Sky Rockets in Flight

This post has nothing to do with poker, but with the WSOP opening this week, I figure there is a good chance that anyone reading this may be in Vegas, and may want to witness something really, really cool tonight.

"The final piece of Boeing's new generation Delta 4 rocket fleet makes its long-awaited debut this week when a booster blasts off from the U.S. West Coast for the first time, punctuating the company's work to develop a line of launchers and build pads in Florida and California."

The launch will happen between 7pm and 9pm this evening, and should be quite visible from Vegas. The last time I saw one of these, in September 2002, it caught me off guard and completely freaked me out.

Launch status can be watched at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d317/status.html

-Tommy

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Tournament from Hell

"You're gonna love the blind structure."

That was what the Sam's Town tournament director said to me the night before the big WSOP freeroll. When I saw the posted structure on Saturday night, it hit me that he must have been being sarcastic. When I asked him what in the hell would make him think I'd want a structure so aggressive his reply was, "Because you're one of the most aggressive players here." I almost passed out. That a tournament director would think those two things are somehow related in anyway other than sharing an adjective is mind boggling.

It was the single worst tournament I have ever played in, or likely ever will.

They never posted the blind structure prior to the tournament. What I thought was going to be a good, long, fun tournament where skill would be most likely to win out in the end was more like a Party Poker speed freeroll. Worse actually.

We each started with stacks of $10k, and blinds of 100/100, but the blinds were doubled on almost every level (which was only every 20 minutes), and at level 5 (500/1000) antes were introduced.

After the second break we began level 7 with 20 stacks remaining, and an average stack size of 15k. The blinds were already up to 2k / 4k with a 500 ante. The pot was 11k before the cards were even fucking dealt, and we were all playing in the Red Zone (if we were lucky). I was having flashbacks of barracks games of two card guts in my Marine Corps days. Push or fold.

I finally lost when it was my turn in the big blind, and the antes had whittled what had earlier been a decent size stack to a mere to 15.5k, and I was worried about my ability to survive another orbit. One player had raised up to 11k, no other players were calling, the small blind folded, and I looked down at A8. If it wasn't for the temptation of a 7k call on a 22k pot, and I hadn't been blind with rage, I wouldn't have made the call. I know the player that raised it well enough to know he was only coming in with a monster, but I clung to the hope that I had 2 live cards, one of them an ace. It was a huge mistake that cost me a WSOP seat.

When the flop came 8 5 2, I pushed with TPTK, and he called and flipped up the bullets. Like any half decent player, I don't hit 2-outers, they hit me, and so his aces held up.

I had a long talk with the tournament director afterwards. The entire thing was bullshit, and I believe that Sam's Town has lost at least 20 good customers over the whole ordeal, myself definitely included. It really sucked for those of us that put in the time and effort to get into such an important event, only to find that our odds were barely better than pulling 10 names out of a hat and declaring them the winners. It was rumored that the structure was set that way due to a lack of tables (normally extra tables are set up in the sports book when the room is full, but the sports book wouldn't allow it due to a huge fight night), and managements desire to get the whole thing over with as fast as possible.

Possibly worse, they've changed the regular weekly night tournaments to have a more aggressive structure as well, and lowered the buyins from $65 to $45. Did they lower the juice as well? Yeah, from $18 to $15. I was grudgingly ok with the high house cut when it was going towards paying for my potential WSOP seat, but now it's just ridiculous. I guess it's time to investigate the tournaments on the strip, which I absolutely dread.

Flipchip scored a $1500 seat. His combination of extremely tight play, and a monster victory when his AA held up against a nearly same sized stack's KK carried him through to the final table.

...

I also played in the cluster fuck of a tournament put on by Poker Stars on Sunday, which without having seen the tourney I just spoke of, you'd probably thought that was what the title of this entry was about.

All was going well, and I was actually in the top 20 chip stacks for the entire first hour. Immediately following the break, two really bad things happened.

First, a total idiot appeared at our table with a stack about half as large as mine, angry at his misfortune for starting at a table full of no shows, and was in the middle of blinding them out when the table broke. He then proceeded to push me all-in preflop with a KTo against my KK, and cracked em for half my stack when he flopped one ten and turned the second.

Second, the moment that hand was done, our table was broken. I barely had time to register what had just occured when I was moved to a new table, with 4 no shows on my right, and 4 wild men on my left, two of which now had stacks larger than mine. I was suddenly playing in a 5 handed poker tournament in which I was eternally out of position. Great fun.

Why didn't Poker Stars pick up the half a million no-shows within some reasonable period of time rather than letting them be blinded off by whatever lucky donkeys happened to draw good seats? I suppose we'll never know.

...

