Poker Journal

December 2004

Photos from the Survivor Finale Party.

December 31
It has been a wonderful year for the poker community. We have seen a huge growth in the number of players entering cardrooms and that has meant a sizeable growth in many solid player's bankrolls too.

I am so appreciative of everyone of you who frequents my website and follows my journal. I am one of the fortunate people who can honestly say that they love their job. One of my customers from Commerce came into the Bike this week. He is the player that I mentioned on Steve Badger's bio. I met Steve because I used to stand behind this player and talk (and observe). Anyway, when he came into the Bike, he asked me how everything was going and I told him about my job and about the website and he said, "I can see how happy you are. I remember that you used to stand behind us and watch us play. You would wish that no player would call for a cocktail, just so you could stand around and watch longer. Now, look at you."

I look forward to another year in poker. I will try and do some serious damage in 2005. Of course, I will keep you updated. You do your part and check on me from time to time.

December 27
I played in the $500 No Limit tournament on PokerStars last night and I feel really good about it. I only finished in 236 place (out of 1153 players), but I felt like my plays and reads were right on. I started the tournament out with a bang and was chip leader within 5 minutes. I stayed up in the top twenty for the first couple hours of the tournament. I started losing some of my chips when I took 2 good hands against players with short stacks and better hands. One of the hands, all players folded to the button and he raised three times the amount of the blind. I was in the small blind with AQ of hearts. I moved in trying to isolate against him and his short stack. The big blind folded and he called with pocket aces. I flopped two hearts, but the flush never got there. The other hand, I raised in early position with AJ suited. One player re-raised all-in and I decided to call because he was also short stacked. He had AK. I flopped the flush draw again, but never got there.

My chips fluctuated back and forth a little, but I never felt like I was in a desperate situation. The hand that finally destroyed my chips stack was pocket tens. I raised in early position with them and got called in two spots including one of the blinds. The flop was QJT and the blind checked to me. I didn't think there was a possibility that either of the players could have AK, so I just moved in (about 1 1/2 times the pot). The player that was next to act folded and the blind called with pocket kings. He ended up rivering a 9 to give him the straight and I only had a little bit of chips left. About 4 hands later, I doubled up with pocket fives, but went broke just a short time later when I moved in with KT and was called by AJ.

I played the WPT double shootout qualifier after the other tournament and doubled up on the first hand I played. I had pocket aces and flopped a set. The other player flopped a flush draw. I made an easy call when he moved all-in on the river with his busted flush draw. Did I mention that the river was an ace? Yes I made quad aces! Unfortunately, quad aces do not guarantee that you win your table and I didn't.

December 26
I had a wonderful Christmas. I spent the day with my family and I felt like a spoiled child again because I received the most generous and thoughtful gifts. After eating a huge dinner consisting of honey baked ham, cheesy potatoes, salads and dinner rolls and visiting with the family a little more, I headed home.

I logged onto PokerStars to see if there was a WPT qualifier I could play, but no such luck. I decided to play a $100 w/ rebuys No Limit tournament. Normally, I don't play two tournaments at once, but tonight I played some Sit N Go's while playing the other tournament. I finished first in a $100 one table, third in a $300 one table, and bombed out of two other $100 tourneys. I was having a good night and I didn't think I was going to make anything in the rebuy tournament. I had a large stack until I took AK against pocket jacks and lost. I hung onto my short stack long enough to double up with the same hand (this time reversed). I won with pocket jacks. One person at the table commented about how that hand was golden tonight. I made it to the final nine players, but didn't have many chips and I was the first one out. I received a little less than $900.

While I was at one of the tables, a player I know chatted with me. He told me he was at the table where they dealt the billionth hand. He told me he didn't win the hand, but received $5,000 plus an entry into the $500 No Limit tournament. The funny thing about this story is we usually run parallel in our successes. He is the same player I wrote about in the May 6th journal entry. He won his seat into the WSOP the same way I did and now he won one of the "special hand" prizes. We discussed how he does well after I do and he told me to go win another tournament already. Hopefully, I can pull something off tomorrow. It is the last day to qualify for the WPT seat.

