The worst hand is good!

this was the night when the best hand was only good on paper. i couldnt count how many pretty gross suckouts occurred, some being kinda gross with others being downright disgusting.

but, thats poker.

Sean found a way to dodge a few bullets himself on his way to the JV Special victory, read his account of his play here.

the first person knocked out would be none other than the man who created the structure, John. kinda sad that in the John V Special he would be the first one gone, but lemme tell you, it was probably the worst suckout of the evening...

let's recap the hand from John's blog:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FCPC home game. Level 1, blinds T25/25. Stacks at T7000.

Fuel open raises to T100 with QQ
Bob calls from LP
Matt calls from BB

Flop: QJ5

Matt leads T200, I call, Bob calls.

Turn: K

Matt leads very small (T150)
I raise another T500
Bob calls
Matt calls.

Fawk, one of these doucheballs has T9.

River: 5

Nice. Now it's time to take these straight-drawing donkeys to valuetown.

Matt checks
I bet T1000
Bob raises to T3200.
Matt folds.
I shove.
Bob instacalls. Of course he has 55.

Jesus fawk! Out in level 1 two weeks runnings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thats pretty gross!

later i would be destroyed by a similarily disgusting display from the poker gods:

Final Table (11 players) blinds 200/400

i call Todd Brunson's (Vin) raise to 1000, Brad calls, a few other callers too

i have 77

flop: 267 sweeeeeeeet!

Brad is first to act and he immediately announces "im all in"
all fold to me, of course i call

Brad shows 78 and grimaces when he sees my cards

but wait Bradley G, lets remember who you are! you lay the worst beats on Earth

turn: 5
river: 9

buh-bye Simon! i saw it coming when the turn 5 hit so i couldnt help but laugh my way to the "loser's" table where a sweet little $20 tourney had just started.

is poker fun or is poker rigged? you decide

DEEPStack next week!

The Limp-Call, strongest play in poker

well, perhaps it's not the strongest play in poker generally, but it was pretty effective in this past week's game.

case in point: early on many limpers to John in the BB, John has AsKd and raises it up to 600 (blinds are 50/100)...everyone calls! this is not so unusual in our game when the stacks are deep.

flop: all spades

all check to Milly on the button who fires out 2000. John, holding 2 overs and the As bangs it up to 6000. Michael quickly announces all-in and John instacalls.

Milly has flopped a King high flush with the undervalued and often underplayed Ks6s. no help for John on the turn or river and all of a sudden we have a crippled stack. John down to about 2500-3000.

not too much longer after this John was eliminated by yet another limp-call. John again in the BB raises all-in after 3 or 4 limpers jump in. Peter makes the call with A9 and has John crushed holding A8. a 9 in the door is enough to give virtually no hope to our only PhD in the crowd.

this limp-call parade we had been seeing was the theme of the night. John was doing his standard berating of all the limp-callers as only he can do. we do have to give the man credit though for staying until the very end. its always nice to have him around

later, Peter was shown the door after getting a little too aggressive with top pair so-so kicker.

Bill open raised with KK and had 2 callers. flop is K-high and Bill comes out firing as the first to act. it folds to Peter who says "im all-in Bill" I am sitting next to Bill and i dont think Bill really understood what had just been plated in front of him. of course he calls and sees Peter playing KT. absolutely no assistance arrives for Peter and he exits in 9th place

George's buddy, Stash was out next after shoving A7 into The Professor's QQ.

slowly the Greeks begin to fall!

Bill, surprisngly, was next out but only because his lucksackery couldnt save him in a pivotal hand (for him) against me:

I raise AA in MP and Bill does the 'ole limp-call with JcTc.

flop: 3c 9c 8s

i fire 5,000, Bill check-calls with his monster draw

turn: Td

Bill checks, at his point i feel like im ahead and start thinking what he is chasing. i assume he has 2 clubs but in the back of my mind im dreading a set.

anyway, i bet 10,000 and he calls. now im worried

river: blank

Bill checks and now i feel im good but because he would bet a hand better than 1 pair. i dont think he would call a river bet unless i was beat so i check too. John knew what we both had and erupted when i checked because Bill had 20 outs going to the river and crapped out.

i dont remember how Bill was eliminated, it may have been by me but i forget. he was doused in 8th.

"one by one the Greeks go down hurrah, hurrah! first its Bill then its Eman hurrah huraah!" (one of my best spur of the moment songs)

Karl got shot down by Michael but nobody cares

Eman bluffed his chips away on a 5-5-4-3 6 board vs Jane. Jane had 52o in the BB and Eman limped UTG with 9cTc. Eman tried raising Jane on the flop, bet hard on the turn and jammed the river only to lose.

my song was validated when this happened. i think ill sing it again next week.

i was a big stack for much of the middle stages of the game but gave The Professor a courtesy double up when i raised K4 and he jammed AJ. i spiked a K on the flop but he rivered the Ace and i started a downward slide.

after that i was in about 3 or 4 race situations and lost all of them. eventually i was pretty much destroyed when, 5 handed, i raised AJ UTG, Jane called on the button and Joanne jammed in the BB. i was left with a decision to call off all but 1,500 of my stack. i dont really like AJ in this spot but i did call figuring she could have a pair that left me with 2 overs. if so i was getting a shot to become really well positioned for the end game.

she had AK of course and we both paired the flop but then i lost. i should have folded, enough said.

soon afterwards i jammed from the SB blind, The Professor called off his paltry stack from the BB blind too when Milner raised JT on the button. i had 63, The Professor had some slightly better crap but Milner hit a pair and i get 5th, Darren gets 4th.

