Wednesday Night Recap

I ended up playing quite a bit of poker last night and, despite all the bad beats & bad plays, I somehow finished up about $50. I'm bored at work again so I guess I'll recap my poker night.

Daily Double A

I've played this 3 nights in a row now. It seems to be a bit tighter tournament then most of the token-friendly MTTs. I made it past the first break but not much further. At one point, I had AK 3 times within 5 hands but couldn't get anything out of them:

1st AK: Raised UTG, everyone folds.

2nd AK: Smooth call an EP raise with AKs, fold to c-bet on J99 flop without my suits.

3rd AK: Raised from CO, BB smooth calls then leads out on 789 rainbow flop.

End up going out when CO limp-calls my button push for 10X BB with A7 sooted. Unfortunately for me that was better than my A4 sooted and IGHN.

$10 Turbo KO

The $10 KO's aren't quite as reckless as the $3 variety but they're still donkfests nonetheless. Went out early when I smooth called with AK in the SB. Check-pushed an A54 flop fully expecting the initial raiser, a reckless bigstack, to call. He makes the call with 87 for a flush draw + belly buster & nails the 6s on the river.

$10 SNG

I did myself in on this one when I called a BB overbet after smooth calling an MP raise with 55. It seemed like a squeeze play with a big ace, and combined with the allure of presto & my current state of the awfuckits, I called hoping for the race. Instead he shows not one but two aces and IGHN.

Somewhere in here may or may not have been another $6 PLO game that I may or may not have won, I honestly don't remember.

$10 SNG

Took a big stack in this one after doubling through the other big stack with 88 vs KQ on a 89K board, Somehow I couldn't put the other person away and finished second in this one.

The Mookie

Ugh. Talk about disappointing. With KK twice within the first 2-3 levels you figure it's going to be a good night. Errt, WRONG!

1st KK. Smooth called a CO raise from Corron10 on the button. Didn't feel like reraising just yet as I was pretty sure the blinds were folding and didn't want to give away the strength of my hand so soon. Flop is a glorious AAK. Corron leads out, and I figure a smooth call would look too obvious, so I reraised slightly. His call tells me he probably has an ace but I don't know what his kicker is like. Turn is a T. I figure he's probably not folding any ace, and AT is definitely a possibility, so we both check. River sucks balls - another T. We check again and his A8 is good. Stupid dealer. At least for once in my life, playing a hand weakly helped me.

2nd KK. I'm not messing around this time. TripJax raised in CO and I reraise. My reraise wasn't as big as I should have made it, totally giving him odds to call with just about any hand he raised with. Flop comes a somewhat scary QT8 with two diamonds. I bet our & TJax check-raises me. I would really hate to see QT here because I didn't raise enough preflop but I figure something like KJ or AXd seems a bit more likely & decided to take my chances. I push, he's committed and he shows AJ with just one diamond. Probably the best I could hope for considering the reraise. Alas, the turn comes an A and IGHN. At least Trip made decent use of my chips coming in 3rd.

The Dookie

Made a somewhat huge laydown when PokahDave pots it to 280 in EP, DubsPoke flat calls, and I repop in the BB with KK99 DS. PokahDave reraises, making it completely obvious he has AAxx, and for some reason DubsPoke calls. Pot odds are giving me something around 4.5:1 but I totally know I'm behind so I have to fold. PokahDave shows AAxx, DubsPoke shows KK9x, basically drawing dead. The A33 flop seals the deal and crisis is adverted.

I get shortstacked and have to push with AQxx after a Mookie limp. He calls showing JJ42 DS (really?) and proceeds to flop an A high flush. But I runner-runner his ass with an A & a Q for a boat.

The big hand of the game for me was against Schaubs, who was chipleader for much of the final table. He raises from the button and I have AAT8 rainbow in the SB. I hate reraising AAxx without at least one suit but I felt like I had to take a chance. I push, he reluctantly calls with something like AQxx and my pair miraculously holds up. I take a huge chip lead but proceed to give away very shortly.

Down to the money spots, a shortstack Schaubs goes all in for less than the BB. I call with some sooted garbage. The flop comes 99x and I have a 9. Mookie & I check the turn, a K of spades. He then leads out with a bet. The side pot really isn't that big, so I figure him for a 9. Although I'm worried about my kicker it's hard to fold this. River is something, he bets again, I call, and he shows KK for a turned boat. It didn't cripple me but it gave Mookie about a 3:2 chiplead. We finally got it in on some random hand preflop which gave me a pair but gave Mookie overcards, straight & flush draws, one of which connected on the river.

