Nov
23
by Katrina Lim
I’ve switched from poker to more violent games of late. Ha! To celebrate Left For Dead 2 that comes out today, I’ve been playing the original and enjoying the carnage. What a great way to handle tilt too. On a bad run lately? No problem. Just pick up some shotguns and semi-automatics and blast all the zombies that come yur way! Feels great! Monsters ain’t yur thang? Then pick up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2! Great way to solve tilt. Video games rule! Now and forever!
I played a Ladies Weekend qualifier fer PCA and was 18 fools shy of qualifying. Jank. However, lil sis won so I may just hafta sneak into her luggage. Actually, this may actually be better! While she works at the tables, I may just chill on the beach, cocktail in hand, trashy mag in the other, and enjoy the warm sun in mid-Winter. Hello Bahamas!
We had our family luncheon on Sunday and it was lotsa fun catchin’ up with all the cousins. We had dim sum and dim sum more! Yummy stuff! The Thanksgiving dinner menu is complete and man, we are gonna have some fun! Bro’s gonna bring over all the Rock Band stuff and this will be a first…having real rock stars at my house playing Rock Band!!! Sweet! Can’t wait for Liz and Morgan to show us their rock star skillz and we’re gonna challenge em! And if you haven’t yet, go grab Miss Derringer’s new album, Winter Hill! My cousin rules! I’m also gonna teach em all how to play some poker, so maybe I can make some ca$h off of em too so I can go crazy on Black Friday!! Ha!
I’ve been playing $3/$5 at Commerce and congrats to my friend, Diana Korkis, fer reaching the final table of the $250k Guaranteed of the LA Poker Open this past weekend. Shouldn’t have chopped it though as I know she could’ve taken down all dem foolios! Good job, girl!
Right now, still trying to qualify fer PCA and playing a lotta 360. Also playing some Guarantees on Unabomber Poker today! Come find me! Gonna go get me some Left For Dead 2 later too. Life is good.
Nov
23
by Katrina Lim
Just got back from a 3 day excursion in Vega$. Mom and Dad were itchin’ to get their gamble on and they hit the tables huge. We all played at Ballys cuz that’s one of my favorite poker rooms and I’m pals with all the dealers and the floor peeps there. I didn’t fare too well but I sure had fun! Our last night was best of all. I played with a few old fogeys that I knew were either gonna kill me or make me a lotta ca$h. There was one couple that stood out. Usually it’s the grandpa that plays and grandma will sit quietly behind him and observe the action. This time, both fogeys were playing and grandma even bought in fer more chips! I was playing $1/$2 NLH and granny bought in fer $200. Here’s where the fun started…
The minimum buy-in fer the table is $100. Grandpa only had $95 and fer some strange reason, he didn’t understand the dealer and chip runner when they constantly told him he needed to buy in fer the $100 minimum. Grandpa had to be at least 85 years young. He kept saying he just cashed out $95 at Three Card Poker. Yeah? So? You still gotta buy in fer $100, gramps! Ok, so now the table could tell gramps was a bit looney tunes. Even better! Easy money right?! So I definitely wanted him in the game so I threw him a $5 chip and told the dealer to buy him in fer the $100. Everyone at the table said that it was kind of me to donate and that it’s “good karma”. Let’s see, fools…
Hand after hand I saw my $500 stack dwindle down. Grandma not only took a huge pot from me, but she slow rolled me too! Old woman jank! I knew I was beat cuz she called my bluff, but when she saw my ace/rag, she shook her head no fer a few good seconds so everyone thought my ace high might actually be good until she showed her trip sevens! What a slow roll! Everyone started laughing. Even I laughed cuz I knew her slow roll was not intentional. She just didn’t know if her trip 7s were good?!?! Runner runner trip 7s no doubt! After I kept betting on each street too. Old woman jank killin’ me quick. This was a dream table, however, every hand turned into a nightmare when these old fish kept hittin’ the turn and river and taking down each hand every time. Classic jank at its best.