The Professor was one of the Mystery Bounties so Milly scored $50 for that TKO

The Professor, as the bubble boy, won the coveted Greg Raymer WSOP poster but generously donated it back to the club for a future lucky bubbler. very nice of him!

down to 3 handed Michael, Jane and Joanne let the chips fly. all-in with any 2 cards it seemed was entertaining to watch because we had action!

Michael eventually took out Joanne when his JJ was outflopped by whatever Joanne had but hit a J on the river. he also had a 4 flush going to the river but the offsuit J was an ugly ending for Joanne. $70 to Joanne

Joanne was the other bounty and Milner, that lucky SOB, got another $50

i cant remember what the cards were at the end but Michael did win. he generously gave Jane an extra $30 making her prize $150. he took $220 plus $100 for the bounties.

first win for Michael since DEEPStack #1 June 8, 2007

This DEEPStack had QUADS baby!

how about 3 people making QUADS within 1-1.5 hours of each other?

the game started off with a BANG when, on the 3rd hand of the night, Jane was crippled. the action starts when John raises preflop to 300. Jane calls and destiny leads her down a dark path of destruction. we all started the evening with TC25,000
the flop: K-5-6
John leads out for about 1200 (i think there were other players seeing the flop too)
Jane raises to 4000
John re-bangs another 8000...things are getting juicy! Jane calls
turn: K
John bets, Jane calls. i forget the amount
river: 6
Jane says "just check it John, you've got a K i have a K" so John shoves for ~8,000
Jane calls and flips up AK for a boat
John proudly display 66

THOSE ARE QUADS BABY!!!!

the room erupts because we havent seen quads in ages and that was a sick turn and river. jesus what a start to the night...but wait, it kept on coming.

i think within the next 30 minutes we lost Jane when her limped AK hit the A-5-6 flop but when she shoved Joanne called with the A5 and sent Jane to her demise. a cruel and unnecessary punishment for the Queen of the FCPC. THOSE WERE QUADS BABY!!!!!

not too long after that, roughly an hour or so, the mega-cooler hand of the year came.

Eitan limped, I limped then 2 doors down Sean raises to 1200 and Joanne, one of two bigger stacks, calls on the button. Eitan and i fold
flop is 8-8-5
Sean leads out for 1200 or something and Joanne calls after a little delibertion
the turn brings: Q
Sean quickly fires 4,000 and Joanne quickly calls...hmmmmmm
river: the case K
(i had folded the other K even though it was suited up for war with the 6c--i have that kind of discipline)
Sean announces "I'm all in"
Joanne beats him in the pot "i call!"
Sean flips up KK, thats a nice hand, Kings full
Joanne reveals 88 for your standard flopped quads, eliminating Sean from the game


DEMS QUADS BITCH!!!!

holy four-of-a-kind-batman wtf is goin on here??!! 2 quads in one night? we havent seen quads in forever and now we get them twice in roughly an hour!!??

but what night would be complete without a dosing of the good doctor, John the fag.

within 5 minutes of Joanne's quads a pot develops involving yours truly and Johnny boy. i limped in EP after Eitan limped UTG. three to my left is John who pops it to 1700. i think the blinds were 150/300 at this point. Bill cant resist seeing any flop so he calls the 1700 and i complete with another 1400 and 3 of us are in.
the flop: Q-T-T
Bill checks, i look at John and wait about 10 secs (hoping to make it look like im contemplating a move) and check.
John bets, Bill looks at me, i smile, and he eventually folds. i raise another 2500 which John calls. turn: T
i bet 4000, John announces all-in. i call and show TsJs. Mt. St. Veltheer goes into a mini-eruption and is obviously not too happy and flips over AA
the river is academic as i get the double up. John who had virtually eliminated Jane early with Quads was now on the receiving end of the same medicine.


