COLUMNS

DINE ON THE WHALES

(UPDATED: 06/29/09) Wild Bill's reflections on poker, sports, and issues facing the Gulf Coast:

"Feeling bullet proof, I guess from running so well in the Harrahs weekly, I squandered opportunities and pissed away chips. I made no fewer than three fairly big mistakes.

Early on I caught KK and knocked out the attorney with whom I've shared the last two final tables. He had about half his starting stack and shoved on me hoping my reraise was a button steal. He had 9s and my KK held. That felt good. I also got the ace/queen out of the hand that would have scooped most of the pot, too.

Cue mistake hand number 1:

So I promptly, get KQ in late position. Raise. Called by BB and a limper. Flop is K high. Old man in BB leads out. Loose player who limped and called my pf raise folds. I see the rock has 2k behind. I know he has AK.

I hope I'm wrong and set him in. Can't just call there, because he can shove any hand later. Might as well make him think about his tournament life. But, correct play is fold because I know I'm beat and I can keep an extra 2500.  Reads are worthless if you don't listen to them""[+]

"Bwin - Betting, Online Poker, Casino and Games"

LITTLE THOUGHTS

[UPDATED 06/24/09] Jonathan Little has over 4 million dollars in lifetime winnings .  He was the WPT Season VI player of the year.  Born in Pensacola Florida, a mere 24 years ago the sky is the limit for this young pro whose online handle is jcardshark.  He also is a poker coach at sngicons.com. 

"IThe last month has been fairly rough. I have cashed 0 out of like 20 wsop events, which is never fun, although it isnt a first for me. If it wasnt for winning $15,000 at PLO online, it would have been a pretty awful month. Katy came up with the bright idea of going to LA for the next 3 days, as there are no wsop events I am actually excited for and I want to be in top playing condition for the main event and then the bellagio WPT tournaments.

Speaking of the wsop events, I was actually excited for the $10,000 pot limit holdem tournament, which doesnt happen too often for me, especially for the first day of an event. I went into the event fully expecting to do well. I ended up not winning many hands, thanks mostly to a sick lucky french guy that lucksacked everyone at the table for the 4 hours I lasted. I eventually ran my AQ into his KQ to bust. It is tough to say that I think I played well, despite losing basically every hand I played, but I think I could have lost a lot quicker if I tried.

Anyways, I will be out of town for a few days. I dont expect that I will take my computer or check my email, so I will be out of touch, which is a good thing from time to time. Hopefully I will be back and ready to close out my last 5 wsop events. "  [+]

[UPDATED 07/01/09] ReidG ...who was raised in New Orleans and lives in Mobile brings his perspective on the Gulf Coast scene to GCP.NET.

"1 July 09 - I obviously haven't been playing a heavy schedule of poker recently. Yesterday, I decided to ease myself back into it and grind out some hands in several online micro-donkaments. Interestingly enough, I played more hands yesterday than I have in any single day thus far this year. The total was 1,131 hands. I wish I could do that every day, but I just refuse to play now unless I'm committed to focusing and giving it 100%.

I played in four tourneys ranging in buy-ins from $2.20 to $11. Yes, very non-baller. On the positive side, I made the money in 3 of the 4 tourneys I played. In the nightly $4k Gtd on Stars, I final-tabled from a starting field of 2200+ landmines. Finally nearing 4AM, when I was essentially sleeping through hands, I agreed to a five-handed chop when I was 2nd in chips. On the scale of embarrassing poker moments, this one ranks up there! Chopping a $2 buy-in. Holy christ, what has happened to me?

Regardless, I padded my online roll by almost $500 yesterday so it's all good."  [+]

[UPDATED 06/26/09] Jena Delk, isn't an up and coming poker player on the Gulf Coast because she's arrived.  A Florida native, Jena is a fixture on the circuit.  Her blog  chronicles her travels around the country pursuing her poker jones: 

"This post was written by the great Klaus Hausmann.  Thanks for sharing your dream with me!

A few days ago I had a very strange dream, I dreamed that I was already in Vegas and drove in a car through the streets, searching for something I don’t remember. After  a while I saw a highway sign, and I couldn’t believe what I saw – it was a sign of the “Jena Delk Highway”. I caught myself thinking,

“Wow, is she so famous that they named a highway after her?”. Then I woke up. It was so funny that I told it Jena at MSN Messenger, and I could imagine her laughing ;). I guess my dream has something to do with her status message at Facebook, but who knows, maybe it is a sign of something special – I wouldn’t be surprised, if they name a highway after the first woman who wins the main event.

