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Friday, April 3, 2009

Time for the Beau Rivage Stretch Run

When we last left off, I was going back to play the Final Table on Sunday.

It wouldn't last long. Before that though, I did my little attempted Back-to-Back move that I nearly pulled off last year at this event. Playing in the noon tourney to try and accumulate chips, go play the Final Table at 4pm...then return to my stack and go for two.

Well, that experiment went to hell. Not by any fault of my own. I was basically just card dead as hell. And the two races I needed to win I lost. So at 3 minutes to 4 and UTG with 1.5 BB's in my stack (pathetic) I decided 7s9s would be a nice 'live' hand to get it in with. BRICK!

Final Table time. Had my Final Table beads on. Had my Pokerstars Monkey sitting in his own chair in the bleachers, enjoying his own Bloody Mary. The players all arrived. Its funny how, typically you can sense the apprehension on players when they show up for the Final Table. I always feel very confident and relaxed now. I think maybe a few years ago, though I was the same way. Well, I was ready to make a deep run and maybe/hopefully win this bad boy.

Not gonna happen. On the first hand I pick up AK...raise, as announced by Johnny Groomes, as he tells the crowd "The Primate will raise under the gun....and take down the pot." 178K. Then 'it' happened. In the BB...Jacob (who would finish 2nd) min raises me from 3k-6k to 12k. Shannon Hancock (who would win) calls. I look at 3d5d and decide I have live cards, and a pretty good hand to play against Jacob Markowitz...who I play against a lot. I know he probably has a weak ace...something he can fold FAST if I (who they percieve as a super tight player) should happen to raise him big preflop. Well, I get what I think is a MONSTER flop for me, and don't want to run the risk of letting him catch up with me...as there is already over 40K in the pot...2h-3s-4d...and having him covered by about 40k, I move in behind Shannon's check. He insta-calls! OMG! He turns over Ace freaking FIVE....flopping a damn wheel! Turn is a 5 giving me way too many outs to either win or chop...but of course I brick the river and now am sitting in Shitsville.

Couple hands later I move it in with A4. Run into AK. Hit a 4 on the river. Double up to around 80K. Hmmmm...a comeback? Pick up 99. Raise. Get a walk. Now 100K. Go Monkey, Go Monkey! Then I make 'The Critical Error!' I somehow got it in my head that I could run over this table, so when I see Ac8c at UTG+1 I seem to think it would be a good idea to open for 25k with the blinds now at 4k/8k. Michael Fitch...who Groomes was calling Mike "Dont call me Fiotch" Fitch...shoves in with 75k. Great. In what is now about a 120k pot...I have a decision to make. Call 50k...and have a shot here at having a TON of chips, and hope he has like a small pair (very likely for this guy and how he's been playing) or something like KJ/KQ and I am at least AHEAD...or calling and running into a dominant ace...which would be the worst case scenario. Or do I fold (like a jackass) and leave myself with 50K...be the shortstack at the table...with no real chance of moving up in the money any time soon, and hope I can pull another miracle short stack comeback?

I decide to call. He has AQ. Ugh. Neither of us hit anything. And now I am back in Shitsville. I end up in the BB all in with something that didnt hit. Was too busy collecting all of my crap to recall what it was, I just know that they checked me down...and I was leading all the way to the river, when I lost to a Q or something. Out 7th. And very irritated. Since the money pretty much sucked there.

Well, the news since then has been pretty freaking grim. After my 7 for 12 start in SNGs...it has been a virtual bloodbath ever since. Pretty sure (without checking my logbook) that I have gone like 2 for 10 since. The tourneys have not gone a whole lot better, either the nooners or the 7pms. The Husband/Wife team of George and Heather continue to destroy me. In the last 48 hours I have lost on the river with them dealing to me 3 times.

FUN HANDS:

1. Wednesday Nights 7pm. Mr Aggressive (who had just doubled me up holding 77 vs his 33 a couple hands prior) makes a bad raise at cutoff with QJ offsuit. I immediately move in on him holding AQ suited. George throws a brick flop but with two hearts. Proceeds to roll out running hearts. I LOSE.

2. Wednesday night SNG...with Heather. Player raises at cutoff. I have 99. He is a pretty solid player, so I merely flat it. Flop comes 8-2-9. Yahtzee! I check. He moves in. I call. Of course. He has the 10 of diamonds (10-10). Running diamonds gives him a flush. PERFECT!

