BBT Free-fiddy-FREE

Al has once again convinced the fine people at Full Tilt Poker that the poker blogger is not just a novelty. Several of us will be competing in the 2008 WSOP thanks to this good man.

Although i spent previous years trying to get into the WSOP Main Event and came very close, last year i chose to sit on the sideline.

2008 will be different.

Tina told me the other day she had a dream I was at a final table of a WSOP event playing for a lot of $$$. Now it's not only my dream, it's hers as well.

I'm not about to tell my wife that our dreams cannot come true.

i'm gonna play my heart out.

Final table finish in the Bodonk helps the cause

but, i donked out 9th when tha mighty JackAce was no good against NewinNov's 33. i took out 2 players with it earlier in the Bodonkeroo.

here are the final payouts:


Yestbay went on a friggin' sick run of cards short-handed at the final table to squash the remaining playahs. well done man.

check urself on the tournament leaderboard here and stop by Nadia's blog to tell her she's the shizz for hooking us up.

Bodonk-a-donk 2night @ 9:05pm ET

get your box-o-wine and check out our Bodog girl Sarah in vol 3 issue 2

Eric "Rizen" Lynch is live bloggin the LAPC

..at Commerce Casino. Cardplayer.com says he's sitting at T$40k in chips going into day 2. follow his live blog of the LAPC main event here.

gooooo Rizen!

BR building via FTP Tier 3 sng's

with BBT3 comin' up, i decided the time was right to build a BR on FawkTiltPokah.

i've been playing $8.70 18-player sng's and $6.50/$15 Token frenzies on occasion the last few days so i could build my token arsenal for Tier 3 sng's which pay $310 for 1st. one thing i really like about FTP is their sats and token tourneys. if you're willing to take the time, you can turn $6.50 into $310 if things go your way and you have about 3hrs to spare.

which i do :P

i had two (2) $24+2 tokens and one (1) $69+6 token in my account from previous sng's / token frenzies. token frenzies IMO are the easiest and cheapest way for any decent MTT player to get tokens. some people think they're a big waste of time. but if you're BR is limited, it's a good way to turn something good outta almost nuthin'.

i played two Tier 2 18-player sng's and won one (1) $69+6 token. then i played two Tier 3 single table sng's, finishing 2nd in the 1st one for $186 and took down 1st in my 2nd Tier 3 for $310.

the best part about my Tier 3 win is, i was at a 12-1 chip disadvantage when we got HU.

no joke!

i had a little over T1000 with the chip leader at T12000+

------------------
HAND #1 (1st hand HU)
------------------
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament,
Tier Three $69+$6 Sit & Go, 80/160 Blinds, 2 Players

SB: 12,445
Hero (BB): 1,055

Pre-Flop: (240) 5 9 dealt to Hero (BB)

SB folds

Results: 160 Pot
Hero mucked 5 9 and WON 160 (+80 NET)

------------------
HAND #44 (last hand of HU)
------------------
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament,
Tier Three $69+$6 Sit & Go, 120/240 Blinds, 2 Players

BB: 4,268
Hero (SB): 9,232

Pre-Flop: (360) A K dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to 720 BB raises to 4,268 and is All-In,
Hero calls 3,548

Flop: (8,536) T 5 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (8,536) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (8,536) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 8,536 Pot
BB showed 7 A (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-4,268 NET)
Hero showed A K (a pair of Kings) and WON 8,536 (+4,268 NET)

i really didn't expect to have a shot at 1st going HU with such a huge disadvantage. but, he played very passive at times and i caught cards when i needed to. most players in the tier 3's are playing very tight. which is helpful late during crunch time.



i was able to turn less than $30 into $500 after only a few hrs of "work". i'll be playing more token frenzies and Tier 3's over the next few weeks. btw, if anyone is interested in seeing all the HH's from the HU comeback, let me know. i'm not a pxfactor subscriber. otherwise, i woulda posted it there.

REX-uary...

i've been reading Rexy's blog for quite some time and this month she's put together two HUGE scores on FTP and 'Stars finishing 2nd in FTOPS #11 last week for $37k. less than a week later she takes 3rd in 'Stars Super Tuesday 1k for $33k.

pretty amazing!

personally, i came outta my funk at the cash tables last night finishing the night +3.5 buy-ins. it was nice to be on the hot side of a cold deck.

here are a couple of examples of the cold deckage i was running into on Monday. we all experience these situations from time to time.

