T-minus six days and counting.

I wasn't being adequately entertained last night playing a couple of micro-buyin tables (way too tired to do anything else; most cash withdrawn for Vegas purposes), so I surfed around and found a site that allows you to play craps with fake chips.

Now, I will freely admit I don't know anything about playing craps. I've never played for real, and my most relevant "experience" anywhere in the vicinity of a craps table was watching BG and Bob get taken to the cleaners by Little River a couple months ago. Now that I've figured out some of the basics, I can understand why the game would be so entertaining live. I also know that I have nowhere near the bankroll to pay anything more than the lowest limits. I had one decent run to 8x my stake, but otherwise the result was invariably the same -- I lost it all, usually sooner rather than later. Rebuy!

Hopefully the utter lack of success was a function of the site being rigged, rather than being an indication that I am a point, seven-out machine.

Speaking of rigged, a note from from our correspondent Dave:

>From: "Dave F. Beatty"
>To: Distribution List
>Subject: May Update
>Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 18:36:12 -0400
>
>Greetings All:
>
>It's been a stellar month here at CRAPR as we continue our efforts to get
>to the bottom of the rigging of internet poker. We've received a few dollars
>in donations to fund our work, and are pretty much set up in our new
>office here in sin city. Many thanks to our volunteers for all their hard work
>this month, putting their bankrolls and reputations on the line in support
>of the cause.
>
>Here's a glance at our new data center:

>
>We have a new project coming up in June -- Reports have been circulating of a
>new method of rigging used by some of the sites out there. Word is, they're
>not showing players involved in a hand the same flop, turn and river.
>Players are seeing different cards, rigged so they all lose to -- presumably
> -- a shill player.
> We plan to run a single-blind study of this possibility as soon as we have enough volunteers.
>
>Thanks for your support, and we'll keep you posted.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Dave F. Beatty
>Executive Director, Center for e-Research About Poker Rigging
>Las Vegas, Nevada USA
>davefbeatty at hotmail duht com

Dave also received another stellar review for RIGGED!, courtesy of a poster on the 2+2 Forums:

My eyes are actually bleeding after reading that piece of crap!

You are the reason it is difficult to have a serious discussion on anything on this site. Just STFU! Freemason's and the NEW WORLD ORDER rig poker lol, and 72 the best hand on the net because of tilt implied odds. (quite possibly the single most retarded thing ive ever heard) I would take the time to refute all the arguments made in that doc, but I am just gonna take it as sarcasm, cause my head might explode if you were serious.

His response: "There's no apostrophe in Freemasons, you MORAN!".

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everybody.

In case anyone who happens to hate bad beat stories gets all up in arms about the previous post, it was placed there for a reason. See, it's right above what was probably a really horrible beat administered by yours truly. So what you have there is the yin and the yang of this cruel fricking game.

Incidentally, the pleasure of hanging out way too late has given way to the agony of the early morning get up and go to work routine. Yin. Yang.

Yang sucks.

Sometimes you do get kicked in the junk.

I think the blogger game needs to drop back down to $25 NL.

I'm sure I don't know what true happiness is, but I've got one item to add to my personal list of things that can make you feel kinda warm and fuzzy inside...

Rivering a runner-runner straight flush with your Q-3 off out of the small blind.

Using the 3.

Donkey poker!

Hello, my name is ____ and there is a very good chance that I'm addicted to donking. When I've just suffered through a Stars MTT where the cards were colder than International Falls in February, you'll probably find me at the $0.50/$1.00 tables on Party Poker open-raising with J-5 sooted.

I would try and get help for this problem, but no I won't. In fact, I'll probably turn it up a notch or eleven -- In just over one week's time, you can probably locate me at the Excalibur, buying into the 1-3 spread limit game for at least two racks.

T-minus 8 days and counting. The anticipation builds.

Your Muskegon Fury won the United Hockey League (UHL) championship over the weekend for the third time in four years.

Yeah, yeah, I know. The who?

The Muskegon Fury.



When there's no NHL, you get by with what you can. And, besides, if something brings a little pride to the hole that is the Greater Muskegon Area, it's a good thing.

It is very nice to have the internet back. I'm so thrilled, perhaps you'll suffer a boring "this is how I did tonight" post. These things happen when you've gone about a week without playing.

Clearly my mental discipline is a little off.

