Jay Geeeee pokuh party

Rolled into a game i've been meaning to check out since i heard about it a coupla weeks ago. Grouch and Fisher from Camp Hold'em have all sat in and told me it was a good time with good peeps.

Well, they weren't lyin'. The JG guys and gals truly love playin' the old pokuh. You can see it in there faces and hear the excitement in the room.

The room was packed and the action wuz fast.

Me? Bubbled twice but had lotsa fun.

Another game in the old back pocket. Thanks guys.

Table Image, Time, and Barbie's Jedi Mind Trick

Man, I love talkin' to Skip, my road warrior homie from the drrty souf. We always manage to get all intellekchul on poker stuff. Had a convo yesterday on table image, and how you can exploit it, as well as how you can be exploited. Talked about playing styles and how long it takes to establish an image based on your style, and be confident enough to use peoples' perceptions of you to your advantage.

We talked about "switching gears"; adjusting to different table or game textures. Tight game? Play it a certain way. Loosey goosey, play a certain way. Maniacal? Get drunk and let the dice roll.

Or do we start out tight and loosen up? Or vice versa? Confuse the heck outta the poor suckas who laid their money down?

Well, it ain't that easy, IMO. There's no formula to profitable poker. There is a "feel" to profitable poker, an intuition, a "force", that grooves a person. But it takes time to get there. I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm there yet, but I believe I'm beginning to sniff around the edges of that nirvana.

Must be the diao gung.

We're all aware of just how looong it really takes to play poker. I'm not talkin' bout 36-hour marathon sessions, I'm talkin' bout poker "careers". It takes a long time (and lotsa money) to learn the rudiments, a long time to get comfy in uncomfortable scenarios, a long time to face the multitude of situations you need to face to be comfy at the felt.

And the continuous learning component of the game is, of course, a lifelong exercise.

It also takes a real long time let your adequate bankroll (see a few posts below) do its work and start to beat the variance that a random shuffle brings into the game, and the very unpredictable nature of playing tables with strangers, novices, fish, sharks, dudes with shades, dudes with guns.

It takes a long time to establish a credible table image and to work the people you play with into pidgeonholing you into a category. "Nick's tight-aggresive", or "Nick's tight-weak", or "Nick's a loose cannon and not only will he reraise my 5xBB raise with (his) garbage, but he'll also bust out his glock if I try to reraise him".

You can't announce these tags. You can't label yourself. You can't just put on a T-Shirt that says, "I play just like Doyle" and expect people to believe you. You just gotta play a certain way for a buncha time against a buncha people, and word'll get around.

What's the point? I humbly believe beginning players (which I used to arbitrarily define as those who've played fewer than 500 "thinking" hands of real money poker, but which I now arbitrarily define as those who've played under 1000 such hands) ought to consistently stick to a naturally comfortable style before trying, in one session, to flip a switch from Hansen mode to Andy Bloch mode. You can, and it'll be fun (if you know what the hell you're doing), but it won't be psychologically effective and credible enough to earn you big profits.

Case in point. I was watching my wife, Barbie, play an online SNG yesterday. Barb plays on 1 site regularly, and has spent the last six months at an average of 6 hours a day cultivating a particular image on that site, with the people she regularly plays. That image was full-on Rock. Tighter than a convent. Only played the nuts. Only showed down monsters and high percentage hands. Well, she's always been aware that style would only eke out a small profit or only break even long term. But she's now switched it up, and is getting full value for her six month investment.

Here's an analyzable hand.

Table: NL Holdem SNG, 6 players remaining, Stakes 50/100

Barbie: 3-3 in the BB
Dude Barbie Owned (DBO): KK in mid

2 limpers, coupla folds

DBO min-raises.

Barbie calls min-raise with her 3-3, hoping to hit a set.

1 limper calls.

rest fold

Flop: 6-6-4

Barbie leads out for T200.

last limper folds

DBO: Raises to T400

Without batting a virtual eyelash, Barbie reraises all-in, committing all her chips, cuz DBO had her covered.

DBO pauses, and types in the chatbox:

"ahh...barbie - you didn't wanna do that"

Barb types (quickly-she already had this pre-typed, I bet)

"you're facing the very worst pp your Big Pair can face"

He thinks some more, and folds, saying, "gotta lay down my kings to your sixes", or something like that.

Barb mucks.

I hit her up immediately on MSN, asking her if she really had the sixes. She tells me she had threes.

She used her jedi mind trick to make buddy fold with KK, when he had her destroyed. Her 3-3 now became a damn profitable hand.

That move would not have been possible without 6 months of image cultivation. That guy was convinced she had the quad sixes. He wouldn't have layed down to me, or you.

Table image cultivation takes time. Lots of time. You have to invest money and foregone profits. But when you're established and labeled in the minds of your opponents, you can make big money with 3-3 against KK. You'll no longer need the computer to blow up the Death Star.

Barb, you have strong kung fu. I'm forever your apprentice.

Game Selection...

Sorry, but i just gotta write about something i've been thinking about. If you find this getting boring, go HERE for some brainless fun. How do they do that?

Lotsa games now. I've said that before. I'm a happy camper. But how does one choose his/her games when there are options galore.

Well, here's my selection criteria, if any of the four of you care:

1. Game: Well, looks like my only steady choice right now is NL Holdem tourney style. When the ring games pop up, and they will, you can bet I'll be there. Gimme a stud game too, please.

