It's a Civil War, Dammit

...and it has been for some time.  Civil War, Sectarian Violence, Al Qaida in Iraq, call it whatever you will, it's out of control, thousands of Americans have died, and if it's not getting worse, it's surely not getting any better.

 

So what's the big deal with the fucking semantics of it all?  Alter puts it into proper perspective here, including highlighting the timing of NBC News' decision to go forward with the 'Civil War' term. 

 

Just imagine the uproar if they made this decision two weeks before the election.

Blaze of Glory

If you've got to go down, go down in a blaze of glory. That's what happened in this hand. After getting my KK run over by AA for most of my stack, I limped along for a bit 'til this hand - in middle position I get AK suited. Since it's all-in or fold with my small stack (about 250 chips), I push. I get one caller and look what he lands:

Luckbox

Imagine making the call this clown makes and then seeing the turn card.

Full Tilt Poker Game #1310723081: $1 + $0.25 Sit & Go (9176972), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:23:07 ET - 2006/11/26

Seat 1: OutlawJoseWales (2,600)
Seat 2: BILL531 (2,060)
Seat 3: djm182 (2,485) **that's me, and I'm on the button**
Seat 4: BiggerStack00 (750)
Seat 5: spott777 (5,825)
Seat 6: abnrgr__38 (4,470)
Seat 7: Hu_Li_Gan (3,560)
Seat 8: CopperChief (375)
Seat 9: topsrus777 (700)
BiggerStack00 posts the small blind of 50
spott777 posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #3

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to djm182 [As Ah] **Beautiful. Not just getting AA, but getting it on the button, where you can raise or call a big bet and people think you're playing position **
abnrgr__38 folds
Hu_Li_Gan raises to 400 **4x big blind**
CopperChief folds
topsrus777 calls 400
OutlawJoseWales folds
BILL531 folds
djm182 calls 400 **With two callers in front of me, I'm going to slow play this and just call it**
BiggerStack00 folds
spott777 folds

*** FLOP *** [5s Tc Qs]
Hu_Li_Gan bets 900
topsrus777 calls 300, and is all in
djm182 raises to 1,800 **I suppose he might have had Q-10 here, maybe he has AK of spades, but I'm gonna pop it and hopefully make him pay. Note that this leaves me with only 285 chips, so if he reraises it, I can assume he's got a good hand **
Hu_Li_Gan has 15 seconds left to act
Hu_Li_Gan calls 900 **A call...I've got him**

*** TURN *** [5s Tc Qs] [Jd] **Hmmm...I don't particularly like this card as it opens up a straight draw possibility, but I still think I've got him beat**
Hu_Li_Gan bets 500
djm182 calls 285, and is all in

Hu_Li_Gan shows [Jh Jc] **So the donk calls my post-flop raise - as I'd hoped he would - and strikes gold on the turn. That's it for me here.**
topsrus777 shows [Ad 9s]
djm182 shows [As Ah]
Uncalled bet of 215 returned to Hu_Li_Gan

*** RIVER *** [5s Tc Qs Jd] [2h]
Hu_Li_Gan shows three of a kind, Jacks
djm182 shows a pair of Aces
Hu_Li_Gan wins the side pot (3,570) with three of a kind, Jacks
topsrus777 shows Ace Queen high
Hu_Li_Gan wins the main pot (2,250) with three of a kind, Jacks
topsrus777 stands up
djm182 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,820 Main pot 2,250. Side pot 3,570. | Rake 0
Board: [5s Tc Qs Jd 2h]
Seat 1: OutlawJoseWales didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: BILL531 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: djm182 (button) showed [As Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 4: BiggerStack00 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: spott777 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: abnrgr__38 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Hu_Li_Gan showed [Jh Jc] and won (5,820) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 8: CopperChief didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: topsrus777 showed [Ad 9s] and lost with Ace Queen high

Wie blows up again

I think it's time for BJ to pull in the reins and bring his pride and joy back in to the stable for some fine tuning of her rapidly deteriorating game.

First Hand Brutality

After a turkey day full of chaos, I decide to sit down at night and relax with a nice game of FullTilt Poker. I settle in on my usual $1 NLHE sit & go, and lo and behold, I get dealt QQ in one shy of the cutoff position on the very first hand. It's raised up to $105 to go, so I make the call to see the flop.

It comes at me Q-4-J rainbow. I'm in the lead for certain. And what's this - I get three all-ins ahead of me. Well it's my lucky day! I insta-call and take the lead going to the turn.

But I'm in trouble. Not so much by the guy holding 4-4, he's got one out. Not even so much by the guy holding A-A, even though he has three outs relative to me, he's only got runner As to beat the guy holding 10-K.

And doesn't the turn bring the A, filling out this guy's straight. Yep, the guy who went all-in on just a draw wins the hand. Details here:

Home Game Stories

Always entertaining, even when you donk out halfway through.

