I played in a poker tournament today -- live! I was shocked when I recorded my results later to see that the last time I played at a casino was New Year's Day. When I walked in, I felt some excitement. When you play all the time, it gets to be ho-hum. I was glad to feel motivated.

The tournament was the usual Horseshoe Casino $110 buy-in. Only 33 runners showed up. For the first four levels I sat next to an old guy who played just about every hand. If he limped and was raised, he would call. Once he showed ♥9 ♥3 --sooted! At level 3, there were three limpers to him and he said: "I'm gonna raise." The blinds were 100/200 and he raised to 1350. My radar went up. Before now, he had occasionally raised, but never said anything. Now he says "I'm gonna raise"? One guy called, the flop was low cards, the old guy made a big bet and the other guy folded. I said to myself: Aces.

When the blinds were 100/200, I raised to 650 from the button with♥ K ♥Q. The big blind called. The flop was ♦K ♣Q-♥9, rainbow. I bet 1350 and the villain called. The turn was the ♠A and he went all in! What would you do? Did he have J-10 and bet this way? Why didn't he try for the check raise? Did he have A-K or A-Q? Was he full of it? Anyway, I still had 30 big blinds, so finally folded. He didn't show, so I never found out what he had.

I was moved to another table and sat next to a yapper. Every hand -- gimme a break. If I had stayed I would have two pair. I can't call with 8-5 offsuit. Earlier I lost with trip aces. On another hand I won with 8 high. One and on he went. He would say something inane, then laugh, although there was nothing funny. I guess the nervous chatter was his way of relaxing. I tried to ignore him, but he wouldn't stop.

When the blinds were 500/1000/100, I raised in early position to 2500 with ♦K ♦Q. The same old guy again said, "I'm gonna raise," only the second time he'd said anything. He made the reviled min raise, also called a donk raise, to 5000. Now it would cost me 2500 and the pot was already 10,000. Mathematically, it was an easy call, but my read told me to fold, and I did. The old man showed ♠K ♣K. It's worth it to pay attention at the table.

My bustout hand was sad. I had ♦7 ♠7 and limped. The big blind min-raised and I called. the flop was ♣K ♣7 ♣5, all clubs. The villain made a bet that would pot commit me, so I moved in. He turned over ♥K ♦K for set over set. The turn was another club. If a fifth club came on the river, I could chop! Instead the ♠6 fell and I was out.

Fancy Nancy, Captain Underpants and Talking Toilets?

Above: Two versions of Fancy Nancy. The one on the left is by fifth grader Valencia Davis. The one on the right is by third grader Laila Lewis. Which one do you like better? If you're not sure, click to enlarge. If you're not sure what the heck a Fancy Nancy is, keep reading.

The Memphis Downtowner, a great magazine, sponsors an art contest each year for students at the Downtown Elementary School, a Memphis inner city school for grades 1 through 6. This year the students had to draw a scene from their favorite story. I heard about it from Terre Gorham, Editor of the Downtowner, and the Bridge Bulletin proofreader.

The work was shown at the Art Village Gallery and the exhibit was called Me! and My Story. You can read more about it here. Maybe by now you've figured out that the words in my title are kids' stories. Captain Underpants?

It's important to the youngsters that their work is shown at a "real" art gallery. When they go to see it, not only do the students go, oh no -- the whole family is expected to attend.

I talked to a lady, Jodie Vance, who is the publisher of the Memphis Downtowner. She saw me taking photos and scribbling notes and asked me what publication was I with. I was too embarrassed to tell her I only had a web site, so I just said erm, uh, I was there to enjoy the exhibit. Actually, I guess I was telling the truth -- it was pretty cool.


Above: Spider Man (lower left) was drawn by Jarques Maxwell. The exhibit will be available through March 12.


Above: Football All-Stars was created by Ajeel Sohal, a fourth grade student at Downtown Elementary School (Memphis).


Above: The Diana Ross Story by Aminah Karim who is in the fifth grade.


