Posted by Dr Fro 10:47 AM
Q: Is it possible for an asset to lose more value in an instant than Enron stock?

A: Yes.




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Posted by Dr Fro 3:24 PM
We keep missing these blogger tournaments. There is another tonight, but I will be at dinner.

I am past the hurt and can now laugh at our failure in the World Series.

There are some good nitpicks on Rounders here. Kinda funny to print out and have handy while you watch the movie (for the 100th time).

This is pretty funny. I am sure JJF would understand the humor.


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Posted by Johnnymac 2:27 PM
As a lot of you know, I grew up in Texas but I attended college out of state, at a certain small school in a Boston suburb. I cheer for the Longhorns every Saturday, mainly because they're on TV and because I would have gone to school there had I not gotten into Harvard or had Fred Goldsmith not rescinded his verbal offer of a football scholarship to Rice when he found out I had already been admitted academically (what an asshole to do that to an 18 yr old kid! But I digress...).

Anyway, the point of this post is that while none of Harvard's games are on TV (the team is better than when I was there but they have their own asshole coach these days), they have always been a good deal of fun to attend in person - even when the team was losing - because, being a private school, alcohol consumption wasn't regulated by a bunch of ninnies in the state government and the administrators tended to look the other way. ( We would even pass around a bottle in the stands on occasion! Try that at a UT or A&M game...) By far, the most fun was the annual Yale game ("The Game") because the parties and tailgates were so good. So good in fact, the it was common not to even go into the stadium for the game because the parties were still going on. Well, last year I heard Harvard put some clamps on the parties, including shutting them down at halftime. That wasn't disturbing, because it was always more fun to travel than to stay home, but now Yale is reciprocating just in time for this year's game and the days of the super duper Kegs-and-Eggs-in-a-rented-Ryder-Truck appear to be over. Very disappointing.


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Posted by Dr Fro 2:02 PM
Last night I stopped by Js for a little 2-5 NL and did quite well. In stark contrast to last week, I was very focused. I was early enough to have my choice of seats and strategically found a spot with a maniac to my right and the best player to my left.

Fairly early on, I was dealt 55. Roy raised preflop and I called. I flopped a set, checked to Roy and called his bet. On the turn, I made a boat, checked, Roy bet, and I called. The river brought a third diamond. I thought that if he had something decent, it was irrelevant if I bet or checked - either way, he would end up all in (another $85). But if he held something like AA, he would be unlikely to bet if I checked. I decided to bet and determined I had to go all-in to give the appearance that I could be on a steal. I did, he went back and forth and finally called. He had AA and I won a $500 pot.

I won two other big pots with mediocre hands, but both times I did the same thing. Doofus raised pre-flop and I re-raised him to go heads-up. I knew that Doofus would raise with absolutely anything, so I figured going headsup with a mediocre hand (I think it was QJ once and A9 once....both times he had complete rags) would probably make me the favorite. I was right. The table was shocked, "Why did you re-raise with QJ?" Yet another example of why playing mechanically means missing oportunities in NL.

I went home booking a $400 profit.


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Posted by Padilla 10:16 AM
I would take “professional” over “amateur” today.

I crunched through the schedule, and I find it difficult to avoid having to take AT LEAST 64 hours of vacation to play in it…and that’s counting weekdays as 8 hours and not counting Fridays.
(I work 9-hour days, with every other Friday off, so I’m not counting any Fridays, but 9-hours for weekdays)

Therefore, let me suggest that instead of increasing the entry fee to $25,000 in attempt to keep out the riff-raff, Harrah’s has created such a format that most amateurs won’t be able to adhere to.

1. This format lends itself to locals in Las Vegas
2. This format lends itself to professional poker players that don’t have X number of vacation hours per year
3. This format lends itself to people that work for themselves (crack dealers and college students welcome!!)

They are prepping for 8,800, but I will be shocked if they get near that. The number of days just isn’t in the realm of possibility for most amateurs. What you might find is a lot of people qualifying online, then canceling once they realized the depth of the tourney.

Who wins?

The online poker sites that have players cancel. They already have the vig from the satellites, and now they’ll get to keep the $10K, flight costs, and 14-night hotel costs. Be sure to notice if you have a choice of entry vs. cash when you attempt to qualify online.


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Posted by Johnnymac 6:07 AM
At 2:00 yesterday afternoon, Kirk called me and said he had two tickets to the game. You can obviously guess what my answer was. It was fun, although the outcome was disappointing but not necessarily unexpected. That's the thing about the World Series - when you're down 3-0 you have a chance to adjust your expectations. Yes, it would have been nice to win the World Series, but if you remember just how bad this team was in May, I am willing to give them a pass this October. I might not be so understanding next time, but for now it was a hell of a nice ride.


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Posted by Junelli 10:19 AM
In Vegas I had the wind sucked out of my sails. Since being back in Houston I can't seem to get it back. The beats just keep on coming.