General Thoughts

My MTT game is way off right now. I haven't played a single DDa with a confident mindset. My aggression timing is way off, and it seems like I'm struggling to play anything beyond ABC poker. I was talking to Alan for a bit last night, and he asked why I wasn't stealingrestealing at the blind levels last night. I hadn't thought to start restealing yet because the blinds were only 80160 - we weren't even in the ante levels yet. Should I have been stealing at that point?

I also lost a lot of chips because I tried to induce a fold against someone mostly because he played the hand different than I would. Folds to me in the SB, my stack is about 30-32BB at this point at least, maybe a bit more. Raise with AQo, BB calls. Flop comes KJx no suits. I c-bet, he calls. Turn is a blank. I bet, he pushes, I'm committed, and he shows KQ. I can't catch any of my 7 outs and I lose more than half my stack. The A4 vs A7 KO hand immediately follows.

So what did I do wrong?

1. I assumed that his smooth call in the BB was a blind defense against a stealing SB.

2. I assumed that the KJx flop probably didn't hit him very strong either.

3. I assumed that his smooth call may have been middle pair or a draw calling a c-bet

4. I assumed that the blank on the turn didn't help his hand

5. I assumed that I could push him off of the hand.

Originally, I didn't like how he played the hand, but looking back on it, I think it's completely fine. If he's way ahead, a reraise probably forces me out. If he's way behind, he has to fold because calling a flop bet with his stack size with the intent to fold to further aggrssion is just bad poker, and there's only a couple of hands he's way behind. Even though I would have been in raise or fold mode with his stack size, I shouldn't assume that someone will play the same way.

This is probably one of my biggest weaknesses in MTT play. I lose a lot of chips or even bust out completely by trying to induce a fold through sheer aggression. Because I'm unlikely to call off a lot of chips against an aggressor without either A) defining my hand at some point or B) being very confident I'm ahead (ie. flopped set), I assume that others will do the same, and they will either fold or reraise me at some point instead of just calling down my bets. This happens even more often when I haven't played a hand in a while and I'm showing aggression again from position. I'm happy to be getting back into MTTs again, but until I plug this leak, I'm not going to make it very far.

The other part I'm not feeling confident about right now is playing the tough hands. On the TT hand from the DDa, was my play really that good?

1. I smooth call an UTG+2 raise for about 3.5xBB in the early levels of MTT. Obviously folding here at this stage is dumb, but what about reraising? I chose not too because I would have to fold to a re-reraise here, right? Especially with the CO through BB still to act. So smooth call OK.

2. Flop is KJ9 two clubs with a gutshot & the Tc. UTG2 bets pot, I think it was 255. Looking back, I HATE my smooth call here. I'm only ahead of AQ or a pair less than 99. Clubs may not be an out either. Any queen except the Qc is probably still an out because AT is unlikely. The flop is pretty scary in general unless he has a set or AXc. Given all that I think folding is right. I think reraising is a better argument than calling because the flop is so coordinated, it could induce a fold. Calling just sucks.

3. Turn is another club. This time he overbets pot, 900 something into a 765 pot. This seemed really out of place & made me reconsider the hand solely due to his bet size. It seemed like he was trying to bet me off the pot - if a flush is now possible, either he's spewing chips while way behind or inducing a fold while way ahead. Even though there's very few hands I'm beating right now, and I have no fold equity, I went to battle with my TT and somehow was up against one of the few hands I could be - Ace high with the nut flush draw. I'd like to credit this to my instincts or my read that something wasn't right, but really, wasn't this just a donkey play that ended up being in my favor?

The truth is that I'm a very tight player. I've adapted to this style of play through years of playing micro-stakes SNGs, where the players have a hard time looking past their own two cards. ABC poker is what works, and there's very little need for any advanced poker moves. I won't assess the $10 SNGs and MTTs as full of expert play, but there is a slightly noticeable difference in the caliber of player in these games. And I'm starting to feel that my "tight is right" philosophy needs some adapting. I can't just keep waiting for cards, folding to pressure when I could be behind, but readjusting my play to fit that still seems like a work in progress.

Sorry about the essay today. If you've made it this far, you must be more bored than I am. But thanks.

