Archive for "Poker"
You’re All Invited
Posted on July 22, 2006 by Ching under Flickr, Food and Drink, Games, Poker.
Brian and I have decided to have an all-you-can-eat taco challenge at the Harry and Webb Taco Shop on Monday (Brian wanted me to clarify that participants will need to buy their own meals; just in case anyone gets the wrong idea). Brian and I are both pretty sure that I will win because no one can eat like me. I can out-eat just about anyone. Except maybe for Dill. If he shows up, I’ll lose for sure.
So if you want to witness an exciting taco-eating contest, feel free to join us. I think all-you-can-eat tacos are served between 4-8 pm. Brian and I aren’t sure about the times, though. We just know it’s in the evening.
Of course, that’s the same night that APL is holding the televised championship poker tournament. So if nobody makes it we will understand completely. We figured that we will probably stop in to cheer Michelle and Adelfa on. They both qualified to play in the tourney.
The tournament is open to spectators so you all should stop by. You can also watch it at home. It’s supposed to be broadcast life on local channel 5. It will also be webcast but I’m not sure what the web address is. Check the APL web site for more information.
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Poker Passion and Final Table Fantasies!
Posted on July 11, 2006 by Brian under Poker.
Since my wife put a cheesy pic of me at the final table of the APL’s 7:00pm session, I feel the need to write about it.Â
I was happy that I was at the final table. I realized early on that this was going to be a different night. I was getting cards right and left. I had a great streak at my first table where I got quad 7’s followed by trip 7’s followed by trip Ace’s then we left for a 15 min break. When I returned I got another set of Ace’s and took out 2 players of which one was the chip leader at the table for a while till she decided that she had to be in my last 4 pots. On her last hand she had Ace Queen and I had pocket Ace’s, the flop was Queen, Ace, 7. The guy next to me had 10/7 off suit and went all in with his last 1000; I knew I had him beat. The other person that had been in all my other pots and lost decided to raise it to 3000, I looked at her and without blinking said I was all in with almost 20k in chips. She looked and me and said “I have to call you” she only had about 1200 in chips left. I figured if she made a miracle out of this hand then she deserved it if not then I win big time. Everyone flipped over their cards and the truth was revealed and we saw her 2 pair, the guy next to me was dead in the water and I revealed my set. Their was another guy that was to the right of me that knew what we had before we ever rolled over our cards and as we turned the cards he points to the guy to my left and says “desperate move” points to the woman and says “2 pair” and points to me and say “the set” and that’s exactly how it plaid out. The last 2 cards didn’t help anyone and I won the biggest pot of the night (to my knowledge) after that I just sat back and rode the ride for a while, then I realized that as the blinds get higher you cant ride for long cause the blinds will eat you up. So I started to make some moves but nothing too risky so I didn’t loose the chips that I had and risk missing my chance to get to the final table. After a few table bounces as we consolidated and moved closer and closer to that final table I became more and more aware of who I was going to be up against and watched their style of play. I got down to about 15k in chips at the last table before they moved us to the final table and got lucky by getting pocket aces followed by ace queen suited. It seemed that those cards were following me everywhere. I finally got my chip stack up to 45k and we got moved to the final table. I thought I was going to get lucky and grab a few hands to stay alive for a bit but I was not so lucky. The cards that fell were junk and the blinds hit 40k real quick, soon I was in the blind and I had to put all my chips in to play regardless. I didn’t look at my cards until it was all over just because I’m superstitious. The run was over and I turned my cards to see that I had actually hit nothing and was knocked out. I went out 7th and tied with another guy that was put in the same position. All in all I was lucky rather than skilled that time, but it was a good ride and it made me feel good to just make it that far. I had never really been that far in the game and now I can say with pride that I beat out 200+ other people to sit at the final table.Â
 On a side note the person that won the game for the evening was a pregnant lady that had never played poker before tonight and was using a card to tell her what hands she had. Beginners always win on their first time, next week she will be like everyone else. Hopefully I will be sitting at the final table again. My ultimate goal is to be in the first place club with my wife and friends. Currently I’m the only one that has not made it.
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Giddy Brian
Posted on July 10, 2006 by Ching under Moblog, Poker.
On Friday night Brian was super giddy for making the final table during the 7:00 pm poker session. It was his first time reaching the final table in months.
Way to go, baby! Keep it up!
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It’s All About Luck
Posted on July 2, 2006 by Ching under Games, Life, Movies, Poker.
I haven’t had much lately. Last night I was so mad at myself (and another poker player — actually I think I was more mad at them). I lost $13 in one hand of poker. Can you believe it? I had pocket aces and the other player flushed on me. Such horrible luck!
Speaking of bad luck. The Dills lost their keys the other night. They didn’t find out until well after midnight when we were all leaving to go home. They went back inside the APL building to search. I told Brian to wait just in case. I had a feeling they might have left it at Felipe’s where we had dinner before second session. Anyway, they came back out with no keys. Good thing Brian and I waited.
Of course, Felipe’s had long closed for the evening. We were going to drive by there but Dill said that their the maintenance person said he was on his way. I figured it would take a while for him to arrive but Dill said he lived onsite so we drove directly to their apartment.
