Monday Night

Today I got up about 10:15, went outside with Bailey for a bit, ate a small breakfast, talked with an old friend on the phone for a while, played softball for a couple hours, then went to The Med Happy Hour with a couple friends, had tapas and a couple beers, then came home to play this tournament. It’s a nice life, that of a professional poker player, if you don’t consider the fact I’ve been hemorrhaging money for the last 13 months, have little identity, no security, and a future shrouded in doubt. In other words, it’s a great time to play the 1k Monday.

10-20

5000

Table has Caio Pimenta across, someone named Shevmouse who I’ve played with before to my right, and ryanbluf to my left. Ryanbluf is a solid player but I owned him so thoroughly in the WSOP $5k 6-max last summer I have a psychological advantage, at least in my mind. All things considered this looks like a soft table relative to the average one in this era of the multi-entry 1k Monday Million, and I am excited to play.

Limp 88 EP. Everyone folds to BB. Flop JTx check check. Turn 7 he checks I bet the minimum he folds.

Very next hand I limp 99 in 2^nd pos. Only the blinds come along. Flop K52 checked to me I bet 2/3 pot BB calls. Turn 6 he checks I bet 60% pot he folds.

Fold A5o in BB to a cutoff raise and a button call.

Fold Q9o on the button to Caio’s MP raise.

Walk Ryan with 94s.

Guy who has been real active raises UTG and 2^nd pos calls, I fold KJo MP.

Music is KT Tunstall’s Tiger Suit. KT is 3/3 in my book, with this one being a single, the last one Drastic Fantastic being a double, and her debut smash Eye To The Telescope a triple in the gap.

15-30

5080

Fold 74s UTG.

Walk Ryan again with J6o.

Fold Q3s cutoff to Shevmouse’s hijack raise.

Raise K9s to 85 Ryan calls Brazilian tilting maniac shoves for 1500 fold.

Shevmouse mins from the cutoff, I call with A9s on the button, Ryan calls in SB, BB squeezes huge, Shev folds. I check to see how many tables the BB is playing in this tournament (4) and fold.

20-40

4845

Honestly it cracks me up how many players enter this thing four times. I mean where do they think the equity is coming from? Maybe I should stop laughing – maybe it’s from me.

I am very excited for my friend PiMaster, who currently has an average stack with 18 players left in the WSOP Circuit St Louis event. I was actually supposed to visit him and play in said event, but an unfortunate two-day no-cash worst case scenario jaunt up to Black Hawk for the Heartland Poker Tour put the kibosh on that. There are some friends you are jealous of and don’t quite root for 100%; PiMaster is a 100%er – as in, I would like to see him succeed just as much as myself. As excited as I am for him in this event, I'm more excited to re-post this picture.

Raise AK maniac shoves in BB for 1k I lose to 99.

25-50

3757

Caio raises 3x I defend BB with A8s. Flop is 865 one of my suit I lead 200 into 350 he folds.

Maniac min-raises on a 30 BB stack I call with KJo in position. Normally this is a fold but this guy is going to hand me his stack on a J or K high flop with just about anything. BB squeezes huge, maniac shoves with KQs and sucks out on queens.

Fold 86s UTG.

How about that Vanessa Selbst? She will be cracking my “Twenty Players Most Likely To Win The Main Event” list in July, that’s for sure.

Maniac raises I defend with K3s in BB. Board of A5474 is checked to the river at which point he bets and I fold.

Shevmouse raises the button I 3x reraise with QJo from the SB he folds.

30-60

3824

WacoKidd sits down at the table, striking fear into the hearts of no one.

Maniac misclick raises 20x then folds to a shove.

Fold T9o MP.

Raise KQ maniac calls in BB. Flop KT5 two spades he check-calls. Turn 6c he check-calls. River 5s he check-folds to my beefy bet.

UTG guy who has been reasonably active raises I 3bet T9o from the cutoff he folds.

Fold JTo MP.

Raise T9s on the maniac’s BB he defends. Flop is T92 two diamonds he check-calls a small bet, then calls another on a brick turn. River is an unfortunate Jd and he check-folds to my shove.

40-80

5536

Throw on a little Kanye West, but don’t really feel like listening to a whole album.

Maniac raises I 3bet AK on the button he calls. Flop is 753 he checks and for the first time in my life I “induce” with no pair no draw by betting 440 into 1080 and snap-call his shove for 1542. He has 44 which I lose to.

Next hand raise 22 from the cutoff and win uncontested.

Next hand call Waco’s raise with 55 and fold on a KJ board in a 4 way pot.

Two hands later raise the maniac’s blind with another T9. Ryanbluf minraises right behind me which is either a misclick or a fake misclick. I four-bet when it gets back to me and he quickly folds.

50-100

3588

Just sort of skimming through random songs and hit “The Gambler” from Kenny Rogers, song of the month back in September 2003.

After that I realize I don’t have “Islands in the Stream” - which was featured in perhaps the single greatest scene from The Office - and immediately buy it from the i-Tunes store.

Stiffrodd texts me proposing an online Dominion session later tonight, which is as exciting as a booty call from Scarlett Johansson would have been five years ago.

My good friend Seth “grtwhitehoop” Fischer sits down three to my left. Seth knows my game very well, though it is always evolving, and I know Seth’s game as well as I know anyone’s. When I started getting back into poker earlier this year I studied several of his hand histories. I won’t divulge his proclivities, except for one: a penchant for sucking out on overpairs in crucial spots.

60-120

3438

Fold KTo to a Waco EP raise.

Defend a MP raise with J9hh and check fold on AdTdx.

Raise KQ from the cutoff. SB 3-bets and while I’m deciding whether to call or shove Seth four-bets from the BB and we both fold.

Raise 97s MP win.

Shev raises UTG I flat KK in 2^nd pos on an awkward stack, some guy squeezes, I compliment myself on flatting this hand, high-five the dealer, ship after Shev folds, and lose to AA.

Dominion it is!

Honestly thought I played well tonight, lost three big pots with KK, AK, and AK but manufactured some chips with nothing so we’ll give it another shot next time. It has to turn eventually.