Live-blogging WWdN IlliniFan Invitational

As Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers liked to sing:

I'm all hopped up on cough syrup now

.

It seems it's pollen season, and up here in Sudbury the birch trees have these massively well-hung pollen dispensers:

And yours truly has a backyard that's filled with birch trees:

And even though most of my allergies disappeared along with puberty, there is definitely enough pollen to set my sinuses spinning and get my eyes watering. So tonight's WWdN is brought to you by a special, medicated Mr. Scott... good thing that Wil hasn't introduced any anti-doping measures yet.

With that, the live-blog commences...

8:34 -- Wil is out first tonight, having fallen prey to rmgustaf's evil luckitude. AQ beats KK. Wil loves cowboys.

8:50 -- I'm getting bad cards and playing worse with the few cards I do catch. Caught top pair with ATo but four callers gave me the willies about higher kickers or second pairs, so I bailed. Right now I'm hanging out at T1270.

8:55 -- KDE crashed half an hour ago, with has been a bit of a pain. Don't expect any cool screen shots tonight. I'm still card-dead. By the way, at my table is rmgustaf, MiamiDon, Budohorseman, sellthekids, FatBaldGuy, Tactix, darval, and mookie99. Good table! I only have a chance if I suck out heavily here...

8:57 -- FatBaldGuy flails wildly with a pair of sevens against MiamiDon's solid straight. FBG is gone.

9:00 -- I get a solid, betworthy hand and bet out 4xBB. I have four callers. Hey... haven't you seen that I've been folding everything? Well, after the start anyways, where I would limp and quickly fold. Damn, maybe I've cultivated a loose weak image instead of a tight savvy one. Ah well; the flop is good for me, so I bet out and three callers drop out, leaving it to me and the rather short-stacked Budohorseman. The turn is even better, so I bet a bit more; and the river clinches it for me, although I bet only half of Budohorseman's remaining stack of 470 to give him the option to push or fold. He chooses the latter, and I'm back around T1900. That feels a bit better...

9:03 -- Budohorseman goes out against MiamiDon's two pair. MiamiDon appears to be a bit of a wrecking crew early on.

9:05 -- darval, with a stack of around 800, bets 200 in late position and successfully drops the dreaded HAMMER shortstacked. Nice!

9:10 -- Ks8h3s flop, darval pushes, transfish goes into the tank and pushes, and CintiKid68 calls. darval and transfish reveal high spades, both hoping for the flush draw; CintiKid68 has a pair of eights, and that holds up. Cinti now has T5600 and first place in the tourney. darval and transfish have the rest of the night ahead of them.

9:14 -- Following hand, CintiKid68 and rmgustaf battle it out over another flush draw. The spade hits on the river and darval shows the King to take the hand. rmgustaf, T4700; CintiKid68, T4400.

9:16 -- I am weak! I've seen a solid 10% of flops so far, including 1/7 in BB and 1/7 in SB.

9:17 -- Make that 1/8 and 1/8. WEEAK.

9:17 -- On the bright side, psycoma has arrived at our table. Chatter intensity has increased exponentially. This is why I play the WWdN invitationals.

9:20 -- psycoma goes to the well with pocket 9's against CintiKid (with a flop of three diamonds) and picks up a 9 on the river to ensure that CintiKid68's big slick can't do any damage. This must be her reward for noting that mookie99's avatar looks like a vagina (giving birth to a spade). Nice!

9:28 -- Pocket kings for me in LP. YES! I pop in a bet of 4xBB, and get a caller in psycoma. An ace drops on the flop, coma bets 5xBB, and I think long and hard before folding. psycoma kindly displays her AQo to make me feel better. She's so nice. But my stack is once again much smaller. Damn.

Mmm, positions at break:

1. Grobman - 8720
2. Quatloos - 8685
3. rmgustaf - 5810
4. Columbo777 - 4575

9:40 -- rmgustaf (T5000) shows down with CintiKid68 (T1400) on a preflop push. It's AQo vs Cinti's KJo, and rmg pairs up the queen to take it home.

9:44 -- Pocket jacks, I push with T1100 and get the blinds. Good enough. The table fears Mr. 8% flop...

9:45 -- MiamiDon sucessfully drops the all-in pre-flop hammer on mookie99.

9:48 -- Suited big slick in the BB. Coma limps, mookie99 calls, and I raise to 6xBB to steal (and show, to placate the most demanding psycoma).

9:50 -- sellthekids pushes with A3o, against tactix's cowboys, and catches an ace on the turn to double up to T4570. tactix is left with T250. Oh ow ouch.

9:51 -- tactix pushes against me in the big blind with T450, I call with an uncharacteristically loose J8o but (sigh, beer / decongestant playing a part here), fail to notice that cailin deas is still in the hand and s/he also calls. I catch nothing on the flop and quickly check, but cailin deas minbets, so I painfully fold. cailin deas flopped top pair and takes out tactix's QJo. I didn't stand a chance, and am glad I folded.

9:52 -- I teleport to a new table. Uh-oh. Lots of big stacks now. Grobman, Columbo, ZeemJr all have T6000 or greater to my pitiful T1100. Fold fold fold.

9:55 -- I push with TJo, and GRobman obligingly calls with the big slick. Someone up there is looking out for me, and I catch a ten on the flop that stays solid through the river.

10:03 -- Now that we're down I've stolen the blinds a few more times with decent yet not exactly comfortable hands (A9o, AJ suited).

10:05 -- mookie99's pocket tens fail to hold up against jjok's paired-up ace, and he's gone around 22nd place.

10:07 -- I'm in the big blind with 34 (suited!), and both Columbo777 and GRobman call me. Uh oh. I hit bottom pair on the flop (yeah!) and we all check around. We check around the ace on the turn, and a four hits on the river. Well, two pair (even weak, ugly pair like that) is as good as I can hope for, so I make a pot-size bet and Columbo and GRobman both fold. Okay, I'm happy with that.

10:08 -- Pocket rockets UTG. Cool. I don't want to slow-play, so I bet 3xBB. AAjoshmanAA and Columbo777 fold the big blind and small blind, respectively. Okay, some action would have been nice there... but I'm back up to T3000, so I really can't complain.

GRobman is throwing non-sequiturs out like there's no tomorrow. I'm sure it's meant to throw us off our game, but it is amusing, and it is the WWdN, so I do my best to respond with a witty repartee. Hmm. Where's psycoma?

10:19 -- And it's all over. Ah-Kh in the BB, I reraise peacecorn and GRobman pre-flop. peacecorn folds, and GRobman calls. Flop brings two more hearts, and that's all I see. I bet 800 (most of my remaining stack), GRobman pushes, and I follow... GRobman caught a set of fives on the flop, and I don't catch a heart on the turn or river. I'm out in 17th place.