Tao of Poker

PJK 2: Sundays with Felicia

My fourth WBT event and the second PJK event, again hosted by our lovely hostess Felicia. I'm going to start calling the Planet Poker events... Sundays with Felicia, in honor of all her work to get this going. 24 players last night, inlcuding professional Roy Cooke. Congrats to the winner Stinky Pants over at Dogs Playing Poker. Good job, College Boy. Sorry Stinky, I couldn't resist after you made the Yankees suck comment on your blog!

The players:
Seat 1: Roy Cooke
Seat 2: Chris Halverson
Seat 3: Pauly
Seat 4: Hdouble
Seat 5: Paul's Burbon
Seat 6: Genius of Poker
Seat 7: Boy Genius
Seat 8: The Fat Guy

Nice table, with some great players. Mas at Genius of Poker was a target after last week's win, so I think everyone paid close attention to him. The gang was getting a huge kick out of the voice commands in the chat, the coolest thing about Planet Poker. Hdouble loved the Homer Simpons, "You Lilt!" and of course the Fat Guy was loving every second of Elvis' "Thank you very much!" My brother has a new`laptop and a DSL (plus HBO) so I was playing at his apartment with the Sopranos on in the background (Man, Chrissy beat the shit out of Adriana during one brutal scene)... anyway back to poker.

Level 1: First hand 10-10 and I fold to Paul's Burbon (hot off a first place win in LA) when he put out a hug bet with a Q on the board. It was early and I didn't want to mess around. I was determined to play very tight in the blogger events, since everyone who reads my blog knows I'm a loose maniac. My game plan was to play solid hands and hoped that someone would think I was bluffing, and I'd catch them with a marginal hand after their misread. Alas, in the first 10 hands, I got a slew of Aces. I mean with an 8 handed table, how could I not limp in with A-8, A-10s, A-7s, and A-K on the button? Alas, I lost one or two hands and won the rest.

The big hand of Level 1 involved Chris Halverson and Roy Cooke. The flop was: 7-6c-2... we all know now that Roy held 7-9s (blinds) and Chris had Big Slick (either from the BB or UTG). Chris made a small bet and Roy called. They both checked when a Q of clubs hit the turn and when a third club (3c) fell on the river Roy checked and Chris made another small bet of $200. Roy called and won with a small pair (7s). D'oh! Chris should have jammed the pot after the flop. That was a tough hand indeed.

Level 2: I witnessed Roy get involved in a big hand, this time with Hdouble when Hank raised UTG with A-Q. Of course he got a dream flop: Q-Q-x. And Hdouble won the pot and was the chip leader for the moment.

9:23pm EST... (8:23pm TFGST) The Fat Guy almost dropped the Hammer! His 2-7 suited beats out Boy Genius' K-Qs. Ouch. BG got knocked around like one of those delinquent paying, degenrate gamblers on the Sopranos after his JJ ran into Roy's KK.

I finally won a decent sized hand when I got 5-5 UTG and raised. HDouble called and I loved the flop: 2-5-4. My set was good, I hoped. I checked, Hdouble bet, the rest folded and I re-raised. HDouble though for a second and folded. I suspected and hoped he had a high ace. No way HDouble would play A-3 UTG suited or not, thank goodness he wasn't. He told me what he had after the tourney (that's between us, unless he blogs his hand on The Cards Speak). At the end of Level 2, I had T2650, 3rd at my table of 6 and 21 players remained.

Level 3: Lots of high pairs battling it out. GPoker's JJ outwitted TFG's QQ when he flopped a J. And behold, his JJ were TKo'd by MinorThird's KK. Wow. I got scared when I had QQ on the button and Roy Cooke, shortstacked, went all-in. I had to presume he had at least an ace, and I wasn't feeling it, so I folded. I also punked out to an HDouble raise, when I had 99 in the LB. After the flop: 3-K-J I checked and HDouble bet. Of course I folded and Hdouble told me what he had later on (again, that's between us). It would have been interesting if I called... let's just say that. I dunno what was up, but my notes say I lost a huge pot (almost half my stack) to Paul's Burbon. My A3s (LB) was no match for his QJ (UTG). I was left with 1600 and a little pissed off.

Hammer Time... Sorry Roy

When I found the mouth salivating Hammer in the BB on the next orbit, it was just me and Roy Cook. He limped in from the LB and re-raised all-in for something like T1400. He folded and if I could have showed my cards, I would have. I read his articles all the time, I have even blogged a few (in fact the first Card Player article I ever blogged was from Roy Cooke... on Thinking About Going Pro? or something like that)... so I was really pumped after I made a move on Roy. But that proves the old adage... you can bluff excellent players a lot easier than fish and newbies. They'll call no matter what. I watched a few seconds of HBO and the next thing I realized... it was the Final Table!

The Final Table:
Seat 1: Roy Cooke
Seat 2: Stinky Pants (Dogs Playing Poker) T14,000+ chip leader
Seat 3: Pauly (T1100)
Seat 4: Hdouble (T7500+)
Seat 5: Paul's Burbon
Seat 6: GPoker
Seat 7: Jason (T6500+)
Seat 8: Rick Blaine (T3,500+)
Seat 9: Felicia
Seat 10: MinorThird

Within a few hands I see A-K. Big Slick. "All-in!" I yelled at no one in particular. I was praying that someone was thinking that I was making a move and didn't have the cards. Hdouble folded, GPoker folded, Rick folded... and everyone else folded, even the huge chipleader Stinky Pants. I won the blinds... big fuckin' whoop. Next hand... A-K again! It's like deju-vu all over again! I went all-in again, hoping once again that someone would call me. Hdouble said he was tempted with a small suited ace. I betcha Rick would have called if he had anything playble, but alas, no callers, again not even from Stinky Pants. D'oh! I had 2300 in chips so I guess I ended up doubling through after all.

Level 4: I made a move from late position with A-5s. I lost to A-8o from Gpoker I think. Oh well. Busted out in 9th, but at least I made the Final Table in two out of four WBT events.

Bad Beat of the Night: Not to say this was the worst, but the one I actually took notes on... Rick Blaine, the Ricker, the daper dude from Casablanca... he knows poker. He has AK and lost to Gpoker's KQs in a three way pot that also involved Roy Cooke. All three players went all-in preflop. The flop: Q-K-10. The turn: 7. The river: Q. Double D'oh!! I have to say that might have hurt Rick later on... alas, he played strong and placed in 3rd! Good job, buddy, making the NYC crew look solid.

The Money Winners:
1 Stinkypants $228.00
2 RoyCooke $114.00
3 RicksCafe $68.40
4 JsonHoldEm $45.60

Again, props to Felicia for doing a kick ass job running the Sunday night tourneys. Thanks to Roy Cooke who took time out to play with us. He's a cool guy for doing that (and he also took our money, not that he needed it, lol). And congrats to Stinky Pants. Watch out next week, I'll be gunning for you! You can read the champ's write up: here.