Tao of Poker

Saturdays with Dr. Pauly #1: The Sir Waffle House Rules

"Wow! What a week. Bubble in Wil, Take 3rd in the 180 person SNG and first place in a Blogger event! WOO HOO! It was a lot of fun man!! Thanks for having it." - SirFWalgman

Sir Waffle reminds me of a wayward character out of a Shakespearean tragedy or a somber protagonist out of a Raymond Carver short story. His poker game is erratic and his bankroll is as unstable as the Sudanese Stock Market. If you don't know the story of Sir Waffle, you should take a moment and dig through his archives. He was one of the regulars who played on those insane NL blogger tables on Party Poker with a bunch of us almost every night around a year ago. At the same time, Sir Waffle speaks of himself in blunt terms on his blog. He's also been extremely open with his family problems. When he loses, he doesn't hide and fade away like most bloggers do. He tells you how much he lost and how it happened, like one night when he lost his entire bankroll. One moment he's making the final table in a huge MTT and the next he's tilting his winnings away in a game he has no business playing in. But that's the charm of Sir Waffle. The guy always bounces back. I had to stop reading him for a while. It was simply too painful for me to keep following him on a downward spiral. He'd disappear for stretches of time and resurface every few months.

Here's an excerpt from Sir Waffle's blog:

Poker is like the most abusive relationship you could possibly have. One day she is kissing you and giving you that sweet loving. The next day she kicks you in the balls and leaves you in the gutter to die. She is so attractive that you cannot help but to come back to her. Her melodic voice and shapely curves draw you back into her sweet embrace. You never know which lady your going to get.

Well Sir Waffle is back for a while. After bubbling out of Wil Wheaton's Poker Stars tournament on Friday via a badbeat from Iggy, he had to borrow a buy-in to another tournament where he cashed and took 3rd. His very next effort was Saturdays with Dr. Pauly where he went on to win despite a harsh chorus of witty banter from his fellow bloggers who both jeered and cheered him on his way to a final table and an eventually win. Sir Waffle came from behind and scooped 4 out of the 5 last hands against Gary 634 for the victory. He's the first weekly Saturdays with Dr. Pauly champion and sits a top the iPod Leaderboard. He also picked up a free copy of Phil Gordon's Little Green Book.

98 bloggers and readers gathered for the first of four Saturday tournaments on Poker Stars. The prize pool was $980 and the first 9 places paid. First place would win $294 and the Phil Gordon Book.

Before I begin, I have to add that at the same time as the Poker Stars event, I was playing a MTT satellite on Party Poker. 110 players entered. I jumped out to a massive chiplead and for the duration of the entire tournament, I never slipped below 4th or 5th place in chips. That's never happened to me before. I also knew that was a bad omen for me... I used up all my card mojo on Party Poker!

Here's some highlights from my notes:

12:59pm... On Party Poker, I was 4th out of 19 with two tables remaining.

1:00pm... Here's my starting table:

Seat 1: MccreadJ
Seat 2: EasyCure
Seat 3: BG
Seat 4: Acture
Seat 5: Timinator
Seat 6: Pauly
Seat 7: Peanut56
Seat 8: Buffalo66
Seat 9: Poker Nerd

The Poker Nerd was busy so he posted and folded the entire tourney. He finished in 72nd place.

1:03pm... Mourn was the first layer eliminated when he ran into a set from BG. Mourn won the unannounced Boobie Prize. I bought him into the next Saturday's tournament for free.

1:05pm... Otis stopped by to say hello. Obie was knocked out.

1:06pm... I dropped the Hammer.

1:17pm... On Party Poker, I found A-A and I busted 6-6 and A-Qs. I was the chipleader with 12 players remaining.

1:19pm.. Both Daddy and Poker Prof were busted out, followed by April98 and the Big Pirate. Argggggh!

1:24pm... With 6-6, I flopped a set. I got 2K and I'm 28/87.

1:25pm... On Party Poker, I made the final table and was second out of 10 in chips.

1:31pm... AlCantHang dropped the Hammer.

1:46pm... On Party Poker, I flopped a set with 4-4 and busted a guy who had 7-7. He was out in 4th and I was 2nd in chips out of 3.

1:50pm... Sarah Bellum was moved to my table.

1:51pm... On Party Poker, I was heads up and my QJs lost to K-8. I flopped a Queen, but he rivered a King, that fucking assmuchingcockweasel! I took 2nd place and won a seat in Super Monday NL event. In consecutive tournaments, I placed 2/110 and 6/117. I was on a roll.