2. Stakes/Limits: Won't play above my bankroll. But you already know that. If i'm playing limit, i'll need 150-200 times the big bet in my roll and a lotta hours available. If NL or PL, i'll sit with 10 buy-ins in my pocket...

3. Player makeup: i'd rather play with a melange(French Word of the Day) of novices, fish, and more seasoned, talented players. All pros? No, cuz i'll be the fish. All novices? Prolly won't sit, cuz I'll likely get schooled outta my 10 buy-ins.

4. Time: For a cash game, I'll wanna have at least six hours available to play, to withstand those nasty swings.

5. Location: Closer to home is better, or a regular destination that doesn't change so my travel costs don't vary much and I can build it into my getting there costs.

6. Rake: Cuz I fight the rake as a playuh, it's gotta be reasonable and beatable. Again, cash game. But tourney fees count here too.

Note that most of the home games don't rake yet, but we do pay rake when we bring beer and stuff. Also, as the scene progresses, you'll see more rake in various forms. In fact, Beer Match raked his game last Sat. Which I totally agree with BTW.

This is why I want a cardroom. Steady location, available game at my convenience, various games and limits spread to fit my bankroll, time available, and temperament.

Here's to the future...

Chi Power

Didn't play last night. Why? Tired, exhausted, had a fever. I'll attribute it to too many long days gettin' up at 7ish am, working, then playing pokuh till 2am or so.

That right there is some unsustainable shit.

So I got to thinkin' how I could deal with this. I have a coupla' hours available after work, so I can do something physical to get in better shape. Yeah, that's it, a healty body is a well-tuned poker machine.

So what can I do. Did the research. Thought about martial arts so not only would I be able to bluff reraise you off a huge pot, but I'd also be able kick yo ass if you bitch about it. Who am I kidding.

Then I found this ARTICLE.

You must read the above article to go further into this post.

I had to read it 3 times and check the site to make sure it wasn't a joke.

They're serious, brothers and sisters...

These Diao Gung guys work out by strapping up to 100KG (220lbs) of weights with their (ok, this is a family site...)weenies. Their johnsons. Their Zelong Dongs (see 2000 posts below).

WTF...that's some strong kung fu...that there's the real kung fu hustle. They say it's channeled chi power. I say it's fucking insane.

They're goin' for the world record by getting 20 of the homeboys, the grasshoppers, to pull a Boeing 747 with their cocks. This I gotta see. Or maybe not.

Especially love the following passage:

After the chi gung workout, a diao gung specific warm-up is also necessary. It begins by massaging and stretching the genitals, followed by beating the muscles of the arms, legs and torso with wooden paddles. "It really gets the chi flowing," said Wang.

Sounds a little homoerotically suspicious, if you ask me. And note the guy being interviewed's name is Wang. Can life get any more amusing? No.

I gotta find a teacher. Can't wait to put this on my resume under "hobbies".

Ship it.

A Tale of Two Bankrolls: A Poker Parable

Bobby was a bust-a-nut kwazy pokuh playuh who knew all the games in town, all the fish in town, and played nightly. Bobby could play...Bobby could bob and weave on the felt. He was in the zone 9 times outta 10. He was a talented bastard.

Bobby could read any player - any player at all - like a billboard on Edsa.

Bobby was gonna go pro, dammit.

Pepe was a student of the game. Saw it on TV, like many others, and had a poker playing dad. Pepe was studious. Pored over the books, spent many hours trolling the net. Pepe played lots. I mean lots. Almost as much as Bobby.

Pepe wasn't a raw, tiger-woods-like talent. Pepe didn't take the huge pots down. Pepe held his own.

If Bobby was a superstar, Pepe was a grinder.

Bobby played with his salary. His rent money. Played with every penny he got. Bobby was good - did i say that already? - he was taking all his games down. He was doubling up.

Pepe saved 10% of his paycheck every two weeks. He put half of that in the bank, and 5% of that in his poker roll. Pepe never touched his roll except to stake himself. The money he made off his roll, he spent. Bought shit. A shirt here, a movie there. All good. Of course, he kept 10% of his profits to bulk up his roll.

Pepe and Bobby played a lotta games together in the early days, cuz like I said, Bobby knew all the playuhs. Low stakes - like all early games are. Bobby took most of 'em down. Pepe took some of them down. Went home with shirt and movie money.

Months passed. Thousands got into the scene. There were 4 games instead of 1 every night. Bobby was in heaven. Pepe was pleased.

Bobby met some big gamblers learning the game. They liked to play the big stakes. They liked action. Bobby liked his chances. He reeled in the fish. He partied all night long. Bought tequila, bought chicks. He invited Pepe to the bigger games.

Pepe looked at his roll. He declined. Kept playing the old stakes. Kept buying shirts and seeing movies.

Bobby found more big fish. Friends of the other fish. Bigger stakes. Cars and shit. Bobby bought in for the biggest-ass ring game he ever played. He figured they were fish, which meant more tequila and women.

Bobby got sucked out on. Bad beats. It was a big school of fish in a deep, deep financial ocean. The variance monster hit. Bobby busted his roll (well, the part that didn't get pissed away on Cuervo and chicks)and was broke in a night. Couldn't pay his rent. Couldn't buy gas. But he didn't need to, cuz he lost his car that night anyway.

Bobby had to grind back to his first roll. But he lost his edge, lost some steam. Lost the chicks.

Pepe ground it out a little longer at the lower limits. In a year he was playing the fish. But he never busted his roll. He tamed the variance monster.

