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Poker Blog established in 2003 as the first stop for poker news, poker stories, and bad poker advice.

January 31, 2005

Craziest. Sportsbook. Ever.

by Luckbox

That's when I thought security would arrive. She was on her knees, pretending to lick William Peterson's butt. If she left any DNA behind, I would imagine the star of CSI would track her down later. Instead, he walked away without noticing. And Erica just turned to us and smiled.

As much as I would like to start in the middle, I can't (or maybe I just did). You're just going to have to wait. Pretend your playing poker in a casino and have to patiently fold 50 hands before you're dealt rockets.

It started early in the morning. About 8am, Lefty and I got up, intent on finding a chair at the Mandalay Bay to enjoy the two championship games. I put on my midnight green McNabb jersey and my brother put on his black TO jersey. We were ready for some football.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

January 30, 2005

My Brother Is -EV

by Luckbox

As many of you know, I was back in the fine city of Las Vegas for 5 days over the past weekend. There was some early thought that this might be a bachelor party, but it really turned into a chance for my brother and I to hang out for the last time before he gets married. That's a gamble of a whole other kind...

But I digress.

I arrived in Vegas Saturday evening with designs on finding a poker room as soon as possible. Except for one problem. My brother was still snowbound in Chicago. So instead of heading straight to the tables, I checked into my room at the Boardwalk to wait for him. I assumed it wouldn't be long.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

January 27, 2005

Bait and Switch

by G-Rob

I'm tired and cranky and I blame Ultimate Bet. I'm a regular in the scheduled tournaments there and they're usually good money, but last night they really pissed me off.

In what was probably a mistake on their part, they set up an incredible bargain.
At 8:00 they had 2 tournaments set to go at once. Both of them $30+3. One was an $8K guaranteed the other $2.5K. Because one of them had the much larger payout it was attracting all the buyers and the smaller one was PURE GOLD!

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Online Poker

January 26, 2005

By way of explanation

by Otis

Thanks for all the well-wishing comments and e-mails regarding the previous post. I can't tell you how much all of your support means to me.

By way of explanation...

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

January 25, 2005

A heartbeat away

by Otis

It's a second in time. Maybe a millionth of a second more. It's so negligible, it's the kind of time-frame in which only a scientist would find any real interest. It's like that final moment when you realize you could die. Speaking on a much less mortal scale, of course.

This is a long story, friends. If you don't have the time to read it, I understand. If you do, fill up a pint of Guinness and sit back, because we're about to go on a little walk together.

And I hesitate to mention where we're going to end up.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

January 24, 2005

More of the same...

by G-Rob

Now if that don't make you read, son, you ain't never gonna get yer readin' done 'tall.

Either that or you've got taste. I hope you don't. We could never be friends.

I get up for work at 3 AM. I'm at the cube by 4. Last night, I entered a 5 + .50 tournament on UB at 7:00. I'm stupid. I'm used to it.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Tournament Action

January 22, 2005

You don't have to go home...

by Otis

When we last left Otis in Las Vegas, he had just left The Sherwood Forest and retired to bed, leaving behind several days of primal insanity that is only fit for youthful people and those of stronger constitution. The weekend was about to catch up with him...

I had this friend in college who invariably was the last person to leave a party. No matter the hour, no matter the size of the event, he was always the last one to say goodnight.

While some folks might see this as a sign of fortitude, I always thought it was a little sad, for no other reason than the last person to leave a party is the one who has already watched all his friends leave before him.

As I woke up Monday morning in Vegas, with thoughts of suicidal jumpers and unsellable prostitutes still swimming through my head, I had the sinking feelinig I was on a sinking ship. Something in my hull had cracked and I needed the harbor master.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

Going Back to Vegas

by Luckbox

Here I go again... my brother and I are gonna raise hell in Sin City for the next 5 days. To prepare, I finished 40th in the $10,000 guarantee on Empire tonight for a nice little profit. I'll have plenty of reports when I get back!

Permalink | Las Vegas

January 20, 2005

In Brief

by Staff

Otis insists I have to type more....

Seriously 2hands...

Introduce the folks to the Pumpkin Theory as applied to women and poker.

Then give folks a feel for what the Whiskey Bar is like.

Tell us about the limo.

