Runner-Runner-Rebuy

I made it home in one piece from the annual Las Vegas Blogger Winter Classic Gathering. Too hazy to recall details right now, but as promised to a few bloggers, there will be more frequent postings, and a trip report or two coming in the next few days.

My big work project that has lasted many months is finally winding down, and I have tons of notes on poker/hand analysis/fantasy sports that have just been sitting around waiting to be turned into posts.

Hope everyone else made it home ok, and big thanks to Falstaff for organizing this years trip.

Looks like Smokkee has started hosting a tuesday night blogger tourney on Bodog with a pretty nice overlay. If you are 1 of the 5 money bubblers, you’ll have your $11 buy-in refunded and if you finish in the top 5 you will win an entry for Bodog’s Sunday $100K Guaranteed tournament.

Added bonus for us east coasters - it's an earlier start (8:35PM EST) than the other weekly blogger tourneys. It will be nice to play in a blogger event that doesn't keep me up until 2AM.

Here's the scoop -

Tournament Details * Day of week: Tuesday Nights * Start time: 8:35pm ET * Tourney: “Online Poker Blogger Tournament” @ Bodog * Entry Password: bodogblogger * Buy-in + fee: $10 + $1 * Starting Chips: 3000 (Double Stack) * Payout: Standard Bodog payout structure * Bonuses: T$109 bonus paid to the top 5 finishers. T$11 bonus paid to the 5 players that are eliminated prior to payouts. These bonuses will be awarded within 24hrs of the tournament completion. T$ = Tournament Credits. These can be used as a buy in to almost all scheduled tournaments at Bodog and have a ratio to cash of 1:1. T$ can also be combined with cash to buy in to tournaments.

Wednesday night I was running around like mad getting everything I needed to take care of done before my early flight on Thursday morning. I stopped by my sister's house for something I can't recall right now, and then bolted home, turned on the Sabres vs. Ducks game and fired up the Mookie, which I registered for earlier in the day. Twenty min late for both.

Because the Sabres game was on, I neglected to listen to BuddyDank radio, and I've heard I missed quite a show.

Anyhow, since winning my seat into the TOC in the last big game, I have had a different approach to the weekly blogger tourneys. Namely, try very hard to not give chips to the players I feel would be very large threats if they won a seat in the TOC. I've played a lot looser I think, especially against bad players with large stacks. I figured I should try to double through them and if they end up with my chips, its better than one of the solid players getting them.

This, as it turns out, does not seem to be a very effective strategy. It might work better if it were late in a tourney, near the bubble, or on a final table, but basically I have been donking off chips early on, getting knocked out, and then my chips eventually land in some solid players chip stack.

Queue the Mookie. I show up late, so I have no idea what my first 20 min of hand were like, but in the next 50 hands or so I got the following:

Dealt to VinNay [3d Qh]
Dealt to VinNay [7d Jc]
Dealt to VinNay [Qs 2c]
Dealt to VinNay [7d Qs]
Dealt to VinNay [9h 4d]
Dealt to VinNay [8d Ah]
Dealt to VinNay [2h 9d]
Dealt to VinNay [Kh 4d]
Dealt to VinNay [9s Qd]
Dealt to VinNay [Jd 3c]
*Dealt to VinNay [Ad Ac]
*Dealt to VinNay [6s 6c]
Dealt to VinNay [9s 6d]
Dealt to VinNay [2s Qs]
Dealt to VinNay [5h Qd]
Dealt to VinNay [Qs 6s]
*Dealt to VinNay [Kh Ks]
Dealt to VinNay [4c Qh]
Dealt to VinNay [2s 6h]
Dealt to VinNay [Kd Tc]
Dealt to VinNay [Jc Qs]
*Dealt to VinNay [9d 9s]
Dealt to VinNay [6c 2c]
Dealt to VinNay [8c 6h]
Dealt to VinNay [Ad 6c]
Dealt to VinNay [Qd 4c]
Dealt to VinNay [4s As]
Dealt to VinNay [7h 3h]
Dealt to VinNay [5h Ks]
*Dealt to VinNay [2s 2h]
Dealt to VinNay [8d Kh]
*Dealt to VinNay [Ah Js]
Dealt to VinNay [Jd 8s]
Dealt to VinNay [8c 5d]
Dealt to VinNay [5c Ks]
Dealt to VinNay [5c Ks]
*Dealt to VinNay [Qc Qs]
*Dealt to VinNay [5s 5d]
Dealt to VinNay [4d Ah]
*Dealt to VinNay [Js As]
*Dealt to VinNay [Jh Js]
*Dealt to VinNay [Ac Ts]
*Dealt to VinNay [4c 4d]
Dealt to VinNay [7s Ad]
Dealt to VinNay [Ah 9c]
*Dealt to VinNay [Th Td]
Dealt to VinNay [As 8s]
Dealt to VinNay [Qd 8d]
Dealt to VinNay [Qh 3d]
*Dealt to VinNay [As Qs]
*Dealt to VinNay [3h 3d]
*Dealt to VinNay [7h 7d]
Dealt to VinNay [Qc Th]
*Dealt to VinNay [5d 5c]
*Dealt to VinNay [Ah Js]
Dealt to VinNay [Qd 9s]