Bobby owes Pepe about 100K.

____________________________

Why did I write this? Cuz I see this happening now. More players. Deeper pockets. Bigger games. Temptation. I see some guys getting sucked into uncomfortable stakes.

I'll never play above my roll. No matter how good I think I am. If I decline your buy-in, you'll know why. I won't be ashamed to tell you I can't afford it.

How you gonna find out about the games when you can't pay your celphone bill?

Read about bankroll management. Use google profusely.

You'll thank google. You'll have a lot of shirts. You'll keep your car, you'll pay your rent. And you'll keep playing poker.

Ship it.

JR, JR, and the Mad Capper

Took a break from the game yesterday...seems Sundays are my poker sabbath.

But I did play some mighty interesting poker over in Forbes on Saturday night. 1st was a 10-handed SNG for a decent buy-in. Busted in 5th when my shortstack all in on a Q-high flush draw was thumped resoundingly by quad 3s. Great game to Joey the Beach, and Beer Match, who played a great heads-up game that went so long a doob had to get sparked, two cases of san mig lights were consumed, and a lot of cash changed hands at the side table. Beer Match took it. GG.

Speaking of the side table, I ran up against a maniac among maniacs, a real funny guy named JR. On a side-table side note, I met and played with three different guys named JR this week. hmmmm....

This JR I'll call the Mad Capper. Never seen a guy move all in on so many hands in a night, and yanking wins at the last moment. Dunno what his final tally was, but he managed to keep my bad beat run alive with the following hand:

Me: BB Kd6d
Mad Capper: 1st position raises to 2x BB dark

all fold but 1 caller. I cold call. Not my blind you don't, not this time, bro ;)

Flop: 3d,5d,8c (or something like that, giving me the flush draw and a gutshot, 12 outs, +3 more to pair my K cuz I know this guy ain't drawing to a pair bigger than K)

Capper checks, caller checks, i bet the pot.

Mad Capper calls, other dude folds.

Turn: Ks

now top pair and very much improved. I know i have the capper beat. I move in

What does he do? He calls. Of course.

I turn my hand over.

He shows me Qc5c (or something like that. He called my flop pot bet and turn jam with his 5 paired). I smile.

River: Qs

He takes the pot down with 2 pair. LOL

Story of my week.

Don't get me wrong. Capper's a great guy, funny as hell. I just rolled out that hand history to show you how my week's gone. As if you care.

But this blog is mine, this doggone blog is mine (homage to the recently acquitted).

Ship it.

Tournament Announcement - July 9

This is gonna be short.

This is gonna be sweet.

A55 Alabang is holding our third NL Holdem Tourney on Saturday, July 9, beginning at 4pm.

Why 4pm? Cuz we want everyone to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

Actually, it's because it's being held in a hotel, and the function room needs to be made available for a wedding the next day. Hehehe.

Maxplayers 50. 1st come 1st served. If you wanna secure your seat, hit me up asap so i can reserve.

Gonna be a good venue. And an even better time.

We're gonna pump the pot a little with a bigger buyin. As always, hit me with a comment on this blog for info, including financials, location, etc.

Peace out.

Pocket Pool? - Played with a great buncha guys last night. And yep, played on a billiard table. Nice. Speshul thanks to Kermit and Kerwin for the hospitality and for interruptin' the 9-ball action goin on when we showed up. Made some cheddar last night. Back on the old profit trail... 

The Actualization of a Human Being...

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow published his famous Hierarchy of Needs, positing the taxonomy of motivations that drive humans throughout their lives. Great framework for understanding what makes us all tick, except for the pathological bastards like me.

We all have (from basic to most actualized):

1. Physiological needs: we all gotta eat, shit and sleep
2. Security: that's what the bars on your windows, car alarms, and guards at your subdivision gates are for
3. Belonging needs: all you country club members have this little nut cracked
4. Love needs: that's your problem
5. Self-esteem needs: yeah, buddy, you're cool, man. I wanna hang witchoo twenny fo' sevuhn
6. Self expression needs: remember when you yanked yer cocked Glock on that jeepney driver who cut you off the other day? Dude, that bitch wuz scurred.
7. Intellectual needs: Reading this blog takes care of that....heheheh
8. Spiritiual needs: Singles for Christ isn't just for picking up chicks
9. Self Actualization: The Holy Grail. You have all you want. Damn.

AND....

10. POKER NEEDS: The luxury of being able to play poker when you want and where you want.

This is why all civilized nations on earth have cardrooms (see 10,000 posts previous).

No cardrooms yet, so we all gotta roll around town to different houses. Well, guess what. My poker needs are beginning to be met. Played 12 days of the last 14. Played again last night in Forbes, at Mark from Camp Hold'em's house. 13-handed.

Winnuhs:

1. Ian "you're soooo money baby, and you don't even know it" S.
2. Ken "Beer match" S.
3. Paolo (nickname to follow)
4. Rocky

Met a buncha cool guys. Lost money.

But the cool guys I met just invited me to a game tonight.

Poker needs baby.

Ship it.

In the House of the MAN...

Interesting day yesterday.

MJ was acquitted. Man, guys with dual-initial names ending with "J" seem to get away with a lot. Y'all can call me NJ at the poker tables from now on.

Didn't think i was gonna find a a game till I got the call from the old Ace, who invited us over to his place. I wanted to go play some 7Stud High hands to get ready for the casino tourney on the 2nd.

