "Things I Hate" post, I thought it would be interesting to cover a question that I am asked by my s/o quite often. By the way, s/o is significant other...saying (S.O. or S slash O) or typing it that way is the new thing. It's in my blog, so now you know. I will come home spewing hatred towards the "donkeys" and the "horrible play" I see and she will stop me as I walk around and say something like "Well...if it gets you this upset, why do you play? Isn't it suppose to be stress relief?" She is right...it should be a form of stress relief for me, however I have found that just hanging out with my friends is that stress relief...the poker is something we do while we are hanging out. So the real question should be "Why do you play poker and interupt your weekly night out of stress relief?" Now THAT'S a good question...

The answer is not necessarily simple. What do I do in my life that I would consider hobbies? I play some guitar every now and again. I like to fancy myself an amateur brewer and taster of beers. I enjoy hanging out with friends. None of those activities feed one of the major male desires that I have...the need for competition. Let me go ahead and say outright...I am not a Wagner. I cannot play basketball. I was never good at any sport. I considered tennis for a while in high school until my racket broke and I just never got it fixed. Even then, the few team matches I played I was no better than "okay". I tried online gaming, but let's face it...when you grow up, online gaming just isn't as "cool" as you thought it was. I don't like being holed up in a dark room pretending I am at war. What I finally found after years of trying to feed this competition desire was that I liked poker.

The boom hit right after Chris Moneymaker made his millions. TV had bought into their piece of the poker idea. ESPN seemd to have a game on every 20 minutes. There wasn't even a time where I scorned it...I just flipped by it one day and was hooked. I had to learn to do this. A few web pages later and we were having a free weekly game at my place so we could learn. Then I moved to Knoxville! This was the land of freeroll poker. It was like OZ for someone who didn't have a bankroll to blow. I immediately sunk in and started playing 2-3 nights a week. My first live tournament was at Bullfeathers, a local bar in Knoxville. I signed up...talked to the tournament director and got to know him a little and very soon, I was playing. I sucked. I was out pretty quick if memory serves me. I left and decided I would come right back the next time they played. I started to make some friends around the Knoxville poker scene...Meryl, PJ, Greg...we would play as often as we could together live. I give Meryl a lot of credit for my current state of skill...she really made me play better by challenging me. But what I was seeing was that my competitive fire was being fed at these local freerolls.

Another thing I learned was that my patience with ignorant people was also tried on a nightly basis. We had the "fake pro" yelling at newbies. We had people who had played for years playing like they just walked in the door and thought it was a cribbage game. We had degenerate gamblers just trying to qualify for the money tournaments. It was a nice mix if douchebaggery, if you will. I learned from an early time that I would have to deal with jackassery and learn how to be mad, but not let it ruin my overall time.

The thing is that I don't hate anything about playing poker. The people, the play, the competition? No. I love it all. However, I do vent about situations that arise. I imagine it would be the same if I were to actually get a chance to use the golf clubs I bought last summer. I would come home venting that I didn't get out of the bunker in 2 on hole 9. Perhaps...my venting should be done in a more positive way so that people do not think I absolutely am in a love hate relationship with the game that I honestly feel best suited to play.

With all that said...I guess I play because I need it. I don't hate the donkeys. I don't hate their donkey play. I don't even hate that I have a way of being a complete douchebag to them when they do the donkey things that donkeys do. I love the interaction. I love the bickering. I love the suckouts. Maybe I am a masochist...maybe I just love poker.

What I Hate About Poker: 101

It's enough to say that you hate sitting at a poker table with 'donkeys'. It's enough to say that you hate bad beat stories...don't we all, yet we all seem to sneak our's in in some ninja like fashion. I prefer the "Let me tell you a funny story about how karma kicked me..." I know it's a bad beat story, but I am trying to fool my listener.

The other night Rich mentioned that we should write a book. That book, in all its wisdom and glory, will be called "Poker Jackassery". Within the already legen...wait...dary pages of this imaginary book, we have placed our ideas and while it may never come to pass, the fleeting thought of getting those things which we see at the tables on paper is cleansing. We joke about it, but a part of me truly wants to write this book. Who knows...it could happen.

What I do want to do today, and it could be included in such a book, is talk about the things I absolutely tire of when playing in the donkaments that have become my weekly ritual. I will outline them one by one in case anyone from the league who offends my very intelligence actually reads this...

Bad Excuse Syndrome
We all know they are out there and from time to time we use them ourselves. Making statements like "I was pot commited" are our way of making a bad decision seem like a better one in our own minds, but here is the catch. If you call off the last half of your stack with Ace high because you had a feeling, "pot commited" isn't the truth and it's a horrible excuse. My favorite example comes from a couple weeks ago when a player called all in, not pushed himself, called all in with a marginal hand and stated "Well, I was short stacked". I said "You have almost 4000 in front of you and blinds are 200/400...you are only down 1000 from your original stack." He stuck to the "short stack" theory and exited the table. Good riddance. The other good one came from my 3rd person perspective. My good buddy Hoosh was in a hand...at the time he was next to me, Rich was sitting nearby and he was eating, talking and just generally having fun. He raises preflop, continuation bets the flop, checks the turn and ends up having to check the river. He turns over a complete bluff...the other player turns over Ace high. Now...you say she made a good call...and got to check it down. What I say is why did she call post flop? She hit nothing. Does noone believe in "Hit it or quit it" anymore? She states "Well...you weren't trying to read me, so I knew you were bluffing." I have 2 problems with this argument. 1. It sucks. 2. Its BFP...noone makes reads here and if you think you can, you are mistaken. I would feel much better if people would just say "I was a donkey there. I am not sorry I won, but I apologize that you saw me behaving like this." She did admit it was a horrible play, so I give her that one. We agreed with her.

Failure to Fold (FTF)
I have seen different figures, but I believe that the general consensous is that you should fold about 75-80% of your hands to be successful over the long haul. Now, I realize that most of the play I am seeing online and live is not from people who consider the long haul. I shared this with a player a few weeks ago (we will call him PT for Prison Tattoo), but I want to say it out loud here...If you want to improve your game 100%, go home, shuffle some cards. Deal yourself 2. Pretend the much is 6 inches in front of you. Throw the cards there. Deal yourself 2 more. Throw the cards there. Rinse and repeat. It's a simple thing here...over the long haul, your A-4 is a 9 to 1 underdog against a higher ace and you will win 1 out of 10 times with it. It should seem simple anyway. The truth is easy...noone says "Hey, let's go to the casino and fold all day!", but that's what you have to do to win and show a profit. Perhaps my expectations are at fault with this one and that pisses me off even more. The game becomes a situation where you, as the favorite preflop, have to pray that you hit one of your "outs". The favored hand shouldn't need outs, but it does.

What Could Have Been
This is one I do as well and I really need to stop it. It can cause bad habits and can give you short sighted memory in which you consistently remember the "if's and but's". I hear it every table, several times a table..."If I hadn't folded I would have 2 pair right now." We fold for a reason. Sometimes online, I try to not even remember my cards after I fold so that I don't do this...I need to apply that to my live game. What happens is that we remember "Well, J-2 flopped a full house one time, maybe I should call this min-raise and see if it does it again." It's the classic case where we remember what the cards do not. It makes us worse as players and wears on you mentally when the cards just do not hit again. I really gotta stop this in my own game.