I busted out in 12th place with a flush-over-flush situation in the $10+1 PLHE Prima MTT. Oh, well. That's something that happens when you're playing to win, but you still should consider giving your opponent some credit when he reraises you all in on the river. Guess I would have been better off if I had filled my gutshot instead.

At least the $27 I won covered the entry fees for that and a crack at the Stars quadruple shootout WSOP event. Just busted out of that -- won the first round and was doing OK in the second before a run of poor decisions (and an infinitely more aggressive table) put the hurt on. 50th out of 1296.

Bottom line, $5 profit for 3.25 hours of play. Woo hoo! If it weren't so late, it could be Extra Value Meal time!

The moral as always: Gee, I suck at poker. Be sure to note this fact when you're in a position to take my money in Vegas.

Just kidding.

No internet, however, makes me want to buy an Uzi and take out a mini-mart. I'm getting in a quick fix at Panera Bread this morning (along with unhealthy but tasty carbs in the form of an Asiago Cheese bagel). One and a half Pepsis and 41 bloglines posts to read later, I'm about ready to pack it in.

It looks to be another dreary Sunday in these parts, as the promised rain has just kicked in. Too bad, really, as yesterday was the kind of day that tourist bureaus and ice cream vendors dream about. Seventy degrees, calm, sunny and just generally perfect.

In Las Vegas today, the Weather Channer expects a high of 104F.

Two weeks from now it'll probably still be a hundred degrees, but that's not the forecast that matters. Since our blogging bretheren in the media are, if memory serves me right, anchor/reporter types, let me bring you the weather:

Inside the Plaza, Excalibur and the ever popular El Cortez, the forecast high is 73F, with variable cloudiness from cigarette smoke. Precipitation, in the form of bottled water and SoCo shots, is likely.

Speaking of weather, being a TV meteorologist should be the easiest job in the world. You can be wrong half the time and nobody really cares all that much.

People periodically tell me that I should have gone into radio. The way I figure it, at least half the time they mean it -- it's just the other half who are finding a way to amuse themselves without actually saying "you're such an ugly mofo, you never would make it onto TV."

Time to go. I'm expecting to be bored this morning, but hopefully it'll be the kind of bored that lends itself to doing things like cleaning carpets and reorganizing sock drawers.

It's a good thing the guys from the local wifi provider are coming tomorrow to set up the new internet connection.

I did something radical today. Potentially life changing, albeit on a very, very small scale.

I cancelled my subscription to cable TV.

What's the big deal about that, you may ask? Well, I'm an addict. A hardcore addict. I fully admit I have a problem. TV has always been my friend. When I've needed to relax, the solution has almost always been to go stretch out on the couch and watch something brainless. When I've found myself unable to sleep, it's been there for me -- why just last night when insomnia hit hard, I found a midnight broadcast of "8 Mile". It did the job. TV has also filled empty time -- I've wasted countless hours watching "Road House" for the thirty-seventh time or learning how to make some exotic main course that I'll never attempt since I really don't care much for most seafood.

Today, at least, I quit. Cold turkey even -- our "local" stations are thirty-odd miles away and reception is just about non-existent without an antenna (which I lack). No TV for you.

I expect the withdrawal shakes to set in no later than 10:00 p.m. Is there a patch or pill for this sort of thing? And how long does it take to clean TV out of your system?

I'm hoping to make the decision stick until football season, at least, but I'd put the over/under on how long I last at about six weeks. I suppose that this may make me even more of a social misfit than I am already, since I won't know who won "Survivor" or got kicked off "American Idol". Oh, well. Wait. That rationalization for reconnection won't fly, since I already haven't been watching those shows (or any other current series, other than bits and pieces of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition").

Tangentially, at least, this also has to do with poker. I obviously won't be catching WPT reruns or Celebrity Poker Letdown. And since the cable modem was part of the package, it's not looking like I'll be playing (or blogging) for a few days, at least until I get myself signed up with the much, much cheaper local wifi provider.

The second-guessing begins right now.

Last night, it all came down to this: Three tickets had been punched for Vegas. Who was going to fill out the quartet of debauchery and join the drug pusher, a guy who actually wrote a book about poker and the man from Deliverance country who presumably says ‘arrrrrrr’ a lot?

Would it be some random dude whose primary claim to fame is living about five blocks from the 4th best poker player in the Greater Muskegon Area?

Nope. The power of the 616 let me down. Again.