December 25
I played in the $33 w/ rebuy tournament to qualify for the WPT seat and it is the same story. I got close, but not close enough. We started with 221 entries and I finished in 9th place earning $650. I have two more days to qualify so hopefully I can pull it off.

December 24
I played in a couple online tournaments trying to win the WPT seat, but didn't have any success. After I finished up with the tournaments, I joined four 25-50 cent Limit Holdem. PokerStars is having a promotion celebrating their upcoming billionth hand and they are awarding prizes for certain hand numbers. I happened to be on the table where the 194,000,000 hand was dealt. All of the players received $500 plus an entry into the $500 No Limit Holdem tournament on Sunday. The winner of the hand received an additional $1,000. I did not win the hand, but I thought I had a chance for a minute. I was dealt 62 of spades and the flop was T6x all clubs. The turn was a deuce. I figured if nobody flopped a flush, I would win the hand. The river was another ten and I knew my chances were slim. It turned out that one of the players did flop a flush. Although I did not win the hand, I am excited about winning the money and happy about the entry into the tournament. I have not played one of the No Limit events on Sunday afternoon and I look forward to it. This 194,000,000 hand might be worth a hell of a lot more than the $1000 I already received.

December 23
I was in shock yesterday when I sat down in a $4-8 Limit Holdem game. It has been a long time since I have played in the game and I forgot how bad the players are. There was one lady who was calling anything and getting so lucky. One time, I raised with pocket queens and got called in five spots. I bet the flop when it came all rags with two diamonds. I bet the turn when another diamond came. The only player (the woman) still involved in the hand called again. I finally checked the river when another diamond hit and she turned over A9 with the nine of diamonds. I just shook it off, but was bothered by it after she did it to me three more times. My friend Mark called me and I was whispering some of the details of one of the hands and he said, "I can't even believe we are having this conversation. You should silently thank her and take her chips later." One more hand that shocked me (although I shouldn't have been) was when she called a bet on the flop with a board of AQ5. She called another bet on the turn when an eight came and then bet on the river when a nine showed up. She turned up 98. She called a bet with two overcards hoping for runner runner. She eventually stopped torturing me and I got most of her chips. She finally got up from the table when she lost all of them. I have to make it a point to play in that game more often.

Last month, I started the month off with a big loss and I ended up winning more money in that month than I have in any other. This month, I started out with a huge win (the biggest I have ever had at The Bike) and I have been struggling ever since. I have had my fair share of losses this month and had to do some strategizing. Was my game up to par? Have I just been unlucky? What kind of adjustments do I need to make? I thought about it and decided there were only minor adjustments to make. It is very important to take a step back and look at how things are going. I notice every time I do that, I do well in the following weeks. I have had a nice turnaround since taking my step back and I look forward to finishing off the month with a bang.

December 19
I played in the final Sunday tournament at The Bike today. There were only about 30 players that qualified for the $10,000 added event and I thought my chances were pretty good to make it into the money. I played in two previous events so I could qualify and I made it down to the final five in both of them (I won the first one). Although I did well in the first two, I didn't last long today. I played a lot of hands as usual and I had a little more than average chips the whole time until the last few hands. The hand that I was eliminated on was pretty ugly, but I was comfortable (at the time) with the way I played it. I was on the button and one player limped in front of me. She was two seats to my left and I didn't think she could have had much of a hand. I decided to raise the $50 big blind to $225 with A7. I was surprised when all three players (small blind, big blind, and the limper) called. The board was Axx with two diamonds. The small blind bet $325, the next two players folded, and I called. I was a little confused by the small bet into the $900 pot. I did not necessarily think I had the best hand, but I wanted to see what was going to happen on the turn. The turn was a diamond and the small blind bet $325 again. I was positive that he did not like the turn card. I counted out my chips and I had $900 left. I decided to try and make a move for the pot because I thought it would be a difficult call for him to make. He called and I was sent home packing after I failed to hit a seven on the river. At first, I was really proud of the way I played the hand and comfortable with the way I was eliminated, but the more I think about, the more I realize I screwed up. There was no way he could lay his bigger ace down to a $575 bet when there was $2,200 in the pot. I have to think of it as another lesson learned.