Apologies Not Accepted
This is one of my pet peeves at the tables...do not under any circumstance apologize for winning a hand. If you make a bad call, admit the call, but rake your chips and shut up. You are not sorry or you should give your chips back to the person. If you were sorry, you shouldn't have entered the hand...actually, if you apologize at any time, you shouldn't be sitting at the table. It is a competition and there are winners and losers. Do not apologize to me for putting a bad beat on me. I will put a beat on you at some point and I WILL NOT apologize. We are suppose to be in it to win it...casualties happen. Just limp away because to be honest, I wanted my one outer to hit and send you to the rail. Have a drink. Watch the TV, just walk away now.

It is enough to put up with the behavior that comes along with playing poker in a public place like a bar. Drunkards, donkeys, helpless players who should freaking get it by now...they all show up and they all want to play. What makes it tiring is when people who know better fall into the things I have mentioned.

Our top players tournament is next weekend and a part of me has a looming dread that is just festering. I know that a huge tournament with money and prizes on the line will not change the play of some of the people. I know that I will have to fend off the things that annoy me most. I pray that before that Saturday dawns, I am able to push all of that into a mental closet and ignore the burgeoning anger that is growing in my heart. I need to focus this energy into a positive force and win this tournament. It's the only way I can look at a former champion and say "That was a horrible play. I won a championship too....and I played better than that. You need to play like you know something and quit being a donkey. Ship my chips!!!"

That'll be the day...

Negreanu Wins #4

A lot of good pros winning the events this year.

Negreanu Wins $2000 Limit Hold'em

It's been somewhat of a tournament win drought for Daniel, so I am glad to see him knock the dust off and pull in a bracelet this year. Odds are, the $204,874 isn't all he won considering Phil Ivey was offering bracelet bets like free condoms.

There is only one marked final table today in the $5000 No-Limit Hold'em tourney. The table is a group of "unknown to Ernie's" or UTE's. The $3000 HORSE tourney is down to 16, so they may play past the final table and crown a winner tonight. It could be interesting to look at later in the day as Todd Brunson, Jenn Harman, Marcel Luske and Hoyt Corkins (Mr All In) are still left in the 16. I would love to see Todd get a bracelet. He is one of the leading cash game guys in the world and gets very little respect outside of Vegas because noone sees him on TV with a bracelet with Norman Chad saying something like "Well I guess I know who my mother/wife/sister is going to bed with tonight...he he he...I'm a magnificent tool!"

Phil Ivey still has not won a bracelet. With the Lakers going down 3-1 last night and his bracelet quest still empty, this could be a very costly WSOP for Mr Starey Pants.

UPDATE: Pauly actually posted what he has heard Ivey owes on various prop bets and other activities...

$200,000 with Negreanu LOST
$1.1 million shooting dice with Barry Greenstien LOST
$2 million on the Lakers LOOKING BAD
$1 million with Ted Forrest for who will win a bracelet first
up to $2 million in prop bets that he or Allen Cunningham will win a bracelet this year.

Phil Ivey has roughly $6.3 riding around this year at the WSOP in prop bets and random gambling. Wonder how he's doing at the cash games?

The Panera Situation

Let's go ahead and clear something up here...I love to eat at Panera Bread. Their sandwiches are expensive white people sandwiches and their soup gives me some of the best warm soup belly I can find. I have been a fan for quite some time to be honest. For this, I have taken a mountains worth of crap from the likes of people like Rich and Clint. For many years I was "queer" or "a gash" or "a woman with frilly panties". Okay...I threw the last one in there for laughs...I don't believe I was ever called that to my face. But to say the least, I was for all intents and purposes of my "friends" I was gay because I like soup, sandwiches and bagels.

Fast forward 3 years and several put downs later to church a couple weeks ago. After the service, Clint walks up and says "Hey man...wanna get some lunch with Lisa and I?"

"Yes" I replied.

"Well I know its a drive, but do you want to go to Panera? I love that place." he says.

"We have to go to JC anyway, so yeah, we can eat there."

Clip to the conversation in my head:

Clint: Hi, I am gay now. I would like to eat soup and white people expensive sandwiches.

Ernie: Ah...so you really are gay now!

Clint: But I have all the best reasons in the world to be gay now.

Ernie: I bet you do homo.

Back to reality...

This is the Panera situation. Its the change of the mind that bucks all of your previous cracks on your friends, thereby making all of your previous cracks worthless and thereby making you worthy of taking more crackage than was dished out to the original recipient. Clint has since taken a good share of crap since this day, as he should. The crap will most likely continue for some time because this is an egregious breach of brotiquette, but it happens. Clint will take the crap because he knows what he has done. We all have taken the crap because to be honest, we change our minds and we do things we once deemed "gay" or "horrible". At least it has a name now...

Matusow Wins Bracelet #3

Congrats to Mike Matusow!

I hate if I am ruining the next 3 months of ESPN programming for some of you, but the real coverage (as close to hand-to-hand) is at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting. PLUS...the bracelet Matusow won won't even be on ESPN. They don't televise such unimportant games as 2-7 Triple Draw even though it is one of the more challenging games out there, IMHO. The final table looked like this:

Mike Matusow
Barry Greenstein
Eric Lindgren
Jeff Lisandro
David Benyamine
Tom Schneider
Tony 'G' Guoga

Thats a tough table for Matusow to come out of. Any of those guys could have easily won this table. My hope was for E-Dawg to get his 2nd bracelet, but Matusow is always a fan favorite and I was happy to see him get it. If you aren't sure what 2-7 Triple Draw is...here is a description:

2-7 (Deuce to Seven) Triple Draw (Pokerstars)

Now to pimp one of my favorite blogs...I may do this more often.

The Stuff You Don't See on ESPN 3 Months After The Fact

I realize that I have been poker heavy, but its what has been interesting me more than anything lately. Plus...Rich is about the only reader here regularly and he talks about politics more than I talk about poker, so this is not a Panera situation (more on this in a later post).

With the World Series of Poker going on right now, there is a crap ton of coverage and its great to follow it all because you can see what is going on that Norman Chad and Lon McEachern don't talk about. Plus, they are tools. Here are a few links I have enjoyed:

All In on Chan and a Draw Go Energy Drinks! - This is insane. If our society were judged on the types of energy drinks and water that people carried around and devoured, we would all rot in hell with chocolate, coffee, fruit breath.

2008 WSOP Day 12: A Day in the Life of Phil Ivey - Disposable income is so fun to fool around with. $2 million is an amazing bit of pocket change for some people. And we all know the Celtics are winning in 6 because the refs are fixing the games. :)

BREAKING: Daniel Negreanu and Patrik Antonius Playing High Stakes Heads-Up Golf Match - Apparently, this happens most years with the pros heading to the golf course. Negreanu has been golf heavy on his blog and apparently plays every day in a simulator. Another case of disposable income.

2008 WSOP Day 10 - The Archie Karas Comeback and Vinny Vinh's Final Table - Lastly, a great post on the underbelly that we all know exists.

Congrats to E Dawg

One of my favorite guys finally got his bracelet.

