Greatest eggroll ever or I am not a donkey

As I replied on my reasoning for getting all in with 7s for $1500 verse chop.

Fawcett said...
Chop had played 832 straight hands very drunk...he was liable to turn over 23o. F#$@ everyone. Just won an 18 person sng so I am on the rebound. Tiny back me up on this one...

Now here is TBRs recount of the BT game last night....at least it was suited.

I'm UTG+1 and make it $120 to go. Called in three spots. Chop makes it $500 to go. I think he has nothing and come over the top for $675 more all in. Folded to chop. He quickly calls and doesn't turn over his cards. So I assume I'm ahead and up against, at worst, something like KQ. Flop is 7-2-2. Turn is a K. I cringe. He giggles and turns over 23s. He's playing the fucking Keisha all in pre-flop. Sick.

WSOP Cheating, Part 2

More from Richard Brodie....

Business as usual? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the degree to which many in the poker community consider the 2.2 million extra chips found at the WSOP main event “business as usual.” Cheating has been around since before poker and apparently many have learned to live with it, the skillful making money in spite of it and the losers losing anyway. There’s the possibility the chips were added through incompetence rather than dishonesty, and there’s still a tiny chance the reports of the final chip total are simply wrong. I wasn’t there. But notwithstanding all this, there are some tough questions for Harrah’s, questions which ought to be asked by the Nevada Gaming Control Board:

- Harrah’s decided to use the same chips in the main event as they used in previous tournaments, including super satellites. Were the chips counted at the conclusion of each event? - If not, why not? If so, how many chips were missing after each event?
- If they did discover missing chips, was there any effort to use the video surveillance to catch the cheaters?
- Were there official chip counts done at any point in the main event? If not, why not? If so, what was the result? What was the discrepancy between each official count?
- Were the same precautions taken to guard and log the movements of the house bank of tournament chip as are taken with casino chips of similar value? If not, why not?
- How many dead stacks were blinded off through errors during day one? What is the list of names of people who were allowed to play on a different day but had stacks being blinded off on another day? Why were so many errors possible?
- Were there stacks being blinded off for players who had been given refunds? If so, why?

The current explanation by a Harrah’s spokesman, that the extra chips were a result of rounding up during chip races, has been proved impossible both by me and by Jerrod Ankenman, co-author (with two-bracelet winner Bill Chen) of the forthcoming book The Mathematics of Poker. I don’t know if a complaint has yet been lodged by any of the final 27 players, who seem to be the most hurt by the cheating or incompetence. The chip counts reported by poker journalists are full of errors but it seems to me that most of the chips were added during the play from 27 players to the final nine. That should all be on videotape.I’m looking forward to some answers and, more importantly, to some major reforms in the integrity of these large tournaments.

Since everyone loves my hand histories...

PokerStars Game #5923876798: Tournament #29995951, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/08/15 - 02:08:06 (ET)
Table '29995951 1' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: revelation17 (3670 in chips)
Seat 2: dxflynnx (3305 in chips)
Seat 5: rooch21 (785 in chips)
Seat 6: rlw12345 (1605 in chips)
Seat 8: swf6768 (1625 in chips)
Seat 9: Hot Karl (2510 in chips)
rooch21: posts small blind 75
rlw12345: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [Ah Kh]
swf6768: calls 150
Hot Karl: folds
revelation17: raises 300 to 450
dxflynnx: folds
rooch21: folds
rlw12345: calls 300
swf6768: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [As Kc 2s]
rlw12345: checks
swf6768: checks
revelation17: bets 300
rlw12345: folds
swf6768: calls 300
*** TURN *** [As Kc 2s] [7h]
swf6768: checks
revelation17: bets 875
swf6768: calls 875 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [As Kc 2s 7h] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
swf6768: shows [Ah Kh] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
revelation17: shows [Ac Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)
revelation17 collected 3775 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3775 Rake 0
Board [As Kc 2s 7h 9c]
Seat 1: revelation17 showed [Ac Ad] and won (3775) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: dxflynnx (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: rooch21 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: rlw12345 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: swf6768 showed [Ah Kh] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 9: Hot Karl folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Check out this guy's comeback

18 person SNG...check out Scout's comeback in a 15 hand period.

PokerStars Game #5915910244: Tournament #29954851, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/08/14 - 15:15:24 (ET)
Table '29954851 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: pq123 (5822 in chips)
Seat 2: lobal (6470 in chips)
Seat 4: Conild (4703 in chips)
Seat 5: wayneitall (3618 in chips)
Seat 6: Cooptown (4230 in chips)
Seat 7: SuperScout1 (17 in chips)
Seat 9: swf6768 (2140 in chips)


PokerStars Game #5915985022: Tournament #29954851, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/08/14 - 15:22:58 (ET)
Table '29954851 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: pq123 (5921 in chips)
Seat 2: lobal (4670 in chips)
Seat 4: Conild (4403 in chips)
Seat 5: wayneitall (3712 in chips)
Seat 6: Cooptown (3830 in chips)
Seat 7: SuperScout1 (1412 in chips)
Seat 9: swf6768 (3052 in chips)

And there was this hand you played over the weekend.

Bent Tree Cash Game #77: , $5/$10 Pot Limit - 2006/08/12 -

Table '1' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Clint (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Chop (3820 in chips)
Seat 3: Tiny B (1420 in chips)
Seat 4: swf6768 (760 in chips)
Seat 5: Shane (750 in chips)
swf 6768: posts small blind 5
Shane: posts big blind 10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [7c 7s]
Clint: calls 10
Chop: raises to 40
Tiny B: folds
swf6768: raises to 120
Shane: folds
Clint: folds
Chop: raises to 300
swf6768: raises all-in to 760
Chop: calls
*** FLOP *** [2h Qd 4s]
*** TURN *** [2h Qd 4s] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [2h Qd 4s 3s] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Chop: shows [Kc Kd] (Pair of Kings)
swf6768: shows [7c 7s] (Pair of sevens)
Chop collected 1535 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1535 Rake 0

Seat 1: Clint folded before Flop
Seat 2: Chop won (1535) with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: Tiny B folded before Flop
Seat 4: swf6768 lost (760) with a pair of sevens.
Seat 5: Shane folded before flop

Still quitting.

