Friday, January 27, 2006
Media Represents at Borgata Winter Classic
The turnout for the Borgata Winter Classic was impressive and the poker craze is far from "jumping the shark". The first event last Friday had 1323 entries for a prize pool of over $660k. The second event, on Saturday, had 864 players for a prize pool of over $640k, and the official headline reads "30-something Media Man Wins $176k at Borgata!". Unfortunately, the man was 32 year old Mike Hickman, not yours truly. Who knew Media was such a hotbed of poker? I don't know Mike personally, but he is a friend of a friend. It was a nice score for him and I know I will be in that position this year, too. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event will start on Sunday and will be televised for the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel. As bad as I wanted to play, when the cards were dealt I just wasn't as focused as I needed to be. That's poker. Next month is the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah's in Atlantic City and hopefully I can rise to the occasion there. I did win a little in the cash games if that is any consolation.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Time for Some Serious Poker
The 2006 tournament circuit kicks off for me this coming week with the start of the Borgata Winter Classic on Friday, January 20. There are several events leading up to the final event, a $10,000 buy-in tournament to be televised by the World Poker Tour. Friday is a two day No-Limit event and Monday is a two day Limit event. Nothing gets my juices flowing like a little high limit hold em at the Borgata (well, not exactly nothing else, just one of my favorite things). I thought about easing into the year with a little $10/$20 but opted for the higher stakes of the $40/$80 table, known as the "Blue Chip Game". It is held in the high limit room at the Borgata, usually at table 1 in the near corner and it is called the Blue Chip Game because it is the only game where you can use the blue $10 chips that the Borgata introduced last summer. This game has a few regulars and a rotating lineup of new fish and some sharks. Now you don't want to sit at this game with less than $2000 in chips to start and $3000 or more is a better way to go. This is generally the highest limit stakes I will normally play and can be a very tough game to beat. I was doing better than 1 big bet per hour ( the grinder's goal if you want to try to make a living at this) after four hours of playing and took a dinner break. When I came back the game was breaking and I decided to call it quits for the day and head home. The new tower for the Borgata is coming along and I can't wait for the new poker room to open. The current room has 35 tables, but the new room will have 85, even more than the Taj! Plus, Bobby Flay is opening a Mesa Grill in the new section which is another bonus. I feel my mindset is right and my game is sharp so I am hoping to get off to a good start with the upcoming tourney. I'll keep you posted.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Not Much to Say
I am sorry to say that I just haven't had anything to really write about recently. I hadn't even played any poker yet this year until Wednesday nite. I ended up loser for the night after playing my final hand where I raised the blinds $10 before the flop and was accidentally re-reraised by a player who wasn't paying attention. You see, verbal bets are binding in legitimate poker games and when he announced raise without knowing I had already raised he was committed to raise at least the minimum bet. Since I had made it $12 he had to make at least $22 ($10 was the minimum amount he could raise). He made it $24 anyway, which is what I had been hoping for in the first place so I could come over the top and move all in with my pocket kings. Another player who had called my original bet dropped out after I moved all-in, but the other player actually called my all-in bet (he was on his 7th rebuy of the evening, stuck over $420, by the way) and turned over a pathetic Ace-Five offsuit. I sort of knew he was going to suck out on me as the poker gods had not been kind all night. Of course he caught an ace on the river to win the pot and I stood up, grabbed my coat and left. I had had enough of seeing the best hand lose on the river and just decided to call it a night.
I have some tourneys coming up soon, including the Winter Classic at Borgata ( a World Poker Tour event) that starts next Friday (1/20) and there is a World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah's in February, too. I have big plans for 2006 and need to get back into a regular schedule of playing in Atlantic City again. I was happy to discover that I am now officially a part of the Cardplayer Magazine database of players with an official Player of the Year point ranking and everything. I didn't do diddly in '05, but had two cashes in rated events from '04 that still qualify me for the list. I plan to improve that ranking this year!
Other than that, not much to report yet. I did finally read the DaVinci Code and I am now reading "See no Evil" the book that inspired the movie Syriana.
I am off to Kildare's for happy hour tonight to meet some old friends from high school so that should be interesting.
I have some tourneys coming up soon, including the Winter Classic at Borgata ( a World Poker Tour event) that starts next Friday (1/20) and there is a World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah's in February, too. I have big plans for 2006 and need to get back into a regular schedule of playing in Atlantic City again. I was happy to discover that I am now officially a part of the Cardplayer Magazine database of players with an official Player of the Year point ranking and everything. I didn't do diddly in '05, but had two cashes in rated events from '04 that still qualify me for the list. I plan to improve that ranking this year!