Congratulations to Erick Lindgren, Champion of Event No. 4

Yes...More Poker Talk: Where I Am

"I used to like poker because I thought I had control over my future. Now I realize we are all just buffeted by destiny. We are cannon fodder. Remember that shot in Saving Private Ruan where everybody is charging the shore? The ones who survived were lucky, that's all. They were not better soldiers. They just didn't run into any bullets." - Jennifer Tilly (Bluff Magazine May 2008)

Rarely do I read Jenn Tilly's monthly article and feel truly enlightened. Typically, I consider it a prolonged bad beat story from someone who is just "getting" how things work in poker and who is being trained by someone who is one of my favorite poker players Phil Laak. I typically read her article near the end of my trip through the magazine. This time I sat down and for some reason read her article about 3rd and feel it was a good thing.

I realize that I play small stakes. I give $6 to play in a tournament for points or I play micro-stakes online, so it's not that comparable to what Jenn Tilly goes through playing in big tournaments or in cash games, but I am in the same place she is. I play well...I make very few bad decisions and I still take the bullets. I have been taken down in a hail of gunfire. I have had my K's and Q's crushed by A-whatever. I have had A-4 call huge preflop raises only to hit 2 pair against my A-Q. I have been a catalog of bad beat stories recently. I am not whining or complaining or being one of those guys, but you, as my reader, need to understand why I am typing this out.

So what do I think about myself? It's easy to say "well, maybe you gotta fold those Q's when you know certain people are behind you". But can I? Can you fold a huge pocket pair just because you fear A-whatever? Shouldn't you get your money in when you KNOW you are ahead?

So what's the problem?

There are a couple things that are uncontrollable with poker, no matter the skill level.

1. The skill level of those around you. Now...I am not going to go off on people who play 7-2o when they think this is a good hand or because it's "sooted!". That is merely a derivative of playing with people who do not understand the game. I use to think that these people wouldn't play the same trash if money was on the line or if it were more serious, however, I am not so sure. Watching amateur after amateur win the big televised tournaments making horrible money decisions the whole way, I think it comes down to a rash of uneducated and ignorant poker players. This is uncontrollable.

2. The cards. No matter how long you play, you cannot know what cards are coming and how whichever hand you are holding will hold out. I was told after my K's were busted by A-rag a couple weeks ago that "I knew that was going to hit, so I played it." I just walked away from the conversation. Reading "The Secret" 100 times will not improve your game. Going to Magic Molly the hand reader to get tips on reading the future will not help your game. You can make guesses, but you cannot control or know what cards are coming. This is a simple fact that changes the game of the amateur when they get past the misconception that they "feel" a card coming or "know" their hand is going to hit. Once an amateur realizes the best way to maximize profit in a game is to play the best hands possible, their game begins a transformation.

3. Jackassery. This one requires absolutely no explanation, but I will. For some reason, I have become a magnet for jackasses at the poker table. People critquing the way I play after playing 3 hands with me. Telling me "I know how you play." after 2 tables with me. I would like to think I am somewhat readable in the sense that I play premium hands and will fold crap almost every time. My response "No...you know how I play with bad hands." left him agreeing with me. There is always a drunk around. There is always someone who thinks they can call every hand. There is always a jackass in every crowd I play in.

So how do I manage these uncontrollable circumstances? I am not sure to some extent to be honest because the jackassery tends to push me to the edge. I hate to be "that" guy, but I think I need to use the iPod. I think I need to shut people out and become less friendly at the table. Perhaps I don't have the temperment required to be like Daniel Negreanu. Perhaps I need to focus on my game and stop worrying about the crap others are playing.

Maybe, just maybe I need to walk away for a while and get out of the war for a bit.

How To Play "Good" Poker

I am departing from my BFP discussion on poker a little bit and am going to try to offer some straight up tips to anyone who might run across this on the net and want to know what "good" poker really is. I am not going to quote a bunch of books, even though I have read a bunch of books. Hellmuth, Negreanu, Harrington and Brunson agree on most fundamental rules of good play anyway, so I am not going to just regurgitate their fine books. I am, however, going to give you my thoughts on how a horrible player can just play better poker.

The first thing that is vital to the success of a poker player is patience. If you are not content to sit and fold 85% of the hands you are dealt, then perhaps you should get into another game. It's the math people. There are 4 cards of each suit that are face cards. That gives you 16 cards that you can make pairs or gain a suitable starting hand. If you throw in 10s, 9s, and 8s, you have a total of 22 cards out of 52 that must either pair or get a combination that is worth putting your entire stack at risk. I will explain that concept next. I try to abide by the Hellmuth top 10 starting hands as far as raising goes. I also limp with small pairs when I can, but fold to raises when my position and the number of people at the table are not favorable. You know what I do a majority of the rest of the time? I fold. Thats the first step to playing good poker. Fold. A lot.

Anytime you play a hand, you must consider the fact that every chip you have in your greedy little paws is at stake. Every bad hand you play can lose your money. The idea of folding and waiting for premium hands is more about stack protection than anything else. You want your money in when you have the best hand. Playing bad cards puts you at a disadvantage immediately. So you hit the low end of a straight? What happens when your opponent has the good end? Bottom 2 pair? So what? Your opponent just flopped a set. Get your money in when you have the best chance. Its not TV, so you can't "play every hand just like the pros do!" There is no ESPN production guy to edit out the boring hands and keep you interested.

Secondly, pay attention!. No...really...I wasn't saying to read this closer...I was actually saying to just pay attention to the table. Who is playing with their chips before a bet or a call? Who is counting out a raise 3 spots before it's their turn? What happens at the table when you raise? Is someone talking to another person and not really paying attention? These, and there are many more that should run through your head, are questions that good players ask. Ask the questions and act accordingly.

See who at your tables and in your poker leagues is the most successful or does the best in poker situations and then do what they do. Here is the one that gets me and made me actually ask out loud at a table last night the following question. "Why do people who continually week after week not do the same things the people who do not suck week after week do?" This was something I did early in my poker playing. I befriended some good poker players and we talked about hands (not bad beats for the love of God), but actual hands where I messed up or where I could have done something different. I followed what they did and I emulated it. Now, the best poker player I know has tools I do not have. She's a female and I can't pull the "bat the eyes" and "act like I am just not sure what this crazy game is about" tricks she can try. Thankfully, I don't think she does that often, but she could...and I clearly couldn't. However, she also has information that I could glean habits I could borrow. I did that. Become a "doing" learner and you will become a better poker player.

All of this has been said over and over and over and over, but I felt it worth rementioning. Sorry if this is a review for those 3 of you that read my site. If you are a new player...or just a stubborn player, please read through and digest what I have to say. It's not fun to fold for hours on end, but if/when you sit down to play for some money, you end up in the plus much more often if you learn to fold more often.

American Idol: Week 9

I won't make this a long post at all. The fact of the matter is that there is a clear distance between David Cook and the rest of the group. Believe what you want about Baby Dave (Archuletta), but he is all hype and the judges consistently make him out to be MUCH better than he actually was. Last night was ok at best for him. Brooke made a spectacular song choice and then flubbed it up and got nervous. I liked the styling of the song. According to the spreadsheet, which I won't bother showing, Kristy Lee should be gone. One note at the end does not make up for the hideous rest of the song.

