Double starting stack controversy at 2007 WSOP

I've been reading various blogs lately about the announcement regarding doubling the starting stack sizes (excluding the main event). I found that Daniel and Fuel had the best take on it all.

Here is Kid Poker's take:

[ "Poker players all across America have been duped by what is nothing more than a marketing ploy and many you have bought in hook, line, and sinker. I believe it was Jack McLelland who started this trend and it's caught on with tournaments all across the country. I'm talking about starting with double chips in tournaments. The idea is that there is "more play" yet that statement is completely ludicrous and unfounded. The amount of play in a tournament is based solely on the tournament structure and the amount of chips you actually start with has no bearing on that at all. Yet, I was shocked to hear so many pros I spoke with recently failing to grasp it.
You could start people off with a million in chips, but if you raise the blinds in correlation to the stack sizes it makes absolutely NO difference.

Examples:A typical structure starting with $20,000 in chips:
50-100
100-200
100-200 (25 ante)
150-300 (25 ante)
200-400 (50 ante)
300-600 (75 ante)
400-800 (100 ante)

Now, here is what the structure should look like with $10,000 in chips:
25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
100-200 (25 ante)
150-300 (25 ante)
200-400 (50 ante)

As you can see, by level six the structure with $10,000 in chips is exactly half of the $20,000 starting chip tournament.

I think the reason some pros believed that the $20,000 in starting chips is better is because they forget what a good $10,000 structure looks like. It's not the starting chips that matter, it's the structure!

Who knows, maybe someone will start a tournament with $40,000 in starting chips, whoopee!!!! Of course they would start the blinds at 100-200 and basically double everything anyway, but I'm certain they could fool plenty of players into thinking that there tournament has "more play."

Don't get me wrong, starting with double chips isn't a "bad thing" it's just completely irrelevant and meaningless. Seriously, You could start players off with $100,000 each, but if you start the blinds at 2500-5000 it won't be any different than starting them off with $10,000 in chips." ]


I agree 100%. It's always about the structure. Not how many chips you get. I've played in numerous types of structures over the past few years and it always comes down to the number of levels and the length of time allowed for each level.

Making simple statements like "it allows more play" is totally misleading. Of course, most of us with half a brain will realize that this change has almost zero effect... so what is the point? You tell me.

I'll keep digging.

On another note, I'll see you at the Mookie tonight... try not to get too distracted by what should be another fantastic episode of LOST.

NCAA Div 2 basketball

just nuts


This is most amazing comeback that I have ever seen.

No, I am not a Texan... the mookie and dookie

For those of you who were wondering if I was on my way to the Texans... it's not me:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2808100

I'm not related to Matt Schaub... but I am glad that he is finally getting what has been considered long overdue by many. I look forward to following his carreer, and if he is still available, I'll be drafting him in my fantasy keeper league this year.

But this guy is my cousin. He's already retired and a part time announcer for ABC. Not bad for a 30 year old dude who I visited back in 1990. He was the best player in his school at that time and made a pretty good career out of a very very tough sport.

http://redandwhiteonline.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=11800

----

I played in both the mookie and dookie last night without a final table to show for it. Next time...

I partially blame it on the stellar TV lineup last night consisiting of the Canucks and LOST. What a great episode!

Congrats go out to Hoy for taking down the PL HA 2nd chance tourney last night.

I think I'll stop by the riverchaser tonight... see you there.

Canadian Schaubs

Bubble Boiling

Turns out saturday's tournament at the river rock was sold out by the time I had planned to satellite on Friday. So I guess you could say I saved myself some money...? Who knows what would have been, but I guess I'll be a bit more proactive next time and plan accordingly. I anticipated meeting up with Fuel but it didn't work out.

I ended up playing in a live tourney today and bubbled... I should have known when I picked up pocket aces on the first hand and doubled up. I limped UTG, raise from the button (pocket tens), I reraise another 200 chips (starting stack of 1500) and he comes over the top all in... I insta-call double up... and proceed to get zero cards, for the most part, for the rest of the day. I had kings about 30 minutes later and didn't get any action. There were only 22 players and they paid to 4 spots. I really think I need to figure out what I am doing wrong when I get to the final table. Maybe today just wasn't my day... but I think I need to look a bit deeper than that considering the ongoing frequency in which this has taken place over the last 60 days. I guess this could be directly related to the increased amount of poker that I have been playing in that same time span, but something else tells me that it just means that my game is growing and I need to recognize and work on the areas that need help. Spcecifically, bubble play.

