On a fold draw

Shake It Off

2009-10-13T04:30:00.000-04:00

One day, when I grow up, I'll be well-rooted in reality. I'll know that you can't gallivant across the country on a moment's notice and expect everything to be right with the world immediately thereafter.

For now, duck it. I'm getting on a plane in 10 hours and that's all there is to it. I got a txt from @TeamGetBig about LA... Tuesday. Further inspection revealed that he was leaving Denver for Los Angeles, and it would be nice to not have to pay for a hotel room all by himself.

Who am I to leave a friend hanging in the breeze? I like LA... I could go there (on less than 12-hours notice) too.

Maybe I wouldn't have made this decision if I hadn't come straight from the bar. Maybe if I didn't go to @Keon_S's game on Saturday and pick up $1K and then pick up another $1K at @FiveFingerz & @EHonda500Mob's game a few hours ago... then maybe I wouldn't jump at the chance to go back to LA.

I've still got some, um... issues... to work out in Baltimore, but that's another story.

Soonly, I'll be catching a nap before my flight. I'll drive to @BMoreBilly's house, hope that he'll give me a ride to BWI, and then take the hop, skip, and jump across the country.

With a little luck, I might actually remember how to play $30/$60 Stud again. Wouldn't that be fun.

Oh, to have a "real job." How boring would that be?

Fantasia

2009-10-07T14:21:00.000-04:00

In the closing scene of "The NeverEnding Story", the Childlike Empress presents Bastian with a single glowing speck of dust. It is all that remains of the once great Fantasia.

Last week, Tilt swept through my bankroll like The Nothing. The $17 I have in my wallet is like that single glowing speck of dust. In all honesty, it sounds worse than it is. While, true, it's no picnic to lose $12,000 in a week - it's nice to still be showing profit for the past couple months.

Slowly but surely, I'm rebuilding. Maybe one day, far into the future, I'll learn my lesson.

Nah, probably not.

Sylvester the BankRoll Molester

2009-10-01T10:29:00.000-04:00

Making money at poker is easy. It really is. Just sit in chair, wait for a good hand, bet it, watch everyone call, take down a nice pot.

The hard part is the impatience. The flashy lights. The limo rides and lunches with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop. Makes one forget that losing can be just as readily achieved.

I was grateful to have @WriterJen pick me up from @CommerceCasino on Saturday afternoon. Got me out to see some of the what LA has to offer. We took a ride to the coast, up PCH past Santa Monica Pier. Stopped at the light for Sunset Blvd. Could turn right to go to Hollywood, we took a left turn: Gladstone's.

Calamari and Crabcakes for appetizers. Lobster, Shrimp, and Scallop pasta for the main course. Food was fan-freaking-tastic.

Three or four RedBull/Vodka's later, Jen drops me off at Commerce. I decide to play some $5/$10 NL. Whoops. Would've been cheaper to say, "Let's take this lunch to some place exotic, like... Australia..."

Been a rough week ever since that Lunch. My brain fell out. Attempting to put it back in. Didn't help that everyone had been asking me, "Are you sure you can afford to play that high?" Well, yeah, I could... before you black-catting Mother Duckers made me all kinds of paranoid.

Gonna get back to it. Thx for reading.

What's a Few Thousand Dollars Between Friends?

2009-09-26T04:57:00.000-04:00

Every player who final tabled @BorgataPoker Event 14: $350+$50 Stud was guaranteed a minimum of 2.5:1 on their $400 investment. Luck into the top three, and you're looking at 11:1 and better.

Chet, Mike, and Tony were solid stud players, NOT their first rodeo. Jimmy was playing tight and right all tournament. John "JW" Womack had a bracelet on his wrist from taking down an event in Tunica (PLO?).

But, we were all having a pretty good time. Cracking jokes, telling stories, laughing about the $13,700 first place on the line.

Chet has been playing in the casinos for years on end. He gave us some tongue-in-cheek strategy for beating the Atlantic City cash games.

"When you're stuck, play until you get even. If you're winning a good amount for the day, go home with the win."

It's alot harder than it sounds. I lived it soon after landing in LA Friday afternoon. Played like total ASS in the $30/$60 Stud. I could think of about 30 times where I put a Big Bet in the pot knowing it wasn't coming back to me.

Do this at $2/$4 LHE, and you're out $120. In this stud game... we're talking two $900 buy-ins.

Good thing I removed my cranium from my rectum and began to play a much more solid game. (Snapping off the locals with a few thin draws put me in a better mood, too).

