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.