TGIF

TGIF!

I was listening to Howard Stern this morning and he was talking to Nikki Ziering. She was one of the hot strippers in American Wedding and I guess a former Playboy playmate. She was married to Ian Ziering of 90210 fame for 5 years! My god, I looked up pics when I got to work this morning and they really didn't look right together. The thing that got me on the interview though was that she didn't want to talk about anything sexual or who she had dated recently with Howard. Ok Nikki, you're a former playmate, you're only in movies because you get naked, and you're on the Howard stern show. The phone is ringing for you, Nikki, the clue phone. Better get it quick.

I'm really loving the sub-qualifiers on Party Poker. They are cheap and easy to beat. For example, I played in a $6+1 Friday Special Sub Qualifier where (out of the 10 peeps) top 2 get $24+2 single table qualifier entries and 3rd place gets $8. I was heads up within 40 minutes and got my entry. The action is fast and furious from the get go, so at least it's fun if you don't place.

I had some fun .50/1 Limit Holdem hands last night as well. The bad - A guy beats my trip 10's when he hits his straight on the river with J8o on a board of 6 10 3 7 9. The funny - I limp in on the button with 65s (spades) - 7 callers total. Flop comes Q 9 6 (1 spade). A guy with only $4 left states after the flop he has AA and is finally going to win a hand. I decide to call the flop bet because I figure to keep betting if a 6,5 or spade hits the turn. A beautiful 5 of hearts hits the turn and now I have 2 pair. I check raise the turn and the guy ends up having Aces and I take the pot! I thought he was lying about his hand since he only had a couple bucks left and I figured he was just tilting them off. Why would you say what you have after the flop?? I had never seen that before - what an idiot!

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WSOP Main Event Ep's 9&10

Beware Spoilers Below
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First off I would like to thank ESPN for fucking with me by airing episode 9 both at 0800p est and 0900p est last night. I sit down at 0858p est and turn on my TV to see the tail end of an episode I had never seen before. My first thought was that I misread the paper on the starting time and now I had missed the first half of the finale. Not to mention, it would screw up my taping of the 10 part series. But then at 0900p est, the episode started again and all was good in the world. Someone had to have gotten in some major trouble by airing that episode too early.

I actually enjoyed episode 9 where the field was narrowed down from 18 to 9 much more than the final table episode 10. The final table felt very rushed and I wish ESPN would have made it 2 hours instead of one. Greg Raymer just had so many chips and really pushed his good starting hands. Josh Arieh continued to be portrayed as an ass. There was very little opportunity for Mattias Anderson to scream (thank God). Overall, the series was great but somehow the end left me wanting a better conclusion.

Monday night I played in the Super $150+12 NLH tourney on Party Poker.
I couldn't get any good starting hands and half way through hour two, I lost my last T500 with AJo to A3s when he flopped a 3. Finished a disappointing 459/886. Until next time I suppose...

Blu

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Football and Final Tables

There is nothing better than waking up on a Sunday morning knowing there will be football on all day. What more could make this day better? Hmmm how about... poker?

I jumped in the $10+1 NLH Multi on Party Poker
(signup code Blu) at 0800a est with 455 peeps total (50 get paid). Starting with T1000, hour one was uneventful until I get AsKs in the small blind in level 4 (50/100). I make it T300 to go and a small stack goes all in for T335 with QsTs. He hits a 10 on the flop and IGNH so I'm down to T600. Right before the first break I get lucky when my A10o wins all in, with a board of JxxJx, against a guy trying for a flush with A3s. So at the first break I'm at T1300 vs average T1900 and 225 peeps left.

The second hour I start getting some monster cards and before I know it, I'm up to T5600 with the average at T3200. I would have been at T8000 but I lost a big pot with AJo against a guy holding AJs and he caught his flush. Still, I was happy and there were only 110 peeps left at the second break.

The third hour I played tight/aggressive and since the blinds were becoming significant, I was able to pick off smaller stacks going all-in with average holdings. I was up to T11500 and the table leader when one guys takes out 2 peeps in one hand and now has T12000. At this point there are only 63 people left and 50 get paid. On the very next hand, T12000 man has to put up the BB and there is no SB because he took them out. I get Q10o on the button and everyone folds to me. I pop it to 4x BB and he calls. Flop comes 10 10 x and he checks to me. I go all in and he calls with AJo!! I double up to T23000 and am now the chip leader.

I push the big stack to my advantage since everyone was playing tight trying to make the money. Long story short, I get to the final table with T79000 which is still the chip lead. Play is tight in the beginning and when we are down to 7 peeps, I lose a good chunk (T28000) when I put a guy all in with my QQ vs his 44. He hits his 4 on the turn and now I'm middle of the pack in chips. I win a few tough hands and end up going out 4th when my A5s loses to 77 for a nice payday of $308. I felt I had to take a chance because the 77 guy and myself were the 2 lowest stacks against 2 really big stacks and I needed his chips to win it all. 4.5 hours for $308 - I'll take it.

In its truest form I realized that you really have to keep your head after a tough beat when you are still in a tourney. I took, what I consider, three big time bad beats and still made it into the top five, by taking a step back after each beat, and playing a solid game. I could have been out in the first hour easily if I had tilted after my AK spades lost to the Q10 spades, but I did what I could, got lucky one time (the only time the whole tourney), and cashed a nice payday.

I am trying to decide which weekday (Mon-Thurs) $150+12 tourney I am going to enter this week since I won the satellite entry last week. I might go tonight so look for me if you're playing.

L8r...

Blu

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