So go for it Jena, and don’t forget to sell me a share :D. And if it isn’t going to happen, there is still a job for the first female president of the United States of America.

If so forget the share, I would only need a Greencard in that case :D. I’m really looking forward to see you in Vegas, meanwhile good luck at the tables. "  [+]

THE "HONEST PLAYER"

 (UPDATED: 06/21/09) Is there such thing as an Honest (Poker) Player?  Parfait treads the line between deception and head games.  An up and comer, this Honest Player excels at hand analysis and table reads.

"Left off busting 46th out of 660 players in the first tourney of the trip at the Venetian. I was pretty exhausted after a long day on the Thursday with the travel and like 13 hours of play.

Davey and I played the $550 on Friday and I played terrible. Just pressed to much and never really hit a comfort zone. I did do certain things ok but had one guy at the table who was just getting run over with the deck and he was pissing me off.

I folded a hand where later on I thought I may have laid down the best hand. Guy at our table had chipped up to like 60k in first 2 levels. I then saw this guy run two very bad bluffs and make a really loose all in call on the turn with like A,Q high.

After I saw that shit I had a mission to abuse this guy and I never do shit like that. I then raised this guys blind every time I had the chance. I reraised him about three times with nothing.

He even asked me once if I had something against him and I told he was the best player on the table and I think that comment confused him. Anyway it was my mission for this guy to lose his chips and he did. The shitty part was that I played for about 6 and half hours and finished about 300 out of 630.." [+]

 BRANDON'S BLOG

 (UPDATED: 06/21/09) Is there a guy on the coast playing as well as Brandon Jarrett right now?  Jarrett has dominated events in Biloxi, with a first at the IP and one at the Beau.  With 140k in tournament winnings in six months, he's one to watch, and one to learn from.  

"Next up… $1,500 No Limit @ RIO. I feel I played very well through the first 8 levels. Nothing fancy… just STANDARD poker. The starting chips do not allow for mistakes. YOU MUST WIN when u put chips in a pot at the WSOP. The stacks are just not deep enough for mistakes. I busted on a hand that will probably never leave my mind…. EVER.

Nearing the bubble in the event i pick up AsKs UTG +1. I open to my standard 2.5x raise… player on the button 3 bets me. He was the only player remaining at my table from our initial draw.

We had busted 7 of the original 9 between us. So, our stacks are deep and I feel like I am crushing his range 90% of the time based on the info I accumulated from 9 levels of play with him. I decided to just call the 3 bet and trap. Flop comes down AhKdKc!

 I open shove 50bbs into him…. I think he 3 bets me preflop with KQ or AQ every time… so by jamming the flop… I think he always calls with those 2 hands. Obviously he has AA and I am drawing dead basically! I beat myself up a bit over this hand b/c we were so deep… but in the end…. I would still JAM the hand every time. "  [+].

JUICEY POKER

[UPDATED: 05/22/09] JASON LIPSCOMB gives you a chance to talk with a tournament director--directly.  Lipscomb will keep you abreast of all the happenings at Harrahs regarding tournaments and poker.  Check here for updates. 

"Sitting here thinking wow we finally got it right in New Orleans... Right... I hear alot of hype and credit going to Steve but the credit should go to no other than the Tournament Director of the WSOP Mr. Jack Effel this is the gentleman that developed the structure and the tournament format, just thought I would add that little note...

 I'm not saying this years crew didn't do a good job because they did!!! I just thought while everyone is out in Vegas this summer you might want to tell Jack thanks.....

P.S. I heard that Jack Effel and Jimmy Sommerfeld were putting together structures for all the the WSOP circuit events in order to be a level playing field across the board no matter what Harrah's casino the tournament is at...

But I do tip my hat to Mr. Larry Barrett because trust me these structures were already in place after all the issues we had last Dec.2008...

 Great job for Steve finally getting that iPod issue resolved..  " [+}

POKERBAT

[UPDATED: 07/01/09]  THE POKER BAT is an online player from Northern Louisiana who is trying out blogging to help him with his game.  Bat will delve into hand scenarios and discuss issues facing today's online player. 

