Monday Night Muck Em - 2 Days Until Vegas

 

After getting 3rd Friday night, 1st last Monday, and a couple more 1sts and 2nds before that I was feeling pretty good going into Monday night.  Could I be double bounty when I get back from Vegas?

 

As we started out we had 13 players.  We started playing and for some reason, everybody was in a light mood, joking around and having a lot of fun.  At least I was. 

 

We lost 1 player before break.  My chip stack got low early as I was struggling just to win a hand.  I had to add on in order to be able to play without having to shove.  I tightened my range.  A couple players found out the hard way, as I won a couple monster stacks.  By break I had a massive stack. 

 

After break my hands weren't holding until the river.  I was betting large enough to get folds but they were still calling.  That works good until they catch on the river every time, or are ahead of you the whole way.  I had JJ and lost a huge pot on a 9 high board to QQ.  At the final table, I watched as some low chip stacks grew and large chip stacks got smaller. 

 

We finally made it to the bubble.  I took a couple stabs at the low stacks and lost.  I was now one of the low stacks.  I made it past the bubble bust and into what is usually the final level.  I was all in due to the blinds in the first hand of the level.  What a time to look down at AJ.  The small blind called and my A high wins. 

 

A couple hands later I see KQ and go all in.  This time I get a call from the BB that had slightly more chips than me.  She had A6 and hit an A out of the gate.  This is the first time I have gotten the min cash this year.  It was still good for some needed points and was slightly more than my buy in and add on.  With that 4th place finish I will be tied for 2nd in points for the year.  The first place points leader took 2nd this game so he pulled away even more.

 

This week is going quick with trying to get everything done at work to be able to take time off, as well as my after work activities.  Only 2 days left and I will be in the air.

 

Crazy Non Routine Weekend

 

Friday night I got off work and did not have any plans for the evening.  I checked with the wife and she said I could go play poker.  She gets 10% of my winnings and socks it away for mad money.  With the way I have been running lately she practically pushed me out the door.

 

I arrived for the game early and sat down to relax for a little bit before the game.  When the game started we only had around 14 players.  This is football season, and there were some other things going on in town so I thought that we might have a small crowd.  Over the next 2 hours of the buy in period I was surprised to see people keep coming in.

 

By the break we had 31 buy ins, this includes rebuys. 

 

Before break, I was running o.k.  I got a few hands that caught and took them down like I knew what I was doing.  Then I called a raise with pocket aces.  The flop came 10 high with two suited cards.  I bet big.  Call.  Turn was another low card.  I bet big.  Call.  River was a King.  This guy apparently caught a piece of the flop.  I checked the river and he goes all in.  My gut instinct cried out K10.  I called my entire stack to see K3.  He had a pair of threes on the flop and called down to the river.  I was going to end up getting some chips from this guy.  I rebought.  The next hand I look down at AA again.  There was a raise and a call ahead of me.  This time I bump it up.  A short stack called all in, and I scoop a decent pot.

 

By the time we got to break, I had doubled my stack.  After break another player started gunning for me.  This was good news for me.  I had chips and could wait on a hand.  Then it came.  I had AKs and raised.  He called and another player goes all in for double my raise.  I call and the guy that is out to get me goes all in.  This would about cripple me.  If he had any pair we would be flipping.  I folded.  I would still get to see his hand and have plenty of chips to find a better spot.  He turned over A9o and won the pot with A high.  Fiddlestix!

 

I saw him start to go all in any time he had an ace.  Then I get AQ.  I made a small raise and he goes all in.  I call for about half my stack.  He has AJ and hits a J on the river.  A couple hands later I get AK and raise again.  He goes all in.  I call and he has A7.  I double up to a pretty good stack again.  I get JJ shortly after that and raise.  This time he goes all in and I have him covered.  I call.  He has K3o.  This is a different guy than the one who got me earlier.  K3 is apparently the powerhand I have overlooked for years.  I spike a J out of the gate and now have a monster stack and my chip man is out of the game.

 

As we were nearing the final table, I stole a few blinds to maintain my stack.  We finally reached the final table and reached the money bubble quickly after that.  On one hand, a player went all in for the BB.  I hadn't looked at my cards yet, so I just checked it down with another player.  There was an ace on the board.  The all in player turned pocket K's over and I turned my cards over.  I had the Ace.

