Recap of 2 home poker games in '07

We've played two nights so far in 2007, with good turnouts both times!

In the first game on Thursday the 11th, Ian took me out in the big game on one of the first hands of heads-up. I had Q-9, and the flop was K-Q-9. I checked, he bet, I raised all-in, and he called me with K-K! I was drawing dead to running Queens or 9's, or running 10-J for a split. No such luck. Corky finished 3rd.

Six of us stuck around for a quick game 2. I was first to get bounced out, and I decided to pay a visit to my girlfriend M's house and let the guys close up my house for me when they were done. Apparently Mark and Mike chopped the 1st/2nd prize money, after Ian broke even by taking down 3rd place. The next morning, I came home to find a wad of rain-soaked toilet paper next to my Japanese maple tree. I had told them to put the house key next to the tree, but I wasn't really sure what I was going to find in the toilet paper, especially knowing that Corky was probably involved in the process. Whew, it was the key...

Last Friday, we had 11 players, but decided to squeeze around one table instead of two. Corky played for a total of no more than 20 minutes in two games combined, in the usual Corky fashion. The scary thing is, whenever he survives the first level, he's more likely to win it all than anyone. I didn't even sniff at the money in either game. The first one was a winner-take-all/chop game, and Ryan sat on a short stack for almost the whole time until rallying to win the most money. 5 others got a pretty decent piece of the prize pool.

In game 2, I don't have a great recollection of the hands played, thanks to the empty pitcher of White Russians and the stack of Miller High Life empties. I busted out by making an all-in flop raise with a stone cold bluff against Darren, who called me with just Ace high. He had to have picked up on a tell, although the bet was a little strange, not so much by the amount, but it probably looked like a "I don't want you to call me" bet. Still, a gutsy call by Darren. "Nice hand, good game, I'll go home now." Oops, I'm already home.

Greg got third place but deserved much more. Jeff had him out-chipped by a little, and the two got in a raise-fest preflop, which ended up all-in with Jeff showing A-Q and Greg with A-A. There was brief discussion before the flop about how Jeff could win the hand, which is only about 10% (by either hitting trip Queens or a straight or flush.) Well, he didn't hit any of those, he got QUAD QUEENS, and Greg was out. Later, Jeff got it all-in again preflop against Darren, again as an underdog with Q-3, and hit a full house. Game over!

I'm keeping track of a new player standings race for 2007. The formula is kind of halfway between an average and a total -- here are the current Top 3:

1) 1624 Jeff B.
2) 1310 Ian B.
3) 1089 Greg P.

Haven't figured out what the winner will get...maybe uninvited in 2008?

Looks like a small game tomorrow night. We only have 4 so far, doesn't look good for many more... :(

Feelin' Bloggy

Hey all. It's been about 13 months since I removed my old poker blog on this site. I had fun posting to it though. If I recall correctly, I deleted the blog because I was convinced that the blog was angering the poker gods, and I was getting the feeling that those who read the blog thought that poker was the only important thing in my life. At the time, there was maybe some truth to that...

So here's the new blog, which will probably still contain some poker stuff. But as of this past Saturday, I've quit online poker, so the fodder for a poker blog would be greatly reduced anyway. I quit playing online not because of the new U.S. laws, nor was I losing miserably, but for the following two reasons: at times it was consuming too much of my free time for me to lead a normal life, and in support of someone special in my life who is in the process of quitting a different addiction. I had only played a total of 4 or 5 hours in the past few weeks anyway, but I could feel the bug about to hit me again sometime soon.

My life is very exciting right now! (Maybe that's why I decided to start the blog, to crow a little bit. If things take a turn for the worse or for the mundane, the posts may be few and far between, but for now I feel like climbing up on my rooftop and yelling.

Speaking of which, there's big news on the near horizon! Those that know me well might know what I'm talking about. As soon as things are official, I will gladly dedicate a post to it. For now, I'll be tight-lipped, at least online. (Tight-keyboarded?)

Currently, I am in my second semester of grad school at GVSU. I'm going for my Masters in Biostatistics, which I should secure in April of next year. From there, ideally a job in medical research somewhere in the area. I'm NOT moving away from here, despite the temptations to do so when it's supposed to be 20 degrees and snowing for the foreseeable future. I was always an underachieving student in high school and college, but I had my first-ever 4.0 GPA semester this past fall!

That being said, I will post this message and then a poker post. :)