If you're good at something, never do it for free. -The Joker

The Hellmouth
"I want some cocoa puffs!"

Four Hands

12:29 AM, Mar. 8, 2007

That's how many hands I played in tonight's tournament. Four great starting hands in succession: KQ, diamonds, AQ, hearts, KQ, off-suit, pocket tens.

First hand I'm last to act, and bet $2, couple of callers. Tthe flop comes KQ4, two clubs. I'm last again and bet $4. Everyone folds. Good.

Second hand. I'm second to last to act. I bet $2. Guy next to me raises $4 more. I call. Flop comes A58, rainbow. I bet $6. He calls. He's shaking his head though. Usually this means "f*ck! I shouldn't call. I'm beat" but I think he's a better player than that (just a bit) and think he is doing that so that I think he is beat when in reality he isn't but he is. I fake not looking at him.
Turn is an 8. I have two pair and a queen kicker. He has to have AK, A8, 8-anything or pocket aces, but what are the odds of that?

I bet $5 and he calls, shaking his head again. Wtf? Maybe he has a King. He doesn't have an 8, I'm sure.

River is a Queen. Here's my money card. If he was holding an ace with a King, I got him. I bet $5, a "call me" bet. He goes all-in with $7 more. He's trying to buy me out, but I have $12 left so I call. He flips over pocket aces. F*ck!

Third hand, I bet $2, get a couple of callers. Flop comes 274, clubs. I fold out of turn. Not gonna even get into that.

Next hand, no one bets so I go all-in with the pocket tens. One player calls, the other raises, the first one calls. Flop is 946, two hearts. Not bad. One of them bets, the other raises and the first one folds. Heads up, he flips over KK. Turn and river are not, needless to say, a 10.

I hate face cards. I should really start playing crap hands, just to see if I win. F*ck, the only reason I keep playing is because the tournament is held at my apartment. When we used to rotate them and I had a losing streak I would just stop playing.

Even so, what the hell was I supposed to do with those cards? Those were excellent starting hands. Should I have folded? Should I muck my face cards as soon as I see them? I know I should get used to simply losing in poker. No matter how well you play, how much you know, what advantage you have, you may still lose the hand. I still can't get used to that.

There is always next week.

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Tournament Ends

1:29 AM, Dec. 14, 2006

Our twelve week tournament ended tonight.

Lupe got first place and took the night's pot along with the accumulated money.

I went out fourth (bubble boy again) and kept my 3rd overall (no money though).

Mario kept his second (a point above me).

In winnings throughout, I got second, and Mario 3rd.

Congrats to Lupe for winning and to Mario and I for staying in there.

Man, $400 would have been nice in my pocket.

Next time.

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Still Trailing

2:20 AM, Dec. 7, 2006

Short note about tonight's game.

I went up.

Then down.

Made some marvelous plays and got up again.

Finally went down on a flush draw against pocket tens.

The diamonds never came, man!

Got 6th place.

I'm 10 points from second, 33 from first.

I must kick @ss next week; it's the last game.

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Money down the drain

3:34 AM, Nov. 19, 2006

Played a cash game at my place before and after the Morales Pacquiao fight last night.

$20 to sit down, unlimited re-buys. I spent $50.

I got Ace-Four at least 20 times
I got Jack-Four at least 17 times
I got Queen-Four at least 15 times
I got Queen-two at least 6 times
I got King-two at least 8 times
I got 10-3 at least 7 times
Of 7-2, 8-3, 9-3 and 6-4 combined, I counted at least 18.
I got a pocket pair once: 66 (actually won)

One third of the times I made something on the flop (a pair or even two pairs) I lost to a straight or flush or had to fold because there were four suited cards or an open straight on the board.

I split the pot twice.

Horrible, horrible luck.

There go my plans to buy shoes and go see El Tri tomorrow.

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Doing Good . . . well, OK

7:46 PM, Nov. 10, 2006

Ended up fifth on last week's poker tourney. 17 players started the game but only four made it with any money. That's right, I went out juuuuust before I could get paid out. Nevertheless, the points awarded depend on the number of people present and my fifth place finish landed me in third place overall, a mere 35 and 37 points from first and second place. I need to either place in the top four next week AND prevent first and second place from placing to take the lead.

