Back in the Game

"You know what? I should start playing poker again."

That's a thought I had about a week or so ago when I realised that I needed something to do when I'm not working other than sleep, eat, kill time on Facebook, and not blog.

So I've started playing online again. And I've been amusing myself with the North American Poker League qualifying freerolls on Pokerstars. They're six-handed double shootouts - six players play until there's one left, then the survivors play for a ticket into the daily main tournament.

Something those unfamiliar with poker, especially poker that you don't actually have to pay money to play, is that players tend to do... strange things. In freerolls like this, along with bustos like myself, you have people who are just having fun and people who genuinely don't know what they're doing. So you get a lot of this:

Hand 1:

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 6 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: t1500 75 BBs

Hero (SB): t1500 75 BBs

BB: t1500 75 BBs

UTG: t1500 75 BBs

MP: t1500 75 BBs

CO: t1500 75 BBs

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is SB with Q K

1 fold, MP raises to t1500 all in, 4 folds

Final Pot: t50

MP wins t50

No one called in this spot, but you'd be amazed at the hands you see when people do call. So after the first hand, we're still six-handed, which is an upset in and of itself.

Two hands later I picked up Aces. (Don't worry, this doesn't end the way a poker story that starts with "...I picked up Aces" usually ends.) I raise and get three callers. The flop comes 10-8-3 with two hearts and the small blind bets. The guy next to him folds. I raise and immediately start talking to the computer screen. I'm saying out loud, "Fold. You need to fold. You really need to fold."

The next player goes all in. Now it's back to the bettor and I'm apoplectic. "You don't have anything. Trust me. Fold. Don't do this to yourself. FOLD!"

He doesn't fold either.

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10/t20 Blinds - 6 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

MP: t1500 75 BBs

Hero (CO): t1470 73.50 BBs

BTN: t1470 73.50 BBs

SB: t1550 77.50 BBs

BB: t1510 75.50 BBs

UTG: t1500 75 BBs

Pre Flop: (t30) Hero is CO with A A

2 folds, Hero raises to t60, BTN calls t60, SB calls t50, BB calls t40

Flop: (t240) T 8 3 (4 players)

SB bets t280, BB folds, Hero raises to t700, BTN raises to t1410 all in, SB raises to t1490 all in, Hero calls t710 all in

Turn: (t4470) 3 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t4470) 2 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t4470

Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Threes)

BTN shows J 9 (a pair of Threes)

SB shows 8 4 (two pair, Eights and Threes)

Hero wins t4470

The real upset here is that my Aces held.

Now at this point, we're down to three players at my first-round table. This goes on for a while, and I soon realize that the guy on my right doesn't seem to know that he can move the bet slider to the right, or even that he can type a number in the box next to it, if he wants to bet more than the minimum on every street. I've abused this tendency of his several times to my benefit and have a decent chip lead when I get dealt two Kings on the button.

So I raise, the small blind calls and the big blind re-raises the same amount. I re-pop it (for more than the amount I raised to start with), the small blind calls and the big blind apparently figures out what that slider's for, as he moves all-in. OK, whatever. So since I have two Kings, I push all my chips in to get the third player out of the hand.

But he doesn't fold right away.

And here I go again. "Fold. Fold! You can't call this bet. You don't have me beat and you know you don't have me beat. I'm telling you this for your own good. FOLD."

I'm clearly too nice a person to play this game. I mean, I'm sitting here, yelling at the screen, knowing they can't hear me, and trying to get them to do something that I know is not in my best interest... for the second time in the match.

Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 3 players

The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: t1100 36.67 BBs

Hero (BTN): t4955 165.17 BBs

SB: t2945 98.17 BBs

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is BTN with K K

Hero raises to t100, SB calls t85, BB raises to t170, Hero raises to t390, SB calls t290, BB raises to t1100 all in, Hero raises to t4955 all in, SB calls t2555 all in

Flop: (t6990) K Q 2 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t6990) J (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t6990) 3 (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t6990

BB shows A 7 (high card Ace)

Hero shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)

SB shows Q 9 (a pair of Queens)

Hero wins t3690

Hero wins t3300

Final table, here I come.

Back To Borgata: WPT Borgata Open 2007

So what's changed since the last time I went to one of these?



- The casino. An expansion that cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars and is still going on added another hotel tower, a larger poker room and racebook, and several new restaurants (with Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck among the names attached.)

- The set. The dome cameras on the table that were introduced during Season 4 are still there (and have actually proven to be pretty useless), but you've seen the new, darker, bordering on post-modern look of the Season 5 set.

- The network. Season 6 will be on GSN Monday nights starting next March or April.

