Music by the numbers

"Music is what life sounds like." - Eric Olson

Memphis is blessed to have the 33-acre Tom Lee Park that is located between downtown and the Mississippi River. This urban refuge comes alive each year during the month of May. The first weekend is the Beale Street Music Festival - three days of music. There's a wide variety: of course there's rock and roll, but also blues, gospel, R&B alternative, soul. There are new acts and oldies.

Let's do some numbers:
3 -- Three days of music and fun
4 -- Four stages -- if you don't like what you hear at one stage, try another
60 -- More than 60 acts
1 -- One big party

Here are some entertainers I want to hear: Goo Goo Dolls, Colbie Caillat, Widespread Panic, Rock Sugar, Alice in Chains, 3 Doors Down.

There will also be oldies that sound intersting: Michael McDonald, Leon Russell, Hall and Oates, B52s, Earth Wind and Fire.

I'll be there with my camera - let the party begin.

===============================================
"Rock music in its lyrics often talks ahead of the time about what's going on in the country." - Edmund G. Brown
===============================================
Image swiped from the Memphis in May web site.

Poker pearl #45

In the May issue of Poker Pro magazine, Nick Brancato was asked about the differences between cash games and tournaments.

The single biggest difference ... is stack size relative to the blinds. In tournaments, it's typical for the average stack to be 20 or 30 big blinds whereas in a cash game, the average stack size is often 100 big blinds or more. Shorter stacks lead to the chips going in preflop or on the flop rather than on all streets with room to still bet and raise on the river.

Also, you never have to be short-stacked in a cash game because you can reload at any time. Therefore, short stack strategies are not necessary. Yet, they are a critical skill for a winning tournament player. You have to familiar with push-or-fold hand ranges.

Bridge has bad beats, too

Poker players are notorious for complaining about bad beats. A bad beat is when a hand that is a heavy favorite loses when another player hits a miracle card. Nobody wants to hear about another player's bad beat hands, but that doesn't stop players from whining about them.

Guess what? Bad beats happen in bridge, too.

Last week, Kate and I were playing online bridge at OKbridge and bid to 6♣ on this deal (rotated):

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

If clubs split 2-1, the contract is cold, (unless there's a weird ruff on opening lead, and then you still might make). Clubs will divide 3-0 22% of the time, but you can handle three in the West hand. East will have all three clubs 11% of the time. If he does, however, you still make when the spade finesse works (slightly more than 50% because you can cash one high honor and pick up a singleton queen).

If I'm doing the math right, 6♣ is about a 94.5% contract.

Here are all four hands:

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

We lost 7.29 IMPs for minus 100 instead of picking up a big swing if the slam had made.

One pair made 6♣. I checked the hand record. When declarer led a spade to the 10, East ducked (I can only imagine it was a misclick.)

You can see all the results here.

A new world

I went to the Horseshoe Saturday to play in their tournament. I busted out after two hours, so went to the podium to sign up for Omaha-8. There were four players in front of me, so I knew it would be a while.

"Do you have any seats in $1/3 no limit or $4/8 limit?" I asked. The answer was no, but we have immediate seating in seven-card stud. I said okay, and that's when I entered a brand new world. (Cue the theme music to the Twilight Zone.)

I'm no spring chicken, but I was at least 10 years younger than any of the other players. They say as people get older, they get more conservative, and that's certainly true in seven-card stud.

A typical deal played like this. The low card would "bring in" for $1 and four of five players would call. Raise? Are you kidding? I would say that only about 10% of the hands were played for a raise. Once I raised and they looked at me funny. Then everybody folded! "You have a good hand? We'll show you," they seemed to be saying.

One hand I bet $3 on the river. An old-timer thought and thought and folded. I showed my full house and thought to myself: I wonder if he would have called a $2 bet.

A typical pot was $15 or $20, and $30 was a big one. I think many of them were there for the beat jackpot. I asked about it (always a good idea in a new game or setting). It took four 10s or better getting beat to win it, but they had a mini-bad beat where any four of a kind getting beat would get 10% of the regular jackpot.

