Yay! It's Payday Friday!

But that is not what this post is about. Thinking about titles is hard.

My current bathroom reading fare is Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em. It's format is in honor of Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons and Teachings from a Lifetime in Golf. Like Penick's book, it had small, easy to read sections culled from the notes Phil Gordon has taken throughout his poker career.

I am reading this book at the same time I am re-reading Dan Harrington's books for the second time. As I go through the Little Green Book, I am finding myself recalling the more detailed discussions that Harrington presents. There is alot of good stuff about tournament play in Phil's book. I think I will find myself reading it over and over again whenever I find my poker thought processes out of whack.

Speaking of poker, I wanted to share with you myfinal hand of last nights WWdN: West Coast Warm-up. If you look at the hand, it appears I played like a total fool. There is some truth to that.

The tournament started at 9:00 Mountain time - aka my bedtime. There were 35 players, and the top five paid. This hand is on the final table, eight players left, and I am the short stack. This hand takes place at about 11:00.

PokerStars Game #3694388879: Tournament #18321964, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII
(200/400) - 2006/01/20 - 00:55:34 (ET)
Table '18321964 2' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: The_Venetian (6774 in chips)
Seat 2: patrickjst (9081 in chips)
Seat 3: L0K1 (5475 in chips)
Seat 4: Frankl66 (4561 in chips)
Seat 5: darval (9056 in chips)
Seat 7: bedheadmick (9648 in chips)
Seat 9: Darzog (7905 in chips)
The_Venetian: posts the ante 25
patrickjst: posts the ante 25
L0K1: posts the ante 25
Frankl66: posts the ante 25
darval: posts the ante 25
bedheadmick: posts the ante 25
Darzog: posts the ante 25
Frankl66: posts small blind 200
darval: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Frankl66 [Jc 9c]
bedheadmick: folds
Darzog: folds
The_Venetian: folds
patrickjst: folds
L0K1: raises 800 to 1200
Frankl66: calls 1000
darval: folds

LOK1 had been stealing the blinds given the opportunity any chance he got. I thought he was doing it again here (it turns out he was, as you will see), so I called.

*** FLOP *** [4c 2h 8s]
Frankl66: bets 800
L0K1: raises 1200 to 2000
Frankl66: calls 1200

My bet was probably too small there. (Or was it??? - we shall see.)

*** TURN *** [4c 2h 8s] [7s]
Frankl66: checks
L0K1: bets 2250 and is all-in
Frankl66: calls 1336 and is all-in

At this point in the game (not just the hand) I am getting really tired, so I am not thinking straight. I have nothing, yet I called after the flop. Now I have to call all-in because I am pot-committed. At this point I have been up for 20 hours (since 3:00 in the morning - I couldn't get back to sleep.) I am giving up on the game so I can go to bed.

*** RIVER *** [4c 2h 8s 7s] [6c]
Frankl66: shows [Jc 9c] (high card Jack)
L0K1: shows [2c 7d] (two pair, Sevens and Deuces)
L0K1 collected 9647 from pot
Frankl66 said, "hammer@!!!"

LOK1 was bluffing from the start with THE HAMMER!, and he got his two pair on the turn. It was just as I thought initially - though the Hammer never occurred to me. It should have, though, since poker bloggers love to play the Hammer. I told you I was tired.

LOK1 went on to win the tourney. Congratulations, LOK1.