- The structure. The days of the blinds increasing at warp speed appear to be at an end. The WPT has slowed down the speed of play by extending the levels to 90 minutes, which allows for more play without things reverting to all-in pushfests.

- The hostess(es). WPT has decided that it now takes two women to adequately replace Shana Hiatt. Or, at least, one and a half.

This, friends, is Layla Kayleigh:


As you can see, there's a lot going on here. She's tiny (5'2"), even in four-inch heels. She's from England and if you watch G4, you've seen her on "The Feed." She's easily the most fun hostess they've had since Shana.

You'll also be seeing Kimberly Lansing once or twice during the upcoming season:


She wasn't here, though.

SPOILER ALERT

Seeing Mike Matusow in the entryway to the Event Center was a bad sign. But there he was, still steaming somewhat after being eliminated in sixth place after Eugene Todd got knocked down to his last 25,000 chips. He was being consoled by his girlfriend (the new term is "outkicking your coverage") and Mike Binger, who finished third in the WSOP main event in 2006.

Todd took his hit from Haralabos Voulgaris, who was "the guy in the suit" who effectively folded into third and ended up losing heads-up to Michael Mizrachi as the 2005 L.A. Poker Classic.

Going back to the entryway for a moment, they didn't have the Boot Camp signup booth and the other giveaway stuff that they had two years ago. Instead, there was a cash bar and free coffee. Also, something has changed because they were actually showing the table live in the ballroom as it went on on the set through the back of the room. (Gaming prohibited this in the past unless the broadcast was physically in the same room.)

Vince Van Patten has written a poker mystery novel, of all things.

The heads-up match between Roy Winston and Scotty Yoon probably should have ended three hours earlier than it actually did. One of only two "fireworks" moments during heads-up, Yoon turned a straight to stay alive, then scratched and clawed his way back from what had been a 13:1 chip deficit to only being down 9:7. He got into this tournament on a $200 satellite, which is more than he says he's ever won playing poker.

I want to see if they show Vince shooting off a burst of Silly String when the straight hits during that hand. And who knew they still made that stuff?

Scotty was late coming back from the last break. We suspected that Roy (an anesthesiologist) had put him down. "Must be present to win."

----------------
Now playing: Sting - Desert Rose
via FoxyTunes

I'd Love To Know...

...what MP1 had here.

Party Poker
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $0.50/$1
10 players

Converter

Stack sizes:

UTG: $17.13

UTG+1: $13.50

UTG+2: $36.25

MP1: $11.25

MP2: $25.39

MP3: $21.50

CO: $42.63

Button: $24

SB: $49

Hero: $21.25

Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is BB with K♣ K♠
3 folds, MP1 raises, 2 folds, CO calls, 2 folds, Hero 3-bets, MP1 caps, CO calls, Hero calls.

Flop: K♦ 5♥ 7♦ (18.5SB, 3 players)
Hero bets, MP1 calls, CO calls.

Turn: 8♣ (10.75BB, 3 players)
Hero bets, MP1 calls, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, MP1 folds, CO calls.

River: T♠ (19.75BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, CO raises, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 23.75BB

A Couple Of Vague Recollections

(Since I can't get tourney hand histories from Party, I don't have any numbers.)

Thursday night's tourney was the first time where I felt like just about everything I've learned about playing poker hit me. I never got A-A. Not once. It seemed like I got 9-9 a lot. I'd played tight-aggressive almost throughout, but not to the point where I couldn't get any action (though I should have slowplayed my flopped quad 10s) I got K-K cracked early when my opponent rivered a Broadway straight, but this transgression would be avenged...

Hand 1 (It Pays To Get Lucky... Literally)

About 160 or so players left. 140 get coffee money. I'm in the big blind with K-K. MP raises, CO+1 calls, folded to me, I re-raise. MP short stack goes all-in, CO+1 calls, I call. We both started out with above-average stack sizes, so no need to push just yet.

I hit my set on the flop and push into a dry side pot. I've got CO+1 covered and she calls, flipping over her cracked Aces. MP says "I picked a bad time to go all in" and shows A-10. I bust both players and am assured my first MTT cash.

Hand 2 (Brain Freeze)

In middle position with A8o, which is a hand I despise most of the time. My stack is just below average at this point, which is actually a vast improvement over where I usually am (the rail.) Reason being is that I got good cards early and was able to pick up chips for once, so I could survive getting in behind and the dry stretches, which I must have been in the middle of to do what I did.

I make my standard raise of 3-4x the big blind. Player next to me calls, and seat 10 either min-reraises or smooth-calls; I don't remember anymore. Now, normally with A8o, I'm done after that (A6o-A9o are four of the worst hands in poker IMO). But something tells me that I need to win this pot.

So I push.

