One Way Out
Thursday, August 31, 2006
DADI's got new digs and you can click on the pic to the left to check'em out. Moving on...Last nights Mookie brought with it one of the more interesting hands that I've been involved in lately. I wish I had saved the hand history so I could plug it into PokerXFactor, but I'm at work and don't have access to my hand histories right now. I'll try and do it justice here.
RoccoBoxer: AA
Tripjax: KK
Grupper: QQ
I think we were all relatively close in chips, but I don't remember exact stack sizes. Preflop we have raises and re-raises which ultimately result in all 3 of us getting it all-in. At this point, I believe Rocco was approximately a 65% favorite to win the hand. That said, up against two other players, it would not be too crazy to see a K or Q hit the board cracking Rocco's aces. The flop however made things interesting.
Flop: A X K
Now if a lone Ace comes out with no straight or flush cards out there, Rocco would have a strangle hold on the hand with probably a 99% favorite to win the hand. I don't recall the middle card on the flop so I'm not really sure about that. As it were, an Ace AND King hit the flop, which still gave Rocco the strangle hold on the hand, but gave me a little bit more help. I was around 5% to win the pot at that point, methinks.
Turn: X
I don't really remember the turn card and to be honest I was already resigning myself to the fact that I was about to bust out.
River: K
At this point I was rather stunned. I don't think I can remember the last time I put a one out on someone. Normally, in a position like this, you want to yell out, "Dems Quads Beetches," but I honestly felt horrible in that moment. Of course it felt good to be on the receiving end of crazy hand like that, but you can't help but feel bad about a one outer. Especially when it is amongst fellow broggers.
So Rocco, I'm sorry for the bad beat. If I had it to over again, I'd make sure the dealer didn't put that Ace on the flop so at least it would have just been bad luck and not a bad, bad beat (well, would still be a bad beat, but not so damn ugly). Hopefully karma will be on your side soon since you were extremely cool and level headed in the chatbox.
Anyway, I just thought that was an interesting hand.
The other interesting hand for me was my final one. In all actuality, it is just a random hand, but it happened to be my last one of the night. I don't even recall the board, but I know the result was me on the rail. I was directly to the left of Marxst who is a very active player. He gets into tons of pots and has a special knack for hitting the card he needs at just the right time (at least from what I can recall playing with him a couple of times in the last few months). I don't really know much about his play, but he strikes me as the type to either have a huge stack at the final table or be out early. From what I can tell he is a really nice guy and just out to have a good time.
I have K 2 in the BB (400) and it folds to Marxst in the SB (200). I have approximately 3500 and Marxst probably has around 5000 (possibly more). It folds around to him and he bumps it up to 1200. I KNOW I am good here with my K 2 off suit. It's just that feeling you get when you know you have the best hand and I had the feeling. The question here is, getting close to the final table, is this where you risk all your chips if you feel you have the best hand, but it is still very vulnerable? I have an M around 5 and I know I need chips to sustain any chance of playing for the money.
I felt like my bet gave Marxst a chance to fold and still have some chips. If he calls, like I said, I felt I had the best hand. If I was wrong, then I'm hurtin' real bad against any pocket pair and any big cards. As it were, he had Q J and the board helped him more than it helped me.
I just don't know. It felt like a total blind steal or a play he had been making often. I doubt I'm much better than a 55% to 45% favorite, but I felt like it was the right play. What I'm getting at is, under the circumstances noted above - and being a small favorite - is it worth it after nearly two hours of play to put yourself in that situation? Keep in mind, again, I had an M of 5 and was pretty low as far as stack sizes at that point. This is just the type of situation that comes up all the time in almost every tourney so it is worth evaluating to become a better player.
As I noted above, if you haven't already, be sure to take a gander at the new look DADI site. We should have DADI 9 details up soon!
Let me end on a casual note...
Urban Word of the Day
www.urbandictionary.com
August 31, 2006: bonus beer
Beer which one "discovers" having not known that it was there. Typically this occurs after a party or family gathering/event and may often involve a secondary fridge or forgotten cooler. Discovery of said beer is usually followed by feelings of joy and well being, similar to finding unexpected money in a jacket one has not worn in some time.