PokerStars Game #5909822611: Tournament #29921246, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/08/13 - 23:14:34 (ET)
Table '29921246 5' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Kamelkoff (730 in chips)
Seat 2: ALL_IN_MAC (6349 in chips)
Seat 3: dc77 (5730 in chips)
Seat 4: 2 ACES hmm (9453 in chips)
Seat 5: HiimRLx (3820 in chips)
Seat 6: pdparv19 (4145 in chips)
Seat 7: Rollar (1975 in chips)
Seat 8: swf6768 (2155 in chips)
Seat 9: frankswier (1345 in chips)
dc77: posts small blind 75
2 ACES hmm: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [Tc Ts]
HiimRLx: calls 150
pdparv19: folds
Rollar: folds
swf6768: raises 350 to 500
frankswier: folds
Kamelkoff: folds
ALL_IN_MAC: calls 500
dc77: folds
2 ACES hmm: folds
HiimRLx: calls 350
*** FLOP *** [4h 7d 4s]
HiimRLx: checks
swf6768: bets 1655 and is all-in
ALL_IN_MAC: folds
HiimRLx: calls 1655
ALL_IN_MAC said, "vnh"
*** TURN *** [4h 7d 4s] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [4h 7d 4s 3s] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
HiimRLx: shows [4c 4d] (four of a kind, Fours)
swf6768: shows [Tc Ts] (two pair, Tens and Fours)
HiimRLx collected 5035 from pot
ALL_IN_MAC said, "glad i bounced"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5035 Rake 0
Board [4h 7d 4s 3s 2c]
Seat 1: Kamelkoff folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ALL_IN_MAC (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: dc77 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: 2 ACES hmm (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: HiimRLx showed [4c 4d] and won (5035) with four of a kind, Fours
Seat 6: pdparv19 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Rollar folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: swf6768 showed [Tc Ts] and lost with two pair, Tens and Fours
Seat 9: frankswier folded before Flop (didn't bet)

It's 3:19 am

Matusow needs to tap the breaks of life....go live WSOP final table.

Second hand of tourney

PokerStars Game #5867023115: Tournament #29704924, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/08/10 - 15:38:20 (ET)
Table '29704924 17' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: twille58 (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: purpletrade (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: zonmans (1480 in chips)
Seat 4: ImNotSoGood (1530 in chips)
Seat 5: The Mooks (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: emodave (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: swf6768 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: p0wah (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: ohmyohmy77 (1500 in chips)
zonmans: posts small blind 10
ImNotSoGood: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [8d 2h]
The Mooks: calls 20
emodave: folds
swf6768: folds
p0wah: folds
ohmyohmy77: folds
twille58: folds
purpletrade: folds
zonmans: raises 20 to 40
ImNotSoGood: calls 20
The Mooks: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9s 4s]
zonmans: bets 140
ImNotSoGood: raises 1350 to 1490 and is all-in
The Mooks: folds
zonmans: calls 1300 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Ts 9s 4s] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9s 4s Qs] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
zonmans: shows [Kc Ks] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
ImNotSoGood: shows [7s 8s] (a straight flush, Eight to Queen)
zonmans collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 Rake 0
Board [Ts 9s 4s Qs Js]
Seat 1: twille58 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: purpletrade (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: zonmans (small blind) showed [Kc Ks] and won (3000) with a straight flush, Nine to King
Seat 4: ImNotSoGood (big blind) showed [7s 8s] and lost with a straight flush, Eight to Queen
Seat 5: The Mooks folded on the Flop
Seat 6: emodave folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: swf6768 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: p0wah folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: ohmyohmy77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Prelude to this evening?

Am I the only one that saw this Clarett story on ESPN and wondered where they got a picture of Shane's car?

This is a poker blog right???

I quit. I am swf6768

PokerStars Game #5855556631: Tournament #29645887, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/08/09 - 15:45:00 (ET)
Table '29645887 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Gucci1 (2665 in chips)
Seat 5: MM7ny (3310 in chips)
Seat 7: swf6768 (5405 in chips)
Seat 9: 10&2Flip (2120 in chips)
Gucci1: posts the ante 25
MM7ny: posts the ante 25
swf6768: posts the ante 25
10&2Flip: posts the ante 25
10&2Flip: posts small blind 100
Gucci1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [Kc Qc]
MM7ny: folds
swf6768: raises 300 to 500
10&2Flip: folds
Gucci1: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [Ks 8s 9d]
Gucci1: bets 600
swf6768: raises 4280 to 4880 and is all-in
Gucci1: calls 1540 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Ks 8s 9d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 8s 9d Tc] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Gucci1: shows [Kh 7h] (a straight, Six to Ten)
swf6768: shows [Kc Qc] (a pair of Kings)
Gucci1 collected 5480 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5480 Rake 0
Board [Ks 8s 9d Tc 6h]
Seat 1: Gucci1 (big blind) showed [Kh 7h] and won (5480) with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 5: MM7ny folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: swf6768 (button) showed [Kc Qc] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 9: 10&2Flip (small blind) folded before Flop

The Original Helpy Post

Due to matrimonial control, my original helpy post was deleted...but suffice to say it was damn funny. If you would like to see a copy of it, please e-mail Dan's girlfriend at decochic@www.idontknowhowtospelldeekochique.com.

Randy, next time you want to pull one of my posts, just take the fucking thing down. Don't edit the post using my name and password. I'll see you on Thursday. You'll be bleeding by 8:15pm.

PPV

TBR and I were wondering over lunch about how tomorrows "live" pay per view of the WSOP final table would be presented. Our hat-wearing friend Amy is wondering the same thing.

We should order this for tomorrow night's home game.

Sang.

Just Trying to be Helpy, Redux

Not exactly sure who completely changed my original "Helpy" post, but I'll offer three comments:

1. Nice editorial control we have on this fucking website.
2. No wonder why I hate people, especially Randy.
3. Everything in the revised post was true except for one thing, I don't threaten to kick my friends' asses. I have no friends. Therefore I am an equal opportunity threatener.

It's going to be a long night on Thursday. Sang, I apologize in advance for any damages.

Go Deadbeats!

Clonie finished in 19th place in yesterday's $1500 NL tourney at the WSOP. For the entire WSOP she now has two cashes and has taken home $5,141, or about 10 times what she owes me.

So far at the WSOP, the 12 members of Team Full Tilt cashed 38 times for $2,750,848. But realize, without Clonie that number would only be $2,745,707.

I wonder if Allen Cunningham will get promoted to the Team from the "Friends of Full Tilt" when/if he wins the Main Event.

WSOP Cheating?

Interesting comments from Richard Brodie about cheating at the WSOP. Not sure if any Batfaces were involved.

"The total chip count reported in PokerWire for the final 27 players in the 2006 WSOP main event is 88,246,000. That is 516,000 more than the total starting chips for 8773 entrants. It is impossible that so many chips were added simply due to rounding up in chip races.If the PokerWire chip count is accurate, where did the extra chips come from? That is some serious cheating.
Why is it impossible that chip races added 514,000 in chip value to the WSOP main event?The 25 chips were raced off during the split day 2, which began with fewer than 3500 players. If all 350 tables were still there and every one of them added the maximum 50 in chip value, that would add 17,500 to the event. Probably more than 1/4 of those tables had already broken and probably only 1/4 of the maximum 50 was added per table.The 100 chips were raced off at the end of day 3, with 481 players remaining. If all 54 tables added the maximum 200 in chip value that would add 5400 to the event, but the expected add is zero.The 500 chips were raced off with 288 players remaining. If all 32 tables added 500 that would add 16,000 to the event. The expected add is half that.The 1000 chips were raced off with 49 players remaining. If all six tables added 2000 that would add 12,000 to the event. The expected add is zero.So the very maximum possible in added chip value is 50,900.Now it's still possible the listed chip count at the end of yesterday was inaccurate. But if not...where did the half million come from?"