I'm such a donkey. Wouldn't have it any other way. Just woke up from a little nap, probably head back downstairs in the next hour or so.

Beers with Judd Hirsch

2009-09-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

"Hi, my name is Reality. You may not recognize me, after all this gambling and spending money like it's going out of style... Just wanted to stop by and remind you that internet romance is sooooo 1998, and all women are evil."

Well, maybe not all of them, my sister has her good moments.

@FiveFingerz reminded me that everything happens for a reason. If not for this heart-wrenching calamity, I never would've found the Mecca that is @CommerceCasino. For the time being, I'll just pretend like it doesn't bother me. Yeah, that'll go over grrreat!

Speaking of my sister:

Thursday was my Mother's Birthday. Tried to reach her on her cell, standard no answer. Called my sister at work to chit-chat, wanted to get Mom's current home phone number. Does it make me a bad son that I didn't already have the number? Maybe. As it turns out, I did have it, just wasn't sure if it was correct.

Now, my sister is 26 years old, married, with a degree in Occupational Therapy. She's an OT in Berks County, not a cocktail waitress in Vegas. So, when I call her at work, and the receptionist tells me, "Is this an emergency? We don't put personal calls through," I almost went ballistic.

For a brief fleeting moment, I actually thought I might be getting my sister in trouble. In hindsight - WTF kind of nerve does that little desk-jockey have telling me when I can and can't call my sister at work?

Flying to LA in the morning. Batting 1.000 in the $30/$60 Stud game out there, hope to maintain.

Can't Make This Schtuff Up

2009-09-22T03:53:00.000-04:00

I've been talking to this girl (@SlantdNEnchantd) since the middle of July. We would chat every day. I don't mean "almost" every day, or "it felt like" every day. I'm talking about... never more than 18 hours of silence. When I went a full day without hearing from her, I knew something was wrong. Two, three, four days... big problem.

Friday night we were scheduled to meet at @CommerceCasino. I had dinner reservations, big bouquet of flowers, stopped by the salon and had my beard trimmed up, hands and feet done... the works. I almost went and bought some nice clothes that had never seen the inside of a poker room.

Coming down to the wire, I still hadn't heard from her. I began to listen to too many family members and concerned-enough friends when they insisted on cold feet as the reason. I felt betrayed and once again all alone, but in the back of my mind, still held out hope that there was another explanation.

One of my friends from high school moved out to LA and lives 10 miles away from Commerce. She joined me for dinner and we caught up on old times, chatted about the crazy new lifestyles we were both leading far and away from Berks County, PA.

Saturday, we had plans to get me out of the casino and onto the beach. Transportation, hangovers, and a juicy $30/$60 Stud game made it difficult. Around sunset, I managed to quit the game and head over to my friend's house. Her license is expired, she has yet to fully master the ways of the Cali DMV, so we opted for Yogurtland over booze. A little after midnight, she and some roommates passed out in her room, I fell asleep on the couch watching TV.

I had to pinch myself and do a triple-take when I saw an e-mail on my phone from Leslie. She got into a car wreck on Tuesday afternoon. She's alive, but far from a clean bill of health.

tues afternoon i was in a car wreck w/ my bro. bro was fine, I was not. had concussion, bruised ribs, cracked ribs, fractured wrist, shattered elbow, cracked my breast plate, contusions from head to toe, among other things.
...

I stood up off the couch, cleared my head, told my friend Tiff about the e-mail, and went outside to call the woman I'm crazy in love with, whom I hadn't heard from in over four days. She had left me her brother's phone number in the e-mail.

She's in a tough spot right now. She wants to see me, but doesn't want me to see her in a body cast. The $30/$60 Stud game at Commerce is pure heaven for me, think I might go back every weekend until she's ready.

Oh, and in case you weren't following on twitter - I had an extremely profitable trip to Atlantic City, including final-tabling a $350+$50 Stud event, getting almost 25:1 on my buy-in.

Prayer

2009-09-18T12:04:00.001-04:00

It has been a long time since I got down on my knees and prayed. We're talking 5-10 years. Today, I'm seriously considering it.

Danny Evans, author of http://www.DadGoneMad.com, put out a memoir entitled "Rage Against the Meshugenah." Not sure what made me enter the bookstore or walk directly to his book, but I picked it up.

As I type, I'm on United 477, direct from BWI to LAX. I dove into the book prior to take-off, caught a little nap once we reached our cruising altitude.

