Hella Hold'em

Wanna play some fantasy hockey? The One Eyed Jacks league is in its 2nd year. Come join us so I can kick all of your asses. All team management is done online. Email me for details - phlyersphan at gmail dott com

Ain't she gorgeous????




No broken screens here!!!

I have to get to work with the twist ties behind the equipment and clean up that mess, but otherwise I am in a state of pure HD bliss over here. Who cares if my FTP account is down to thirty bucks?? I HAVE A BIG SCREEN HDTV! w00t!

For those of you who haven't invested in Poker Tracker, here's a web site that will replay and animate any hand you've played (cash game or tourney) on Poker Stars - free. Just copy and paste your hand history into it. No downloads required - behold the power of the web! Animated poker hand replayer

Barney's blog isn't a bad read, either! :)

This past Monday, I went to Tweeter and purchased my first ever big screen TV. I got a Mitsubishi 57" DLP projection HDTV - model WD57732 for the videophiles out there. I was absolutely giddy.

Today, the most gorgeous TV I've ever seen was delivered. As the guys took it off of the truck and out of the box, they noticed a slight problem.

Half of the screen had been smashed in, presumably when the TV was loaded onto the truck.

Moment of silence for the big screen.

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They'll be back on Monday with a new TV. I think I finally understand what "blue balls" feel like.

Wow... I say all sorts of nice things about Full Tilt, and all I get in return is....

69 hands, -$169 at 3/6 LHE

I should have walked away after my very first hand. As a bit of history, I specifically chose a table where a known donkey-clown psychopathic maniac was seated, as he's always good for dropping a few hundo. I won't disclose his name here, though WillWonka mozied on over to my table and spent some time with my favorite FTP maniac as well.

My first hand: I raised preflop from late-middle position with 99 after it had been folded to me. Nutcase re-raised me, and I capped (hey, may as well get the money in in case I get lucky against this bozo). I flopped 2nd set on a board of 9-Q-2 rainbow. He bet. I raised. He 3-bet and I called. The turn came a 4, still rainbow. He checked, I bet, he raised, I called. Does this whackjob seriously have pocket Queens? The river came a ten. He bet. I saw the writing on the wall. The jackass was pushing his weight around all that time with a gutshot draw. Bastard's got KJ. I call. He sure did have KJ.

I reloaded and buckled in on my quest to get my money back from the joker, but alas, he hit and run, hanging around for a few more hands before blowing that pop stand. I watched my player list for a few minutes, hoping he'd sit down elsewhere so I could change tables, but no luck.

I didn't last long before my state of mind was so battered that I deemed it necessary to log off before I flushed my bankroll down the drain.

Oh well. Tomorrow, they say, is another day.

I hopped over to Poker Stars today for a little lunchtime change of pace (since my regular poker site is Full Tilt). Man... FTP has really spoiled me. It seems I am actively irritated by any software other than FTP. Full Tilt is smooth and slick... convenient and efficient... and the audio effects don't mimick nails down a chalkboard.

What can I say? I'm a Full Tilt Poker kinda girl.

Another poker nuisance this week... and all weeks really... I can never play in the WWdN tourneys, because I work on Tues and Thurs nights. Waaa. You peeps should make more Mon/Wed tourneys! Yeah! And how about on Full Tilt? LOL

OK I'm done amusing myself. It's time to go to work. Tomorrow, I'll be attending my 20th Dave Matthews Band show. I expect some insane inebriation. Until next time....

Reprinted from: How to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger

What a buzz all the bloggers are making these days! It seems like just about everybody is pouring their musings into a text box. Are you feeling tempted to start a blog of your own? Here are some ways to bypass the trend.

Warnings

• The information you post on the Internet is likely to linger for years and years to come, as web pages are archived by "snapshot" services like the Wayback Machine. Once it's out there, you can't take it back. An employer running a Google search on your name years down the line might be turned off by your now documented obsession with your cat.

Just so ya know I'm still playing some poker...

