Mockingbird Poker Tour

October Event

2007-10-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Regulator hosted the October event and had the usual great spread. Several newbies we included.

Game 1 - Muskyboy ran over the competition for the win. It really wasn't even close as Musky outplayed everybody at the tables to score and easy win. Nobody really was even in contention in this one as the Champ KO'ed 8 of the other 11 participants. Doc tried at the end to make a comeback but was severally outplayed by Musky. Squeaky took third.

Game 2 - Kramm'it, playing in his first MPT event took game 2 KOing 6 players in the evening. The final three were Kramm'it, McCallem and Muskyboy. Kramm'it had a monster stack which looked like it had been accumulated via lots of luck and not the skillful play that was seen in game 1 by Muskyboy. McCallem tooks second after sucking out on the river to get a straight and split with Musky. If it weren't for the runner runner suckout, McCallem would have finished third..who cares that the hand started with McCallem having pocket aces vs. Musky's AJ.

With 10 months down note the following stats:

Over 30 players have attended Various events
Points:
1 Squeaky 820

2 Musky 520

3 PP 440

4 Mc'Callem 380

5 Doc 340

6 Reg 320

7 Dead $ 260

8 Half Amazing 180

9 Sausage King 180

10 Magic Man 140

10 Lloyd 140

10 Kramm'it 140

Wins
1 Squeaky 5 (includes 3 in a row)

2 Muskyboy 2

PP 2

Mc'Callem 2

Regulator 2

Half Amazing 2

3 6 with 1

Places
1 Muskyboy 7 (2-3-2)

2 Squeaky 6 (5-0-1)

PP 6 (2-1-3)

Mc'Callen 6 (2-1-3)

3 Regulator 5 (2-3-0)

Half-Amazing 5 (2-2-1)

Knockouts (since update to TD2)
1 Mc'Callem 13

2 Muskyboy 12

3 Squeaky 11

4 PP 9

5 Half-amazing 8

Kramm'it 8

No Wonder Ken has been missing

2007-04-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ken, also known as "Beginner's Luck" has been a no show recently. He says he is working in Italy, but I believe I have found the truth. Doesn't the star of this video have a striking resemblance to Kenneth (and I'm not talking the rapper)?

Squeaky Sucks Again

2007-03-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Squeaky, riding a tidal wave of suckouts extended his season high winning streak to 3 consecutive tourneys. Luck was certainly on his side as he rode suckout after suckout to the win. I came to the tourney pretty drunk so can't say that I remember much, but I do remember running up a rather large stack of chips only to be sucked dry by Squeaky who made an amazingly bad read, and an even worse call against my all in only to suckout on the river. It was on the bubble so Squeaky's suckout hurt even worse. I'm sure others played well and had some decent play but Squeky's luck would not be overcome.

Squeaky came into game two with high hopes of going 4 straight to tie Sausage Kings suckout fest record, but it wasn't to be. Without Sausage King and W style luck on his side Squeaky came back to normal and finished out of the money. Khyle, shockingly finished out of the money as well (I say that with a high level of Sarcasm). Lucky PP showed up for game two just in time to be knocked out in about 3 minutes, which seems to be becoming a bit habit forming for him. The final four was Doc, Ross, Jamie and Musky. Within the final four there were 3 all ins that ended in a tie and play was rather tight. Doc was the chip leader, but Doc, Ross and Musky were able to survive several all ins to stay in the game. The key hand of the final four saw Musky all in with KJ (or the hand of Death) against Jamie's QQ, but a King came on the turn and Musky survived. Ross ended up dropping out 4th and Jamie offered to chop 2&3 place with Musky but Musky declined. Jamie stated that he wouldn't forget that Musky wouldn't chop, so of course Jamie got knocked out on the next hand. After that Doc had about 90% of the chips and made quick work of Musky, who has now been first loser (2nd place) 3 times this year.

Next game will be hosted by Squeaky.

Squeaky Kicks Ass

2007-02-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

MPT February event was a suckout fest as usual with Squeaky being the king sucker. Winning both tournaments by sucking out his opponent on the river.

Game 1 started with a bang as PP was all in and all out on the first hand of the game. Halfman was out shortly after and then play settled into the standard MPT fare. Lots of suckout and lots of "how could you call with that" types of play. I can't remember who finished third, but when play was down to two it was Squeaky and Muskboy heads up. Pre-flop Muskyboy was all in and was inexplicably called by Squeaky, who made a very non-squeaky like play. The cards were flipped and Musky had a suited Q 6 and Squeaky has some trash like 5 7. Of course Squeaky hit his card on the river to take the win.

Game 2 started off wild. PP folded his first hand so was guaranteed to play at least twice as many hands as the first game. Soon he had built a monster stack and looked to be on his way to the money, and was running all over Squeaky raising with monsters like 3 8 and having Squeaky fold. PP eventually pissed his chips away and finished 4th. Alan's little buddy Gary finished 3rd and heads up was Squeaky and Doc. Squeaky sucked out Doc on the river for another tainted victory...but he took the cash again anyway.

Championship

2006-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

2006 Champion - Mc "Callem"
runner up - Half Man Half Amazing
3rd place - Muskyboy

Past Championship Winners

2005 Dead Money
2004 Muskyboy

It's Christmas time in pokerland

2006-12-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

I like blogging. I like Poker. I like Money. It's a great things when those three meet. Generally, my wins have been too few for me to be crowing about here, so I have to look for it in other ways.

So I was excited when an opportunity came up to get paid to review an on line store: www.CardroomSupply.com. Head on over, they have a lot of very good stuff. I've checked out the local places for poker tables for my future poker\hot tub room (shh don't tell my wife, I'm still selling the idea). Frankly, the choices all suck. You can buy a $5 table top for $30 at the local place, or an overpriced real table at pools R us. Good Cards? Not locally. What if someone kept losing all the dealer buttons (not naming names Doc, don't take offense)?

This site has a good selection., and the prices are actually fairly competitive (based on what my Dad paid in Vegas and 10m research). It has everything a poker whore would want. Cards, chips, even $800 timers. And then there's this lovely item.

Musky, you're a big shooter, you can afford this can't you? Take one for the MPT. C'mon.

Personally, I don't like big chain stores as much as mom & pop shops. And if you read the snippet on the site, it's basically a guy who realized that poker stuff wasn't as easy to come by as it should have been. So he started selling it on the Internet using the Yahoo store engine. That's why you may see the Y logo.

They even have a link to 31 Hold Em Tips. I wonder if "don't bet into quads with an inside straight draw is one of them." Go forth and purchase.

Things that annoy me; minor swag alert

2006-11-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

I have two things that are actively annoying me tonight. First, poker in movies or scripted 'drama' on TV. I went to see the latest Bond movie. The 'plot' if you want to call it that centered around a winner take all $150 million Hold 'Em tournament. Because you know, if you're an evil super-villain, you want to put your genius to use in a poker game.

The poker is stupid. I can't suspend my disbelief. "He would never call in that situation. He's a mathematical genius, and he's doing this?" So I guess what I'm saying is that I can believe that Bond can chase a bad guy with a bomb across miles and miles, jump from crane to crane, dodge bullets better than and Arnold character in any of his 80's action movies, and still have his wits about him enough to ... etc, etc. But fuck with poker and I'm out.

#2 on my list is Daniel Negreanu. Besides being way too happy (unless he's whining about something), he loves birds apparently. A recent blog post was titled "Happy Tortured and murdered bird day." He had a great dinner of 'tofurkey.' He's not sure why we should be celebrating anyway.

I hate PETA people. With a passion. I can be civil around my wife's aunt, who is a PETA freak. But I have to. There is no choice. We only see each other on holidays and I don't want to hear for a month how I ruined Christmas. I should probably stop here before I get on too much of a rant.

-----------------------------------------

So anyway, in addition to the all important bracelet, I am throwing in a "Stacked" hat. I did a small review of the software earlier this year. Yay for the winner.

Can't Control the Cards

2006-10-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Curious Kitty Litter Box was a shit hole for Muskyboy. The night was a prime example of how you can play well and still get your ass kicked. Game one ended with a three way split between Kitty, Regulator and PP. The only thing I really noted during the game, because I was out early, was watching Khyle as the chip leader (actually chip leader is an understatement he had everybody at the table covered probably 2 or 3 to 1) throw his chips away to finish out of the money.

Game Two was a complete disaster for Musky. He made the right plays but couldn't win to save his life. Poker is a game of decision making and sometimes you make the right decision and still lose, you can't control the cards.

Early on Musky lost 1/3 of his chips when his full house was beaten by a bigger full house. What should be noted is that most players would have gone broke on this hand but Musky knew he was beat when the river tripped 9's and Kitty won with a bigger boat. A short time later, Musky had pocket 4's and flopped a set. Betting insued and PP called down to the river where he hit his flush and took the hand. This left Musky seriously short stacked, but luckily there were shorter stacks at the table. About 1/2 hour later, Musky looked at his cards in the BB and had pocket Jacks. Kitty who was the short stack in the small blind went all in and was immediately called by Musky. JJ against a suited Ace 4. Kitty hit a flush on the river to take the hand. In the next hand, from the Small blind Musky looked down again at JJ. Kitty limped and Musky again went all in. Kitty called and flipped Ace 6. An Ace on the river and Kitty won the hand. And finally about 45 minutes later, from the small blind Musky looked down at AK suited. Squeaky limped from middle position, Musky went all in and PP re-raised all in from the BB. Squeaky thought and thought and also went all in. Cards were turned with Musky having AK suited, PP had AK unsuited but Squeaky was holding a monster J9 suited. A nine on the turn and Musky was gone. Solid poker played by Musky was shot down by luck for the opposing players.

Not sure what happened after that as nobody saved the tourney file. Also, I didn't have much interest so I didn't pay attention. The only thing I know (thanks to Squeaky) is that Khyle again was the chip leader but couldn't close the deal, pissing his chips away again.

There was controversy in the MPT as "table talk" caused tempers to flare. The Regulator was very displeased with several players who egged Squeaky to call Reg's all in. Squeaky called with a dominated hand and sucked out. Also, several players were displeased with Khyle's table talk as he would telegraph his hands to other players when there was an all in in front of him and several potential callers prior to Khyle's turn to act. It appears that poor sportsmanship is running rampant in the MPT.

On another note, after two hours of dabbing his A-hole, Musky was able to stop the bleeding from the Ass F'ing he received from Kitty and Squeaky during the night. Official Tour representatives have said that Musky should be ready to play next month after some intense rehab.

The things skirt wearing males say.....

2006-10-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

When surfing the web you never know what you will find. Checking out a few blogs on the net I found this little nugget from our friend the Magic Man.....I hope to hell he doesn't wear a short skirt to the game tonight.

Khyle said...
Second only to the Stones? I think Crue is probably down there below Bill Wyman's solo career (Je Suis un Rock Star). There's no accounting for taste. No matter how...awful a song or band is, there will always be someone who completely identifies with it.Truth be told, I had an Olivia Newton John song come on my MP3 player yesterday and didn't skip it.

Oh Khyle, dance class and now this........I think it's time for you to turn in your "Man" card.

At the litter box....

2006-10-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

The October game will venture into unknown territory being held at Curious Kitty's Infamous Litter Box. The shit will surely hit the fan as the players dig in.

So far playing are:

Curious Kitty
Musky Boy
The Regulator
Magic
Flipper
Halfman - Half Amazing
Numbnutz

Probably some others but I can't remember. Kitty better have a good spread considering he hasn't hosted in, well ever.

Back to the top

2006-09-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

You know, I think the results speak for themselves. I won't bore you recapping the details.

The only thing of note is that it is unfortunate that Magic and Musky called off their bet....We originally bet that if we met heads up in a tournament at the end, the loser would have to wear a pink tshirt that said "I am Magic Man's Poker beyotch" or the other way around.

The only thing mildly surprising was the LuckyPP was surprised and upset when Sausage King made a bad call and sucked out on him. Doesn't he read the subtitle of this blog?

Tabitha playing with his Sausage

2006-09-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Big game tonight hosted by Tabitha at Sausage King residence. I attendence should be:

Muskyboy - Year points Leader
Squeaky - Second place in points
Asswipe - Leader of in the money finishes
Momma Musky - this should be interesting
Sausage King - Last Game winner
McCall'em -
Dead Money - will be trying to lisp his way to a championship
Beginners Luck - If he stays awake could finish as high as 10th
Sausage Queen - intersting as well
Lucky PP - Could be out in hands 1-4
Numb Nutz - Hasn't shown much, must be perfecting his game
Doc - Man has he sucked this year
Magic Man - Shocking that he is showing because last month he was to tired and had to do something the next day
Probably a few others.

