Greetings, loyal readers. These past few weeks have been a whirlwing of activity, mostly un-poker-related. Those of you in the know will be glad to learn that I have officially moved into my slammin’ new digs in Brooklyn. Special shout-outs go to Anthony and Teddy for doing the heavy lifting. Teddy, I still owe you a decent meal. Anthony, a Big Gulp of Diet Coke with your name on it awaits you in Sunset Park.

After the security deposit and the all-important investment in a new bed, the bankroll is a bit light and I’ll probably be hanging out around 5/10 a bit more for a while until I build it back up. I did play a small tourney the other night at the Northside, but ended up bubbling when the small blind limped in and I pushed my short stack in with AK. He rolled over AA and IGHN. The frustrating this was that I was three-handed with two very predictable players, and would have had a good chance to win the whole thing if I’d been able to double up on this hand.

There is an interesting article that Chris pointed out to me a few days ago, and I think it merits discussion. It’s a post from Andrew Prock’s blog and can be found here. After reading this article, I think it’s a bloody miracle that I ever built a bankroll playing below 5/10. Check out his very convincing math and you’ll see why. Admittedly, most of my bankroll came from one-table SNG’s. I wish I could bring myself to play those things again. Anyone out there trying to become a winning player and getting frustrated at 3/6 and below should check out this article. Good stuff.

Not much poker going on this week as I set up my new household. Sadly, I will not be putting in an appearance at the Series this year either. I know what you’re thinking: why the hell am I reading this alleged “poker blog” if there is no poker in it? Quite frankly, I don’t know why the hell you’re reading it. Oh well, while you’re here, why not check out the new poker gallery or the other exciting areas of my website, which sadly are receiving more attention than my poker blog these days. Don’t worry. I’m sure to win something else big soon and then have an interesting post for you to enjoy. Until then…play good!

I didn’t end up going to AC this weekend, as you know if you were looking for me there. Sorry to stand you all up – especially those of you who stepped out for karaoke (Rob, Steve…). The Mets had a huge weekend against the Braves and I was happy to stick around the city and support them. Even if the only game I saw in person was Game 3. At least the weather was gorgeous!

Taking a break from poker can be very refreshing, especially when…Jeff and Lauri Calkins invite you to a $3-6 H.O.H.E. rotation game on Saturday night. With their lovely home, delicious home-made goodies, and handsome puppy Jake, the scene was set for a lovely evening.

I arrived late and quickly made up for lost time by getting stuck $150. As Joan cackled wickedly, stacking my chips, I rebought and stuffed six mini quiches into my mouth. If I was going to lose tonight, at least I’d get my money’s worth in mini quiches. I scooped a couple big Omaha pots, scooped a large stud pot (I think it was actually the only stud hand I won all night), and worked my luckbox magic on a couple of multi-way straddled hold ‘em hands to get back to even and then book a nice win for the evening.

While at the game, we were passing around a recent Times article written by one Mr. Dan Barry (left), who did a write-up of New Yorker Victor Ramdin’s recent WPT win and charity work. Sadly, Victor’s commendable charity efforts were vastly overshadowed by Barry’s grade school level journalism. The article contains such literary gems as “His hand contained the fast-beating ace of hearts” and a closing line that will knock your socks off. If you are a Times Select subscriber or can find a copy of Sunday’s paper you must read this article. Simply stunning.

Moral of the story today, kids: poker can become a real drag if you let it. We all get run down sometimes, whether from a bad streak of sessions, a draught of tourney scores (yours truly), or just from thinking and talking about the game too intensely. Mixing it up, playing in a live home game, reading goofy articles in a publication not geared specifically toward poker players, or just plain walking away from the table for a few days can be very, very healthy indeed. Let’s all try it!

And to distract you from poker, here is a bitchin’ shot I took of Jose Reyes batting in Sunday’s game. If you look closely, you can actually see the ball approaching home plate.

Jose gets the job done. I heart Jose.

Hey all you Vegas junkies…

Anybody play the $1/2 NLHE games in Vegas? Of course you do. I’m the only fool who doesn’t. Where are the juiciest games? Mirage? Bellagio? Other? Anyone have a good small stakes tourney recommendation? ($100 or less) A friend of mine is headed out there this weekend and he’s looking for a good spot. Thanks!