THESE IS QUADS DR. FISHCAKES!!!

this still left us at 8 players but there were 2 or 3 shorties hanging around looking for a spot to make a move.

it wouldnt happen for George though as he finally found a premium hand in JJ, raised it up and heard Alex say "ill put you all in". George obliged, tossed in the rest of his paltry stack and saw he was up against AK of spades. the "special Ace" would prove to be George's demise as it found a partner on the flop in the form of the Ace of Diamonds. George, who arrived pretty baked, exited quietly without putting up much of a fight on the night.

between George's exit and the next player to leave, Eitan, an interesting hand took place.

i was UTG with the blinds at 300/600/50. i looked down at KK and made a standard raise to 2000. of course, 4 others called and we all bunkered down for the fireworks.

the flop: 2h-3c-4h pretty nice for KK but with 5 people seeing the flop?
Eitan was in the BB and immediately shot out 5,000 into the ~10,000 pot. now, i didnt particularly like the BB coming out with a bullet here because he could pretty much have any 2 cards as he was getting 4.5:1 preflop to call. with a little deliberation i decided "fcuk it" and i folded my Kings. it folded around to Bill and he says "im all in"...i felt happy all of a sudden! Eitan called and when we saw the cards Bill had flopped a straight with Ah5h and a str8 flush redraw. Eitan also had a quality hand in a set of 2s. Bill made his flush on the turn and a blank on the river doubled Bill up and severely hurt Eitans stack.

folding Kings aint easy and i dont remember the last time i did it on a 4-high flop but when your spider senses start tingling you gotta fold 'em.

Eitan would leave us next when he jammed KJ into John's AK and the AK held up.

The Professor had a disappointing game. you could probably count the number of hands he played on your 10 fingers and still have a few fingers left to nibble some food. he didnt get any cards on the night, he was frustrtaed by the end of it and hoped he could find some magic when he chose to gamble vs 2 others. Joanne raised to 5,000, Bill called and The Professor went all-in for another 200 chips.
the flop" 2-6-2
Joanne checked, Bill checked
turn: Q
Joanne bet 5,000, Bill thought about it and folded his K-high flush draw (good fold Bill)
Joanne showed a flopped boat with 66 and The Professor was drawing dead
Bill would have made his flush on the river too...good thing his spider senses were working.

that KK hand i had was absolutely, positively the last quality hand i was dealt until the very end. my stack was essentially being blinded away and i hadnt won a pot in quite a while. with the blinds at 500/1000/100 i looked down at AcQc and pulled a John V and jammed it preflop. of course, the cardrack, Joanne had KK and took me down. Joanne was definitely making a lot of hands on the night, she knocked out 3 players and played pretty well too. i was out in 5th after a promising start that i didnt take advantage of.

down to 4, John, Joanne, Bill and Alex fought each other back and forth until finally a confrontation of massive consequences developed.

Bill, UTG, raised JJ to a standard 3xBB. Alex had a very healthy stack and jammed 50,000+ more into the pot. Bill quickly called and we had a race ladies and gentlemen!
the board came: x-x-x-x-x without the necessary A or K to keep Frenchie alive. would you rather go out first or bubble Frenchie wondered aloud before leaving...pick your poison, they both suck.

3 handed play was aggressive and not very flop friendly as much of the preflop raises were not being challenged. Joanne was a massive chip leader early on and throughout most the night but somehow found herself 2nd to Bill and only slightly ahead of the John when she was paid a visit by the poker demon known as the god-damned-f&*^%!-river.
first she called John's preflop all-in and produced AT vs John's As5s. here is what happened:

suckout Johnny strikes again....or is that for the first time ever?

whatever the case Joanne was crushed and within a few hands she jammed with K5 only to be called by Bill who only had to call 3,500 more with J9.

the board showed: K-3-9-T-9

on the river twice in a row! where else would it come?

finally we were heads up with both John and Bill pretty much even. a deal was made to each take $300 and play for the remaining $70 and the notariety that comes with being a DEEPStack champion.

back and forth they went until the final hand of the night. both players were dealt quality hands so it was no wonder why all the chips went in after the flop.
Bill had 3-2
John had 8-4 (suited mind you)
the flop was 4-x-4
after John checked Bill shoved it all-in and John called. Bill didnt make a miracle straight and finally John took down a DEEPStack joining the cream of the crop in the FCPC. he texted me he would blog the experience so hopefully he doesnt go back on his word...fag.

Congrats to John, he played well after the devastating QUAD blow and never gave up. mind you, he did get AA 5 times, KK 3 times and QQ and 55 once.

this took a long time to write...im out.

DEEPStack this Friday

im looking to fill up the roster, we have 8 players confirmed and need 2 more. once it fills ill consult the Magic Dice to see who will win (probably me though)

if you aint in the game yet get in touch with me ASAP!

here is who is in today:

simon "the champ"

john "fishcakes"

sean "i wanna be john one day"

bill "i see every flop"

eitan "the resident jew"

jane "darling"

alex "frenchie"

darren "the professor" <----best nickname ever...see below

How about that, i won again

i try to update this blog as soon as i can after friday night games but saturdays are so full of other stuff that its pretty much a guarantee i cant do it then. sundays i forget and then i get to monday when i remember to write something. so here we go...

first off lemme say that the FCPC site is currently not allowing me to edit anything, i dont know why. ive tried about 15 times to edit the home page with no luck. hopefully it sorts itself out soon.

i won! i am so good it boggles my mind why i dont move to vegas and turn pro.

seriously though, we had a good game on friday that lasted quite a while considering the game and turnout. we played our 11-max $50 "Mystery Bounty" game where there are 2 bounties playing at the table except noone knows who the bounties are. this game creates a bit, and i mean a bit, of excitement because when you get knocked out you must check the 2 seat cards to see if you are one of the bounties. if you are then the person who cracked you gets a $50 reward. we've done this game twice now and its been well recieved both times by whoever has played in it.

this week the bounties ended up being Julia and Bob. i was fortunate enough to destroy Bob with my As5s vs his A7. even though the door card was the 7s i ended up flushing on the river and a perplexed Bob had to leave the table. i think Bob didnt see the flush hit and wondered out loud "im out...huh?" Bob had mentioned numerous times how bad his cards were and he probably felt a bit ripped off because he didnt play many hands and when he did he never made anything, heck he wasnt even dealt a pocket pair in over 4 hours of play!

sucks to be Bob.

