an actual poker post

[ed note: i have no idea why my template is FUBARed, if you can shed some light, please let me know]

First, to april, when she said that I was on a tournament rush and I didn't agree.

She was right:


Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, some thoughts on Triple Draw:

I've been playing a lot more triple draw these days - it's the next big thing; it's as juicy as the hold'em games used to be, back in the day. I also have the benefit of having a good TDL player (who has a milestone annual mummy tummy unzip day celebration coming up tomorrow) to barrage with questions constantly. It's also probably the easiest way to clear the pokerstars bonuses and is a sweet spot for getting at least silver star status, if not gold. Check out the math, courtesy of the degreed Australian:

Given: A TD pot has to hit $20 if there are 4 or more players to get the first FP point, and has to hit $40 to get a second FP point.
This means that almost all 5/10 hands get 1 pt, and a lot of them would get 2. But for 2/4, $40 is 10 BB. Normal action is something like: post, post, raise, one caller from the BB.

Preflop, $9
First draw: check bet. Another $4. Pot now $13
2nd draw: Check bet call. Another $8. Pot now $21 (one point!)
3rd draw: Check bet fold. Final pot: $21.

With 3 players in, it usually gets close to $40, esp if there's multiple raises predraw. We figured 5/10 accumulates points about 1.7 times faster than 2/4, and basic math with empirical data shows that to be pretty close - 5/10 is about 7/4ths faster. And that's not even counting when you get maniacs and it gets to $40 preflop.

Granted, the hands take longer to play, but at 5/10 you can get about 75 FPP/table/hour, which means it only takes 53 table hours of playing to get 4,000 points. Not too shabby. It takes about 100 table hours to do the same at 2/4, which is 4 hours of playing 25 nights a week. yowsa.

...next, what I learned about how to play TDL...

Craps is the new PAIGOW!!

or, All (well, almost all) the things Garth forgot on his Vegas Vacation

by the princess


So, I've been dying to play the dice all night, but the IP had the table limits up to $10, and screw that. However, on one of my lazy circuits around the room, I saw that beeeyoooutiful red placard out - $5, babeee! And I knew JUST who to gather to come shoot with me.

... and no, it's not Garth. It's Joe Speaker - if there's one phrase that can move him away from the bar, it's "FIVE DOLLAH CRAPS LETS GO!". So saying that, we move over tht way, the lovely Dacia and Garth "Oh I don't play craps" in tow.

Speaks and I squeeze in and start rolling, and Garth protests and protests despite a spot opening up at the table. However, he is no match for Dacia and I who bump and block him into position, and the hundo just goes onto the felt on its own.

[how Garth remembered it]

And the rest, in princess bullets (tm):

• Speaker: "If you're not superstitious now, you will be in about 5 minutes"




• various and sundry:"you cannot talk to the shooter, and you cannot touch the shooter"


• garth: "so HYPOTHETICALLY if I were talking to JOE, I would ask..."


• Steve the dealer every time I made some wiseass comment (so, approximately every 3 minutes) "yes dear, whatever you say dear"



• Garth and me to every blogger that passed by: "Hey, [blogger], do you know what this feels like???"


• Blogger: "What?"


• [princess rubbing garth's chest (be jealous ladies)] Garth & me: "It feels like VICTORYEEEEEEE"


• Somehow I managed to get married to St. B. who only married me for the kid, who was walking around with an austrailian accent


• "You're GOOOOOOORGEOUS"


• Oh my god, did she really just lick Speaker's sleeve??


• "DAMMIT just give me the $5 so I can roll! I'm not passing the dice!"




• St.B, "You are NOT THE BOSS OF ME"


• dealer steve: "Oooooh, I think she is"


• St. B "Yeah, you're right..."


• TEAM AMERICA! (and garth pleading to let us let an aussie in)


• That half of the table is cursed! Here's how you bet the wrong way, garth...




• Garth, to me: "you know, that guy behind me is really starting to turn me on..."


• me, to Garth: *blank look*


• Garth, enthusiastically, "The guy behind me, who has been rolling for 30 minutes!"


• Me, laughing, "you mean, Mikey?"


• Garth, "Yeah, I mean that's totally HOTT!"


• Bobby Bracelet, with all his money on the table as I'm rolling for a hard 8 which comes, "Wahoooo! Wait, let me get this out of the ATM"


• Bobby, attempting the ATM trick, but the craps gods are not fooled, and a seven comes up.


• Garth, "I still don't know what I'm doing, but I LOVE ROLLING!!!"




• Garth, "You are NOT THE BOSS OF ME" as I am putting his bets down for him


• dealer steve: "Dude, she totally is. "


• Garth "Yeah, you're soooo right..."


• I may have possibly given Veneno the evil eyes when she made all the crazy horn bets for garth and her which all paid off.


• Crazy Australian pointing to his cheek, "I need some LUCK, baby!"