The Vegas Line is Momma Musky and Sausage Queen Heads up at the end.

VOTE FOR KHYLE

2006-07-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Questions to be answered

2006-07-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the gloves come off at Doc's Garage of pain, pleasure and poker. Serious questions will be answered in tonight's games...

After sucking out to win a hand and the tourney a few months ago, Khyle has hit rock bottom with three consecutive bottom three finishes and one Omaha embarrassment. Can he turn it around?
Muskyboy has taken a second place finish in each of the last two months. Can he finally get over the hump and win one? So far his year has included several second place finishes and one win.
Regulator, missing in action last month, will be trying to maintain his average points per game lead. Is he that good or just a lucky year after years of MPT disappointment?
Numb nutz...Will he show? Rumor around the circuit is that he is afraid of the MPT talent.
Will either of the legal beagles show? Will local beagle be awake at 7PM and play?
Will there be a supply of tic-tacs available for participants to gorge themselves on?

All these questions and more will be answered later tonight.

Muskyboy beats out 3000 players in On Line tourney

2006-06-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have pretty much given up on line poker because it just took up to much of my time. Plus Momma Musky said it made me crabby. So I have been spending more time playing my guitars which makes me happy (according to Momma). Anyways I decided to play a Frequent Player Points tourney since I have several thousand left to burn.

So I beat out 3000 players to take 2000th place. Woo Hoo.

Stacked Review (part 1)

2006-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

I recently came into possession of a copy of the new Daniel Negreanu poker game, Stacked. Being the good fellow I am, I'm passing along my initial thoughts. It has nothing to do with moving the post below down a notch...

Overall, the game is very good. By far the best poker game I've played. And I've played a few. It has it's annoyances (the interface, the speed of the game) and it's drawbacks (the Pro Player tips from Negreanu are weak), the game play, and the variety of games offered (cash, tourneys, on line, LAN) and the AI are solid.

It took me a while to figure out how to use the interface, and there is no help available that I can find. But once I did, I found it easy to use. The only real beef I have is that the game window is very small on my laptop.

I entered a tournament first thing, and immediately found that the game was much more interesting than the other PC games. Instead of playing against faceless (and avatar-less) names, you have (real) people who have real expressions and mannerisms. They even talk (although it gets redundant). For whatever reason, all the women are large breasted and wearing very revealing clothing. Just like the MPT - if we had women players.

My biggest question was: Is the AI going to be any good? I've played DD Poker Tournament edition a great deal, and frankly the AI is so annoying it almost is not worth playing. So I was pleasantly surprised when people were betting rationally, instead of acting like it's a freeplay on PokerStars. I did notice that people started reacting to my style, and I had to adjust. That's a huge improvement from the other poker games I played.

I won't be able to say definitively how good it is until I advance through the levels. Keep in mind that this is a video game about poker, not a poker game on the PC. What I mean is, this is aimed at the MTV younger crowd. It's about winning tournaments to 'unlock' new levels and pro players (like Evelyn Ng and Josh Arieh).

This is not for the hard core poker player to test his skills on (and really if they were looking to do that, they'd be playing at Full Tilt anyway right?). This is for someone who likes poker to have some fun. Honestly, I highly recommend this game.

I have high hopes for the LAN and public forum play, but have not yet been able to test that part out. I'll post more once I get a chance to test that out.

Magic Man makes good on his name + Mid year stats

2006-06-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Magic Man continued his streak of bottom three finishes with his second and third consecutive early exits living up to his name (for those who don't recall he is the Magic Man because he disappears early). In game one, the Man was out in the second hand in what is probably the earliest exit on MPT record. In game two he didn't fare much better by being the third player knocked out. Then it got even worse as an impromptu Omaha game broke out after regulation MPT action finished and Magic was knocked out first there by (yep you guessed it) Muskyboy. After months of whining and crying by Magic that Musky fears Omaha, Musky opened up a can of whoop ass on Magic. Of course Musky pissed away most of his chips heads up with Flipper by misreading the board...oops.

But let's get to the real action, because Magic's incompetence at the poker table is becoming very common place with two first outs in the last three tourneys (the longest current streak in the MPT). Unfortunately, I can't give much in the way of commentary as our author showed up to the event half in the bag and doesn't remember much of the action. The only two hands I remember were having pocket queens and re-raising another player all in and he folded. It might have been PP but not sure. And the final hand in game one heads up with PP, I tried to bluff all in with 6 9 and got called by his pocket 8's and lost giving PP the victory. His first of the year. Flipper finished third with ASS Wipe (asst. Regulator) on the bubble.

I am sure there was some good play in game two (well not positive it is the MPT) but I don't recall all that much except that Magic Man was out early and I was out somewhere in the middle. Game two was won by the Curious Kitty, his first win of the year, with Doc in his first money finish and his first tourney not finishing in the bottom three since February. Five tourneys in a row up until that point. Squeaky finished third and Flipper was on the button before winning the Omaha tournament that Magic finished last in.

Mid Year has the following stats noted for the MPT (Minimum of 7 tourneys played):

Points Leaders
1) Muskyboy 105.5
2) Squeaky 102.5
3) Ass Wipe (AR) 92.5
4) Regulator 88

Avg Points per Tourney
1) Regulator 9.78
2) Muskyboy 8.79
3) Squeaky 8.54
4) Ass Wipe/Sausage King 7.71

Money Finishes
1) Ass Wipe/Squeaky 5
3) Muskyboy / Regulator 4

Bubble Finishes
1) Ass Wipe/Flipper 2
3) 8 tied 1

Bottom Three Finishes
1) Doc 5
2) Ass wipe 4
3) Lucky PP / Magic Man 3

% of Bottom 3 finishes
1) Doc 50%
2) Ass wipe 33%
3) Magic Man 27%
4) Legal Beagle / Dead Money 25%

Fewest Bottom Three Finishes
1) Regulator / Muskyboy 0
3) Sausage King 1
4) 4 tied with 2

Consecutive Bottom Three Finishes
1) Doc 5
2) Magic Man 3 (streak currently active)

MPT Marketing

2006-06-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

The MPT is proud to announce that MuskyBoy is releasing his own line of clothing. Below is his first, we're sure more will follow.

Highlights

2006-05-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

I played extremely well all night. The only thing that stopped me was Hymie calling me on a flush draw with about 50% of the odds he needed.

Game 1: Musky dominated early building a massive stack. He then went into his shell, and folded his way to the final two. When raised by Magic Man, he thought and re-raised all in. Magic called, won the hand and the tournament. The fact that Musky held Kojack to Magic's KT is beside the point.

It was the second biggest choke job in MPT history. No one is sure what the biggest choke job is, but we're trying to make Musky feel better.

Game 2: Apparently sucking out on Magic's AA wasn't enough of a boost. So when he found himself outchipped 10-1 against Regulator, he had some work to do. He took down some pots when the killer hand came. Reg does not raise with KK. The flop comes 866. Reg is first to act, and goes all in. Hymie called with Q6 and essentially eliminates Reg as a threat.

To review: Reg took a very high risk reward option. He didn't raise with KK, thereby allowing any hand in the pot. With a potentially scary flop, he committed his entire stack without the benefit of knowing the strength of Hymie's hand.

Reg: I think it's a big mistake not raising with KK, but I can kind of see your thought process. You wanted to get it over with right then. The only thing you were scared of would be an A on the flop, and even then without Hymie raising, no big risk.

However, two questions remain. A) What hands was Hymie going to have that we would have a good second best hand without raising pre-flop that would enable him to lose a lot of money post flop? B) Why on earth go all in on that flop? What possible hand is he going to have to call you with that doesn't have you beat? K8?

Are the details incorrect?

Repeat Offender

2006-05-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

As I'm 'stuck' here in Vegas at a convention, I thought I'd might as well get some poker in. I'm staying at Disney-Vegas (aka the Excalibur). So I sat down for a couple tournaments. Both were 50 player tourneys that paid 6.

Tourney1: I was doing pretty well when we got to the final table. I was a little above par when they combined. Except that they let the players coming in choose their position. I had played with the chip leader, and he sat down to my left. He apologized at how lame it was he could choose where to sit.

Promptly, a weak player limped in, and I looked down at AT. I knew I could outplay the guy after the flop, and I still had the chip leader behind me, so I called. Chip leader put me all in. Fold. There goes 1/8th of my stack. The chip leader apologized for position again. *Note to Hymie- the problem is that the player chose the position, not that the whole table wasn't randomized.

Anyway, I looked down at KK, and knew I was all in no matter what. If I went all in right away, I'd just get the blinds, so I just raised knowing I was all in no matter what hit. Two callers, excellent. Flop comes Txx, and I push. One guy was all in before the flop, and the other called. He hits runner runner to make a straight with QJ. I was bubbled out.

Tourney2: I was playing well, watching people go all in all over the place, picking off pots here and there, buying some others. By the time we hit the final table, I was getting short stacked. I pushed UTG with A5, and the BB called after some thought. He showed A8. I stood up, ready to be out 10th. Nothing on the flop. Nothing on 4rth. And a 5 showed on the river. I looked at the guy I sucked out on and said "You've been MPT'd!" Not really.

The next 10 hands were all J2 82 95 T4 crap. People were all in ahead of me each time. So I folded again and again and again. I ended up folding my way to 2nd place. Not a bad result for such crappy cards.

Khyle All time Vegas results: 3 tourneys, 2 seconds, 1 bubble. I am officially the #1 MPT Vegas player. That and $2.50 will get me coffee at Starbucks...

CONTROVERSY MARS MPT

2006-04-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Lindenhurst, IL(AP) - According to Muskyboy Dave Habeebee, "the official results from last Saturday's 1st Tournament have been lost due to a computer glitch". Rumors are circulating that Khyle Magic Man Keyes, aka The Dominant One, has been spotted around town, and instant messaging, claiming that he was indeed the winner of that event.

Paul The Regulator Kravitz and Jaime The Assistant Regulator Moats, aka Ass Wipe, have launched an official investigation. After questioning Paul Doc Brown, The A.R. has determined that Khyle did have a flush at some point and time on Saturday, but they're not exactly sure as to when it occured. When we asked The Regulator for an official comment, he stated "I've got my best assistant Regulator on it and I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. The integrity of the entire Tour is riding on this outcome." He went on to say that "All future MPT events have been postponed until this matter is resolved".

The Dominant one

2006-04-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

From Khyle to me

From: Khyle Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 4:48 PMTo: Muskyboy

Subject: Re: Just so you know...The only thing that matters is my utter domination last month.

Earlier this year we heard about Khyle's big win in Vegas. So with that being said, I have decided to list some dominant sports figures/teams that fit into Khyle's definition of dominant:

1) Kansas City Royals from 1976-1978 DOMINATED the ALCS losing to the NY Yankees each year.
2) Buffalo Bills from 1991-1994 DOMINATED the Super Bowl by losing each time.
3)Danial Najenga from 2003-2005 DOMINATED the Chicago Marathon finishing third twice and second once.
4) 1992 Chicago Blackhawks DOMINATED the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup losing 4 straight
5) Another hockey one....Toronto Maple Leafs DOMINATED the Stanley Cup from 1933 - 1940 losing 6 times.
6) From 1962 to 1970 the Los Angeles Lakers DOMINATED the NBA Championship losing 7 times.

I think you get the picture on Khyle's definition of "DOMINATE".

It's at....

2006-03-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

7 pm......SEVEN.....7 7 7 SEVEN...........................SEVEN..............

Dead Money's House of Pain

2006-03-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Poker started out well on Saturday night. Apparently the communication in the DM household is about as good as it is in most households. Doc showed up 15 minutes prior to first deal and was told to go home, that we weren't starting for another hour 15. When DM realized that that was a mistake, he unfortunately forgot to tell Doc. Probably saved Doc $20.

The story of the first game was the unmitigated domination from start to finish by Magic Man. That might be a bit of an overstatement, but I don't get to crow a lot, so I'm going to live it up. On hand #1 Magic took $800 of Regulator, setting the tone for the night. Hours later, Regulator was heard muttering to himself in a corner "Did he have the flush? Did he have the flush?"

Things went swimmingly when it got down to the final table. Musky had been doing well but hit a rough spot, and was close to being forced into an all in decision. Magic said "This is about the time when you go all in as a big favorite and get sucked out." The next hand Musky was all in before the flop. He got called. By a lesser hand. And he was done.

The final table had two story lines. One was Magic completely dominating Squeaky in every phase of the game. Squeaky generally played very well during the whole night, but made the wrong decision against Magic in the first tournament. He folded when he should have called. He called when he should have folded.

The other story line was Ron. "I have to leave in 20 minutes, what do I do." You leave and we blind you out. "I didn't expect to be in this long."