Thursday was a long one that started with a hangover at 11:42am, found me dominating most of the final table of @BorgataPoker $350+$50 Stud tournament, and finished w/ me buying into a $5/$10 NL game for $1K, picking up $1,500 in first forty mins, then going from $2.6K stack to the felt in two hands.

I was leaving AC to catch my 7am flight out of BWI either way, would've been great to leave two hands sooner.

Also would've been great to ignore my mild case of arachnophobia and throw the doors on my Jeep ::before:: I left for my Dad's and Atlantic City.

Somehow dodged hypothermia on the way home. Stopped at the ATM and off-loaded several thousand dollars into my checking/svgs accts. Put the doors on, finally.

I don't have the math on me as I type, but off the toppamuhhead, safe to say I've lost about $23,684... In the past month. The sickest part is, I'm in the black. I made between $35K and $40K along the way.

So sick.

Back to Danny's book. After my much needed nap, I did some more reading. He really pours out his soul in this thing, but it's also ripe with comedic timing and surprise George Lucas references sure to please @ThatKevinSmith and the like.

According to the memoir, Mr. Evans met unemployment on Fri 7 Sept 2001. Four days later, everyone's life changed; he was hit hard by clinical depression.

I've never been professionally diagnosed, but I've got more issues than a magazine stand. I'm a gambler, recreational raging alcoholic, lack compassion and sympathy at times where many would consider me heartless... dare I continue?

But we're all just people, just trying to keep on keepin' on. Up until late June of this year, I was convinced that I was going to spend the rest of my days on this big ball of rock, wind, and water alone. Not by choice so much as by design. I'm not an easy guy to love, and my free-time is simultaneously abundant and scarce. I'm never "at work," but always looking to play.

Then, along comes @SlantdNEnchantd. A gorgeous Texan who started following me on twitter and found her way into my heart. Pete "GA Ave" Heyneman and @TheLeafNode were quick to point out the fact that "Internet Romance is soo... 1998..."

Believe it or not, I'm crazy about this girl. In love with her, and about to find out just how far this fairy tale can go. She's in LA visiting family, I'll be staying at @CommerceCasino tonight and Saturday, hoping she doesn't get cold feet on me.

Jason Roth (had that monologue in "He's Just Not That Into You") was up in AC w/ me in the past week. He heard about the trip, wished me luck at the tables, hoping I'd continue on my great run.

I told him, "Honestly, buddy... I really hope I don't get to play a single hand because I'm spending the whole weekend w/ her."

(to be continued...)

Standard

2009-09-14T17:52:00.000-04:00

"Hi, my name is Bank Roll Management, I'm sure you know my friend, Variance. He showed up today and thought we should have a talk. At the very least, send Game Selection a text msg, he's been trying to reach you."

What a week. Short version: I have $1K less cash on me than when I got to AC, but my bank acct is over $5K healthier.

Recent disasters:

Went to @BorgataPoker this afternoon for some $5/$10 NL. They opened up a new $10/$20 NL game, I got sat in a short-handed $5/$10 NL must-move. Bunch of $10/$20 guys were waiting for a seat in their game, sitting in ours.

Not an easy game. Not like the weekend. Oy.

Bought in for $1K, dusted that off with all too much ease. Rebought $2K - in a bad game. Great idea, Trav.

End of the story involves me moving to the main game. Lots of regulars/rocks. I run JJ into QQ, value-bet myself out of $500 (into ~$685) on the TT2 T 2 board on the river.

VERY. NEXT. HAND.

I have QQ and open for $35 after a limper or two. No less than four callers before guy on my right limp-laises $80 more. I put $200 black out there ($120 more to him). Heads-up to Th9h4d flop. He chk/calls $425 into $610ish. $1,460 in the middle, he chk/calls my $905 all-in shove on turn.

What pissed me off - he was never folding on the turn. Finally calls. I show QhQx, ask "Any good?"

He waits until the diamond Ace rolls off on the river to show AhKh.

Atleast I didn't rebuy.

Wanted: Framing Artist

2009-09-08T08:52:00.000-04:00

When was MARGE 2008? Late April? @CaityCaity and I went down to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS - I made about $10K playing blackjack and alot of $5/$10 NL. Stepped off the plane, drove directly to AC, and made another $3K playing $5/$10 NL and $4K playing blackjack in under 48 hours.

That was one hell of a week. A personal record. The reason I took the Vegas trip from hell and lost $30,000 in eight short weeks. Ever since that Vegas trip, I've been fighting with loans from friends and trying to convince myself that yes, maybe I still might know how to play this game called poker.

