Team Never Tilt

Hey guys, I have decided to run a fantasy football league for the upcoming season. I am going to try and get as many of the regular TNT’ers to sign up and then fill the league with non TNT’ers to a minimum of 10 and maximum of 12 owners.

The rules are pretty standard, the buyin is $20. It’s on yahoo games and here is the info:

Go to yahoo fantasy football page

Search for public league “TNT Bowl”

Password is “brunson11″

Draft is on the 28th of this month, preranking is available

Please signup ASAP or risk not getting a spot…

Playing in a non LPT tournament with some of the gang last night, (congrats on the trifecta Dango) I raised 2 pots UTG for barely more then the minimum double the blind amount. Scott, who was sitting a few seats to my left raised an eyebrow after I did it the second time. “What the heck is this”, summed up his reaction. It is true Scott, you never would have seen me do this in the past, I am kind of experimenting.

I was introduced to the “small raise up front” by a few sources. The reasons why I like this tactic in early level tournament and cash play are multiple. Here are a few points on why I figure I might want to raise small up front

The goal is not to steal the blinds

It’s pretty obvious why stealing from UTG is not a very common play. This being said, you don’t have to bet size with the primary goal of blowing away all your competition.

Building a big pot from under the gun provokes tough decisions out of position post flop

The bigger the raise you make preflop, the bigger the pot is going to be on every succeeding street. In general, it’s better to play smaller pots out of position (unless you are a luckbox like Tim and have aces LOL)

I really don’t like limping up front. If you limp with your weaker UTG range and raise with the premium hands all the time, you lose alot of deception and start playing your hand face up

Also, I prefer making a small raise with hands like suited connectors and small pairs because this “jump starts” the pot. If you hit you will boost what you take down with a small investment.

Without touching the subject of how often you should enter a pot from under the gun, I am really liking my experiment with this “minraising” under the gun. Of course we cannot do this with smaller stacks (under 30 BB’s or so is probably a good time to start thinking of raising a bigger amount and to fold a bit more often) and a very aggressive table will sense weakness from these raises and 3bet you more often. (a great way to build a big pot with AA/KK/QQ, I like this alot better then relying on a limp reraise with these hands) so of course you have to adjust and maybe ditch this tactic all together under certain circumstances.

So you think I am crazygave something away about my play with this post? Next time You see me 2.5x raising from UTG at a table with you, I dare you to figure out if I have AA or 8-7 suited… range balancing is what it’s all about!!!!

This is not a brag post or a prediction post or anything else, so don’t get your panties in a bunch gentlemen.

I got security clearance to play the grapefruit game at Tim’s tommorrow night so I will be in attendance. I have noticed that I have often given up in tourney’s of late when my chips get low and not fought it out until my last chip, like our Grapefruit league hero, Dango does. I hope to play all our tourney’s with more focus, and not have an eye on Scott’s cash game chips once my chips get low. So tommorrow night, I hope to make my reappearance back on the podium steps!

Time to make my way back to the winners circle!

You may have heard the rumors, but I’ll put the "rumors" to rest right now, yes its true.  Although clearly the better golfer, Jeff has NEVER beaten me on the golf course.  This coming Saturday, we are playing a match. 

 

The Hero’s:

Shane

Golf History:

First time on golf course 27 years old

3 year Membership averaging 40 rounds a year, at age 30-33

went from average of about 110 down to a best of 90, with 10 consecutive rounds under 98 to end my last years membership (IE i stink…hahaha)

have only played 10 rounds in 4 years, haven’t hit balls since July of last year.