I played in the online Omaha tournament in the evening and I didn't last very long. After I finished that, I signed up for the $33 w/ rebuy WPT qualifier tournament. I still haven't won my seat, but I have been getting close all week long. Tonight I finished in 7th place (they were giving one seat) and I ended up getting $650. I managed to put some guy on tilt for a little while and that is always fun for me. There were about 35 players left at the time and I was relatively low stacked. The blinds were $1,000-$2,000 with $100 antes and I was in the big blind. This specific player had just won the previous pot without a showdown, so when he raised in position, I thought it was likely that he didn't have a big hand. All the other players folded to me and I was left with a decision about what to do with my AT of hearts. If I folded the hand, I would have $13,779 left. I thought it was best if I moved in because he would be left with a decision. I did not mind playing for all of my chips (even if I had the worst of it) because it is either first place or nothing in this tournament. I knew I had to accumulate chips soon. He called with pocket sixes and he berated me after the hand was over for calling with AT. He called me a jackass, a dumbass, a **** (use your imagination on that one... I had to), and he told me I was ugly as hell. I told him that I was "about as ugly as you are sweet" and after he told me what a "bad call" I made for the second time, I finished off the conversation with "I didn't call".

It was only fitting that the two of us would end up at the final table together. I was dealt AK and knocked out the eight place finisher. The next hand, I was dealt AK again. The tilter raised 8 times the amount of the big blind, another player moved all-in for $111,785, and I moved in behind him for $168,759. I was surprised when the tilter called and showed pocket queens. How am I supposed to put him on a hand like that when he raised so much? I still like my all-in move because I was there to win that damn seat and I had to get some chips. The other all-in player had AK too (he was eliminated on the hand) and we put the tilter in a commanding chip position. I finished four hands later. I had to stay around and watch how the remaining players were going to finish out the tournament. The tilter ended up getting heads up with the player that played the best game (at least from my observations). Honestly, the good player didn't have to play much of a game when it got heads up because the tilter self destructed on the first hand. This is a short version of how the hand went down

CANE635: raises 16000 to 24000
Tipsy: raises 72000 to 96000
CANE635: raises 310569 to 406569 and is all-in
Tipsy: calls 310569
*** RIVER *** [3s 4d Ac 8h] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tipsy: shows [Ah Kh] (a pair of Aces)
CANE635: shows [9c Th] (high card Ace)

Needless to say, I was happy with the end result of the heads up match. I hope he has learned a lesson about calling me a ****. My super voodoo hex made him go wacko. :)

I am sure most of you know who won the WPT event at the Bellagio the other day. I was almost certain that after Friday, I was going to have to evaluate Raymond Davis' play from watching him on the Travel Channel during the final six. Another poker website mentioned something about him self-destructing, but I haven't heard the details. I am glad I don't have to write about his play. I would hate to write anything nice about him and it is very possible that I might like how he played at least one hand. Don't have to worry about that now. Anyway, I was pleased when I found out Daniel won. I love his style of play and his uncanny ability to read his opponents. His win in this event combined with his Tournament Player of the Year award will be great for poker.

December 17
I am finally starting to feel better about blowing the Caribbean trip the other night. I have often mentioned the sick feeling I get when I lose a tournament, but that specific night, it was ten-fold. I actually entertained the idea of quitting poker, but the idea vanished quickly. I am not sure how many professional poker players feel the same way as I do when I am eliminated from a tournament, but I know of at least one, Jim Meehan. He has told me numerous times that he is going to quit (always after losing a tournament), but of course changes his mind by the next morning. I know if I discussed the details about the tournament with him and the way it made me feel, he would say "Welcome to the world of poker. Now, you are playing the game!"

I tried to win my way into the WPT event again last night and got close, but couldn't finish it off. I played in a $33 w/ rebuy tournament with approximately 200 players and I finished in 14th place. They only awarded one seat to the first place finisher and the next five finishers won $650. That means I won zero. I am probably going to play one more event for the seat tomorrow night. This is the last week to qualify, but with Christmas coming up, I can't spend too much time trying to qualify for this seat.

