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

July 31, 2005

Homegame Hooliganism

by Otis

Some people say scent can inspire more memories than sight.

My entire kitchen smelled like plastic. The baby and wife were gone. The dog was disinterested. And my new Copags had arrived. I played heads up against myself and lost.

My entire kitchen smelled like plastic and the smell was leeching into the living room. All I needed was an excuse and at least five other people.

The smell of plastic was the excuse.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

July 30, 2005

Spur

by G-Rob

In September of 1994 I sat on the filthy fabric of a striped Salvation Army couch, surrounded by the who's-who of degenrates. We'd end up there every day, gambling on heads-up matches of NHL '94, skipping class, and acting like filthy hippies. That's when inspirations struck. My buddy Scott saw an maazine ad with a picture of beautiful downtown Amsterdam.

At 5 AM on a cold damp Dutch December, four of us wandered out of train station in downtown Amsterdam with no reservations, no map of downtown, and no inhibitions whatsoever. Folks, THAT was the best New Year's Eve...EVER! Say what you want about the Dutch..'em people can throw a party.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

July 27, 2005

Special Dispensation

by Otis

The Bradoween Open is--remarkably--almost full. However, the rules will be bent (and I'd be willing to sit 11-handed if necessary...) if a poker neophyte from the left coast wants to play.

One thing to consider...I like to see my name in print.

Nikki, it's spelled O-T-I-S.

Seriously, the girl wants traffic. Give it to her. Secondly, I'm serious about the Open. Seven seats remain.

Permalink | Otis' Thoughts

July 25, 2005

I'm not booking this one

by Otis

First, I mean no disrespect. I don't mean to be macabre. And I'm not making a joke.

But this is messed up.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Other Gambling

Hot and Bothered

by G-Rob

NOTE : BE SURE TO READ OTIS' INVITE POSTED BELOW


We'd just finished our shoot and were standing on the Main Street bridge. The broadest gurgle of the Reedy River was over my left shoulder and the blazing sun on the right. I knew Sunday that this would be my Monday beat. We'd led the newscast for 2 days with warnings of the "HEAT ADVISORY" for the entire veiwing area. Usually when local news "experts" tell you the weather is too hot, cold, wet, windy or dry to venture outside....that's exactly where I end up.

After 2 hours of interviewing roofers and following the friendly staff at "Party Time Ice", we'd come to the part that features me. I stood with my face to the camera and my hand on the mike and prepared to record a tease. Veiwers always need a warning about what's "coming up!" We had a monster story about how regular Joe's were coping with the heat.

"I think its great that you're willing to go on camera like that," Mark smiled.

I looked down at my TV LOGO shirt, and found it so drenched in sweat my giant man nipples were naked against the polyester. Until then, I thought I looked pretty damn good. I thought I had kept my cool.

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

Bradoween V

by Otis

No real time to compete with G-Rob for Writing King today, but I thought it was worth mentioning that Bradoween V: Five Years in Suburbia is now less than four weeks away.

The guest list is already long and distinguished (you fill in the punchline here). I won't mention who is coming yet, but if they want to indicate their plans in the comments, I think you'll be impressed. What's more, we're cooking up the competition to end all competitions and we still have a couple of spots in the player pool left.

You wanna come? It's Saturday August 20th.

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

July 24, 2005

Wil Goes Heads Up

by Luckbox

With Tom McEvoy taking a Sunday off over at PokerStars, someone had to step in for the $1000 heads up match. Enter wil wheaton.

The newest member of Team PokerStars battled against Hendon Mob member European Poker standout Noah Boeken. I'd have to say wil was a bit of an underdog.

At one point, wil made a huge all-in call with 99 and an A-6-4 board. Some of the observers said it was a terrible call, but with just one overcard on the board, and wil short-stacked, it was the only play.

You also all be proud to know that wil dropped the HAMMER at one point. He was even short-stacked at the time.

The tourney came down to an all-in play, 78s for Noah and A2o for wil. The flop came T-6-6 with two diamonds that Noah needed. That actually made Noah a 58% favorite at that point. The turn was the Ace of spades and wil was suddenly 75% to take the match. The river was a blank.

Congrats, wil! It certainly wasn't easy, and you played well.

And although the chat was full of a few jackasses... some of it was a little amusing...

