The Ace Hole
Monday, April 30, 2007
"I immediately regret this decision."
Anchorman, Ron Burgundy, upon jumping into the bear exhibit at the zoo.
Over the last few months I've made a huge effort to avoid fonking my chips - and a chance at winning a tournament - at the hands of Ace Rag. I've started to call it The Ace Hole, 'cause that's what I feel like when I stuff my chips in the midle with it. There have even been a few times where I got away from situations where pot odds justified my money in the middle with it, but I still let the pot go. In almost every situation I ultimately made the correct move. Last night was an exception.
In the Blogger Bracelet Race, I let greed get in the way of keeping to my guns with my strategy. I don't recall exact details, but after a few limpers, and with blinds building up to 200/400, I pushed my 6k stack either on the B, SB or BB. I had A 7 and was called by A J and did not improve. I went out 17th, but I wasn't really concerned with where I placed. I was concerned that I completely went against my usual play and just suckered myself out of the tourney. As the hand ended, I pictured Ron Burgundy jumping into the bear pit in Anchorman. His quote noted above echoed throughout my noggin'.
Whenever I see limpers coming into my B, SB or BB, I immediately look at my push option to determine if those chips in the middle can be mine. Sometimes it makes sense to get my chips in the middle and take down the hand without a battle. However, when it goes against the strategy I've established to give myself the best chance to win a tournament, then it is just plain tarded to go against the grain. I'd like to say lesson learned, but I've done it enough times that I think I need to write a few more posts like this to burn it into my brain.
Tonight we get back to the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments, with The MATH tournament, and I must say it's none too soon. At the last blonkey event, I just missed the final table and money, so I'm ready to get back on track. I'm currently at 15th on the leaderboard and I can smell a top 10 after this week.
On a side note, if you see ChapelncHill at your table tonight, be sure and tell him hello. That's my older brother and it's been cool having him play and/or rail in some of these events lately. We live far enough away that we don't see each other very often, so hanging with him on the virtual felt has been hella cool. This will be his 3rd or 4th online blogger event and he has even played in a G-Vegas live event at Bad Blood's house. He's the only other person in my family who probably thinks about poker as much or more than I. That said, in case you are reading this bro, here is the info to sign up...
posted by TripJax @ 1:02 PM,
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Friday Flashback
Friday, April 27, 2007
As of this moment, only 19 players are signed up for the Blogger Bracelet Race. I realize a rush of sign-ups usually occurs in the last hours before most tournaments, but since we need 63 or more to guarantee a seat, early sign-ups would be nice.
Thus, I believe my post from last Friday bears repeating. Come on people, lets light this candle. Otherwise all my future posts will be tainted with stuff like this and this (from the two tourneys I've played since the Mook on Wednesday). Now nobody wants to see that kind of nasty stuff day in and day out, so why don't you do the proper thing and get your ask signed up for the tourney.
There, I feel better now. As I promised, here is a repeat of my post from last Friday...
1) Go to Full Tilt Poker and open up a $13.50 heads-up sng that awards a $26 token to the winner.
2) After winning the 1st hand of the match, wake up with a monster, The Hammer (7 2 offsuit). Flop a pair on a 9 6 2 flop, then hit trip 2's on the turn. Shove your chips in the middle on a Q river and have fonkey CALL your all-in with 3rd pair, weak ass kicker (6 4). Win token...
3) Go look for the Blogger Bracelet Race banner in order to get the password and sign up.
4) Find the banner...
Click to enlarge boobies, erm, I mean banner
4) Spend fifteen minutes staring at said banner *looking for the password*
5) Completely forget what you were doing prior to locating the banner.
6) Finally remember password was sent by Al via email. Successfully retrieve password.
7) Head over to Full Tilt in order to sign up for the Blogger Bracelet Race tournament.
8) Mistakenly click on the banner again...
9) MISTAKENLY make numerous mouse clicks resulting in said banner being set as your desktop background (tiled for her pleasure)...
10) Hours later, finally remember you still need to sign up for the Blogger Bracelet Race on Full Tilt.
11) Sign up for the tournament...
12) Sleep well at night knowing your trusty desktop backround will be there day in and day out as a reminder that the tournament is Sunday, April 29th at 7pm.
And that folks, is how to satellite into the Blogger Bracelete Race in 12 easy steps.
Until next time, may the felt be with you!
posted by TripJax @ 3:10 AM,
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Not In The Cards
Thursday, April 26, 2007
I'm home today with LilJax while ChickJax and KidJax go on a field trip. The little one and I are headed out soon to shop for a new mower. I can see the excitement in her eyes. Actually, so I don't completely bore her all day, we are then going to go to a Children's Museum so she can have some fun.
Last night was a tad on the painful side for me at the Mookie. Nearing the bubble I got into a huge hand with Fluxer when I flopped a set. I put him to the test with a huge bet and he pushed with his flush draw. The flush landed on the river and I was down near the felt.
Somehow, however, I built my stack back up to a respectable amount. We were on the bubble and had been for quite a while. I'm sure it was nearing 30 minutes or so. Numerous times other players had been all-in, but managed to suckout or have their hands hold up to stay in it.
