Has it been a year!!??

Can't believe it's been a year. Our little angel is 1 today!

Been playing a bit. Really need to refocus and tried a couple things last week and went deep into a couple tourneys.

I also decided to run a marathon, well a half marathon. I'll be running the Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Marathon on Labor Day next month. I had a group of friends run it last year and remember saying, "I could do that!" Well, putting my money where my mouth is, I signed up last month. Training has been going well. This will be my first "real" run, never done a 5k, 10k, etc... Should be interesting. My goal is to finish it in 2:30, well my real goal is just to finish, but doing it in 2:30 would be great.

On to the Europe WSOP

Played a Sat for a seat into the Tuesday qualifer for a seat into the European Series 2007. Get heads up and am a 4 to 1 chip dog, double up and back in the game. Was in the chip lead then lost a hand... Then the following hand came up. Saw a flop with 49, flopped a set, slow played it and he ended up pushing with a K high flush draw. Guess what, he caught up. Won a few bucks for 2nd, but wanted the $300 seat for the tourney tonight.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2907463797: Sat to ME Europe Tuesday (21669089), Table 2 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:38:41 ET - 2007/07/10
Seat 4: twoholetrip (13,952)
Seat 6: Turley11 (10,048)
twoholetrip antes 25
Turley11 antes 25
twoholetrip posts the small blind of 150
Turley11 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Turley11 [4c 9h]
twoholetrip raises to 600
Turley11 calls 300
*** FLOP *** [3c 9d 9c]
Turley11 checks
twoholetrip bets 1,250
Turley11 calls 1,250
*** TURN *** [3c 9d 9c] [5c]
Turley11 checks
twoholetrip bets 12,077, and is all in
Turley11 calls 8,173, and is all in
twoholetrip shows [4s Kc]
Turley11 shows [4c 9h]
Uncalled bet of 3,904 returned to twoholetrip
*** RIVER *** [3c 9d 9c 5c] [Ac]
twoholetrip shows a flush, Ace high
Turley11 shows a flush, Ace high
twoholetrip wins the pot (20,096) with a flush, Ace high
Turley11 stands up
twoholetrip stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 20,096 | Rake 0
Board: [3c 9d 9c 5c Ac]
Seat 4: twoholetrip (small blind) showed [4s Kc] and won (20,096) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: Turley11 (big blind) showed [4c 9h] and lost with a flush, Ace high

Maybe Next Year...

A little WSOP... Well last weekend played in the 100 seat guarantee and played pretty well. I grinded and went out about 1100th with about 3500 in it. Never really got any hands and that is that. So like a drum who loves getting beat on, I sat into a satellite for the Tuesday WSOP 300 tourney. It was a multi-table where the top 5 got a seat and with about 18 left I was low stacked in 17th place. I got a couple nice double ups when I pushed with AK and Ts. Got to the final table in 7th and ended up getting a seat. Was the first time I played in the Tues $300. There were over 300 entrants and the top 7 got seats.


In the first 7 hands I tripled my starting chips up to 9k. The 2nd hand of the tourney I got AA and flopped a set, we got it all in and he showed a smaller set, whew! Five hands later I get AJhearts in the BB. Under the gun made a 4x raise and the button called. The flop came KQT, with 2 clubs. I just flopped the nut straight and Royal Flush Draw, sweet!! I was first to act and checked, looking for the UTG to come out firing, he didn't disappoint. Remember we started with 3k in chips and I was up 6k now. The UTG came out with a 650 bet, remember this is the 7th hand of the tourney. The button called as did I. Was early and I was thinking the range of hands these guys could have... Set, 2 pair, flush draw, top pair -were the possibilities. The turn was a lovely 8c, sweet nut flush. Lets hope someone was chasing the flush and hit! I checked again as did the UTG (there's the two pair or top pair). The button came out firing, 3/4 pot, he basically pot committed himself, but still could get away from it if he had two pair. I didn't see the UTG calling and just in case he had two pair, I pushed. The UTG folded and the button called. He flipped over the 97c for his flush and was drawing dead!