There was the usual mix. Some players had a clue, some weren't very good, and one or two were truly awful. A poor old guy two seats from me had only $5 left in chips. I heard him say to no one in particular: "I told myself I wouldn't do this," as he reached for his wallet and pulled out another $20 bill. Obviously, he was just there for fun and had a budget. I was secretly rooting for him, but, sadly, he lost that, too, and left the game.

How did I do? I had bought in for $100. When they called me for the Omaha-haha game, I had $96 in chips. See? I can play with the old farts.

Below: The Horseshoe has this old-time limo in front as a curiosity.


Below is the obligatory bar band.


Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Frustrated with poker? Try razz

You think poker drives you up the wall? Try razz where the worst hand wins the money! Actually, there's a lot of skill to it.

I played in Gadzook's Poker Slut tournament tonight -- I have to say it was fun. I tried to keep it straight that the worst hand was the best one. I have a full house, can I go all in? N0? Okay, um, well, whatever. I noticed the more aggressive players were the ones with the chips, just like other poker games.

For fourth place, I got my money back -- sweet.

The tournament is each Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. There is a different game each week which I think makes it fun. Buy-in is an inexpensive $5.50 and the password is imapokerslut. Give it a try.

Rethinking small buy-in live tournaments

I played in the tournament at the Gold Strike last night. It was a $60 entry for 8,000 chips and an extra $10 (for 2000 more chips) that went to the dealers. The dealers are mostly very good at the Strike, they treat me well, and I'm always happy to see them taken care of.

I chipped up mostly by just sitting in my chair and waiting. A short stack pushed and I had A-K to his ace rag. There were a bunch of limpers and I shoved from the big blind with ♥5 ♦5. I figured nobody would call if all they could do is limp. Wrong. A guy called with A-9 (don't remember the suits), and my hand held up. Presto is gold, once again.

There were 47 runners, so when we got to the final table, 47,000 would be an "average" stack. I worked mine up to around 43,000 and then went card dead. Fold, fold, fold and, guess what, more fold. I kept looking for a spot to try and pick up blinds and antes, but someone always raised in front of me.

At the final table, I was short stacked. and only five would get paid (First = $900, second = $500, then $300, $200, $100). Finally, I picked up ♥A ♥5 and shoved and was called by J-J. The flop was 9-7-2 with one heart. The turn was the ♥Q. "Come on dealer, one more heart," I pleaded, but it was a blank and I was out in ninth place.

Did you notice the prize money? The Friday tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of $2000. But of the entry fee of $60, $40 goes to the prize pool and $20 to the house. Of course they aren't going to run the tournaments for free, but 33% seems high (and don't forget the $10 for the dealers on top of that). We came out okay on this tournament because of the guarantee, but I may have to re-think playing in these smaller entry tournaments -- bad odds, actually.

Tonight's another tournament and it's the same $60 buy-in. I might skip it or check out the tournament at the Horseshoe. Heck, maybe I go wild and play the Omaha-8 game instead -- now that's some fun stuff, even when you lose.

Below: The Gold Strike was having drawings to give away five Chevy Cameros. I didn't hear them call out MOJO, you're a good guy, so come get your fancy car. Schmucks.



Below: There are shuttles that run between casinos. There used to be one that went to all nine of them, but I've heard that it was discontinued. I saw the one below as I was walking in. It goes between Harrah's and the Horseshoe (both owned by the same parent company: Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.).


All images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Poker pearl #44

In a recent issue of All In magazine, they asked the question who are or were the most influential people in poker. You might immediately think of Chris Moneymaker or Mike Sexton. Who else?

