Who Wears the Poker Pants?

It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally updating my blog.  Sorry it took so long!

I haven't updated the blog lately, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been anything happening!

First of all, I have to lament the loss of PokerWire radio.  Thanks to the WPT and the WSOP having such draconian press rules, Gavin and Joe weren't able to continue covering the tournament scene.  There really aren't any good poker podcasts left.  Also on the pro scene, Jerry Yang won the WSOP Main Event.  He's an amateur and not the best player at the final table, but he's a good person to have won.  He's a refugee from Cambodia who is now a social worker and said he plans to use the money to help a lot of people.

In more local poker news, Jana and I have been playing some internet poker.  I've had some really good showings but they've been offset by running really bad.  Lately it seems like everything I do is sabotaged.  I'll keep the chip lead for 90% of the tournament but then end up getting my pocket kings cracked by some idiot who goes all in with no pair no draw and rivers an ace or calls off all his chips with one card to come and rivers a 10 high flush.  It's really frustrating.  On the other hand, I've been doing really good in heads up games.  Basically, I'll win a bunch of heads up matches and then I play bigger tournaments and lose it back. 

My best showing, though, was in a 300 player rebuy tournament.  I never had to rebuy and made it to 10th place.  That was another really frustrating beat.  I was in second place and the only guy in the tournament who could bust me somehow finds a way to get all his chips in against me with Q-10.  Did I mention he had no pair and no draw?  I had a pair of Jacks.  I think you can guess what the river card was.  It's insane.  3 cards in the deck could beat me, which means after the flop I was about a 90% favorite.  I WANT these bad players at my table, but lately it seems like I just keep getting stuck when I'm in a commanding lead.

Enough of the bad beat stories.  The REAL poker news is about who really wears the poker pants in the family.  Jana's dad came down last week and the three of us entered Terrible's Monday night tournament.  I went out about 5th or so in the entire tournament.  I just couldn't get anything started and slowly dwindled away.  About 10 minutes later Jerry was out.  That left Jana.

I was nervous for her, since this was her first live tournament at a casino, but she seemed to be doing okay.  I kept coming back to look, but I didn't want her to see me and get nervous.  I checked back and they were going to the final table.  Later I came back and there were only five players left.  I moved around to see her chip stack and she had more chips than anyone!

I finally came back and saw four people left and Jana had a huge chip stack!  Something odd was going on, though, and I went up to see what was going on.  The tournament only pays 3 spots, and it turns out the last 4 people (Jana included) decided to make a deal and split the pot up so that nobody got knocked out before the money.  Jana did have the chip lead at the time, though, so to me that is as good as a win.  I'm extremely proud of her!

I have to talk to Jana and see if she'll let me keep the page named "Tom's Poker Corner."  If not, you might be reading "Jana's Poker Corner" next time.

The weekend after next is the big poker tournament in North Liberty that Steve, Jerry, and I are all playing.  Wish us luck!

Comments (1)

Top of Page

And The Winner Is....

Congratulations to Jerry Klingbeil for stomping me in our 'rubber match'.  I know it's been a while since we actually played, but I'm just now getting around to updating the blog.  Our tie breaker started out as a game of dealer calls it, and we messed around with a few games.  We even played a little Badugi.  Eventually, though, we settled into a game that we both liked...triple draw.  It's basically draw poker with three draws but the object is to make the lowest hand rather than the highest.  I was playing with my strategy of standing pat on a 10 or better as long as Jerry was still drawing, but it really didn't work out like I'd hoped.  I was hoping that more often than not he'd either draw a face card or pair up and I'd get the pot.  It was a blast, though.  I'm sure there will be more heads up competition in our future.

I haven't been playing any live poker lately, but this weekend I played quite a few online tournaments.  Unfortunately, the current face of online poker makes it pretty hard to get money in and out of the poker sites, so I've been reduced to playing freerolls just trying to get some cash.  I've been doing alright in them, but since they normally only pay 20 or so players, I've not cashed in any of them.  My best placing was probably the 222nd place finish in a field of over 4000 players.  It's not like playing a tournament I've bought into, since the players tend to get a little (by which I mean exponentially) crazier in freerolls, but at least it's feeding my poker jones.