Bodog Hand 1119101576:
--- DEALING POCKETS
smokkee is dealt [8d,8c]

vilian1: calls $1.00
vilian2: raises $1.00 to $2.00 (minraising donkey)
vilian3: calls $1.50
smokkee: calls $1.00
vilian1: calls $1.00 (four to the flop..weee)

-- DEALING FLOP [8h,Js,2h] (MONSTA)
vilian1: checks
smokkee: checks
vilian2: bets $2.00
villian3: calls $2.00
vilian1: calls $2.00
smokkee: raises $8.00 to $10.00 ( I check / raise him, showing a lot of strength. but, they’re too dumb to fold)
vilian1: folds (well, someone's paying attn)
vilian2: calls $8.00
vilian3: calls $8.00

--- DEALING TURN [Ad]
vilian3: checks
smokkee: bets $25.00 ( I bet out immediately to get max value against a flush draw or A-x)
vilian2: raises $25.00 to $50.00 (i luv the minreraise. so cute.)
vilian1: folds (prolly KJ)
smokkee: goes all in $63.00 (awww-iinnn)
vilian2: goes all in $32.65 (he insta-calls with top 2p and a nut flush draw with one card to come.)
vilian2: shows [Ah Jh]
smokkee: shows [8d 8c] (i'm a 70/30 fav)

--- DEALING RIVER [5h] (flush on the rvr and he doubles thru. ugh)
smokkee: shows [8d 8c]
vilian3: shows [Ah Jh] wins main pot($202.30)

Here’s another beauty.

Bodog Hand 1119120480:
--- DEALING POCKETS
smokkee is dealt [Ac,Qc]

vilian1: raises $2.75 to $3.75
smokkee: calls $3.75 (not my fav hand. but, worth seeing a flop)
vilian2: calls $3.75

--- DEALING FLOP [Qs,6d,4d]
vilian1: checks
smokkee: bets $12.75 ( I bet out pot)
vilian2: raises $17.25 to $30.00 (he minreraises me which usually means a draw trying to show strength cheaply)
vilian1: folds
smokkee: goes all in $108.50 (I push for max value and to protect my hand)
vilian2: goes all in $61.50 (he insta-calls)
$29.75 is not called, return back to smokkee:

vilian2: shows [Td Qd] (He has TP and a flush draw. I’m not as big a fav as I thought. 53/46)
smokkee: shows [Ac Qc]

--- DEALING TURN [Kd] (burned on the turn)
--- DEALING RIVER [5s]

smokkee: shows [Ac Qc]
vilian2: shows [Td Qd] wins main pot($192.75)

i could've played the 2nd hand more cautiously. but, why let people draw out on the cheap? both hands just played themselves really.

3 down 15 to go

our 3rd Bodonkey of the 18 tournament Bodog Blogger Series is in the books. 53 players fought their donkey hearts out for the juiced up $1130 prize pool, tournament series points and a shot at the TOC for their chance to party with the Bodog team (girls!) in Las Vegas and a 12k WSOP ME package.

the genius behind the beloved Riverchaser's series, Riggstad took down 1st pl for $159 cash + T$109. JL514 finished 2nd for $106 cash + T$109 and NewinNov (not sure where his blog went) took 3rd for $63 cash +T$109



check the tournament leaderboard for updates. also, make sure you stop by the official Bodog Blogger Tournament series blog. comments are encouraged.

Al put up an announcement that BBT3 was comin' soon. so stay tuned for that. tonight is another edition of Hoy getting donkeypunched in the mOOk.

don't miss it!

Saddle up! Bodonkey 2night @ 9:05pm ET

make sure you register early for 2night's Bodonkey. we had 56 players last week fighting for precious TOC leaderboard points. i've picked up points in each of the 1st two Bodonkeys this month. I'm currently sitting in 10th on the leaderboard which is all good.

Last wk a player from Japan (GoldenHammer) kamikazeed his way through the final table. that's the 1st time i've seen someone play a blogger tournament from Japan.

if you haven't already registered to play in this series, you can register here.

