Last night, I played a SNG on PokerStars with PokerGeek, and though I played very solid poker most of the way down, I made two rookie mistakes that cost me everything.
Rookie mistake number one: I had a glass of wine with dinner. Then I had a glass of wine after dinner. Then I thought, "Hey, I'll call PokerGeek and see if he wants to play . . . " It's just plain stupid to play poker when your judgement is impaired, even if it's a mild buzz from a glorious bottle of Chianti.
PokerGeek was deeply involved in World of Warcraft, but I used my +2 Card Protector of The Ages to convince him to stop sewing a hat, or whittling a staff, or whatever he was doing in WoW to join me. We hopped into a game together, made a last-longer (which I won, and I will publicly flog PokerGeek until he pays up. Flog. Flog. Flog.) and waited for the game to begin.
Last week, I played good poker, caught cards when I need to, and built up a nice stack early on. Then I donked off about half of it, found myself short-stacked, and in need of a double-up to get back to par.
I picked 88 under the gun to push, and ran into CJ from Up For Poker's pocket kings. Oops. IGHN in 54th.
sparkyjr won a crazy heads-up battle, which featured a visit from PokerStars' own Lee Jones. How cool is that?
Well, here we go with tourney number three! Welcome to The WWdN: Up4Poker Invitational!
5:58 PM (all times Pacific) - 115 players are playing this week. Three tables will pay, and first place will take home $354. I am seat 5 at table 1. Rachelkat is in seat 1, and first week final tabler Jaxia is in seat 2. 6:00 PM - Cards are in the air! I limp from EP and get raised behind. Callers give me great implied and pot odds to call. I make a pair, but I've got to fold to a big raise from the pre-flop raiser. That's an easy way to dump 400 chips on the first hand, kids.
6:05 PM - Just lost a bunch of my chips when Donegal rivered two pair against me. Oh well, at least my read was correct. I've only got 880 now, just 40 more than the shortest stack. Yuck. 6:07 PM - Arcon just got busted with AQ vs Donegal's JJ. Flop was A-J-x when all the money went in. 6:10 PM - I just got my stack back up to 1240 when I made a set of eights on the flop, and luckily extracted an extra bet from rachelkat on the river (where I'd made a boat with running tens.) All further updates will be in extended.
Just a reminder that The Friday Game at PokerStars
is set up for 9PM EDT today. We had 152 players last week,
and I can't wait to see if we match or exceed that number this
week.I've had a great time in the first two games (even though I
haven't gotten anywhere near the money) and I'm excited to see what the
third week brings. I can honestly say that I've been looking forward to
the game all week.
Last week, I live blogged the action, and I plan to do it again, to keep the "TV table" meme alive -- be sure to show up for your 15 minutes of Internet fame! :)
Here are the details. Please share them as you see fit:
What: WWdN: Up4Poker Invitational Where:PokerStars. When: Friday, October 28th. 9:00 PM EST Password: monkey Tournament number: 14090593 Buy-in: $10+1
As
always, if you bust me out, you get naming rights for next week's game
. . . but I'm feeling lucky this week, so watch out for my raises. Hope
to see lots of you there!
Dniel Negreanu's reputation for fearless and aggressive play is legendary. Like Stu Unger before him, iel burst onto the poker scene when he was very young, and immediately ran over everyone who was foolish enough to give him position.
2004 was a big year for el, as he won Player of the Year honors from Cardplayer and ESPN, and took down countless tournaments, including the Bellagio Five Star Classic, the WPT Borgata, and a bracelet for limit hold'em in an obscure little tournament call the World Series of Poker.
Daniel's website, Fullcontactpoker.com, is one of the better pro-player sites on The Internets -- in fact, it may be the best. He writes an extremely honest and open blog called The Poker Journal, where he's just as likely to talk about playing Xbox all night with Erick Lindgren as he is to talk about the latest match in the Daniel Negreanu Challenge.
When I played in the WPT Hollywood Homegame, Daniel and Paul Darden were the pros on hand to offer advice and tutor the celebrity players. I immediately liked him, and he gave me great advice about avoiding the dreaded Dominated Hand, and the importance of position in NL games. I've been reading Daniel's articles in Cardplayer ever since, and though I play a more conservative game than he does (I'm trying to loosen up, I swear!) I still learn something new in every issue. I'll post an example later today.
(Disclaimer: I play for Team PokerStars, and helped organize this tournament.)
The first annual Blogger Championship at PokerStars is in the books, and what a fantastic tournament it was! Here is the final table, with links to their blogs and their prizes, courtesy of master blogger of the universe, Otis:
Otis wrote at The Official PokerStars blog,"Normally at this point I would write up a final table report, but this
tournament is all about the writers of the world, and I'm sure they can
tell this story better than I can."