In 56 hands I got every possible pocket pair except 88. And JackAce or better 3 times as well. It was a sick, sick, sick run of cards. And what happens, I get no action off the premium pairs, people coming over the top on flops with my small/middle pairs and rivered set of 4's cracks my AsQs when I hit top two on the flop. Three pocket pairs and one JackAce later, I still have a small stack.

I smartly (read stupidly) push Qd9s into two players on a turned queen and IGH wondering how the fuck I could have played so badly with the hands I was getting.

I should have either shrugged it off, or at least recognized it as the dark omen of Tilt that was about to settle down with me for the weekend. I did neither, and the specter of bad luck, bad decisions, and gamboooool happily hitched a ride to vegas with me the next morning.

I got the best comment spam today.

IP Address: 76.246.149.68
Name: People are betting their WHOLE LIVES on what they hear in their head.
Email Address: reins@state.com
URL:
Comments:

People are betting their WHOLE LIVES on what they hear in their head.
ANYTIME the gods use their powers it is ONLY TO HURT YOU!!! "Theater" is
the gods using their powers. The absence of my participation in this
theater post-2000 is because I am good. Participation is a clue.

The gods are guilty of what I accuse and that's why they CHEATED,
preventing me from achieving to the best of my ability, ensuring minimal
impact.
The gods have certain expectations, and poeple today are failing. Don't
forget:::Temptation will be used to test you, and telepathic requests
constitute temptation.
Don't count on the culpability the gods may have accepted. They may be
using this perception as a tactic. Also it requires trust, and you should
know better by now.
Whatever they are forthcoming with is the lie. You have to interpret the
truth through the clues they offer. This is a tactic which ensures most
fail.

Check out
Part 1 of my trip report.

I got to bed at around 3am Wednesday night, and was up at eight to pack and hit the road. Desperation set in - I needed to get to a Kinko's on the way to the airport and get some things notarized and faxed to NJ for a new birth certificate I needed for my Christmas travel plans to Mexico. It would take 10-14 days to process on the other end and I needed the document by the 22nd - I was already cutting it close, but we were running late and needed to drop off the dog at the sitters and make it to the airport for an 11am flight. The birth certificate would have to wait. Visions of heavily armed Mexican police tossing me into a dark and dank prison holding cell until I could prove my identity filled my mind.

Even without making it to Kinko's, we just barley caught our flight and I promptly fell asleep for 4 hours and woke up during the final descent. If I had come alone, I would have just stayed at the IP, but since Jocelyn was along for the trip we booked at suite at the Venetian. Not quite IP adjacent, but the Venitian staff clued me in on a shortcut though the staff lot that could get me from the guest elevators to the IP in under a 5 min walk. Considering it takes 15 min to catch an elevator at the IP, I figured I was +EV on room-to-geisha bar commute time. There was no line at check in, and when I inquired if there was a notary and fax service in the business center, the check-in attendant quickly responded "We can take care of that for you sir." Awesome service - Mexican disaster averted.

Our suite was really nice. Very large, multiple plasma TV's, huge marble bathroom, 5-million count sheets. After a stroll around the Venetian and some lunch, we met up with Joc's friend who was in town until Friday morning for a conference. They hit the forum shops at Ceasar's and I hit the IP.

Walking in to the IP, it kinda felt like home. My first time in Vegas was summer of 2006, but in the past 18 months, I've been to sin city five times and stayed at the IP for two of them. When I was out there this past summer for the WSOP, I stopped in the IP for a quick tilty Pai Gow session after getting knocked out of one of the series events, and it helped settle me down for the remainder of my week.