[UPDATED:  04/21/09]PLAYER N scribes a tale of grifters, sleaze balls, and beautiful card sharks all hustling on the Coast.

THE LONELY ROAD

 (UPDATED 04/07/09) Virge's road is the internet highway, he's now one of the top online (formerly) local players: 

CHIPS BEFORE CHICKS!

"Seat 3 is open and she immediately moves to it. The evening holds promise!

She asks if I remember her, and I say "Ash, right?" She says yes, and says that she never got my name so I tell her.

Two hands later my phone simultaneously rings (it's lusky) and I look down at AhQh and some limpers, immed. I hang up on lusky and pump up the pot, everyone calls, including Ash, ldo. Lusky tries calling back, I hit ignore. Q43 rainbow flop. Lusky tries calling back, I hit ignore. I cbet, everyone folds. Freerolling sushi FTW.

I call Lusky back, bitch slightly, and then say I'll see him at Sushi, and that he should go to the house to get Josh as well.

Just before I finish racking I realize that this is too golden of an opportunity to let slide so I ask Ash if she wants to go. She smiles really big and reaches for a rack. I somehow manage to clear all the trash and copenhagen from the passenger seat before she notices and we head to dinner." [+]

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THE LATEST

WSOP UPDATE

(07/02/09) 

A DAY OF DAVIDS

DAVID HALPERN, NEW ORLEANS ATTORNEY, SETTLES FOR WINNING  BRACELET.  Halpern couldn't find a cash game he wanted to play, so took a shot in a tournament.  He bested another GCP notable Allie Prescott, Chad Brown and well known tournament director Matt Savage.  William Kohler was the last to fall in heads up action, which netted Halpern 159k.  Halpern, earlier cashed at this years WSOP (23rd in Event 5 Pot Limit Omaha).  He took a flier on the 1,500 seven card stud eight or better event and won it.

DAVID BACH SURVIVES MARATHON FINAL TABLE AND WINS HORSE CHAMPIONSHIP.  John Hanson comes in second.  On Euro-heaters Lunkin and Wahlbeck couldn't make history with a victory.  Erik123 went out third.  The poker media is calling him EuroDurrrr, but Erik was first so we'll abstain.  

Clown prince of poker Eric Seidel killed but his comedy met an early exit.  Take our word for it there was a lot of guffaws and har-har-hars before he hit the rail. Hanson won $789,199 for second while David Bach got fitted for the gaudy bracelet, got to lift the Chip Reese trophy and pocketed $1,276,802.  Bach is the first person to win the 50k Horse event without a big name. 

WORLD OF POKER UPDATE

(07/01/09) 

GUS HANSEN HORSE FINAL TABLE BUBBLE BOY.  For those level one thinkers, that also means the Horse final table is set.  There are several story of the year possibilities left to go with 40k winner Vitaly Lunkin still alive, "Final Tables In His Sleep" Ville Wahlbeck (with a possibility for player of the year), and poker's clown prince Eric Seidel joking his way to a possible Chip Reese trophy.  Read here for more.

LOOKING FOR PIECE OF THE MAIN EVENT?  Several bloggers on GCP are selling shares of themselves.  Right now Kai may have the best pitch.  If you are interested in getting a piece of anybody contact them through the comments on their blogs.

JACKSONVILLE LOADS UP A CRATE OF SHARKS TO SEND TO THE WORLD SERIES.  They are ready to head to the Main Event.  Grandmothers, teamsters, unemployed, mail inserters good luck to all of you.  Jacksonville.com has the details.

NORMAN CHAD GETS BACKED FOR POKER TOURNAMENT, PLAYS, AND TELLS 543 DIVORCE JOKES.  Wonder if he's a parent of multiples.  To see how he fared in a 10k buy-in event Chad's blog is here.

EXCALIBUR SLAYS COMPUTER TABLE DRAGONS.  The automated poker room is dead.  Pokertek can't be happy with the news.  Players who wanted to take their online fun to the casinos can't be happy either.  People who like to play with their chips rejoice. 

Players who can't operate a VCR much less a newfangled computer poker table still can't operate their VCRs and don't even get them started on the  whatever those damgummed mirrored discs are called.

DID PHIL IVY'S PROP BETS OR A SLUGGISH ECONOMY INFLUENCE THE DOWN NUMBERS IN THE HORSE EVENT?  Gambling 911 has the story here.

