Runner Runner Runner Runner

Messing around a little last night while scraping together some lesson plans, and couldn't help but laugh at these. The KK cracking came on the first hand of donkest #1, then after starting up a new one immediately I got the really bad QQ cracking... that's a bonafide bad beat for sure. Check this out...


Full Tilt Poker, $2 + $0.25 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 15/30 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 1,500
BB: 1,500
UTG: 1,500
Hero (MP): 1,500
CO: 1,500
BTN: 1,500

Pre-Flop: (45) Ks Kd dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to 60, Hero raises to 180, CO calls 180, 2 folds, BB calls 150, UTG calls 120
Flop: (735) 6d Th Jd (4 Players)
BB checks, UTG bets 1,320 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,320 and is All-In, CO calls 1,320 and is All-In, BB folds
Turn: (4,695) Qc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (4,695) Qh (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 4,695 Pot
UTG showed 4d Ac (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-1,500 NET)
Hero showed Ks Kd (two pair, Kings and Queens) and LOST (-1,500 NET)
CO showed Ad Qd (three of a kind, Queens) and WON 4,695 (+3,195 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $2 + $0.25 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 40/80 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): 885
BTN: 3,740
SB: 890
BB: 2,480
UTG: 1,005

Pre-Flop: (120) Qc Qh dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 160, BTN folds, SB raises to 890 and is All-In, BB folds, Hero calls 725 and is All-In
Flop: (1,850) 7d 7c 2s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (1,850) Jd (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (1,850) Jh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 1,850 Pot
Hero showed Qc Qh (two pair, Queens and Jacks) and LOST (-885 NET)
SB showed Js Qd (a full house, Jacks full of Sevens) and WON 1,850 (+965 NET)



99% on the flop. Just sick.

The Latest

So it's been a little while. Just wanted to throw a quick post up and let ya'll know what I've been up to, other than not posting very much.

In no particular order...

- New teaching job = new lesson plans, new assignments to grade every weekend, new parents to call and delicately phrase what a jackass their child is, and of course new coworkers to hang out with on the weekends.

- House shopping and potentially moving in the very near future. Found a great townhouse with a great location, and might possibly be putting an offer in this coming week. Already eyeing up space for a poker table and the compy setup.

- Broke up with the ladyfriend, but it was definitely for the best for both of us, and we're remaining good friends. I'm more accustomed to the good-old cut-and-run from psychotic ex-gf's, so it was a very refreshing breakup.

- Forcing myself to actually attend my classes Monday and Wednesday nights to finish up my dual teaching certification. Both are horrendously long, incredibly boring, and completely unrelated of course to what I'll be teaching... but are nonetheless required for the whole being "highly qualified" thing under No Child Left Behind. Thanks again, Bush.

- Poker-wise, I've just been dicking around at the micro limits while I multitask with grading papers and whatnot. It has been profitable, but not really worth logging into the bankroll.

So that about sums it up. Really not a whole lot of time for either poker playing or posting other than just the occasional donkfest. Sad, I know. I might be around to resurrect my Sloppy Deuce reign of terror tomorrow, but no promises.

Best of luck for now. - B

How to Crack Three Overpairs

Another Sunday donkfest at the micro-stakes while I do some lesson-planning and grading. Just couldn't resist posting this gem though. I really don't know what any of these idiots were thinking... a great example of how not to play premium pairs in a variety of positions.

Full Tilt Poker, $2 + $0.25 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 20/40 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 2,640
CO: 1,525
BTN: 2,410
Hero (SB): 860
BB: 1,565

Pre-Flop: (60) 8c 9d dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO calls 40, BTN calls 40, Hero calls 20, BB checks
Flop: (160) Tc Js 7d (4 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets 40, CO raises to 80, BTN raises to 440, Hero calls 440, BB calls 400, CO raises to 1,485 and is All-In, BTN raises to 2,370 and is All-In, Hero calls 380 and is All-In, BB calls 1,085 and is All-In
Turn: (5,515) 3d (4 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (5,515) 8s (4 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,515 Pot
CO showed Qc Qd (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-1,525 NET)
BTN showed Ts Th (three of a kind, Tens) and WON 2,075 (+510 NET)
Hero showed 8c 9d (a straight, Jack high) and WON 3,440 (+2,580 NET)
BB showed Kc Ks (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-1,565 NET)


I was 11.76% before the flop, in case you were wondering :-D Ship it!