I watched the new Mansion Poker Dome show last night, and two things stood out in particular. Those look like the most comfortable chairs I've ever seen at a poker table, and I hate the way the dealer lays the flop out one card at a time. Other than that, the show wasn't particularly good or bad, but I hope it does well. Anything that improves the popularity of poker is good for all of us.

...

Anyhow, as is likely apparent in my ranting, I'm burned out on poker, and going to take a break. Not only that, but my bankroll is about to take another large hit due to car troubles, and practically forcing the situation. You could call it bad luck, but if not for the good fortune of taking down the $40k guaranteed at Party last month, I'd really be screwed, so I'm not at all bitter about it.

I'm going to have to pass on the WSOP this year, and focus on getting some aspects of my life back in order instead, but I'm not as upset about it as I thought I'd be. I've only been playing for real money for about a year now, and only in B&M rooms for less than 5 months, so a little more practice and experience is probably a good thing. I'll set better goals for next year and start planning earlier, and all will be well.

Seriously though, I'll probably scrape up the cash for at least one satellite, and maybe consider one of the offers I've had to be staked, though I doubt I'll accept. I'm extremely uncomfortable with the idea of playing with other peoples money, and even less so about being in implied debt.

-Tommy

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Freaking Out

It's really completely unlike me, but I am extremely stressed, anxious, and paranoid at the moment.

In about 2 hours, I sit down in a 30 man tournament (with flipchip from lasvegasvegas.com), of which the prize pool consists of WSOP seats of various values being awarded to the top 10 places. The top place award is a $10,000 main entry, and I will be extremely unhappy taking home anything less.

I've had a bad week. Last Friday night, as a complete joke, I played Keno (something I never do) for $1, using the numbers from "Lost". I hit 5 out of 6 with a 4x multiplyer for $218. It was quite funny at the time, given that I was with about 6 fans of the show.

The next day I got arrested on my way to the regular poker tournament. Standing in handcuffs on the side of Boulder Highway, I somehow managed to talk my way out of the bracelets, so long as I got everything cleared up by the end of the week. Turns out I forgot to finish paying off a ticket some 9 months ago, and the various charges and such had accumulated quite heavily. Goodbye very large chunk of bankroll.

I also haven't had a winning session of poker since, and as a result my head is in completely the wrong state to go play in what will be the most important tournament I've played in to date.

I owe all three of you readers a book review of Harrington's latest, and I swear to get it finished and put up this week. I personally scored 351 out of a possible 591, which is apparently "Ok" but not "Good". I haven't let it bother me though, as I strongly disagree with the scoring method, which I will furthur explain in my review. For now, let's just say the book is definitely worth the money, but you need to have read (and comprehended) the first two volumes to even bother with it.

Last night I stopped by the poker room to say hello and check out the seating assignments. I had previously told a friend that there were only 3 people in the entire tournament that I don't want at my starting table, and they're all there. It was widely agreed last night that the table that flipchip and I are starting at will be the absolute toughest group of opponents in the room.

I'm going to go make some burnt offerings or something, and pray that none of them show up. That would be so much easier than beating all of them.

But I still plan to do it the hard way if I must.

-Tommy

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6/7/6

Okay, so last night didn't go exactly as planned.

I got to the tournament late, however, being Tuesday night they weren't exactly packed, and I got in as an alternate having missed only 4 hands. I drew seat 4 at table 4, and was doing well up until the first break, but busted out soon after in 11th place (of a paltry 17 total), when my limping 4c 5c caught a flop of 5d 5h Qc, got check raised by the BB who had a Qs Jd, re-raised him all in, and he caught his 2 outer on the river.

Such is poker.

Some good news though, I remain in the top 10 scorers for the Sam's Town WSOP freeroll. This is important because there is an extra prize of a $1000 seat for whoever lasts longest amongst the top 10. The tournament takes place on the 17th of June, but the qualifying period ends on the 11th, so with my 55 points I've got my postion practically locked up, as the 11th place person has only 44, and there are only a possible 14 points left.

And of final note, I made back my tournament fees ($103) last night by spending an hour at a 4/8 table with 3 drunks before heading home. I wouldn't have even considered it if I hadn't run into a dealer on break on my way out the door who tipped me off to the action.

Moral? Take care of your dealers, and they'll take care of you.

-Tommy

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6/6/6

I suppose, given the date, that it is practically mandatory that I head out to Sam's Town after work and take down the nightly tournament.

I originally named this journal after my height and (lack of) dress, but since then pocket sixes have worked like magic for me.

Two weeks ago Saturday in the same tournament mentioned above, I flopped quad sixes with 4 men left on the final table, and got crazy action, which sent me from the small stack to 50% of the chips in play instantly, and I went on to win it all.

This happened at table six.

The first live tournament that I won was in seat six at this same table.

