how I spent my summer pt, 2

When I'm not stacking off with KKxx on a AKTr board in Skillz PLO - because I have the third nutz, I don't care if iaatg has a better hand, I'm sucking out - oh wait, I'm not, oh well....


BabygirlHeff's room before... peeling off the same shitty panelling that was in the basement - ty, previous owners, for gluing and nailing in this horrid stuff....


BabygirlHeff's room after.

I painted the base coat for the walls, but no, I'm not a real artist - friend of the family painted the Winnie the Pooh mural. We can call in favors pretty well here at the Jenn and Heff house.

Oh, and damn straight there's an Eeyore there... Donkeys rule, obv.


No, I couldn't convince anyone to put a table or deck of cards in the mural, that would have been too much....

how I spent my summer pt. 1

basement when we bought the house, with all sort of garishness...


basement with newly mudded/painted walls, new laminate floor, new outlets/switches, no pool table, no Brady Bunch paneling, no carpet.... - just waiting on molding to complete the floor..


Guess I can run a Heff's Contracting Service if I ever get laid off or something...

a whirlwind month

Ok, so in the last month...
-I've gotten married to Jenn,
-flown to Mississippi to be a pallbearer at Jenn's sister's funeral,
-flown to Colorado to see mountains and Jenn's birth father, who she hadn't seen in over 30 years,
-flown to California for a honeymoon to taste many wines with Jenn in Sonoma Valley and see the Pacific Ocean...

Yes, it's as whirlwind as it sounds. I also have a few other major things working in the background, and it's all making me thankful, yet concerned.

It's never easy when someone your age passes on. I didn't know Jenn's sister Emily that well at all - only spent extended time with her once - but it's always tragic to see someone go at a young age, period.

What made it especially poignant for me... because Emily had battled substance abuse problems for many years, a lot of reflection centered around the potential of her youth, and her potential for recovery and rebound in the future - but skirted around the reality of her present day struggles. I kept thinking throughout the service, before, during and after I helped carry her coffin, -  "What will people say when you leave the room?"  - in both the literal and figurative sense.

I want good things to be said about me. Accomplishments noted. Positive influence in others' lives. A strong example to live by. People can remember what I actually did, not what I could have done, not "what if?"

 And so I'm trying to be a better, warmer, bigger person and let go of a lot of the steaming, grumpy Heff while trying to actually accomplish bigger picture things. In short, I want to lead a better life.

Which is only sort of working. After a wonderful honeymoon where I felt relaxed and mellow, and I think Jenn and I really gained a deeper understanding of each other - it only took me being back home 24 hours to become the grump again. I think we both have been under a lot of emotional stress, strain and extremes - and me, I get easily irritated and annoyed when poked with a stick, so to speak.

 I can't stand unfulfilled potential, goals and tasks not being accomplished because of a lack of effort, not ability - and I'm letting it drive me completely nuts. I'm just so frustrated over so many things, even though we're in a very wonderful spot overall. Family worries me - mine, hers, ours. I worry about Jenn, and hope she's dealing with this well, and that I'm actually being helpful. Arrgh. This too shall pass.......

Anyhow, in poker news, I'm keeping track of the WSOP Main Event with some interest after my inglorious six-hour run last year... A deep Scotty Nguyen run would be the most entertaining thing to happen, although it would mean all the donks would start blabbering in bad pidgin-asian speak for months... - I think I will try to seriously grow the bankroll, or at least try to satellite into a FTOPS or WCOOP event again next month.... I swear, the more I play recently, the more I wonder if anyone really knows what they are doing - I'm playing more limit, more HORSE and O/8, and I see horrible, horrible plays every table I sit down at and wonder where the money is still coming from for these donks to keep playing - probably from me, they are the smart ones and I actually am the dumb, sucking donkey, but who knows.

The older and supposedly wiser I get, the dumber I really think I am.
But I will keep trying - both in life - and in cards - to be better.
(AIPS, Mookie, all this week, maybe?)