Last week I had a set of Aces (just like in Vegas). And just like Vegas, a guy caught a broadway straight to beat me. The beat wasn't as painful though because he was justified in calling with his open ended straight draw and flush draw.

I've also lost with AA against runner runner flush. **Seriously considering mucking Aces from now on.**

Last night I got all my money in with the best hand 3 separate times, and was beaten all 3 times. It's as if people know to chase flush and straight draws against me because they're guaranteed to hit.

I however, cannot manage to hit any of my draws.

This weekend I turn it around!


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Posted by Dr Fro 10:14 AM
Good article.

If you haven't read This Ain't Brain Surgery, consider reading it. For guys that didn't play baseball past little league, it is enlightening.


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Posted by Dr Fro 9:04 AM
I'm in. You?

Link


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Posted by Johnnymac 9:18 AM
I have received a few emails inquiring about the next one-day tournament, and even a few emails asking about next years WSOP series. Well, I have thought about these subjects and Fro and I have talked a couple of times and... that's about it. A lot of thought, a little talk, and no action.

Given that my bathroom project just won't end and has occupied all of my time, I frankly had forgotten about it until about two weeks ago when I was unpacking pre-hurricane evacuation boxes and came across all of my poker paraphernalia and realized that "holy shit, we are supposed to have a tournament next month!" Not to mention the fact that my boss was let go at work back in September which ultimately led to me getting a promotion and heading over to the West desk to trade power, and I thus I have been preoccupied with life lately. Similarly, Fro lives in *Dallas* and is now some sort of jet-setting soon-to-be-partner at his firm, so his plate is pretty full, too. (I read in US Weekly that he and Jane were invited to Ashton and Demi's wedding but had to bail at the last minute because he still was busy vetting Harriet Miers and then got a code red request from Alan Greenspan to audit a chicken farm in Hong Kong for bird flu and they just couldn't squeeze it in over the layover @ LAX. Seriously.)

Anyway, the point of this is that at this very moment, there are no IAG sanctioned tournaments scheduled. We might be able to throw something together at the end of December, but unfortunatey the calendar is still uncooperative (like it was last year) with no weekend in between the 2 big holidays.

Furthermore, there isn't anywhere to even play a tournament right now, because even though I now own a nice big house with plenty of room and HVAC capacity, Mrs Johnnymac is barely warmed up to the idea of letting just 10 guys play cards inside the house when she's out of town. I'm not even going to bother risking marital discord by trying to throw a 50 person tournamenent together some weekend when she's going to be around. Ask me in about 4 years and the story might be different, but not this year.

Here is a request: if anyone has an adequate space to host a 50 person tournament (about 1000 sq ft of free floor space + a television, refrigertor, and adequate HVAC) and you are willing to donate it out of the goodness of your heart, we would be most appreciative. You would only be responsible for providing a place to play, we would take care of everything else: tables, chairs, food, money, organization, etc etc. Email me (see below) if you might want to help. Naturally, you would get a free entry into the tournament for your trouble. The only stipulation for this offer of course being that we kinda oughta sorta need to know you so we can vouch for your character and flake factor.

As far as the WSOP series goes, we have all been kicking around a lot of good ideas, but nothing has been set. For instance, we will would like to tie the big tournament to the series - perhaps give the top 1 or 2 guys a "free" entry to the final table, plus we are looking at ways to have multiple super-super-satellites or perhaps sanction or license the use of the name to guys playing at home who want to "sponsor" a winner, so to say. But right now those are all ideas.

So here is the deal: by December 31, maybe before Christmas or even sooner, we will have the details ready for the 2006 WSOP series and at least a tentative calendar for all of the dates. If you have any ideas that you want to suggest, please send them to me ASAP. Fro and I have let the email addresses with the @IAG domain names expire, so if you want to contact me send email to my old yahoo account: johnmackeygreene@yahoo.com. Many of you may already have my "real" address and you can use that instead and bypass Yahoo, I just don't want to publish it here, is all. Hopefully I will also have more about the one-day tourney, too - if we can't squeeze it in this Fall/Winter it will definitely take place sometime in early 2006.

So that's it. The short summary is that none of us have forgotten about any of this and there will be announcements shortly.


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Posted by Dr Fro 10:21 PM
I stopped by Js to play a little 2-5 NL on Thursday night. It was a strange night. I should have never gone. I was a bit flustered from work and really didn't have my head in the game, and the results showed it.

Mike is an odd fellow that told ARH once that he made him fold AK pre-flop. We assumed he was kidding. Mike folded QQ and AK pre-flop to a raiser on Thursday night. I know because he showed me. He only saw one flop in 2 hours and that was with AA. Now that is too tight by any definition.

I messed up a hand really bad. I was on the button and it folded around to me. There was a dead SB, so I raised to 15 to get the BB. He called (with 82o I later learned.) I bet the flop and he called. When an Ace came on the turn, he checked and for some reason I thought he may have had an Ace and wanted a check-raise. I checked. The flop brought nothing very interesting and he checked again. The only right move here is to bet big and bet immediately. I just kinda sat there in a daze for 20 seconds then showed my hand. He won with a pair of 2's.