The maintenance person took a half an hour to get there. We couldn’t really complain though, because it’s late. He probably had to get dressed or something. Anyway, Dill and Becca finally got in to their place to retrieve their spare key. We then drove back to APL so they could get their car.
Yesterday they went to Felipe’s to claim their keys. Thankfully, the keys were still there. Bad luck, but it could have been worse. (more…)
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I Won First Place Last Night
Posted on June 17, 2006 by Ching under Poker.
So I finally win first place at poker after being in a rut for so long. I didn’t do too well at first session. I was hoping to place in the top 16 and qualify in the ten o’clock invite session. Brian had qualified for it at Heroes last week so he was already in. I usually don’t like having to play in the open side so whenever one of us doesn’t qualify we just go home. Brian doesn’t care either way because if we go home, he has WOW waiting for him.
Neither of us did well. I think my only consolation was I outlasted Brian after having been the one to get knocked out first the last few times we’ve played. My knockout hand was actually pretty exciting. Blinds were at 2K and 4K. I am sitting in the small blind position with a total of 7K in chips after posting my 2K blind. Sandy is sitting across from me. It goes fold, fold, call, fold, fold, fold, back to me. I should’ve known better than to try and steal the pot with Sandy calling but I was feeling pretty ballsy right then. I had a feeling I could get big blind to fold if I pushed all in and I could sense Sandy had a mediocre hand and she just wanted to see the flop for 4K.
I decided to push in my remaining 7K in chips for a total of 9K all in. It is only 5K more to call for big blind. He thinks for a moment and he folds just as I predicted. Now the action returns back to Sandy. She thinks about it for a long time which confirms my guess. She has a mediocre hand. If she had a strong hand like A K or A Q or even pockets she would’ve called much quicker. She reluctantly calls and, before even seeing her A 2, I knew I was beat. I wanted her to fold because I knew that my puny 9 10 would not hold up. I just wanted to steal the pot.
The first card of the flop is a 9 which gives me hope because that puts me in the lead. The other cards come and they’re 9 and A. Set! Nice! The A makes me uncomfortable because that gives her 2 pair and the tides could turn very quickly. I chant, “No ace! No ace!” as the dealer reveals the turn card. It’s an A. Slap! I get a set and she boats over the top of it. Incidentally, the second A gave me a boat too but it was a smaller one.
Anyway, I didn’t mind getting knocked out because I put myself in that position. Besides that Sandy is a great sport. She doesn’t gloat like other people tend to do. She is super nice and she went in with the best hand so it’s not like she called my all in with 7 2. Anyway, what a rollercoaster ride! That was probably the most exciting hand I’ve had in a while.
After I got knocked out and went over to Brian and proceeded to tell everyone about my “exciting” knockout hand. We stayed for the late game this time because Brian was on the invite. He and Dill, who is always on the invite because he plays poker a lot and places a lot, were assigned to the same table. Bill just happened to be on the open side last night, too. We were assigned to the same table. Alan (aka, “The Professor”) sat between us.
The second session was actually a lot of fun. Brian didn’t get a chance to switch to the open side because he didn’t get knocked out of the invite game until after break. He had to sit and wait for me. I went all in a few times after he got knocked out. As luck would have it, I ended up prevailing each time instead of losing and actually started to build a hefty stack. Once I had the chips I decided to start playing to win instead of trying to leave. I felt bad for Brian because he had to wait for me. Having been knocked out before him a few times, I know how boring it can be. Specially if you don’t bring anything to do.
Our table was actually a lot of fun. They were all good sports about it. I actually bluffed a guy out of a pot by going all in with 6 7. What was worse was he wanted to play really badly because he had his favorite cards, 8 9, and they were suited to boot! Bill was laughing because whenever we’d play together he’d always hear other people say, “She never bluffs. If she bets, she’ll usually have something good.” He would just shake his head because he knows better. He’s busted me on some bluffs before.
For instance last night, I raised pre-flop with A J. It’s a decent starting hand and if it’s fold, fold, fold, with only one other person in the pot, why not try to steal it? My mistake was that I was trying to steal the pot from Bill. Flop came Q 2 3. Bill checks and I immediately go all in. The key to winning hands is if you raise pre-flop, you have to continue the aggressive play.
Bill initially put me on a decent pocket pair because the Q didn’t scare me off. That is what I wanted him to believe. I only had A J. I missed the flop completely. I wanted him to think I had something and fold. Bill thought about it and after much scrutiny his gut told him to call. It was a good call because we all know I had nothing. As soon as he called, I knew I was beat. My mind told me that he would not have called if he didn’t get a piece of that flop. If he got a piece of it, no matter how small, he’s got me. Much to my relief, he reveals an A J which is the same hand I have. It was a split pot.
My point is, Bill has witnessed me try to steal pots many a time. He knows I can play pretty wreckless and pretty aggressive if the mood strikes. It’s important to shake it up a bit sometimes. You don’t want to be predictable. Of course, if you’ve played with me a few times I can’t help if you know my style of play no matter how spontaneous I try to be.
Anyway, the semi-aggressive semi-tight play worked for me last night. It took me all the way to the final table and helped me win first place. But don’t feel bad for the guy I bluffed into folding his favorite hand. He took second. =)
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