Something about the way things were playing out just didn't sit well with me at that point. Having lost that huge pot earlier, I just kept getting the feeling that I would be the guy left on the outside looking in. Alas I wake up with KK and push my 7k into a 2k raise. He calls and shows A8 and flops XAA. Good game me...out in 10th on the money and final table bubble. I can't remember who it was, but I think it was BrainMC.
I don't fault either player for the way they played their hands. Just not my night I guess. I should note I was never on tilt during any of this. I just don't seem to get "pissed off tilty" anymore. If anything I was just disappointed cause I really wanted to make that final table and vie for another Mookie title. I can smell my 3rd Mookie title coming soon, so watch out people.
And as for the BBT I was real close to making my 3rd final table in my last 5 blonkey events. Hopefully last nights results will put me at or near the Top 10. Smonkey had to go on a mini heater at the bubble there, otherwise I would have probably waxed him in the points. Guess we'll see when they update the numbers.
Moving on...
I'm wondering if any of my readers might be able to help me out. For whatever reason, my hand histories for Full Tilt are no longer saving on my hard drive. I have everything set for them to save, but nothing seems to be happening. The last time anything hit my hard drive was 4/19 and I've played plenty of times since then. I have checked my options within Full Tilt and the box is checked to save Hand Histories for 30 days. Any ideas? I've had a number of hands lately that I want to evaluate, but haven't been able to.
If anyone has any ideas or has been through a similar situation, I would appreciate a little help.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 10:10 AM,
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Thinking Poker
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
It's been a busy last couple of days for yours truly running from one office to another putting in my time where I'm needed. I guess it's better to be needed, busy and get paid, than the alternatives. I digress.
I've been having all sorts of pokery stuff running through my mind lately, but nothing that really makes for a great post. Part of me - let's call it my ugly side - has this inherent trait within to constantly question everything about the game. To find the advantages over others and exploit them to the max. To create new ideas about the game or change existing ideas to better my game. This is the part of me that always has random pokery stuff swirling through my head throughout the day. Weird shit.
The other part - let's call this one my debonair side - knows this game has been around a loooonnnngggg time and has been analyzed in and out by the greats of this and prior generations. This part scoffs at my ugly side trying to question the great players and their strategies offered in books, forums, blogs and on tv.
Somewhere in the middle is the true me...willing to listen and learn from any and everyone, but not afraid to question when something just doesn't fit. I think I like this me best, not only for the reasons just mentioned, but also because this me really likes adult beverages. And boobies.
One of the things I've been spending more time thinking about is what I need to do to put myself in a position to win more tournaments. Yeah, I know, that's a pretty obvious train of thought, but one I'm still pondering a good bit these days.
In looking at the Hoy from the other night, we had about 50 runners and starting stacks of 3,000. With the winner needing 150,000 chips at the end of the tournament, you need to double your original starting stack nearly 6 times throughout the tournament to take it down.
What is fascinating about this is the many, many different ways to accomplish this. Some players use a strategy that keeps the pots low, rarely getting all their chips all-in without monsters, but building a stack throughout the tournament. Others take serious risks to accumulate chips in a hurry and dominate the tournament throughout. Bottom line is many players are playing many styles that form the landscape of a typical tournament.
What I'm getting at is I'm no where near ready to get into any details, but I'm doing a ton of thinking about how to create a better game plan for the different tournaments I play. For now my thoughts are focused on the blonkey tournaments that are part of the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments, since those are what I'm mainly playing right now.
Speaking of which, tonight's offering is The Mookie. I'm looking to get back on track tonight after a disappointing result in The Hoy on Monday. I'm currently nestled in 17th place overall, which is not too shabby. So far I've been as high as 14th ("I bet you have panama red") and as low as 150+. I just need one nice win to vault me into the top 5. Tonight I hope to bring it!
One last note before I go. I'm signed up for the Blogger Bracelet Race. Are you?
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 9:19 AM,
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Not So Bad Anymore
Monday, April 23, 2007
I'm travelling during the day for the next couple of days so this may be the only post for a few days. Don't you just hate posts that are solely to tell you not to expect many posts for a while? So tarded.
Anyways...
I used to dread Monday's because they were the end of one weekend and the furthest point to the next weekend. I don't loathe Monday's so much anymore...
That is all.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 7:05 PM,
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How To
Friday, April 20, 2007
Hello Childrens!
Soak it up, 'cause I'm dropping two posts in one day. That's unheard of around these parts.
I was thinking on this fine Friday I should cover a topic that effects many of my readers. No, not herpes silly! Leave Wawfuls out of this. Instead I figured I would do a "How To" session on satelliting your way into the upcoming Blogger Bracelet Race. Here's your chance to get a glimpse into the exciting world of TripJax. Lets light this candle, shall we?
1) Go to Full Tilt Poker and open up a $13.50 heads-up sng that awards a $26 token to the winner.
2) After winning the 1st hand of the match, wake up with a monster, The Hammer (7 2 offsuit). Flop a pair on a 9 6 2 flop, then hit trip 2's on the turn. Shove your chips in the middle on a Q river and have fonkey CALL your all-in with 3rd pair, weak ass kicker (6 4). Win token...
3) Go look for the Blogger Bracelet Race banner in order to get the password and sign up.
4) Find the banner...