The problem this week has been one that has haunted the entire season and has nearly made the show unwatchable at points. The theme weeks are horrible. 2 Beatles weeks when there was no standout performance to beg another one. Dolly week? No punchline needed there. And then they have Mariah week. If doing Mariah songs is one of the cardinal sins on the show, why in the sodding hell did they have a whole theme week of just that?!?!

Bottom 3 tonight are from best to last:

Carly
Brooke
Kristy Lee

American Idol: Week 8

Idol Gives Back!!!! Woohoo! I do like all the good things that AI is trying to do. They are spotlighting areas of the world and of our great nation that need our support more than we can fathom. However, the downer of the whole ordeal is that the singers had to choose an inspirational song. The problem is that they chose songs that inspired them...not generally inspirational songs. We ended up with David Cook's first stumble with a completely self absorbed song choice that rendered a song that is great by the original artist, but just not a good choice for American Idol. We saw Brooke choose a good song, but again, not a singer's song and she managed to duplicate the oringal pretty decently. Thats great for a karaoke contest, not so great for us. Here is how the spreadsheet calls it:

If I were going by the spreadsheet, it appears that David wrote his ticket home with a "buzz band" song, much like Constantine did with Nickelback. However, I think that Brooke may be waining in the public opinion and her song choices and folky turn aren't really the things that AI's are made of. It's also possible that Syesha picked a song too big for her once again, and while she did it pretty well in my opinion, I am sure some are tired of her constant balladry and attempts at the bigger songs. She has a good voice, but its just not as big as she thinks. Tonight will tell the tell...

American Idol: Week 7

I was a little distraught last night when I got in from my normal Tuesday poker excursion and my DVR, which had fouled up the night before, had not recorded American Idol. Then I recalled that I could just download it in the morning...so I did. It was Dolly Parton night. Let me say this about Dolly...my fiance is a huge fan of 2 singers...Dolly and Elton. Dolly is huge for her and she still pops a Dolly tape (yes, tape) into her car radio every now and again. Dolly is a prolific song writer and that is what is forgotten about her for the most part. It's hard for people to get past the boobs, the theme park and the innocent redneckness of Dolly Parton to remember that she has written a metric ton of music over the last 40 years. I expected a pretty bland night, because I wasn't kidding myself. A lot of times, AI goes over the edge (see Beatles weeks) and puts these huge songs on amateurs. It ended up being a little pitchy for me, but okay overall. It is hard to hear anyone else doing Dolly's songs. Here is the chart:

Some thoughts:

I have a problem, and this may just be a "me" thing, with a 17 year old Californian singing a song about Smoky Mtn memories. I know he had a reason, but the ideal of the song was too much for David A. The performance was typical. I just think I am over him now.

Syesha broke one of the major rules in AI competition. Never do a song Whitney Houston did. Ever. She may have written her ticket off the show this week.

I found myself disagreeing with Simon more this week. I think it might be because Simon hates country music. He can say otherwise, but he does. I saw it in his eyes.

Rameal's "cute" factor wore off after the first episode she was on. She can leave any time now.

Performance of the night...I am giving it to Johns. He did a great job with the song he chose and it seemed to fit what he will become after AI if he doesn't end up waiting tables in a fancy Buckhead, GA restaurant.

Eight Hours Later...

Saturday I took part in the Tennessee Poker Tour March Madness Top Players Tournament. Out of several hundred players that attempted to qualify over 3 months I was one of the 43 who did so. The day was a day of patience tested and finally at the end it came down to 1 hand. I pushed all in heads up with pocket 5's and Gabe called me quickly with pocket Kings. When all was said and done I walked away with a little coin in my pocket and a 2nd place trophy. It was a great day and I enjoyed every minute of it. I witnessed some great poker throughout the day.

Small Stakes Poker: The Virtual Freeroll

After an astoundingly hideous session of poker last night at a local bar, a different one than normally mentioned, I thought I would talk about the "virtual" freeroll. The "virtual" comes from the fact that you can see this type of behavior in any game, regardless of stakes. Want me to prove my point? Look at the World Series of Poker main event. The last 5 winners have been amateurs. 1 of which is a pretty good player, another a decent enough player who talks about the WSOP Boot Camp too much in his Bluff articles (Raymer) and 3 rank amateurs who shouldn't have been at the final table in the first place.

The WSOP has turned into amateur night at the Apollo. The idea that "anyone" can win has even had me dreaming from time to time about a multi-million dollar payout. The problem with this thought is that you have to get past 8000 other dreamers and some pros. The pros seem to despise the Main Event now. What you see are several thousand players who have read "Kill Phil" and have applied that basic "all-in" theory to their game. A pro NEVER wants to get all of their money in the pot. If all their money is in, they can lose ALL THEIR MONEY. Its a standard pro belief that you rarely want to use "all-in" unless the situation specifically calls for it.

Last night, I found myself using it a few times. We went to a local game we had never visited before. The dealer was very cordial and was actually a Sullivan North guy that Rich knew. The problem? He talked all the time. AND he played. AND he played horribly. I am hoping his terrible play was a ploy to dump chips to players as the game went along, however, when you are dumping to 1 or 2 people, it makes the game uneven. That aside, the dealer was very nice and made us very welcome. The game was the standard Tri-Cities rate of $6. I paid, sat down and got ready to play.

The first thing I always notice is quality of cards, chips and table. The table seemed homemade, but was good quality. I actually considered building one now that I have seen it can be done pretty easily. The chips were the same 7 gram set I have at home. They are pretty standard chips and while you don't get the "clink clink" when shuffling, I like them. I am biased. The cards were a marked set from a casino. You can get them for a quarter a deck online. He had one deck total with him, so few a hands in when I noticed the 8 of diamonds had a corner cut off, I pointed it out and went to my car to get a deck I had stashed away. (I forgot them, but no big loss.)

The new cards made no difference. I was getting cold decked by my own cards. The only valid hand I had in the first game was A-K off. I limp, I bet the flop (which I missed but would have rivered) and Rich comes over the top. I bail immediately and he shows me a flopped straight. Fine. No big. I end up going out something like 5th. Because of a short table (7 players) and the rebuys available because its normally a 10 person deal, I am not sure exactly when I went out. I stood up and made a phone call. Rich busted out soon after and we discussed. We agreed this was some of the loosest play we had ever seen. Any face card will do, regardless of kicker. At this point, I adjusted my strategy. This was a virtual freeroll. Regardless of buy-in, the naivity of the players, or ignorance if you prefer a harsher term, was shown in their play. They were simple people who just wanted to blow $25 and play poker to get that "tv table" feeling.

The problem here is that you can get absolutely angry with these people. They are "donkeys". They are "losers" who wouldn't make a dime in Vegas. They are idiots. Fine...all that may be true. But they also just wanna have fun, so I adjusted my game and got rid of the negative feelings towards the players. The next game started and I made a strategic mistake. I pushed chips in with the best hand against a freeroller. With A-Q suited, I push in enough to put someone all in. My thought was to just grab the blinds, play small pot poker and move on. He pushes his chips in with 7-8 suited. We had the same suit, so I hoped for a flush. No go. He rivers the straight and I am at half stack.