Last year I spent the first half of my weekend a bit overwhelmed and didn't really seek out talking to too many people until I loosened up a bit on Saturday. I had a great time after that, and this year I wanted to meet as many people as possible and was lucky to find some new faces right away at the Geisha Bar. I spotted the Gcox mullet first, then noticed Pauly, Al, and some others I didn't know. Pauly was engrossed in a conversation with the legendary Johnny Hughes, but noticed me, remembered my name, and said hi. Now, is this guy fucking cool, or what? I'm an F-lister, shit, I'm a fake blogger who never updates anything, and the Dr., who I only spoke to very briefly last year in a fanboy fit of oh-my-god, not only has the courtesy to welcome me to Vegas, but remembers my name too.

I shot the shit with Gary and he introduced me to BuddyDank for the first time, and I have to say, not at all what I expected. Now, I love BuddyDank radio and the work he does for it, but I can't tell you how many times I've cursed this guy out at the top of my lungs while staring at my computer. I was fully prepared to NOT like this dude. Turns out, he's a really nice guy. We talked Iowa and football for a bit, and then I listened to some stories that Johnny Hughes was telling. That man has stories baby. Go buy his book. Now.

Time for some poker, so I hit the poker room and got a seat at a 1/2 table with a few bloggers sitting at it. I was getting garbage cards, and hovered around even for about 2 hours when I picked up As2s in late position. A few limpers ahead and I join in. I decide before the flop that I am going to play this hard no matter what hits. In fact, I have no idea what was on the flop, only that after it checked to me, I came out with a 1/2 pot sized bet and sweet, sweet, Pablo raised it up. It folded around to me and I flat called hoping to seem strong. Turn brings a fuck if I can remember, I just recall that it was unlikely to have helped his sweet, sweet hand. He cautiously checks, so I fire out a a 1/3 pot sized bet, hoping to take it down and knowing if he comes way over the top, I can get the hell out. He thinks for a sec and then calls. A call there really scared me. I'm now wondering if he has top set for the nuts. River helps no straights or flush draws. All he needed to do was blow on the pot and I fold, but Pablo checks again. There is no way he checks to me there with a really strong hand unless he thinks I'm a lunatic, but I've been pretty tight up until this hand. I fire $60 into the middle, he thinks for a really long time and finally lays it down. I show my Ace-high hoping to gain some bluff-equity for later hands, but Pablo doesn't have much of a reaction. Perhaps he was on a steal too, I really don't know.

I cashed out +63 for my first session and then went back to the bar. I meet Mrs. Gcox, who is a fine woman, with style and class, and one of the friendliest and easiest people to talk to I had ever met. Must be that southern charm.

Over the course of six drinks people start rollin' in. Iggy shows up and we chat a bit. Again, the A-listers never cease to amaze. Iggy instantly makes you feel like you belong, even if your a fake blogger hack like me. Over the summer, I dropped Iggy an email asking for any tips he could give on my upcoming WSOP trip and he happily obliged with a chat on the phone, and some sound advice. Iggy rules.

A bit later I listen to some bad beat stories from Johnny Hughes, who was taking a beating at the 1/2 tables. I'm sure he never normally plays that low, and was also not prepared for the blogger donkie-ism he encountered, and I was happy to listen to his take on the 1/2 game. Even his beat stories are stylish, funny, and full of clever quips. Go buy his book again, and give a copy to a friend. More bloggers start arriving, and I meet some new people and see some more familiar faces, but I'm kind of at a loss to the specifics as it is all kind of hazy now.

I got a call from Joc who was done shopping, and I head back to the Venitian to get some dinner. We meet up with her friend at MGM's Rouge and throw back a few more. I'm tempted to head back to IP at around 2am when we leave MGM, but decide to crash for the night and get an early start on Friday.

The BBTwo went by so fast, its hard to believe that Thursday is already the Tournament of Champions. I was lucky enough to win myself a seat by way of the Big Game last month and want to to first send out huge props to Al for setting up such a great overlay with Fulltilt by getting them to kick in not only a $1000 freeroll for the top 50 finishers, but an $18,000 package to the Aussie millions for the TOC winner.

Now, on to business. I'm a lunatic stat collector/analyzer. I collect stats, crunch the numbers, write programs to crunch the numbers, re-collect, re-crunch, ad nauseum. I do this for fantasy football, fantasysportslive, poker, and sometimes just for fun. I run stat collection 24/7 on many poker sites and have amassed a huge database of player statistics. I eventually had to move my collections to a server for faster database lookups and the ability collect from many tables at many sites at once.

