Hella Hold'em

Overview of the Ocean's Thirteen Darfur Charity Tournament:

These tournaments are special re-buy tournaments - the entire prize pool will be matched by PokerStars and donated to the Darfur relief efforts. At the conclusion of the event the prize pool, which will be temporarily awarded to the 1st place finisher, will be removed from the 1st place finisher's account. The amount will then be matched by PokerStars and sent forward to the Darfur charity. Thank you for participating — go re-buy crazy! — it's for a good cause. Good luck!

Date: May 27th 2007, 15:30 ET
Buy-in: $10 plus rebuys.
Prizes: Top 4 receive tickets to June 5th premiere in Los Angeles plus 2 nights hotel and $2k for travel/spending. Top 18 receive autographed copy of "Oceans 13" DVD. Total prize pool will go to charity. PokerStars will match the donation. The tournament is open to all players. Good luck!

Hey Chicago locals...

My friend Jim is hosting another charity poker game, this time to benefit another organization that is dear to my heart. Drop me a line if you're interested and want more details :)

$20/Re-buy No Limit Hold’em

Animal Welfare League Charity Tournament

Saturday, July 14^th @ 7:00pm

I'm watching the WPT episode from Bellagio (Fiesta del Lago or whatever it is - and don't tell me the ending cuz I'm only half way through it!) Just saw the hand where that Andreas kid had TT against David's 66 (ya know, the kid they keep referring to as a train conductor).

Yum!!! Isn't he just a cutie? And his fearless play with The Roman... I love it.

I think it's the hat.

I made it out to my friends' annual charity NLHE re-buy tourney to benefit the American Cancer Society last weekend. We raised $285 for the ACS - $50 more than last year. Thanks to Scott of the Diamond Games for hosting this year's event. It's a cause that's dear to my heart, as I lost my dad to cancer 7 years ago, amongst far too many other friends and relatives.

The game didn't start out too well. It was a $20 rebuy for the first hour of the event, and let's just say it cost me several rebuys to survive that hour. I must have been feeling *really* generous. Because the game went downhill so quickly for me, my notes got very sketchy (as I got too cranky to bother taking notes anymore). Actually, I did take some notes, but I can't find my notebook. :-/

Despite some nasty cards early on, I did make the final table, and right around that time, my hands turned good enough for me to get up to around 18BB. People started busting out, and I did some damage to Ed when my JJ held up against his pair (99 was it?) I took a few rounds of blinds raising with Ax, and the next thing you know, I'm heads up against Jim. He had me significantly outchipped, but I was happy to reach 2nd place, as I was (finally) in a position where I'd walk with a profit.

I went out with A8 vs Jim's A9, and that was all she wrote.

I am glad I managed to shove Shellmuth back in my pocket and get back to my game. My turn-around is proof that 1) my attitude can definitely derail my play, and 2) staying focused can absolutely turn things around.

I need to host a game soon. I've lived in the new house almost 9 months now and still haven't had a poker game. This summer, guys. I promise. How about a BBQ/poker game? We can call it, Carnivores' Delight!

Learned an interesting lesson last week at a poker game. NLHE, hosted by Ryan (a regular attendee of the Diamond games).

I'm in the big blind with two offsuit small cards. I see a flop in an unraised, multi-way pot. The flop is A-2-4.

It is checked to me.

I can't remember which two small cards I have. I think I might have flopped a straight.

Someone wiser than I might have checked their hole cards before deciding on action. I decide to check, and THEN check my hole cards.

I flopped the straight. And check-called the rest of the way, giving free cards that ended up allowing my opponent to catch up and make the 6 high straight.

Lesson: CHECK YOUR HOLE CARDS before acting! Sheesh.

That's the first bit of live poker I've played in a while. It's the first poker of any kind I played in April. Work has been a bit nutty.

You'll be glad to know that not only am I playing a SnG right now on Full Tilt, but I've only got 2 more weeks of work before my schedule dramatically decreases for the summer.

I'm still a ? re: Vegas this summer. Money's been tight. I'll try my damnedest!

My friend Scott who hosts the local Diamond game is holding a charity game this weekend to benefit the American Cancer Society. $20 rebuy NLHE. Jim of the Nice Table Games hosted it last year. We hope to carry on this tradition. Cancer is something that somehow seems to touch us all. If you haven't had cancer, you know someone who's been affected by it. I say we play some poker and kick this cancer thing to the curb! The way my crowd plays in rebuys, we should have a nice juicy donation by the end of the night.

Back to folding on Full Tilt...