This is what happens when you are preoccupied when you play.

I also played 3 hands of 5-10 O/8. I "won" all three hands. Once I quartered and twice I split a heads-up pot. All three pots were around $80. I won $7.

Like I said, not my night.

I hope to get my mojo back before Sunday. After losing at 2-5, I need a big score at .25-.50 to break even.

I won't be going to Stillwater after all, but the trade off is worth it. I have tickets to Game 5 in Houston and a free ticket on Southwest, so as long as the Astros win a game, I get to go to the World Series. (And of course if the Horns win 5 games, I can go to the Rose Bowl!) As much as the Astros' situation sucks right now, I am pretty pumped. I mean, how many people ever go to a World Series? Here's one.


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Posted by Johnnymac 6:56 PM
Yes, the Astros are currently struggling in the World Series, but remember how good we felt on Thursday? Well, some people felt bad. And in consideration of the time-honored poker tradition of enjoying your opponents misery, I bring you good cheer:

"Born a Cardinals, always a cardinals fan... WAAAAAAAA!"


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Posted by Dr Fro 1:03 PM

Call my cell phone tonight after 5 to find out where the tailgate is. Gay Tech fans with tortillas are welcome. I will be buying food and beer tonight, so I need to know is you is or you ain't gonnna be there.


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Posted by Johnnymac 11:14 PM


I have to admit that I started tonight in the bathroom and on the radio as I had planned, but Canonico and Nichol called me in the 4th inning and said they were hanging out at a bar and wanted me to join them, so I did. Luckily, I had enough karma built up that it didn't matter.

Aside from the Astros winning, the highlight of the evening was at the end of the game when the drunk guy in the vintage Astros jersey tr to ied to climb up on top of the booth and ended up falling over quite ungracefully onto our table and into the various baskets of discarded wing bones and empty beer glasses. That rainbow jersey was ruined. We tried not to laugh and helped him up but pretty quickly after that his wife (or at least the mother of the kid) grabbed his ear and led him out the door. She was pissed, but at that point I doubt he cared.

GO ASTROS!

ps - Saturday will be a hell of a sports day with Gameday in Austin, then the Horns against the Raiders, and then the ASTROS PLAYING IN THE WORLD SERIES that night. Wow.


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Posted by Johnnymac 12:34 PM
I finished the tile around the bathtub this weekend:



The reason I bring this up is that I have decided that I will not be watching the Astros game tonight. Why? Because I will be working in the bathroom caulking around the perimeters of the bathtub and when I am done with that I will be doing some painting and maybe even start in on my trimwork. Why? Because I worked on the damn bathroom all summer and didn't watch hardly any Astros games and just listened on the radio to Milo and Ash as I was doing it ("There are now 15 outs in this game, which reminds us that it just takes 15 minutes to save a bunch of money on your car insurance by switching to Geico").

And they kept winning.

As a matter of fact, last Wednesday I was grouting the shower and listented to Roy O win the game in St Louis. My "necessary room" is an Astros good luck charm.

So now I know that they are going to win. Somebody needs to catch a quick flight to Vegas and bet the rent money; the rest of you can go to bed early and wake up in the morning ready to celebrate. Me, I will have my radio turned on.


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Posted by Johnnymac 3:13 PM
OK, now that we're a day later I want to clarify my thoughts on the game last night.

First: There are still two games left and the Astros are up 3-2. We just need to win one game, the cardinals must win both. The bad news is that this is exactly where we were last year. The good news is that last Roy Oswalt in game 6 is a lot better than Pete Munro.

Second: Despite what seems to be the trend today around my workplace and on 610 radio and despite the tone of my post from last night, I don't think that there is really anything to second guess or lament. I am VERY disappointed in the outcome, but aside from one bad pitch, it's not like the Astros did anything wrong. I have heard a lot of people today say that that the Astros should not have pitched to Pujols, but that is a very debatable position because then the tying run is on second base and a base hit ties the game. NEWSFLASH: The Cardinals are good. Loading the bases is very risky because every single one of them can hit. It's not like Adam Everett was on deck.

Third: Bill Simmons

Fourth: If anyone was awake at 6:30 this morning, Lance Zierlein went on a tremendously funny rant after a caller told him to "quit dwelling" on the game. In a whole lot more words, Lance's response was basically, "I am hosting a sports radio call in show, what the hell else do you want me to talk about?"

Fifth: It would be really cool to see Padilla and Marx on TV tonight. Depending on how much exposure they get, I might be kicking myself over not making those shirts.


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Posted by Johnnymac 10:42 PM
As soon as Eckstein got on base I told Mrs Johnnymac that, "if Pujols bats, he will hit a home run." She told me not to be so negative. Then:



Right now Willie T just grounded out to first base and the Astros are down to 2 outs. I don't know how this going to end, but this is just unbelievable.

Un-be-liev-able.