• "HEY the IP definitely has bust requirements" - garth


• St. Kat and her coffee (Garth didn't forget this, but it deserves a repeat. THANK YOU THANK YOU)


• Me dropping a chip in the April Cleavage Slot Machine, and garth going off to retrieve it


• Bobby B out tipping me with the dealers, "Put a dollar down for everyone at that end of the line!" (this may have been how we got away with all the crap we got away with)


• Us (and the dealers) watching the other side scoop up all the dollars as they had no clue what they were for (cheapskates)


• "pseudoephedrine means it doesn't work so well down there. ... But I can work around the edges!"


• as we make a big point, BobbyB: "Hear THAT, other tables??"
  
• "Craps is the new PAIGOW!!"
  

We make our way up to the Imperial Theater, where we run into WeakPlayer, who asks us where we have been for the last stretch of time. Garth tells him we have been playing craps, to which we get the reply, "But I wanted to pop your craps cherry!"

Uhhhh....

Weak: "Why did you play when she asked?"
Garth: "Dude, she's female."
Princess: "And I am very persuasive with ways that you do not have."
Garth: "Like boobs."
Weak: "Oh, ok."

... at this point it's about 1:30 on Sunday and I need a two hour recharge of my batteries so I stumble off for a nap.

PSA for blogger users

... we interrupt this vegas trip report for the following public service announcement ...

I was wondering why I was so bored lately.


Guess what, blogger beta dropped all of you out of my bloglines feeds when you switched over, with no warning.

So if you want to continue reading me, you will need to put the following into your favorite RSS reader as a feed: http://princessmaigrey.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

It doesn't exist yet, but I'm pretty sure it will...


... more vegas to come ....

We interrupt this vegas recap...

... to remind you that tonight is the MAIGREY INVITATIONAL!

What: WWdN: maigrey Invitational
Where: PokerStars.
When: TONIGHT. 8:30 EST
Password: monkey
Buy-in: $10 +1

What I did on my Vegas Vacation

by the princess

In bullet form, because that's how I roll:

• got incredibly schnockered at the MGM


• stacked daddy with 24d on a Kd 3s 5d board


• made Joe Speaker back his $100 at HORSE


• (i'm now currently wondering why I didn't play at the MGM with my money)


• paigow round 1 with garth and EZ, Grubby (who wanted to marry Myung), and Gary


• Gary - who was even more of an Ironman than Garth OR I


• Blackjack with BobbyBlackjack, StB and Garth - gimme the hognut baby!


• 3/6 Limit with Marty and Chilly, who for a twist on the usual, pwned me. Snif.


• meeting a dealer (Gary! Taj, you know who I mean!) who used to deal in Indiana


• Dinner with April (TX), The Heads, Maudie, and Gracie at Bouchon, with divine scallops


• MORE crazy Paigow with Garth, Tommy, and other bloggers I cannot remember because I was inebriated - speak up now to help my memory


• Irish Jim! (See, I remembered your name)


• Garth and his Cher-elvis imitations (yes, he knows all the words)


• Elaine the most awesome pit boss ever - "hey wait, she has a flush!"


• Garth deciding to write a Paigow blog, with his many coined phrases:


• "Hey Heather, do you know what this feels like?" "What, Garth?" "It feels like VICTORYYYYY!" (this also translates well to craps)


• "A push is a win!!"


• "A push is a win because it buys you DRINKING TIME!"


• "Bonus money is the sweeeeeeeetest money"


• "Time to get my [paigow] game face on!"


• "geez, I have four of everything which makes a lot of NOTHING", prompting me to start calling hands where I have 4 to a flush and 4 to a straight a "garth".


• "Paigow is very good to my liver, and yet, very very bad to my liver, too"


• "Wait! I need a control hand! Let's use the scientific method here!"

...Then I decided we must play craps (we've made it to Saturday evening or so now), as the IP lowered the min bet to $5. And you know who is always up for the dice? That's right ladies, Joe Speaker. And his lovely lady also is a fan. Garth insisted he didn't want to play, but tagged along to watch. This began what I like to say, the corruption of Garth, or "craps is the new paigow."
[to be continued...]

What happens in vegas...

... gets blogged! And it will, eventually. I think between Garth and I we might both actually remember everything that happened.

Until then, I will leave you with this: "I still don't know what I'm doing, but I LOVE ROLLING!!"

It's almost more fun without Wil!

So, CJ MADE me play the wwdn, despite feeling crummy. He said I could have the bounty on the luckbox, to which I crabbily said "I never get sat at your table anyway".

... and I didn't. But I got some cards, and some chips and on my second table change, got to the luckbox's table. CJ informed the table, and I agreed. CJ can tell you the details of the hand, but he didn't reraise and I limp-called a smallish raise with pocket twos, I hit the hammer flop, CJ bet out, and I called, and his pair of tens no good, and I get this:



Then, thanks to some super railbirding and cracking bdidde's set of queens with my pair and straight draw (to be fair, I warned people I had aquired the powers of CJ by knocking him out), I got HU to win the championship and ...



Tada. :) I get an invitational named after me AND I get to knock out Wil without getting on the list or on the roof of the escalade.

See you in VEGAS!!

Horsing around

I have more to say on the poker side of things, like why I suck at 6 max, and why did I even bother? But for now I leave you with this: