Hello Blogosphere

Been away far too long, but haven't felt the muse to write since the passing of my friend Pug. This will be quick, just to let you know I still draw breath.

I ended up winning that August event (don't remember if I mentioned that in the obit story from August), so I locked in my spot in the TOC. Glad to have that win, get my spot locked in, and can carry on to play for wins, and not worry about repercussions. I followed the win up with a final table in September. That gave me the league points lead, but that didn't last, as I went out first in October. Ack. For as well as I played in August and September, I was nothing more than a donk in October. Pure and simple. Anyway, we carry on, and look for a good showing in November.

Been watching the WSOP on tv, and many of you know who is doing what, who is in the November 9, etc. I am not talking about results as I have several friends that have managed to stay away from the internet sites with articles about who is there, chip counts, etc. Suffice to say, I do know who is there, and can't wait to see the final table highlights.

Luckily, my work schedule has been crazy enough that I have managed to sit in Irish Jim's game much more in the fall than I have all year long. Nice having the chance to get away and grind at the table. It's helping me in a lot of areas, but I haven't seen the results there that I would like. I am playing a little better, but I am not quite on stroke the way I know I can be.

Life, for the most part, is good. Work has been crazy, but manageable. Luckily, I am able to keep the juggling act fairly stable, and it will stay at this pace for about 2 more months. After that, it should calm down a little bit.

Nice to be back--more poker to come, once a WSOP Champ is crowned. I have opinions on a lot of players, but am holding off until the bracelet is awarded.

Good luck and good cards,
~M

His name is Pug

"Hi. Nice to meet you. Your name is?"

"Pug," was the reply.

And that's what his name was. Pug. For more than 4 years, that was the only name I knew of this man, who loved his bluegrass music, the Grateful Dead, moonshine, and the occasional cigar. Oh, and he loved his poker. From hold 'em, to the 5-card draw games at Poker Stars. Loved it.

He loved the people he played with, although he wouldn't let on if they put a bad beat on him. He wouldn't shake a players hand that busted him with a bad play. His two kings against 2 aces? Handshake. His 2 jacks against a 2-3 off suit? Forget it. He wasn't bitter, but his rationale was, "why would I shake your hand for busting me with junk? It's like I'm agreeing with your bad play, and kinda rewarding you for it."

Hard to argue that.


Oh sure, Pug would play the reckless hand from time to time, claiming his 5-8 suited from the BB with no raises was fine. Even after a flop of K-Q-4 with one of his suit, betting around, and he calls it all. The thinking there was always, "well I had a flush draw....they were suited after all." Funny thing was, he somehow always managed to get there. 2 runners for the straight, 2 runners for the flush. He'd get the hand home.


Then there were the times the Pugster would mis-read his hand. Thinking he rivered the nuts, and exclaiming "I gots the boat!!!!." In reality, he held just 2 pair, or maybe just 1, and another card that was just one pip smaller or larger. The table would laugh. Pug would, too. Then he would sit in at the side game, telling jokes, or running through his encyclopedia of sayings.


"One's scared, and the others glad of it."


"Ya can't go through life checkin'."


There were more, but frankly, I don't have the heart right now to look them all up.


The world lost Pug on August 17, 2009. At the age of 43, no less. Far too young. Gone far too soon.

My encounters with Pug were at the poker table. I can't think of a time we were together when poker wasn't involved. I am the one that feels the loss in this cold fact. There is so much I missed out on from this kind man. He was, as my buddy Vito put it, "a good ol' boy in every sense of the word." Vito is right. He was a boy. He was good.


My loss pales in comparison to the hurt his family is enduring at this hour. Pug was a small part of my life, but the biggest part in theirs. My thoughts and prayers go out to them this night. May God help you through this very difficult time.


My pain is summed up best in this next story. 3 weeks ago, he friended me at my Facebook page. That was the day I learned his real name.


To me, he will always and forever, be Pug.


I miss you buddy.


~M

I guess I don't run goot.....