At work yesterday, I came up with a lot of subjects for some upcoming articles. It was strange how one game made my mind race so much. I was surrounded by a bunch of players who could not keep their mouths shut. They talked about the type of hands they liked to play and what types of hands shouldn't be played. I got so much information from the players just by listening. I almost found myself getting involved in the conversation, especially when they brought up suited connectors, but decided to keep my mouth shut. They were saying how suited connectors just get you into trouble, etc, etc. I was thinking they didn't understand the value in them, but I wasn't going to bring that to their attention. I wanted to sit, wait, and hopefully I would get the opportunity to take my 54 of clubs against their big pocket pair and wipe them out. So, the title of one of my upcoming articles is "Shut Up". You can learn a lot if you do exactly that. Of course, you need to listen too!

December 14
I went into work earlier than usual, so I was able to play in the double shootout tournament on PokerStars. This is the tournament that I played last month to win my way into the World Poker event in the Bahamas. I won my first table with ease.

I decided to play with the same strategy as I tried the last time... make it down to three players and I am confident I could outplay my opponents during shorthanded play. The plan almost worked to perfection. I ended up getting heads up and then I totally blew it. I had 9,000 in chips to his 3,000 and I mistakenly doubled him up. He limped, I raised with pocket jacks and he called. The flop was AQx and I moved all-in. I wanted to put him to the test. He thought for a few seconds and called with Q7. I was absolutely shocked when he turned his hand up. This should have been a huge red flag for me to stop messing with the guy unless I had at least top pair, but it wasn't. I tried to bluff him one more time and it cost me the tournament. The board was full of rag cards, and I moved all-in over the top of him on the turn with king high. He called instantly with a pair of eights and I didn't improve. I turned the tides against myself and I had to try and work with the short stack I was left with. I hung in for awhile, but to no avail. I finished in second place.

I am really upset with the way I finished the tournament, but I was reminded by a friend, "I am sure you feel bad right now, but every time something like this happens, you learn something for the next time." Next time I get into a heads up match against a calling station, I will make sure to wait for better opportunities to move all of my chips into the pot. Hopefully, it will be successful when I am playing for a WPT seat.

December 13
I didn't play much Sunday. Instead, I got to participate in another one of my passions... Survivor. I haven't missed an episode since Season 1, so when I was invited to be in the audience for the taping of the Reunion Special, I joyfully accepted. I was a little disappointed with the outcome. I am one of the few people who absolutely loved Twila. I always appreciate people who will speak their mind and she did this like no other.

After the taping, we went to the party and the first person I ran into was Shannon Elizabeth. She was standing at the bar talking about poker. She mentioned that the hardest part for her in tournament play is "heads up" poker. I introduced myself and told her I would be willing to help her if she wanted. I am pretty sure I won't be hearing from her, but it can't hurt to ask. I happened to get a picture with her (as well as some Survivor players like Ami Cusack).

December 11
I had an interesting couple of days at work. On Wednesday, I started out losing a lot of money within my first hour of my shift. By the time I left work, I was even. On Thursday, I only won a small amount, but both days I was able to make an opponent go on tilt.

One of the first hands I got involved in on Wednesday, I was drawing to the nut flush. I led out with a small bet trying to get a cheap look at the turn, but my opponent moved all-in. My opponent happens to be another prop player and I know she only plays the nuts. She doesn't mess around with any pots, but I called anyway. I normally wouldn't do this, but I thought if I won the hand, I would start my session out good. In the "restricted" No Limit Holdem games, it is so important to have chips in front of you and I figured it would be worth it for me to call. I never got my flush and I had to rebuy.

One of my suited connector junk hands got me into a world of trouble a little while later. I limped in early position with 52 of spades. The player behind me posted and checked his hand. There were 4 players that saw the flop. The flop was Q52. The blinds checked to me and I made a pot size bet. The player behind me raised and the blinds folded. I thought I had the best hand because if he had pocket queens, he would have raised preflop. It was also very unlikely that he held a set of fives or deuces since I was holding one of each. I decided to move all-in and he called instantly. He showed me Q5 and I had to do another rebuy.

