Watching the market just before open and it is down a bit.  But the day (F-13) is usually an up day — go figure.

As to the big chips, well, Poker Stars will stream a final table today at 13:40 EST.   That is 1:30 PM for those who like 12 hour clocks.  Tomorrow, they stream the big buyin one.  Be sure to use up the company bandwidth, today.   Anything else employees due on a Friday the thirteenth would have to be suspect.  So, enjoy.

In blogdom, Sparky is playing suckup to the Very One.  The links should make two link whores happy.  The term used does not imply anything kinky going on there.  Of course, there is your idea of that and mine.

Related posts:

1. Cats
2. Black and Blue
3. Poker for the Birds

OK, it is the commercial break at four hands.  They needed to build a money mountain for the heads-up. Lamb is out.   What?  The action started on the very first hand.  To my mind it smacked of getting to watch the tape.   Staszko was day one final table chip leader. He bled chips and got moved off hands.  Of the three, he’d definitely appear to be Arnold’s girly boy.  That is the only way to justify Lamb’s play.   Staszko got to watch tape too. It was either a mental fart on Lamb’s part or a read gone wrong to let the pot size force a mistake with red KJ.  It certainly wasn’t part of pregame planning and Lamb went from second in chips to being a push monkey.

He pushed with Q6 into Stazko’s JJ.   Walk of shame and another commercial break.  If the red, white and blue is going to win, it is with a flag without stars.

Things calmed a bit with Heinz chipping up to a near 2:1 lead.  That is golden when heads up.  He pulled a Staszko and bled and on the 25th hand he gave away the lead.  The feeling there is one we’ve all had.  The dealer, your mistakes, bad luck, you name it.   Here it was Staszko behind picking up bottom two pair on the river.  It doesn’t let you feel good but you do feel a good bit better.  Stacks are almost equal.

Hand 28 is a draw heavy board and Heinz see AA make a set for third nut.  Kaboom! welcome home chip lead.  Momentum shift didn’t last long. Staszko’s Q’s on the flop were always behind.  And, made the two value bets after modestly embarrassing.

Bet sizing was solid by both players.  But, Heinz was willing to test Stasko preflop more than the opposite. Early Heinz acted a bit goosey with big grin to friends showing a lot of confidence.  The chip lead changed that but when the lead came back so did the aggression.  Staszko need to avoid playing Heinz’s hand selection and that meant test after test.  Big pot and new chip leader with an all-in holding best air.  This is interesting poker.  Walk the dog is a yo-yo trick.   Three dozen hands and the yo-yo was active.

Heinz type players are a horror for many any.  He will make a play with any two.  What is the counter?   The Nuts help and Stasko picks up the biggest pot to date.  Heinz cushion to play strong is gone. He’s on the wrong side of the 2:1.  Lead changing heads-up is pure stress.  The good ones handle it.  Staszko may fold the best hand but he isn’t making deadly mistakes. Stasko’s early short stack play was gamble.  He’s changed gears well.

The Magician has found a home.  He talking more this session and showing a player’s mind processes.  It looks like the production people saw enough to change the mix.  Solid move.  It is the Lon and Antonio show.

So, it is getting on; the pot bellied dude with the pork pie hat covering naked skin is chewing a messy cigar butt and angling for a comp.  The wrinkled suit jadedly peers at the table and calls for a new setup.   But, here Pius Heinz is blowing bubbles with his pink bubble gum.  If he had a baby face and wasn’t four betting, we’d be looking for the nanny.  In the entertainment tonight category, the Boss hoodie really trumps the Euro-cowboy short sleeve, check, snap button look.   Staz needs to get Dolly to take him shopping.  Meantime, it is one hell of a heads-up.

Blinds: 800K, 1.6M, 200K  Slight Heinz lead and his game should work the change to his benefit. 67 hands played.  The yo-yo man has moved from walk the dog to around the world.  Norman Chad should buy a yo-yo or find a better writer.

Ok, I am reading and sorta watching.   It a nail bitter but I’m jaded.  Staszko has a big advantage.   It is better being him.

Staszko kept his stack  in good shape when this came along:

Heinz:
Staszko:

Two clubs on the flop and the betting ended up with Heinz going all in.  Stasko took the outs and the board wimped out on him.  He was in trouble and make that trouble serious.  The worm had turned.

