The Mookie Tonight

If you want to have a great time playing in an online game that is like a home game, come and join us on Poker Stars at 10:00pm est. The tourney number is 25608879. The password is Vegas1.

40k Guaranteed

I'm playing the 40k Guaranteed tonight on Party.

Registered: 2,376
We've been running 15 minutes and I'm off to a great start. I am at 8,920. I'll post an update in a bit.

Update: We have reached the first break. I had a really good run and was up to 14,000 at one point, but I lost a good sized pot on the river and dropped back down some. I'm at 9,251. The average stack is 6330. We are down to 1,126 players.

Update: I'm out in 611th. I was at a table with two hyper-aggressive players. I went card dead for about 30 minutes and just held tight. I finally found AJ in the small blind. Hyper-aggressive player number 2 throws in his typical 2,000 preflop raise. It folds around to me. The big blind is short-stacked with only about 1,500. I go all in with my 7,000 and the hyper actually has a hand this time. His AK outruns my AJ and that's that.

It's DADI Time!!!!

My Wife Rocks

Mrs. Surf made a great run in a multi on Party tonight. It's 2:30 in the morning and she just finished 12th out of 1,021. Great job!!!!! It wasn't a huge buy-in but to make it through that many donkeys is quite a feat.

Poker Stars Does It Again!!!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Good News and Bad News

I have some really good work-related news. We are getting brand new computers and software that rocks. The only problem is we are doing the conversion pretty much the exact same time as Okie-Vegas. That is just awful. It makes it almost 100% no go on the trip. It doesn't look good.
I want to give a big shout out to my friend Hoyazo on winning the overall WPBT Gemini Tournaments last night. Great jobs!!!
I'm playing the 40k guaranteed tonight along with Hoyazo. I doubled up early on and have just been trying to stay tight during the first hour. Hoyazo had a few ups and downs early on but seems to have settled in a little as well. We are both hovering near the average stack approaching the first break. I'll post again in a little while if anything exciting happens.

Update: We've been going for an hour and a half now. We started with 2,453 players. We are down to 775. The average stack is now approaching 10 grand. Hoyazo is about even with it and I'm a little under that at about 8,000.

Update: I'm out in 573rd. I would like some opinions here. I was getting a little lower than I like on chips. I have around 6,000 and the average is 12,000 and climbing. I had AK off in late position. One limper just ahead of me. I shoved all in. The blinds fold and I'm called by the limper with 99. I hit a King but he hit a nine and I'm done. My question: Does anyone play this hand in a way that they don't go bust here? I know I play it the way I played it every time.

Hoyazo is still hanging in there with about 12,000 in chips. The average is 15,000 and there are 475 players left in. Good luck Hoyazo, I'm going to bed. I hope I hear some good news from you tomorrow.

WPBT Tonight

I will be playing the WPBT Gemini tournaments tonight. I had a little trouble getting the passwords entered so if you are going to play these you should allow yourself a little time to sign up.
Here are my answers to Trip's question meme:

1. What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table? Playing outside of their bankroll. I never put an amount of money on the table that changes the way I play.

2. What is the biggest mistake people make at a Limit table? It's a coin toss between calling when they should raise, slow playing their made hands, and folding when they have odds to call.

3. Why do you play poker? I love the competition and the game. I have become good enough at limit to build my bankroll. I use this money for 2 things: 1)Buy things I would not have otherwise 2)Pay for MTT's and take a shot at winning a big tournament

4. If you weren't playing poker, what would you be doing? I live a very busy life and cram a lot of work and play activities in so I would have to say the same things I already do.

5. What is your favorite poker book and why? My favorite is "The Poker Bible". Doyle is the king!!!

6. Who is your favorite poker player and why? Doyle Brunson. He told the world how he plays and then adjusted his game to beat them anyway.

7. Which poker player do you dislike the most and why? Phil Hellmuth. It's not his playing ability; I respect that. It's his attitude towards others that I can't stand.

8. Do your coworkers know about your blog? Yes. Everyone I work with and my family are all very cool with my bloggedness. I believe strongly in Freedom of speech and I would not associate with or work for or with anyone who was against it.

9. What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online)? 3 grand in a live game and 3,500 or so online.

10. What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)? About 200 dollars both live and online.

11. Who was your first poker blog read? SirF . I was playing a MTT on Party and I thought his name was very unusual so I googled it and found his blog. I was a reader for a long time before I began blogging.

12. What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot? In a tournament, the aces holding up. I think the bluff has to be the most satisfying for me in a cash game, especially when the opponent makes a comment like "He never bluffs, I have to fold."

13. Why do you blog? I blog mainly to be part of a community I love being a part of. I don't need it to stroke my ego or anything like that.

14. Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog? I visit each blog. I read most everyone's blog every chance I get. I'm a blogaholic.

15. Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living? Yes. I would still do what I do because I love it but it would be cool if I won enough playing poker that I could donate all my earnings from my job.