Amidst the insanity of selling my house, buying a new one, and moving this weekend, I did manage to play a little bit on Full Tilt Poker. I took 2nd place in a $36 turbo NLHE sit n go, and managed to squeak a nice little 16BB win out of a couple 3/6 LHE tables over about an hour's time. I miss the casino poker room dearly, and hopefully as things settle down a bit around here, I'll have more time to make the trek out to Resorts in Indiana. I heard that Horseshoe is supposed to open a big poker room sometime... vague recollection puts it at the end of this year? Don't quote me on that.

The house closings and the move went well. I've done some painting around here, and have begun the laborious task of unpacking. I have a lot of shit for one person! The good news is, DirecTV was already here (so I'm set for NHL Center Ice and the start of the hockey season), and the cable company hooked up my cable internet on Friday. I've got the home network all set up as well as the Vonage phones, and my office is mostly put back together.

The fun part is yet to come: shopping! On the shopping list:

- A big screen HDTV (I'm going for a DLP projection TV and am debating between the 65" screen and the 50-something" screen)
- A new entertainment center
- A new sectional couch

I've got the furniture all picked out. I just have to go buy it :)

Back to unpacking...

Lucky readers: today I share with you my "duh!" moment of the day.

Game: limit hold'em
Venue: online
Scenario: you are in the small blind and action has folded around to you

Tip: RAISE!

OK... so I've always kept in mind the strategy of raising when you're the BIG blind in this situation (as you'll have position on the small blind throughout the hand), but here's the thing with playing online... when multi-tabling, often people check their starting cards in the big blind and hit the check/fold button, thinking, "I'll see a flop if the pot is unraised, but it's not good enough of a hand to call a raise." I never thought much past that when I'm in the big blind. But today, I realized that since so many people click that check/fold button and shift their attention to their other table, a raise from the small blind triggers that insta-fold. If the big blind player isn't watching the table and uses thost auto-action checkboxes, you win.

I know. It's so obvious. I've now stopped using that auto-act check/fold button on hands that I might like to play heads-up. I still use it for hands I won't play no matter what, but otherwise I'll wait to act in turn - just in case action folds around to the small blind.

I had a fantastic 40 minutes at 3/6 today, nearly tripling my money. I'm wearing some lucky 4-leaf clover earrings that my mom got me from Ireland, and they've been granting me crazy luck! First my win Friday night, then a decent profit online last night, and today a SWEET win! I'm heading over to the Diamond game in a little bit... let's hope my luck continues! Mama needs a new couch! :)

As you might have noticed, it's been a cricket haven around here since the WPBT Summer Classic. August 2006 has been a pretty crazy month for me. It's going to go out like a lion, too - but that's OK.

When I got home from Vegas, I put the finishing touches on a deep-clean of my house, did a little staging and put my house on the market. You see - I'm currently in an adjustable rate mortgage, and I'm only locked in for another couple years. I want to lock in while the rates are still reasonable, and lock in for 30 years. Problem is, I've outgrown my house. When I investigated what kind of sales price I might get for this place (where I've lived for about 4 1/2 years now), I was floored. Cashing in on my equity to pay off some debt, invest a bit, and buy a bigger place was a no-brainer, and in the end, my monthly expenses will be less than they are now. Win-win.

I got 2 contracts on my house the first day it was on the market. I picked one and put up the sold sign. I'd already looked at some new places and had my heart set on a townhouse on a golf course, with a creek and the course as my back yard. My realtor said it's a great course (I don't golf), so it's not likely to get bulldozed and replaced with a WalMart. Sold. The rest of August was spent shmoozing with appraisers and home inspectors, and haggling with my buyers over miscellaneous crap. They ended up being the buyers from hell, but in light of the fact that this process is almost over, I'm going to try and stay upbeat in hopes that it will carry into some good karma and a smooth closing.

I close on my sale and my purchase at the end of this month. I'm moving the same day. It's gonna be a crazy day. I hired movers, though, because I'm too old to deal with that crap. I've learned the value of service in my old age.

I also went back to work mid-August. I've just finished my first week of classes. It's been a bit chaotic on that end, too, but since this is the weekend, I don't feel like rehashing anything that might bring me down. I'll leave work at work, for once.

