I'm Back....

For the past week, I have been enjoying spring break. Last Thursday I got shelled in a game that I was not comfortable playing in. Not because I couldn't handle the play on the table, but because I didn't want to handle the play on the table. I took the longest break from poker I have had in two years (one week) and came back on a tear... or so I thought.

On Friday I met up with my dad to play in a 3/6 nl game with a bunch of residents of Panama City Beach Florida. The guys were really nice and I had a good time. Not to mention I came out of there with a little over 1300 bones. I bought in 200 and rolled through in about 4 or 5 hours. A couple of hands that were pretty interesting helped me get respect of the table, and allowed me to steal about 450 dollars in pots.

I picked up QQ in an early position and opened it up to 25 dollars. I short stacked player (who I had a great read on since he cracked my QQ earlier with K7o) shoved for 94 dollars. I was planning on calling him immediately until the guy to his left started debating on calling. Five minutes later I knew this bastard had a monster. He was the only relatively tight player on the table and had only raised a few pots and flashed top 4 every time. He started asking how much it was to him and counting out his remaining chips with a Hollywoodlike performance. Eventually he shoved for a round 180 dollars straight. I had 400.00 in front of me at the time and after much debate I said, "kings or aces are good," and I mucked the queens faceup in the muck.

Everyone on the table couldn't believe that I just mucked queens and of course, the guy had aces. The short stack had 1010 which was pretty close to what I put him on also. I felt prettyh good about the situation overall.

I started to feel pretty bad because for once in my life I was getting hit in the head with the deck.

I picked up 9c7c in a middle position and raised it up to 21. A new player that had a pretty tight image called me and the flop came 8s6d4h. I bet 30 and he called. The turn card came was another 6s. I bet 30 again and called. The river was my gin card a 5 of spades. I bet 100.00 into him and he began to act. He quietly said, "all in," and I jumped up in my chair. After talking to him and feeling him out I was sure he didn't boat me and I called the additional 94 dollars. He had the eight high straight holding A7 and I drug it.

The next day I participated in a 50 man 100 dollar buy in tournament. The blind structure was very slow, giving many players the opportunity to play that normally would be buried in a faster tournament. I am used to the faster structure, and after I went off to a soaring chip lead - I started to falter due to the time constraints.

I had around 70k in chips after the third hour, and put 1/5 of my stack at risk in a race situation with my AK in the sb against the bb's QQ. So, after that I was pretty flustered but managed to get to the final 11. We have been playing for around eight hours by now, and I was pretty exhausted considering I was not prepared for this long of a tournament and I was a spring break the night before. Still I managed to play pretty solid poker until I made a donkey play.

Late position raiser (who has exposed J10 and K3 in previous raises) makes it 4k with the blinds at 1k and 2k. Cut off called, button called, and I'm on the small blind with AcJc. I should of just mucked but of course, I called. I had around 29k left after calling and when I saw a jack on the flop, I just shoved under the gun with the attempt to scoop up the 25k in the middle already.

My reasoning for this move was we were so close to the bubble I knew that only aces or kings could call me. I was 100 percent positive that I was dragging the pot away from the other two callers but was a little worried about the late position raiser. I called the clock on him after he deliberated for a while and he called me with KK... bummer..... I still think that my play was correct considering the situation. I'm not there to make nineth, if I drag that pot uncontested I win the tournament hands down. Everyone else was playing tight to get to the money, you can't do that and win tournaments consistantly. Risks have to be made.

Now it's time to sharpen the tournament game. My dad and a couple of lawyers are planning on sending me to Vegas for the WSOP this summer to play in a few events, I am going to be playing only tournaments for the next two months. I'll keep everyone posted.

Until next time,
Matt

My God the Carnage!

I have been in a daze for weeks now, and I can't shake it. The only time my stomach doesn't hurt is when I'm shuffling chips on a card table. I truly feel alive. My reads on players have been great, and I am trying to improve my ten handed play. I'm just too aggressive for ten handed sometimes, six handed is where I shine. Still, I'm going to try and build my stack consistantly on a ten handed table. I made a huge hiccup after just sitting down, filling a seat on Monday. I was on the bb with 54o and proceeded to bluff 23 dollars (chump change, just filling a seat and providing entertainment to my clients) to Matt Sendral when he flopped QUAD THREES :( :( :( , It was so funny, when I moved in on the turn for thirteen he said "well cipes, I guess I have to call." hahahahah

Sunday sucked.... I played great at my house whipping up on my good ol' buddies Matthew and Andrew Munson, me and my room mate Tood "The Grinder" Shipes managed to both cash in over 100.00 a piece.

Well, I decided to go to the "gentlemens club" (which is Forrest's game, and we're now calling it that because it truly is a gentlemen's club) where I played heads up plo, holdem, limit holdem, and stud. Then I was convinced to sit at the 1/2 nl table where I lost my 75 dollar buy in when my top two pair ran into bottom set of threes.