Click to enlarge boobies, erm, I mean banner
4) Spend fifteen minutes staring at said banner *looking for the password*
5) Completely forget what you were doing prior to locating the banner.
6) Finally remember password was sent by Al via email. Successfully retrieve password.
7) Head over to Full Tilt in order to sign up for the Blogger Bracelet Race tournament.
8) Mistakenly click on the banner again...
9) MISTAKENLY make numerous mouse clicks resulting in said banner being set as your desktop background (tiled for her pleasure)...
10) Hours later, finally remember you still need to sign up for the Blogger Bracelet Race on Full Tilt.
11) Sign up for the tournament...
12) Sleep well at night knowing your trusty desktop backround will be there day in and day out as a reminder that the tournament is Sunday, April 29th at 7pm.
And that folks, is how to satellite into the Blogger Bracelete Race in 12 easy steps. Join me next Friday when I teach you how to tilt Hoy and/or Wawfuls with merely an A J and one single mouse click.
Until next time, may the felt be with you!
posted by TripJax @ 12:13 PM,
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World Series Of Bloggers
Congratulations are in order as oossuuu754 successfully won a seat to the WSoP Main Event last night in a MTT satellite on Full Tilt. I was very impressed with his play throughout. I watched most of the match while playing in the Riverchasers event and stayed up to rail 'til the end.
Congrats oossuuu754 in joining FlipChip on the path to the WSoP...
posted by TripJax @ 7:46 AM,
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The Hookie
Thursday, April 19, 2007
If you look at my last two outtings at the blonkey events, my stats are not too shabby.
Two Tournaments...
Two Final Tables...
Two In The Money.
A guy could get used to this. After starting out rather slow in the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments, I've managed to go on a mini heater of sorts. No actual wins, but a 3rd place in The Hoy two nights ago and a 6th place in The Mookie last night definitely make me feel a little better about things.
Methinks I may just crack the Top 20 of the BBT standings with last nights showing.
I must say both tournaments were eerily similar. In both I held my ground early and managed to double up right when I needed it to stay at or near the average. Then when the blinds were beginning to get ugly, and I needed to make a move, the right things happened at the right time. In The Hoy my key hand to stay alive was AT vs A9 and I hit my nine. Last night, with the blinds spanking us, I shoved with AQ and oossuuu754 called with his AK. I turned a Q and rivered an unnecessary flush.
So both times I was seriously outkicked, but managed to hit my key card to stay alive. In both tournaments I never looked back and coasted to the final table with timely steals and selective aggression. And in both tournaments I managed to get my money all-in with the best of it at the final table, but was knocked out before having a chance to get heads-up. I just can't get angry about being Nifong'ed at the final table. I put the hurt on someone earlier in the tournament and I got my just dues at the end. What comes around goes around, and that statement rains painfully true in poker.
On a side note, I've added oossuuu754 to my list of daily reads. That dude is smoking it in the BBT events, currently in 3rd place over all, though that does not include last nights tourney results. I know if I had not fonked him as noted above, he'd be in even better position.
Tired, but not ready to pack it in since I was still running well in The Mookie, I decided to play The Dookie as well. I don't think I've played Mook's 2nd Chance tournament more than 3 or 4 times, so last night was a rarity. I think it was the format that enticed me to give it a whirl. It was a heads-up tournament and I love playing heads-up, whether it is just against one opponent or tournament style.
About 30 minutes into my heads-up match with Don Morris, he pointed out a strange thing. Instead of the players who won their matches having to wait for the other opponents to finish their match, the software allowed them to play on. As it turns out, Don and I played a very long and drawn out match that kept going back and forth. Meanwhile, the other players were cutting through their opponents like Britney with shears (Britney Shears, if you will).
By the time Don finally finished me off (had to be well over 100 hands) some of the other players had already played 4 or 5 matches. In fact, of the 20+ starters, when I got knocked they were down to 5 players remaining. If my match against Don had lasted a little longer, we might have finished 2nd and 3rd (in the money) and 3rd place would have won ZERO matches.
I don't know about you, but I think that is a pretty messed up way to run a heads up tourney. When Don finally started his 2nd heads-up match, he was down in chips 3k to 21k. Maybe I'm missing something, but that seems off. This is in no way a knock on Mookie or Full Tilt, 'cause in the end I think it was just a simple mistake on Full Tilt's part. No harm, no foul. Just thought it was a wild ride. To be honest, I was enjoying the idea of making the money without ever winning a match. Would have been a cool story to tell.
Tonight we continue on the BBT beaten path with a Riverchasers event. I'll be looking to make this a 3-fer of final tables, so please come out and join me.
As I mentioned yesterday, beyond the blogger tournaments, I've decided to try and focus my attention on some larger buy-in events, and the satellites into those events. After some perusal last night, I think my focus will be on the 8:00pm 40k with a $150 buy-in. I noticed smokkee and cmitch were in it last night and I railed them for a while, eventually seeing smokkee get knocked out. He actually played his ask off and just missed the final table. Well done sir.
One thing that I'm not sure of and need to look a little closer at is the satellites into this event. I never could find any satellites for it or the one today. I may have just been looking at the wrong time, but I'm wondering what types of satellites they have for the 40k or $150 buy-ins in general. I had heard smokkee satellited into that one, so maybe he can help me out.