Cash game swings...

since my last post, i've been on a major downswing. cash game downswings are inevitable. how you handle them is extremely important. a couple of things i do to minimize downswings is play short sessions, no longer than 2 hrs at a time. i also have a stop loss limit of 3 buy-ins. if i drop three buy-ins in one sitting, i leave the tables and review my session to look for any leaks or mistakes in my play. whenever i'm losing, i sometimes second guess my actions. this can lead to playing either passively or too aggressive. it's something i try to watch out for.

as long as my head is straight and i'm not tilted, i continue to play. otherwise, i spend time at poker forums, reading blogs or reviewing winning sessions so i can come back to the table with a better attitude.

anyone who claims they don't tilt (tiltproof) is FOS. everyone tilts from time to time. some more than others. recognize when you're tilted and quit playing. it seems simple but, i see players stay at the table obviously tilting and donking off chips. i love it when i happen to be there to take advantage of it. but, i don't want to be "that guy".

GL tonight!

Bodog cash games are the shizzz

After a terrible Sunday where i dropped over six buy-in's at 100NL, i've had successive winning sessions every day this week M-Thu recovering Sunday's losses and finishing the week (so far) +$1500 net. I had a similar experience last month where i spent two days on the wrong end of a stoopid run of cards but, overcame it to turn a nice profit. Cash games are a fun ride when you're winning and flat out sucks ballz when you keep getting outdrawn, outplayed or coolerized.

I've been dabbling more at 200NL lately. I think i've found the secret formula which i'm probably too dumb to share. I've discovered that during the hrs of 4-9pm PST are good times to get in a groove at the 100NL tables. Regular Joes are just starting to fire up the tables, enjoy an adult beverage (or several) and trying their luck at NLHE. Around 9pm PST and later, many start heading off to bed to rest up for their day jobs and that's when the 200 NL tables go off. Apparently, some people are either playing drunk , chasing earlier losses or just plain bad. Last night, i found two juicy 200NL tables at around 1am PST with an average pot size of $129 and $89 (full ring - yeehaw!). Chad and I jumped on and bodonkery ensued. I played a short session on one of the tables because it was starting to break. In the end, i only finished up about one buy-in at those two tables. Tonight, I found a 200NL full ring table with an avg pot size of $189 (lolol). Apparently, I got there too late though cuz the lagtard that left was in my seat. Luckily i got off to a good start at some 100NL tables earlier, tripling up on one shortly after I sat down and doubling on another. The opportunities are there to make some $$$ if you're patient enough to wait for the right situation. So from now on, that's my schedule at Bodog's cash tables (when Tina's in school or off to bed).

I'm not the only one taking in my fare share of $$$ at Bodog. Here are a few recent posts about the cash game fun found there. After only six months of posting about how profitable the cash games are at Bodog, some guys are finally listening. Good for them.

GL at the tables this weekend!

For all you Choppahs

this is just plain pitiful.

now go get freeky deeky, it's V-day peepl!

56 Bodonkeys monkeypush their way to WSOP glory

We had another record turnout in last night's juiced up Bodonkey tournament. 56 players sat down to fight for their share of the $1160 prize pool ($10+1 buy-in) but, only one player would finish the night with everyone's chips.

That player was "GoldenHammer". Almost poetic. This guy flat out destroyed the final table leaving no prisoners. It's been quite a while since i've seen someone just annihilate everyone in his path. It happened so fast, it was like he had a friggin' smart bomb.

GoldenHammer won $168 cash +T$109 for his 1st place finish
Columbo777 took 2nd place winning $112 cash +T$109

16 players picked up precious points for the TOC leaderboard and 14 got paid.



Make sure you register early for next week's tournament. If you can't make it to the start of the Bodonkey, the structure is so good you'll still have enough chips to work your way back into it even if you miss the 1st hour. I think we only lost 5-6 players after the 1st break.

WSOPAMENTS

in the meantime, go make some $$$.

Save your Bodog HH’s with Holdem Indicator

I previously used a 3rd party utility called DogWatch Handgrabber for this. But, that stopped working with Bodog’s shiny new client they force fed everyone back in November. Since then, I’ve been unable to automatically save Bodog hand historys.