Just trying to be Helpy

My name is Shane Keller. I'm gay but pretend not to be because I'm afraid my friends won't accept me that way. I also threaten to kick their asses routinely, even though they're my friends, I'm woefully out of shape and I'm gay. Also, I'm gay (please don't tell Scott).

Gayer than us... or, at least, AS gay

In the midst of my post-WSOP depression, I stumbled across the United States Scrabble Open, featuring Chris Cree, a buddy from a weekly poker game (pictured here deep in thought). Chris is the #1 ranked player in Texas and mounting a furious rally in this year's USSO. Carry on.

Crackin' Aces

TBR and I just played 1-2 at the Venetian for about 2 hours. Utg raised to 20 and I called with Qc Jc. Two to my left makes it 120 to go, the origanal raiser folds and I decide "screw it, I crackin' em or going to sleep"...I'm all-in for $164. Flopped two pair. Got there.

We left about 5 minutes later and I threw the guy $20 and told him he handled it well though.

Good Morning, Mr. Fawcett...

Who is Butterfinger, and when can we meet her?

Batface Down

Just got that text from TBR. Sounds like it's over. I'll make the updates to the schlogger.

Good morning all...

Can anyone explain the $5000 or the Butterfinger on my bed?

Go TBR

Day 2 for TBR started a couple of minutes ago. His table (Table 159) looks like a great draw for him. The table has no big stacks, no players with significantly more success or experience than Randy. Here's the table.

Seat 1 - Adam Brosius - 33,400
Seat 2 - Loren Libby - 3,550
Seat 3 - Aaron Lerner - 13,050
Seat 4 - Lalif Nanji - 3,100
Seat 5 - TBR - 27,875
Seat 6 - Mark Guttormsen - 23,325
Seat 7 - Rich Baker - 15,675
Seat 8 - Jeremy Roberts - 29,900
Seat 9 - Colin Frisby - 12,575
Seat 10 - Henry Kim - 34,550

Update

10:38 - Scott: Back from dinner. Railing TBR, Shane is sour.
10:55 - Scott: Shane down.
2:44 - Randy: 12125
3:27 - Scott: 140 tables left in level 6. TBR has 9400 or so and looks sour.
3:32 - Shane: I just ate my own feces.
4:33 - Scott: TBR doubles up with pocket aces against Kings. 18K, 32 mins left in level 6.
4:40 - Scott: He just finished the guy off with pocket Jacks. 22K
5:01 - Scott: 4 min left. 23K
5:08 - TBR: 27875. End of day 1.
5:10 - Tiny B: Very well done. Have fun at Club Paradise.

Shane...

is out. Whoever had TBR in the last-least-shortest pool wins.

Not good

TBR down to 12,200.

Text from Shane..."Tragedy. 3150. Can't even begin to discuss it and since Todd would mock me about until I die, I won't."

I guess that means he took a bad beat. Hopefully, he can rebound.

Shane

Shane is up to 11,950 at the end of Level 2. Keep it going boys.

TBR Improves

TBR is up to 19,000 after Level 2. The highlights of this level were calling a bet on the river with 4th pair, not realizing he had a straight and rivering a set of 9's to crack Aces again, that were horrifically misplayed. I'm pretty sure he never saw this amount until late in Day 1 last year.

Nice Call, Sean.

From CardPlayer.com

Sean Sheikhan Eliminated
On a flop of 973 and $675 in the pot, the player in seat 2 bets $700. Sean Sheikhan raises to $2,000 and the player re-raises all-in for $10,000 more. Sheikhan makes the call and shows QQ while his opponent shows 99 for a set. The turn and river come 8K, and Sheikhan is eliminated.

Shane playing very Shaney

Shane is at 10,500 at the first break.

TBR off to a nice start!

TBR has run his chip stack to 16,500 after Level 1 thanks to almost doubling up after flopping a set of 10s to crack Aces. On his left is David Matthew, who won a cool 1.9 Million at Bellagio in April at the WPT Championship.
Shane and TBR are on opposite sides of the room, so they are breaking at different times.
Shane is sitting next to this guy and possibly another guy that I'm still researching.

Go Hot Naked Girls!

Here's an interesting story. Well, maybe it's not that interesting and really more of a reason to post non-Hellmuth nudity.

This just in

The boys have only been playing for 20 minutes or so. No update on them.

Tiny, meanwhile, is in Dallas. Had he gone to Vegas, he would totally be available to dish out good-luck hugs to the Batfaces.

At least that's the way I interpreted his text message.

Damn Level 6

Darling was knocked out last night with 30 minutes remaining in Level 6, the final level of the evening and the same level that saw Fawcett go down the previous night. I'll provide more details as I get them. TBR and Shane play today.

Go Batfaces

Just wanted to say good luck to TBR and Shane today. Play like champions, boys.

To Troy and Fawcett: Bummer. But don't sweat it. Remember, you guys are rich.

Level 3

At the dinner break, Darling is down to 8600 in chips.  During that level, he had AA, KK, QQ and AK but didn't win anything significant with any of them. Probably my last report for the night, despite there being 3 more levels tonight. I'll post first thing in the morning.

Darling

Twenty minutes into Level 2, Darling has his chips up to 11,500.

Uh, Can We Recheck Those Odds, Please?

Okay, it's one thing for Phil Helmuth to say he had "horrendous, horrendous" luck when explaining why he busted in only six hours. But does the associated press have to blindly agree? Witness the following quote from this story:

He was victimized as much by bad luck as by the aggressive and unpredictable style of amateur players who fill the field in an event boasting more than 8,600 entrants.

Really? First, he gave away 10 percent of his stack to show up late and make a big entrance. Then his J-J lost to Q-Q, his K-K lost to A-A, and he went out when his A-Q lost to 7-7. He was behind in every instance and never improved. Is his bad luck that he didn't get lucky? Is that part of his winning strategy? Which, when coupled with the photo above, reminds me of something I need to say: Go TBR!

Fawcett Down

Around 1:.30 Vegas-time last night, Scott got his last 7500TC in with AK vs. JJ. The Jacks won. Good work by Scott making it well into Level 6. Darling plays today, TBR and Shane on Monday. Good luck. That is all.

Scott update

With 40 minutes left in level 4, Scott has 9200 in chips and has outlasted Hellmuth and Doyle...and others.

Go Batfawcetts!

Report from the field: Fawcett is holding steady at 10025tc after the second break. Clearly his new strategy of not donking off all his chips with king high is paying dividends.