I'll just clean out the fridge, haven't done that in a while... wait a sec what's this? BONUS BEER! Righteous!
posted by TripJax @ 10:51 AM,
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Fair Warning
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Do not min raise my big blind. I will call you with any two cards. I will call you if the dealer only gives me one card. I will then suck out on you without fail. You will then get pissed off and call me names in the chat box. I will then laugh and start to type a response in the chat box, but think better of it and delete it before hitting enter. I will do this forever and ever amen.
posted by TripJax @ 1:58 PM,
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Bashes On A Motha Fuckin Boat
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
I'm sure most of you who read this here brog already read Sir Al, and thus already know what I'm about to write about. Regardless, I've got some pimping to do.As many of you know, Al is heading up The Bash At The Boat in late September. It's for 4 great causes:
- For Peyton
- Michael's Mircacle
- Drinking Lots-O-Alcomohol
- Meeting Up With Fellow Broggers
The first two causes are the ones that make all of this feel right. They are the ones that remind you that life is precious and sometimes you are needed. You may not know these people, but that is not what matters. What matters is, when you can, it is better to give than receive. I can't support every charity, nor do I want to. Our family dollars don't go very far, but when I can, I will drop a few dollars when it feels right. This feels right.
The last two causes from the list above are what makes this little venture way too easy to support. I seriously can't wait to meet some of you degenerates.
So here is the deal regarding the picture above (be sure to click the pic to get a better view of the, erm, text. On Saturday, before all the festivities get going, there will be a charity poker tournament with Gavin Smith. He has been great for the game of poker and really makes poker on TV interesting. He is quite funny and plays a style of poker I can relate to. Over the past year he has been my favorite player to watch on TV.
Gavin and a few other pros have graciously offered to pony up a sizeable chunk of cash to go towards both charities listed above. However, to make things interesting, there will be a tournament with each player using their charitable donation as their buy-in. As I'm to understand, buy-ins may vary, but it is all for a good as 100% goes to the charities noted above.
For those of us going to the Bash, the above satellite on Full Tilt is our chance to do our part and get in on the action. We can all play a $25 satellite and whoever takes 1st place will represent the broggers at the Gavin Smith Charity Poker Tournament that Saturday at The Bash. All proceeds from this satellite go towards your buy-in which subsequently goes towards the charities listed above as I've already noted.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like cheap entertainment that goes towards a great cause. The chance to sling chips with some pros is pretty cool.
On a side note, even if you are not going to the Bash, you can still play in the satellite to support the cause. I don't know what Al has in mind, but maybe if someone wins the satellite and is not coming to the Bash, they can pick a brogger from the list of people going to represent us all at the tourney. Or maybe it should go to the brogger who is going that has the best finish in the satellite. Obviously that would be up to Al, but just a couple of thoughts on the subject.
In case you are wondering, when I was making the banner, putting up a pic of Gavin just wasn't working out. Don't get me wrong, he's got poker skillz, but he's no Clonie Gowen in the looks department. Thus, I had to choose a fellow friend of Full Tilt to put on the banner. This does not mean she will be at the Charity Tournament or The Bash, but a dude can dream. I hope you will agree it was a smart move. I promise, the day we have a Clonie Gown Charity Tournament, I will put up a pic of Gavin Smith instead to make things even.*
*No I won't.
posted by TripJax @ 10:00 AM,
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Back In The Saddle
Monday, August 28, 2006
It feels a bit strange writing in ye ole brog after almost 10 days away. Taking a break from the brog while on vacation was a good thing as I feel refreshed and ready to hit it again. It was hard to keep up the last month with the hectic pace at work, but things should be a little more slow and steady for a while.The vacation was spectacular and very much needed. To the left is just one of the many pictures snapped throughout the week. On a side note, the boy started kindergarten today which is just wild to me. That whole time flies adage is quite true.
After a weeks worth of sleeping in, it was quite tough waking up this morning. I was none too happy when the alarm went off this morning. Note to self: Must win lottery so I can sleep in every day.
On to poker...
The vacation unfortunately made finishing the 45 Player SNG Challenge quite a, erm, challenge. We left for vacation on August 19th and the challenge ended August 20th. I had 3 games remaining and had no idea if I would have wireless access at the hotel. Turns out we did have spotty wireless access, but it was only available on the front balcony, and only in certain spots. It was not the ideal situation for playing poker.