Two Fridays ago, I put a post up on my FaceBook page. Said something to the tune of "Travis is open to suggestions. What's good tonight?" Sure enough, one of the guys from the Baltimore game suggested I head up that way to play. So I did.

Wasn't long before I moved all-in with one card to come... and I was drawing dead, against a guy who had turned the nut straight. Oops.

Rebuy. In the game for $500+$600. If you were following me on twitter that night, you'd already know that it was a damned good rebuy.

Ran my stack up over $3K, lost $300 back before cashing out. All of the sudden, there was hope. Long story short, I lost $3.8K in the past 10 days... and still came out way in the black.

Having paid back all the much appreciated loans to my friends, I'm once again a free man... with some semblance of a bankroll, even. Looking to frame a $100 bill, encase it with some sort of "in case of emergency, brake glass" ensemble. If you think you're crafty enough to do this, e-mail or txt me. Compensation will be rendered, of course.

I'd love to toast to never going broke again... but we all know that it's only a matter of time.

It's Dumb to be Dumb, When You're Not Dumb

2009-08-22T23:23:00.001-04:00

List for Harrah's $1/$2 NL was long, I felt froggy, I took a $2/$5 NL seat.

First half hour at the table, I get Kings on the button. Small blind has Aces, we get it all-in for $300 each, I covered, flop a King, I'm up $425 with the quickness, in the game for $300.

Coupla hands go by, then this happens: http://tr.im/wUTy

I tell the dealer she doesn't need to call the floor, LP has to make it $90. EP says I'm wrong, I offer a $100 side wager. He pwns me by knowing Harrah's is dumb. Floor rules that it's just a call, I don't argue, give the guy $100.

I proceed to go on tilt, figure I'm free-rolling because I survived KK vs AA. I shove w/ OESD, backdoor flush draw, AA calls $560 more w/ best hand. I'm felted, I go up to the room and cry on 2p2 about the gross injustice.

As I type, I'm sitting $1/$2 NL... not nec a good idea. Need zen.

My kingdom for a competent ruling...

Putting the Ow in Meow.

2009-08-22T10:19:00.000-04:00

I stopped by @EHonda500Mob's place to chill before heading over to Wolf's $1/$2 NL game. I bragged about a little ego boost of mine I had just discovered the other night. When I go to Google.com and type "on a fo" in their search box, it auto-completes to "on a fold draw" To me, that's the bees knees.

E tells me that he's had an ego boost, too. For the past couple weeks, since he's been playing around the way at the other local $1/$2 NL games - he's been crushing the tables for wondrous profits. Worst case scenario, breaking even.

He done let the black cat out the bag, and stared it right in the face. He ran into a couple of unfortunate hands... but the deal-breaker was stacking off to his partner in crime, @FiveFingerz. Oops.

In another week or so, E will look back and laught at the $400+ pot he saw go the other way. But for now, he'll be a tad bitter.

Can't blame him. Been there, done that.

Make Tweets not Blogs

2009-08-12T17:52:00.000-04:00

From *legendary* @RealDawnSummers:

"Can I just say @onafolddraw is my hero. Does anyone play as much poker as he does and tweet about it so comprehensively? #betternmypokerblog"

- 5:06 PM Aug 10th from web

Thx. My response was along the lines of, "Sadly, I'm tweeting much better than I'm playing right now." Head over to @OnAFoldDraw, scroll back to Monday Night's debacle at @BorgataPoker for a recap of being in the table for almost $500, running it down to $12... running that $12 back up over $900... and back down to $200...

#fail.

In summary: I took a $5K upswing in a week, and then a $4K downswing. And then picked up $800 last night playing a game I was spota deal.

Thanx for reading, I'll be around.

Reset

2009-07-27T08:36:00.000-04:00

You'll need to hold in the RESET button before turning off the NES in order to correctly save your Zelda game.

We've come a long way since those days. My cell phone has better graphics and more memory than that old Nintendo. Over time, all things change. Change is necessary. Promotes character.

There was a time when I couldn't make a trip to AC without shipping all the money to my name (and borrowing some more before leaving). Yeah, yeah, 1-800-GAMBLER, i know. But I've changed. I've grown past that, evolved. Step-by-step.

There was a brief fleeting moment where I actually thought I had beaten my tilt demons and found an inner boardwalk zen. Three successful casino trips in a row showing a profit. Then, there was last Wednesday. Fiddlesticks. Talk about making up for lost time. How often can I say, "Live and Learn"... before I learn?