Other than that, not much to report yet. I did finally read the DaVinci Code and I am now reading "See no Evil" the book that inspired the movie Syriana.
I am off to Kildare's for happy hour tonight to meet some old friends from high school so that should be interesting.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Run in With a City Cop
I went into Philly the other day to do some shopping and get a cheesesteak. I came out of a store onto the street and there was a city cop standing there writing out a parking ticket. I walked over to him and said "come on buddy, can't you give a guy a break?". He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. So I called him a jerk. He glared at me and started to write another ticket for having worn tires.
I called him an asshole. He finished writing the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first, then he started to write yet another ticket! The more I verbally abused him the more violations he came up with and the more tickets he started to write. This went on for almost 20 minutes!
Finally, I just gave up and walked away. I didn't really care anyway, my car was safely parked around the corner in a garage, and this car had a "Hillary in 2008" bumper sticker on it!
I called him an asshole. He finished writing the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first, then he started to write yet another ticket! The more I verbally abused him the more violations he came up with and the more tickets he started to write. This went on for almost 20 minutes!
Finally, I just gave up and walked away. I didn't really care anyway, my car was safely parked around the corner in a garage, and this car had a "Hillary in 2008" bumper sticker on it!
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Male & Female ATM Procedures
After months of research, male and female drive-thru ATM procedures have been developed. Please follow the appropriate steps for your gender:
MALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert ATM card into slot and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash desired and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.
FEMALE PROCEDURES
1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required distance to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to the passenger seat to locate ATM card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside of the back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash desired.
14. Check makeup in rearview mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card from machine.
22. Re-empty handbag, locate card holder and place card into slot provided.
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull away.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release parking brake.
MALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert ATM card into slot and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash desired and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.
FEMALE PROCEDURES
1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required distance to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to the passenger seat to locate ATM card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside of the back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash desired.
14. Check makeup in rearview mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card from machine.
22. Re-empty handbag, locate card holder and place card into slot provided.
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull away.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release parking brake.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
January Tourney Schedule
The majors start off in 2006 with a World Poker Tour event at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas from January 4th to the 11th. Then its off to Australia for the Aussie Millions in Melbourne. From there its on to Memphis for another WPT event at the Gold Strike, and finally, the 20th marks the start of the WPT event at Borgata in Atlantic City and that's it for January!
New Year's Eve
Saturday night we threw a surprise party for our friend Bill at his house. He thought he was going to a concert in Philly, but when his girlfriend brought him home to retrieve the wallet she had "forgotten", he walked into a party in progress.
It was a decent turnout with about 12 to 15 people attending. There was plenty of beer and mixed drinks and a spread of food that could choke a horse. Everyone had a good time eating and drinking and it was a great way to honor a friend and ring in the new year!
A Friday at Borgata
I was actually staying at the Taj, and after a late breakfast I headed down to the poker room to try to get into a $560 buy-in, single table, winner-take-all tournament which if I won I would use the proceeds to play in the $5,000 buy-in Trump Classic main event. There were a few players muddling around the registartion desk, but we needed ten to play and it just didn't look like that many people were available to buck up. I remembered the Borgata had a tourney every Friday at noon so I jumped into a cab and headed over towards the marina.
I was there in plenty of time and was near the front of the line to register for the event which has a $100 buy-in with unlimited $100 rebuys in the first hour of play and then an optional $100 add-on after that. I got my table and seat assignment and waited for the event to start. When we finally sat down to play there were 7 tables of ten players each. The action was fast from the start, as it most often is in rebuy events, but I managed to stay out of trouble for most of the first hour. I consider the second hour of the tournament the real start of the event since that is when most of the maniacs are eliminated or stop playing like maniacs. Just before the end of the rebuy period I got involved in a hand where I held pocket fours. I flopped a third four and had bet out with my trips and was called by one player. A three came on the turn (there was also one on the flop) giving me a full house and I bet out again. I was raised by the other player and called, putting myself all-in. I turned over my full house and my stomach dropped when he turned over his pocket threes for quads! I was drawing to one card, the case four, to win and it didn't come. I knew I was playing well and the rebuy period was just about over so I called out for a rebuy and with the add-on I would be starting the second hour in decent shape anyway.