The player next to me folds. Seat 10 has me covered and calls immediately with... K-K. I feel weak and sheepish.

Flop: J-J-A.

Turn: J.

River's a blank and I've hit a two-outer to donk my way to top three in chips.

Why only two outs? Well, Seat 6 (the player next to me who folded to my push) said he also had A-8. Another player said, "nh, but shoving preflop with A8?"

I didn't say anything. They don't need to know that I don't know why I did that.

Hand 3 (Battling Blind[s])

Not long after I double up a player who was all-in in the big blind with Aces, this hand comes up. It's late in the tourney at this point, maybe around 25 players left. I'm in the big blind, and it's folded around to the small blind, who completes.

Flop comes 3-K-x. Check, check.

Turn: 3. SB bets, I raise, SB calls.

River's a 5. SB checks. I push my last ~T45000. SB thinks for almost 30 seconds and folds. She says "nice bluff."

I say, "if you say so" and muck my Q3o.

Hand 4 (The Leak)

I'm not used to playing a big stack. A couple of weeks ago I won a play-money SNG on PokerStars despite winning exactly one pot before it got down to four-handed. There, like at the final table on Thursday, someone must have sprayed me with some Good Cards OFF! or something. I haven't learned how to win with utter crap yet - my conscience won't allow me to play a hand that bad.

When we got to the final table, I resisted the urge to type "holy crap" into the chat box. Act like you've been there before and all that.

Blinds are 10k/20k with 500 antes. It's folded to the small blind, who completes, and I check with Q-4. Flop is a King and two rags. He makes a modest bet. I can't put him on much, but I'm not a big fan of my hand, and I call. Turn is an... 8? Another small bet from the SB and I call.

The river Ace is... unfortunate. He checks, I bluff at it (which is likely why he checked) and he calls, probably thinking if he comes over the top, I'm gonna fold. He didn't need to hit it because he already had an Ace, but it sealed my defeat. I should've folded to the flop bet and not called off 40 percent of my stack with Queen high. I need to not do that in the future.

After that it was waiting for a spot to make a move. I get A-3 UTG with about T140,000 left and push. It's folded around to the big blind, who calls with 4-4 and you know the rest.

Downs And Ups (Or, A Dollar Spent)

You know how good it feels when you find money in your pants you didn't know you had?

Well, I'd pretty much stopped playing at Party Poker just because I don't really like playing there, but I logged in and saw that I still had a couple dollars left. So I entered one of their dinky $1 tourneys.

1177 players total.

And this is what happened:



Yep, that's seventh place. Cashed for about $35. I doubt the IRS will be coming after me. :)

Got bounced when, a while after losing half my stack to a river Ace, I pushed with A-3 and got called by 4-4. Got an Ace on the flop, but there was a 4 with it.

More hands later when I dig them up and aren't so sleepy.

Dem's Quads Beetches

(Click the picture to enlarge.)

Only on Party can you get paid off in full with quads. (Though to be fair, the poor bastard had pocket 10s for a full house.)

Action Sequence

The following happened in order when we were four-handed in a Party 5/1 SNG early Thursday:

1. I'm on the button with the short stack (465) and blinds at 100/200. The cutoff (who'd gotten hyper-aggressive with decent-to-good hands when we got down to five) to my right raises to T400, I reraise all-in with Ad-Qh. The blinds fold, and the cutoff calls with 6s-5s. He flops a straight draw (9 10 7), but another 10 comes on the turn and the river misses him, giving me the pot.

2. Now I'm first to act with Qs-Jc and raise to T600. The next two players fold and Super Aggressive Guy reraises me all-in. I call and he shows fives. Flop is three hearts, but I hit a queen on the turn and a jack on the river to double up again.

3. I'm in the big blind. The shortstack to my left goes all-in for T660 under the gun. Button and SB fold. I have Qd-As. Now, he'd been sitting back, probably playing a little too tight with the blinds at what they were, so you'd think he had a big hand. But I don't think he has to have a big hand with his stack as low as it is, and he's probably trying to just take the blinds now, as they're about to increase (on the next hand, in fact). I call. He has Qs-9h and I have him dominated, busting him (and pairing my ace on the river for good measure)

4. I'm now the chip leader three-handed, and I'm in the small blind with jacks. The blinds have gone up to 150/300. Super Aggressive Guy pushes from the button. As I said, he'd been doing this a lot when the table got shorthanded, and the few times he's gotten called, he'd had what I called "decent-to-good" hands -- connected high cards, low-to-middle pairs -- and he hadn't really showed down a premium hand yet in that situation. I'm quite confident I'm ahead and call. He turns over As-7c.

Remember what happened in #2? Same thing in reverse. Flop misses him, but he pairs his 7 on the turn and spikes an ace on the river to win the pot.