Though poker should have been the last thing on my mind on vacation, I knew I was throwing money away if I did not at least attempt to finish my last three 45 player SNG's. I was somewhere in the top 6 and at the time I thought only the top 3 paid. I knew I had a shot if I could catch some breaks on those last games. I found out from the front desk of the hotel that there was an Atlanta Bread Company nearby that had free wireless access.
Wifey was fine with us having dinner there on Sunday, August 20th, which was quite cool of her. She could have easily rolled her eyes and told me to not even bring up poker on vacation, but instead she was supportive. The plan was set and it looked like everything would be fine. That is until my first setback.
After getting back to the hotel on Sunday around 4pm after a day at the beach we realized that the restaurant with wireless access closed at 6pm. That put things in rush mode for us, but we were able to make it there and I was able to get logged into my 1st match by 5:10pm. It took a while to get into the other 2 SNG's, but eventually I had all 3 going at once. I must say I felt like a bit of a degenerate sitting in the middle of a restaurant with 3 poker tournaments going at once.
My memory is spotty on the tournaments, but I can remember a few things. On my 1st tournament I ended up going out in 15th place for no cash and no points for the SNG Challenge. I think my money got in with the best of it, but things didn't quite pan out for me. On the 2nd tourney I ended up getting to the final table and finishing in 4th place. I was making a strong run and thought I was gonna get heads-up, but it just didn't work out. This gave me a decent cash payout and also gave me some much needed SNG Challenge points. With that finish, I moved into 3rd place on the challenge, though I didn't know that at the time.
Things got a little squirrelly from there. At this point I'm well into my last SNG, but it is past 6pm and creeping towards 6:30pm. The restaurant was run by a slew of teenagers and they were being pretty cool about letting me hang out while they were cleaning. They even offered me some free food, but I couldn't afford to sit out a hand with the escalating blinds.
At around 6:30pm I could tell they were ready for me to leave so they could head out, so I started to pack up my stuff and head for the door. I kept my laptop open and running as I walked towards the exit. I was hoping I would still be able to use the wireless outside. At this point I had made it to the final table and we were at the bubble (8 players remaining, only 7 get paid).
As I walked out the door of the restaurant I was extremely happy to see I woke up with A T suited in the big blind and the button had min raised basically putting me all-in. The big blind was 1200 and I don't think I had more than 2000 at this point. I KNEW I was ahead as he had been bullying a ton and had a large stack to work with. Interestingly, though I did not have many chips, I knew if I won that hand I would probably make the money because 2 players had a ton of the chips and the rest of us were not too far off from each other. I would have a full orbit to let the others battle it out.
This is where things went bad. As I walked out of the exit I apparently lost my signal and was stuck staring at my AT suited and unable to do anything. With more than 60% of my chips going into the hand at that point, I was screwed and would be folded unless I could get back on in time to push all-in. That never happened and I was never able to get back into the game. My A T hand was folded and most of my chips were lost. I found out later I ended up finishing on the bubble and getting no cash and no points towards the challenge. Bummer.
On the bright side, I ended up finishing the Challenge in 4th place with 4 places paying out. I was happy to see, even with the slight set back on the last game and the whole wireless ordeal, my diligence paid off.
That's gonna have to do it for me today. It's good to be back. Vacation was great, but it is good to be home and great to be back in the saddle.
posted by TripJax @ 12:21 PM,
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Audit This Biotches
Saturday, August 19, 2006
It's been a grueling week and a very tough month preparing for our audit at work. We finished up the audit late Friday afternoon and I'm happy to report we did quite well. So, things will be gravy for another year and now I can settle back into a less stressful atmosphere. Except...
I am walking out the door in just a few minutes for our family vacation. It's much needed after what I just went through. Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna be tired as all get out after this week and I'm gonna need a vacation from my vacation? That's how vacations go when you've got kids. Oh well...we are gonna have a killer time.
I have 3 more 45 SNG Challenge games to play, but I have no idea if I'll have internet access on vacation. If not, whatever I have is what I have. If I find a wireless spot, expect me to make a run for the money. Audit that biotches.