I played extremely tight. I tripled up with A-9 against 4 others with an all in. I had some chips, so I started winning some smaller pots. I was pushing all in with any good hand. It worked for a while, but then the guy to my left (my new freeroll nemesis) starts chatting and calling me with anything. I lose a couple smaller pots and am about to the starting stack size against 2 big stacks. I am sure my nemesis doesn't like me because he was there to have fun and gamble (? - gamble at free poker?) and I was just staying quiet. The talky dealer kept saying "He's like Maverick...he played with you for an hour and has you figured out now boys". I wasn't Maverick, but he was dead on about my reads. Finally, before the blinds increased yet again and half my stack was commited with a big blind hand, I decided to push with J-8 of clubs. My nemesis calls me with Q-4 off and the rest is history. He rivers a straight with the J that pairs me and I drive home.

The "virtual" freeroll doesn't depend on stakes at the table. You can play a free game on Poker Stars or you can go to the Main Even and buy in for $10k...sometimes the players are the same ones and they play what they like to play no matter what. You cannot change the way others play no matter how loud you yell, scream or laugh. The best thing to do is accept it and use it to better your game. I did last night and improved at least 2 spots on a table I didn't particularly care for. Will I go back? Probably. Its very close to my house and I can either go donk around or use their donkitude (new word) to improve my play against lose, aggresive, ignorant players. It could be the thing that helps me win the Main Event.

;)

American Idol: Week 6

This week was a step better than Beatles week number 2. What we learned over the last couple of weeks is that the Beatles are completely and totally out of the reach of an amateur performer for the most part. The songs do not translate to the shortened version of the songs that the AI performers must do. This week, however, gave us all kinds of 80's rock, a couple soul/r&b songs and America's cheasiest song EVER.

I am going to go ahead and call it out. Rich and I had this discussion. The only reason you pull out the Greenwood card and sing "Proud To Be An American" is to get the patriotic vote. Call me a nazi, but I despise the song. Absolutely despise. There is not even a patriotic bone in my body that goes "huh?" when it starts. Perhaps if Lee Greenwood didn't forget the lyrics to our ACTUAL national anthem when he performed it, it might not bother me. I would rather hear Ray Stevens personally. It wreaks of crappy country false patriotism and all Kristy Lee Cook did was get her to another week where the songs would be out of her talent, vocal and performance range. She did it cheap and I have no respect for that. Enough of that...

Performance of the night goes to David Cook. The Chris Cornell version of "Billie Jean" was amazing.

Here is the spreadsheet. I graded a little more rigidly this week. I missed it last week and gave you who SHOULD have gone home, but seeing as how Amanda wouldn't have made it past this week or next, its fine she is gone. I am tired of the 60 year old smoker's voice personally. Who ever said Janis Joplin was a good singer?!?!?! Great performer, yes. One of the voices of a generation? Yes. Great singer? What the heck are you talking about? The only comparible voice in modern time is Melissa Etheridge, who is a great song writer and possibly the female Springsteen in my generation, but not exactly a "wow" vocalist. Amanda was overrated and probably shouldn't have been in the top 24.

Jason is getting locked into these guitar ballads. His performance last week was hideous, but I took it as a joke. This week he did a Sting song and the performance was forgettable. Michael Johns tried the "cram a song too long for this spot" and it worked, however for me, his performance was more reminiscent of Paul Rodgers singing with Queen than Freddie Mercury. That doesn't work for me, so his QOP suffered. I also lessened the fan favorite points to 2 people. It now is the "I did a bad song but they will vote for me anyway" point. I am not sure anyone besides David A and Brooke could get away with it at this point without losing some votes. David did one of my favorite songs from the 80's, so while his choice of song was great, the performace was okay. After Rameal's job doing Heart tonight, I am officially adding Ann Wilson to the list of people you just don't try to sing on AI unless you have the pipes to do it. Here is that list:

1. Celine Dion

2. Mariah Carey

3. Whitney Houston

4. Freddie Mercury

5. Ann Wilson

This week its a toss up and I think it could be Rameal or Chikizie. Neither have a chance at winning and its about time to start shuffling the weakest links off the stage.

I Could Never Dream of Saying It Any Better...

Happy Easter my friends, family and even those whom I don't know that run across me. I give you the words of one of my favorite all time writers:

My Trust in My Lord

May God bless your life...no matter your belief.

American Idol - Week 5

The top 11 are tasked with more Beatles song. I believe there are some calculated risks in the song themes for AI and then I believe there are blatant mistakes. The first Beatles week was good enough and had some highlights in there. However, week 2 of the Beatles "fiasco", as I am now calling it, showed that some of these youngsters have no idea who the Beatles actually were. If I have to sit through one more country sounding Beatles rendition, I may snap and beat the hell out of Travis Tritt. No offense to Travis, he was just the first one that came to mind. So for the sake of my sanity and Travis Tritt's well being, let's hope this is the end of the Lennon/McCartney catalog fiasco.

I finally got on paper...er...in Excel a formula I have been working on in my head for a while. I am hoping it actually works out as I try to use it for the next 2-3 weeks to test it. I use 5 factors to judge who will be the next voted off. Here is what it looks like this week:

By the scoring, you can tell that Kristy Lee Cook will be voted off tonight. Lets look at the factors I have listed:

The Paula Factor(PF): This is a -1 or a 0. If Paula has nothing good to say about the performance and instead compliments how the contestant looks, it's a -1. If Paula is happy with the performance, it is a 0.

What Simon Says(WSS): I am a proponent that what Simon says usually has some sway on the voters. If Simon is overly negative, it's a -1. Normal Simon negativity is a 0. Praise from Simon gets a 1.

Song Choice(SC): Proof for this rule lies in Constantine getting voted off because of singing Nickelback. Song choice is huge. -1 = horrible. 0 = okay. 1 = great match.

Quality of Performance(QOP): This is completely opinion based by myself. You may disagree with this one, but its subjective. -1 = horrible. 0 = okay. 1 = great performance.

Fan Favorite(FF): Being a fan favorite can get you a long way. This will include the losers who vote for the worst person...Since its hard to say someone is hated by the public, this is a 0 for apathy and a 1 for likey. For example, VotefortheWorst.com is urging people to vote for Amanda this week. While I agree she is one of the worst, she gets a "1" because she will get votes.

Hopefully this all makes sense. After 3 seasons, I think I have a formula that will kinda give us an idea. I know its not an exact science, but some weeks it is. Last week I had the bottom two right in my consideration. While I thought Kristy Lee would get the boot, it made sense that America was tired of hearing about David's past...just as I was. Let's try this out and see what happens.

Goodbye Kristy Lee!

Whats the Dealio....

The last week or so has been a blur in many ways. I spent the weekend in Asheville, NC working with The Erich Allen Group at the homeshow at the Asheville Civic Coliseum. I have also had 2 head colds with sinus infections in about two and a half weeks. Not being able to breath and then the cough and croup that has followed has caused me to not feel very well at all for the last 2 weeks. I still have the cough, but its starting to loosen and should be better soon. I am against going to any doctor at this point.

The good news is, I am without the cyst on my head now. It was removed and after a few days has healed quite well. As well, my 2nd sleep study yeilded the need for a C Pap machine. Now that I have that, I sleep quite well. I still wake up occasionally while I am getting use to sleeping with it, however, my sleep is so much better now. The other good news is that the obstructive sleep apnea I have can be cured by losing weight. So now I need to shed some of my horrible eating habits, get off my a$$ and exercise to drop some weight.