Five hands later...

5. I'm the short stack again, in the big blind with T900. The button (to my left) goes all-in for about T1100. The small blind calls. I look down at 9h-9s. If nobody else has a pair, I'm way ahead. The player on the button doesn't have much more than I do, and thus I don't think he has to have a big hand to push here. Likewise, Super Aggressive Guy has a huge chip lead (about T6000) and doesn't necessarily have to have a great hand to call (I remember him calling an earlier all-in with 3-6 of hearts, for example), and I have to call T600 more to win about T2700. It's an easy call and I make it.

Button turns over Ad-Jc. SAG has 8h-Ah. I'm 53% to win. Flop comes Qs-Ks-3h, giving the button a straight draw. Turn is a 5s, giving me a flush draw and taking away one of the button's outs (the 10 of spades gives me a flush to beat his rivered straight.)

And that's exactly what happens. The 10 of spades spikes on the river and triples me up.

Pay attention. Know your surroundings. Know who you're with and what he's likely to do, then act appropriately.

Hammer Time!!!

I've just about given up raising pre-flop at the .5/1 Party tables because nobody respects it. But here's why you still probably should:

$0.50/$1 Texas Hold'em - Friday, November 11, 02:35:32 EDT 2005
Table Table 65508 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Jagarn333 ( $25 )
Seat 2: mddocbrooks ( $30.13 )
Seat 3: minutemaid05 ( $59.11 )
Seat 4: eagle405 ( $11.50 )
Seat 5: RJBOOMER ( $19.25 )
Seat 6: waynederful ( $11.62 )
Seat 7: JNICSAC ( $44.25 )
Seat 8: JonasN ( $24.75 )
Seat 9: kevinx8279 ( $0 )
Seat 10: flanagan9905 ( $4.75 )
kevinx8279 has left the table.
minutemaid05 posts small blind [$0.25].
eagle405 posts big blind [$0.50].
Jagarn333 posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to eagle405 [ 2s 7c ]
RJBOOMER calls [$0.50].
waynederful calls [$0.50].
JNICSAC calls [$0.50].
JonasN folds.
Prestt8 has joined the table.
flanagan9905 calls [$0.50].
Jagarn333 checks.
mddocbrooks calls [$0.50].
minutemaid05 calls [$0.25].
eagle405 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 2d, 7s ]
minutemaid05 checks.
eagle405 bets [$0.50].
RJBOOMER folds.
waynederful folds.
JNICSAC folds.
flanagan9905 raises [$1].
Jagarn333 folds.
mddocbrooks folds.
minutemaid05 folds.
eagle405 calls [$0.50].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
eagle405 bets [$1].
flanagan9905 raises [$2].
eagle405 calls [$1].
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
eagle405 checks.
flanagan9905 bets [$1].
eagle405 calls [$1].
flanagan9905 shows [ Kd, 5h ] a pair of kings.
eagle405 shows [ 2s, 7c ] two pairs, sevens and twos.
eagle405 wins $11.25 from the main pot with two pairs, sevens and twos.

-----------

I will no longer play on Wednesdays because I always lose money. I lost $10 in three hands on Wednesday night getting slow-played to death.

After that hand, I got knocked out of a $2 multi-table tourney when my pocket queens ran into pocket aces. My MTT finishes are actually getting worse.

But still, I dropped the HAMMER.

WPT Borgata - Final Day

With the day off and nothing better to do (and, frankly, because I'm something of a poker-watching junkie), I bounced over to Atlantic City to see some World Poker Tour action.

The Borgata, you should know, isn't on the Atlantic City boardwalk. It's down in the Marina district just before the bridge that takes you into Brigantine. You walk in and it looks like every other casino in A.C., but it doesn't feel like every other casino in A.C.

The regular poker room is downstairs in the basement, but the new one when they finish the expansion next year will be more than two times the size of the original. The first day of the main event started down there, then moved up to the ballroom on the second floor for the final two days. Finding it was an adventure in itself -- I think I did two laps around the casino floor before spotting the escalators with the big WPT electronic banner above them.

I got upstairs to the ballroom and they were giving out numbered poker chips to get seats in the main theater at the final table. There was all sorts of WPT swag for sale, and I played a little bit of the new WPT video game from 2K Sports. The state Gambling Commission wasn't allowing them to run a live feed in the outer room, so they were putting it on delay.

