It is a bit different for me to write about WAM2 since I can sleep in my own bed rather than push one of the lil’ mooks out of theirs. But I’ll give it a whirl.

I took Friday off from work so I ducked out a bit early on Thursday. I had a little side work that needed doing and so I skipped dinner at Chuy’s and met the crew at the Dell Diamond for an Express game. We all walked up at about the same time and had seats just inside the main gate directly behind home plate. I had just been at the Diamond on Tuesday making this 50% more Express games in one year than I had ever done before. I did try to get one of the suites, but some other lucky bloke beat me to it. The game was a lot of fun and 50% off beers help a lot. Tee-time was early the next morning so we said our goodbyes and I went back to the house.

The next morning I made it to Crystal Falls with plenty of time to warm up. ScottMc and Greg were already there, but everyone else was apparently sleeping in. No bother, hit some balls, get a breakfast taco from the middle aged stoner at the snack shop and get ready for a wonderful way to spend a Friday morning. Scott, Greg and I did get paired up with a random lady who was a pretty solid golfer from El Paso (as an aside, we guessed she shot somewhere just south of 90). She put up with our antics including me running dead-nuts into a 24″ tree with my golf cart (one of *three* total on that hole). Yeah. Me Smart. S-M-R-T. I shot a slightly high 107 for the round. With my handicap I should have been closer to a 102 or 103. We got done and I headed home to clean up, I felt like crap and my head hurt so when it was time to head to the Salt Lick I did bail. I felt I would not have been good company and considering I am not good company when I don’t feel like ass…

Saturday was another early day for me. I totally forgot if we had a 9am or a 10am tee-time and the Lago Vista Golf Club is an easy 45 minutes from my house. Needless to say, it was 10am and I had a lot of time sitting around. The round was a lot of fun. Henry, Mrs. Mook, and I donked it up and shot a reasonable 2 over. I lost probably a dozen golf balls but got closest to the pin on 12. Ship It!

We all headed to the Big O with a minor detour because my cooler tipped over in the bed of the truck and the beer and soda went bouncing around. I lost two good Sam Adam’s summer brews that day because of “accidents”. People started to filter in and the grillables came out. I love those summer grill meals.

Poker started a bit after 7 and I never really got going. I made it to the final 14 or so before I had to push my big blind with A-8 and ran into K-K which then promptly flopped quads. The cash game was not too much later as the tourney got to the final table. I bought in very short- $20 into a 25c/50c NL game and hit Q-Q on the first two hands and got a stack going. CK has a good writeup on the biggest hand of the night which ended up being about $160 or so. I still had more than double my stack and maintained that until 3AM when pretty much everyone hit the wall. I said my “good-bye for nows” and headed to the house where I was wide awake at 8AM.

I was not sure if this year’s could prove better than last year’s but I feel it did. Thanks again to the Mookie Household for hosting and everyone who made it out that made it such a special event.

‘Till next time.

(Oh, and it looks like Astin has a crap load of pics up now, see Mookie’s home page for his flickr sets)

Yeah, a cooler story. Deal with it.

AA in the cut-off, a 1BB raise in front of me by BornLate55. I pop to 7BB. He calls. Flop is a raggy QT4. He checks. I make it 7BB. He raises to near my stack (we are close to even). I push. He calls with QTo. Brick. Brick. and I am out in 105th. No Gigli award award though, there were 114 runners. I hope Born does well with my chips.

Right before that hand, GScottW flopped quads and got a little change from me when an ace hit on the turn and paired me.

At least I don’t have to stay up until 1AM to bubble 🙂

On a happier note I have finished One-One-Two in my last three Sit-n-Gos. One of which I came back from 120 chips to win.

I am not playing as much as I used to, but my dabbles in the last week have been kind of fun.

I was able to reload last night on FullTilt. This is the first time I have tried to move money since Neteller shut off US residents.

I used the Gator Pay method. Using this technique you buy a pre-paid phone card (with decent phone rates coincidently) using your Visa card- they only take Visa or bank transfers. The rate is 3% + $0.90; which is a bit high- but not too bad. From there you can initiate a transfer on FullTilt. Total time to do transfer, about 15 minutes. Not bad. Be Warned: There is a preemptive charge. Mine was just over a dollar. It is used to verify your card.

This morning, I had a call from my Visa card about two charges last night. They were both from Gator Pay and both expected. Nice to know the CC company is on top of it.

I payed in one of the $6 + .50 token frenzies which brought 205 runners. 47 tokens, 1 cash. I ended up in 68th when my TT ran into QQ with my M about 3 or 4. That hand hits I probably get my token.

The BBToo is upon us. See Al Can’t Hang’s page for details. An honest to goodness website should be up soon for it as well. Australia. That would rock.

With two hands like these I am supposed to win, Right? I did.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (6 handed) internettexasholdem.com

BB (t2205)
UTG (t1500)
Hero (t1610)
CO (t4255)
Button (t2300)
SB (t1630)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Jh, Kh.
1 fold, Hero calls t30, CO calls t30, Button raises to t60, 1 fold, BB calls t30, Hero calls t30, CO calls t30.

Flop: (t255) Qh, 2h, Th (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t60, CO folds, Button calls t60, BB folds.

Turn: (t375) Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t30, Hero raises to t90, Button calls t60.

River: (t555) 9c (2 players)
Hero bets t120, Button folds.

Final Pot: t675

Results in white below:
Hero has Jh Kh (straight flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins t675.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (3 handed) internettexasholdem.com

BB (t3840)
Hero (t5610)
SB (t4050)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7s, 7h.
Hero raises to t600, 1 fold, BB calls t400.

Flop: (t1050) 7d, 6c, 7c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t1050) 8h (2 players)
BB bets t1200, Hero calls t1200.

River: (t3450) Tc (2 players)
BB bets t2015 (All-In), Hero calls t2015.

Final Pot: t7480

Results in white below:
BB has Ks 9s (straight, ten high).
Hero has 7s 7h (four of a kind, sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins t7480.

This is a very clever table with a built in LCD screen in the middle of the field.

http://www.instructables.com/id/EQIWFC4F2XW9QCU/

There are some other interesting ideas here (bracing and the like) if you don’t want to go over the top and put the screen in.

Hat tip: Corey

I have had straight flushes before, my best being king high. But this was my first Royal:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (6 handed)

MP (t2254)
Hero (t3205)
Button (t3590)
SB (t2350)
BB (t316)
UTG (t1785)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah, Qh.
2 folds, Hero raises to t450, 2 folds, BB calls t166 (All-In).

Flop: (t841) 6s, Th, Jh (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t841) 5s (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t841) Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t841

Results in white below:
BB has 3d Ac (high card, ace).
Hero has Ah Qh (straight flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins t841.

I did go on to win the event, so I guess it is a pretty good omen 🙂

It was a pretty good month online for me.

There was no live play at all, just the online version. Small stakes but my bankroll is making progress.

This is my SnG finish distribution:

My main focus for June will be my ongoing goal of “not playing stupid”. I would like to reduce the number of bubble and bubble+1 finishes. Shocker there.

I am tracking these results in two ways now. I have my own running total using Google Docs and Spreadsheets. The other way is the new-to-me 2+2 Sit and Go Spreadsheet. It has much more detail than I keep and calculates many more facts (running ROI, longest non-money streak, charts, expected profits). I have begun designing an online version to make it a webapp. This will eliminate the need for me to have Excel installed and keep the spreadsheet around to keep track of stats. I also plan on using a procmail filter to auto insert results based on PokerStars tournament reports. Yes, I have been mainly playing on PS because I decimated my roll on FullTilt earlier in the year.