Small Steps

I'm back from the day of driving - only 7 hours in the car today. Rather than bemoan the traffic on the way home, I'll offer up a tourney report from this past Saturday night.

Our local group of gamboolers hadn't had a tourney since January. We like to hold them every so often, perhaps once a month. For various reasons, we just hadn't been able to schedule the next event. Finally, this Saturday, all the proper arrangements were made and 33 people congregated at Teddy Ballgame's subdivision clubhouse.

The buy-in was $75 and the top 5 places would be paid out as follows: $1000, $600, $400, $250, $225. We started with T200 and 20 minute levels, the first three being 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6.

I decided to employ a slight change of strategy for this event. Generally, the players at these things are not so hot and you can get away with limping on some marginal hands, catching a great flop and extracting some chips out of unsuspecting opponents. I tossed that losing strategy out the window this time, instead opting to play ultra-tight the first few rounds.

In fact, for the entire first hour of the tournament, I played 0 hands out of the blinds. That's a 0% VPIP. I was mucking mediocre hands like Q,J and A,9 without a second thought. I did have A8s once in the big blind but the flop had nary a spade.

Fast forward to the final hand of level 3 and I'm in the big blind with 7,5o. It's checked around to me and I see a flop of A,7,7. I slow play the hand and an early position limper bets out T20. It's folded back around to me and I call. The turn is a 6 and I check again. My opponent announces all-in and I immediately call. He shows pocket J's and gets no two-outer on the river to save him. My stack grows to about T275, well above average stack with 27 players still remaining after hour one. The guy I just busted asks me how I could play 7,5o. I inform him that I was the big blind. I leave out the fact that if I held an Ace I'd have also busted him.

During level 5, I actually find a hand to play. Pocket K's and I raise the pot to T60, a 3xBB raise. It's folded all around and inside I'm battling desires to loosen up my play with thoughts that playing tight is still the way to go. We begin to condense tables when we get down to 24 players. During this time, the blinds grow to 20/40 and I feel it's time to get aggressive and steal. I buy some pots with pre-flop all-ins on hands such as AQ and AK. My stack had been T335 and although I was close to average, the blinds were getting a bit large in relation to it.

With 16 players left and the blinds still at 20/40 (players were busting left and right at about this time), I find A,8s on the button. It's folded around to me and I raise to T100. The SB goes over the top all-in for an additional T105 and the BB folds. I figure I'm behind at this point, but getting sufficient pot odds to call. Much to my surprise, the SB was holding Q,Jo and I bust my second player after the flop accomodates my wishes to avoid any paint.

With 11 players left and my table 6 handed, the blinds have grown to 50/100. UTG goes all in for T200 and it's folded to me at the cutoff. I find A,K and decide to push my stack in hopes of isolating what I feel is most likely a weaker hand. Much to my chagrin, the button re-raises as well and my heart sinks. I felt I had been playing a great tournament and now I've just run into a monster. After the side pots are created, UTG flips up his K,9o. I show A,K and anticipate either AA, KK, or QQ from the button. Hope is alive! He shows A,K as well. Now I just have to avoid a 9 and any suited cards that could give him a flush. I accomplish both of those things and the button and I split a pot and eliminate another player.

At 8 players, we re-draw to the final table. At this point the blinds are 100/200 and I have about T800, slightly below average. I signal to my friend DoubleR that I can't wait to bust out 6th, just shy of the money. Bubbling is my destiny.

There are some shorter stacks at the table and I decide to play the final table a bit tight this time in order to get a feel for how loose some players were playing. There are a couple of suckouts, T9s busting pocket 8's. When Matty C's pocket As bust another large chip stack holding pocket T's, I find myself in the money.

At this point the blinds are pretty huge and my stack isn't. The Rankster makes another strong tournament showing, but finally busts out in 5th. I thought I'd be able to fold my way into at least 3rd as a small stack was forced all-in twice via the blinds. The second time, the short stack held 2,7s and found himself up against K,J of the same suit. Unfortunately for me, a 2 on the flop gave the suited hammer a victory. I could not stave off the blinds and had to push with Q,T suited. I ran up against A,K. The flop gave my opponent top two-pair, but that elusive J never came and I went home in 4th.

All-in-all, I was quite happy to finish 4th considering the best hand I had was pocket K's and it only won me the blinds. I've rethought my approach to these tournaments, and it seems to have worked out at least for this instance. There will be many other opportunities, but I'm just finally glad to get in the money for a decent amount as these live tournaments had been a bane to my B&M bankroll.