Julia was shown the door by Steve, 240s brother. Steve collected the $50 bounty on Julia and would eventually make it heads with me (with a big chip advantage) and i utterly destroyed him...hehe sucker.

key hands for me included the knockout of Bob. if i lose that hand i am in pretty bad shape chipwise and i probably dont win. in that hand Bob was in the BB and short stacked so i butt-raised enough to commit his stack. my A5 spades found a way to take down his A7 and i was healthy enough to make a few plays.

early on with 100/200 blinds i had KK UTG+1 and limped. Matt raised in MP or on the button (i forget) to 600. 2 players called before it got back to me and i re-banged it to 3000. Matt called with AQ and Julia called with JJ.

the flop came 9 high and i fired out 6000 into ~9800, leaving myself roughly 4,000 behind. Matt folded after a bit of thought and Julia was on the verge of calling, she had the chips in her hand! but finally decided to fold her JJ face up. that was a nice hand to win as it got me into or near the chip lead quite early. having that many chips early allows me to speculate with trash far more often than i normally would with an average sized stack.

it took about 2.5-3 hours to lose out first player, Kent. after that about another hour to lose player #2. we started at 7:15ish and finished a few minutes after 12am. i had a big babysitter bill but that was somewhat tempered by my Last Longer Bet with Dr Homo for $40.

by the way, lets all get John to start blogging about his exploits at the FCPC. he never blogs about it and i know we would all love to hear what he has to say about the "ridiculous play" and "donkey-ness". he often complains about how bad his beats are, you know, getting it all in with QQ only to lose to 55. he has some classic rants like this one: "categorically Alex you are the worst player in the history of poker" and "why do i come to this f'n place?!" and of course "c'mon fishcakes {insert derogatory comment here}"

personlly, i would love to read about his experiences here.

more to come...

The Aftermath and a Rant

so, i didnt win. i didnt even make the final table. we were down to about 13 or 14 (of the 19 starters) when i was crippled and shortly afterwards i was done. not much to say about my showing since it wasnt very notable, however, there is definitely something to write about...

there is one common complaint from people about the play at the FCPC and it confuses me at times. if its not "the players are horrible!" then its "the players are terrible!" and if neither of those are heard then it is something close to that. "I HATE THIS PLACE!"

why do people say that?

are the players here really that bad? do we make more obvious mistakes than anyone at the local casino would make? do we make plays that are that much worse than the average donkey online?

i dont think so. as a matter of fact i believe that the play at the FCPC resembles the play you would see at many casino tables with the exception of higher stakes games ($5/$10 or higher). some of it is good and some of it is bad but most of it you wouldnt see any problem with.

the only thing that really bothers me about the comments are that they mainly come from our "good players" who will routinely make the same mistakes that they berate others about. ive seen it many times in the years we've been playing. someone will check-call with AK out of position after a T-T-5 board, hit a pair on the turn and end up winning a healthy pot. the "good player" who lost the hand will then rant about how "AK is gold" and how "noone here can fold AK" blah blah blah....then 2 weeks later he will do the same thing and have a rational explanation for his "play"

you know, its an expert play.

rarely will you hear "nice hand" or "you got me, well played" because one's ego is on the line. "there is no way im gonna tell that donkey he outplayed me or that he had a nice hand. but when he rivers me he will hear what i have to say."

i think its time to accept the fact there are no experts playing here, no pros, no high stakes winners but certainly a lot of average players playing their game. there is no perfect way to play this game and there are many players out there that will let you know that.

Full tables tonight

we have filled up both tables for tonight's $40 game. after the room fee and the new "supplies bought by simon over 3 years" fee has been applied we will have a $760 prize pool.

1st $400
2nd $200
3rd $110
4th $50

i am predicting a top 7 finish for myself. lol, is that any good? poker is rigged anyway so ill probably win.

