Disciples_of_Poker

Big Game 2011 - Card Date 05.14.11

2011-05-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

19 good poker players are assembled for our "Big Game". Months of hard work are coming down to a day at the felt...maybe a day a destiny. This Saturday.

I really hope it's me this year. I've worked especially hard on focusing, playing, reading and watching poker. One of the 19 is going to Las Vegas for WSOP Bracelet Event #4 in June 2011. Whoever wins will be a tough competitor in Las Vegas.

As usual, I have received overwhelming support from friends and family for which am thankful. I purchased a seat for my Dad and that alone will be a real thrill to see him play in a big time tournmanet. There are a lot of really good players assembled with a lot of different playing styles.

My Ipod music has been carefully selected. The food has been ordered. The cards fly on Saturday. "Why not me?"

I'm rolling out my "Flux Capacitor of Poker." It's my step by step approach to Poker and winning. The only problem is that it is unproven in competitive play. I can't publish for public consumption unless I win something big. Then, it has value, but until then it is worthless and only of value to me.

I will be tweeting updates at DisciplesPoker. Hope you will join me.

The Song Is Over - Out of the WSOP

2009-06-22T20:43:00.003-04:00

Playing in WSOP event #39 in 2009 was truly an amazing and eye-opening experience. I could not have accomplished what I did without the support of my friends and family to which I am eternally grateful.

I owe an epilogue of sorts to my friends, family and myself. It's a time to pause and evaluate how my game fits in with the professional world of poker. I think that I am -- at best -- a scratch golfer in the vast world of professional world class play. I think my game needs a helluva lot of work, but on the flip side, I think that I have also accomplished a lot.

I lasted into the 8th level of play (400 /800 /75a), played poker for 10 hours and finished in 580th place out of 2715 entrants. I out lasted two WSOP bracelet winners who were at my table, and many larger stacked pros as well. My best hand all day was a runner-runner nut flush and I did not flop a set all day – nor was there a full house. The blind structure and hour-long levels afforded me the opportunity to play my game. I needed to get lucky a few times and I did, but not lucky enough.

The first hand dealt to me was big slick and I raised to 200 and picked up blinds, so I was on my way. After level one, my starting stack went to 5000, from 4500. I never had over 10,000 in chips all day.

Level two jammed me pretty bad, when I was dealt AQ offsuit in the small blind. The big blind was a young pro who was truly and excellent poker play. With blinds at 100/200, he called my 500 raise. I missed the flop completely as the board delivered 3 hearts. I made a continuation bet of 600 and he called. The turn brought a blank and we check/checked. The river brought my queen, but it was the fourth heart. I fired 1000 at the pot (not having a heart) and he went into the tank. Not sure if he was acting, but he came back and raised me all-in. I had to fold. At the end of Level 2, I was down to 2,400 chips. I knew I had time, and I knew could be patient. I managed to fight back and rake a few hands on some pre-flop raises.

A critical moment came at level 4. With blinds at 100/200, a very aggressive pro to my right raised to 600 from under the gun. I thought it was a call (rookie mistake) and tossed in 200. My options were to fold the hand or complete the bet. At first I
wanted to fold, but my holding was strong. It was KQ suited. I thought I was doing to be dominated….But I decided to complete the raise. I only had about 4000 in chips. Action goes around to the button who either saw the confusion or had a big hand. He raised the action to 1600! The original raiser folds and I decided to see a flop. Flop comes King/Queen rag and I check my two pair. The re-raiser goes all in and I call immediately. He flips over pocket Aces and my two pair holds up! This wild comedy of errors yielded me and 8,500 pot!

Very next hand I am dealt A/10 suited and I flop top pair, top kicker. I fired out a 1000 after the flop and the button re-raised me to 3000. For some reason, I put him on a set and folded. I was trying to trust my gut and not lose it all on one pair.

One time, I re-raised all-in with pocket Kings after I limped in. The table was very aggressive and I knew that the young pro who flushed my non-flush earlier would be re-raising. He folded to me on the all-in re-raise and I scooped up a nice pot.

I cracked the other pro at the table when there was timid action in a hand. I varied my play and limped in with AK suited. Flop brought one club and there was a 6 way check. Turn brought the second club and the Bracelet guy fired 400 into a 1,000 pot.
Everyone folded to me and I called with the nut-flush draw. River brought the 3rd club and the NUTs. I tossed 1,000 into the pot and he eventually called. I flipped over the nuts and had close to 8000 in chips. I never had more than 10,000 in chips.

I folded big slick on a huge re-raise before the dinner break. It was the other pro at the table who re-raised me -- Captain Tom Franklin of Doyle's room. He won a WSOP Omaha bracelet in 1999. Tom was a really nice guy and smart man. He knew what people were holding most of the time or had a narrowed range of hands. He was very chatty, a poker ambassador for sure.

In the hand with Tom, I raised to 1000, with blinds at 150/300, and he went over the top to 4,000. He knew I was playing tight. Maybe he thought I would fold. He said, that I had only one live card. I put him on Kings, though I'm not sure what he had.

Dinner came and I had a little over 5,000 in chips. I was one of only two players left from the Florida crew. With blinds at 300/600-50, I had to make my one move. But the hand took a while to get there. At least three rotations, before I was dealt QQ with under 4000 in chips. They held up against KJ and I was up to 8500. But the bleeding continued at this level.

By the time 400/800-75 came around, I was down to about 7,400 in chips. With about 2000 in the middle, an early position guy raised my blind to 1,600. I was looking at A6 suited. In retrospect, I could have called to see a flop. I had read recently that an all-in push gives you two chances to win the hand. First, the guy can fold
outright and second, you can always out draw him. I decided to push all-in from
the BB. He thought it over for a minute, looked up at the clock and called the hand. He flipped over 99 with one of my hearts. The Flop brought an over-card to his 9 and two hearts. The turn and river blanked and I was out in 580th place. After the flop hit, I has a underdog at 46%, according to the poker calculator. I guess, I'll be left wondering if I just called the bet, if he would have folded to the over-card on the board. After the flop hit I think it would be doubtful.

The people I sat with were very nice and professional. There was no weak play. If anyone was a fish at the table, it was me. I'm proud of my play. I intend to be more realistic about poker going forward and I want to take what I learned in the WSOP to make me a better poker player.

I hope to be back next year !

WSOP Pre-Game in High Gear....

2009-06-17T17:19:00.004-04:00

Arrived at Vero Beach, Florida last night to meet my wife and her family for a couple of days of R&R before WSOP event #39 which begins at 12:00pm Local Time in Las Vegas on Saturday. Part of the Florida "Disciples" posse is already on the way to the Poker Mecca. Others are busy chatting about getting there in the next few days.

My schedule is simple...try and manage the "real job" workplace on blackberry until Friday COB, try and relax a few days in Vero and then put the cards in the air on Saturday having the best Poker Frame of Mind as possible.

Certainly, a day at Vero Beach Florida helps my mental state ! Did a little office related work from the beach and had a good afternoon. Swam in the ocean, went for a beach walk and meeting some kinfolk for Pizza tonight and some laughs. They asked me to bring the poker chips...Let's hope I don't get rivered by an 8-year old tonight in the home game !!

Tommorrow we put the Peg in the Ground at 740am and will play 18 holes. Friday morning it's off to Vegas where the real work begins !

Spoke to my friend Pois-on tonight about the game we love. I need to follow my poker process all the way to the Bracelet ceremony on Tuesday and the National Anthem!

Follow me on twitter at Disciplespoker or on this blog site.

Did some last minute music downloads last week. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Supertramp, Bob Dylan, Tales from Topographic Oceans-YES and even Adam Lambert from American Idol.

Music is a big part of my poker zen life....I'll have one ear on the I=Pod and one ear listening to the table chatter. Mum poker is the way to go. They'll get nothing from me except a smile and if they mention my poker skills or play, I will simply smile and say..."how about those mets?"

Disciples Blog...Card Date 06.14.09

2009-06-14T17:10:00.008-04:00

Las Vegas and the WSOP are a mere 5 days away. The target tournament is Event #39 which is a $1500 buy in and is expected to last three days. I am scheduled to fly in on Friday and Depart on Monday morning. The cards fly and 12:00m local time on Saturday, 6/20/09.

The departure flight is one flight I would like to miss as the final table will be played on this day. It is my intent to play in this tournament and to apply all my poker skills and knowledge in the hopes that the poker gods shine on me and deliver me a "warm deck" that I can operate off of and make the cash.

I have so many people to thank, but clearly at the top of the list is "Tozey" my Poker wife. She has been very suppportive on my trip to Poker Mecca and even helped be book my trip using travel points and other horel stay options at my disposal.

Second on the support list are my investors...friends and family that believe in my abilities to sit down on the world's greatest poker stage in an attempt to go deep and cash !!

My poker pals include, NotPhilIvey, The Poker Minion, Pois-on, The Noze, Jokiebird, Fabman Friz and FlushdrawB. Ladies and Gentleman, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your finanacial support in allowing me to fulfill my dream.

Now, let's get to the poker updates from Las Vegas. If you can see this blog, you can follow me on this page. My Twitter updates are tied into this blog OR you can follow me directly at Twitter under "DisciplesPoker." I will try and post every two hours (all on twitter) when there is a formal break and I will do my best to keep everyone updated !

I feel good about my game. I've been playing well and I am going to apply all my skills and concentration to every hand that is played. The blinds will go up every hour and I am starting with 4,500 in chips. Level 1 is 25/50. You can find the structure at the WSOP website under event 39.

Last night we had a warm-up at PJCFLA's house in Palm Harbor, Florida. 10 people played and we followed the WSOP event structure with 25 minute levels versus the 1-hour. I finished 5th, out of the money, but essentially hung in there until the blinds turned into a crap shoot. Playing the WSOP structure was a very good experience and served as a viable warm-up for the upcoming WSOP event.

Milktrain to Paydirt Falls 19 Places Short....

2009-03-07T07:53:00.014-05:00

Picured here....Chief Disciple and Wittle in a recent undated photo from Dunedin, Florida

Let me tell you what I love and hate about on-line poker. First what I love -- Where else can you put up $27.50 for a chance to compete for $45,000 in prize money?. There is an strong attraction there to commit valuable time to the effort.

Falling short 5 hours later at 1:00am in the morning is difficult and I hate it....even with an extra $120 in your pocket for 20th place.

That was me last night -- 18th place in the Poker Stars Nightly $27.50 buy in with 1817 other fairly competant poker players. I can tell you about the thrills, the 4 CDs of NFL Themes music I listened to, the friendly hello from Al "The Goon" from Brooklyn (Al, I'm going to call you man!) but it only took one "spill" to do me in. One easilly-avoidable Mistake - cost me....The Chief was stuck on stupid.

I won a lot of races in this event and I played good, thoughtful poker. My best move of the night was calculating what was in the middle on a pre-flop raise and calling the bet heads-up with 5/7 suited...catching the middle pair 7 and going all-in after the flop sensing weakness, He flipped over a 66 and I was off to the races with a nice double up.

With blinds at 5000-10000 I was dealt K6 off in the small blind. My stuck on stupid moment came when I thought it was just me and the BB and I pushed all-in. The big blind folded and then I realized that there was another guy in there already with a raised pot !! I was two slots away 18th, from banking an extra $100 and the money escalated fast with a first place prize of over $7000.

Well, as I looked on in sheet terror at my mistake, the guy almost folded as he thought it over for a good 10 seconds. Since I was short stacked at 100,000 in chips, he finally called and revealed KJ suited.

So, of course I am dominated and he makes matters worse by flopping a flush, with my 6 hitting. The turn brings a 6 and trips along with a glimmer of hope. But the river fails me and I am sitting there after 5-6 hours of poker....ticked off at my actions.

OK, I was the short stack and K6 is actually not a bad choice to re-raise the BB. However, I did not see the raised pot. I could have folded the hand, picked up the button and perhaps limped into 18th place.

Really, my only mistake of the night.

On a brighter note, congrats to Jim G "Game Misconduct" who won a 700+ seat event on Poker Stars the other night in a $5.00 buy-in. Way to go Jim. Nice Break through to the other side.

***** Lost Farewell Tour Pictures Revealed ******

Frank, Greg and Julia visiting sisters in the summer.

Sunset near Peter's Clam Bar with Burnie D Tiltman sailing...