I got home and proceeded to bubble in a 18 person Tier 2 token tourney (finished 7th). Then played in a 9 player SnG and came 4th. Bubble bullshit.

Time to figure some stuff out although I'm really not sure where to begin. I guess I could read a bit more, and play less. I'll probably just stick to the odd blogger tourney and go from there.

My first Blogger win

Finally.

Before I get to that, I just wanted to give an update on my live tournament yesterday. 62 runners, unlimited rebuys and a whole lot of donkey's to avoid is a recipe for an early exit right? Well when you are getting NO cards, it is pretty easy to stay out of the way. Sure I got my share of winning hands early and of course I had to bluff with the hammer and show it, and steal blinds and float and all that usual good tournament strategy type stuff. Overall though, I just stuck to my game and didn't let the lack of good cards get the best of me. When we got down to 19, I basically folded to 5th place and $220. I pushed once and doubled with AK. Other than that I folded every hand. I was completely card dead. But I'll take it considering it was only a $80 total investment. The best hand I had all day was pocket 9's (yes that was my highest pocket pair all night) and I pushed with them on the button and didn't get a call (the donkey's can lay down over cards after all!). The guy who won basically owned everyone and was the king of suckouts. It got so bad that when he went all in, a guy on the button (who was second in chips at the time) agonized for 5 minutes before finally calling with his pocket kings with a board of 3-Q-6. He called and said, "I know you have a Queen, and I just feel like you are going to suck out again..." sure enough the chip leader flips over KQo and the Queen on the turn sends him packing... it was extremely erie to say the least. Take that scenario, and vary it about 5 more times over the next hour, and I fold my way into a nice profit.

However, that was not the best part of my weekend. This was:

I finally have an online win that I can be proud of. Actually, at this moment, I am still in shock that I actually pulled it off. This win has finally confirmed that hard work DOES pay off. The top three players won ipods (Congrats to mclarich for third and lillian2611 for a great heads up match). So I have my choice of a 30gb ipod video, or the cash... since I already have a 4gb Nano, I opted for the cash via Full Tilt.

Thanks go out to Mike for hosting a great event. You can also visit him here.

My next goal is to qualify for the $300 St. Patrick's day via a $75 satellite this Friday.

Have a good week everyone.

Cash games hate me...

...and I hate them. I'm only posting today so that I can get this crap off my mind and get to work. Honestly, getting stuck for $60 is really not a big deal to me. I knew heading into the game that there was a pretty good chance I would be handing it all over by the end of the night. The Canucks were on PPV and I was really just there for the game and the beers.
I never play cash, in fact I can't even remember the last time I did. So why am I beating myself up over this? Well, the reason I suck so much at cash games is because I never walk away when I am winning. I find it necessary to keep playing, and find it silly (is this the wrong mindset?) to consider walking away when the going gets good. I even made the usual announcement "I'm cashing out in 30 minutes." This is a requirement when you are winning. If you are losing for the night, you can just walk. I'm not going to go into the details of how unlucky I was getting on the usual unorthodox villian call-in's, that is just mindless boring banter that no one appreciates.
The bottom line is, I was down to my last $20, I rallied back to the tune of $130 (when my AK beat KK... ok I got lucky, but it was bad beats galore prior to that... hence, my last $20 into the pot) only to hand it all back in the last hour of play. I am good. I just can't seem to figure out how to walk away. I get sucked into playing short handed at the end of the night because I've busted half the table and the last two guys who also had healthy stacks wanted to keep playing. I get caught with TPTK (it's official, I'm a cash game donkey) against a set of slow played Jacks and go home empty handed.

In the words of one of the greatest cash game players I know Mr. Fuel55... Cash games FAWKING hate me...

My revenge will be taken out on a donkerifick tournament that I plan on winning this Saturday. $40 will net me over $1500 if all goes well.

Start and finish with Pocket Queens

As a new month appears, so does the latest monthly tournament schedule at the River Rock. Coming off a good showing at the latest WPBT event in PL Omaha, and the fact that I live literally five minutes from the Casino, I decided that I would press my luck and buy into yesterday's $100 PL HA (Holdem and Omaha alternating blind levels). There were only 57 entries so I felt comfortable and confident as I sat down at my first live Casino tournament of 2007.