UPDATE #1: Now we know. Back to St Louis. I feel like a true Houston sports fan when I say that I have a bad feeling about this... I don't know if that's something to be proud of or ashamed of. Tomorrow morning I want to get out of bed and put my cheerleader cap back on, but right now I just want to throw up. Good god. There's still two games left, but talk about a shift of momentum. Rational thinking says to chill out - irrational emotionalism says, "oh shit."

Lidge has been shaky during the whole series and it finally caught up with him. All along I knew that Pujols was eventually going to tatoo a ball and every time he popped out I felt a huge sigh of relief. We held him off for so long... little did we know he was just saving it for the absolute most nut-kickingly appropriate moment. Dammit.

Earlier today I had four different brokers offer me a chance at tickets and I turned them all down simply because I didn't want to be out all night and I figured I would rather stay home and get to bed as soon as the game was over. But then, when the celebration was starting in the 9th inning, I was feeling a little bit remorseful that I was missing out and, honestly, a little bit silly because another reason that I didn't want to go was that I didn't want to endure a loss, if it in fact came to that. Now I am sitting home and feeling like crap, but I am sure that Texas street is a very very depressing place to be right about now. It sucks to be there after regular season losses in May, for crying out loud, and I think October is probably worse.

And so, I feel a little bit guilty, too. Hell, I don't know how I feel, but it's just plain bad. Ugh. Time for bed.

UPDATE #2: And I guess this won't be a problem.


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Posted by Dr Fro 5:30 PM
I have been a busy boy lately and will try to summarize the highlights of my life:

Football

CU
We made a day trip out of the Colorado game. Just north of Waco, we stopped at a McDonald's to pee. There were NU and BU fans there. There were CU and UT fans headed to Austin. There were Aggies and OSU fans headed to B/CS. So 6 of the Big 12 were represented at the McDonald's. I wonder how often that has happened? Of course, in Lubbock there was yet one more Big 8-ex playing an ex-SWC team at home. But they were at a different McDonald's.

We always park in the same LF garage, walk in the same gate and sit in our same seats in Section 2. For no real reason, we walked into an obscure gate (in between the big one in the southwest corner and the glass doors opposite the Alumni Center). This gate took us to a ramp that went up several floors, presumably to the upper deck. Since our seats are 10 rows from the grass, we were headed the wrong way. Since our tickets were torn, we couldn't retreat. Somehow we ended up on the 7th floor (I guess of Belmont?) and found a fire exit that took us down. We got to the ground level to find a door that took us out of the building. (Side note, if you would ever like to sneak in for free, I think I now know how to let you in.) So time is ticking and we are completely lost in a building with 80k+ fans but nobody around. We go back up one floor, go down a hallway and find a door that might take us somewhere. I see a small men's room and decide to go for a pee (the big men's room by Section 1 has massive lines before the game.) I am peeing all by myself when in walks another person. "Friou?" It was Hickey.

"What are you doing here?" Dr Fro asked.

"This is my little secret, how did you know about this restroom?"

"I was lost."

We then took the secret passage from the study to the kitchen, figured out the Mrs Scarlet did it with the candlestick and got to "the deuce" 1 minute before kickoff.

During the second quarter I looked down at the small piece of concrete between my feet to see a Texas-sized roach looking up to me as if he was lost. I crushed him. Afterwards, I was thinking that around 1pm, that roach must have had pretty high hopes about the day. When 80k+ filled the stadiums he was losing hope of coming out alive, and soon all of his hopes would be crushed in an instant. Shortly thereafter, it was 35-3 and I thought that Colorado must have felt a bit like that roach.

Mack Brown and UT have now won 5 straight over top 25 teams.

Texas Tech
This will be a lot of fun. The Frious will definitely be throwing a tailgate. Although the exact location can't be known until Friday at 5:00 when the state lots open up, it will be near Shultz's. Check this website or call me for details.

OSU & Baylor
I have tickets to both. I am 70% sure I will go to Stillwater and 99.99% sure I will go to Waco. We may have extra tickets to each, let me know if you are interested.

Kansas & A&M
I leave for Prague the day of the Kansas game. I really hope it is an 11 o'clock kickoff so I can see the whole thing. I return the day of the A&M game, so I will be TiVo-ing to catch up. Do NOT call me during the A&M game to say, "dude, did you see..." Let me catch up and I will call you afterwards.

Big XII Championship
We have our tickets and will definitely be going to Houston for the game. Maybe we can get a poker game going the night before. Let me know if you are interested. I guess one could say that it is presumptuous to already plan on going, but come on, Tech doesn't have much of a chance to beat us. IMHO, Tech's current team is not as good as some of the their teams over the past 4 to 5 years. They just haven't played anyone. Plus, the Big XII completely sucks this year. I really don't think Tech will have any success in Austin at all. At all.

Bowl Game
Flights to Cali are going for $200 right now and I think we will book this week. Worst case scenario - UT plays in another bowl game and Jane and I have a Southern California vacation. Not much downside to that plan.

