Free rolling at the table

Playing online with Kate on OKbridge, I held:
♠A ♥6 ♦Q 9 6 5 3 ♣A Q J 10 8 2.

The opponents were vulnerable and we were not and right-hand opponent opened 1♠. There is nothing wrong with bidding 2NT, but instead I bid 2♣. The club suit was longer and stronger. I decided that if partner didn't raise, I might be able to introduce my diamond suit into the picture later in the auction. Also, this hand is a 'tweener.' If you bid 2NT, you won't know what to do after partner bids a simple 3♦ or 3♣. Just sayin'.

LHO bid 2♠, partner passed, and RHO bid 4♠. What now? I tried 4NT which is takeout for the minors, but longer in clubs. I could be going for a number, but it's so likely they can make a vulnerable game that it's worthwhile bidding. Most of the time they take the push to 5♠ anyway, so our side either breaks even (it makes five) or comes out ahead (it goes down).

Partner bid 5♣ and, surprisingly, it passed out. West led the ♠Q and partner gave me a great dummy:

                ♠ 8 5 4
                ♥ 5 3 2
                ♦ K J 10 8
                ♣ 7 4 3
==   
                ♠ A
                ♥ 6
                ♦ Q 9 6 5 3
                ♣ A Q J 10 8 2

How would you play? One line is to play the ♣A and another. Unless there is a singleton king, you will lose one trick in hearts, diamonds and club -- down one. That should be a good board, however, as you don't see much defense against 4♠ (or maybe even 5♠).

The other line is to lead a diamond. If they take the ace, you win any return and lead another diamond to dummy. If this isn't ruffed, you can take a club finesse and possibly make the contract.

Because we weren't doubled, I decided to try and make it. At IMPs, the difference between minus 50 and minus 100 wouldn't be much. As poker players say, I was free-rolling. Also, if the defense gets a ruff, I may break even -- the ruff may be by the hand that has ♣K x, and, after that, the king will drop.

Following through, I led a diamond to the jack and ace. RHO cashed a heart and led another. I ruffed and led a second diamond. RHO ruffed, drat. I won the return, cashed the ♣A (no king) and settled for down two and minus 100.

Here are all four hands (rotated):

                ♠ 8 5 4
                ♥ 5 3 2
                ♦ K J 10 8
                ♣ 7 4 3
♠ Q J 3 2                      ♠ K 10 9 7 6
♥ 10 8 7 4                     ♥ A K Q J 9
♦ 7 4 2                        ♦ A
♣ K 6                          ♣ 9 5
                ♠ A
                ♥ 6
                ♦ Q 9 6 5 3
                ♣ A Q J 10 8 2

As you can see, the opponents make 5♠ (losing one spade and one club), and minus 100 was plus 8.01 IMPs for the good guys.

You can see what others did if you click here.

The same deal presented with the BBO Handviewer:

They're trying to sell my poker room

I saw this headline in a Memphis alternative newspaper:

MGM Mirage Mulls Sale of Gold Strike

They can't do that -- the Gold Strike is where I play poker. Maybe they didn't get the memo.

Apparently the parent company is $13 billion in debt. Debt is common in the casino industry, but with the economic downturn, they are trying to reduce it. Also for sale: The Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS; the MGM Grand Detroit; and two properties in Laughlin, NV -- the Colorado Belle and Edgewater Casinos.

The potential Mississippi casinos sale is discussed here.

Here's a Motley-Fool article titled "Can Anything Save MGM Mirage?" (The short answer is "no.")

The possible sale of the Laughlin casinos is linked to here.

MGM Mirage owns: The Bellagio, the Mirage, the Luxor, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, New York New - York and many others.

Caught in a buzz saw

Playing online bridge at OKbridge, you pick up:
♠A Q J 7 6 3 2 ♥9 ♦Q J 4 ♣J 2.

Your partner bids 1♥ and you respond 1♠. Partner rebids 2♣ and you?

I can see a case for 3♠. Your shortness is in partner's suits and the quacks in diamonds aren't very appealing. The player who held this hand bid 4♠. I don't think that's terrible either, but the contract had no play. Look what happened when Kate and I were East-West:

                ♠ 9
                ♥ A K Q J 2
                ♦ 7 6
                ♣ Q 9 8 6 3
♠ 10 8 4 3                    ♠ K
♥ 10 7                        ♥ 8 6 5 4 3
♦ A 9 8 5 3 2                 ♦ K 10
♣ A                           ♣ K 10 7 5 4
                ♠ A Q J 7 6 3 2
                ♥ 9
                ♦ Q J 4
                ♣ J 2

Kate led the ♣A. She then cashed the ♦A and led another to my king. I played the ♣K (Kate discarded a low heart), and then led the ♣4. Declarer ruffed with the ♠J and Kate discarded her last heart.

Because Kate couldn't overruff, Declarer was now fairly sure that I (East) had the ♠K, so he led a heart to get to dummy. Kate ruffed and led another round of diamonds. Declarer ruffed in dummy, I overruffed with the ♠K. I returned a heart and declarer had to lose another trick for down four. That was plus 400 for us and 5.81 IMPs in our column.

This board was played 70 times, and the results were divided into three main groups: 3♠ or 4♠ down 100, 4♠ down 200 and 4♠ down 300. Our score was not the highest. Two pairs went down five. I didn't check to see how they did it -- too scary.

You can see what all the players did, if you click here.