Monday was better, we had an awesome game at my house. Ricky flopped the straight against my good ol' buddy TeddyKGB0504 (Brent Buzbee). Buzz had top set of queens and the board paired on the river giving Buzz a massive pot. Ricky recovered, and ended up rolling over my table. Bo Farlow's room mate cashed out over 200 bones, and there was around 8 or 9 hundred up for grabs. Not bad for a Monday afternoon at Disciple's house. I didn't get to defend my 2/3 tournament titles at Forrest's because my room mate Keegan wanted his cut for the rake so I without any money to spend on a fifty dollar buy in tournament. I mean, I could afford it but I'm really trying to build my roll so I can go out to Vegas this summer and play in a couple of events.

We're going to have a big game at my house again on Tuesday and this one should put me in great poker shape for the remainder of the week.

Make that dollar dollar bill yall
See you on the tables,
Cipes

PS - Congrats to my firend Shannon Shorr for making another impressive trip, Shannon you need to start staking me for some of these live tournaments, it could be highly profitible for you.

Rob involved in a big hand...He always is bluffing when he looks angry haha! 

Pictured Left to Right - Moss, Bently, Rob, Gunter, and Millard...  

Saturday Night Emergency Cash Game...

Eli....

So, it was Friday afternoon and my dealer Spiro and I were in the back watching television when I got a call. Eli was on the line, and he was asking for directions. Now allow me to introduce Eli. Eli hasn't played cards in three months because of an acute gambling disorder. He is flat broke, always in debt, and he is the most overly wreckless card player I have ever met in this city. I felt like I was the one that got the call when Andy Beal was coming to Vegas. I called up all of the rounders and told them that Eli was heading to the game. Rob has had the stomach flu all week so he hasn't participated until Friday.

I started it off with Eli really early. Every time I opened a pot, he'd come over the top of me. Very early during the cash game I picked up JcJs. I led out six dollars, (I had AK and QQ within the same hour and did the same, no one picked up on it, and I got paid.) Gunter moves all in for an unimportant 19 dollars and then Eli shoved all in for 42 dollars. I knew that I was ahead, and the situation scared me as well. If it wasn't Friday and I was not going to the bars, I would of called because the money was unimportant. So, I mucked the jacks. I call out loud, "AQ, KQ, or AK Eli?" he says, "KcQc" and some of the players are looking at me like I was crazy for laying it down. The way I saw it was, hey, I don't have to put all of my money in a cash game pre flop. I thought I could outplay him in a more favorable position. If you are a talented player, you dont want to play those big pots when you know that it is probably a coinflip. Gunter flipped over Ac7s. I ended up hitting quad jacks if I was in the hand, so it was pretty painful. I'm not too depressed over the fold. I have an incredible ritual I do whenever I get bad beated to alleviate steaming, I go get in the shower.

After I got out of the shower I was ready to play. I built my stack quickly up to 75 bucks. The table was pretty strong, and then there was Eli splashing in every pot. I picked up an interesting hand against two players that have it out for me, so I knew I would get paid if I hit it big. I had Kc8d in a late position and I raise it to four. Eli called and Graham limped and re raised to ten. I know I should of folded but there were four of my babies out in the middle and I had to defend them. Also, I knew that if I hit, he'd overcommit with a dominated hand thinking it's good... which he did.

Flop Kd10dKs

it went check, check, and then I checked....

Turn Qs

check, check, and I l ed out fifteen
call
call

"BLANK DEALER! was what I was thinking"

River 3h

check check led out fifteen
call
call.

Graham had JJ
Eli mucked...

To give Graham credit, he made a very good come back and got paid from eli back, then eli made a play on Graham. Eli re raised all in on a gut shot and Graham had a pair of deuces ( the pot was huge, this is how crazy the table was last night) Graham calls, and the gutshot falls.

Now we're four handed, and it's Rob, Eli, and myself. Rob and I are two of the toughest shorthanded because we play so much of it and we're real aggressive. I made it four to go off of the button with 6c4s, Eli called and Rob folded.

Flop 5s3c8d

Eli led out into the pot 7 and I opted to call.

Turn 2d... NUTS!!!

Eli did just what I hoped, he grabbed a ton of chips and shoved them in. He bet twenty, I went all in and he called! This guy is everywhere!

I won, and he got up.. .he still ended up winning 60 bones on the night. I sucked out on a big pot against Rob, but it was one of those things...

Me Jc8c
Rob Ad8s
Eli who knows

Rob raises it to four preflop and I call in position.

Flop 8d3s2d

Rob makes it fifteen, I push all in, Rob calls

Turn 9

River J

Sorry....

Until tomorrow,
Disciple

Thursday and Friday at My Place

Well it's been quite an interesting weekend for cards. I have had cash games at my house on both Thursday and Friday, and since I am about to go out for the evening I'm going to just talk about Thursday.

I flopped quads and got paid....