Columnist Cory Zeidman says it's Henry Orenstein, the man who conceived the idea of putting small television cameras inside a poker table. Orenstein, 86 years old, is a Holocaust survivor who is an amazingly accomplished inventor. Zeidman asked him where he got his idea:

"He told me he ws watching an ESPN broadcast of a poker tournament back in the 1990s, and after about five hands of action, he found it very boring and shut off the TV. Then he sat back and started to think about what could make the broadcast more interesting. It dawned on him that if you saw each player's hold cards, that would make all the difference, and the rest is history. It might seem obvious now, but, at the time, it was a revolutionary thought."

As a player, Orenstein won a bracelet in stud in 1996 and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2008.

Digging up an old bridge deal

We've started a new column about online bridge in the Bridge Bulletin. For June, I'm writing about the Goldway Pairs. Beginning back in the Nineties, OKbridge had a monthly match that pitted Bobby Goldman and Paul Soloway against various challengers. Goldway is obviously a combination of their two surnames.

The list of people they played against is a who's who of bridge: Seamon and Passell, Helgemo and Forrester, Greco and Hampson, Smith and Oshlag. Huh? Smith and Oshlag? Yeah, while doing my research, I saw that Richard and I took them on in August, 1998.

The match was close. It was scored by IMPs, and Goldway led 25-22 after 16 deals and with one to play.

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

       West    North   East    South
       Goldman Oshlag  Soloway Smith
               Pass    1♥      3♠
       4♥     4♠      All Pass

4♠ was a good sacrifice as East-West are cold for 4♥. I couldn't know this, but if I went down one, we would win 2.10 IMPs and lose a squeaker.

Goldman led the ♥A and switched to the ♦5. Soloway won the ace and was at the crossroads. If he returned a diamond, I had no chance. A diamond return, however, would set up a club discard so Soloway switched to the ♣K, giving me a chance. (Picture my hand with seven spades, one less club and the ♦Q instead of the ♦K.)

I won, drew two rounds of trumps and led the ♣10. Soloway took that and continued with the ♦7. I won, led a trump to the queen, ruffed the ♥Q and ran my trumps.

When I led my last trump, Goldman was squeezed in this position:

                ♠ ---
                ♥ ---
                ♦ J
                ♣ J 5
♠ ---                         ♠ ---
♥ ---                         ♥ J 10
♦ Q                           ♦ 7
♣ 9 6                          ♣ ---
                ♠ 9
                ♥ ---
                ♦ 8
                ♣ 8

Making 4♥ was a 10.69-IMP pickup making the final score 32-25 in favor of our side.

You can see the results if you go here.

Poker pearl #43

The May issue of Bluff magazine (see scan above) reported this from a WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's Rincon, just outside of San Diego. There were 599 runners who paid $230 to play in the opening event.

Apparently the 55th place finisher took a bad beat and got pissed off. How do we know? On the official results, the 55th place finisher is listed as "Got mad and ran out." No name. Evidently he didn't want to stick around to collect his $476.

Fun and games at the Strike

I played at the Gold Strike Casino last night. There was a $110-buyin tournament with 10,000 in chips and a grillion runners. When the blinds were 200/400, I held ♣A ♣K. There was one limper to me and I and raised to 1600. The limper called. The flop was ♦8 ♥6 ♠2. The limper checked and I made a 2000 CB and the limper moved all in! I had to fold and had just lost one-third of my stack with a good hand.

When the blinds were 800/400/25, I was in the big blind with ♠K ♠7. UTG made a min-raise to 1600 and the small blind called. I'm getting 5:1 on my money (actually a little more with the antes), so calling was trivial. The flop was ♥J ♦7 ♣3. The SB and I checked and the UTG better also checked! So far, he looked like a complete fish. Fourth street brought the ♠J and the SB checked. I moved all in. My two pair might be good, and if not, the threat of three jacks might be too much.

UTG thought and thought and finally called. The SB folded and UTG turned over ♠8 ♣8. He said afterward (correctly, I might add), that he didn't believe I would bet so much with three jacks. Against a typical tourist, the all-in usually works here, but this guy figured out what to do. The river was a brick, and I was busto.