Here's the BBO Handviewer link:

Look, up in the sky -- it's a bright kite

Has anyone heard of brightkite? I ran across it on the blog of a co-worker. It's a location-based social network. If you sign up, the service uses the GPS device in your cell phone to let others know where you are. People using BrightKite can see if other users are in the same area.

BrightKite integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services, and there are privacy settings you can use to determine who can see your location and who can’t. Sometimes, you might not want others to know where you are (ahem). It also interfaces with Flickr, so you can send photos there. (Don't get me started!)

I signed up for FaceBook (or BaseFook, as they like to say) maybe two years ago, and Twitter last year. What's next? Will I sign up for every dumb fad that comes along?

Any of you readers signed up already? Anybody heard about it and like it/hate it/don't care? Thoughts?

UPDATE: I just thought of this. If your kids were out and about, this might be a good way to keep tabs on them. Just sayin'.

When poker and bridge meet

I've had a few readers ask what's the difference between poker and bridge. That's hard to answer, so instead let me direct you to a Barry Greenstein interview.

Most of you have seen him on TV and know he's a top poker player, but Greenstein's also a bridge player. He's a Bronze Life Master who is close to being a Silver Life Master. That means he has nearly 1,000 masterpoints (awards given to bridge players who win at either club games or tournaments).

When Greenstein was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, he was friends with expert bridge player, Karen Walker. She interviewed him in 2005, and he discussed some of the differences between poker and bridge. The interview was published in the ACBL's Bridge Bulletin (my favorite magazine, lol) in the Feb. 2006 issue.

You can read Walker's interview here.

Walker is a regular columnist for the Bridge Bulletin and editor of the ACBL District 8 quarterly newsletter called the District 8 Advocate newsletter. If you are a bridge player who is serious about improving his or her game, do yourself a favor and go to her excellent web site here.

Happy birthday, pard

"Are we going to bid the birthday grand?" asked my bridge partner, Kate.

When Kate plays online, Notzia and I take turns as her partner. Whoever shows up first plays with her, and the other either kibitzes or goes off to play online poker.

Yesterday was Kate's birthday, so I arrived at OKbridge early (no use taking any chances), sorry Notzia. The question she asked meant: Hey, today is my special day, so let's do something special at the bridge table (grand slams are rare).

We didn't bid any grands, but this deal (rotated) was fun:

                ♠ K
                ♥ A K 5 2
                ♦ Q 5 3
                ♣ K 9 8 4 2
♠ J 10 5                     ♠ A 6 2
♥ Q 10 9 6 4                 ♥ J 8 7 3
♦ 6                          ♦ K J 8 7 4
♣ A J 10 3                    ♣ 6
                ♠ Q 9 8 7 4 3
                ♥ ---
                ♦ A 10 9 2
                ♣ Q 7 5

       West   North   East   South
              1♣     1♦    1♠
       Pass   2♣     Pass   2♠
       All Pass

What do you think of North's 2♣ rebid? I usually rebid 1NT. Some partner's don't like it, but I think it's better than rebidding a ragged five-card club suit. What do you think?

Kate led the ♦6. Declarer played low from dummy and won my jack with his ace. He led a spade to the king, I took my ace and the birthday party fun started.

I played the ♦K and another which Kate ruffed. She led the ♣A and another which I ruffed. I continued with another diamond and Kate ruffed again. Whee! Are we having fun yet? She led a third round of clubs and I ruffed for down two.

Our score of plus 200 was good for plus 3.12 IMPs. You can see all the scores here.

Sorry, it wasn't a grand pard, but Happy Birthday anyway -- you're the best!

Here is the same deal with the Bridge Base Online Handviewer:

MOJO hits 400-post landmark

It was May 13, 2008, when I made my first blog post. It was a bridge deal and the title was: At the crossroads. Now I see that I wasn't really at the crossroads; I was at the beginning.

After 400 posts, I've made many new friends, and had lots of fun. Some I've met, but most I've not, but I feel like I know them anyway. They are from the U.S., Canada and even Denmark! In all, 36 countries are represented.

I have google analytics (for the last 10 months), so let's look at some of the numbers:

36 -- That number is how many different countries are represented.

405 -- 405 is how many different people have come here to look around.

1192 -- Some of the people who came, turned up their noses and didn't come back. But I've had 1192 visits (if I understand what the numbers in google analytics mean), so a few of you returned. This is humbling and I thank all who did so, especially those who leave comments.

80 -- That's the most visitors I've had in one day. I played in one of those Poker Stars Blogger Tournaments with ~550 runners (Dec. 14, 2008), and came in fourth. I guess those who didn't know me came to find out how it happened. The ones who did know me also wanted to find out how it happened. Ha.

100 -- My 100th post was, surprise, photos. It was on Oct. 5, 2008
200 -- My 200th post was on Jan. 1, 2009 -- it was photos.
300 -- My 300th piece was also photos, and I posted it on May 1, 2009.

I've posted 197 poker pieces, 132 with bridge as the subject, 70 labeled photos and 59 miscellaneous. It adds to more than 400 because some of them overlap.

Here are some of the titles and the subject. No, I wasn't on meth when I wrote them, although some sound pretty kooky:

When the candyman comes to town (poker)

I'll take overbidding for $800, Alex (bridge)

Would you club a baby seal? (poker)

Bridge in another galaxy (bridge)

Is tiddlywinks fun? (poker)

Suicide hotline, open for business (bridge)

Draw another arrow from your quiver (bridge)

6.6 million mile trip, but you can only pack 10 items (Misc.)