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Online Gambling

2:13 AM, Oct. 5, 2006

U.S. ban on online gambling devastates CryptoLogic.
Peter Morton, with files from Paul Vieira, CanWest News Service; Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, October 03, 2006
WASHINGTON - A surprise move by Congress to ban online gambling in the United States caused a $7-billion US stock market meltdown Monday, dragging down Canadian gambling software company CryptoLogic Inc.
The Toronto-based CryptoLogic saw nearly 20 per cent of its share value wiped out in hours after Congress approved a bill that will end Internet gaming in the U.S. It closed at $19.84 down $4.76.
As well, Excapsa Software Inc., a Toronto-based maker of software for gambling websites, saw its shares slide 66 per cent to 15 pence in London. Chartwell Technology Inc. of Calgary, which makes gaming software systems, lost 15 per cent of its value.
In Britain, where many Internet gambling companies trade, the top three companies announced they were pulling out of the U.S. completely after the government crackdown.
''This could break their necks,'' said Leopold Salcher, an analyst at Austria's investment firm RCB.
PartyGaming Plc, operator of leading Internet poker site PartyPoker.com, and competitors Sportingbet Plc and 888 Plc said they had no choice but to leave the U.S. even though American gamblers are their largest source of revenue.
''This development is a significant setback for our company, our shareholders, our players and our industry,'' said Mitch Ganer, chief executive of PartyGaming. It will suspend betting for its 900,000 U.S. players.
Shares in PartyGaming fell 56 per cent to 48.83 pence, shares in 888 sank 26 per cent to 108.25 pence while Sportingbet shares dropped 64 per cent to 66 pence.
''The precise effect of the legislation is unclear,'' 888 Holdings said in a statement. ''However, this legislation indicates Congressional intent to treat Internet gaming, whether sports-related or not, as illegal.''
Stephen Lewis, chief financial officer at CryptoLogic, said it had been preparing for the day when the U.S. would move to ban online gambling. About 70 per cent of its revenues come from outside the U.S.
''The day started bright and sunny,'' he said about Congress approving the bill. ''Then it got dark and stormy.''
The move by Congress would cut CryptoLogic revenues this year by $30 million and earnings by $24 million, Lewis said. The company said last week it plans to move its head office to Ireland.
CryptoLogic, which sells online gambling software and support to licensees around the world, has been trying to reduce its U.S. exposure for the past four years, he said.
The House of Representatives and the Senate approved the bill to make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.
''There was an assumption tied into the price of these stocks that the legislation was not going to make it through,'' said Paul Leyland, an analyst at Arbuthnot Securities in London.
U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill, part of broader security legislation, into law in the next two weeks.
''We believe this will have a very material impact on the long-term prospects of online gambling, and in particular poker,'' said Julian Easthope, an analyst at UBS.
Online gaming largely based in Costa Rica and Antigua exploded in 2005 but has since run into legal problems, including the recent arrests in the U.S. of visiting senior U.K. executives on charges of illegal gambling in individual U.S. states.
But investors remained hopeful online betting and gaming would not be banned at a federal level.
But, in an election year, Congress is anxious to look tough on illegal activity such as Internet gambling.
''Internet gambling has been illegal since the inception of the Internet, but there has been no way to enforce it,'' said Representative James Leach, an Iowa Republican.
By making it ''illegal to use a financial instrument to settle an Internet wager,'' Congress is putting responsibility on the financial community, he said.
The legislation orders the U.S. Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to issue regulations within nine months to banks establishing ways for blocking transactions.
''This move will certainly have a negative impact on the future growth potential for Internet gambling even if the current level of gambling doesn't decline a great deal,'' said Jason Azmier, an analyst at Calgary's Canada West Foundation who has researched Canadian gambling.
The American Gaming Association, which represents casino operators based in Las Vegas and elsewhere, had asked Congress to fund a commission that would study whether online gambling can be regulated and taxed in the U.S.
John Tuzyk, a Toronto-based lawyer with Blake Cassels & Graydon, said there is no court decision that addresses whether Internet gaming offered to Canadian residents from offshore sites would offend Criminal Code provisions.
Nevertheless, "the weight of authority would suggest that, as the 'recipients' of the activity are in Canada, there is a risk that the courts may find that offering Internet gaming to Canadian residents constitutes a criminal offence committed in Canada," Tuzyk said.
Under the Criminal Code, most activities related to gambling are illegal although there are exceptions, most notably provinces' right to operate lottery games and casinos, and horse racing.
Moreover, the Criminal Code cannot be enforced outside of the Canada, where most online gambling sites operate.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews said there are no plans to amend the Criminal Code's gambling provisions.
Financial Post
pmorton@nationalpost.com

and from Poker Room (where I play):

Official Statement regarding US legislation (Oct. 03, 2006)
On 30 September 2006 the US Congress passed the SAFE Port Act which also contained certain provisions known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (the Act) that will affect the processing of payments between US customers and online gaming companies, including PokerRoom.com. The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Bush within the next two weeks.

