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This was a paid review.

Three Cheers and a Little Pokery Fun

Well we made it. The waiting is over. We were informed today that she made the team. No more worry and no more tryouts for another year. She got the call today and they are looking at her to be the number one pitcher. Funny how things change when the coach’s daughter isn’t the main influence on pitching time. Now we just have to find some sponsorship so we don’t have to come up with a crap load of money. Anyone wishing to sponsor a team for a few hundred can contact me. They are a non profit organization so you can write it off on your taxes. I can’t believe I’m looking for softball sponsors on my poker blog. Anyway, big ups go to my daughter.

On the poker front, I played the Mookie last night and got a little going early when I turned a flush. I gave some back over time but came out swinging a little later just trying to maintain my stack. Then card deadness set in and with all the action I could hardly get a raise in. I eventually went out when I tried to push someone, I can’t remember who, in their blind while I held J8 sooted. They called with pocket 3s and sent me to the rail in 29th place when my over cards didn’t hit. Congrates goes to surf who took it down vs. hoy in a heads up battle.

The good new is that I played Razz again. I had the best run of starting cards I’ve ever had and if some of them would have caught I could have gone really deep. I did make a nice run and made a final table but I was short stacked and had to make a tough lay down on the final table bubble. I was ahead but with 87652 and with his draw I was at best a coin flip. It may have been a bad fold but I did make the final table.

I played golf today for the first time in 4 years. I played a lot of golf at one time but family got in the way and I had to give something up. So, yesterday I found my clubs, all covered in rust and neglect. I took a few balls into the back yard and checked my chip and lob game and found it was still intact. All in all I was happy with the way I played but I had a few terrible shots today. If it wasn’t for a few flop shots and a couple of chip and runs I would have been about worthless.

That’s it for now…Have a good one.

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting and The Mooooookie

The anticipation of a phone call can drive you insane. I was hoping to get a phone call tonight regarding Softball E’s tryouts over the weekend. I know that she made the team but it’s never official until it’s official. The best will be having her face her old team later this fall. Her new team will be playing a fall schedule and two of the games will be against her old team. The girls are afraid of her and I want her to shove the ball down their throat. I guess I’m still pissed at the friggin coach.

I tried to repeat my Razz success but it can up way short. The hands that held on Friday got chased down tonight. That’s ok because I played well and read my hands well. I made up for it all playing SNGs for a bit and ended up over all.

Tomorrow is Wednesday which means the Mookie on Full Tilt.

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday. 9pm CT
Game: NLHE Deepstack
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

I’m in for Vegas in December. Yes, Mrs. PE and I will be making the trip to the state that brought you the Comstock Load. I’m not sure of any of the arrangements but I will be making the trip. I’m looking at the 6th through the 10th and expect to have a great time.

That’s it for tonight. Have a great Wednesday.

Razz is Still My Friend and a Weekend of Tryouts

It was a crazy weekend in the PE’s world. I’ll try to keep it segregated into sections as well as possible but I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so give me a little room for error.

Friday night started out like crap. I jumped onto the poker machine around 8:00 and signed up for the $3 turbo to get things started. A short time in, like the first 10 hands, I find KK in the big blind. There are two limpers when the button puts in a nice raise and it is folded to me. I re-pop it to 900 hoping to take it down or get heads up with the button. But one of the limpers pushes and the button calls. I have to call and to my joy the limper holds AK and the button has 77. An ace hits and I get knocked out early.

Bad beats happen so I take a step back and play a SNG and marvel at guys calling bets with over cards and counter fitting my flopped two pair with runner runner joy. So with my spirits high I made the decision to play the Razz MTT that was just getting ready to go.