PHIL HELLMUTH'S FEEL GOOD FATHER'S DAY STORY.  USA Today had a feature straight from the Poker Brat's new book.  Interesting to note, Phil doesn't want his son to go broke should he take up the game.  Read the story here.

WORLD OF POKER/GAMBLING +8 UPDATE

(06/30/09) 

GREG FBT MUELLER CONTINUES MULTIPLES WORLD SERIES SUCCESS.  Not multiples as in parents with multiple kids per pregnancy like Jon and Kate Plus Eight (incidentally multiples have a high divorce rate) but multiple bracelet winners per World Series.  FBT bagged his second.  Recently, Jeff Lisandro who looks like a bagman nicked his third.  Phil Ivy and Brock Parker also have two this year.  Most people are saying the repeats refute it's all luck argument.

PPA POKER PETITION UP TO ALMOST 200,000 SIGNATURES.  Good news.  Bad news is several sites buying sigs by offering free rolls.  Do a little digging at your favorite online habitat and you too may qualify.  Story here. 

GIDDY UP.  Happy poker-ers Vitaly Lunkin (hoping to do a big buy-in double after winning the 40k event), Ville Wahlbeck (crushing 10k and bigger buy-in events), Gush Hansen, Huck Seed and Erik Seidel are some of the big names still on the saddle.  The final table is almost set with Erik Sagstrom and David Bach 1-2 in chips. 

BRAZIL COMEBACK COST GAMBLER $50,000.  The U.S. soccer team's odds of winning the Confederation Cup were so astronomical after their opening two losses a couple of bookmakers removed them from action.  One bettor found a taker and plopped $50 on the U.S.  with odds at 999-1. 

After a couple of miracles to get to the final and 2-0 opening lead he was probably spending his money.  And then Brazil came back to win.  In poker terms:  the bettor held 9s8s.  The house As5s.  Flop came 4s10sQs  Turn Js.  River Ks.  Almost a Fifty-Thousandnaire, sports gambling story here.  Sports gambling information here. 

WSOP UPDATE/VENETIAN DEEP STACK UPDATE

(06/26/09) 

DARRYLL "DFISH" FISH CONTINUES ON HIS MASSIVE HEATER SITTING IN 9TH WITH 360K GOING INTO THE FINAL DAY OF THE 10K PLH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Fish is primed to possibly bring home the bracelet as he is well in range even though some sicko has 2.2 million as the CL. Play will continue today. We are not sure if the Final Table will be on ESPN 360 or not. Fish still has a lot of work to do as he needs to fade the likes of Eugene Todd "Bro", Isaac Haxton, Kirill Gerasimov and JC Alverado.

This will be Fish's 7th cash in this years WSOP, and we don't know of anybody else that has that many. He was tied at 5 cashes thru event #31 with the likes of Brock Parker, David Baker, Fabrice Soulier and Tony Cousineau.

The cards will be in the air at 2pm Vegas time. It would be nice to bring another bracelet into the household as Fish is roommates with MattG (Below update). From all of us GCPers out here sweating you buddy...DO WORK SON!!!!!!!

ANOTHER NEW ORLEANIAN MAKING SOME NOISE IS VEGAS

New Orleans Native and LSU student Bobby Toye is doing well out in vegas with a cash in the WSOP...and 2 cashes at the Venetian Deep Stack. Bobby's Stats below...GL Bobby!!!!

Deep Stack Extravaganza
No Limit Hold'em 27th $1,983 Jun 14, 2009
Deep Stack Extravaganza
No Limit Hold'em 15th $3,194 Jun 7, 2009
40th World Series of Poker 2009
Event #9 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em Six Handed 50th $5,616

GCP BLOGGER JENA DELK GETS IN THE MONEY WITH A MIN-CASH IN 40TH PLACE AT THE VENETIAN DEEP STACK

ALL OF GCP WANT TO WISH MONKEY AND SQUIRREL A VERY HAPPY AND LOVING MARRIAGE. Now we just needs some chimps to round out the family...CONGRATS GUYS!!!!

WSOP UPDATE ...GULF COASTS OWN MATT GRAHAM

(06/24/09) 

MATT "MATTG1983" GRAHAM SNAPS OFF HIS 2ND BRACELET...FIRST FOR 2009

New Orleans native and UB pro Matt "Mattg1983" Graham gets some more wrist hardware in the 10kPLO World Championship in Event #40. He was heads up with another bracelet winner going for number 2 in 2009... Vitaly Lunkin...and he also had to fade the likes of Josh Arieh, Nenad Medic and Barry Greenstein on the final day.

