Independence Day

It's been awhile, so I figured I'd update the blog for the holiday.

First off, I ended up coming in 37th in the $2000 NL tournament that I wrote about last. It was pretty disappointing to get that close to a final table after making my way through so many entrants. But you can never get to disappointed after cashing in a WSOP event. I played in a handful of other events since that one... the $1500 NL, the shootout, the $1500 Stud/8, the $3k NL. Didn't make a dent in any of them. Hell, didn't even make a dinner break. So it's not looking too promising that I'll be able to play in the main event this week. I still have some shots at some mega-satellites... the $1000 supers that the Rio is running today and tomorrow. I'll be playing a few of them to try and win that seat.

I seem to have good luck with supers... it's definitely a lot different than playing a top-heavy tournament when they are giving away several seats. In a normal poker tournament, players are a lot less risk-adverse in the endgame since the payout is so top-heavy. In a super-satellite, first place will payout as much as the last paying place... it's all just for that seat. The trick really is just to build up a stack and survive until the players around you can all taste that win. If a satellite is paying 13 spots, then everyone is shooting for 13th place... so the strategy shifts. In a normal tournament you generally put pressure on the small stacks and stay clear of the bigger stacks. In a super sat, however, the opposite holds true. You really want to be putting the pressure on the bigger stacks who feel like they've got their seat locked up. For example, if some guy is sitting pretty with $15k in chips (the average when the tournament ends will be $10k), and you've got more than $5k or so... that's the ideal stack to put pressure on because he's thinking (rightly so) that he can fold his way to a seat. You want to stay away from the stacks that don't feel secure because those are the ones that feel like they're going to have to gamble it up if they want to cash. Anyway... we'll see how it goes. I'm really hoping that I'll get to play in the main event and do well. It will be the biggest event that poker has ever seen by far... they're estimating a prizepool of as much as $65 million. First place could hit $10 mil. I was born to play this tournament.


In non-poker news, Friday was a very good night. Justin hooked us up with tickets to a Collective Soul concert and a pre-party with free food and drinks. Joey Bartholdi, Brandon, and Dan the Dealer also got hooked up. Bobby also got hooked up, but he was out playing the night and early morning before and didn't get to sleep until like 2pm... so he slept through the fun.

The concert was at a club called The Beach, which is nice and small. It reminded me a lot of my old stomping ground in Columbia, MO called The Blue Note... since Columbia is a decent-sized college town right in the middle of St. Louis and Kansas City, a lot of bands stop through to play a gig between the two bigger venues.

I used to be a fan of Collective Soul back in the day... their song "December" was the second song I ever learned on the guitar (right behind Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters"). But it's been years since I listened to that band, and I really forgot how much I like their music. I remembered their songs "December" and "Shine", but I completely forgot about all their other hits like "Run", "The World I Know", and "Brings Me Down". It was such a good concert... and there were probably only about 150 - 200 people there. Chilling at the front of the stage with Justin and Joey B and the boys... it was like the band was playing just for us. So cool.

We saw Phil Gordon and Rafe there too... Phil challenged me to a game of rock paper scissors for a hundred. I talked him down to twenty, since I'm running on fumes these days. We played a best of 9 match and it all came down to one throw. Looking back, I really shouldn't have thrown scissors. Rafe wanted a game too, but I didn't bite. I figured if I couldn't even beat Phil, how was I supposed to beat Rafe? Top four in the world at Rock Paper Scissors! Anyone who thinks that game is all luck just needs to watch him play a few throws. He's intimidating as hell.

After the band wrapped up, they got out of there pretty quick... which is a shame because I hear they're big poker players. Phil got to meet them before the show and I would have loved to chill a bit.

Also saw War of the Worlds, which was decent. Not much of a storyline though, besides seeing Cole Trickle run away from the alien menace. And why is it that Dakota Fanning always seems to be at risk of an alien abduction in ever role she plays... here in War of the Worlds... before on Taken and Man on Fire... I guess even aliens think she's just so cute. She was good in it... the girl's got chops.

Several weeks ago I put up a mystery themesong. In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's from Punky Brewster. A lot of people guessed Growing Pains. Nope... it was Punky all along. Now, though, the song that I can't get out of my head is "Little Star" by The Elegants. It's an old 50s tune that got stuck in my head after I heard a techno-like mix of the song by Static Revenger. They put the mix on the soundtrack for Destroy All Humans, which is a new console video game that recently came out. The original is good but the mix is freaky good. Old themes mixed with new beats... how can you top that?

Wish me luck in the next few days... it's going to be a pretty rough if I don't get to play in the biggest event ever. But at least I'd still get to live vicariously through my brother and the rest of the crew who are playing. Hope you have a stellar Independence Day. Stay safe, don't blow off any fingers... and definitely don't drink and drive!