 

The playing got tough when we reached the final 3.  One player was about out and we tripled him up.  I couldn't get any hand that was higher than 8 high.  I stole a couple of blinds but knew I was going to get called soon.  Then I get Q5d.  Not a great hand, but I went for the steal again.  This time I got a call.  Flop was 2 diamonds on a non scary board.  I go all in.  He thinks about it for a while and says he is on a draw but had to call me.  He turned over 10 8 for an inside straight draw hand.  He hit a 10 on the turn and I didn't improve.  I was pleased to take 3rd. 

 

In the middle of the game I had called an all in with top two pair.  Other guy had a mid pocket pair.  There were two suited cards on the flop matching one of his pair.  Another of the suited card hits the turn.  Some player that was not in the hand calls out the suited card right as the dealer turns over the card.  There it is.  He wasn't in the hand but called for a card that kept a player in as we are getting close to the final table.  I started to wonder what his significant other looked like.  I got a smile on my face and told the other guy nice hand.  My mood lightened thanks to Rob's proposed rule.  See here

 

I ended up taking this guy out.  He had used his only call a card on a hand he was not in.

 

That night I got home around 1:00 AM.  That's pretty late for me anymore.  The next morning I needed to be up and out of the house by 7:00 A.M. to get on the road for my 2nd grader son's football game that was 2 hours away.  Everything is a long ways away when you live out here.

 

We got back that afternoon and I took a nap.  When I woke up I started watching season 4 of Breaking Bad.  I felt the need for a marathon, so I finished the season at 4:00 in the morning.  Really late for me.  My wife let me sleep in Sunday.  She's the best.  I got up, made lunch and then went into work to make up for Friday's hours that I will miss.

 

I needed a crazy non routine weekend. 

 

One Week Until Vegas

 

Next week at this time I will be on my way to Las Vegas.  It's going to be hard getting through my day to day routine knowing that I will be living large in just 1 week. 

 

I'm excited about waking up, hitting the ABC store for some OJ, mashing some buttons for a little while, figuring out where to go play for the day.  I'm excited to play a lot of poker, and make some sports bets, and eat wings and pizza while we watch some football.

 

We are even going to see a show this time.  In all of my trips, I have never made it to a show.  Harrah's had an offer for two free passes to Jubilee along with my room.

 

One more week! 

 

 

Monday Night Muck' Em K-State Visor

Last night we had another game of Monday Night Muck' Em.  I went through all my normal rituals before the game to ensure success.  With Vegas coming in a little over a week, I was hoping for a little extra money. 

First I ate a little pregame snack, followed by finding comfy yet intimidating clothing as well as my lucky K-State visor.  This thing had now been involved in 3 games without a loss.  I got to the game 30 minutes early so I could have my pregame puff and drink to relax before the action. 

I drew a good table and sat at the lucky seat.  Everything was going good.

There were 14 of us playing this night.  The first hand was dealt.  I don't remember what I had, but I took down a healthy pot.  You can't win all the hands if you don't win the first one right?  Or is it, if you catch early, you will lose late?  I go with, get what you can, when you can.  The next hand was an 8 3o.  I decided I wasn't going to waste chips trying to catch on ridiculous hands early.  Even though that seems to work well at this game.  I folded.

Sometime in that blind level, I looked down at J10s.  A Jack and 10 hit on the flop along with a low card.  Two of them were diamonds.  I bet about 5 bb's trying to get most everybody out of the hand except top pairs and chasers.  The next card was a diamond.  I bet out the same bet and was raised.  This player had previously in the year made moves like this without the flush.  He has gotten more solid lately and I knew he had the flush.  I called his double raise expecting fully to get out of the hand if a J or 10 did not hit on the river.  I should have folded but for some reason I really wanted to see that river.  It was a J.  I led out 10 bb's.  He hesitantly called.  I showed the boat and he showed his flush with straight flush draw.

From there the cards went dead until after break when we lost a few players.  I won some smaller pots and was sitting o.k.  Then the blinds started getting to the point where maintaining a stack was not an option.  It was time to play.  Fortunately for me, I got AA and was called by A10.  I later had KK and went all in for 2 bb's and got a fold. 

Finally the bubble burst and we were in the money.  It wasn't long after that when the cards decided  our placement in the money.  I won a three person all in with KQ  when my K hit eliminating 1 person.  The very next hand I had K10 and put the last player all in.  He called with QQ.  An unforeseen 4 cards to a flush appeared on the board matching my 10 of diamonds, giving me the victory.