The Room of Requirement (poker)

Up, down and sideways (Photos)

I love baseball. Each summer I take a trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals. Most summers, I also travel at least once to Boston to see the Red Sox. On Sep. 1, 2007, I was in Fenway Park and saw Clay Bucholz throw a no-hitter. For a serious baseball fan, this was a huge thrill.

Here are some photos from that game:


Above is the famous Green Monstah. (And, yes, they talk that way.)


Buchholz had been called up from the minors to pitch this game. He sure didn't look like a rookie.


I still have my ticket, and the image above is a scan of it.

Is this the ultimate poker goal?

Having goals is ingrained for Americans. Poker players are particularly likely to do this around New Year's Day. Many goals are easy to achieve, so are not really goals at all. They might be called baby goals.

Jamie, of Wall Street Poker, has one of the most interesting goals that I've heard or read about. He wants to play in all the legal poker rooms in all 50 states! Yes, you read that right -- all of them and there are 280. Now that's a real goal, a man-sized goal.

He first posted about this Aug. 9, 2007, and you can read what he wrote here. He set certain standards as to what constituted a "visit." He is keeping track on a google map, something I'm eager to see him post on his web site.

Jamie is an excellent writer, and you can read about the time Wall Street came to Tunica here. He calls it Mississippi Blues Traveling. When he came, we were going to meet, but, unfortunately, I already had plans to take my mother to Florida. When I got back, he was gone.

You can read his report of when he travelled to the Chicago area here, and here. He visited five states (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan) and played in 14 different poker rooms during his seven-day trip. He has some photos in the second one, and you know how I am about photos. I was born in Chicago, so I have a warm spot in my heart for these two reports.

Finally, he won a lot of mobneys in a tournament and you can read his excellent recap of it here. What I like is that he describes his read and what he is thinking. Most bloggers don't bother, but this appeals to me. It's like getting inside the writer's head.

Here are some nuggets from the same report that I liked:

Bam! The alarm sounded at 7AM and I jumped out of the comfy bed like a greyhound who's just had the gate lifted.

It's amazing what people tell other people after a hand; What they had, why they bet that way and why they laid it down. All the info I was looking for was right there for the taking! I soaked it up like a sponge and vowed to use that knowledge when the time was right.

... my job was to accumulate chips, not eliminate players.

Often, my opponents would look at their hole cards directly after being dealt them rather than waiting for their turn. Then, they would subconsciously pick up their cards as if to muck them. If they intended to call or raise when the action came to them, they would often pull the cards towards themselves as if protecting a treasure. Sometimes they'd even cap the cards in advance! This subtle, but highly reliable tell, gave me an incredible amount of information in advance and was the primary indicator I used when deciding whether to steal blinds or not.

After the chop, ... I should tighten up a bit because things would start loosening up because of the guarantee.

There's more, but you'll have to go to his excellent blog and read for yourself.

It's a jungle in there

I've been there before, but all summer I've tried to make plans for a trip to revisit the Memphis Zoo. Today, I made it. (The shot on the left is what you see when you first enter.) I had three photographic goals:

1. Get a shot of one or both pandas -- check.
2. Get a shot of the tigers -- check.
3. Get a shot of the polar bears -- oops. What do they say? Two out of three ain't bad.




The pandas are the crown jewel, so to speak, of the zoo. There are only three other zoos in the U.S. that have a panda exhibit.

Technically, the zoo doesn't own them, rather they are leasing them. In other words, there is a fee the zoo pays each year. The exhibit area cost $16 million to build. The small photo to the left shows the entrance.



You probably know that pandas are becoming extinct. The reason is that they have a limited diet -- mostly bamboo shoots. They eat more than 40 pounds a day. Areas that can support them are being encroached on by humans, squeezing them ecologically.

The panda you see is named Ya Ya. (There is another called Le Le.) I wrote panda, but the actual name is giant panda.

Sometimes they eat outdoors and that was what I was hoping for. I arrived about 20 minutes early and set up a tripod (whoa, fancy, no?), but then found out they would be eating indoors. That meant shooting through glass with reflections and hand prints. Because they are eating bamboo shoots, I thought of a title: The shooter shoots the shoots. Sorry, it's my blog, so you have to put up with stuff like that. Just sayin'.


The image above is of the Chinese Tower.


This (above) was taken inside the China area.


The first time I went to what they call Cat Country, the tigers were taking a nap. It was 90 degrees today. Also, I'm guessing they may have just had lunch. For these two reasons, they were engaging in siesta time. Above is one of them.


I went back after I visited the pandas (and did other things), and got this shot. It took a while. Most of the time, he was pacing around, but away from me. Then he came towards me and I snapped what you see. I think he posed just to get rid of me as if to say, "You got your stupid photo. Are you happy now?"


If you look at the tee shirt, you might figure out who this zoo-goer person is.

You can read more about the Memphis Zoo if you go to Wikipedia here.

Poker pearl #26

In the July issue of bluff magazine (see scan above), Paul Wasicka says:

     "Have the courage to follow through with
     your read -- be it making a brave call,
     a huge bluff, or, sometimes, a really
     tough laydown."

Blogroll update

Yesterday, The Poker Daily left a comment. He/she asked very nicely if I would consider linking to their web site. I went there and it looks to me to be high quality, but I won't be adding their link to my blogroll. Why not?

