Blah (redux)

Over the last month or so I have been playing really lousy - perhaps more than just the last month - whatever. This is not a case of the cards treating me bad, but rather just my play being way off. I find I am making mistakes that I know I shouldn't make. I don't have the patience I know you need. I could make a list, but it is not relevant.

I don't play as often as most the people I play regularly with (all you bloggers and blog readers) but I still play more than enough - certainly many many times a week. I orginally wrote this about a week and 1/2 ago. Right after the last WWdN:Not. And never posted it.

I did however take a little time off and missed out all the fun this week.

I played one of those double shootout tournies to the Sunday Millions on stars last week and still managed to make a donkey move to go out in 3rd when I called an all-in with Ax (lousy kicker) against a flopped set of 7s on a Ax7 flop. Oops - donkey isn't gone yet. I continued to stay away some more and then played a $5+0.50 MTT on Pokerroom last night and did alright. I finished in 61th place of 381 (top 40 payed) but at least I felt I played right and knew what I was getting into when I went all-in, shorted stacked with AQo. The chip leader, who called my all-in had 99, so I was happy with a race at that point. (Of course he flopped a 9 which he didn't need, but at least I was happy with my play.)

So other than my regular Sunday live nickel and dime game, I have only played twice. I plan to continue at this rate til Thursday when I will rejoin you to celebrate the WWdN:Not the MiamiDon Invitational!

What: WWdN: Not The
Where: Pokerstars
When: Thursday, July 6th, 7:30PM PT
Which: Tournament: 27048121
Cost: $10+1 NLHE
Password: monkey

I hope everyone has a fun and safe July 4th long weekend!

WWdN: Not for me

Once again I manage to do good at the beginning, then donk the chips away in stupid moves and crash and burn. No matter, we had our regulars turn out for the WWdN: Not and everyone had a good time. Congrats have to go out to SirFWALGMan, MiamiDon and surflexus for their top 3 finishes in the money.

There will no WWdN: Not next week as the DADI 7 is running at basically the same time.

So the next WWdN: Not will be in two weeks, named after MiamiDon for finishing 2nd in tonight's event. See you at the WWdN: Not the MiamiDon Invitational.

This week in poker

I decided not to play the Blogger event on Pokerstars yesterday. Not because of Father's day, but because I had a few people over and we decided to play poker in person. I managed to get to 789th place or something in the blogger tournament without even being there tho.

I also got an email from TripJax telling me about the upcoming DADI 7 tournament and the fact it was going to be on a Thursday night. I told him that I thought the best idea would be to not have a WWdN: Not the tournament that week. So we will have one this week and the person who finishes 2nd will get the tournament in two weeks named after them.

What: WWdN: Not The
Where: Pokerstars
When: Thursday, June 22nd, 7:30PM PT
Which: Tournament: 26730122
Cost: $10+1 NLHE
Password: monkey

And the following week, we will all have fun at the DADI 7 instead.

Not results

Once again I manage to start off weak, get real strong in the middle, then blow it (usually with donkey moves). Oh well, it is great fun every week anyway and this week it is about slb159, valencia, and mickdog who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the money.

We had a good (for us) turn out tonight - I was a little concerned with mookie's gang away and I wasn't sure how it went last week. I was thinking that we need to start naming these things like the "other" blogger tournies. So starting with the week after next, the tournament will be named after the person who finishes 2nd next week. In other words, place second next week, and we will name the tournament after you.

Why second you ask? Because this is Not the way you normally do it. ;-) Call it a consolation prize for letting some other slacker beat you.

Comments, as always, are welcome.

I'm back

We got back Sunday afternoon having driven a total of 3680 miles in less than 10 days. The trip was a great success, but that is way too much driving. I now need a week long vacation to recover from my vacation.

I did manage to actually play a little poker, but a lot more slot machines at several of the places I stayed. The problem with playing poker was the limited choice of tables, so I fed the slot machines and watched the stupid video games they build into them these days.