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

July 23, 2005

Scotty, we hardly knew ye!

by G-Rob

James Doohan, the actor who played "Scotty", passed away this week. He starred in every movie and episode, and was a regular on the national dork tour. You can't have "Star Trek" without Scotty. But what do we know about our chief engineer? He's remembered for RECEIVING a command from someone else. I mean, is he anything more than "Sam the Butcher"? Sam's a BUTCHER, and he bangs ALICE. Not a compelling character, unless you're Alice. They're critical to the advancing plot, but as thin as the new post-heroin Otis. I know more about TIGER the DOG.

I never wanted to be Sam, and I'm only half-Scottish. Yet, its safe to say good books and terrible TV have ruined my life. A better man tries to focus his life around that which is morally good. I've tried to be the center of the action. I'd prefer to be the good guy, wearing the white hat, but DAMMIT I'm getting a hat, and black'll do in a pinch.

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

July 21, 2005

Meeting Wil

by Otis

There was a day when I didn't "know" someone in Vegas. That spot in southern Nevada was a fairy tale place where no one actually lived. We tripped the light fantastic (not to mention the fandango), rode through the worm holes, and emerged in a land of lights, concentrated sin, and blissful anonymity.

These days, I know people. Not in the "I know people" sense of knowing people. (I know people in St. Louis, though, and they know people, so that has to count for something.) In Vegas, I have familiarities. I figure that is as much as one can ask in a city where relationships are as tenuous as a string of good luck on the video poker machines.

And, yet, so it happened that I came to know someone in Vegas named Wil Wheaton.

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

July 20, 2005

Ego stroking

by Otis

I guess we all need it sometimes. A writer for the Online Journalism Review provides the bloggers' ego bone tickle this week. Thanks for the nice article, Mark.

Gonzo poker players bring World Series to life in real time

Permalink | Reading Material

July 18, 2005

More From the NewsFiles

by G-Rob

Courtesy the Best News Website EVER!

The Carolina Channel DOT Com

"Greenwood Police Make Arrest In Weekend Homicide.
Fight At Poker Game Turns Deadly"

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- Greenwood police have a man in custody in connection with a weekend homicide.

Investigators said they responded to a call at a home on Cokesbury road Saturday night.

Inside the home, they found George Carroll Freeman, 34, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Witnesses said the shooting happened after Freeman got into an argument with Freddie Edwards, 57, during a poker game.

Police questioned Edwards at the scene and arrested him.

Edwards faces several charges, including murder, non-negligent manslaughter, and weapons violations. "

Permalink

Leaving Las Vegas

by Otis

"You know you look like Tiny Tim?"

We were leaning over the craps table in such a precarious position that at any moment the pointy dice could hop from the felt and stab us in our bloodshot eyes. The man that looked like Tiny Tim (and he really did look like him) was three holes down from me on the right. Grubby and Mike were in between us. Pauly stood on my left.

"Tiny Tim?" The guy seemed confused, like he'd never heard "Tiptoe through the Tulips. "People tell me I look like Jesus."

One of the craps dealers looked up and said, "Are you sure that you didn't misunderstand when people looked at you and said 'Jesus Christ!"

For the first time in a long time, I was struck by unexpected laughter. It came from somewhere deep, somewhere that moved me to not even think, but to throw the dealer a blue chip and thank him. Four other blue chips hit the felt in front of the guy. Not bad cash for insulting a guy.

It was my last night in Vegas. I had no plans to sleep before getting on a plane. And I was playing craps.

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

July 16, 2005

Multi-Post! In which the author makes 3 posts at once.

by G-Rob

We were in Johnson City when we stopped for gas. Gulfman bought a half-tank and I fueled my tumor. Our TV Explorer was 2 hours north of the TV station and we still had 4 hours left. That's when I took the wheel for the rest of the drive, through the remnants of a hurricane and into my childhood home.

Ashland is Eastern Kentucky. It's one of a half-million cities that's described in chamber of commerce shorthand as either "Tri-Cities" or "Tri-State". Ashland has the honor of both fake names. In our overnight stay, Gulfman and I would find ourselves lost in Huntington, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio.

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

July 13, 2005

The Women of the WSOP

by Luckbox

Clonie, Isabelle, Carmel... and most importantly, Mrs. Otis!

It's all in this week's editon of...

