My Saturday at Skyline

   Skyline Country Club was the venue for Berkshire Poker's most recent charity tourney benefiting the Lanesborough Tree & Forest Committee. The buy-in was $75 and 25 people showed up to play. To say that I was card dead at this one would be a gross understatement. To be dead one must have been alive at some point. Didn't happen on this day. In 2 hours of play, I played a total of 2 hands. In the 3rd hour, hanging on for dear life, I doubled up with A-J vs K-Q. Even with that double up, I was still short-stacked. I just never got going. Eventually, with just 2 big blinds left (2000/4000) I picked up A-2 and ran into A-A! Ouch! Really not much to write about here. Sometimes you just don't get any cards, and there is simply nothing you can do. Despite the dismal run, I still managed to finish 11th. Imagine how well I could have done if I actually got a hand or two! I was happy with how I played, but I made one crucial mistake (not that it would have mattered) on the hand right before the 2nd break. I picked up 6-6 on the button and was contemplating whether or not to go all-in, when the moron to my left went all-in out of turn. He acted out of turn 3 times in fact! I folded my 6's and would have flopped quads. Nothing pisses me off more in poker than when people act out of turn. If it happens once it's fine, but when it happens more than that, it's inexcusable. I'm not blaming this cesspool of idiocy for my misfortune, but c'mon man! Pay attention!!!


   Anywho, my next planned tourney is the $10,000 guarantee at Mohegan Sun the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Buy-in is $120. Stay tuned for the results! Till then...

Bloody Mohegan Sunday

 

   My hopes were high as my friend Matt and I descended upon Mohegan Sun yesterday for their 5pm $120 super-stack No-Limit Hold 'Em tourney. Starting stack was 20K with 20 minute blinds. A much better structure than what I'm used to playing which favors the patient more conservative players. My mindset going in was to play small-ball in the early levels, then open up my game as the blinds increased. Deep into level 3 (75/150), I picked up Q-Q two seats to the right of the button. There were two limpers in front of me so I decided to raise it to 600. The button called as did one of the two limpers. The 3 of us saw a flop of 2-3-4 rainbow. The limper checked and I bet 1200 only to be raised by the button to 6025. The limper folded and it was decision time for me. Calling his bet was out of the question. I was out of position and I didn't want to get bet off the hand on the turn. I took a few moments to try and figure out what he had. K-K and A-A seemed unlikely. He probably would have re-raised pre-flop with those two hands. A set of 2's 3's or 4's? Maybe, but why raise on the flop? He probably would have smooth called my 1200 bet to entice me to bet more on the turn or river (at least that's what I would do). A-5 or 6-5? Again, why raise with the straight on the flop? You smooth call there to try to get more moola in the middle. There were no flush possibilities, so my final conclusion was a pair of 5's or 6's or A-K or A-Q. His raise seemed fishy to me like he wanted me off the hand cause he didn't know where he stood. I decided to raise all-in. My opponent snap-called with (if you guessed it you get a gold star!) 6-6! Ha! I had him right where I wanted him! Until the 5 hit the turn and I was out in 49th place out of 50. Felted again! Ugh! For the record, Matt finished 12th making another one of his patented deep runs. 8 were paid. His bust-out hand came when he moved all-in with K-J from the SB only to be called by the BB holding K-Q. (His sting wore off quickly however when, on our way out, he bet a $100 chip on black in roulette and it came up 15 black).

   This sparked a debate between the two of us at lunch this afternoon. If you're gonna bust out of a tournament, would you rather be ahead and get sucked out on? Or would you rather be behind the whole way? Basically, which one of us should be more frustrated? Now, for those of you who don't know me, I'm a very positive person, and for those of you that do know me, stop laughing. :) In all seriousness, the first 12-24 hours of a bust-out, I'm a terribly woeful and negative person, but after the natural frustration wears off and I've had time to honestly assess my play, reality sets back in. This is my thinking on it. I would MUCH rather be ahead and take a bad beat than be behind from the beginning. Bad beats hurt a lot more in the short-term. No doubt. But being behind from the start means I made a play that I shouldn't have, or wouldn't have had I known my opponent's hand. If someone had told me before I went all-in that my opponent had 6-6 to my Q-Q, I STILL would have gone all-in! Right play wrong result is better than wrong play. I think the reason my frustration level is so high when I go broke, is that I'm (almost) always AHEAD when it happens! At least at the end of the day I can feel comfortable blaming the "Poker Gods" for my loss, rather than myself. And that will always keep me coming back for more.

NBA Fantasy Results and more

Well readers the NBA is back and so is my 2012-13 fantasy team Benny's Ballers. No money on this one. Just a standard Yahoo! public league. I picked 7th out of 12.


Round 1- Josh Smith (Atl- SF,PF)
Round 2- Brandon Jennings (Mil- PG)
Round 3- Paul Pierce (Bos- SF)
Round 4- Joe Johnson (Bkn- SG,SF)
Round 5- Roy Hibbert (Ind- C)
Round 6- Carlos Boozer (Chi- PF,C)
Round 7- David West (Ind- PF)
Round 8- Jose Calderon (Tor- PG)
Round 9- Lou Williams (Atl- PG,SG)
Round 10- Brandon Bass (Bos- PF,C)
Round 11- Andre Miller ( Den- PG,SG)
Round 12- Dorell Wright (Phi- SG,SF)
Round 13- Jamal Crawford (LAC- PG,SG)

You won't see too many of these guys highlighting Sportscenter (other than Smith and Pierce), but it seems like it should be a decent playoff team. It's tough picking from the middle. Last year it got me 4th place.