Welcome to Florida - It was raining in the sunshine state.

Farewell Tour Highlights !!

2008-10-13T22:55:00.021-04:00

**** Pictures in Random Order ! ******

Morristown-NJ before the Todd show. Seth and Frank

Couple of Sporting Events - With Lisa and Friends at Tampa Bay-Green Bay when I was home for a weekend.

Baseball at Jamie's seats at Yankee Stadium - 4 games before the demolition.

Picture of Empire State Building walking home after watching Biden/Palin debate.

The Fellas after Golf - Seth Frankie, Kenny, Levs
Picture of Sam at Jokiebird's and Marc's poker game.
Todd Rundgren in Concert - 11th Row
Fabman Frizzie and his Pooch "Sonny" in his home game.
The Poker Minion WINS at Johnnnno's....

MORE PICTURES TO FOLLOW !!

The Move to Florida - One Giant Leap for Pokerkind...

2008-09-05T15:30:00.012-04:00

The big move is complete.

We are settling into Palm Harbor, Florida which is now our permanent home. It's certainly good news for my poker game. I am fortunate to have a whole different set of poker pals. Plus, there are now some decent card rooms in the state that spread good games and offering some tournaments.

So, needless to say, I am looking forward to cutting my teeth all over again on the Florida Poker Scene. I remember the days where the maximum pot per hand was $10. -- that's right -- $10 with a 3 dollar rake !!

Below are some pictures of the road trip.

Enjoy !
Frank

Last Friday night...Closing ceremonies on Wantagh-NY. Both "Not Phil Ivey" and "Burny Tiltman" partook in closing ceremonies as the truck was loaded. Grateful Dead's Ripples played on the I-Pod.

Here is a picture of the Delaware Twin Bridges which during Day 1 of the trip. Special thanks to Debbie and Larry for assisting us in the move.

Drill, Drill and Drill Now !!

In My Mind, I'm going to Carolina. Nothing like a North Carolina sunset, right over the state line on I-95.

Dateline - Wilson, North Carolina. Boo's backyard where she still pays tribute to Benji the Pooch. NOte the railroad tracks in the background.

"Tozey" here at the Cracker Barrell in Maryland.

Traffic near Fredricksburg, VA -- the burial place of Stonewall Jackson and ohter members of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Rolling down Highway 41? Not exactly. I-95 north of Jacksonville, Florida.

Beloved Brandi -- B-Ron, Cuter, Roner, B-Ron Face returning home with us.

Disciples Blog…Card Dates - 07.26-27.08

2008-07-27T15:28:00.006-04:00

Interesting poker weekend --- as I now mentally prepare for the Poker Stars 1,000,000 FPP on 7/27. This is a FPP (Frequent Player Point) entrance only and my entry came rather easily a few weeks ago in a 60 person qualifier. I ended up making the top 6 who cashed.

As usual, I got lucky, but was also playing thoughtful poker throughout the tournament. There are 12,000 entrants maximum and 4,000 places pay ! First place is 100K and 4,000th gets 90 bucks. JK is also playing in this event, so I told him that I would see him at the final table.

This event comes at a good time, as I have once again failed miserably in Johnnnno’s basement game, Last night, we had our annual cookout and poker game with a slightly reduced buy-in that included dinner.

We had a record three ladies in the field of 22 and I am happy to say that we had two of them at the final table. My wife, Tozey took 5th place and cashed. I was very happy for her as were a few members of the loser’s club. Jokiebird dealt herself a crushing river when she had the best of it against George with her pocket aces. But George scored the nut flush draw on the river in a crushing round one knockout. Others found their fate decided on the bloody river as well.

My end came quickly and stupidly as I called an all-in bet from the small blind without even stopping to think and access the situation - and that is what bothered me the most.

When the flop came A, 8, 2 rainbow, the SB went all in and I quickly called in the BB with 8, 2. SB flips over A, 8 and it’s friggin curtains unless a two pops. Needless to say, it did not. While I might have been able to talk myself into calling, I clearly could have assessed the situation quietly, and PERHAPS get away from two pair on the flop….BUT NO!!!!!!!.

The highlight of everyone's night was seeing our friend Gerard come by for a beer and a chat. Play was stopped for a moment and everyone gave a hello and a hug.

Congrats to Al the Goon from Brooklyn on his big victory. Also, Mike took a nice second place and his wife Deb made the final table. Way to go, both !!

Well, we’re about the tee up the 1,000,000 event. Depending on how I do will determine the size of my next set of posts below !!!

7,935th place out of 11,500. Not even worth a recap.

For me....walking into Johnnnno's basement is like Bill Buckner walking into Shea Stadium.

RESULTS FROM LAST NIGHT....

22. Andrea Beck – Her pocket aces gets flushed by George on the river.
21. Rich Gribbon – Can u say Pain ???
20. Steve Palumbo – tough sledding.
19. Frank Palumbo – Like Buckner walking into Shea…over and over again.
18. George P – lost his and jokiebird’s chips.
17. Dave Blum – Tales of Tilt, Volume 4, Chapter 10, verses 3 and 4.
16. Michael Levatino – Needs Atlantic City or Foxwoods to escape his poker funk.
15. Eddie Blum – yyyyyman not so wise this time.
14. Matt Weiss – his 99 gets massacred by a 5 on the turn giving Lisa trip 555.
13. Harold S – Caught in the set of 555’s crossfire as well.
12. Johnnnnno – early exit, early clean-up.
11. Noam Adi – Searching for any ace and a rag to play.
10. Jed Weiss – Bubble Boy Birthday Dream extinguished.
9. Deb Goldstein – Great effort for a 1st time player at Johnnnno’s.
8. Andy Kestin - Lisa emptied what remained of his chips.
7. Seth Kain – The noze is stuffed when his 10, 10 loses to Q, K on the turn.
6. Jeff Goldman – Cash Bubble Boy.
5. Lisa Shingleton-Palumbo ($100) – Calls all of her chips on a flush draw and falls.
4. JK – Last dance for surf and turf. ($135)
3. Alan (Matt’s friend) – Played well, used chips well. ($175)
2. Mike Goldstein - Great effort, short stacked. ($290)
1. Al “Goon” Barrasso – Great play, multiple bluffs, nice change up ($415)

WSOP 2008 - Event #49

2008-06-28T16:49:00.006-04:00

The Palm Harbor, Florida branch of the DOP has sent 3 players to a WSOP Bracelet Event. Special thanks to Pat Colpoys aka PJCFLA for the posts....

Good luck to ROSE and the Others ! Hope to be there with you next year.

Chief.

**Update 1***

Event# 49 is about to begin in 5 min.

We have 3 players from our Flaorida Disciples of Poker group- Rose, John and Joe. The latter 2 guys do not work at Nielsen. One other guy Scott who is a friend of John's has entered.

The WSOP Tournament seems to be better organized this year. Almost no lines for pre-registered players. Play will occur in the Amazon room (mainroom) and the Brasilia room which has another 60 tables.

I tried qualifiying in. $175 single table satellite. Start with 1000 in chips 15 minute blinds. 7 people were left, blinds were 25-50. I'm Under the Gun and get pocket 10s. - had about 1100 at the time. I raise to 150 and get 2 callers , including the Big Blind.

Flop comes 9,7,2 rainbow..

I lead with a bet (2zd) and one folds, ditzy woman in Big Blind calls.
Turn brings a 6. I bet 350, Big Blind goes all in. - ponder for a while. Since I had seen her Play loose before I call. She turns over 89 for a pair with open end draw.

River spikes a 5 and I'm off to the rail. I think I was 78-22
Favorite in the situation, but what are you gonna do....

**Update #2***

On an impulse, Rose decided to raise with K-10 (blinds are level 2= 50-100).
Flop misses and she makes a continuation bet of 400 which gets called.
Turn brings a 10. She leads with 600 and gets called. River brings another glorious 10. She pushed all in (I would have checked myself and then hope to reraise all in).
Opponent folded. She showed her cards to convey that she was bluffing until the end.
Not sure I would do that, but she didn't want to get labeled as an ultra tight player. John and Rose are between 2800-3300 in chips...

** Update #3 ****

We're at the 1st break- 2 hours into the event

2700 players entered

Joe- 7,000
John 6,000
Rose 2,500
Scott- 2,100

*****FROM CARDPLAYER ******

Sat Jun 28 14:00:00 PDT 2008
$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Level Two Recap
Blinds: 25-50

Players Registered: 2,700

More Notable Names in Field:

Hevad Khan
Shane Schleger
Alexander Kravchenko
J.J. Liu
Eric Lynch
Peter Feldman
Eugene Todd

Eliminations:

Antonio Esfandiari
Amnon Filippi
Jennifer Tilly
Mark Seif
Chris Grigorian
Nam Le
Kevin Saul

**** Update # 4 ****

Rose's dream faded away as she made 1 move too many and exited around 1800th place.

The place is buzzing with the finals of a horse event. Seen scotty nguyen, doyle, and I think Erik Lindgren. I think they are down to the final 2 or 3 tables in that event.

Other guys have 4 and 5k in chips...

***** Update # 5 *******

The other 2 guys fizzled around 800th place. Scott the friend of the fla DOP member is in great shape with 25k at the dinner break.

5 Questions for Dan "Main Event" Melan

2008-06-24T11:28:00.003-04:00

Dan Melan is Back for the 2008 Main Event. I met Dan and his wife Danielle on our plane heading to the 2007 Main Event. Dan was gracious enough to hook us up with Lewis Black tickets at the MGM Grand and a friendship was born. As our man Chris Voto fell midway through the second day of the WSOP main event, Dan went on to cash to the tune of over $45,000.

For the second year in a row, Dan has qualified on-line and will partake in the main event. Dan is a very thoughtful poker player as evidenced by his outstanding cash in last year's main event. Recently, I spoke to Dan about his approach towards the 2008Main Event. He credits a supportive wife, poker-related reading and a consistent breakfast menu to his success.

I have a good feeling about Dan. He is very grounded in his poker game and not the type to get over-confident or tilt-like. Let's hope he sustains his A-game and that the poker gods take a liking to him.

Good Luck Dan !!

Chief Disciple: For the second year in a row, you have qualified on line via the Internet. This is certainly no easy feat. What was your strategy in gaining qualification for the 2008 Main event?

Dan Melan: First off. I have to thank my wife Danielle for my qualifying for the main event. I had some success this year in live tournaments but not a lot online. After 5 unsuccessful tries (a 7th, 3rd, and 8th), Danielle encouraged me to keep trying and that same night I won the seat. My strategy was to play very few hands and be aggressive when I played a hand. I also took notes
on who I was playing and looked up their stats. When we got down to heads up I let my opponent bet into me and I would either slow play or re-raise him.

Chief Disciple: How will you mentally prepare for the Main Event as well as prepare in general?

Dan Melan: Well I have been preparing for it for about 3 weeks now. I have played in many online tournaments to get increase my play. Now with just 11 days before I play I am going to stop the online play and read my poker books. I purchased a book recently, Full Tilt
Strategies from the Pros but I am really going to focus on rereading my other books like Harrington on Hold'em, Tournament Poker by Sklansky, Hold'em Wisdom for all players by Daniel Negreanu, and Making the Final Table by Erick Lindgren. I read these books last year including Negreanu's on the plane ride over to Vegas. Also my daily routine won't change. I'll have Cornflakes and a Banana for breakfast, shower, play MLB on my PSP to take my mind away until I head over to the Rio about 1 hour before play.

Chief Disciple: What will you try and do differently this year versus last year to improve your chances of going deeper in the event?

Dan Melan: I think since last year's main event I have learned to read people and situations a lot better. Of course my goals are the same, survive day 1, make the money, and head to the top of the leader board but it think this year I can use more of my talent to get there instead of just relaying on getting the top 5 starting hands.

Chief Disciple: Were there any tells you picked up from players last year at the WSOP, that could be applied this year? How important are tells in your overall game?

Dan Melan: I think last year I didn't rely on tells more of a gut feeling. This year should be different. I can pick up on limping with monsters for UTG and position raising. Also I have been picking up on how most players change their bets based on their hands, whether over-betting draws or under betting monsters. I am also hoping this year I do not get moved around so
much at the beginning so I will not have to earn the respect of the table every few hours. I feel tells are more important in my game but I still love to confuse my opponents by letting them second guess my hands with my checks and calls then coming out with a bet when a blank hits.