When I arrived with about five minutes to spare I noticed that most of the players were already seated... which was odd to me because when I registered the day before they told me that we were all going to draw for seats (maybe I was late?), as the printer they used was broken at the time. The other thing that was annoying was the fact that they posted the payout to ten places, and then about an hour into the tournament they decided to change the payout to five (you'll see why it was ultra annoying in a few minutes here). Anyway, it didn't start off how I had envisioned, and I was a little thrown off from the get go.

I was dealt pocket Queens on the button about ten minutes into the day. UTG, a player that I have seen at numerous tournaments over time, and had a lot of respect for, raised it POT (a total of 175 chips). It folded to me where I re-raised it POT for a total of 600 chips of my starting 5,000 chips. UTG had played almost everyhand in this round of holdem since the tournament started (30 minute levels). I noticed this, and decided to take a stand. Well when he re-raised me POT I knew that he had to be VERY strong here (I decided it was AA, KK). Noting his position and mine, I decided that I need to at least see a flop and hopefully hit it hard. So I called the total and saw a low un-connected flop. He bet POT, and I folded. He showed KK. Great start. I guess in hindsight, if I was sure (are we ever?), I could have saved myself some chips by folding preflop to his re-raise.



I continued to grind it out and suprisingly most of my tournament chips came from Omaha. I slow played naked Aces from UTG by limping in and flopping a set. I took the BB's entire stack when he called my POT raise with his set of Queens... he commented "you really do have Aces??" Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Omaha lately? Another hand I remember was betting the turn when I had the nuts... although the BB only had 1000 chips left in a 6,000 chip pot, he folded. At that point I remembered... always check the nuts!! I had the nut flush, and didn't let him catch up... although if the board pairs on the river he may have made a full house or quads... so I think I made the right play there.



I made it to the final table. I won a nice pot when everyone checked around twice and let me catch trips 4's on the river from the SB. I then re-raised with 9's who had raised from the button with a short stack. He called with A-10 and my 9's held up and barely gave me the chip lead for the first time in the tournament. At this point there were 8 players left. After the next short stack got eliminated we were down to 7 and the second highest stack (white affro guy) stopped the action and asked if everyone would like to agree to guaranteeing that all of the last 7 guys get $100 each. Well everyone including myself said yes... except for the guy on my right who happened to be deaf (literally) and wore hearing aids in both ears... I am not sure if everyone at the table understood what white affro guy meant, and too be honest, I wasn't too sure where the money would be coming out of. Undoubtedly, it came back to haunt me.



I lost a a big pot when I folded TPNK to TPTK (he showed A-J). I then picked up 7's in the BB and affro guy raised it POT which basically left me with two decisions. Fold or go for it. Seeing as I had just won a coin flip I decided to fold and wait for a better chance, menawhile hoping that 2 others would go out and I could be at least guaranteed $275 for 5th (first was around $2,500).



The next hand I get dealt pocket Queens in the small blind and hope for some action. UTG (who happens to be short stack by a small margine) raises POT. I re-raise hoping he has a smaller pair... he shows... A-10. Now is that a bad call, I'm not too sure considering the stack sizes were pretty equal and there was no definitive chip leader. The table was divided between medium large stacks and medium small stacks... I was floating somewhere in between. Anyway, as the story goes, he hits his Ace on the flop, and to add fuel to the fire, the BB mentions that he folded and Ace, and I am crippled down to 5,000 chips and IGH shortly after that when my QJ can't hit UTG with the blinds already at 1,500/3,000.



7hrs, 7th place, and nothing to show for it. As always though, I learned a lot, and look forward to the next challenge.



On another note, I can't log into Full tilt right now... damn it.



So I registered for this instead:



Updates to follow... if...

2nd at the Mookie, A good month overall

So as February came to a close, I managed to get another final table under my belt last night at the Mookie... and finish second to BigSlickNuts. I really feel much more comforatable then I did when I started playing in these blogger tourney's at the end of last year. No major wins to report yet, but I am confident (not "WSOP bracelet race" confident like Hoyazo) that I will get there soon. Last night was my best finish ever in one of these blogger tourney's and it fittingly came on the last day in February. Now I'm gunning for that elusive first place. The only thing I've ever concerned myself with since I embarked on this journey of personal poker improvement. With a second and a third at the Mookie, a 9th and a 2nd in the first two WPBT events I feel like my game is coming around nicely. I'm almost at a point now where I should consider using some form of stat tracker or hand reviewing software. It's inevitable.