I ran pretty well and up over 17k at the first break and was sitting in 2nd place with a about 220 left. I was pushing my chips around and picking up here and there. After the break it didn't go so well. I was down to 11k by the next break. Fast forward and with about 40 left I was short stacked and doubled up when someone tried to run a bluff on me. They fired 3 bullets and with my short stack I hit two pair on the river and pushed. I really didn't need the river 2nd pair, I was in the lead the entire way. He ended up calling and that shot me back up into the race, I was feeling good. We were under 30 players now and I was middle of the pack, picked up a few blinds and then my final hand. I was in the BB and a big stack was just to my right. He called the BB and I made a raise with KJ. Not to go into all the details, he turned a set on my with my flopped Js. He played it really well and was able to extract my entire stack, about 24k and I was sitting there again with no seat.


I've pretty much given up all hope for making the trip west for the series. I really think if I did win a seat I'd go out and play a few of the lower buyins, like a 2500 buyin at the WSOP and a few of the other tourney's like the Bellagio Cup or an event or two at Caesars. I have a group of friends out there now and another group that just went out last night for a bachelorette weekend. A couple of the girls are solid poker players and will be playing in a few of the side tourney and are going to swing by there on Sunday to see the start of the 50K HORSE event. Was telling them is they want to see some of the big name players, they need to be there that Sunday am, they will all be there!


Hey, there are couple more Sat's this weekend and if you're a betting man, there's a good chance I'll be playing Sunday!

Last chance....

Could be.... Just picked up a seat for the 100 Main Event Guarantee on FullTilt... Let's see if I pull it out.

Tonight the night???

We'll see....

This is getting old....

Another Sunday qualifier this past Sunday, qualified again in a 9 person Sat Sunday morning. It was the first sat I played for the Sunday and ended up winning it. Well I learned a lesson; don't play when you've had too much to drink! Had a big party that Sunday and ended having a few too many Corona's. I played ok, but ended busting early when I made some silly mistakes. That was a good $26 lesson; at least it didn't cost me $200...

On to this week. Haven’t played at all this week and decided to play a little last night... I got into an $8 token sat (18 players put up $8 and they give the top 5 players a $26 token). I do pretty well in these and ended up picking up a token. I jumped right into a $26 token sat (18 players put up $26 or a $26 token and the top 5 players get a $75 token) and I was a bust, went out 9th. I then noticed a 9 person single table sat filling up for the Sunday WSOP tourney. I couldn't resist.

I was running well and with about 4 left my buddy Shoe sent me an IM. He was like "Hello, why you playing, were going to be at the beach all day Sunday??? You're going to be in no shape to play Sunday night!!" Ooooppps! I got heads up with the guy and at that point I had a 2 to 1 chip lead. I decided to make a deal for the seat. I asked him if he wanted the seat and he was like "Hell Ya!" I then asked what he wanted to give me for it; he said he would give my buy-in back. I said I was thinking more like $75, a fair offer. He declined and I ended busting him on the very next hand when he raised it up pre-flop with AK. I called and flopped a pair of Js. He ended up pushing, I called and that was that.

I guess I'll be taking it easy at the beach on Sunday or at least making sure I'm in better shape than last week before I start! Perhaps this could be the weekend!

Guess it's not going to happen...

Playing well this evening in the Sunday qualifier. Got in via a Sat earlier this week and have been ready to go. I'm up over 4k at break and in about 40th place out of 155. Then I get the following hand... I'm dealt pocket 6s and flop a set. I turned a boat giving the other guy a set... All the money got in on the turn. He flips up TJ suited. Sweet! Nope, not when a T comes on the river giving him Quads.


