Serendipity

So, many moons ago I was playing some mid-afternoon poker and as is so often the case in the high-stakes world of $.25/.50 NL, some smack-talk was going down in the chat-box. On this day, it was because of the name of one of the players: GabeKapler. The screenname bore a striking resemblance to a major league baseball player by the name of... Gabe Kapler. The smack-talker kept after Kapler, quizzing him on how he could be online playing poker at this time of day - a gameday, no less. Kapler politely answered the guy's questions - and kept playing his game. Finally, Mr. Googler was satisfied that it was, indeed, Mr. Kapler - Boston Red Sox outfielder.

Which brings me to this morning's G-Vegas News, and the headline at the top of the sports page: Kapler Hired as Drive Manager. For the uninitiated, the Drive is our local minor league, single A baseball team, afiliated with the Boston Red Sox. The team is housed in a classy, mini-replica of Fenway Park. Complete with mini-Green Monster.

Welcome Back, Kapler

Delivered

Greer

I guess hand histories and such are a bit passe in blogdom, but I can't let this one go by - my first NLHE Royal Flush:



All the micro-money went in the middle on the flop so, luckily, I was up against a pair of rockets, and it paid off a little.

It wasn't 30 minutes later, at the same table, that I flopped quad deuces:



With not much thanks to these two hands, I had more than doubled the table buy-in and decided to call it a night when I flopped a boat holding KQs. Luck was surely about to run out. Right?

This is a test... to see if I still know how to log in to blogger and make a post. So... if you're reading this...

Actually, I trust that this long-dormant spot on the web is going to see some action shortly from my partner, with many stories from the Far, Far East. China, that is. Suzhou to be more specific. For I have been witness to the retelling of some of the tales at the local Irish Bar. As were the unwitting occupants who happened to be there at the hour of our arrival: two bartenders and a couple grabbing the 'early bird' special. Now, I've been in the Irish Bar when the lights came ON, and was hurriedly pushed out the front door by various 'employees' and, possibly, local law enforcement. But must say it was strange walking INTO the same bar with the lights on. But that's how Otit rolls.

Now, for some well-meaning pimpage.

That Bobby Bracelet is quite the guy. He's gone and set up a whole bunch of new items to be auctioned. It won't stop there, either. Look for additions like 2 t ickets to Howard and Suzie Lederer's WSOP party, a signed cowboy hat by Kenna James, Matt Savage running your home game, Greg Raymer signed a fossil for some lucky bidder, and even more!

Oh yeah, there will be a poker table auctioned off thanks to Bluff Magazine. It will be signed by every pro that Gavin, Spaceman, and Bluff staff can muster. It'll also be signed by the brand spanking new WSOP Main Event Champion. Then of course, Bobby Bracelet will be auctioning that off to one lucky bastard. Better bring your checkbook for that one though, cause it'll go for over 10k.

Here is a rundown of the stuff you will soon find on Ebay and ready for your bids. And by "soon" I mean later today, July 19th

Two tickets to the Full Tilt Poker Gala Event at the WSOP! There are two tickets available, each one is allowed to bring a guest. This is up already and will end in 5 days because the event is July 26th. It's at Pure nightclub in Caesar's. Check it out, make a bid, meet and marry a celebrity.

LATE ADDITION!

One lucky sob and a guest have a chance to attend Howard and Suzie Lederer's (and Steve Zolotow's) 4th Annual WSOB and Karaoke Championship. Thursday July 27th, from 6pm - ??? at a restaurant off the strip. Many of the top pros will be there, and you never know, possibly a celebrity or two. I can't think of much that would be more entertaining than seeing somebody like Phil Hellmuth belting
out Endless love.

Gavin Smith, poker professional and all around great guy, has the tickets and we will get the winning bidder in touch with him to ensure the tickets are in your hand in time.

(Note: this does not mean to imply that Phil Hellmuth will be there.)
(Also: WSOB apparently stands for World Series of Beer. NICE!)

Steve Zolotow has donated a night out at one of his favorite hangouts, a place called Nice Guy Eddie's in New York. Dinner for two, drinks, and whatever sort of poker conversation you'd like to have. Ask questions, listen to stories, get some tips and pointers, or just shoot the breeze. He's a great guy that truly enjoys conversations on a variety of topics.