Well, we wound up playing NL Holdem. LOL...what wuz I thinkin!

Wound up dumping about a week's worth of winnings. But I did get to meet Ace's dad.

And yes, as I suspected, he is officially the MAN.

Cool as a san mig light. 4-bets garbage. 4-bets the nuts. Has the look of a guy who just heard the funniest joke ever told and chooses not to share it with anybody. The very picture of unfazeable smoooothness. The guy is a baby's bottom.

Met two of the kids too, Jack and Queen. They too seem to have grabbed all of the MAN's cool gene.

And the MAN has a deal with the pokuh gods. I know it. They probably get 10% of his action. Want proof? Here:

So I find myself real short after dumbass move after dumbass move. Really my worst performance in the last 5 months. I was outgrooved by the MAN's groove.

House calls final orbit, cuz it's almost 2am.

So i say, "Straddle!" and post 2x BB pre-deal in 1st position.

Deal gives me Q8o. Folded to me (i think). I check, the MAN calls my straddle, pitboss moves his significant stack in. Folded to me.

I flip my remaining pittance into the middle.

The MAN cold calls Pitboss's jam. Man this guy's got jam.

We show:

The Man: 10d6d
Pitboss: KK

Flop pairs my 8 and pairs the Man's 10.

Turn's a blank. We all have outs.

Pitboss has that shit-eatin' grin on his face i know so well.

Dealer pitches the river to the MAN, who peels like he's playin baccarat.

He announces, "It's a Queen". I smile. He flips it ovuh. It's a 6. Howls all around. Pitboss retracts his arms already cocked and ready to scoop.

But the MAN doesn't howl. He knew it all along.

GG. Gonna invite him for a guest appearance on wannabe pro tips.

SKIP big winner. Ace big winner.

Tourney announcements real soon.

WSOP Update - Leonidas takes 2nd

From Cardplayer

Limit Hold 'em

Buy-in $2,000
Total Prize Pool $1,046,940
Number of Entries 569 Players
Number of Rebuys 0 Rebuys
Number of Add-ons 0 Add-ons

Reza Payvar finally prevailed after what seemed like an eternity at the table. At one point in the evening, Tournament Director Jack Effel announced over the loud speaker, "We have all officially lost our minds." Apparently Payvar didn't lose his, and for keeping his wits about him, he will take home $303,610 in prize money, and the gold bracelet. Runner up Todo Leonidas wins $160,185 for his effort. Reza Payvar is the new $2,000 Buy-In Limit Hold'em Champion.

The final hand went like this:

Todo Leonidas raised to $40,000 preflop. Payvar reraised to $60,000, and Leonidas reraised all in. Payvar showed the Ah-9h, and Leonidas showed Qd-5h. The flop came Jd-9c-4s. Payvar hits middle pair, and Leonidas now needs a queen or runner-runner straight, or runner-runner fives for the win. The turn is the 2d, and the river the 7s. Payvar's nines hold on, and he takes home the cash and the hardware.

Leonidas is the REAL DEAL, YO! 569 players. Audience. 4 hour 3-way. WTF?!?! Great job.

I'm tellin ya, it's all about the Women, man...It's about the Sistahs, bro

As I type this I'm feverishly hitting refresh on both cardplayer.com and Pokertrails monitoring the heads-up action at the WSOP $2000.00 NL Holdem.

Heads-up:

Eric Seidel

vs.

Cyndy Violette

Here we go again. Don't know what the testosterone to estrogen ratio was at this event, but i'd say it was, as usual, huge. Here we have another woman at the final table.

So in the last 2 weeks: Liz Lieu 1500 NL Holdem, 5th place = won 168K+, Cyndy Violette (match JUST ended) took 2nd, winning $295,970.

And of course, Joanna I. took 2nd at this past Saturday's Belair Classic.

I'm tellin' ya...gonna start a local women's team. Lemme know if you wanna sign up. Only criterion is no protruding genitalia. And tuckin your shit back behind your ass don't count.

We can call it the Poker Filipinas (hmmm...was i planning this all along? NO!)

On another note:

A Poker Filipino is rippin' it up at the Limit Holdem tourney at WSOP. Toto Leonidas is in the final three. Guaranteed $83,755.00.

Yeah baby...

POST SCRIPT: The Grouch from Camp Hold'em has been leaving comments on this site. Thanks bro. Do y'all know what that means? I now have 4 readers! I'm a fuckin' media empire.

Wannabe Pro tip #1: In a tourney, you never want your opponents to be aware of your stack. Obscure your stack with a celphone, smokes, an ashtray.

Stuff the biggest denomination chips down the front of your pants, the second biggest denomination down the back. If you need 'em, pretend to scratch your crotch or ass. This is because if you're reaching for the big chips, you have the NUT HAND. If second biggest, you're on a near nut hand.
 

Belair Classic

There are few things in my life that are certain. But there are some certainties I just can't deny. Here are a few:

1. I love my family deeply;

2. The Corrs are and always will be annoying;

3. O.J. and M.J. are guilty;

4. You nevuh, evuh open-raise bluff preflop while shortstacked in 2nd position when you're betting into a shorter-stack limper and a big stack loose-aggressive type in level 6 or 7 of a multi-table tourney.

By virtue of my violation of number four (4) above, I busted out in 13th. Nice...didn't even get to deploy the LOOK (see two posts previous).

The tourney was a blast. 37 players. Well-run. Met lotsa new people. Great play.

