Poker Day…

A three day weekend, chores done, what to do?

Play cards.

That’s what I did.

Actually, I played a lot of cards this weekend. Friday I paid a visit to our local room at the Riverwind.

The place was packed. A BMW was being given away and apparently the entertainment in the show-room was a big draw. Just about every slot machine was occupied and the poker room had mile-long waiting lists.

But I managed to get in pretty quickly when new tables opened up. And, of course, I get a weird table.

Passive and filled with calling stations, it was like walking barefoot across a cow pasture in the dark.

I was set to steaming by our very knowledgeable table captain two seats to my left. He’d limped in UTG then called my late-position pre-flop raise, flop had two fives. I bet, he raised. I cautiously called. Before the turn he said “All in in the dark.”

Only I didn’t hear it. I was plugged into the iPod and actually thought he said “I call in the dark” which completely confused me because he was first to act, so when the turn came another five and he plopped all his chips in, I couldn’t get my head straight… then figured him for quads and wisely folded my kings.

Guess who was the fool. He flipped over A-7 suited then proceeded to pontificate about how to play someone when out of position.

Shame on me. If I’d unplugged and heard him say “All-in in the dark” and took the time to contemplate, I know I would have not laid down my boat. No way he plays it like that if he’d actually had trips.

No way.

But he was real smart. He let us all know that. After. Every. Hand. I was so effin’ edified, I was in awe.

I dropped a buy-in, re-bought then struggled upstream the rest of the night. I only regained about $10. I just couldn’t get in the groove with this table.

Saturday – well… come to think of it, I didn’t play Saturday.

I saw a movie with my buddy Mark. Ghost Rider – fun flick. The only way that flick works it is with Nicolas Cage. Good piece of casting there and, my goodness, has he worked on the bod. Oh, yes.

Oh – and then I came home and watched Pirates of the Caribbean – Black Pearl. Johnny Depp can do no wrong.

Sigh… he kinda turns me on….

….

…

Oh. Hi.

Well, Sunday I played a ton of poker. It was Full Tilt day. I did a little SnG marathon. I had a pathetic showing, a first and a second out of seven attempts. Humbling, considering I usually do far better than that.

I also made a stab at the 15k guarantee. Bupkus.

But, even though my showing was kafucta, I did play fairly well. This was really an exercise for me to hone my tournament discipline. I consciously focused on hand reading – putting opponents on cards.

Not an easy thing to do in some of the sit-n-gos with some of the green play you see there.

I also tuned into the Pro Chat Room with Chris Ferguson hosting. The FTOPS main event was running and he was chatting and playing.

I shot him a question about the UGIEA and asked what Full Tilt was doing to help gain a carve out for poker in the legislation.

The question didn’t get answered. But I did learn I shouldn’t be using more than 2% of my bankroll for multi-table tourney buy-ins.

Oops.

Then the Blogger Big Game rolled around. As you can see from the graphic at the top, I made a respectable showing. Even with only seeing the flop a whopping 10% of the time.

A tough field. I laid down many hands I probably would have called with, otherwise. Pauly took it down. It would have been fun to have gotten heads up with my pal.

So, I’m plum pokered out.

But I have Monday off, so I may celebrate with some more. I gotta have something to do while I do laundry, right?