2008 Main Line Poker Club

January 28 2008
The new chips have arrived. There's enough for a 50-person tournament at 10,000 stacks, rounds defined as the AC Showboat.
I've been on forced-abstinence since Thursday night in order to get sleep before tonight's home game. Feeling pretty good.


An open letter to tonight's host:

Dear Mr. S,

Tonight I will be coming to your house to eat your pizza, drink your beverages, and win all your and your guests' money. Please don't take this personally, as I do this to all of the hosts. They tell me it's an enjoyable social event nonetheless. May you find solace in this as well.

Sincerely,
KingPrussia

OK trash talking aside, B.S was very gracious to open up his house to us for a very late evening. He continued the trend of hosts finishing ITM. The games played tight and so we saw blind levels and game lengths we've never seen. It felt great to be back at the felt. I think I played well in terms of playing each hand appropriately given my position and stack. I bubbled the first game, took second in games two and three. We were again entertained by J.S.'s not-always-useful-but-somehow-interesting factoids that seem to have their origins from the undersides of Snapple caps.

There was luck abounding on both sides tonight. My homeys are giving me a hard time and insist that I chronicle my suckouts because they still consider me a whiner about all my bad beats and accuse me of suffering from "selective memory". Apparently I evened up the score quite a bit tonight. The truth is, I haven't whined since October when I discovered their sentiment towards me and I realized I had to stop such foolishness and grow up. I blogged about this but I'm sure they suffer from "selective reading" or have not read it. I'm now more of a bot, playing hands how I think they should be played given the context and I really could care less what the outcome is. [Editor's note: if they saw the two suckouts I just hit on Stars they would NEVER let me live it down! All I can eat baby!!]

In game one I push KTo as short stack and get a board xxxxT to beat 55. How was I supposed to know B.S. wanted to race with a small pair? It was either game one or two that I flat a 3BB MP raise from M.B. with A8s (way below my range here - don't know what I was thinking). I flop an A and M.B. mucks QQ.

In game two I run 99 into KK but turn a set. B.D. says he hit sets 60% of time in the next game, but I get one and all of a sudden I'm the suckout king. I also survive when I get my short stack in against I.B. who dominates my A8 with AK, but the board comes x2435 for a chop.

In the third game I get great cards for a nice chip lead. J.S. claims he folded AQ to my 5BB 3-bet as my AA takes the pot, but I have a hard time believing that. Then again, he shows up with an old-school white WaWa lid rather than the new black ones which are clearly superior. B.D. jinxes me prior to departing, just as he jinxed my Green Bay Packers, and I lose the lead and actually end up fighting to stay ITM. I donk off a good amount chasing a flush draw vs F.B.

But bad luck strikes accomplished veteran M.B. against whom I shove KQs to his A8 and his flopped two pair fall to my runner-runner diamond flush. To add insult to injury, M.B. takes a strong Jack against J.S. who throws in the towel with J2 only to hit a river 2. The crowd went wild. The final blow however was M.B. shoving JJ into J.S.'s 99 which turned a set to bust M.B. Swings like this are not easy to take, especially given that M.B. did not cash any game and J.S. took down not one but two first-place finishes for the night. Just doesn't seem fair!

OBSERVATIONS
I thought I played my short-stack well in game one, but did not get the ITM result I was after. Conversely, I think I played my big-stack well in game three, but in addition to going card dead for a long stretch, I chased a flush draw and did not play back at F.B. at crucial moments, which doomed me to second. Mistakes cost you first place.

I thought M.B. played the third game superbly. He took control of the betting and played position great.
B.D. played good, aggressive poker the whole night and the results reflect that. Two first place finishes is a rare and difficult feat.
B.S. played consistently - two ITM finishes is always impressive.

S.H. and I.B. did not cash, but given that the level of skill in the group is about even, it's understandable that J.S. and R.W. would rebound from a dry spell while others will not cash from time to time.

The night actually did not end for I.B. at 12am like it did for the rest of us. This highly sought after subject of sleep deprivation research actually left our home game to go to Atlantic City on his way home to Washington D.C.

Came down to AC and finished my proposal around 2 am, thought about going to bed and getting up fresh for a tournament but then decided to wander down to the poker room to see the action. After watching some tables, thought I would unwind for an hour or so by playing some 1/2 nl and then go to bed. Lost $180 in the first 40 minutes but then went on a tear and after about 2 more hours I was the big stack at the table. Finally came to bed around 7 am after cashing for $780 net.

The rest of us decided to go home and get ready for work. When I reached in my pocket for some newly-won gas money, I was reminded how top-heavy the payout is, and how you really have to play for the win. Congrats to J.S. "SnappleCap", rested up from a South America vacation, who dominated for the second consecutive session.

Not that I'm the best person to give out advice, but I found Playing Hands that are Favorites to Win a great read and it's helped my perspective quite a bit.

Here are the results:
Game #1: 1) J.S. & B.D. 3) B.S.
Game #2: 1) B.D. 2) R.W. 3) B.S.
Game #3: 1) J.S. 2) R.W. 3) F.B.

Don't know if there will be another home game for me before the Conshy Classic. If we go ahead with it, I may just sit that night out.

There are rumors that S.H. and I.B. will play some WSOP events this summer. Would love to rail that, but I'll post their stack updates here as the rest of us play vicariously through them.

Tonight we learned that if MLPs don't perform better in the near future, we may find J.S. dealing texas holdem in Atlantic City.

---

January 14 2008
Yours truly was too ill to attend. Host J.S. played to his home felt advantage, cashing all three games. Results are sketchy, as I wasn't there to witness them.
Game 1: 1)J.S. 2)T.R. & I.B.
Game 2: 1)J.S. 2)W.E. & S.L.
Game 3: 1)S.H. & M.D. 3)J.S.