He proceeded to get very short stacked, only to pull AA and QQ to build up to a dominating lead. Squeaky, weakened by Magic's pecking was forced into an All In. Magic, not wanting to win on a technicality when a guy was forced to leave, went all in. Ron called and won the hand.

The second tournament was set up a little more difficult for Magic. Squeaky was no longer around to pick on, and Musky was at his table. Musky has had Magic's number since the time he took 9 out of 10 heads up matches from him.

However, Musky was almost passed out during the first phase and got stomped several hands in succession by Magic. Tabatha had a weird vibe going on. No matter what the pot was, no matter what situation, he bet $100. Not $25, not $50, not 200. $100. Every single time.

The final table came down to newbie loser (not my choice on nickname), vs. Regulator, Squeaky and Magic. NL had a monster stack at one point and used it to bully the rest of the table. Until they actually had a hand or two. NL finished fourth.

At one point, it was looking as if Regulator might break his cherry. But his stack got whittled away over time, and eventually he was fighting with Magic to finish second to Squeaky's utterly dominating stack. Reg finished 3rd.

Magic entered heads up against Squeaky with about 10% of the chips in play. Magic battled back to take a significant lead. However, the blinds caught up, and it was basically all in every hand. For five straight hands, we had either the best hand being sucked out or the best hand being sucked out only to resuckout. It was a wild set of events.

Magic and Squeaky decided to split, so there is no technical winner for that tournament. Do you hear that? That's the sound of no one whining about it.

Also, Jamie got himself involved in two pseudo controversies. First, he was doing everyone the favor of chipping them up, when there was a discussion about rounding out the Red Chips. At first, he chipped up a guy from $100 to $500, rounding up. Then it was decided that was moronic. So he took back a $500 chip and put the rest of the reds back. So said guy was even money wise. Except Jamie made the mistake of pulling it from the POT. Said guy was a lawyer. He didn't want to give up the $500 he owed to the pot, not thinking that somehow he had been shorted. He eventually relented.

Immediately after the table combination in Tourney 2, Jamie decided that it wasn't fair that only the disbanded table got randomized order. Of course this had been the way it was for all eternity (as far as I know at least). And he only complained in the second tourney, after seat assignments were determined and blinds had been posted. I suggested taking this up with the rules subcommittee at their next meeting.

Thanks to DM for hosting. As Musky knows, my house is open for a tournament almost any time. The only stipulation is that it's an Omaha only night. My doors are open.

Irony

2006-03-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

So I get on the train, and who do I see? It's Rob (aka Dead Money and host of the next poker tournament).

Rob: "We had a tournament at a convention last week. I now know how you guys felt when I first started. These guys were winning, but it was like 'you shouldn't be winning because of doing that.'"

Our little baby done all growed up.

Better than Young Chuck Norris

2006-02-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

I give you facts about Phil Gordon, via Bill Rini.

Latza fun at the Latza Casino and Foosball room

2006-02-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

Mpt players battled it out Saturday at the Latza residence. 14 players braved the sub zero temps for a night of spectacular (urr umm maybe not) poker. Doc took down game one with some brutal bullying. I wonder if he will remember his win this morning? Sausage King took second and Dead Money playing his first tourney since his stunning year end championship victory took third. Dead Money was the height of fashion sporting his 2005 MPT bracelet. One of only two bracelet holders in the MPT. Muskyboy has one also, but seems to have misplaced his dollar store bracelet. Fourth place went to Tabitha and Halfman bubbled.

The Magic Man shocked the MPT world by actually showing up. It looks like Muskyboy's taunting had the desired affect, but alas the great Magic Man coming of his self proclaimed Vegas win (even though he didn't win he lost) was in normal form and got roughed up by the Regulator and then bounced out of the tourney by Muskyboy. Although, he did bring his A game as requested by Musky he still busted out in 10th. Then as only the Magic Man can do, he disappeared before game two started. It was heard around the poker table by several MPT regulars that due to the cold weather Khyle was getting a nasty draft up his skirt and he had to go home. Only the Magic Man knows for sure.

Game two was an interesting affair as game 1 winner Doc was struggling to count his chips and see his cards. His reckless play built him a large chip advantage early but he pissed it all away late. Jaime who was a bit on tilt in game one due to all the flush discussion came back strong in game two to take the victory. Squeaky squeaked his way into second and the Regulator finished third. Most MPT regulars where worried that he was on his way to his first MPT victory but things returned to normal as Reg busted out in third. No doubt to a bad beat (at least that is probably what he would tell you). Host "Calla" Latza finished 4th and in the money. I'm sure that covered all his expenses for the night. Newbie Ross made a strong showing in game two after finishing dead last in game one but was one short of the money. He did come back strong in the side game to pick up about $5.

So far through two events we have had 26 players.

In other news it was discussed and unanimously agreed too that the games going forward should start at 7:00 PM, so we will institute this next month when we invade Squeaky's house.

One other note, due to the fact that most of my evenings play was relegated to the loser table I didn't pay much attention to the main table game and as a result can't give much detail on the action.

I have found it.....

2006-02-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

While sitting here watching the Pro Bowl I realized.....I would rather be playing Omaha, but there doesn't appear to be a game. Yes, the one thing in the world that I suspect is less exciting than Omaha....The Pro Bowl.

Calling you out Khyle

2006-02-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm calling you out. You say you got game? Bring it on the 18th...or will you have another lame assed excuse and not show? I'm guessing you puss out again.

Just to let you know

2006-01-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

I played Poker with my Fantasy Football league on Friday. We played (gasp) Omaha. And you know what? It was fun. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

No lives were lost. No blood was shed. No one collapsed under the weight of contemplating outs.

Controversy Mars MPT Event

2006-01-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

A record high number of entrants coverged on the Regulator's house for the January MPT. 22 players (all on time amazingly enough) met for some of the best card playing the MPT has ever seen. Not to mention a spread that was, if anything, only missing tic-tacs. The first game started tame enough with the standard bad play coupled with the normal suckouts. The final four consisted of Squeaky, Flipper, Jaime and Muskyboy, with Jaime and Flipper battling as the big stacks. Squeaky was the first to go out. Squeaky, had made the call of the evening earlier. Holding AJ on the turn and not hitting the board and having no flush or straight draw possibilities he called a Muskyboy bet that put him all in. Musky was bluffing and Squeaky took down a nice pot. With Three left, Musky was the short stack, but watched Jaime and Flipper battle it out with Jaime taking down a large pot to knock out Flip.

Heads up, Jaime held approximately 70% of the chips but Muskyboy battled back to almost even when controversy struck. Jaime went all in with a diamond suited J4 and was called by Musky's Ace-9. The flop came 10 10 x with two diamonds. The turn was a three (of hearts) and the river was a 10. Muskyboy counted up his chips to have Jaime pay him off and Regulator mucked the cards. As Musky reached for the chips, Jaime said, "what are you doing I had a flush." Muskyboy said, "uh no there was no flush, there were only two diamonds on the board." Jaime had to be restrained (well maybe not). Regulator confirmed that there was no flush and awarded the pot to Musky. Jaime vehemently disagreed. It was obvious that both combatants were "positive" that their hands won the pot. Others came forward to indicate that there was no flush (six at last count), and one very drunk medical professional said there was a flush.

Neither player was willing to give up the hand, the game ground to a stop. Finally, Muskyboy being a true class act suggested that the hand be replayed even though he was positive he won the hand and would have accumulated approximately 95% of the chips. The two then decided to chop the final. Regulator awarded the victory to Musky and game two began.

19 players remained for game two. Game two began at approximately 11:45 and the first casualty left the game a mere 6 minutes later. During the course of game two Flipper, Sausage King and Tabitha built huge stacks while Squeaky pissed most of his chips away early, being down to blind levels by the third round. Jaime was the third player out, showing that his game one performance was more fluke than anything else. It was suggested that he was on tilt from mis-reading the board in game one.

Squeaky. after being down on his luck built a respectable stack half way through the game after being moved to what he referred to as the easy table. At 2:30 five players remained: Squeaky, Dom (a regulator friend), Tabitha, Muskyboy and Dave D. (an occasional MPTer). At this point Squeaky looked down on pocket jacks and was all in with a call from Dave D.'s pocket 6's. A six on the flop and Squeaky was gone. Squeaky is quickly earning a new nickname as bubble boy. Although, he may have taken whiny-boy status from Regulator as he has consistently whined about his bad beats following the last two events.

Muskyboy took down Dom and it was down to three with Dave D. holding a decided chip advantage. Tabitha went all in with just more than the blinds (both Tabitha and Muskyboy were struggling to post blinds at this point, that is how much of an advantage Dave D. had). Musky folded and Dave D. turned over AK and knocked out Tabitha. Severely short stacked, muskyboy sucked out a few inferior hands to get back to maybe 20% of the chip total, but was unable to claw back any further and was knocked out when his all in of approximately 2x the bb was called by Dave D.'s AJ and game two was over at 2:51 am.

Other notables for the evening were Curios Kitty who took 10th and 15th, Half-man Half-Amazing took 8th and 18th, Doc took 12th and 16th but was in good spirits all evening pounding Guinness after Guinness harkening back to the early days of the MPT. Regulator took 6th and 12th, but was smacked by a cold deck all of game two. PP, self proclaimed MPT stud finished a very mediocre 13th in game one and left.

All in all, Muskyboy was the evenings top player finishing first in game one (Yes I said it, and I stand by it.....THERE WAS NO FLUSH ON THE BOARD!!!!!!!!! If only we had instant replay) and second in game two. It really was superior play that prevailed for Musky as he never hit a straight and only had a pocket pair over 8's once during the evening (Queens with three left in game two).

One noticeable absentee was Magic Man who disappeared several hours before the game was schedule to start. Rumor around the tables was that MM has realized he can't compete with the proven MPT players and is afraid to play on a consistent basis.

Looks like the next game will be hosted by Scott "Calla" Latza on February 18th. I will keep you posted.

Quick Aside

2006-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

Musky and Regulator continue to fear Omaha, and I have made that a stipulation of me hosting another event. So we're still looking for a venue for the 14th. Although word is we may delay until the 21st - and we may have a host for that already.

--------------------------------------------------

On a completely different topic, Felicia posted some guidelines on what makes a good poker blog.

1) Don't post bad beat stories
2) Don't post hand histories
3) Don't whine about losses
4) Don't post pics of kids or pets
5) Give your opinion
6) Are you a poker journal, or not?
7) Try to act serious about your play
8) If you are going to enable comments, actually REPLY when someone leaves one

1) Guilty
2) Sorta Guilty
3) Musky and Reg horribly guilty
4) Check
5) Check
6) No
7) No
8) No

In sum, this blog sucks, and I'm damn proud of it. MPT's goal is to be the 186th best poker blog, and I think we're closing in on it. Yay for MPT.

Muskyboy survives near disaster

2005-12-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

For many people being trapped in closed spaces can be a frightening ordeal. Muskyboy encountered and had to face personal demons in just such an experience. While driving home from the office Friday afternoon, Muskyboy took a detour to the local BP in order to get a car wash. If only he would have known what was about to occur. The trip started off normal enough for a December 45 degree afternoon. The line of cars was long but Musky had been give strict orders from Momma Musky, "Get the damned car washed or don't come home."

Well Musky being the obedient spousal unit attempted to comply with this direction, but the trip soon turned into what can only be described as a nightmare from hell. One of those experiences that makes a man look inwards to his soul and determine what he is made of. After waiting 30 minutes in line it was finally Musky's turn. The horror was about to begin.

Muskyboy drove Momma Muskys Honda Civic into the car wash pulling up far enough to engage the front left tire in the appropriate place and the car wash began. Suddenly the car wash stopped.

Musky waited.

Then without warning both doors shut trapping Musky in the car wash. Then the lights went out and only the sound of the near by vacuum could be heard. Musky began feverishly honking the Honda's horn....to no avail. On the verge of panic, Musky whipped out his cell phone and called Momma Musky and instructed her to call the BP, which she did.

10 minutes later a BP employee arrived looked in the car wash and walked away. 5 minutes later the BP employee returned and attempted to open the doors, but no luck. Service had to be called. Phone in hand, the BP employee worked the controls in an attempt to open the doors and free Muskyboy and his Honda. Finally the rear door of the car wash opened. Musky was almost home free. But wait the front doors would not open. The BP employee kicked at the door, uttering all types of obsenitites and walked to the rear of the car wash and attempted to get the line of cars to back up. Luckily a bystander quickly assessed the situation and suggested to the BP employee that instead of having all 12 cars back up that she have the first two cars exit the line by pulling into the parking lot.

Musky was then able to back out of the car wash and drive home..shaken but OK.

Whew, that was a close one.

