Archive for "Poker"
The Day’s Events
Posted on March 15, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
Brian and I had our couples massage today at Serenity. Then we met Jan, Bree, Rob, and Jen at Granite City for lunch. After that, Brian took a nap while I watched “The Number 23.” It wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t bad either.
The rest of the day was spent at BCPT. I had fun even though I didn’t make any money. I got all the way to the final two tables. A pretty good outcome considering that I was short-stacked the whole way. It was a shame that Linda objected to the 16-way split. I would have gotten about $90 out of the $1500 prize pool.
Altogether I had two really memorable hands that helped me last as far as I did. I went all-in with pocket dueces and they actually held up. I really didn’t want a caller. Thus, the all-in bet. It worked out, though, because I ended up doubling up.
Then I was down to my last $5500 at $3000-$6000 blind level so I couldn’t even complete my big blind. I was all-in, blind. I didn’t want to look. When all was said and done, I flipped my cards over to reveal pocket kings. That tripled me up.
Anyway, we are invited to next month’s tourney. Legitimately, this time. Brian took fifth last night and I took sixth the week before. We’ll get them next time.
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Our Veterans Day KC Trip
Posted on November 14, 2007 by Ching under Life, Poker, Travel.
Here are some pictures taken during our recent Veterans Day trip to Kansas City.
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Logan’s First Poker Home Game
Posted on November 3, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Poker.
We have the makings of a child poker prodigy. LOL.
We decided that we would have a friendly five-dollar buy-in poker tournament at our family get together today. As Brian was getting the stuff ready, Logan asked if he could play with us. We told him no because we would be playing for real money.
“I have money,” he says.
“How much money do you have?” I asked.
“Four hundred twenty eight dollars,” he declares proudly.
He was so cute that we agreed to let him play for fun. Uncle Jude staked his five-dollar buy-in. Logan had a lot of fun playing cards with the grown ups, especially since he won the whole thing. He was really happy because he was going to add his winnings to his savings account. Just a bit more closer to five hundred dollars. Go, Logan!
Here are some of the pictures we took.
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I Need a New Hobby
Posted on October 6, 2007 by Ching under Poker.
Friday was the last day of our Customer Service Week celebration. It was casino day at work and we had loads of fun. David manned the craps table, Joni manned roulette, Darcy manned black jack (Travis filled in when she went to meet Mike for lunch) and I dealt Texas hold’em, my favorite. I skipped lunch but I didn’t really mind because I was doing something fun. I thought I could make it through to the end of the day without getting hungry, but by 12:30 my belly was crying “Feed me! Feed me!” I had a Kashi chocolate almond bar but I opted instead to eat the rest of Joni’s fries. Why is it that when we have to choose between what’s good and bad, we always end up choosing the bad stuff?
Anyway, Brian and I went to Brint’s Diner after work. Good place to eat. The only thing I really don’t like about the diner is that they servce Coke and not Pepsi. Oh, well. Mom and dad Brubaker ended up meeting us over there. Donna had liver and onions, yuck. David had country fried steak as I did except he had fries instead of mashed potatoes. We are a lot alike in terms of food choices. Brian had some kind of chicken sandwich. Boring choice but he said it was good. My favorite part of the meal was my red beans and rice soup. It is probably the best red beans and rice I’ve had. It had kielbasa in it, which I like. It was tres magnifique!
Then Brian and I went off to poker, our usual Friday night thing. We really have to quit going at some point because neither of us have made the final table in ten weeks. Can you believe it? Brian has come close but generally I am knocked out either before break or right after. I’ve been really sucky lately. You would think that since we aren’t winning and are just pretty much give our $20 away that we would come to our senses and quit going at some point. We always say “Let’s skip poker this week,” but come Friday night we always find our way to the Boulevard Banquet Hall for the Blue Collar Poker Tournament. It’s really sad.
Last night was a particularly crappy night for me. I got knocked out in three hands! It was embarrassing, but I’d gotten knocked out on the first hand before (and they actually announced it on the PA system) so it’s not my record. And certainly not my most embarrassing moment. Anyway, on my way out to get my marketing books I ran into John (Jonathan Sanchez’ dad). I found out that he got knocked in two hands so that made me feel a little bit better. LOL. Actually, chatting with him and catching up on news about he and Suzie and Jonathan and Julie is probably the best part. We got to chatting for a quite some time that Brian had to come hunt me down. I guess he was worried since I hadn’t come back with his truck keys in a long while.
Let me tell you about my three hands, though. I was big blind on my first hand, 7s 5s. Nothing spectacular but no one raised so I was in to see the flop along with five other people. It was check-check-check all the way to the river. At the end, the kid bets the minimum of $200. I think it was mostly a position-slash-feeler bet because he was last to act (or maybe second to last), but no one had anything to challenge him so everyone, including myself, lays down their hands. Simple, easy, quick.
Next hand. I am small blind this time. Two or three people fold, the rest call. It comes back to me. I look down at 9c 9s. Nice. I raise to $800 fully expecting to pick up the pot right then. Apparently, it wasn’t enough of a raise because I get three callers. Flop is blank 10 7. I am first to act. I bet $1200. I’m thinking that if they called $800 they probably have paint and missed so my pocket nines are still good. Two guys fold. I had one caller. The turn card is a 7. I fire another bullet, $1200. This is textbook. You want to fire again because you don’t want to show weakness. I get reraised to $2400. I quickly call. This was my big mistake. I should have taken the time to think and re-evaluate the situation. Anyway, it was too late. The chips were in the middle and now the river card is revealed, 5. It is a blank, completely worthless. I don’t think it helped him but it didn’t help me either. I check because I’m worried at this point. He bets $2000. I should’ve take it for what it was, a value bet begging for a call. I should’ve folded. I couldn’t put him on a 7, though, because I felt that the raise I made preflop would’ve gotten him out. “There is no way he has a 7,” I announced, “There is just no way.” I pretty much talked myself into calling. Sure enough he had a 7. He held A 7 off-suit. I was crippled.