Sooooooo.....looking ahead to the BBTwo TOC, I pulled up stats on all the entrants, looked though many hands, and tried to build a picture of how they play. Now, obviously, I'm not going to share specifics like percentages and specific hand ranges by position that I have identified as useful, but based on my stats I will present a general assessment of each player and group them into threat tiers. I also realize that with this information, players might change the way they play to try to bollox me or other readers up, but that's ok, this just seems like a fun thing to do.

One last thing, I certainly mean no offense to anyone's game - my comments are made entirely on the stats collected and in some cases the number of hands I have on a person (> 5000) are definitely not adequate to make solid judgments.

1. jeciimd - Looks like jec started out on PokerStars with a typical tight/weak blogger style, but as he transitioned most of his play over to Fulltilt, his game also transitioned. His opening hands have become less restricted (perhaps a tiny bit too loose), and he shows aggression throughout all streets. His stats have been relatively consistent over the past few months, so its hard to determine if his many recent strong finishes are due to better starting hands or better reads on other players. His stats alone put him solidly in the Tier 2 group of players.

2. jjok - Another Tier 2 player, jjok plays a semi-loose aggressive game. Older stats show he has tightened up a bit to get here - in the past he played like a maniac, either scaring his table into submission, or getting his ass handed to him in dominated situations. Not afraid to move in with the Hammer in a short stack situation (my KK sucked out on him in the vegas tourney).

3. summer_babe - I was very surprised by Iggy's stats. For some reason, I don't have that many hands on him, but his stats show a tight/weak style. However, he is one of the few tight/weaks that show profitable play. It is possible that it may be an aberration, or perhaps his post flop weak play is an indication of solid reading of betting patterns. Not sure, but stats peg him as a Tier 3 player. *see caveat in comments*

4. lucko21 - Back in his Party Poker days, lucko was a real fishy character. Very loose, and willing to call down with dominated hands. Some might think that's how he still plays, only difference is that he sucks out all the time now. But they would be wrong, his play over time has tightened up (still marginally loose), and his aggressiveness has taken the place of his passiveness. Overall a semi-loose aggressive Tier 2 player. A pattern is beginning to form. Lets see where the next one takes us.

5. XxMagiciaNxX - Man, this guy has been a thorn in my side. Whenever I'm at a table with him, it feels like he can see my hole cards. My initial thoughts are that he is a very solid semi-loose aggro that has the timing of a cesium clock. Stats say - semi-loose aggro. Used to be tight/weak, game has grown over time. Another Tier 2 player.

6. Loretta8 - Plays on multiple sites. Preflop aggro-maniac, postflop weakling. Pure pre-flop player who can be easily outmaneuvered post-flop, but makes it very hard to see flops with him. Tier 3 player, but be careful.

7. Huntsvegas - Again, another Tier 2 player who started out on Stars as a fishy passive calling station, but turned into a semi-loose aggro. Seems to be a fairly consistent theme among the bloggers.

8. Kajagugu - Kaja gets around. Got him/her on many sites. Changes gears between tight/weak and semi-loose/aggro. Be careful and watch for gear changes. Just barley not Tier 1 stats, so far Kaja is probably the top Tier 2 player on the list.

9. dnasty13 - Looks like dnasty learned to play on Ultimate, and boy was he bad there. The worst kind of calling station. However, like almost everyone on this list, he has turned his game into semi-loose aggro. Solid Tier 2 player.

10. -o-LuckTruck-o- - I don't have many hands on LuckTruck, but what I do have suggests the recurring theme - Tier 2, semi-loose aggro.

11. jamyhawk - Again, semi-loose (maybe a bit looser) aggro, but with an unprofitable history. This puts him in Tier 2, but towards the bottom. However, he knows how to pick a horse, and I had to ship him $20 when Astin took out Maudie in the Big Game.

12. Mike_Maloney - This guy is good. Really good. Very selective, very aggressive. Easily the top player on the list so far (as far as stats show). Changes gears, always bets hard, and puts you to decisions. Watch out, or this shark will eat you.

13. VinNay - Started out tight/weak on Party, moved to loose-aggro nutcase, back to tight/weak, and finally settled on semi-loose aggro. Tiltable. Tier 2.

14. SnailTrax - Our first Rock. Tight/weak pre-flop, aggro post flop. I wish I had more to say about daddy, but I don't have a huge hand history on him, and I haven't been at many tables with him. Tier 3, and hope he's not directly to the left of Loretta8, or she will chip up by blinding him to death. *see caveat in comments*

15. Budohorseman - Sorry Bud, but based on your stats, your our first Tier 4 player. Calling station all the way. Aggro pre-flop, but can't get away from anything. Must have gotten great cards to take down one of the qualifying events.