Donnie

Golf History

Member of Lakeside from 12-33

has walked to the 18th tee with a shot at the club championship a few years ago

has told me every year but this year (he’s not playing) that "this is my year, I’m shooting 69"

shoots regularly 73-77 range

The Villains

Jeff

Golf History

Most notably, has never beaten Shane on the golf course

grew up with membership at Saint Ignace

famously called a "provisional" while golfing with me and Blake Reynolds a few years ago, which still makes me giggle a little bit

I believe usually shoots in the 95-105 range

 

Tim

Golf History

I am not real sure of the details of Tim’s golfing highlights

the year I met him 3 or 4 years ago he golfed like 60 rounds

the two times i have played with him he shot low 80’s

like the rest of us, super competitive, regardless what we are doing

 

Stakes:  to be determined

Location: to be determined

Time:  Saturday morning

——————–
HAND #1
——————–

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

MP: $126.70 (126.7 bb)
CO: $64.35 (64.4 bb)
BTN: $30.15 (30.2 bb)
Hero (SB): $96.55 (96.6 bb)
BB: $106.90 (106.9 bb)
UTG: $103.65 (103.7 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 2 2
UTG folds, MP calls $1, CO calls $1, BTN calls $1, Hero completes, BB checks

Flop: ($5) 8 2 8 (5 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP checks, CO checks, BTN bets $4, Hero calls $4, BB calls $4, MP folds, CO folds

Turn: ($17) 9 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, BTN bets $6, Hero calls $6, BB calls $6

River: ($35) K (3 players)
Hero bets $85.55 and is all-in, BB raises to $95.90 and is all-in, BTN folds

Word on the street is Tim folded QQ to a reraise with 15 bb left.

Tight

After alarmingly misreading the board to lose a big pot (first time I ever notice misreading a board like this) and then winning the biggest shown down hand wit the smallest holding in my life (I will post this hand at some point), I decided that I just did not have the mindset to play good poker today.

So while watching the UFC card, I stated thinking about me and Shane half heartedly trying to figure out a prop bet for season 4. Seeing I was dismissed from my “tournament running duties”, I figure I should put some of my focus on other stuff. Prop betting is tons of fun for me. I figured, “why limit myself to just one bet with just one person?” So here you go, A list of prop bets I am throwing out there. A couple are limited to certain people. Others are open to anybody. The minimum I am willing to put up for any bet is $10, the maximum I will put up I will add to the subject line. These bets are open for the taking unless I post a comment on this post saying that I am taking one off the board…. I can also change the amount I am willing to bet or slight details on any bets that have not been booked at that point. You can also use the comments box to negotiate the specs of a bet (odds, amount etc…) and of course if you want to propose a new bet throw it on here as well…. So here we go…

10-6 BETS WITH SHANE AND SCOTT

First pot taken with 10-6 in season 4….

Scott/Shane, the first person to win a pot with 10-6 in season 4 regular tournaments and to show it to me takes this bet. $10 maxium, would probably consider a $5 bet…. Obviously no odds on this one, a straight bet….

biggest pot won with 10-6 (just Scott and Shane again) up to $20

Whoever wins the biggest pot with 10-6 during season 4’s regular tournaments (the 8 legs where we award points plus the finals) wins the pot here. Players are responsible for realizing they won a pot bigger then whats on the board up until that point and to take a count of how much is in it. We will use the honor system here and the other combatants can always ask other members at the table to confirm. An uncalled bet does not count in the pot size…

Win a tourney with 10-6 Shane and Scott $25 minimum $50 maximum

I cant see this one hitting, odds are incredibly low… but let’s treat this as a jackpot, if you win one of the 9 tourney’s mentionned above while holding 10-6 on the final hand, you take the pot…..

Most money won during the 8 “regular season” games…

If there are enough people that want in to this one maybe we can make it kind of like a pool. If not, I will take individual bets on this…. $25 maximum here….

Good enough for now… Here is my first set of suggested prob bets… Wouldn’t surprise me that more are coming….

Well, Once again little bit bored and just looking around on the internet, working on my started over blog (check the link over there, I nuked the old one), and watching random poker video’s. On work days I have to drag myself out of bed, first two days of vacation? That’s right wide awake at 6. Kids are not home yet from a sleepover, so bored, bored bored.

Anyway check out this hand

he’s scary…lol

I can’t see how my kid can have a better role model!!!!

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Well I am on vacation and even though its 11 in the morning on my first day off, I am bored already so thought I would write up a post regarding the pending Season 4. 