 Lunkin has the most prized bracelet of them all though as he won the 40k this year. I got a text from one of Matt's buddys when it happened saying, "MattG just won another bracelet...in a game he doesn't even play"...now that pretty strong. Hopefully, this wont be his last one of 2009, Now we need some other Gulf Coasters to bring home some "Bling".

NEW BLOGGER UPDATE

(06/21/09)

JONATHAN LITTLE ADDED TO THE FOLD.  We are adding a few more new bloggers in the coming weeks, and while they won't all have the credentials of this guy they should bring even more variety to the site.

But first things first, we'd like to welcome Jonathan Little to the fold.  Unless you've lived under a rock, you'll know he's one of the coast's most decorated players.  He's but 24 and already amassed over 4 million dollars in winnings.  The Pensacola born poker pro's young success already includes a WPT Player of the Year award.  If you've had the travel channel the last couple of years and you watch poker on TV then you've seen him on a final table or two.  Check out his sites www.jonathanlittle.net, sngicons.com. and  www.FloatTheTurn.com. 

Did you get the clues...  I mean we basically told you in our last post who it was.  "LITTLE tease" yeah, we pretty much spelled it out "any JUSTICE" his old handle is Fiery Justice ring any bells?.

 POKER AND THE INTERNET UPDATE

(06/20/09)

DURRR CHALLENGE NOT OVER!  Tom "Durrr" Dwan had a monster session to recapture the challenge lead.  Maya Geller Antonius (pictured) recently revealed back problems and an illness have kept Patrick at home and missing most of the WSOP.  That's good news for Durrrr who has been picking on the sickly Scandi and logging a lot of hours in the challenge.

Durrrr dropped 250k even further behind Patrick Antonius, in a recent session, before going on a heater.  Dwan finished the day up $370k.  Nearly every late pot went Durrrr's way in the 910 hand session.  To follow things up Durrrr waxed Patrick yet again the next day to surge into a $726,546 lead overall.  Almost one month into the challenge, they have played a little over 40%  of the 50,000 hands they agreed to play. 

NEW BLOGGER THIS WEEKEND.  Little tease for you:  he's from the Gulf Coast and is probably one of the best young pros out there.  Should we give you a clue?  If there was any justice in this word we would, but maybe we won't.  Look for him in the next couple of days .

Also, I advise you to take a gander at Kai Landry's new post on his sexy poker blog to the right:  YOU'RE ENTERING A WORLD OF PAIN, very well written, as usual and some great pics too. 

POKERSTARS TAKES IT IN THE GUT.  Stars is hardest hit by the asset freeze and Tilt and Cake Poker have benefited a bit by the company's slow response time probably created by their huge player base.  Tilt quickly found new processors and Cake was apparently unaffected.  As a result both increased traffic by 3%.  Stars lost 7% of their traffic.   For more information go here.

STARS TITTERING AND TWITTERING.  The Sun Sentinel has a story on the top twitters at this years WSOP and a little information about poker players being, well not early adopters, maybe timely adopters, of the format, that is great way of keeping up with chip-counts in tournaments.  Read more from Nick Sortal, here.

YOUR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES WITH ONLINE SITES.  Still a possibility?  For a lot of them it now requires final tabling the Main Event, even better if you have a chip stack.  Since that's like hitting the powerball, Pokernews has some other tips to get you a sponsorship including a little hyping of their ChipMeUp backing feature.  Read the story here.

FACEBOOK POKER ADDRESSING THE ATTEMPTS TO MONETIZE IT.  The free texas hold'em games on the site have inspired some intrepid to profit off the game and users may be skirting US Gaming law.    Basically, winners of the game are selling their virtual (and worthless chips) for real money.  Course with the vagueness of UIGAE federal laws this is an extreme example of people covering their asses over a far more derivative application of the standards.  Besides playing poker online is legal, right?  To read more go here. Oh yeah, if you are on Facebook and haven't friended us yet, do so, we are GCP NET.

For more news that no longer qualifies as the latest, because... it's no longer recent, follow the link below...

