I am THE James

I still got it. At least for tonight anyway. I just took 4th in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament over at Green Valley Ranch. The structure was such where the game and the levels changed every 15 minutes. To a degree, that makes this tournament a luck fest. For those that can play limit poker properly, this isn’t as big a deal as one thinks. (more…)

I officially arrived in Vegas on Saturday.  For the first couple of days, I mostly hung around and spent time with a couple of friends and made a brief trip to Binion’s.  Sunday, I moved into my current place of residence, all provided by the company I’m working with covering the World Series of Poker.  If your interested in seeing my place, check out

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20904&id=603808093&ref=mf

I haven’t played all that much, but for what I have played, I am down about $100.  Part of that is a tournament, and part is a loosing Omaha Hi Lo session.  I am playing way too loose in Omaha 8 and that’s the biggest reason for my loss overall.

There is a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at Green Valley Ranch, which is near where I am staying.  They run  it on Wednesdays and its a $45 buy-in.  I’ll try my hand at it tommorrow.  Ill probably spend most of this evening on Fremont, probably at the Plaza playing Sit-N-Go’s.

According to my boss, we did such a good job in New Orleans, we don’t need any additional training.  As a result, we have most of the week to goof off.  My first day of work at the WSOP will either be Friday or Saturday.  I haven’t been informed as of yet.

Anywho, not much else to talk about at the present.  I’ll update once something a little more interesting occurs.

I’m currently covering the World Series of Poker Circuit at Harrah’s in New Orleans as most of you already know.  Day 1 was quite interesting.  TJ Cloutier, Gavin Smith, Ted Lawson, Josh Arieh, Allen Kessler, Steve Bilarakis, and several other pro’s came out for the event.  Right now, the only huge name left is Kessler.

It  has been quite an experience so far.  Very different than playing on the circuit.  If you’re interested in seeing what I have written, head over to Pokernews.com and go to live reporting under the Harrahs New Orleans Event.  All of my postings under Day 1 and today will be listed under my nick of compncards.

Anywho, I’ll update in the next day or so.  Have fun.

Tomorrow, I embark on my summer journey as a reporter for Pokernews.com.  Starting Monday, I will be helping to cover the main event of the WSOP Circuit.  Afterwards, I will head out to Vegas for two months to help cover the World Series of Poker.  I am really looking forward to the trip overall.  There are some people I am going to miss from home, but I am really looking forward to get back out on the circuit road and hopefully reconnect with a few friends and make some new ones.

I will naturally get some time in at the tables as well, but not to the degree I have in the past.  I will primarily be going out to Vegas to work the WSOP.  I may play a couple of the Binions events or maybe ride out to Los Angeles and play at the Bike if I can get a day off during a mixed event, but I will not be playing at the World Series this year.  It is just too expensive for my bankroll right now.  Plus, to be honest, I just haven’t put in the time for anything other than Stud 8.

One good thing is that I have a couple of friends I can visit while I am out there, so I don’t HAVE to play poker on my off days.  I may finally get around to seeing some of the sights this year not related to casinos or poker, but probably not. 

Right now, I am scheduled to be out there until July 15^th.  After the 15^th, I am not sure what I will be doing.  I may stay out there another week or so and play a couple of Orleans Open events.  Then again, if a certain thing happens in my personal life, I may be going somewhere to spend some time with someone.  Everything is too iffy right now to really know.

For anyone interested, I will probably make some entries letting folks know what’s going on at the series.  Otherwise, if any of you are interested in following my coverage, go over to pokernews.com and go under live reporting.  Any entries with the nickname of compncards will be mine.  I expect that at the series, you will see me covering primarily mixed games, especially stud based games. 

Anywho, hope everyone has a fantastic summer and keeps reading as I will try and keep you abreast of my travels.  Otherwise, I will see you around the end of July.

Here are some practical examples of various hands and scenarios.  Tell me what you would do and why.  Note:  Suits, if used, are denoted by lowercase letters.

No Limit Holdem satellite that pays a seat to 10 players. There are 11 players left. Average stack is 35,000.  You are in 5th chip position with 41,000 with blind of 1000 – 2000 with a 100 ante.  The chip leaders have over 100k each, and 2 short stacks are below 15k.   One of the chip leaders raises from middle position and your on the button with A, A.   What do you do? (more…)

Just for the fish today, I decided to play in a freeroll at Full Tilt.  (Fish, you know…the halibut.)  I had built up my stack to about 8k when I picked up pocket aces.  There was a raise to 250, and I made it 1,000 straight, and got called in 4 spot.  Flop is 3, 4, 10.  I am first to act and push all in.  I get called in 2 spots.  The powerhouse hands that called me were 3-4 and Q-4.  Remember they called 1,000 pre-flop.  No help for me, so I’m gone.  (Yes, I was covered by the person with 3, 4.) 

Lol donkeyments truly applies to freerolls.  I have played a couple of Pokerstars and gotten really deep and all the players that have chips are playing like crap.  I play crap and don’t catch.  I guess freerolls truly are crapshoots.  I know none of what I am saying is really earth shattering or ground breaking, but I just wanted to post about it.  

The following I found on the front page of Pokernews.com.  It is listed as a rumor, so I don’t know the validity of it, but its still funny as hell.

“This report from an eyewitness at a recent event on the poker circuit. A pretty young woman was having a meltdown of epic proportion at the casino cashiers cage, which was right next to the tournament floor. The woman was screaming at the cashier behind the cage, because the cashier refused to honor the chip the woman had presented for cashing. After some investigation, it turns out the young woman was a “professional” who had been paid for her services….with a tournament chip. When the woman returned to the tournament floor, her “client” was long gone, and she was left with nothing but her dignity. Well, almost.”

I guess thats one use for a tournament buy-in chip. 

It does make me question the woman’s intelligence, or at least her observation skills.  Most tournament buy-in chips are clearly marked “No Cash Value”.   Yes, it is possible it was an ambiguous buy-in chip.  My bet is that she just didn’t look at the chip close enough.

So, for you “working” women out there, or friends of “working” women that work poker venues, pay attention to what you’re receiving for payment.

Wow, I never thought I would be giving hookers advice on how to do their job.  Oh well.  Tally that up to the long list of things I give advice on.

A few days ago I posted a quiz testing your knowledge of poker.  How did you do?  Check the answers below: (more…)

Hi all.  I have recently picked up a couple of blogging gigs.  Nothing really huge, but something to get my name out there a bit.   One is a blog regarding Poker  After Dark and the other on Shark.   The PAD blog is http://pokerafterdark.onnbc.tv   and the Shark on is http://shark.oncbs.tv.   I’m also in negotiations for a couple of other blogs that are gaming related.  Keep an eye out and Ill post about that later.

Not much else going on.  I’m waiting for my trip to New Orleans and then Vegas.  Anywho, thats all for now.

Tonight, I was playing a Stud 8 or Better session that was a microcosm of how insane poker can become. Let me introduce two situations to you and you tell me what you think the outcome was on each. (more…)