So it is time to get back into my "normal" poker routine with the WWdN tonight, the Mookie tomorrow night (is there a mookie tomorrow night?) and the WWdN: Not on Thursday. Info on the WWdN: Not is below:

What: WWdN: Not The
Where: Pokerstars
When: Thursday, June 15st, 7:30PM PT
Which: Tournament: 26231098
Cost: $10+1 NLHE
Password: monkey

On the road

I am currently passing through Scipio, Utah with my wife driving up I-15. The road just turned to shit and is bumpy as hell. Very hard to type.

I am using my Verizon cellular EVDO internet card and if it wasn't for the bumps and the hard to see display in the sunshine this is quite useable. Last summer when we tried a similar road trip, the internet didn't work as well.

I don't know if this will mean any more blog updates, but it is a cool experience riding down the road, checking your email and surfing the net.

Note: Do not attempt this while driving!

Just an update

The WWdN:Not is over for this week and Hoyazo, trying hard, was unable to make it a threepeat. Mungo36 dominated the end game with both GScottW and MacDaKnife finishing 2nd and 3rd. It wasn't a record turnout (unlike the Mookie last night) but it was a great game (as usual).

With a little luck, someone will post the results next week so I can see how everyone did.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

With deference to our favorite Mad Man, Waffles posted a great interview with Hoyazo about his recent winning ways. It goes into some depth of his thought process and has a few gems about playing blogger events. He evens talks about the genesis of the "Hoy" and "Reverse Hoy"!

On a related topic, I have been contemplating the Hammer lately. It started a few weeks ago when I observed a few bloggers calling an all-in with the hammer. Short of going out in a blaze of glory, or being so short stacked that it didn't matter, or just hoping to suckout, this did not make any sense to me. To me, playing the hammer was all about using it to bluff in a scary situation when the other guy doesn't have the nuts. Make him/her lay down the second best hand, only to show off the hammer and try to tilt that person. Obviously others opinions differ.

My most recent run of hammer luck went completely wrong on me tho. Last Tuesday in the WWdN, I managed to get up to a nice T4500 or so when I was dealt my first hammer of the night. I raised preflop, bet on the flop, got raised and put the other guy all-in. Unfortunately he called on a straight draw (I think) and managed to fill the thing while my hammer withered.

Ok, so that happens. Within a hand or two, I get another one. At this point I figure it has to work, so I go at it again. This fails just as miserably. At this point I am down to scant hundreds of chips and manage a few rounds before I am out. I think I am going to swear off the hammer for a while because certainly my luck with it is currently on a down swing. Silly concept anyway. ;-)

Don't forget the WWdN: Not the tonight:
What: WWdN: Not The
Where: Pokerstars
When: Thursday, June 1st, 7:30PM PT
Which: Tournament: 25596231
Cost: $10+1 NLHE
Password: monkey

And the following week, I am on a 3500 mile road trip and won't be around. The tournament is already set up for it though, so I hope all the regulars have a great time and someone can report on the results for me.

What: WWdN: Not The
Where: Pokerstars
When: Thursday, June 8st, 7:30PM PT
Which: Tournament: 25599892
Cost: $10+1 NLHE
Password: monkey

That's it for poker content. For anyone interested, we (my wife and I) are driving from SoCal to Calgary/Edmonton Alberta and back over the next week and a bit. The plan currently is as follows:

• Friday (tomorrow): Get as far as Mesquite Nevada
• Saturday: Butte Montana
• Sunday: Calgary Alberta (about 1550 miles to this point) - meet up with yongest son who is also driving in.
• Monday: Pick up oldest son at airport in Calgary, meet with my sister who is organising this.
• Tuesday: The reason for all this is a family reunion/surprise birthday party for my mother who turns 80 in June. Surprise! Hopefully no heart attacks.
  
• Wednesday: Family visting time
• Thursday: Drive 200 miles north to Edmonton to visit more family and friends (and back to Calgary that day)
• Friday: Head south to Butte again
• Saturday: Back to Mesquite (if we make it that far)
• Sunday: Home again

All I know is I will need a vacation when I get back from my vacation. I doubt I will do much blogging, or poker playing during this trip, however I am staying at a casino in both Nevada and Alberta. Anything is possible.