Full Tilt Poker Game #2419627232: Sunday Main Event Qualifier (17684066), Table 14 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:15:04 ET - 2007/05/13
Seat 1: Turley11 (3,590)
Seat 2: jse81 (2,795)
Seat 3: SmtimesYRdaBUG (2,948)
Seat 4: jkahrl (2,480), is sitting out
Seat 5: arty842003 (5,935)
Seat 6: Gator93 (4,644)
Seat 7: smfit29 (7,085)
Seat 8: PALM COAST D (1,355)
Seat 9: jrkeene (3,690)
jkahrl posts the small blind of 40
arty842003 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Turley11 [6s 6d]
Gator93 folds
smfit29 calls 80
PALM COAST D folds
jrkeene calls 80
Turley11 raises to 440
jse81 folds
SmtimesYRdaBUG folds
jkahrl folds
arty842003 folds
smfit29 calls 360
jrkeene folds
*** FLOP *** [4h Ts 6h]
smfit29 checks
Turley11 checks
*** TURN *** [4h Ts 6h] [Td]
smfit29 bets 80
Turley11 raises to 800
smfit29 raises to 6,645, and is all in
Turley11 calls 2,350, and is all in
smfit29 shows [Jc Tc]
Turley11 shows [6s 6d]
Uncalled bet of 3,495 returned to smfit29
*** RIVER *** [4h Ts 6h Td] [Th]
smfit29 shows four of a kind, Tens
Turley11 shows a full house, Tens full of Sixes
smfit29 wins the pot (7,380) with four of a kind, Tens
Turley11: no
Turley11 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,380 | Rake 0
Board: [4h Ts 6h Td Th]
Seat 1: Turley11 showed [6s 6d] and lost with a full house, Tens full of Sixes
Seat 2: jse81 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: SmtimesYRdaBUG (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: jkahrl (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: arty842003 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Gator93 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: smfit29 showed [Jc Tc] and won (7,380) with four of a kind, Tens
Seat 8: PALM COAST D didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: jrkeene folded before the Flop

Same song...

Another Sunday, no seat... Played in the super sat Sat night and picked up a seat into the Sunday qualifier for a seat to the ME. Started of pretty slow and picked up a set of 7s, had 77 in the hole and flopped the set. Could have milked it a little, but 2 hearts of the flop, didn't want to mess around. There were 200 entrants, top 3 got seats. After the first break I was sitting in 55th spot out of 141. The next 5 levels I didn't get crap, at the 2nd break I was in 71st out of 77. Pretty much out, but I wasn't giving up.

On the 2nd hand after the break (blinds 120/240 25 ante) I woke up with AJ in the SB. Middle position, a big stack raised and it was folded around to me. I pushed and he called. He had T9 suited. The flop came AAT and he bricked out. I doubled up to 4800. The next level, 150/300 I get A2 in the SB. There was a raise to 900 and I called to see the flop. An A on the flop along with an 87 and he bet 1800 to me. I pushed my last 3200 and he called. He had 68 and I doubled up to 8885. Back in the game...

A few blinds and antes and I'm down to 6833. Blinds are now 250/500 ante 50. I'm dealt AJ and UTG I made it 2150 to go. A little bit of an over bet and a guy two off the button pushes all in for 5474 and the BB calls! I'm priced in and call. I have 1309 behind and see a flop of A95. The BB checks, I push and the BB calls. The pot is just over 17k and a side pot of 2600. I hold my breath and see the BB flip over KK and the other had 88. NICE! "Just hold, just HOLD!!" The turn is 5.... and the river, an eight! CRAP! That's not what I said...

I win that hand and I'm 9th in chips with about 20k. I won the side pot and a few hands later I picked up TJ suited, pushed my short stack and was called by AK. King on the flop all but sealed my fate. Finished 41st.

There's always Tuesday!

Another Sunday, no seat...

YET! Still time... It's coming and it's coming soon! Won a sat to get into the Sunday ME qualifier last night and ended up finishing about 80th. They were giving out 25 seats. I was in the BB first hand and had the powerful 7-5o and someone raised in early position. I folded and then saw a flop of 7-7-8. Great I thought, going to be one of those nights. A few orbits later I'm in the SB and have K-3o and fold when UTG+1 doubled the BB. I then watch a flop of K-K-5. The guys got it all in and Qs held up. We started with 3k in chips and I was down to about 1800 early. I fought back and built it up to 4k and then it went south from there...

On to the next one!

Charity Tourney...