5h5c

Jim Schaffer opened preflop for six dollars with QcQd, I smooth called the six with the hand shown above. The flop comes 10c5s5d! Jim led into me for seven, and I just smooth called again. The turn was a 2c and he bet a sizable amount, in the attempt to drive me away. Jim bet out into me fifteen dollars and I started a hollywood act that people are still laughing about.

So eventually I called the turn bet. The river was a 7d and Jim immediately shoved, and I have never moved my chips into the middle that fast before in my life. Everyone started screaming and yelling, and it gave my ego a boost.

I ended up misplaying 1010 against Jim later in the evening and he got his vindication. I still was very happy with the hand but one mistake can cost you your roll. Luckally, I came out ontop a little bit and was ready for the onslaught that Friday would bring.

The table was actually pretty great on both days, last night being far more tight. Millard and Phillip, two Theta Chis managed to set the tempo with their tight play, most people just ducked and dodged. Drew Cheely still is furious over the fact that he can't take my game seriously enough to win consistantly. The thing is that even though my game is just a .50/1.00 nl table with a 100.00 max buy in, it's still poker. Drew played a lot better today, and he's even in the bigger game at Kaloosa as I type this. Spud was broke, so he sat in the back of my house playing Halo all alone. He wanted to deal, but I couldn't cut my dealer's time short.

Oh yea, my buddy Hagan Major put a domain name for this blog. If you would like to quick link me, my new blog address is http://assholepoker.com, yea I'm not kidding... go ahead, click it!

Over the past week, many people wanted for me to put up pictures of my poker room, and all of these characters that I talk about in action. We're starting that in my cash game on Sunday, hope yall enjoy it.

Until tomorrow,
Cipes

Happy Humpday!

So, Cheely and I got started early, in regards to both alcohol and poker. We played in a freeroll tournament at Jupiter Bar and Grill. It was pretty hilarious.... so we played there and went from bar to bar until the nine o-clock tournament started. I opted not to play in that one, I was having drinks with some friends and wasn't up to whining over a bad beat story for the whole evening. Later, I went to Forrest's game and played some heads up pot limit omaha and limit stud against Moss. Then I bought in 80.00 and played around for a little while, losing twenty bucks in the process. The game broke up around 1:30 and we all headed to my house to drink some more and play some online poker. I ran 21.00 on an omaha cash table up to 130 in a little under an hour only to lose it all in two pivotal pots. (If two eight outers don't hit on me, I have around 300.00 in front of me.) I know, I know, coulda woulda shoulda right? Well I was going to try and run it up quick by doubling up and raising the stakes each time. It's truly a fun test to do, and I have managed to do it before. It's risky though, but hey who cares right? That's pokah baby!


We have a raked game at my house at four, should be fun... and then I'm working at Venue until late tonight.


See you on the tables, whether it be online or in the real life...
Matt

Busy Tuesday

We had a raked game at my house for the first time in two weeks, and it was one of the bigger games I have had in quite some time. I decided to play and I was up and down all night, I was truly interested in some of the play at my house last night. A couple people really were trying to change the tempo of the game up to a looser speed but it just wasn't happening.

I put a lot of money in the middle on the fop with a straight draw, and I was forced to muck on the turn. I was low in chips and Spud, a local player, began berating me about my over aggressive play. Spud continued talking smack when actually I had a really conservative cash game strategy today. I was in a middle position and spud was in the BB. Spud looked over at my stack (all 23.00 of it) and said, "Disciple, just becuase you like to do this. I'm going to call your all in without looking at my cards. I know you're going to be going all in, and it seems like a Disciplish thing to do. Of course, this was awesome for me because I actually had enough money to make him hurt if I did double up. Also, I knew I was going up against a random hand, giving me about 25 percent more hand combinations I'm willing to push with. That very had I picked up QcQs.....

I shoved, and he called with J8... doubling me up to 46.00. Spud started with around 100.00, and he would eventually lose every dollar in front of him because of that stupid move.
Drew, Moss, Shipes, and Spud went to the big Kaloosa game while I stayed at my house only to see a whole new crew of Tuscaloosa card players joined the game. Spud busted out to Drew, losing another 100.00. Spud was only playing for a short amount of time, and considering the fact that he rode with Moss, he was just going to have to sit there for a little while. Spud began drinking beers when the owner of the game Mike, a slightly angry individual, asked him to come outside.

Mike told him, "If you're going to buy in for only 100.00 and bust out in the five minutes, don't sit up here and drink my beer all night."

THAT SHOULD BE THE QUOTE OF THE CENTURY.

We were eight handed when I decided to open it up a bit. I started making ridiculus bluffs and settled down at the right time. People loosened up, I tightened up, and started making some cash. I cashed out 120.00 (100.00 profit) and went out with the guys at midnight. We drank way too much, and came home only to play three handed SNGs until four a.m.

Oh... I love pokah.

Cashflow is getting solid again, looks like I'm heading to Philly Sunday.

Until tomorrow,
Cipes