DogWatch claimed they would come out with an update to support Bodog's new client but never did. I’ve since come across another utility called Holdem Indicator that’s 10x better than DogWatch.

Here are a few things it does besides grabbing pokertracker compatible HH’s:

• Instantly calculates accurate win odds, pot odds, outs and table position. Shows EV and Sklansky Group ratings for your hole cards.
• Shows opponents mucked cards immediately after showdown so you don’t have to retrieve HH from your poker site.
• Click on Opponents Stats to view other players playing styles and session/historical balances.

I've been using it for the past week and everything works as they claim. My only complaint so far is when you have Holdem Indicator attached to your table in mini-view, you cannot move your table around on the screen. You have to switch to normal view to reposition your table, then switch back(edit: this has since been fixed, no longer a nuisance). Other than that one nuisance, I'm very happy with it. Now i can track/review my cash game/tournament sessions, chart my results and post donkerific HH's. So, you can look forward to that again.

Best part is you can get Holdem Indicator for Free-fiddy-FREE! ($79 value). Go to to their page, sign-up through one of their links to a new poker room using their bonus code and make the required min deposit ($50 for most rooms). Otherwise, you can just purchase it for $79.95 via paypal.

Btw, it works with over 180 different poker rooms, not just Bodog.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

54 Bodonkeys chase a dream

Our previous record of thirty-seven (37) players was smoosh flattened this week. Fourteen (14) spots paid out.

"ICrushBloggers" took down the Gigli and that is just irony at it's finest. gg ICB

KuroKitty went HU with NewinNov for this week's title and jumps out to an early lead on the tournament leaderboard for a shot at the TOC and the Mucho Grande Prize.

KuroKitty took down 1st for $162 cash +$T109
NewinNov got $108 cash + T$109

here's the list of finishers and payouts


KuroKitty won a bunch of races and played extremely well HU. which is what you need to do to come out on top of any tournament. i finished in the points but went out 12th jamming 55 into NewinNov's TT. i flopped a set of 5's but, a T hit the river proving once again that 55 is the biggest donkey hand ever.

we had a bunch o' new players this week and hope to see even more next time.

it's tuesday and you aint got shit to do

make sure you register for the tournament series here 1st. then, register for the Bodonkey.

...and don't wait 'til the last minute. get ur ass in gear now. one of us is going to the Big Dance. GL in the series everyone!

IMPERFECTION

either way, this game was going to be historic.

honestly, i didn't give Eli and the Giants much of a chance to take out arguably the best team in the history of the NFL. but, Eli gutted it out in the 4th quarter throwing for two TD's including one in the final minutes.

What a game!

i was in a tuff spot for this game. i did not want to see Tom Brady and the Pats win another friggin championship and go 19-0. but, i am not a big fan of Eli Manning and the Manning family after what they did to the Chargers and the city of San Diego during the 2004 NFL Draft. the fact that i still think a healthy Charger team would've beat the Pats and be in this year's SuperBowl had me rooting for the G-Men.

the Patriots are the 1st team in NFL History to go 18-1 and not win the SuperBowl.

gg Brady and the Pats. this loss is going to be extremely difficult to overcome. see you donkeys next year!

don't forget to register early for this.

It’s on like Bodonkey Kong!

Bodog launches the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. Every Tuesday @ 9:05ET February 5th thru June 3rd.

The top 18 finishers at the end of the series will compete in the Tournament of Champions and donkeypunch each other on Tuesday, June 10th for the Mucho Grande Prize.

1st place TOC finisher wins a 12k *WSOP Main Event Prize Package with Team Bodog!

2nd place TOC finisher will receive T$540
3rd place TOC finisher will receive T$379
4th place TOC finisher will receive T$270
5th place TOC finisher will receive T$109

All you have to do is register and compete in the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series Challenge.

This series is only open to poker bloggers. One pre-requisite is you must have a regularly updated poker blog that is at least one month old. Click here for official rules and regulations .

A weekly leader board will be maintained here.

T$600 will still be added to every week’s Bodog Poker Blogger tournament.

A HUGE thanks to our rep at Bodog for putting this all together for us. Bodog roooooolz!



* World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with, Bodog or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.