The Pauly and Otis Show

Permalink | Las Vegas

July 12, 2005

It's Our Turn to Help

by Luckbox

Poker is a solitary endeavour. It always has been. It always will be. That doesn't mean, however, that we ignore our brothers and sisters in the poker community.

Last month, we lost one of our brothers. Read the story of Charlie Tuttle here. There's not always much we can do, but in this case, there is.

WPBT "Charlie" Tournament

When? 6PM EST Sunday July 17th

Where? PokerStars (Tourney #9680072 under the Private tag)

How Much? $20 - every single dime goes to Charlie's family

What Do I Get When I Win? The comfort of knowing you're doing something good for someone else.

No, Really... No. Really.

Get in the game. I'll see you there. Let's show people what the poker blogging community is capable of.

Permalink | Luckbox's Thoughts

July 11, 2005

Mad Russian

by Otis

Remember the night I wrote about the Mad Russian with the fetish porn site? Flipchip got a picture of him...

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

July 10, 2005

Pauly's New Crush

by Luckbox

Pauly has a new crush. She doesn't blog about her own breasts. And she's not about to marry a crazy Scientologist. But this one has a little mystery to her...

And she's the subject of this week's edition of...

The Pauly and Otis Show (with guest appearance by Jay Greenspan!)

Permalink | Las Vegas

July 8, 2005

Holy Moonshine

by G-Rob

I like to tell people about that time I went to state. I was left fielder on an All Star team of little leaguers from lil' ol' Ashland. We won district and regionals, and hopped on a charter greyhound to Murray with the best of our 12 year old ambition. Murray has a cool boy scout museum with a ropes course that scared the hell outta Eddie Dixon. That was the highlight of our double elimination tourney. We lost the first 2 games.

Still, in a way, we were part of the state championship. And, by that same token, I was part of the WSOP last night.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

July 6, 2005

Coin Flip

by G-Rob

Otis plays in another WSOP event tonight. He's a 50/50 shot to either

A. Finish in the money
B. Fall onto the table and scatter chips everywhere.


Please root for option "A".

Unless...

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink

July 5, 2005

AMILV--Card players

by Otis

"Are you a card player?"

The cabbie had just picked me up at the Mirage. The sun was up, the card room was still full, and two drunk girls were slipping into the sunlight like a gator into the Everglades.

Am I a card player? I thought.

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

AMILV--Perspective

by Otis

A favor...

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

July 3, 2005

On Why it's good to SUCK at poker

by G-Rob

I killed time at work tonight with some UFP archives. That Otis can write up a storm, and its been fun trying to remember the homegames-gone-by. In one I found something that was hurting his game, a lesson he learned the hard way, and found again how the inverse has kept me flush with imaginary cash.

Otis is an excellent poker player and would like to be recognized as such. It's well deserved.

I've become a very profitable player, but have spent years cultivating a very poor poker reputation. Pride is a seductive lover who will always leave you poor. Better lucky than good.

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

AMILV--Proof of Life

by Otis

In case you think we're not working...

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

July 2, 2005

NASCAR Superstars

by G-Rob

It's 9:14 and raining in Daytona. In 5000 hotel rooms there are restless children rolling on unwashed hotel comforters while unhappy parents look for Nickelodeon on an unknown cable box. On the west side of town 100,000 fans sit huddled under cheap plastic parkas waiting for the race to begin. Up in G-Vegas two producers, one reporter, two sportsguys, an entire production crew, and one G-Rob wonder when this night will end.

The late news, billed as a special post-race edition, is exactly that. We don't start until the race is over. It was supposed to start at 7:00. We may not air the big story here until 1:30 or 2:00. God help us.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money

Newlyweds, Rub Downs and Isabelle Mercier

by Luckbox

That's all in this week's edition of...

The Pauly and Otis Show

Enjoy!

Permalink | Las Vegas

July 1, 2005

AMILV--Overheard

by Otis

Overheard at the WSOP...

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

The Dealer's (is) choice

by G-Rob

It's been said, mostly by BadBlood and me, G-Vegas is where you'll find the best homegames. There's one damn near everyday. I play every Thursday, and on more than a few Wednesdays and Fridays. Tonight, I'm looking to 3-peat.

More in this Poker Blog! -->
Permalink | Playing For Money