Two Goals Accomplished

I'll admit, I don't have any tangible way of measuring the goal of becoming a "more visible blogger", but I would have to think this would qualify:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5795568325: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (44119761), Table 1 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:08:31 ET - 2008/03/26
Seat 1: Maniac57 (1,500)
Seat 2: T8urmoney (1,500)
Seat 3: stevie98 (1,500)
Seat 4: FishMonk (1,500)
Seat 5: ShuDawgFTP (1,500)
Seat 6: mclarich (1,500)
Seat 7: Yohan Raphet (1,500)
Seat 8: SPLITOPEN (1,500)
Seat 9: DWENTZKA (1,500)
Maniac57 posts the small blind of 15
T8urmoney posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Qd 7c Qc Kh]
stevie98 folds
FishMonk folds
ShuDawgFTP folds
mclarich calls 30
Yohan Raphet calls 30
SPLITOPEN folds
Maniac57: Mclarich?
DWENTZKA folds
Maniac57 raises to 150
T8urmoney folds
mclarich folds
mclarich: yes?
Yohan Raphet folds
Uncalled bet of 120 returned to Maniac57
Maniac57 mucks
Maniac57 wins the pot (120)

Maniac57: you have a blog right?
Maniac57: i cant believe i finally met you
Maniac57: i read you all the time
mclarich: thanks
Maniac57: ya your like my 3rd favorite
Maniac57: Riggs is the best though
Maniac57: he swears a lot he is funny

I ended up going out something like the 8th hand when some random donk made a poor call as an 8:1 underdog and goes runner-runner on my ass.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5795644307: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (44119761), Table 1 - 20/40 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 21:14:16 ET - 2008/03/26
Seat 1: Maniac57 (1,590)
Seat 2: T8urmoney (1,580)
Seat 3: stevie98 (1,455)
Seat 4: FishMonk (1,485)
Seat 5: ShuDawgFTP (1,450)
Seat 6: mclarich (1,500)
Seat 7: Yohan Raphet (1,470)
Seat 8: SPLITOPEN (1,500)
Seat 9: DWENTZKA (1,470)
mclarich posts the small blind of 20
Yohan Raphet posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [5c 7s Ks 9s]
SPLITOPEN folds
DWENTZKA has 15 seconds left to act
DWENTZKA folds
Maniac57 calls 40
T8urmoney folds
stevie98 calls 40
FishMonk folds
ShuDawgFTP has 15 seconds left to act
ShuDawgFTP calls 40
mclarich calls 20
Yohan Raphet checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 9c 6s]
mclarich bets 160 (bet my flopped straight to make anyone holding JT pay to draw)
Yohan Raphet folds
Maniac57 calls 160
stevie98 calls 160
ShuDawgFTP folds
*** TURN *** [8d 9c 6s] [4d]
mclarich bets 400
Maniac57 folds
stevie98 raises to 1,255, and is all in
mclarich calls 855 (if he has 7T so be it)
stevie98 shows [Jd 4s Js 9d] (two pair no good but the flush draw gives him more outs)
mclarich shows [5c 7s Ks 9s]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9c 6s 4d] [4h] (of course.)
stevie98 shows a full house, Fours full of Nines
mclarich shows a straight, Nine high
stevie98 wins the pot (3,190) with a full house, Fours full of Nines

I'm surprised when I find out actual bloggers read this thing, let alone non-bloggers. Any confirmation that someone is reading this thing is an honor. I encouraged Maniac57 to join the Mookie tonight, so if you see him at a blogger game anytime soon, please welcome him.

And if you're wondering, I'll be signing autographs at the Walmart in Renton this Saturday from 12 to 1.

KO Victories Are SO Two Months Ago

Shhh. Don't tell anyone, but there's a game on Full Tilt where you can get free money. It's called the $3 KO Game.

I boasted about winning one of these sometime in January, which at the time was a big deal because it was my first MTT type victory in a couple months, and it represented a large increase to my measly bankroll. Now, winning this thing (last night = 4th time) is becoming as routine as brushing my teeth. I'm not sure if a 170-something% ROI is sustainable, but I also had the same question back when it was only 110%. I stopped playing these for a while because they were so mentally unstimulating, but it's going to be hard to continue passing up free money.

I had thoughts of posting some sort of strategy about these games, but really it isn't any different from a standard MTT-strategy. Play tight early, loosen up as the game progresses, steal to grow your stack, etc..but there are a few adjustments that have to be made to be successful, so if you're interested in playing these, here's what advice I can offer.