Above: Third grader Victoria Barnes is proud of her art work seen behind her. I'm sure the experience is good for the young artist's self-esteem. Who knows? Maybe some day this young lady will be a NASA pilot or, perhaps, my physician.

Photos by MOJO and taken with my Point & Shoot.

Conning a con man

Playing in the first session of the Flight Open at the Cromwell Regional, I picked up:
♠Q 7 6 5 ♥K J 9 3 ♦9 ♣K J 8 4.

My right-hand opponent, Lloyd Arvedon, opened 1♦, LHO bid 1♠ and Arvedon rebid 1NT, ending the auction.

What would you lead? Often, declarer has a heart suit on this auction, but no other lead was appealing, so I led the ♥3.

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

Arvedon played the ♥10, partner the 6 and he followed with the 4. He next played the ♣2 to the 8, 10 and my jack. Now what?

It looks like declarer has values in hearts and clubs and he bid diamonds, so I tried a low spade. This went: 3, 9 and jack. South continued with the ♥7 towards dummy. I won the king and it was time to think.

If South had the ♠J, the ♥A, the ♦K and ♣A-Q, that would be 14 high-card points and I would need to lead another spade to partner's A-10 to get a club through. That would let us win two spades, one heart, one diamond and two clubs to hold declarer to plus 90.

I can't tell you why, but the play of the club to the 10 at trick two just didn't feel right. I shifted to a club and this was the layout:



I've made that club play myself. When I was in the Army, we had an expression: You can't BS the BSer.

It seems each time I go to Connecticut it snows, and this time was no exception. I wonder if I go there in August will it snow? The snow came after we played bridge, but it wouldn't stop addicts players from going to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where the New England KO Regional was played.

We couldn't get a Swiss Team, so just played Saturday in the Flight A Open Pairs. In the afternoon we were terrible, yet managed to score above average. In the evening we played better, so, of course, we scored below average. Don't try to understand how bridge works.

Sunday, Kate and I went to two movies. The King's Speech was great, just as touted. Sometimes a movie is over-hyped and can't live up to the hoopla, but we enjoyed it. Twice in the movie someone referred to bridge. "(So and so) isn't here. She went to play bridge." Stuff like that. If you go, listen for it.

We were still pissed nobody would play bridge with us had plenty of free time, so decided also to see Unknown -- this turned out to be a good choice. I expected something predictable, but I was wrong. Lots of action and twists and turns. If it were a book, you'd say it was a "page-turner."

Here's a deal from the Open (I was West, Kate was East). Our opponent bid 4NT, heard a 5♦ response and had no room to ask about the trump queen because hearts were trumps. 1430 anyone? Would 4♠ over 3♠ be kickback?

Heading to Cromwell

Cromwell? Isn't that King Henry VIII's Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell? Well, it is, but it's also a town in Connecticut where a regional bridge tournament is being played this weekend -- I'm off to play with Kate for a couple of days.

We decided to warm up last night on BBO. I love the speedball mini-tournaments. Maybe it says something about my attention span, but 12 boards works for me.

We bid a grand on this board:



The two hands were good for our version of Precision Club and Kate claimed at trick one.

We don't have teammates for Sunday yet. If you ask us to play, maybe we'll bid a grand for you, just like we did on this one.

It was a great win

Above: The Memphis Grizzlies came from behind to win against the Denver Nuggets.

I haven't been to a Grizzlies' game this year until tonight. The Nuggets and Grizzlies are two of the eight NBA teams that are likely to make the playoffs from the Western Conference. Also, I wanted to see Carmelo Anthony. He's been the subject of trade rumors. In a recent game, he scored 50 points with zero assists. In a nutshell, that's how he plays I suppose.

The Griz were behind by 16 in the third quarter, but cut it to single digits (8 points) going in the last period. They finally tied it at 100-100 before pulling ahead to win 116-108, a score not indicative of how close the game was. To see a recap from USA Today, click here.


Above: Darrell Arthur made the free throw that put the Griz ahead. He wears number 00, the same number he had at Kansas, where he was the power forward on their national championship team in 2008.