Other than that, there was also a 22k that I might give a whirl on occasion, but I still need to do my research on both before I pin down my faves. I would LOVE to play the 6-max 30k that Hoy plays in regularly, but it just starts a little later than I would like. If I run deep in the 40k that starts at 8:00pm, I foresee finishing sometime at or around 2am. However the 30k looks like it would end between 4 and 5am. Not goot for me.
So, I ramble all the above to say I'm still not sure which direction I'm headed, but if anyone can help with the satellite stuff, I'd appreciate it.
Our cat, Jah, has been snoring and breathing heavy at night for the last few months. She usually sleeps at the end of the bed and I often give her a jab with my foot to get her to move around, thus stop the snoring. Sitting here today I feel pretty shitty about my actions. We took her to the vet yesterday cause she's been acting lethargic and not herself. She's 13 years old, but is normally much more active than she has been lately.
It turns out she has a massive tumor that is constricting her wind pipe and just causing her a fit. Outlook not good. ChickJax is pretty torn up about it, so things around the house are a little touch and go lately. We don't want Jah to suffer, so we want her to spend some quality time with the family for a while and then make a decision on what to do. If she starts feeling better, that would be hawesome. However, based on what the doc has told us, we probably shouldn't expect things to get much better. For now, we just want to be with her while she's still occasionally hopping along as if nothing is wrong.
No comments necessary, just wanted to get that off my chest as Jah has been a great part of our family for many years and I've never mentioned her in this blog that I can recall.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 9:20 AM,
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Sweet Lincoln's Mullet...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
...I have absolutely zero time to be posting today. Thus, I will make this hella short. I've decided a couple of things of late...
One...I'm going to try and make Tuesday my "no computer" nights. Thus, I probably won't be playing poker or checking anything online when I get home on Tuesdays. We'll see how long that lasts, but with all the blonkey tournaments going on these days, it's hard to find some much needed time away from the computer if you really want to play all the weekly events.
Two...I really want to focus on playing some bigger buy-in tournaments (between $26 and $200 buy-in). Thus, I will be spending some time tonight to figure out what nightly events I should be trying to play or satellite my way into. Just playing the blonkey events is fun, but I don't know that it is great for growing the bankroll or for diversification.
Using Hoy as an example, I think one of the reasons he finds success in his game - beyond his poker skeelz - is the fact that he has a plan every night when he sits down to his computer. He knows what events he wants to play and he knows what events he needs to satellite into. I, on the other hand, know which blogger events to play and if I find something else to do, well cool. I don't think this is a good way to plan for the events I want to play. My largest cash of late was absolutely random as I had no plans to sign up for it and only registered one minute before registration closed. With better planning comes better results, methinks.
With all that noted, tonight I plan to map out what events I would like to play and go from there. I'll probably list them here tomorrow in case anyone wants to join me on occasion.
I hope to see all you wankers at The Mookie tonight, which is the next Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments event. Here are the details...
posted by TripJax @ 1:22 PM,
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MATHmagics
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
I think I can count the number of times I've played Mondays At The Hoy on one hand. I could be wrong, but I know I haven't played it many times. It's not that I don't want to play it every Monday, but in the past I've either had prior obligations or bank roll issues. Plus, with the number of blogger tournamentts there are these days, you just have to pick your poison.Even with so few attempts at playing the MATH, I was still getting frustrated at not cashing in any of them. Lets face it, when you buy-in to a tournament, you want to win the damn thing. And when you don't win - or even cash - it smarts a little. Reading Hoy's posts every week and not seeing my name anywhere on the leaderboard always irked me. It may be stupid, but though I love the money that comes with tournaments, I also like to see my name on the leaderboards. For whatever reason, it helps give me a little motivation to play in more of the tournaments and try to bring my A game.
All the above duly noted, I was finally able to crack into the MATH money last night. I had one big suckout when I think we were down to two tables. I don't remember exact details of the hand or who I was up against, but I basically had it all-in with A9 vs AT on an Ace high flop and rivered a 9. On the very next hand I knocked out two players and suddenly was at or near the chip lead.
I never looked back at that point. Save for that suckout, I do think I played well and actually had a capital chance to win the tournament in my opinion. Down to 4 players I had a tough hand play out against Instant Tragedy (I've added you to my list of reads IT) and down to 3 players my two pair were looking good against Iggy's rockets until the river was a counterfeit board pair. Regardless, I'm happy with my play and am relieved to get that blonkey off my back at the Hoy tourneys. Now I just need to win one. With a little MATHmagics, I get a feeling that will happen soon.
I've been meaning to pimp Al's upcoming blogger bracelet race, but I'm glad I waited. All I can say is this is one of the best blogger tournmant advertisements ever (see below). Kudos to whoever created that one. Why do I get the feeling Mookie had a hand in this one? With Al's knowledge of capital knockers and Mookie's photoshop skeelz, it was inevitable.
I noticed the tournament is now available in the Full Tilt lobby and I plan to sign up tonight when I get home. Here are the details(and boobies)...
It wasn't that long ago that we three helped send a blogger to a WSoP event. I'm excited to know that others out there are motivated to continue to help the community storm the WSoP.