ForPeyton.com has been a fantastic experience as well, and is the spearhead of a handful of web site projects I've been doing this month in my side-business. Nothing like being so busy your head might explode!

In terms of poker, I haven't made it out to the casinos this month. Actually, I took a cash advance from my bankroll to fix up my house to sell it. I plan to replenish from the proceeds of my house sale next week. I've been limited to online poker, of course at Full Tilt. I was doing quite well sticking to the "no cash games" rule in online poker. At the donkey limits (I play between 2/4 and 3/6 online), I just can't seem to outrun the luck of the fishes, despite the fact that my Poker Tracker stats are precisely where I want them to be. I haven't hit the 10,000 hand mark since my hard drive crashed last spring, though, so I need a bigger sample size to know if I'm really just getting unlucky. I crave limit hold'em, though, so despite the fact that the place I'm profitable online is in sit-n-go's, I can't help but sit down at the limit tables every so often.

Last night, I took down first place (out of 10) at my cousin's weekly drunken home game. I've been playing nearly every week there the entire summer, and this was my first win. The game is frequented by players who will routinely find themselves all in at the river, but have not yet looked at their cards. It's hard to outrun the lucky ones. The ironic thing last night was that I showed up without any cash on me, so I announced at the outset that I was going to win because that's the only way I wouldn't owe anybody money. I should show up penniless more often. It came down to me and my cousin Tracy. Luckily for me, she was quite drunk and I was getting quite lucky, so things went down pretty quickly.

Despite the fact that I still have a ridiculous amount of packing to do, I'm going to head over to the Diamond Game for a little poker action tomorrow afternoon. If today goes as planned, I'll be almost done packing. Then I can finish up Sunday morning, and hopefully spend Monday doing one last deep clean on the house. Tuesday and Wednesday I have to work, and the buyers will likely do a final walkthrough on Wednesday sometime, so I need to have the place ready to go by then. Thursday is The Big Day.

Here's hoping for a heavenly experience with the buyers from hell! I'll be back on the felt after Labor Day weekend - I promise!

Hmmm... OK don't read that subject line literally...

Poker bloggers extraordinaire, Bobby Bracelet and Donkey Puncher, have put together a HUGE package for your eBay bidding pleasure. It's so HUGE that I can't even tell you what's included.

Check it out and BID NOW on eBay!

The Bobby Bracelet/DP HUGE Package

You know the drill... fight cancer, help an adorable little girl, get some cool poker swag... BID NOW on eBay!

Even if you can't bid, you should at least go check out the listing for the autographed photo of Carlos Mortensen. Trust me.

This time up, Bobby Bracelet has procured a plethora of autographed CardPlayer Magazine covers from various poker pro's and hotties - hotties for the ladies, this time (and I ain't talkin' 'bout TJ!). These are framed and make great collector's pieces.

Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari

Michael Gracz

Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren

TJ Cloutier

Carlos Mortensen

Daniel Negreanu

David Williams

We also have two featured auctions:

First - an autographed cowboy hat from Kenna James!! No kidding, folks. This one is sweet!

Next - an autographed Full Tilt Poker jersey from Layne Flack. This auction also includes an autographed and framed cover feature photo from CardPlayer Magazine.

Last but not least... we have two more CardPlayer DVD packages to auction off: one with CardPlayer T-shirts and the other with Hellmuth's DVD and the Poker for Dummies DVD. Great gifts for new poker players!

The poker world has been very kind to donate such great items for this cause. Please be so kind as to BID HIGH and help us fight cancer and help secure little Peyton's future. Thanks!

Won a $10 SnG on Full Tilt tonight. My eyelids were drooping as I fired up FTP, so I'm not even entirely sure why I played... I was literally nodding off throughout the heads-up match! It was a good match though - swings back and forth, with some actual poker being played. Once again, I cannot recall my opponent's name.