 

* Our resident fish was back, min-raising everything in sight.  Early on, I get dealt 3-3, call a small raise and get to the flop.  It comes out 3-8-x and I fire at it.  About a half of the pot.  Our friend calls.  Turn is another low card.  I bet, he calls again.  River is a second eight.  Uh oh.  Could he have A-8?  Yeah, sure he could.  Of course, he'd play just about anything else too, so I bet out and he calls again. 

 

He turns over 10-10 for two pair.  Big pot and I'm on my way.

 

* For the next hour or so, I'm playing my typical tight-aggressive style.  I take one pot down with AK suited when a bullet comes on the flop.  I popped it to 3x the blinds (200 up to 600) pre-flop so I get some payback on that.  But otherwise, the cards are cold and the table is still seven-handed, so I'm still sitting tight.  Plus the blinds are going to go up big time in a level or two and I don't want to donk things off before then.

 

* Then I finally get a decent set of hole cards.  JJ, albeit in early position.  I bet 3x the blinds to see where I'm at.  I get a couple of callers.  The flop comes out with cards all weaker than J, and no great straight or flush possibilities.  Again, I bet.  The player to my left, an infrequent player in the home game but a decent player nonetheless raises it to 2x my bet.  I think about it and call.  I'm trying to get a read on him, but he's just stoic.  Sitting upright in the chair - but he always does that, so I can't really lean on Navarro's signature tell.  He's not tilting his head, he's not moving his hands out toward the table.  Legs are still.  My guess is that he's got a good-but-not-great hand (top pair with an A kicker) and that I can either take this down or edge him on a showdown...provided the cards fall the right way. 

 

So I set out to check-raise him on the turn, provided the card is a dud.  It is.  I check.  He bets, and I go all-in, which would force him all-in.  He instacalls with A-A.  Ouch.

 

* Now I'm clearly short-stacked and am in the easiest position to play poker - it's either all-in or fold.  And don't I get a run of 2-7, 3-8, 4-9 kind of hands for about six straight hands.  The blinds are attacking me, and soon enough, I'm dead.  I did triple up somewhere in there when I went all-in blind and my 9-7 hit the flop, but I gave it back soon after when K8 suited went up against QQ and 99 and lost to a set of 9s. 

 

* I did get a couple of reads out of the game though.  One player leans forward, almost over the table, and his legs just bounce around like mad when he has cards.  When I was short-stacked, I got 7-7 and just called it.  He raised and would've forced me all-in, but I looked over and he was bouncing around like a jumping bean.  I thought, laid it down and said "high pair, huh"?  I prodded a little further and it was, in fact, KK. 

 

* Another (very good) player puts his hand on his neck when he's got something marginal.  I didn't get to act upon it, but now I know that it's there. 

Bush Was Right!

Sometimes the comedy just writes itself. 

Boogity Boogity Boogity!!

Don't wreck Junior - you'll fire up the rednecks and they'll go off, no matter who is in the room.  This is simply stellar.

Is this the end for JoePa?

One doc seems to think so. 

 

It's a shame if it ends up this way and he doesn't get to go out on his terms - especially with the returning class for next year and the favorable schedule. 

FullTilt strikes back

So I win a 45-seat NLHE Sit & Go on Sunday night.  Just a $1 buy-in event so I'm not exactly quitting my day job after this, but it's still nice to take one of those down.  I was the short stack as the final table started, made some good moves, got some good cards, and always found myself in with the best hand - and they held up.

 

Afterward, I'm feeling pretty good about myself.  I'm learning more and more how to play the game - specifically how to play these online events.  But the thing is that just when your confidence is the highest, something happens to make you realize that you're really just a pawn in the game. 

 

Last night, in a bit of a time pinch, I sit down at a one-table, turbo NLHE event.  Again, just $1 at stake.  And what a difference a night makes. 

• I like to try to limp in with low-to-medium pocket pairs early on in these events.  Every time I called the blind, someone after me would pop it and I'd have to get away from the hand.  Every time it was the right move, but these added up. 
• Every time I called for a half-price flop out of the small blind, the big blind would pop it. 
• I paid to see a couple of other flops which turned out disastrous.

I got away from all of these, but they cost me.  So at Level V (50/100), I'm down to about 900 chips and haven't taken anything down yet.  The good news - I've once again established a tight reputation.  The bad news - I've only got 9 big bets left.  Something needs to happen, and happen soon.

And it does.  In the big blind, I get J-J.  I figure it's time to push.  Well someone in middle position pushes all-in and that has me covered.  The player to his left goes all-in as well.  I figure it's do or die on this hand, so I join the fracas as well.

 

First raiser: 88

Second raiser: AQo

Me: JJ

 

I'm just slightly worse than 50/50 to take this pot down.  Until this happens:

Flop:  Q-J-x

 

BAM!  I'm now 95% likely to win the hand and *triple-up* to about 2400 chips.  Right back in the mix.  The initial raiser needs runner 8s to survive.  The second raiser needs a Q, two As, A-Q, or runner straight cards (K-10).

 

Turn: A (NFW...eh, still 90% to win it)

 

River: Q

 

So the first caller gets a boat - Qs full of As, which trumps my Js full of Qs.  And I ride off into the sunset, once again a victim of the magic that is FullTilt Poker.