Hilarious Phil Hellmuth Wannabe Encounter

Been donking around this weekend, playing some short micro tourneys while grading and lesson planning just to stimulate the poker part of my brain a little... this has got to be the funniest table talk I've ever experienced in my online poker days. Be sure to notice, as our friend here clearly did not, that I'm in the BB and seeing a free flop...

Full Tilt Poker, $2 + $0.25 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 20/40 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 1,185
SB: 1,005
Hero (BB): 1,710
UTG: 3,885
CO: 1,215

Pre-Flop: (60) 7d 3h dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN calls 40, Hero checks
Flop: (100) 3s 7s 3c (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 200, Hero calls 200
Turn: (500) 4c (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 945 and is All-In, Hero calls 945
River: (2,390) Jh (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,390 Pot
BTN showed 6h 6d (two pair, Sixes and Threes) and LOST (-1,185 NET)
Hero showed 7d 3h (a full house, Threes full of Sevens) and WON 2,390 (+1,205 NET)

... and here's his take on my terrible play...

BTN (Observer): sick...plays crap...sucksout on crap
BTN (Observer): !$&#ing 2 dolla calling station whore

I love it :-D

Poker Life Drawing Dead

Hate to say it, but the "real job" is taking over. Not that it's a bad thing, as I do really enjoy teaching, but this was the first week back for staff members and it's been absolutely crazy. There's always just a ton of crap that needs to get done and not enough time to do it with all the additional staff meetings going on, and now it even looks like I'll be going in for a few hours on Sunday, unfortunately missing the Sloppy Deuce.

Sucks, but I gotta do what I gotta do, and hopefully things will settle down after the first week or two, leaving me the occasional hour of free time to squeeze a weekly tournament in. I'm also attempting two night classes during the week though, so that could be tough.

I have a load of post ideas jotted down right now, and will definitely get to them when time allows. But for now, it's 9:00 PM and I'm honestly tired as all hell, so I'm peacing out. Sleeping in is the nuts!

Best of luck out there. - B

WSOP Event 20 on ESPN

Last night I planned on only watching the first half of Tuesday night poker on ESPN in hopes of getting a little work done before going to bed, but after the first hour of $50k HORSE dramatics I was drawn in like a... like a... like a something, I don't freaking know... I just kept watching.

For the most part it just looked plain awkward, particularly with the three remaining players. The newcomer to the table, though certainly a player that has proved to be a tournament threat, Michael DeMichele (pronounced Deemikelly... I think), got things started with a little showboating for his friends... an honest newcomer mistake when at a table ripe with seasoned pros, and certainly nothing we've never seen on televised poker before. Erick Lindgren was a true class act as always, and handled the situation in a polite manner by taking a light jab at DeMichele and implying that he should cool it a bit, but all in good fun.

By the time Scotty Nguyen flew off the handle at DeMichele after losing a good-sized pot, it was pretty clear that the kid had gotten the message and was by no means acting inappropriate... though you can never tell with all the ESPN editing that goes on. DeMichele defended himself and even alled Scotty out on being hypocritical and a poor ambassador of the game. A "socially lubricated" Scotty continued to drink, showboat, drops F-bombs, play sloppy, and ridicule DeMichele up until he knocked him out, after which they awkwardly shook hands and pretended to be good sports.

I gotta hand it to Lindgren for staying classy throughout the game, and to Norman Chad as well for pretty much being spot on with the play-by-play poker drama. DeMichele had been a little out of line earlier on, but Scotty, the veteran player that should know better, really stepped over the line in attacking DeMichele, who had every right to fight back.

I think my favorite part of the whole mess though was the equally un-classy Layne Flack and his drunken shenanigans from the rail, followed by Chad's golden comment:

Flack: "Nut-nut, baaaaaaaaby!" (stumbling around and slurring his words)
Norman Chad: "That's a bit unfortunate."

Of course the sad truth of this whole mess was that the whole night was laid out to pay homage to legendary player Chip Reese, who recently passed away. The $50k HORSE tournament could arguably be the toughest of WSOP tournaments, with a field full of pros, and the winner often clearly being a player of far-reaching skills and discipline. Scotty Nguyen may be a solid poker player, but he by no means exhibited the table traits that make men such as Chip Reese and Doyle Brunson true icons of the game.