Proud of myself. Didn't tap the ATM. Didn't borrow a thousand or two off @BMoreBilly. Didn't hit up $2/$5 NL or $5/$10 NL at The Borgata to try to get even. Learning all of it at once would be too easy.

Bankroll is reset... time to work on that one. Should've just bought a Macbook instead of playing last Wednesday.

Oneshi, Twoshi, Sushi!

2009-07-19T06:13:00.000-04:00

It was always easy to remember my Dad and Sister's birthdays while growing up. Hers falls two days before his. Back in '04 we had a joint celebration because d hit 21 two days before Chet made it to 50.

Last year, I thought they were kidding when they told me my sister's new beau's b-day was the day right between theirs. I started a tradition of taking the three of them out to dinner. No shopping req'd, get it all out of the way in one fail swoop. Kinda like ripping a band-aid off of a hairy surface.

I tease and torment my sister because she has yet to join the 21st century and send/receive txt msgs. Thursday morning, not a minute later than 0615 hrs I got the idea in my had that we needed to do dinner on Saturday 18 July. It was the only day that would fit into the schedule. I'd gladly just send her a txt and have her get back to me, but she's too reluctant to shell out the $0.10.

So I called her, right around the ass-crack of dawn. Half way into the phone call I learn that she doesn't usually get out of bed for another 45 minutes. She still refuses to upgrade her technological know-how, I refuse to let her keep sleeping.

She called me back around Noon the same day, trying to wake ME up. No luck, already got my zzzz's, started my day. I told her we could do dinner wherever she wanted, my treat. Her decision was a Sushi buffet outside of Philly, Minado.

We had a great time, I cried a little inside when the bill came, but I'll get over it.

Dinner for six at sushi buffett: $254.73 w/ tip. Some people think that's expensive - I think: "that's the nuts in Deuce to Seven!"

-- @OnAFoldDraw

PStars World Record Attempt Sun 19 July 14:20EST

2009-07-19T05:09:00.000-04:00

I can't sleep. Check my tweets, learn from @PokerStars_com:

"52,000 players registered for our Guinness World Record tourney already. Join in and become a record breaking poker player today!"

Don't have 'Stars? Download Here
Want more info on the tournament? Click Here

DonkeyFishNutzShippit!

2009-07-15T19:38:00.000-04:00

Keenan's buddy Xavier is not a poker player. Truth be told, neither is Keenan anymore. When X would hang out with the degenerates he'd not get confused by the lingo so much as fed-up. His favorite thing to randomly blurt out became some variation of the phrase "DonkeyFishNutzShippit!" Soon after, I started a Guitar Hero career with that name.

While chasing a $300K+ Bad Beat Jackpot at the Showboat in AC, I was playing $1/$2 NL and tweeted:

Limp-raised QQ pf, got button to put the 4th raise in, I knew I was ahead/c-f at worst, shoved $224 more ($210 in middle if I just call)

It was brought to my attention that the above statement is far removed from the Queen's English and can be somewhat difficult to decipher. Allow me to break it down, to the best of my ability, similar to how I would explain it to my non-gambling grandmother at the upcoming family reunion.

Texas Hold 'em... the pot is started with two blind bets before we get cards. In this game, the first player put in $1 and the second $2. I was dealt two Queens. This is a strong, but vulnerable hand.

Of the ten players at the table, I was forced to act second on my hand. I chose to just call the $2 bet (aka "limp in"). My plan is for an aggressive player acting after me to raise. When the raised bet returns to me, I'll have the chance to re-raise, possibly take down an inflated, but relatively small pot before we see any more cards.

Part of my plan that I had not originally considered, but welcomed... the aggressive player decided to put in the third raise. We only had two cards, each. There's still three to come on the flop, and another on the the turn and a final on the river.

He had made it $11 on his first raise, I bumped the bet up to $39, He raised another $65. $39 x 2 = $78, $3 for the blinds is $81... $65 x 2 = $130. If I would just call his $65 bet, there would be just over $210 in the middle of the pot.

Best case scenario: he has JJ or TT (or an even smaller pair). I am a 4-1 favorite to win the pot.
Highly unlikely: He ALSO has two queens, we're gonna split up the money almost 100% of the time. (One of us could make a flush with four other cards. I've seen it happen, always much more fun from the onlooker position).

Worst case scenario: He has AA or KK. I played with the guy for more than a few hours the day before. He opened the pot for $7 before the flop and I re-raised. He then made the bet $300 total. This tells me that his "+$65" and "make it $300" hands are very different, the latter being only AA (but probably KK, too).

