A Tale of Two Hands...

  Today, yesterday now, I had the opportunity to participate in an annual New Years Day tourney.This was the 6th annual and my third. Good times...good times! Started the day meeting up with my bro' Tripjax at a local bar...Wild Ace Pizza and Pub. Had a calzone and several "hazed and infused" drafts. Gooood stuff. Then finished it all off with two shots of Evan Williams Honey Reserve Bourbon, even better stuff. If you are ever in Greer, S.C. Wild Aces is a great spot to hang out. Great food and plenty of options of cold beverages.
   Anyway, back to the purpose of the post.  After looking back over my tourney play there are two hands that I will remember most. The first one is being dealt as the announcement that the next hand will be "the final table". At this point I have about 15k in chips and I'm the dealer. First to act goes all-in which is about half my stack and I am ready to call, until  there is a snap call from the chip leader at the table. As the action folds to me I look down at AK. If I call I put my tournament life at risk. Win the hand I am the chip leader ,or close, going to the final table. Lose the hand and I go short stacked. I FOLD.  I show my cards as I fold and get ribbed for it. I proceed to deal and the flop comes A9K...J..K! Wow, what I would do to have that hand back. Well, about 2 hours later and being 1 of 3 remaining in the tourney I am dealt that hand again, AK. Again I have about 15k but in the big blind this time. First to act folds and small blind put out a bet that put me close enough to all-in as you can get. This time, and it being only the second time I get AK in the whole tourney, I go all-in. Of course chip leader calls, by the way, same chip leader as earlier. This time I feel pretty good, look down to see AK suited vs. A 10 off. All goes well until the river, and I exit in third place to a 10. In hindsight I CALL hand 1 and fold hand 2. Do it all over again....I play both hands the same way I did.
   Got NO complaints here though. Had a GREAT time! Couldn't ask for a better group of people to hang out and play cards with, and the hosts...  they are AWESOME!!! Thanks for opening up your home to us. Cant wait to do it again. Gotta go for now, my bed is calling me...calling me a fool for not being in it. Good night to all and all the best in 2010!    -chapel out-

"Is there anybody... out there?"

Well, hello there! As you can see I have not had very much time to give to my blog here lately. Lots of other more important stuff to deal with and take care of. Had a minute tonight to actually get on the computer and browse, so I thought I would drop by my own blog for a moment and see if it still existed. Can't believe it's still here. Hope to be able to throw some stuff at ya real soon.! But for now, I must move on and help with homework. ---chapel, out.---

Crushed by Three's times Four.....Twice!

Tonight I played in three tournaments. One hosted by Pokerbling.com (great job Daveeyboy), which I have been playing for about 6 weeks now. Usually about 25 or so players. Great bunch and highly competitive. Each night there is a usual payout ($10+$1 buy-in) AND the host of the tournament, Daveeyboy, provides a bracelet from his .com site (Pokerbling.com). If there are any hosts of tournaments that want to add an extra bonus to their tourney you should check out his site. Anyway... was playing pretty good early and made it to the first break but after the break all went down hill from there. My KK runs into AA depleting 1/2 of my stack and then two hands later and two hands in a row my flopped sets meet up with rivered higher sets. Oh well!
As I am into the second hour of the first tourney of the night I am also playing in another tourney hosted by LuvinPoker. Here again, a great bunch of people from all over the US and beyond and highly competitive players. This was only my 3rd time playing with this group but I have enjoyed each tourney. Once again I get a good start into this tourney. Chip up quite a bit and fell pretty good about the possibilities. Then it happens...my KK runs into AA and AA holds up against me. Then the next two hands crush me. I get 77 raise the pot X3 and get 3 callers. Flop comes 3 7 9... awesome!bet the pot and get a quick caller and two hesitated callers.?.?.? Turn comes K. Again I bet the pot which puts two of the three all-in and another with about 2k more left than myself. River falls...3... at this point I expect that my boat is looking pretty good so I go all-in and expect a fold fro the lone player with chips to lose. Little did I know that this guy is holding....3,3...Once the call was made all hands revealed. AA, KK, 77, and the beneficiary of 3 all-inners...3,3...WOW!!!
Finally, I registered for the ($10+$1 rebuy) $15,ooo gauranteed tourney. Got to about 9k in chips early on and for the third time tonight my KK ran into AA again, but this time it was KK vs. AA vs. AA. Three minutes before the break I lose 6,800 chips and I'm left to scrap my way back up. I wanted to go ahead and sit out but the very next hand I get dealt AA. Pot gets raised twice before getting to me and I push all-in. Get two callers. AA vs KK vs QQ. Finally I'm on the AA end of the deal. Only thing is the flop has yet to come. And when it did it comes K,Q,9. Great! Par for the course for tonight! For some reason I took advantage of the 30 seconds left to rebuy and the opportunity to add-on to get back to 3500 in chips coming back from the break. Got about 20/25 minutes into the 2nd hour when I get AA again. I've built my 3500 up to about 9800 and I'm extremely cautious. Raise the pot X3 and get (1) caller. Flop comes 32A. Sweet! Who holds 45 with a pot x3 raise? I check, he bets the pot and I come over the top. He calls.?.?.? Turn comes 7. I check and he checks.?.?.? River comes and its a 3. Board is now 32A73......45 is now dominated with my boat. I go all-in and before I could even relish in the thought that I would now be in the top 10 with half the field gone and no more rebuys/add-ons my avatar disappears. I look at the guys hand in the hand history and for the 2nd time tonight I am crushed with pocket 3's that river for quads. Feel your pain bro'. Feel you pain!
*****See you at the Mookie***** chapel, out!