So can someone please recommend where I should start? Poker tracker?

I guess I've been reluctant to get this underway partly because I've never really considered myself that good (in comparision to the other very successful bloggers) and secondly, if and when I do start reviewing these stats, I'm afraid of the truth. However, this is not the case any longer. I can honestly say that I am ready to venture into the unknown and take the next baby step in my growth as a poker player. I really don't know what to expect next. All I know is that I can compete with some very very excellent poker players and hold my own. Their results speak for themselves. I, however, have no such monetary results that I can ultimately be pround of to post here (just yet). In other words, no major online wins to book yet. My bank roll is as healthy as it has ever been on Full Tilt, and that is obviously a plus. I might even consider a withdrawal shortly just to see how long it takes Full Tilt to mail me my cheque. For some reason though, I am fearful that if I do that, I'll trigger some unknown force and get cold decked for the entire month of March.

So here is what I will do: I will continue this grind for the month of March and a make a withdrawal if my bank roll exceeds what it is at today. Done.

I look forward to an even more successful March where I can speak of some sort of MTT victory. Not a third, not a second, but a win... (sorry but I just don't count 2-5 table SnG's which I have won on various occasions) and hopefully more than one.... but as I have always said and have heard so many times: "One shot at at time, one putt at a time." Now I just need to aply my golf knowledge to my poker game... and keep practicing.

+EV weekend, WPBT Event #2

Saturday went well. The tourney I ran brought in 25 players and it lasted a short 4 hours before the final three decided to chop for $400 each (18 rebuys and 11 add ons). Not a bad payout at all. I think everyone had a good time and after all that hard work, I managed to finish in the top three and be a part of the deal making gone good. A couple of key hands, of course, were the reasons for my good fortune. Once we were in the money I decided to re-raise my 5's after the small blind on my right min-raised me with his AKo. He calls. I felt good about my race situation and my 5's held. 20 Hands later we decided to Chop. I had about 25% of the chips and was the semi-short stack, but an even chop was somehow negotiated and I net $300 for my efforts.

Of course, there are always minor issues such as the pizza being late and the beer being late (which later turned into +EV). Regardless though, it went over well, and it was all over in under 5 hours which worked out well too. Back to the beer. So apparently the beer delivery guy quit that morning and they were running late. No worries, we have other beer to tide us over. So an hour later the beer arrives and it is a 50 litre keg, and not the 30 litre keg that I actually ordered (and paid for). Ok cool... ummmm let's drink. 3o hours later we emptied it. Phew.

What a weekend. So, after finishing the remainder of the keg Sunday evening (before, during and after the Canucks PPV) I logged on to Full Tilt, fully expecting to donk away at the WPBT event #2. I was late. I knew this though (beeeerrrrrr). Luckily, I pre-registered with a token I had won last week sometime. Much to my surprise, I had only spent about 200 in chips on blinds prior to me playing a hand. It seems that Omaha and I get along. I have very little experience in the game, but I must say, I really do enjoy it. It is really does feel like a more complete game with regards to decision making. Paying attention, playing tight and being patient were the keys for me.

Seeing as it was POT limit, that also threw in another version of this great game of poker that I had not had much experience in either. But I was not afraid. Congratulations to Mattazuma... he played very well and managed his stack with patients and aggression. Heads up action was challenging, however I couldn't overcome the 3-1 chip lead that Mattazuma amassed when we got down to the final 4. I did manage to stick to my table image and exploit it, but when I flopped two pair after raising preflop I figured it was time to either take it down or watch the end of the Oscars... Congrats to Martin, Forrest and Jennifer...



Anyway, it worked out about as well as I could have expected. I mean, I can't say I'm not angry that I didn't take it down when I was so close, but I'll take it considering the circumstances. I look forward to event #3 in March.

