Poker Bloggers invade Commerce

“Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling in them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.”
–Richard E. Byrd
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for about 3 weeks now, but things finally seem to be settling down a bit, so I thought I’d throw up a quick post for anybody who’s interested. After two and a half years of accumulating mental and physical dust working for the hospital, I finally stood up and brushed myself off. This week was filled with the new and different– a new job and a new home, both of them much more enjoyable than the old. I’m still getting adjusted, but the change is good, and forces me to put my foot on the accelerator rather than taking advantage of the inertia that grows after 2 years doing the same thing.
Anyway, I’m exhausted, but here is a quick summary of the past week:
Friday
–12 PM: Finish the project I’ve been working on for 2 years. I’m ecstatic because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get it done, but the wrinkles seemed to iron themselves out at the last minute and I was able to leave the job with a sense of closure and completion.
–7 PM: Pick up Al and Eva of the Can’t Hang Clan at LAX. We head to Commerce and end up having a 3 hour dinner which was filled with top-notch poker bloggers and many SoCo double shots (thankfully yours truly was driving). The infamous slotmaster was the first to join us after a 5 hour drive in from the city of sin. Next came Glenn and Felicia, fresh from crushing the satellites all day. And last but not least came Grubette, who had reluctantly left a soft Omaha game.
As I happily enjoyed my prize for almost guessing Grubette’s hand in an earlier hand of the week, I sat back and enjoyed the conversation. I can’t remember all the topics of conversation, but you can’t go wrong when everybody at the table is smart and funny. I particulary enjoyed discussing the traditionally “degenerate” forms of gambling with Grubby… we ran the gamut of conversation from online blackjack to the EV of slots tourneys, and concluded… absolutely nothing.
–1 AM: Play some $100 NL with Eva, Al, and Grubby. I manage to double up twice against the table maniac, and he promptly takes his maniac ball and goes home. After that the table was tighter than Dutch Boyd’s bank account, so I headed for greener pastures.
And found them at the 20-40 game in the next room over. After watching my buddy Shawn crush the 40-80 game for a bit upon entering the casino, I was inspired, and managed to win a couple big pots to earn my buy in for Saturday’s tourney. Unfortunately the table broke soon after (I was about to fall asleep anyway), so I racked up my chips and headed for home, excited for the tourney tomorrow.
Apologies, but brevity is the soul of wit. Plus I’m exhausted.
Of course, Al’s writeup is far better than mine. I’m going to take the liberty of stealing my favorite parts rather than actually writing something original.
Oddly enough, at 2am-ish on a Friday night, there was no waiting for the $100 NLHE game (2/3 blinds). Weird game considering the min-raise to get any respect pre-flop was in the $20 range.
I took the 7s with Grubby already occupying the 4s(?). To Grubby’s left was the biggest maniac to ever earn the title. At the $100 max buy-in game, he had to have at least a grand sitting in front on him. He gave no worries to the size of the pot. Once HDub took the 10s, we actually witnessed maniac man push $50 in UTG to pull $4 (Commerce rakes a buck from the small blind immediately upon posting).
The guy was nuts and the entire table was waiting to catch a hand to get a piece of his stack. HDub was the lottery winner in back-to-back hands. The first one when maniac pushed Hank all-in with an AJx flop. Hank thought for a while, mentioned he thought he was probably beat, but called anyway. Maniac had nothing except second pair and Hank doubles up. The very next hand Maniac limps in with KK and gets crushed by Hanks Q8 when two 8’s hit the flop.

Note: I’d set the maniac up by folding pocket tens to his big flop raise a couple hands before. After re-raising maniac to $50 preflop with TT, I checked the Q J x flop and mucked when maniac bet $50 on the turn. I may have been good here, but I think this play set him up for his all in bluff on the hand mentioned here. I limped with ATo and called his all-in on a A J 5 flop. I was worried about 55 or even J5, but I felt like I was good. He showed a J as he mucked, and the next hand he limped with KK only to have me flop trip 8s. Thank you maniac.
Another double up for Hank. Maniac decided he was taking his ball and going home. Hank took off for the super juicy 20/40 game. But not before the hand…..
(and I’m sure he’s tired of hearing this story)

Note: I am tired of hearing it. And now I have to read it.

As he is getting ready to leave he decided to play on more hand. In the BB, I look down to find a beautiful diamond-hearted red Hammer. A couple of limpers and I raise because I know that you must voluntarily put money in pre-flop to qualify as a proper Hammer hand.
Hank calls and I believe one other. When the flop comes out 7 high, I bet out and everyone folds. Hank just chuckled when I flipped over the Hammer. He grabbed his chips and went searching for bigger fish. About two hands later, the guy to my left asked me if I realized the 72o is the worst starting hand. I’m still not sure if he bought my response, “Oh really?”

Note: Al played this perfectly, raising from the BB after I limped in with AJ. I put him on a middle pair, and never considered the hammer. I guess I haven’t been playing enough at the blogger table. Anyway, I felt like someone had pulled my pants down when Al showed the hammer. I promise revenge…

After a couple more hours of play, a beat up (but richer) HDub shows up and we call it a night/morning. 6:30am body time and I’m not feeling that tired. The next day, tourney time!

Next up:
–More bloggers
–Surviving the Pros
–A 4 hour Move
–My First week on Full Tilt