Played in a Charity Tourney this past Sunday. Played OK, but didn't make it deep. I didn't get to many hands early, I did flop straight with a sooted KJ after making a raise one off the button pre-flop. The guy said he laid down A's after I check raised him all in. I'm sure he had nothing. The structure was set for a charity tourney, 30 min levels and re-buys for the first 3 hours. There were 180 people in the tourney and they had over 300 re-buys plus another 120 add-ons after the re-*buy period was over. The buy-in was $150 and the re-buys and add-ons were $100. The first prize was a seat to the ME of the WSOP.

I ended up making a table for the tourney which paid for my buy-in. The guys organizing the tourney paid for the materials and I donated my time to make the table. The table was a hit, they actually gave it at the 4th place prize and used it during the tourney. It was also used as the final table. You can see a pic of it in use during the tourney here...

Back to the tourney... Just before the add-on, the first break, I turned it up a notch. I was pretty short stack and went into hyper mode. I was trying to get a bunch of chips or get down under 500 in chips so I could re-buy and add-on at the break. There were about 5 min left and I started raising every hand. A few times I had hands, other times I didn't. I went uncontested every time. It was almost like playing on the bubble, everyone went into shut down mode. I built up my stack up until the last hand. I ended up doubling the guy to my left after I raised on the button. He called and the BB raised it up 1100 after a flop of K5x. I called and the SB pushed. The BB folded. I was sure the SB had a K. It was another 1200 to me to win a 6k pot. No option but call. I had 56 sooted and was hoping I could suck out, I didn't and was down to about 1200. I added on and was still short stacked after the break.

I won a couple hands and then got KK utg+2. Blinds were 200/400 and I made it 800 to go. Everyone folded around and I showed my KK. The very next hand I got AA, sweet! I once again said, "$800..." The guy in the BB just sat down a couple hands earlier and it was folded around to the guy in the SB a very solid player. He capped his cards with his Jade Buddha and sat back. Every time he did that he had a hand. He thought a few, looked at me and thought some more. I had a tight image at the table and really was only playing solid hands, all until the break. I showed a few hands when I bet out and was folded to me and I had the nuts. I didn't show any strength or weakness and after a few, he ended up just calling. The guy in the BB looked at us both and said, "I'll let you boys fight this one out..." He said he fold JJ after the hand was over. I also saw him a few hours later and he confirmed that again. The flop came all low cards. The SB thought a sec and said "All-in". With no hesitation I said "Call, Aces..." and he said "Shit!" He turned over 10-10 and he didn't improve. I had him covered and he was out. I've played with the guy before, I think it was WSOP circuit in AC last year. I'm sure I'll see him again...

The very next hand I F’d up... Now on the BB I get AJ. The guy in the 3 seat, another very solid player who had been getting the deck smacked up side his head (been getting great cards) raised. I said to the guy to my left, "that's not good!" I called the extra 400 and we saw a flop of A5Q. This is where I dropped it. I bet out to see where I was and he re-raised all in. I'd been on a rush and put him on a med or small pair. Well, he had a small pair, a pair of 5s. Oops and I was out the door.

All in all it was a good time. Wish I went a little deeper, but there is always next year. Congrats Rick and Derwin, both made the final table and Rick acutally took 2nd winning a trip to the Bahamas!

One from the seat...

Well, it was close... We'll get one!

Done....

Well, finished the table last night. Was going to wait to post until I showed Shoe the final product. He was going to stop by tonight but didn't make it. I ended up seeing him online and sent him the pics. I think he liked :) He's a huge Tenn Titans fan!

More table talk and ouch...

Getting close.... The table will be done this week. Worked on it throughout the weekend. I was able to get the rail padded & vinyl on, the holes for the drop in cup holders drilled, the table cloth & it's padding on and painted the underside of it. I cut the S* out of my finger when putting on the drill bit for cutting the holes for the drop in cup holders (see pic). I didn't just do it once; I did it twice, two different days! The 2nd time wasn't too bad, but it did bleed like a B*.