3. Thursday nooner. Holding only 3500 chips. Card dead all day. Level 4. Just had scintillating debate with Johnny Groomes about this structure from Hell, that has seen us consistently lose over 20% of the field every day at level 4 (150/300 with a 25 ante). We make a side bet on how many players we will lose this level, him making 16 the over/under. I of course take the over. (it would be 22) I believe Johnny now owes me his house. Not sure if he owes on just one mortgage or if there are several? Might have been a bad deal for me...but it IS on a golf course, and I COULD use some exercise. Future reference...if you are a tournament director, and want to make ME (and possibly some other DECENT players) happy...how about this? Instead of playing 40 or 45 minute levels and leaving out so many levels...can we please just play 30 minute levels...and go 25/25, 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 100/200 with 25, 150/300 with 25, 200/400 with 50, 300/600 with 50, 400/800 with 75, 500/1000 with 75, 300/600 with 100, 400/800 with 100, 500/1000 with 200? Would that really be such a tough thing to put together?

Anyway on to the hand. Here is the respect I've been getting. Dude limps for 200. Followed by four other limpers. I pick up KK on the button and make it 750. UTG calls. As does one other player. Flop comes Q-4-4, two hearts. UTG says "Monkey, I am going to bet enough to pot commit you." Hmmm...I see. Okay then. Other person folds. I simply move in. He thinks about it....and calls, holding 10h-8h. Interesting. Robbie is dealing. Robbie is one dealer who seems to like NOT busting me. He gives me a non-required K on the river. Now I have chips. Couple minutes later, I get my favorite K9, suited...in early position. And I am about to limp in. But then I don't! Five limpers for 300. The flop? J-9-9. The turn? K! Bet, call...RAISE. Call raise. Long story there...but I would have dragged about 8k. I suck. So very next hand? In the SB? I get the devil, K-10. Of clubs. Flop comes out...K-9-K. Whoa. Everyone checks. Damn. 7 of spades on turn. I check again. Finally someone bets 300. Other dude calls. Back to me. I make it 800. First guy folds. Next guy..holding another 3k...moves in. Jeezuz...what now? I dont think I can fold here. Did I let him hit a 7 holding 77? Nope..not so much. Just KQ! Lord. Back down to 3K. And I get, basically, blinded down to 2300. Guy limps for 400 (for about the 27th time since Ive been at this table). I have been laying down A3,A4,A7,A8,A9...behind limps...just not the hands I want to go broke with. So when I see my second favorite hand 6s-7s...I decide this is probably a pretty good hand to do battle with against some random paint. I move in. No one calls except this guy...a total of 2300 holding J-10. I flop a 7. I turn a flush draw. River? 10 of hearts. Son of a......... out!

4. Lets go play the 4pm Mega. I left this out. Couple of nights ago...I played the mega. 18 players. 2 winners. It was a total marathon, an 8 hour stress test. I would end up splitting a seat with another guy, who BTW had the WORST BREATH on the PLANET and was responsible for me making a couple of loose calls against, trying to bust him just so I could erradicate his dragon's wind from my life. And what sucked was both times I was ahead, once with Q9 (vs. his Q6) and another time with A9 (vs. his A4). I sucked out on this dude who thinks apparantly that he is the second coming of Crocodile Dundee. He even has "DUNDEE" etched on his shirt collar. He is a local though. 'Armadillo Dundee?' 'Possum Dundee?' Whatever, I cracked his AK with my KJ when we were 5 handed. We played 5 handed for TWO FREAKING HOURS! I left him with...literally, 900 chips! The blinds were 300/600. Idiot donkey on the button decided to raise to 3600 with this guy about to be all in (holding DEUCE FOUR OFFSUIT!) and I folded A5 offsuit. Well of course I hit an ace on the flop...button with KQ hits NOTHING...and our boy 'Raccoon Dundee' hits a 2 on the river to start his improbably comeback. Then I make a move that ends up smacking me in the mouth. Every time I have limped in vs. Dundee he has raised. So when I look down at AA I think...."hmmm..wouldnt it be nice to put this guy on the wall?" So what do I do? I limp in. What does he do? He freaking CHECKS! The flop comes out....5-7-5. Typically we like to pair the board holding aces, right? Sure...unless our opponent is holding 5-9. I double him up...and now he has a LOT of chips. Unreal. He would never lose his chips. Nor would he negotiate a fair deal for the 2 seats. No, No! He was fully committed to taking a full seat. So when the blinds got simply retarded...and me and the other clown with horrible breath were sitting on the same stack, and knowing one of us was about to leave with a very severe case of "I want to smash something into a million pieces-itis" I made a deal with him to sign for the seat (because someone HAS to take the seat) and give him $1300. So basically all I really won was a $900 discount on my Main Event entry. Which was why I decided to play another one...holding a seat I thought "wouldn't it be nice to win another one? So me and my backer can slap another $2700 back in our dwindling bankroll!"

