Welcome to Derek's Poker Blog

Saturday, October 23, 2004


Poker Stars:
Guinness and Poker Blogger Tourney

The Poker Stars blogger tourney was great. I got KO'd way too early but I still had fun. I think I was the first blogger knocked out. Boy Genius did better than me. Thanks to Iggy for setting this up. Even Wil Wheaton played. My brother had the funniest player icon. Paul used a picture of Arnold from the Different Strokes. Even though I got KO'd early, I still won 6 hands in my short time playing. But it only took two loses to KO me. I started out a little more aggressive than I usually do in tourneys. I felt like it was the right play since everyone seemed too tight. I was selectively aggressive and did well until I got a little crazy and got beat on a big hand. With very little chips, I had to go all in 3 times in a row. I won 2 of them but lost the last one when my pocket 2's lost to Double As' pocket K's. Oh well. I blew it but that's ok. It was still fun to play in.

At one point in the night, I chopped a big pot with Otis. We had the same hand, A-3s. I think we each thought the other one was on a draw. We were both all in on the river with 2 pair. I think we both had a heart attack during the process. It was a nice hand even though we chopped it. I fell asleep while watching the final table. Congrats to everyone who made it especially Todd Commish and MtDewVirus. From what I hear, it was a great ending. After I got KO'd, I played in 2 single table NL tourneys while watching Paul and everyone else play. I finished in 2nd and 3rd and won my blogger tourney buy in back. Not too bad but I wish I lasted longer in the tourney. There's always next time!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004


Invasion:
Las Vegas

The Vegas trip is coming soon. So many people are going. The list is growing. And more are thinking about it. It's going to be great. Felicia and Glenn should be there. They're always in the area. Poker Prof will be there and so will Otis, Poker Geek, and Grubby. And even Badblood is 35% sure he's going. Come on Badblood!!! Betting on football and playing poker . . . . you can't beat that.


Party Poker: Single Table Win!

I won a $50 SNG on Party Poker. I got some big hands early but no one played against them. I had AA 3 times. KK 2 times. AK 6 times and QQ twice. I won a big hand early with Q9o in the BB and beat a guy with 4-4. He moved all in on me on the river with 4's and 2's. I took his stack with 9's and 2's. 9-2-2-5-8.

I chopped a few of my AK's when straights hit the board. One of my pocket A's got cracked by 9-To. I got out to an early chip lead with my Q9 hand but got chipped down playing too tight. I eventually came back and won a bunch of coin flip hands when I kept going all in preflop. I caught cards when I needed to late especially when it got down to 2 and 3 people. I won the tourney after beating the chip leader heads up. The prize pool was $500 and I got half of it. Not bad for an hour of playing online. I was also watching Paul and Snailtrax play at some of the other tables. They kept yelling Karate Kid lines at me when I was going heads up at the end. Paul kept telling me to "sweep his leg and put him in a body bag!" lol. It was a big win and I was glad I had a few fans watching but my opponent had absolutely no clue on how to play people heads up. Lucky for me!


Poker Stars: Iggy

Iggy has set up another Blogger tourney and it's on Poker Stars this time. PokerStars is much better than Pacific. Good move Iggy. I can't wait to play in this tourney. It's scheduled for this Thursday, October 21st. I'm already signed up and ready to go. Good luck all!

Friday, October 15, 2004

5 Things I'm Going to do in Vegas

So Paul and I are going to Vegas in December. It's going to be fun. Boy Genius and his brother Bob are going too. Al Can't Hang and his wife Evanne are making the trip too. We're all staying at the same casino which is going to be great.

BG and Bob both made a list of 5 things they are going to do in Vegas when we go. I'm going to steal their idea. I've been to Vegas with my brother so many times in the last 2 and 1/2 years that I've lost count. Since this is not my first go around like it is for BG and Mr. & Mrs. Can't Hang, my list will be slightly different. It won't be so complicated or tough to meet.

1. Play poker
2. Play poker
3. Play poker
4. Gamble in the sport book Sunday morning and get drunk (West coast baby - AM football), then play poker.
5. Play poker.

Sometime during this hectic schedule, I hope to get drunk and eat at a Vegas buffet with the gang. It should be a blast. I hope Vegas can handle us and the Rodeo show at the same time. It looks like we're all staying at the Excalibur. The Mandalay Bay Casino is real close to where we're staying. They have the best Sport Book setup in Vegas. They have every single big screen TV and the gambling odds for every sporting event directly in front of you. It sounds simple but they're the only ones who do it. Nothing is on the side walls like at the other casinos. You don't have to look all around and miss any action. Mandalay Bay has it all in front on you. I Can't Wait . . . . watch out Las Vegas!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Home Game

Sunday, September 26th

I played in a poker game at a BBQ the day after Al Can't Hang's party. It was low limit. $3 was the max bet. We rotated the poker games every full orbit around the table. We played 5 Card Draw, Limit Holdem, 7 Card Stud, Follow the Queen, and Guts. Follow the Queen is just like 7 Card Stud but there's wild cards. The queen is always wild. Any card that comes immediately after the queen is also wild but that card can change if another queen comes out. 5 of a kind is frequent in this game. Follow the queen killed me. I had 5 threes and lost a huge pot to 5 Kings. My first 5 cards were 3-Q-Q-5 (wild in this hand)-3 and lost to runner runner 5 Kings. Ouch. I lost a $60 pot. I won most of it back in a game called Guts. There's a progressive pot that builds up after a while. I hit the hand that won the biggest progressive pot of the night. And I did it with A high. I beat everyone including the ghost hand. Gotta love that. We had one buy-in and one person walked away with all the money at the end of the night. The night ended when the heads up play turned to NL Holdem. Q's full beat 6's full and ended the poker game. I drank alot of alcohol at the BBQ and ate even more food. I had a great weekend. I also made plans with my brother to go to Las Vegas. Vegas can't come any sooner!!