The last piece is to put on the cover for the raised section of the rail. That's a story in its own. I bought a couple strips of wood from Home Depot, when I tried bending it around the table, it split. I decided to try laminate, what they use for kitchen counters. I called a place locally and they can cut it to size for about $20. I called back to see about getting an extra set, for another table I'm going to build. They said no problem and said they would do it at no extra cost. Guess I'm buying a full sheet and am just getting 6" x 10' of it (4 strips 1.5" by 10').

All I'll need to do is to put laminate, attach the legs and I’m done!

I did have an interesting conversation with Greg, a guy in MD who holds a charity tourney every year where they give a seat to the WSOP. I played it in two years ago and am planning on playing this year. I called to get more info and ended up talking about the table I'm building. I told him about a tourney I had last year where they first place person won cash as well as a custom made table. It was a big hit. I told him I would be up for making a table for one of the prizes, all they would have to do is buy the materials. Looks like it might happen, he was really jazzed about it. You can find out more of the tourney here: DISABILITYGUIDE.ORG "NO LIMIT" CHARITY POKER TOURNAMENT

Ok, got a couple hours in this weekend...

I picked up two sheets of 4'x8' ply from the Home Depot and had them rip it down to 44" x 90". I then cut the corners to make the table oval. The first sheet I cut out a 2" track. The inner section of this piece will be the playing surface. The 2" track will be the bottom the rail. The second sheet I cut out a 5" track, this will be the top of the rail and the inner oval will be the underside of the table.

Normally that would be it and I would put on the foam, attach the playing surface, and glue on the rail foam then staple the vinyl onto the rail. But no, I had to try and raise the rail!!?? The foam, speed cloth and vinyl should be coming in today.

Poker Table Project...

Made this poker table a couple years ago and going start on another one for Shoe this weekend.

The new table is going to have a raised rail, but no "race track". Picked up all the supplies (foam, cloth) from YAT's. Not sure how long it's going to take. I'll post pics and updates as I progress...

Here's what I got from YAT's:
Royal Blue Casino Cloth - 3 Yards @ $16.95 x 3 = $50.85
Whisper Rail Vinyl - $44.80
1/4 Closed Cell Foam - $23.85
Rail Foam 60lb - $46.95
Cup Holders - $39.50
Spray Glue - $6.00

Total Cost - $211.95
Shipping: $35.00 approx
About $250.00

Picking up the Plywood today at the local HomeDepot:
2 sheets from 3/4" plywood

Wish me luck!

Why we play...

Happy Valentine's Day...

Well, the FTOPs #3 event started off great. I doubled up on the 7th hand of the tourney and was in 4th. I was able to chip up over 10k by the first break and I was sitting around 125th place with over 2k left. Before the 2nd break it started going south... It all started when I flopped a set of Js with JT sooted. All the money got in on the turn and it looked great when the other guy flipped up AA. Guess what came on the river, yup an Ace... I then lost a couple races and had a big pair run into another big pair. Blahblahblah... I was out soon after that. Next time...

I'm going to try and post on regular basis here.... It's Valentines Day and thought I would share a recent pic of my little Angel, Anna. She's almost 6 months old now and just getting bigger everyday!

Extra 2 Millions Chips in the 06' WSOP

...well, some of them were. The Nevada Gaming Commission released a report and this is what the found. This is all from the story on PokerNews, you can see the entire story here: Extra 2 millions chips. Looks like Kevin O'Donnell, the bar owner from AZ, received 1 million extra chips after a color up. Ok, I go on break and come back, I have an extra million chips. Do I notice that??? Not calling he guy a lier, but if I had an extra million in chips, hell ya I'm going to notice. Am I going to say anything, No.

From the card player report it looks like he has 3.45 last report before the break... The first hand he played, reported by CardPlayer after the break he gets in a big hand. He calls a raise preflop (250k) and then a check raises after the flop (1Million), and then goes all in for 2.95 million. Rough math, that's 750 extra, if you take the 30k/60k 10k antes into count, you can easly see an extra million chips in there...

Now if he had 10/12million before the break and I can see him not noticing, but 3.45 million and poof you have now 4.5... Hmmmm... I guess if he went deeper, we would really hear more about this. But what about Allen C, the one ended up with the extra million chips????

