Live-blogging WWdN, presdlee invitational

I was there last [STRIKEOUT:night]week when Wil got all of his chips in with jacks against presdlee's aces... I met my own demise when I raised to 5X the BB with QJo at M9 and ArtOfSuckout decided to call when he was holding the mighty 58s -- and caught two fives on the flop to send me home in twelfth place. Sigh.

With that pitiful recap, here's tonight's tourney, live!

8:30 -- Cards are flying, and I'm seated at a table with GScottW, heffmike, ricoM, Donegal, Jester9494, SWhoBA, and brdweb. There are 65 players in the tourney tonight.

8:39 -- I've played exactly one hand so far, 58o in the big blind, and took home the chips (all 60 of them!) when my eight paired up for top pair on the flop. Oh yeah!

8:39 -- I just noticed that my dear brother dsheep is the first out of the tourney tonight. Sorry man! Looking forward to the update on that one...

8:42 -- BB again, this time with an even more awesome T5o. Four limpers, and the flop gives me top pair with the ten. My modest bet causes everyone to fold and brings me more chips, more chips! I'm so special...

8:45 -- BrainMC is out, too. Man, there must be some bad beats going on at the other tables. I just folded my best hand of the tourney so far (A9o) when faced with a 3xBB bet. Not too much risk of a tourney-ending showdown in these parts, I'm afraid.

8:49 -- SERNE is out. That I can believe; he can be a fearsomely aggressive player, and while that normally serves him well, it can also serve up a dish called "early night" now and then.

8:53 -- Donegal is talking in fits and starts, dropping in and out of the tourney. He's complaining that his computer is messed up. Interesting -- ploy, or should we point him at some free antivirus / anti-spyware software? I run PStars on Linux under Wine, and although there are some minor issues with minimizing windows now and then, things are pretty stable otherwise (although you have to update the PStars client manually).

8:55 -- heffmike is dead to us. Earlier, his straight ran into SWhoBA's cruelly-played full house and he was left with about 525; he just finished going all-in with K9o against GScottW's pair of tens. Although heff caught a 9 and came one card away from a flush, his hand didn't improve enough. Sad to see the goat go...

9:00 -- More notable obits: presdlee shall not be seeing the final table tonight, nor shall kaellin18. What is this world coming to?

10:06 -- Pocket nines are apparently the best hand I can expect tonight. Good for stealing blinds, but scary in early position nonetheless.

9:08 -- psycoma perishes (at another table, but her psychic agony pierces my perception). JTs just ain't what it used to be, poor thing.

9:11 -- weak, I am weak for folding the hammer in EP! Gods forgive me!

9:11 -- celeb obits continue: DrPauly is out in 52nd place. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him late in a WWdN tourney for a long, long time. (Karma notification: expect DrPauly to take me out with the hammer whenever we sit at the same table)

9:15 -- Too many windows open, at the same time as I'm clicking on one dialog box my game window pops to the front and I inadvertently min-bet J7o in EP. Stunningly, it folds around... cool.

9:19 -- BB with AQo. SWhoBA calls, and SB (TheVenetian) goes all-in with T650. I re-raise and SWhoBA folds, so I'm perfectly isolated. TheVenetian shows K4o, and I'm happy -- except the flop carries a king with it. However, the flop is also three hearts, matching my queen, and I catch another heart on the turn to take the lead back irrevocably. That's my move of the night.

9:20 -- Pocket jacks. GScottW bets 350, and I reraise to 800. The flop is junk -- 854 rainbow. My bet of 600 is enough to make GScottW fold.

9:24 -- I end Jester9494's night when I call his all-in of 430 with my pocket 8's. His A3o does not improve. All of my good cards must have been saving up for the last five minutes... nice minirush has me sitting at T4000, good for fifth place (momentarily).

9:27 -- UTG with the hammer; I bet 3xBB and it folds around to GScottW in the BB -- who raises to 800. Sadly, but wisely I think, I fold. I'm hoping the poker gods see this as my penance.

9:30 -- Standings at the break:

1. Boobie Lover - 6995
2. SoxLover - 5595
3. rmd1023 - 5077
4. poldytow - 4110
5. MiamiDon - 3930
6. denials - 3720
7. doubleas - 3680
8. Obie34 - 3550
9. FishyMcDonk - 3485
10. KentAllard - 3020
11. hoyazo - 2850

Wil is currently in 26th place with 1880... early on he had 2560, so people have been nibbling away at his chips.