Most likely scenario: He has AK. All those who have played Texas Hold 'em know that by some cruel twist of math, no pair is only a very slight underdog against the third highest pair, queens.

I figure he would've made it $300(ish) with a hand that beats me. I'm either a 4:1 favorite or we're flipping a coin. Coin-flips make and break tournament players. Cash game players? The coin-flips seem to just end up pissing someone off.

Reminds me of the time I made @Keon_S cry with his 99 after he hero-called my pre-flop four-bet shove with KQo... but that's another story.

I opt to shove all-in for $224 more. At this point, I want him to fold and just let me have the $210 in the middle if he's holding AK. Only way I want a call is if I'm a 4:1 favorite and he's holding a pair smaller than my own. If you break down the math, he's an idiot to throw his (AK) hand away.

He should only fold if:
a) He thinks I have AA or KK. This is not likely because he holds a key card for each hand.
b) He is fine to lose $76 with this hand, but scared to lose $224 more. Scared money don't make money!
c) He is bad at math.

Bad at math? Yes. AK is going to beat QQ (or a smaller pair) almost 50% of the time. He only has to pay $224 for a chance to win $210+$224. He's getting almost 2:1 on an even-money proposition.

This is where I get angry. He's stuck between being scared money AND bad at math. He finally makes the call after what could have been no less than 90 seconds (an eternity when you've got nine other players AND a dealer waiting on you alone).

After it took him that long to make a decision, I already knew he had AK and I fated myself into losing the hand by saying aloud, "Please don't reward this idi-"

As the "-ot" rolls off my tongue, the door card on the flop is an Ace, of course.

Going to the river I have only two outs, they do not materialize, I rebuy. C'est la vie. Or, as they say in the outskirts of MD - Say lah via.

Far East to Eastern Shore

2009-07-07T02:46:00.000-04:00

Remember Nevin? He moved to some place in the Far East a little while back. Exlcuding a few minutes ago, the last news I had heard from him was that this here blog was banned in China, or Hong Kong specifically, or wherever the hell he was.

I saw his name pop-up while I was surfing on FaceBook and asked, "am I still banned in China?"

He not only assures me that I am, with a "Hell yeah," he also asks if I have a BofA acct; could I spot him cab fare. His flight is leaving in less than two hours and he's on his way from the Far East to the Eastern Shore of MD.

I was much happier to hear he only wanted $30 instead of $300 or $1K...

Maybe I'll pick up a new player for my Thurs Night PL game (@IceBoxPoker). Welcome home, Nevin!

The Art of the Information Bet

2009-07-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

Set-over-set is alot more fun to watch than it is to be the guy w/ one out. Nice hand, @CaityCaity. Way to dodge the one-outer.

-- About 9:30PM EST; Posted @OnAFoldDraw (that's me!)

Katie limped in MP, she got a limper behind her, next player opened for a raise, I just called on the button. Four of us to the flop for $8.

953 w/ two spades. Check, check, Original raiser c-bets $30. I got a feeling I could take him off the hand w/ a laise, but I'm worried about the snakes in the grass before him. The fact that I have no-pair/no-draw w/ AQo is irrelevant. I fold.

Katie c/r's to $90 and not long after, the player next to her moves all-in for over $100 more. The guy that bet $30 had no trouble giving it up, but Katie had a decision to make.

She called, with middle set of fives. The guy with the information bet had bottom set of threes and was drawing to one out. Set of fives holds, Katie is happy.

Information Bet (n.) - moving all-in with less than the nut hand. This is called an information bet because you learn that you're beat when you get called.

It was this hand that I tweeted about. I was sitting on a nice win and my tumbly was a bit rumbly - so I headed over to the Deli near the @HarrahsPoker Room. What a mess. It was so bad I even asked the man with the manager badge for a chance at improvement.

After being gone from the table for nearly 40 minutes, I returned with food. Some people think that players don't like to play anything but the best of hands while they're chowing down. I was dealt complete garbage whilst nomming on my burger, I went a full dealer-down with a VP$IP = 0 and half of another one. Even after I was done with the food, I still was pretty card dead.

We got a new player in the seat to my right. I was tired of folding. He limped, I laised. Flop came out Q73r. He bet $15 (into $25?, I think sb was in the pot, too.)

I raised. He looked at the $850+ in front of me, the less than $200 in front of him, and decided he didn't want to tango. Claims to have folded a queen.