Here is the worst play I've seen in a tournament in quite some time. When the blinds were 100/200, the board showed ♣A ♥Q ♥J ♣10 ♦2. I don't remember the betting up to then, but on the river, there were two players. A lady bet 300 and the man raised her to 1000. She called. I'm trying to figure out which player had the king for Broadway straight. Not the lady, she would re-raise with the nuts (or would she, you never know), so the old man must have it. The old man showed ♠J ♦10 for two pair, and the lady turned over ♣Q ♦J for a higher two pair. I couldn't make this stuff up, folks.

After I busted out of the tournament, I played in the $1/2 NL hold 'em game. It was a dream. I doubled up during the first hour and chipped up a little from there to book a modest profit (after deducting the $110 for the dumb tournament).

There was plenty of entertainment. Players are willing to play giant pots with nowhere near the nutz. Four times I saw players all in when both of them had a flush. When the board has ♠K ♠10 ♠2 on the flop, and you have ♠7 ♠5, why go all in? If you want to protect your hand, there are bet sizes to do that other than all your chips. The other player, by the way, had ♠A ♠Q for the stone cold nuts.

What would you do here? You have ♣Q ♣7 and the board has three clubs to the ace. In other words, you have the second nuts. The river is a fourth club and the villain bets $60 into a $40 pot. Does this overbet smell fishy? The guy called, but the better turned over ♣K ♣9 for the nuts.

One more deal from the cash game. You hold ♣2 ♠2 in the big blind and get to see a flop in an unraised pot. The flop is ♥A ♦3 ♠5. Everyone checks. The turn is the ♠10, and everyone checks again. The river is the ♥4 giving you the wheel. You bet $11 and a lady raises to $22. Everyone else folds -- what do you do?

She might have limped in from early position with 7-6 suited, so you just call, and she proudly shows: ♥2 ♦2 for the same straight you have. "I like how you play," I told her, ha ha.

Poker pearl #42

Poker magazine is new to me. I picked up a copy at one of the local casinos. There are lots of player profiles and lots of pimping for the World Poker Tour.

Above is the scan of the May issue in which they did a quickie interview of Todd Brunson. He was asked about the cash games that take place during the LA Poker Classic:

"A pro can make his nut for the entire year during the LAPC. It can't be missed."

Q: What are your cash game goals?
A: What the ---- do you think? To win money.

Q: What are you doing to prepare for these cash games?
A: Sleep and shower, but not necessarily in that order.

Q: What are your rules for picking out a "good" game?
A: The more Asians the better.

The Hog and Papa make a bet

The Hideous Hog and Papa the Greek were long-time rivals at the Safari Club. Insults had become quite strong recently, even for these bitter rivals. Today, they had a side bet for the club championship game. The loser would buy the wine at the party afterward.

With one round to go, Papa had a good game going -- he estimated that it was at least 65%. He looked and saw that he would have the Rueful Rabbit and Molly the Mule as opponents for the finale. How sweet is that, he thought.

On the first deal, Papa found an endplay to make an overtrick in 3NT for an average-plus board. Then this hand:
♠A 8 5 4 2 ♥7 2 ♦A J 10 9 5 ♣Q.

Papa opened 1♠, and heard his partner bid 2♥. Now what?

Papa was nothing if not devious. Why bid 3♦? I'll hold that suit in reserve he said to himself.

He rebid 2♠ and was surprised to hear his partner bid 4NT. Papa showed his two key cards and was declarer after North bid 6♠.

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

West, the Rueful Rabbit, led the ♦K, and Papa considered his contract. It's a good thing I didn't bid my diamonds, he thought. With a different lead, I would have some work to do. After my clever bid, however, the Rabbit made a favorable lead and this will be a piece of cake.

Papa played the ♠K Q. The Rueful Rabbit showed out on the second round and discarded a club. Papa drew the last trump with the ace, then advanced the ♣Q. The Rabbit won and exited with a heart. Papa won and played another round of hearts -- Molly the Mule showed out, so hearts could not be established.