Heff

Fourth of July, Cortez, Colorado

a pit stop on the way to Napa/Sonoma.... yeah, point and shoots don't do fireworks well..

love and marriage

"Today was a good day" - Ice Cube......

I'm a sap. It's good to marry the one you love.

Returning home...

Back in Virginia now - rest of the trip was fine - although my last couple of cash game sessions at the Mirage and Venetian were unmitigated disasters. Jenn ran well, naturally, while I was taking a bath. When you keep running two pair into a bigger rivered two pair, or sets into straights, bad things will happen.

Picasso at the Bellagio was very choice Monday... Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie were eating there at the same time in a group, so I took a brief moment to tell them how good their series of Hold 'Em books are - always good to give people feedback. 

Delmonico at the Venetian also an excellent restaurant for those dining in Vegas - we had excellent meals at both places. Never did get a chance to play at the Bellagio (room just too packed with overflow from WSOP players) so at least that's something to save for a future trip. 

Anyhow, back to real life for me - blog updates will be infrequent from here on out, unless I actually do something interesting from a poker standpoint. and I guess I'll need to get one of these photos, since Jenn never got into the Amazon Room to shoot a picture of me...

   

Later - Heff

Sunday around Vegas....

So, besides getting the jersey signed Sunday (below), we did do the touristy things - drive to see Hoover Dam...



then over for the scenic drive in Red Rock Canyon....



and driving Go-Karts like silly people here (forgot to take photo, oops)
http://www.lvmgp.com/

So it was a pretty much a non-poker day. The desolation of the desert around Vegas, rocks and dust replacing grass, the amazing topography compared to the flat woodlands of the East Coast, the enginnering and technology necessary to even create a bearable city to live in amidst 100 degree heat every day - it's all incredible stuff.

Ok, poker content does follow. Skip if you're sick of it.

***********

After everything Sunday I did pull a late night session at the Mirage (first time there, can't say I liked it much) and the Venetian (which I'm rapidly starting to like as a room) where I bounced between -300 and +200 throughout the session only to end in the red again... :-(   Too many people spiking two pair after the flop when you're an 80% favorite to win will kill any positive momentum.

I really wasn't feeling up to playing. I'm still annoyed and disappointed over my showing in the Main Event. I was playing well until the AK vs. QQ hand - and then my game just went in the toilet. I should have been able to hunker down with over 30 BB, hang on until the dinner break, and then take the 90 minute break to refocus and get back to playing my normal game. Instead I made a moderate problem worse and busted myself out of the event like a rank, inexperienced amateur.... oh wait, that is who I am, I forgot.

I continued to play badly last night, and then I finally got out of the funk and started hitting my game. I'm still annoyed, but just over results. I played well last night, only made a few small mistakes, and was happy with my decision making for the first time in a while. I can take that. I'm still down for the trip, which sucks. But, I needed to get back to the tables and remind myself I'm not a horrible player, I was just playing horribly. There is a slight but important difference.

But, as Jenn says, it has been a wonderful experience. She's encouraging me to tryand satellite in next year, at least for a smaller, preliminary event, if not the Main Event again. We'll see. I need to get better.

Relatively speaking, in 2005 I tried a couple of times to get in the WSOP and never came remotely close.

In 2006 I'm a much better player, have grown the bankroll, won a few online tournaments, and just missed a seat in April before winning it last month. 

So the growth curve is promising, and if I learn from this trip, 2007 should be a better year.

***********

Alright, done now. Come on back.

To close the trip, it's dinner at Picasso at the Bellagio Monday night - maybe a session at their poker room, although I feel like I've got a black cloud over my head right now, so I may skip that.  Tuesday will be Delmonico at the Venetian before the redeye flight back to Virginia arriving Wednesday morning, and it's back to real life.

It's been a wonderful ride, sorry I couldn't do a little more with it. :-)

Back with closing thoughts when I get back to VA in a couple of days - Heff

                                

Jenn and Daniel

yep, she got the jersey signed Sunday. Negreanu is the anti-Phil Hellmuth.