From A55:

Results are foggy and uncertain. I'm sure the FAPA guys are gonna give us the offical info...

me
pitboss (14th)
jenny v
jj d
jun jun I (5th)
Joanna I. (joee d' mom) (2nd!!!!)
Ace
Skip

As my story in this one is inconsequential, i wanna talk about the husband and wife team of Jun and Joee. You guys did great. Hope the rest of can live up to your performance one day.

Joee - wow. Dunno what to say. The very picture of composure and table intelligence. And how in the living @$%%^^ did you make those reads on those big stacks betting hard into you? Please come out and play more. congratulations. We're all prooouuuddd. I dunno what it is about women. Must be something.

Oh, I found an article on this topic. I agree.

There's definitely a PhD thesis in there somewhere.

THANK YOU, SALAMAT, MERCI, DANKE, GRACIAS....to the FAPA guys.

Can you dig it?

OK. Tourney day. T-10 hours. Preparations in full swing.

Doubled up my tourney affirmation by MSNing my 11-year old daughter in Canada. Made her type, "Daddy, you're smooooooth ass" into the chat box 80 times.

It's in my head.

Thwarted in one respect though, wanted a custom shirt made, so i rolled into the silkscreen place at the mall. Asked the girl to put This on a Fruit of the Loom. She looked at it with a pained, bewildered expression, and asked me what a fruit of the loom was. I knew then i was in trouble. Anyhoo, she said it would take 3 days. Typical Philippines. Next tourney. Maybe the Poker King Challenge at the casino.

So there...

On to the next thing. I think about how good this is gonna be, win or lose, cuz a lot of different groups are in attendance.

Now look what we have here before us. We have A55 from Alabang. The FAPA guys from the Northern Metro; the bros from Camp Hold'em. We've got the Saracens sitting next to the Jones Street Boys. We've got The Moonrunners, right by The Van Cortlandt Rangers. Nobody is wasting nobody. That is a miracle, and miracles, is the way things ought to be.

CAN YOU DIG IIIIIIT.

if you haven't seen The Warriors, sorry. You're missin' half your life.

Cyrus is another of my heros, coming in a close second to John Malkovich, just so you know.

Can't wait to play and meet new gangstas.

Oh, and we played in Forbes last night - at Ken's place. Pitboss won. Book report next.

Pre-Tourney Regimen

The Belair Classic is upon us. Been preparing since 8:00am. For those of you that are curious, and just need to know, I'm happy to share my pre-tourney regimen.

One day before tourney:

8:00am - wake up after hitting snooze on the alarm for the 26th time, go to the bathroom, lean one hand against the wall - urinate at a near-45 degree angle. You guys out there know how hard it is to empty your bladder in our morning...er...condition.

8:01am - Walk up to mirror and do affirmations. "I'm smart enough, smooooth enough, and won't be moved off a big pot with middle pair shitty kicker". Repeat 80 times.

8:05am - Breakfast: 6 Raw eggs, a mango, barako, and a sanmig light

8:15am - brush teeth (and tongue), slam a prozac, slide on the speedo jogging shorts, walk up and down the block (not around it, just up and down) 4 times. 4 jumping jacks.

8:30am - feed dog, give her water.

9:00am - Go to work. Do nuthin but practice my smooooth-ass, I've-done-this-a-million-times-before-and-you're-fuckin-right-I-just-reraised-yer-AA-with-82o. Call, bitch, look.

10:00am-practice above Look in front of my staff, who all concur that it's a damn good look and remind me it's salary day on Tuesday.

11:30am - 3:30pm - short lunch. Sashimi special from that place on Roxas Boulevard, 3 san mig lights. OK, 4. It was hot.

3:30pm - 6:00pm - Back to work. Tweak the look to perfection. Browse optical shop for cheap shades. No luck. Nothing within my budget of PHP50.

6:00pm - san mig light

6:02pm - another san mig light

6:30pm - Light Dinner: salad, 1 thiiiin slice roast beef with no fat on it, a mango, san mig light.

7:00pm - watch rounders

9:00pm - download WPT, EPT, and WSOP final table videos...watch those.

12:00am - Affirmations, "I'm smooooth ass. Y'all gonna feeeel mah shit at the tables. Every hand is AA when it's in my hands"...repeat 32 times.

Tournament Day regimen tomorrow....

Stay tuned.

WSOP and a little LOL for some RnR

Geek that I am, I'm keepin' tabs on the WSOP in full swing right now at the Rio in Vegas.

Major piece of news early in the event: Toto Leonidas from California, but originally from Bacolod City, is in the top 50 in the $1000.00 NL Holdem Rebuy.

This guy's a real pro...having won the 2003 7-Stud High tourney (98K +), and moneying many, many times. Cheering this guy on...

But there're some INTERESTING names at the Rio...some real playuhs in the field:

A guy named Zelong Dong (no joke)
A dude named Wing Wong (again, i'm not kidding)
Some player named Bich Nguyen
Probably unrelated to the Bich, but sportin' a cool name nonetheless, Phuoc Nguyen

and of course...

Dan Druff

Nuff Said

Southern Hospitality

Restaurant games RAWK. Why? I don't have to lug san mig lights into a house (them bad boys can get heavy). I can order them and someone brings them to me. I can also get food.

JJ d' Duke scrounged a game together last night - thanks bro - I was starting to twitch.

We played in an Italian restaurant in the Southern Metro area. 7-handed. SNG. Met some real cool guys. GG.