I will be back soon with some more normal updates and will hopefully forecase the next AI contestant to be kicked off the show.

Small Stakes Poker: The Style of Play

This topic has probably been covered somewhat by looking at the types of players we see at the tables, but I feel that it is worth looking at seperately. The thing about BFP is that no matter what style you see used, the person will openly admit they were right and rarely say they made a mistake. Why would they do that? Well because they won, right? There are a few styles at the table that I find interesting and some that just bug me, but I always try to remember that this is BFP and when all is said and done, I am only out $6. If I don't win, it is because I didn't play well against whatever style player I was put against in the pots I lost. Therein lies the challenge. I have a theory that the styles of play are universal with subtle adjustments made at higher levels when money is involved. I don't think they change that much and I will try to give a real world example that you might see on TV for these types. What we must remember here is that just because I assign a style to a pro, that pro may not always be like that, however the BFP player almost ALWAYS is that style. The worst thing that happens to new poker players is ESPN syndrome. That is when a particular player, who is a professional, employs a certain type of play on TV, it is captured in the 10 hands you see on ESPN and that is how the newbie plays based on that assumption. What they rarely realize is that Gus Hansen folds 5000 hands a day. When he plays 7-4 suited, raises with it, gets pot committed and then sucks out, that is the exception and not the rule. That brings me to the first style:

ESPN Style

There is no limit to the players that fall into this category. There is no certain color, age or type of individual that doesn't fall into this. They have usually been playing about 3-6 months at home or online. They come out to play at the local bar because they want to show their wares on the live stage. Unfortunately, this stage is not as big as they think they are. They will play your highlight hands and always stand up for the "all in moments". Its like watching a recording of highlights where the player has seen Gus Hansen play a certain hand a certain way, out of context, and apply it as a rule. I attribute this style to Phil Laak and Gus Hansen. They are wild at the tables and always come out firing chips into the pot. They play way too many pots and often will get caught by a player with a more mature and responsible approach to their game.

Turtle Style

This style is built around the principle of tight play to the X degree. They see the looser players and decide to take the exact polar opposite approach. They wait and wait and wait. They compain about not getting good cards. They are always mad that the flop never hits them. This style is annoying to me for a couple reasons. There is no reason to be so tight you take yourself out of the game. As well, if this style is accompanied by surliness, then they ruin the mood of that end of the table. If its my end, I would rather go to sleep than continue playing next to Slowly McSurlipants. Its hard to attribute this style to too many pros, but Phil Hellmuth is one who plays his "Top 10" hands and only branches out when he feels the spirit moving him. This type of player, if they are getting cards will win most pots and be just fine. If they aren't, they beat themselves and you don't have to do a thing.

Hamster Style

This is small pot poker. Its great if you are in a huge tournament to use this style in the early stages, but you cannot build your entire game around these hamsterific traits. Hamster style is best identified when a player is constantly raising unraised pots just to pick up the blinds. As well, they will bet a checked pot every time on the river to pick up the small pot. They throw an overbet out to take home a little food. They store the chips up and continue the pattern. This is typical of a person who read Kill Phil and takes it to heart. The All In is a big move as well as the overbet (8-12 times the big blind in an unraised pot). This is also here because of the movie Orgazmo.

Marginal Style

This is usually a person who has been playing BFP for a while. They have seen alot and they "know what they are doing". They know they are good, so they feel they can play cards stronger than they are. For example, raising 6 times the big with K-Q. Now this type of situation happens when the marginal player puts too much value into a hand or feel they can win with any two cards. BFP is not the place to do this. The marginal player will either accumulate chips because they are hitting flops OR they will be one of the first 3 out. The latter is the more often occurance from what I have witnessed. The problem here is that the player is getting into large pots with marginal starting hands. They love any 2 face cards together...not realizing that right off the bat their Q-J is possibly dominated by at least 15 hands in that situation. I don't think there is a pro that does this. They are pros for a reason.

Rambo Style

Rambo style is sort of like ESPN style, except the player doesn't even qualify it to that level. The great thing about Rambo players is that they blow up at some point. They either run the table over, or blow up big....the latter happens more times than not. Mike Matusow is notorious for his blow ups. The Rambo player will raise with any two cards and will drive the betting no matter what cards are on the board. They are "playing the player", which is impossible at BFP. This style may win money in Vegas for short stretches...maybe even longer stretches if they are really good at reading people. This steamroller approach is so bothersome to me. Even with Aces, you have to question where you are in a hand. The best method against Rambo, is to make sure your chips are all in the middle pre-flop with a great (not good, not marginal) hand. Make them decide if their hand is good enough to go against your Aces.

The Best Style

In my opinion, the best style to play has elements of most of the others. Sometimes you have to steamroll and play big stack poker. Sometimes you have to tighten up and just let things happen around you until you get a quality hand. Other times you need to raise a pot with a bad hand and show that you are willing to bluff...or that you are willing to just get lucky from time to time. The only play that I don't like to use is the marginal style. Big pots with marginal hands rarely turn up good, but there is something to be learned from the style. Sometimes you HAVE to play big pot poker with those hands depending on your read. The best style is the kind that doesn't win because you dragged the pot...the best style is when you play good poker always. Good poker isn't accumlating money, chips or tournament wins. Good poker is playing each hand in such a way that you SHOULD win. You won't always win. Poker is a game with random occurances, so you cannot win every time. Good poker is controlling the random elements by being in control of yourself, your cards and your situation. Good poker is laying down top pair when your read says you are beat. Good poker is using "Hit it or quit it" on the flop and ignoring the elf in your head that screams "CHASE IT!!!!". Play your cards, read your opponent and manage your chip stack and you will be a good player.

American Idol: Week 3

Week 2 Recap:
Well...I was a week early on my call of Yeager going home. He was cheesy and not that good. He left me wondering how he even made it onto the show. Robbie Carico. I think that's all I really have to say. The boy-bander turned rocker was sent packing because he wasn't authentic. I didn't have that big of a problem with him. I think he went too over the top to prove he was a rocker, though. It seems the labels we stick on ourselves and force on others just don't fit sometimes. Thats why you should never give yourself a nickname...noone will care. That ended up being Robbie's problem. Noone cared if he was a rocker, a cheerleader or the 32nd member of Menudo. Alexandrea Lushington and Alaina Whitaker were not surprises. They weren't really expected either. The problem with the girls is that there are a couple stand outs and then the rest. Any of the rest could go at any time.

Week 3 Predictions:

The Boys
The guys did a good job this week for the most part. I thought Michael Johns was on, but David Cook and Dreadlock Boy were the highlights of the night. I am liking Archuleta. He is just uber-talented. The other 4 were just so-so or horrible. Finally this week, I think we lose Luke (the most important part about singing acapela is hitting all the notes perfectly, but I can't hit any notes perfectly on this damn show) Menard. His rendition of Killer Queen last week was horrible and he did himself no favors this week either. For my other choice to go home, I won't go with who I HOPE will leave. We all know that Danny is Sanjaya Pt 2 (The Gay Strikes Back), but I think the idiot voters who vote for the worst to keep them around will keep him on the show for a while. I gotta say that Chikezie E will be gone. I can hope that our little gay friend Danny falls by the wayside, but I don't even think his overly feminine behavior and horrible song choices will get him removed.