The Reign Continues

I finally got back to even for the month this weekend, playing 2 $10 SNG's last night, busting in 5th on the first with a AKs resteal attempt resulting in a coinflip with the big stack's 99. Dude had seriously called like 3 AK pushes (including mine) preflop with middle pairs and had everyone outchipped by like 5-1. The second one I was able to take down though, which put me up to $912 after starting the month at $909 and going on that craptastic downswing that sunk me to $833 within the first week of August. I've managed to have a small upswing over the past 6 games in particular, with 1 1st, 1 2nd, 2 3rds, and 2 5th's on AK flips. I've been thinking about some AK hands that I busted out on and whether or not I've got an AK leak in my game (i.e. is AK in the blinds always a good resteal? should you always make a continuation bet with one caller when you've missed the flop and are out of position?). Perhaps I'm thinking so just because I went out on them, but I'll post more about that later.

More importantly now, this weekend was good because I continued my streak of being the only Sloppy Deuce champion in the history of the Sloppy Deuce tournament (an epic 3 weeks now). Earlier today I took Deuce #3 down in a sloptastic game of four, featuring one newcomer, two veterans, and yours truly of course. Final results were:

1st - MrBo1011 ($8)
2nd - pokerpro320
3rd - trainofbutter
4th - craigulator19

There were a few fun hands but nothing I really feel like digging up right now to post. The best hand for me was the final J9 vs. 98 showdown that allowed me to close things out and get to the movies right on time for the 4:05 showing of Pineapple Express. A quality movie with solid laughs... two thumbs up from this amateur movie critic.

Anyways, I have to get some sleep for now. Yeah I know the sun barely just set, but I'll be rising around 5:00 AM tomorrow for the first day back to work. This week is staff week, then the kids return next week, so I really gotta get things set up in the room and make sure I have something to say on Day 1 besides "uhhh... so... you kids like to play cards?" That would probably not go over so well.

I'll do my best to keep the posts coming through all this madness. Hope to see you in the next Sloppy Deuce - next Sunday at 2:00 PM EST... also your next chance to qualify for that $50 freeroll.

Best of luck for now. Peace. - B

Beauty and the Beat Contest - Free Money!

First of all, I feel I should apologize for de-rousing readers by posting the flowery mug of Alan Jaffray the other night (I know some of you are still recovering), and would like to redeem myself by bringing you this interesting bit of poker content:



Now then, that brings us to the latest TPTM news... our Beauty and the Beat Contest (yes, the free money). As you know I do my best to bring you all some occasional hands at either end of the Hold'em spectrum, ranging from the absolutely disgusting bad beats to the beautifully-played boards of true low-limit poker genius. Unfortunately I can only do so much in my part-time pokering to come across such hands, particularly in the beautifully-played department (not sure why that is... online must be rigged). So I'd like to open the WTF/Beautiful Hands of the Week up to submissions from you, the readers. If you have a hand you feel is worthy, email it to me, and if I also feel it is worthy, I will send you a complimentary $5 to your Full Tilt player account (an extra buck for including an attractive lass poker-related picture with your Beautiful Hand submission... but please, no images that correspond with bad beats). Sign up at Full Tilt Poker if you don't already have an account.

Don't forget that you could then also use that $5 to play in some weekly Sloppy Deuce tournaments to win even more dollar signs, and also to qualify for our $50 Freeroll on Full Tilt Poker for the first 9 Sloppy Deuce champions.

Having said all that, here's my latest submission for a truly appalling hand, as well as two additional fun ones. Fortunately I wasn't involved in this first one in a $5 90-seater, but it was still pretty sick... though you could argue that really no one played it particularly well...

Full Tilt Poker, $5 + $0.50 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 4,710
Hero (UTG+1): 4,285
MP1: 4,195
MP2: 1,230
CO: 2,465
BTN: 3,755
SB: 4,360
BB: 975

Pre-Flop: (150) As 9c dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG calls 100, 3 folds, CO raises to 450, 2 folds, BB raises to 975 and is All-In, UTG calls 875, CO raises to 2,465 and is All-In, UTG calls 1,490
Flop: (5,955) 8h 4h 8c (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (5,955) 6d (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (5,955) Qd (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,955 Pot
UTG showed 4c 5c (two pair, Eights and Fours) and WON 5,955 (+3,490 NET)
CO showed Ah Jh (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-2,465 NET)
BB showed Ad 9d (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-975 NET)


This next one went down earlier on in the same 90-seater. How the hell do you play this mess? With two callers on the flop I had a feeling that 7 was out there waiting to check-raise me. Got even with the river and felt secure that a 10 wasn't out there... could have bet like I had it, and probably should have... but just wasn't thinking right. Raising preflop was another option, but more than likely at a table like this would have resulted in multiple callers and an awkward post-flop situation unless I hit the set.