Chief Disciple: If you accumulate a ton of chips and cruise into the money and stand a real shot at a top 100 finish how do you hope your game will respond versus being just a chip average guy, but still in the money (this includes potential TV coverage as well)?

Dan Melan: Well I feel if I were to accumulate a ton of chips my game wouldn't change that much. I don't believe in the bullying the table theory but to pick my spots and make the table pay to see cards. I believe too many people lose their big stacks by raising and calling raises with 89 suited or jack 10 just because they can but in reality they are just making later decisions that much tougher and costly. Any TV appearance shouldn't change me or my game any. Norman and Lon
might wonder what the heck I'm doing sometimes but my table manner or chatter will not change.

In general, my plan is not to get into many preflop battles because even aces are not invincible but rather bet hard and heavy when I have the nuts or at least think I have the nuts.

Frank thanks for taking the time to talk and blog about me. Danielle will be updating everyone on our blog site http://melanpoker.blog.homepagenow.com
The site isn't very colorful but it allows up to update not just blogs but pictures too.

Doyle's Words of Wisdom - ESPN radio

2008-05-01T20:31:00.002-04:00

The 4/29/08 ESPN Podcast of the Doyle Brunson interview is a good listen. Here are some of Doyle's nuggets.

On the differences between cash game players and the tournament players - Cash players are more street smart, more gamble in them. "You gotta have a screw loose to start with!"

Competition and Passion for the game keep him playing!

Agression is necessary in poker but (can be) overdone.

The way you play poker is dictated by the people and their play around you.

Act on your convictions.

Patience. He said Chip Reese was a patient man at the poker table. Do not loose focus.

On taking stiff losses and being on a losing streak. You have to be able to bounce back. That's the mark of a great player.

The Great Doyle Brunson...

Getting in Tune !! A Nice Cash for the Chief !

2008-04-25T12:25:00.003-04:00

Triumphant Evening at the Silks – Tampa, FL

The Poker Gods and the spirit of Eddie Handler aligned for me last night at the Silks Card room in Oldsmar-FL as I tool 3rd place in a deep-stack 65 seat event. A $650 payday put me in positive territory for the year.

One of the more painful things I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year is record-keeping and last nights cash put me in positive territory for the year. The Silks is newly renovated and poker in Florida is alive and well. The Poker room is located in Hillsborough County, which is considered Tampa-FL off Racetrack road in Tampa Bay Downs. The staff are some of the best in the state and they have a nice restaurant and bar.

My Dad, Andy – recently transplanted down there and lives in Spring Hill-FL. He’s a regular at the Silks and I saw him last night as he finished up an earlier tournament. He ended up at a final table but bubbled. What my Dad’s table did when they were down to six people was that everyone kicked in a few bucks as “bubble insurance.” So even though my Dad bubbled, he got his buy-in back due to everyone at the table kicking in a few bucks. I like the idea of Bubble insurance. It’s a nice touch.

I wasn’t supposed to see my Dad until the weekend, so he was surprised to see me when I showed up in the poker room. My Dad is a lifelong Backgammon guy who has turned to poker. He plied his backgammon trade in the 1970’s and 1980’s in NYC at the Mayfair, with the likes of Dan Harrington, Jason Lester, and Eric Seidel. While he was not friends with these guys, he remembers them quite well. He was Poker player of the month at the Silks in January 2008. He is retired and all he has to worry about is sleep, eat, a dip in the pool and poker!!

$80 got me 6000 in chips, with the blinds beginning at 25/50. For an extra $5.00 (for the dealers) you get an extra 1,000 chips. You should ALWAYS get the dealer add-on in these events, because it represents great value.

My game was pretty solid. I would describe it as tight. There were other Disciples at the event from our old internet game….Guys who work at Nielsen and play at the Silks…Momo, Umiforever, Bushleague, and Irishbob where all there.

The first 3 hands I got involved in during the first hour, I won. Then I sculled the ball pretty badly close to the break…misplaying a hand and costing me my gains. With blinds at 200/400 I was dealt pockets 33’s (Patrick Ewing or Kareem). There were 5 limpers and I felt it was a good time to Hijack the pot. There were a series of grumbling folds along the way and I took down a decent pot. I did not show any of my hands until the final table and I think that helped me. I then proceeded to fold a bunch of hands and was sitting at about the chip average. However, my M (Harrington on Hold’em) was slightly over 5, which meant that aggression was still in order. Everyone else was pretty much in the same boat (M-wise) as blinds and antes escalated. The next key hand was 7/7 on the button. The under-the-gun guy raised to 2,000 and it was folded to me. I pushed all-in with about 8,000 in chips and it was back on him. This guy was moaning all night about stolen blinds, so he was in a natural state of tilt. He had about 5,000 left in chips and chose to fold. A few hands later he was out and giving me the evil eye as he exited. Then, I was in a 3-way pot and caught a woopsie 9 on the river to give me a middle pair, which held up when everyone checked on the river and another 5,000 in chips came my way.

With about 30 people left, I am moved to what would be the final table with about 18,000 in chips. Blinds were at 1000/2000 (200). My M was still about a 6, which called for aggression, but not necessarily and all-in move. Momo joined me at this table and was eventually eliminated by a flush on the river.

I was then dealt Q/3 suited in th big blind. A person in early position made a stupid raise to 4,000 and attracted two callers (including an all in) and myself. The pot was offering about 7-1 odds and I felt like I was priced in to see a flop. A three did come on the flop and everyone checked, including the raiser. Then a 3 on the turn and I bet out. The river brought a blank and I raked a nice pot….and low and behold…the raiser starts steaming at me….A series of mumbles under his breath for the next few hands. Finally, I said to him that I was priced in to see the hand through and that he essentially made a stupid raise and no continuation bet!! A few hands later, tilt had overtaken him and he was gone.

With about 11 players to go, I was the short stack at my table and the big and small blind were facing me like Boardwalk and Park Place with Hotels on them! Then, I caught a series of breaks. Another player was eliminated and we had a final table before I had to post. Then, I get the button at the final table with 10 people and six places to pay.

By this time, blinds were at 3000/6000 (400). Two players fell off and eight to go. I had to cough up a big blind. In the small blind, I was dealt 4/8 off suit and everyone folded to me. I only had about 15,000 left and I was asking myself…..What would Harrington do?
I really could not fold this hand, and hand the big blind a 12,000 pot….so I pushed all-in.
He went into the tank for a couple of minutes and released his big blind hand. He asked me what I had and I flipped over my two cards. He tilted and we went on a break.

After the break, it was Picket’s charge!! On the button, I am dealt 9/9. Everyone folds to me and I push all in. The guy, who saw my 4/8 off suit, thought about it again….He was looking at me and I told him that “revenge is a dish best served cold.” He folded. Then, I’m dealt 6/6 and move all in and everyone folds. By now, I am up to about 30,000 in chips. Then, I’m dealt pocket 5/5’s and there are two all-in’s!! I release them in what would have been a losing hand. I dropped a number of low wired pairs that night on stiff raises and re-raises. With 7 people left, everyone kicked in $20 for the bubble insurance and we were all guaranteed money. The bubble exited and so did the 6th place winner.

With 5 people left and 4th in chips, I am dealt “The Classic Handler” in the small blind 7/2 off suit, and I push all-in on what was clearly a poker DUI. I am called by the big blind that holds K/5 off suit and Eddie from heaven looks down upon me with a smile and I spike a 7 on the flop. The Handler holds up and I’m sitting 3rd in chips with about 40,000 with blinds at 4000/8000 (500). The 5th place guy does his best Lazarus imitation by winning a pot, but going down against the chip leader. Then, I knock out the 4th place guy and have about 80,000 in front of me. The chip leader had about 120,000 and the other guy was about even with me.

With blinds at 6000/12000 (1000), I have only one goal in mind….Just win baby. First place was $1,400 and second place was 950, with 3rd place $650.

My final hand was KJ suited and it was between me and the big stack. I decide to limp from the small blind hoping to trap. Flop comes K, 6, 3 rainbow. I decide to check and he checks. The turn brings a 10 and I bet out 10,000. He raises to 20,000 and I decide to smooth call. The river brings a 4. He goes all in and I call. He flips over 6/4 for two pair which beat my Kings.

I beat myself up for a little while, but I really don’t think I played the hand incorrectly.
Since this guy caught a piece of the flop, he was not going anywhere. He told me that he never would have put me on a King, so my deception play did work. Obviously, if I had raised pre-flop he was gone and I would have pulled down blinds and antes. He got lucky on the river….I was ahead up until that point. Again, my mindset was to win the damn thing.

It has been a very long time since nice cash. All in all, I think I played my A-game for most of the night. I caught some breaks, did not tilt and managed a 3rd place finish. I’m hoping to keep the momentum going and hopefully start a string of good outings.

Have a Good Time, All the Time !!

2008-04-24T11:39:00.005-04:00

Return to the Blog !!

I’m delighted to return to the blog after a long absence. I had been using the Disciples of Poker Discussion group in the interim and I will certainly keep that board up and running.

I think that becoming a better poker player – for me – requires some consistent blogging from time to time talking about the game we all love and strive to be excellent at.

I am doing a number of things to improve my poker game which I will discuss in future postings. Hopefully, your participation can help me in the process of improving my game as well as your game.

I am doing a number of things to improve my game. It’s been over a year since I won a tournament and that has been very frustrating.

I have read Harrington on Hold ‘em at the urging of Pat “Pois-on” Gordon and I am thankful for his persistence in getting me to read this. It was time well spent and I refer back to it from time to time.

I’m currently reading “Elements of Poker” by Tommy Angelo and since I will be quoting some of his work here, I want to certainly put in a plug for this unique book.

Here is an excerpt on “Tilt” which I think is a big part of my game. He describes the many aspects of “tilt”

Steaming Tilt
Simmering Tilt
Too Loose Tilt
Too Tight Tilt
Aggressive Tilt
Too Passive Tilt
Playing too high Tilt
Playing too long Tilt
Playing too tire Tilt
Entitlement Tilt
Annoyed Tilt
Injustice Tilt
Frustration Tilt
Sloppy Tilt
Revenge Tilt
Underfunded Tilt
Overfunded Tilt
Shame Tilt
Distracted Tilt
Scared Tilt
Envy Tilt
This is the worst pizza I ever had Tilt
Just Got Shown a Bluff Tilt
I gotta get even Tilt
Demolition Tilt

What does Tommy say about Tilt??

“It makes us do things we wouldn’t do if we were playing at our very best”

I want to stay off tilt….FOR GOOD.
I think this is a major leak in my game. Thanks Tommy.

And let’s not forget the words of Spinal Tap’s Viv Savage…..
“Have a GOOD time…ALL the Time.”

Thanks Tommy and Viv.

The Chief is back to the blogs.

Poker Players Alliance - Worth Joining

2006-12-27T11:34:00.000-05:00

Fellow Disciples:

I have joined the Poker Players Alliance and am volunteering for a Leadership Position for the State of New York. It's clear that the state laws are archaic in many parts of the country and we are being attacked in our homes with the recent internet regulation. Moreover, I don't think we are doing enough to educate parents and young children about the dangers of the gambling aspect of this skill game.

I've attached the link and encourage all of you to consider joining the PPA. They sent me a really cool T-Shirt as well as some other SWAG. And the membership fee was quite reasonable.

Maybe they will select me to help formulate a NY delegation.

Happy New Year...

Chief.

http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/

"Chiefisms" Coined by the Chief - Poker Phrases

2006-11-30T13:13:00.000-05:00

A Single Rack of (100) One-Dollar Chips: "One Rack of Low Society"
(In the Movie "Rounders," 100 Black Chips was a Rack of High Society)

Online Poker Acronyms

CtV - Cue the Violins:
"Cue the Violins" or CtV should be used when an opponent is whining.

TP - That's Poker:
"That's Poker" can be used as a graceful way to exit the table when you've lost.
Or, it can be used if you have inflicted a bad beat on someone.

AMiIC - Ask Me if I Care?:

"Ask Me if I Care" is a good term if you are on tilt. You can attempt to cut-off conversation or act disinterested with this phrase.

VaaP - Verb and a Pronoun:
This really only has ONE meaning, since cursing is not allowed on these sites.