The next big hand I lost was when I moved all-in on the turn with my ten high flush (I held T9 of hearts) and was called by a player holding the K6 of hearts. The day was not looking good and I did a couple more rebuys. I finally started to accumulate some chips and I had about half of the money I spent on buy-ins in front of me. The next hand was a dream. It is one of the reasons I love the game of poker. I called a raise with KT of diamonds. The flop was J9x with one diamond. The original raiser made a large bet relative to the pot and I decided to call. I know I was not getting the pot odds to make the call, but I knew the implied odds were great. If I happened to hit my gutshot or make a backdoor flush, I would get every chip from this player. It was also a hand that I could easily get away from. If I did not hit a diamond or a king on the turn, I was planning on folding. The turn was a diamond and the player made a decent size bet, but not enough to get me to fold my drawing hand. I was getting 3-1 on my call, so I pushed my chips forward toward the pot. The river was another diamond. My opponent made another large bet and I moved all-in. He did not hesitate for one second before he called. I turned up my flush and he threw his pocket nines (he flopped a set) face up on the table and threw a little fit. He stood up, walked around his seat, mumbled a whole lot and totally tilted. He ended up losing some more money and finally had to be dealt out because he bent cards three different times. Other players at the table were also having difficulty understanding my call on the flop. I didn't care what they thought. I was happy with my decision and even more happy with the results.

The next day at work was fun because the player I beat last week (the one that moved in for a whole lot of chips when I held the nut straight with QT) was on my table again. I know he is still bothered by last weeks events and I wanted to torture him some more. I didn't find many hands to play against him, but the three I played, I won. I know the first hand was one of my favorite suited connectors, but I don't remember the details. The second and third are a little more interesting. He asked one of the chip runners to get him cash because he was leaving the game on his blind. He left himself with about $100 in chips on the table to finish the round. I knew that he would not want to dip into his hundred dollar bills (he had 11), so I had to make sure I bet a little more than the chips in front of him. The first time, I raised preflop and he called. He had $60 in chips in front of him, so I was going to bet $70 on the flop no matter what. I did that and he folded. So far so good. I was going to do it to him again. I raised with AJ and he called again. The flop was T87. I made a $50 bet and he moved all-in. This was not my plan. He was not supposed to dip into those hundred dollar bills. My original thought was that if he did, he would have a powerful hand. I had to rethink things. He could be moving all-in on a draw (very typical of his play) or moving in with top pair. If he had top pair, I had ten outs. I decided to call and I hit my ace on the turn. It turned out that I did not need to hit the ace because my first instinct was correct. I had the best hand the whole time, he was on a straight draw. The combination of both days gave me so much satisfaction. I did not win much on either days, but having the ability to control other player's emotions is so much fun!

December 7
I was going to stay at work tonight and play in the $200 No Limit Shootout, but remembered that it was my cousin's birthday and my family was having a party. I left work a disappointed that I couldn't play in my favorite type of tournaments, but family is family.

After the birthday party, I came home and signed up for a $100 multi-table tournament on PokerStars. There were 199 entries and when we got down to three players, we made a deal. We were all pretty close in chips (I was the shortest stack by a little) and one of the players suggested an even-chop deal. I quickly accepted and the other player did as well. We all received $4,106 for our efforts.