Papa ruffed a heart and advanced the ♦J. When the Rabbit followed low, he discarded. Molly started to play a card, looked again, then produced the ♦Q to set the contract.

These were the four hands:

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

At the post-game festivities, nobody was sure if the Rabbit had made a good play or pulled the wrong card. In any event, the Hog was in a good mood: He had won his bet, and wasn't paying for the wine. He had selected a 1999 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. The bouquet was wonderful and it had a pleasing aftertaste.

"The only thing better than good wine, is good wine paid for by Papa the Greek," announced the Hog. "Actually, making it better is that I won when Papa was tricked by the Rueful Rabbit. Now that is an amazing combination.

"Waiter! Another bottle, and put on my friend Papa's tab."

Why not?

Go here for details.

Props to Al can't hang for putting this together.

Move continues - so far, so good

The move of ACBL Headquarters from Memphis TN to Horn Lake MS continues. They don't call this a moving van -- it's called a relocation van. The worker on the right looks like he is pushing up, but he's actually trying to keep the load from coming down too fast.


From the road, you can see this attractive sign (above) and our new building in the background.


Before, most of us had offices. Now, most of us have cubicles. Above is mine.


The image you see is in one of the conference rooms. On the upper left is Edgar Kaplan. The lower-right is Oswalt Jacoby. Can you recognize some of the others? Canadians should have no trouble with the upper-righthand image.

The middle-bottom image has Alvin Landy on the left and someone very famous on the right. Do you recognize him? Here's a clue: He was the 33rd president of the United States (and yes, he was a bridge player).

On the move

If you are a bridge player, you probably know that the ACBL is moving its headquarters from near the airport in Memphis to Horn Lake MS this weekend. The moving van showed up today, and the first trip was computers.


The movers put the computers and accessories into these wooden crates-with-wheels thing and then used bubble wrap to secure them. Without computers, our work came to a standstill -- we don't realize how dependent we are on them until they are unavailable.



Above is a shot of the moving van at our new location. Notice the flags for the four countries we serve: U.S., Canada, Mexico and Bermuda.

I'll have some more photos tomorrow.

Images by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

Very Josie, very fun

Sixteen bloggers showed up to play in the Very Josie Tournament. My goal was modest: last longer than one hand (like I didn't do last time), lol. Very Josie nominated me as her "horse" -- the player she thought would win. Last time she named lightning36 as her horse and he won. Talk about pressure on Mr. MOJO, yikes.

There was a ton of chat, but I didn't participate much in that -- focus, focus.

At the end, we did a four-way chop. I had the most chips, so got the most money, woot, and Josie was right again.

The tournament is switching to once per month, and will be held on the first Wednesday.

================================================
On a more serious note: Blogger lightning36 has found out that his 15-year old son likely has cancer. You can read about it here. I'm sure he'd appreciate good karma, prayer, positive energy or whatever you believe in to be sent his way.
================================================

Just received this e-mail

2010 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino

Congratulations DAVID SMITH! This is to confirm receipt of your funds in connection with pre-registration for the 2010 World Series of Poker® for Event #34. You must complete the registration process at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in order for you to receive your table and seat assignment. Please visit the WSOP Will Call window, located in the WSOP Tournament Area, at least one hour prior to the start date of your event to complete registration for the event(s) or to receive a return of your monies should you decide not to register. Please be prepared to provide proof of identity (via a Drivers License, Passport or Military I.D) and to sign a Player Release Form. For all non U.S. residents, a current passport, consular identification or alien registration card is required.

The World Series of Poker is the most prestigious poker event in the World and this year’s WSOP will no doubt be the largest and the most exciting gaming event in history. Harrah’s continues to lead the industry in creating an innovative gaming experience for valued guests. Harrah’s and the Tournament Staff sincerely wish you “GOOD LUCK” and we look forward to seeing you at the Final Table!

If you have any other questions regarding Pre-registration or any of our WSOP events please contact our office at 702.777.6777 or email hnolan@harrahs.com.