The Girls
I honestly and truly believe that Amanda saved herself with song choice last night. If she had tried to do a song where someone actually hits more than 3-4 notes and moves up even half an octave, she would be on the chopping block, however, she made a great choice and should move through. Brooke White is in a class by herself. The only problem is that she is starting to come off a bit folky. That could hurt her because hippies don't watch the show and vote. The Irish Lass Carlie was good last night as well. Even though she chose the wrong arrangement and got the comparison to Celine Dion, she still did a good job with the song. That is one of my favorite 80's songs as well, so I may be biased. As for the cast offs tonight...I think that Asia'h Epperson will go. Her throaty renditions of songs is getting a bit tiring to listen to and she doesn't seem to be able to push the notes on the songs she chooses. I also believe Kady Malloy is gone. She was 1 person away last week and I think the viewing public listens to Simon when they just aren't sure. I am positive we just aren't sure with Kady and Simon will sway the vote. Like I said earlier, it could be anyone from the girls besides Brooke and it wouldn't be surprising.

Random Thought:

Looking at the pics for Garrett Haley and Colton Berry...I believe they are the same person with a wig. I could be wrong.

Getting Ready For New TV

I was elated when the writer's strike ended. Not because the writers got what they way (while that is a good thing and all), but more because it meant that we would get new TV on the air before Fall. The tireless string of new reality TV shows hopefully will slow at some point and scripted TV will once again fill my home with love and the smell of fresh baked bread. Well, maybe not bread, but in the least I will have some new shows to watch.

The shows I am most looking forward to are (in no particular order) How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Scrubs and Battlestar Galactica. I have been rewatching old episodes of some of these shows to prime myself and refresh my memory. That may be the biggest issue that returning shows have is that there has been a gap and the general viewing public is pretty A.D.D. when it comes to entertainment.

BG, of course, took more than a year to prepare itself for the final season of its sci-fi goodness. This was how the writers of the show planned it. The writer's strike, I believe, had very little to do with the show not coming back in over a year. It may have pushed it off a couple months. I have spent the last couple weeks rewatching the entire series. It started out furiously in season 1 and was one of my top 3 favorite shows for a while. Season 2 was a mixed bag. They spent much of the season building characters and the payoffs were few and far between much of the time. However, looking at the series in retrospect, I am thankful they took the time to do some of the things they did. Season 3 was such a great season of TV. I watched the final 2 episodes last night and I can honestly say that I believe episodes 19 and 20 of Battlestar Galactica season 3 are 2 of the best episodes ever on TV. The revelation of 4 of the final 5 cylon models along with the trial of Baltar really built those episodes to an amazing climax. It truly is a shame that they waited over 12 months to show us the real payoff for that build up.

The other 3 I mentioned are comedies. I love my comedies. I have seen the entire How I Met Your Mother series at least 3 times through. Twice for Two and a Half Men. At least 5 times for Scrubs. When you find something that has a wit about it on TV, you find yourself watching it as often as possible and praying that the network doesn't cancel its run. That has been the case for Scrubs the last couple of years. With my heart settled that this is the last season and that it will actually be completed, I was surprised to see that ABC may take the show for an 8th season next year. Now this has NBC renewing interest...so perhaps its not the end. CBS renewed Two and a Half Men, but I have not seen where HIMYM has been renewed as of yet. That bugs me. Such a great show and it cannot get the immediate renewal it deserves. Yet, Dancing with the Stars keeps plugging away.

I won't go into an obtuse rant about how I think the network executives are ruining television by unceasingly putting reality TV on the screen. Don't get me wrong, I like my fair share of reality TV...A little American Idol, a dash of Flavor of Love and a couple other shows that are just brain gas (credit: Greg Bunch) for the most part. I want real TV back though and am looking forward to some of my favorite shows returning. The Fall is looking good too with the return of Heroes.

The writer's strike may have been a good thing. Hopefully America missed their shows enough to hold out hope. Perhaps this hope will bloom into higher ratings and better TV for all. The writers had quite a few things right when they laid down their pens, but this could be the most right thing about it.

Back After These Messages...

I really hate that I didn't get a chance to do an American Idol post today. I had minor surgery to have a cyst removed from my head and ended up laying on the couch most of the day with some pain and after-procedure nausea. I am feeling much better tonight and hope to get a good nights rest. I will do my best to recap with my thoughts for the week on AI sometime this weekend.

Small Stakes Poker: The People You Meet

People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
-The Doors

This is one of my favorite lyrics ever. I am not really a Door's "fan", but I do recognize some of the more beautiful lyrics that Jim Morrison penned while hopped up on whatever herb, shroom or pill he was hopped up on. Sometimes I sit down at the local bar/restaurant to play a game of poker and the lyrics sound through my head like its the opening credits of "The Lost Boys". You meet many different types of people at the local bar poker tournament.

The "Pro":

The "pro" is the guy sitting next to you telling you what everyone has. "He has to have A-Q to call that re-raise and I know he likes that hand." Sometimes the "pro" is correct is a happy clam when he "proves" his pro status with a correct calling out of someone else's cards. The pattern I have noticed is that the "pro" doesn't make these reads while actually in a hand. If they are in a hand too long with their amazing reading skills then they play the Negreanu card and "pay it off"...just like a pro. They make all the right moves and act just like the pros they see on TV. The big question is this...if they are so good, why are they playing basically free poker in a bar in Tennessee?

The "Fun Time Guy":

This is my favorite person to sit next to. Usually not because of their poker skill, because that varies as far as one can imagine, but rather because they are having fun. One of the major things I had to learn about basically free poker (BFP going forward) is that you HAVE to have FUN. Its not about wins, losses or money...cause honestly, you ain't making any money and your wins and losses only matter in your memory. The cards have no memory and neither should you. Have fun with BFP. The Fun Time Guy will win occasionally and finish last just as often if not more. But this is the person you want to hang out with.

The "Bad Beat Boyz":

There are some people...no matter where you are playing...who want nothing more than to pee on your poker. I hate poker pee'ers. Every time there is a big hand or you show them down, they have a "one up" story that will ruin the moment for everyone at the table. They forgot this is poker that doesn't matter for much more than fun. They have a bad beat for every situation and take it way too seriously. God hates them...or so they would have you believe. They never catch cards and never win. And its always a non-win to be sitting next to them.

The "Serious Type":

They aren't pros because they know their place, however, they do think that every hand should be played by the book. I haven't figured out which book they are reading, but its got to be boring. They hate the Fun Time Guy and usually can be found near the Bad Beat Boyz talking about how they made the perfect play but some donkey did them wrong. The Serious Types are no fun unless you figure out how to get under their skin in some way. Usually dealing them a losing hand where they played it wrong does just that.

The "Home Gamer":

This can be a mixture or a copy of any of the above, but the Home Gamer is typically pretty knowledgable about the game and how things should be run. They always have a different way of playing in their mind. They play off hands that noone else will because its normal at their place to do so. They do not get why they are called donkeys by the Serious Types and Pros. It's their normal game to play hands that others don't play. And hey...."It won didn't it?!?!?"