This was the 4th time that I had flopped quad sixes in a tournamnet (twice online, twice live) since I started this blog, and the second time that it had been critical to winning. According to Poker Tracker, I have won more hands with pocket sixes than I have with jacks or queens.

This is all probably not even statistically impressive... just the results of my paying attention to it since starting this journal.

It still amuses me though.

Almost as much as the fact that I was born in the 7th hour on the 7th day of the 7th month.

-Tommy

P.S. "Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook" arrived on Saturday, and at first glance there is more to it than a "workbook". I will try to get it read this week and take a shot at a review.

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Lessons from a 26 Hour Session

Playing live poker for 26 hours straight is an experience I wouldn't necessarily recommend everyone try, but it was good for me (at least this once). I needed to know if I could still function and play under extreme conditions, and with the WSOP coming so soon, and the extra day off for the holiday, this past weekend seemed like as good a time as any to find out.

Unlike an actual marathon, I plan to do it again sometime, but with a few adjustments. Some of what I list below may seem obvious, but it wasn't to me at the time.

1. Hygiene
Nothing is worse in a card room than having that guy sit down next to you that clearly hasn't showered in a week, and towards the end of my run I became extremely self conscious about being that guy. Although I was repeatedly assured by other patrons and dealers that there was no discernable funk emanating from my person, next time I plan on taking a break to run home for a shower and change of clothes somewhere around the 16 hour mark. Getting a room in the hotel for this purpose is another option, but seems wasteful.

2. Location
As much as I like Sam's Town, it just doesn't have the clientele to keep a selection of good games running all night. I've been told the Bellagio is the perfect place to attempt this sort of thing, so I'll have to suck up my hatred of the strip (and the cattle that graze there) and go scout it out.

3. Get in shape
Even though Sam's Town has some of the nicest chairs one could expect from a poker room, sitting in them for extended periods of time is not exactly comfortable. I know from past experiences that the better condition I am in physically, the easier it is to tolerate the minor aches and pains that arise from these conditions. If nothing else, I need to start running again. Running in Vegas is a pain. I absolutely suck at getting out of bed early, and any other time of day is deadly. I'll have to figure something out.

4. Caffeine
Although it was necessary this time around, extended use of caffeine has major problems, the beneficial effects constantly decrease while causing an upset stomach and other physical ailments. The solution here is to lower my dependency on caffeine, preferably to the point of giving it up completely. I've already take steps towards this, quitting cold turkey on Monday. Today is the first day without the headache that accompanies the withdrawal process, and it is not by coincidence that it took me so long to get this post typed up. Hopefully I'll stick with it.

5. Food
I always play better on a full stomach, and being vegan (as in vegetarian, not Vegas) has its drawbacks when it comes to convenience. There is a Subway recently opened in Sam's Town, but they aren't open 24 hours, and even if they were they wouldn't be satisfying enough. Next time I'll need to bring some food and snacks along with me. Going home to shower and change as noted above may also be a good time to fill up, but something tells me that the combination will instead cause me to just go to bed.

6. Driver
On Sunday night I should have called Designated Drivers to get me home. I honestly wish I could say that I had. Nothing bad happened on the drive home, but it could have. I try not to drive when I'm drunk, and sleep deprivation causes the same symptoms. I can live the rest of my life knowing I got myself killed, but I couldn't handle my conscience if my irresponsible actions killed someone else. If you live in Vegas and don't have their number (702.456.RIDE) stored in your cell phone, you suck. If you're coming to Vegas and plan to drive, you should definitely have it handy. For $40 they'll take you AND your car from any place in the city to any place in the city. Conside the cost of a cab over the same distances, and the problems with retrieving your car later, and you'll understand why it is that when I use them I always tip an extra $20 minimum.

7. iPod
I need a way to recharge my iPod. When the battery finally gave out, I had a very hard time adjusting. Most noticeably (aside from the lack of music), I kept thinking something was in my ear. It damn near drove me nuts, and people were looking at me funny when I kept rubbing my ears to get rid of the sensation.

8. Be willing to stop
I am as stubborn as they come, and that's not good. There were several times when I considered going home, but instead decided to "just wait one more hour and see how it goes". Nothing bad came of staying, but certainly could have. Now that I've proven to myself that it can be done, perhaps the next time I'll be more willing to call it quits if things aren't going as optimally as they could be.

And there you have it. It seems like I had more to say on the matter a few days ago, but not getting it written down has caused me to lose it. There were a few anecdotes I was going to throw in as well, but in the end they were all just variations of, "at about 4am, this drunk idiot sucked out on me", and that makes for a boring read.

I can always add more in another post if I think of anything later.

-Tommy

P.S. "Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook" shipped today. Hooray!

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