That's it for me today. No poker tonight, but I'll be back in the saddle on Wednesday for more Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments action and my favorite poker tournament, The Mookie.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 9:57 AM,
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Party Over Here
Monday, April 16, 2007
First things first...a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little LilJax who turns 2 today. She was quite the princess at her party yesterday. ChickJax worked her ask off to get ready for the festivities and everything went off without a hitch. I love it when a plan comes together. Some plans, however, don't pan out. As an example, I was the first person to sign up for the Blogger Big Game when it was listed under the private tourneys. Unfortunately that did not translate to finishing first in the actual tournament. I lost a nice chunk of chips early on to my geighbor on my left when I limped with Ace decent kicker and the flop came down A T T. When it was all said and done, my aces were no match to waffles trip tens and he ended up with most of my chips.
My final two pertinent hands are the book ends of poker. Specifically, The Hammer and The Rockets. Down to about 900 in chips, and in the big blind, I wake up with the obvious monster, The Hammer (7-2 offsuit for those that don't know). It is raised in early position and it folds around to me. I make the clear move and push with my monster hand and Astin calls. He has 6 6 and I river a 7 to win the hand. As Astin put it, the best hand won.Only a few hands later I wake up with A A and raise it up in early position. I think it was the small blind who called, but I can't remember who it was specifically. The flop comes down Q 8 X and I bet out. I am raised and I push my remaining chips. He has a set of 8's. Good game me.
Do I get any Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments points for outlasting Waffles?
I would like to mention that I was very impressed with the turn out for the Big Game last night. I think we broke 50 players in a $75 buy-in event. I hope that is a sign of the community beginning to step up its game and work towards growing the roll and the buy-ins.
The Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments continues tonight with the MATH (Mondays At The Hoy). Hope to see you all there...
posted by TripJax @ 10:04 AM,
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Mis-Click Click Click Boom! RESOLVED
Thursday, April 12, 2007
*EDIT*
I don't know who the hell Zerbet is, cause his Blogger Profile link is not available, but he just left a comment that explains why the min-raise mis-click thing is happening. Thought I would post it to this blog post so everyone who reads this would know the deal. Thank you Zerbet, I appreciate you taking the time to let me know the deal. And thanks to jjok, kajapoker, chipper and doog for commenting as well. Here is the comment from Zerbet:
Since no one seems to have mentioned the "why" of this...The upgrade to the client that added resizeable windows also added a "highlight bet" feature that is SUPPOSED to be turned OFF by default, but many, many people are either finding it turned ON or turning it on without understanding how it works.Its function is to highlight the bet amount in the betting box (which, what a surprise, is automatically set to the minimum allowable bet) when the action gets to you.If you have it turned on and the action gets to you so the client "gets focus" in Windows, and you happen to hit the enter key before doing anything else... you've just made a minimum bet.Click Options on the main client page, then make sure "Highlight bet" is NOT selected; also launch a table and click layout and make sure it is turned off there, too.Then complain to FTP support, so they can insist it was off by default so it's your own damn fault, the bastids.
*END EDIT*
Mis-clicks are a part of online poker. Anyone who has played long enough can rattle off a story where they folded the nuts or pushed all-in with crap by accident when they were trying to fold. Though rare, I've had my mis-click nightmares. And more often than not, they were a P.I.C.N.I.C. (Problem.In.Chair.Not.In.Computer). In other words, I just made a stupid mistake, wasn't paying attention, or had too man programs running at once.
Lately, however, I've seen a disturbing trend at my favorite poker establishment, Full Tilt, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone with the issue. Specifically, it seems with the recent software upgrade for resizable tables, an inordinate amount of mis-clicks are occurring. And this is no P.I.C.N.I.C. folks.
Though I've seen a couple of different things happen, the primary cause for concern is the auto min-raise bull shit. In a matter of days, I have had the following happen. I'm typing in the Full Tilt chat box and hit the enter button after I've finished typing. As I'm hitting the Enter key to send the chat, the action at the table gets to me and automatically puts out a min-raise if someone has already bet the hand.
Now this is not a big deal if the bet is 10 or 20 and it's early in a tournament, but sometimes these auto min-raises are rough. The other night smokkee ended up auto min-raising off most of his stack with a bet he had no intentions of making. Then only minutes later I auto min-raised a hand for probably a 1/3 of my stack when I was planning to fold to any action.
I've heard the chatter at the tables and seen it mentioned briefly here and there, but I wanted to make it official with this post. If you have had this situation come up recently, or seen it happen or discussed at a table you were playing at, please leave me a comment. If we can get enough comments explaining what is going on, I will then send the link to this post to Full Tilt's support for review.
On a side note, I've also seen more mis-click overbetting as well, but I think that might be more of a P.I.C.N.I.C. With re-sizing the tables smaller and possibly playing multi-tables (or having many programs going at once) it could be easy to mistype 1500 when you mean to type 150, as an example. But if you have had this come up and think it is a software issue, let me know.
Don't get me wrong, I love the new software and the ability to resize tables, but if there is a glitch in the system, I'd like to see it get resolved sooner than later. Mistakes happen, problems come up, but hopefully Full Tilt will get rollin' and figure out what the problem is.
*Title idea ganked from Jordan' s recent posts.
posted by TripJax @ 10:43 AM,
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Family Pot
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I've been blogging about poker and other randomness for 3 years now. Each time I pull up Blogger to start a post, I amaze myself. I'm not amazed at my writing skeelz or other such nonsense - far from it in fact. Instead, I'm just amazed that I've stuck to my guns and not given up.