About eight months ago, I decided that if someone linked to me (or added as a follower), I would return the favor. I also decided that even if I liked and read their blog, but they didn't link to me, I wouldn't link to them. I hate to sound picky, but to me, it's a two-way street.

If anybody reads this and links to me, but I haven't to them, it means I've overlooked you. If that is the case, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail to dave (dot) memphismojo (at) gmail (dot) com

Met another blogger

I was psyched to go to the poker tournament today at the Gold Strike. These are always fun, and jusdealem was going to play, too. I met diverjoules last weekend, so that would be two blogger meetings in one week. Cool.

Although jusdealem and I have "known" each other through our blogs, and although we play in the same casinos, we've never actually met f-2-f. We had a blast together. It's always nice to put a face with a name. As expected, she was as nice as could be and a terrific poker player. As I said last week, there are lots of poker players, but bloggers are an elite slice of that world.

We started the tournament with 4000 in chips, blinds of 25/50 and 30 minute levels. No room for any missteps. I had won no big pots, but chipped up as high as 6500. Then I went card dead and my stack dropped back to 5200 in Level 5. The blinds were 150/300 with 25 ante. Under the gun, I held: ♥Q ♦Q, and raised to 1100. It folded to the small blind who called.

The flop was K-Q-J rainbow. The SB checked, I bet 1600 and the SB check-raised me all in. What would you do? You have middle set, but the board is highly coordinated. I decided that if he played A-10, then more power to him. Besides, I had outs, as they say. He turned over A-A! About my favorite thing in poker is snapping off aces when they didn't raise (or re-raise) preflop. But the turn was another ace, and I was drawing to one out (or a 10 for a chop).

That's the problem with playing tight, and waiting for the double-up. Sometimes, the double-up doesn't come or things like this happen. The alternative is to play lots or pots, and splash around and build up a big enough stack to withstand bad luck. I guess which manner you choose depends on your style, and, perhaps, your personality (the two are no doubt related).

I adjourned to the cash game to lick my wounds. In about an hour, here came jusdealem. She had made a flush, but another player hit a boat to knock her out. We were playing $4/8 limit HE at different tables, but after about 20 minutes, they moved me to her table -- she had already doubled up!!

I watched in awe for the next three hours -- I don't believe she turned over a hand on the river that wasn't a winner! It got to be ridiculous as her chip stack grew. Finally, two guys on one side of her said she couldn't spread her chips out any further -- she would have to go vertical! You can check out the photo below and her stack grew about $100 beyond what you see.

One quick, funny story. A new lady came to the table. I forget why she wasn't dealt any cards, but perhaps she got to the table too late or maybe she was between the button and the blinds. When the betting came to her (it was $4), she called. She had no cards, but threw her four white chips out there! Obviously, you don't want to bluff a calling station like that. Just sayin'.


Jusdealem (above) is guarding her hole cards with both hands. Is that a tell?

Why don't I ever find plays like this?

There used to be something called the BOLS Brilliancy Prize. Each year an award was given to whoever made what the judging committee deemed to be the best play.

In 1985, Swedish player Anders Brunzell, East in the diagram below, was defending 3NT on this layout (hands rotated):

                ♠ K 9 4
                ♥ A K 7 3
                ♦ 10 6 3
                ♣ J 6 5
♠ 7                            ♠ Q 10 6 2
♥ 10 9 8 6 5                   ♥ J 2
♦ 9 8 2                        ♦ A J 5
♣ 10 9 4 3                     ♣ A K 7 2
                ♠ A J 8 5 3
                ♥ Q 4
                ♦ K Q 7 4
                ♣ Q 8

West led the ♥10 won in dummy with the ♥K. Declarer now led a spade to his ♠J. Next he cashed the ♥Q, West following with the 9, showing he had four left. Declarer continued with the ♦K and West again followed with a 9, this time showing an odd number. Declarer had shown five spades in the bidding, so this was now a double dummy problem for Brunzell. How could he defeat 3NT? What would you do after looking at all four hands?

Brunzell could see that declarer hoped to take five spade tricks (if they broke), three hearts and a diamond. If East ducked the ♦K, declarer would find out that spades didn't split, and play on diamonds, successfully. Therefore, he won his ♦A.

A spade or a diamond return would be fatal. What about a club? If Brunzell played ♣K, ♣A and another, his low club would be set up. But then what would he discard on the ♥A? He would be forced to discard his club winner, and now declarer could concede a spade and make his contract.

Brunzell exited with the ♣2, taken in dummy with the jack. Declarer cashed the ♠K, then the ♥A. On the heart ace, Brunzell discarded the ♣A!

Now, South could not avoid defeat. He threw East in with a spade, but the communications were intact between the East and West hands and declarer went two down. Yes, Brunzell won the prize for that year.

Do you see how declarer can counter this defense? When Brunzell shifts to a low club, he has to win with the queen, not an easy play to find (and wrong on most layouts).

Here is the deal in the BBO Handviewer:

Poker pearl #25

In the Card Player magazine (July 14, 2009, casino version), shown in the scan above, John Vorhaus gives what he calls wisdomettes. Here's one:

    Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
--
    If you're beating up on some weakie, and
    he's giving you all his money, don't do
    anything to distract him from his task.
    Especially don't berate him when he draws
    out on you. He has to draw out every once
    in a while in order to maintain his
    enthusiasm for the game. Don't begrudge
    him his wins -- they're only temporary.

Too much time on his hands

When I was playing at Harrah's ca$h game Saturday night, diverjoules spotted the above at a nearby table.