9:45 -- UTG with JJ, I bet 4xBB and get called by SWhoBA. That's cool. The AK4 on the flop aren't so cool, though; sweating, I bet 4xBB. SWhoBA immediately calls. Uh oh. I pause for a long time on the insignificant turn (a 3), then chicken out and check. SWhoBA checks. Trap? The Q on the river clinches it for me; I check, and SWhoBA checks, only to turn over JQo. Ugh. That hurt my stack a bit. Guess I should have bet on the turn after all!

9:46 -- BB with 66. SWhoBA limps, MiamiDon bets 3xBB, and I go all-in (a wee bit tilty). They fold, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

9:52 -- SWhoBA, on maximum rush mode, is up to T7250 in chips (and second place) after having hit a number of quality hands. Nice!

9:54 -- I eliminate TransFish via suckout. Him, SB with T398; me, BB with T3500. Him, all-in. Me, call. Him, A3 hearts; me, K3 unsuited. Flop, K with two hearts. No more hearts, though. I feel dirty.

9:56 -- Pocket sixes, I raise, SWhoBA calls. Rainbow J73 on the flop, I bet, SWhoBA calls. 3 on the turn, I bet higher, SWhoBA calls. K on the river, I think and check, SWhoBA checks. She paired up a filthy seven with her 78o. Filthy! Needless to say, that wreaked havoc on my chip total; I'm somewhere around T1800 now.

10:00 -- Moved to a different table where Boobie Lover is a monster at > 10000 chips. First hand is pocket fives UTG, and I bet 5xBB for a successful blind steal. Next hand is the suited big slick, which I push all-in with against SoxLover (who has pocket queens). I pair up, though, and I'm back in the swing with T3800.

10:13 -- Not much to report here, I'm hanging in with T3300, Boobie Lover is bullying the table (wisely), but we're down to the final two tables. 23skidoo just joined the table with his T7000. Hmm, more big stacks. Need more chips. Need better cards for more chips.

10:15 -- Celeb obits: Wil Wheaton went out in 22nd place.

10:22 -- I'm able to use position to my advantage for the first time in a long time, pushing the ultra-short-stacked o-hole-ne around with my bet in the SB. k3o here, but that's good enough.

10:23 -- 23skidoo's rockets decimate wwonka's AQ, and the candy man is out of the game.

10:24 -- 23skidoo destroys ricoM when his big slick pairs up against ricoM's pocket nines.

10:25 -- I take damage in the BB when I call o-hole-ne's UTG all-in (700 more chips for me) and my K9 can't improve against impressive pocket queens (that flop into a set).

10:32 -- Pocket 6s, blinded down to T1400, it's go time... all in. Calls from the lovers, both Sox and Boobie. Uh oh. QK on the flop. Double uh-oh. Shockingly, though, I hold up. And even more shocking, Boobie Lover has called with 48o! Crazy man let those chips go to his head

10:38 -- Break. Here are the standings:

1. 23skidoo - 28318
2. Boobie Lover - 15738
3. SWhoBA - 11163
4. FishyMcDonk - 9345
5. denials - 8783
6. hoyazo - 8225
7. MiamiDon - 6915
8. change100 - 5440
9. Obie34 - 4393
10. poldytow - 4120
11. xkm1245 - 3955
12. GScottW - 1080

10:42 -- beer time, if I can escape this table. hoyazo min-bet UTG, I passed with KQo, xkm1245 pushed all in, and hoyazo called after thinking a long time. xkm1245 showed pocket tens, and hoyazo showed 89h -- and claimed to have meant to fold. Poor bastard. He doesn't improve.

10:46 -- hoyazo has been on a tear since that hand, almost recouping his losses, and raises heavily again. This time, though, I have AQo, and I reraise to 10xBB. We have even stacks. Hoyazo thinks, then pushes all-in; it's a quick call for me, and Hoyazo shows AQo as well. It's an old-fashioned circle jerk as we divvy up the antes

10:59 -- I've made one move with A6 suited (hey, it's a table of six), and that crippled me badly when 23skidoo called, then bet at the flop. Nothing matched up, so I had to fold and surrender half my stack. T4500 ain't much fun when the blinds are at 600.

11:15 -- We're in the money! Final table shot:

SWhoBA blinded out first, followed by a monster match-up between hoyazo(AT) and 23skidoo(KJ) that saw 23skidoo pair up the jacks. We battled on for another five minutes or so before I woke up with pocket queens UTG. A nice raise was followed by Boobie Lover pushing all-in; I quickly called and he showed pocket jacks. But it was not to be; the turn brought another jack and I left the table in seventh position. Not a bad showing, I'm happy with the play, and I had a great time tonight. Shout-outs to the railbirds (drewspop, Frankl66, Rookette22) -- I hope to see you next week!