16. ricky424 - Just so Bud doesn't have to be alone, ricky will join him in Tier 4. A tight/weak preflop player, aggro post-flop. Very easy to see when ricky is ahead. Almost no variation in his play. I wish I knew that 3 handed in the Riverchasers a few weeks back.

17. cmitch - Another player solidly in the Tier 2 group of semi-loose aggros. I've played at many tables with cmitch. He has good timing, and can change it up pretty well.

18. RecessRampage - Hmmmm....are cmitch and Recess the same person? They have nearly identical stats. I mean, DAMN close. I'll have to go back and see if I notice any chip dumping from one player to the other.....Tier 2.

19. cracknaces - Now here is a player who has come a loooooong way. From calling station, to timid weakling, into semi-loose aggro and then finally settling on Tight/Aggro, crackin has done it all. I'm wondering if it is actually different players just using the same ID on different sites. In any case, on Fulltilt, crackn is a full blown Shark. Tier 1, just give him your chips now. He changes gears often, always bets aggressively when in a hand, and busts many people with his great timing. Fear him.

20. whiskigrl - Sorry to say it whiski, but your a donk. A Tier 4 player, who way too often lets other hands catch up.

21. PirateLawyer - Barley a Tier 3 player. Not very aggro post-flop. Not as bad as whiskigrl, but close. Also picks better horses than me.

22. actyper - Plays at tons of sites. Looks like actyper learned to play on Pacific, and played pretty badly there. More recently, is a semi-loose aggro Tier 2 player. I have never played at a table with actyper.

23. twoblackaces - I wish this was more interesting, but no, another semi-loose aggro Tier 2 player. I might have to break the Tier 2 players down a bit more, but I doubt I have the time to dig deeper.

24. emptyman - I knew there was a reason empty was always getting deep. You swimming with the Sharks while in a hand with empty. Aggro, tight, mixes it up, and very crafty. Our third Tier 1 player.

25. Astin - Tier 2. Same as all the others. Yeah, I know, the comments are getting shorter, but this is taking longer than I thought it would, so deal.

26. Julius_Goat - Straight up Maniac. Won his way in with an essay. Can drop mad science. Will get in behind, don't be afraid to call off your stack to him. Tier 3 or 4, not exactly sure.

27. Fuel55 - Also won his way in with an essay, but is a Tier 2 semi-loose aggro like most of us. Will try to reverse-imply presto when a 5 flops. Don't fall for it. Statistically, it looks like he is more than willing to lay down presto post-flop, so don't think he will always play it long and hard.

Tier Summary

Tier 1 (good shot at winning) - Mike_Maloney, cracknaces, emptyman

Tier 2 (in the hunt) - jeciimd, jjok, lucko21, XxMagiciaNxX, Huntsvegas, Kajagugu, dnasty13, -o-LuckTruck-o-, jamyhawk, VinNay, cmitch, RecessRampage, actyper, twoblackaces, Astin, Fuel55

Tier 3 (not a great shot at winning) - summer_babe, Loretta8, SnailTrax, PirateLawyer, Julius_Goat

Tier 4 (stay at home) - Budohorseman, ricky424, whiskigrl,

Damn, that's it I guess. More work than I thought and I started off better than I finished. But, let the angry comments begin.

One more thing - I STRONGLY believe that the Rooster should get a seat in the TOC. I mean, he won the big one in Vegas.

The BBTwo Tournament of Champions is over. Exhale. It was a long ride getting there, and a great final TOC, with lots of story lines to follow. We saw some great poker, had tons of r-a-i-l-b-i-r-d-s, witnessed lucksackery*, skillsackery, donksackery, pre-flop aggro maniacs, awesome comebacks, and ultimately, a Champion who truly deserved it.

In reverse order from the Title -

The Fugly: ricky424 vs. Fuel vs. dnasty13

Ricky calls Fuel's and dnasty13's all-in and re-raise all-in holding the all-powerful A5o (WTF!?!?). Fuel has JJ, dnasty has AK. An ace comes and FGH (Fuel goes home). Well, not exactly home, but to the rail where he justifiably berates ricky for 1/2 hour.