Clonie Out

This update from CardPlayer.com about Clonie Gowen, who owes two Batfaces $500 each, even though that's not important right now and even though we all know she will never pay it:

Clonie Gowen Eliminated

On a board of AK9, with $4,000 already in the pot, Clonie Gowen pushes all-in for her remaining $2,400. Her sole opponent calls and shows A3 for a pair of Aces. Gowen flips up pocket Queens and will need to improve. The turn is the 9 and the river is the 2, not helping Gowen and eliminating her from the tournament.

I Didn't Know Ackerman Was in the Main Event

This from CardPlayer.com:

All-In Called with 8-High

On a flop of 1075, Tim Rod bets $300 and his opponent raises to $600. Rod calls and the turn puts the 3 on the board. Rod again bets out with $1,500 and is again raised by his opponent to $4,000. Rod calls and the river puts the 3 on the board. Rod pushes all-in and his opponent immediately calls. Rod flips up KQ for a turned flush. His opponent says, "Do I have a straight flush? Oh, no I don't," as he shows 86 for 8-high.

7400 and Counting....

Just talked with Fawcett, who just registered for the Main Event as number 7436 or somesuch. The person in the cage speculated that 8,000 would be a good over/under number by tomorrow at noon. Fawcett's playing Saturday, Darling's playing Sunday, and Shane and I are playing Monday.

Fawcett is planning on sweating big-name pros all day tomorrow to get a sense of the action. We here at Batfaces will give you updates when we can.

As always, go Batfaces!

A bit curious

Anyone hear about the new Southwest Poker Invitational? After being discouraged by the authorities, the organizers have decided to hold it anyway...Online. Here's part of the email I received:

The tournament that Texas didn't want to happen is back and better than ever! Not only can you take home a piece of poker history by winning the first ever online championship bracelet, but we've added even more prizes! And the best part... The buy-in is only $1.00! Because of this, we are positive that the gorgeous gold and diamond SWPI bracelet will find the wrist of the best poker player in the Southwest!

Prizes: 1st-- The famous gold and diamond 2006 SWPI Bracelet...Plus $250

2nd--The custom crafted Final Table of the SWPI

3rd--Microsoft XBOX 360 Premium Edition

4th-10th--Autographed copy of "How to Win the Championship" by T.J. Cloutier

11th-20th--Southwest Poker Invitiational T-shirt or hat

Couple of things here: 1.) Does anyone know anything about the organizers? $1 buy-in is sort of strange, no? If it was 1K, that would sound more legit. $1 sounds like they got all whacked out on glue before hatching a plan to take the money and run to Wyoming. 2.) How much do you think the bracelet is worth? Because looking at that list, I think I'd rather come in third...

Winner Winner...

Hellmuth pulled it off, winning his 10th bracelet in the $1000 NLHE with rebuys. For the moment Phil sneaks into the lead as WSOP Player of the Year. That lead will be gone tonight since Jeff Madden, a 21-year old from LA, has made his 4th final table having already won two bracelets. This final table is in the Seven Card Stud High Low 8 OB event. Tulsa's buddy Bill Elder is among the chip leaders.

Time for Ten?

For the third time this month, Phil Hellmuth heads to the final table of a WSOP event in search of his 10th bracelet. Hellmuth's tournament play has been ridiculed of late, with his only significant accomplishments occurring in made for TV, invite-only fields and not in the huge full fields that are prevelant throughout poker. Things have changed for Hellmuth this year. With a win in today's final table, Hellmuth would lead the WSOP Player of the Year Standings.
Very impressive Series for Phil, especially having overcome the beatdown delivered to him by Shane at Caesars earlier this month.

3rd in 180 $22 SNG.....Go WSOP!!!!

Knocked out 3rd on this hand...cashed $428. Only $9600 till main event free roll.

PokerStars Game #5674222136: Tournament #28695886, $20+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (3000/6000) - 2006/07/25 - 02:15:04 (ET)
Table '28695886 10' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: AliStatus33 (164751 in chips)
Seat 2: swf6768 (36780 in chips)
Seat 8: Mssr_X (68469 in chips)
AliStatus33: posts the ante 300
swf6768: posts the ante 300
Mssr_X: posts the ante 300
Mssr_X: posts small blind 3000
AliStatus33: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [9c 9h]
swf6768: raises 9000 to 15000
Mssr_X: folds
AliStatus33: raises 149451 to 164451 and is all-in
swf6768: calls 21480 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Td Kd As]
*** TURN *** [Td Kd As] [4s]
swf6768 said, "nice flop"
*** RIVER *** [Td Kd As 4s] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AliStatus33: shows [Ad 7d] (three of a kind, Aces)
swf6768: shows [9c 9h] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
swf6768 said, "gg"
AliStatus33 said, "gg"
AliStatus33 collected 76860 from pot
AliStatus33 said, "very well played"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 76860 Rake 0
Board [Td Kd As 4s Ac]
Seat 1: AliStatus33 (big blind) showed [Ad 7d] and won (76860) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: swf6768 (button) showed [9c 9h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 8: Mssr_X (small blind) folded before Flop

WPT has Drawn Suited Connectors

I am so used to counting on our buddy Dan's website for information on the poker world, but he seems too busy discussing credit card roulette at P.F. Changs, that he missed the big lawsuit against the WPT. Some of the biggest names in poker including Raymer, Lederer, and Ferguson filed an antitrust lawsuit agains the WPT. They claim that requiring them to sign away their rights before entering any of their tournaments violates antitrust law. They are also claiming that WPT does not allow any of the big name casinos that host a WPT tournament to hold any other tournaments for broadcast. Here is the WPT's response. I figure that one of the batface lawyers can explain it better.

I will just go back to reporting about the huge credit card roulette game that broke out at the end of a batface lunch last week. Sorry TBR.

Evolution?

I've been trying to think of some way to describe the play at last Thursday's home game, but to this point words have failed me. Fortunately, Dan posted something that illustrates it perfectly. Just for fun, see if you can pick which player at this table most likely shares a common ancestor with Freeze and Randy.

This is a poker blog right?