HERE'S TO YOU MR. ANONYMOUS BLOG POSTER GUY

2005-12-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

Next time you decide to leave a comment on the blog, stop acting like a little girl and be a "man" about it and leave your name. What are you afraid of? Don't be scared!! Don't worry, we won't ridicule you too badly, even though you desrve it!!

Big Book of Magic & Gay Zebras

2005-12-19T05:26:00.000-08:00

The MPT championship was won on Saturday. I don't know who won it, because I was soundly asleep at home, after being eliminated. However, the highlights were provided in the first tournament.

Evidence:

Squeaky proclaiming that Tabatha's kid-toy Zebra (from the Little People Noah's Ark set) was gay. We're not sure how Squeaky knows about the sexual proclivities of inanimate plastic animals, but it's kinda scary. He kept saying "look at him, he's flaunting that ass in my direction. BASTARD."

Also, Squeaky reminded me of the flight home from Vegas. A 19 year old girl (or so), was sitting across the aisle from him. She was wearing a very low cut top, and had some kind of sweater tied tightly under her chest, so as to lift and emphasize cleavage. Squeaky had a tough time making it through "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." At one point, he leaned over and said "thank god above for turbulence."

The other recurring theme of the night was my forthcoming book. Some chapters (and their inspirations):

Chapter 1: If you can check or fold, checking is always the best option (Beginner's Luck)
Chapter 8: If you slow play your three Ts, with two on the board (twice), don't whine about losing when your hand is beat after a second A falls. (Dead Money)
Chapter 10: Don't try and bluff a guy who never folds (me)
Chapter 16: Sometimes when you want action with AA, you're gonna get called by K3 and the board will come K3x. (Musky Boy).
Chapter 19: Losers always bitch (Regulator, et al)

BTW - TAFKAUB is now going to be referred to (by me) as BIL-LY. I'm not going to support the other proposed nickname, even if it did elicit a chuckle. The one significant hand I recall from that tourney was against BILLY. I called with 89s, and he raised, as he had done with a wide variety of hands. I pushed all in for more than twice the pot. I was utterly horrified when he turned over his hand because it was Kojack, which is my death hand.

However, I pulled a straight on the river to double up. Which kept him complaining throughout the rest of the night. Serves him right for calling that bet with KJ.

The only other thing that happened of significance was Reg's (and other's) bitching about the blinds, and the levels and all that. I found it funny that it was a problem only after he was out. Personally, I'd like to see one tournament per night with 30 minute blinds. That helps remove the donkey factor a little.

In the championship, Musky Boy lose when his AA was cracked by BILLY's K3. I was taken out when I played a hand with KJ (appropriately enough).

Apparently, Dead Money "rode a wave of 4 and 2 outers to the championship." While he will always be Dead Money, we may have to appoint a secondary nickname. I am hereby suggesting "Energizer Donkey." I stole it from a Bill Rini post - you really need to see the graphic - here.

(* Edit: Full Disclosure: I myself Donked away half of my stack against DM, so it's not like I'm invulnerable to the Donkey virus that invades the MPT once a month).

What you've all been waiting for

2005-12-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

This is nothing compared to the awe inspiring bracelet, but I am happy to announce that the MPT is adding a whopping $75 to the winner's payout.

And yes, this is the big announcement I teased the other day...

Major Announcement!

2005-12-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

The MPT technical manager will be making a major announcement regarding the Saturday night yearly championship within the next day or two.

Stay tuned.

MUSKYBOY BULLIES THE CHEESEHEADS

2005-12-13T18:41:00.000-08:00

Since M.B. won that tournament a couple of weeks ago, he was invited to participate in a "monthly" tourney, with $500 to the winner. The the top three are invited back to compete in a tournament in March or April for a seat at the WSOP. Although I don't have specific details, M.B. represented the MPT well in this last event, placing third and taking home $150 plus an invite into the "big" tourney. Congratulations to M.B.!!!!

As a side note, Flipper/Skipper and I played in a tourney in Chicago last week at the house of a friend of mine. The first was a $25 buy in NLH and the second was a $50 NLH. Both tourneys had a field of 16 entrants. In the first, I placed 2nd and in the 2nd, Flip placed 3rd. Once again, not a bad showing for the MPTers out "on the road". See you all Saturday and watch out for Muskyboy, he's coming to getcha.

One Last Vegas post

2005-12-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

I did really well in my first Vegas tournament. I was generally very happy with my performance. What was I thinking about for the next three hours? The one big mistake I made. The more I thought about it, the more irritated with myself I was.

I got impatient. I should have just pushed him around and let him fold unless he re-raised me. It would have taken longer, but he would have had to work a lot harder. And since he was about 80, he HAD to have been slowing down.

The one thing that I really came away with is that concentration is everything. It's not just paying attention to other players, their betting habits, etc, etc. It's about all the other things too. You make one mistake, and it can kill you.

Since Squeaky can't respond to email and has yet to comment, I'll post his two blunders here. Understand, (he says, tongue planted firmly in cheek) that my one success in Vegas makes me an expert.

Situation: It's about 2:30 into the Saturday tournament. Blinds were 300/600. Squeaky had ~7,000 in chips. The tourney started with 11 tables, and they were down to 7. Essentially, everyone rebought. So that meant that starting stack size was 3,500.

This hand comes up. A short stack goes all in. I'm not sure how he'd been playing, but he was being forced in, so I think it's safe to say that he would have done this with any A or any two in the paint. Goofy-ass goggle boy, who had been aggressive and somewhat loose re-raised all in. Folds around to Squeaky.

He looked at JJ, and called after thinking a little. SS had Ax, Goggle boy had KK. Squeaky was out.

What was his logic? Squeaky felt that he had to make move soon, since he was short stacked. He also thought that goggle boy's move was an attempt to isolate the SS with only a moderately strong hand.

I think he made several mistakes here. First, his 7,000 was above par for his place in the tournament. That is, he had more than an average stack. Even though he may have only had 12x BB, he still could have picked a different spot.

Goggle boy didn't have much more than Squeaky. Maybe had him covered by 3,000. He's not gonna risk his tournament on anything less than AA, KK, QQ, AK, or AQ. He had more people to act behind him, so risking his whole stack doesn't make any sense unless he has a hand.

Even if Goggle boy had something odd like KQ or AJ, the best Squeaky could hope for was a race type situation.

I don't think this was an easy fold, but I think it's a definite fold. So he played for 2:30, made one mistake and was out. That's how it goes.

Championship Preview

2005-12-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

With the MPT Championship event coming up in a couple weeks, here is a look at the field.

Doc (3-1): Knows how to piss away a big stack better than anyone.

Sausage King (3-1): At one point won 3 in a row. Is his streak of luck over?

MuskyBoy (8-1): Reigning Champ. Hasn't won @ MPT since. Due.

Regulator (10-1): Best (and only) regular player never to win regulation MPT event.

Squeaky (15-1): If he can overcome his problem of thinking too much, he might be dangerous.

Flipper( 15-1): Lost his MPT Cherry recently. Due to lose his cool when someone hits their one outer against him. And we all know it's gonna happen.

Lucky PP (5-1): Best player on the MPT. Just ask him.

UndercoverBrother (??Don't remember his official nickname...8-1): Won recently, so I figure his luck is over.

Magic Man (off): recent success in Vegas is not in line with recent MPT events. The bookies have taken this line off.

Dead Money, Beginner's Luck (50-1): The nicknames say it all.

Tabatha (5-2): Due

Field (100-1)

Tearing up Vegas

2005-12-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, two full time MPT'ers (Squeaky and myself) and one part timer (the Milk Man) went to Vegas for r&r. Being faithful MPT'ers (long live the 47o! amen!), we HAD to play some poker whilst out there.

We walked the town to find the best spot, and ended up at Sahara on Friday night for the $42 + $20 add-on. Let's just say it was nothing like the MPT. No calling down with any random paint on a board with four suited cards. No cheat sheets for the hand rankings.

I'll cover Squeaky's experience in the Friday night extravaganza first, since the summary will be short and sweet. Squeaky looked down at pocket Ts. The flop was T9x. He declined to bet the trips. A Q was on 4rth, and Squeaky took this opportunity to push all in, which was called immediately by two people who both went on to river a straight. He at least got to play in Vegas a couple hours.

I, however, ended up playing a tad longer. I had assumed that a $40 Vegas tourney was going to be a lot like a $20 MPT tourney. But to my shock, people respected my raises. I picked up small pots along the way, staying out of big confrontations.

I hit KK twice and they held up. Once a standard raise 'stole' the blinds. Another time, I took a decent pot. My favorite hand of the night was when I held 23o in the BB. No raises. Flop was 22x. One guy hit top pair, and I doubled up.

There were a fair amount of characters out there. One local we nick-named "Phil Vermouth." He had the beginning of a combover, and his glasses that he would pull down over his eyes any time he was bet into. He was fond of asking for stack counts, and agonized over several close situations. He folded TT only to see a T on the flop. That didn't make Phil happy. Incidentally, Phil was back on Saturday wearing the exact same pants and shirt. NICE.

There was a father and son - an older Mexican looking gentleman, and his kid. Two brothers played. And there were several "Bill Filmaff" wannabes with thier skull caps and glasses on and attitudes. It was pretty funny.

There was even an Iven clone (I'll call him Texas) who on Thursday threatened to beat up a guy who checked out of turn, only to re-raise when he was bet into.

I was generally around par or a little above by picking off pots here and there. I had been planning on changing styles and speeding up to take advantage of my table image, but opportunities never presented themselves. I stayed out of difficult decisions, made a couple good laydowns, got a little lucky.

I was the short stack with the blinds approaching when I looked down on rockets. Two guys got all in ahead of me, and I tripled up. The final table had a happy blonde, Texas, the older Mexican gentlemen, the two brothers, Phil Vermouth, a 22 year old kid, and a couple others.

One interesting hand came up when the older brother re-raised younger brother by pushing all in. The pot odds were like 10-1, so little brother had to call. But he hemmed and hawed, and big brother told him to fold. He ended up calling, but had he folded, I would have been pissed.

Anyway, it got down to Phil, Old guy, Texas and myself. I was again the short stack, but managed to pick up two huge pots in a row to become chip leader. Old guy took out Texas, and I took out Phil. Heads up I had a 2-1 chip lead. I started the heads up by raising every pot, no matter what 2 cards I held, and he folded 3-4 in a row.

Then I made a big mistake. I looked down at AJs, and pushed at his bb. In the moment, I thought maybe he'd be sick of folding and call with any decent hand. He turned over AQ and it held up. Had I just raised, I would have saved maybe $40,000 chips.

I made a comeback, but was still severely outchipped. With only a couple minutes left in the round, I was at push/fold time. Next round was BB=my stack. I saw 33 and pushed. He called with 55 and it was over.

There were 157 players, 140 rebuys, and I took second in my first live Vegas tourney. Pretty happy with the result.

(edit: The flop on my favorite hand was 22x, giving me trips)

News keeps a flowin

2005-11-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

I opened my Junk Email folder at work today, and what do I see? An email from the former Minister of Entertainment. Mr. Iven himself. Early word is that the MPT event in St. Louis will be held March\April of '06.

I say we put Big n Rich on repeat for the championship night? Any takers?

THE NEW IVAN

2005-11-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

Muskyboy reels 'em in in Cheese Land

2005-11-28T05:19:00.000-08:00

I'm copying an email from Muskyboy with little editing. I'm not sure if fellow MPTers should be worried that he's got his game back or releived that he got his annual win. Regardless, Musky won a 70 person tourney at a bar in Wisconsin last week:

Something like 67 people. Reg finished 12th. Down to two tables I got moved to the table with the chip leader. He was going nuts screaming and yelling when he won pots etc. Anyways I was about average stack at the time. Then in the BB I had Q 5. The chip leader called I checked and flop was J 7 5. I went all in.

He thought for about 3-4 minutes, asking me all types of questions and then folded showing a 7. I didn't show my hand. He then starts telling everybody he is going to bust me and that he is out to get me. Two hands later I get AA. He raised to 4K (blinds were 1/2), I went all in with my remaining 14K. He called with 78 suited and I doubled up.

When we got to the final table I was approximately even with him as chip leaders. He still keep telling everybody at the table that he was going to bust me. Final table was 8 players. He kept talking. So I told him that I was going to take out all the short stacks and then bust his ass. At this point I had probably 80K + in chips he had about 65K and the rest of the table was between 20-40, with the exception of one guy who had like 4k. Any hand I played at that point other than the blinds I made a raise of at least 20K. I ended up in races with 3 of the short stacks and my hands held up each time. Down to three, me some lady who had not played much and the loud mouth.