You can instead add one metrosexual to the motley contingent. Congratulations to Joe Speaker over at The Obituatirum for prevailing over 67 other entrants in WPBT Satellite IV. You should already be reading Joe. If you’re not, you’re either new or you need to have your head examined. Seriously.

As for myself, I can only say that finishing third, when 1st is a seat and 2nd is enough cash to cover a whole weekend’s worth of 99 cent shrimp cocktails and $2 craps, is almost like being kicked in the junk.

I won’t bore you with hand histories, in part because I don’t have access to them at the moment. Probably the biggest highlight was seeing the hammer dropped FOUR times in one orbit (I think – I got one, TXChach had two and someone else – Joe? Jason? – had another). I got to watch some players (e.g. Iggy, Maigrey) try to come back from huge holes. I paraphrased (yes, in jest) a famous line from “Gone With The Wind”. I’ll be adding TripJax to the list of people that I need to buy a drink in Vegas. I remembered how to fold preflop. Good times.

Anyway, rock on fellas. Go read the Tao of Poker for a real writeup.

you just shouldn't get out of bed. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but you can guess how things were going by the fact that I went for a bloody mary at 9:15 a.m., and I really am not much of a drinker.

Poker -- Same old boring story. Get it in as a favorite and lose. EP raises, I reraise with KK to isolate, he calls my all-in (I have about 9 BBs) with AK, gets an ace on the flop, and that's that. Time to visit Kicked in the Junk I guess, since this has been happening an awful lot lately. It's been way too long since I've cashed in a MTT. I may have to go back to playing freerolls.

Anyway, given that I now have had a little spare time, I decided to update the blogroll. I've added everything I can think of, but I'm sure I'm still missing at least a dozen regular reads.

Tomorrow is a new day, and since I've begun the cashout process in order to accumulate money for The Trip, at least I won't be losing much.

Another assortment of random bits:

* At least I didn't finish last in the Razz event. Darned close, though. Brick, brick, brick, brick. Poker sucks.

* Someday maybe I'll write entire paragraphs of real and interesting prose just like my blogging heros. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen, though.

* The local media continue to pick up on the "Fear the 616" story. Latest article is available here. I loved this quote:

The Rev. John Hitzeroth, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Sparta, said the number didn't worry him ... "There's a biblical term for that kind of stuff -- goofy," Hitzeroth said. "I got bigger fish to fry. We look at biblical interpretation a little differently, like what to bring to a church potluck."

Bring potato salad next time, or be prepared to feel the wrath.

* For all of the negative commentary about Noble Poker provided by yours truly, there was one thing that I really, really loved (okay, two if you count the presence of the idiot who called my push with no pair, no draw) -- the subject line on the email confirming my cashout request:

Thank you for your withdrawal!"

No joke.

I haven't been thanked for a withdrawal since, well, never mind. I haven't checked to see if it's hit my account yet, so my amusment could yet turn to rage.

* TGIF. TGIF. TGIF. I can't emphasize that enough.

* The peanut butter creme Oreos that they've been advertising pretty heavily on TV (at least on the crappy networks I watch) aren't bad. Not as good as they could be, but not bad. I probably wouldn't know that fact if they weren't on sale at Meijer this week. I know cheap junk food.

* As long as I'm playing food critic, the Domino's cheesburger pizza is surprisingly good.

* If it's going to rain tomorrow morning, I hope it comes down in fricking buckets. If it's going to rain, I want an excuse to sleep in, and nothing beats sleeping in to a good thunderstorm.

* Here's a dumb question: What artist/band/act have you never seen that you'd most like to catch on tour? I saw an article on Pollstar about a new tour for the Robert Cray Band, which made me think about this a bit. For me, this is a pretty obvious choice -- I have a number of Robert Cray albums, and I caught about five minutes of a set at the Taste of Chicago about, say, ten years ago, but have never seen an entire show.

Too bad they don't appear to be coming anywhere particularly close.

* It is not like that is a surprise. Ticketmaster sends out a weekly email touting upcoming local events -- this week's subject line was "Don't Miss Soil!". Who on earth is Soil, and why are they playing Grand Rapids?

* I was really bored yesterday and surfed through a lot of the blogs of people who are supposedly going to be in Vegas. Far too many are languishing. C'mon people, you only have to post something that is of more quality than you find on this blog (whose writing staff may or may not consist of three inebriated chimpanzees). It's not that difficult.

Random brain dump time.