Honestly, read the following 2 heads up hands from a $33 sng...I am swf6768
PokerStars Game #5632794961: Tournament #28493529, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/07/21 - 16:03:12 (ET)
Table '28493529 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 4: swf6768 (9426 in chips)
Seat 7: fathernuts (4074 in chips)
swf6768: posts the ante 25
fathernuts: posts the ante 25
fathernuts: posts small blind 100
swf6768: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [3s 4s]
fathernuts said, "nasty"
fathernuts: raises 200 to 400
swf6768: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7c 7d 3c]
swf6768: bets 500
fathernuts: raises 3149 to 3649 and is all-in
swf6768: calls 3149
*** TURN *** [7c 7d 3c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [7c 7d 3c 8h] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
swf6768: shows [3s 4s] (two pair, Sevens and Threes)
fathernuts: shows [5c 4c] (a straight flush, Three to Seven)
swf6768 said, "wow!"
fathernuts collected 8148 from pot
fathernuts said, "wow"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8148 Rake 0
Board [7c 7d 3c 8h 6c]
Seat 4: swf6768 (big blind) showed [3s 4s] and lost with two pair, Sevens and Threes
Seat 7: fathernuts (button) (small blind) showed [5c 4c] and won (8148) with a straight flush, Three to Seven



PokerStars Game #5632807136: Tournament #28493529, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/07/21 - 16:04:38 (ET)
Table '28493529 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 4: swf6768 (5002 in chips)
Seat 7: fathernuts (8498 in chips)
swf6768: posts the ante 25
fathernuts: posts the ante 25
swf6768: posts small blind 100
fathernuts: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [9s Qd]
swf6768: calls 100
fathernuts: checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 9c 2s]
fathernuts: bets 400
swf6768: raises 1600 to 2000
fathernuts: raises 6273 to 8273 and is all-in
swf6768: calls 2777 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [8d 9c 2s] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9c 2s 3c] [7h]
fathernuts said, "wow"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
fathernuts: shows [9d 3h] (two pair, Nines and Threes)
swf6768: shows [9s Qd] (a pair of Nines)
swf6768 said, "what"
fathernuts collected 10004 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10004 Rake 0
Board [8d 9c 2s 3c 7h]
Seat 4: swf6768 (button) (small blind) showed [9s Qd] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 7: fathernuts (big blind) showed [9d 3h] and won (10004) with two pair, Nines and Threes

The Return of Gonzilla

Having me back is like a dream, isn't it? I'm sure you all missed me as much as I missed you bitches. But I feel like I don't know you guys anymore. It makes me sad. So, fill me in: Is Shane still ugly? Is Tulsa still bald? Does Rogers still say inappropriate things? Am I still the best player in the home game? And when will I stop asking questions?

Now, about me: I'm still very good at poker, for those who haven't yet heard. Entered Party Poker's Super Wednesday Tournament, which I thought was No Limit, but which actually turned out to be LIMIT. Oops. Worked out in my favor, though. I finished third out of 553 players, good for nearly $7500. As Dan has noted recently in an email conversation, all tournaments (WSOP included) should have an asterisk if I'm not part of the field. I'm just sayin'.


Sending out a virtual hug--to you especially, Tiny, because I know you like it like that.

World Series of Batfaces

It looks like we will have 4 Batfaces playing in this years Main Event. TBR, Shane, Darling and Fawcett will be traveling to Vegas next week with visions of $10 Million and/or Misty (not Mitsy). I think it's necessary to set some odds for their trip.

One of them wins the Main Event: 10000-1
One of them makes the final table: 1000-1
One of them makes the money: 15-1
Two make the money: 100-1
Shane suffers a horrendous bad beat that no one else witnesses: 1-6
Randy makes it past Day 1: 2-1
Shane makes it past Day 1: 4-1
Fawcett makes it past Day 1: 6-1
Darling makes it past Day 1: 6-1
Fawcett gets penalized for cussing: Even
Randy sees a flop on consecutive hands: 150-1
Fawcett offends many in drunken state: 2-5

More odds will come as we get closer to the event.

Go Batfaces!

Traveler(s)
SCOTT FAWCETT
LeaveThursday, July 27, 2006
America West 135
Class: First Class
Depart:
7:30ammorning
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW)
Arrive:
8:14ammorning
Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas Mccarran Intl (LAS)

There's Still Hope for my Kids

Since their father sucks at cards, maybe my boys can pick it up and make their father proud.

Tried the $370 WSOP today...

Was doing very well till this disaster. Is there anyway you fold this?

PokerStars Game #5580471800: Tournament #21021395, $350+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2006/07/16 - 17:26:07 (ET)
Table '21021395 574' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: TheKnack7 (1985 in chips)
Seat 2: 3boris (4405 in chips)
Seat 4: auntem (3680 in chips)
Seat 5: mrflyt (2490 in chips)
Seat 6: swf6768 (4560 in chips)
Seat 7: GETNCAUGHT (2615 in chips)
Seat 8: Mark Sucks (1570 in chips)
Seat 9: sbl21 (1195 in chips)
swf6768: posts small blind 25
GETNCAUGHT: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [Jd Jh]
NeoNcoNdoM69 is connected
Mark Sucks: folds
sbl21: folds
TheKnack7: folds
3boris: raises 50 to 100
auntem: folds
mrflyt: folds
swf6768: calls 75
GETNCAUGHT: calls 50
*** FLOP *** [Js Ks Ac]
swf6768: checks
GETNCAUGHT: checks
3boris: bets 200
swf6768: raises 600 to 800
GETNCAUGHT: folds
3boris: raises 3505 to 4305 and is all-in
swf6768: calls 3505
*** TURN *** [Js Ks Ac] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Js Ks Ac 4h] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
swf6768: shows [Jd Jh] (three of a kind, Jacks)
3boris: shows [Qc Tc] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
TheKnack7 said, "ouch"
3boris collected 8910 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8910 Rake 0
Board [Js Ks Ac 4h 3h]
Seat 1: TheKnack7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: 3boris showed [Qc Tc] and won (8910) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 4: auntem folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mrflyt (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: swf6768 (small blind) showed [Jd Jh] and lost with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 7: GETNCAUGHT (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Mark Sucks folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: sbl21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Which left me with the following stats….

Stack: largest 17770, smallest 115, average 3087
Your current position is 5972 out of 5974
Time bank balance is 180 seconds

For more information see Tournament Lobby


Then get knocked out by pocket aces in SB

PokerStars Game #5580653085: Tournament #21021395, $350+$20 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2006/07/16 - 17:43:01 (ET)
Table '21021395 574' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: TheKnack7 (635 in chips)
Seat 2: 3boris (5455 in chips)
Seat 3: NeoNcoNdoM69 (2015 in chips)
Seat 4: auntem (6170 in chips)
Seat 5: mrflyt (2390 in chips)
Seat 6: swf6768 (155 in chips)
Seat 7: GETNCAUGHT (2315 in chips)
Seat 8: Mark Sucks (4510 in chips)
Seat 9: sbl21 (1020 in chips)
mrflyt: posts small blind 50
swf6768: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swf6768 [As 7d]
GETNCAUGHT: folds
Mark Sucks: folds
sbl21: folds
TheKnack7: folds
3boris: folds
NeoNcoNdoM69: folds
auntem: folds
mrflyt: raises 300 to 400
swf6768: calls 55 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [7c 8d 3s]
swf6768 said, "f uch"
swf6768 said, "no way"
*** TURN *** [7c 8d 3s] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [7c 8d 3s Jd] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mrflyt: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
swf6768: shows [As 7d] (a pair of Sevens)
mrflyt collected 310 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 310 Rake 0
Board [7c 8d 3s Jd 5s]
Seat 1: TheKnack7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: 3boris folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: NeoNcoNdoM69 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: auntem (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mrflyt (small blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won (310) with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: swf6768 (big blind) showed [As 7d] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 7: GETNCAUGHT folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Mark Sucks folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: sbl21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Oh. My.