Last year's winner, Daniel Negreanu, didn't make it past the first day this time around. Unlike, well, everyone else, the WPT plays all the way down to six players before going full-on with the cameras. Here were the final six with chip counts:

Seat 1: Robert "Action Bob" Hwang (Clark, NJ) $1,795,000 - Won the $1500 NLHE tourney in this event
Seat 2: David Singer (Mamoreck, NY) $3,200,000 - 9th place in the 2003 WSOP
Seat 3: Al Ardebili (Jersey City, NJ) $1,425,000 - 2 WSOP cashes in 2005
Seat 4: Kathy Liebert (Las Vegas, NV) $1,045,000 - Won WSOP bracelet in 2004; 2 WPT final tables
Seat 5: John D'Agostino (Egg Harbor, NJ) $2,295,000 - 6th place, 2004 U.S. Poker Championship; runner-up to Phil Ivey at Turning Stone in 2004 (the tourney Fox Sports Net showed live)
Seat 6: Ricardo Festejo (Margate, NJ) $540,000 - I... don't have anything.
(chip counts cribbed from pokerwire.com; other info courtesy The Hendon Mob Poker Database (it's amazing what you can find on the Net by accident)

They almost ended up with only five after the last hand on Wednesday night, but John, who was in position to knock two players out, lost the hand and only one man was eliminated.

The staging area took up more space than the USPC at the Taj Mahal did, but I think the actual table area was smaller. It was inside almost like a tent with weird and disorienting lighting everywhere. I was sitting in front of this one swinging mini-spotlight that kept crossing my field of vision and got annoying after a while.

I was surprised to see the commentary desk set up with Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten actually in it. They mostly just sit there and I'm not even sure if they were actually talking about the game or if they were just pretending to talk. They might have been rehashing their round of golf from the afternoon and no one would be the wiser. Most of their stuff is added in post-production anyway. Remembering the length of the session at the USPC last year, and knowing this year's WSOP final table took about 14 hours, I started feeling kind of bad for Mike and Vince. At least we can get up and leave.

The new hostess, Courtney Friel? Hot. I'll even go as far as to say UPGRADE. Some would disagree. Some did. But they're not here.

Something else to look for in the next season: they've added two black dome-like objects in the middle of the table that are actually cameras, to get close-in shots of the players' faces and reactions.

MAD SPOILERS AHEAD, DOG

Want a real writeup? Especially considering I showed up late? Click here. Otherwise...

7:25 p.m. - The first player I saw go all-in was Kathy. The entire audience jumped to its feet, which eliminated everybody's ability to see the floor monitors, so nobody could actually see the cards. John called, drawing an "Ooooooh!" from the crowd. Kathy had AQ against John's J-J, but flopped an ace to double up.

John raised a few hands later, and Robert went all in. John called. Both players turned up 9-9. They split the pot.

7:45 - Vince is already resorting to props. This could be a while.

7:55 - The blinds increase to $60k/$120k with $15,000 antes. Ricardo has made some big moves from the short stack and is over 2 million in chips now.

Al went all-in with A-J of clubs. Ricardo called with... A-J of diamonds. They ended up splitting the pot.

They took a TV break at 8:05. Kathy had some family and friends here and tried to get one of them to go down to the poker room's cafe and get her a sandwich. She seemed to be the most relaxed player at the table, chatting with her people between hands and showing her cards when she went in unchallenged.

8:20 - Al, with under a million chips, went all in with pocket 3s. David called and turned over J-9. Al hit a set on the flop and David paired his 9. The turn was a 10, giving David a straight draw, but the river was the fourth 3 and Al made quads. David went out in sixth place a few hands later when he couldn't improve from A-8 against Robert's 6s. The next three all-ins went uncalled.

8:55 - Kathy hurt John again when she went all-in with A8, flopped an ace, and turned two pair to beat his K-Q.

9:05 - Robert was taken down on two consecutive hands. First, Ricardo went all in with 5-5 on a board with 8s-4c-4s. Robert called with QJs but got no help. Then John raised all in with 10's and Bob called with 10-9. Flop was 9-8-J/8/4 and Robert was out in fifth.

Ricardo had nearly $5 million in chips at that point. Everyone else had around $2 million. Blinds moved to $100K/$200K with $20,000 antes.

9:19 - We may not have that long a night after all. John was eliminated in fourth when his flopped pair of queens got outkicked.

Another big hand came a few minutes later when Al's Q-Q held up against Ricardo's A-J after a 10 hit the flop and the turn brought a king. Kathy had deliberated over her cards in this hand for some time before folding what she later said was A-J.

9:35 - Kathy went out in third place (the highest finish ever for a woman in a WPT event, Sexton said afterwards) when AL paired the 10 in his Q-Ts on the flop and also picked up a flush draw to beat her A-7.

They took another break before going to heads-up where they "colored up" (restacked) the chips and got ready for the money presentation. They didn't reposition the players at opposite ends of the table or anything, which was a mild surprise. Sexton was out mingling with the commoners. We were suprised to find out that Al actually had a narrow chip lead at this point, since Ricardo was over $7 million when he busted John.