I think I have about 120K in chips or so and had the other two players doubled. I had A 3 in the small blind and raised my normal 20K. BB called (loud mouth guy). Flop was A 3 7. I check he went all in with a 7. I doubled up the other person and let her back in the game and at one point she had come back to have about 40% of the chips, but she was a very obvious player. If she had top pair she raised or bet if she had hit the board she called.

I started raising every hand and she folded most of them. Then the guy who was dealing made a comment something like, "He is running you over, That will work until you hit your hand". Then I got the Iven in the BB she just called and I checked. The board was 2 4 9. I bet out about 2/3 her stack and she came over the top all in. I called and she had Q 10. Nothing hit and I won.

Year End Championship Approaches

2005-11-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

The MPT year end championship is fast approaching. Due to the hassles of scheduling the game, preliminarily we have December 17th on the schedule. As usual we will be playing two games with the second being the Championship event. I will be securing the 2005 Championship bracelent from the dollar store in the near future.

As a reminder last years championship was won by the Muskyboy, who immediately went on a year long slump. Is it the curse of the bracelet? I will be sending out the email shortly.

Favorites for this event have to be the Sausage King and Doc who have run over the MPT in the last half of the year. Lucky PP has the confidence to win this event but has not lived up to his own hype over the back half of the year after taking the tour by storm the first few events he played. Khyle probably won't attend as he is "bored" with hold'em. Although, most of us read that to mean he is sick of losing and it is too big a blow to his ego. Regulator will probably get sucked out early and whine about it for the rest of the evening. As for the rest, Flipper, Curious Kitty, Numbnutz, Muskyboy, Squeaky, Dead Money/Prancer, Beginners Luck, Half Man Half Amazing, Tabitha, Legal Beagle, Undercover Brother, and whom ever I have forgotten hope you will all be there.

Need a pimp

2005-11-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

We got another offer to whore out for some cash. I'm not going to do this one. You know (cough cough) journalistic integrity and all that.

The one thing that's obvious to me is that the on-line poker room arena is getting very crowded. Our good friends at Poker Blue are going to even further lengths to get more players. They have a somewhat unintuitive promotion. You can compete to play 'for' a college team. Like Michigan or whatever. What college sports rivalries have to do with poker, I'm not sure.

I guess they're going after the young crowd. They're probably a better demographic than old, lazy lower middle class guys with families and mortgages and wives who know 'better.' Fine. Whatever.

Sooner or later, the lake is going to dry up. The fish won't be as numerous (unless you come to an MPT event). What's going to keep people playing after they realize that their: ego + bank account Poker Blue. However, most of the signups have not played a hand yet. So whomever you are, get off your ass and win some money. They're throwing it at you over there.

2005-10-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

Smells like Victory
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World Series

2005-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Lucky PP was horrified recently when Warner Saunders of Channel 5 was going to air 'tips' on getting tickets to the WHITE SOX in the World Series. However, I already knew PP's secret, which was calling TicketMaster in other areas.

Unfortunately, the 17 different numbers I called were all busy. The two computers I was using failed to get me in line fast enough (damn those computers and that internets).

The MPT picked up a new link. From a degenrate gambling site. Yep, seems about right.

Go White Sox.

More Importantly

2005-10-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Not to continue to whore out for Poker Blue, but as of mid last week, they had 42 people qualified for the $10k freeroll. It's 4 hours of poker to qualify for this free roll. It's free money.

Enough of that. As I was walking into the White Sox playoff game onTuesday, I heard a familiar voice. I immediately thought of calling AA with KK, and alas it was none other than Numb Nuts, carrying Lucky PP in tow.

The three of us MPTers enjoyed a 14-2 rout of the Red Sox. The MPT mojo is currently working for the White Sox, as they are up 2-0 with Freddy Garcia pitching today.

There apparently is a game on Saturday. I'm not going to be participating however. So I wish all of you great luck.

Musky Boy is 1-2 as a huge favorite. If he doesn't win, it'll be a bigger upset than the '69 Mets winning the division over the, well, you know who.

MPT goes Corporate

2005-09-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Since we're huge in the poker world, we are always in high demand to promote poker sites. To date, we have restrained oursevles, waiting for just the right opportunity. That opportunity has presented itself.

By clicking here, you can sign up at PokerBlue.com, a new Poker site. Let's face it, there's about 1,000 different poker sites out there. PokerBlue is new, and they're challenging for mindshare in the pokersphere. So you know they're gonna whore out for your money.

So in order to get you to win money at their site, they're offering a staggering 100% bonus on your deposit up to $600. That's right, $600 free cash money. On top of that, they're offering $3k tournaments as freerolls if you play for a few hours a week. Given that the traffic is low over there, it's a pretty good bet that you'll come out ahead one way or another if you don't suck as badly as I do.

Info on their freerolls here. Independent Review here.

I played only a little on the site over the last few days. The first thing you notice is that it's BLUE. It's easy to navigate through, and go to tables. Download and play for yourself. Just sign up through this link.

Comments

2005-09-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

I turned on word verification on comments due to the fact that we're still getting comment spam.

If that doesn't stop it, we'll have to take drastic measures.

BL Recap

2005-09-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

Tabatha and SK won. Yay. Contrary to rumors, the tour will not be renamed the sausage Poker Tour or the goldfinch Poker tour. It seems that SK has won the most important MPT skill: Winning a hand as the Underdog. It was refreshing that he went out 3rd in the second game after seeing him treat everyone like characters from Oz for the last two months.

Nickname Clean up: Tim was going to be Doe-Eyes or Bambi. But then he had a MPT Hall of Fame quote after a ridiculous hand. He was in a hand with Squeaky (who had a pretty good hand), and called him down with K high. When asked why he called off most of his stack with nothing, he responded: "I guess I got caught up in the sexiness of Squeaky."

So he is now known as Ghey Bambi. On second thought, that might be too harsh (even for me). We'll stick to just Bambi.

I think my nickname sucks - it lacks oomph, and it's not overtly derogatory. So I'm removing the nickname, and opening up for suggestions. Reg and Musky will be the arbiters.

I also think that Musky's name sucks. It should be some combo of Rock, Whine, Hellmuth, and fish. I'm not feeling creative at the moment.

Next game is at Squeaky's joint. The burning question: Will the all time MPT Money winner show? Tune in and find out.

At Musky's Request

2005-09-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

There will be no official MPT Omaha at Saturday night's game. However, Musky has other options for games more his 'speed.' Here are the following games he wants to play over Omaha:

WAR
Canasta
Go Fish

Also, due to potentially changing schedules, there is a small chance I'll be there to donate. I'm sure everyone is eager for a shot.

BL Open

2005-09-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

As I'm sitting this one out, I hereby challenge Musky Boy and Reg to finally get back in the groove.

My odds:

Musky: 8-1
Reg: 37.4365-1
Squeaky: 3-1 (would have been higher, but he will spend the first round thinking he's playing Omaha).
Flipper: EVEN Money

Now that he's been broken in with an MPT beat, Flipper is due.

Strange things afoot at the Cardinal Liquor

2005-08-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

The following recounts events on the morning of August 21 at approximately 9:00am. These comments reflect my best recollection of the events.........

My father and I went off to the Cardinal Liquor to pick up a sixer of O'douls for my brothers "Surprise" 40th birthday party. While both of us agree that if you have to resort to drinking O'Douls what's the point, there were others attending the festivities that enojoy their non alcoholic brew. Anyways, as we are walking to the store a gentleman comes flying out of the liquor store almost running us over to his car. As my father and I regained our balance from what we assumed to be an inadvertant trampling, I looked back towards the parking lot and noticed the gentleman had opened the driver side door and was slumped across the front seat of the car.

Strange I thought as I turned to walk into the store..... then it hit me, that car was none other than Paul "Doc" Brown's green Honda. Wondering what was up I turned and slowly approached the vehicle. I could now see through the windshield....Paul was frantically searching for something. I was becoming concerned.

I approached the open driver side door and said, "Paul is everything OK?"

He jumped back out of the car with such force I had to take a couple of steps back or be run over again. He was shaking, not like Khyle or Halfman with pocket aces this was much worse. Something was seriously amiss. "Dude", he said with such panic in his voice and a look of concern in his face, "I'm seven cents short."

Huh, what? I didn't understand. He grabbed me by the shoulders and repeated almost screaming in his panic...."DUDE....I'M 7 CENTS SHORT...gotta find it, what am I going to do." I reached into my pocket to grab a dollar not knowing what he required the money for, but his actions told me that this was a serious issue. He dove back into the car scrambling to find pennys or hopefully a nickel. After what seemed like minutes he emerged with a relieved smile, flashed the 7 cents and bolted for the liquor store.

I stood at his car, door still open wondering what the hell just happened. Moments later he left the store with a serene look on his face and a brown paper bag in his hand. All appeared to be inorder. He walked past me, got into the car looked up and showed me the contents of the bag. As I noticed it as a 40 schlitz malt liquor he stated, "I was 7 cents short....they weren't going to give it to me......but I found it, I found it on the floor of my car......." And with a laugh (more of a cackle) he drove off towards Mockingbird Ct.

2005-08-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Regulator's first experience with beer. Hopefully, his first victory at the MPT won't elicit the same reaction.
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PICTURES OF KHYLE

2005-08-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

THIS IS KHYLE AFTER HE "UNCERIMONIOUSLY" DUMPED ALL OF HIS CHIPS

THE SMOKATORIUM "SPREAD"

2005-08-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Mrs. Khyle, no thanks to Mr. Khyle

Sausage Fest 2005

2005-08-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Before we get to the recap, I am considering changing the MPT quote from "where good players get sucked out." Mainly it's becuase there are no good players on the MPT. I saw this quote today and I think it's appropriate to us:

Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.: Laurence J. Peter

The MPT had a wild and wooly event last Saturday night. There was a spread, against my personal wishes. But when the queen of the house says something, I listen. So you can all thank her for the generous amount of Combos & cookies you were treated to. There were tic-tacs galore. And in the best possible seating arrangement, Reg and Magic (the two smokers) were at the head of the table, up wind of all non-smokers.

Sausage King reigned supreme. Winning both events. By the time he got his opponents heads up, he had such a drastic lead, he wouldn’t even consider taking less money so he could make it home 10 minutes earlier. OK, Sausage, that was the last dig I’ll make about your taking a deal last time out.

Personally, the most amusing thing was the MPT initiation of Flipper. Up until now, he hadn’t had an MPT style beating. As blinds were going up, he looked down at AK. He pushed. SK was getting basically even money on his call, because the bet was 12x the BB. But SK looked down and saw something even better than the MPT legendary Iven (47o). He saw 5-7 (they were soooted). He called for almost all of his chips, and rivered a pair to take out Flipper. This set Flipper steaming. It only got worse in the side Omaha game. Squeaky stayed in against Flipper AAxx to huge bets only to river a straight for all of Flipper’s chips.

Undercover Brother (worst nickname ever) had an eventful night. He took out the host, yours truly, his brother in law, twice – both times being behind when the money was in. Had the beats been worse, he would have risked banishment from the smokatorium. Karma is a bitch however late in the game, he took on the only other big stack, and went all in pre-flop with 44 against KK.

My other favorite highlight came on the second hand of the night. Pre-flop, Squeaky and Numb Nuts got into a raise off. Regulator made a great laydown of AQ soooted. Squeaky got Numb Nuts all in holding AA against NN’s KK. After the hand, Squeaky had the following to say. “AA scares me. I didn’t want callers.” Shockingly, Squeaky was out early in both events….

Half-man half-crappy pulled a Magic Man. Musky folded KK on a Q high flop when Half-man shook so badly the garage floor shook. It’s good to know I’m not alone…Half-man was holding AA.

MuskyBoy finished out of the money both times. Apparently HOH2 didn’t help his game out at all. There is no truth to the rumor that he is currently waiting for an arbitration hearing after testing positive for ‘performance enhancing substances.’ Regulator didn’t completely suck. Squeaky did. Even though it had already been taken, Beeker made a play for the “Beginner’s Luck” nickname.

Finally, I feel the need to follow up on the “I fear Omaha” discussion from last week. We did a side game twice during the night. It was difficult to adjust to for many. That was without the Hi/Lo split. Keep in mind that this was at 2AM, but on the last hand played, yours truly took all of Squeaky’s money with a Full House. Except that I didn’t see the FH, and almost gave Squeaky the pot. Ha. Clearly, Reg and Musky were right. This doesn’t change the fact that they are both clearly metathesiophobics.

SALUTE TO THE REGULATOR

2005-08-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

August 13th Event

2005-08-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Where: Khyle's Garage O' Magic and Smoke-a-Torium
When: Saturday at 8:00 PM

The best players (and that ain't saying much) from Country Place and a few outlying areas will meet again for an evening of Poker mastery.