$10 + $5 Rebuy Madness

the name says it all. this game, for the first hour (and some would claim even after the addons), is just a bunch of blind all-ins. mthe name of the game is to build a stack big enough to bully or coast to the final table. all the usual 72off vs AK battles were waged and your usual "a pair of twos is good!" calls were heard throughout the night. once the rebuy period ends and the addons are done we normally see the typical game develop...whatever that is.

the winner on the night was this guy, Jonny. he was able to find a way to survive the madness and chip away when heads-up to secure his first FCPC title. i dont have a picture of Jonny but ill find one on the internet and post it later.

the night had its share of chip leaders that is for sure. when we hit the final 10 i dont know who was ahead but it didnt take long for Julia, a new-comer to the game, to start rolling. she was betting betting betting and winning winning winning virtually every pot she entered. when we found ourselves with 7 players left she was quite a ways aghead of 2nd place...then the wheels fell off...she wouldnt be the first chipleader to lose it all.

yours truly took a few chunks out of her stack then finished her off when my AQ nailed and Ace on the flop and sent her JJ to the rail. that pot gave me an enourmous stack and i think i thought getting into the money was a formality. at one point i counted ~110,000TC with just 5 players left.

the bubble boy ended up being me thanks to one lost race and one decision afew people questioned but one i feel alright about. first, i had a chance to knock Jonny out with AQ vs his 99 all-in preflop. i did not improve so he was able to double through me and sit comfortably again. a short while later i was involved in my final hand:

blinds at 2,000/4,000 i raise UTG to 15,000 holding 77. Matt, Jonny's friend, re-raises to 40,000 on the button and it folds back to me. now i remember thinking quite a bit before calling him here. the more i thought about all the possibilities i had to give him credit for AK or AQ, perhas a bigger pocket pair but that was mathematically unlikely. the reason i called was because if i saw a favourable flop i could jam it and get 2 overcards to fold.

the flop came Jd 9c 6c

the first thing i thought was "this aint bad, AK and AQ have missed. any pocket below Tens (if he indeed had a pair) would have a big decision to make if i jam here. what are the chances he has a Jack, not likely if he re-raises preflop"

so i announced all-in! and he called pretty damn quick...fcuk

i knew i was toast when i flipped over my hand and i was a bit surprised to see him table AcJc only because of the preflop play. he certainly wasnt gonna fold after he nailed the flop as good as one could expect. i was done in 5th, i bubbled and got some "what were you doing remarks?" afterwards. i tried to explain why i did what i did but apparently 77 is an auto fold preflop there.

i suppose i could have gone all-in preflop and given him a decision but the both of us would have looked like retards for overplaying our hands. im sure he would have called too because after the reraise he was pot committed.

is AJ 5-handed worth losing your stack with preflop? is 77 worth it? i dont know but the way the hand was played he could only call the all-in if he hit a pair and he did. thats poker.

final results can be found on the FCPC site

see you next friday!

DEEPStack 12 Results

well, well well...how about this, i won!

even haley's comet streaks by every 76 years so waking up realizing i DID actually win a tournament shouldnt feel so "wow" but feeling like i was in a major slump this year and finding a way to get out of it with a DEEPStack win feels pretty nice. actually, the fact we had 16 players and a $650 first place prize feels more than nice. its my 2nd outright DEEPStack win and 3rd overall (one chopped with Eman).

lets see a picture of my beautiful face :

(pay no attention to the ugliness in the background)

now because i won ill recap how things went for me.

things started well. i won a number of small pots to get up to ~30,000 (we started this week with 25,000TC). then i was involved in a big pot relative to the blinds and i played it pretty piss poorly.

blinds are 150/300 and i raise to 900 in EP with AT and got two callers, Dave and Eitan. flop comes AQx and all three of us check. im certain i have the best hand and i tried to be a bit tricky here which would have worked if i followed through with a raise on the turn., but when the K came on the turn i simply called Dave's bet of 2500 when my instinct was to raise...i guess i thought i could get Dave to bluff the river if a blank hit. anyway, a lovely T hits the river giving me two terrible pair. the board shows AQxKT and Dave goes all-in for 8700. the way he acted and the wauy the betting went i struggled to find a way he could have a Jack. i wondered out loud what he could have that included a Jack and then reluctantly called. he flipped over QJ which was a reasonable holding given we all checked the flop. my stack of ~30,000 was now down to around 17,000. good thing for me was the fact Dave was in a giving mood and would later give me a present that set me up nicely for the final table.

as we neared the final table a hand developed at table #1 that had involved way too many chips. to start, Bob was a bit short and made a standard raise preflop that was called by Dave and myself. i had the button and pocket 3s. the flop came 743 and Dave bet 11,100, enough to put Bob all-in. Bob made the call with JJ and i was left to decide what to do here. i chose to just shove it all in for another 29,900 and let dave make a decision. amazingly Dave deduced i had nothing and called with....A4! thank you Mr Dave Abbott. a miracle J hit the turn saving Bob's ass and when the river blanked i had ~60,000 and Bob scooped close to 40,000.

i think that set us up for the final table.

the first two hands i get at the FT are 22 and AK. i raise both hands and win one without a flop and the other when John and i check it down on a 67376 board.