December 6
I played in two events during my Vegas trip and I made it through half the field on both of them. The Omaha event was very disappointing because I really felt good about playing it. I have not done well in many Omaha tournaments this year and I thought this was going to be my chance to shine. Within the first hour of the tournament, I lost half of my chips and I didn't feel like I had control of what was going on around me. I had a lot of playable hands, but never really hit a flop. Later I won a few hands, but still never accumulated enough chips to be a force at the table. There was one hand that might have made a difference for me in the tournament if I played it differently, but who knows. I had about $1,700 in chips and the blinds were $150-$300. The player in second position raised and the player behind him reraised. I had A346 and had to make a decision whether this should be the hand that I wanted to take a stand with. The original raiser only raised with A2 combinations and the player behind him almost always had AA when he made it three bets. If this was the case, I didn't like my chances too much because I had no high value and I only had second low. I thought about it longer than any other hand I played and I finally decided to fold. I would have scooped the pot and tripled up. The first raiser did have A2, but the second player only had AK6x. I talked to Miami John after the tournament and he thought I made the correct decision, but when I talked to Steve, he thought I totally screwed it up. Steve thought that was probably the best hand I would find before I was forced to take the blinds. I thought about the possible hands of both players, but I really didn't consider the fact that the blinds were approaching and I should play that hand. The more I think about it, the more I realize Steve is correct. He seems to think I sometimes play "to not be eliminated", rather than "to win". I don't think that is the case, but I should have thought about the blinds approaching.

I played in a couple of satellites on Saturday and chopped one of them. I was happy that I didn't have to fork over the whole $2,000 buy-in for the No Limit event. I arrived on Sunday and was ready to kick some butt. I sat down at my table and immediately noticed Eskimo Clark sitting two seats to my right. A few minutes later, David Williams sat down 4 seats to my left. I was not happy with my starting table and was even more unhappy when I realized David Levi was sitting at my table too.

I got involved in a lot of hands in the early rounds and I actually thought I had enough chips to do some damage. I won a nice pot off David Williams when I flopped a set of sixes and got him to pay me off on each street. I won another nice size pot with the nut flush and I had about $6,000 in chips (we started with $4,000). There were two hands I misplayed and I am still bothered by them. The first hand, Eskimo raised the $100 big blind to $300 and I flat called him with pocket aces. All other players folded behind us. The flop was JTx with two clubs (I had the ace of clubs). Eskimo checked, I made a pot size bet and he called. The turn was another club. He checked, I made another pot size bet and he called again. The river card was a straight card, but I thought it was harmless. Eskimo checked again and I thought about it for a minute. I knew that straight card could not have helped his hand, but he already called two pot size bets. I thought the only way I was going to get him to put any money into the pot was if he had me beat. I could not imagine him calling any kind of value bet, so I just turned over my hand. He showed me pocket kings. I know the players could see the look of disgust on my face because David Williams laughed out loud when we turned our hands over. If I had made one raise preflop, I would have got all of Eskimo's chips. Instead, I got just a few.

When the limits went up, I had about $8,000 in chips and I was happy with my play and my table situation. David Levi was eliminated within the first five minutes of the tournament and I knocked out Eskimo a short time after the pocket aces fiasco. The rest of the table seemed to be easy targets. I lost almost 1/4 of my chips with one hand, but I still think I made the correct decision. One player raised the $200 big blind to $600 and I called on the button with pocket threes. The big blind reraised and made it $1,100 more. The original raiser folded and I called. The player in the big blind was a pretty solid player and when he reraised me, I sensed he had a huge hand because his hands were shaking when he reraised. I knew that if I hit that three, I would win all of his chips and I would be the chip leader at my table. I don't remember what the flop was, but the big blind moved all-in. I wish I had hit that three because I would have got all of his chips like I originally thought. Of course I folded the hand and was left with about $6,000 in chips.

There is one player on the tournament circuit who I call "the jinx". I actually like the player very much, but I hate when he sits at my table. I seem to lose all of my chips whenever he is around. He moved to my table and this is when things went wacko. I mentioned earlier that I thought I misplayed two hands, the second hand was against this player. I limped in first position with pocket sevens. I already decided that I would take my chips against David Williams (he had about $1,200 in chips) or the jinx (he had $2,500). Neither of these players would do too much damage to my stack and I was willing to get into a race with either of them. After my limp, 4 other players limped and the jinx raised to $1,000 from the big blind. I made it $2,500 so I could isolate the hand with him and it worked. He said, "I have second best". I knew this meant he had kings and I was in trouble. I was mad at myself because I did not take time to re-evaluate my decision after his raise. I had already decided I would take my hand against either player because I was willing to get into a race, but his $800 raise meant he had a big pocket pair and I was going to be a huge underdog. If he had AK, he would have moved all-in.