AND SKIP TOOK IT DOWN! JJ second. Joey the Beach rounded out the money. Et Moi? Out early.

The Pitboss, however, has graduated in my eyes after successfully executing the greatest laydown I've seen on Philippine shores. It went like this:

I'm lookin down at JJ in the SB preflop. Raise it up 5x BB. Folded to the pitboss, who min-reraises me. Big Ace down to TT is the range I have him on. I probe his hand with a reraise. He calls. Now I have him on the danger range, QQ-KK, cuz AA would have set me all-in. I know I'm huge a dog at this point (did I tell you I know this guy well?). Flop hits Q-Blank-J. Major trouble for my set. I check. Pitboss bets out T200. Now I have him (correctly) on KK. Or perhaps value-betting his QQ? I decide to gambool and push. Buddy is now thinkin hard. Long. Starin me down, dowwwwn, doooowwwwwn. Then folds, flipping over KK.

Why is this important to impart? Cuz I've nevuh, evuh seen anybody in this great town lay da cowboys down. Never. He had me read right. He layed 'em down. NICE MOVE.

Lost two big pots to JJ (the guy, not the hand), who rivered his gutshot, and later paired his little card on 5th street against my AK calling him down when neither of us had a thing.

The Beach took me out of my misery when he hit his flush out of the SB against my top pair push (short, short stack).

Skip played a niiiice, solid waiting game, switched gears nicely at the right times, and played a good mathematical heads-up game. Nice job.

Great meeting Dito, Oliver (from Vancouver!) and Mon.

Who's hookin one up tonight?

Tournament Poker vs. Cash Games

All that follows, as always, is in my humble, san mig light-addled opinion.

Question: Why is almost every game I play locally a tourney? Either a SNG or a MTT?

Answer(s): Television; and a distant 2nd, the chance to parlay a comparatively small buy-in into a large payday, and limited time (rapidly escalating blinds make poker one big quickie, don't they?).

My writing is too parenthetical.

TV: The World Poker Tour hit the Philippine shores (thanks again, Sportsplus, from the bottom of my black heart)and introduced us all to big stakes tourney poker. TV made tourney players superstars. There they all are, pushing big chips around, wearing trendy clothes, designer wraparounds. We all wanna be just like them...the stuff that dreams are made of...

Small stake - big payoff: Self explanatory

Cool. Fun. One day, some kid in Glorietta's gonna spot you and ask for an autograph, and you'll hand him a signed chip. You'll wink at him and go buy that plasma tv.

But allow me to make a point. Well, a request, really.

Let's play more cash games.

Why?

Read this.

And...this is me now, tourneys are volatile. And ultimately can become expensive (I'm assuming at least one of the three of you who read this blog play poker for profit). For pastime poker players, the excitement factor may be the primary motivation.

There is some wisdom out there that says a tourney player, assuming s/he is good, will money 1 in 10 times, with the tenth paying for the previous 9 and covering the extra rake of travel, hotels, meals, gas, etc. OK, we're not flying around playing, but we are driving, paying tolls, buying beer, buying some more beer. Figure this all into your cost of doing business. That there shit adds up.

If you're playing SNGs (Sit and Gos, or single table tourneys), you'll wanna money 1 in 4 times. Preferably in 2nd or 3rd, where the bulk of the loot is. If you're not doing 1 in 4, think about how much you're leaking.

Cash games are my baby. Why, I can play strategic poker free of the pressure the blinds put on my stack. I'm not gonna brag, but ok...I'm hugely profitable from a percentage standpoint in cash games. Slightly profitable in tourneys (remember ALL the rake). I can pick my spots, learn about my opponents. I can drain my stack and rebuy. Claw back.

In Rounders, the Yin and Yang relationship was between Knish and Mike McD...remember Mike busting his "three stacks of High Society" to Teddy KGB on the now-famous boat-over-boat beat in the opening sequence (John Malkovich is my hero, btw, just so you know ;). Mike's big dream was to get to the WSOP and take down the Johnny Chans of this world. Mike wound up driving a truck for months...Knish, on the other hand, was a grinder, plugging away at the cash games, paying rent, child support (i think he actually said that in the movie). He was a profitable, though not flashy, player.

Now from my own limited experience here. There's a player I spend a lot of time with these days, he'll remain nameless, but let's say, hmmm...he blogs, has a great looking family, and it's his birthday today. Happy birthday, nameless one. LOL.

Well I've played maybe 5 tourneys with this guy. Good player. But he's busted to bad beats and such. That shit happens. But guess what, though he's down on the buy-ins, I'd have to guess he's profitable overall cuz he just kicks A55 at the "loser's tables". The cash tables. We gotta find you a cash game bro...we gotta find me a cash game...

Tourneys are fun. They're great. The can make ya famous, get you the chicks, VIP at the finest places...but will they make you rich? You're a big dog against the whole field, remember that.

CASH GAMES YO, we need 'em.

In all seriousness folks...

One of my good friends was asking me about easy ways to do math at the poker table. I use my celphone caluclator, personally. But for those of you who don't wanna annoy the guy who just 3-bet you by doing your calculus on your Nokia, here's a couple of great articles by Matt Matros (For Cardplayer Magazine).

Poker Math Part I

And

Poker Math Part II.

Nuff said.

Belair 14-Handed Freezeout

GUYS!!! Great game last night - and great to meet the guys from Camp Hold'em. Young guys with lotsa game and at least one pair of really cool shades.