Robert Mizrachi has offered a 2 Hour Lesson. This will be by phone unless by some chance you can work out a time and place that works for him. With tourneys and travel, chances are you'll have to settle for a phone lesson, but you never know. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Annie Duke sent two signed copies of her book along with 3 DVD's. They were split up into two packages. The first is the hardcover edition with the advanced secrets DVD, while the other is the paperback version with two DVD's, one for beginners and one for women.

Mike Krzyzewski signed a Duke hat. Bobby Bracelet tells me it has taken every ounce of his will not to stomp it into oblivion before setting it on fire. If you're a fan, it's a great Nike fitted hat. If you aren't, buy it for charity and do exactly as Bobby would do in hopes it will work like voodoo on Duke's chances next season.

There is another Card Player package like last time, only this time we have the ability to also add a one year subscription to Card Player Magazine.

There is another Phil Hellmuth DVD package similar to last time, though it will also be joined by a one year subscription to Card Player Magazine.

Go To For Peyton and keep in eye on these items. Should be up today.

----------------

Also, former blogger and 7th place finalist in the 2004 WSOP Main Event Matt Dean, is writing about his participation in the 2006 World Series of Poker for the Houston Chronicle.

I've gotta get back into the swing of things. If I ever even had one, my poker blogger membership card is about to get pulled.

So, while trolling some sites to look for any live music shows coming to the greater G-Vegas area (reminding myself that I actually used to go to a good bit of shows around here), I noticed that Tom Sartori, #26 finisher in the the 2005 WSOP Main Event, is playing a show on June 22 at Wild Wing Cafe.

How's that for poker content for ya?

I Am Poker Champ.

I am registered to play in the Online Poker Blogger Freeroll Win your share of $25,000 and a set of Nevada Jacks poker chips. Hosted By: Absolute Poker Sponsored By: Poker Source Online Registration Code: 68739565

This sounds like it would have been a great day trip, if it weren't right in the middle of our kids' Spring Break, and I'm not already going to be way North of these environs the entire week.




Details

C'mon, G-Vegas... Represent!

Could not keep myself from stopping in and checking on the Champ vs. Chicks tournament on Stars. Quite an entertaining evening on the rail. Here's how the villain... I mean, the Champ went down:

PokerStars Game #4144622873: Tournament #20309570, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/03/01 - 22:14:51 (ET)
Table '20309570 1' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 4: TequilaMom (1610 in chips)
Seat 5: Joanne1111 (2450 in chips)
Seat 8: Maudie (4940 in chips)
TequilaMom: posts small blind 75
Joanne1111: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Maudie: raises 450 to 600
TequilaMom: calls 525
Joanne1111: folds
*** FLOP *** [2h Ks 8h]
TequilaMom: checks
Maudie: bets 700
TequilaMom: raises 310 to 1010 and is all-in
Maudie: calls 310
*** TURN *** [2h Ks 8h] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [2h Ks 8h Js] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TequilaMom: shows [Kc Qd] (a pair of Kings)
Maudie: shows [Ts Qs] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
Maudie collected 3370 from pot
Joanne1111 said, "WOOOOOOOOOO"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3370 Rake 0
Board [2h Ks 8h Js 9s]
Seat 4: TequilaMom (small blind) showed [Kc Qd] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: Joanne1111 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Maudie (button) showed [Ts Qs] and won (3370) with a straight flush, Nine to King

And the ensuing commentary?