John would be the first to leave us, followed by Kent, Bob, Julia and George.

with a healthy stack i chose to engage in some butt-play and raised a few limpers with K2. Niall in the SB decided 77 was the hand he was looking for and shoved for almost the same amount i had raised. i called, not because i liked my hand but because there was so much dead money in there. his 77 held up and i had used up all of my "playing" chips and had to gear down for a while. it helped that i went card dead but the blinds were beginning to eat me up.

when we hit 5-handed play the post flop action slowly deteriorated as the blinds increased. i found myself the shortstack with roughly 30,000 with blinds at 2000/4000/400 ante and finally i found a hand to play. i was happy to shove over top of a EP raise with AJ. he called with A9 and i was able to grab close to 65,000TC.

Niall, myself, Sean, Ryan and Paul were playing 5-handed for quite some time before we lost Niall. stacks were fluctuating quickly and a few of us took turns on the short stack. Niall went out in 5th but i cant remember what he lost with, i think Ryan took him down (but im not totally sure of that).

the key hand when we hit the money was between myself and Sean. i had AA UTG and raised to 20,000 with blinds at 3,000/6,000. Sean went Sly Stallone on me and i didnt hesitate to flip over my bullets after he tabled QQ. a few seconds later, for comedic effect, i announced "i call". Sean wasnt too happy to see my hand and he bounced around a bit before coming back to deal the board. winning this hand put me well over 100,000TC and Sean, the chip leader for the final table from the start was down to ~50,000.

i think the next hand i was dealt TT and as i was stacking the chips i went all-in. thats when Paul called me with AKcc and he hit a K on the flop and he was back in the game.

Sean was the shorty now when he had the button and moved in with KJss. yan in the BB called with AT but when the board showed KTxKx Sean was out of the doldrums. this loss meant Ryan only had about 10,000TC and he blindly put them in on the next hand. his 96ss was up vs Sean's AA. he flopped a pair and turn a flush draw but couldnt get there on the river and Ryan was terminated in 4th.

we lost Sean in 3rd after i called his preflop raise holding 97cc. i checked the 763 flop and when he moved in i called quickly knowing only an overpair was beating me. odds are he didnt have one so when i saw the flop i was not going to go away. he showed K6ss for middle pair. i made a straight on the river to get to heads-up against Paul.

stacks were about 65%-35% for me and i offered Paul $400 to go home. i needed to finish the game as fast as possible becaus my babysitter was probably passed out upstairs. $300 was guaranteed to 2nd place so i was really hoping he would take the generous offer. he chose to play it out and when he took a chip lead on me after he shoved with K9 or KT and i had AQ i was worried. he won the hand after hitting a pair of Kings and i was cursing AQ yet again. but as quickly as i lost the lead i got it all back plus bit when i picked off a couple bluffs.

the final hand he shoved preflop with 9T and i woke up with JJ. he flopped a gutterball on a KQx board but my 2 Jacks were what he needed. he missed the turn and river and finally after 5.5 hours or so i had finally won a tournament!

lets see my pretty face again:

see you next week, im out!

DEEPStack 12 Preview

here comes a mother of a DEEPstack tonight!

normally we will hold the game to a max of 10, sometimes 11 players. tonight i thought we could beef up the game by expanding it to 16 players and it sold out pretty quick. at this time we only have 15 (someone got too sick to play) and are currently working on finding a 16th, we'll see.

payouts for 15 players will be:

1. $630
2. $280
3. $180
4. $ 90

the lineup includes a number of people who do not regularly come out to the games so i am having a hard time handicapping this one. Ryan, a non-regular lurker is coming with a friend who has never been, Julia is coming to only her 2nd game and Bob's friend Niall is giving our game another try, we see him roughly every 6 weeks. with a couple wildcard retards playing (him and him) you can understand why this is going to be probably my worst predictions ever.

having said all this lets have a look at the lineup:

simon dave john jane ryan paul bob niall

sean eitan julia grant cathy kent george

all the names in bold are those that the "Magic Dice" have predicted will make the final table. i guess ill go ahead and predict who of these people will win and who will finish in 10th. althought these predictions are not going to be all that close, the "Magic Dice" has told me you can take 4 of the predicted finishes to the bank

1. George
2. Simon
3. John
4. Dave
5. Eitan
6. Sean
7. Julia
8. Jane
9. Bob
10. Kent

comments always welcome, trash talk is encouraged

Omaha Results

so, our 2nd ever PLO game went down this past friday and, as expected, it was not a showcase of "good omaha" but really, what is? omaha is a game of getting there. its a game of chasing draws. wondering, hoping, praying you have the best of it when the board pairs and you hold the nut straight.

one pair on a semi-coordinated flop with flush and straight draws is usually not gonna hold. who you are playing against matters, will they fold top 2? will they call a pot bet holding nut or 2nd nut draws? simply shoving more money into the pot expecting your opponent will fold is a risky play.

we saw boats lose to bigger boats and of course we saw people chasing flushes on paired boards lose to flopped full houses. thats omaha right?

the predictions from the previous post have to be altered a bit since we had one cancellation. here are the revised predictions followed by the actual finish:



1. Eitan - finished 7th
2. Jonny - finished 2nd just as i predicted
3. Milner - finished 3rd just as i predicted
4. Bill - finished 5th, so close
5. Eman - finished 4th, so close
6. Simon - finished 6th just as i predicted
7. Sean - finished 8th
8. Grant - got credit for the win with a slight chip advantage heads up. unbelieveable he didnt go out first


3/8 aint bad as far as figuring out where people would end up. if Grant and Eitan had flipped-flopped results i would have had a remarkably good record this week.


certainly we will do it again only because i absolutely loved the chips we played with. Jonny owns them and it takes a game of omaha to get him out to play.