In other fantasy news, the NFL team sits at 4-4 in a two-way tie for 1st in the division. I've earned $70 back on it so far. Long way to go though.

And still in other news, I'm playing in the $120 buy-in tourney at Mohegan Sun this coming Sunday. Sandy kept me from going Monday night and the itch to play is unbearable. Also, next Saturday (11/10/12) I'll be playing in a Berkshire Poker charity tourney benefiting the Lanesborough Tree & Forest Committee. Stay tuned to my blog for results! Till then...

MLB Playoff Picks Round 1

Detroit over Oakland in 3.

Reds over San Francisco in 4.

New York over Baltimore in 4.

Washington over St. Louis in 5.

Detroit was my pre-season pick to win the World Series so I'm sticking with them till the end. Stay tuned for the next round's picks! Till then...

Fantasy Football and Baseball Update

Well 3 weeks into the NFL season and my money team (Gridiron Goose) is 1-2. The only good news is my 1 win made me $20 for being 2nd overall in points this week. Stafford has started slow and may not play Sunday. Fred Jackson was hurt in the 1st quarter of week 1. Marques Colston has been disappointing as has Justin Blackmon, Shonn Greene and the San Francisco defense. It's still early though and I'm 1 game back in my division. The team I'm playing next was the leader in points this week. Ugh.

While my 3 NFL teams are all 1-2, and I'm out in my Survivor league (friggin Patriots!), my fantasy baseball team finished in 1st place for the second year in a row. Everyone stayed relatively healthy and that helped a lot. I actually tied the team I played in my first playoff matchup, but won the tiebreaker for having a better head-to-head record against him in the regular season. Then rolled through the finals. Going for the trifecta next year baby!


Stay tuned for my MLB playoff predictions coming next week!

Fantasy Football 2012 Draft Results

Well the results are in and I couldn't be happier with how the draft went. I had the 10th pick out of 12 teams. So without further adieu...

Round 1- Matt Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions

Round 2- Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons

Round 3- Fred Jackson, RB, Buffalo Bills

Round 4- Mike Wallace, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Round 5- Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans Saints

Round 6- Shonn Greene, RB, New York Jets

Round 7- Justin Blackmon, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Round 8- San Francisco 49ers Defense

Round 9- Kevin Smith, RB, Detroit Lions

Round 10- Nate Washington, WR, Tennessee Titans

Round 11- Fred Davis, TE, Washington Redskins

Round 12- Alex Smith, QB, San Francisco 49ers

Round 13- Jason Hanson, K, Detroit Lions

Round 14- Brandon LaFell, WR, Carolina Panthers

Round 15- Pittsburgh Steelers Defense

Round 16- Randall Cobb, WR, Green Bay Packers

This team is built to win and win it will. Assuming I don't get plagued with injuries, I think this team has a legitimate chance to win the league. My first 4 picks are solid, and Colston is a STEAL in Round 5! I took a chance on Blackmon, drafted the NFL's number one defense early, and got a few sleepers in the later rounds. All in all, no mistakes I thought. Some of the other owners are gonna have a hard time this year. One guy had two quarterbacks with byes on the same week! Yikes! I can't wait for the season to start! Until then...

A Summer Recap

   So Labor Day is fast approaching, and as busy as I've been lately I finally found some time to reflect on my summer. Bearfest in Easthampton, kayaking, a 311 concert in Hartford, PechaKucha (Japanese for chit-chat) at the Berkshire Museum, and a wild game of horseshoes at a friend's party were the main highlights. There was only one thing I didn't get a chance to do and that was play poker. A couple of small home games and that was it. The itch is becoming tougher to scratch as the bankroll continues to grow. Just shy of $6000 now. Almost bankrolled to play the $120 deep stack tourneys at the casinos. Soon enough.

   Even though I haven't played much poker, it doesn't mean I haven't found something to throw money down on. This Thursday is my first Fantasy Football draft for real money. The buy-in was steep even by my standards. $235 to be exact. I know! The investment has some real potential to payoff though. 12 teams, 5 paid at the end of the season. 4 playoff teams and one "Toilet Bowl" winner of the 8 non-playoff teams. $700 for 1st, $430 for 2nd, $300 for 3rd, $250 for 4th and $150 to the winner of the "Toilet Bowl". Plus there are weekly prizes for the top 3 point getters. $30 for 1st, $20 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd. I've been doing my homework and I think I'm ready. I'll be posting my draft results this weekend.  I wish my Fantasy Baseball league was for money as I currently reside in 1st place with one week to go before the fantasy playoffs. I have a pretty good chance to win my 2nd consecutive title.

   All in all it's been a decent summer. Jackie had knee surgery recently so recreational activities may be slowing down for us a bit, but that just means we both have more time to plan our well-deserved vacation. Right now the ever-growing list includes Costa Rica, St.Croix, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Perhaps a cruise as well. Stay tuned for updates on more possible vacation destinations as well as my Fantasy Football draft results. Until then...