It went slow at first, but after I was moved to another table things started to pick up. I began to accumulate chips and was getting a good run of cards. When we got down to 3 tables I was the chip leader with close to $80,000 in chips. My chip stack was so intimidating that I was able to run over most of the players at the table and cruised into the final table with over $100,000 in chips. With the rebuys and add-ons we were looking at a prize pool of over $24,000 with nine players getting paid and first place getting $9000. Since we started the final table with ten players, one of them would be leaving very disappointed with no money after 6 hours of playing. We decided to chip in $20 each and give him a consolation prize. I know what its like to be the "bubble boy" and bust out with nothing so I'm sure it took a little of the pain away for him.
We battled it out for some time and players starting dropping as the blinds and antes rose. We were down to four players and we were facing an ante of $2000 each and blinds of $10,000 and $20,000 so chip stacks would be dwindling rapidly if you didn't play. We halted play for a chip count and to discuss a four-way deal for the remaining prize money. I was the short stack at this point with just $99,000 in chips. Two players had about $150,000 each and the chip leader had just over $200,000. Even though I was the short stack the other players knew that I would demand a premium to make a deal since things could change dramatically with each hand. They offered me $3600 which was more than double what I would be scheduled to get if I was the next player eliminated. The others would get a pro-rata portion of the prize pool based on their chip counts and after double checking the math and getting approval from the tournament director, we ended it there and everyone walked away happy. I would have liked to have played it out, because I really think I had a chance at winning it, but after 7 hours I was ready to head back to the Taj and I still wanted to win a seat in the Trump Classic which was starting the next day.
I took my winnings and hopped back into a cab for the ride across town. I played a little more at the Taj, but was unable to win a seat into the main event. It wasn't a bad tournament overall for me though. I won two smaller satellites, cashed in a preliminary no-limit event with over 900 players (I finished 20th) and won the $3600 at the Borgata. Since I wasn't playing in the big one, I checked out of the Taj and drove home.
I was there in plenty of time and was near the front of the line to register for the event which has a $100 buy-in with unlimited $100 rebuys in the first hour of play and then an optional $100 add-on after that. I got my table and seat assignment and waited for the event to start. When we finally sat down to play there were 7 tables of ten players each. The action was fast from the start, as it most often is in rebuy events, but I managed to stay out of trouble for most of the first hour. I consider the second hour of the tournament the real start of the event since that is when most of the maniacs are eliminated or stop playing like maniacs. Just before the end of the rebuy period I got involved in a hand where I held pocket fours. I flopped a third four and had bet out with my trips and was called by one player. A three came on the turn (there was also one on the flop) giving me a full house and I bet out again. I was raised by the other player and called, putting myself all-in. I turned over my full house and my stomach dropped when he turned over his pocket threes for quads! I was drawing to one card, the case four, to win and it didn't come. I knew I was playing well and the rebuy period was just about over so I called out for a rebuy and with the add-on I would be starting the second hour in decent shape anyway.
It went slow at first, but after I was moved to another table things started to pick up. I began to accumulate chips and was getting a good run of cards. When we got down to 3 tables I was the chip leader with close to $80,000 in chips. My chip stack was so intimidating that I was able to run over most of the players at the table and cruised into the final table with over $100,000 in chips. With the rebuys and add-ons we were looking at a prize pool of over $24,000 with nine players getting paid and first place getting $9000. Since we started the final table with ten players, one of them would be leaving very disappointed with no money after 6 hours of playing. We decided to chip in $20 each and give him a consolation prize. I know what its like to be the "bubble boy" and bust out with nothing so I'm sure it took a little of the pain away for him.
We battled it out for some time and players starting dropping as the blinds and antes rose. We were down to four players and we were facing an ante of $2000 each and blinds of $10,000 and $20,000 so chip stacks would be dwindling rapidly if you didn't play. We halted play for a chip count and to discuss a four-way deal for the remaining prize money. I was the short stack at this point with just $99,000 in chips. Two players had about $150,000 each and the chip leader had just over $200,000. Even though I was the short stack the other players knew that I would demand a premium to make a deal since things could change dramatically with each hand. They offered me $3600 which was more than double what I would be scheduled to get if I was the next player eliminated. The others would get a pro-rata portion of the prize pool based on their chip counts and after double checking the math and getting approval from the tournament director, we ended it there and everyone walked away happy. I would have liked to have played it out, because I really think I had a chance at winning it, but after 7 hours I was ready to head back to the Taj and I still wanted to win a seat in the Trump Classic which was starting the next day.
I took my winnings and hopped back into a cab for the ride across town. I played a little more at the Taj, but was unable to win a seat into the main event. It wasn't a bad tournament overall for me though. I won two smaller satellites, cashed in a preliminary no-limit event with over 900 players (I finished 20th) and won the $3600 at the Borgata. Since I wasn't playing in the big one, I checked out of the Taj and drove home.
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