OBaL - "Outta Be a Law" - Comes in handy when you are a victim of a bad beat.

Feel free to Use Them, even though I'm no Dan Rather
Chief.

Poker Music - If I had an IPOD

2006-11-28T14:51:00.000-05:00

Hi All:

Since my game lately has been sucking-wind-big-time and it's been a dog's age since I posted, I thought I would entertain you with a concert review from 2003. We had lost a high school friend that day and celebrated his life with an evening of Grateful Dead Music in New York City by the Dark Star Orchestra. I hope you will enjoy this departure, while I try to figure out what the hell is wrong with my game.

Chief....

************************

The call came in from Dave B, fellow class of 79er, and avid
Grateful Dead fan. The "Dark Star Orchestra" was playing in
Grammercy Park.

Who the heck are these guys?, I asked Dave aka "Dave Deroo"?
"The play Dead music man"...."they recreate a past Dead concert and
perform it again in it's entirety"

Earlier in the day, we had received the news on Brian B's passing. Brian
was a big time Dead fan, so we decided to go and enjoy the show in
his honor. Dave later told me that he and Brian hit a Dead show
once together, years ago. Dave told us the story over dinner....It was a
classic yarn, of the boys piling in the car and heading to the show.

Levs also told a classic story about Dave getting "bambled" at a Dead
show at Giant's Stadium...It was so freaking funny that even that
part about him "tossing" did not upset my dinner while we were eating.

Surprisingly, Mike "Levs, Levy" was up for the show. Dave
sent out a flair earlier in the day to get support for the show and
Mike responded. I think Dave had to call him a wimp once or twice,
before he answered to the affirmative. We decided to meet at my west
village apartment for the pre-game festivities.

The three of us met, ordered a pizza pie, drinks, etc etc.....LEVS
brought a small "ankle sized" bottle of Southern comfort for "Burnie"
to sneak in to the show. "Burnie" is Dave's other
nickname...Apparently, Southern Comfort is the nectar of the
gods for a Dead show.

But this was not a Dead show, it was really "Virtual Dead."

On the way over, it rained so hard, it felt like Woodstock. I thought
we were going to slide in the mud at Union Square or help give birth
to a pregnant woman in the rain......who knows, but it poured.

So, we hit the show, Levs sneaks the booze in.....grown men sneaking
in booze. Danny "DL" from '78 was a big fan of Southern
Comfort, although DL preferred the larger bottle in his heydey.

DL has been on the wagon for years. God loves DL
and his antics...(can't get started on DL now).

*******************************************************

The Dead show was pretty awesome. These guys sounded and looked like
the Dead. The guy who played the role of Bob Weir looked just like
him. The "virtual Jerry" played a great guitar and had the voice to
go with it.

They cranked the two sets, including "Touch of Grey, Good
Lovin', Scarlet Begonias, some tunes from Terrapin Station, Uncle
John's band," etc etc....

They came out by 9pm....by 1am, we left. Old men have to work.
We walked back to the west village.

Unfortunately, for Levs, he had some trouble with his car and that
probably left a scar on the evening. It got towed. Burnie told me they got
home rather late, about 3:30am.

It was a good show and a worthwhile evening. We lifted our drinks to
Brian B in remembrance.

Standing in a Shaft of Light....Rising up to Paradise.......

Shuffle Up and Sue - Chief Bloviates on WPT Lawsuit

2006-10-13T15:16:00.000-04:00

Another All-In Magazine Writing Credit.
If the "Chief Disciple" cuts down a tree
in a forest and no one hears it, will it make a noise?

Discuss....

Definition of a Set in Poker - The Chief Disciple of Poker Bloviates

2006-09-23T11:43:00.000-04:00

Flopping a "Set" is one of the great moments in a poker session. Ahhhh…the possibilities. High are the memories.

When I flop a Set, I immediately think about the end game to which is to bust an opponent on a single hand.

Before the discussion begins, one must define a “Set” and there are some key differences between flopping a “Set” and “flopping trips.” We see this mistake with some TV commentators who fail to differentiate between the two. I’ve heard both Vince Van Patten as well as Lon McCarren call “trips” a “Set”.

Since they commentate in the editing booth (knowing all the outcomes), it surprises me that no won in the poker world has corrected them. I’ve also heard this distinction a couple of times among my fellow disciples as well as on the actual felt when I’m playing in casinos across the universe. Maybe we just enjoy saying “I flopped a Set man!”. I know I do.

A Set is three-of-a-kind with you holding a pocket pair. It’s TWO in your hand with ONE on the board. For a particular card rank, only ONE person can flop a Set of Jacks for example. Two people can’t flop a Set of Jacks in the same hand. However two people can flop trips if there are TWO LIKE CARDS on the board with two people holding the remaining two Jacks in their respective hands. The bottom line is that you play a Set differently versus trips even though the two hands have the same rank in terms of value, because they are both three of a kind.

Sometimes, you never see the Set coming when your blinded by your own great hand you think your holding. The Set is in play at all times. It can be a logical outcome in all instances. When you feel that your holding is beat, it could because the other player has a Set.

With trips, you have two like cards on the board, and there are more distinct “outward appearances” because you can see that the board has a pair on it. A great Set to flop is low or middle pair with some high cards on the board. Lets say the board is showing 4, 9, K with you holding “Reggie Jackson” or 44. Let’s also say there was a modest pre-flop raise and the board comes up Rainbow.

These are the types of situations where you are dominating a hand like AK when you’re holding a set of 444s. This is how you bust people. However, when there are trips in the form of a pair on the board, you have to worry about being out kicked, or another guy holding a Set, because his set would become a full house because the board has paired already!

When you flop a Set, you must look at texture. Sometimes, you lose with a Set and as you know, that hurts. If the board is threatening, you must protect your hand and when you feel you’ve been beat, you must lay down the hand.

How many sets can you flop in an evening? Well, Johnnnno flopped five recently in a single session, and four of them delivered while one got cracked. Johnnnno actually layed down a Set against Megakeff63 who had a threatening straight (4 cards on the board) and Johnnnno was facing a very large bet.

A Set needs to be nurtured for maximum value. You need to stay cool. You also need to root for the "Board to Pair." Then your set morphs into a full-house or in some rare occassions, QUADS.

With trips, there’s a heightened sense of “board awareness”. People are on the lookout for trips. People underestimate the fact that the Set is in play. If being dealt a wired pair is 10:1 and achieving a Set is another 8:1, you have to multiply the two somehow to come up with the odds of making a Set.

I’m not a statistician and I don’t play one on television, but I can assure you that making your Set happens on only a few occasions during a session and you must maximize these hands in order to come out ahead in the game. And in some cases, you send people to the rail.

The Chief is done bloviating.

Disciple "Floyd F. Squire" is Published in All-In Magazine

2006-09-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

Poker Disciple "Floyd F. Squire" lets his feelings be known about the CBS Program "Intercontinental Poker Show" where well known Pros allegedly represent their country.....

Staking in Poker - A Letter to Cardplayer

2006-09-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

Hi All:

I doubt they will print this, but here is my view on undisclosed staking in poker.

Chief

****************************
I read (with laughter) an article about the Jamie Gold staking controversy and how Cardplayer CEO Jeff Schulman was being extensively quoted about the code of conduct regarding staking. He called the recent developments regarding Gold "an abberation." The article also referred to Cardplayer about being the "bible" of the industry. That's the part that made me laugh because chances are that the people responsible for publishing Cardplayer have probably, at one time or another, engaged in the ugly practice of these under-the-table staking agreements.

Well, maybe it took an new-bee like Jamie Gold to finally bring some much-needed light on one of Poker's dirtiest secrets. Let's for one minute set aside the unacceptable antics that Gold and others displayed at the WSOP talking about their hands while playing them and promises to "show you my cards" if you fold. That alone is a truly despicable practice that Harrah's and others should immediately prohibit.

Let's address the elephant in the room for a moment. Undisclosed staking agreements are not fair and damage the waning credability of the game. Undisclosed staking agreements open the door for soft play and in some extreme cases, cheating. While the 2006 WSOP hit a high point in attendence, we have hit a low point on integrety.

The game is now filled with smash mouth antics, bad behavior, and serious ethics issues such as staking opponents. Do we want to improve the game or flush it down the toilet?

Cardplayer constantly encourages us to "speakout", but they never publish letters. I hope that the editor will print the concerns of the people like me who have no staking agreements, no promotional deals, no website to shill, but just enjoy the game and have a genuine concern about where it is going.

Frank L. Palumbo
New York

Chief Emerges from Poker Confessional Booth....

2006-08-12T14:56:00.000-04:00

Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...
Thou Shall Not Go On Tilt...

Poker Room Review - Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Indiana

2006-08-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

GameMiscondct and the Chief Disciple took a ride down to East Chicago/Gary/Hammond, Indiana to play some Texas Hold'em at the Majestic Casino in Hammond, Indiana on July 24th, 2006. I was in Chicago on my day-job business, so me and Game-O decided to play some poker that evening. The casino is a riverboat variety and it was about a 30 minute drive from Chicago to Northwest Indiana. This part of Indiana is pretty blighted and GameMiscondct warned me that we would not be enjoying the scenery with the drive.

They had a nice sized poker room for a riverboat. I think they had about 30 tables. It seemed that a lot of time and energy was being spent on running a poker tournament rather than focusing on the cash games. We put our names on the board and got a quick bite to eat. The little eatery outside the poker room kind of sucked because only one-person was working the whole thing. GameMiscondct got seated first at a poker table and it took me a good 30 minutes to get seated after him.

The managers of the poker room were pathetic and not following their own rules. A couple of players had gone to dinner and had exceeded their time away from the table. One woman had 3 absent buttons. Players at the table were pleading for the woman's chips to be "bagged up", but the manager would not do it. I jumped into the fray and essentially called the guy incompetent. I had been waiting long enough for a table and Mavis was not back from the salad bar after 2 hours. The manager threatened to show me the door (for pointing out the rules) and at that point, I quit my tirade since I wanted to play poker.

The game of choice was 3/6 limit hold'em. The dealers were OK, Nothing flashy. The players were essentially a tight/conservative group. I'm not sure if this is a Midwest trait or not. I have always found California Card Room Games pretty wild and loose. These guys played as tight as a wet boot.

Game-O managed to build a decent stack and decided that the crap tables were calling him. I stayed at the poker table and grinded it out for a couple of hours. The waitresses were nice, but you had to pay for drinks. This was not Vegas.

I was about to record a losing session until the final hand, when I picked up Ace/Jack suited and raked a $100 pot with runner-runner flush. I cracked a guy's three queens. Then, I promptly got up and left.

It was great playing poker with GameMiscondct and it was nice to feel the felt again and stack the chips. But the managers of the poker room were pretty unfriendly and the threat of being ejected for speaking my mind when an injustice was committed was unacceptable.

I was dropped off in Chicago around 11:00pm. We had fun because we manufactured the fun. As far as the poker room experience, on the poker scale rating system (with a royal flush being the best poker room experience), I'd have to give the Majestic Casino a rating of one-pair (see picture above). We're talking a quantum leap from Florida poker, but a far cry when compared to Las Vegas or Atlantic City.

Bloop, But No Blast...Chief in a Big Tourney...

2006-07-16T19:06:00.000-04:00

Greetings -

Well, I set a goal to qualify for the $200K guaranteed tourney at Ultimate Bet.
After making the final table in the first qualifier earlier in the day, I fell short when I went all-in with 10/10 only to get called by a guy who limped in with the Rockets....He set a nice trap.

2nd qualifier, I flop Quads with about 21 people left, and managed to finish in the Top 7. The Top 7 advanced to the 5pm 200K event with a $215 entry chip.

Brother Steve...aka Notphilivey whipped up some steaks over in Wantagh and I was ready for the game by 5:00pm.

Brother Steve offered me $60 for 30% upfront, but I chose not to take it.

1st place was $45,000 dollars. 90 places paid. UB only had 860 players and 1,000 players required them to break even. Essentially, they added over $20,000 to the tournament even after the alternates were seated.

I started with $2500 chips and built to to $3600. I lost half my stack on a hand involving the small blind. We both flopped the top pair of Queens and we got all the money in. I had her covered. She outkicked my with a jack to my 10.