The "Noob":

This is my favorite to watch. I hate to be in hands with the Noob and I hate to be near them because the play is erratic at best. The Noob will play "2-3" because they love Michael Jordan. And they use the same excuse as the Home Gamer..."It won didn't it?!?!?" The Noob relishes in bad play. They usually get mad about you correcting them or helping them, so they hate the Pro and the Serious Type. They are timid and will call all day. They rarely raise, but when they do they typically do not bluff. They will raise completely out of nowhere and there is no logic to the raise. It will usually be an overbet. There are also Noob Imposters...but we won't cover those. Just beware anyone who is too noob.

The "Wild Card":

This covers all other options. There is the smelly guy, the girl who is on her phone all night while holding up the game, the heavy guy who breathes too heavy and the random bar guy who decided after weeks of watching the games he would stumble over from the bar and play a little while. All makes and models of people are represented. I have played with many nationalities, homosexuals, women, men...I have sat across the table from most any type of person you can come up with. All they wanna do is play poker in whatever style they prefer.

It all comes down to style. What style are you when you sit at the table? No matter what it is, keep in mind that your game is yours. Play well and stick to your own methods. Improve upon your methods and attempt to improve your overall game. None of the strangers at the table should compromise your method and throw you off of your game. The most important thing to remember here...enjoy the strangers at your table and keep in mind that this is BFP and it SHOULD be fun for everyone in their own way.

American Idol: Week 1

I have been a huge fan of American Idol for a few years now. This show is where I release the inner critic and make myself a lot easier to get along with when it comes to discussing music. Anyone remember when I was a complete jackass about it? I do. Well American Idol has become a weekly therapy session in my ongoing fight against railing on people's musical choices. Now I get to rail on the contestants for THEIR musical choices. It's no coincidence that Constantine was voted off after doing a Nickelback song. Where is he now? See my point? :)

This year started out rough. We endured what seemed like 40 weeks of auditions. I think they added a week over the last few years and if I am being honest (credit: Simon Cowell), it sucked. I was happy we moved to the top 24. Its really hard, with the way the show is edited, to remember some of the auditions of the people in the top 24, so I am usually not as skeptical until we see them start performing. Here is my feelings and thoughts on Week 1 of the top 24 and on who I think should go home.

The Guys:

The guys were overall weak. Danny Noriega is so feminine (read gay) that he should not even perform with the guys. He destroyed an Elvis song. I pick him as Sanjaya of the year. He will annoy me for a while, I feel it. Many of the guys just picked bad songs for them. But its 60's week and its hard to do a 60's song any justice nowadays. None of these guys know what to choose or to sing or even how to sing most of the songs in the 60's. So you end up with slow, ballady crap. The highlights for me were Michael Johns, David Cook and Jason Castro (Dreads Boy). In a tough week to pick songs, these guys picked songs that they could perform and would relate. The middle of the pack was not that great. David Archuletta, who seems to be the judges pet, was average at best. We know he has a great voice, but that song was horrible for him. To hear the judges talk him up really put me off. I have to dislike him now. The rest were not even mentionable for the most part. However, here are the 2 I see going home. The main reason is that I could not even remember their names this morning to type this. That's a bad sign.

Jason was horrible and should have been shuffled off the stage before the chorus began. Luke was completely forgettable and to say he has a "Kenny Loggins" quality to his voice is insulting to fans of "Dangerzone".

The Girls:

The girls started out worse than the guys, IMHO. It was a dreadful night last night with a few good moments. It amazes me to see that this year they have allowed people with previous recording experience to go this far and those are the people who are just not performing. Kristy Lee Cook was horrid and Irish Girl (Carly Smithson) was nowhere near the praise she was given by Randy and The Drunk. Simon was spot on. Stand outs for me were Syesha Mercado and Brooke White. The others were mostly forgettable for me. I will mention this...Amanda Overmyer is getting old quick. We have heard the same voice sing different songs and to be honest it sounds like someone is taking Michael W Smith and putting his voice through a blender before spitting something out that is close to the tune of a song. I hate her voice and I hate that we have to put up with her doing song after song in that same tired Janis Joplin impersonation. Here are your bottom 2:

Joanne was my choice because I just don't think her "okay" version of a great song will translate to votes. I love that song, but it just wasn't great. Amy was horrid and should have been cut on the spot.


There are my thoughts. I will try to make picks every week based on my opinion of the goings on. I don't have a favorite yet for the entire competition, but I will about the time of the top 12. We will get to that in a couple weeks.

I thought Sanjaya's sister was hotter than this. I guess she let herself go.

Small Stakes Poker: Intro

I wanted to bring some poker content to my new site and thought of the perfect opportunity last night when I was playing at a local bar. As many of you may know, Tennessee has 'no gambling' legislation in place. It stinks, to be quite honest, that you cannot sit down at a poker table and use the money you have earned to play a game you choose to play. I understand the risks of gambling and all the gambling addicts that are brought into the mix...but we have a lottery. Not to mention I can drive 15 minutes across the Virginia border and bet the horses.

The closest casino is in Cherokee, NC and does not have live poker tables. From the descriptions I have heard of the place, it is basically a very costly video arcade. I say no thanks. It's not that I don't trust the computers, but the thing I like about poker, and one of the major reasons I don't play online that much, is that I enjoy playing live with people around me. Maybe it's the mix of characters you may find or the dynamic of actually bluffing at a pot with more than a big raise and a prayer behind your mouse that you don't get called down.

So all of this limits the play in my humble corner of the world, which after many years of thinking I needed to leave I discovered I love, to home games and to playing at "freerolls". If you ever read ernpac.com you know about the freerolls in Knoxville. They were attrocious. Free poker equals bad play. It's a rule and there is little changing it. However, in the Tri-Cities, the going rate for free poker is $6 per game. Its pretty standard. There are a few truly free games in the area, but I have found that $6 DOES make a difference...somewhat. So it qualifies in what I am calling, for the sake of this series, small stakes poker.

I can unequivocally say that compared to most of the play I encountered in the Knoxville area with the SEPC and at Bailey's, the play I have seen in the last 4-5 months has been miles better. Because you are paying $6 of your money to compete for points towards a prize payout in a larger tournament, it matters. What place you finish at your table matters. If you have a bad run, it matters. You see less of the "Well, I have to be somewhere anyway, I am all in" players. There is a difference and I have appreciated that difference.

This series will go into the intricacies of playing in very small stakes poker places like the local $6 freeroll and even online in the freeroll's there or the cheap rooms that are available to the masses. The play varies from place to place, but I think there are some steadfast things to look at. I won't speak about online as much as live, only because I hate playing online most of the time. We will take a look at the setup and dealers, the players themselves, the play and some tips on how to handle the environment and not get too awful mad when King-Eight takes you out. I hope to bring Rich in for some insight as well, since this adventure in the Tri-Cities poker scene has been shared with him and he was a varitable rookie in live small stakes poker. I hope you enjoy as we look at this from time to time in the near future.

Anyone interested in a game at my place soon? :)

Boy We Do Like Our Expensive Sandwiches...

Came across a great site today. Good for a laugh.

http://www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.org