Played the $150+12 tonight on Stars. Really excellent blind structure and a first prize of 20K up for grabs. I played intelligently through the first two hours. I got placed at SamENole’s table, seated next to him on the left. I know he’s a good, thinking player, so I know I can make some moves and pick up some chips from him by adhering to my “raising station” ways…

Here is how I took all his chips:

Table ’23911885 53′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: chupamynutz (17979 in chips)
Seat 2: SamENole (3790 in chips)
Seat 3: hotcookie42 (4108 in chips)
Seat 4: SLIPPY622 (1782 in chips)
Seat 5: xxJAWSxx (15482 in chips)
Seat 6: Rub4Luck (2271 in chips)
Seat 7: Padouin (7980 in chips)
Seat 8: GARFIELD25 (18014 in chips)
Seat 9: payup (4700 in chips)
chupamynutz: posts the ante 20
SamENole: posts the ante 20
hotcookie42: posts the ante 20
SLIPPY622: posts the ante 20
xxJAWSxx: posts the ante 20
Rub4Luck: posts the ante 20
Padouin: posts the ante 20
GARFIELD25: posts the ante 20
payup: posts the ante 20
Rub4Luck: posts small blind 200
Padouin: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hotcookie42 [As Ah]
GARFIELD25: folds
payup: folds
chupamynutz: folds
SamENole: raises 800 to 1200
hotcookie42: raises 2888 to 4088 and is all-in
SLIPPY622: folds
xxJAWSxx: folds
Rub4Luck: folds
Padouin: folds
SamENole: calls 2570 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [4d 3d Ac]
*** TURN *** [4d 3d Ac] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [4d 3d Ac 5d] [5s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SamENole: shows [7d 7c] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
hotcookie42: shows [As Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Fives)
hotcookie42 said, “gg”
SamENole is sitting out
hotcookie42 collected 8320 from pot

You might look at the above play and argue that it is not particularly sophisticated. But I think it is. Here was my reasoning for the play. SamENole is not going to commit a third of his stack with any random garbage. He probably has some decent hand. Perhaps a medium pair, AK, AQ. If I just call with the aces and we see a flop, he might not connect and will fold to any bet I make. If I reraise less than his total stack, he might push all-in, but he might think about it a bit more because it looks like I’m trying to leave him chips and enticing him to call my reraise. Pushing in looks like a move, one I would not expect anyone to make with AA, KK. He did think for some time before finally calling. Okay, it’s probably not that brilliant of a play. Can you just be happy for me that it worked out? (Unlike the first hand of this evening’s WPT episode, my aces held up.)

Move ahead another hour. Bubble time. Two players to go before the money. I have been stealing blinds and antes dutifully and have a comfortable, average stack. Then one steal goes awry and I’m down to 12 BB. The following hand ensues:

Table ’23911885 53′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 2: freedomkaf (11984 in chips)
Seat 3: hotcookie42 (9448 in chips)
Seat 4: MiracleGro (29351 in chips)
Seat 5: $30K (11082 in chips)
Seat 6: C.K. (42966 in chips)
Seat 7: Padouin (12173 in chips)
Seat 8: GARFIELD25 (16125 in chips)
Seat 9: payup (2560 in chips)
freedomkaf: posts the ante 30
hotcookie42: posts the ante 30
MiracleGro: posts the ante 30
$30K: posts the ante 30
C.K.: posts the ante 30
Padouin: posts the ante 30
GARFIELD25: posts the ante 30
payup: posts the ante 30
C.K.: posts small blind 300
Padouin: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hotcookie42 [8h 8d]
GARFIELD25: folds
payup: folds
freedomkaf: folds
hotcookie42: raises 1200 to 1800
MiracleGro: folds
$30K: raises 9252 to 11052 and is all-in
C.K.: folds
Padouin: folds
hotcookie42: calls 7618 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [3c 6h 3d]
*** TURN *** [3c 6h 3d] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [3c 6h 3d 5s] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hotcookie42: shows [8h 8d] (two pair, Eights and Threes)
$30K: shows [Js Jh] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)

The bubble nightmare. If you’re playing to win big (i.e. not take 54th place money), you cannot fold pocket eights here. And I think you also have to give the button a big range of pushing hands, because a) thinking, aggressive players “know” no one wants to go out on the bubble and will bully shorter stacks, and b) as my friend ActionBob says, I’m a girl and people figure I play tight, fold a lot to raises, and just want to make it into the money. While I am counting on that perception and make much of my tourney success because of it, I was unlucky in this case to run into a real hand. And so it was that I busted in good ol’ 56th place, two from the money.

Now here is my question, dear readers: what on earth else do you do with pocket eights here? Assuming that we don’t want to just sneak into the money. Who out there powers through and makes this call? Who lets it go, takes the hit to my stack, and makes a whopping $130 profit on the tourney, rather than aiming for 20K?