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's just about three weeks to Vegas. I haven't been there in a dozen years, so I suspect it'll be like I've never been there before. I spent a lot of time downtown, so I'll know my way around a little.

Still trying to come up with a good bounty for the WPBT Aladdin. I mean, I could offer the person who knocks me out something good, like a lifetime supply of Mega Ho Dogs, something useless like a copy of Phil Hellmuth's book, or something weird. Weird is definitely more my style. Time will tell if I can come up with anything.

After getting pummelled playing insane monkey poker (a/k/a a $5+rebuy satellite on Stars), I needed to make myself even crazier. So I signed up for the Full Tilt razz bracelet race tourney. I must be some kind of masochist. Hey, at least there are a couple other bloggers entered. Good luck, guys, since I'll be out in the first 20 minutes.

Guess my head wasn't full of much after all.

If only it had been quick. 18th of 81.

I checked my stats shortly before busting, and it said I'd seen 4% of flops. That happens when you get nothing. I had a couple of baby pairs early in the 1st hour which were folded to sizable reraises. QQ about halfway through the first session picked up the blinds. That was the last pair I saw. I did flop a straight with 32o in the BB (sorry, Maudie). Yippie.

Add in some rapidly escalating blinds and good agressive players, and it's just a matter of time. I finally surrendered at the end of the 2nd hour, went for it with 98o in the SB when I didn't have enough chips to play another orbit, and lost to AK.

Sayonara, Noble Poker. I won't miss you.

I also learned that I am in serious trouble in Vegas. Less than a half a bottle and I'm pretty loopy.

And one more thing about Noble Poker. Yes, the NL tables are laughable. I just played for 15 minutes, had someone call my AA flop all in reraise with A5o (no pair, no draw), doubled up, and immediately cashed out for only $2 less than I put into the site. Assuming my withdrawal goes through, playing WPBT events for virtually free is the best.

Another boring hand history post. Party $2/4. Average table. The player to my left has solid PT numbers.

It's folded around to me in the small blind. I have the hand of all hands, the Hammer -- 7d 2c in this case.

What to do, what to do. I know, why not raise? Yes!

The BB calls. Darn.

Flop contains a 7 and a 2! Awesome! Bet, raise, reraise, cap.

Turn is a 4. Pump that pot. Okay, wait, villain raised again. Slow down.

River is meaningless, although it does put a potential flush out there. Check and call.

Villain defended his blind with 7-4 off, capped the flop with 2nd pair and got lucky to turn a four. No frush, but he wins. I love the table chat immediately after the hand:

Villain: next time you will not raise my blind
Villain: 72
Villain: screw you

Just another satisfied Donkey Poker customer.

Just got squared away with Noble Poker for this week's events.

Wow.

My initial impression: All time least favorite interface. Words can't even describe how much I don't like it. I forsee an immediate post-Wednesday cashout, deposit bonus or no deposit bonus.

Bugs: Duck Season!
Daffy: Rabbit Season!
Bugs: Duck Season!

-- Looney Tunes

----

Sorry, fellas, it’s neither. It’s golf season.

That’s right, golf season. The time of year when middle-aged white men in polyester pants emerge from the hibernation induced by Michigan’s ten months of winter.

Summertime.

Golf season is all about dragging yourself out of bed at 5:30 on Saturday morning to essentially make a low-stakes wager on who’s in the least bad (least worst?) condition. Skulling wedge shots out of sand traps bunkers into the cemetary across the street. Overtipping the absurdly attractive cart girls when they bring you a cold beverage when you’re parched over on #15. Watching improbable ricochet shots bounce off of trees, rakes, flagsticks, beer bottles and other inanimate (and animate) objects. Draining a long putt and then four-putting from ten feet on the very next hole. I could go on.

Golf season = good times.

What does the change of seasons mean in relation to this here poker blog? Well I’d say that, with multiple exceptions, the cards will probably be put on the back burner for a while. Exception number one will be this week’s Noble Poker freeroll sponsored by the Poker Prof over at Lasvegasvegas.com…

If I get home from golf league in time, that is.

In other breaking news, not only are people who don’t play on Party Poker idiots, so are most of the people who do. You can take advantage of this fact, but yes, sometimes the dumbasses get the better of you.

