Runner-Runner-Rebuy

Pauly got a sweet deal from PokerStars for the 5th anniversary of Tao of Poker. I can hardly believe Pauly has been spamming us for 5 years already. The tourney is only $5, with a $5000 Borgata tourney seat added.

You should play. You should also do a money swap with me. I have not played on Stars in over a year, but would happily trade FT money for Stars money. Any takers?

I sucked it up and made a deposit on Stars. I quit playing there about a year and a half ago after a particularly bad run of variance. I'd have to dig out the stats again, but I think I lost 30 or so consecutive 70/30's. But, since it was the Tao's 5th B-Day, I figured I'd donate to the PokerStars rake machine and deposit $100.

I registered for the Tao5 and jumped in a 6-max $13 Turbo SNG during my lunch break yesterday. Took it down relatively easy for a 40-something dollar score. Fast-forward 6 hours. We are remodeling our kitchen and one of the last things to finish is the new counter top. I was piecing together the buildup to the plywood - cutting lengths of 1x4's (which if you didn't know this - actually measure 3/4 x 3.5), and glueing and screwing them to the boarders of the plywood. I started to get dizzy, and my legs and hands were shaking. And I was pouring sweat off my head and ripped abs. Wait, I mean my head and gut - I don't have ripped abs.

I then realized I hadn't eaten all day, or the day before. I was about to black out into a coma as this struck me. Adderall has been great for my ADD, but too frequently it makes me forget to eat. A few sandwiches later I finished up the counter and fire up Stars to unregister for the Tao5. I was still feeling like shit, was dehydrated, and was in no position to play. Only it was 9:06 already. I thought the tourney started at 9:30, but it started at 9:00 and I was already sat at my table. Figured I might as well play.

My starting table was filled with unfamiliar names, so I was very cautious. 500+ players, so I knew it was a minefield. I played very tight, and in the first hour had only 2 open raises (AQs, AK) and one reraise (JJ) which took pots without seeing the flop.

Hour 2 was more interesting. Garth was moved to my table, the first familiar face I saw. I picked up AA in the blinds. One preflop raiser, and then an all-in behind him. I call all-in, and the initial raiser also calls. AA vs AQ vs AJ. AA hold up, and I triple up. A few hands later I'm forced to lay down AJ after I raise and get a re-raise all-in and a re-re-raise all in and another player calls. They held A3s, TJs, and 99. 99 won that one.

A bit later an EP LAG raises to 300, I re-pop to put him all in with AQs, he calls with KQoff and flops KKT, no J comes and he doubles through me. I'm back to a starting stack.

Picked up AA again with a raise and a re-raise all in ahead of me. I call all-in again, and original raiser calls as well. AA vs QQ vs TT. AA hold up and I get to 4K in chips.

Lucko gets moved to my table directly on my right. Cha-ching! Obviously Lucko is one of the best players among the bloggers, but I hoped his aggressiveness would land me some chips. The blinds were getting high, so I started making some moves with marginal hands like middle pairs. Chipped up a little, and then then picked up KK which I called an all-in raise with. KK vs AT, made a boat on a 777xx board. Up to 7K in chips.

Doubled though Lucko when it folds to him the the SB. He pushes his stack and I insta-call with AQ. Bad timing on his part. AQ beats 52off. On the bubble I push with A5 from the button and both blinds fold. Hand for hand lasted only 1 hand. Suck. I was going to start stealing like a bandit.

Folds around to SB, not Lucko anymore, but a LAG player who raises to 2400. I boldly go over the top with A3 and he folds to my tight image.

I'm one of the last bloggers standing at this point I think, and the railbirds start showing up. Thanks to all that railed me and wished me luck. Again it folds around to the SM who raises it to 3500. I push all-in (about 13k) with 77. He folds. Get up to around 18k.

In second position with the Blinds at 1000/2000 I push with AQoff. Two all-in calls. Fuck. AQ vs JK vs QQ. QQ holds and IGHN. Finished in 31st out of 519. Not bad. Saw 7% of flops, took 5% preflop, won 61% of showdowns, and won 75% of hands not going to showdown.

Net profit - about $6.

Happy Blog B-day and thanks to Pauly for hosting and to the Borgata for adding the 5K seat. Good luck to Garry Gates who took the tourney down last night. Now that I have some cash in Stars I guess that means I'll try to show up for the Saturdays w/Pauly PLO tourney.

This was the first online game I've played in a number of weeks. I was really burnt out after the BBT3, but yesterday was pretty fun and I feel the itch starting up a bit again for online play. See you all at the tables....

I've taken most of the summer off from online poker. Not for any particular reason I guess. Sometimes it was just burnout from playing all the BBT3 events. Sometimes I was just busy. And when I did feel like playing, I was playing live games at Casino Niagara.

I made a deposit in Stars for Pauly's 5th anniversary game, so for the first time in almost 2 years I had some dough on Stars. Last night I fired it up for a few SNGs. 4-tabled while watching the olympics.

Table 1 - $13 Turbo SNG (6 player)- Bubbled.

Table 2 - $27 Turbo SNG (18 players) - 2nd for $135

Table 3 - $27 Turbo SNG (18 players) - IGH Early

Table 4 - $12 Turbo SNG (180 players) -

Not a huge score, but a satisfying return to the online tables. I took advantage of bubble time pretty well, and stole like a bandit. And then again when people seemed to tighten up at an artificial bubble of the final table money jump. I went from 20 out of 22 remaining to 17th of 19, to 10th of 18. At the final table bubble I was in 9th of 10, and got to 5th of 9 when we hit the final table.

A few good hands and a hero call later I was sitting in 1st with 5 remaining. The second place player busted 2 players with average stacks to take the lead. He had me at a 2-1 chip advantage going into heads up after I busted the remaining shorty.

HU lasted about 30 hands or so, and I never managed to even up the stacks. I def got lucky a number of times in the tourney, but was also at the shit end of a few suckouts. Hopefully I can turn this into a nice little MTT streak. I'll be trying again later tonight. Might play the Skill series too.

I took a ride up to Casino Niagara yesterday to meet up with Astin and some of his friends for a session of craps. 10 min to the boarder. Almost an hour to cross the rainbow bridge. During the wait on the bridge, it started to pour. I had the top down on the Jeep. Fun times.

Enter Casino - find Astin. Buy into craps game for $100. Promptly lose $100. Rebuy. Hot roller gets me up to $450 with some great rolling and I hit a $2 fire bet. Cold rollers send me back down to $175.

Hit blackjack. Lose $175 in about 10 min.

Hit machines. Lose $200 in about 15 min.

Go back to craps table. Looks like I should have stayed, Astin and crew turned it around.

Take off for home, down $400. Bastards in parking ramp AT casino charge me $18 for less than 2 hours of parking. Rainbow bridge is packed with what looks like an hour wait. I head over to Lewiston Bridge instead. I end up waiting 2.5 hours to get over the border.

Canada Hates Me.