Red Rock Canyon, Sunday

Heff

hey, someone had a good Saturday.

   While your hero was busy playing like a complete mope in the Main Event, Jenn was tearing things up in the Poker Expo next door. She...

    - played battleship poker at the Pokerstars booth  (playing someone heads up on a laptop back to back, just like Battleship the game) and beat someone, then drew for a prize and won a video iPod.

    - sat in a free turbo sit-and-go at Full Contact Poker's booth, where I found her after I donked out, and won heads up when her QTo beat AJ all in preflop with a TTxQx board, and picked up a Daniel Negreanu hockey jersey - which she will try to get autographed Sunday during the dinner break - the guys at FCP said he would be there while playing day 1C, and I'm sure we can get a woman winner a little special dispensation to ensure she gets an autograph. I made sure I took the obligatory winner's photo....



Anyhow - Sunday will involve a day trip outside Vegas and a lot of non-poker content until the evening, when we get the jersey signed. There may be go-karts involved later. Maybe we will play. We scheduled the return flight to NoVa on the Tuesday redeye, landing at Dulles early Wednesday morning, so we will try to enjoy the rest of our stay here.

Later - still bummed, but getting better - Heff

rolling downhill...

A little while later, after bleeding more chips through blinds and what not - I'm at 6800 and am looking for a big hand to double through with. Party limps UTG for 200, I have QQ in the cutoff and decide to raise to 1K to 1)isolate so I don't take this flop multiway, and 2)find where I'm at with Party. When it comes around to him, he jams and goes all in?
    He has me covered - he started the hand with about 10K or so. And I'm really, really puzzled - I even say to myself "did he do the donk limp, then reraise with AA move?" - I really start thinking he wouldn't toss over half his stack into the pot preflop without a strong hand - after all, I raised an UTG limper, I must have something. I decide it's far more likely he has AA/KK/AK than rags. I decide to show one queen (like I have AQ) and fold, while "waiting for a better spot" - the worst reason in the world to do this.
    Because Party immediately flashes me back a 2 - and says something about staying off his blinds....???????????
    Maybe he forgot he limped UTG - or maybe I forgot that he was in the big blind instead of UTG - I can't really remember anymore. Either way, it was a horrible play on his part, jamming half his stack to win 1500 when it's very likely he gets called. It was probably a worse fold on my part, though. Yeah, against a reasonable player it's hard to call off almost 30 more blinds preflop with QQ in that spot. However, against someone with three different Party logos visible on his body - I should have been more willing to consider he was doing this with air.

Anyhow, it gets worse from there. I raise a couple times for standard raises preflop and have to fold to reraises. I lose two blind on blind battles with Full Tilt woman - both times I check fold the flop and she shows me she hit the board both times.
 I limp with 88 after an UTG limper and Ladbrokes raises to 1100 - it gets folded around to me and I have 4200 behind - It's push or fold time, obviously, and I think for a long time. FinallyParty (not in the hand) calls a clock on me, which is a little annoying and a couple of the other players at the table say so. Ladbrokes tells me he would not have called a clock on me, which makes me think he wants a call. I decide he's definitely not folding if I jam, and I'm probably behind, and I fold. He shows JJ, I lie and tell him we're racing (like I have AQ again) - I'm just getting hammered.
    Finally, we're about 20 minutes from the dinner break. Ladbrokes has a huge stack - about 45K - and the woman has about 30K or so. I'm in the big blind with Kh8h when it's folded around to the button, who open raises to 700, a standard amount.  I decide to make a play.... or maybe it's better to say I lose my mind and reraise all-in for 3600 total with a really weak hand preflop for the first time all day.
  He instacalls. I immediately say uh-oh and watch him roll over KK. Oops.
  I flop an 8 and turn a second heart for 11 outs on the river or so - but a 3c on the river seals my fate. See ya. Thanks for playing.