Case in point. {skip the following paragraph if you’re annoyed by hand histories}

I hold 55 in MP. Late position raises, there’s a fair amount of money in the pot so I’m going to call one bet. I flop a set on a 4-5-Q board. I bet, everyone drops except the villain, who calls. Turn is a 8 of diamonds (one diamond on the flop). I bet, he calls. River is a 10 of diamonds. I bet, villain raises. I’m willing to eat a bet to see what was being played, since I have little information on this opponent. Top pair/top kicker? Nope. It wasn’t 7-6 or J-9 for a straight. It wasn’t two diamonds for a runner-runner flush. It was a pair of tens, for a rivered second-best possible set.

Note to self: ADD TO BUDDY LIST.

And on a pretty much unrelated subject, you can add mastery of the dramatic slowroll to the mad poker skills possessed by the Boy Genius. That was exceptionally well done.

TGIS.

But not quite. I even had the headline all thought up: "Sometimes even FISH can go to Vegas".

In case you did not know, Party is running nightly freerolls for a WSOP main event seat. The buyin is 5,000 Party Points. I happened to have enough points sitting around doing me no good, so I entered tonight's event, along with 473 of my fishy friends. And it went pretty well. I dinked around for most of the first hour before starting to pick up some pots.

With 138 players left, I was 2nd in chips.

With 17 players left, I was 1st in chips.

And then the worm turned. AKs lost to KK. AJ lost to a BB who had AQs. By the time we reached the final table, I was down to 28k chips, ahead of only two or three others. It was not to be long now.

The death blow was dealt by the big stack, who went for a routine steal. I reraised all-in from the SB, and he called. My AKo loses to the awesomely powerful ... 98o.

8th place. Paid exactly the same as 474th. Zip.

Nuts.

From CNN.com:

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- Wildlife regulators took the first step Tuesday to bar hunters from using the Internet to shoot animals, responding to a Texas Web site that planned to let users fire at real game with the click of a mouse.

The Fish and Game Commission ordered wildlife officials to prepare emergency regulations to ban the practice. A period of public comment will follow.

"We don't think Californians should be able to hunt sitting at their computers at home," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game.

A bill passed by the state Senate two weeks ago would prohibit use of computer-assisted hunting sites and ban the import or export of any animal killed using computer-assisted hunting. The measure now moves to the state Assembly.

At least 14 other states and Congress are considering similar bills.

Groups including the California Sportsmen's Association, Safari Club International and the Outdoor Sportsman's Coalition of California support the ban, saying hunting over the Internet is unethical and unsporting.

Supporters have suggested the remote hunting could be beneficial for hunters with disabilities and questioned why Californians should be barred from patronizing a legitimate Texas business.

Does PETA know about this? Maybe they'll protest the internet! I'd volunteer to do up some signs.

I was not aware that using the internet as a deadly weapon was a widespread practice, except possibly by child molestors. It's heartening to see that our country is in such good shape that so many of our elected officials have the spare time and energy to take on such an important issue.

Unbelievable.

That's the political report, we now return you to the usual poker news.

I was going to go to bed. Really, I was. Tomorrow was already going to suck very much.

Bad Self: But I'm not sleepy!
Good Self: Do it anyway! Go to bed!
Bad Self: Aww, c'mon. What's a half hour of play going to hurt? You can still get to bed early. Go give pot limit Omaha/8 a whirl or something.

Two hours later....

Bad Self: Okay, that's enough, bedtime.
Good Self: Shut up, you XXXXing XXXX XXXXX XXXX. If I win one more pot, I will have tripled up, then doubled it.
Bad Self: You have learned much, young Jedi. Bwah-hah-hah.

I don't know jack about Omaha/8, but when the deck pretty much hits you in the face, even a donkey can post a sizable win.

Must sleep now.

Damn the media.

The word is out. Now the whole world can know why "Twice Confirmed" Bobby Bracelet is on his way to dominate the WSOP, why "The Columnist" Boy Genius has a globally syndicated poker writing gig, and why I will eventually accomplish something nearly as impressive, like maybe doing all of my laundry:

We've apparently made a deal with the devil.

From the Independent (UK) via The Ocho (patrocinado por Hamilton Mortgage y Meijer) :

"A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number. Instead of 666, it's actually the far less ominous 616." LINK

Far less ominous my ass.

That's right, we are from the 616. Fear us.

{Post edited b/c I wasn't real with it this morning.}

It would have been the first time, I think, that I would have been happy to pay the fee associated with changing an airline ticket. But it was not to be.