And tell their story they have! In addition to the final tablers, the usual suspects in the poker blogging community have their recaps. Dr. Pauly, as you would expect, has a great write-up about the tourney on Tao of Poker, which includes a comprehensive list of well-known blogger bustouts.
Al Can't Hang and GRob from Upforpoker.com both had position on me at my table. These guys are good, and I lamented that, out of over 1400 players, I had to end up with both of them behind me. Oh well, at least Iggy wasn't there!
Poker Geek and Halverson made the money! Halverson's recap is here, but PokerGeek hasn't updated his blog, yet. Come on, Chris! Don't leave us hanging! and Poker Geek is here.
Derek won the unofficial (and undeclared, and prizeless) CardSquad last longer, when he finished in 259th. Joanne finished in 334th.
As for me? There are two hands that are worth recalling . . .
It's no secret that I am a huge fan and admirer of Dr. Pauly, who elevated live blogging to an art form at the 2005 WSOP.
I had such a great time live blogging the WCOOP and Katrina relief tournaments, I'm going to occasionally blog the WWdN Friday Game at PokerStars. Maybe I'll get to have an existentialist conversation with a stripper, just like the good doctor, too . . .
I sincerely hope that this game grows into some kind of event, with the same players returning to play against each other each week. I noticed that there was a lot of friendly chat and irreverent trash talking during the last game, which is something I don't find in random SNGs or MTTs. A big reason we play poker (well, a big reason I play poker, anyway) is that it is fun. And eleven bucks a week is a great price to pay for a whole lot of fun, if you ask me.
Moving on . . .
3:58 PM (all times Pacific) - There are 141 players registered! This is insanely cool, because earlier today there were just 28 players, and I worried that we wouldn't top last week's entry of 96, but now the final two tables will pay. I am seat 4 at table 2. Last week's runner-up whoisspain is in Seat 3!
4:00 PM - J3o is my first hand, I fold from first position and the flop comes J3. Damn!
4:05 PM - I just picked up a small pot from spain with pocket sixes. *whew* 1670 for me, average is 1500. Thebrux just dropped THE HAMMER!
4:08 PM - Thanks to late registration, we're up to 152 players. COOL!
4:12 PM - I just discovered that the blogfather himself, Iggy, is playing with us today. 4:13 PM - I just grabbed a pot when I rivered an ace against phunkdup. All further updates will be in extended.
Last week's inaugural WWdN Invitational at PokerStars was a blast for everyone, including final table appearances by CardSquad's own Derek and Joanne who of course went on outlast 95 entrants to win the whole damn thing and write a great series of posts about how she became a winning tournament player.
I've made a couple of changes to the tourney this week: the starting
time is a bit later, and the tourney is named in honor of Decker711 who
busted me out when my hammer bluff ran into his AK. (I had outs until
he flopped two pair. Yeah.) I think that I'll use that criteria to name
the tourneys, at least for the near future, unless someone can come up
with something better (like giving me piles of cash for the naming
rights, for instance)
Here are all the details. Feel free to pass them around to your friends and neighbors!
I
hope that the later starting time can accomodate a
few more players than last week. Remember that this is a semi-private
affair, open to anyone who knows the password is monkey.
The first WWdNPokerStars tourney was a great success, and a lot of fun for everyone who played. 96 players showed up, including several poker bloggers, and all three CardSquad contributors. Derek and Joanne both made the final table, which was pretty cool, considering that tomorrow is Derek's birthday.
Joanne knocked Derek out in 8th, after he lost a ton on the river, only to win it back the very next hand . . . on the river!
Finally, heads up against whereisspain, Joanne flopped top pair with K3s vs. QQ. She took home a cool $288 for her efforts.
I never really caught cards, and I went out in 55th after I made a terrible play that put me into short-stack mode. With 2.5 or so BB left, I pushed from EP with THE HAMMER (why not? It'd make a good story either way, right?) I ran into Decker711's AK. I was, uh, just a little behind, but I still had outs . . . until the flop came A-K-x. I was finished, and the next tournament is will be named WWdN: The Decker711 Invitational in his honor.
Dr. Pauly live blogged the whole thing, including the cash game we played after we busted out, where I repeatedly got kicked in the junk and obtained an incredible 500% tilt rating. You can read his report by clicking the link below.
Thank you to everyone who came out and played, and huge congratulations to Joanne, who outlasted a large and unpredictable field. I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to playing next week.
After playing tournaments every day for almost a month, and then hitting a terrible losing streak, I just wanted to walk away from poker for a bit. It's been a nice break, but I've recently started to get the itch to play again.
Anne and I went to Vegas yesterday for the opening of the new Blue Man Group show at Venetian (full review is coming soon -- short review: it's awesome). We stayed at Mirage, and though I was more interested in sitting with my wife than sitting at a poker table, walking past the poker room reminded me of how much I miss the damn game.
