Friday, March 5, 2004

Tonight April blessed me with the maniacal table, lol. In all seriousness, though, this table helps improve my play, just like any other. It is usually capped off before the flop every hand. Some rounds after the flop are capped as well. Once the tourney hits no-limit, things slow down and players become more cautious, but during the first hour, Omaha 8 is a madhouse.

We had four tables for the tourney. I'm not quite sure why five weren't offered. I think that problem was that not many of the Hold'em players wanted in, so those tables wouldn't be breaking.

Carl asked me about my website, said I hadn't updated it in a few days. I told him that I always run behind, opting to not write up, and further, not publish, my stories for a few days. The sooner after a tourney I publish, the more sarcastic and biting the story is if I'm running bad. As you can see, I'm running several days behind right now, sometimes a week, lol.

I told Carl about Richard Brodie, and his journal, Lion Tales. He wrote it down so he could check it out.

Carl is the guy in the lead of the WPT challenge. He has been from almost the beginning. Carl has a fantastic way of picking a certain strategy at a moment's notice and then sticking to it, in order to accomplish whatever mission he is on. In this instance, he wanted to: 1) Win enough tourneys to cover his expenses for playing in the challenge and 2) Get in the top 20 regularly, in order to accrue points. He has done a fantastic job, and is about 500 points ahead of even Betty, who is 2nd in points.

Sometimes Carl will play ultra-passively, and other times he will go all-in hand after hand. He knows what he has to do, and does it without hesitation. He can completely switch from hyped up maniac to Betty Jr. in an instant. I have probably learned more from Carl's method of play than anyone at the Belle. Maybe someday I can get him to start a journal!

Because of the whacked-out table one, I didn't have to do a rebuy. I was sixthed in one pot, but the pot was so huge that I made money, didn't lose it, lol! I know, you're thinking that is impossible in Omaha 8, but it is true. I think 9:10 people saw the flop on that hand. Three of us had A4xx for the nut low, blah. One guy had the high, which was a straight. Had I known I was going to get 1/6th of the pot...hmmm, well, I'm sure I would never have been in the pot to begin with.

My other winning hand before the break was an all-in, as well. I think I had the sole nut low, so I got half. No complaints there.

The break saw me at back down to 75 in chips. That table is expensive. Just to see the flop costs four bets, and gawd forbid you actually catch, because then you are in pretty deep, just to be rivered by someone who had little to nothing, to start. LOL, what a fun table!

Doc Jackson was at my table. He is a local PCP in Kingman. He is under my insurance plan, so after numerous urgings by one of the dealers at the Belle, I finally went to him a few weeks ago when I needed my "stay spayed" shot. I also had a cold.

Unfortunately, I saw one of his associates. Jackson was booked four weeks in advance, since he also doubles as Obstetrician and delivers all of the babies in Kingman. He is very popular due to a fantastic personality.

Anyway, the associate was new, and grumpy, yelling to the nurse outside of the door how he hated all of the new patients he was being given (um, I was one of them), and complaining about everything under the sun. He started his time with me by cutting off every sentence of my replies to his general health questions. He didn't listen to a thing I said, and suggested I had an upper respiratory infection, when it was clear to me that I had a simple head cold, and my lungs were clear. I wasn't coughing, nor did my lungs hurt. What a bust. I had to pay a co-pay to this loser in order to get two minutes of his non-productive time. At least I got the shot, which means Glenn won't get murdered in his sleep for at least another three months.

Getting back to Doc Jackson, in my normally meek and mild mannered approach, I told him that his new doctor sucked, and that I was going to find another one. He suggested I try to come to him in the future, or someone else in his practice (yes, he does OWN the practice) whom he would recommend. I tried to be nice (yeah, right) and asked if there were doctors in Kingman who didn't have 150 screaming kids in the waiting room, nor so many doctors that the patient never sees the same one again, and is shuttled through like an assembly line. He didn't seem to want to answer. I didn't mean to offend him, but truly, no matter how thick skinned I am, I AM a human being, not a piece of meat.

Doc J was one of the first players out when his excellent hand A23xs was called by that whiner from last night having 3377 (???). The whiner hit a three on the river or some such nonsense. Doc J took it very well, like he always does. Good thing he was there to intervene, because had it been me beat with that junk, I would have strangled the whiner.

The other Doc, Doc Campbell, was sitting in between Doc J and myself for the tourney. This guy was never a doctor, but worked in a hospital and wore scrubs to the poker room years ago after his shift, which earned him the nickname Doc. He is a great guy, but whines too much about bad beats. He is the one who has recently passed me up for the WPT challenge and has been doing extremely well. He is running good, he knows it, I know it. We talk about it. He isn't delusional. He is hitting the money, or at least the top 20, almost every tourney now. He says he has slightly modified his play, but mostly he's just running well.

Betty won this huge pot against two all-in's, and was suddenly the chip lead at our table. I was shocked. Seeing Betty with a mountain of chips is sort of like seeing Dan Harrington raise with 72o. She managed to coast into the top 20 with those chips, rarely playing a hand again.

Mark B. from my Yahoo Journal came to greet me in the cardroom. He and his wife had come to Laughlin from LA again. He didn't have time to play in the tourney, having arrived so late, and needing to go to dinner with his wife and parents, but he wanted to cheer me on. Thanks, Mark!

I managed to make the top 20 by going all-in three times in quick succession, and surviving. I went from two black chips to over 2000 in chips. LOL. Doc Campbell and I were both hanging on at 21 for quite a few rounds. We both made it, as did Betty and Glenn. Our table was broken up, and we were down to the final two. Soon both Betty and Doc busted out, but Glenn and I were still in. When it was down to 12, I flopped top two pair in the BB (QJ). I went all-in, and the SB mulled it over for a century, then finally called. I already knew what he had. He is an older man, and shows his cards. I don't mean to look, but he and I were at the corner of the table, and they were just right there in my face, whenever I looked up to see the flop. I knew he had nothing. A gutshot, I think, with AT. The board first paired fives. Then on the river, the miracle ace. So he had aces and fives, I had my original queens and jacks. No low possible. I was out at 12th, by a very stupid call. That is why I so rarely see this guy in the money. Yes, he plays that badly. Glenn was at my table and rolled his eyes at me. We have both been burned by this guy before, but he is sweet and completely ignorant of the game, so there is nothing to say.

Glenn got busted out the very next hand after me, on the bubble. He had AAxxs. He was short and trying to double through. Instead, some crazy hand knocked him out, as normal.

So call us the bubble twins. But we had a great time, as usual, with great players.

Luckily Ali has been MIA for a couple of weeks, so we caught a break there. I don't know if he just went somewhere else, or if he got kicked out/warned/whatever. I'm just glad he's gone.

James was able to get to felicialee.net, so has read all of my latest posts. Of course he wasn't so glad to read about my whining, lol. He also knows why some of the things I completely don't "get" happen, and what can be done. Some of them are necessary, I guess, and he can't have it another way. Others are happening because he is so easy on his staff, and lets them get away with it. He says he is going to change this. I also told him that if he can explain some of the other things, that would help me quite a bit, in order to understand why some of them would be happening, yet nothing is being done. Go James!