I was now down to $1,200 and built my stack up to $2,100. Blinds were at 50/100 when I was dealt AKos (Big Slick). I raised to 600 under the gun and a big stack reraised putting me all in... He revealed KK which left me despondent. The board yielded no help and I was gone in 464th place.

While I am disappointed, I'm still happy about having an opportunity to play in such a high value tournament. I guess I could have tried to get away from Big Slick and lay it down on the final hand, but I chose not to.

O well. I really don't think that I made an awful decision during the whole event. I have trouble figuring out how to play the blinds sometimes...but getting outkicked like that was a hairline difference.

Even 90th place would have got me $300 bucks.....464th....

While the "Bloop" of qualifying into the Sunday 5:00pm tourney exhilarated me, the "Blast" of cashing in a high value tournament never materialized.

I have some work to do....And miles to go before I sleep.

Chief

A Lost Weekend - June 2002

2006-06-20T16:31:00.000-04:00

Another Poker Yarn, before I was Chief..Obviously, I was finding my way in the Poker wilderness......This Post comes with a "warning label"....pretty graphic.

Had a crazy weekend !!!!

Met Burney for dinner before I left for Foxwoods on Friday Night.

Ride up was great...no traffic.....I cranked some major toon-age, TERRAPIN STATION, and HALL an OATES.

I was at a Foxwoods table by midnight Friday.....tough sledding....gambled till about 530am until the hold-em game broke up.....was down quite a bit...couple of hundred....went back to the car....crashed for two hours.....I was a pretty sorry sight....what a degenerate.....sleeping in the car....paranoid about carbon monoxide poisoning in the Foxwoods garage.....i survived....

8am...wake up....drove 10 miles to Mohegan sun.........got in a hold em tournament.....lasted about 1 hour.....

got back in the car..went back to Foxwoods...luck started changing....hit a lot of hands...big pots.....played all day and into night......

to quote Forrest Gump......when I was hungry, I ate.....when I was tired.....I slept.....

game broke up about 4 am Sunday Morning.....went back to the car....crashed 4 hours.....you should have seen my unwashed head.....wore a baseball cap and sunglasses at the Holdem table......

Sunday morning...feeling mighty fresh on 4 full hours of sleep...played some 7 stud until Holdem opened up.....got hot again......nice cards dealt to me......made back the losses..

started heading for home about Sunday 3pm....BUT, you got to pass by Mohegan Sun.....like a man passing the bada bing....I'm back over at the SUN, jones-ing for more Holdem...to quote Belushi....The weekend IS NOT OVER UNTIL I SAY IT IS......

there was a very intense Holdem game going on $3-$6.......major pots.....I lost and got pissed.....so I changed my strategy I lowered the baseball cap, tightened up the sunglasses and refused to look at my opponents....To Quote Ariel Sharon...."These guys are irrelevent".....so when they looked over at me, they read nothing.......nada....zip !!

then started winning....played until 9pm...

Finally on the road at 930pm..........6 hours of total sleep in the bank.....badly in need of a shower, a toothbrush....flying home...literally and mentally.....

Cranked Meatloaf storytellers on CD as well as TV's greatest hits.

Home by midnight......took a long hot shower......went to bed at 1am......

Don't tell my mother.

Flush Draw B's Home Game - Memorial Day Weekend 2006

2006-06-01T15:21:00.000-04:00

I attended Flush Draw B's home game over Memorial Day weekend 2006.
The location was lovely and sometimes rainy West Palm Beach.

F.D.B had built two new tables for the occasion and hosted a game
that had 16 people. The tables were fantastic.

Barry was gracious enough to pay my 20 buy-in. He also had a 5 dollar
bounty and a 10 re-buy. Re-buys are something we don't do on the
Long Island Circuit, and I will want to re-visit this issue at the
2006 Poker Summit when the tournament directors meet in the off-
season.

We had a ball at Barry's. He was a great host and I have to give him
props for making so many poker friends in such a short period of time.

Funny thing happened in Level 1 of the tournament. We had a RAIN
DELAY...A first for the Disciples of Poker !!

Barry had us in an enclosed outdoor area, but the wind and rain was
so fierce, that we had to suspend play and move the tables. We also
had some lightening strikes close by which scared a few people
sitting in metal chairs.

Sadly for the Chief, 6th place was the best I could muster. Barry
took third and a guy named Dave won the event.

There was a bit of an uprising when I tried to introduce antes to the game, so we
held off on that.

Barry drove me back at Midnight to Vero Beach. It took about 90
minutes to find the place.

He got home safely, I would suspect around 3:00am.

His wife and children were very gracious and it was great seeing
Flush Draw B on the Disciples of Poker Florida Circuit running a righteous home game.

We now have TWO DOP branded events in Florida and One in New York.

Who's next?

For me, my game continues to suck. I had top pair on the board and a
straight draw on the final hand. Even with about 10 outs, I ran in Pocket
Rockets. The guy holding AA did not raise pre-flop. Nice move, Dave.

Chief needs a coach.

Chief.

Before I was Chief...And Old Yarn from 11/2001

2006-05-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

Went to the Atlantic City Friday night.
No traffic - two smooth hours on Greyhound out of Port Authority.

Music CD's on the trip were.....

REM- Automatic for the People
Tom Jones - Greatest Hits
Elton - Madman Across the Water.

I've never seen the TAJ MAHAL so crowded. Poker room wait lists were huge
The waiting board for 2-4 Texas Holdem was 30 DEEP.
The "railbirds" were everywhere....people wanting seats, but watching the action from a distance.

They called "FP 2/4 Holdem" way to soon.
Maybe there was another FP?
I did not care..I wanted to play and those were my damn initials so I said "HERE!" and they escorted me to a table.

Got on a table at 8:30pm Friday night. The Fish's were everywhere. They were Providers looking to play. That's why I chose the TAJ over the Tropicana where the play is much tougher. They were even playing Holdem at the stud tables, so it was kind of cramped. Stud table seats 8, Holdem seats 10.

Played well, but not disciplined enough. Was up about 50 bucks by 2am. Changed gears and entered another one-table Holdem satellite tournament.

Hung in there for an hour...was the fifth guy to exit this time out of 10. Went all-in with my pocket pair of Queens, only to get shot down on the river when a King hit and the guys Kings beat my Queens.

About 5am, I retreated to the stud table, because my hundred dollar bankroll was down to about 25.00. Played 7 card stud against a bunch of drunks and got most of the hundred bucks I started with back.

Got back to a 2-4 hold'em table at 8am....full well knowing that Saturday would be another crowded affair. In between, I took breaks, ate smoked cigars, BUT NEVER picked up the chips and left completely.

The current 2-4 Holdem table was played on the actual 10 person table, so I was now comfortably seated. There was this guy pounding screwdrivers all night and bet before the flop EVERY SINGLE TIME. It was unbelievable. He never met two cards he did not like. I started calling him the "Cal Ripken of Hold'em."
The tables were friendly, conversation hilarious at times.

The Fish's kept on coming. Bluffed a few of them out with nothing. The old Flush scare card. They bought it, I benefited.
Played all freaking day. Kept on checking the bus schedule, then saying "fuck-it" I've got no place to be.

I was having a ball taking the lead at the table. Me and Mr. Screwdriver were having fun. Everytime it was me and him at a showdown, he would kick my ass and take the pot. Then, I broke his trend and started schooling him.

Some guy from University of Georgia sat down...I shouted out "How about dem Dawgs !" He played well and had a pretty nice stack.

Played all day Saturday, into the evening. People were waiting up to 3 hours for a seat and this Poker room has over 100 tables.

I usually know when to quit, when I get the "bad beat," that is having a superior hand and losing it. Well, that happened about 9pm.

Was holding a King of spades and another card. Heavy round of betting before the flop....Out come three spades. I'm betting like I already have the flush.....Turn card (4th card) hits the board....Not a spade....I bet again, thin the field, down to two people, me and this lady next to me (with a big stack)....Here comes the river card (5th card).....a spade.....4 spades and I'm holding the king. No pair on the board...so the high flush is the "Nuts" or the best possible hand.

That's the key to holdem....determining the best possible hand based on the common cards that hit.

So, of course I bet the King High Flush.....the lady next to me goes "RAISE" and I think Holy shit, she's got the Ace and I'm about to lose. So, I call her raise, turn my king over and said to her "The Ace of Spades wins". And then in a slow motion surreal moment, she turns over the Ace and the pot is hers. I felt like Matt Damon losing to KGB in the movie "Rounders"

25 hours later, 6 mini-cigars, two slices of pizza, 2 packs of beer nuts, endless cups of coffee and a couple of O'doulls...I was done.

12 bucks in my pocket from the hundred.

As I was debating the cash machine, I heard the voice of Stevie Nicks during "Gold Dust Woman" singing

"Is it over now?
Do you know how
to pick up the pieces and go home?"

And I did. 10pm bus out of the Taj. My name was on it.

Cued up Grateful Deads "Europe 72". Fell sound asleep during Tennessee Jed....Slept all the way to NYC.

I Left the driving to Greyhound. It's a pretty safe ride. There is no terrorist in their right mind who is going to mess with a bus filled with gamblers.

Can't be disappointed with the outcome. Played a long long time. Was not a winner, but certainly not a loser.

You learn a lot about yourself and other people when you play Poker. Texas Holdem is the ultimate game yielding enormous satisfaction.

Definitely my version of Safe Sex in the new millennium. And even though the "cards speak" you never get in a fight with them.

Derby Lane Revisited....Still Sucks

2006-05-09T12:34:00.000-04:00

So I went back to St. Petersburg to play poker at Derby Lane last week in Florida.
For those of you that don't visit often, the state of Florida has the most idiotic poker rules on the planet.

The preferred game is commonly known as "No-Fold'em Hold'em" because the maximum bet is $2.00 in the state. So, everyone and their sister is betting and holding hands till the river. Translated, your really good hands are bound to get cracked.

The management at Derby Lane was awful on this night. For example, we were down to 4 players at the Hold'em table and these idiots announce a new Texas Hold'em game forming. What? Is anyone watching the action on the floor? We had 6 open seats.

Another crappy part of this poker experience is the Rake. TRY UP TO FIVE BUCKS A HAND. And believe me, $50 is not in the pot when they are raking $5.00.

Next, you have to pay for your drinks, even the soft drinks. Finally, the dealers were actually OK, but some were really awful.

To stimulate action, they make up stupid games. How about trying "double flop" Hold'em !! What's next, wild cards?

All in all it was a terrible poker experience. I picked up my chips and went back to my condo and played at Party Poker in a $40,000 tourney for a $22.00 buy-in. I ended up winning 33 bucks for a 220th place finish.

I guess the moral of the story is...If you're truly desperate for actual felt and the feel of real chips than go play poker in a Florida casino. But, in my view, your time is better spent in a home game and on the internet.

Derby Lane gets the big thumbs down....A Busted Straight, a Four Flush, an Ace High.

Poker in Florida.....You're drawing dead.

The Chief has sadly spoken.

Disciples Blog...Card Date....Las Vegas

2006-04-29T23:53:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Vegas and now hear ye, hear ye the "Tales of Tilt".

Las Vegas has changed; even in the past year. It's amazing how many people are playing poker. Sadly, a lot of Stud games have vanished and Omaha is on the endangered Poker species.

The poker rooms were everywhere and so was the action. NO LIMIT Hold'em rules many of the poker rooms as people remain intoxicated over the effect that TV has on the No Limit game. The chief opted to play 2-4 and 3-6 holdem as well as enter one tournament at The Orleans.

My wife (Tozey)joined me for three days and that was followed by Brother Steve (Notphilivey) joining me for the remaining action.

The Luxor Casino was our "home base" and turned out to be a good option if you like lower limit poker. The hotel is at the high-end of the middle-of-the-road casinos and the poker room was well run. The dealers were friendly and the waitresses were very nice and punctual. Here are some other impressions of the poker rooms we visited.

The Flamingo - The Flamingo has a poker room tucked away on the floor. It had new tables, felt and automatic card shufflers. The staff was friendly and wait staff was great. Chief and NotPhilIvey liked the Flamingo.

The Riveria - Notphilivey played there and it was the only time I saw him on tilt. He said the dealers were awful and the waitresses were even worse. Save the trip and skip the Riviera. Again, a poker room carved out of a casino floor.