Omatards in Action

this week marks the 2nd installment of the Omaha series (series?? maybe one day). its only the second time we've given omaha a try even though most of us have some experience in it. i can only imagine what the rants and slags will be like when this guy and this guy get drawn out and lose a pot.

here is the lineup for the Omaha game in order of predicted finish:

1. Eitan - on a roll and he is turning into a solid player with some impressive results. lucky jew!

2. Jonny - omaha is his specialty so i expect a good finish

3. Milner - i really hope he cashes, he deserves it. early big stack turns into 3rd place

4. Bill - Omaha? whats that? why do i have 4 cards? i have trip 5s and an Ace...im all in!!

5. Eman - prove me wrong butt-munch!

6. John - retards! blah blah blah...i hate this place! more blah...why cant you ever fold?! blah

7. Simon - im on a seriously disgusting run and Omaha wont be my saviour. i suck

8. Sean - re-raises from the BB with JJxx and cant lay it down on a 6 high board

9. Grant - i dont know why but he has no luck. someone will draw out on his flopped monster


i rolled the dice to get these predictions but the comments, pure gold, are courtesy of me

see you friday

Greek Squad

Congrats to Eman! he is basking in the sun high atop mount Olympus with his well deserved 2nd DEEPStack victory. while his brother George struggles to prove he can play with the big dogs of the FCPC, Eman wins. Eman has joined the elite of the club with this 2nd official first place. many others talk about their poker proficiency while Eman quietly plays his game and has earned the respect of everyone. here is a picture of the winner:



ok, so let's recap the actual order of finish, (the order i predicted), and the "Magic Dice":

1. Eman (9) "7"
2. Cathy (7) "5"
3. Eitan (3) "1"
4. Jane (8) "8"
5. Simon (1) "12"
6. Bill (2) "6"
7. Bob (11) "2"
8. 240 (10) "4"
9. Kent (5) "3"
10. Sean (4) "11"
11. John (6) "9"

i apologize to the following for not giving you enough respect...Eman, Cathy, Jane, Bob and 240.

i expected more from these folks and am disappointed by how they played...Bill, Kent, Sean & John.

the game started out with a bang! On the 8th hand we had our first casualty when John checked-shoved a 4s 6s 9h flop. Eman earlier in the hand check-raised Kent's flop bet only to see John make his move. Eman knew he was up against a draw but did eventually make the all-in call with the nuts, pocket 9s. John tabled 2s 3s and the board came brick-brick for John and Eman virtually doubled up right out of the chute. John expired in 11th

a little while later Sean took his pockets 7s up against Bill who (i think) flopped top pair and called the all-in. i didnt actually see the hand so i dont know the way it played out. if i am wrong ill make the change later. Sean exited in 10th

it took some time before we lost our next player. Kent engaged in some butt-play with AK but Eman who had limped UTG with pocket 10s re-popped him to virtually put Kent all-in and of course he called. the flop came out with a 10 and when a Q hit the turn Kent was looking for some river love but no J arrived. Kent was out in 9th

240 was nursing the short stack for a while but managed to hang in there for quite a well. eventually 240 shoved in all-in with A9 but was called down by Eitan and his AT. the board came A-2-5-2-brick and the nicest man on the planet was mortally wounded in 8th.

after 240's exit the next 3 players went out in quick succession.

Bob was eliminated by someone (i forget who sniped him)

Bill's K9 was terminated by Simon's JT

Simon was rudely shown the door shortly afterwards when his AT did not improve vs Eman's AQ. Simon will not invite Eman to his next birthday party.

Jane took the bubble honour in the only bad beat Eman laid on someone. in a battle on the blinds the flop came out A-J-brick. Eman came out firing with his J4 thinking Jane would have raise preflop with an Ace. When Jane announced "all-in" Eman was confused but figured his J was the best pair and made the call. he was surprised to see Jane table AT and commented on how well she played the hand but was even more surprised when a J fell on the river to send Jane to the rail. RIP Jane Quennell in 4th, bubble girl.

Eman would end up eliminating the last 4 players on the night. Simon, Jane, Eitan and Cathy.

3-handed the play was short on flops but when we did see a flop the pots were big! Cathy went on a bit of an all-in fest to accumulate chips and watched when Eitan got them all-in with pocket 7s. Eman had a relatively easy call with pocket 10s and hit a needless 10 on the river to secure a 3rd place finish. for Eitan. Simon correctly predicted a 3rd place finish for Eitan so that means Simon is a poker genius.

