Poker Pro Magazine Freeroll for WSOP Seat

by Chad Holloway

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As some of you may know, I write Fantasy Poker articles for Poker Pro Magazine and the European publication, Online Poke Pro.  This has been a great experience and has allowed me to contribute to one of poker’s highest quality magazines.  Another benefit from this experience is that my editor and fellow University of Wisconsin Alum, Johnny “Quads” Wenzel, informs me of some great opportunities in the poker world.  Most recent he told me of an upcoming online tournament they are holding for a great cause, to honor the armed services.  Not only that, the winner of the freeroll tournament will win a seat to the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event plus $2,000 for expenses.  I’m looking forward to that and to learn more you can always pick-up a copy of Poker Pro Magazine (plus you’ll get to read some of my articles on Fantasy Poker).

In other poker news, I’ve decided to grind it out at some low stakes Sit & Gos here on UnaBomber.  I’m usually playing some sort of ring games, but after scrolling through the lobby, I noticed UnaBomber offers some pretty decent Sit & Go options.  My plan is to just grind those out for awhile and see how I do.  I’m actually having a good time playing the “Double or nothing” tournaments.  I’ve decided to avoid Pot Limit Omaha unless it’s the micro stakes, because it seems no matter what I do, I can’t beat that game.

My other poker plans include a trip to New Orleans in February.  I’m going to visit some old friends and live it up at Mardi Gras, but I’m looking forward to putting a session or two in at the poker room in Harrah’s.  I used to play there almost every day when I lived in NOLA, and I loved it.  It’s a great room and it’s right off Bourbon Street.  The 2009 WSOP Winter Bayou Poker Challenge is going on right now and I hate to miss it.  Just the same, I can sit home all day playing online poker and avoid the 5 degree weather here in Wisconsin.

I’ll also be glued to the internet checking updates on the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic.  I know the Unabomber himself will be playing, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.  Speaking of Mr. Laak, he seems to be addicted to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.  I can’t say that I blame him.  I’m not the video gamer I used to be (thanks to internet poker) but even I can’t put down C.O.D.2.  It is by far the best first-person shooter I have ever played and it is so much fun.  You might see me on X-Box live playing under “Hollowayism.”  If I’m not there check UnaBomber and I’ll probably be playing under the screenname “LuckBox07.”

PLO frenzy in Vegas, and my new favorite perk ( for the video game cod2) - Scavenger!!!

by Phil

3 Comments

This last week was sick..

 

Get to Vegas a day late.... which is lucky for me.

The Hot Water heater in the garage blew and was dropping 850 gallons a day into the garage... Had I left to Vegas on time this would have been a 6 day mess.  The house would have been vacant for all 6 days... or the equicalent of having 5100 gallons of water spread thru the entire house.  There was very minor water damage in the garage from the little we did get, (caught it 12 hrs into spray frenzy) I can only imagine what it would be like had we not caught it.  Phew.... Running good.

Anyway, I finally get here and and it has been PLO all week long.

I run it twice a few times, break even on all of em.  But I couldn't manage to stay level.  First I slipped 5k then 15k more, then I reload for 20k more... Total now is that I am in 40k (in a 25 50 100 plo game at the Bellagio) - When, in one big hand, I decide to run it one time for a huge pot and win it.  Wow.  I went on to close the game up 13k which was amazing considering that at one point I was stuck 20 and had another 20 in a pot as only a slight favorite.

Then a few days later I am (once again) stuck (only 13k this time) when I flot top set on a Kc 8c 4d flop holding top set and no draws.  We ran it 4 times and the nut flush draw with the 5 6 7 inside wrap nvr booked a win.  Wow.  The pot had my whole 27k stack plus lots more and the fella I beat.  I was all of a sudden sitting in front of 66k and I was just amazed.  4 out of 4.  At 53.6% per intance this is an 8.3% longshot.  And I did it.  I won all 4.

Then, Sunday night I went in late night to get tickets for the next days 15k event.  While there, I stopped by the poker room .... and wow.  I got the last seat in a really fun game.  It was half 100 200 plo and half 200 400 no limit holdem game.  20k buy in - And wow, I even was lucky enough to book a solid win.

 

----------------------------

 

In other news Fatality gave me the low down on scavenger (this is a perk or upgrade that you can get on the first person shooter game called "call of duty 2".)  So that was cool, first game back and I won it.  Essentially it is all about resupplying claymores from fallen victims.  Very cool, and very nerdy.  You might think... "what is all this about call of duty??... whats that got to do with a poker blog...."

But I can honestly say that my recent run ins with this game is making me a better poker player.  The strategic 'what is he thinking, and how can i get him sort of thinking' stuff for poker is helped by the video game.  The game has you thinking all the time, and mostly about what patterns people are taking and getting the best out of developing situations.  Anyway.. It is 8 am.. and the event starts in 4 hrs.  Bed time for me, later.

Phil

Christmas Catchup

by Katrina Lim

4 Comments

Playing poker and Christmas catchup all while smacking zombies upside the head with a cricket bat.

I’ve been runnin’ around all week playing Santa and haven’t accomplished much. Also, this weekend is birthday madness. Mama’s on Friday, G-Dog’s on Saturday, Jensen’s on Monday, Anna’s on Tuesday. I better start thinkin’ of some ideas…ugh.

Been hangin’ out with BFF and I had my yummy chili rellano and pizza “crisp” Monday night at Esther’s. Also had a cadillac margarita and after only ¾ a glass, I was already feelin’ good. Such a lightweight I am! Jank!

Congrats to Pearljammer fer posting back to back final tables this weekend too. 5th in the Sunday Million on Stars!! WOW!! And then the Full Tilt Monday too?! WOW AGAIN!! Most impressive score? Getting out of jury duty!! Bwahahahaha Good job, Jon! See ya soon!

