HOLY SHIT I miss online poker.

Played in my monthly tournament tonight. I felt lost. I was betting then second guessing everything. It wasn't fluent like it used to be when I practiced 5-7 nights a week. I play one time a month now and it makes a difference. My thought processes, my betting amounts, my starting ranges: it's all questionable now. Whereas before it was instinctual. I did it so much that I didn't have to think.

Well now I have to slow down and think and I'm not used to that.

I had AA first hand and raised preflop. Got 1 caller and saw J97 flop 2 to a flush. I bet out he calls. Turn is a 9. I bet again and he raises; I call. River is a J that completes a flush draw. I check and he bets out 1/3 of my remaining stack (first hand you know?). I fold AA up and he shows 88 for the bluff. Ouch! What a way to start.

I bluffed the wrong times, I lost a big hand to AA and suddenly I had 5 BB only 3 levels into the tournament. I missed an opportunity when I folded 88 to a raise and a call when I had 11BB. I would have tripled up. Next hand blinds went up so I had 5BB with Q10 sooooooted and 2 hands till the BB. I shove and it folds to the BB who tanks..... "I guess we are racing he says as he flips over 22. 2 on the turn and river sends me home with Quad fever.

Oh well. Maybe some day. But I don't know if we will ever see tournaments like the Mookie, the Dank, and the BBT again.

HOLY SHIT I miss online poker.

Hope all is well with you!

What Would Jamyhawk Do

Or better yet, what would you do?

Level 5 of a tournament that usually lasts 12 levels, so almost halfway there. You have been playing great. You make a few tough laydowns, you make a few reraises with air at the right points and get paid off. You have 35 BB's with 200/400/50 blinds. There are 25 people left of the 36 that started. 5 get paid, but every spot higher you finish you do get points towards end of the year prizes.

UTG raises to 800. You have KsKh. You make it 2000. It folds back to UTG who just calls.

UTG player is loose aggressive. He rarely wins a tournament; he is usually out before the 4th level; he plays questionable all the time.

Flop comes 8910 rainbow. He bets out $4,000 into a $4600 pot. You count out $12,000 left. What do you do?

Super weird (and tragic) thing happened yesterday.

My wife was in a wedding for her best friend. During the photo shoot right after the wedding, the bride's phone rings. Caller ID shows it is the DJ for her reception. She figures it can wait till she gets to the reception to speak to him.

30 minutes later she arrives at the reception and someone comes out to tell her the DJ is not there yet. He was supposed to set up at least an hour before.

Just then her phone rings again but this time it is the state highway patrol. He says he found paperwork in an accident vehicle regarding her wedding. He was calling to tell her the DJ was just killed only 2 minutes away from the reception.

She gags and almost throws up.

True story. As I said: I was there.

Makes you appreciate life a little more. I know it happens every day but not usually right at such a joyous occasion.

One of the guests works at a bar and knows their regular DJ pretty well. He calls him and he is on the golf course but planning on date night with his wife. That DJ calls his wife who says "I couldn't imagine how horrible that would be".

He fills in just in time after dinner is finished. Everything went well from there.

Really bizarre.

Home Tourney

So I had a home tourney this past weekend. I really pressed everyone to commit if they are going to play. I said I would take 36 players only (4 tables of 9). But I had 39 show up, so I sat 3 tables of 10 and 1 table of 9. I did make the tables become 9 players each after 3 people went out (instead of keeping 10 player tables).

We did 15K starting stack with about the same blinds as the RIO 2pm Deepstack (30 minutes starting with 25/50).

I played poorly. No excuses (my kids, entertaining others, checking on tables). I bluffed a couple of times and next thing you know I was down to 11K at the first break.

I got moved after the first break to a table with "Super Aggro Roy". I watched him raise 7 hands in a row. He was playing super loose and hitting cards like crazy. So when I got AQ, I shoved all in over his raise. A middle position player called, then SAR called. The flop came 10J2rainbow. I was hoping for a King to triple up. SAR went all in. "Uh-Oh".... But when MP folded, Roy showed the J10 for two pair, I thought I was sunk. But now worries, I'm the original luckbox...  9 on the turn and an 8 on the river gave me the straight to triple up.

The next hand I have JJ. I now have everyone at the table covered except SAR. SAR raises again, so I shove to win the blinds and SAR's raise. But the player to my left shoves with AA and I lose almost everything I just won. I still have chips and play on.

I get moved again (who is running this ridiculous tournament?) . I am in the BB when a pretty aggro kid limps and the SB limps. I have Q5off, and check. The flop comes 552. It goes check, check, check. Hmmmmm. Turn is a 7 with rainbow on the board. I figure I'm good but need action, so I check after SB check. Player behind checks. The river is a J. It is checked to me, so I bet out the pot. The person behind me raises, the SB folds and I go all in. He insta calls (I say "uh oh") and he shows 57 for the turned boat.

I stood up and felt good knowing there is never a situation where I can fold that hand. Oh well, It was great fun.

My new chips were very well received. Some interesting notes here: We had 1 player go all in on the first had. He had AKoff and was bluffing, and got called by quad 5's. Really? The board pairs and you shove with Ace high? He said later he put the wrong chips in .... uh, you said "all in". Whatever. Weird situation (he also took his side dish for the dinner break and took it home).

We played till 1:30 am. Super Aggro Roy won. Several people commented on how many times he got incredibly lucky. I know I saw him take someone out with 97off. He was just running hot. $60 buy in and he got $1010.

Another interesting note for you: If you have 40+ people in your house, it's never going to cool down while it's 98 degrees outside. Holy Crap my house was hot. But we grabbed a box fan and played through. We had a great cash game after the tourney. Hope you can make the next one...

Live tournament

Time to try out my new chips.I'm doing a deepstack so starting stacks will be 15K with 25/50 starting levels. I copied the blind structure from the RIO deepstack and then made adjustments based on my players needing to go home eventually.

With a $60 buy in and 36 max players, I am giving first place $900+

And I'm playing too..... we shall see how it goes.

Feel free to contact me if you want to schedule your own poker fundraiser.

Live Coverage of the Main Event

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the live coverage of the main event. It is addicting and it makes me sooooooooooooo want to play.

What do you think?

Happy Birthday to me

OK, my birthday isn't for another 6 weeks, but I finally pulled the trigger on some new chips. I have been thinking of customizing chips with a logo that I design on it, but the cost is just too high. I picked these up online pre made. They aren't bottom line or top of the line chips, but I really like the look and feel. At 14grams, 1,000 chips and an acrylic case weighs 41 pounds. I'll play with them a bit and if I like them, I'll pick up another 4,000 chips to use in my charity tournaments.

What do you think?