Circus Circus always holds a fond place in my heart. You can always find a wild 3/6 game there and I walked away from that casino feeling good and up about 70 bucks. However, the tables continue to have the felt installed improperly and the waitresses were off their game here. Since, I love CC, I will withhold judgment until my next visit. Also, no automatic card shufflers. Steve had to chase after a waitress only to come back and find his hand mucked. His two pair would have held up in a $40 pot. Talk about an expensive beer.

MGM - GameMisconduct stayed here during his trip and the room offers both 2/4 and 3/6 Holdem. I opted for 3/6 and broke even at this place. Poker room is very slick and the dealers and waitresses were attentive. They also have automatic card shufflers.

Mirage - We closed out the trip here. The 3/6 table was alright, but the cocktail service was truly pathetic. This may have something to do with the gambling explosion in Las Vegas. Las Vegas needs cocktail waitresses.

Las Vegas Hilton - Small uneventful poker room offering 3/6 Hold'em. Blah overall.

Orleans - Game-O, NotPhil and Myself all flamed out of the poker tournament.
Poker room remains a solid experience and the staff is friendly and professional.

We walked through Wynn casino and the space really resembled the Bellagio.

At the Bellagio, I told Steven "Not Phil" that we would probably see a couple of poker celebrities and we were not dissappointed. On a sad note, we saw Amarillo Slim playing at the low limit tables. It made me wonder about Slim.

I pointed out Johnny Chan to Stevie as he passed us. Without losing a beat, Steve spoke to Johnny Chan and called him "Mr Chan". Chan smiled and shook Stevie's hand. It was a cool moment, since Stevie likes to meet celebs.

"The Duece" double decker bus was a pretty good way to get up and down the strip for 2 bucks. The monorail is a rip-off at $5 a ride and cabs remain very expensive.

Sadly, Vegas is becoming less and less a bargain in terms of value. Stuff is no longer cheap in Vegas. You can still get a 13.99 prime rib at the Barbary Coast.

After 6 nights, the Chief had his fill of Mecca.

Brother Steve summed it up by saying....This place is fantasy land.
It was nice to see gruffy New Yorkers on the flight home.

Chief.

Dissin' the "Brunson" 10/2 Offsuit

2006-04-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Lesson Learned in Limit Hold'em Poker...What happens in Vegas playing rags SHOULD STAY in VEGAS.

I was at the Luxor last night playing Limit Hold'em 2/4, enjoying the scene and holding out OK at the table. I'm dealt 10/2 offsuit aka "The Brunson" and decided to play the hand from early position.

Flop comes 10/K/Rag....There's a 4 way action to the turn when a 2 pops. Well, it may be a rag to most, but it was 2 pair to me. I fired out and got two callers into the river.

River brings a 10 and Pink Floyd's "Money" starts playing in my head. It's me and another guy. I check the hand of course hoping to induce a bet. He bets, I raise, he re-raises and I cap the action at 4 bets or $16.

I say Full House with passion (10, 10, 10, 2, 2).....He then says FULL HOUSE...(10, 10, 10, K, K) He was holding 10/K off suit.

Major pot went the other way.

Moral of the story. Play Rags with Eyes Wide Open. If you mix up your play and hit a monster hand, don't be blinded by the BOAT. There are 5 other Boats that can beat you. The Brunson left me light in the pocket.

Overall, I'm at Level Par for the trip. Last night I was staring at the felt twice and made comebacks on two hands to eke out a positive return.

NotPhilIvey is on a Plane out to Vegas. We're hooking up with GameMiscondct tonight and will enter a tournament. Perhaps the Orleans.

Chief.

Scripture from the Book of The Chief: The Short Game - Heads Up

2006-04-15T12:33:00.000-04:00

(Picture to right is the Chief Disciples image at Poker Stars and Bodog)

I've been thinking a lot about heads-up poker lately. Of course, I'm referring to one-on-one action. Most people are just happy to get there, and that's OK for the first time in a major tournament. However, if you keep playing heads-up and coming in second place, it can be a tremendous burden for a poker player.

I guess "just being happy to get there" may of happened to me when I lost to "Jokiebird" earlier this year in the Disciples of Poker Long Island Circuit.

Yeah, I was happy to be there and the $400 bucks was nice. But, first place was close to $800 because Jokie was the Bounty as well that night. Actually, my final hand was OK, but hers was a little better. My K/Q suited her A/10 off-suit. When all the cards turned over I was a loser. I think my only mistake there was not watching her as the cards were being dealt out. Perhaps I could have picked up on the Ace she was holding? Not sure. I was not able to grind and control the play. It was only our 3rd or so hand hands up, so I felt that move was pre-mature, even with K/Q suited.

Having said that, here are some heads-up tips from the Chief.

1. In a live game, you have to pay attention to your opponents in heads-up. The tells are everywhere. You must concentrate even more.

2. Don't be bullied. You will have to go over the top to stop aggression.

3. Don't be afraid to dump the small blind hand pre-flop. The other guy may be holding AA or KK. Nothing more frustrating to be holding a big hand heads-up only to have the other guy fold pre-flop.

4. Raise from small blind with marginal holdings. If you're on a rush of good hands, you have to keep the momentum going. If you mix up your play, you can pull off some nice steals. When your opponent is reeling, you must work hard to keep your run of cards "seamless" to your opponent.

5. Guard Your Stack - Give up as little of your stack as possible. Holding a chip lead is everything in heads-up.

6. Trap, Trap Trap. - Limp in with AA, KK or other holdings if you are dealt this in the small blind. When you flop that set, you check, check until your opponent bets just like Johnny Chan did in Rounders.

In conclusion, heads-up is like your short game; like your putter in golf. Your not going to win golf tournaments if you can't putt. That means you won't maximize your tournament victories if you can't play effective heads-up poker.

NBC will be running the 2006 heads-up championship in April and May on NBC and CNBC. I would encourage all of you to tune that in. Hopefully, the pros will back up some of the things that I stated today.

Also, the Disciples of Poker plays a monthly internet tournament on Ultimate Bet.
It's always the first Wednesday of the Month at 9:00pm EST.

For more information, contact the chief at the_disciples_of_poker@yahoo.com

Good Luck !

Chief.

Chief's Poker Music

2006-04-14T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hi All:

Long time, no chat. I hope to get back to the business of Blogging again.
It looks like we're up and running again at Ultimate Bet with our monthly tournaments, so I encourage all of you to JOIN US for the Disciples of Poker Event.

It's always the 1st Wednesday of the Month at Ultimate Bet. 9:00pm EST.

So, what's on the Chief's IPOD? Well, I don't have an IPod, but I do enjoy music with poker.

As a matter of fact, Yahoo has a cool site called LaunchCast. You rate the music and it plays what you want to hear.

Here is the link to the Chief's Radio Station on Yahoo.
Hope you will enjoy it ! I'm Turniton37, by the way on this thing.

You will need to copy and paste into your web browser...(sorry)

http://music.yahoo.com/lc/?rt=0&rp1=0&rp2=1323273940

Going to Vegas in a couple of weeks. I hope to write something positively about that trip.

Good Luck all.

Chief.

Poker Room Review...Foxwoods on 2/20/06

2006-02-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

I had not been to Foxwoods in about a year and based on my experience on President’s Day 2006, some major changes are going to need to occur before I step foot in there again. Foxwoods has become the Northeastern's epicenter for a game that has clearly grown too big for its’ britches.

Before I get into the issues with their poker room, let’s talk about what an adventure it is to get there. My wife and I were coming down from western Massachusetts and in fairness to Foxwoods; we only had about 3 hours to goof around. Don’t expect to see many billboards on the approach and you better look very hard for the signs that direct you to Foxwoods because they are not very prominent. For whatever the reasons, the state of Connecticut is not exactly making things too easy to find this casino. So, my advice is to Mapquest the destination, and keep your eyes peeled. Parking was free, so that was nice to see.

Another major problem besides the overdone poker explosion is the fact that neighboring casino Mohegan Sun does not offer a poker room experience. I had enjoyed the Mohegan poker room and the Foxwoods room long before the poker explosion. But, for whatever the reasons they have cited, Mohegan does not offer Poker, leaving only one choice for brick and mortar action in New England.

So, I walked in at 11:00am on Presidents day and could not believe my eyes. Every table was filled!!

The line to get on their electronic poker board stretched about 20 deep. I waited over two and a half hours for a 2-4 limit table and over one and a half hours for a stud table. So, I played a little 1-3 stud as I waited for my name to creep up on the 2-4 board.

I don’t think anyone should have to wait this long for a poker game. The problem with Foxwoods is that they attract people from all over the Northeast. There were at least two hundred people waiting everywhere in the room, scattered about. The staff looked completely overwhelmed and there were many agitated customers. The 1-2 NL table was 120 deep on the wait list and they announced that anyone caught jumping the line would get moved to the end.

I also want to say a few words about the honor system with names and getting seated. It has it's share of problems and the people I spoke to who were Foxwoods regulars complained about people jumping the list and saying that these are THEIR initials being called when they just arrived 20 minutes ago. This honor system needs a complete overhaul but I’m not sure what the solution was. I also felt that the PA announcer took too much time to call the name and give people a chance to claim their seat. I think a person should have 15 seconds tops to claim their seat. That’s what they do at the Taj Mahal and it seems to work. If your on the list, then stick around when your name is called.

I was also told by a player that the poker room is moving downstairs and that they are adding some extra tables. I can only hope so!! Foxwoods needs to rethink their whole approach to poker because of the scale they have to deal with.

Maybe the new poker area is the step in the right direction? Perhaps they can start at 3/6 Limit on the low end (rather than 2/4) and eliminate 1/3 stud. Also, there was only one Omaha Table and there was a lot of interested people on the sign-up board. I would have gladly accepted an Omaha 8/B game.

Me? Well, I won my first and ONLY hand at Holdem when my cell phone rang. Sadly, it was time for me to go. All that wait time and only one fricking hand of Holdem. As I said before, I was on a limited time schedule.

For what it’s worth, my wife’s spa experience was equally troublesome. She said the spa employees were pushy and the swimming pool was so crowed, it resembled something you would see in a public pool.

Regretfully, I have to give Foxwoods "two-pair" on the poker review scale, with a Royal Flush being the highest grade. If you live in the New York area, point the car towards Atlantic City. If you live in New England, well you have my deepest sympathies because playing poker at Foxwoods can be an exercise in futility.

In retrospect, I have not completely closed the book on Foxwoods. Perhaps another trip is in order when the new room opens. But, given the choice, I'm going to the City called Atlantic.

The Chief Disciple has spoken.

Chief Gets Published in All-In Magazine....

2006-02-08T12:54:00.000-05:00

While I would never call Phil Hellmuth a "punk" to his face the way Steve Dannermann did recently on an ESPN televised event, I do believe his behavior during the WSOP main event was worthy of a written rejoinder....

Chief Gets Published in Cardplayer's "Where in the World?"

2006-01-24T11:49:00.000-05:00

What a pleasant surprise to pick up the January 24th edition of Cardplayer to see that they published my photo in the "Where in the World Section?" This is the third time that the Chief has been published in Cardplayer Magazine. Thanks to Cardplayer for using my submission. Man, it was COLD that Day.

A Tribute to Eddie Handler…

2006-01-20T10:47:00.000-05:00

With great sadness, we lost a friend on the night of January 14th, 2006. Eddie Handler, of Merrick-NY died suddenly and without warning at one of our “Disciples of Poker” events on the Long Island Circuit. Eddie had actually reached the final table of 10 and had been enjoying a relatively low-key night when tragedy struck him. Attempts to revive him via first aid and through a call to 911 did not pan out.

I had only known Eddie for brief time, and at his funeral service in Hempstead, Long Island, I quickly learned more about the type of man that Eddie Handler was. He was a loving husband, a son to his surviving mother, and a father to three daughters. He was to be 60 in a couple of months and I’m sure his thoughts were turning to grandchildren, his wife, family and recreation.

Eddie left a mark on me in the summer of 2005. Our friend Jeff aka “Filmbuyer” had asked me to host a charity poker tournament at a country club on Long Island and Eddie was one of 20+ players who showed up to play. From the very beginning (and as his daughter lovingly described at his funeral service) he was opinionated. He would not tolerate a schlock poker tournament and the questions he asked and the manner in which he addressed me led me to quickly conclude that I needed to run a worthy poker tournament. And worthy the tournament was.