16. Do you wear a tin foil hat on occasion? No. I don't wear hats at all.

17. If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player? They have the ability to put their opponent on a range of hands and make their better opponents put them on the hand they want them to think they have.

18. Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas? He was already the very coolest person on the planet. It is a great name and anyone who thinks otherwise really doesn't get it at all.

19. What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it? My primary goal is constant improvement and I feel like most of the time I am heading the right direction.

20. What is your primary online site and why? Poker Stars. They have a great variety of tournaments including the majority of the blogger tournies and plenty of tables to choose from all the time.

21. What site do you dislike and why? I don't dislike any site. I have only played at a few though, so I am sure I could find one if I tried harder.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Lunch With BrainMc

I had lunch with Brian from the WestSide today. We met at Nuevo Laredo. Nice meeting you Brian. I look forward to the Atlanta Blogger game.

Here We Go!!!

I've had quite a week. I won the Mookie for the 2nd straight week. I then won the WWdN: The Not tourney. From there it has just kept getting better. I've made the money in 4 out of 5 multi's with over a thousand people in each of them. It's always nice when you have a great week like this one has been. I have some really cool tournaments coming up in the next few days.

1. The first is the 4 player Heads Up Bounty Game. It's on Poker Stars Tuesday evening at 7:00pm est. The players are: DNasty13, Kaellinn18, WilWheaton, and Surflexus.

2. The second will be the WWdN tourney immediately following the Heads Up Tourney.

3. The Mookie: This tournament is Wednesday and I am trying to 3-peat this event. That will be very tough to do. I will give it my all though and we shall see. A good friend of mine (and excellent poker player) has decided to join us for this one. His screen name is bthecloser69. His name is Shea. Please make him feel welcome if you get the chance to play at his table.

4. The WWdN: The Not Thursday night fun with my friends on the West Coast. This is a late one here on the east coast with a start time of 11:30 pm est.

Good luck to everyone playing these events. Anyone wishing to play any of these events please check Mookie's blog. He has all the details including passwords posted.

WWdN: The Not

I am continuing my luckbox ways this week and I won the WWdN The Not tourney tonight. Thanks a lot to everyone who railed or came by to say hello. It's late here and I have an early day tomorrow so that's it for now.

Good luck to everyone at the tables this week.

Back to Back!!!

I managed to luckbox my way to win the Mookie again for the second straight week. I actually started out catching some really great cards early then settled in for a while.
I promised Sox I would post about the hand against him so here it is.

I had A9 sooooooooted. I felt like he would try to make a move on me so I placed a nuiscance bet. It drew him in and the trap was laid. It didn't really make any difference what cards came after the flop. I already had the exact way I would play the hand. The one thing that surprised me is that he folded on the end with it costing him less than 10% or so of the pot to call.

I really wasn't playing A9 at all Sox, I was planning that move as soon as I got anything near to an ace or king. I was just betting on you at some point buying that I had a hand.
I really do have a lot of respect for your game Sox, I just got lucky that my plan worked.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Congrats to Carmen, Garth, and CL

I'm out of the WWdN in 18th. Big congrats to CLRusso for making it to the money(9th place).
Great job Carmen for getting past those darn bubbles and placing 4th.
Way to go Garth!!!!! 3rd place. Before the tournament started, I predicted Garth would go far. He has been running very well every time I've seen him play lately. Great job to all of you!!!

WWdN Tonight and More

Come and join us for some tournament fun:

Tuesday Night: 8:30pm est
Poker Stars: The WWdN Tournament
Listed Under Private Tournaments: Tourney # 24099272
Password: Monkey

Wednesday Night: 10:00pm est
The Mookie "Surf's Up Tournament" on Poker Stars
(see if i can repeat)
Listed Under Private Tournaments: Tourney # 24404857
Password: vegas1

Thursday Night: 11:30pm est
Poker Stars: WWdN,The Not
Listed Under Private Tournaments: Tourney # 24388333
Password: Monkey

These tournaments are all 10+1 nl hold em.

Back From Tunica and I won The Mookie!!!

I needed to get some sleep tonight. I rolled in from Tunica early this morning and had to work all day. I also have to get up in the morning at 4:45 am. So what do I do? I jump in The Mookie of course!! I got knocked down to 230 chips at the first break and somehow came back and won the thing!!!

Mrs. Surf had a good run in Tunica in a live tourney. I went out in 12th place, but she made the final table. She had about the 4th largest stack at the table and looked down to find AA. 5 people limped in so she shoved out of the small blind. Everyone folded except for the last guy. He called with pocket fives and flopped a set to send her packing. Boooo!!!!!

I then played an Omaha Hi/Lo tourney and made a good run past the second break until I made two boats that lost to two bigger boats....ouch. We had a great time but didn't break the bank.

There is lots of poker action in Tunica. There are 9 casinos there (soon to be 10) and most of them have poker action.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!