1. Play uber tight early. Play very cheaply and no sooner than the CO. If you find yourself card dead, then it's probably time to start pushing a wider range with 12BB or less at the 80160 level, but try to stay patient until then.

2. OBFV is key, especially if someone has already led out with a bet. I've gone as far as open-pushing AA or KK preflop a couple of hands in because I've already identified a donk who can't resist a chance at a $.50 bounty by calling with 77 or JT. In fact, you have to OBFV (not necessarily always pushing though) to keep all 5 limpers out of the pot because even a 10xBB raise won't thin the field.

3. Very rarely is restealing useful. Most raises in this game are card-based, not position based, so your reraise will most likely be called, if not pushed back on. There are a handful of players who will steal from the button or CO but restealing is not recommended unless you A) have a stack to scare them and B) don't have complete garbage.

4. On the other hand, late game stealing is HUGELY +EV. Even though 9th place pays only $2.50 profit, players fear the bubble like it's the plague. You don't even have to worry about odds - most times, a min-raise from the button is sufficient. I can't count how many times I've doubled up my stack late in the game simply by stealing.

I'll probably be around for the Mookie this week, especially if it's a DS, but I'll be WAY far away from the Skillz game tonight. Me + Razz = headaches.

ABC Poker

J5 is a dumb hand. Why do they give dumb hands names, like Jackson Five or Snowman Taterlegs. Anyways, this hand was the cause of my demise in my first attempt at the Daily Double A. Flopped an OESD when I open-raised in the CO. Button called and let me do the rest of the work when I pushed my MONSTER draw & his KK held up. Poker is dumb. In my defense, I was short stacked. And I don't know how to play poker good either.

Anyways, I finally updated my links menu to reflect all the bloggers I've had on my Google Reader for a while now. So if you're finding this blog for the first time courtesy of my link, welcome to my poker blog. Now go back to reading Hoy or Alan or Cmitch because you'll find little value in my poker musings. Unless you enjoy posts about overplaying J5 sooted.

But either way, thanks for stopping by.

Skillz Like Tim Hardaway

Anyone else remember that commercial from the early 90s when Tim Hardaway was a star & Spike Lee was still relevant? Alan, I know you have to, at least. You know, where they're playing on that funky, Cross-Colors looking court, and Hardaway breaks out the killer crossover then announces "I got skillz!". Edit: Here it is:

On a whim, I decided to play the Skillz Series last night. I entered the game knowing I was probably dead money but figured I'd give it a shot anyways. I like to think I understand the mixed games enough that I can be somewhat competitive.

Somehow I ended up finishing 6th and honestly I probably should have finished higher.

I took a couple kicks in the junk courtesy of ScottMc. The hammer to the right nut was when he called my flop & turn bets with 22 on a J high 3 diamond board. The river was a fourth diamond and my JackAce was no longer good to his baby flush. The shot to the left nut was when he bet on 4th St in Stud 8 with 55 showing. I had 4 to a low with an A, hit a pair of 9s on 5th & 6th, but couldn't complete a low hand. Crazy enough, my pair of 9s was good for a high hand on 6th until ScottMcLucksack tripped up his 5s.

I didn't really get a stack until we were somewhere in the low 20s when I took out a shorty in LHE with AK vs AQ, grabbed some more chips from Budohorseman when my K high flush was good enough in O8 with no low possibilities. I was in 1st place near the bubble when I doubled through Budo again when I paired an A on 4th st and took it to battle against Budo's pair of 9s with OESD. I hate taking one pair to battle in Stud but I felt that my Aces were good and was lucky that Budo didn't his his plethora of outs. Of course I gave it all back when I chased a mega draw to 5th or 6th against cawfoocaw but couldn't connect. Then came one of those hands where I made the right play but it came back to bite me.

I limped from the SB with TTxx in O8. Budo limped UTG and Blinders smooth called. Flop comes a lovely JT9. I bet my set, because I'm a man, then Blinders 2 bets & Budo 3 bets. Can I really think that my set is good here anymore? At best I'm drawing to 7 outs, at worst I'm drawing to the case T. Calling the 3 bet & possibly a 4 bet is going to cost me the majority of my stack. So I lay it down.

Turn comes a 9. Fawk! Well, maybe.

River is a blank, and both Budo & Blinders show KQxx for the flopped straight & a split pot.

Fawk indeed!