More times than I care to mention, I've pondered how to write my final post on these pages. For whatever reason, I've pushed those thoughts aside and instead worked on just writing what's in my head. More often than not, what spews out is tarded, but that's how I roll. No regrets.
On this journey I've learned a thing or two, which I think has helped me along the way. One of the most important things I've learned is that, though blogging is virtual, and allows people to be masked in a certain obscure persona, it is also very much real.
When poker bloggers win nice chunks of change, I get excited. When they reap the rewards of their hard work with deserving jobs, I am proud. Sometimes things happen that absolutely destroy me.
By that same token, at times we just plain piss each other off. We often don't agree about certain situations and aren't afraid to let it be known. Sometimes it is a valid point and other times we're just letting off steam. At times we make mistakes, but more often than not, a lesson is learned along the way.
All the above are emotions normally reserved for family and/or friends. For what it's worth, my list of family and friends has expanded beyond my expectations in the last 3 years. All because of a series of tubes, a silly game, and this here blog. Quite a family pot we have going.
That, my dear readers, is why I haven't quit blogging. And as gay as all of the above sounds, I know it is why many poker bloggers continue to get their blog on as well.
That and the ad revenue *cough*.
If I have one regret from the last few years, it's that I've sheltered myself in the world of poker blogs, when there really is a world of incredible writing out there. As I learn the ways of tekkmology, I'm starting to branch out and add RSS feeds of non poker blogs.
One blog that Raveen put me on, A Day In The Life Of An Ambulance Driver, has really had some quality stuff lately. I implore you to go read these two blog posts by Ambulance Driver. Truly incredible stuff.
On the lighter side, if you don't read What Would Tyler Durden Do?, then get your ass over there and add it to your list. This guy says all the things we want to say about celebrities, but he's funny. It's toilet humor to the Nth degree, but sometimes that's exactly what I need.
I'm looking for other truly stellar feeds that I should have on my list, so if you want to leave me a comment with things I should be reading, I would appreciate it.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 1:20 PM,
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Try Reasoning With A Drunk
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Setup: After a long night of drinking into the a.m., I finally let someone know that I'm tired of him mooching on all my alkamahol...
Me: I want a 20 dollar bill next time you come to cover all the alkamahol you've been drinking.
He: Okay.
Me: Fuck that, I want a 40 dollar bill.
He: They don't make 40 dollar bills.
Me: Well you better fucking find one.
My genius knows no bounds.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 8:42 AM,
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Friday Fonking
Monday, April 09, 2007
I completely forgot about Kat's Friday Night Blogger Donkament tourney and showed up 40 minutes late. We were having friends over to hang out and watch Blood Diamond, so my mind was on other things. Once I realized I was missing the action on the felt, I fired up the laptop and watched the movie while playing the tournament. Apparently I should show up late and watch movies during tournaments more often 'cause I won the thing.
I had a great time fonking it up with my fellow blogthren and will hopefully be able to play more of these, though Friday's can be hit or miss with me. I wish I had some hand histories from this tournament, 'cause there was some wild shit going on. I went to check my hand histories the next day, but realized that I didn't have them set from when I downloaded the new Full Tilt software for resizable tables. Oh well.
Tonight I'll be playing the Monday's At The Hoy, which is part of the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments. Prior to last Thursday's Riverchasers event, I was 83rd out of a possible 86 players on the leader board. In other words, I was sucking it up. To be fair, I went out early in the 1st event and missed the 2nd event, so I didn't have much to work from.
As for event #3, I was able to play well, just missing the final table, which helped me move up to 37th overall. Hope to see you all tonight as I work to move up on the Leader Board even further at event #4...
posted by TripJax @ 11:03 AM,
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Wuzzup Vanilla Face?
Thursday, April 05, 2007
If you missed my post from yesterday, consider yourself lucky. In it, I displayed my dumbassity (you like that word do ya Kat?) with a ditty I made up based on Sir Mix-A-Lots Baby Got Back. Lucky for you all I quit early, not only because I didn't want to put you all through my white boy rap ("Wuzzup Vanilla Face?"), but also because I'm lazy. However, someone else had other plans for that song.
I didn't have my laptop last night, so once I left work I had no access to check and see if I received any comments. This morning I came into work and I had one new comment. And what a comment it was. So hella out there it warranted a post of its own.
All the above duly noted, and without further adieu, I offer Doog's follow-up to my ditty. Though my few lines are in the song, he has taken it to a whole new stratosphere. Obviously his dumbassity knows no bounds as well...
[Intro]
Oh, my, god. Iggy, look at that bet.
It is so big. *scoff* It looks like,
one of those bloggers’ money clips.
But, y'know, who understands those bloggers? *scoff*
They only bet like that, because,
that looks like a total rag board, 'kay?
I mean, that bet, is just so big. *scoff*
I can't believe he thinks he’s a rounder, it's like,
that bet there, I mean - bluff. Look!
Those chips are ... black!
