thoughts, I play silly, what else is new?

Let's see, in reverse order...

-Mookie, I play pretty meh because I'm just splashing around... I make some bet/folds in spots where I usually have it, but not tonite... finally shove 99 over a button open for 20BB and can't outrace AQ when there's an Ace on the river. - 21 of 32.

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- AIPS 8-game was a lot of fun at first - I should play this type of tourney more often - I figure out pretty quickly no one at my table is all that good at triple draw or omaha... I chip up to over 4K early - but I also forget how sticky most of these guys are in limit games and spew quite a bit in the later rotations.

Hands of note - not that I played particularly well here at all, but man...

PokerStars Game #29231257705: Tournament #136748169, $10+$1 8-Game (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit) - Level XIV (100/200) - 2009/06/10 22:26:40 ET
Table '136748169 15' 6-max
Seat 1: edwardm111 (2220 in chips)
Seat 2: heffmike (2423 in chips)
Seat 3: C furbee (3466 in chips)
Seat 4: Seitz333 (1791 in chips)
Seat 5: nmaiorana (5065 in chips)
Seat 6: rdb64 (2985 in chips)
rdb64: posts the ante 20
edwardm111: posts the ante 20
heffmike: posts the ante 20
C furbee: posts the ante 20
Seitz333: posts the ante 20
nmaiorana: posts the ante 20
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to edwardm111 [Kd]
Dealt to heffmike [Tc 2c Ts]
Dealt to C furbee [Qh]
Dealt to Seitz333 [3h]
Dealt to nmaiorana [4c]
Dealt to rdb64 [3c]
rdb64: brings in for 30
edwardm111: folds
heffmike: calls 30 (why am I even playing this in stud/8)
C furbee: folds
Seitz333: raises 70 to 100
nmaiorana: calls 100
rdb64: folds
heffmike: calls 70
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to heffmike [Tc 2c Ts] [Th]
Dealt to Seitz333 [3h] [2d]
Dealt to nmaiorana [4c] [Ah]
heffmike: bets 100 (well, let's go now, up against two potential wheels, time to play bad.)
Seitz333: calls 100
nmaiorana: calls 100
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to heffmike [Tc 2c Ts Th] [6s]
Dealt to Seitz333 [3h 2d] [2s]
Dealt to nmaiorana [4c Ah] [8s]
heffmike: bets 200
Seitz333: raises 200 to 400 (??, couldn't be rolled up, could he?)
nmaiorana: calls 400 (low hand, i guess?)
heffmike: raises 200 to 600 (one and maybe both are still drawing, may as well keep pushing it)
Seitz333: raises 200 to 800
Betting is capped
nmaiorana: calls 400 (again...)
heffmike: calls 200
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to heffmike [Tc 2c Ts Th 6s] [Kh]
Dealt to Seitz333 [3h 2d 2s] [Qd]
Dealt to nmaiorana [4c Ah 8s] [Td]
heffmike: bets 200
Seitz333: raises 200 to 400 (I will not be happy if he's full already, otherwise I'm crushing him)
nmaiorana: calls 400 (I guess he will coldcall again whether he's there or not with the low)
heffmike: calls 200
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to heffmike [Tc 2c Ts Th 6s Kh] [4h]
heffmike: checks
Seitz333: bets 200
nmaiorana: calls 200
heffmike: calls 200 (sigh, crying call, maybe I get half)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seitz333: shows [2h Ad 3h 2d 2s Qd Qc] (HI: a full house, Deuces full of Queens)
nmaiorana: shows [6h 6d 4c Ah 8s Td 7d] (HI: a pair of Sixes; LO: 8,7,6,4,A)
heffmike: mucks hand
Seitz333 collected 2475 from pot
nmaiorana collected 2475 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4950 | Rake 0
Seat 1: edwardm111 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: heffmike mucked [Tc 2c Ts Th 6s Kh 4h]
Seat 3: C furbee folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Seitz333 showed [2h Ad 3h 2d 2s Qd Qc] and won (2475) with HI: a full house, Deuces full of Queens
Seat 5: nmaiorana showed [6h 6d 4c Ah 8s Td 7d] and won (2475) with HI: a pair of Sixes; LO: 8,7,6,4,A
Seat 6: rdb64 folded on the 3rd Street

Good to know I had a 4K pot scooped until
1) someone hits runner-runner with the case deuces but is still behind, followed by a running pair for a boat, and
2) someone else chases an 8-low/one pair draw with a dead six out there for half the pot, and gets there calling two bets cold three times.