So far confirmed participants are as follows:

Ralph "Sausage King" Bachinger, self proclaimed poker master of Gold Finch. Although I think his Gold Finch neighbor, the curious kitty, might have more victories.

Paul "Numb Nuts" Clark, relative newbie who is currently tied with the Regulator in sanctioned event victories. Considered by some (who they are we aren't sure) to be a solid player, and likes his kodiac (Muskyboy likes his kodiac too).

Keith Halfman "Half Amazing" is a mutliple MPT champion. His strategy is generally to be all in with the worst hand and suck out his opponent.

Dave "Musky Boy" Hebeda is another multiple MPT champion but has been unable to score a big win this year. Reigning 2004 MPT champion (and has the $1 bracelet to prove it) likes to lose all his chips when having the best hand on the flop and getting sucked out on the turn or river.

Khyle "Magic Man" Keys averages 1 MPT tournament victory per year and then faulters most of the rest of the year. Generally a good bet to be out early.

Paul "The Regulator" Kravitz is the best regular to never win an MPT event (Paul Clark and Rob havn't been around enought yet to be considered a regular, maybe one more month). Of course every other regular has won at least once. Paul is a threat to lose with the best hand on the flop at any time.

John "Squeaky" Mcpherson best known for a monster bluff against Lucky PP and being fortunate to have two or three players all in in front of him when he holds the nuts. Made the walk of shame last month being out early.

Ken "Beginners Luck" Schmidt came in with a blaze of glory with two quick victories, talked up how easy it was and how easy it is to read the MPT players and has sucked ever since.

Rob "Dead Money" Thomsen currently holds no victories and will shortly be lumped in with the Regulator as a regular with no victories. Likes to call everything and likes to give his chips away.

Dan "Curious Kitty" McCandles a former champion who is willing to call you down with any hand. Doesn't bet doesn't raise, just likes to call and see what you have.

Notable Abscences are:

Paul "Doc" Brown - self proclaimed leading MPT money winner, uses the Halfman approach to accumulating chips. Favorite strategy is to bluff with crap hands get called and hit runner runner on the turn and river to win the hand.

Mike "Lucky PP" Leitza - similar to beginners luck in that he came in with a blaze of glory, yucked it up and has been one of the first players out in the last three games.

Favorite to win? Using the law of Averages the Regulator is the favorite.

My message to whiny Khyle and Regulator

2005-08-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

KHYLE CELEBRATING HIS LAST MPT VICTORY

2005-08-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Regulator & Pics

2005-08-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

I remember what it was like when I had my first beer. It was a feeling of empowerment followed shortly by me faking that I liked the taste. So I understand where Reg is coming from. He can post pics now. He's had his first beer.

Maybe the shine will wear off shortly, maybe not. I know where he's coming from. As it turns out, the football team picked on him in HS, and his being head of the math club didn't help.

KHYLE & HIS BERET

2005-08-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

THIS IS WHAT KHYLE WILL LOOK LIKE SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER HE IS THE FIRST PERSON ELIMINATED.....IN BOTH TOURNEYS!!!

Sad News for Saturday

2005-08-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with MuskyBoy this am, and in a short exchange he informed me that he can't make it. After I told him that my garage mini-fridge was only for 2005 MPT Regulation Tournament winners, meaning he and Regulator would be forced to use a cooler, he gave the following reply (IM handle changed):

ican'tcatchamuskyboy: btw, I don't have a cooler big enough for all the stuff I was going to bring, so I guess I'm out.

He started to fall from his high moral ground, saying "maybe I will still come, but not bring anything." But I told him he should stick to his guns. I think in the end he will back down and still bring his large spread "tic tacs and some popcorn, I think."

Let's all pull together and show Musky Boy how much we support him. Everyone comment at how much we would all miss him!

Or not...either way.

In other news, Dear Wife has told me that I at least have to match Doc's spread. So against my better judgement, I will head to the grocery store. I fall under the Mrs. Musky Boy school of thought. So here is a look at my preliminary list:

Peapods
Pluots
Pizza
Polenta
Pickles
Petroleum Jelly (Reg's personal use)
Pepperoni
Pork Ribs
Paas Easter Egg dye kits
Pedisure
Potatos
Plums
Pineapple
Pimento Spread on Pumpernickle

Requests will be taken....

PRE-PUBESCENT KHYLE

2005-08-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

KHYLE'S NEW LOOK

2005-08-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

2005-08-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

Khyle is the ultimate ruler of the MPT, all others are infidels! INFIDELS!
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The "OTHER" Khyle

2005-08-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

This is the other Khyle that we love and despise, sporting his new "beret":

Interesting Quote from long time MPTer

2005-08-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

While discussing MPT strategy with another long time MPTer, this anonymous player stated the following (I found it to be very intersting and after further thought right on the mark).

"Khyle needs to wear a beret and be done with it"

hmmmm, thoughts? comments?

Just trying to help

2005-08-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, the we can play a cheap/quick Omaha side game on the 13th, broaden some horizons. I found this T-Shirt that I think is most appropriate for Musky Boy and Regulator.

In all actuality, my attempt at adding Omaha to the MPT repertoire was to help Regulator turn his poker karma around. He has clearly angered the Poker Gods. When your name becomes synonymous with both getting sucked out, and being all in with the worst of it, you're not running right.

I wanted to test to see just how mad the Poker Gods are. So I took this hand history from one of my recent tourneys on line and replaced my name with Regulator. In a turn of events that would make Rod Serling proud, the hand result changed. You be the judge.

My Hand:

> *********** # 66 **************
> PokerStars Game #2227242669: Tournament #10714497, Hold'em No Limit -
> Level VIII (200/400) - 2005/07/31 - 00:21:50 (ET)
> Table '10714497 4' Seat #2 is the button
> Seat 1: nofreerides (7175 in chips)
> Seat 2: waitinfonhl (6090 in chips)
> Seat 3: justwin (2955 in chips)
> Seat 4: pinta (6325 in chips)
> Seat 5: thunder03434 (16415 in chips)
> Seat 6: khylek (4190 in chips)
> Seat 7: tutakai (11955 in chips) is sitting out
> Seat 8: carlosliquor (8455 in chips)
> Seat 9: dully38 (3940 in chips)
> nofreerides: posts the ante 25
> waitinfonhl: posts the ante 25
> justwin: posts the ante 25
> pinta: posts the ante 25
> thunder03434: posts the ante 25
> khylek: posts the ante 25
> tutakai: posts the ante 25
> carlosliquor: posts the ante 25
> dully38: posts the ante 25
> justwin: posts small blind 200
> pinta: posts big blind 400
> *** HOLE CARDS ***
> Dealt to khylek [7c 7h]
> thunder03434: folds
> tutakai has returned
> khylek: calls 400
> tutakai: folds
> carlosliquor: raises 1200 to 1600
> dully38: folds
> nofreerides: folds
> waitinfonhl: folds
> justwin: folds
> pinta: folds
> khylek: raises 2565 to 4165 and is all-in
> carlosliquor: calls 2565
> *** FLOP *** [7s As Ad]
> *** TURN *** [7s As Ad] [3s]
> carlosliquor said, "nh"
> *** RIVER *** [7s As Ad 3s] [5h]
> *** SHOW DOWN ***
> khylek: shows [7c 7h] (a full house, Sevens full of Aces)
> carlosliquor: shows [Qs Jh] (a pair of Aces)
> khylek collected 9155 from pot
> khylek said, "ty"
> *** SUMMARY ***
> Total pot 9155 | Rake 0
> Board [7s As Ad 3s 5h]
> Seat 1: nofreerides folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 2: waitinfonhl (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 3: justwin (small blind) folded before Flop
> Seat 4: pinta (big blind) folded before Flop
> Seat 5: thunder03434 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 6: khylek showed [7c 7h] and won (9155) with a full house, Sevens
> full of Aces
> Seat 7: tutakai folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 8: carlosliquor showed [Qs Jh] and lost with a pair of Aces
> Seat 9: dully38 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Regulators Hand:
> PokerStars Game #2227242669: Tournament #10714497, Hold'em No Limit -
> Level VIII (200/400) - 2005/07/31 - 00:21:50 (ET)
> Table '10714497 4' Seat #2 is the button
> Seat 1: nofreerides (7175 in chips)
> Seat 2: waitinfonhl (6090 in chips)
> Seat 3: justwin (2955 in chips)
> Seat 4: pinta (6325 in chips)
> Seat 5: thunder03434 (16415 in chips)
> Seat 6: Regulator (4190 in chips)
> Seat 7: tutakai (11955 in chips) is sitting out
> Seat 8: carlosliquor (8455 in chips)
> Seat 9: dully38 (3940 in chips)
> nofreerides: posts the ante 25
> waitinfonhl: posts the ante 25
> justwin: posts the ante 25
> pinta: posts the ante 25
> thunder03434: posts the ante 25
> Regulator: posts the ante 25
> tutakai: posts the ante 25
> carlosliquor: posts the ante 25
> dully38: posts the ante 25
> justwin: posts small blind 200
> pinta: posts big blind 400
> *** HOLE CARDS ***
> Dealt to Regulator [7c 7h]
> thunder03434: folds
> tutakai has returned
> Regulator: calls 400
> tutakai: folds
> carlosliquor: raises 1200 to 1600
> dully38: folds
> nofreerides: folds
> waitinfonhl: folds
> justwin: folds
> pinta: folds
> Regulator: raises 2565 to 4165 and is all-in
> carlosliquor: calls 2565
> *** FLOP *** [7s As Ad]
> *** TURN *** [7s As Ad] [3s]
> *** RIVER *** [7s As Ad 3s] [Ah]
> *** SHOW DOWN ***
> Regulator: shows [7c 7h] (a full house, Sevens full of Aces)
> carlosliquor: shows [Ac Kh] (four of a kind)
> Regulator collected 9155 from pot
> Regulator said, "jopke"
> Regulator said, "jopke"
> *** SUMMARY ***
> Total pot 9155 | Rake 0
> Board [7s As Ad 3s 5h]
> Seat 1: nofreerides folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 2: waitinfonhl (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 3: justwin (small blind) folded before Flop
> Seat 4: pinta (big blind) folded before Flop
> Seat 5: thunder03434 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 6: Regulator showed [7c 7h] and went out like a beyotch.
> Seat 7: tutakai folded before Flop (didn't bet)
> Seat 8: carlosliquor showed [Qs Jh] and won (9155) with four of a kind, Aces
> Seat 9: dully38 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Fear & Loathing in Lindenhurst

2005-07-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

I accidentally played a game of Omaha Hi/Lo on Stars the other night. I thought it was interesting, and a nice little break from NLTHE. It's basically Hold 'Em with two variations. First, you get 4 hole cards, of which you must use two in your hand. Second, the low hand splits, as long as there are 5 cards below 8 (flushes and straights don't count against low hands).

I thought, hey, why not break it up, and for the first time in the history of the MPT, why don't we make the second tourney an Omaha tourney. So I threw it by MPT elders Musky Boy and Regulator.

You know the saying, "we fear what we don't understand?" Besides winning regulation tournaments on the MPT in 2005, both of the elders don't understand Omaha. Musky Boy thought it would take 45 minutes to explain the rules, and Regulator just says "Omaha Sucks."

So based on their whiny-ass attitudes, we won't be playing Omaha Hi/Lo on 8/13.

August 13

2005-07-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Our next game is August 13th, at the Musky Boy named "Khyle's Garage o' Magic Casino and Smoke-a-torium." Half-man, Half-crappy is already talking trash. Last month's rookie, and splash maker, Merrill, may or may not be too scared to come. His mentor, and sponsor, Half-crappy is hedging as to whether or not he will make a return trip. Hopefully Numb Nuts harmless screaming doesn't scare him off.

Just based on his play, and his look, I have doled out a nickname for him. Unfortunatley, he appears unfazed by it. I take this as a sign that it's not deragatory enough, but I think I'll have to stick with it anyway. It's Beeker.

Just so you know, this pic was provided by Half-Crappy, so blame him. What will August bring? I'm guessing that Merril will follow the path that Ken went down (earning his Beginner's Luck Nickname).

I know you're all dying for MPT POY standings updates. And hopefully I will have it in the next week or so.

What could be more fun?

2005-07-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Than economists dissecting poker...

Pokernomics

Smokin'

2005-07-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have noticed, my beautiful wife posted a comment re: Smoking & SK's un-victory. While the Mrs.' sentiment is touching...."Sausage King is suuuuch a nice guy. He was probably just doing it to be nice." Rules are rules. We can't re-write history just to make people feel better. A chop is a chop, and I'm sure SK understands that...right?