Now if you’ve read me in the past you’ll know I’ve had some good luck with Razz because of my donkey like skills so I figured playing with the donkeys would be good. I started out slow and steady by only getting involved with good hands and letting the skilled players pay me off. It worked well and at one point I was the chip leader. Then like every other game I had to work through some card dead times and before I knew it I was back to an average stack. The bubble broke with me sitting back in 6th place and I worked to maintain my position as the final table approached. When we were down to 8 I stayed patient and moved up in spots by letting others bust. I was down to 1800 chips and cards dead when I went on an epic run and within 6 hands I was the chip leader. I kept the pressure on and when we got to heads up I held a 2-1 chip lead. A few hands in I was dealt the A23 and caught a 5 on 5th street. My opponent held a 9 and I made the decision to get as many chips in the middle as possible with a fabulous draw. I then hit 2 queens and a king to give away my chips. Now with even stacks I was card dead and with the levels at 1500/3000 this is not the time to run out of luck. I had to throw away a bunch of hands and made some calls that bricked and then I was behind. The killer was the guy calling me down with a 10 when I had 3 low cards up. They had paired twice but I kept the pressure on and I hit another low number. On the last card I hit my 3rd pair and bet out at his at best made 10 and he called. I was out the next hand.

I’ll take the 2nd place and my 3rd final table of the week and 4th this month.

Saturday was a day of tryouts and driving. Softball E. did well at both tryouts as she attempted to move on to a new team. At the first one she threw very well and hit the ball like crazy. She threw all strikes, including her change ups and she hit line drives into the screen protecting the pitcher. It was a huge success with only one problem. They only had 2 spots and they wanted a catcher and a utility player. If I had to rate her vs. all the other players trying out I’d say she was top 5 but not top 2.

In her other tryout she rocked them and there is no doubt in my mind that she’ll make the team. She hit the guy feeding the pitching machine 4 times with line drives and had another session of throwing strikes.

After getting home I cleaned up and headed to a show featuring a Led Zeppelin tribute band with my wife. We had a great time and strolled in around 2 am.

Sunday we went back to one of the tryouts and started over again. As SE started her workout one of the coaches said to me “I was going to call you and tell you it wasn’t necessary to come back today”. That’s code for we have a spot on our team. We are now very happy. We won’t know for sure until Wednesday but I know it is in the bag.

So it was a great weekend at the house and I even get to play golf on Thursday and get paid for it. What more can I ask for.

Can You Drill it Out

The pain in my head doesn’t seem to want to go away. I just have to remember that it feels better when it stops hurting.

I play a little yesterday but didn’t do well. The one tourney I was doing well was I lost a big chunk of my stack when I raised from the SB with AJ and the BB called. The flop missed and I made a continuation bet and when the turn missed I fired another bullet and he called. The river gave me a jack but I wasn’t happy so I went into check call mode. He bet and I called and paid off his pocket aces. I had no idea he had those by the way he played. I wasn’t on life support but I now had a shortish stack. My nemesis was knocked out a little later and so at least I outlasted him. Anyway, Whe n my M got smaller I ramped up the aggression and chipped up a little. I ended my night when I oushed over a limper while holding AQ. He held JJ but I caught a queen on the flop…he caught a jack and I was done.

It was frustrating all night as players called with over cards and hit or they were given they’re 3 outer to put me in my place. I was even counterfeited twice when I flopped 2 pair. So I guess I made some good plays overall and was rewarded with pain. Maybe I am a masochist.

The big softball tryout weekend is upon us so we will be driving a bit as we look for the golden egg.

Fun at the Mookie and a Little Life Tilt

I went on a bit of life tilt yesterday after Softball E’s coach called and said she didn’t make next years team. He explained that he thought it was in her best interest to find another team to play for that can give her more innings to pitch because he can’t give them to her. He also said that he thinks she had the most ability of the pitchers on last years team. I asked him if there were any other reasons for this decision and he said he didn’t think she would get regular playing time a other positions. So she went from being the short stop and leading hitter on the team to not being good enough to play.?