Baseball

I gave standing instructions to Pony to put $50 on all Astros postseason games and have so far done pretty well:

DCS
Game 1 +$50
Game 2 -$50
Game 3 +$50
Game 4 +$50

LCS
Game 1 -$50
Game 2 +$65
Game 3 +$50

In summary, I am up $165. Not bad. Backe is looking pretty good right now, but we need to start hitting the ball.

Poker

I was looking at my results for 2005 and I see that I am down year-to-date. If I take away the trip to Shreveport, I am up. In fact, if I change just 2 hands from Shreveport, I am up for the year. I don't think I will be playing a ton of poker for the rest of the year because I am somewhat busy with work, UT football and baseball playoffs. Plus, in November, I will be in DC for a week and Europe for 2 weeks. Ergo, I expect to end the poker year down slightly. What I won't do is push the issue. Anytime I do that - anytime I try to turn a negative result (for a trip, for a day, for a night, for a year) into a positive result, I am not successful. It's called chasing, and it is the baseball equivalent of swinging for the fence. Just sit back, play your game, wait for the right situation and take advantage of it. If you try to force it, they will pitch junk to you and won't accomplish much of anything.

I did play on Friday night online for a bit. I played for 1 hour and except for some free flops from the BB, I only saw two flops in 1 hour. Both times I bet the flop and both times everyone folded. I was in new territory here: I am usually known for being on the steal and can make money by getting calls, but here I had developed a reputation for being tight and could make money by using a well-timed bluff. So when a solid player raised pre-flop, I called. The flop came ragged with 2 diamonds. He made a pot-sized bet and I called. When the third diamond came, he bet the pot again and I raised $47 into a $30 pot (all-in). My thought was that he probably had an overpair in the hole or maybe just overs. Either way, it looked like continuation betting. He called immediately and showed AK of diamonds. Dang.

I hereby promise to never steal again. I promise.


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Posted by Johnnymac 4:11 PM



Which Reservoir Dog Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


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Posted by Johnnymac 10:58 AM
TexAgs: your #1 source for ass-funny sarcasm!




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Posted by Johnnymac 10:27 PM
Here's the latest round of bathroom pics of the finished shower, sans the glass door and partition that won't be done until Mrs Johnnymac and I have replenished the coffers a bit. For now we will just use a shower curtain.

Tenacious, I am going to put a St Pauli Girl picture in the shower so you won't get mad at me. My wife doesn't like the idea but I told her it was something that I have to do.






Next up is tiling the vanity backsplash and the tub deck and surround and then finally a little trim carpentry and touchup on the paint, none of which is going to be hard. The shower was the final frontier of big projects. The end is finally in sight.


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Posted by Junelli 8:01 AM
“Two $12,000 Pots”

I will never forget last Saturday. Morris, McAndrew and I watched the TX-OU game in the Sportsbook at the Wynn. I didn’t get there in time to bet on Texas, but I did place a $200 bet Texas to cover the second half. The line was -6.5 and it seemed like a lock since things were going our way. Towards the end of the game we headed over to the Wynn Poker room to play cards. McAndrew sat down in the $15-$30 Limit game (where he made $1,200 the night before), and I went back to the high limit section to the $5-$10 NL game.

The day started much like the night before. I had a cold seat and couldn’t seem to win anything. I was down pretty big and had my last $400 in front of me. If you’ve ever played in that game, you’ll know that $400 is nothing. You might as well have a target on your back. It’s the equivalent to playing with only $20 in a $1-$2 game. To put it in perspective, the guy on my right had $6,000 in chips while I had $400. But I didn’t want to cash out, because there was almost no chance of making back that kind of money in a smaller game (give my time frame). I buckle down, play tight, and wait for my hand.

Playing tight in this type of game is not just recommended, it’s required. You cannot play marginal hands, because they will almost always be beaten even when you hit them. Or worse, you won’t be able continue in the hand when you miss.

I played on Saturday for about 13 hours, and I learned more in that game than I have in the past 2 years. It was a great experience playing at that level for as long as I did. It was a drastically different game than the normal games in Houston. There are very few showdowns, and it’s all about betting. During the first 4 hours on Saturday, I only reached one showdown. I also noticed how much slower the game is. Players actually take their time and think about their decisions before acting. It not just automatic call/fold.

I played exceptionally well, and was able win some good sized pots. I was also able to execute a few well-timed bluffs in position against continuation bets. Once I got some chips I went from playing tight-passive to playing tight-aggressive.

By midnight my chip stack had grown from $400 to $5,500. I wasn’t the chip leader at the table, but I was pretty close. I had made friends with many of the players and was enjoying the game.

At 1am a seat opened up and a guy named Dimitri moved over from the must-move table. Dimitri sat down with almost $20,000. His chips were placed on the table 10 minutes before he sat down, giving us all a chance to discuss him. The kids to my left had just played with him at the other table and told me to “get ready, because this guy’s a maniac. He’ll push it like you wouldn’t believe.” Apparently he was some rich, drunk, tourist who was a terrible card player but who loved to chip-whip everyone at the table. I was told he constantly bluffed, always chased, and would never fold.