So, I think I'll get back on the horse with a WWdN semi-private tournament, this Friday afternoon. It's just a $10+1 buy-in, so it's affordable for most people. To come and play with me and other WWdN readers, sign up for PokerStars and then when you log in, go to Tourneys -> Private -> WWdN: Where's My Burrito? Invitational, or you can just search for tournament number 13722477. The tournament will happen on Friday the 14th at 4:00PM EST. I know this is a little early for West Coast players, but it should make it easier for international players to join us. The password is "monkey."
In easy-to-cut-and-paste-into-your-own-blog form:
What: WWdN Where's My Burrito? Invitational Where: PokerStars. When: Friday, October 14th. 4:00 PM EST Password: monkey Tournament number: 13722477 Buy-in: $10+1
This tournament is open to anyone who reads WWdN or WWdN:IE, or who happens to know that the password is monkey, including poker bloggers and cardsquad readers. :)
It should be fun, a nice warm-up to the PokerStars Blogger Tourney, and if enough people show up (and enjoy it, of course) I will make it a weekly event, with the time (and buy-in) rotating to accomodate everyone who wants to play. As an added incentive, I'll name the next tournament after the player who knocks me out.
I know two days is short notice, but I hope lots of you can make it. I'll be sure to give more notice for future tourneys.
The Main Event of the 2005 WSOP began airing on ESPN this week, and my friend Chris The Poker Geek has created some an absolutely hilarious-because-it's-true series of WSOP over/unders at his blog Chicks Dig Poker Geeks.
For example: - Arguments shown involving a Floorman: 2.5 - Arguments shown involving a Floorman involving Annie Duke: 2.5 - Televised hands that Phil Hellmuth loses and whines: 8 - Shots of Tobey Maguire: 4 - Shots of Shannon Elizabeth: Never Enough
What do you think of ESPN's coverage of the WSOP? I'm not that impressed. Segments like The Nuts and the player profiles add entertainment value
to the show, and I think it's fair to trade some playing time for those
features, but I think they manufacture unnecessary drama between players, at the expense of letting the audience really get into the way hands play out, which is often dramatic enough on its own. I mean, would you rather see Hellmuth freak out again, or giggle as Matusow drops an F bomb, or would you rather watch TJ or Raymer outplay someone (possibly one of them?)
Lon McEachern and Norman Chad seem like genuinely nice guys, but their commentary just isn't that good. "He can not lose unless he folds" just isn't insightful. Phil Gordon can talk circles around these guys, and he's commenting on bullshit celebrity players. Can you imagine what Phil would be able to do if he was commenting on world class players? Why can't ESPN find someone equally insightful for the biggest event of the year? Gabe Kaplan kicked all sorts of ass when he was doing it way back when, and though he certainly doesn't need the money (he's been cashing like a madman recently) I'd certainly like to welcome him back.
I can't believe I just said that. Sorry, Gabe. I'm going to sign off, now.
You can read the rest of Chris' list in the link below, and feel free to add your own in comments here.
I get bored very easily, and I hate waiting for things. To that end, I've always carried something with me to occupy my mind while I stand in line, or wait for my Mongolian Barbecue, or whatever. For years, I always kept a book with me, but that kept me limited to pocket-sized paperbacks. Then I traded up to an iPod, loaded up with audiobooks, then podcasts. That was less limiting, but lacked the hands-on goodness of a book.
Then came the "Get it Now" feature on my Verizon cell phone, which brought Pac-Man, Tetris, and a little game called Downtown Texas Hold-Em with me wherever I went.
I'm not the only person who wants to play virtual cards regardless of location. There are countless poker games available for cell phones, including games where you play against other people, and games where you just play against the computer opponents.
A company called Kyak Interactive has partnered with Verizon to bring some of the most famous pros to ever sit behind a massive chipstack to Get It Now enabled phones, with a game that is based upon the popular Fox Sports tournament, Poker Superstars. Players will create their own avatar and profile, and compete against computerized versions of legendary players like Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. The game features an adaptive AI to keep play challenging, and according to Poker News, "The game also delivers a number of personalization features that make
the game-play more realistic, including Auto Buddy Match, In-game chat,
a Hall of Fame; player rankings, ratings, and access to public and
private rooms."
Kyak makes the laughable claim that this is "the ultimate all-star Texas Hold'em experience," but at $3.99 it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying into the WSOP.
Last Call Poker is an alternate reality game, which is built around a free online poker site.
At first glance, this appears to just be another poker site, and not a very good one at that . . . but if you dig a little bit deeper, you'll find a ton of spooky and interesting things. A boingboing reader says, "After filling out a profile and playing poker for a few minutes, you start getting phone calls, emails and [have] strange images show up on you screen. There seems to be quite a bit of story hidden within the site including movies (with ex-child star Todd Bridges--better known as Willis from 'Diff'rent Strokes'), audio segments, and live poker games played at cemeteries around the country (using the tombstones as cards)."