So I take my seat. My buddy Robert "Westside Bobby From San Francisco" Smith is dealing. He had spent the previous week living in my guest room as he was in between gigs. First hand he gives me is 4-4. I make a striaght that I have to share with the SB holding 4-7. Second hand I get is As-10s. I lose. Next hand I get is 8-9 suited. Air Ball. Then I utter this gem. "Wouldnt it be something if you put me out on the fourth hand?" I really did say that. So what do I get in my hand? The same hand I just lost in the nooner with. 6s7s. I limp for 50. FIVE callers later the button makes it 250. Glen. Pony tail Glen. Sigh....oh Glen, what did you wake up with over there? AJ? Middle pair? I would have folded...until three others call..and I know the other two will too (implied odds)...so I call. And now we have a pot of around 1600. The flop comes down...and it looks magical....8s-9s-4s! Holy crap. FLUSH...with an open ended STRAIGHT FLUSH DRAW! Can NOT get TOO much better than THAT! Well, okay, it could have...the 4 could have been a 5, right!? I check. Other guy checks. Glen makes it 800.

SHAMWOW! Wait, does that make sense? No it doenst...I have just felt like using SHAMWOW all week. Ever since I saw that news clip that ShamWow boy got busted for smacking around a hooker!

I make it 1800. The guy behind me SHOVES! WTF? AND GLEN INSTA CALLS. AGAIN...WTF? Well, only thing I can think of is 'bigger flush' but there is NO WAY I am folding this, not with a chance to be sitting on 16K after the 4th hand. I could practically skate to the top 4 with that many chips this early. Well, guy to my left has As3s..hmmm...that was a pretty good hand to call 250 with. Whatever. Glen has 88, for a set. Okay, so...well, I need a 5s or a 10s dont I? Lets go deuce, deuce instead...giving Glenn a boat. Why not? I'm out!

5. Lets go play the 7pm again. Holding 3500 chips I call this dudes crazy all in for 2100 behind 4 limpers for 200 holding 10-10, a hand I hadn't lost with this week.(only because I don't think I have HAD it all week!) He has 88. I hold, and now have about 6500. Then I have a really weird situation. I pick up 66. In UTG+1. I decide to raise. Make it 650. This weird looking old dude, who always looks like he just found a giant turd on his living room floor (you know THAT look, right?) finally CALLS my raise. Then this guy Preston (the young one...there are TWO Prestons, one older, and this guy..younger, who always has a funky outfit on...he is like a modern-day John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever, who I think just 'wants to strut') goes into this prolonged act of re-raising me. Okay Okay...I know, you have QQ or KK. Whatever. He makes it 1800 more. Well, before I can act...Mr. Turd on the Carpet acts out of turn and calls. Hmmm...okay, so I have a very unique situation here. I now KNOW this guy is calling, and isnt re-opening the betting. So I can call the 1800. The pot will be a very robust 7000+ with the option to get away from it after the flop and still have around 3200. Or, god forbid, I flop a 6 like I just did in a sit n go right before this to crack an over confident players' AA....and become the chipleader at the table. I decide its a good play to call. Old buzzard gets his last 1875 in....and we both call the additional 75. The flop comes all middle cards. Hmmmm....I check. Preston CHECKS. I think that he THINKS I flopped a set, and now...I WISH LIKE HELL I had moved all in, because the old fart has exactly what I THOUGHT HE HAS....AJ...and never hits. We end up checking it down...and I DO pick up a straight draw along the way. But he turns over QQ at the end and wins the whole pot. I dont know, I think the only time I win is if I shove on the TURN....and then maybe he still calls. Not sure. But he thought I definitely hit a set. CRAP. So now I have only 3500. Well, the worst (and loosest) player at the table raises to 600 in middle position. I look down at JJ in the SB and decide to try and trap this guy. The flop comes Q-4-4, two hearts. I check. I can fold here if he makes a large bet. But he checks. I'm good. 2 of spades on the turn...I move in for 2900. He thinks, thinks...and finally calls. Holding A6h. He rivers a damn 5 of hearts. Anddddd I am out of another one.

