Posts - July 2008
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Time for a Trip
July 30, 2008I've waited almost a month since my last trip to Biloxi. Well, it's time for another trip. the Beau Rivage has their $20K Guaranteed tourney this weekend so it's time for a short and cheap trip. I'll get up early and drive down Saturday morning for the noon tourney. I'll drive back either Saturday night or Sunday. Depends on how I do. It's about 4.5 hours so hopefully I can do well.
They also are hosting the Gulf Coast Championship at the end of the month and early September. I'll be ready to play some tournies then too.
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My Main Event
July 16, 2008A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I'd have to make alternate plans since I didn't get a seat at the WSOP. I made the trip to Biloxi on Tuesday for a 2 night stay. I took a regular from my weekly poker game figuring it would be a good time for a gambling only trip without the wife.
We got down to Biloxi late Tuesday afternoon. Once we got checked in at the IP, it was time for the gambling to begin. 1st was the craps tables. Personally I've never played craps before but my buddy assured me that he could teach me easily enough. At the table, I simply copied his bets. Whatever he did, I did. After dropping a couple of hundred, I decided that I'd had enough for the time being. Let me get to the blackjack tables and get my cash back. Sat down for blackjack and played 22 for awhile. Unfortunately, 22 doesn't pay very well. Down another $150, I said "Mercy" and we went to the Beau Rivage for dinner. Another couple of hours at the craps then blackjack tables and I'm down around $600 and getting a little pissed at myself. Time to go back to the IP and play some poker.
My buddy and I both signed in together but there was only 1 seat available so he let me have it. Thank God. I played a few rounds sorta feeling out the table. Seat 2 complained constantly and 8x the BB was his standard opener. Seat 10 played pretty solid but definitely was a regular. Finally, I draw
. Seat 2 raised to $16 from UTG, I call and Seat 10 calls. Flop comes 
. Seat 10 bets out $20. Seat 2 pushes all in for another $225. I push for a total of $260. Seat 10 reluctantly calls. Seat 2 turns over 
. Seat 10 turns over 
. Turn and river fire blanks for them and I'm back in business. I played a few more rounds so I wouldn't be taking the money and running. And it's time for bed.Wednesday- We get up and hit the tables for about an hour. I finish up $50 and it's time for golf. After not playing for a long time, I played surprisingly well. We had to rush back to the IP for a quick shower and change in order to make it to the Beau Rivage for their Wednesday Deep Stack tourney.
There were 58 in the field and paid top 9. My buddy and I didn't draw the same starting table but he was moved to my table when his was the 1st table to bust. My buddy has very little tournament experience and allowed himself to get pushed around a little then blinded down to desparation. He goes out around 35th. I played some good solid poker but never amassed that big of a stack. Then we got down to 2 tables.
I'm pretty proud of my play at this point. I used around 15 all ins to build my stack. being called twice. I shoved from the SB 3/4 times. The last time I shoved from the SB without looking at my hold cards. The BB already had her cards in her hand and looked ready to fold so I gave her the opportunity.
Final table it is. We voted and decided to take money off of 1st and 2nd to guarantee 10 their buy in back. 10th and 9th busts out pretty quickly. Then "Mother Nature" called and I took a needed break. I just don't see the value of squirming in my seat. When I return, 8th was gone. I played very aggressively at this FT. I put out 7th and am feeling pretty good. Everybody is relatively short stacked and all ins preflop are the normal bet. I get popped when my
in the BB doesn't stand up against the
shortstacked SB trying to steal the blinds. A few hands later, I push with 
and get called by the BB with 
. Flops him a 10 and I don't improve to go out in 6th. At least I'm positive for the trip now.Back to the IP we go. I messed around a little at the blackjack tables on Thursday but overall the trip was a fun but breakeven trip. Better than a crappy and losing trip I guess.
Since coming home, I've spent hours following PN's coverage of the Main Event. Now it's down to the November 9. Good luck to all of the players. I'll be looking to make my mark next year.
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The Donk
July 08, 2008We’ve all used the term “donk” to describe a player that just beat us with an ‘inferior’ hand or to describe a player that made a bad call and doubled up the short stack on the bubble. The term is thrown around freely to describe anyone that beat us that we felt we should have beaten. And of course as poker players, we feel that we should have beaten everybody. But really, what is a donk?
The term donk is short for donkey. This is used to describe a bad player, a player that has no idea what he or she is doing, or a player that is new to the game. As poker players, shouldn’t we want a table full of bad players each time we sit down or log in? The more donks the merrier. But that’s rarely how the term is used. “I’d win if it weren’t for all of the donks” sounds a lot better to our egos than “I’d win if it weren’t for all of the bad players”. What? We can’t beat bad players? If we can’t beat bad players, then who can we beat?
So, if donk doesn’t exactly describe a bad player, who does it describe? I’ve seen players called a donk any time they won a pot with anything other than AA or KK. “What? You called my all in with AQ (and won)? You donk.” “Oh my God (OMG in chat speak), you called my minimum raise with suited connectors, flopped a straight, and slow played my over-pair costing me all of my chips? You donk.” “You called my bluff (just because I’ve played every pot)? You donk.”
In every case, “the donk” was raking chips into his stack. So why is it we feel the need to label this player that won a pot? They won, doesn’t that count for anything? Isn’t that how we keep score in poker? The answer lies within our own ego. We just can’t face the reality that we were just outplayed or that luck is a part of poker. There are better players than us. There are many times when a LAG game beats a TAG game. But rather than question our own play, it’s much easier to label the player as a lucky donk.
Since it’s usually the player that won the pot that gets called a donk, doesn’t it seem like it would be better to be a donk and win than a “good” player and lose. Like they say, “You should never apologize when you’re raking the pot.” We all make “bad” plays and get lucky. We all make good plays and get beat. It’s just a part of poker. If the best cards won every hand, it’d be a pretty boring game.
So the next time you lose to someone that played a hand different than you would or that just got lucky, just say nice hand and move on. As a player, you want your opponents to play inferior hands. It’ll even out in the long run. Besides, the donk will be too busy stacking chips to really care anyway.
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