Blogger Tourney - Titan Poker

Well, due to circumstances beyond my control, my plans tonight evaporated at about the same time I remembered that there would be a blogger tournament tonight. Thus deprived of excuses, I feel obligated to donate my money to the assembled forces of bloggerdom. I know that I'm unlikely to be recognized or notable in any way, and my low-limit grinding has left my poker skillz somewhat less than mad. Still, that should leave me with plenty of time and attention to experiment with live-blogging a tournament. My prior attempts at this have failed miserably, but what the hell, I'll try it again.

07:22pm Wow, that was fast. Seven minutes for the first comment spam to show up.

07:33pm Two more spams. I'm going to spend more time deleting spam than posting or playing the tournament.

07:53pm First problem encountered with Titan software: it doesn't seem to like my second monitor. Not sure how annoying that's likely to be. How do people live-blog things without drowning in comment spam?

08:01pm And we're off. Looks like I got the birthday boy himself at my table, along with BG and ScottMcM from DeadMoneyInc. I just raised on the button with AKo. BB and a limper called, but I whiffed the flop and folded to a 1/2 pot size bet. Did I mention that I suck at NL?

08:07pm Six minutes of phone answering. My roommates are headed back here to eat takeout with guests. This may not last as long as I thought it would.

08:15pm I suck suck suck at NL poker these days. I'm making a damned fool out of myself. Still in L1 and I'm already below 1000. I fold to everything, and everybody knows it.

08:16pm Then they give me a walk when I min-raise with AJo in MP.

08:19pm Raced BG with AKo vs his 99 and won. I feel bad taking half his stack, he's one of my favorite bloggers. I tell everyone that I'm bad enough that I'm willing to race on L2, but I think they all know that.

08:25pm I drop The Hammer on PAIGOW. In the CO, I raise to 80 and he calls from the BB. Flop is K74, he checks, I bet half the pot and he mucks. Says he had me dominated pre-flop, I'm guessing A2?

08:31pm JJ under the gun, and I get to play with PAIGOW again. Board comes K high, he bets the pot and I call because I'm just not feeling the love. Board pairs threes on the turn, he bets about 2/3 the pot and now I'm sure. I push and he folds. I tell him it wasn't The Hammer this time, but he seems unamused. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

08:38pm The obligatory "what cusswords work in this software" conversation. Meanwhile, I fold sailboats in EP because I'm scared of these guys. The BB gets a walk. This game might be easier if I actually peek at my cards occasionally.

08:42pm Gifted my BB to Pauly, who raised from the SB. Holy crap, someone I'm 6th in chips. That won't last. But apparently I outlasted BadBlood. Score one for Saint Lousy, Chilly.

09:16pm My first blogger-ate-my-homework experience. I'll try to backfill later.

Wow, live-blogging is hard. My hat is off to anyone who does this on a regular basis. Between blogging, chat, and roommates I almost had a nervous breakdown. It's tomorrow now, so no minute-by-minute breakdown is even possible, and I'll be lucky if I even remember half of what happened accurately.

I built my stack about to about 3500 by the first break, mostly because the deck hit me in the face. Then, just as I was beginning to trust it, the deck stabbed me in the back. I lost almost half my stack getting it all in with AKs v ATo on an A34 board when a ten spikes the river.

The first break is where things started going to hell. My roommates had planned on going out to dinner with a friend from out of town, but the restaurant they were going to was closed, so they ended up bringing takeout back with them. At about the same time, my wife got home from work. I tried to become invisible and keep focused, but after getting in a fight with blogger I decided I'd drop the live-blogging and concentrate on playing/ignoring people.

Let's see, what else happened? I worked my stack back up to about 4500 with a well-timed bluff, a couple of steals, and JJ vs NittanyLions420's TT. EasyFeltch busted out on a bluff which he insisted "could ONLY have been AA" (even though he had JJ). The button failed to fold his KK, which was "a total beginner mistake." CJ continued to emphasize the lesson, which made it easier for me to lay down the cowboys when I caught them three times in a row. Once I even gave the BB a walk when I had KK in the SB, because I knew a raise could only have meant aces, and I didn't want to face that.

This is where things start to get fuzzy. My roommates' friend is this incredibly cool girl from Columbus. She's sort of a hippie-punk-lesbian, and every time she comes in town she brings more than she can smoke while she's staying with family and wants us to help her thin her stash before she drives back to Ohio. Of course, my roommates have turned into complete wusses since back when she used to hang out with them, so being the good co-host I am I feel obligated to try to keep up with her. Just out of hospitality, you understand. It doesn't help that I have a well-known weakness for denying the requests of cute girls.

At about the same time, someone (I wish I could remember who) takes almost everything I have left when the flush hits the river to beat my turned top two. I settle into deperation mode, smoking and folding while waiting for some cards. I'm in last place, hovering around 6xBB for many orbits. The table goes down to 7-handed, then 6, and I manage to steal a few times to hang on to last place for several orbits. Eventually I double up when I flop quad 9s, but I'm still in last place.

Then, the fateful end. My concentration is beginning to wander, and I've been completely cold-decked for the last 25 hands or so, when I pick up 33 in the BB. MP raises, the button and I call, and we're three handed to a flop with a 3 and some other crap that I hardly see. I check, MP pushes, button folds and I call. I caught him on a complete bluff, nothing but a gutshot draw, but the J nails me on the river and I'm out in 15th.

Overall, I'm very happy with my play. I got lucky once and unlucky a few more times, but I managed to hang on into the top 25%, and many of these players (especially the bloggers) have far more tournament experienced than myself. I also managed to sound like a 13 year old fanboy in front of some of my favorite bloggers, which was a little embarrassing but hopefully means I can avoid that if I ever actually meet them. And I managed to get high with a cute HPL from Columbus. Overall, not a bad evening.

posted by Captain Freeman @ 7:13 PM