The good news is that the Mrs. made a strategic error. She first said "OK, you can smoke." Then after a moment of thought, she attemtped to retract the statement and threw in the caviat, "If SK gets his victory." Thankfully, in my household, this clearly falls under the "We can only take your first answer" rule.

Ergo, smoking will be allowed - nay - encouraged come the August tourney.

A touch of Surreality

2005-07-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Doc who sat on a 9 hour train from 2 hours away to get back and clean out his garage and host. And thanks for bringing back all the supplies to my house on Sunday...although I notice that the beer wasn't brought back...that's ok.

Saturday night started out a bit bizzarre, when the Milk Man, Sara Lee Salesman extraodinaire not only showed up, but played. To further confuse the issue, he wasn't among the first couple out. He actually horded a ton of chips, including all of mine. The Milk Man had transformed into a tricky SOB, slow playing AA to my top pair with a 4 flush on 4rth St. A long way from the guy who mucked the winning hand on Pepe Lopez night. However, everything ended up being ok with the world, and he placed out of the money.

The first table I was at in Game 1 started as a race for Greg's money, and quickly turned into a race for Squeaky's money. Sadly, I didn't get enough of either. Somehow, doe-eyed Tim made it to second (or was it first?) chip position in the first game. As I was pissing away my money in a side game, the last two guys made a deal.

Officially, we had no winners, as the final two each time chopped. I'm sure the Sausage King will bitch and moan, and that's fine. But chopping just to get home early costs you an official victory. Half-man Half-crappy brought his brother in law, who performed pretty well.

Merril's dynamic, highly combustible personality got him into trouble as he continually bullied around Numb Nuts. NN was continually heard muttering "I know you don't have anything, but I fold." Eventually, NN took out his nemesis, yelling "Hell yeah, push those chips over here, those are MINE." If Merrill comes back, he probably deserves a nickname. I'm formulating something, but it's still brewing. All I can say right now is that it will probably involve a Muppet.

Other notable happenings:

LuckyPP apparently has gone limp. No more domination.
Doc failed to 4 peat, even with the South Side rooting section.
Musky Boy finished in Musky Boy position in game 2 after dominating the early part of the game.
Squeaky....wow, that was awful. Had to do the walk of shame to regain composure after a bad performance in the first game.
Sausage King. It was my luck to run into his JJ when I was all in with 77 in Toruney 2. He took my money and made the most of it, even though he didn't officially win.
Regulator: His nickname is close to becoming a verb. As in "That guy just got sucked out by a two-outer, he was Regulatored." Then he got bored in Game 2 and donated his chips to Squeaky who didn't put them to good use.

Next month is at the House of Magic. I know there was some good-natured ribbing of Doc re: the spread. Just so expecations are set correctly... August is BYOE month. That means 'bring your own everythig.' I'll have ice and a couple coolers, plus the facility, poker chips, etc. Outside of that, you're on your own. No tic-tacs. No popcorn. Hell, no Plums or cold or hot pizza either.

Oh, and I'm currently in negotiations on the smoking status for next month. Apparently, the boss of the Magic household is concerned about smoke smelling up the baby's room. Even though the baby's room isn't above the garage, and we'd only be dealing with one can of Febreeze to de-odorize the guest room, I'm not confident that I will win this argument. So the odds at press time are strong that August will be smoke free.

What's up Doc?

2005-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hey, Doc you out there? Where oh where are you? Hello, we will be invading your house this weekend!!! I hope you plan on attending!!!!

Bar tourney

2005-07-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Musky, Magic and Squeaky as well as LuckyPP and Numb Nuts played in a free 80 man tourney in cheeseland last night. It was pretty well run, and a lot like the MPT (lots of bad players). In order to keep it short, I'll paraphrase the night for each player.

Musky: Folded every hand until he was all in with J7 1x BB.
Squeaky: Apparently won a couple hands, and outlasted Musky.
NumbNuts: Was eliminated twice (yes twice) before getting back in a 3rd time.
LuckyPP: Lasted till probably 20 or so people left when he was all in as the SB.
Magic: Eliminated just before PP. Blinds were 500/1000. There was a short stack all in ahead of him, and one call. In an effort to force out the caller, and increase his odds at the main pot, he pushed all in (pot was 6k, he raised another 4.5k). And I lost.

My aggressive play had nothing to do with either a strong desire for sleep or my feeling bad for Squeaky and Musky who had been picking their respective noses for about an hour by the time the hand came up.

One other note. I look down to AA on the 10th or so hand of the night. I am contemplating my raise, when I hear "I only have one card." Misdeal. CRAP.

New Blind Structure

2005-07-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Musky and I were discussing the expected number of players for Saturday (14). Based on past experience, with our current blind structure, it would take till about 2-2:30am to finish up. The real drag comes when we get down to about 5 or 6 players.

So in an effort to still get two in, and not finish up that late, we're gonna speed up the blinds once it gets to 6 players left. Seeing as we're getting more hands/round as more players are eliminated, I don't think this is a big deal.

When we get to 6, blinds will go up every time a player is eliminated. Here, then, is the new and improved blind structure. The last column is total blinds/total chips assuming 14 people. So by level 12, we will have 15% of all the chips in play each hand, minimum.

1	25	50	0.2%
2	50	100	0.4%
3	100	200	0.7%
4	200	400	1.4%
5	300	600	2.1%
6	400	800	2.9%
7	500	1000	3.6%
9	800	1600	5.7%
10	1000	2000	7.1%
11	1500	3000	10.7%
12	2000	4000	14.3%

Funny

2005-07-06T04:47:00.000-07:00

In scanning through some poker blogs this morning, I found these on Bill Rini's blog. Funny.

Hellmuth 404 page.
Sklansky 404 Page.

There are others here.

On a side note, Musky Boy and I are heading into the vast emptiness that is cheeseland to play in a live MTT. It's my first Live MTT ever. Numb Nuts and Lucky PP are supposed to be there, so surely the MPT will show well. Squeaky was called and invited, but apparently was asleep at 9pm due to his exhausting work schedule.

I myself am apprehensive. I'm not nervous about the MTT itself. However, I've played 3 45 man free-roll tourneys at Stars over the last week, and I've won all three. Yeah, I know, big deal. The problem is that I've had 4 - count 'em - 4 quads , including 3 in one tourney, over that span. That's LuckyPP-ian luck. I just hope my luck doesn't run out before Saturday.

2005-07-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

After seeing the omen last week, I was considering bringing our good friend Pepe back for a return visit to the MPT. After considering the circumstances of the last Pepe Lopez night, I think I'm going to have to pass. Yes, yes, I won, but it must have been a fluke. As you can see from the chart below, clearly my victory was pure luck. The more alcohol Doc has, the better he is; so I dare not bring any liquor to increase his chances. And he's clearly the class of the MPT (just ask him).

To Pepe or not to Pepe, that is the question.

The mechanic is coming, but truthfully, alcohol does not affect his skill level.

And to appease my sensitive friend Doc, I would like to clear a couple things up. I'm not hating on Doc (although as a white guy I think if I use a phrase like that, it's automatically soo five minutes ago). Anyway, he did have an amazing accomplishment last time. 3 victories, even in non-sanctioned events, is a great feat. However, he did have the luck of winning a couple coin flips, getting good cards against strong second hands, and the complete brain fart of Squeaky.

So no one is trying to minimize your accomplishments my friend. You're a stellar poker player. So relax.

Blog Oddities

2005-07-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Not that you should care about this, but I wanted to be official. I added little text ads for the blog. I'm donating all proceeds to a future event kitty. It occured to me that based on their rhetoric, we should just throw the money in between LuckyPP and Doc and let them have a private pissing match over who's better. But then I decided we should play out the game even though they obviously outmatch everyone else.

I'm sure you will be happy to know that we have accrued $.24. We're just $99.76 short of a check! Woo hoo! Doc - do tell, what are you planning to do with your money?

Also, in looking through our traffic logs, I saw that we're getting a lot of hits on Musky's post about Reg's rank at Party Poker. Turns out someone is searching for Poker Prophecy. It reminded me that of all ranked players, he was last. So I checked again, and his ranking has changed. Instead of 250,000 players that were better than him, there are now 450,000. Relax Reg, you only played one tourney - I'm sure it's just variance.

I also saw a referal from Alta Vista, a search engine. Someone searched Poker Nicknames....and we were fifth. As a google whore (big fan of Gmail, Blogger, Google search) I feel validated that we show up NOWHERE in the google results for Poker Nicknames. Alta Vista sucks ass apparently.

2005-07-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Proof that doom is coming for Nurse Paulie (formerly known as Doc)

The OMEN

2005-06-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Working in the loop does have it's advantages. One being that there is easy access to Taste when there aren't 6 million people there. So today my co-worker and I moseyed over and took in the sites, smells and tastes.

So as I was walking along the main drag, I'm looking at all the booths, trying to choose between 18 different kinds of pizza, 4 kinds of Fried Dough (none of which are as good as Pizza Villa's Beer Nuggets)...where was I? Oh, yes...Who do you think had a booth?

That's right...PEPE LOPEZ! And I have photographic proof. Now, I can only remember two things about that night. One is the constant screaming of his name PEPEEEEEE LOOOOOOOOOOOPEZ. And the other was winning. So I'm taking this as a sign that Magic Man will rule next time.

One more thing

2005-06-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Squeaky placed 2nd, 2nd and LAST in the three tournaments. Normally, that's a career outing for the mousy one. However, upon closer inspection, his night hinged on one key hand that doomed him to a second place finish in Tournament 1.

Doc was down to his last few chips, about $1,000 and the blinds were gonan eat him up within a few hands. Squeaky was in the pot, when Doc - the last person to act, went all in. Due to Squeaky's call, and the folded blinds, there was $2,000 in the pot, and it would cost Squeaky $500 to call.

For those of you bad at math, and we here at the MPT love all of you, that's $500 to win $2,000 or 4-1 pot odds. Squeaky was the big stack at this time, and had been playing very well. With such a low stack, Doc was probably going to make that move with any moderate hand.

What, you say, are Squeaky's odds? Let's say Doc has AA and Squeaky has 27o. The odds (according to the internet, which we all know is always correct), are about 4.5-1. Given the fact that Doc is going to play a wider range of hands, the odds are almost certainly better than that. Hell, even if Doc had an overpair to Squeaky's under pair, it's still 4-1. So basically, Squeaky gave away his money in that hand. As the chip leader, with the ability to eliminate the competition, he ran screaming into the woods to his doom.

Squeaky, next time, make that play against me too, would you? I need the help.

New Linky

2005-06-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

In an effort to put all references to Saturday night further and further down page, and eventually out of my memory, I just wanted to let you know I've added a new link. It's just under my idol's (Paul Phillips), and it's called TAO of Poker.

The guy's name is Pauly. Right now he's blogging LIVE! from the WSOP. It's more fun reading about his neighbors while living in Vegas than the WSOP stuff: "I hate your fuckin' kids," the male's voice boomed. "If they were mine, I would have disowned them years ago."

Check it out.

"DOC" IS KING

2005-06-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

At least in my mind....he rolled over pretty good competition 3 tourneys in a row....sacntioned or non-sanctioned, he gave us all spankings that we will never forget. In fact, he beat up on Muskyboy so badly that MB resorted to smoking cigars and uncharacteristic ridiculing of other players' "bad" play. MB was delirious and talking to himself under his breath. I don't know what was more fun: watching MB go out first and Magic Man second, or watching Magic Man go out first and MB second, or watching neither of them get "into the money" in 3 seven handed tourneys. It was truly a nite to remember....one for the ages. Nice job Doc, even though you are pretty lucky, you played like a champ....a drunken champ, but nevertheless a champ!!

Ech

2005-06-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Cubs win. Sox lose. And I place out of the money in 3- yes 3 straight tourneys. At the moment, I have a very small attention span regarding last night. I sucked out, I lost a coin flip, I lost with QQ to KJ...I lost with KJ to Squeaky's QQ when he limped preflopped and miracle of all miracles, I flop a J high board rainbow.

Hightlights:

Musky Boy arguing that betting into a better hand is indeed a suckout - becuase he was ahead and checked on the flop.

Flipper: Living up to his nickname.

Khyle, Musky, and Squeaky being bitter when exiting, but Regulator strangely calm.

The best part of the entire night of course was Squeaky being taught a lesson in poker by Doc tow in a row. Doc was behind 3.5-1 when he pimp-slapped Squeaky around so badly, that he won in 3 hands. In the second tourney, Squeaky gained 2nd again to Doc's win.

News&Notes: You will all be sorely disapointed that Musky and Khyle's bet has been retired. If you recall, the bet was that in a full 8 man or better tourney, they ended heads up, the loser would have to wear an embarrasing T-Shirt (more embarrasing than even a Cubs jersey). However, as time went on, it seemed analagous to the Clippers and Hawks having a bet over the next to win an NBA Championship.