Tell us about Copper.

Introduce yourself damn it.

Posted by Otis at January 20, 2005 09:28 AM


True, if your ever in Denver you should stop by the Whiskey Bar, I own it with some buddies.

I have to go there now, but I will write more including the Pumpkin Theory very soon.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome!

Permalink

January 19, 2005

Wednesday Night Poker

by Staff

I went out number 5 tonight, I was about to be blinded out in early position with 22, passed it up and a 2 came, drats, then I passed up Q3 and I would have had Q3 full house, drats, blind came and I had Q10s, Q on flop and then A on turn killed me. Out. Next week!

joey-2hands

*to cap everything off Mizzou lost and it was the only thing I needed to hit my parlay*

Permalink

2hands

by Staff

Well, I'm Joey 2hands and part of Otis's Mizzou Crew. First I would like to thank CJ and the SC-Boys and their kindness throughout the years. I play poker here in Denver every Wednesday night with friends here in a nice NL tourney. I also dabble with some online poker.

This MLK weekend we went to Copper Mountian for skiing and played a six person game for shots of Sauza tequila.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink

Addiction..

by G-Rob

I like to say I have an "addictive personality". That explains a lot, or at least, it serves as an explaination for a lot of behaviors, but I'm not sure how effective that acknowledgement is. It may be normal human behavior to gravitate to those things we enjoy, and without the presence of a chemical component, an addiction to something like...oh...poker!...seems a misuse of language. People DO become addicte to gambling, but this is different somehow.

Already I have the following "problems":

An addiction to junk food.
An addiction to booze.
An addiction to cigarettes.
An addiction to gossipy chit-chat.
and now
An addiction to poker.

I'm really a pretty sorry individual.

Play Online Poker
More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | G-Rob's Thoughts

January 18, 2005

The Mizzou Crew

by Luckbox

With the addition of a member of Otis' Mizzou Crew to the Up For Poker contributor list (I figure he'll write something eventually), I would be remiss if I didn't mention the addition of two other members of the crew to the blogroll.

Some of you met Marty while we were in Vegas. In fact, he made the final table in the WPBT Las Vegas Holiday Classic. You can follow his thoughts over at JMC Automatic.

Brian didn't fare as well and, in fact, he went out on the exact same hand I went out on (FYI: I got sucked out on, Brian just got beat! ;-). You can find more from Brian over at This Perfect World.

More additions to come, thanks to the response to my post on "The Nuts." And if you haven't noticed, "The Nuts" now features Poker Chip Tricks (courtesy of MtDewVirus over at 2 Hole Cards). The chip trick site has some remarkable tutorials with some great video!

Permalink | Poker Web Sites

More CNR

by G-Rob

CCR is better but they never gave me any money.

Check out BadBloods post about last night. He finished second in a rapid-blind $20+2 with about 24 players for a very nice little pot.

As for me...great night on the CNR cash games highlighted at the .25/.50 NL tables...

Here's my favorite :

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Online Poker

January 17, 2005

Standby

by Otis

I think I have some good poker blog content coming. In the meantime, though, I'm spending a little time at my neglected home-blog which today, incidentally, has a little bit of poker content. A little bit.

I disappointed my wife, I think, by being on the poker machine when she got home from work Friday night. I hadn't intended to be, although my reasoning was a bit shortsighted. I'd entered a fairly large buy-in tournament at ten o'clock. As I've told other players: don't enter a tournament of such a size unless you intend to finish it five hours later. If you don't have that intention, you've set yourself up for failure. Either you bust out early, meaning you finish by the time you need to be finished. Or, you're still playing when you didn't want to be and you're ill-equipped to be playing because you wish you hadn't started in the first place.

Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

Coupla things....

by G-Rob

First off...a quick note about the new games. BadBlood and I have been playing at Check and Raise. We spent about 6 quality hours there last night, and I'll agree with Maudie. The interface isn't bad and the rooms are very soft. The problem is there are hardly any games to find. The site is new and its hard to find much action.

