Tao of Poker

A Day in the Life

"So I've sworn off the 25NL blogger tables. And my bankroll has thanked me." - AlCantHang at 9:05 am

Feb 28 @ 8:12pm EST... I logged onto Poker Stars to play a $25 turbo SNG and sweat Joanne in her quest to represent Canada in the World Cup. She drew a bye in the first round and won her second round heads-up match in less than ten hands! I had disconnection problems during her third round match that she lost. She's going to try again tonight.

March 1 @ 10:23am EST... I took advantage of Party Poker's reload bonus and hit the tables to grind away my chance at a free $200. I noticed that Party Poker added new tables ($30/60 and $400, $600, and $1000 NL). They also changed their NL format to 100 BB buy-ins. I hit the $50 NL tables while I sweated the Poker Geek who played in a multi. My distracted mind focused on folding hand after hand while I edited a short story for the new issue of Truckin'.

March 1 @ 11:17am EST... Ugly hand at the $50 NL tables. A manic from Kilarney in front of me limped in. With pocket Hellmuths, KK, I raised it up to $5 or 10x the BB. The shortstacked LB moved all in for $15. The McManic-limper pushed all-in. He had me covered. I knew I had the LB beat... but the "limp-reraise all-in" from McManic was a little scary. Alas, I was playing on Party Poker so I called. He turned over JJ. The short stack showed AK. Of course, you know what spiked on the river... a Jack. Oh well. By now, I almost expect a brutal bad beat every time I log onto Party Poker. I didn't fret. I tagged the guy, reloaded, and listened to a Grateful Dead bootleg from Boston, May 1977.

March 2 @ 12:12am EST... I got home and fired up Party Poker and listened to some Thelonius Monk. I hungout on a $25 NL table with Helixx. I won a big hand with pocket jacks against 89s. Shortly after the Poker Geek joined the mix. I pinged Grubby to join our table. He was four tabling from Las Vegas! I sweated him in a multi table qualifier. He ended up taking 70+ out of 500+ and didn't win a seat in whatever he was trying to get into. The highlight was winning a small pot with quads. This is probably the hand of the night. I found pocket Hellmuth's UTG.

Dealt to DrPauly [ Kc, Kh ]
DrPauly calls (0.25)
007Fish raises (0.5) to 0.5
Grubby raises (15) to 15
Dr Pauly folds
007Fish raises (28.75) to 29.25
Grubby calls (9.15) all-In.

** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9s, 3c, 5h ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Kd ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 6d ]

007Fish collected $52.05, net +$22.8 [ Jh Ad ]
Grubby lost $24.15 [ 2h 7d ]

Damn, I never put Grubby on The Hammer! As Grubby later told me, "Never fold KK in a ring game." He's so fuckin' right. I was spooked for sure. Shades of the Borgata Massacre chilled my spine. If you don't recall, Grubby cracked my KK with JJ at a $300 NL table at the Borgata last September when he flopped a Jack and moved all in. I foolishly called and lost a $500 pot. Anyway, I should have called this time. Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda. Those are three of my favorite horses that I should have bet on.

March 2 @ 10:12am EST... While I read the Wall Street Journal online, I played a few hands on Party Poker before lunch with Briana who had been sick the last few days. I made soup for her. I know, I'm a fuckin' champ. We ended up watching Ray and I fell asleep. Man, I've passed out cold during flicks before, but never fell asleep. I haven't been sleeping well since my return from Miami and I woke up after a sharp elbow to my ribs as I saw the credits rolling by. Over a decade ago, I passed out during The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I had half bag on after splitting a handle of Jim Beam with a couple of fraternity brothers and after I smoked enough Afghani superhash that could have easily gotten the entire cast of Easy Rider stoned for a weekend. I woke up with rice in my underwear and definitely "foggy and a little groggy." Man, I miss college hijinks sometimes.

Anyway, what is a Wednesday morning at the tables without a maniac who called every big pre-flop raise with junk? He limped in front of me and I found pocket 10s. I knew he was going to call no matter what I bet. I threw out $5 or 20x the BB. He called as I asked the poker gods for a ten. The flop: 3-10-3 with two diamonds. He bet $5 and I smooth called. He bet $5 more on the turn and I called praying that he'd catch his flush. A diamond fell on the river and he bet $10. I raised $10 hoping that he'd come over the top of me. I was shocked when he folded! In the chat:

Maniac: nh
DrPauly: i know
Maniac: lol
DrPauly: i'm serious

March 2 @ 11:44 pm EST... Blogger tables on Party Poker with Drizz. Before long, Chad and Donkey Puncher joined the fracas. Pretty soon we had a blogger table with Sir Waffle and the Poker Geek on the rail. I played the Hammer twice in honor of Grubby. I limped once and flopped a 7. I hit my trips on the turn and won a medium sized pot. Al Cant Hang came home sloshed like Judy Garland at Happy Hour. We all goaded him into sitting down despite the fact he swore off NL blogger tables 15 hours prior.

The Cast:
Seat 1: Grubby
Seat 2: Drizz then Some Fish
Seat 5: AlCantStayAwayFromBloggerTables
Seat 7: Donkey Puncher
Seat 8: DrPauly
Seat 9: Chad

The hand of the night was when Al raised in EP with 99. Grubby came over the top and moved all-in. He had almost twice as many chips as Al who was on his third or fourth hand. Did Grubby have The Hammer again?

AlCantHang: i fooking hate you
AlCantHang: ass
Grubby: slipped
DrPauly: phil ivey would call

I think I goaded Al into calling with the obligatory Phil Ivey comment. Grubby had AKs and flopped an ace to win the coinflip. Al chose not to rebuy. What discipline!

March 3 @ 1:23am EST... I completed my weekly mission and visited every blog on my blogroll last night! Yes, if I have you linked up, I read your blog yesterday. I even left a few comments out there. I could have played two tables to work off my bonus quicker, but I decided to devote that time to catching up on blogs. If you haven't noticed I added a few new ones to my roster. Check them out.

That's it for now. Hope to see some folks online later tonight. I'm half way done clearing my Party Poker bonus. I still have a long way to go before I clear my Check and Raise bonus.


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