I play one SNG after that. And then I allow myself to get sucked into the ALWAYS CALL THE MIN RAISER in the BB trap. You all know how much I HATE the min raise. Well, yeah...1/2 he does it UTG....to 400. I call with Q5 (donkey). Flop comes Q-3-4 with two clubs. I check. He looks down at his cards, which is telling me he doesn't have a Q but is looking to see if he has clubs, which for some reason makes me think he has AK when he bets out 600. I move all in for 1200 and he calls, rolling over AA. Ohhh..hmmm..how nice. Thats it. Im outa here. I take Squirrel's advice and wrap it up early. Come home...watch a movie with her...and get a great night of sleep. It is now 8:15am. I have been writing this since 7am...when I woke up. Paid my bills, read some other peoples' blogs, none from OUR site...all very NOT INTERESTING at all...and decided to get caught up. I hope to GOD mine was at least three times more interesting than the crap I read from the others'.

So it's been another overall crappy week. This one after a VERY hot, and promising start. Its just been a very weird year so far. I don't think I am doing ANYTHING different than what I did LAST year when I ran so good. In fact, I think my game is stronger. I just havent been getting anything but BAD breaks. And at least now we have some good tourneys coming up that I hope people will show up for. The fields all week have been HORRIBLE. Very unexpected. I really thought we were going to have some big fields. Today's is a $340...and I know a lot of players came in last night. Then we have a $550 on Saturday, the $1000 on Sunday and the then Mega sat's all day Monday, which I plan to play and try and pocket more Main Event money....and the Main on Tuesday. A lot of opportunities still to make a big/decent score.

On a better note, it IS nice to see a lot of my buddies doing well. Shannon Hancock, a dealer at the Beau, a good player, and a long time buddy...won the one I final tabled. That was great for him. Allie won up at Foxwoods. Then Matt Brady turned around and won a couple days later. Clint Shafer took the first event down here. Then Bryan Lanoix came down from Baton Rouge yesterday and what does he do? He three-way chops the event yesterday for over 6K. He gets his AA cracked by freaking K8 three handed otherwise he would have also won the Main Event seat. That sucks big time. But still...a nice score after debating on whether to make the drive down at all. I think I told him not to be a wuss and get his ass down here. Guessing he's glad he did now! BJ McBrayer called me last night and I think he is headed down with some of his posse today too.

I think I will take a nice hot bath to start my morning, maybe pick up some Waffle House...and start todays tourney ON TIME for a change. Go in with a very positive attitude, continue making the old guys laugh (which I have been doing a LOT of this week) at my table, have some fun...and try to get back on track with a Final Table.

Have spent some fair amount of time with a bunch of dealers this week. Twice I have had very exciting meals in the Terrace Cafe with Jackson and his wife Justina...and Jennifer...the service in that place is ALWAYS lousy. I can't understand why they cant get things right in there, EVER. Prior to that they saw me at the blackjack table...which is where I will sometimes go if I have had a COMPLETE shitstorm at the poker tables. Why? You ask? Kind of a funny answer. Since you all know (I think you do anyway) that I pretty much totally avoid all casino games. When I run REAL bad in poker, it makes me feel better to go plop $200 on the blackjack table and lose miserably there...reminding me that there is something WORSE than losing at poker. But what complicates it is when I actually play on that $200 for 3 hours...have great conversation with the dealers when they join me and make me feel better about the crappy day I just had...and I cash out to go eat with them having made $12. Thats right...TWELVE DOLLAR PROFIT!

Another dealer comment, then I am going to take a bath. Only because I told him I was going to write about him. First of all..what is up with these 'bad times' name tags they made for the dealers? Its like they took the blanks to some Indian (the kind with the forehead dot) guy who had a Kiosk at the local second-rate mall and got them done for $1.20 a piece. They are awful. TINY print, terrible font. If I didn't know 95% of the dealers' names by heart I would never know them now. I just can't visually acquire a salmon from 300 yards in the air like an eagle can. Adam Nash is a good dealer. Up in Tunica they screwed up his name tag...to read A-D-A-A-M. So of course, I took to calling him SADDAAM. DUH. The guy NEVER talks in the box. I thought he was about the most boring dealer I had ever met. But a good dealer. Technically speaking. Sometimes when a dealer is in the box and won't give me anything in the way of conversation...I take that to mean they hate me.

Well, I had Adam at my table the other day when I decided to play the 4pm $340 limit Omaha hi/lo tourney. (another brilliant decision) I barely recognized him. He was chattier than me. He was funny. He was outspoken. A bit crazy. And a good player. When I told him my thoughts...he told me "well, when I am in the box, I am there to work. I don't think its very professional for me to act like this when I am working." Wow, I really respected that. Because I know myself...and you all know me...just how nutso I can be. I don't honestly think I could be the dealer in the box that he is. This guy has his act together. Now I just hope some stupid BS doesnt befall him...as so many good dealers seem to have happening to them lately.

Okay...believe this blog entry has begun to develop a pulse. I am going now, to get my game face on! Hope to have better news on my next entry!

MONKEY

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