Tournament Eve, Riverchasers galore

So on the eve of the second poker tournament that I have ever run... no one has anything to say about my previous post? Probably because no one actually reads what I write here, unless they stumble upon it or link to it from a comment that I have made in the past. No big deal though. For the time being, this blog is for me, not for you. So there. I'd like to say I have a good feeling that I am going to do well tomorrow but as most of you already know, its pretty hard to run a tournament and play in it at the same time. I am going to give it a shot though. I am using the software from this site to run my tournament. I have a projector too, so that will be nice for all the participants to see the blind structure and all the tournament details on the wall as they play.

I'm gonna need some luck for sure, seeing as I plan on totally donking it up, slow playing any monsters that I might get, and hopefully doubling or tripling up early so that I can help handle the rebuys and add ons in an efficient manner. 30 minutes for the first break should do it. Pizza is the meal of choice and I've also got a keg of beer to be drank. So either way, I'll be drunk and hopefully have a pocket full of 100's when it turns midnight tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Played in the Riverchasers 4 last night with no suck-sess. Nuff said.

I also tried to Q for the 30K with Hoy and made it to 22nd and then tried to steal from the button with Q9d when I was down to 10BB and got called by the BB with AKo, no suck out for me...

DQB... Persona non grata, hosting my own tourney

First off check this out:

I pushed all in and he calls with the fonkdified AJo... I flop trips... suck, re-suck. Good times. Of course, I didn't make any money, but I was just donking it up while I checked in on Hoy and Lucko... they both missed the money, but put in a good showing on Friday night.

__

There is this guy and let's call him Thorndog. Now Thorndog grew up in my area and was a member of my golf club for over 10 years. We both joined back in 1990 and played in a bunch of junior events together. He was always much better than I was and proceeded to become a very acomplished local junior golfer. So much that he made various teams throughout his teens. Now as we got older we were introduced to various vices, and we tried most of them together. We both loved beer, and to this day we still do. When Thorndog turned 19 he realized that he would no long be able to afford the golf club membership, I was losing my golfing buddy... and I was sad to see him go. But never, did I think he would pull off the ultimate F-U to the club that always blamed him for everything... because he was a red head. Well, in Thordog type fashion he decided that instead of just "resigning" that he would go out with a bang...

On his final day of golf at the club, he decided that he would invite 3 of his hockey buddies (I refused to be a part of what happens next) and play a friendly round of golf on a Wednesday afternoon where a monthly four man team competition was taking place. After a 26er of Bacardi and numerous other vices... he decided it would be best if he played the last two holes COMPLETELY NAKED. Needless to say, some of the members were not too happy with what they saw... you see, as I stated earlier, he's a red head... so it's very easy to spot Thorndog and nail him for anything. Everytime we used to get in trouble, it was always "two guys and the red head"...

So, he gets to the 18th green, putts out (naked) and proceeds to pee on the side of the green before getting dressed again and heading upstairs for the buffet banquet... He was scolded, pulled aside and told never to step foot on the property again. He then received a letter from the club stating that he is officially "Persona non grata"... which meant he was no longer allowed to play at our club (which he since has, wearing a hat) and was no longer allowed to play at ANY private courses in the province... which of course is total bullshit and could never be enforced and never has.

To this day its still one of the funniest things I have ever heard and I am sooooo glad I wasn't a part of it. He even got t-shirts made up for about 12 of his closest friends. On the back in big letters it just says "Persona non grata" and on the front... it says: "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCK!"

Good times.

Finally, check this out and let me know what you think. Rebuys for this long... is that a recipe for a long ass tourney or what?

http://schaubs.backpackit.com/pub/947198

What a start to my day

Once again MY WIPERS WERE STOLEN. That makes it twice this year. I want to fucking strangle someone right now. Of course, it is raining too. So I might as well have driven to work with my eyes closed. It was that bad. FUCK.

Just found this, so I think I will give it a shot:

Mac Poker

The fastest poker game I've ever played in...

I started out the evening by jumping onto Fulltilt and trying to qualify for the Monday 30K guaranteed tournament in one of those $6 sat. and managed to hang around for about an hour before donking out. Then I played in a token tourney and who do I see two to my left but none other than Smokkee... ok great, well at least I can try to use that to my advantage. He only raised me on the button once and other than that we basically stayed out of each other's way. He, of course, went on to win a token whereas, I, proceed to donk off another $8 when I pushed all in 3x the raise from the BB with AK (huge donkey move) after UTG+1 raises POT. All the while Smokkee is watching me donk it up and he calls me with AA... GG me. I suck.