For the presentation, they had four "Borgata Babes" come dancing in and waving the (fake) money in the players' faces and tossing it around before a golf cart drove in with the pile o' bills. We were joking in the audience beforehand that they might not actually get to do it because it was conceivable that Ricardo could knock out both Kathy and Al on the same hand, that's how big his stack was. Would've been a shame, too... they had to have been practicing for, I'm sure, at least half an hour.

It's Mike Sexton's birthday! Happy birthday, Mike!

The first hand of heads-up, Ricardo took the chip lead back when he reraised all-in pre-flop after Al raised to 600,000.

10:11 p.m. - Whoa. I'm still stunned by what happened here. The board was 2-7-K with two spades and Al checked. Ricardo bet $1 million. Al moved all-in, and Ricardo thought about it for several minutes and called with A-2. Al turned over 2-3 (the guy next to me was convinced he'd checked a king) and found himself dominated.

Until a 3 came on the turn. Truly, it was the magic number. There was a major debate going on in my section of the audience as to whether it was a great read or a terrible call on Ricardo's part. I doubt they made a deal only because they wouldn't have had time... I don't even remember Ricardo leaving the table area during the color-up break.

The river was no help and Al took a huge lead. He'd win it all two hands later with Ace high and get nearly $1.5 million and a seat at the WPT Championship. Both Al and Ricardo won $300 satellites to get into the event, and when you consider Ricardo was basically two cards away from winning, that's damn impressive.

Everyone toasted afterwards with Budweiser Select, which comes in oversized bottles. Then they took some pictures of Al with the money and the bracelet and the commentators and his wife.

I'll tell you, at the beginning it looked like we were gonna be in for a long night. But the blinds jumping at the intervals that they did seemed to force the action a bit, and it was over in about five hours.

Sit 'n' Win

So about three weeks ago, I get into a sit-and-go tournament at Party Poker, wheere I've been playing with actual money for about six weeks or so by now. It's a Limit Texas Hold 'Em game, which is easily my best game right now for real or play money... I always seem to do well in these things, particularly SNG's, which you can run through in an hour and make a small pile of change in if you do well. I think what I like about limit poker is that it's harder for me to get suckered in for a lot of money, since you can only bet so much. I actually find I'm more willing to fold in a limit game than pot-limit or No Limit.

The lineup:
15/30 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (Limit) (Tournament 15405575) - Sat Sep 03 02:37:15 EDT 2005
Table Table 11871 (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: IceHousePRB (800)
Seat 2: justfootin (800)
Seat 3: greatkinkade (800)
Seat 4: soupbutler (800)
Seat 5: TheIXIMan (800)
Seat 6: hoaha888 (800)
Seat 7: cunha14258 (800)
Seat 8: IH8JJ (800)
Seat 9: eagle405 (800) <------ You know who I am, damn it
Seat 10: Kendellfalls (800)

We'll jump to the second hand. I'm in middle position and get dealt AcAh. cunha14258 raises, IH8JJ re-raises, I cap it. Kendellfalls calls. It's folded around to hoaha888 who calls. Everybody else remaining calls.

Flop comes Qh5s3c. Checked to me, I bet. Kendellfalls raises. IH8JJ reraises after everybody in between calls, I call, and everybody else calls. Turn is Kh. hoaha checks, cunha raises, IH8JJ re-raises, and I call because I don't think anyone's got KK. Kendellfalls folds, the others call. River is 2h. Two checks, IH8JJ bets. Everyone calls. I turn over my aces. hoaha888 has pocket jacks. cunha14258 has KsTc. And IH8JJ rolls... QcQd. Ouch.

So, as usual, I'm behind. I fear the day I actually get off to a decent start in one of these, as I won't know what to do with myself.

Six hands later, I get KJc in the small blind. hoaha calls, cunha raises, IH8JJ folds. I call the 20, Kendell re-raises, kinkade calls, hoaha calls, cunha caps it, and my confidence is shaken and I fold. Flop comes QT7d and I'm feeling a lot better about my decision -- until the hand ends. The board was Qd Td 7d 9c 8c, and Kendell's jacks gave him a queen-high straight... which my king-high straight would've beaten had I stayed in. But cunha had AK and was betting and raising throughout the hand, so I likely would've been forced out at some point.

cunah was out first when he put in his last 65 chips with nada.

I laid down the best hand again when I raised from UTG+1 with JT and saw a re-raise and three callers behind me. The winning hand was pocket 8s with a 10 on the board.

