CRAZY

Tuesday 3:00 PM Deep Stack $235 at the Rio was absolutely one of the craziest tournaments I have ever played! Starting stacks are 12K, blinds at 25 & 50 with 30 min. rounds.  I hovered around the 12K starting stack moving a little over and a little under for most of the first 5 levels.  The 2 hands before dinner break I find A,6d in the big blind and call a small raise from UG (Under the Gun). the flop comes 10,10,6 no diamonds.  It is only he and I so I decide to shove (All In) and he insta calls and turns quad 10s. Down to 4K. Next hand before dinner break I tripled up and with blinds and antes and I now have about 35K.

After dinner I go on a tear winning most and losing a few.  Most notable loss was AA vs. QQ when a Q came on the flop (First 3 cards dealer turns over). I am up and down like the proverbial YoYo. All in on 5,2s, win. All in on 8,7h, win. All in on 10,9h win. Building a huge stack. Everyone at my table just shaking their heads and mumbling to themselves.  Everyone staying out of my way.  Working my way to the final 2 tables then down to twelve.  Catch KK in the small blind and their are two all ins in front of me.  I call hoping neither has AA. They didn't, I fade an A and win a huge pot, as well as moving to the final table.

Final table I have almost 4 million  in chips with the blinds at 60K, 120K and 10K ante. At this level it is a crap shoot and no ones chips are safe.  It is really an international final table with players from Brazil, Italy, England and Canada.  One player leaves and their are 9.  Talk of a chop begins but older guy from Italy refuses and says "let's gamble" (not in Italian). Another player leaves and now there are 8. Talk again of a chop. Everyone would get 4th place $$$ that came to $14,600.  Italy finally says OK if he can the 8th place payout (lower tax ramifications). It was kind of funny because the Brazilian player's English was not very good and his friend had to translate everything for him as the negotion went on. Everyone agreed and I had a great night.

This will be my last post until early August when I will be playing at the Ameristar in Ind. in the Heartland Poker Tour.  By the way I will be on TV on July 13th (tentative) on Comcast Sports Net. Check local listings for time. I will post on Facebook when it is finalized. Stay tuned!!!

ANOTHER LONG NIGHT!

Played in the 3:00 $235 Deep stack at the Rio but was card dead and was eliminated fairly early.  I then went over to the Orleans and signed up for their Sunday H.O.R.S.E tournament.  Horse  is a tournament that you play 5 different games. Limit holdem, Omaha 8 or better, Razz, 7 Card Stud and 7 card 8 or better. Every orbit the game changes. Yes, I made the final table and came in 9th out of 124 players.  Finally went to bed at 3:00 AM.

I am going to visit Victorian Casino Antiques this morning and then play in the 3:00 again at the Rio.  Made plane reservations and will be coming home on Wednesday.  Stay Tuned!!!!

LOOOOOOOONG NIGHT

Yesterday was a very, very long but slightly profitable day.  I went over to the Rio to sign up for their 3:00 PM, $235 deep stack tournament but when I got to the window there was a note that said it wouldn't start until 6:00 PM.  I signed up and sat down at the table about 6:03.  It was one of those nights where everything worked like it was supposed to accept for 1 hand.

Blinds start at 25/50, 30 min. rounds and 15K starting stack.  I doubled up early on an Ace high straight against 2 pair and seemed to win every race afteright that.  1530 started.  My small pairs were holding and my AK, AQ's and big pairs were winning.  I had a huge stack 400K very late in the tournament (Money bubble was 171 and we were at 88 when I looke down at KK with 2 all ins in front of me. I had them both well covered so shoved also. Player 1 turns over AQ and player 2 turns A10 neither suited.  I was thrilled they both had Aces until the flop when an Ace fell for a two outer win and knocked me down to about 150K.  I couldn't recover and ended up 57th.  Played for 10 hours.

Will play again this afternoon after a much needed sleep or maybe play in the Venetian $300 Black chip bounty at 6.  The Venetian has really changed their attitude towards poker players and the room is no longer as poker friendly as it has been in the past.  Stay Tuned!!!!

NEW(USED) COMPUTER

Well, my old computer fried itself like eggs over hard, so have not been able to blog for a few days. Luckily (?) I found a computer tech place right down the street and he happened to have a nice Dell and saved a lot of info off my hard drive.  It is a pain reloading all the software.