Although it was obvious Dimitri was there to lose, he was still a very dangerous player. I actually contemplate cashing out. I’d sure like to book a nice profit and leave the game a winner. However, I have a lot of money in front of me ($5,500) and can’t be pushed around too easily. Also, I know that if I get a monster hand, I stand to make a fortune on the night. Finally, I have lots of experience playing with people like Dimitri, and I feel I have a pretty good idea how to beat them. My strategy is to see flops as cheaply as possible, wait for a big hand, and then push. I don’t respect his raises as much, but will lay down marginal hands.

On the very first hand, Dimitri raises to $300 in the dark! He gets 1 caller who has to fold when he makes it $700 on the flop. These were much bigger bets than the table had been making all night. He saw every flop for an hour, and almost always raised it $100-$150.

On a later hand, he smooth called a re-raise of $150 before the flop, smooth called $200 on the flop and another $300 on the turn. On the river he led out for $2,500 and when the other player mucked, he showed a bluff with 82o. He picked up lots of pots by pushing people out, but gave up money on the showdown with shockingly bad hands. He would fold occasionally. I waited in the weeds.

Pot # 1 for $12,000:

At 3am I am dealt KQo on the button. He makes his standard raise of $150. I smooth call along with 2 other people. 4 of us see a flop of QJ9 rainbow. The first two players check and Dimitri leads out for $1,500. I am almost certain my hand is good. I hold top pair with a King kicker and a gutshot straight draw. Against any other player, this is an automatic fold. However against Dimitri I have other considerations. I decide to push and see what happens. “I’m all-in for $5,500.”

Dimitri instantly grabs a tall stack of black chips and his thick wad of $100 bills. But then he hits the brakes and starts to think about it. He is scratching his head and announces that I “must have AA.” I try not to let him see how scared I am. A month ago I wrote about playing my largest pot in New Orleans (for $4,400). This pot was about to be almost 3 times as big!!

I state, “I don’t have AA. I can beat AA.” He tells me he doesn’t believe me and decides to call just to see what I have. “I’ll pay to see it.”

He turns over JK for middle pair. WooWoo!! I’m way ahead of him. His King is dead (because I hold one too), and he only has 2 outs to win, and another 4 outs to tie (a ten would give us both a straight). The turn is a blank, but the river is a Ten. We chop the pot. I am shaking from being so nervous and will gladly take a chop. I was so scared that I don’t think I really realized how far ahead I was.

“Good hand. Now you know I’ll look you up.”

Pot #2 for $12,000:

Before I can even stop shaking, and no more than 15 minutes later, I’m dealt AA on the button. “This is it,” I tell myself. Dimitri raises to $150. When the action gets to me, I re-raise it to $400. It’s actually funny how fast everyone else folds. It’s like they know what’s coming. The other players are experienced professionals, and they’re running for shelter like a tornado is about to touchdown!

Dimitri smooth calls the $400, and the two of us are heads up again. The flop is AQT, giving me a top set of Aces, and the second best hand possible (behind KJ). Dimitri acts first and leads out for $2,000! Holy shit. What’s going on here? Think about my situation. I have over $5,000 in front of me, and someone just bet $2,000 into me when I’m holding a set of Aces. If you can’t play this hand, what can you play? The bettor is an absolute maniac who will put his money in with anything, and has bluffed about 75% of the hands he’s been involved in. I feel almost 100% certain that he doesn’t have KJ because, even he would’ve slowplayed or bet a little softer (remember I had reraised him preflop). It seems clear to me that he’s either bluffing, or has caught a smaller hand which I dominate. If he has an Ace, or even two pair, he’s virtually drawing dead.

While I think about my action, a crowd gathers around the table. He announces that he has KK, and that if I have an Ace, he’s going to win when a Jack comes. I ask him if he really has KK, and he says yes. Of course I don’t believe him, but it doesn’t matter, because I can beat the shit out of KK.

I was waiting to hit a monster hand against him, and this was it. If you can’t push with a set of Aces, then what can you push with? And I’m 99.99% sure I’m way ahead.

“I’m all-in for $5,500.”

He instantly calls, and turns over K2o. No pair and only a gutshot draw to the straight. He has only 4 outs and I am approximately an 88% favorite to win the hand.

The turn is a Jack and he catches his straight. The crowd around the table screams in disbelief. The river is a 4 and Dimitri wins a $12,000 pot and I lose my entire stack that took 13 hours to build. My stomach dropped, and I almost vomited on the table. Surely I’m just in a bad dream and this didn’t just happen. Everything seemed to slow down and I didn’t really hear any noise at all. I sat in disbelief and stared at the table for what seemed like an eternity. A complete asshole just caught a 4 outer to win $12,000.