I lost a couple small pots after that hand and had about $4,000 when I played the hand that I was eliminated on. I was in the big blind with pocket fives and the guy one of the button raised to $600 and the small blind called. I decided to call and see a flop. The flop was 654 with two clubs. I knew I had the best hand and I wanted to play for all of my chips against these players. The small blind checked and I moved in for $3,300. I thought if I made a huge bet, the players would think I was trying to buy the pot and I would get called by them. The original raiser thought about it for a long time and I was begging for him to call. The more he thought about it, the more I knew I wanted the call. He finally folded the hand and then the small blind went into some deep thought. Again, I was begging for the call. He finally decided to call and I proudly turned over my set of fives. He showed T8 of clubs and made the flush on the turn. I felt good about the way I played the tournament (with exception of the pocket aces and pocket sevens hands) and was comfortable with the way I was eliminated. I look forward to the chance of playing in another one of these big events. First prize ended up being around $270,000 and I have a lot of plans for the time I win a prize of that size.

I went back to work today and decided to play in the HoHo Holdem tournament. Tonight's event was $200 No Limit with no rebuy. I played one of my best games and finished just a few out of the money. I could have played tight and finished in the money, but you all know my take on playing tournaments... Go for the WIN!! I was eliminated when we were down to 4 tables with $200-$400 blinds and $75 antes. The player in first position moved all-in for about $6000. There was no way this player would have moved in for that amount of money if he had pocket aces or kings, so I made an easy decision to move-in behind him for all of my chips with pocket queens. I was devastated when the player behind me moved all-in as well. I knew this could only mean one thing, he had aces. I was correct in all of my assumptions. The first player had pocket jacks and the player behind me had pocket aces. The aces held up and eliminated both of us.

December 1
I played in five games at work today, but spent most of the day in a $200 No Limit game. I was down a little, but went on a huge winning streak during the last four hours of my shift. I started out my streak by winning a big pot with 64. There were a few players already in for $20 and I considered mucking my hand, but at the last minute decided to play. The flop was T66 with two diamonds. One player bet $50, I raised to $100 and all of the other players folded. The turn was an 8 of diamonds. I had already came to the conclusion that my opponent was not on a flush draw and I figured there was no way he would have bet and called with 79, so after he checked, I bet $100 and he moved in for approximately $360. Instantly, I said "call". He turned over AT with the ace of diamonds. He asked for a diamond, but it did not get there. After this, I had about $1,000 in front of me and I was showing a nice little profit for the day. The player that was involved in the hand with me plays at the casino occasionally and I know he will give a lot of action, especially if he is losing.

A little while later (after the action player accumulated another big stack), I was dealt QT and I called a small raise in late position. The flop was AKJ giving me the nut straight. The first player bet $50 and the action player moved all-in for $860. I couldn't get the words, "I call!" out of my mouth fast enough. The table stared in amazement and the other player involved in the hand finally decided to fold. I am not sure what hand the action player held. He later said he had AK, but I find that hard to believe. The moment I called his bet, I told him that I had a straight and he said, "You got me". I believe that if he held AK, then he would have asked the dealer to put up one of those cards. My streak continued and I was happy about that. There were a couple of hands where I would hit a perfect card and the players at the table were amazed at how the cards were running for me. For example, I called a limped pot with K3 because the action player called. I wanted to play any pot that he was involved in because he was after me and I knew it would backfire on him. I flopped top pair with a board of K52 and called a small bet. The turn was a 4 giving me an open end straight with my pair of kings. The river was a six. The player checked, I bet and he called. I said, "you aren't going to believe this" and I turned over my hand. He said, "yes I would believe it." The next hour was more of the same and I ended up topping my Thanksgiving day win.

I am heading off to Bellagio tomorrow, so I am not sure how much I will be able to update my website. I will be home either Sunday or Monday night. Until then, you can check out some of the articles I wrote. The new section should be up within a day or two.