Which of these graphs buried deep in Dan's post is more awesome:

• I haven’t watched TV — save for a little poker on in various bars — for two weeks. From what I understand, the world may or may not be blowing up. It kinda doesn’t make sense to me, because here at the WSOP, there are tons of Arabs, Jews, Degos, Polacks, Blackies, and Bumpkins — and everyone seems to get along. Where else can you find such a diversity of people sitting around playing a game?

• Or this one...
  

  
  To the driver of the elegantly pimped ROLLS ROYCE parked in PHIL IVEY’S spot … your alarm is going off. It may or may not have something to do with a certain BLOGGER trying to look inside.

Seriously, Dan is my favorite 'tard blogger. Even more than this guy.

P.S.: typed 5K words on Vegas. Will post it in pieces once I get others to fill in some blanks.

Dead Darling Money

It's official. Darling will be playing in the Main Event. God help us all. Go Batfaces!

Fuck this blog

I just wrote for two hours and somehow deleted it. Here's the jist of it.

Scott Fischman is cool. Adam Friedman is a beating.

Here you go Scott

From Pauly's blog...

Vegas, in a nut shell, baby

One day I will grow up and not love this...today is not that day

I will admit that I was shocked that TBR might have the stamina to make it one more night as this pic was taken shortly after we left the Venetian poker room (it is 10 am'ish) after a 24 hour Zach sweating, dice, pizza, blackjack, pizza, dice, 7 pm poker tourney, pizza, dice, blackjack, dice, Venetian poker room session. Hey Troy, he was says he was on a conference call and billing and was just so focused he did not notice Tiny B and I polluting him further than he had already polluted himself.

More TBR WSOPing I guess

I recieved a text from Randy at 10:54 last night that reads "Can I get the room for monday night, too? Staying until Tuesday" I can only assume that means: Go $1000 WSOP NL Monday!

Just thought I would let all the big fans out there know to watch along more today. I think Somer mentioned that traffic soared to 12 over the weekend to track the action.

Other non-pokery action: I googled "hot girl in Caesars Palace poker room" to try to show Kelsey a picture of her...no luck. I honestly thought that might work.

Go Tulsa!

Just cashed (helped broker a chop for the last six spots) for $3700 at Caesars NL tourney. Finished tied for second (five of us even stacked, one chip leader, blinds and antes insane) out of 140, their largest ever at 7 p.m. Go Batfaces!

After taxes and dealer tip ($3K), Gonz gets his grand back. Go ripping up the check!

Have to catch a flight in three hours. Go no sleep!

Many more updates after sleep and cuddling in Dallas in approx 12 hours. Go wife!

Zach

Out in 50th.

Down to 56

With 56 left, Zach sits in 20th place with 58,000TC. Leader has about 150,000TC, only 8 players over 100k. Go Poker! Go quality wines at reasonable prices!

After Day One

Zach sits in the money, 31st place, with 42,700TC. From CardPlayer's update log:

"Biggest Pot of the Night"


A player in mid-position opened the bet and Zach Ballenger reraised. The mid-posiiton player called and the flop came down Jack-high. Ballenger's opponent moved all-in and Ballenger called, having him covered. Ballenger flipped up pocket Kings, but his opponent turned over pocket Jacks for top set. With over $30,000 in the pot, the turn put an Ace on the board and was no help to either. However, a King on the river gave Ballenger a higher set and he raked in the $30,000 pot to put him up to $48,000.

Go Poker! Go militant enforcement of ridiculous update/coverage policies!

Zach

Zach has won two big pots and is the top 10 in chips according to card player.com.  Eric seidel is now on his left. Down 134 players. Top 99 get paid. Read about him at card player. Go batfaces!

At dinner break

Zach and tbr are around 8000 chips, around par at dinner break.

More outs

Darling is out.
Fawcett is out by bluffing all his chips to Men the Master.

Update

Tulsa out.
Tiny B out.

Break 1

Tiny B 2375
Shane 4500
Fawcett 5500
Zach B 3500
Darling 2000

Didn't are any of the others

Live blog 10

The $2500 NL event starts at noon Vegas time. Darling, tbr, Fawcett, Shane,  Hong Kong and son of, tulsa, straight e and I will be playing. Should be fun. Go batfaces!

Live post 9

Sitting by the pool at caesars (quite a visual, I know), relaxing after a night of relatively tame fun. Dinner at Fix, night clubbing at Light, craps at the Barbary Coast, etc. Darling somehow found two 22 year old girls from lubbock who joined us for dinner. After they claimed they could drunk us under the table because the three things you do in lubbock are  drinking, fucking and drugging. It soon became clear that these girls, like most, were worthless. It became more clear when one girl threw a little tantrum when Freeze wouldn't share a Xanax with her. After a jaeger shot the girls were in bad shape and thankfully disappered for the night. I think the only one of our group who was upset that they left was Hong Kong sue.

Live blog 8

I'm drinking a sour apple daquiri and Tulsa us drinking a banana daquiri.

Having Fun at Home

Just hanging out with the wife and kids tonight. They have been gone for a month. This is so much more fun than being with 11 drunk batfaces gambling in Las Vegas. A lot more fun. No, really, a great time. Really.....

Why has it been over 3 hours since the last post. What the fuck? No, really. Awesome time.

Live blog 7

Shane has called someone a fucking donkey. The under wins. Adam chopped a 225 sat. Go batfaces!

Live blog 6

Darling chops his 525 sat and takes home 4k to 1k.  Despite betting out of turn 69% of the time, he played very well.

Live blog 5

Everyone is out but darling. My 66 lost to Q10. Came in 4th. 3 players left at darlings table.

Live blog 4

I just got it all-in with 10s vs AK. Flop is AJ2. Turn is Q. River is K. Go big Todd! Go batfaces!

Tulsa and Adam are out of their sats.

Live blog 3

The guy at my table in the "I heart hot moms" T-shirt and the huge bags under his eyes is a Tum-like donkey.

Live blog 2

Playing in a $175 sat. Playing next to freeze and tbr where freeze just called an all-in bet with ak against k5 suited. The donkey flopped a 5 and turned a flush. Freeze is short stacked. Adam, Sommer, darling, Tulsa and Shane are also sateliting.

noon, day 1

down to only 10 batfaces that have not dumped a screwdriver all over the blackjack table. Go big shane!

Positive Schloggering

Somer just texted that he is up $6.25 on airport slots...this is a good start. Go Airport slots!