So how is this for sick:

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to pokertvstar [Qd Qc]

luchito1982 calls 5,000

Candybar43 calls 2,500

pokertvstar raises to 45,000

luchito1982 has 15 seconds left to act

luchito1982 calls 40,000

Candybar43 folds

*** FLOP *** [Td 4c 7c]pokertvstar bets 139,518, and is all in

luchito1982 calls 99,268, and is all in

pokertvstar shows [Qd Qc]

luchito1982 shows [8c 6c]

Uncalled bet of 40,250 returned to pokertvstar

*** TURN *** [Td 4c 7c] [Jc]

*** RIVER *** [Td 4c 7c Jc] [5c]

pokertvstar shows a flush, Queen high

luchito1982 shows a straight flush, Eight high

luchito1982 wins the pot (295,336) with a straight flush, Eight high

*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 295,336

Rake 0Board: [Td 4c 7c Jc 5c]

Seat 3: Candybar43 (small blind) folded before the Flop

Seat 8: pokertvstar (big blind) showed [Qd Qc] and lost with a flush, Queen high

Seat 9: luchito1982 (button) showed [8c 6c] and won (295,336) with a straight flush, Eight high

OK, so he was drawing, but he hit the one lock in the deck (on the river) to beat me (and cripple my stack).

BTW, this was a FTP "Face the Ace" qualifier.

Yeah, sickness.

Ugh.

~M

Vegas 2009-the Cliff's notes

Since I have been home from Vegas for more than a week, I am just providing the abbreviated version of the trip. Reason being, many of the real details have been lost from my brain. That could change next year, now that my iPhone has memo recording capabilities. I just have to remember to actually make the recordings.

Played more tournaments than I can count, mostly at Fitzgerald's (we stayed there this year--good rooms, clean sheets and towels, and we got a corner view towards the Strip...we may very well be back there next year). the tourneys at the Fitz are good for the low buy in, but the stacks get short quickly, and it's harder to actually play poker. You get into push mode rather quickly, so if you're gonna shove, have a little something, because you will get called by a player holding 5 high or even 10 high, just because they have the stack to do it.

Anyway, had 3 tourney cashes at the Fitz, and played one other tourney at the Orleans. Really nice structure for the opening 4 rounds, but when the blinds jump from 300-600/25 (or 50 I forget) ante, to 400-800/75 to 700-1500/100, it gets fairly crazy. I sat in a field of 105, and busted out in 20th, when my Q-10 flopped 2 pair on a Q-10-K board. We got it all in after the flop, I got called by A-K. Ace on the turn. Ack.

That wasn't the worst beat I took, and I doled out some others. Worst one was 4 handed, I stick it in, short stacked with Kd-7d for a total of 7K. Get called by 3-3...he had 6500. Hit the 7 on the flop, player on the button announces he folded A-3 preflop. Yeah, one 3 left in the stub, and it showed up on the turn. Ack.

Did spike a 2 outer to make a full house against 10-10 and 6-6 (I had 8-8, the board paired jacks and I was dead to an 8....weeeeee!) Bad beats and good scoops aside, the tourneys were a blast.

The guys you see in the picture above are Grant and Lenn. Grant is still dealing at the Fitz, Lenn on a part time basis. Both are playing poker as their primary income, and Grant did well at the series. He had a final table finish in the Casino Employee's event, and missed the money in the Main Event by less than 100 players. The duo was playing a 1-2 game at the Fitz when I snapped the pic. I ended up sitting down and playing for a bit (the game broke about 5:30 a.m. lol), but we had a great time with poker's new table game, "What does Johnny Lodden think?" Lodden is a European pro, and the game is simple. Players determine a question, and they hold a chinese auction to set the line. For example, the question to Lodden (this one came up with Grant and Lenn), might be "What is the population of Hawaii?" The real answer is immaterial, it only matters what Lodden thinks is the correct answer. Player A says "650,000 and over." Player B counters with "800,000 and over" until they arrive at the number. Lodden gives his answer, which determines the winner of the over/under bet. I made Lenn about $40 dollars against Grant (no, I wasn't in on it, since Lenn never paid off!), but it was a riot. In the pic below, Grant and Lenn are there along with Mountain Man Kevin, and room manager Jimmy. Great staff, great times. Got to see Alan and Mike (the other room managers), along with some other familiar dealers Jennifer and Mindy.