The World Series of Poker is just around the corner, and it's going to be really interesting.  I can't wait for all the tournament coverage to start.  I'm really looking forward to watching the HORSE event on TV as well, even though that will be a while.  They made a change that leaves me scratching my head.  Alot of people complained about the lower buy-in events not having enough play to them since the chips the players get are equal to the amount they buy in for.  In response, the WSOP has doubled the starting chips, which at first glance is great.  More chips means more poker to be played.  The only problem is that they also doubled the blind levels.  This means the number of chips compared to the blinds is exactly what it used to be, which means the change did absolutely nothing.  I guess maybe it will make the less experienced players feel like they have more chips to get creative with, but it really doesn't change a thing for anyone who recognizes the ratio of blinds to chipstack.

Thanks for reading my thoughts.  See you next time!

Comments (4)

Top of Page

Adventures In Poker

So what is this blog about?  Don't worry--I don't have delusions of being a poker expert.  I'm not planning on trying to teach you how to play.  It just so happens that one of my interests is poker, and this is just my little spot to talk about my hobby.

Jana and I are watching the best poker on TV right now.  Game Show Network's High Stakes Poker is an awesome show.  It shows some of the best pros in the game playing in a cash game (not a tournament) for some huge stakes (there are several million dollars on the table at any given time).  It also has Jana's favorite poker announcer, Gabe Kaplan (yes, that's none other than Mr. Kotter).

My two home games have been pretty quiet lately.  It's kind of a bummer, too--one game had started playing a little Omaha, which is a great game.  It's like Hold 'Em, but you get 4 cards instead of 2 and you have to make the best 5 card hand using exactly 2 from your hand and 3 from the board.  It's a pretty cool game.  The only poker I've been playing lately is the Monday night tournament at Terrible's.  Jerry (Jana's Dad) and I have gone down to play there a couple of times and we've really enjoyed it.  It's a $25 buy in Hold 'Em tournament that's limited to 24 people, but the blinds double every 20 minutes.  It's such a fast blind structure that there's not alot of play there, but the time before last Jerry and I ended up getting pretty far.  Jerry made it to 4th place and I made it to 3rd.  They paid 3 places, so I was able to make the money, but Jerry bubbled out.  It would have been great if we could have both made it, but there was one guy with almost no money who just kept catching cards--in fact, he was nearly out and ended up busting both of us!

My big hand that tournament was when I called a small raise out of the big blind with A-7.  There were 3 other people in the pot at the time, and the flop was Ace-Ace-10.  Sweet!  I flopped trips!  I bet, 2 others folded, and the last guy called me, saying "what's your kicker?"  If he wasn't lying, I didn't have a huge chance of beating him, since my kicker was the lowly 7, but I figured there wasn't a huge chance of him having an ace as well.  The turn was a 2, which did nothing.  I checked, hoping he'd bluff at me.  He put out a small bet, so I called it.  The river brought my absolute gin card--the case Ace!  I had quads and had to hope he had a big pair for a full house.  I checked--if I was thinking, I'd have said something like "how full is your house" making him think I had the 10, but I was only thinking "Jackpot!"  He bet big into me, which let me raise him on the end.  I didn't quite put him all in, hoping he'd be able to call me knowing he wouldn't be dead if I did have the Ace.  Turns out he had a pair of Queens, so he had to call, but my 4 of a kind couldn't be beat.  After that, I had enough chips to buy pots without many huge hands and was able to make it to the money.

Jerry's last hand was pretty huge as well.  With 4 people left, he opened from under the gun with a raise, and the chip leader at the time went all in.  He ended up making a great decision and called with his pair of 6s, which put the chip leader at a 10-1 disadvantage with a pair of 3s.  The bad luck hit, though, and a 3 came on the flop, knocking Jerry out just before the money.  If he'd have won that hand, he'd have been in GREAT shape, but luck wasn't on his side.

Last time wasn't quite as good of a showing, but we still played well.  It was on my birthday and I hoped to win as a birthday present, but it was not to be.  I ended up getting knocked out somewhere around middle of the pack.  For a while I was sitting with a really healthy stack, but I kept getting knocked around by a guy who seemed to call everything I bet and making a hand on the river.  Eventually my pair of 4s got run down by Q-8 (and yes, it was on the river again) and I was out.

That's about all the poker news I have for now.  Once we play again, I'll update the page with my newest news.  Jerry is coming down this weekend, so we may make next Monday's tournament as well.  If we make it, I hope to bring you some great stories of brilliant play--or at least a case of exceptional luck!

Comments (0)

Top of Page