All I can say is, It's all fun and games till somebody calls your T500 bet on 4th street when you're holding nuthin.

Nice call Tipsy, but I was an easy read on that one...

But made my money back at the side cash table - thank heavens for those. Still down last night though, when you count the old gas, food and toll rake.

Skip, nice work squeezin' into the money bro. Tipsy, Nik and Kix, good work on the top 3 finish.

Saturday's comin'. Gotta start stretchin'.

The weird, weird mainstream

PartyPoker is going public on the LSE. That is a big deal. Because 1. It's a gambling site, which is ostensibly illegal in its largest market, the US, and 2. It's comin' out with a valuation of 10 BILLION DOLLARS (read that with a Dr. Evil accent, please). Wow.

Poker is mainstream; an online poker site with the same valuation as British Airways and EMI combined.

Mainstream baby.

Salon.com has a great article on it. I clicked on, watched the obligatory ad to access the article, and prepared myself for a serious business read.

And then I read this doozy of an opener:

June 3, 2005 | In 1998 a California porn princess commissioned a 25-year-old Indian computer wiz to write a piece of software. Trained as a lawyer, Ruth Parasol had made a small fortune in online pornography after starting, according to legend, with a couple of sex phone lines given to her by her father as an unorthodox teenage birthday present.

She had sold all her porn interests and it was time to invest the proceeds. Online gambling was the new buzz and she found a friend of a friend, Anurag Dikshit, a computer engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, to create a program for casino games such as roulette.

Well now...

I'm a father of three girls. I'm pretty damn open minded too. Hell I run a casino and spend my free time gambling. I am also a serial entrepreneur. But I really can't see myself saying to my daughter on her 16th birthday, "Happy sweet sixteen, honey, I want you to learn how to earn and manage your own business, so I bought you a phone sex line. See if you can start a porn empire...".

That woman's dad must be cooler than Ace, King, Jack, and Queenie's dad (see post below).

And even deeper into the land of the surreal...she enlisted the aid of a friend named - DIKSHIT!!!

Wow.

A 10 BILLION DOLLUH valuation? Not bad for PornChick and Dikshit.

If you read the following, you're just as bored as I am...

Ok...I'm not bored, I'm kinda grumpy. Just spent the better part of two days doing accounting that I should have been on top of but wasn't.

Having said that, I still feel the need to blog - and drink a Sanmig light - which I happen to be doing right now.

The Sanmig light comes courtesy of some profit I made at last night's bahay kubo ring game. Great game - and oh, I played with a guy named Ace, who has two brothers, one named King and one named Jack. He has a sister named Queenie.

I wanna meet this guy's dad. He MUST be the coolest guy on earth.

I've got three girls. Don't know how I could've card-named them. Q, QQ, and QQQ perhaps.

Barb reports she moneyed in last night's Holidae Inn game in Vancouver...nice work babe, will you be my OFW?

If you're wondering who the diatriber was in the previous two posts, it's my little sister who lives in Vancouver and is now a regular fixture along with Barb in them thurr games. Riz raises AKo 10x BB in any position, just so you know.

What else...

My niece Isabella made valedictorian. I never made valedictorian, and I was really, really smart...not. She told me you had to be voted valedictorian by your classmates. When I was in Grade 7, I'd walk into class and the rotund girl with coke bottle glasses would walk up and kick me in the groin. The others would laugh. Guess I was a 15-1 dog to get voted in.

There's an Ice Cube movie out, Are We There Yet, playing in Metro Manila's finer and not-so-fine theaters. My daughter was an extra in that movie. I'll pay PHP500 to anybody unrelated to me who can pick her out by naming the scene she's in and the color of her top. LOL. Safe bet pour moi.

Gonna need a game in the next two days. Who's gonna hook me uuuup!!!

Perhaps somebody should start her own blog??!?!?!

Well, little sis left me a little present in my inbox again today. Glad to post it for ya, riz, cuz it's real good, in a bra-burning, placard waving kinda way...you guys decide:

_____________________

Just a little ditty….

It’s about Jack’s and not Diane. Actually it’s about none of the above.
Well sort of. Here’s my observation. Is it my twisted (or I’d like to think
unique) mind or were the brilliant people who coined Holdem terminology sick
filthy bastards? My uneducated guess can safely bet that most of this
slangology, at the very least, was put forth by those belonging to the male
gender of the machismo kind…and I’d even go all-in to say that they were
beer bellied, Bud light drinking, Marlboro smoking, greasy boys gathered
around a raggedy table in a musty basement (or am I stretching it….) So why,
you ask? Well lemme break it down for you.

Let us begin my poker tour through a woman’s lens-the best hole cards in
poker…Pocket Rockets. Hmmm…how shall I say this, a man gets so aroused by
this starting hand that his rocket in his pocket is ready for take off. Of
course, THE best starting hand is compared to a man’s rocket (sick filthy
bastards). But don’t worry men, no rocket envy here. I rarely win with
these cards anyway. And a side note, what the heck do Aces have to do with
rockets anyway?

Next stop…King King or “Cowboys”. Nothing wreaks more of machismo than good
ol’ boys with chaps. After all, cowboy’s are manly men who know how to tame
dem’ horses. Another side not, what the heck do kings have to do with
cowboys…aren’t they just Kings…why call em’ something else?

