Poker Content!

I actually have some poker to discuss!

First off, thank again to Dr. Pauly for hosting an encore edition of his Saturdays series on PS. It was my first time, and I guess because of beginners luck I managed to run deep and take 2nd. I'm happy with my play. I made some big laydowns and few if any bad decisions. My big hands held up, which is unusual at PLO (it'll break your heart, right Pauly?) and my reads were good.

My backer, the lovely Kat was there too, but she busted early. That was okay with me because I'd feel odd if I took out my backer. Plus her bustout meant she was able to concentrate on railing me, including some timely advice about switching from Steely Dan to AC/DC late in the tournament. You can't be aggressive listening to Steely Dan.

Wanna know my secret to going deep? I'm a pussy. I actually folded AAxx to a raise and a re-raise from the chip leader (I would have chopped) and I folded KKxx to a big raise from the chip leader. Not once, but twice. Does anyone else fold big hands late in PLO tournaments? Seriously, I'd like to know.

The 2nd place finish was enough to rocket me to first place on one of the side bets for the Summer Bankroll Challenge, which is a pretty cool deal.

I've been on a rush since then. After my cash in the PLO tournament, I celebrated by going to Diamond Lil's to punish the 8/16 game. Even with several bad beats, I'm managed 3 nice winning sessions. All sessions started with me in a serious hole, but I managed to dig out all three times. I even went back to the Muckleshoot (despite my self-imposed banishment for my horrible behavior last time) and booked a nice winning session at 3/5 spread limit.

The 'shoot session was interesting if only because I had no right to the win except that variance broke my way for a change. I pissed away 2 buy-ins at O8 prior to moving to the 3/5 table. Then I proceeded to piss away another $350 playing like a timid idiot. When I finally buckled down, I actually got lucky.

I have Kd-Jd in the BB. 4 limpers see a flop of 2d-3c-5d. I'm not thrilled with my 2nd high flush draw so I check. It checks to the button who has been very aggressive (and winning - go figure). He bets so I figure it's a good time for a check raise since he has nothing. I raise to $30. MP dude, who has been quiet, pumps it to $100. He has about $100 behind. Everyone else folds to me. I put him on A5 for TPTK and guess he might fold to a big re-raise so I go all in. He insta-calls with his nut straight.

Qd on the river and I'm back in this thing!

From there I didn't look back and finished with a nice score. I also had the opportunity to talk with Devin who was the dealer during my outburst. I was nice to be able to tell him that I really respect him and that he didn't deserve the abuse. For his part, he told me that I was justified in my actions. I disagree, but it's nice to know there were other opinions of how events unfolded.

Finally, congrats to Ron for taking 5th place in the $270,ooo poker tournament at the Muckleshoot. Nice score.