ARCHIVED NEWS BLOTTER>>>

 COLUMNS

POKER IS WAR

 (UPDATED: 06/20/08) Gene D's outlook on the local and national poker scene:

"Well...lets see here...I left off my last blog speaking of getting "Dialed in" as we were close to the money in the Sat. $11.00 Deep Stack event on Stars. This was the same tournament that I "mis-clicked" in the previous weekend...Well...as some of you already know...I was able to get a little redemption for myself as was able to pull off a 2nd place finish:

PokerStars Tournament #169968468, No Limit Hold'emBuy-In: $10.00/$1.00
1224 playersTotal Prize Pool: $12240.00 Tournament started 2009/06/13 12:00:00 ET
Dear GCPGeneD,
You finished the tournament in 2nd place. A $1,493.29 award has been credited to your Real Money account.You earned 497.43 tournament leader points in this tournament.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I felt good about the score but also a little disappointed as I wanted to win sooooooo bad I could taste it. The guy that won first was from Minsk, somewhere in Russia and he played very well. There were 2 hand I will breakdown a little later where I felt I had him "stone cold dead"...and either he sniffed out of it or the cards counterfeited my action. The tournament started at 11am and did not finish until around 2:30am...with a good hour of HU play. The difference between 1st and 2nd was only $500.00.

The tourney...I felt I played really well and once we got down to 4 tables, everything came together for me. I was seeing things clearly and had picked up on several patterns on my opponents that I was able to exploit. I also was taking hot showers...and I mean steaming hot...on every break to stay focused and dialed in. I went to the FT as the chip leader and did not relinquish the CL until we were 4 handed...I never had my tournament life on the line the entire tourney until we got to FT...we went into HU him having me 2 to 1 in chips...45 minuted later I had him 2 to 1 in chips and the see-saw battle continued."[+]

GCP.NET's OFFICIAL FORUM IS THE FULLTILTFORUM:

COME JOIN IN THE THREADS WITH THE LIKES OF COMPTONMASTA, VIRGE, POKERUSKY AND REX55

THE POKER MONKEY

" Suppose we can talk poker now for a little while. Took Sunday off to sit and melt at the pool at Venetian. Joe Cutler was going to join me but decided instead to play the 1k at Venetian. The temperature was around 110 degrees, and there pool offered no relief, it was...in a word, AFRICA HOT.

I finally went downstairs, played the $120 7pm tourney...that had 383 players. Along with "Gondola Mike." That still hasn't happened, but we are anxiously awaiting that wonderful day when we get to watch him take that magical boat ride, alone ...except for the singing Gondola Captain!

I will spare you the gory details. The bottom line is...Mike went out around 32nd. I ended up cashing...24th (27 got paid) for a whopping $134. Thats right...I made $14.

Nice payout structure. I am SO hopeful that Venetian will fix these payout structures for the next event. Because these ones are damn depressing.

Joe would end up getting knocked out of his 1k, in the money but cashing for the minimum. He wasn't happy about it. But at least he is cashing a lot on this summer."  [+}

YOU'RE ENTERING A WORLD OF PAIN

 (UPDATED 07/01/09) Kai has won two large poker tournaments in a matter of months.  He is one of the top up and comers on the coast, having taken down a main event in Tunica and winning a circuit ring in New Orleans.

"If you're actually that dumb to think I can land in the top 10% of that field, God help you. However, I will gleefully take your money. It's your funeral. I suppose there's people dumber than you out there somewhere, I just haven't had the pleasure of meeting them yet.

As an additional incentive/ benefit, I'll make this a package deal. For each share you buy, you will receive some lint from my belly button, an official Kai Landry photograph signed by yours truly, and a warm handshake, excluding any warmth or good wishes/ intentions. That costs extra.

All sarcasm and ridicule aside, thanks to anyone who really and truly believes in me. It means a lot. I'm gonna try like hell to make us all rich."[+]

The cc Line

""I've been working in new aspects to my play lately, trying to evolve into more than just a straightforward player, particularly in my regular cash game and a couple of local tournaments that feature many of the same players. Anyway I figure it, if I don't mix up my play, the reactions to my playing a tight, simple (and predictable) style of poker will come at my expense, either via bigger hands or by bigger bluffs. The beatings will be swift, severe and painful.

As you might expect, the early results have been mixed. However, I am committed to working such plays into the fold of my game, short-term losses notwithstanding.