The Bad:

IGH before the second break. A half hour in, this hand happens -

Seat 1: actyper (3,900)
Seat 2: -o-LuckTruck-o- (3,085)
Seat 3: Mike_Maloney (3,495)
Seat 4: Budohorseman (3,460)
Seat 5: lucko21 (3,575)
Seat 6: VinNay (3,120)
Seat 7: summer_babe (1,610)
Seat 8: emptyman (3,125)
Seat 9: dnasty13 (1,630)
Budohorseman posts the small blind of 25
lucko21 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to VinNay [Kc Ks] w00t!
VinNay raises to 150 Thinking about a limp UTG to re-pop, but smarten up
summer_babe folds
emptyman folds
dnasty13 folds
actyper folds
-o-LuckTruck-o- folds
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act thinks about it
Mike_Maloney calls 150 calls....22-JJ? I think AA, AK, or QQ re-rasies, could be AQs, maybe AJs (but I doubt it).
Budohorseman folds
lucko21 folds
*** FLOP *** [9s 9d 5h] Great flop for me
VinNay bets 350
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act thinks about it
Mike_Maloney calls 350 hmmmmm.....could be bad, but prob thinks I have 2 overs and missed and he has under pair. Looking back, under pair thinking that would prob raise me up.
*** TURN *** [9s 9d 5h] [Jd] ok, he might think the J hit me hard, or course he might have JJ and I'm farked
VinNay bets 950 gotta do it
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act thinks about it
Mike_Maloney raises to 1,900 fuck.
VinNay has 15 seconds left to act thinks about it
VinNay has requested TIME a call here commits us both, and he knows this. ...based on the way this hand went, I put him on 99, 55, JJ, or maybe QQ. only one I can eat is QQ, which I doubt he has. Or, it is a master move.
VinNay folds I'll never know.
Uncalled bet of 950 returned to Mike_Maloney
Mike_Maloney mucks
Mike_Maloney wins the pot (2,975)

Mike later tells me he had 55. It makes sense, but I'm still not sure a laydown there is good. Folding left me with 20 BB, and I just hoped I could make a comeback with plenty of time left. I was wrong. I was f-ing card dead after that, and was moved to Daddy's right while he wielded the big stack. I couldn't get anything going and slowly lost my stack.

My all-in A6s vs. jjok's 77 send me home when I jump for joy on an Ace flop but then see the third 7 out there as well. I saw so many pairs make flop sets in the TOC, it was sick.

The Good:

Well, maybe my laydown was good and it should belong here, but this spot is reserved for Jec. This guy really deserved it. 2 TOC seat wins, overall points winner, and TOC Champion. His game has come a long way and as a true student of the game, has shown us all what it takes to win these blogger tourneys. He played great, rarely (if ever) needed to get lucky, waited patiently for the right cards/opportunities to exploit his opponents.

In my TOC roundup post, I wondered about him and if his recent success was because of patience and good reads, or just better cards. Well, the answer is obvious to me now, and I'm confident that Jec will represent us strongly down under. Congrats man, you own this shit.

I heard that Jec has no live/casino game experience, and likely no experience in large buy in events. Hoy's post today (looks like he's back on his meds) suggested people dropping some advice to Jec. This is a great idea, and as someone who plays more live than online, and has played in a number of large buy in events, I'll def be putting some things together for Jec that I think he can benefit from. I hope others with this experience do the same.

*I feel like most of my player analysis from the previous post turned out to be pretty accurate, with one glaring exception. Whiskigrl is no donk. Sorry 'bout that whiski.

Damn, I qualified for the Sunday's with Dr. Pauly TOC at Fantasy Sports Live, and with all my getting ready to leave for Mexico tonight, I forgot to register and pick my team. Fark. Well, thanks to the good Dr. for setting this thing up. I only played it a few weeks, but there is going to be a big post coming from me on strategy/issues I see with this type of Fantasy Sports betting.

I'm looking forward to getting to Mexico. Leaving tonight at around 12AM to Drive to Toronto for a early morning flight, so I should make the Blogger Luck Game before I leave.

My plans in Mexico are basically drink beer, and write on the beach. I have a number of things I have wanted to write about and now seem to have the time to do it. Posts on Winter Gathering, Fantasy Sports, a few Hand situations, etc, should hit my blog in rapid succession when I get home.

Anyone know where I can find a safe poker game in Playa del Carmen, Mx?

Feliz Navidad. Prospero año y Felicidad.

Adios Amigos.

I won!!! Mad Skills!!! Will post full tourney report in a week when I get back from Mexico.