   Ok. Good to type all this out and have it recorded. An actual non-nuts and bolts post to follow to wrap it all up.

forgot to post this earlier today... :-(

AK - hateithateithateit.

  So, there's a minimum raise from the random nine seat to 400. I decide to call in the small blind with 9c9s. Full Tilt woman calls. Flop 6h7dTh. So, I have second pair and a gutter straight draw. We check to random, who bets 1000 into a 1200 pot. I ask what he has left, which is about 4K more. I decide to isolate and reraise to 3500, woman folds, he pushes for 1200 more, and I call. He shows QhJh for the flush draw with overcards. He turns a Q, then rivers a heart for further overkill, and I drop to 14K. boo.
  I didn't think he was that strong there and took a chance - I don't like his minraise in early position, but whatever. On that flop he's looking to get it in the middle anyway, and I'm actually a slight dog according to hand calculators (54/46, http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1862616)  but that'll happen.  I had a shot to take out a player and it didn't hurt me that badly to miss.

Later the shortie in the two seat open jams out of the small blind for 825 total and I call him with A3. He shows Q8, the board blanks out, I eliminate my first player and get some chips back.

Now the hand that killed me first - there are many others, but this one was tough.

I have about 16K now. The blimpie in the ten seat raises to 1K (i'm not 100% sure, but this was probably the very next hand) I see AKs in the small blind again, and ask how much he has left. I hear about 8K, so I decide to reraise to 3500 again. He jams. It's 4900 more to me, actually. I think for a while and finally decide to take the race against his pocket pair and call.

I show my AKs, he shows QQ - not bad, a slight dog, but better than AA or KK, obviously.

Flop AA5. the table goes oooooh. I think about what I should be able to accomplish with a  24K stack at 100/200 blinds, and how I can keep playing small ball, accumulate chips, play my game.

He's dead to two outs, the two queens in the deck. I'm a 90/10 favorite here.

He turns a Queen. ugh.

I still have outs. One ace, three kings, three fives for a bigger full house. Only about 16%, though, and it doesn't get there.

I'm down to 7200 now. That's not bad - I still have over 30BB, and I tell myself that I still have a playable stack and can make it back. Honestly, though, it took a lot out of my game and the rest of the level showed it, as everyone jumped all over me afterwards when I was in a pot. I didn't go nuts, or drop an f-bomb or whatever. I took the beat calmly and correctly - inside though, it really killed me, and that's a leak in my game I need to fix.

The rest of the ugly denoument later.... after another beer - Heff

Gavin, ESPN and me - well, not really.

   So, I see Gavin in the one seat, but he has no chips - only about 3K. There's another shortie with less in the two seat. I'm in the three. To my left is a Full Tilt qualifier - a woman with a big stack and a friendly personality - cute in a tomboyish sort of way, mid 30s, and working her charm on the table. There's a couple of older Euros on her left - a Ladbrokes guy from Wales with a big stack in the five, and another old guy with below average chips in the six. There's a fat dude from Houston covered in Party Poker gear in the seven seat, some cutey boy with a pink LV hat in the eight, some other random guy in the nine seat, and another blimpie, over three clicks, in the ten seat, who keeps trying to make small talk with the woman between hands in a horribly inept and goofy way, but she handles it really well.

   In my first couple of orbits I start accumulating chips. I raise with AK in LP and get called by Party in the BB. Flop KJJ, he check calls a standard bet. He leads a turn that puts two clubs on board, and I just call. We check the river and I hold up - not sure I like not raising the turn there or value betting the river, but I don't think he calls with anything I beat.
  I again raise with AK and get called by the random nine seat. He check calls a AcJcX flop and we see a blank turn. There's about 5K in the pot, and he has about that much behind. He checks, I jam, he tanks and folds, probably thinking about calling with a flush draw or something. - I end the level with 18.5K and am feeling very good and comfortable at the moment.