Sincerely,
2010 WSOP Team

A dream comes true

The Gold Strike Casino (see image above) has a freeroll on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. There's only $500 involved and it's divided between the top three players. There were 67 who signed up, so bad odds, but I decided to play anyway.

The starting chip stacks were $3000 and blind levels were 15 minutes. It quickly became a shove-fest, but, hey, the price was right.

During the second level, the blinds were 50/100 and I had chipped up to 3800. I raised to 450 and the villain was looking at: ♠Q ♠J, and called. It's a loose call, but you have to get chips quickly or you'll be left behind, so I don't think it's terrible given the uber-turbo nature of this particular game.

The flop was: ♦J ♣10 ♠10. I checked and the villain bet 700. I check-raised to 1500 and he called. The turn was the ♥4. I bet 800 and the villain moved all in!

That was all right by me. My hand: ♥10 ♦10.

It's not very often you flop quads and the other guy puts you all in -- a dream come true and all that.

I'd like to say that propelled me to the win, but actually I busted out around level 6. Afterwards, my thought was: "I'm not going to play in this dumb tournament again," but maybe I will. It's a good chance to try different strategies and approaches.

Image taken with my P&S at 7:55 p.m. last night (notice the sky is still quite blue for so late in the evening).

Giddy up H.O.R.S.E.

I played in the Poker Works Family tournament tonight. I enjoy reading the Table Tango blog by Linda Geenen. She pimped tonight's HORSE tourney, so I decided to give it a try. Razz, what's that? No matter, I faked the games I didn't know and got good cards down the stretch.

Blogger Ken Prevo was there, and probably some other bloggers, but I'm not sure who everybody was.

The image above is the final deal. Yep, MOJO got lucky. Fun tournament.

poker pearl #41

In the latest issue of Card Player magazine (see scan above), Darvin Moon, the runner-up in the WSOP Main Event last November, was interviewed.

He was asked (now that he has watched the final table on TV) did he have any regrets about his play.

"No, I never regretted anything. Everything right down to heads up, I wanted to do. I wanted to double up one of the short stacks early to make them all think I was playing loose.

"Unfortunately, I doubled up Saout, and he was the most solid player at that table the whole day."

Um, let's get this straight: He says he planned to double up another player!

I call BS on that one. What do you think?

Play or defend?

At a club game, each North-South pair played 4♠. Would you rather play or defend on this deal:

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

At one table, West led the ♥J. Declarer won and led a trump. West played two rounds and exited with another heart. Declarer won the ♥A and ruffed a heart. He then led to the ♦Q and led another from dummy and ducked. If West had a doubleton ace, South would have two discards for clubs. As it was, he had to lose two spades, one diamond and one club -- no good.

At the second table, South won the heart lead in hand and played another to dummy's ace. A third round was ruffed. Declarer now led a trump. West cashed both the ♠A K, then exited with a low diamond (the 9 works, too). Again declarer had to lose four tricks.

At the third table, South improved on the line of play taken at table two. He won the heart lead, led another and ruffed a third round. Next, he led a diamond to the ♦Q, and only then led a trump. West took his two high spades, but was endplayed.

So, declarer can always make it, right? The answer is no. West has to lead the ♠A and the ♠K at tricks one and two. Then he can exit with a heart and the contract can no longer be made.

Ouch

Sixteen degenerates bloggers (mostly) showed up to play in the Very Josie Poker Tournament on Full Tilt tonight. I recognized several of them. lightning36 always loves to take blogger money. All-around good guy DBCooper was there. Yes, he had a side bet with the irrepressible Very Josie.

Other notables included: NewinNov, cemfredmd, Crash and well-known blogger Rakewell, (The Poker Grump). Rakewell and lightning36 were the pre-game betting favorites. I made it 50-50 that one of the two would win -- strong odds.

MiamiDon (who I believe blogs here,) the Pokermeister and Gary Jacobs also played. They are strong players.

All in all, a nice group, or so I thought!