Above: If you meet this guy in a dark alley, run. (Click to enlarge.)

Chris Anderson wasn't drafted out of college and got his start playing in the Chinese Basketball League. He was second once in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (see here.)


Above: Two young fans root for their favorite team.

As the game ended, the guy next to me said to his friend: "This was a great win." In the NBA, any win is a good win, but he's right -- this was pretty cool.

Photos by MOJO and taken with my P&S.

The bot who forgot

I enjoy playing with the robots, but you have to be willing to accept some frustration.

Today my robot partner opened 1♣ and right-hand bot overcalled 1♦. I had a self-sufficient spade suit, a partial club fit and a good hand. I bid 4NT which turned out to be a bad idea. Partner bot bid 5♠. I bid 6♠ while noticing that I wouldn't get to play the contract -- the stupid bot had bid my suit. Apparently the bot thought that was a grand slam try and retreated to 7♣. Yes, we were off an ace, but the hand on lead didn't take it and we scored up 1440!

Last Thursday, we had a snow storm and the office was closed. Time to go online! I played bridge with the robots (and some poker, too) then signed up for an Individual Tournament with humans. If you think the robots are frustrating, the human players on BBO will drive you insane.

On one hand I opened 1NT with a flat 15-count. Partner bid 4NT and I passed. The dummy had 19 high-card points and a five-card suit -- seven was cold.

That was bad enough, but then I looked in the chat box and saw: "Don't you play Blackwood?" Ouch. At least when I play with the robots, I don't have to listen to any BS.

This morning, playing with the robots, I saw something new. The East bot was declarer in a 3♣ contract. Here was the position with four tricks to play (rotated to make the declarer bot South):

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

Declarer led a spade from his hand, put in the ♠8 and it held the trick! My partner (holding ♠Q 10 7 4) forgot to win the trick!

Robots sometimes make crazy bids or plays, but I've never seen one fail to take a trick at a point where the deal was basically an open book. I couldn't make up stuff like this -- I'm just sayin'.

What's the craziest bid or play you've seen a bot make?

Disgraceful

Suppose you are playing online. There are three passes to your partner who opens 1NT. You hold:
♠8 6 5 ♥K 7 3 ♦A K 9 ♣J 10 7 2

What is your call (opponents silent)? Bidding 3NT seems normal enough. When I looked through the records at OKbridge (Wednesday night game), I was surprised to see that a player (North below) bid 7NT. It went Pass, Pass, Double and the same player Redoubled! Here are all four hands:

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

That's just awful. At first I thought 7NT must have been a misclick. We've all done that. The redouble, however, was no mismouse. I guess he was having a bad game and was mad at his partner. Still, show some respect for the other players. Show some respect for the game.

The West player (hand diagram rotated) led his ♠A and South finished down five for a score of minus 2200.

I'm happy to see that North-South was minus 19.51 IMPs. I'm also happy to see that the director changed the East-West score to average (but gave them 1.76 IMPs). I wish they had banned North for a week or two. Maybe they did.

You can see this deal here.

In tune with your mood

I read an interesting post today at Poker Cats. He says he tries not to play poker when he's tired. Being tired can lead to making bad decisions.

I'd take that a step farther. Any mood swing can be deadly. I can tell when I play poker and I'm in an "Aw, screw it" mood. I try to avoid playing when I'm mad about something or when I'm too distracted.

Bridge is the same way. Some nights I play online with Kate and I know I don't give her a good game because I'm not focused and (usually) play too aggressively. I remember that after I took up poker, she told me I was playing bridge differently. I took the hint -- I was gambling too much. Heck, in poker you only need a pair of jacks to bet. In bridge you need a lot more than that, lol.

What about you? When you sit down to play, are you in tune with your mood and do you see a difference in how you play? What do you do about it? Do you quit and play another day or are you aware of what's going on and try to control your behavior?

I'd be particularly interested in hearing how someone who makes their living playing poker (such as the Poker Grump) deals with it. I can play or not as I wish. The pros don't have that luxury, or do they? Maybe it'd be a good post for any of you who have thought about it.