1:54pm... I won a coinflip against Nepvuel when my 8-8 held up against A-Q. I moved into 19th place out of 60 with T3105.

2:01pm... At the break, Gary634 held the chiplead with 6K. I was 19th with 58 remaining and my stack hovered around 3200.

2:10pm... The Human Head was moved to my table. He saw me flop a set with 2-2. Quack fuckin' quack.

2:11pm... Sir Waffle and Iggy moved to my table. Here's the updated lineup for the unofficial TV table that was aired exclusively on Norwegian TV:

Seat 1: Sir Waffle
Seat 2: Easy Cure
Seat 3: BG
Seat 4: Sarah Bellum
Seat 5: Timinator
Seat 6: Pauly
Seat 7: Human Head
Seat 8: Buffalo 66
Seat 9: Iggy

2:12pm... Grubby was knocked out in 55th place. If you busted "lostchangi" please contact Grubby so he can tell you how to collect his bounty!

2:13pm... Derek was knocked out.

2:14pm... Jen Leo moved into the chiplead with T8600.

2:16pm... I won a pot with bottom pair against Sir Waffle, who missed a straight draw.

2:23pm... I was crippled when I ran into Sir Waffle. He my blind and I called with A-6. I flopped top pair with a 6-4-2 board. I bet, he raised, and I moved all in. He showed 10-10. I had a paltry T1120 left.

2:33pm... Spaceman dropped the Hammer and cracked AlCantHang's Kournikova. I dropped to 35th out of 36 remaining players and was on life support. I started trolling for a cash game table.

2:34pm... Iggy and his A7s was busted by SirWaffle's A-K. Waffle got Iggy back from the night before.

2:35pm... I picked up a few pots with A-2 and 6-2o. Im the battle of the blinds, I flopped second pair in the big blind and moved all in. Timinator had a straight draw and called. He missed and doubled me up. I moved into 19th place with 31 left.

2:41pm... Jen Leo, Sir Waffle, and CJ were the Top 3 in chips.

2:46pm... After stealing a few pots to just stay alive, I still slipped to 23rd out of 27.

2:49pm... I moved all in from the big blind on a re-steal with Q-8. I lost to A-5 in the LB and Presdlee from Baltimore won the bounty. Congrats! I took 26th place.

3:15pm... The final two tables began play with Gary634 moving back into the chiplead.

4:20pm... Bobby Bracelet and Katitude battled back and forth for a few hands, before Bobby busted her.

4:26pm... The Final Table is seated.


The Final Table
4:33pm... Sir Waffle's Hiltons crippled Bobby Bracelet.

4:35pm... Bobby Bracelet ran into Aces and was kocked out on 3rd place. It was heads up between Sir Waffle (65K) and Gary634 (81K).

4:42pm... Gary634 won a few pots but SirWaffle got aggressive and picked up 4 out of the last 5 pots for the win. On the final hand, Gary634 bluffed at a flop of J-8-4 with A-6. Sir Waffle call with A-8, and it held up for the victory. Congrats dude! Also, Gary634 played a great game and was one of the chipleaders since the first level. Well done.

Saturdays with Dr. Pauly #1 (Tourny #14328889) Money Winners:
1: SirFWALGMan (Dover), $294.00 (30%)
2: gary634 (Jackson), $196.00 (20%)
3: Bobby Bracelet (Farmington Hills), $117.60 (12%)
4: Katitude (Toronto), $98.00 (10%)
5: CJ (Lafayette), $78.40 (8%)
6: HUMAN HEAD (Wichita), $63.70 (6.50%)
7: presdlee (Baltimore), $53.90 (5.50%)
8: on_thg (Grand Haven), $44.10 (4.50%)
9: SGTdanko (Schaumburg), $34.30 (3.50%)

98 players
Total Prize Pool: $980.00
Buy-In: $10 + 1
Tournament started @ 13:00:00 (ET)
Tournament finished @ 16:42:05 (ET)

See everyone next Saturday at 1pm on Poker Stars for Event #2! The password = hiltons.

We had an awesome turnout... 98 players! Pretty cool for a Saturday. Thanks to Poker Stars for setting this up! Thanks to all who played and woke up super early on the Left Coast just to make it. I'm honored. Thanks to Brandon Schaefer for playing too! Glad he could make it and congrats to him on winning the $250K event on Paradise later in the day!

Special thanks to Iggy, who set his alarm clock to insure he didn't miss the tourney. You rule, dude.

The Leaderboard standings can be found below. See ya next week.