Time line, Looked back to see his counts and this is what I found on CardPlayer:

Tue Aug 08 12:39:00 PDT 2006 O'Donnell Takes Another Pot After this hand, O'Donnell now has $2,920,000.

Tue Aug 08 12:54:00 PDT 2006 O'Donnell on a Roll chip count to $3,450,000.

Tue Aug 08 13:36:00 PDT 2006 Players On Break $5,000 chips being raced off.

Next hand that is reported by card player on O'Donnell, 45 min after the color up:

Tue Aug 08 14:23:00 PDT 2006 Magill Lays It Down John Magill raises to $250,000 and Kevin O'Donnell calls in the small blind. O'Donnell checks the A109 flop and Magill bets $500,000. O'Donnell rases to $1,000,000 and Magill calls. O'Donnell moves all-in on the 5 turn for $2,950,000. Magill thinks for nearly five minutes before showing AQ and folding. O'Donnell now has $5,750,000 and Magill drops to $2,950,000.

When you do the math, there are the extra chips.

From the story on PokerNews:

Kevin O'Donnell was one of the players to receive extra chips. He was incorrectly colored-up and received 1 million extra chips. Our chip stack analysis shows good data for Kevin shortly before the color-up break and shortly after; there is a 1.05 million chip increase that is not accounted for. We spoke to Kevin, he and all the other players were away from the table during the color-up. He had no idea that he could have been one of the stacks incorrectly colored-up and was shocked that he might have been. Kevin busted out of the tournament in 21st place to Allen Cunningham less that 30 minutes after the mistake was made. We have several independent sources that agree Kevin O'Donnell was one of two players given extra chips. Every piece of evidence points to Kevin having absolutely no knowledge of the events and no idea this had even occurred.

FTOPS EVENT #3 - $750k Guarantee

Sunday afternoon and decided play a little FT. Played a $22 S&G and was out first. Seems like I go out first or find a way to go deep, no middle ground. I ended up playing in another, steaming off the two bad beats I took in the first one. I ended up winning that one, up $51 on day ($99 win less the 2 $22 +$2 buy-ins). Next I noticed a satellite for the FTOPS event #3, a $300 +$22 tourney with a $750k prize pool. First prize gets a min of $138k.

The Sat started at 12:45 it started, 51 entrants at $75 each ($69 +$6, that’s $6 for the house). With all the money $69 x 51 = $3519, the top 13 got paid, the top 10 places got a seat and 11-13 got cash, $149, $89 and $59 respectively. We were about down to 19 and I was sitting with a nice stack in 6^th place. Had a couple hands in the Big Blind when a short stacked pushed and it only cost another few hundred to call. I played 3 hands like that and ended up finally winning the 3^rd one KO’ing a stack. When we got down to 14 we played hand for hand, there were two tables at this point. When 14 got KO’d, play resumed and we finally got down to the bubble. I was in good position with a below avg stack and watched a couple short stacks push at my table. The first time the short stack was able to double up, still below me in chips. At this point I was in 9^th with one more for the seat. I got a walk on my BB and two hands later the bubble busted and I was in.

On to FTOPS #3. Let’s hope I can go deep and don’t go out the first 15min! More to come…

FullTilt's Daily Double....

Full Tilt's running a new promo, the Daily Double Jackpot. There are two tourney's that start at the same time and if you play in both and cash in both you get 3% of the Jackpot (shared equally) plus your tournament winnings. If your the best double finisher, you get an additional 2% of the JP. If you double final table you get 20% and if you double win, you get 75% of the JP. The progressive jackpot is up to 26k. You can see more about it here: Daily-Double

I played last night for the first time and cashed in one, won something like $35... So I decided to try again tonight and played in both. I was doing well in both early. I doubled up early in one and then won a pretty big pot when I flopped a set of 7s and the guy bet into me. I raised a fair amount and he shoved. I of course called and he was drawing pretty thin with KK. I ended up just missing cashing in the other, but I did manage to make the final table in the first and took home 5th for $410... First prize was a little over $1600, which would have been nice! There's always next time.