Next hand. I am dealer. It’s call, call, call, the kid raises to $600. I looked down at pocket nines again! The exact same hand as earlier. I should’ve gone all in but I played scared and only called. I really should’ve just gone all in right then. I think I could have taken it down preflop with no showdown. Anyway, that’s not what happened. There were four callers total, so five players still in. The flop is 5c 4c 3, I can’t remember what suit the 3 was but it was red. Big blind checks. Next guy goes $1200. The kid who raised it preflop folds his hand. Dwayne calls. At this point, I’ve only got $2800 left. To call would be to commit most of my stack. My pair is above the board and I didn’t think any of them had it so my only move was to go all in. So that’s what I did. Big blind quickly goes all in over the top of me. Not a good sign. Since he is big blind, he could have A 2 for the straight or 3 4, 4 5, 3 5 for two pair. I was toast. The guy who raised to $1200 says “There goes my draw,” as he folds his hand. Dwayne thinks about it for a long time and finally calls. He commits about $8000 more in chips on K 3, bottom pair. I would say unbelievable, but it’s really not. If you’ve ever played with Dwayne, you know that he plays based on emotion. Sometimes he will call with nothing just because he thinks you are bluffing him out of the pot. Big blind held, A 5. So he had a 5, top pair but come on. Who wins pots with a pair of fives? Seriously! I guess he was counting on his straight draw also. Guess what the river card was? An ace. Of course. I dealt it. Grrrr!
Sometimes if you make too many big enough blunders you don’t last long enough to learn from your mistakes. I made the following mistakes:
- thinking that $800 was enough of a raise to get crappy hands out of my pot; in hind sight it obviously was not enough
- getting too attached to my hand and not laying it down to the reraise; I was in denial I think
- not pausing to evaluate the situation; always take time to think and consider your options, you should take as long as you need to make the best decision
- not going all in preflop on my second pocket nines because after the pot got bigger after the flop the $2800 all in was really not enough to get anyone out
These are some costly mistakes but I learned from them. You better believe it! I will play better next time.
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The End of an Unproductive Weekend
Posted on September 23, 2007 by Ching under Movies, Poker.
Brian and I just got home from watching Dragon Wars with his dad. What a horrible movie! I feel bad for asking to see it. I wish that I would have looked at reviews first. I could have saved two hours of my life that I will never get back. What’s up with all the stupid movies lately? We really should have gone to see Resident Evil instead. Brian didn’t want to fight the crowds, though. I didn’t think it would be crowded, but what do I know. Maybe we can go see it in a couple of weeks.
By the way, Brian and I had an interesting weekend. We went to celebrate Darcy’s fifth service anniversary, but ended up leaving early because I misread the time. I thought my watch said 6:30 PM but it was only 5:30 PM. Brian said it was okay because his head was starting to hurt from the smoke and loud music anyway. I wasn’t too pleased about the mistake, though, because we could have hung out a little bit longer and I really didn’t want to get to poker too early.
Brian said that I could use the time to read my book. Sounds like a good idea in theory, but it doesn’t always work. I really don’t like going to poker early because strange people end up talking to me and I don’t end up getting much read. Don’t get me wrong. We know a lot of wonderful people at poker with whom I enjoy chatting. However, I really didn’t feel like talking to anyone right at that moment. I just wanted to be left alone to read my book in peace.
Brian’s solution? He said he’d let me stay in the truck and read until it is closer to the start of the tournament. We turned off the truck and rolled the windows down. Just as I opened my book to start reading, Brian started blabbering on about stuff. “Baby,” I said, “You’re being like the annoying people I’m trying to avoid.” He stopped because he realized what he was doing. “You promised me I could read in peace,” I reminded him.
I got through two pages before I got disturbed again. This weirdo in the other car four parking spaces down (there were no cars in between his car and ours unfortunately) starts trying to make conversation. I smiled, nodded, turned my attention back to my book, and prayed that he would get the hint to leave me alone. It was a welcome relief when he finally gave up conversing with me and walked into the building. Even in the parking lot you can’t avoid them.
Having given up reading, Brian and I decided to just go in. It was a pretty crazy night at poker. Usually, I end up playing with mostly normal people. A little before break our table got broken up. Chris moved me to a table with a girl tweaked out on meth to my right and Lotto Man to my left. It was bad. “Chris must hate me,” I joked at Brian. Chris is the tournament director.
A few hands in, I ended up with pocket queens. I went all-in pre-flop. Lotto Man, living up to his name, called me with 10d 8d while declaring “Let’s dance.” Another guy called me with queen jack. I don’t think he would’ve called if it weren’t for Lotto Man’s call, but whatever. Maybe he didn’t believe I had a hand. Who knows? I had Lotto covered, but guy had me covered. Lotto hits a straight. Guy ends up tripping his jacks on the river. Go figure. The girl with the best hand gets knocked out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It sucked to get knocked out before break, but it was a bit of a blessing to finally get away from that table. I could finally read my book in peace.
Of course, I still didn’t get much reading done because I ran into Big Rick who was already out also. Him, I didn’t mind talking to. I didn’t start reading until after he left to go play a sit-n-go. Not much progress, though, because Brian got knocked out of the tourney shortly after. Such is our poker rut.
Next week we will forgo poker in favor of the Final Fridays art crawl. It’s time to do something different.
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