Players started dropping like flies. We went from nine to six players in one level. With the blinds at 15 and 30, I woke up to pocket jacks in the big blind. IceHouse calls, and it's folded around to IH8JJ in the small blind, who calls. I raise and both call. Flop comes Ah2d7s. IH8JJ checks, I bet, IceHouse calls, IH8JJ folds. Turn is 5h. I bet and win my first pot (150) when IceHouse folds.

The blinds go up to 25 and 50 and I'm the short stack with T465. I get AdKc in the big blind and call a raise from the SB after everyone else folds. Flop comes AsTdTc. IH8J bets, I raise, he folds, I win.

Blinds are now 50 and 100. IceHouse gets all-in on the river and actually wins when her pocket 8s beat IH8JJ's KQ. This is notable because it's the first all-in hand that doesn't lead to an elimination.

On the next hand, I raise from the button with As5d and only T340 left. and IceHouse calls from the big blind. Flop comes T4Q, all spades. We both check. Turn is Ks, giving me the nut flush. IceHouse checks, I bet my last T140 and she folds.

The following hand, I get KTs and come in with a raise. kinkade calls. Flop comes AsTd6h and with top pair, top kicker, I decide I'm going. kinkade bets, I raise, he calls. Turn is Ah, giving me two pair. kinkade bets, I call my last T190. He turns over Js Qh. The river is the Ace of clubs, putting three aces on the board and giving me a full house.

This next hand was nuts. Blinds are 75/150. IXIMan only has T155 left, and he raises all-in. I fold, Kendell raises, IceHouse folds, and kinkade calls. Flop comes 7s9d8s. kinkade checks, Kendell bets, kinkade calls. Turn is 3d. kinkade checks, Kendell bets, kinkade calls. River is Td, and both players check. Here's what happened: Kendell [8h Ad] flopped top pair and was a 52% favorite at that point. IXIMan [3c 3s] turned trips and became 90% to win, with Kendell drawing dead, but kinkade made his four(?)-outer on the river with the 10 for a queen-high straight [Qc Js]. IXIMan was out, and Kendell took a big hit and was left with only T705. Worst bad beat of the tourney. (Odds calculated courtesy of twodimes.net)

Four players left. I took the chip lead on the next hand, and two hands later I dropped The Hammer from the small blind and won when I bet a three-club flop.

With the blinds at 100/200, IceHouse and kinkade fold, and I wake up to 55 in the small blind. Kendell's the big blind and already has 200 of his 480 chips in the middle, and a pocket pair heads-up against the short stack is a Good Thing, so I raise and he goes all-in with K7s. The flop brings three diamonds and I bust him with fives and twos.

Three players left. We're all guaranteed cash, and I'm the chip leader with T4135. I get Kd9h on the button and raise. IceHouse reraises and kinkade folds. Flop comes QsAc2d. IceHouse bets, I call. Turn is a Kh, giving me top pair. IceHouse bets, I raise, and she reraises herself all in. I call and she turns over JsJd.

Uh-oh.

River's a 10 and she makes her straight to win a T3460 pot.

Disaster strikes soon after. Blinds are 150/300, and I'm dealt 3hJs in the small blind. kinkade calls, I call (probably a mistake; even three-handed, that's a crappy hand) and IceHouse checks. Flop is TcKd3s. Everyone checks. Turn is Jd giving me two pair. I bet, IceHouse folds, kinkade raises, and I call (mistake #2). River is 6h, I bet to put kinkade all in, and he calls and turns over QdAh for a made straight.

That cripples me -- I'm down to T870. On the next hand, I get TQd on the button and raise. IceHouse folds, kinkade calls. Flop comes Jh, Tc, 8s. kinkade bets, and with middle pair and an inside straight draw, I have to go. I raise my last 570 and he calls and rolls... 7hKc? The low end of the straight draw. Turn is a blank, but the river is the Jack of diamonds, giving me the winning two pair. Interestingly, on the next hand, I get QcKs in the big blind and I raise kinkade on the small blind and he folds. At that point, I realized that I'd been playing tight, possibly too much so, even when it was five and four-handed, forcing the table to respect my pre-flop raises at this point. I went on to pick up a few pots with post-flop bets in position, building my stack back up to T3690 before... this hand.

I get 2cQd on the button and raise. IceHouse folds, and kinkade has exactly 300 left and calls, turning over Tc Js. And my hand holds up. A river Ace gives me Ace-Queen high and knocks kinkade out.

I take the chip lead back with that win (4440-3560), but I give it back two hands later when my Broadway draw doesn't get there and I fold on the river. I get some of it back when I reraise with KdQh and flop a set of Queens. I then lose T1600 when I get check-raised out of a hand on the turn when an Ace came and we had both checked the flop. I dropped the Hammer again postflop with two kings on the board. I then stole three of the next four hands to get back to almost 3000 in chips.