Eddie recognized that about half the room was filled with newbees and he quickly took advantage of weak play, built a poker stack, survived a couple of all-ins, and eventually started accumulating chips and advancing in the tournament. Jeff the Filmbuyer was also playing and another player in the tournament played who had actually qualified for the 2005 WSOP main event! Eddie ended up cruising past these guys and into the final table, eventually ending up victorious. Ironically his winning hand was 7/2 off suit, and as I took the ceremonial picture of the winner, he held the 7/2 off suit cards rather sheepishly as to say “take the damn picture and let’s go get a drink!” That picture is floating around in cyberspace somewhere with Eddie and his 7/2 off suit. I guess pot odds dictated that he had to call in the final hand.

Jeff had told him about our little gathering on Long Island and Eddie showed immediate interest. As it turns out, Eddie had been honing his poker skills in other card games around town.

From the very beginning, Eddie was clearly “one of the guys”. He was not afraid to enter new territory or take on new competition. In his first tournament in October 2005, he ended up in the money and he felt he was on his way. Next, he came back for the “Thanksgiving Massacre Tournament” and sadly for him, he went out quite early. Eddie ended up sticking around that night, collecting information on people and picking up a few odds and ends on all the players and enjoying the buzz that a poker tournament brings to people.

By Saturday, January 14th, he was ready to play well and play well he did! With 11 people left, he was all-in against one other player. His top pair of aces held up and we seated a final table, with Eddie a part of it. The embedded photo shows Eddie in the foreground to the right. As you can see from the picture, he was relaxed, enjoying himself and looking forward to an evening of poker and fellowship.

Sadly he was taken from this earth shortly thereafter. We were all saddened by Eddie’s passing. Eddie was of Orthodox Jewish faith, so some of us went to remember him the following Monday at the funeral service.

After hearing his daughters speak about him (so bravely), I wish I had gotten to know Eddie Handler better. He was in a leadership role as a branch manager for a well known film corporation and I can only imagine what a tremendous asset he must have been to this company.

Over the past few months, I would occasionally see him on the Long Island Railroad. I said to my wife “Hey, that’s Jeff’s friend, Eddie Handler!” A couple of times he would see me and tap me on the shoulder as he brushed past me on his way to work. He was a hard driving, no nonsense New Yorker, and obviously loved family man, and a fantastic father with a deep belief in God in the Jewish tradition.

Six of us went to his house last night for a Shiva call. There was “Chief Disciple”, “Johnnnno”, “yyyyyman Eddie”, “Pois-on Pat”, “Notphilivey Stevie” and “Andy - Kaufman”. We were graciously received by the family. yyyyyman-Eddie was actually selected as the 10th minyan for the prayer service. We prayed with the family for our friend.

It must be very hard for his family to go on, because it’s very hard for us to go on with the game we love without him. The cards and chips have gone silent on the Long Island Circuit for a few weeks in his honor.

At some point, we will resume our play. For the remainder of the poker season, the final table shall seat only 9 in his honor. We will eventually name an annual tournament after Eddie and he will probably be commenting quite loudly to God that I am now calling his winning poker hand of 7/2 off suit…. “The Handler”. Some may scoff at the notion of naming such a junk hand after Eddie, but with 10/2 off suit known as “The Brunson”, I believe Eddie is in good company.

God Bless Eddie and his family.

Frank “Chief Disciple” Palumbo
Wantagh, New York.

Disciples Blog...Card Date 01.02.06

2006-01-02T21:56:00.000-05:00

Not the best start to my 2006 New Year.

My poker bankroll took a short term hit. I was playing the No Limit games and lacking patience. What a lethal combination! Kids, don't try this at home. I'm a poker player, but I don't play one on television! I don't recommend this type of play. My only bright spots were my two laydowns, and I was typed the term NLD; "Nice Lay Down" to me twice. Perhaps that's as good as raking a pot?

Perhaps.

The First time on was in a multi-table tournament and three people are all-in pre-flop and I'm sitting with pocket QQ who made the initial raise. So, it's was a Limper, My Raise about 4x the blind bet....All-in...All-in....Limper goes All-In. So, I now know that 4-way action is going to crush my queens. Someone's on a bigger pair and someone could be holding a Queen as well, and 4-way action will destroy even AA, so I fold QQ for only the second time in my life before the flop. Revealed are AK, KK, and AQ from the limper. Long story short is the KK hold up and my laydown of QQ was certainly a nice one.

2nd NLD was in a heads-up situation with the blinds. Me, the small blind with AJ suited. I put in a 3x the blind raise and this dude goes way over the top All-In and it's about 60 minutes into the tourney. I hem and haw for about 15 seconds (doh!) and laydown the hand. I decide to "Fold and Show" and he obliges revealing Pocket AA's or The Rockets Red Glare as I like to say....

NLD he says.....whew.

Those laydowns were the only bright spot of the weekend.

What a vital attribute that can be developed here. The art of the laydown. Both times, I acted on correct information and this was a truly bright spot in a lost weekend.

The Disciples of Poker play this WED at Ultimate Bet. We will have 27 players and I'm looking forward to adding to my win streak of 1, since I won the stud event.

Chief...

The Chief Disciple's Poker Resolutions and New Rules for 2006

2005-12-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hello Fellow Disciples and Happy New Year !!

I wish all of you a Positive Return on Your Poker Obsession in 2006 and Please remember to play responsively and play to win. I’ve been thinking about Poker Resolutions and I’m hoping this will be easier than going on a diet!!

Since us “Disciples of Poker” know that we all fall short of the glory of poker immortality, I want to share my innermost thoughts on the New Year and becoming a more successful player. I’m coming off a 45 seat sit and go victory at Poker Stars and I’m feeling pretty good about my play. Now is the best time for me to examine the many flaws of my game.

So, it’s time for the Chief’s Resolutions in the no particular order. Please feel to reply on my blog or my yahoo discussion group.

New Rule: I will stay off TILT in 2006.
I refuse to stay steamed while in a tournament. Staying steamed will only get you in trouble. I will no longer tell someone “Nice Hand….I Guess” when they hit a runner-runner and send my stack into a free fall. I will fight the urge to be sarcastic. I have seen extreme sarcasm in the form of Phil Helmuth at the WSOP 2005 and I don’t like the way it looks.

New Rule: I will not play Tired. I refuse to be involved in a $5.00 buy-in / 600 seat tournament that will end at 2:00am with work the next day. I will not fall asleep at the computer waiting to be prompted by the internet game to place a Friggin bet. I will play poker refreshed and alert.

New Rule: I will pay better attention to the Players. I will make better attempts to read people’s hands, follow betting structure and pick up on tells. I will look at players in a game and get a read on my opponent. I will not be afraid.

New Rule: I will not be intimidated. When I crush a player and take all of his chips in a casino, I will be gracious. Even if he has muscles on muscles, tattoos upon tattoos and curses a blue streak for all to hear, I will not let it affect my game.

New Rule: When I win, I will not give it back !!! Many times after a big victory, a losing streak occurs. Perhaps it’s sloppy play. I will not play sloppy.

New Rule: I will make great lay downs. I will fold Pocket Kings pre-flop at least once in 2006, if I feel that I am looking at AA, or if I am facing more than two opponents. Pocket Kings can lose.

New Rule: I will be aware of the “buzzsaw” and avoid the buzzsaw. I will watch out for the Set that my opponent flops. I will acknowledge the fact that people can flop a straight, or a flush or QUADS. I will use the information gathered at the table to make good decisions.

New Rule: Everyday is a “New Day”. If I get crushed the night before and lose my bankroll, I will not let it affect my game. Every day is a “New Day”

New Rule: I will have fun. To quote Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap….”Have a good time, all the time.”

New Rule: I will keep records to determine if I won or lost this year.

And Finally: I will try to win a buy-in to a major televised Poker Event, OR, I will win a substantial sum of money in a tournament.

Disciples Blog...Card Date 11.08.05

2005-11-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

The Chief Disciple took the first step towards poker glory last night, but flamed out in 8th place in a 70+ seat tournament.

I'm talking about competing for Ultimate Bet's "Stone Cold Nuts II" which will be played in January 2006. First place will be $1,000,000 with a dozen or so seats also be awarded for the 2006 WSOP.

I think a number of Disciples are ready to pass this way with me. The skill sets are there. I've seen it. It's time to aim high folks and achieve some "change your life" poker.

Last night's event was a $5.00 turbo with re-buys allowed. I like this format.
1st place received a $530 entry into the Stone Cold Nuts....8 other places paid cash.

I came in 7th place and I only committed about 90 minutes of actual playing time, which is a good thing when you are married! My wife support my poker dreams and she's a pretty good player herself, but you gotta know when to shut down the computer.

Of course, I got a little luck along the way with one dramatic runner-runner straight. But, overall my play was solid and I was staring at the very real possibility of winning the satellite!!

I had about 20,000 in chips when "The Highway" Pocket 66's was dealt to me. I was in the back, in position. One guy limps in and everyone folds to the blinds. I go all-in since the minimum bet is now 4,000. The blinds fold, but the limper calls only to reveal Pocket 33's or "Pat Ewing or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar" depending on what coast you live on.

So, I'm a 4 to 1 favorite with 66 against 33, but the turn brings a 3 for my opponent and it's lights out for the Chief. I won about $35 with $15 in it from the re-buys.

My game had been suffering lately. Being the 1st out in my monthly internet tournament stung me and I began to question my play. Watching the 2006 Main Event for the WSOP ignited the desire all over again and I'm setting a goal to qualify for the "Stone Cold Nuts" in January. I hope my some of peeps will be joining me.

Rockets Red Glare...

Chief.

The Chief Gets Published - Letter to Cardplayer Magazine

2005-11-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

Royal Hold'em on Ultimate Bet...A Review

2005-11-07T09:27:00.000-05:00

My poker buddy Johnnno / Junga told me a about a new game on Ultimate Bet called Royal Holdem. It's a 20 card deck with the 2 through 9 cards excluded.

OK....so I've tried it this weekend and I've decided that it's not a completely worthless game after all. Sorry Johnnnno for my previous lambasting.

If you like getting dealt premium hands ALL THE TIME, than it's a major rush.

Since there are only 20 cards, certainly any two cards will do, even the lowest starting hand which is Jack-10 offsuit.

You can certainly make quads on any given hand and a straight seems pretty worthless, although I have seen it win. Two pair is probably the lowest hand possible to win with.

Obviously, if you make your flush, you have the "Nut Hand", since there's only one flush to be had and that's a Royal Flush.

Suited cards therefore are certainly as good as a pocket pair. AA get's cracked, just about every hand can get cracked!!

I'm not sure this is a game where you can play "tight".
Since there's only 20 cards, the game is limited to six seats.

Anyway, my poker "brother in arms" Johnnnno might have gotton a raw deal from me when I was initially sarcastic and tepid on the whole idea. I believe my quote was...."what's next Johnnnno, wild cards?"

But, I believe it won't be long until we see Hold'em with Wild Cards or a Joker in the deck on line.

You know how people love wild cards.....

"Deuces and Jacks, King with the Axe".

Enjoy the week and may your Rockets Red Glare.

Frank

Poker Room Review...Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, FL

2005-10-30T08:49:00.000-05:00

“GameMiscondct” and the Chief Disciple paid a visit to the Derby Lane Dog Track and Poker Room in St. Petersburg, Florida. While Florida is certainly on the right track towards affording poker to Floridians in the dog and horse tracks, their state sanctioned limits on the amount you can gamble is basically a case of trying to be a “little bit” pregnant. And as we all know, you can’t be a little bit pregnant!

Overall, the layout of the place is pretty good. Derby Lane is easy to get to off of through I-275 in Pinellas County. The actual dog track is in great shape and the stadium is much nicer than the horse track at Tampa Bay Downs. Tampa Bay Downs would have been much more convenient for us, but due to Florida Law, you can only play at Tampa Bay Downs when the horses are actually running from December to May. Apparently at Derby Lane, the dogs run all year around.