To make it worse, minutes earlier he had caught a 4 outer against me to chop a $12,000 pot.

I should’ve left that room with $20,000 profit. Instead I left broke and in shock.


(3) comments

Posted by Junelli 9:52 AM
In Vegas this past weekend, I primarily played in the big $5-$10 NL game at the Wynn. The buy-in is $600 minimum with no max. Most people buy-in for $2,000-$5,000. Nearly everyone at the table were professionals who played daily and knew each other on a first name basis.

The first night I didn’t get many good hands, and when I did, I kept running into bigger hands, or getting sucked out on. I had KK against AA for a big pot, and another time I turned the nut straight and got it all-in against a guy who caught a flush on the river.

The most interesting hand from the first night was as follows: I have $1,080 in front of me, and am dealt QQ under the gun. I raise to $50, and get one caller in middle position. The Button (a very aggressive young Asian gentlemen, and also a professional), re-raised it to $350 straight. The Small Blind folds and the Big Blind moves all-in for less ($315).

There is some argument about whether or not I am allowed to re-raise. I don’t even understand what the problem is, since I had been raised by the button. However, the dealer isn’t sure because of some obscure rule regarding all-ins for less. I politely explain that the all-in hand doesn’t even matter because I have been raised by the button. I am shocked that they would even think I don’t have the right to raise. “How can I be prevented from re-raising a raise, just because the button calls for less?” However, more importantly, I am vocally expressing my desire to raise so that I can (1) get the button to fold and/or (2) get a reaction/tell out of him. It didn’t look like he wanted me to raise.

I read the hands perfectly. I put the button on an underpair (probably JJ or TT). After playing with him for 5 hours, I know that he would not reraise to $350 with KK or AA because he would want to get some value out of his hand. Given the rhythm of the game, his $350 re-raise was an overbet which usually signals weakness or an attempt to protect a vulnerable smaller pocket pair by taking down the pot. It’s a perfect raise for JJ or TT.

The all-in is a different story. It’s likely that he has me beat with AA or KK. However, because he was so short-stacked (only $315), he could be making a move with anything. He had taken some brutal beats recently, and may be on tilt and ready to go home.

It’s clear, given the situation, that I should not lay this hand down. I am very likely a 4:1 favorite over the button (who has me covered). Even if I lose to the BB, I still stand to make ~$450 on the side pot if I beat the button. If the button folds, I am very happy to play the hand out for a maximum of $315.

I reraise all-in making it $1,080 straight. Of course, the middle position player folds, and the button goes into the tank. Now I know I have him beat, because he would’ve instantly called with AA or KK. He counts up the pot which is $1,800, thinks for a minute or so, and then calls.

The hands are:
Button: JJ (called my $1,080)
Big Blind: KK (only in for $315)
Me: QQ (all-in for $1,080)

I am very happy with this situation, because I stand a good chance to make money. That is, until the flop spikes a Jack. The Button scoops the $2,530 pot with a set of Jacks.

I still believe I played the hand properly. Smooth calling the $300 raise was not really an option. If the flop comes Jxx, I still have no choice but to push it in, or even call an all-in bet.

That hand was indicative of my night. I just couldn’t win, and kept running into big hands or getting drawn out on. However, I felt very good about my decisions, and knew in my heart that I had the ability to hang with these guys. I also knew that once my cards turned around, I was going to kill the table.

The next day was unquestionably the wildest poker games of my life. Twice I found myself heads up in a $12,000 pot. I’ll write that story shortly…


(4) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 11:32 PM
It has got to be one of the most gut-kicking feelings to be leading your fantasy football game by 1 point at the end of the Monday night game and have to watch the other guy's kicker drive the length of the field and kick the game winning field goal with less than ten seconds left on the clock.

No, I take that back, it's even worse if you leave 3 points on the bench by starting one running back over another.

Actually, what really makes it bad is to be the second highest scoring team in the league the week when all of the above happen.

Ugh.

UPDATE: Mrs Johnnymac and I are curretnly going to a bible study class at church and then having dinner out on Monday nights and all I got to see was the 4th quarter of last night's game... So I didn't feel any better when I heard about Hines Ward's non-touchdown in the second quarter this morning. DAMN!




(1) comments

Posted by Dr Fro 9:37 PM
What a weekend - UT won, the Astros won big twice and I won playing poker.

I just typed a huge post on the UT game and accidently lost it. So, you'll have to ask me about it over a beer; I am not going to re-type that one.

Here is a thought from last night's game:
You call a pot-sized bet on the flop and turn with one draw to the nut low and one draw to the nut high. What a dumb thing to do. That shot at the high and low that is so nice on the flop becomes a not-so-nice shot at the high or low on the turn. The former is a chance to scoop. The latter is a big bet hoping to get lucky and win 1/2 the pot (1:2 odds)

I did that twice last night. Fortunately, I won in spite of the hits I took on those pots.


(0) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 5:52 AM
I am of the opinion that anyone over the age of twelve who takes a glove to a baseball game is tool. Then again, this is pretty cool.