Like I said, major life tilt insued. But after I thought about it a while I realized that she wasn’t going to play for that team anyway. SE and I had already made up our minds that she was going for the Northern Illinois Thunder and or the Aurora Raiders and would play for either of these teams before her old team. She actually got the news first and I heard her say “yes” when he said she didn’t make the team so I think all will be well. I know she told her former teammates that she was trying out for these other teams an since two of the girls belong to the coaches there was no way the coaches didn’t know. I’m sure they realized that she was moving on and made a preemptive decision in there own best interest.

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Had a solid night last night by cashing in a few sngs and going very deep in the Mookie and cashing in the Dookie. The Mookie was crazy. I threw away QQ after a raise and a re raise happened in front of me. It turned out to be the right decision as one player held KK and the other held AK. A little later I threw away AA post flop after a KKx flop. I smelled over bet for value on the straight push so I folded. This knocked me down to 2100 chips and losing ground fast. I had been playing tight the button a big raise. This player had been playing a loose game so I re-bumped it and he pushed with his big stack. I was getting better then 3-1 to call with only 2 hands dominating me so I called with my AK sooted as he turns over QQ. I hit the donkey flush and moved to 4500 chips.

Later I found JJ in middle position and raised to 800 after 2 limper. One player pushed for 500 more with QJ and hit a queen on the river to take part of my stack. A few hands later the aggressive guy over bets in front of me and I see TT. I push and he calls with AK but my tens hold to put me at over 6K. I lost a few chips back when I raised pre-flop and was called my continuation bet didn’t work and I had to dump my hand. I chipped up a little and hit pay dirt when I found QQ and doubled up.

When we hit the final table I was sitting in 5th play and doing well. Then one of the worst runs of card deadness hit. I tried to maintain my stack but slowly lost ground. I was still sitting with a solid stack when we got to the bubble when I raised from the button with QT. The BB called and the flop hit with a Q so I pushed. But he held a Q and a K and flopped a boat and turned quads.

Still a good game overall and a little unlucky at the end.

I could go into my Dookie cash but being that it was turbo HORSE I won’t. To much luckbox action in that game.

Anyway, I’m over my tilt and ready for anything.

Barry Bonds...Is he the Greatest?

Let’s start with something near and dear to my heart. I was watching as Barry Bonds hit his 756th career home run last night and I found it a moving experience. Most of us will never be in a position of greatness like he was last night and I honor his achievement. Many will say it is a tainted record but I see it differently. Any advantage he used is no different than what others have done in the past. If you remember, in the 80’s there was a situation where many major league ball players got in trouble for using speeders to stay up during the long grind of a 162 game season. How is this any different than what Barry has been accused of? They used artificial means to maintain or improve the quality of their game. And take a guy like Gaylord Perry. He admitted to doctoring baseball to get more movement and thus make it harder for batters to achieve success. He is a hall of fame player.


I am in no way saying that I agree with what Barry is accused of doing but I think it is hypocritical to place standards on a man who has done nothing different than other players have done in the past. If it wasn’t for the fact that he approached and eventually broke the most hallowed record in sports this wouldn’t be an issue.

Years ago, when I was still playing ball, players from my team had a discussion on who the greatest players at each position is. One guy mentioned Barry Bonds as the greatest left fielder. This was 8 years ago. There were arguments from almost everybody but it was, in my honest opinion, a foreshadowing of things to come. I think there is no question that Babe Ruth was the best of all time but I think that it could be said that Bonds is the best of his era. 7 MVP awards speak for it self.

That’s enough on this issue unless someone has a comment.

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Mrs. PE had her .. birthday yesterday so we went out for a nice dinner and she got a free margarita to go with it. We had a cake back at home that was made by the kids and we opened presents before sitting down and watching a movie. Not an exciting night but a celebration none the less.

It is Wednesday so play the Mookie on Full Tilt. The password is vegas1 and the tourney is filled with donkeys of various skills. It’s also a deep stack event so you get the extra play that more chips allows you experience.

Thanks for the comments from Shelly and Trip. I know it was the right thing to do because I’m so full if integrity. Maybe I’m full of something else.

Anyway, have a great day and maybe I’ll see you on the virtual felt.