I get to the final table in 6th or 7th place but with a decent enough stack where I'm not necessarily fighting to stick around. However, I make a big mistake that costs me half my stack when I call a 6th st bet for 14 of my stack with a pair of 2s & flush draw. I called thinking that Budo might have been betting a low with a 4 & 5 showing. I called a 7th st bet as well thinking the same and that, somehow, my pair of 2s might be good for the high. Instead, Budo shows hidden Jacks plus some 4s for a better high & I'm severely crippled. What made this play so horrible is that I opened the betting & there was no betting until 6th, so I could have gotten away from the hand with nothing invested.

Overall, a 6th place finish with 3.5-4.5 knockouts along the way isn't bad for a tournament I considered myself to be dead money in.

I won't be at the Mookie tonight; instead, I'll be at Key Arena watching Shaq & the Suns (wow, that is still so weird to type out) destroy the Sonics one last time before they leave. Good luck everyone.

This Post Is Lame

It's been quite the rollercoaster ride in the 10 days since I've last posted.

As recently as last Friday, I think, my bankroll was the highest it's been since my Party Poker days, and even that's not a completely honest statement because back on Party, I didn't really think of it as a "bankroll" in terms of sustainability. But either way, I had hit a peak. Of course, in order for something to be a peak, there has to be a valley nearby, right?

Let's put it this way: I have enough content on bad beats that I could probably start another blog just for that purpose. But someone else already has that market cornered, so I'll spare you the pathetic details. There were also plenty of times that I got my money in bad, but I blame that too on the aforementioned bad beats.

The good news is that I've been able to minimize my tilt (aside from the moment yesterday where I busted out of an early $26k MTT and proceeded to chuck my mouse at the wall. It'd been a while since I did that, and it felt damn good, especially when I realized I didn't break my mouse either) enough that I didn't get into my "win it all back" phase or play completely irrationally. So, thankfully, this isn't one of those posts where I lament about how I took a day off to play poker and instead burned through my bankroll in a blaze of ineptitude. However, it's sad to say that my bankroll is now back down to pre-Mookie levels, but that is mostly due to a withdrawal I had to take in order to pay the tax man. This was inevitable, and I'm just happy that I made enough in the past couple of months to cover that expense & still leave me with enough to continue playing until I can redeposit again sometime in the next couple of months.

Anyways, it might be another 10 days before you hear from me again. I'm going to spend some time going through the HHs of this weekend's games and look for leaks I need to plug. Despite the bad beats I suffered, I know that I misplayed several hands as well. Some adjustments are easy to make (like not calling a reraise all in with AJo early in a SNG), some are harder to make (like calling down with 4th pair instead of folding, especially after an opponent shows he had nothing but an missed draw).

Good luck to everyone donking it up in the BBT3. I might take a shot at a MATH or another Mookie next week, but I'll probably be absent for most of the events.

What Would You Do?

First, some good news: I finally cracked the $500 barrier on my bankroll, so I can finally move up to $10 SNGs. I'll stay here until I hit $1k or drop back to $400, whichever happens first.

I was playing one of the $10 SNGs earlier when a hand came up that my opponent didn't take too kindly to. I'm curious to know how others felt about it. The scenario:

The bigstack has been fairly aggressive in the stealing category. I've repopped him once already with A8 then pushed on an AK2 all diamond board (I had 8d as well). He said he folded an Ace as well. I have been active stealing blinds as well but much tighter than he has been (in my mind)

He raised my BB again and I smooth call with A6c. Here's the HH:

Full Tilt Poker Game #5539592787: $10 + $1 Sit & Go (42156402), Table 1 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:42:07 ET - 2008/03/07
Seat 2: mclarich (4,505)
Seat 3: Martina76 (1,810)
Seat 7: mtp0ckets (7,185)
mtp0ckets posts the small blind of 100
mclarich posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ac 6c]
Martina76 folds
mtp0ckets raises to 600
mclarich calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Qh Kc 3c]
mtp0ckets bets 1,200
mclarich raises to 3,905, and is all in

Because he was being aggressive & had folded to a push from me before, I thought that there was a chance he could fold. I'm mostly worried about KQ or 33 here, but I discounted those based on the size of his bet.

mtp0ckets calls 2,705
mclarich shows [Ac 6c]
mtp0ckets shows [9s Ks]
*** TURN *** [Qh Kc 3c] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Kc 3c As] [7h]
mclarich shows a pair of Aces
mtp0ckets shows a pair of Kings
mclarich wins the pot (9,010) with a pair of Aces
mtp0ckets: 12 out loony

He went out in 3rd and stayed around a while to chastise me for my call when I think it should have been the other way around. He was only getting 2.3:1 on his money but was only 55:45 against an A high flush draw, and actually behind if I've got AJc or ATc. I think you'd also have to include KQ, KJ, KT or AK (although I'd probably reraise preflop), to which he is a huge underdog. He just happens to be up against the only hand he's ahead of at this point, but I think it's a huge mistake to call that given the strength I'm showing.