Very next hand, I'm pretty sure... two limps to me, I open, five of us to the flop. Couple of checks on a Td6d4h flop. I bet $28 into $40. Folds back to Katie. She makes it $90. Does this sound familiar from the hand where she flopped middle set before?

I looked around for the placement of the button/blinds. She was in EP. I could be wrong, but I think she would've opened wth pocket tens, not limped. I knew she didn't have middle set... because... well, because I did.

There's $220 in the pot if I lost my mind and just called. I raised another $130. She moved in. I called. She knew she was in trouble when I called. Turn was a diamond, river paired the tens. She might've had a diamond with her pocket fours, I didn't see.

She left to go up to the room. One of the players at the table asked, "Hey, didn't you buy her a sandwich? I think she's in the bathroom, throwing it up right about now."

Karma, Party of Two

2009-07-01T03:28:00.000-04:00

I had pocket kings at least four times on Tuesday playing in the @HarrahsPoker Room, took down the blinds three times, got limp-raised the fourth. Limp-raiser folded to my 4bet. I had Aces, once that I can remember. Ran into the monster that is ATo. Flop, KJT. He rivers two-outer.

Sounds like a bad day. Incomplete stories can leave the reader with the wrong impression.

Folds to my cut-off. I open, regular rock in small blind 3-bets to $35. He only has AK/AQ(sooted) or TT+. Only. No other hand is in his range here. I peel a flop. T75r. He leads $35 (half pot) into me heads up. His range is now narrowed to one of two hands. He either has a set of tens, or a set of tens. I'm not sure which of the three remaining tens in the deck he does not hold.

I gave him a speech about how I'd play for $70, but not for $35. We both babble back and forth about how he would've bet $70 if he had known that and I say he wouldn't have have a set of tens if he had bet $70...

Blah blah, this is only important, because later...

There's a raise from UTG, UTG+1 calls, as do I. Gets to the small blind, he puts out a big 3bet. We're both deep, almost $400 each before the hand was dealt. I close the action and call heads-up. Pot is about $100

Flop is queen high. He measures out $60. Then $85ish. Then back to $60, matches it to itself. He bets $120. I'm a fish. I assume, as fish do, that top pair = nutz. I really read the guy completely wrong as having either AK air or a pair under the queen. If he had bet less, I would've folded.

I shove, his instacall disheartens me. I sheepishly admit, "I just have a Queen."

Doesn't this mother fucker try to slow-roll me and say, "I just have an Ace." For a nanosecond, I thought I had read his soul and he called with air out of spite. Then, reality sets in. He tries to finish his dickish move by saying, "With another Ace!"

The wind went out of his sails pretty quickly when I rivered a five-out Queen on his ass.

Send the Chili to Willy!

Friends of our Fathers

2009-06-29T16:38:00.001-04:00

In AC, playing $1/$2 NL as I type. Got here Sun afternoon, played a coupla hours at Harrah's (http://twitter.com/HarrahsPoker). Floor person put me in the eight, nine was open, too. Grabbed some chips at the window and I didn't have 'em out the rack before my tool-dar pinged. Douchenozzle in the five with a fauxhawk was beligerant drunk and dying for attention.

Every word out of this guy's mouth was directed at the TV cameras, and most were disrespectful and borderline rule breaking.

Wasn't long before the nine was filled and the seven got a new face. Toolbox noticed, wondered where half the table went.

"They probably got tired of your mouth."

That didn't shut him up for long, but did elicit a couple laughs from fellow tablemates. Old man in the seven made a comment, kid started cutting into him. Not only did the guy just sit down, he hadn't even been dealt in yet and this kid was after him.

He eventually attacked his age, and he said, "What are you, friends with my father?"

I immediately came back with, "No, but he knows your mother pretty well, if ya know what I mean..."

Now, that... that shut him up.

Billy Might Be Right

2009-06-23T13:23:00.000-04:00

Where did I leave off?

"I've got 13 more hours in Las Vegas, here's hoping I don't do anything drastically damaging to my bankroll."

If I remember correctly, I behaved well after this post. I took a little nap and then went downstairs to look for a $10/$20 Omaha H/L game. There was a tournament running, only games with a seat open were nosebleed stakes, save for a $20/$40 BOTE game. The fact that I am teh suck at Badugi and $20/$40 is a big high could've easily prevented me from sitting in this game. It's an eight-max table, and when you're paying $30/round in blinds, you'd better make it or fake it when it comes to getting dealt hands.