But again, why am I playing TTx in a high/lo game? Moron me in the first place.

PokerStars Game #29231915223: Tournament #136748169, $10+$1 8-Game (Hold'em Limit) - Level XVIII (160/320) - 2009/06/10 22:51:58 ET
Table '136748169 15' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: edwardm111 (2440 in chips)
Seat 2: heffmike (1796 in chips)
Seat 3: C furbee (4026 in chips)
Seat 4: Seitz333 (1688 in chips)
Seat 5: nmaiorana (7300 in chips)
Seat 6: rdb64 (700 in chips)
Seitz333: posts small blind 80
nmaiorana: posts big blind 160
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heffmike [Ks Kh]
rdb64: folds
edwardm111: folds
heffmike: raises 160 to 320
C furbee: calls 320
Seitz333: calls 240
nmaiorana: calls 160
*** FLOP *** [8c Jc 5h]
Seitz333: checks
nmaiorana: bets 160 (Jack or better)
heffmike: raises 160 to 320
C furbee: folds
Seitz333: calls 320 (draw alert)
nmaiorana: calls 160
*** TURN *** [8c Jc 5h] [7c]
Seitz333: checks
nmaiorana: checks
heffmike: checks (yeah, not falling for that one)
*** RIVER *** [8c Jc 5h 7c] [2d]
Seitz333: bets 320
nmaiorana: raises 320 to 640
heffmike said, "unreal" (more because at least one guy as the flush - which makes the donklead and raise a bad move by someone - but yeah, overpair is toast)
heffmike: folds
Seitz333: raises 320 to 960
nmaiorana: calls 320
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seitz333: shows [6c Kc] (a flush, King high)
nmaiorana: shows [Jh 8d] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
Seitz333 collected 4160 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4160 | Rake 0
Board [8c Jc 5h 7c 2d]
Seat 1: edwardm111 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: heffmike folded on the River
Seat 3: C furbee (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Seitz333 (small blind) showed [6c Kc] and won (4160) with a flush, King high
Seat 5: nmaiorana (big blind) showed [Jh 8d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 6: rdb64 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Anyhow, I continue to play like shit and bounce 50th when I can't get 345 in Razz to get there against an 87x draw. As good as I play against BBT/Full Tilt bloggers, that's as bad as I play against the AIPS crew.

This is starting to get a little frustrating. For some reason, I'm just not focusing that well in AIPS this year and end up calling down way too light against players who make thin value bets... like never. I am playing too much like the donkey avatar I have on Stars. Must run better next month in Stud/8 - I think I say this every month...

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-Interesting series of posts here by Loretta8, Riggstad, and Jordan about the BBT and the WSOP ME prizes Full Tilt gives out. Of note in all of it....

* Yeah, it's a little silly that the prize is 10K and not 12K like most of the ME satellite seats are, so I can see how that actually encourages a player to pocket the cash instead of paying their own way to Vegas.
Of course, since Al mentions in Jordan's post that "They gave me the prizes to do with what I wanted" - it's unfair to make this completely FTP's fault, because that assumes they're even paying attention. After all, 12K minus 2K does equal the third and fourth place awards, which flatten the payouts a little more and spreads the wealth - but since you can't directly buyin a player anymore, holding back the additional travel money for just two prize slots won't reduce the chance someone doesn't play the Main Event.
So what can you do? Sounds like this will not be an issue moving forward, as Al mentions something different will happen next year, whatever that will be. My guess is it will not involve a 50-odd tournament series.

* I didn't know what I was going to do if I won a seat. The wife was leaning on me hard to pocket the cash, although I felt like I really shouldn't do that for a series like this. I probably would have split the difference and played some Borgata deepstack event I can get to a lot cheaper and cashed out the rest for bills and baby stuff, but I was going to cross that bridge when I came to it.

* Given the cashout issues currently going on, good luck on anyone in the U.S. getting substantial funds out of any poker site by the Main Event.

* It's a wonder we even had a shot at these kinds of prizes to begin with - a 44-person blogger tourney with a 24K prize pool? - so keep it all in perspective. This is constructive criticism, not a controversy. Of course, I'm not sure when I'm getting the overall leaderboard bonus credited to my account either, but that's small beer too.

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Oh, latest ultrasound shows a healthy Baby Girl Heff... so suggestions for names are welcome, as Jenn and I have not come to an agreement on anything, other that we have about 15 great middle names to consider :-)