HermWarfare [observer]: wow
Dealer: TequilaMom has a pair of Kings
Dealer: Maudie has a straight flush, Nine to King
Cudd517 [observer]: NICE
SirFWALGMan [observer]: ouch
Katitude [observer]: YES!!!!!
Dealer: Game #4144622873: Maudie wins pot (3370) with a straight flush, Nine to King
Dealer: TequilaMom finished the tournament in 3rd place
Dealer: We are now Heads Up
Joanne1111: WOOOOOOOOOO
EvieMarie [observer]: wow royal!
AlCantHang [observer]: ohh. that's gonna get posted
Cudd517 [observer]: AHAHAHA
Tactix [observer]: exclam
Joanne1111: VNH
on_thg [observer]: aiiiii yaaaa!
TequilaMom [observer]: um, okay.
AxeManSC [observer]: tourist
Bloody P [observer]: it's over!
SirFWALGMan [observer]: lol
yestbay1 [observer]: whoa
Maudie: runner runner suckout
Garthmeister [observer]: *pow*
Katitude [observer]: yay team estrogen!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cudd517 [observer]: Runner runner straight flush
Dealer: Game #4144641453: Maudie wins pot (150)
RandomSam [observer]: vnh
Bloody P [observer]: YEA!
SirFWALGMan [observer]: man thats not the way you want to win, lol
Cudd517 [observer]: TOURIST
TequilaMom [observer]: i knew that's how i'd go down.
TequilaMom [observer]: I KNEW IT>
on_thg [observer]: SO RIGGED
Bloody P [observer]: LOLOLOLOLOL
RandomSam [observer]: suckout like a champion today
lifesagrind [observer]: can't wait to read his post about that hand
TequilaMom [observer]: TRAPPED HER.
SirFWALGMan [observer]: gg chump
Cudd517 [observer]: INTERNET POKER IS RIGGED
Dealer: Game #4144643710: Maudie wins pot (300)
EvieMarie [observer]: yeah, live poker is rigged...
TequilaMom [observer]: and she GOES RUNNER RUNNER.
Garthmeister [observer]: Get out the blue veiner!
Bloody P [observer]: that's poker!
EvieMarie [observer]: I mean online poker is rigged. :-)
Cudd517 [observer]: check raising top pair is not a huge trap man
AlCantHang [observer]: big stack poker

Made the trip to the Queen City this past weekend to play in the Falstaff Invitaional, leaving G-Vegas mid-morning with Badblood, his metalfied iPod, and an old-school FM transmitter in-tow. Having thoroughly cleaned the Mrs' vehicle of every vestage of Bon Jovi, and having dodged the possibility of a Phish-y ipod making the trip, quality tunage was almost as important as decent poker play later in the day. Alas, Otit could not be persuaded to make the trip – even after his tourney win the previous evening at Casa Blood.

We were the first to arrive, followed shortly thereafter by the rest of the G-Vegas contingent: TeamScottSmith, Shep "8-Ball" Tiltstein, Mrs. Shep, Wolverine, and two Texan representatives of the Smith Clan. The rest of the field was rounded out by Wes and the Columbia contingent, TripJax, and the local Charlotte players.

After appropriate beverages were secured among the players, cards were in the air and I was seated in the living room table along with Chef & Mrs. Shep. I was rather happy early on to accumulate some chips, especially since my cards were anything but stellar. I must give some props to Shep who helped create a table image for me by repeatedly announcing my nickname, which seemed to sufficiently intimidate some of the other players. As thanks, I stayed out of Shep's pots... and he seemed to stay out of mine. It was, however, a rather unaggressive table. I don't recall many preflop raises more than 2X BB, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that twice I was called down with a weak flopped ace by a player who had limped with AK and AQ. Bled off some chips there.

Movement of players between tables became commonplace soon, so there seemed to be new faces, and even returning faces, quite often. Drunken yells from the downstairs table, emanating from a Patron and Pinot-mixing player also became commonplace as the afternoon rolled along. It's often been rumored that said player just puts on an act of being overly intoxicated. It wasn't one of those days. It wasn't an act.

No big hands really come to mind, then I was down to one of the short stacks when we combined to two tables and picking spots to push was becoming a necessity. I was able to nearly double up when I pushed all in with 66 and got called with ATo. While the flop and turn brought two more Aces, the fourth club on the river game me flush, and the pot. The next opportunity to push ran into another pocket pair and my (one) over did not improve. AxeMan out.

The cash game table was full so I spent a little time after my bustout making a quick grub run with Wolverine and dealing for the Final Three. By the time I did sit for the cash game, it was 4-handed dealer's choice and only lasted about thirty minutes, which saw an orbit of Omaha Hi and Crazy Pineapple. Nothing like flopping quad Queens in the Queen City during the Pineapple orbit, only to split the pot when BadBlood made his low hand. Regardless, a super day with more of the blogging crew and other regional talent. Great job, Falstaff.

Enough of the excuses for not posting. I did it for you, reader. If I post, our spokesmodel's picture gets knocked down. Couldn't let that happen, could we?

Live poker seems to have taken a backseat to various obligations, but we can also place some of the blame on Otit. Various maladies are negatively impacting the stellar reputation of the premier G-Vegas venue: the 505. Thankfully, I hear the antibiotics are working. With a few other tables under construction in the greater metropolitan area, I suspect that the future looks bright for even more hot spots to throw around chips representing play money. I hear only one of those spots is going to be collecting a play money rake, but they've caved and also agreed to pay the nightly $5 appearance fee to a local celebrity or two.