I may wait to wear my k-state visor again until I'm in Vegas playing a big game.  4-0 while wearing the K-State visor.  If I think way back, I may have worn this thing 15 years ago when I won my first ever texas holdem home game.

Don't Miss Out on this Sale

 

Last week my wife went to Estes Park Colorado for work, leaving me in charge at the house until I left for my fishing tournament Friday morning.  My kids survived!  I wasn't sure one was going to, but she pulled through Friday after I left.  She got sick Thursday night and looked horribly miserable. 

 

On the way to the lake I passed by a new casino and had to stop in and check it out.  I had heard from somebody else that had stopped there recently that the quick hits machines were the only ones that were paying.  With 40.00 in hand I stopped at the quick hits machines.  I spun the wheel a few times and felt that they didn't want to pay me. 

 

I walked around for a little bit and saw an interesting row of machines that kept hitting bonuses.  A seat was open so I sat down.  I hit little bonus after little bonus until I had over 100.00.  I decided to see what other fun games they had.  THEN I SAW IT!  The Willy Wonka Machine. 

 

It was right next to the door and nobody was playing it.  I sat down and put my ticket in.  Then I proceeded to hit the button 100 times without a single bonus game and only minimal wins.  This Wonka machine was not kind to me.  I will be back someday and maybe then it will give me a chance.

 

I was back down to 60.00 and went back over to the machine that got me playing on casino money.  There was only one other person playing this time and the bonuses came a lot slower.  When I got down to 40.00 left, I got up in search of another game. 

 

Then I saw it, sitting there like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  A quick hits wheel game.  There were three machines and I sat at the one on the right.  As I did a couple of ladies sat at the other 2.  With 40.00 left I decided I was going to max bet myself to doom or glory. 

 

After 10 spins nothing.  Both ladies hit the wheel bonus.  I kept pressing the button.  I always sit at the wrong machine.  Then all of a sudden ding ding ding.  I hit the free spins bonus.  I got 10 spins at 2X pay out.  It spun and spun, with only little hits.  On either the last spin or next to the last spin the stars lined up - or symbols.  Boom!  I had hit for 169.00.  I played a few more spins then hit the cash out button at 160.00.

 

My fishing tournament did not go as well.  I did get paired up with a great guy that I found out is dating a girl from my wife's high school class.  Small world. 

 

I caught 1 keeper bass and finished 72nd in the tournament of 113, not anywhere close to the money.  That one little keeper did keep me in the top 40 for the year so I get to fish the regionals, which was my goal from the beginning of the season. 

 

At the regional I get to fish for a new Ranger bass boat.  I will be going down early to pre-fish this tournament.  I really want to win the boat and make it to the All American this year.  It's time I start stepping up my game. 

 

Last night I watched an episode of the FLW when they were at Sam Rayburn.  I will continue my studies for the next month.  I don't want to lose this thing because I wasn't prepared.  I will be prepared.  This may be my last year as a co-angler in the BFL.  Next year I am pushing myself to be a boater.  Winning a boat would make that a lot easier.

Monday Night Muck Em

Football season heated up with when we went to the hometown high school football game Friday night.  Actually it was quite cold and even though we had coats and blankets, I had to call it quits late in the 4th quarter as my son was freezing to death in the rain, cold and high winds.  Fall came with a fury. 

 

Saturday was a lot nicer for my son's football game.  He is a 2nd grader playing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade football.  He got to see a little playing time and did o.k.  He looked a bit confused, got tied up in a block when he was playing defense, luckily the running back went the other direction.  On offense he played a guard and would hit his block and let him roll off, one time resulting in a tackle for a loss on the other side of the field.  There's a lot to learn in football. 

 

He wanted to stick around and watch the 5th and 6th graders, so we stuck around and watched part of that game.  We had to leave after the first quarter since my wife and I were meeting a realtor for lunch to work out the details of an offer we were wanting to put on a house.

 

The offer was accepted.  We are going to have the house inspected prior to signing a contract, but it looks like we will be buying a house. 

 

Money will be getting a little bit tighter soon.  My savings has taken huge hits this summer.  A pickup, a house, vehicles in the shop, babysitters, daycare, extra expenses here and there and everywhere.  Such is life, I guess.  At least I will have cool stuff.

 

I was planning on buying a bass boat by the end of winter.  That may not happen for a while.  Maybe.  If I get my butt in gear I could make the extra money I would need for that by spring if I am willing to sell my current boat.