Full Tilt Poker, $5 + $0.50 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 30/60 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 4,135
Hero (BTN): 3,965
SB: 2,440
BB: 3,245
UTG: 1,865
UTG+1: 645
MP1: 3,985
MP2: 4,400

Pre-Flop: (90) 9h 9c dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, MP1 calls 60, MP2 calls 60, CO folds, Hero calls 60, SB folds, BB checks
Flop: (270) 8s 9s 6d (4 Players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets 240, BB calls 240, MP1 calls 240, MP2 folds
Turn: (990) 5d (3 Players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, Hero checks
River: (990) 7c (3 Players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, Hero checks

Results: 990 Pot
Hero showed 9h 9c (a straight, Nine high) and WON 330 (+30 NET)
BB showed 7h Kd (a straight, Nine high) and WON 330 (+30 NET)
MP1 showed 8d Qd (a straight, Nine high) and WON 330 (+30 NET)


Last, but certainly not least, I thought this one was pretty cute. Two EP slowplayers at a table that had been pretty aggressive, and you know those short-stacks like to attack the limpers so it was a perfect setup. Little did I know that I was the one being trapped, but I managed to get a little lucky for once and suck out on someone (that's what she said). Would have been cute if the river was a Jack.

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: 1,880
CO: 1,860
BTN: 1,500
SB: 2,475
BB: 2,065
Hero (UTG): 1,470
UTG+1: 1,065
UTG+2: 550
MP1: 635

Pre-Flop: (75) Ks Kc dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero calls 50, UTG+1 calls 50, UTG+2 raises to 550 and is All-In, 6 folds, Hero raises to 1,470 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 1,015 and is All-In
Flop: (2,755) 2c Kh Tc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (2,755) 8h (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (2,755) 4c (3 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: 2,755 Pot
Hero showed Ks Kc (three of a kind, Kings) and WON 2,755 (+1,690 NET)
UTG+1 showed Ad As (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-1,065 NET)
UTG+2 showed Qd Ah (Ace King high) and LOST (-550 NET)

Good Reads

About to turn in for the night, as for the past three days I've been waking up about 3-4 hours earlier than I've become accustomed to over the long-but-still-too-short summer months. Gotta start getting used to it though, as the school year is fast approaching, and all three of my alarms are going to be set around 5:30 or earlier. This week we had a bunch of orientation sessions (all the reminders about multicultural education, differentiated instruction, and how touching children inappropriately is a bad thing, all of which we seem to get lectured about at least 30 times per year). Next week all staff members return, and the week after that the entire public high school circus will be in full swing. I'm honestly very excited for the coming school year, and don't think being forced to take a bit of a break from poker will be a terrible thing at all.

Anyways, I did manage to sneak two standard $10 SNG's in tonight, coming in 5th in the first one with a typical middle-stage all-in preflop AKo vs. TT flip (I open pushed my AK, MP player called with the Tens), and then came in 2nd in the latter, with no really special hands, except for one fun one that I'll post later.

Before I hit the hay though, I thought I'd share some high quality poker content that I recently stumbled upon, all of which I think are good reads if you have the time...

First off you have to check out Hard Boiled Poker. Pretty much everything Shamus puts up is bound to be engaging, informative, and often enlightening as well, full of tidbits of deep poker wisdom. Some of my recent favorites are still on the front page - "Sometimes the Cards Play Us" and "Perspectives on Poker."

Jumping across the pond now, I've been throwing Burnley Mik's blog, Donkey Thrasher, into my weekly reading. Also a lot of good stuff, especially for more low limit players.

Finally, I came across an archive of poker philosophy goodness on The Cards Speak, which no longer appears to be active now (old articles mention the now-unmentionable Party Poker), but is nonetheless chock full of great posts. Here are some of my favorites:

Zen and the Art of The Dude (for Big Lebowski fans)
Rushmore Poker Wisdom (for Wes Anderson fans)
Poker: Hobby, Sport, or Profit?
Development of a poker player

Happy reading, and stay tuned for another free money offering coming your way...

WSOP Event 5 on ESPN

Add this to the list of things not to while at a televised WSOP final table...

#8 - Be this guy:



If you caught the 2008 WSOP Event #5 ($1,000 NL Hold'Em Rebuys) on ESPN last night, you may recognize this darling as Alan Jaffray, the 5th place finisher taking home over $160k, which we can only imagine will be spent mostly on more totally fabulous head coverings... good news for Norman Chad, who seemed to enjoy Jaffray's rosy spin on the typical macho game of poker. Nothing personal against the guy... after all he has a bankroll that most of us probably only dream about... just not something you find at every final table.

And then there's also this: Alan Jaffray enters Ladies Event, asked to leave.