Heads-up Eman had roughly 75% of the chips vs Cathy and they played for about 20 minutes before the final confrontation occurred. Cathy put her life on the line with A6 but Eman quickly called with AJ. when a J hit the flop it looked bleak for Cathy. however the turn gave her an out for the straight but it didnt show up. Cathy took home another top 3 finish.

all in all it was a good night even though it took a while to finish. i was dog tired at the end of it all and didnt get to sleep in either! see you all next time

The "Magic Dice"

Before every DEEPStack i will try to remember to consult the "Magic Dice" and ask them what the results will be. i expect that the "Magic Dice" will be pretty accurate in determining the correct finish of our tournies.

Here is how it will work: i will randomly pick a name from the lineup and toss a set of non-magic dice. whatever number appears will be associated with that player. i will do this for all 10 or 11 players. then i will roll the "Magic Dice" to see where thay think everyone will place. the first number i roll will be the last place finisher and i will continue until the "Magic Dice" reveals its indisputable prediction. anyone who chooses to argue with the results of the "Magic Dice" will unknowingly have a curse placed upon him/her, so i suggest you just accept your fate.

having said all this, here are the reults of the "Magic Dice"


the number associated with each player came out like this:


simon 8
eman 5
john 9
eitan 2
bill 6
sean 4
jane 10
cathy 7
bob 3
kent 12
240 11

the order of finish according to the "Magic Dice"

1. eitan
2. bob
3. kent
4. 240
5. cathy
6. bill
7. eman
8. jane
9. john
10. sean
11. simon

hmmm, well....i guess they might be broken but let's see what happens

DEEPStack 11 Preview

this friday is our 11th installment of the DEEPStack series.

im going to preview the players and give my predictions on who will be in the money. some of the trash talk here will be sarcastic, some will be fact-based real stuff and the rest will be fantasy...you can decide what is what

first, the lineup:

simon
eman
john v
eitan
bill
sean
jane
cathy
bob
kent
240

second, the order of finish

1. simon - no surprise really. the most talented poker player in the group should handily walk away from this game with his 2nd DEEPStack series victory and 3rd 1st place (one was chopped with Eman). unless i get involved with someone trying to make a donkish move on me and somehow gets lucky in the hand, my spewage of chips will be minimzed. blessed with an uncanny ability to read the pulse of most of the people in our group, i can see myself winning probably the first 6 or 7 pots i enter without much resistance. after all, who wants to get involved in any hands with someone who can use x-ray vision to view the beating of his/her heart? if i sense a flutter or irregular beat in your breathing i will jump all over it and put you to the test by saying those four special words..."im all in fag!"

everyone else is playing for 2nd place

2. bill - bill is a lucky mofo who is on an incredible run right now. i had a dream last night that bill was following his usual strategy of playing 120% of the hands dealt to him. every hand is a potential winner according to bill so why not give them all a try? if bill doesnt lose his stack in the first hour he will have a comfortable enough stack to cruise into the top 3. he will finish in 2nd after limping in with K4 suited, then calling the 2nd preflop raise cold, he will flop a King and get it all in vs AK and go runner-runner flush to crush the hopes and dreams of our 3rd place finisher

3. eitan - he will go ballistic after bill pops him in the goolies with the K4 suited. a speech containing the deficiencies in bill's game will ensue and an silent volcano will erupt deep within the belly of our resident jew. without outwardly critisizing his opponents play too much, eitan will get his point across with short, pointed barbs that cut like a knife...and then we will see him the following week. its about time eitan finishes in the money so he really should feel good about this result.

the rest:

4. sean - gets it all in "with the best hand preflop" but loses

5. kent- back from his self-imposed exile, kent leaves a lot of wreckage behind him as he puzzles his dejected opponents with his choice of starting hands.

6. john v - standard huge stack 20 minutes in then he slowly pisses it all away with top pair no kicker after preflop raising it up with Kx, Jx and Ax. "TOP PAIR IS GOLD AT THE FCPC AND I HATE THIS F'N PLACE!"

7. cathy - takes a bad beat from sean and bows out after playing 5% of the hands she gets dealt

8. jane - her marvelous run of late comes to screeching halt when her aces gets ravaged by john's 55 all in preflop

9. eman - simon takes care of him early when he tries to run an unimproved 67 suited by simon's 35 of diamonds on a 58A flop. Eman cont bets the flop but simon's x-ray vision foils all attempts to be bluffed. getting invlolved in a big pot with simon is foolish so this is noone's fault but eman's

10. 240 - this is a standard finish for 240 who's new baby has forced him to attend only select FCPC events. he wont get any cards but wont complain. when he does get a premium hand he jams and gets called by someone with one overcard to his pair and it hits on the turn

11. bob - sorry bob, but your time has come, you will be uttlerly destroyed by everyone you tangle with. y0u wont win a pot and you'll be home in time to catch the soft-core porn on showcase

Let's get this thing going

this blog has been "live" for over a year now and i didnt even remember i created it. i dont know why i bothered to create a blogger account but i did, so i thought id use it to recap action from the FCPC.

i am by far the best player in the FCPC and i plan to destroy all those who dare to challenge that fact.

peace out and werd up!