Tao of Poker

Slow Playing at a Blogger Convention

"Son, there are two types of people... winners and losers. Don't be a loser like Flanders, boy!" - Homer Simpson

I had a rough day on the tables at Party Poker. I was bogged down writing all morning and afternoon, and needed a break. I played 3 $20 SNGs... placed (9,9,1). I had my KK cracked by AA very early. Oh well.

I wasn't going to play anymore, but something told me to log onto Party Poker to check my account balance. And I found Al Can't Hang playing a $25 NL ring game. He had a guy with $230 at his table. That is an impressive feat for a max. $25 buy-in. Al Can't Hang was hell bent on getting his massive stack so I sat down as well. I must say that Al Can't Hang went on a nice rush, winning several pots and catching cards. Within a few minutes, the Jedi Master himself, Iggy McBoobs joined the mix and lost a pot heads up with Al Can't Hang. Soon after, Stinky Pants was there too. Four poker bloggers... and one massive stack we were gunning for. He had well over $280 at one point.

Alas, the guy sat out for too long... and Party Poker booted him after 30 mins, which sucked. Alas, Maudie hopped on and took the empty seat. And then... HDouble appeared! 6 poker bloggers at one table? You bectha. It felt like that scene in Rounders.

The Players:
Seat 1: Nobody
Seat 2: Big Stack with $230+... then Maudie
Seat 3: Fish #1
Seat 4: Dr. Pauly
Seat 5: HDouble
Seat 6: Al Can't Hang... then Monte Christo
Seat 7: LA Fish
Seat 8: 90210 Boy
Seat 9: Stinkypants
Seat 10: Iggy McBoobs

Ironically, on Monday nights I had been playing at the Blue Parrot. Alas, Ferrari did not have a game this week, so my Monday night antics switched to Party Poker. The game had a very loose, jovial feel to it. I wasn't taking any notes and spent more time goofing off in the chat. Hell, as Iggy said, it's was a lot of fun playing with everyone. I dunno if any of the other players knew that we were all familiar with one another. One guy was from Beverly Hills, and he made a snide ("I'm a cool guy toughster") comment directed at me or HDouble. I quickly went on the offensive. I like fucking with pretty, rich boys. I know I can kick their asses with little effort. I started calling him 90210 boy, which drew a slew of Brandon and Dylan cat calls from the peanut gallery. He shut up right away. Al Can't Hang left to spend some quality time with Mrs. Can't Hang and Monte Christo took his seat, to keep the blogger flow going and keep our 6 to 4 seat edge, lol.

Mr. Slowplay

Two hands made me a nice bundle. I got AKo in middle position. I limped in and HDouble raised to 3x the BB. I got him! Everyone folded to me and I reraised all-in. Mr. HDouble called with AJo. The board: 9s-Qc-9c-3c-8h. And that's how Dr. Pauly doubled up against HDouble. He never saw it coming.

A few hands later, I found AA UTG. I limped in, hoping for a raise at the loose table. One of the LA fishies raised and doubled the BB. The big blind reraised to 9x the BB. Wow. Did he have AA too? I let all my time expire, something I never do... but did it for the dramatic effect and let the fellow bloggers taunt and tease both me and the fish to going all-in. I went over the top of him and he quickly called. I had him! I held my breath and hoped the rockets held up. The board: Ah-9c-8d-Qh-3d. I had a set of aces. The big blind held 8-8!! I beat him, set over set. I almost got outflopped when he hit his set, but luckily, so did I! Oh yeah. Two sloplays. Two big pots. That made for a great evening.

All in all, another quality night on Party Poker. Watched Iggy dig deep and rebuy a few times. A couple of us dropped the Hammer (myself included), I busted HDouble heads-up, schooled some fish, and played with some bloggers I respect dearly. Yes, oh the humanity! Some nights, poker is tons of fun.

Sunday Night SNG

I forgot to mention, that I played a $5 SNG with both Boy Genius and Phil from Studio Glyphic. He has a write up of our exploits: Poker Blogger SNG. Poor BG got busted on the first hand with KK!! Always a pleasure to play with fellow bloggers.