I eventually decided that $30 in blinds would be much cheaper than running a 4-street bluff for 3.5 big bets ($140). So I waited for a hand. Eventually, AJ77 with one flush draw began to look like AA23 double sooted. After I showed down my A7 for low, the eight seat did a double-take, as if to say, "You waited all this time to play THAT crap?"

I was happy as a [insert analogy here] to hear a new Omaha game open up. I ran fast and far away from the $20/$40 BOTE having suffered a very minor flesh wound of only a little over 1.5 big bets (-$65). Sat with $300 in the Omaha and it wasn't long before I was looking down at more than $1,200 in front of me.

My failproof strategy: consume mass quantities of Vodka and Redbull.

Gaping hole in strategy: the mass quantities.

Left the table stuck a little over $100. Didn't help that one of my last hands I folded to one bet on the river after bricking with OESD/FD - pot was over $500.

To make a long story less long - I left Vegas with a profit (I couldn't believe it, either). Found myself in Atlantic City later that week on Friday Night. More to come on that later.

Please provide your favorite fill-in-the-analogies in the comments section.

I Was Wrong

2009-06-16T13:37:00.000-04:00

It's often been said that, "There's nothing funner... than runner, runner." I say it all the time. I have been perpetuating a non-truth. Ever since landing in Las Vegas late Friday night, I have learned of a few situations that actually trump going runner-runner on some nit for a big ol' pot.

a) Leading out with nut-nut in a H/L game on the river, and getting raised.

b) Having someone else take a big gamble and buy you into a World Series of Poker Bracelet Event.

c) After two hours of playing said event, the godfather of poker, Doyle Brunson takes a seat on your left. You discuss such topics as Tom Dwan, and the fact that he knows better than to play in Bobby's Room, because Dwan is a mixed game FISH.

d) You get your ears blown out at Roland DeWolfe's Bracelet Ceremony, tweet about it, and @JeffreyPollack, the commisioner for the WSOP, replies directly to you, and apologizes for having not yet worked out all the kinks.

I'm sure there are plenty of other things that truly are funner than runner-runner, but this of course will not stop me from saying it.

I've got 13 more hours in Las Vegas, here's hoping I don't do anything drastically damaging to my bankroll.

Monday Morning Reading Material

2009-06-15T12:34:00.001-04:00

If you're somehow not following me on twitter, you've missed alot.

http://twitter.com/onafolddraw

Also a few gems on FaceBook, or, as my Aunt Glo likes to call it, MyFace

http://www.facebook.com/travis.t.williams

I busted out of WSOP #31, $1,500 HORSE - concentrating on $10/$20 Omaha H/L as I type from the table.

200 Pkgs Gtd Satellite on PStars Sunday

2009-06-08T13:03:00.000-04:00

Poker Stars is running an awesome satellite on Sunday.
From @PokerStars_com :

Bad news - good news. No Sunday Million next week. In its place a 200 packages guaranteed satellite to the World Series of Poker Main Event.

I'll be in Vegas for the WSOP, playing Event #31, the $1,500 HORSE. Otherwise I'd be all over this satellite. If you're not already, follow @OnAFoldDraw on twitter for my updates on the action.

If Murphy's law is in full effect, a bunch of us from the local poker circuit are sure to be seated at the same table during the HORSE. Brian @RavensFutbal Reeve, Katie @caitycaity Baxter, Andy @TeamGetBig Ciandella and I are all going out there. Our buddy Jason Roth (too cool for twitter) will be there, too.

Jason played Day 1A of the Borgata's $350+$50 yesterday. 278 Players started; Jay finished 12th in chips out of the 29 remaining players. Day 1B is underway as I type, that pack will join the rest to play Day 2 tomorrow. Not sure, but I think they play down to the final table and come back for a Day 3. This is the same event where Jason final-tabled last year for over $20,000. I was immensely happy for him until I learned that he was playing on something like a 80/20 stake. Hopefully he worked out a much better deal this year, or put himself in.

I was dealing $5/$10 Pink HOE last Friday Night and Andy offered a line of over 1,150 players in the WSOP event we're playing on Sunday. I jumped on it and took $100 on the under. I would gladly have bet $1,000 on it had I not run like poo earlier this year.

Hey, Look Over There!

2009-06-07T05:51:00.000-04:00

@BJNemeth has a guest-post on @TaoPauly's blog: Tao of Poker.

2009 WSOP Day 10: Just Another Day in the Office: Phil Ivey Wins His Sixth Bracelet -- and $12 Million

1. Read it (linky)
2. Be envious of the awesomeness that is @PhilIvey
3. Rinse, lather, repeat if desired.