Back in the Saddle... AGAIN!

    Wow! It's been almost a year since I last posted anything here at "Gettin'Hammered!" So much has happened over the past year I don't even know where to begin.
   Well, poker related... I finished 3rd in the Victory Poker Pro Challenge. Thanks! to all of you who voted!! Don't remember the total number of votes but we did get into the 6k range I think!?! Not too shabby for a small town poker player from South Carolina! During the competition I had the opportunity to meet many interesting people across the globe and have continued to stay in touch with most of them. As a result of one of those meetings during the competition I joined a Poker Team that is based in Canada. The founder of the team is Jeff Burnett, aka... the AceTenBomber... Jeff is well known in the poker world throughout Canada and has been interviewed on several occasion in several top Poker magazines. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to travel to Canada for 11days to meet Jeff and play in The Montreal Open. The Montreal Open is an annual charity event sponsored by FullTilt and many other companies to help raise money for the Miriam Foundation. This foundation provides help, education, love and support to families with members suffering with autism. We also spent quite a bit of time playing poker at The Playground Poker Club just outside of Montreal. This place was awesome. Tournaments scheduled everyday, cash games running all day from noon-6am, and the food.... the food from "The Rail Bistro and Grill" was fantastic!! Can't wait to get back up there again!!  I've also had the opportunity to meet up with my brother Jason, aka TripJax, and play in some local charity events, cash games and who would miss out on the annual NewYear'sDay Tourney, oh yea, he did this past year (but for a good reason!)  I have been pretty busy either playing in local tournaments, charity events and/or dealing in many cash games as of late! AND, starting July30th I will be hosting some pretty nice  EOS(every other saturday)Tournaments. July30th a 6maxShootOut will get things started. Also have a HeadsUp Bracket, a DeepStack Freezeout and a MainEvent scheduled. All tournament players will be provided with a hot meal and beverage (July30th, Rib-Eyes off the grill!) and there will be cash games available as well!! Want more info about the tourney dates, times and details just shoot me an email at chapelnchill@yahoo.com. I won't even get into the BlackFriday mess with on-line poker! Got alot to do today to get ready for a tournament later so I will end it here for now. Hope to be able to get back in here before this time next year. Got a lot of cool stuff to talk about, just need more time to get it going! GetSome.GIVEBACK.GetHome..................chapelout!

In Pursuit of Victory...TeamVictory!

   Yep! I am still alive...and kicking! Just wanted to get the word out that I am competing for an opportunity to become VictoryPokers next PokerPro! I could use all the help in the pursuit. Just follow the link provided http://contest.victorypoker.net/victorypoker/   My video is named "Railing is NOT an option...i felt!" I got a late start in the contest, submitted my video over two months into the contest, but I have acquired enough votes to move into sixth place thus far. The deadline for video entry was actually scheduled for today but it has been extended until Oct.31st  so there's still a chance to get your own video in the running. The lucky winner get $100,00 in tournament buy-ins, a furnished condo on the Vegas strip, a new car, a new watch and much, much more!   !!GETyourGAMEonHERE...VictoryPoker.net...GETyourGAMEonHERE!! chapelout

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-