It was interesting to see the old fogeys stack their chips while the others just sat there surprised that the fogeys were constantly bad beating us. Amazing! Then I was involved in a pot with gramps when my pocket rockets flopped a set. The entire board had 4 diamonds and I held the ace of diamonds. Once the dealer hit the river diamond, gramps asked the dealer if he could ask other players or even the dealer himself if he could ask how to play the flush. Huh? Gramps checked to me and I bet $50 into a pot of $120. Gramps only had about $80 left in his stack so I was hoping he would just shove as he was calling with marginal hands prior and losing after taking down a few big pots with some bad beats. Gramps obviously had a diamond, but he was confused and didn’t know how to play the hand so he folded. Just my luck.
Gramps kindly asked me if I would show my hand. He asked me so nicely and politely that I told him because he was just so kind and that I respected him, yes, I showed him my hand. He was so happy. The table was so happy. Our table turned from a competition to a fun get together once the old fogeys sat down. The funny thing is everyone who played a pot with gramps or granny were scared because they just played so crazy! They would bet $7 into $90 pots and reraise wildly. Genius! It didn’t take too long to realize these old fogeys were playin’ us! But the wack thing is the rest of us liked it! Sick!
The funniest hand last night was when gramps finally got himself into a big hand and before deciding on his action, we watched him reach into his back pocket and pull out his own ALL IN button!!! The whole table erupted! I was laughing so hard I started crying! Even the dealer was laughing hysterically. I told gramps that made my night even though I lost most of my chips and threw him a $1 chip! This is the first time ever I’ve given chips to an opponent freely, let alone twice to the same person…while losing!
For the first time, it was nice to play poker without caring about winning or losing. Just going through the motions of betting and folding, but more importantly, communicating with my fellow man through a game. Strangers when you meet at the table turn into common friendly folk. I will prolly never see these old fogeys again, but I will remember their faces cuz they sure made a great impression. Don’t even know their names, but will remember the hands I played with them. They made poker fun for me that night instead of it being my job.
Other than that, we tried out a new bomb ass Korean BBQ buffet!! Sura Korean BBQ on Spring Mtn. and Arville!!! If yur gonna be in Vega$ and love to eat, you gotta try this place! All the bulgogi you can eat and it’s hella good!!! Very reasonable too! Trust me, I love food and this place is a new favorite. Let’s just say I’ll be going back every time I’m in Vega$ now. I also upgraded my Keurig at the lil condo. Returned the noisier one fer a quieter more sleek lookin’ one…I rule! Coffee rules! Everything at the lil condo is good too…just a real cozy place to just chill with the doggies…before heading down to the Strip. I even had dinner with Tracey one night while Pearljammer was online. It was nice to catch up with her. And I finally heard from lil sis, Anna, and she’ll be back in town in 3 weeks. So will head back to Vega$ the same week and hit the tables with her...prolly Bellagio and Ballys again.
So now I’m back in CA and lookin’ to play at Commerce tomorrow. Will play ca$h and maybe a satellite. Wanna play the LA Poker Open main event. Also still trying to qualify fer PCA and now Aussie Millions right here on Unabomber Poker! I’m gonna try some Guarantees too so see ya at the tables and drop me a note when you see Xsporean10!
Nov
23
by Chad Holloway
Joe Cada was good enough to prove me right and won the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
Last Saturday I was all set to catch the action of the 2009 World Series of Poker final table by keeping up with the internet updates but then I got a bright idea. I thought it’d be much fun to wait and watch the action on ESPN on Tuesday. The problem was that there was three days between the action and the broadcast. I would have to avoid all major media outlets like e-mail (I receive regular WSOP poker updates), Facebook (I have way too many poker friends), and Twitter. I knew it would be a challenge and I’m glad I did it. I managed to get to Tuesday without knowing anything that would happen and my viewing experience was absolutely unforgettable. It blew simply reading the internet updates out of the water. So here are some of my thoughts on the final table . . .
- I was obviously hoping Phil Ivey could win it all but knew that would be a difficult uphill climb. I thought he played well and probably could have made something happen if he had picked up some better cards. Regardless, congrats to Phil Ivey for an amazing WSOP.
- I couldn’t believe how willing the players were to gamble preflop with marginal hands, especially considering the stack sizes in many cases. In addition, how sick was it that the best hand going in (even if it was a dominating hand) rarely won? The suck-outs were ridiculous but made for exciting television. I’ll never forget when Begleiter’s pocket Queens dominated Moon’s Ace-Queen but an Ace change all that and ended Begleiter’s run. Even more sick may have been when Cada pushed all-in with pocket twos against Saout’s pocket Queens and a deuce hit the flop!