It did give us this 6-handed nugget though :

SB posts .25
G-Rob posts .50
UTG calls
BadBlood raises to $2.00
5s folds, 6s folds, SB folds
G-Rob calls
UTG folds

FLOP: 3, 5,7 rainbow
G-Rob bets $3.00
BadBlood calls

Turn: 10
G-rob bets $4.00
BadBlood calls

River: 6
G-Rob bets $8.00
Badblood calls

G-Rob shows 4, 6 off
Badblood calls G-Rob a damned fish!

Hilarity ensues.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Online Poker

January 16, 2005

Beware the Limp, Re-Raise

by Luckbox

It was just back on January 8th where I read a post by BadBlood about his home game. He bemoaned the fact that he completely disregarded an obvious read.

I’ve spoken with DoubleR several times about playing pocket A’s in early position. Limp, re-raise. It’s fairly well documented in Brunson’s Super System and is a common play. I looked over across the table and KNEW DoubleR was holding them. With 100% certainty. So what did I do? I pushed.

Fast forward to yesterday... I'm playing in an Empire tourney with the top 7 entrants getting a spot in Sunday night's $50,000 guarantee. With about 40 players left, I'm the big stack in the tourney, relatively pleased with my play. That's about when Bad Blood stopped by to sweat me.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Poker Theory

January 14, 2005

Debts to poker society

by Otis

My bags still aren't unpacked because L'il Otis grabbed my nose when I walked in the door and hasn't let go. I could likely disengage his grasp, but I've found that when he grabs ma nez, he grabs on to my heartstings as well.

As such, I've fallen a bit behind in both my poker play and writing. I still owe you a couple of final posts from the Vegas trip report as well as a proper write-up on the Bahamas. My fatherly duties are also keeping me from playing in some homegames and underground tourneys with BadBlood this week. That's probably for the best, though, because my online game is full of holes right now (although, oddly, I'm winning) and my online performance often translates itself to my live play.

Beyond that, I'm stuck in the real working world and, frankly, after having tasted a world outside the realm of armed SWAT standoffs and tornadic weather, I'm not so sure I'm suited for this business anymore.

I hope to be back in a couple of days. As for now, my head isn't on straight and that's no way to write or play cards.

Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

January 13, 2005

Who's Got the Nuts Now?

by Luckbox

I don't know if you noticed, but once I added Otis' Poker Stars blog to the highlighted section known as "The Nuts," his visits went through the roof. On Tuesday alone, he had nearly 35,000 hits. I never realized Up For Poker was so powerful!!!

Now it's your turn to land in "The Nuts." Although I can't promise similar success, I'd like to highlight a different blog there each week. Do you think you've got what it takes? Send me an email at pagemaster -at- upforanything.net and tell me why. Or just leave a comment.

If you're not already on the blogroll, you should definitely drop me a line. And even if you're on the blogroll but don't think you get the recognition you deserve, let me know!

Permalink | Poker Blogs , | The Nuts

January 12, 2005

New Player, Seat Six

by Luckbox

Up for Poker is proud to announce we have a new contributor. Look for an official introduction soon! (That's what we call a tease in the news biz!)

Permalink | Up for Poker News

Bahamian Exit

by Otis

I woke up too early this morning. I figured an international flight, even if it was just across a stretch of blue water, would mean a bunch of early risers and long lines. While the lines did start to form, the Delta agents didn't show up until several hours after I got there.

It mattered not, I was living this surreal sunrise over the Bahamian horizon, where the cabbie listened to rasta music and grooved to his own stoned navigational sense. He turned through a back alley and I figured for a while I'd end up dead for the roll of cash in my backpack.

But the cabbie turned back onto the main drag and the rasta continued.

Looks like I'm going home.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

January 11, 2005

What had happened was..

by G-Rob

The whole Bahamas thing is fuzzy. I remember slamming Al to the floor at one point, just before I wrestled with his wife at the bar. That was just before I passed out.....in the poker room....on the floor. Which led to 4 hours of near puking on the beach Saturday...which led to Al massaging his netherparts with silverware under the watchful eyes of the casino. Friday night was ugly and Saturday barely better. Let just say this, G-Rob can't hang.