It was made by a player named Clark, who is a Tunica regular. Each white chip is a $1 chip, and it took 580 of them to build the, um, well, whatever it is.

I took another photo with Clark in it that you see in the small one to the left. It gives some perspective, although, unfortunately, it's fuzzy.

Poker tournament begins later this week

The Gold Strike Casino in Tunica is holding a two-week tournament beginning Thursday called The 2009 World Poker Open. To see the schedule of events, click here.

There is a different event each day, and some days have two events. The tournament ends with a $5150 Championship Event.

I'm planning to take off from work Thursday afternoon, and go play in what they call Event 1 that starts at 2 p.m.

How to handle a bully

Playing in the Full Tilt Record Breaker Sunday, the blinds were 100/200, and I had K-Q in the big blind. One player limped to me and I raised to 700. I hadn't been at the table long, but he had a big stack. When players have a big stack, it usually means they have been aggressive (and probably lucky). He called.

I made a CB on the flop and he called again. I checked the turn and he checked behind. Finally, I hit my card on the river. What would you do? I checked again. If I had him beat, he will likely fire at the pot because I've checked twice indicating I've given up on the hand. If I really am behind, I save money. Remember: The villain is a player whom I've pegged as aggressive.

Sure enough, he bet out for 2000. I called (no need to raise as I'm either way ahead or way behind).

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 1,770
SB: 2,680
Hero (BB): 8,497
UTG: 3,420
UTG+1: 2,945
UTG+2: 1,513
MP1: 25,993
MP2: 9,722
CO: 3,285


Pre-Flop: (300) K Q dealt to Hero (BB)

3 folds, MP1 calls 200, 4 folds, Hero raises to 700, MP1 calls 500

Flop: (1,500) 6 8 7 (2 Players)

Hero bets 1,500, MP1 calls 1,500

Turn: (4,500) 8 (2 Players)

Hero checks, MP1 checks

River: (4,500) Q (2 Players)

Hero checks, MP1 bets 2,000, Hero calls 2,000

Results: 8,500 Pot

Hero showed K Q (two pair, Queens and Eights) and WON 8,500 (+4,300 NET)

MP1 showed 9 A (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-4,200 NET)

Slow rolled during the betting

I played in the tournament at the Goldstrike Saturday night with diverjoules. During the third level, the blinds were 100/200 and the guy on my right limped for 200. I checked my hole cards to see: ♦K ♣ K.

I raised to 700 and it folded to a guy in late position who raised to 2100. Everyone folded back to me. Against a competent player, this screams A-A or K-K (kings unlikely because I also have them), but I've seen how these guys play. I finally decided to move all-in.

Now the other guy starts to think. Then he asks the dealer how much more (around 6500). I'm guessing now he has Q-Q or A-K. That would be sweet.

After the dealer counts it, he says "Okay, I call," and turns over ♥A ♦A!

Everybody just looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Come on, dude. You are never folding, so why the Hollywood?

My guess is that's he's watched too much poker on TV or else he has recently had a lobotomy. I'm going with the lobotomy theory -- it probably increased his IQ.

More world records

Full Tilt is celebrating their fifth anniversary, and part of that is an attempt to break the record for the biggest online tournament in history. You may recall that on Dec. 28, 2008, Poker Stars set the record at 35,000 runners.

The Full Tilt donkament (My spell-checker doesn't like the word donkament! I need to get a better one.) is today and 50,000 players have plunked down $5 each to play. That's $250,000, but FT has added another $250,000 to make the prize pool $500,000.

It's almost impossible to climb over 50,000 donkeys -- the number is just too high, and donkey blood will be everywhere. But I'm entering anyway. Heck, it's Sunday afternoon, so I might as well play online while I do laundry and other chores.

I believe when Poker Stars heard about this, they started their own tournament that they hope will out-draw FT, and their entry fee is only $1.

Full Tilt: "My penis is bigger than yours."
Poker Stars: "Not so fast! I believe mine is bigger."

You can read what Poker Works says here. You can read what Full Tilt says, if you click here.

We'll see how this plays out. If you played in either, leave a comment.

UPDATE: I outlasted 47,610 donkeys, but eventually was shortstacked and moved in with A-Q suited. Two players called me. One also had A-Q and the other A-K, oops.




This one (earlier) was painful. All-in before the flop.

When a blogger comes to town

Fellow poker blogger Diverjoules e-mailed me that she and her daughter were coming to Tunica. She blogged "Tunica here we come" that you can read here.

We agreed to meet Friday night at Harrah's at 6 p.m. to play in its Deep Stack tournament. About 5:30 I got this text message: "I played in the afternoon tournament and came in third. I'm freerolling tonight!" Sweet!

I bought my entry, took my seat, and began looking around. The most likely candidate (I had a rough idea how old she was -- her daughter came to play blackjack, so I guessed daughter early 20s, thus Diverjoules early 40s) was sitting at my table.

I sent a text message: "Are you in seat 2?" She had her phone out and got the message immediately. She looked up and looked directly at me. We both smiled, got up and gave each other a hug. Now, how cool is that? There are lot of poker players, but bloggers are their own special world.

When you read someone's blog, after a while you can get a pretty good idea of what they are like. Yes, she was as nice as I predicted and a very cool lady.

I busted out of the tournament after around two hours, but Diverjoules went to the final table and finished 4th. She might want to feed at the donkey trough of Tunica a little more in the future! Just sayin'.