    Meanwhile, Gavin is just getting crushed. The woman is just getting hammered by the deck - she rivers a gutter straight after limping UTG with A3 and calling Ladbroke's raise with KK, and somehow sees a river 4 on an all overcard board against Gavin and rivers a set with 44. Gavin open jams the last hand of the level with TT for only 1000 chips and it holds up, so he sticks around as we go to break.

    All the while during this late action, there was a mobile ESPN crew filming at the table.  Since I was between Gavin and the woman, I might actually be in some footage next month when day 1B airs....

    When we get back for Level 3, he shortly jams for 2100 from UTG and gets called by the button. His AJs can't beat the button's KK, and Gavin Smith is gone.

    This would be the high point of the day for me. All downhill from here, baby - and it only takes about an hour and a half.

    Heff

reviewing... level 1/2 at table 197

ok, so I get to my table, 197. Of course, one guy at the table is from Reston, and another is from Falls Church - gee, three Northern Virginians, what a surprise......

The table is very tight except one kid from North Dakota who is very aggressive. I have position on him, though, and everyone else at the table is pretty quiet and straightforward. I feel very relaxed after the first couple of hands and just play my game.

I do get hit with the deck, though. KK twice, AK and AQ a couple of times. - but it's hard to get any action. Both times with KK, I reraise a raise in front of me to isolate and get a fold I don't really want. I reraise AK out of the small blind (a recurring theme this trip) to 500 against an original raise of 150. He calls, and we check down a Q5659 board - I let him win with TT by never betting out, but I thought he had a middle pair that would look up a bet.

Later, I cold call a raise to 200 from the CO with TT - the small blind calls, three to a flop of 956. Checked to me, I bet 400, SB raises to 1000, I think and call. Turn pairs the 9 and the small blind leads for 700. I think and call what seems to be a smallish, defensive bet. We check the river Q and I suck out on his flopped two pair with 56 when the board paired on the turn.

Later, I check raise a Q high board with 88 and get a laydown, so I end Level 1 with T13625. I've played strongly to pick up small pots a bit at a time and slowly accumulate chips without having to show down anything but AK, TT, and one of my KK reraises, so my table image is good too.

I spend level 2 spewing chips, though. Drop 2K with ATs when I think I'm open raising in LP - but miss the UTG limp that is now calling me. I bet a K-high flop and get called, decided to call a small bet when the Kh gives me a nut flush draw, despite the paired board, and fold to a river bet when I miss everything. I also get check raised on the turn and donk bet intoon the river again later in another hand and have to fold....

Finally, with about 40 minutes left in Level 2, I'm back down to 10K and I openraise with Ah8x in LP and get called by North Dakota in the SB. I've purposefully avoided pots with him, as I think he's the only really crafty player at the table. We check a flop with two hearts. A third heart comes on the turn and he leads for 700. I say "oh really?" and reraise to 2100. He reluctantly folds, I run my stack back up to 13K, and just then the table breaks.  BOOOOO. I really liked the table, I was comfortable, and had good reads on the players. Oh well, I move to table 84, seat 3. As I walk up, I see Gavin Smith in the 1 seat and think, oh, this could be fun.....

More later - Heff

ARRRGH.

I didn't make dinner break - I'm out. Horrible spots, donktastic play - and that's just my play.  :-)

I was THIS close to having 24K in Level 3 at 100/200 blinds and cruising along nicely.

And it all went downhill from there.

I did outlast Gavin Smith and Phil Hellmuth, though, so that's something.

More in a bit after I get something to eat - we're back in the room now.

Jenn had a very awesome day, actually.

Better than mine. Ugh.

Heff

Level 2 Update

Table broke at Level 2 -- I have 18000 in chips. Gavin Smith is 2nd on my right but very short stacked. Things are going well. ESPN is all over the table. Will update more at the dinner break.


Heff

And they are off .....

Posting for Mike.....

They are not letting anyone in to watch yet but Mike just text messaged me to say he has 14,000. Not bad for the first level. He goes on break at 2pm and they will let people in after that so he or I will update a bit later.

