Weekend Recap

Another ye olde weekend recap...

Friday night after the Blood-lines went to sleep, yours truly d/l'd and installed the Full Tilt Poker software. They have a fine and dandy 100% initial deposit bonus that should only take a few millenia to clear, so I figured why not check out a new site and new interface.

Some initial impressions: I like the interface even though the number of avatars is a bit limited. The game selection is standard, but includes Razz which I've been dying to try. At peak hours, it looked to have about 2,000 to 2,500 players which is a bit small compared to the Party/Empire juggernaut. I'm not a huge fan of the SNG's there. While the blind structure is decent, 5 minute levels are not. I'd still rate the SNG's at PokerStars superior. The no-limit players appear to be a bit softer than the maniacs at Party, but I haven't played enough to make a true judgement. Won a bit at both Razz and .50/1 NL. Also saw the Quiet Lion at the 5/10 NL tables giving and getting his share of trash talk. He's not hard to miss with his custom avatar.

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Saturday was the Blood homegame, standard set up with .25/.50 blinds and $30 max buy-in. Otis was AWOL in family-guy mode which was completely understandable given his travel schedule. G-Rob made it, but not after some controversy surrounding his local celebrity status. Apparently simply using the restroom at a local gas-station/convenience store is enough to get the cashier running out the store after you asking "Aren't you so-and-so????" Luckily G-Rob hadn't stolen anything so he got off in the clear.

I started off playing very tight and played nothing out of the blinds. I had 5,8o in the BB and flopped two-pair for a nice win. I played 3,8s in the SB to 5 limpers and flopped trips to win that hand. I never looked back and finished at +$95 for the evening. TeamScottSmith was big winner at +$230. DoubleR, a co-worker, finished up +$25 rounding out the 3 winners of the total of 9 players who played. In the "Timing is Everything" Department, my lone bluff for the evening didn't work out so well when not one, but two players flopped a flush.

Mrs. Blood had to play a hand for me when our daughter woke up with some foot cramps. I came down to see her heads up against the Rocket who was in position and betting heavily a Q-high flop. Mrs. Blood was check-calling holding K,Q off and I was convinced the Rocket had A,Q. Finally, the Rocket bet $15 on the river and I told Mrs. Blood she basically had to call based on the pot-size. Luckily for her, and for me, the Rocket was bluffing with the Hammer the whole time. Lesson for the day: Hammer Bluff only against those who know to fold a hand.

I spotted Mrs. Blood a buy-in after that since someone had busted out early. She busted out after about 45 minutes and called it a night. She's getting better, but I can't give her more than one buy-in at this home game. If you see Mrs_Blood online, give her a shout out. I'm staking her $50 for her to play $5 SNG's.

All the while during the home game, NFC champ and Superbowl runner-up Fan kept calling in for dial-a-shots. Yes, AlCantHang from Ocean City, Maryland got myself, G-Rob, TeamScottSmith and another local player, RichieRich, lit up by trying to match him shot-for-shot. Granted, most of us were quite content to drink on our own, but Al's contribution should not go unnoticed.

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Fast-foward to Sunday. Full Tilt had a 4pm scheduled tourney for $24+2 where the winner would get the Howard Lederer fantasy camp prize package worth over $4000. Only 96 people entered, so it was quite an overlay for Full Tilt. I entered knowing that I may have to play well into SuperBowl XXXIX. However, the poker gods granted me no pocket pair higher than 7's and my hopes were finally extinguished when I went all-in over-the-top on the nut flush draw. I didn't catch my card and was bounced in 35th place. It was quite a struggle just to stay alive given the crap I was dealt.

The Big Game rolled around and Al and I exchanged more dial-a-shots after each team's touchdowns. I won't go too much into the game, but as I mentioned in CJ's blog, I feel a bit spoiled with the success the Patriots are having. Kudos to the birds for putting up a great fight.

I continued to bonus whore after the game trying to clear my Empire bonus. I'm only down $60 so far trying to clear my 1050 raked hands and get a $150 bonus. Here's hoping I can stay positive. I'm convinced that the quickest way to clear it is through multi-tabling the $50NL tables. If even two limpers see a flop, the hand is raked. You can clear easily 150 hands/hour.

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Lest I forget, during my play on Empire, I noticed a name at the tables that wasn't familiar to me, but did strike a chord. LaceratedSky sat down and I immediately had to ask if it was Raining Blood as anyone familiar with Slayer would have. He answered in the affirmative then let me know he read this here blog. He mentioned he had a blog too, so I've added it to the roll on the right. I don't think you can ever have enough MetalHead poker players.