The rest was anticlimactic.

Related posts:

1. Gaming the Gamble

The early sleight of hand benefited a German kid.  He arrived with next to bottom stack and played the double up game well.  I hated his play as he managed to mix cards and bets from that point on.  You know what they are doing and they invariably catch a hand when you play back.  However, the kid did it with more smarts than the average $5.50 tournament’s table captain or TonyG.  The guys name is Pius and there isn’t anything pious about his play.  He kept playing too damn well to anyone wanting to have him at your table — left or right side.

Play was good.  Lon and what-his-face avoid making asses of themselves.  Antonio and Phil didn’t talk too much in their bits of limelight.  The set was the space ship we saw all summer.  Standard ESPN basics that avoided embarrassment.

The play was solid.   I can’t say it was the players any more than the levels.  There wasn’t a huge need at the start for anyone to really gamble it up that early.  As dinner approached that changed compliments of the reduced head count and blind progression.  It isn’t easy to criticize.  I guess I could take a go at Lamb — who might still  be strong enough to win it.  He got it in bad and big twice and won both.  But one of those was definitely a short stack’s bluff looked up.

Somebody, Nolan Dalla, reported they played 178 hands which the way the blinds went seems proper.  He also reported the bust out hand I missed and surprise-surprise Lamb again made the comeback move when his A9 call against JJ flushed on the turn.  The funny bit was the later report of the hand on the WSOP blog.  I imagine a correction will appear shortly.

Matt Giannetti:

Ben Lamb: 

Flop: 
Turn: 
River: 

Now that would be truly surprising — even if you are Bret Maverick.

I was also surprised I watched.  I was surprised I could download it.  Tuesday it returns.  That night doesn’t hold any of my must watch shows at that hour.  I’ll see if they let me view it again.  Although they are up against NCIS-LA.  Of course that one has that total fox — Linda Hunt — not to be confused with the much shorter diva from Boston.  But, I can watch the NCIS-LA reruns via the net.

ADDENDUM:

Missing were the standard patches.  888.com (banner ad here) was represented as was Paddy Power.  PokerTracker snuck in on a sleeve.  Somewhat unexpected were Bellagio and Aria.   The time are a changing — compliments of the nanny bastards at SDNY.

Related posts:

1. Run don’t walk

Shortly a hand came along.  They do that don’t they?

Seidel had junk — 75.  But, he hadn’t played for a while and represented.   His opponent had overcards even with a broadway flop — Chino Rheem a new school agro.

The turn is a 7 and Eric goes ahead.  The river hits and Chino bangs it all in.   Eric tanks.  Chino pulls down the hat and ear covered with his hand which was covered by his sleeve.  He’s a lump.

Eric’s pair of 7′s wins the hand after his heroic call.   Rheem announces he feels owned.  There is something to be said for that.

I think the way Rheem sat was a reverse tell and Eric saw the pucker that was connected to Rheem’s backside. Whatever, it was quite a call.

I guess we’ve all pulled the Rheem thing.  Most of us wouldn’t be as vocal as Waffles. I just can’t call Seidel a monkey fish in Wafflesque spouting.  That was an amazing call.

No related posts.

I’m getting the Nook because Calibre will transfer books to it.  I am getting the wireless version without downloading in the wild capability.  It was listed as new-in-the-box for $90. That’ll be a lot more handy than reading on the desktop or the laptop.  It is also suppose to be better on the eyes.

Pokerwise, I won another “tournament” on UB.  It is in quotes because there were 8 playing.  So, the starting table started as the final table.  It only excuse is that it was on the tournament page.

I need to find somebody outside the US that has a UB account — Canada should be good. Supposedly, they can still cash.  I’ll pay 10% for their trouble and transfer to them on UB (or it could be Absolute) and maybe see my funds.  I did pull the amount of my initial deposit a while back so this isn’t quite as bad as it might have been.  It isn’t huge.   I’m sitting at around $200.  If you are willing to help out, drop me an email directed to webmaster at this url.

No related posts.

At the end of the rebuy it was 102 entries, 103 rebuys and 90 addons.  So, it even kept a bit of overlay.