[Sir Bets-a-Lot]
I like big bets and I can not lie
You other bloggers can't deny
That when a donk throws in an itty bitty raise
And a stare down in your face
You get sprung, wanna re-raise tough
'Cause you know weak bets’ll get stuffed
Deep are the pockets I’m wearing
My bankroll, you can't stop staring
Oh donkey, I wanna bet wit'cha
And take your chips-ah.
Some bloggers tried to warn me
But the size of that bet looks oh-so corny
Iggy (Rumplestiltskin)
You think you gonna get in his head?
Well, please, please, believe me
You ain't gotta prayer, fo-sheezy.
He know’s you’re stayin’
The hell with slow-playin’
You’ll sweat, all wet,
And then you’re gonna call his bet.
I'm tired of magazines
Sayin' min-raise is the thing
Take the average blogger and ask him that
You gotta bet with sack.
So, bloggers! (Yeah!) Bloggers! (Yeah!)
Do you drop that hammer bet? (Hell yeah!)
Tell 'em to fold it! (Fold it!) Fold it! (Fold it!)
Fold to my hammer drop!
Donkeys get stacked!
(Poker face, that bluff’s a beauty)
Donkeys get stacked!
I like to bet out big
And when I'm bluffin’ that pig
I just can't help myself, I'm bettin’ like an animal
Now here's my scandal
I wanna take your stack
And ugh, double-up, ugh, ugh
I ain't bettin’ like you, boy
'Cause then I’d even bust out before Hoy.
You’re getting real low there, shorty
So go for the quick double
Your ass is in trouble
I’m knockin’ you out on the bubble.
You’re playin’ like you’re on TV
All your dead money looks good to me
You can have them blinds, though:
I'll drag huge pots all night, yo.
A word to the donkey playas, I wanna get with ya
You’ll cuss when I hit ya.
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna *stack ya*
Til the break of dawn
Donkey keep it comin’ on
A lot of fish won't like this song
'Cause them punks like to hit it and quit it
And I'd rather stay and play
'Cause I'm long, and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the stackin’ on
So, donkeys! {Yeah!} Donkeys! {Yeah}
You wanna take your best shot at me? {Yeah!}
Then come on up! Sit on down!
Every blogger’s got to shout!
Donkeys get stacked!
Donkeys get stacked!
----------------
Doog, you've out done yourself. Well done sir.
posted by TripJax @ 9:24 AM,
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Bummed
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
In my haste to hit the road towards Charlotte on business travel yesterday morning - and on fumes from only 2 hours of sleep - I forgot to grab my laptop on the way out the door. I didn't realize this until I reached my destination, so it was too late to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, without my laptop, it looks as though I won't be able to play The Mookie tonight. This really sucks cause not only is the Mookie my favorite tourney to play every week, but it is part of the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments as well. I was hoping to play as many of these as possible, but oh well.
If I can't come up with a way to play tonight, I guess I'll have to figure something else to do. I've been wanting to go see 300, so that might be in order. I haven't seen a movie in quite a while so one of my other blogs has been suffering.
This is your warning to avert eyes now if you can't handle tarded, stupid stuff. Don't say I didn't warn you. On the way into work, Sir Mix-A-Lots "Baby Got Back" was on the radio. I was singing along and for whatever reason I started changing the words. Stupidity ensued...
I like big bets and I cannot lie
You other bettors can'ty deny
When a donk throws in an itty bitty raise
And a stare down in your face
You get sprung
Wanna re-raise tough
Cuz you know his weak bet'll get stuffed
Deep are the pockets I'm wearing
Bankroll so fat you keep staring
Yeah, truly horrible stuff. That's all I came up with, which is a good thing. Anymore dumbassity out of me and I might lose my poker blogger card. Apologies to all my readers.
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 10:32 AM,
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Final Table...Fushizzle
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
On the heels of dropping the science in yesterday's post about my need for some tin foilage in the cranial region to improve my game, I have the following to report...
Things didn't start out so spiffy - even with tin foil fastened appropriately to the noggin' - as I bubbled in a token satellite to the Monday's At The Hoy, which was the first tournament in the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments. No worries there as I was fine with buying in directly for the $24+$2.
Unfortunately my woes continued as I donked out of The Hoy rather early. How is this possible? Hath the tin foil forsaken me? Not prepared to give up on The Dapper, or my game, I decided to search out another tournament to play.
With 1 minute to spare, I happened upon a $10+$1 tournament that looked as if it might do the trick. I brought up the lobby and realized it was a rebuy tournament. I remember thinking, this isn't exactly my cup a tea, but fuck it. With 548 of my best friends, I started the tournament with my opening line for every tournament I play. Lets light this candle.
My table opened and we were off and running. I didn't even realize until a few minutes in that a WSOP champion was directly to my left.
Yes, your friend and mine, Huckleberry Seed, was at my table. At first I thought it was pretty cool. My brother is visiting from out of town, and is a poker player as well, so I waved him over to take a look at my table. I remember saying, "Man, this is pretty cool." That comment was followed up rather quickly by me with, "Wait, man this is really not cool."
A quick side note. I really don't like Huck's avatar. They need to work on that shit. He looks like a tarded hobbit in that thing. Moving on...
I decided right away that I would not play in fear just because he is a pro and a WSOP Main Event Champion. Not to say I would play like an idiot and hand him my chips, but I just wouldn't let him effect my play. As it turns out, we never really battled in any hands to the river and we each took down some small pots against each other with limited aggression. It's a shame cause I would have loved to knock him out in order to get my buy-in back (much like Hoy did recently).