So I hit the road and headed over to the club for some live game SnG's where we usually get 5-6 players and we play for either $10 or $20 a shot, 80/20 split. So there is this guy at our regular game, let's call him Wrong Saunders. Wrong seemed to be always right tonight. Regardless of how far ahead a person was pre-flop, he would suck on on either the turn or the river. It was ridiculous. First, let me preface this fine tale with the fact that Wrong is the biggest maniac that you will ever meet at the poker table. I am serious, you would be blown away by how nuts this guy plays sometimes. When he's feelin' it, you are in trouble. There isn't really any other way to say it... he is just. plain. nuts. period.

Needless to say, the title says it all. We were in a 5 man game tonight and big hands were getting called by Wrong non stop and he was crushing them with consistent and fugly donkey calls back to back to back to back. It was sick. He won exactly 4-5 hands to take out 4 people. The only reason he did not win 4 in a row is because I folded to his re-raise preflop. Yes, you got it. I folded my way to second place without even playing a single hand. When I finally picked up AK on the 5th hand of the game I raise it and he reraises me IN THE DARK and I call. He tables 6-9 soooooted and hit his 6 on the flop. GG everyone. I continued to donate and lose every coin flip possible. It just wasn't my night, it certainly wasn't right, and it makes me wonder why I even play this game. Like what the fuck is the point.

I grind away on Fulltilt and have turned my first deposit into a nice little bank roll, but when it comes down to beating a live table with a bunch of donkey's who only play once a week, it makes me sick to my stomach. I'm better off just sticking to online, but I feel like I need more live game experience not only for the person to person aspect and social aspect of hangin with your buddies, but also to WIN in any situation.

I'm just not sure where poker is taking me these days. I'm not sure that the time I am putting in is making a difference. I guess I just need to make better decisions over all. Decisions about work, poker and life in general.

Pro Bowl, token and WBPT event #2

Just checking on the pro bowl and my guy Reggie reeled in a nice catch for a TD from Drew. Played a bit in the past couple of days, a bit of cash and a couple of token's. I finished ITT (in the token) in one of them so now I have a token to use for this:

I'm currently sitting in 9th after the first event and I know I will have a tough time maintaining this position after the second event. Omaha Hi is a pretty easy game to learn, so I plan on brushing up on it shortly. I'll have to develope some sort of strategy going into it, just as I did in the first event. At least it is POT limit, so I like my chances in not going out first... but you never know.

Either way, it's time to break out the material and hit a few similar tournaments in preparation.

I've been looking around a few blogs to see how the first FTOPS event went last night... and just noticed that Chad has a post so I'm gonna check it out and then start some drinkin.'

Have a good weekend.

I

Merry Hammer Day #1

I'm not sure what the politcally correct way to say it is:

Merry Hammer Day
Happy Hammer Day
Congratulahammer day

I guess it really doesn't make a huge difference as long as you acknowledge this important day and recognize the power it posesses.

I really can't comment much further on this day other than to note that there are three more this year:
Feb 27th, 2007
July 2nd, 2007
July 27th, 2007

For more information, visit this post, as it really can't be said any better...

See you all tonight.

The Colts are The Champs

Words can not express the joy and happiness I felt when the clock read 0:00 on Feb 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida where they beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 and brought the trophy home to Indy. This is their first NFL Championship (the big game) and I have a pretty strong feeling that it won't be their last. Even though the San Diego Chargers are the inital favorites for the 2007/2008 season at 9-2, I still feel like it is Peyton's to lose once again.













Here are some milestones that I found:



- It’s the second time in 35 years that they won the Superbowl.
- It’s the first time they’ve won it as the “Indianapolis” Colts. (Baltimore)
- The Colts became the first “dome” team to win in an outdoor stadium.
- Tony Dungy became the first African American coach to win the Superbowl.
- Dungy (Player - Steelers, Coach - Colts) became the only 3rd person in NFL history after Tom Flores (Player - Chiefs, Coach - Raiders) and Mike Ditka (Player - Dolphins, Coach - Bears) to have won the Superbowl both as a player and head coach.





Pretty cool shit. I still don't think the shock has worn off yet... Peyton did it.