- J

I'm off

to Day 1B - they played six full levels of Day 1A yesterday, ending about 3am Vegas time - so we'll play the same length of time today. Hopefully I'll have a reason to be up that late.

I'll do audio blog updates from the cell phone when I can, and maybe type a couple up on a break if have a moment.

Heff

omadugi with a ten qualifier?

  Anyhow, Thursday afternoon we hopped around and just checked out different properties - The Palms, New York New York - before popping back into the MGM Grand for more 1/2 NL play - both Jenn and I pulled a good profit off the tables - I managed to get paid off when I flopped quad aces by a flush, and actually had KK hold up one of two times (JJ flopped a set on me, 66 rivered a set - but I already hit a K on the flop)
  There was a list of interest for 4/8 HORSE at MGM, so I put my name on it - when the game got called, I was fifth on the list. 90 minutes later, I was still fifth - so Jenn and I went back to Nine Fine Irishmen across the street in NYNY to get some food and listen to the live band. Afterwards, we popped back to MGM and found that I'd already been passed over on the HORSE list and it was now 15 names deep.... :-(
  So, it was getting late and we decided to head back to the hotel, but when I got there I decided to call the Venetian and see if they were spreading any mixed games.
  "We have a 6-12 HORSE and 6-12 mixed game with two names on the list."

    :-)

    So starts the Omadugi adventure.

    I sit in a 1/2NL game for 10 minutes until I get called for the mixed game. Boy, it is ever mixed. I think the only game NOT in the rotation was Chinese Poker.  There was Stud. Stud/8, Omaha/8, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, Pineapple, Razz, and of course Hold Em. Now, I know how to play all these games - but that doesn't mean I'm any good at them, especially the draw games, which are fun, but I have limited experience with.
   Some of the guys at the table, though, had no idea. And that's what made it fun. It was a pretty conversational table, full of jokes and guys just goofing around. One guy insisted that an Omaha/8 game with a 1/4 pot guarantee skimmed off the top if anyone got to showdown with a 10-high Badugi or better in their hand would be the best action game ever. Of course, every dealer in the world would hate having to chop the pots up in that game, not to mention it would take forever to figure out who won what after showdown. I suggested he call it Omadugi. Maybe it will catch on in the NYC clubs, since he said he played out there.
   Anyhow, I loved playing because there are NEVER any mixed games spread on the East Coast at lower limits, and AC does not spread any draw games like Badugi. This was the only time I was going to get to play any of these games live. Hold 'em, Hold 'em all the time gets boring. This was a challenge.
    Alas, I failed miserably. Basically, before the mixed game, I was up a small amount for the trip, about $160. Now, I'm down $80.... which isn't bad, actually, and nothing to cry over. Dropping 20BB in a 6 hour session just happens sometimes, especially when you keep check-calling J-high Badugis with people who know how to play the game better than you. I got cold-decked a lot on the river/third draw too with people making really thin draws - which tends to happen when you aren't a good enough limit player to save bets, or snow people well enough in the draw games.
    It was worth it for the experience, though. Sometimes in life you get free lessons, and sometimes you pay for them... :-)

    I might try one more mixed game if I get time between WSOP days or after I get bounced from the tournament while I'm waiting for my return flight. I'm actually saving the Bellagio's poker room, and its 2/5 NL game for my last live session before I leave.

   Pretty much, though, I don't think I'm playing any side cash games from here on out until I'm done with the Main Event. I'm going to try to make the off days non-poker related - maybe go see Hoover Dam or do something else like that.

   So, later today I go back to the Rio to the Full Tilt lounge to get gifted with their gear so I can look like a NASCAR driver when playing Saturday. Oddly enough, regulations prohibit any .com advertising when playing in the Main Event - but all of PokerStars gear has the .com on it, meaning hundreds of Stars qualifiers Friday were turning their shirts inside out and finding black tape to cover up those four little characters.  Not all .com's in the room are bad, though.....

   Later - Heff