Then came... the deciding hand. Blinds are 250/500. I'm dealt KsJc in the big blind and strangely just check after IceHouse calls, almost as if I know what's coming. And what's coming is 7sJhKh. I bet, IceHouse calls. Turn is 9c. I bet, IceHouse raises, putting me all-in, and I can't call fast enough. She flips over K2c and I've got her dominated. Another seven comes on the river and I surge into the lead.

Two hands later, it ends. I see TcKh in the big blind. IceHouse raises, I call, and the flop is 7c6hKd, giving me top pair. I bet, she raises, and I know I've got her, so I re-raise, forcing her to bet her last 520. I call the extra 20 and see her flip over... 4dTs? Ouch. The turn is the seven of spades and that's it. The river is a six and I'm $25 richer. Go me.

USPC Final Table

Here's how we got to this point.

Event: U.S. Poker Championship
Site: Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City
Dates: Sept. 20-Oct. 8, 2004
Field: 187
Winner's Purse: $691,095.90 (What? They can't get to an even 700? Trump couldn't kick in an extra nine G's?)
Top 18 places cashed
Airdate: Uh... soon?

When I did get back, there were seven players left. When you're sitting there watching for that long, you almost inadvertantly start noticing things. It may not get shown enough that it's noticeable, but I'm fairly certain I was able to pick up a tell on one of the finalists.

As players were eliminated, they'd go off into this little corner tucked away behind the curtain for a post-elimination interview. Also, the TV crew would step in and stop the game for a moment to shift people around the table, I guess so the table would look more symmetrical and balanced on camera.

The heads-up battle went about two and a half hours. When you're sitting in the audience, you can see a timer on a monitor behind the players (facing the back, so the tournament MC can see it) counting down how much time is left in each round before the blinds go up. It's every 90 minutes, for the record.

They don't bring the cash out and put it on the table for the final two like they do at the WSOP. Very disappointing. They do have the big check at the end, like at bowling tournaments.

My memory's fuzzy at this point, but the show should end with the last three hands consecutively. (The next-to-last hand is something to see, as I'm convinced both men made their hands. Who knew a 4 could cause so much agita.)

USPC #-1

Toto Leonidas will NOT repeat as the U.S. Poker Champion in 2004.

I know this because I saw him get knocked out.

Welcome to the 2004 U.S. Poker Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal.

(as spoiler-free as possible)

When I arrived, there were 21 players left and Huck Seed went all-in with two queens on the board. I want to know what he had. Seed turned out to be the last player there who I knew just by name. What's left are your mid-level players, your "That Guys" of poker for you Bill Simmons fans out there. I think I saw Johnny "World" Hennigan there, but he wasn't entered. It's a drive through the tunnel for him, at any rate. (For the record, here are the Famous Poker Players I missed: Chip Reese, Layne Flack, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Josh Arieh, Scotty Nguyen, Erik Seidel.) The field for this event is smaller because, unlike he WSOP, you can only qualify through a live tournament.

Right after the dinner break, Michael White was talking about a hand he had earlier in the tournament. He had A-J with 13,000 left in early position. He bet 7000, a second player raised, and a third player went all-in. White went all-in by calling.

Player #2 turns over K-K. Player #3 turns over A-A.

The flop? K-Q-10.

White flopped a straight and the poor bastard with Aces got bounced. He held on to win the hand and triple up.

There's a lot of sitting around at a live tournament. One thing I saw a lot of was somebody raising the pot - didn't matter where - and everyone else just folding.

There were two tables still in play when I got there. The setup wasn't what I expected - I knew the feature table was in the concert arena at the casino, but it's just that one table. And it's a small area - closed in with curtains and about six rows of spectators for a "live crowd" feel. It was probably done this way because the tables in the actual poker room at the Taj are so close together, there's really no room to stand around anywhere or to put a crowd in. The "outer" table was in the poker room proper, and they had a lesser camera setup. They'll stop to move people from table to table to keep both looking relatively full.

One thing that threw me was during the sessions at the feature table, there was a small group of people in the audience who were cheering for EVERYBODY. It wasn't until after the session ended that I found out what this was about... AUDIENCE COORDINATION. Or, Plants. And they... got their parking validated for their trouble? Talk about working cheap.

There was a Norman Chad sighting at about 9:45.

Funny moment: On one of the screens behind the feature table, they were showing the other table, and at one point when there were only 11 players left, about five people sitting in the "standby" area, including myself, all jumped up and moved over to get a look at the screen. Everybody at the other table was standing because there was an all-in, and if the guy was eliminated, everyone was coming over to the feature table.

The guy was eliminated.

I'll try to get back tomorrow. But it's the final day, and they expect the place to be packed.