In all, we had a great week. Our group did their thing playing tourneys and cash games, Mrs. Chipstack played her Keno while trying to remove all the cherry flavored vodka from the place one glass at a time (she failed miserably I might add, because they kept bringing in reinforcements!). Had the chance to catch up with 2 old friends, my buddy Mike from Chicago--last time I saw him was my 1st wedding in Chicago, and Trish, a gal I worked with in Texas at my first job in the business. That made the vacation that much better.
I should also point out I had some success in pit games, having a couple nice winning sessions at roulette, but also hitting a big hand in both Pai Gow (a straight flush that paid $250), and the pit version of Texas Hold 'Em. Was dealt AQ suited for a payoff of 20-1 on my bonus bet (turning $5 into $100), then making a full house on that hand, beating the dealer which doubled every other bet I had on the table. I walked from that hand up $200 for that session. In terms of real poker, I ended up $200 to the good in the side games as well. Basically, the picture above was a tough one to take. Saying goodbye to Sin City is never easy, but it's already less than a year before we head back!

Back to league reality this weekend, tourney number 2 in Season 5. To say I am ready would be a mild understatement!

Good luck and good cards,
~M

Vegas hit-will recap soon. Can't post from iPhone.

Oooooooooohhh baby.....

Yeah....it's on. The trip to the land of lights, chips, and .99 shrimp cocktail (no, I don't eat that stuff), is just 12 days away.

Had some friends over on Sunday for my last table session prior to the trip (I think), and played meh poker. Had a couple of goofy hands hit, got knocked out on an AJ suited v. Q-10. Rebought, and went broke when AQ suited couldn't catch up to pocket 10's. Still, sitting with the crew, plus Mrs. Chipstack was awesome, considering everyone at the table will be in Vegas at the same time!

First things first, heading to Chicago for a week, then we go to Vegas. I can't get to vacation fast enough. Still, have plenty of things to keep me busy this week, so I'll cut this short.

Thanks for checking in, and I hope to update again before the trip. If not, a loaded blog comes upon return...maybe.

~M

The countdown is ON now!

Took 5th in the season opener for the league, and was thrilled with my play. Picked good spots to pick up pots, and good spots to get the hell out of dodge, too. For example:

1-folded 10-10 after a rainbow flop of 9-8-5. I checked the flop, one player bets, another re-pops it. They end up getting all the chips in, one has 99, the other 88. Welcome to Cooler City, Utah.

2-Mucked JJ preflop to one all in, then another all in. Original all in held A-Q off, 2nd all in had KK. AQ won with A on river.

3-Mucked 2nd nut flush draw with 1 to come. All checked 2 spade flop, board pairs 6's on the turn. I lead out, get raised, call the raise, then middle player shoves. He had the full house.

Those 3 spots helped me survive and reach the final table. It took 2 hands to bust me. One hand, I probably could have taken it down post-flop, but got cautious and didn't fire.

Spot 1-I have KJ suited in mid-late position. I limp, no raises, flop comes J-8-5, rainbow. 1st player leads out, I call. Turn is a 7, same player leads, I raise them all in, they call (and they had so much committed to the pot, he really had no choice but to call). Turn 'em up, he has J-6...top pair, open-ender. River 4. Ack.

Spot 2, hand I bust on, I'm in BB, UTG player raises it up, I shove with AQ off, get called. Original raiser shows AJ off. I hit the Q to strengthen hold, but there are 2 diamonds on the flop, a third hits the turn, and a 4th on the river. Goodnight everyone!

I should have raised the turn on the KJ hand-mistake on my part. Live and learn.

Looking forward to vacation. So. Effing. Much.

~M