For a recap of our getting shut down by the Bahamian gaming commission see Gambling Blues. BG took notes and remembers much more than I do. So we'll let him re-cap most of the not poker crap. Al took plenty of pictures but hopefully many of those will be censored...I have a secret identity to protect. I only remember the cards and because this is, sort of, a poker blog...we'll just stick with that.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | G-Rob's Thoughts

January 8, 2005

2004's Most Impressive Win

by Luckbox

There is no questiong that 2004 was the biggest year in poker history. The winner of the WSOP took home a cool $5 million. There have never been prize pools like this. In fact, I'm not sure there is a competitive endeavour in the world that gave away more money at a single event.

And the year was full of amazing performances by some truly great poker players. "The Kid" Daniel Negreanu won 2004's Pro Player of the Year award from Card Player Magazine. He made 11 final tables and pocketed more than $4 million. Third in the player of the year standings is, perhaps, the poker world's most under appreciated player, John Juanda. He made a whopping 15 final tables.

But neither had the most impressive performance of the year. And both would probably agree that that award should go to Gerry Drehobl.

Who?

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Poker Players

January 7, 2005

Um...holy cow.

by Otis

I've been having a ball in the Bahamas. I'm working my ass off and dealing with juvenile commenters, but it's a great experience.

Still, I was feeling a little down in the dumps.

Until...

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

January 6, 2005

Chips Fly in the Bahamas

by Luckbox

If you're not reading Otis' tales of poker and more from the white beaches and blue waters of the Caribbean, then you're missing out.

Go visit... now! And leave Otis some words of encouragement. What he's doing there can only help all of us bloggers down the road!

Permalink | Poker Web Sites

January 5, 2005

The Quest for free money

by G-Rob

The bankroll is fluid and I'm moving it around. Lately I've been googling "Poker signup bonus" to find every free dollar a rake-taking internet whore will offer. Ole G-Rob is feelin' frisky. G-Rob's wife is glad he has another outlet.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Online Poker

January 4, 2005

New Table! (Changes coming...)

by Luckbox

Thanks to the rising celebrity of everyone's favorite poker blogger, our own Otis, this humble little poker blog is about to move up limits.

When this blog launched in September 2003, it was just a way to get the poker content off my regular blog so I would stop annoying my readers. That's why the address for Up for Poker is the hard-to-remember www.upforanything.net/poker. That's a mouthful.

Late last week, I finally secured the domain names upforpoker.com and upforpoker.net. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to move this blog to the new domain and then redirect all traffic from this site to that site. If any of you can provide any guidance, I'd appreciate it.

A side effect of the increasing popularity Otis is bringing to Up For Poker is a bandwith my original hosting plan couldn't handle. With that in mind, you might have noticed a little something over to the side called "The Rake." If you like what you read and wouldn't mind helping out a little with the cost of maintaining this site, I'd appreciate it.

However, don't worry about us. This blog isn't going anywhere. It's something that's become such a part of Otis and I that we couldn't imagine not having it. It really has a lot to do with the amazing poker blogger community we've become a part of.

And don't forget... Otis is in the Bahamas now! Stop on over and say hi!

Permalink | Poker Web Sites

January 3, 2005

Day 3: The Aladdin... Bring Your Rod and Reel

by Luckbox

When we last left off in Vegas, I had just taken some huge pots off of Black Bart and some other unlucky card players at the $2-$6 spread table at the Excalibur. Unfortunately, it was bed time, so card playing would have to wait. I needed some sleep.

I know that sounds weird in Vegas. Sleep isn't necessarily a priority when there's gambling to be done. But I had a mission. And the future of the World Poker Bloggers Tour rested in my hands!! Okay... it wasn't so dramatic, but the morning of day 3 in Vegas could mean big things for the poker blogging community.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Las Vegas

Otis Away Auto-Reply

by Otis

I walked into work this morning and my boss gave me an odd look.

"You're here," he said.

I looked at the assignment board for the day and noticed that I was on the Away List. Somebody had screwed up and this time it wasn't me. The bosses thought I'd already be in the islands.

I'm not, but I will be in less than 24 hours.

So, if you'd like to keep up with the tournament or whatever else I can dredge up while I'm there, you'll find me at Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure.

Hopefully, I'll have time for a little Up For Poker blogging while I'm there, as well.

In the meantime, I'm trying to generate as much traffic for the Bahamas blog as possible, so any temporary link other bloggers can provide would be appreciated

I'll be back with the rest of my Vegas trip reports in about eight to ten days.

Permalink | Poker Web Sites