 

After football and our lunch on Saturday, I helped my wife's sister and brother in law move the rest of their stuff out of their old house.  That was 3 weekends in a row I have helped move somebody.  I should me all muscle by now, right?  I guess 16 years of neglect cannot be rectified in 3 weekends.

 

Sunday after church I got my son motivated to mow the three yards we take care of.  He started strong, but about a quarter of the way into it, his cousins showed up at the house, so I finished mowing and trimming 2 of the yards. 

 

They left shortly after that so we pushed the mower down the street to the third house.  As we got there I noticed that the yard had just been mowed.  Score.  I was tired and ready for a break after the 1st 2 yards.  There was still time to buy in to the Sunday game so I ran over and bought in for chips equal to the smallest stack. 

 

Dead cards and bad play had me rebuying quickly.  Same thing.  We passed the rebuy period and I made it down to final 5 or 6 and pushed with top pair and was called by a flush draw.  It is a winner take all tournament that sometimes gets chopped.  I needed chips to have a chance to get to that point.  The last 3 times I played I finished 3rd after a lot of play with nothing to show for it.  This time the flush got there and I was home early.

 

Monday night we had our weekly Muck Em game.  I made it to the first hand after break when I looked down at AQ of spades.  There were a few limpers before me, blinds at 500 1000 with 10 players left.  I went all in for 5500.  I was called by one player.  He tabled Q 5 of diamonds.  A queen hit first card out and was followed with a 2 3 4 6.  Saving the rungood for the next 2 weeks and Vegas.

 

This weekend I have a bass tournament down in Oklahoma at Grand Lake.  I have been watching the weather pretty close.  It is supposed to be rainy and cold Friday and stay cold on Saturday.  A cold front in the spring will usually shut down the fish.  In the fall it sometimes triggers a feeding frenzy.  I'm indifferent on how they bite, I just want to figure them out and catch some keepers and have a chance at placing in the money.  At least catch a keeper bass so that I can qualify to go to regionals at Sam Rayburn in Texas and fish for a new boat and a shot at the All American.

 

 

23 Days Until Vegas

After reading PPP's, Rob's, Coach's, TBC's, and Grrouchie's blogs about their adventure's and uniting in paradise this last week, I am more than ready for my upcoming trip.  It was quite fascinating reading material.  It also gave me a glimpse into the good life, holding me over until September 26th, when I can mash some buttons and play lots of pokerz. 

During my trip I will keep my eye out for lightning's Willie Wonka machine.

We did not have our weekly Monday Night Muck'em game this week due to the holiday.  Instead I played a Friday night game elsewhere.  It was rebuy night there, and the field had grown in size a bit.  My table was the crazy table.  At the 25 25 blind level my table was making 1000+ bets pre and post flop.

During the first 2 hours I got my chips in good 2 times after the flop, only to get drawn out on by the river.  My 2nd rebuy was going to be my last, as the chip stacks were dominating compared to the buy in by this point. 

Finally, my hands started holding.  My stack started to grow.  We made it to break.  No more rebuys.  Play slowed down.  It was normal poker again.  Sort of.  There was still some odd bet sizing coming out every once in a while. 

Players started going out.  It looked like we were paying 8.  The blinds went up.  We were down to about 13 players left when I looked down at pocket J's.  The player to my right raised all in.  I had just a few more chips than him so I went all in as well.  It folded to the BB that is as Rob says, "THE CRAZIAN".  He called.  The player to my right turned over his cards JJ.  I turned over my cards JJ.  The CRAZIAN turned over his cards AA.  I needed lots of hearts to fall out to have a chance.  Two on the flop.  One on the turn.  Blank on the river.  GG!  We were barely out when they made the final table and the next hand had the rest of them in the money.  I couldn't have folded JJ there and thought I would make the money.  I was waiting on that hand.

The funny thing is I had lost with pocket J's the first time I was ousted.  I had lost with them one other time as well.  We had also talked about a guy before the game that had went out early in the world series of poker with KK when the other callers had KK and AA. 

I have pretty much given up on online poker for this month.  I had a bad run a couple weeks ago and pretty much busted the rest of what I had online.  I don't want to deposit or play on there at the moment.  I will give it a break for the time being, until I am ready to try again.  I have live games that I would rather play.  They have provided my Vegas Roll for this trip, which will be quite a bit larger than any other time I have been to Vegas.  That's not saying much though.