The very first hand, NewinNov moved all in for 3000. Huh? What the . . .? I looked down to see: ♥K ♣K, and called. You can click on the image above to see how that one came out. One hand and it's over? I may have to try this one again. Surely I can last longer than one hand, can't I? LOL.

And lightning took it down. Very Josie picked him as her "horse," as she called him, when he was a short-stack.

I think there was a deal, so the money isn't exactly as shown. DBCoop was the bubble boy (fourth).

Gauntlet has been cast

How do you respond when you manhood or womanhood has been challenged? Do you shrivel up and slink away, or do you put on your game-face and go for it? (No, this is not about how many cliches I can include in one blog piece, lol.)

Very Josie is a new blogger and she has quite a lively web site. VJ has set up a tournament on Wednesday on Full Tilt. She challenged poker blogger DBCooper and the stakes are high: Whoever goes out first has to write a post titled "How (Very Josie) (DBCooper) kicked my ass."

You know with stakes like that, the gloves will come off (See? Another cliche). Then, this Very Noobie, er, um, I mean Very Josie had the nerve to challenge me as well. The crusher was when she said I could play, but I was a nitty old geezer man and I had to take my nap first! Then she asked "Come on, you're not chicken, are you?" Shameful beyond words.

Well, the challenge is on. You can expect to see me there, nap or no nap. I know there's the Mookie, but that's old stuff. This is new stuff.

Site: Full Tilt Poker
Time: 9 p.m. Eastern Time
Name: Very Josie Poker
Password: pokerbaby
Entry Fee: $10 + 1 ($8 to prize pool, $2 for bounty)
Game: No Limit Texas Holdem
Tournament #: 151614945

This is a deep stack tournament with 3000 chips. To find it, go to Full Tilt Poker, click on classic view, click on tournaments, click on the private tab and then look for the time (I think they have it as 2100 or some retarded thing) or the tournament number (above).

You can read more about it here.

All I can say is this:

Winning money at poker: sweet.
Winning bloggers' money: extra sweet.
Winning Very Josie's money: priceless.

Let the game begin.

The Butler did it (almost)

Most big-time games are slightly disappointing. Super Bowls are often that way. The hype is so great that the event just can't live up to expectations.

That wasn't true last night, was it?

What a marvelous game -- like the cliche of two heavy-weights slugging it out, where each one refuses to lose.

In your face.
No, in your face.
NO, in your face.

The score the first half was 33-32. The score for the second half was 28-27. It doesn't get much better than that.

The pundits didn't give Butler much of a chance. Most said things like they hoped for a close game. ESPN analyst and radio talk-show host Doug Gottlieb said before the game that he'd be "stunned if Duke didn't win." I wonder what he'd say now if they played a second time?

If Butler had won, the headline writers would have had a field day: David and Goliath, Cinderella, Hoosiers and so forth. Butler lost the game, but not really. When two teams play as they did Monday night, there isn't really a loser -- I'm just sayin'.

Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils, Coach K and the ACC. Hats off to Butler, Coach Brad Stevens and the Horizon League.


=================================
Did you know?

* In the 2008-2009 NBA season, Duke had more players on NBA rosters than any other school.

* Kurt Vonnegut attended Butler and has an honorary degree.

Images from USA Today web site.

Poker pearl # 41

Matt Matros talks about betting your hand for value on the river in the issue of Card Player magazine shown above:

It's very tempting in the heat of the battle, to say "The pot's big enough, I check." (In fact, I literally hear amateurs saying this all the time.) But missing out on value-bets is a massive leak, and it's often the last leak that otherwise solid players have to fix before they rise (to the next level).

Rueful Rabbit does it again

The excitement was high among the animals at the Safari Club. A series of tournaments had been set up, one per month for a year. This was the last one and there were several animals who had a chance to win top prize. At stake was a nice trophy, a cash prize, and, most importantly, bragging rights for the next year.