My god it was bad.  I understand rebuys but it was all about naked bluffs.  My first hand was late position and I held AJ. The flop came J high and I bet half the pot and got a caller.  Turn was another J and I bet similar.  The river provided a blank and the opponent went all in.  Yes, I called and he showed K5 in spades with not a spade, K, or 5 to be seen.

I was an idiot before it finished but that is another and repeating story.

ADDENDUM:

PokerNews reports that two more sites — Sportsbook.com and PlayersOnly.com — will stop accepting new U.S. players on May 1st.  Now that is pure strange.  Who would deposit in the next couple of days?  It says you will still get to play, deposit and withdraw.  So, they are going to be just like other facing the feds but they will eliminate new accounts. Now that is a strange business plan and not one to put a lot of faith in.

Related posts:

1. I played poker
3. Rebuys and Tournament gossip

Managed a 2nd today in that little tourney on UB.  It wasn’t much of a brag.  Runners have been down.  Today, it was just 13 peeps.  The way many play, my guess is busto more than fear.

I played the heads up poorly.  Not so much throughout but on the last hand.  I just said or thought screw it and that isn’t me.

But, there is poker being played.  As to having something other than a number for winnings…

No related posts.

Let me start saying I understand and appreciate the game Jordan has developed.  Leaving out the swings, it really works for him.  It is also the game recommended for folks doing things like lucking into a big final table where they feel outclassed.  Wisdom instructs them to play big pot — pre-flop poker.   That isn’t Jordan’s game but it does parallel it quite a bit.

Jordan’s post about this has comments.  Mine hints more than helps.  Hoyazo nails the thought much better.  What he describes is what I would say is what passes for my A-game and otherwise things hit the lower side.  I’ll admit that was harder for me to accomplish over time.  I’ve referred to it as my boredom tilt.  It is a 180 from what Hoy is saying.  I’d get bored and go looking for the coin flips.

The thing that has brought that home has been the little limit game I manage to kill (4th today) and it is reasonable to ask why.  Limit — especially tournament — is a whole other world.   Patience there has shown me its virtue.  Blind progression is such that it start to resemble no-limit.  The key is the ability to select the right gear based on the situation.

The thing is that Hoy’s game and Jordan’s game will both work.  But variance and going deep favor Hoy — which he has demonstrated and repeatedly.  He has something that works well.  Jordan has something that often works.  It isn’t a huge difference but it is there.

I have to think of Tiger Woods a couple of years back.  He was winning but his swing wasn’t his strong suit.  He change the swing with a tutor and didn’t do as well for a fair while. He came out of that and went beyond where he’d felt he had been.

Should Jordan “change his swing” and consider other options?  I can’t say.  It is too personal to suggest without his advanced commitment.  You embark on changing something that works and that carries little gratification.

Tournament poker comes with built-in variance.  Hoy tries not to add more.

ADDENDUM:

Congratulations, VeryJosie.  She’s a good player with moxie.  I also promise never to repeat that remark.  Today, she gets to play Cock of the Walk over Jordan.

P.S. Jordan, I wouldn’t suggest her, if you do decide to broaden things.  Her tutoring wouldn’t be a way to stay sane.

Related posts:

1. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Related posts:

1. Hiatus

I was 10th out of 10 and then went on a run.  What can I say?  I was chasing too many great draws that whiffed.

This was interesting as I had a heckler.  I’ve played him before and he does a lot of -EV things.  Today, he was very unhappy when I called him with better crap or raised him with value bets. He was most unhappy with me.   That was fun.  Nothing like a heckler to keep your attention from waning.  With luck was on my side and I was able to type in “Bye” as he left.   I can be polite to a fault.

I was able to dominate the table to an amazing degree.  Not by playing table captain but by solid play.   People tend to gamble just a scosch more than is called for and that makes for nice averaging up.

ADDENDUM:

On the computer front, I need to figure where my sound went.  Thought it was plugged in right and now need to look again.   Then I need to get the computer I was using plugged back into the network so I can VPN into it and pull some files.   I like VPN better for that than just opening up that computer over the local network.   Not that its bad; it is just easier than mucking with MS applets.   Although, Win7 is a bit better at letting one configure things.

Thunder-boomers are happening here.  That means I have 85# of dog draped across my feet.

No related posts.