Oh yeah, the Astros won, too. I heard it was a pretty good game.


(6) comments

Posted by Junelli 1:08 PM
Headed to Vegas for the weekend. Morris has talked me into entering a small Omaha Hi/Lo tournament ($40 buy-in + rebuys). I will give it a shot even though I have no chance of cashing.

I plan on playing some juicy NL game as well as some limit Hold Em $10-$20 and/or $20-$40. Look for a report next week.

Peace out...


(1) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 7:53 AM


And so it begins...



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Posted by Junelli 1:31 PM
I know several people that fit this description perfectly...

"Anticipation: You Can't Gamble Without It"
by Roy West

During one of our recent conversations here in the dark corner of your poker mind, we spoke about “chasing,” and why people chase. That got me thinking about why people gamble. I believe that we gamble because of … anticipation.

Prove it? Maybe. Explain? Sure.

It was while I was walking through a sportsbook on the way to a poker room that this theory came to me. You can make a wager today on an event, the outcome of which won’t be known for several months. Games like the Super Bowl and the World Series can be bet on even before the start of the football and baseball seasons. The other end of the spectrum is that you can put a coin into a slot machine and know if you won or lost in just a few seconds.

The excitement of gambling for most people is in the time interval between placing the bet and knowing the outcome — whether that’s a few months or a few seconds. It is a period of … anticipation. Most poker players, whether or not they even realize it, are not in the poker room to make money, but to play poker. As Nick the Greek put it, “The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing. The important thing is playing.” So, for most poker players, playing skillfully is not the most important thing — gambling is.

The gamble is what sets up the anticipation. That’s why so many players don’t wait for a good hand. If they’re waiting, they’re not playing. No gamble, no anticipation, no fun. That’s why you often see a hand get checked around, except for the last active player, who bets no matter what he is holding. If he checks, there won’t be a “period of anticipation.”

One of the reasons why so many players play so badly is anticipation. It’s why so many are willing to consistently take a small pair against a big pair — why they are willing to chase. It puts them into action; they’re not sitting, and watching, and waiting. Action. Gamble! Anticipation!


(1) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 11:01 AM


BELIEVE IT BABY!


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Posted by Junelli 9:53 AM
My domain account is free.

Lemme explain. I am the owner of the domain, "junell.cc" It allows me to host webpages, as well as create unlimited individual email accounts. I've had it for several years, and have been very glad with my decision to purchase it.

My domain is hosted by a local company in Houston called "Everyone's Internet." Everyone's Internet, or EV1.net, was founded in 1998 by two brothers, Roy & Robert Marsh. EV1 is now a huge company. It offers internet service in 42 states, and makes a buttload of money. Since it's privately owned, I don't know what it's earnings were for last year, but I found an article stating that in 2002 it had revenue of $32.2mm. I am also told that it owns and runs just over 22,000 servers. Not bad for a family business.

So why is my account free? Because last Friday I played poker with Roy Marsh, co-owner of EV1, (who obviously only plays for "entertainment value"). I won approx $450 from him over the course of the night.

By my calculations, my junell.cc account is free for the next 45 months. :)


(0) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 11:09 AM
Straight from Canonico's bathroom in Bellaire:




(2) comments

Posted by Dr Fro 10:29 PM
You know that Junell has a deal with Mrs Junell that she gets 1/2 of his poker winnings (gross, not net). So, when he won $5.00 on Friday, he was afraid to post it on IAG for fear that Dabney would take her half and go buy a latte.


(4) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 7:46 AM
JA sent an email asking about the bathroom so here is a current picture as of the completion of this weekend's work. There are two walls done in the shower and two walls left to do - the "front" wall with the waterworks (outside of the left margin of the picture) and inside of the half wall will be tiled sometime this week, and then I will need to do the three faces of the bench and the ceiling and floor (and then grout everything) next weekend and then Mrs Johnnymac will be able to finally quit asking about when it will be finished. As you can see, I didn't order enough of the window trim so I am going to have to track some down.

As far as the rest of the room, the vanity backsplash and tub surround still need to be tiled and then there is a whole lot of finish carpentry left to do, like crown and foot molding and door casings. We thought this would be a 4-6 week project and now we're pushing 16 weeks, but it will be nice when it's all done.




(2) comments

Posted by Dr Fro 9:00 PM



(4) comments

Posted by Dr Fro 3:03 PM
There are some questions that have kept mankind wondering endlessly without ever finding an answer. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Is it ok to lie if nobody is hurt? If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear, does it make a sound? If there is an end to the universe, what is on the other side? Well, one of the most hotly debated questions of all time is addressed at neverwinpoker. Are Evelyn Ng's boobs real?


(0) comments

Posted by Johnnymac 9:08 AM
Perhaps the best quote I have heard this weekend is the one pointing out that the Aggies today have the distinction of being one of the few schools in college football in quite some time to being playing Baylor as a revenge game.

And the Aggies are fired up.


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