PokerRoom.com is currently in the process of obtaining further advice with the objective of fully understanding the applicability and impact of the Act to our US players. However, until the act has been signed in by President Bush, your gaming at PokerRoom.com and CasinoRoom.com will not change and you are still able to both deposit and cashout through the processors available on the site. The funds in your account are yours and no matter what the outcome of this act, your money can and will be transferred to you at your request.

Further announcements will be made in due course.

We got two weeks to clean house, after that, a Cayman Islands account.

All this does is encourage us players to find a way to "launder" our poker winnings.

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Pinochle

1:45 AM, Oct. 5, 2006

What the hell is pinochle?

I went to HEB to get some cards and cash back to play poker. I picked up (after looking for them about ten minutes) one deck of cards. I got home, we started to play.

After three hands we noticed we were all in the hand and that the flops were awesome. We had three all-ins by the third hand. I actually would have won but it was a f*cking pinochle deck.

We had to backtrack for a bit and (unofficially) stretched the first blinds for another 20 minutes. That sucked.

In any case, I got 6th place, that's 8 points, so I'm up to 14. I kept getting rags and eventually got "blinded out".

Pinochle. Next time I'm bringing a Uno deck.

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Six Points

1:33 AM, Sep. 28, 2006

Today was the first time on the point system. I won the first seven hands. Lost a couple, then won about six more. Then I kept calling and calling and calling until my stack dwindled down. I had AK one hand, but two people went all in before me. I would have won, but folded, let somebody else get that. I ended up on 5th place with 6 points.

I hate it when I get top pair and Gabe is on my left. He beat me once with a flush out of nowhere (need to bet more) and later he simply kept outkicking me or getting a second pair on the turn or river.

At least we had lots of beer unlike last time.

I will post updated standings on a side menu next week. I have to iron my shirt for tomorrow now.

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Third, damn!

1:34 AM, Sep. 21, 2006

I like to think of as doubling up my investment.

I ended up third in my weekly poker tournament, made $20 on top of the $20 buy-in.

I survived four all-ins (got lucky on two) and my last one I had no more money and bet my last $12 on 4-8 off suit. I almost got a flush.

My new mantra is "lose the hand, win the tournament". Seems to work.

Next week we'll start ranking players (long overdue). We'll get ten percent from each weekly pot and save it for a year (we'll start slow at first and pay out this December). Player with most points will get 50% of it, second will get 30% and third will get 20%.

That will be a good $264 ($132 for the winner). After that, it will be done after a year, so with at least ten players every Wednesday paying $20 times 52 weeks equals. . .

Damn!

$1040; $520 for first, $312 for second and $208 for third. At least.

I hope there is some sort of prize for bad beats.

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Second . . . damn!

1:02 AM, Sep. 14, 2006

I almost had it. The table took forever to dwindle down, but once it got started, it was vertiginous. 2 players went out first, then one at a time after that until there were four. I folded a lot, even some hands I was pretty sure I would win, but Lupe stayed in and I don't want to play a QJ suited against a 4-7 and lose. Finally, it's Lupe and I. I have K7 of spades. Flop comes 10 7 2. Lupe bets. I'm thinking he either has an overpair or a ten and has me beat or a 7 and I beat him with my king kicker or has an 8-9. I'm more afraid of the 8-9, seriously. I raise all-in. He calls.

F*cker has pocket kings. Damn.

It was still good. Mostly the usual suspects played (except for Chris . . . sucks he has to get up early tomorrow). Maybe he and his brother can play with McCloud tomorrow at 7, supposed to be some sort of tournament. He'll probably read this blog before I get a chance to call him, so, text Gabe so he can give you his #!

Good game overall.

I better get up on time tomorrow.

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