WPBT Summer Classic #1

Some quick first impressions and quick hits before I head over to Caeasar’s for the blogger tourney.

1. God, there are getting to be a lot of blogger chicks. That’s pretty damn cool. As Dawn and I were walking to the IP last night to hit up their fishy $1/2 NL game she remarked on how many there are. Pretty cool, because once a concept/fad/cultural phenomenon crosses the gender barrier, it adds more staying potential, so this influx of women playing the game and writing about it will help keep the poker boom strong.


2. Felicia (fe-lee-cee-ya, for the record) is a lot funnier in person than I thought she’d be. I expected this blunt, caustic bitch, which she kinda is, but she’s a really funny, blunt, caustic bitch. Felicia “Filter-Free” Highlights from day one include – “I thought when I saw you that you’d lost weight, but you’re fatter than ever.” “You’re a good-looking guy, one of the better-looking guys here, you just look old.” And “Hey, Alan, are you gay? I heard you were gay.” He’s not. I took to turning on my new geek-ass digital voice recorder whenever I was around her just in the hopes of catching some of that shit.


3. Me and F-Train were completely enthralled by the stripper bachelorette party that was molesting the guy from Thunder from Down Under in the entrance to Excalibur last night. Dawn, for some reason, was not entranced. She has some strange resistance to the hypnotic power of the boobies. Oh yeah, it’s cause she’s got her own.


4. 2-4 HORSE was much more enjoyable this time around, since I now have a rudimentary understanding of 3 out of 5 games, and actually feel mildly competent at two of them. I still suck at Stud, O8 and Stud/8, but got some good tips from Heather and Ryan on Stud/8.


5. I really felt a couple of times like I should have tipped Heather instead of the dealer during the Razz portion of the game, since she was running the game and the dealer was just slinging cards. Why offer a mixed game if your dealers can’t deal it? There was nothing really bad, just general lack of understanding. Good thing almost everyone at the table knew what was going on.


6. Getting aces cracked twice in five hands will induce tilt no matter how hard you try to contain it. Once to a four-flush and I managed to not pay off the big value bet on the river, and once when we got all the money in the middle preflop AA v 10 10, and donkey catches runner-runner straight on the river. No way all my money isn’t getting into the middle at some point in that hand, since it ended up 9-high to make it 10-high straight. Rivering a Q-high straight ten hands later will not only put you within striking distance of even for the session, but it will vindicate your play a little in your head.

Headed off to Caesar’s for the tourney now. Since my tourney game has sucked so much donkey nuts lately, my strategy is going to be a mix of Kill Phil Basic with a lot of small ball style. Essentially I’m willing to see a bunch of cheap flops with the first 1/3 – ½ of my stack, then I’m shifting into a very tight style with two moves – push or fold. We’ll see. Stuck $200 for the trip so far, but don’t think it’s indicative of my NL play. The $75 I paid for HORSE lessons last night was exactly that, paying for lessons.