Tuesday, February 27, 2007


2nd Place at the WWdN: Iakaris Invitational 2: Electric Boogaloo
Despite playing a less-than-perfect strategic game and donking off many chips as soon as I had won them, I was able to grab second place against a 46-player field in one of the WWdN weekly games. At one point late in the game (four players) I actually had almost half the chips, thanks to a JJ hand with two smaller stacks going all in. Unfortunately, SIR ROBIN went on an almost unbelievable run of catching cards, destroyed the other players, and had about a 4-1 advantage going into heads up. I was able to pull almost even at one point, but a crucial drought of cards spelled my ultimate demise. Still ... I'll take it!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Caught in the muck at the Firefighters tournament

Well, today was a day of disappointment as nothing seemed to go right in my first attempt to secure a spot at the 2007 WSOP Main Event. My early afternoon session of approximately 250 players brought in all kinds -- a big college crowd from the University of Illinois, and, surprisingly, many men who were not in that traditional college age range. There were very few female players that I saw. This group would play down to ten, which would then be combined with the final ten from the second session.

Early on, I had Cowboys and re-raised the initial raiser. The flop -- a horrible one for me: A-Q-something. The turn: another Queen. I was forced to lay the hand down, and then waited a long time to get another primo starting hand.

It was just one of those tournaments when nothing went right. You folded your cards and the flop smacked what you just folded. You stayed in with suited connectors, and the flop acted like you were from another world.

I was only able to make it through one hour and 45 minutes of the four-hour session. I had to play pushmonkey with my short stack, and actually was doing okay after a few pushes. Then however, came a crucial play. I was dealt pocket 7's and decided to go all in to grab the blinds. I was pretty confident that the larger stacks were not going to call. However, the one person with a smaller stack than me called. His hand: Rockets! The flop? rag-Ace-rag. I was forced to go all in to cover a raise to my big blind (almost out of chips) when I had 9-2h. I got two more hearts, but that was it.

In these type of charity tournaments with rapidly increasing blinds, a crucial bad hand (my Cowboys) and a lack of decent starting hands spells doom. Little chance to build a stack to survive the quickly-increasing blinds. One bad call or suckout and you're done. Maybe next time. *sigh*

Friday, February 23, 2007



Looking for an iPod? Have mad poker skilz? Show us what ya got!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

3rd Place at CC's Thursday Bash at PokerStars


Played against another tough blogger field and got third place Thurday evening. I tried extra hard to block out all distractions this time and play my game. I only caught myself making a few minor errors. I was a short stack going into the final table, but I was able to gut it out with the help of a suckout. I got bounced on a three-outer, but I guess the suckouts evened up this time -- for a change. If I play at this level at the Firefighters tourney this weekend, I have a chance to go pretty deep. I can't wait.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007


Wow - a local tournament! There are 500 players registered with approximately 250 in each round. Can lightning36 wade through 250 players, make the final twenty, then take down this sucker??
Why Full Tilt Poker Sucks - Part 127 ...

I was playing in The Mookie -- a weekly blogger tournament at Full Tilt Poker. After getting Rockets early and doubling up, I went up and down for the next hour. I was down to 1,280 chips and was looking for a chance to double up. I got Cowboys and was faced with a raise to 300 chips (blinds were 60/120). I went all in and waited for the call. Joe_13 called with pocket Jacks, meaning that I was an 81% favorite. The results:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1846634638: The Mookie - Storm The Peak (13586310), Table 3 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:06:24 ET - 2007/02/21
Seat 1: Joe_13 (3,953)
Seat 2: heffmike (1,100)
Seat 3: chitwood (3,580)
Seat 4: NumbBono (1,825)
Seat 5: pokerpeaker (1,790)
Seat 6: lightning36 (1,280)
Seat 7: surflexus (5,042)
Seat 8: mookie99 (3,395)
Seat 9: doogman77 (1,100)
surflexus posts the small blind of 60
mookie99 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lightning36 [Ks Kc]
doogman77 folds
mookie99: no worries jec
Joe_13 raises to 300
heffmike folds
chitwood has 15 seconds left to act
chitwood folds
NumbBono folds
pokerpeaker folds
lightning36 raises to 1,280, and is all in
surflexus folds
mookie99 folds
Joe_13 has 15 seconds left to act
Joe_13 calls 980
lightning36 shows [Ks Kc]
Joe_13 shows [Jh Jd]
chitwood: are you required to reraise the hammer or just open raise? :)
*** FLOP *** [7d 4h Th]
*** TURN *** [7d 4h Th] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [7d 4h Th 3h] [Ah]
Joe_13: nh,
jeciimd (Observer): u think we can get lost to move to thursdays?
lightning36 shows a pair of Kings
Joe_13 shows a flush, Ace high
Joe_13 wins the pot (2,740) with a flush, Ace high
surflexus: gg
mookie99: ouch
lightning36 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,740 Rake 0
Board: [7d 4h Th 3h Ah]
Seat 1: Joe_13 showed [Jh Jd] and won (2,740) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: heffmike didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: chitwood didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: NumbBono didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: pokerpeaker didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: lightning36 (button) showed [Ks Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: surflexus (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: mookie99 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: doogman77 didn't bet (folded)

My siggy line on chat boards is "The backdoor runner runner flush - the only known cure for a lightning strike. " How freaking true.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Another Win at the CardsChat $10 Saturday Buy-in at Bodog

I won again yesterday at CardChat's Bodog tournament. I don't know why I always do so well in this one. That's two in a row with another win Dec 30, which was my first time playing at Bodog.