I still have to get around to writing up my Vegas reports. Sorry guys and gals! I've been pretty busy getting my house on the market for sale since I got home from Sin City. Send me some good house mojo vibes if you have any to spare - it's been a crazy weekend and I hope to be signing some buying-and-selling papers on Monday! :)

I played a bit tonight on Full Tilt (thanks in part to the handsome new picture of Gus Hansen on the main lobby screen.... yum!) I managed to win one of those 6 handed NLHE $6 sit n go's where you win a $26 token. I like having tokens. They are nifty.

Yesterday I got crushed in back to back $20 SnG's, so I stepped back tonight to mingle with the scoobys. It paid off, and I actually enjoyed the heads-up match quite a bit. I always intend to come here and give kudos to my opponent, and for the life of me I can never remember their names. Oh well. Nice match, guy who was playing around 11pm tonight!

Just wanted to let ya's know that I haven't turned into an ebay entrepreneur. Still playing a little poker - though I haven't made it to the local card room in what seems like ages, thanks to them closing down Empress. (Yes, I'm still whining about that). Frown. One of these days I'll make it to Indiana, but not likely soon.

Why? 'Cuz I'm selling my house and movin' on up! Buying a bigger place that's closer to friends and family. Good stuff. It sure is keeping me busy. In fact, I have another showing in less than 12 hours. I'd better go get some zzz's. Night all!

C'mon, folks! Get your butts over to www.forpeyton.com and bid on some cool stuff to benefit an adorable little girl who lost her mother. FIGHT CANCER! It sucks and we can beat it IN OUR LIFETIME - with *your* help.

Bidding ends tomorrow!!!

If you missed out on the cool swag we auctioned off in Round 1 of the Auctions for Peyton, then hop to it and get in on the action in Round 2!

Here's what we've got up on eBay for your bidding pleasure:

CardPlayer package including Phil Hellmuth's DVD and Poker for Dummies DVD, and a 1 year CardPlayer Magazine subscription

A Duke basketball cap autographed by head coach Krzyzewski -

An autographed copy of Annie Duke's book in hardcover, plus her DVD

An autographed copy of Annie Duke's book in softcover, plus 2 DVD's including her Girl's Guide

A 2 hour poker lesson with poker pro Robert Mizrachi

Dinner and poker chat in Manhattan with poker pro Steve Zolotow

A package including a 1 Year Subscription to CardPlayer magazine, Phil Hellmuth's DVD, CardPlayer t-shirts and more

2 Tickets to attend Full Tilt Poker's WSOP 2006 Gala Event at PURE Nightclub at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

Invidation to attend Howard Lederer's 4th Annual WSOP (World Series of Beer) and Karaoke Championship in Las Vegas

Let's get it on! Support the cause. If you'd rather not bid, you can always send donations directly via ForPeyton.com. Thanks!

Donate to the ForPeyton.com fundraising drive to help out a little girl named Peyton Novoa and to fund research for small cell ovarian cancer. Place your bids now!

WHAT: Full Tilt Poker WSOP Gala Event
WHERE: Pure Nightclub - Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
WHEN: July 26, 2006 at 10pm

BID NOW ON eBAY!

Have you ever wanted to attend an event with professional poker players and celebrities? Well, here’s your chance! We have two of these invites to auction off, and you are not going to be disappointed.

You and a guest will be living the high life as guests at Full Tilt Poker’s Gala Event for this years World Series of Poker. Held at Pure, an amazing nightclub located in Caesers, mingle with professional poker players and celebrities while enjoying an open bar stocked with premium liquors and food as well. In case it interests you, the Pussycat Dolls will be there as well.

Just in case you’re the timid type when it comes to events like this, Gavin Smith - World Poker Tour Player of the Year and an all around great guy - has offered to introduce you to whoever you’d like.

Timing on this is tight because we just became aware of these generous gifts from Full Tilt and Gavin Smith, so get your bid in high and start planning your big night out!

We will ensure that the winning bidders will have their tickets waiting for them in the Full Tilt Poker suite located onsite at the World Series of Poker, Rio Casino & Hotel.

BID NOW ON eBAY!

Brought to you by the fine fellow with Huge Junk Confirmed Ad Infinitum, our favorite Spaceman, Gavin Smith, and Full Tilt Poker. (Me, I'm just the computer geek amongst us).