One cute hand. The second one we played, the blinds were 25/50 and we started with 15,000 in chips. A guy raised, another called, a third guy re-raised and the first guy re-raised him. The last guy re-raised all in and it was called. I'm thinking to myself, you can't give these donkeys enough chip$. One of them will bust out on the second hand. The first one turned over ♠A ♣A and the other guy showed ♥A ♦A. Ha ha. "It's not over yet," said the dealer (meaning that one of them could still get a flush), but the flop had three different suits, so the last two cards were a formality.

We're going to meet and play in another tournament tonight, perhaps at the Horseshoe (we think it has a better structure than the Saturday Harrah's tournament) or maybe the Goldstrike. I hope to see her at the final table.

It's against the law to be a moron

While driving home from work about a week ago, I saw this sign: New law in Tennessee. No texting and driving.

Say what? I guess it's also against the law to play Russian roulette with all six loaded.

Here's a link, and here's another another.

They might discard wrong

Playing at the club last night, the opponents bid to 6♣ on this deal:

                ♠ 8 4 2
                ♥ A Q J 8 2
                ♦ Q 7 3
                ♣ K Q
♠ Q J 9 7 5 3               ♠ K
♥ 6 5 4                     ♥ 10 9 7 3
♦ 8 4 2                     ♦ K J 9 6 5
♣ J                          ♣ 9 4 3
                ♠ A 10 6
                ♥ K
                ♦ A 10
                ♣ A 10 8 7 6 5 2

North bid 1♥ and South responded 2♣. North raised to 3♣, and South bid 6♣.

What do you think of North's 3♣ bid? Even though he only had two, the K-Q are better for slam (or game, for that matter) than J-x-x or even Q-x-x.

I led the ♠J (Rusinow leads), and declarer won the ace. She played a club to dummy, cashed a second club, and returned to her hand with the ♦A. She drew the last trump and led the ♥K, overtaking in dummy. She played two more hearts, discarding two losing spades. When the ♥10 9 didn't fall in three rounds, she conceded a trick and claimed six.

What's wrong with this picture?

Even if you don't know how to execute a squeeze, what does it hurt to play some more clubs? If nothing else, the opponents might discard wrong. Just sayin'.

As it happens, East had the heart length and both missing diamond honors. Here's the position with one trump to cash:

                ♠ ---
                ♥ A Q J 8 2
                ♦ ---
                ♣ ---
♠ Q J 9                    ♠ ---
♥ 6 5                      ♥ 10 9 7 3
♦ ---                      ♦ K
♣ ---                       ♣ ---
                ♠ 10 6
                ♥ K
                ♦ 10
                ♣ 2

When declarer cashes her last club, East can't protect diamonds and hearts -- making seven.

Here's the same deal in BBO's Handviewer:

Abraham Lincoln: A road trip

This past weekend, I met one of my brothers and my two sisters to travel to see Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home in Dale IN (Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial) where he lived during his formative years, ages 7 to 21. Then we went to see his birthplace (Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Site) in Kentucky.


The memorial shown above (click here to read about it) has 56 granite steps, one for each year of his life. It was started in 1906 and completed in 1911. It's located about 20 miles south of Louisville KY.


The collage shown above has a replica of the log cabin he was born in, two shots of what the inside might have looked like, and three more photos of the memorial.


There were lots of flowers, and I couldn't resist.


"Whatcha looking at?" If you click to enlarge, you can see a bee feasting on this flower. I went for a lens that would "get me in closer," but he was gone when I got back -- too bad.

The RNG has a sense of humor

First, this disappointing hand (all in before the flop):



Then the haha, lol, lmao hand:



Finally, the cooler: With 18 players left, we were all-in before the flop:

It's in his price range

Richard Freeman, 1933 -- 2009

One of the giants of bridge passed away last week from complications from pancreatitis. His bridge resume is too extensive to list here, but he is a many-time national and world champion. There are several of those, however, but Freeman was different than most of them. He was also a gentleman. I've played against him and watched him play numerous times and I never saw him get upset or mad at the table, and this differentiates him from many of the other world-class players.

Freeman was a child prodigy. He began reading the newspaper at age two. He was a member of the "Quiz Kids." He graduated from high school at age 12, and graduated from college at 15. He went to the University of Chicago, one of the few schools at the time that would take someone so young. He later earned a second bachelor's degree and a law degree.

Freeman has said he considers bridge to be more than just a game. "It broadens your perspective," he said.

Here is another quote:
"In bridge, you have to deduce what's going on from what you can see and from what you can't," says Richard Freeman. "You have to be smart, like in chess, but chess is an open game where there's no deception and no deduction. Bridge is between chess and poker, in that poker has everything hidden."

Much of Freeman's bridge success was in team play, but he was no slouch at matchpoints, either. Here's a deal from the national bridge tournament in Washington DC in 2002:

                ♠ K
                ♥ K 9 3
                ♦ K J 10 9 4
                ♣ A K 5 4
==
                ♠ A Q 6 5
                ♥ 10 8 7 4 2
                ♦ 8 6 3
                ♣ J

Freeman made an agressive move by inviting game and he played 4♥.

West led a low club and Freeman won the ace and cashed the ♠K. He ruffed a club and led a heart towards the king. West won the ♥A and returned the ♠J (not his best play).

Freeman ruffed this in dummy, cashed the ♥K, dropping the queen from West. He cashed the ♣K and ruffed a club. Next he cashed the ♠A Q, East following.