I'd love to hear other thoughts on this - am I the donkey or was he the donkey?

Random Thoughts

It's been a great week as The Mookie Champ but all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow, the crown gets passed to some other donk who's lucky enough to get something like three AA, one KK, and an AK at the final table and get paid off on the majority of them.

School & other obligations will prevent me from playing most of the BBT3 events. I really wanted to play the Stud Hi game tonight, even though I'm probably at a disadvantage because I actually know a little bit about the game. The turnouts have been amazing and I hope I can squeeze a couple of games in somewhere.

FWIW, I have to completely agree with Alan's post today about his thoughts on the Scott Fischman issue from the Big Game. Perhaps it's easier for me to have this opinion since I wasn't even in the game & didn't get busted because of his maniacal play, but I don't see what the issue is. I'm not necessarily defending Fischman's play, but the way I see it:

1. If you got the chips in with the best hand & got sucked out on, well, you should be used to this by now. It's better than getting them in when you're dominated. Fischman was on an incredibly sick run & got lucky several times, but in the long run, most of us would probably want to be in that same position each & every time. I'm sure it sucks to get sucked out on in a game that has as many implications as the big game, but if the decision was correct, then you have to find solace in that.

2. I LOVE the fact that we have not just a FT pro but a WSOP Bracelet winner playing in our blogger games regularly. If the BBT3 itself wasn't enough evidence of how much of an impact this poker blog community has, then Fischman's presence has to be. I think it's awesome that I can say to my girlfriend "Remember that one guy we were watching on the Professional Poker Tour that was raising with all sorts of crazy hands? Well, he's playing the Mookie right now! And he's doing the same thing too..."

3. If you are one of the lucky 2 to win an WSOP ME seat, do you really think you're not going to see someone there playing just like Fischman? I can't find it now, but this is where I would insert a link to Lucko's post from the WSOP where his KK lost to J8 or some crap.

For some, the Big Game final table may have been the closest any of you will get to winning a TOC seat, and yes, I'd still probably be reeling from a beat like Kat took, or when Schaubs couldn't get his AA to hold up against Scott's OESD, or even the beat that someone took when Fischman flopped a flush with J fucking 3 sooted (which he minraised from middle position - UGH). But like all tilt, dwelling on it only does more harm to your poker game in the long run. Just because Fischman may not treat the bloggers games with the same sense of urgency that others might, because of what's at stake, doesn't mean he shouldn't be welcome at any of the games. We've come to expect a certain amount of donkery at these bloggers games anyways - why should Scott be exempt?

Anyways, that's enough of that. I generally hate commenting on issues, especially blogger issues, that I'm not a part of but I felt like sharing those thoughts.

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So it looks like I'll be making another trip to Mecca soon, finally. And by Mecca I mean Vegas.

Sometime in May I'll be getting laid off, so what better way to spend a severance package then throwing it away in Vegas, right? In reality, I hope show some restraint, and having friends & a girlfriend who don't share the same fondness for poker and other games as I do will prevent me from spending my entire stay in Vegas at the tables. But I do intend to spend a fair amount of time playing poker, and as the plans currently look, I'll probably spend the early part of Friday, 516, doing just that.

I'll be perusing the blogs to get some info on either mid-stakes MTTs or low-limit cash games, but please feel free to offer any advice. My poker experience in Vegas is limited to $1-$2 at the Palms & $50 MTTs at the Plaza. Recommendations on places I should play instead are very much welcome.

(And yes Alan, I know about the Spearmint Rhino).

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I'll try to get a post up tomorrow about the $3 KO games I've been playing. I know that these games are only of interest to those that are trying to build a bankroll from scratch - there's probably some of you that shit out more than $3 in the morning anyways. I've finished 4th, 7th & 13th in my last 3 attempts so I'll run down some hand histories to talk about how I got there. I welcome any discussion from anyone else donking around in these things like me.