So, now with that load released from our minds, surely our play will rise to the expected level.

And, oh yes. Musky Boy exited 1rst and 2nd in the first two tourneys. And Khyle exited second in the last one.

Because I'm a Giver

2005-06-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

While the wife and I were walking the kids around the neighborhood, Musky informed me of a rather dismal situation. Beginner's Luck (damn, were we on the spot with that nickname or what?), informed Musky that he would be bringing 'cigars' to the game Saturday. But he said he was bringing Swisher Sweets. While I can only hope that it was a joke, I can only go on Musky's word that he seemed serious. The short story is that unless you're the type of person to drink this, you're not the type of person that would smoke Swishers or Phillies either.

Keep in mind that while Cigars are a hobby of mine, they're Doc's lifestyle. So should he make recommendations (assuming he can ever figure out how to comment here), then take his over mine.

Here are a couple suggestions for moderately priced but great cigars:
Padron Palmas ; La Gloria Cubana; Partagas; Punch

Punch is probably the only real strong cigar in that bunch. And while a good La Gloria is my favorite Cigar, they've been uneven for me at times. You can get any of these at Aromas Cigars at the Mills. Go in entry E, and turn left.

Trust me on this. By the way, Musky loves the smell of cigar smoke, so you'll be helping him out if you blow some of it his way during the game. He LOVES that.

Anticipation High

2005-06-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

After the recently aborted "Not the Master of My Own Domain" had to be moved from Musky-land to Squeaky-ville, we again have plans to play Saturday at Musky-land. Hopefully our gracious and gregarious host's plans will not be foiled this time. Our attendance has been flagging as the weather gets warmer, so it's nice that I have a story of inspiration to share.

Our very own Squeaky has thrown off the yoke so to speak. Mrs. Squeaky had demanded that he go to her family reunion in Arkansas - over poker weekend. I'm sure Squeaky was torn between both his sincere love for family reunions and the state of Arkansas, and poker night.

But he decided that his dedication to his fans and the MPT outweighed his love of Arkansas. Initially Mrs. Squeaky wasn't so keen on his choice. So Squeaky did what he had to....he whined incessantly. And just days ago, he released a press statement indicating that he is now a for sure for our Saturday event.

Word on the street (literally, our Street) is that Musky Boy has moved him to near the bottom of his uber-secret whipped list.

As for me, I think most of my Saturday will be spent buying Fiji Water in preparation for the nights activities, buying several cigars, and checking my basement every 30 minutes.

June 1

2005-06-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty interesting day. It was a big news day, with Deep Throat's story being revealed. At least I had something to read on the train besides Card Player and the depressing Metro section of the Trib.

At lunch, a co-worker and I went out and passed by a single-toothed homeless person. As she asked for money, I did my normal "no eye contact" thing. But as I passed her, she suddenly stopped rambling in her semi-coherent manner, and said "Why are you wearing a gray T-Shirt under a Brown shirt? It doesn't make any sense."

Internally, I started to defend myself: "But this T-Shirt kicks ass, it WICKS sweat away. I don't care what fashion says..." This went on for about 30 seconds before I realized how ludicrous the situation was.

Later, after work I was on my way to the train when I got an Email from Musky Boy asking if I was messing with him. I checked the blog out, and lo and behold, Felicia saw not only my post but his comments and promtply gave him a metaphorical slap upside the head. Which induced a rather uncharacteristic apology from fishy-boy.

So I logged on to my Yahoo! Messenger on my phone...from the train (feeling oh-so-geeky), and chatted with her for a little bit. She was very cool, as I presumed she would be. I just told her that Musky is an ass. But don't worry Musky, you're our ass. That is unless you decide to move, in which case, you're beneath our former entertainment director.

Then, late last night I watched the LOST pilot. It was pretty cool watching it now, knowing everything we know. Picking up little black/white and number references. Then, as I watched a Futurama Episode for the 3rd time, I thought, maybe Musky is right, and I do watch too much TV.

Muskyboy Scores Big in On-Line Tourney

2005-05-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Muskyboy proved once again that he is a dominant on-line player. On Friday, May 27th against a field of over 1300 participants Muskyboy schooled approximately 1200 of those players to once again finish in the money, with a 125th place finish. He went out (as usual) in Hellmuthian fashion by getting sucked out by inferior players, but was able to substantially increase his bankroll by turning his $3 entry fee into $3.68. Yes that's right a net gain of 68 cents over his three hours of poker wizardry. For those of you that are math challenged that calculates out to just under 23 cents per hour, which is slightly lower than what Nike pays its employees in China.

Several Pieces of Business

2005-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

If this post ends abruptly, it's becuase I have set myself on fire becuase of the unending ABC ads for "Dancing with the Stars." ABC should be booted from TV for calling Joey McIntyre a star. Although, it is pretty funny when he says "most of my dancing was hip-hop." NKOTB were about as hip-hop as Pat Boone.

1. We have a nickname for Darren - Tabitha. Yeah, I know it wasn't on the poll. But Regulator came up with it after the poll was posted, and it has just the right happily deragatory tone. So Darren, er, Tabitha - we fully expect a nose wriggle before the next tourney.

2. At this point we need a nickname for Paul....maybe this is just a personal thing...but I have a hard time coming up with a deragatory nickname a guy who jumps into ice water to save my brother in law. So I'll leave that to the gliteratti of the MPT - Musky Boy and Regulator.

I'm updating the links. Keep in mind that there's a pretty big community of poker bloggers. Most of these bloggers all talk about each other and play with each other, and they have something called the WPBT (you figure out that acronym by yourself).

* Paul Phillips My poker hero. He's a .com millioniare. But more importantly, he's smarter than you are, and wittier too. This isn't Musky Boy's cup of Tea, because sometimes you have to think while reading it.

* Matt Matros - Math Geek turns poker pro. He has a book. He seems to be fairly smart...but he's Jackpot Jay's 'poker mentor.' Other than that, he's ok.

* Daniel Negreanu - One of the hottest poker players on the circuit. He's happy and funny - so he has that going against him.

* Felicia Lee - Seems like a cool chick.

* SirFWALGMan - Unstable mad man of the poker-blogger community. And he has great taste in blogger skins.

* Guiness and Poker -
AKA Our own Doc's way of life. This is (apparently) a hugely popular blog.

* Missives from a Degenerate Underacheiver - Poker? Nerd? Sounds very familiar to me.

* Bad Blood Plays Poker He has a bad-ass icon.

* Wil Wheaton - Not so much about poker as about his post-celbrity life as a 'blogebrity.' Musky-boy (or is it Musky-less Boy?) broke out his huge vocabulary when he reviewed this blog without having read it. His one word review was 'fag.' He's so PC it's killing me.

If you know of other worthwhile links let me know and I'll add them.

2005-05-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, there has been some discussion as to what Darren's nickname should be. Regulator aptly pointed out that he looks like Darren Stephens from bewitched. Reg suggested that he be called "Bewitched." But we came up with two other suggestions. Both actors who played Darren Stephens were named Dick - so our other options take up on that. So let your voice be heard.

Hey, did you all notice

2005-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

That the Cubs are horrible, and the White Sox have the best record in baseball? I guess that what happens when you have to pay $12 million for a cancer that plays in an Orioles jersey.

Just A Thought

2005-05-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of ways we could change the pace a little bit. This may be a stupid idea, but I wanted to throw it out there anyway.

What if one night, maybe not for the regular monthly game - we do a heads up Tournament? I figure if we get the blinds set up so that the matches should last 30-45 minutes, we should be able to run an 8 or 16 man tournament in 4-5 hours. We could have a losers bracket (should we call it the Squeaky bracket?). Set up a cash game on the side once the initial losers are out, etc. etc.

However, NBC did this and Hellmuth won, so it can't really be indicative of real poker skill can it?

Anyhoo - let me know if you guys are interested, and if we have 8 or more, I'll work on setting it up for June-ish.

Oh, and for Musky Boy's excellent recap of Saturday Night's action - click here.

"Not the Master of My Own Domain" Recap

2005-05-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

It was an eventful evening to say the least on Saturday. The biggest dissapointment of the night was Regulator not acting Fillmaff-ian when he lost 95% of his chips to a flush early. And by the way, who would be better to play the Regulator in "The Regulator Story: How a superior player lost his poker Mojo to crappy players" than a younger, thinner Micheal Lerner?

The Magic Man played 5 hands all night. He couldn't put Darren (ITASCA?) on QQ and his Kojack got pummelled. That took almost half his chips. With the blinds approaching, he looked down on AT, and knew what he had to do. There was already 1500 in the pot when he threw down an intimidating 1525 bet. Sausage Boy called him with A5. Magic was heard to say "Just don't let me get beat by 5s." Shortly thereafter, he was getting beat by a miracle straight draw. All by a guy who can't remember a simple password to a blog site. For the record, Sausage Boy gets demoted to "Little Sausage Boy" if he takes out Magic Man like that again!

After being eliminated, Magic's first thought was "Dammit. Regulator is right." But he quickly recovered, and sat quietly waiting for the inevitable early exit by Musky Boy. However, the joy of seeing Musky Boy eliminated was not to be, as he got a frantic call from home that his basement was flooded.

The worst part of Magic's night was seeing Dead Money headed to the second game, knowing that he couldn't go, and just seeing that $20 flash before his eyes as it walked to Squeaky's house.

So, 12 hard hours of labor later (still not finished) - Magic asks himself...if he could reverse the miracle Straight Draw or the Basement Flooding, which would he choose? If the answer isn't obvious, then you don't know Magic very well.

Who won? Who lost? I don't know, I don't care. I'm still a little bitter about the miracle straight draw, and losing out on the entertainment of a Regulator outburst. Now that I think about it, how can that guy win? He whines and I give him crap, he doesn't and I give him crap. Of course, I give everyone crap so how is that news?

I'll stop rambling here shortly, I promise.

We have nickname issues.

There was a new guy named Brian at the second game. I don't think he warrants a nickname yet. Besides, all I can come up with is Brian.

There was also a guy who drove up from Chicago (!) to play. His name is Allan or Alan or Allen for all I know. This attempt at a nickname is weak, and is possibly grounds for my dismissal from "Nickname Czar." But whenever I thought about him, I thought of Alan Hale Jr. So I will fondly refer to him as Skipper.

We also have Darren who is without a nickname. He comes from Itasca every month to play. That's not not nearly as desperate as Chicago. But I can't think of anything, so please respond to this thread if you have any good ideas.

Shift in Focus

2005-05-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

The Chords of Paranoid rang out in Muskyboy's basement yesterday signalling a fundamental shift in his Poker Career. As a result, Muskyboy has closed his online Party Poker account in order to fund his "mid-life" guitar crisis. After purchasing a Jackson JS30 Randy Rhoads model guitar (from his Poker winnings) and relearning some classic Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Quiet Riot and Sammy Hagar Tunes (can anything by QR or Hagar be considered classic? well maybe not), Muskyboy has determined his evening time would be better spent jamming than playing online poker.

"Yawn, online poker has lost some of it's appeal. I think it was a result of my wife bitching at me everytime I played. Now, though, she gets to hear Screaming guitars at night and I know she has the urge to throw her panties at me when I'm rock'n".

Although he has left his Poker Stars account open for some occasional tournament action, his online time will be substantially diminished due to his new hobby.

"It was somewhat painful closing the Party Poker account considering my return on investment exceeded 2600%, but by minimizing my on line poker time it will allow me to focus on MPT tournament action. In addition with this free time from eliminating some of the on-line poker plus the time freed up from my resignation from Muskies Inc. I might resurrect my old band, Captain Howdy, and re-record (digitally this time) our first album, if I can remember the songs (doubtful)".

"I look back at my beginnings with on-line poker and the original goal was to play low dollar no limit ring games and single table tourneys to be able to cover the cost of a weekly multi-table tourney. I never really believed that it would grow into what it did. My life to date return on investment on all of my on line accounts exceeded 3100%, but it started to take up too much time. I think it's time to take a step back and play for the enjoyment of the game and not as a source of income".

Looks like it's time for the Muskyboy to learn Ace of Spades at high volume on the Jackson.

Sat Night

2005-05-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Short Updates for Saturday night's "I'm not the boss of my own house" Open. The odds are off for this week, mainly becuase I'm not feeling creative or original.

However, the good news is that I have a regular consulting gig again, and having that load off my mind, I can refocus my energy on making fun of all the other players on the tour.

I wish you all horrible luck, and please remember to treat our host with all proper respect afforded a man who is 6th in command in his own house.

What should Darren's nickname be?
	Bewitched
	Dick
	Two Dicks Wow!

Free polls from Pollhost.com