He exited with a heart and East won. East held ♦A Q and had to lead a diamond to give Freeman his 10th trick with the ♦K.

Top was on a board was 51 and making 4♥ was worth all the matchpoints.

You can read more from an interview in the Memphis Business Journal here.

You can read what the ACBL said about him here.

Jonathan Weinstein blogged about him here.

Linda Lee blogged about him and your can read her tribute here.

A void: Don't leave home without one

I played at the club last night and held:
♠K 10 7 5 2 ♥K Q 10 9 5 3 ♦7 6 ♣ ---.

Partner opened 1♦ and right-hand opponent overcalled 1♠. What would you do? In the discussion later, I found that some players bid 2♥. While I don't think that's awful, I prefer a negative double. I'm old and conservative a cautious bidder on possible misfit hands. Just sayin'.

Next, LHO bid 2♣, partner rebid 2♦, and RHO raised to 3♣. Now what?

I bid 3♥. If you bid 2♥ the first time, you're going to have to rebid 3♥ anyway, but by bidding as I have, partner won't play me for the world's fair.

It was passed out in 3♥ and LHO led the ♣K (low cards are approximate):

                ♠ ---
                ♥ A J
                ♦ A Q J 4 3 2
                ♣ 10 9 8 5 2
==
                ♠ K 10 7 5 2
                ♥ K Q 10 9 5 3
                ♦ 7 6
                ♣ ---

I ruffed the opening lead, ruffed a spade in dummy, ruffed a club and ruffed a second spade. I ruffed a third club back to my hand, and then drew trumps. I was out of trumps and these were the cards I was looking at:

                ♠ ---
                ♥ ---
                ♦ A Q J
                ♣ 10 9
==
                ♠ K 10 7
                ♥ ---
                ♦ 7 6
                ♣ ---

I led a diamond to the ♦J and RHO showed out! I exited with a club and RHO played the ♣Q and LHO played the ♣A. Lefty had nothing but diamonds, so he returned one. I took the marked finesse and claimed. Dummy was good -- making six!

Here's the complete deal:

               ♠ ---
               ♥ A J
               ♦ A Q J 4 3 2
               ♣ 10 9 8 5 2
♠ 9 3                        ♠ A Q J 8 6 4
♥ 8 7                        ♥ 6 4 3
♦ K 10 9 8 5                 ♦ ---
♣ A K 6 4                    ♣ Q J 7 3
               ♠ K 10 7 5 2
               ♥ K Q 10 9 5 3
               ♦ 7 6
               ♣ ---

"Making six?" asked my partner. When they say it like that, you wonder if they were thinking it should have been bid. The answer is that it made, but according to Deep Finesse, a different defense would set 4♥. Nevertheless, I agree that a score of plus 230 is a funky-looking number. We did score a 6 on an 8 top; the two scores that beat my plus 230 were a 250 and a 300 (when the opponents bid too much).

North had a void, East had a void and I had a void. West must have surely felt left out!

Here's the deal presented in the BBO Handviewer:



Click next to review the play trick by trick.

Poker pearl #24

How do you win poker tournaments? In fact, besides poker, what about golf or any kind of tournament?

This from an artice at Poker Pages by Dana Smith:

Poker champions (give themselves a chance to win) by making the right decisions at the right times. They play conservatively when they need to, aggressively when they see an opening, and they gamble when they have to.

You can read the entire piece here.

Poker writers can't spell

This cut and paste from Poker Pages' Kaelaine Minton:

Another all in moment had these two guys wishing there was some way they weren’t going to chop. Each man went in with A Q, but they were both suited. The all in had clubs while the caller had spades. As fate would have it, the flop came out all clubs to give the all in the double up. “Oh that’s sick!” said one of the players on the table. The guy with the spades took it well and shipped his chips to his opponent.

Yes, crubs got there, as CK already knew. But, did you notice they misspelled crubs? Sloppy journalism, I must say.

When a finesse is less than 50%

Suppose you are declarer in 6♠ on this deal from the IBPA:

                ♠ 7 4 2
                ♥ A Q 7 6 4 3
                ♦ ---
                ♣ 10 8 7 5
♠ J 10 9 3                   ♠ ---
♥ 9 8 2                      ♥ K J 10
♦ J 5 3 2                    ♦ K Q 10 9 8 4
♣ Q 3                        ♣ J 9 6 4
                ♠ A K Q 8 6 5
                ♥ 5
                ♦ A 7 6
                ♣ A K 2

West leads the ♠J and East show out and discards a diamond. One plan is to finesse the ♥Q, planning to discard a club loser if it wins. That line of play won't work, and you will be defeated.

A finesse is a 50% proposition, right? Not so fast. Once West is known to hold four spades and East one diamond, West had only nine places for the ♥K as compared to East's 12. Also, the plan involving the heart finesse relies on West's having at least two diamonds, reducing the chance of success to 32%.

A better plan is to try and establish a second heart trick by ruffing hearts in the South hand. This will work when the ♥K is tripleton or shorter and West has at least two diamonds.

The play goes like this: Win the spade lead, play a heart to the ace, and ruff a heart. Next ruff a low diamond and ruff another heart. Finally, ruff your other low diamond and discard a club on the good heart. West can ruff in, but South takes the rest.

The overall chance of success for this plan is a little more than 50%.