- I was impressed by Antoine Saout’s ability to start as the second low stack and manage to build it up for a chance at first place. If it wasn’t for some bad luck, the Frenchman would likely have taken it down. He has made a big impact in the poker world in a short amount of time and I won’t be surprised to see his success continue in the future.
- Joe Cada . . . what can I say. Back in August I had an e-mail correspondence with BLUFF Magazine’s Paul Oresteen where I picked Cada to win it all. I felt the young guy had a lot more experience than people realized and had enough chips to make it happen. Of course I wasn’t counting on the luck factor to propel him to the win. I’m not saying that was the only reason he won, I thought he played very well, but I’m sure he wouldn’t deny getting extremely lucky in some spots. Speaking of which, what an unbelievable comeback from being down to only 5 big blinds! Congratulations to Cada on becoming the 2009 WSOP World Champion, as well as the youngest ever. I think he will be a good ambassador for the game and I’m sure his poker success will only continue to grow.
All in all I thought this year’s WSOP Main Event was one of the best in recent years. With two established pros at the table, Shulman and Ivey, the whole poker world was wondering if a pro could reclaim the title. Darvin Moon was the epitome of the “everyman” and it was fun watching him, truly a life-changing experience. Many of the other 2009 November Niners have already found success in other tournaments and I’m certain many of the names we’ve watched over the past few months will be around for a long time.
Nov
7
by Chad Holloway
Fantasy poker has nothing to do with half naked women playing poker but it's still awesome.
So Unabomber Poker has officially launched! I immediately signed up and created my screen name, “LuckBox07.” You’ll likely find me playing almost every day so don’t be afraid to sit down and take me on. In the meantime, I will be doing a lot of blogging here on Unabomber Poker. My plan is to cover a wide array of topics including happenings in the poker world, poker gossip, Unabomber news and anything that might be of interest to you all. Chances are I will also talk quite a bit about my favorite poker topic. As my “contributor bio” will tell you, I have a passion for Fantasy Poker. I’ve played for the past few years and have written numerous articles on it.
For those of you who may not know what Fantasy Poker is, let me provide a brief introduction. Since 2005, Fantasy Poker has grown by leaps and bounds to join the likes of Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball on top of the fantasy sport hierarchy. Like these other sports, Fantasy Poker involves choosing a number of players that will earn points based upon certain criteria. This criteria can vary from league to league and usually include either a player’s finish (the better their finish the more points they earn) or the amount of money earned (the amount equals the number of points that player will earn). These leagues usually run during the World Series of Poker when there is a full slate of tournaments, but recent leagues have been built around the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour circuits as well. To give you an example, the most popular league during the 2009 WSOP was the ESPN Fantasy Poker League run by Andrew Feldman. The league had eleven players including Daniel Negreanu (who ultimately won having both Jeffrey Lisandro and Phil Ivey on his team), Howard Lederer, Dennis Phillips, Lance Bradley, Chops Preiss, Mark Seif, Bernard Lee, Gavin Smith, Dan Michalski, Gary Wise and Feldman.
In that league, each participant drafted eight poker players that were awarded points based upon the following scoring system:
1 point . . . for making the money
2 points . . . for making the top 50
5 points . . . for making the top 20
10 points . . . for making the final table; then:
1 additional point . . . for 9th
2 additional points . . . for 8th
4 additional points . . . for 7th
6 additional points . . . for 6th
10 additional points . . . for 5th
15 additional points . . . for 4th
20 additional points . . . for 3rd
30 additional points . . . for 2nd
40 additional points . . . for 1st (Double points awarded for all events with buy-ins of $10,000 or more)
I mention this league specifically because it is a template for anyone looking to create their own personal league. There is nothing more fun than getting a group of friends together and playing fantasy sports, aside from destroying them in poker. If you’re unable to find enough people to create your own league, don’t worry. Every time I come across a decent league, I will mention it on my blog so you can check it out. Most of them award great prizes (including seats to the WSOP Main Event) and are free to play so I’m always on the prowl. On top of this, I will touch on different approaches on how to build a successful Fantasy Poker team. Like the other Fantasy Sports, this one has its own world of stats and strategies.
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