Seesaw

When I got home from work yesterday from what was perhaps the worst working day of my 15+ year professional career, I told myself I'd leave the work problems at work. I didn't quite succeed in my efforts as within 5 minutes of arriving home, I was snapping at the family. It is without a doubt my single most hated self-trait - lack of patience. I was dealing with people and personalities at work that for whatever reason, can't or won't listen to me. I had a short fuse and the behavior of the kids when I got home burned whatever was left of it.

So when I left the house to go play in my semi-weekly home game, I figured my mindset was one of the ingredients in a recipe for failure. Upon arriving at the Rankster's house, I made a beeline for the brew. Anything to take my mind off the fiasco that I was involved in earlier that day was welcome.

As everyone arrived and began to play, the feel of the cards and the chips washed away the memories of the work day and I began to relax. Once I could relax, I could concentrate. What followed next over the course of the evening was quite unprecedented. I won. And not a little. In fact, for Thursday night dealer's choice limit poker, I managed to pull in a profit of $317.

Far and above my own personal best, the post-play conversation debated whether this was an all-time record or not. There were recollections of another +$300 day attributed to The Rocket, but the exact number was still a mystery.

Regardless, I couldn't help but feel that I would trade all that poker success for the ability to take back my behavior towards the mini-Blood's earlier in the evening. I went home and woke the kids to tell them that their daddy was sorry for yelling at them. The best thing about kids is their unconditional ability to forgive and forget. Sometimes I don't feel worthy of their forgiveness, but I'm so thankful to receive it.

Return to Hell

And we're all on the road to hell and that's route 666 - Halford "Made in Hell"

When you've survived one trip to Hell, why would you go back?

http://badbloodonpoker.blogspot.com/2004_08_01_badbloodonpoker_archive.html#109149889059216305

Similarly to that fateful August weekend, lies another adventure for the Blood. This coming weekend will feature a live poker tourney on Saturday followed up quickly by a drive to the Charlestown, SC area the morning after.

This journey will showcase a bit of the insanity that I like to call "The In-laws." I know, you wish you were me. That way, you could get up at 8AM on Sunday and drive to the in-laws that live the next town over. Then you could drive about 3 1/2 hours to Charlestown to see the brother-in-law's family, spend a few hours there, then drive BACK 3 1/2 hours to the in-laws house, drop them off, and then finally drive home.

I can't even tie one on while I'm down there because I have to drive back. Alcohol is required whenever visiting the in-laws. In fact, it's federally mandated. I've never really looked forward to a Monday before, but this Sunday, it will be a first.

The trick will be not letting the impending journey back through the fiery depths affect my tourney play on Saturday.

Surgery With No Anesthesia

In lieu of poker last night, I placed a set of these:



in this:



Classic Mrs_Blood moment:

During my attempt to solder the pickups to the guitar switch (I suck at soldering) the Mrs comes up to me, sticks her freshly painted toenails in my face and says "Honey, look, sparkles on my toes!"

Under normal circumstances, I'd find this mildly amusing. However, the distraction caused me to cut a wire all the way through, rather than strip it. BadBlood - not amused.

I averted catastrophy and commented about how much I loved the look of her pedicure, but I'm trying to concentrate on something else right now. My diplomatic skills are spot on at the moment and all's good in the Blood house. :)

BadBlood's G-Vegas Poker Superstars Invitational

(I'm opening this invite up to readers and fellow bloggers who may want to show up)

Edited - New Date: July 2nd and 3rd!

You've seen it on FoxNet in both Vegas and California, and now it's coming to Greenville. At least I hope so.

This will be quite an endeavor to pull off, but I'm used to pulling....scratch that. Regardless, this is an attempt to run a poker tournament to make all other poker tournaments seem like umm, well, something not like what you're used to.

I'm looking for 18 players to commit to a weekend of poker. The jist of it is as follows:

Each participant will play in three(3) 6-player tournaments over the course of the first day. The object is to accumulate points such that they can participate in the Final Table. Players win points as follows:

1st - 10
2nd - 7
3rd - 5
4th - 3
5th - 1
6th - 0

After everyone has played in 3 tournaments, the top 6 point finishers advance to the finals.