Finished 3rd of 63 in last night's WPBT satellite. I didn't expect to be able to play -- everyone has times when they can't, and Sunday evenings are usually on my no-go list -- but with the weekend schedule mixed up due to a golf tournament, I registered with about 15 minutes to spare.

I'll try to avoid a blow-by-blow report (for a writeup worth reading, consult Tao of Poker), but things obviously went pretty well. I bounced up and down the first hour -- had a nut flush draw and a nut flush with gutshot nut straight draw both miss, but picked up a few small pots. Won a large pot and knocked out The Venetian late in the first hour with a turned nut flush against his slow-played flopped set of 8s. Knocked out Life's A Grind and Easy Cure (tequila shot on me) toward the end of the 2nd hour and went into the break as chip leader, although not by much. The third hour was a wild ride, but I was the short stack, on life support, at the third break. I push with Q8s, lose to T6o, and that's that.

No regrets. I had my chances to knock out both of the players who finished ahead of me. I had the eventual winner, ABVidale, right where I wanted him just before we reached the final table. I have him outchipped 2-1, he pushes with A6o, I have AKo. He catches a 6 on the flop and doubles up.

And then there was this hand with 2nd place finisher slim999:

PokerStars Game #1621747550: Tournament #7340806, Hold'em No Limit - Level XII
(1000/2000) - 2005/05/01 - 22:06:55 (ET)
Table '7340806 6' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ABVidale (27884 in chips)
Seat 2: on_thg (43542 in chips)
Seat 9: slim999 (23074 in chips)
ABVidale: posts the ante 100
on_thg: posts the ante 100
slim999: posts the ante 100
on_thg: posts small blind 1000
slim999: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to on_thg [Ad 2h]
S.t.B [observer] said, "nh"
Up4Poker [observer] said, "now this is interesting"
TripJax [observer] said, "parody"
ABVidale: folds
One_Outer_MN [observer] said, "wow, big change"
on_thg: raises 8000 to 10000
xupugh [observer] said, "table swing"
slim999: raises 12974 to 22974 and is all-in
on_thg: calls 12974
Up4Poker [observer] said, "whoa"
*** FLOP *** [9h 6d 8h]
One_Outer_MN [observer] said, "wicked fackin awesome"
HeyKidsItsBG [observer] said, "no, parody would be me swinging the big stick in
the final three"
Up4Poker [observer] said, "slim?"
HeyKidsItsBG [observer] said, "parity is what you meant"
*** TURN *** [9h 6d 8h] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [9h 6d 8h Td] [3d]
NegativeEV [observer] said, "7"
Up4Poker [observer] said, "nh slim"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
on_thg: shows [Ad 2h] (high card Ace)
slim999: shows [9s Kd] (a pair of Nines)
slim999 collected 46248 from pot
on_thg said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 46248 | Rake 0
Board [9h 6d 8h Td 3d]
Seat 1: ABVidale (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: on_thg (small blind) showed [Ad 2h] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 9: slim999 (big blind) showed [9s Kd] and won (46248) with a pair of Nines

This move seemed to be pretty unpopular on the rail. I don't hate the play, even in hindsight -- I had taken the chip lead for the first time in quite a while on the previous hand and decided to turn up the pressure. I felt comfortable in my read that this was a re-steal, and it turns out to have been correct. I got it in as a favorite (it was only 60/40, but still as a favorite) and lost. If I win the hand I have better than a 2-1 chip advantage heads up. Sure I could have waited for a better hand, but it may never have come -- at the end, my last 12k chips or so were largely consumed while folding blinds and not stealing with 93o, 85o etc. The biggest error here in my opinion was the size of the raise. I could have made it 2.5x the BB and given slim999 less of an incentive to make his move. But what do I know?

I was only dealt a true hammer once that I recall, and it was five or six hands after losing that pot to slim999. I raised it to 3x the BB out of the SB, he called, and I ended up folding to a very unfriendly flop. Should have pushed preflop. Live and learn.

Well, it was fun. I saw a lot of good play, from the winners and also from folks like Derek at Poker in the Weeds, Joe Speaker and many others. I was not able to double the count of poker bloggers (and in my case, I use that term loosely) from Michigan in WSOP Event #2, but maybe we'll get another chance. Thanks to Iggy and the Up for Poker crew for putting it together. Good times.

{As an aside, I'll try to fix this post with links to various people later.}