I’ll go down the List of TNT’ers and throw out predictions for the group.

OnemanBlitz (Jeff)

Jeff is coming off a great overall poker run right now.  His online roll at last report was at an alltime high.  He has in the last year one a PSO league, took second at Dooly’s finals, and also failed miserably at the team tourney, letting down his team and playing I think a total of 22 hands in his 3 matches.  Jeff didn’t have a great season 3 and I think he will be looking to rebound in Season 4 and if nothing else shut me up, so I predict him final tabling Game 1, but then going through a dry spell when his ultra aggressive play gets him in trouble. 

Darthwho

 

"The Most feared player in the game"

Scott had a tough go in Season three by his standards after narrowly missing POY in season 2.  His cash game results were up and down throughout the year, but towards the end of season 3 in the side games his reads were Scary good.  In my opinion, Scott’s poker strengths aside from his reading ability which are likely the best of our group, come from his post flop play, and his approach of playing the player and adjusting his range of playable hands for who he is playing against.  I see Scott with a  couple podium finishes this season.

Poolshark

What can we say about Tim, thru 3 seasons it is between Tim and Josh for the crown of best player thus far.  Atop the list of podium finishes, money won, Tourney’s won, and the only player with a POY and a Finals victory, you can expect him to be a factor in season 4.  I think though, the only direction for Tim to go is down.  I think we see more Red bull and vodka drinking and Tim not being a top 3 factor for POY this year, leaving us mere mortals with a chance.

Drawflush

As previously said, Josh is one of the most consistent tourney players amongst our group and if he has made it past the first hour or so, he is likely going to final table.  He is very good post flop, and changes his game well and I see him having another good year, actually threatening to pull away from Tim in the alltime money list.  I would be surprised to not see Josh take down another LPT tourney this year.  He may be "only" a half descent washer toss player, but the boy can play a poker tourney when focused.

Juggernaut

I ain’t gonna lie to you, the above picture is a pretty good representative of what you will see this year, me half cut dipping into a bottle of crown.  With 4 seconds since the last time I won one of these freaking things, along with a third, I am due to finish one of these off.  I am hungry to get back in the winner’s circle and I am going to work hard on my game to do so.  Or, I am just gonna get drunk every time out.  Win win.

Runnr Runnr

It’s time Donnie starts living up to his "best money player" in the game title.  I have very rarely seen flashes of the confidence he once possessed at the table, and I think if he could just not get brutally unlucky in a few spots early and could get a good result early in the season, he could have a monster season and compete for POY.   His confidence and aggression made him a strong player when we first started playing this game in the summer of 2003, and i think he needs to go back to that style. 

Dango

Dango continues to slog along posting good results in the grapefruit events and good results online.  He is the one of us that has never really taken an extended period off of the game, and continues to work on his game.  I don’t see Dan breaking thru to take down an LPT this year though.  I see Dan continuing to be the second best Goguen poker player in our group, but I do see him taking down a huge tourney score somewhere along the line online.  I just don’t see him reaching that podium this season.  Sorry buddy.

 

Other random predictions.

I forsee another one of the LPT ladies taking down an event this year.  We have a strong group of women players with Tina, Angie, Lise, Annie, Julie and Mel, along with a host of others I am probably forgetting, and I see one of this group taking down a win this year

I see Whitey bubbling yet again in an LPT

I predict there will be at least one 200 dollar side game pot, and maybe just maybe Scott and/or I will be involved

I predict that season 4 is the best season yet, and we continue to have great poker tourney’s going forward

I think Stephane follows up a strong first season with us and contends again

Will this be the year Smoking Joe takes down a second title?

Bhagan won’t get a sniff of a podium finish

I will tell a bad beat story

Jeff and I will prop bet

Scott will fall asleep somewhere close to a table

Year two of the Team Tourney will be the most anticipated tourney of the year

I will win the omaha tourney

Tim and Angie will continue to do a kick ass job at running and hosting our tourney’s