The tournament area is in a different spot than the cash games. The cash games offer limit Holdem, Omaha and Stud. All games are $2.00 maximum bet, with three raises allowed each betting round. So, the Holdem game here is commonly known as “No Fold’em Holdem” because if you’re seeing a flop, chances are you are going to river. This proved highly frustrating for me, when I flopped three 888s only to lose to a straight on the river with my opponent holding 6/9 off suit, and he wasn’t in the blind.

Needless to say, Phil Helmuth would probably label the Florida stakes “donkey stakes” and should be rightfully berating the state legislators for allowing poker to take place in such a stupid manner. I mean, c’mon…here we are with at least 50 tables with each table having a maximum $2.00 bet. It’s simply idiotic. There are no big pots; the dealers are in no way getting wealthy on tips when the average pot is 10-15 bucks.

The rakes in Florida are also pretty obscene with the house taking much more per hand than the average casino. Moreover, you have to pay for your drinks at the poker table, another ass-backwards rule that proves that Florida is really “Flor-i-duh!”

The tournaments are the way of getting around the state rules on limit betting and I hear that the Hard Rock in Tampa has some pretty stout 10-seat sit and goes, so check their web site if you want higher stakes.

The tournament we chose to enter was “Mickey Mouse” at best.

We paid $45 for the buy-in. They don’t tell you up front what percentage goes to the house, but if I added up the dollars, I’m sure it would be more than the average rake. When, I asked about written rules and blinds, they looked at me like I was an alien. There were no written rules easily available. They asked “Well what do you want to know?”…. I’m thinking… “well everything!”.

Long story short, we were in a 50 seat shoot-out which meant that 5 players advanced to a final table, after winning your individual table. They separated “Game-O” and me, so that we did not have to compete with each other until the final table. You start with 2,000 chips with blinds going up every 20 minutes. Levels were 25/50, 50/100, 100/200. At 200/400 they don’t tell you when the round will end. It ends at some point and they count up remaining chips with top table chip leader advancing. Final table entrants start with the same amount of chips.

I’m not going to bore you with my ignominious defeat, but I must share I hand that GameMiscondct was in. Game-O was dealt a rag hand. Apparently, he took his two cards and placed them down behind his chips. The dealer announced he was “All-in” and that this move of the cards behind the chips was an All-In declaration. Game-O stated he did not want to be all-in, to which the dealer tossed a rule card at him stating that the cards placed behind the chips constituted an all-in move. I had never heard of this foolishness before.

Game-O revealed 8/10 off suit with the flop coming 8-8-rag….His trips held up and he raked the pot, but c’mon…is this how a tournament should be run? I’d be curious to hear from others on this all-in declaration.

I was the second one gone from my shoot out and Game-O outlasted 6 other people before going out.

Overall Derby Lane was a somewhat forgettable experience. It was great hooking up with my peeps and getting a night out at a brick and mortar establishment. But the rules in Florida are so ass-backwards, that other players may just choose to stay in their hotel room and play poker on-line.

The advertisements in Cardplayer magazine encourage you to visit this place and do it “doggie style.” Derby Lane was nothing more than a “Busted Straight” and that’s the card rank I am giving it in my review.

The Chief has spoken.

Scripture from the Book of The Chief: Mixing Up Your Play

2005-10-17T22:50:00.000-04:00

The pros talk about this concept of mixing up your play as a key to success. It's accomplished in a number of ways; playing tight followed by a loose call, keeping your opponents off balance, the size of your bets from hand to hand, etc.

Altering the size of my bets is how I capitalized on a 6 seat sit and go last night where I corralled first place against some tough competition.

I was dealt a pair of Jacks, under the gun, and first to act off the blinds. I put in a bet 3x the size of the big blind, got a couple of callers. The flop delivers rags. I'm holding the overpair and bet the pot. The others fold show and I advertise (or show my Jacks) and rake a nice pot.

Some people say, "Hey Chief, why advertise at all by showing your cards?" I'm a firm believer in selective advertising, because it potentially sets the opponents up for a bigger kill down the road.

So, the very next hand, I'm dealt pocket QQ. This time, I mix up my play and bet only the minimum raise or two bets. The dude who just got burned on the Jacks reraises me. He's probably thinking I have an Ace/weak kicker based on my action from the last hand.

Mixing up my play and selective advertising of my previous hand set this soul up for the kill. I reraise and put him All-in. Now, he's "pot committed" and calls revealing AJ off-suit. He does not improve and I keep my lead, rake a humongo pot and winning knock him out.

I go on to win the 6 seat event. I'm convinced that my mixed play kept my opponents off balance. I was down to 500 chips, was fortunate to get lucky and then mixed up my play. Even if your in a turbo event, there is still ample time to mix it up and keep your opponents confused.

May your Rockets Red Glare...

The Chief Disciple of Poker

Poker Room Review...Tropicana 10/08/05

2005-10-17T13:34:00.000-04:00

The Tropicana Casino should always be on everyone's short list for a day of poker in that city called Atlantic. It is located on the South Side of the strip and you can actually take Exit 1 off the Atlantic City expressway to avoid city traffic.

I've always liked the Trop and on return to it recently, I was not disappointed. They offer tournaments and a wide variety of cash games. The lowest limits are $2-4 Hold'em, $1-5 Stud. The $1-3 Stud game has vanished. They also play $2-4 Omaha 8/B and higher.

They have a more private room for the high rollers and the poker layout actually has 4 rooms in total, with one room spilling into the Sportsbook. So, that area can get a little noisy.

The dealers are pretty knowledgeable and the wait times are relatively short. You should buy your casino chips ahead of time at the cage. There is no bad beat jackpot.

On the downside, they don't offer any $3-6 Hold'em, just $2-4 and $4-8. Of course there is plenty of No Limit Hold'em and the demand there is heavy. I avoid that NL tsunami games in these establishments.

The trop also has a table food service, and I've used that in the past. They serve food while you play. This is a time-honored California card room custom. I prefer to order the food in the non-peak hours because I get the impression that the waitresses are not to keen on getting a bunch of food for players.

They have an interesting game called "Pink Chip" limit Hold'em. It's a $7.50 / $15.00 limit game and from what I have observed, it's pretty wild !! There's always a line for that one and there's always a massive amount of chips on the table. It's really a game where you can find non-professionals and professionals coming together.

You can get your Cardplayer magazine for free there and if you travel with a significant other, they just opened a massive shopping mall.

Finally, don't forget to get your "poker club" card there. You get .50cents per hour every time it's zapped. If you have a average of over 4 hours per session, you qualify for a "poker room rate" of $89 on the weekends and $69 during the week. I've done that before.

Also, if you're staying there ask for the SOUTH TOWER. Not only does it overlook the ocean, but you are just steps away from the Poker Room entrance.

The Trop is one of my time-honored favorite spots in Atlantic City. So, I'm giving it a "Full House" rating on the scale of poker rooms.

The Chief Disciple.

Scripture from the Book of The Chief: Checking the Nuts on the River

2005-10-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

I read an article recently in Cardplayer on the benefits of checking the "nuts" on the river. The basic benefit was to induce another person to place a rather larger bet on the river which pays you off handsomely. I like this move...a lot. It works, even though there is some risk of not "value-betting" here for something.

But here's another thing I discovered. When you don't get the big bet and you are forced to "showdown" your hand, and your nut hand is revealed, a funny thing happens. People fear you. They know you are not stupid. They know you have tried to lay a trap, but they walk in fear that you may try that stunt again. Thus, you have a chance to pick up some pots on bluffs and semi-bluffs and you end up being more feared.

Try it sometime and report back.

Rockets Red Glare.
The Chief Disciple of Poker.

Chief Disciple's Keynote Address

2005-10-15T02:47:00.000-04:00

I love Poker.

This blog is dedicated to friends, family and other poker pals who are serious about improving their game, sharing best practices, and (maybe) using everything we can share to get one of us to the final table of Televised Poker Event.

Hey, nobody I know has the $10,000 bucks to pony-up for a major tournament buy-in. Let's share success stories and bad beats. Let's talk about building successful ways to achieve our goals. Let's keep it fun and friendly.

We love poker....We are the Disciples of Poker.

A good disciple knows that it's a never ending battle of learning, improving and honing your skills to get to the promised land of poker success.

We want to win more than we lose.
We want to avoid going on tilt.
We want the ability to say "nice hand" and actually mean it.
We all fall short of the glory achieving poker immortality.

Join the Flock....Share your experiences.
Peace in the Neighborhood.

The Chief Disciple of Poker

Disciples Blog...Card Date 10.08.05

2005-10-15T00:43:00.000-04:00

The alarm sprung me into action at 5:00am.

Saturday, October 8th had been on the calendar for some time. We had room for four in the Toyota Scion, but we settled for three. The line-up was the Chief Disciple, Johnnnno and YYYYYman and the destination was the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City.

AllinStevie stayed behind towatch the Yankee game, which ironically was rained out. By 5:55am we were all in the car rolling down the highway. The weather was crappy all day until the time I stepped back into the house at 8:00pm, but my peeps were gracious enough to stay awake and keep the Chief company while we took a (approx) 3 hour ride toAtlantic City from Long Island.

Of course we listened to some great music,had a few laughs and discussed this game of ours. We had targeted the 9:15am tournament which was a $100+25 buy in. We made it barely on time. Johnnnno and I chose to play, while yyyyyman played 2-4 Limit Holdem and also Omaha 8/B.

I got off to a great start. I was punishing the table in the first hour building the stack from 4,000 to 13,000. Johnnnno ended up at my table at first and watched it all unfold. I wiped a guy out early when my AA crushed his JJ on an all-in after the flop. I also bluffed a newbie out of a big pot, when a four-flush hit the board. I went all in with $10,000 in chips and she chose to keep her remaining 2,000 because her 3-hearts was not high enough.

She had told Johnnnno that after the hand. Her flush would have been good, since I was not holding a flush.We checked on Eddie during the break and it seems every time I went to see how YYYYman was faring, he was raking a large pot. I saw him win in Omaha hand with Aces-Full. It looked like a rather large pot with plenty of red meat ($5 chips) in the offering. WTG Eddie.

Meanwhile Johnnnno was folding a lot of hands and was wise to getout of my way, since I was on a good rush of cards. He managed to win a couple of big pots and built his stack up to my level. 130 people started and by the second break, there were about 40people left which included two disciples. Phil Helmuth described his 2005 WSOP demise by stating it was theworst "30 minutes of his poker life". (The WSOP big event starts onTuesday, by the way, so set your TIVOs.)

I can fully say with confidence that I know what Phil must have been talking about afterwhat was about to happen to me at the TROP. 18 places were paying with first place over $4,500. Up until this point my play had been pretty good and it was not my bad play that cost it. A Helmuth-type situation was about to unfold.

I was dealt the Rockets-Red-Glare (AA) in middle position. A guy who was already on tilt acted first with an all-in bet of about$3,500 in chips. Between blinds and antes and his bet, there was about $7,000 in the pot. It's folded to me and I did the obvious, going all in. Everyone else folds and we reveal our cards….He's on AJ to my AA making him a HUGE underdog. Flop comes J-J-Q…….Friggindagger in my heart. My Aces are cracked and a $10,000 pot goes his away. At this point, I still had about $9500 in chips or about 9 big bets.

Two hands later, I'm dealt AQ off suit. Again a short stack goes all-in and I go all-in while everyone else folds. This time, I'm superior to his J-10 off suit. The river brings a straight to the board 5,6,7,8,9….giving him a higher straight and crushing my AQ on the final card drawn. Boom, bad beat #2. Table is mumbling and sympathetic.

I take my bad beats like a man, refuse to go on tilt and people respected that. Final hand, I had about 6K in chips… I'm all-in with A7 against AK…Flop comes A, 7, Rag. OK, maybe I'm going to get luck…….$%#*&^. Nope, turn brings a King and the river runs dry for me. I'm gone in 38th place. Johnnno managed to grab around 25th. His final hands was pocket 10's and the guy got lucky with AQ on the flop nailing the Queen.Neither of us cashed. We all grabbed some lunch and went our separate ways in the afternoon. I toiled around the 2-4 table, but played very sloppy.

Johnnnno played some Black Jack and Eddie played some poker and some table games. The others managed to leave the Casino on the plus side, but I was not able to recoup the tournament buy-in. O well. It's days like these that remind you NEVER to quit your day job.And when the bad beats flow, I turn to the scripture of Greg Raymer…

"It's about good decision, not outcomes.

Chief