The Calm Before the Storm

Arrived last night in Vegas. I don't want to bog this site down in minutae, but I just ordered coffee, espresso, granola/yogurt/berries, and a Chinese escort. Room Service replied, "I'm sorry, sir, we're out of berries." Recap to-date follows:

• Waited at DFW for a few hours for my delayed flight to finally take off. Realized half the Mavs' summer league roster and a few coaches, including Ro Blackman, were on the flight with me. While waiting in line, tried to quietly post up Pavel Podkolzin (who was not sporting his gangsta look, unfortunately). Others on the flight included the pasty greatness of UT's Brad Buckman, Josh Powell, and Rawle Marshall. Sitting near them in first class -- that's how I roll -- I wondered as I watched Marshall jam out to his personal music player if he, too, was listening to the soundtrack from "Moulin Rouge," as I was. Come what may, bitches.
  
• Upon arrival, Tiny B texted me that the Mavs had traded Marquis Daniels for Austin Croshere, who apparently has no nose. I immediately tattle to the players. They are, eh, "confused" is the right word. "Hope he likes playing behind Mr. 44 Minutes A Night" says one. I giggle. I think we bonded. I think about holding out my hand for some dap, but think better of it.
• On the way to Caesars, a ridiculously literate and insightful French cabbie asks me questions about poker. "Eh, vut is the seengle most eemportant condition, or should I say, characteristic, of a good poker player?" Uh, balls?
• Room = sweet. See Tiny B's pic below.
• Even though I've been up since 5 a.m. CST, I decide to meet Dantana at the Rio and play one satellite. The line for a cab is long, so I glance down the road toward the Rio and say, screw it, I'll walk.
• This just in: Walking a mile in a suit at midnight in Vegas across urine-soaked sidewalks, away from the bustle of downtown, toward railroad tracks and highway overpasses, with about $950 in your pants, is not the decision an intelligent human being makes. Where's the Frog when I need him?
• I walk into the cardroom and immediately am seated at a $175 satellite. To my right is a grizzled pro who reminds me of Pauley Walnuts without the charm but with all the cigarette odor. To my left is a quiet, sunglassed guy who gives off a slightly douchy air. The rest of the table is affable and not as hot as me. Literally. Still sweating.
• Table is pretty soft ... limp, limp, limp, raise, everyone folds. In the cutoff I get A-Q hearts, I raise to $200 with four limpers (25-25 to start, you get $1K in chips). I get one reluctant call from the SB, then back around to Walnuts, who calls. Flop comes K-5-6 rainbow, one heart. Walnuts goes all in. I tank a bit. I'm pretty sure I have Walnuts beat -- he'd already bullied the table a bit -- but the SB is really fiddling with his chips. I fold, SB calls, turns over A-K. Walnuts turns over 9-7 hearts and yells "I thought I hadda king!" River come an 8, of course.
  
• Goes around until I'm in the SB. Two players are gone. UTG raises to $100, and three people call. With great odds, I look down and see J-Ts. I call. BB does, too. Flop comes J-T-8 with 2 spades. At this table, no need to slow play. I bet $300, about half the pot. ALL IN! CALL! CALL! Well. That's not so awesome. Claearly needing help but getting 4.5-1 on my call (they all had me covered), I turn over J-10, as does UTG. Behind him turns over Q-J. BB turns over 9-7. No flush draws. Turn comes 7, river comes 9, Q-high straight takes it, much bitching ensues. The other three of us chop $125. I actually double that, get down to five people, but need to make a move and do so with 6s, called by slow-playing Kings.
  
• I get back to the room and asleep by 2:30 a.m. local. Thinking about playing the Wynn $330 NL today at noon. Tally for the evening: -$186.99 ($175 satellite, $11.99 charge for Jenna Depraved ... who, btw, has a potty mouth).
• Just got texts. Guns, Any Ace Adam, and TBR are on terra firma. Giddyup.
  

Live Blog 1

I'm Awaiting take off from my first class seat on AA # 855. The Rio should be happenin this afternoon with two tournaments kicking off, the 5k NL event final table with Marcel, V Vinh, the hottish isabelle mercier and Phil Hellmuth still battling and the arrival of 12 or so idiots from dallas.  Good  news for all...Darling packed extra clothes in case he "needs" to stay longer than planned. Go Batfaces!

Tulsa in Vegas

Tulsa is the first Batface to reach Vegas. He sent this picture of his room at Caesars as proof. And judging by the photo, Tulsa isn't waiting on the rest of us before he starts drinking.

WSOP Countdown: Tomorrow

In the spirit of the Batfaces on our first group venture to Vegas (hard to believe), I thought I'd include this little gem archive e-mail of the week from Tulsa, originally sent over four years ago:

"[ Randy, if you would, please forward this to the group... ]
Several sources indicate I got really drunk last night. It seems that, within the last hour or so of the evening, I:

1. Basically gave away the $110 or so I'd worked hard to obtain, ignoring advice to not, say, raise bets with a 3-9 in the hole 2. Became more interested in punching or slapping Tim than playing cards 3. Annoyed the table with my selection of salsa music 4. Broke a glass 5. Began eating humus with my fingers 6. Wrestled Tim in the kitchen, which is what caused me to shatter my coffee pot and really, really hurt my shoulder blade 7. Told everyone to get the hell out of my house 8. Said goodbye to Tim from my front porch while trying to induce vomiting

My wife reports more embarrassing behavior afterward, which no one really needs to know about but which did result in her statement this morning: "I'm not very proud of you."
I blame the stein. You pour one beer in there, and the amount looks insufficient. I now know better. From this point forward, I shall break out the stein only for St. Patrick's Day.
In summation, to those who were offended, I apologize. To those who chuckled while pilfering my pile, I hope you're proud of yourselves, taking advantage of a drunken buffoon like that. To those who were entertained, god bless you.

Poker tonight?

Eric"

WSOP Countdown: 3 Days away...

Our good friend Dantana over at pokerati is keeping himself pretty busy since he showed up in Vegas, logging hours at the table and blogging like mad. One of his posts includes a rather uncomforty description of the scantily clad "marketing" gals schlepping all things poker in the convention center. I wonder of it gave the pronunciationally challenged, slap-unhappy DEE-ko Sheik some pause? Probably not, given what she's likely had to encounter to get to this point.

Frequent commenter "Stan" has suggested that Dan provide "total Buy-in, Cash Outs and Net won listing somewhere" in addition to some pictures. Stan, we know you read here, too, so please be advised that the batfaces will be provided a running "schlogger" of our own so that you can follow our on and off-table progress. Also, we're hoping to provide plenty of pics and video, too, assuming Todd's antics haven't permanently destroyed my phone.

For now, some early Vegas odds:

Odds of a batface cashing in a WSOP event -- 2 to 1
Odds of a batface making a final table at a WSOP event -- 15 to 1
Odds that Freeze will be propositioned by a hooker -- 3 to 2
Odds that he will realize it is a hooker -- 5 to 1
Odds that he will accept after realization -- 3 to 2
Over/Under on time Todd will break down and play poker -- 6 p.m. Friday
O/U on drinks Shane consumes from wheels up to wheels down -- 52
O/U on uncomfortable statements made by Hong K. Sue -- 32
O/U on uncomfortable statements Hong K. Sue directs at Clonie -- 29

WSOP Countdown: 7 Days away...