Yesterday I played in the WSOP Seniors and lasted a little over 2 hours.  Hand I went out on. 10d,9d, flop jd,10,6d, guy to my left bets, I call, turn 8c. I now have a flush draw, open end straight draw and a 10 draw. Guy bets and I shove on a 17 outer. He tanks and calls with QQ. River 5c and I am toast.  

On to the Orleans for their $125 dollar 7:05 NLH Friday night tourny.  Always draws a big crowd. 240 last night.  Took 2 bad beats. First with a pair of 10s. Flop comes KKQ. Player to my left makes a small bet, player to my right calls and I call. Miracle 10 on turn and I am 90% sure I have the best hand. Left hand guy checks and player to my right shoves, I shove and player to my left tanks then calls with K6. Q on river. 2nd not even worth talking about. Suffice it to say I got beat on the river again.

Went to the Rio to play in their 3:00 PM $235 deep stack only to find it had been postponed till 6:00 PM tonight.  Signed up and will keep you posted.  Hope my luck will change.  Stay tuned!!

Errands et.al

Today was a day for running errands.  On the plane to Vegas, I discovered that I was having trouble seeing out of my right eye.  I emailed my friend Steve Forte and he recommended an eye doctor here by the name of Dr. Morrison. I called his office at 9 and got an 11:30 appointment.  

Had a nice breakfast and then mosied over to VCA (Victorian Casino Antiques) to visit with the gang.  Peter was in LA but it was nice to see Danny, David, Richard and Freddy.  I saw the Caesars collection and it was truly awesome with many uprights including a Caille Roulette, 2 doubles, a one of a kind that is called the "Little Derby" that could have been made by Watling, check boy, and a Snake three reeler, etc., etc., etc..  A truly remarkable collection.  It will be auctioned off in the fall.

Went to my Doctors appointment and found that I have a fairly normal 2nd cataract that I will have taken care of when I get home.  Dr. Morrison and I had a great conversation.  I found out he was friendly with Chip Reese an all time great poker player and all around nice guy as well as having a home on Flathead Lake in Montana.  Left in a better mood than when I arrived.

Next found a discount luggage store and bought a new duffel then over to the Rio to sign up for the WSOP Seniors.  Begins tomorrow at 10.  I will be in the pavillion black at table 153 seat 9.  Updates via twitter and Facebook.  I also found out that when visiting Vegas I can play poker on line at WSOP.com.  Lots of sattelites to wsop events.

From the Rio to the Venetian to say hi to my friend Will Souther and give him a few dollars for part of his action.  Doubled my $$$ last year with Will.

Having dinner tonight with David "The Maven" Chicotsky my coach and his wife.  Hope he can coach me to a final table in the Seniors.

Stay Tuned!!!

VEGAS

Well, arrived in Vegas and my flight was only delayed 40 minutes.  Everything went well till the wheel broke on my PokerStars duffel.  It has only served me for about 7 years, so I guess it was about due to give out.  Had a nice dinner at the Tuscany which has become my abode of choice.  Quiet, easy parking, great Italian restaurant and nice pool area. Oh, did I mention $56 bucks a night.

Tomorrow is a day to run errands that will include signing up for the Seniors WSOP event that will begin on Friday. I will look for a new duffel, see my friend Peter Sidlow, find Monkey and have dinner with my coach "The Maven" and his wife. Will not have anything to report tomorrow but will begin again on Friday.  I will tweet and facebook from the seniors.  Stay tuned!

AUCTION

The auction is ovah and it's time to play pokah. Hey, that almost rhymes. Leaving Wednesday for poker heaven.  Going to take a quick refresher from my coach David "the Maven" Chicotsky and talk to the nice lady who purchased my living room at the auction.  

It was a wonderful weekend spending time with old friends Tom Dawson, Bob Rosenberger, Terry Roses and Phil Bollhagen as well as my son Howard. Great dinner Friday night at Orchid cafe and Saturday night at my Bros pizza palace Ginos East.

Stay tuned!!

OFF TO VEGAS

Well, it has been a very,very long hiatus but I am going to post while I am in Vegas during the WSOP.  I am leaving on June 4th and will be playing in the Seniors Tournament on the June 6th.  I will also be posting on Twitter and Facebook.

I will play in some deep stack tournaments at the Palazzo and Venetian as well as the Friday night tournament at the Orleans.  I always like to know if anyone is reading the post so please feel free to make comments good or bad.