Early on I checked the tournament to see that Huck was the only pro playing. I'm not sure if this was a direct result of him being at our table, but I swear the 1st hour was rather calm for a rebuy tournament. Yes there were some all-ins and random ass plays, but nothing like I seem to remember in my past rebuy tournaments.
Unfortunately for me my tournament started rough with a boat over boat situation. Only 30 minutes in I was already going to the well for another buy-in. I decided to take the max at that point to get me up to 3000. In hindsight, this was a smart play as it gave me some room to work. I would not need to rebuy again, but I did take the add-on at the end of the rebuy period. Total cost for the tournament at that point was $40.
I took another screenshot at this point to capture my table with Huck still there. As it turns out, I was 2nd in chips at my table, but well behind for the overall tournament leaderboard.
Over the next few hours I remember just treading water. We were still in the stages that we could play some real poker and see flops. I felt in the zone, even though I was severely low in chips for the most part. During these two hours I seemed to hover between $15,000 and $4,000 in chips.
I don't remember a whole lot, but eventually we got down to around 100 players remaining with 45 paying out. I was in serious need of chips and the blinds were getting to the point that I was in GCox perfected "wait for big hands to push or just fold" mode. Well, I didn't really need to wait for big hands, but the hands I was getting were not very playable anyway. And I refused to get knocked out of this tournament in a bad position with Ace Rag. In fact, I made it a point to try and recognize when it didn't make sense to make a play. I think this really helped me along the way. Imagine that...actually thinking before I make a move.
It was around this time that I noticed a TenMile was also in the tourney. I'm guessing it was our fellow blogger, but I didn't get a chance to check in and confirm otherwise. Unfortunately, I saw he went out somewhere in the 80's.
With 60 remaining I was in piss poor shape. I was in, I think, 56th place with around 6,000 in chips. The chip leader at that point was at 150,000. Fortunately for me, however, I was able to double up a few times by applying pressure at the right times. And with the blinds as high as they were, just picking up some blinds and antes was huge. I started to stack up nicely at this point, but it was not long before the blinds did a number on me again.
I recall feeling like all night I was playing catch up. When playing catch up, poker becomes a bit more simple. You find your spot and bowl them over. This is what I did and it worked. Then I got to see the words I haven't seen in a couple of months. "Congratulations, you've made it to the final table."
At this point, I was just happy to be at the final table. Of course I wanted to win the damn thing, but just being there felt good. I hadn't won a decent size tournament since November, so I was foaming at the mouth. Even though I was low on chips, I was able to sit back a bit as the rest of the table was very aggressive. A few big stacks battled and before long we had lost 3 players.
Unfortunately, this is where my story takes a turn for the worse. Sixth in chips with six remaining, I got my chips in the middle with what I thought would be a good hand, but turned out to be the worst of it. And alas, there was no suckout to help me. I did walk away with a decent payday for my troubles though...
As the tournament ended (for me), the clock neared 4:00am. I had to be up at 6:00am this morning for businiess travel, but right now I'm feeling okay. I'm sure it will hit me when I get back to the hotel.
So anyway, the tin foil hat came through for me and I was able to make my 1st final table in an MTT in quite a while. I feel I played well overall and was fortunate to hit some key hands at the right time to keep me afloat.
I do have one concern that I want to make sure I nip in the bud quickly. I felt a sense of complacency when I made the final table. My mindsight became, "Ooohhh, look how much I can win if another player gets knocked out." What I should have been thinking was how am I going to put mysyelf in a position to win this tournament? As usual, there is always something to learn with this game.
In case he reads this, I want to take a moment to thank my brother for staying up and watching me play the tournament. It is rare to have support from the rail, right on the couch next to you. I hate that what he primarily saw me play was push or fold poker, but the situations dictated such a strategy at that point. Anyway, thanks bro!
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
posted by TripJax @ 9:57 AM,
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You Got To Safe Your Brain, Ninja
Monday, April 02, 2007
When you're running bad at the tables, it's best not to focus on your own play and/or shortcomings on the felt. Instead, find something totally random to lay the blame on. Take my advice, it is much better for your game than going through hand histories trying to find that time you value called your nuts.With the above duly noted, allow me to explain why I've been running bad lately and how I plan to fix'er up. It's quite simple you see. I haven't been wearing my trusty tin foil hat. There is no other plausible explanation for my rough streak. I've been foiled by the foil (or lack thereof).
There were times when I should have known better, but even then I went for the cheap stuff, instead of going for the foil. Well folks, lesson learned. I'm going straight up foil from here on out.
As a result, and just in time for the Battle Of The Blogger Tournaments, I will be donning The Dapper while playing from now on.
For my fellow blogthren who, at times, have also been running bad of late, I offer the following...
Jordan gets The Kosher.
GCox gets The Chaplin (A Classic Bowler...pun intended).
Drizz gets The Kutcher.
And the king of the tin foil hat, On_THG, gets The Fez, 'cause it looks fit for a King.
I ganked all those pics from this site, so head on over there for some good time happy fun of your own.
posted by TripJax @ 10:10 AM,
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