Now if I can just avoid the bad beats or dumb play when I enter some of the regular Bodog buy-ins.

Friday, February 16, 2007


Just When I Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse ...
Villain is dealt Qs-Qh and posts a huge raise. I go all in with As-Ad. Villain calls.
Pre-flop: 81%
Flop: 9h, 6s, 2d
Pre-turn: 92%
Turn: Qd
This was about halfway through a $10 buy-in tournament on Bodog. Last hand for me. When will this stop????????
Just another piece of shit loss

Played in a Shark $10 buy in at Absolute Poker tonight. 66 entrants, top 9 get paid. There are about 20 people left and I need to chip up before the blinds get me. I am on the button with K-Q. Everyone folds, so I go all in to take the blinds. I did not anticipate getting called since both players could not afford to call me without decimating their stacks. The small blind thinks for some time, then calls -- with K-J. The big blind folds.

Pre-flop: 71% favorite
Flop: rag-K-rag

Pre-turn: 84% favorite
Turn: rag

Pre-river: 93% favorite
River: J

Out of tournament instead of doubling up.

Ouch. The worst part was that I was up against one of the best Shark players. I swear, he caught every card he could for about an hour. To be good and lucky -- not fair.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Anyone else ever do this?

You're in a tournament doing well. Then, for reasons you can't explain, you lose concentration, place a foolish raise, then call the re-raise when you are obviously beaten. Yup -- I did it and feel very foolish. I am a much better player than that. But I wasn't tonight.

Monday, February 12, 2007

More "fun" at Full Tilt
Why does it seem that nothing ever goes right on Full Tilt Poker? I used one of my $24+2 tokens on a $3000 Guaranteed game. It only had 185 players, and I decided to start out playing tighter than I usually do to see what would happen. I doubled up when I got Cowboys early on, then entered only a few hands over the next half hour. I got Rockets, and re-raised the original raiser. He put me all in, so of course, I called.
Now, you'd think that he would think that he might be behind with A-Jd, don't ya think? Well ... the goober hits his straight, and I was out. What a pile of shit. An 86% favorite just wouldn't do it.

Saturday, February 10, 2007


CardsChat win on Bodog
For some reason, I seem to do unusually well in the CardsChat Saturday buy ins at Bodog. Last week I was the bubble boy, so I vowed not to be in that same place again. I played a solid game, but required a major suckout while heads up to take this one down. Geez -- I actually caught a break in an online tournament??
Home Game Results

My monthy home game, which pays three places, had a field of nine. I have a pretty long streak of placing in the money, and was looking to do so again.

A run of good cards at the beginning put me in a nice position. However, I lost a race when someone went all in, and then had to go to short stack mode. I ended up heads up against Tom, a pretty good player. Tom is usually pretty aggressive, but actually stayed on the sidelines quite a bit until the late stages of the game. He had me about 3:1 on stack size, but that could be quickly overcome heads up.

In the first heads up hand, I was dealt 9-9. Tom made a big raise (which he would probably do no matter what he had), so I went all in. He called with A-Q. Blanks came on the flop and the turn. The river ... end of game. I guess you can't win every coin flip.
Cold decked, card dead, and sucked out in Las Vegas ... with a few good moments

I had been sailing through December on a major heater that extended into January. Then, Neteller problems, more online poker uncertainty ... and I was certainly looking forward to my Las Vegas trip on Feb 4-7.

I arrived at Excalibur a few hours before the Super Bowl. Wanting to check out the action the poker room, I sat down at a $1/2 NL table. I could not believe how terrible some of the players were: calling raises with total shit hands, staying in hands way too long, chasing anything to the river ... I had one guy beat all the way but he refused to fold his baby flush draw, even going as far as going down to his last $10. As you might guess ... the river gave him his flush, wacking me on the ass pretty hard. More of this followed -- more garbage poker with unbelievable river cards rewarding terrible play. I left to watch the Super Bowl and was already down 1 1/2 buy ins.

Went to the Luxor after the Super Bowl and quickly got bored at my table as one player took an enormous amount of time to make any decision. I lost a big hand as my TPTK got busted by someone slow playing Cowboys. I decided that I was not going to catch up there with the $50 buy in, so I decided to take my shot at MGM.