A Letter From Full Tilt and Some of My Game

Hello Pokerenthusiast,
-----------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support, and we appreciate your patience in this matter.

I have reviewed the chat logs for this particular tournament and do notice that player alexsundiego is out of line with his chat. I have issued alexsundiego a stern warning at this time, and should they commit such a chat violation again, I will not only revoke their chat but they will also forfeit any winnings they gain from the tournament.

We appreciate it very much that you brought this to our attention and wish you the best of luck on our tables.

Regards,
Ian
Full Tilt Poker Support

This guy was talking about his hand during much of this tourney and I felt he was out of line. I don’t mind players calling and checking down a short stack but discussing his cards in the chat is to much. Maybe I’m crying a little but he did it on three separate occasions including the hand that knocked me out in 3rd. After dry the tears from my eye I asked FT to look into the issue and they did. Its really the idea that you shouldn’t talk about your hand while the hand is in progress. Yes I’m being a cry baby.

I played a little last night. I stuck to some low level Razz and made a little by playing semi-tight. I called with position a few times and won a few hands when the board hit me and missed my opponent. I only got sucked out on one time but it cost me a chunk as he chased to the end and caught his hand. He did have 7 outs so it wasn’t to horrible I guess.

I was looking at my MTT numbers over multiple site and realized that I play the same every where. I’m cashing in 22-24% of the tourneys I play and have been final tabling 8-10%. I would like the final table number to be a little higher but I think it is a good number. The I also think that the cash percentage is a little to high. I’d like to lower it a bit to improve my final table percentage. I think 16% cashes and a final table of 11-13% would get me a better overall return.

I also realize that I need to play higher stacks to make any real money so I need to buckle down and hit some numbers so I can move up. I feel back on my game so I’m expecting to hit a nice one soon. We’ll see what happens.

MTT Strategy and My Trip West

I was going to write an uber post about my MTT strategy but then I read this one and it did the job for me. I follow a lot of the strategy that surf wrote down with maybe a little more tightness in the beginning stages. I also had a good discussion with him on the girly chat about playing non-typical hands in position against players that can double you up. I guess I should say non-typical for me. Anyway, I think he hits it on the head so instead of rewriting something that is spot on, I’ll just link it up and give him credit for the idea.

I played a couple of tourneys over the weekend and was knocked out near the bubble in each event. I had a read on one player and felt that I could make him lay a hand down but failed to pull the trigger with my 84 suited. I still had a nice stack so I let it go but I think I should have made the play in retrospect. I had been very active early on but tightened up for about 4 orbits before this opportunity. I would have had live cards unless he had a big pair and he was in a steal position. Next time I make the play and go deep. In the other tourney, I pushed with a smallish stack, from the SB, into the BB. I held K4 suited buy was just trying to but the pot. He called with K6 for 40% of his stack and busted me. I don’t mind this play but I think I would have trouble calling with his hand.

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My crazy trip to New Mexico and LA ended at 7:00 am Saturday morning as I walked through the back door of my home. I got about an hour of sleep before the kids came and woke me up for the day.

Softball E. made it through the first weekend of tryouts and is ready to go for the next group. I’m really hoping she makes one of these other teams because I don’t like the coaching ideals the two coaches on her current team have. We’ll see what happens.

Mrs. PE turns .. years old tomorrow so we will have a great time celebrating the anniversary of her birth.

Have a great day.

Time Moves Slow Sometimes

I’m sitting in the Albuquerque Airport waiting for my delayed flight. I actually got here on time last night but I can’t say the same for two others who were going to meet us here. The had to make an emergency landing in Lubbock Texas because an engine was over heating. One of the guys fell asleep during the flight and woke up to flashing lights and emergency vehicles. Not the way I would like to be woken up.

Tonight I’ll try to play some poker by playing a MTT or two. It is also Mookie night so maybe I’ll play put with flying to the LA area and the time delay it will be hard to do.

That’s about it for today. Have a great day.