This weekend, finally, I'm looking forward to fleeing town in a convoy of other local degenerates as we head to the Falstaff Invitational. As we discuss getting to the venue, I predict that one conversation with my fellow traveller will go exactly like this:


BB: Well, let's hit up Yahoo! Maps to find the dopest route.

tAM: I prefer Mapquest.

BB: That's a good one, too.

tAM: Google Maps is the best.

BB: True dat.


Double true!


And, just in time for this event, Noble Poker bestowed on me a whopping $20 come-back-to-us bonus, so I've been hitting the $2+.40 Dirty Dozen Jackpot SNG's pretty hard to get the tournament chops together. The ROI is in the black, baby. So watch out. I don't plan on playing like a chump.

So, I was reminded this weekend that my contributions to this here blog have been few and far between. I knew that joining the community was a tall order. But, as they say, the G-Vegas blogging waters were warm. No, the creative juices have not been flowing but I have been off the scene when it comes to the local, non-raked home games for a few weeks. I do not plan to keep up that record of lack of participation, though.

Saturday's home game (see below) did break the dry spell, and a good time was had by all at the long-vacant 505.

So, my offering for the day will have to be this:
Cherokees, NC Guv discuss allowing live poker tables

Hey... it's closer than Tunica!

While sitting for the weekly lunch at H with BadBlood, I lamented that my consistently poor results at Full Tilt Poker were uncanny. I've only played on the site occasionally, but figured I would keep some of the bankroll on deposit since it seems like all of the cool kids play there. Speaking of cool kids, it was only a week or two ago when I was sitting at a .25/.50 NL table, clicking and folding while catching some TV with the Mrs. (now there's a post for another day...) and I glance over to see a screenname that could only belong to one person. She of most excellent Long Island Iced Tea mixing fame - and my first random brush with one from the blogosphere.

So this past weekend, I figured I'd give FT another shot. The meager br had already taken a slight hit, so I dropped down a level (to .10/.25NLHE) and decided to play to build it back up. And, amazingly, I started seeing some positive results. Thanks, in no small part, to the following hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #373632235: Table Mesa Peak - $0.10/$0.25 - NLHE
Seat 1: Alon Ipser ($23.10)
Seat 2: pneum ($30.85)
Seat 3: theAxeMan ($18.70)
Seat 4: CIR7782 ($6.15)
Seat 5: shwitty429 ($9.50)
Seat 6: AshleeUJ ($19.20)
Seat 7: nitefly73 ($30.30)
Seat 8: Altendorf ($13.05)
Seat 9: popozilu ($8)
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to theAxeMan [3d 3c]
Altendorf raises to $0.50
pneum calls $0.50
theAxeMan calls $0.50
CIR7782 calls $0.50
shwitty429 folds
AshleeUJ calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [Td 3h 9d]
AshleeUJ bets $2.60
Altendorf raises to $5.20
pneum calls $5.20

I have to say that the bet and raise was a little suspicious, but I put each of these opponents on catching a piece of the flop, and each of them drawing to an Ace to make two pair. So I...

theAxeMan raises to $18.20, and is all in

AshleeUJ raises to $18.70, and is all in (Sweet)
Altendorf calls $7.35, and is all in (Bonus!)
pneum calls $13.50 (Money!!)
AshleeUJ shows [As Ts]
Altendorf shows [Ah 9h]
pneum shows [Qd Tc]
theAxeMan shows [3d 3c]
*** TURN *** [Td 3h 9d] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Td 3h 9d 7s] [2d]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $70.75 Main pot $52.80. Side pot 1 $16.95. Side pot 2 $1. Rake $3
Board: [Td 3h 9d 7s 2d]
Seat 2: pneum showed [Qd Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 3: theAxeMan showed [3d 3c] and won ($66.75) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 6: AshleeUJ (big blind) showed [As Ts] and won ($1) with a pair of Tens
Seat 8: Altendorf showed [Ah 9h] and lost with a pair of Nines

Doosh.

Also, I decided to take a stab at one of their $4+.40 SNG's. I play a fair amount of live tourney's here in G-Vegas, but almost religiously stick to ring games online. After a not-so-great showing at the recently completed Event #1 of the BBSOP, I figured some tournament practice was in order. And whaddayaknow? Took down the 9-person field for a $26 tournament token.

A great confidence builder at the very least.