Let me document a couple of the literal misfires."[+]

RECOGNIZE AND REACT

 (UPDATED 06/24/08) A new title but the same blog, Goondingy or Big Smoove and pure aggression on the felt examines live poker action:

"So I can't get to the mortar house and play poker so I've resorted to playing online where sit n gos are my main event. I've been working with my bud, Mitch, and trading online strategy. I've been pretty successful at the six man tables. The play here should be tight/aggressive...you can't make moves out of position with suited connectors etc. When it gets four handed, loose aggressive play will work to a point.
Feel your table out look for the one who wants to give away his chips by calling out of position.
Wait for them to make a mistake and JUMP on them.
Sit back and be patient...it will work for you.
When heads up be somewhat aggressive.
Don't Tilt!
HAVE FUN!" [+]

POBODY'S NERFECT

"It sounds nice, and a $1000 win is nice, but it's extremely extremely frustrating. I played the 70k guarantee on Stars Wednesday night. It paid the top 180. I came out 205th when I had J-J and tried to beat 10-10 after getting it in preflop.

10 on the river and I'm outta there. But what it did do is motivate me to play some more tourneys.

After winning the 50k guarantee on Tilt in December, I don't know if I've played 15 tourneys since. And I've done pretty good in live tourneys also but don't play hardly any.

Well anyway, I'm a little motivated to try and play more now. So tonight I sat and played the Nightly Hundred Grand on Stars. You start with 3k in chips.. about 15 minutes into it, I was down to 800.

I caught A-K and lost with trips to A-Q who had trips and a pair of queens. A couple of hands later, I rivered a gutterball to more than double-up. The very next hand I catch KK and double up again.

I went from 800 to over 4k in an instant. And never really looked back.

 I never caught AA(even though I prayed like a SOB for them). Or a set or any monster hand. I just kept chipping away and making some small winners... [+]

SOUTHPAW ROUNDER

 (UPDATED: 04/08/09) SPR breaks down hands and offers his perception of poker on the Gulf Coast.

"I played online for the first time in a few weeks last night. I played 1 $26 45 man sng on Full Tilt. I finished 2nd after missing an open ended draw heads up and outchipped.

I then did a few things around the house and took a shower and brought my laptop to the back and started looking around a few sites to see what events were going on when Jerrard and I are in Vegas in June.

It really kinda started to excite me I must say as I have not made it out there in 2 years or so. The Venetian has there dates and structures posted for the Deepstack event. The WSOP naturally has there things up, and Binions has the schedule up as well.

This all led me to start wondering about the tourneys that Full Tilt is running for the WSOP. I decided to check it out and low and behold that had a $215 one w/ 2 seats guaranteed for a 2k WSOP event.

I stewed around a bit and decided to play it. This would start a rollercoaster of events that would last about 3.5 hours.

It was a great structure for the 34 players that signed up. I saw my chipstack go from 3k(starting stack) up to 5400 and down to 1400 and back to 4k b/f the end of the 2nd level.

This is where the craziness started. While sitting on 4800 in chips and the blinds at 100/200 I got smoked for almost my entire stack.

At the end of this hand I was left with a paltry 241 chips and on the button. I decided to wait for either a decent hand or my big blind to stick it in with and go then go to sleep.."  [+]

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DA ROCK OF ACES

 (UPDATED: 02/02/09) Da Rock, tells it straight from the dealers' box and the winners' circle.

"What's up guys and girls?  It's been a while since I last spoke to you all. 

Hope everything is OK in pokerland.  But seriously, I just wanted to say congrats to wild bill on his 2nd pace at the Harrahs Wednesday tourney. 

The guy played damn near flawless poker right up until the end.  And Yes, I am his favorite dealer.".[+]

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

"I would love to see Stoops reaction if the situation were reversed. He would be saying "how could there even be a debate about this?" Mack Brown is one cool cat. No way Stoopsy shows this much class and composure. Every year they say how the Red River Shootout is so important and frequently has BCS implications.

Well if OU jumps Texas tomorrow they can just go ahead and cancel next years rivalry game cause they are telling you its not such a big deal. This would also make perfect sense to why there is no playoff system. They want to hand pick teams and play thier little chess game. This team is hot right now.... This is the matchup I would love to see.... Their uniforms are so pretty.... GET IT RIGHT MORONS!!! " [+]

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