I'll be back on a regular posting schedule next week. Until then, may the felt be with you and may the drinks be with me...
posted by TripJax @ 10:14 AM,
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Special K
Friday, August 11, 2006
Special K lives in Charlotte and has been brogging quite a while. For those of you who made the 2006 WPBT Summer Classic, you may recognize his name. He was there and took some great pics (actually, I don't know if he took them, but he posted them). If you check the pics, keep a look out for one really smokin' Whiteboy.................t-shirt).
Over the next couple of weeks he'll be traveling on vacation, but posting often about the trip and other stuff. The end goal will be getting the fam to Vegas.
He has a home game quite often that I want to eventually make it to, but so far I've missed out with a busy schedule of my own. Hopefully soon I can relieve him and his friends of their hard earned money.
If you have a moment, go visit Special K and add him to your blogroll. Tell'em TripJax sent ya.
posted by TripJax @ 11:11 AM,
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Yo Momma
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
The following was my word verification for the comment I left Klopzi last night.
So to all the moms in the world (that read this brog), I just wanted to say, "Hi."
I wish I could write more, but we are in the final stages of preparing for our audit at work next week, so things are quite hectic. I'm working pretty much non-stop from now to August 18th so posting until then will be tough. Then, on August 19th, I go on vacation with the fam. I guess what I'm trying to say is, unless I get a guest writer to post here, things might be a little slow for a few weeks.
I'll be back writing in full force as soon as I can...
posted by TripJax @ 10:01 PM,
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Rollercoaster
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Last night was quite the rollercoaster session. I signed up for the Hoy pretty early and decided I would try some $50NL action before the tourney. I played for quite a while at the 6max tables and was up and down throughout. After about 2 hours of play, and with about 10 minutes remaining before the tourney, I had managed to turn my $50 into $72.At that point the poker angel on my left shoulder started whispering in my ear that I was up $22 and that was exactly enough for my Hoy buy-in. No matter what, I could break even on the night if I left the cash game table there. The poker devil on my right shoulder had one simple thing to say. "Dude, what the fuck are you going to do for 10 minutes until the tourney starts?"
Damn you poker devil.
Before I go forward, let me remind you all that I don't tend to post bad beat stories at this here brog. It's just not my bag baby. However, in order to paint the rollercoaster picture, I gotta get all this out. Also, I gotta mention that a rollercoaster night for me is nothing compared to some of the stuff I read out there and know that many of you go through. Still, for me and my mediocre bankroll, this was an interesting night.
So there I sit up nearly 50% of my original buy-in on the night and I decide to just play out the table until right before the tourney. That's when the hand happened.
It's folded to me on the button and I pop the big blind of $.50 up to $2 with 7s9s
Small blind folds.
Big blind thinks for about 10 seconds then calls.
Flop comes 6s8s2s giving me my flush with an open ended straight flush draw.
Big blind bets $4.
I pop it up to $11.
He pushes all-in and I call.
He flips over 8c2h.
The turn is the 2c and the river a Kx giving him a fullhouse twos over eights
I'm left with $1.90 of my original $72 before the hand.
About 10 seconds after that hand the Hoy tourney table popped open. In a weird way, I was a little bit miffed, but not mad. I jokingly told the table to watch out cause I was on tilt. I really wasn't on tilt, but I certainly didn't play well. It showed in that I barely made it past the 10 minute mark and the late registration. A very ugly showing.
I lost 1/3 of my chips early to Hoy when I flopped middle pair jacks with an A on the board. I kept betting at it, but had to let it go when Hoy showed strenth and re-raised me. It felt like a well timed slow play, but he could have been pushing me off with a pocket pair. Not sure.
Not too long after I'm right at 1000 and pop it up with the hammer. Slb59 has the audacity to suck out on me with some hand that was way inferior to the hammer. Someone lied to me...I thought the hammer had never lost in the history of poker. Somehow I lost with it. Bastardos!
At this point I'm down $72 for the session, but in my head I'm down $94 since I lost $72 on the last cash game hand. I decide to head back to the $50NL cash games as they were still quite juicy in my mind. At this point the poker angel on my left shoulder is telling me to give it up and go ask for forgiveness, but I knew at this point the poker devil on my right shoulder was going to be in control of me the rest of the night.