Also, congrats goes out to lil sis who won “another” Bahamas package!!! It’s so hard to win one, so fer you to win 2, lil sis, is although a great feat, I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised…hehe. Nice job too! As for me, still trying to win $7 and the only record I hold is my bad beat streak. Great. So I can’t wait for the year to end and start fresh again. I still have my new motto to live by… “Healthy & Wealthy”. I’m signing up for a 3 hour tennis class and will start spinning twice a week. The other days will be on the treadmill. After watching the Biggest Loser finale last week, surely I can lose 15 pounds?! Geez!  BFF says to just “put my mind to it”. Ok, sounds easy enough.

So it looks like if I don’t qualify fer Bahamas, I’ll be going to Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta instead. I could live with that…bwahahaha I’ve never been on a cruise before, so I’m a bit nervous but also excited. The thought of being on a boat for 7 days is a bit daunting to me. But since they have an onboard casino (how convenient) I should survive. Plus, I hear the food is awesome! Ok, worth a try. Anyway, looks like the cruise is after Bahamas, so I can still go to both…just need my dumb ass hands to hold up. Please baby Jesus, help my dumb ass qualify for PCA.

Haven’t been playing much at all. Just PCA satellites and qualifiers. Can’t make anything happen. So depressing. Maybe Bahamas just isn’t meant to be. Oh well. All I can do is try. I’m still blasting away at zombies with G-Dog, Eugene, and E-Dog. We finished 3 campaigns last week: Hard Rain, Dark Carnival, and just this past Monday, The Parish. I love Left 4 Dead 2!!! Definitely my fave right now. My days are spent runnin’ around shoppin’ fer birthdays and Christmas while my evenings are spent on the couch with the puppies and the 360 with some poker in the middle. Life is good.

 

 

Ace of Diamonds for 2k please

by Phil

4 Comments

Ya gotta love degens... ya just got to...

Last night I went to the Commerce and was having a grand old time playing some cards when a funny thing happened.  The set up was this.  With 15k and Ah3h I min raised to 40 utg+3 in a 10 20 game.  Got 2 callers when the Button (4,500) made it 540 to go.  It seemed fishy.  At this point I made a bad read (he had kings) and put him on a steal.  He was smart, young, and I don't know... for some reason I just didn't believe him.  I decided to call out of position with my Ah3h and planned on chk raising his inevitable sure c-bet and win the hand by re-stealing his steal.  (By the way, this is exactly how to build one of those dangerous stupid holes I sometimes talk about..... fwiw).  I met him later by the way.  The fella with Kings is Lee.

Anyway, the flop comes Ad 5d 4h.  (And being the genius I am thought for a second that I had Ah5h for two pair.  But luckily I have the habit of always dbl chking my hands.  I notice that I have Ah3h.  Now that I have connected I decide to just chk call.  He bets 1200, I call.  The turn is the Qd, I check, he checks.. the river is a blank.  We both check and I win the hand.  Whatever.  Wow, I played like a donk, made a horrible read, won the pot and got off scott free.

After the hand ended the player to my left (unnamed to protect the innocent) asked me if he thought he should have called the additional 500 with the Ad Jd.  And being the space cadet that I am I forgot to tell him that the Ad was on the flop.  By the time I remembered this, the table banter had moved on and the hand was forgotten.  An hour later this same player pondered out loud - wishing he had called the 500 with his AdJd.  And now at this late juncture I decided I would correct him.  When I did, the story began.  

And here is where the story starts.

He was so confident that the card was the Ac that he offered a bet.  My Ad to his Ac for 500.  Also the loser will pay the floor man a 100 toke (the floor guy will have to go thru the bs to talk to whoever in the video room).  While the floor is off trying to get the suit of the ace Lee (kings) volunteers that he still remembered the flop and agrees with me as well.  Bayes theorem kicks in.  Confidence being stronger now I offer a larger bet.  I endup paying him 500 to have the honor of a 2000 bet.  (or 2500 to 1500) - 60 40 when I think I am hovering at about 90%.  Not a bad bet!  Then the buzz kill.  The floor's reply was that wanting to know the flop - bet or not - is not enough to warrant a tape check.  Arghghg.  I feel like I have had money just slip thru my fingers.  Arghghghg.

So now the Ac guy tells the floor, that we don't really need to know the suit, but were only oddly curious about that.  He continues, that the real issue was about a 1000 dollar chip.  That we can't figure out who it belongs to and that it was during this hand where the confusion came it... "was the chip mine or phil's, he asks".  This is of course all a load of malarky, but he ships it all onto the floor guy as mr ace of clubs is pointedly deteremined.  Well, he can't seem to get this camera thing rolling, when next he calls David Mosikian!!!

David is one of the massive King Pins of the Commerce Poker room, he is at home trying to have some time off, when one of his customers (not me....I think this is all mad and have given up on the bet a while ago)  is calling him AT HOME and trying to get him to make some calls and get them to rewind to about 2 hrs ago and look at this flop.  Next thing I know the phone is being handed to me and I am on the phone with David.  Of course I apologize to David and assure him that we are all fine.

Anyway, I was just astonished at how tenacious this player was found the whole thing hilarious.  Only a fellow degen would go to such extremes to try and resolve a bet.  It would have made for some real entertainment had the video gods somehow loosened up at the last moment.  If he was given the truth about the suit of that ace.  (Assuming it was the Ad as Lee and I suspected it was.) 

He tried so hard working all the way up the power ladder only to be saved by the beuracratic slog that is the video room.

If there is a moral it might be this.  Sometimes beuracracy can save a man from his ownself.

Anyway...

Later

Phil