Timothy Toucan was one of those with a shot to win. With one round to go, he sat down as South to play against the Rueful Rabbit, West. The first deal was uneventful, then this:

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

The auction was straightforward: Timothy Toucan opened 1♠, North raised to 2♠ and Timothy rebid 4♠.

The Rueful Rabbit led the ♥A. His nose twitched as he pondered his next move. He continued with the ♥K, then shifted to the ♦4, won in dummy.

Tmothy led a spade and considered his play. If East had the ♠Q J x or ♠Q J x x, the Toucon could make an extra trick by finessing. If the finesse lost, he could win the return and cash the ♠A. If the Rabbit showed out, he would return to dummy and pick up East's trumps.

After some thought, he played the ♠10 and the Rueful Rabbit followed with the ♠3! Yes, good technique had been rewarded!

The Toucan led a diamond to the queen and led another spade. East played low again, so the Toucan put in the ♠9. The Rueful Rabbit won the ♠Q and led a third round of diamonds and East overruffed dummy with the jack -- down one!

Here are all four hands:

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

"How can you duck?" asked Timothy in a loud voice.

The Toucan had taken so long before playing the ♠10, that the Rueful Rabbit had lost his concentration. He hated to admit he had pulled the wrong card. Because of his embarassment, he didn't point out that declarer could have crossed to dummy in the club suit instead.

At most tables, declarer played two high trumps and claimed, losing two hearts and a spade.

At the bar afterward, the Hideous Hog held court. He was enjoying a bottle of imported Chilean wine: Crucero Carmenere 1996.

"Zen teaches that we all have fears that hold us back," said the Hog. "The Rabbit has learned to overcome these fears. Or perhaps the big Zenmaster in the sky looks out for him.

"This wine is excellent -- it has a hint of black currants and is very balanced. Waiter! Another bottle."

A pretty scorecard

Playing with the robots recently, I had all plus scores. (Click to enlarge if you can't see them.) I'm not sure I have had that before.

Here's a problem I faced. I held:
♠Q 8 7 ♥A Q 9 6 ♦A 10 3 ♣Q 8 2.

I opened 1♣, the North Robot bid 1♥ and I raised to 2♥. North raised to 3♥ which is a game try in robot-land. Over to you.

If you're a slave to high-card points, you have an easy 4♥ bid. I didn't like my 3=4=3=3 pattern, so decided to look at my losing trick count. The way I count losers (there are many flavors), I have seven. But I also adjust for aces and queens. In this case I have three queens and only two aces, so I add an extra half loser. That means I have 7.5 losers. A normal opening bid is 7 losers.

What's it all mean? It means I passed. Here are all four hands:



Looking at the North-South hands only, you could have three club losers. You also have a spade problem. Now if you look at all four hands, the ♣10 is finessable and they can't attack spades. In fact, Deep Finesse says it always makes. Yeah, that's board #11 on the scorecard, the one where I earned 10.4%.

To see all the scores on board #11, go here.

P.S. I played at the club last night and there was a Rueful Rabbit hand. I'll try and write about it this weekend.

Starbucks gets "bigger"

Think Starbucks is big? Well, it just got bigger -- bigger in size of its largest coffee, that is. They are now offering the Plenta, a 128-ounce cup!

You can read about it here or here. Um, don't forget what today's date is.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream got into the act, too. See here.

Image taken from Starbucks' blog.

Go west old man, go west

"Go west, young man," is often credited to Horace Greeley, but John B. L. Soule is thought to have originally written it (see here or here). Soule's actual quote was: "Go west, young man, and grow with the country."

Well, I'm taking that advice and going west myself -- to try the WSOP again. I'm entering event #34 that will be played on June 18 (and hopefully on June 19). The complete WSOP schedule is here.

I played last year and didn't do anything, but I'm giving it another shot. It was fun to be part of it and meet blogger friends such as BWoP and lightning36.

I already have my airline tickets and a room for four days and three nights. All I have left to do is to get my MOJO workin'.

Image is a scan of a partially-filled-out thing they call Pre-Registration Information and Payment Form.