My past experiences at MGM had not been good. One was from when I was still relatively new to casino poker, and one was from when someone chased his "favorite hand" and crushed my set of Cowboys with a flush.

This time, however, I did extremely well at MGM. My table had a few good players, a few clueless ones, and a few who were just reckless. I was cruising along up over 1 1/2 buy ins when a butthole sat down. He was apparently a regular at MGM and usually played $2/5 NL. He immediately started in on the dealer, who promptly called for the Floor. The floor manager came over and was immediately greeted by a smart remark, so he told the player to cash out. Wow - I was shocked that they actually did something about the guy. However, the manager showed that he had no balls and eventually let the guy stay. Soon, a different player started complaining about the dealer, and I had had enough. I requested to be moved to another table, where I was immediately hassled by the dealer and a player because of my stack. Yes, I was at a $1/2 table, yes I moved by management at my request, ...

It was late and I didn't feel like putting up with any crap, so I cashed out. It was a good night that just ended kind of poorly.

On Monday, I played a twelve-hour session at the Venetian. The players were certainly better than the previous places I played, but I could never get up very much. I had some idiot raising and raising on a flush draw, which he unfortunately hit on the river. I also got creamed in one hand when my K-K went up against A-A. All in all, it was a fun session, even though the chip level was huring the last two hours.

On Tuesday, I went to Caesar's and was put on a waiting list for $1/2 NL. Unfortunately, I stepped out to use the restroom and missed getting seated at a new table. Instead, I was seated at a shark-infested table that had one idiot who raised EVERY hand. Everyone was getting pissed and waited for the chance to get him with a monster. He finally got busted and left, and I unfortunately once again ran into K-K vs A-A -- the second time in twelve hours. I didn't like the atmosphere in Caesar's and decided to leave.

After Caesar's, , I went back to MGM and saw CarmenSinCity sitting at a $1/2 table. I got seated next to her and decided to have a little fun. Carmen wrote an interesting account of it on her blog. Alas, I was up a little, then got cold decked once or twice, then was card dead for a few hours. I was getting pretty discouraged since I had been so used to winning in Las Vegas.

I decided to get in a tournament before I left -- the Caesar's 11:00 pm. Early on I had Cowboys and doubled up on a flush chaser. I played my usual tournament game and was soon looking at the final table. There were 48 people in the tournament and it paid top six. Once we got to the fianl table, the Caesar's folks were giving us the chop figures, but being one of the big stacks, I wasn't looking to chop until we got rid of several at the table. I had a run of hot cards and took out most myself, and got lucky when my J-J bested A-A. I brought up the chop when we were down to four, but one guy made it clear that he didn't want to chop. The chop would have given us all just short of second place money. Needless to say, the short stack was not happy. Soon he went out, and while on break I asked the other remaining player, Caesar, if he would chop if Mr. No-Chop went out third. He said he would, and I was willing to do so since it was getting really late.

Key hand: I had 6-6 and was raised by N0-Chop. I went all in and he called -- with J-J! I was expecting to go out in third when the flop brought a lovely 6. Just to really rub it in, the turn was a 6. Mr. No-Chop then seemed to go on tilt and soon was out. By not chopping, he lost a few hundred dollars. The other player, Caesar, asked me if I would chop, I nodded, and it was over. Maybe next time I'll play it out, but I just didn't have the desire to that late on my final night. I was hoping to get at least a little sleep before we checked out of our hotel.

So ... even though I chopped first and second place in a tourney, I lost some major hands in the cash games and actually ended up down a little bit for the trip. I guess it was bound to happen since I had such a great streak going in Las Vegas for the past year.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Ready for Las Vegas - Poker and the Super Bowl

Thanks goodness January is over. With the Neteller news and the ongoing feeling that online poker keeps getting closer and closer to extinction for US players, I am glad that we are in February, that I am going to Las Vegas to play some poker, and that the Bears are finally back in the Super Bowl.

My predictions: 1) coin flip - tails; 2) Bears by 6

As for Las Vegas ... I might get a little more involved in tournaments this time. I will probably play Sunday night (after the Super Bowl) by ear. Since I am staying at Excalibur for one night, I might play the poker room there. It used to be one of my favorite places when I was cutting my teeth at the poker table. If the $1/2 NL game is not juicy there, I might give MGM another try. I have had bad things happen to me there, so I really need to turn things around.

Otherwise, I imagine that I will play at least one of the Caesar's tournaments, maybe Sahara, and possibly a few other places. Visits to Bally's and Paris NL tables are on the agenda, but I will probably spend significant time at the two places that seem to me to be the best in Las Vegas: The Venetian and Wynn.

I still have not gone into Hooters and am lamenting the old San Remo prime rib special that was a standard on so many trips.

So ... barring any amazing news in the next day or so, I will next update my blog after returning from Las Vegas.

May the poker gods be with you.