Long story short is, in a matter of 30 minutes after the Hoy tourney, I end up stacking 3 short stacks and one decent size stack and turn my $50 buy-in into $125. My last big hand was stacking the decent size stack when my Js9s flopped the nut flush and played him into two pair on the river. It was a thing of beauty seeing those chips pushed my way after losing my stack only 30 minutes earlier to 8 2 offsuit.
It was a short rollercoaster, but I think I have whiplash. Still, it is nice to have rough nights like this and still break even. So I've got that going for me...
posted by TripJax @ 10:41 AM,
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Internot
Monday, August 07, 2006
On Saturday night I played some $50 NL with some success. That felt great after a tough run recently at the cash game tables.Sunday I woke up planning to put a few hours in at the tables, but found my high speed cable modem deceased. No little green lights blinking, no power, no nothing. I called Time Warner and they are supposedly sending someone out today.
Not playing poker when you've planned to not play poker is great. Not playing poker when you want to play, but can't, just plain sucks. You don't realize how much you rely on something until that something is gone. Damn the man!
I'm at work so I can't put much into this post, but hopefully things will be back in order with the modem soon so I can get back to playing and posting regularly. In the meantime, go read someone else, like Carmen, or go put a post on Kicked In The Junk. Geez, no one has posted on that thing since January. With all the bad beat bitching I read on brogs, you'd think someone would post there on occasion so that they aren't filling up their own brog with that stuff. Get with it people!
posted by TripJax @ 11:11 AM,
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Connectshunned
Friday, August 04, 2006
I haven't had very many bright spots since my win a few weeks back in The Mookie. Last night I got stacked twice for 2 buy-ins at Titan, but I was happy with my play, so I've got that going for me.
Today I played a 45 player SNG on Stars and was pretty pissed off to find my connection is once again acting up. On pretty much every hand I lost my connection which is extremely frustrating. Normally this effects my play as I'm afraid to put too many chips in the pot without going all-in for fear I'll have my hand folded.
Despite my connection problems, I managed to make it to the final table. I was last or next to last in chips when we got to the bubble and it took forever to knock someone out and reach the money. From there I managed to work my way up to 1st in chips and ended up winning the damn thing. Not a big money win at $84, but taking 1st out of 45 helps my psyche as well as my 45 Player SNG Challenge numbers (I'm showing at 11 points now, but this win will put me at 21 points with 7 more chances to improve).
So anyway, good Friday to you all and we'll see you back here on Monday...
posted by TripJax @ 5:18 PM,
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So Gayla
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Defending my win at The Mookie two weeks prior just wasn't in the cards last night. I still had a great time while I played, so I've got that going for me.Even though I didn't make it deep in the tourney, I still took a screen shot to capture the tourney name in the annals of time. Hopefully some day soon, I can partake in another TripJax Poker Gayla. Time will tell. As always, thanks for the good times Mookie.
My one regret last night was I did not utilize the Hoy or Reverse Hoy. I had a chance to push all-in and leave myself one chip, but didn't do it for whatever reason. I think I was caught up in the chance to double-up and just forgot. Looking back, I probably could have hung around a few more hands with 1 chip had I done so. Damn the man!
A while back I mentioned I was pondering a move to Charlotte for a new job within the same company. Long story short is I declined the offer. This made my current boss very happy and I believe that will help me here in the long run. A move could happen in the future, but for now we are way too happy where we are right now to mess that up. I've always said I would not chase money at the cost of happiness. For now, I followed through on my feelings. I'm happy with my decision.
For the record, Al, add me to the Bash At The Boat list. It's about to get ugly.
posted by TripJax @ 9:02 AM,
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TripJax Poker Gayla
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I'm short on time today, so I'm just going to post an excerpt from Mookie's recent post below. It's about his Mookie tourney tomorrow night (Wednesday). I hope to see you all there. For the record, Mookie, I love the banner. And when I went to save the picture to add to this post, I had to laugh yet again when I saw you had named it TripGay. For those that are confused, check out my post from yesterday. Now to the excerpt from Mookie:
Last week was the DADI tournament which was a lot of fun. This Wednesday we are back to the regular Mookie tournament. TripJax is the defending champion and looking for title #2. I hope to see everyone there on Wednesday as we always have a good time.
posted by TripJax @ 10:50 AM,
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