Check out Aussie Sarah's site (previous post) for a re-cap of her 44th place finish in the PL Event. Looks like she got lucky (again). Go luck! Go batfaces!

WSOP Countdown: 8 Days away...

While perusing all the various poker sites/blogs over the last four days, I've been quite impressed with the Hendon Mob's WSOP presentation thus far. It's amazing how much this site has to offer, particularly considering that it was essentially not much better than our little piece of nothing just a couple of years back.

You'll see that one of their feature writers is Sarah Bilney. Sarah played next to me during day 3 of the 2005 Main Event (Hey, who's that pasty, constipated guy in the white shirt??), where she went on to finish 63rd, good for $145,000, thanks in no small part to getting pocker aces and kings 46 times in two hours and getting paid off every time. It looks like she's used that finish to spingboard a poker career of some sort. (Of course, she is very nice, and she's already cashed in Event #3 this year.)

Which brings up a interesting issue: why is it that so many people who get lucky enought to make some money in the main event suddenly become poker experts? I guess you have to love this "sport," but it seems a little goofy.

WSOP Event 2

The first full field event of the WSOP kicked off yesterday with a mere 2,776 entrants in the $1500 NLHE Event. After playing down to 122 players last night, 2001 Main Event Champion, Carlos Mortenson is chip leader with the likes of Devilfish, Seidel, Raymer, the "Sheik", Harman, Gordon and Hellmuth still in the mix. Hellmuth knocked out Clonie, who barely scraped into the money in 243rd place.

WSOP Countdown: 9 Days away...

If you enjoy pokerati, then you obviously love the Tao of Poker, where in the last couple of days, Pauly (a rich man's Dan Michalski??), has been very busy getting his WSOP on. The good news appears to be Pauly isn't having any trouble snapping photos or giving tourey updates despite the posturing of the evil cardplayer.com.

WSOP Countdown: 10 Days away...

This year's Tournament of Champions opened the 2006 WSOP and went largely under the radar. (Mike Sexton took first place and $1,000,000.00 worth of the $2,000,000.00 freeroll.) This was odd to me for a couple of reasons: first, it got zero publicity in age of blog-everything (I assume because ESPN wants to keep it low-key so it can show it later this summer as fresh??); second, after the huge stink some of the players made last year when Doyle, Hellmuth and Chan were allowed to freeroll without having qualified for the freeroll, this year there were even MORE freerollers (including Sexton) AND a quarter of the field (only 27 players). Why aren't people going apeshit over this?

Here are some photos of the first day's action from the Poker Prof. (First murmur: An outdour kitchen tent?)

Clonie, Maxim, Nuf Said?

Is there any chance that Dan won't lose his mind over Clonie making the cover of Maxim?

WSOP Countdown: 11 Days away...

Okay, so the WSOP actually begins today, but we won't be out there until next Thursday, thus the official countdown number. In the meantime, take a gander at our own little batface, Scott, getting some decent pub in the Dallas Morning News. 5 handicap? I guess that seems logical.

Sang is in handcuffs and the keys are lost.

Change of Scenery?

Friends come and go. Girlfriends/gay lovers come and go. Wives, children and even family members (especially my douchebag of a father) come and go. It is a natural evolutionary cycle.

Now, Randy is pissed at Todd. Todd is pissed at me. I'm pissed at Randy. Randy is pissed at Thum. Thum is pissed at Fawcett. Fawcett is pissed at me. I'm pissed at Fawcett. Fawcett is pissed at Todd. Todd is pissed at people. People are pissed at me. Everyone is pissed at Rogers. Rogers is pissed at decorum.

Time for new horizons?

Uhhh, go DatFaces?

Very, very hard to say.

Drinks anyone?

Probably the best thing about our home game is that we're all very good friends. We've each (some more than others) had evenings when we have too much to drink and make fools of ourselves. Last night was certainly one of those nights for me. And since we're all such good friends, we give each other the benefit of the doubt when those drunken evenings occur. So when I woke up this morning, I could have called TBR and apologized for knocking his phone on the floor and riding him the entire evening about whether he'd be leaving the game early. I could have called Straight E and Sommer and apologized for throwing chips in their direction and even into their drinks. I could have called Zach, Tulsa and Tum and apologized for cussing at and verbally abusing them for most of the evening. I could have called Fawcett, the host, and apologized for generally behaving like a disruptive ass at his game. I could have called Shane and....well never mind I don't think I did anything to Shane during the 12 minutes he was there. When I got up this morning , I called Dirk and apologized to him for my behavior. Even though I've known Dirk for a couple of years, it was the first time he'd played cards with us and seen me in this state. He, like I would have guessed any one in the group, said everything was cool and no apology was needed. After talking to Dirk, I e-mailed Randy asking how much I owed him to replace his broken phone. I felt like I'd made all the peace I needed to make. Anyway, if any of the above feel like I need to apologize to them, I'm sorry I was out of control last night. I can't guarantee it won't happen again, but if it does, I hope it happens when I'm around my good friends, who know that for whatever reason I'm just blowing off a little steam. Go Batfaces!

Batface Poker Night: Tilty McTilterstein

Several years ago, Negreanu wrote a pretty insightful three-part article about the perils of boozeing with poker. Cleary, Tiny B has not read it, and judging by his play, probably hasn't read too many other poker articles or books latelty. True enough, he's still the best player in the game at throwing things, be they chips, cards, phones, tvs, etc., and there's certainly something to be said for that. But I sure would like to see him get back to where he was--a top-10 player in our weekly game. With the WSOP right around the corner, it's frankly a little sad to watch him continue to wallow in mediocrity.

Seriously, I don't think alcohol is his problem. If anything, that probably helps him loosen up a very tight game. But this article from Mike Caro could change his game--if he weren't too stubborn to read it.

As for the game itself, it was a very tense, turbulent and hostile affair, punctuated by ethical violations, tantrums and near-fisticuffs (and I'm not even talking about Tiny B anymore). Fortunately for me (and you, our three readers) Todd wasn't able to break my phone, so I give you the only picture you need to know about the actual play, my stack:


UPDATE: Upon further review, it appears that Todd did actually break my phone/pda thingie. So, if you're scoring at home, just remove the green and red stacks from the above photo for my net take on the night.

Batface Poker Night: Preview to a kill

It never ceases to amaze me that almost 6 years hence the beginning of our home game, I (we) still look forward to Thursday evenings with the glee of schoolgirls. And the gameday afternoon anticipation is almost as fun as the game itself. A few minutes ago, I sent out a (somewhat) facetious e-mail indicating I was definitely in for the game (had been so-so) and wondering if it still started at 4:30 (it starts at 7).

Within 4.6 seconds (or roughly half the time it takes Sang to respond to Lodge-related text messages), Tiny B sent a reply e-mail:

"Sommer and I are at sherlocks drinking jaeger. Come on."

What else can you say really? Go Batfaces!