Beeep…the next stop is queen queen. Ah ladies, not bad considering these
fine women made it in the high rankings of best starting hands. So why
mention this here and now. We should be proud right? Well it’s all fine
and dandy until most of the time these ladies are de-ladyfied and so
eloquently referred to as “my bitches”. Nice boys, nice. When did poker
slang turn into a bad misogynistic rap song?

Ace King suited or the Big Slick. Well I could be wrong here, but doesn’t
the term slick connote images of a cool guy…and a BIG cool guy at that.
Sorry but if this were a rap song it wouldn’t be called the Big Slick…or at
least they’d rhyme it with #*^@!

And how bout’ the Ace Queen suited. The nice folks from Holdem’ land
decided to call this “the Big Chick”…okay men, first off you know how
sensitive we are about our weight to begin with. How about calling it the
Royal Lady or something with a little more class…but the “big chick”????

Have you had enough yet? Are you tired of my whimsical observations yet?
I’m not. But I will keep it short. Just some parting words for the sick
filthy bastards out there…just because you get handed a 6 9 must it be
sexual? Can’t we as a culture think of anything else…other than calling it
the “big lick”? And oh yeah…on a parting note…if a lady player flops the
best possible hand out there…does she still have “the nuts”?




Saywuh?...It's OVA.
A55 P.O.K.UH.
http://pokerfilipinas.blogspot.com

Guest Appearance....

My little sister just submitted the following piece for editorial consideration. While it pretty well tears me and my little activity here to shreds...I ain't no censor...amusing really, and thanks riz, for saving me the time and effort of having to think up yet another inane post for today...

_________________________________________________

Blogging Shmogging:

To me this world of blogging is quite frankly, well, mind blogging. I see
it not as an expression of creative writing, but rather a venue for personal
self- assurance, approval, validation, and whatever other words my thesaurus
can muster up. Through blogging, you can show off your writing and
imaginative skills (where on Earth proper, you may actually lack in REAL
social skills). And/or blogging is a euphemism for an advertising spot.
You lost yet? Well, within this blog-o-sphere you will find layers and
layers of literary narcissism, again, polluted by self absorbed tales which
one begs to ask; does anyone really give a rats ass? I mean, seriously.
Unless you come from Pluto…perhaps many of these personal blogs about
anything and everything may pique your interest, but I highly doubt even
Plutonians are interested in what your dog (aptly named Pluto) ate for his
dinner last night. Am I right, or am I right? And if you analyze and dig
deep, these blogs always make the author appear brilliant, smart, or funny
(no pun intended here). C’mon, one way or another your blog about Pluto’s
dinner either reveals what a good owner you are (hence the self
aggrandizement) because Pluto eats high end Puppy Chow, and/or, you secretly
work FOR Puppy Chow manipulating this Blog Spot as a perfect photo op-if you
will (hence the advertising factor). You getting’ me now?

Or, I can be completely wrong. I have been before. But even if this verbal
vomit amounts to nothing more than just that…why must you feel the urge to
let EVERYONE know when you’ve had a bad day, a bad haircut, or if you have
bad feet…please people. That’s what diaries are for!

Saywuh




Saywuh?...It's OVA.
A55 P.O.K.UH.
http://pokerfilipinas.blogspot.com

What I dream of...

A regular game. A place I can roll into after work. A place where I can play for a couple of hours, guzzle 8-too-many sanmig lights, push chips around, and generally try to look like i've done this before.

Yes, I need a cardroom! don't get me wrong, hombres y mujeres, I am quite happy with the number of games i'm hearing about and getting to play now - a huuuge difference since the early days (last April). But I need a cardroom!

No civilized nation on earth does not have cardrooms.

The very definition of civilization includes running water, cheap power, a couple of theatres, mcdonalds, and cardrooms!!

We were supposed to have a cardroom open a few weeks ago at the Pan Pacific. It hasn't opened. I cannot get any reason why it hasn't opened.

Somebody open a cardroom. PLEASE!!!! Actually, somebody open three cardrooms. Or three people open one each. Whatever....

Forbes on a Thursday Night...

So me an the pitboss rolled into Forbes to play a little 7-handed SNG action with Denis, Ken (winner of the last Alabang NL tourney), Ian, Skip, and ....(man i'm sorry your name escapes me right now). Thanks for hosting, Ken.

I sure get to see a lot of shwaanky neighborhoods playing poker.

Well I came in 2nd to a very aggressive and tough to read Ian. Denis moneyed behind me, and the PitBoss busted outside the ca$h0la with a mondo questionable move comin out of the BB with suited rags. When he drew four to a flush on the flop, he pushed, got called, and didn't draw that 5th club. Pitboss, we gotta talk.

I'm happy to keep my in-the-money streak alive.

Great play by Denis and Ken...good game overall.

And nice table, guys. A little wobbly, but then again so am I.

Till the next time...

Tourney Announcement - June 11

There's a swanky little neighborhood called Bel-Air. No, not the one in Cali, where the Budget Rent-A-Car stocks H2s and Modenas. I'm talking the Philippine variety. Its nice, safe, and the house is just inside the village gate. Played there last night (monied, just past the bubble-got my buyin back).

The FAPA guys are running a NL Holdem Tourney in Belair. Check your SMS inboxes or comment here with your email so I can give you financial details, address, etc.

Max 40 players. Bring it. But bring it asap, cuz it's 1st come 1st served.

I've played with these guys and they've got plenty of game. Or is it that I have no game?

And did I say they had nice poker chips?

June 11, 2005. Saturday. 1st deal at 9:30. Yours truly on the floor from too many sanmig lights by 11:30.