!!Finally!!

It has been quite a while since I last made it to a final table at a Battle of the Bloggers Tournament. This all changed Wednesday night when I was able to take advantage of a few pocket pairs that came my way. Unfortunately, I ended up knocking out my bro' when my pocket Q's both mated up with the other two on the flop. It's a flop you always hope for with a pocket pair, but even today, two days later it haunts me that I had to lower the boom on Trip. I thought I had pushed all-in to the let him know "I had the goods", but instead I had clicked on the bet pot button. Before the flop I knew he was pretty strong with a 3x the BB raise. Figured he had AA,KK, or AK. But after the flop came I knew it would be nothing but trouble no matter what he, or I did. QQvsAJsuited. He's on a runner runner straight draw and a NUT flush draw. As soon as the flop hit I typed....Nooooooooooo! But he had already come over the top and the new "no chat" with all-ins rule, well you see where I'm going. Anyway, I was able to lead the tournament from that point for the next hour plus, but once we hit the final 2 tables I went almost 45 minutes without seeing a card in my hand over an 8. Not bluffing that point, not one card over an eight. Once at the final table I yoyoed in the standings and chip count until the blinds and all-in steals were able to take me out of contention. Not sure who ended up winning (finished 5th/6th here) but Alcanthang and 2blackaces were up at the top when I signed off. Mean_G was playing a good game and it wouldn't suprise me if he was able to pull it out. Congrats to whomever it was and looking forward to the next time! -chapel, out-

??Wassup??

Well, it's been about three months since I last posted. Work, holidays, work, afterschool activities and work have consumed most of my time. Since my last post my poker gaming has been active but eratic. Fortunately, my play has been quite well until that much undeserving suckout hits me. I've made a couple of trips to Ga. to meet and play with some fellow bloggers and players. Each trip was fun and entertaining but not so much profitable. Also played in my second (annual) New Years Day tourney as well. Once again, fun, entertaining and met some great people, but the tourney was not profitable. Did manage to rack up my tourney entry and a couple hundred extra bucks in the cash game though, so all-in-all...good trip. Best thing was I was able to see the my Bro' (TripJax). Had just spent time with the family for the holidays the week before and saw our other brother I hadn't seen in over 2 years.
Most recently I have ventured out into other private games on FullTilt. Have been playing in the PPT(PremierePokerTournaments) where I have been the only U.S. player in the group. But mostly I have been playing in local home games and a tourney in Ga. Two weeks ago I played in a $100, (1)rebuy tourney. The rebuy could take place at anytime, but only once. We started with 4k in chips. After playing 1hour and 48 minutes our table was busted and I left the table without losing a single hand in the tourney and had 46k. Got to the new table, first hand was QQ which knocked out 99 and added about 18k to the stack (thanks to a flop of Q95...). Played about an hour at this table before losing my first hand of the tourney to a bigger kicker...AKvsAJ board ATT35. After 4hous and42mins and being moved around 2 more times and making the final table I lost my 2nd hand of the tourney, which ended up being my last had of the tourney. I'm in the big blind with AK. Get two callers and raise the pot x3 the bb. BB at he time was 6k. I'm in 2nd place with about 96k in chips. Both other players call my raise...flop comes K33. I bet 18k, get a fold and the last player to call continuously says under his breath, bluff...three or draw over and over. After about 30 seconds I decide to show him my K but didn't get it over in time before he calls out all-in ( he's the chip leader with about 124k). I pause for 3-5 seconds and announce call. The look on his face was complete terror. I filp over AK....he shows J5....J5....what? Yep, Jfn5...of course he did not expect a call but was fortunate enough to catch 5,5 on the turn and river to runner,runner KICK MY ASS out of the tourney with only my 2nd lost hand of the day.Domination to Dominated in the matter of about 5 seconds. Can't remember a better played tourney I have ever participated in. 80 players, 54 rebuys, 4hours and 42minutes of play, and end up on the rail in 6th place after losing my second hand of the tourney. !!SuckAssMule!!
Oh well, guess it could be worse...or at least I've convinced myself it could. Especially after tonight...QJ with a QQJ flop that got crushed by KK in the hole and a K on the river. Enough of the bad beats...Hope to see you on the felt during the BB3. Chapel...out!

FYI

No! Not "For Your Information". Today, actually Monday, it was "Forget Your Instincts". That'swhat I did anyway. While writing a post about the unlucky week I had at the BBTwo last week I seriously considered not playing in the Monday addition of the tournaments (MATH). Instead I convinced myself to forget my instincts and join the party. As last week went I started out on a good note and played pretty good with the cards provided. Actually I didn't get to play very much with the good cards that were provided. I never could get any callers to play when I had cards to play. And when I (limped in) called the quickly raising blinds, due to the added turbo element this week, the blinds would usually get raised tremendously and I would fold away. Only once would I have actually won any of the limp calls I eventually folded so it wasn't that bad to fold away. Unfortunately, Monday was no different from the way things have gone thus far for me in the BBTwo. Hopefully things will turn around tonight in the Mookie! Otherwise it looks like it's gonna be a looong 9 weeks. By this time last season (after 6 tournaments) I had already made 3 final tables finished in 2nd at the MATH and finished in the points 5 times and in the money 50% of the time. Thus far this season 6 entries, 0 points,
0 money and a quest for a TOC seat seeming to be an impossibility. Oh well, no sense in getting down about the whole situation, I've got a beautiful wife, 2 wonderful children, a good job, and when people want to visit they don't have to go to the hospital or the local penetintuary, they stop by the ole homestead! Life is good! My God is an Awesome God!
See ya on the felt! -out-