It will be interesting to see if Last Call Poker captures the imagination and attention of the existing online poker community — that may not even be their intention. I've created a profile there, so I'll give it a try, and if there's anything worth reporting, I'll follow up in a future post.
"Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more"
-Some obscure English guy
Tonight, we will play our final Katrina Relief Tournament over at PokerStars. So far, PokerStars has joined over 3000 players to raise over 72,000 dollars for victims in the Gulf Coast. When we tally up our final numbers tonight, we expect to be well over $110,000! Not bad at all, especially when you consider that when I had this idea two weeks ago, I hoped to make $5,000 for the Red Cross. Wow.
Each tournament has been incredibly fun for all involved, and the jovial comraderie at each table is a ncie counterpoint to the serious competetition going on in the World Championship of Online Poker, just a few (virtual) feet away.
So far, each player who busted me out has made the final table, which means that the road to victory leads right through me, baby! Our final tables have featured longtime readers of my blog at WIL WHEATON dot NET, and some of the most respected poker bloggers on The Internets. I hope that our final tournament is as good as all the rest.
6:30 PM - Cards are out. I am the only live player at table 27. 6:37 PM - Flops seen: 0. Hands won without showdown: 36.
Tonight is Katrina Relief tournament number three over at PokerStars. I thought I wouldn't live blog last night's game, and I busted in a lousy 115th place. So I'm back to live blogging it tonight.
6:29 PM (all times PDT) - I am seat one at table fifteen.
6:30 PM - Cards are in the air.
6:31 PM - Ha! I'm the only player at my table! "These guys are so tight, it's like they're not even in their seats." I said. Haw. Haw. Haw.
6:33 PM - I just dropped THE HAMMER. Big deal, because nobody was there. Sweet. Updates will be in extended.
In just fifteen minutes, the first of four tournaments for Hurricane Katrina relief, with proceeds benefitting the American Red Cross, will begin.
I wrote about it on my own blog this morning, but in case you missed it, here's part of it:
But you're not really playing for the $1.70 $20.22 (which could be used as an entry into the $20 tourney on Wednesday . . . I'm just sayin') or whatever is in there;
you're playing because PokerStars is matching all the entries,
dollar-for-dollar, so your $5.00 is actually worth $10.00 (I'm pretty
sure they're rounding up.) You're also playing for some awesome prizes:
If you bust me, you'll get an autographed book. If you make the final
table, you'll also get an autographed book. Other members of Team
PokerStars, like Greg Raymer, Isabelle Mercier, Evlyn Ng, Chris
Moneymaker, and Tom McEvoy are also giving up various prizes, and so is
Lee Jones. I don't have those details, but I'm sure Otis will.
<Update!> Here are the prizes for tonight:
1-3: autographed Chris Moneymaker biography
4-5: autographed Tom McEvoy books
6-9: autographed Evelyn Ng posters
So I don't know about you guys, but I'm totally playing for 6th place. ;) </Update!>
Right now, there are just over 2000 people registered for tonight's tourney. Math is hard, but I think that means just over $20,000 will be going to the American Red Cross, from tonight's tournament alone.
I am extremely proud, and grateful to be part of this, and I just want
to thank everyone who is playing, the whole crew at PokerStars for
setting this up, and especially my awesome wife, Anne, who suggested
that I ask PokerStars if they'd match whatever went into my "little
charity tournament." You guys are all rockstars.
Live blogging will commence in extended, as soon as the tourney begins.
Last night, I played a SNG on PokerStars with PokerGeek, and though I played very solid poker most of the way down, I made two rookie mistakes that cost me everything.
Just a reminder that The Friday Game at 
Dniel Negreanu's reputation for fearless and aggressive play is legendary. Like Stu Unger before him, iel burst onto the poker scene when he was very young, and immediately ran over everyone who was foolish enough to give him position.
(Disclaimer: I play for 
It's no secret that I am a huge fan and admirer of 
Last week's 
The first 
(
The Main Event of the 2005 WSOP began airing on ESPN this week, and my friend Chris The Poker Geek has created some an absolutely hilarious-because-it's-true series of WSOP over/unders at his blog 
I get bored very easily, and I hate waiting for things. To that end, I've always carried something with me to occupy my mind while I stand in line, or wait for my Mongolian Barbecue, or whatever. For years, I always kept a book with me, but that kept me limited to pocket-sized paperbacks. Then I traded up to an iPod, loaded up with audiobooks, then podcasts. That was less limiting, but lacked the hands-on goodness of a book. 
Last Call Poker is an 
"Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more" 
Tonight is 
In just fifteen minutes, the first of four tournaments for Hurricane Katrina relief, with proceeds benefitting the American Red Cross, will begin.