The buy-in for the whole shebang is $100. The prize money break-down will be as follows:

Winning any one of the 9 preliminary tourneys: $50
Final Table Payout:
1st - $900
2nd - $450

And that's that.

The structure of each preliminary tourney and the final tourney will be designed such that they last between 2.5 and 3 hours each.

If all goes according to plans, we would play all 3 initial tourneys on Saturday, April 30th beginning at about 10am. Then play the Final Table on Sunday, May 1st around 1pm.

I'm not sure I'll get enough players with enough interest, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

Choices

First off, congrats to SirWaffleHouse and Tommy-the AxeMan for falling for my April Fool's story, if only temporarily. It was a spur of the moment thing inspired by DoubleAs cool prank post.

****

So it's Friday night, feeling right, friends out on the beach tonight...err scratch that, it's just Friday night. I'm tooling around online as the Mrs. is finishing up the dishes. I'm pretty tired, so I'm more than willing to forego a night of online shennanigans or G-Vegas bar hopping for a quiet night in. We even have plans for a babysitter for Saturday night, so I figure I've got some decent marital points coming to me.

At about 10pm, that local TV superhero G-Rob IM's me about some real live action poker in town. A very predictable chemical reaction in my brain occurs as I delve through various scenarios involving joining this live game vs. burning the marital capital I was building up.

Not soon after, Mrs. Blood joins the IM fray, giving G-Rob the requisite hard time. After a few sarcastic barbs are thrown about, G-Rob reveals that former local TV superhero Otis will be at this game. The chemical reaction intensifies. I'm in a battle of short term EV fun vs. long term EV marital bliss.

G-Rob, like the tides of the ocean, wears down the Mrs' defenses and she actually concedes the battle, telling me I can go. What an overbet that was! I've been playing the poker game of marriage for close to 9 years. I've got a good read on the Mrs. That concession, my friends, was a STONE COLD BLUFF.

I came over the top all in, and simply IM'd G-Rob that I couldn't make it. UpforPoker crew be damned. (Secretly I was dying inside, but that's what marriage is, a slow, numbing death.)

Kidding :) It's not April 1st anymore :) :) :)

So I retired early, missing out on some live poker action. But my stack of marital chips is a bit higher this morning. I may need those chips someday.

Dial-A-Shots == Bad News

Does anyone know a good lawyer?

With my home game in full swing again, this time playing HORSE, Al, MrsCantHang and Big Mike joined myself, G-Rob and The Rankster for more dial-a-shot fun. Unfortunately for me, I'd been drinking a bit as well in between answering the calls on my cell phone from Philly.

To make a long story less long, the last round of HORSE saw me win 1 hand. That's one out of the last 35 hands, turning a $60 win into a loss for the evening. All my draws missed, and I was kind of pissed. That rhymes.

After everyone left, it was about 1AM. Funny thing about last night was that some random dog watched us play from my front porch, peering into my house the entire evening. I'm not a big pet fan; being allergic to cat and dog hair doesn't help. So at the end of the night I go outside to shoo the dog away, I don't need any extra fertilizer on my lawn.

At about this time a car pulls down my street slowly. I thought it was a returning player having forgot something at the house. It wasn't, it was the dog's owner looking for his animal. He parked the car in the middle of the street and came walking rather briskly over towards me. Let me remind you of my, shall we say, non-ideal demeanor: many drinks and many crap cards. Bottom line is I'm not in much of a mood for anything.

So this guy, obviously on the wasted side himself, approaches me and by his gait, I can tell he's going to be confrontational.

"What the fuck are you doing with my dog?" he asked.

"Your dog has been here all night, kindly remove him from my property." I was slightly impressed with my restraint.

I don't have an exact transcript of what followed next, but after a few more witty exchanges, the dog owner actually came up to me and did the old two-handed push to the chest.

Uh-uh. Tell me you didn't just do that.

****

About 10 minutes later after the cops arrived, I was in handcuffs. Mrs. Blood had heard the commotion, saw the two of us going at it and dialed 911. Why, you ask, was I the one being put in the paddywagon? Well, the dog owner was being put in an ambulance. He wasn't in too good of a shape. My fists were starting to swell up, but nothing like this guy's nose. The police claimed that I most likely broke both of his orbital sockets and would need reconstructive surgery. Great, I didn't know South Carolina's finest did pre-med work as well.

Thank goodness Mrs. Blood bailed me out. She's obviously not too happy right now, frankly neither am I.

What day is this?