Kiddie hour online

I've enjoyed the chat that bastin has reported in his blog. Often it's way too funny. Today, I played in $10,000 guaranteed tournament on Ultimate Bet that they call The Dime and bastin's blog gave me the idea to save this.

BOATAFLOA222: dumb idiot u dont no value
Notice the spelling of don't and no. Because it's in a chat box, I'll cut them some slack, but still.

TEXASDAVEO: you dont know value hur hur hur
BOATAFLOA222: nope u dumb ***** pot better
TEXASDAVEO: ull be out soon
BOATAFLOA222: no i wount dude
TEXASDAVEO: u need enlish class
That's the pot calling the kettle black.
TEXASDAVEO: hahahaha

This could get interesting. Definitely worth the $10 I paid to play in this donkey-fest.

BOATAFLOA222: u need poker lessons mr. pots
Is that like the pots calling the kettles black?

TEXASDAVEO: looks like im good
BOATAFLOA222: yeah that wont last long
BOATAFLOA222: mine will

TEXASDAVEO: im rooting for you
BOATAFLOA222: ty
TEXASDAVEO: to lose
TEXASDAVEO: hahahaha
I'm rooting for you to lose -- now that's telling him.

BOATAFLOA222: thats charming
TEXASDAVEO: ur dumb
More pot calling the kettle black.

BOATAFLOA222: ur adopted
BIGBEAR_007: ?
TEXASDAVEO: im a twin
BOATAFLOA222: and
TEXASDAVEO: came outta moms cooze with twin brother
BOATAFLOA222: that still dosent stop u from being adopted
Good point.
BIGBEAR_007: what does being adopted have to do with anything
BIGBEAR_007: what are you 9
Probably more like 8, but who's counting?

TEXASDAVEO: agressive play usually rewaded
That's why I love these cheap tournaments. Everybody's an expert.
TEXASDAVEO: whoops two gs
THECHEK: haha

TEXASDAVEO: i guess the only thing not to fold is AA
This is great advice! Maybe this dope is smarter than I thought!!

TEXASDAVEO: chip n chair
He had 2080 at the time.

TEXASDAVEO: who folded a dime
TEXASDAVEO: i folded str8

TEXASDAVEO: valu valu valu
THECHEK: aww i was really rooting for flying donut
THECHEK: comeback of the century, could have made a movie on it
TEXASDAVEO: valuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

At this point I had the nut flush, so:
MEMPHIS-MOJO: Texas Dave, you have more chips than boatafloa222

Sure enough, he called my all in.

TEXASDAVEO: agagagg

BOATAFLOA222: not many
This was after I doubled up.
RACEBANNON1: value
Heheh, RaceBanon1 jumps in and needles him.

TEXASDAVEO: good play
TEXASDAVEO: gotta squash flush draws

Next hand, BigBear_007 wins, but TxDave has to chime in:
TEXASDAVEO: bear goo play

Next hand, I'm in the BB and get a freebie with 5-7. The flop is 8-5-2, checked around. Turn is another 5 giving me trips. Checked around. River is a 3, I bet 100 and TexasDaveO calls.

TEXASDAVEO: dude u own me
MEMPHIS-MOJO: gettin' lucky

TEXASDAVEO: valu
BOATAFLOA222: u got it card rack
TEXASDAVEO: ull be gone soon
BOATAFLOA222: im afaid not
TEXASDAVEO: ill laugh when ur done son
BOATAFLOA222: ull be gone first
TEXASDAVEO: pretty soon u will be like a drownding rat
TEXASDAVEO: betting playing loose
TEXASDAVEO: trying to catch
TEXASDAVEO: glub glub
BOATAFLOA222: ohhh dont u worry
"glub, glub," = good one.

THECHEK: narrowing the field ...
TEXASDAVEO: easy come easy go
THECHEK: hah
TEXASDAVEO: u were done a sec ago

TEXASDAVEO: great bet
From someone who wouldn't know a great bet if it came up and bit him on the knee.
THECHEK: yea luck change 360 i guess
Um, dude, you may mean 180.
BOATAFLOA222: yeah want up or out
Making his excuses ahead of time.
TEXASDAVEO: this suks

TEXASDAVEO: folding waiting for position
That's what I love -- FREE lessons, wheee.
TEXASDAVEO: all in on dry pot
This advice from an "expert" playing in the $10 game.
BOATAFLOA222: i know thats part of being up or out

At this point I was moved to a new table, dammit. The new table didn't live up to the first one. I guess all the pimply-faced teenagers had been knocked out.

What did you do on Independence Day?

Yesterday, I slept late, then got up and mowed my lawn. Not too exciting, ya? but I had plans for the evening.

I have been going to Digital Photography School since OhCaptain turned me on to them. Recently they had a fireworks tutorial that I read here.

Last night, I went to see the local baseball team (AAA Memphis Redbirds) because they had fireworks after the game. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with my results, so I'll have to try again next year -- it's all part of the learning curve. Here are a few of the less dreadful ones.

This firework looks like a palm tree:


This is okay, but you need to click to enlarge to enjoy it:

One of the tips in the tutorial was to include people. I tried that in the next two:




One last shot:



I hope you had a fun Fourth of July.

[For those interested in the technical side: I shot in manual mode, and I turned off the auto-focus and the image stabilization. I used a tripod with a shutter release, and I took off my lens filter. I kept the ISO at 100 and used a range of F8 to F16. I used bulb setting, meaning I could hold the shutter open for as long as I liked. (I used different times from one to five to 15 seconds. In general, five seconds worked best.)]