The only two guys that I forgot to mention in my post below were Freeny and Rhodes as far as who was going to impact this outcome. The other was Devin Hester. He is, in my books, the best kick returner of all time (sorry Dante Hall). This guy is unreal, and is almost a viable Fantasy Draft pick if your league allows points for kick and punt returns. Just nuts.



Moving on to poker now.... are you ready to drop the hammer???



I AM!!!
It's probably one of my favorite moves in poker... playing the hammer CORRECTLY is a fine art and should not be exploited. But when executed to perfection, it can make the strongest players look very very foolish. It also has a sense of power, like it knows it is being played and the poker gods allow for such wonderful flops like 2-2-7 or 2-2-A! Now that is one that gets people good.

I look forward to the challenge tomorrow. You should stop by and donate like me if you're not busy watching LOST or the Canucks.

The future is bright, no poker yesterday, GO COLTS!

I was talking to my friend who can look into the future, read minds, and lots of other totally real stuff to see if he knew who won the big game this weekend, and (of course) he guaranteed me that the Indy Colts would win this sunday, and by more than 6.5... so take it from me - It's a lock.
Their run defence is going to shut down Da Bears like the City of Vancouver does when there is 2 inches on fresh snow in the morning. With Bob Sanders back in business, look for a big day full of turnovers and 1st attempt tackles. Manning will throw for over 200 and 2 TD's while handing the ball to Addai 15 times and a TD. Heck, Peyton might even decide to call his own number if he needs to. Oh and don't forget Reggie and Marvin... One more win boys, I know you can do it.

I was looking around to find CC's bash and the Riverchaser and it was no where to be found. Although I didn't plan in playing in either, I was looking for them to see how they were going. No luck. Did anyone play in them?

I watched the Canucks squeak out a win against the crappy Oilers with wifey Lola. It was nice to see Naslund look like his former self where he stole the puck and burned a guy and burried it back handed. It turned out to be the game winner...


Go Colts!!

The Mookie, 3rd final table in a row, 3rd again

After finishing third in the Riverchaser last Thursday and 9th on Sunday at event #1 of the WPBT I managed to make my third final table in a row. Feels good to know that I can sling'em around with these talented bloggers, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth as the only thing I really was focused on was winning. Alas, it wasn't to be. I had almost a 4-1 chip lead and then my massive wall of chips dwindled away in a matter of a race, and a set over set. Pokerpeaker (who ended up taking it down, great playing by the way) pushed all in with to over cards to my 5's with his last 5K. Here's the live blog comment:



"11:44 … pokerpeaker is all in PF with QJc and Schaubs calls with 55…Queen on the flop and pp doubles up to 10K, Schaubs still has 35K."



OK so I am still doing well, then I get cooled when my set runs into Peaker's set and soon after that... 14 minutes later and only 8k left to get lucky with, and I'm out in 3rd. GG me.

"12:04 … pp raises to 3200 PF and Schaubs calls….J86 (two hearts) on the flop. pp bets 1600 and Schaubs raises to 4000. pp calls and a 5 peels off on the turn, pp checks and Schaubs bets 7000. pp moves all in for 8K more and its set over set…pokerpeaker had 88 and Schaubs 66. Wow…Rigged."

I'll take it I guess. There were a lot of good things that I can reflect on and build. Hello world!

Final table at my first WPBT event, didn't win so who cares right...?

Ok I guess I should be happy about making it to the final table with this talented bunch of poker guru's but it never feels good when you don't win. I mean seriously, that is why we all play poker right? To be the best? I'll have to really brush up on a few other games to ensure I get some points each month... who knows, this could be the only final table I see all year. But I'm staying positive and looking forward to the challenge.

Here is the hand that I went out on (one away from the bubble). I pushed from MP and got called and then re-raised. Just bad timing I guess. I needed to make a move and get lucky anyway. Short stack push with A-10 soooted... I guess I could have folded my way into the money, but honestly I was looking to double and go for the win. I'm learning to roll like this and I owe to the bloggers so far who have helped me realize my potential... unless they're just donks themselves of course... but just based on the results they have posted in their blogs in the past shows me that they've got the skillz... unless they've been making shit up... but Duggles has proven he can play with the best of the bunch... but in my opinion, blogs aren't here so that we can lie to make ourselves feel good or look better to our peers. Now that's Ghey.

WPBT

Do it!!