Went away camping in the mountains with a few other dads and their daughters. After the kids went to sleep we decided to play some $1/2 NL. There was a guy there that used to prop at the Commerce in some $100/200 and $200/400 stud games. He was good and had a great run of cards for the first few hours and was dominating. But he was also getting drunk. I was card dead and could not play back at him. I finally got 55 and pushed against his 3 bet. He had 77 and I hit a 5! I then flopped a straight and he pushed at me on the turn and I won that. A few hours later I had jx with two clubs and bet on a board of AJx with two clubs. He called. On the turn there was another A (I don’t think he has an A) and I bet again and he calls. On the river the flush comes and I bet again and he calls with K2 of clubs! I had him all the way up until the river. I hate when this happens -- you actually had the best hand the entire time, but you are rooting to make your draw. You then make your draw and it was your downfall -- careful what you wish for!

About 3:30am I had a good draw. Middle pair, flush draw, gut shot straight. If I was facing a TPTK hand, which I assumed I was facing, I had 15+ outs. I was first to act and should have pushed the turn but checked; hey it was late! He bets a little more than half my stack. I knew he would call my push because he clearly had something and was priced in to call. I felt I had about the right odds, maybe not exactly, but close, even if he called and I was dying to go to sleep so I push, he calls and I hit my flush. Poker can be fun sometimes!

Here's a pretty sick hand I just watched. Luigi66369 is poker pro Patrik Antonius. I didn't put it through a hand converter, but it's worth following:

Full Tilt Poker Game #1420648299: Table Halbert (heads up) - $300/$600 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:09:25 ET - 2006/12/16
Seat 1: Phil Ivey ($65,098)
Seat 2: Luigi66369 ($54,899)
Luigi66369 posts the small blind of $300
Phil Ivey posts the big blind of $600
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
devilsagain (Observer): lol
thepenisblue (Observer): cuz hes agsngsta
Delthafunky1 (Observer): why not
dimmy (Observer): because he wants to be like mike
Luigi66369 raises to $1,800
BelOwaB0Ve (Observer): phil is black
RazorEdge (Observer): how you know its Patrick?
dontsaveher (Observer): cuz she scks black ppl $#%%s
squigs46 (Observer): he like the molestashe
Phil Ivey raises to $5,400
The Hate (Observer): lol
Luigi66369 calls $3,600
*** FLOP *** [2h Qh Qd]
AAziatik (Observer): 6500
thepenisblue (Observer): I WANT TO SELECT PHIL IVEY AS PART OF THE RACIAL DRAFT
Phil Ivey has 15 seconds left to act
Phil Ivey bets $7,200
RazorEdge (Observer): lol
devilsagain (Observer): LMAO
Fearme85 (Observer): who is luigi? what pro
Soundbwoy611 (Observer): he's ours
Luigi66369 has 15 seconds left to act
Luigi66369 calls $7,200
The Hate (Observer): patrikck antonious
*** TURN *** [2h Qh Qd] [3d]
RiverMikey (Observer): partick antuious
Soundbwoy611 (Observer): and tiger
The Hate (Observer): here we go again lol
dimmy (Observer): luigi is david pham I heard
Equity Trader (Observer): its like the show on GSN, hte network for games lol
Phil Ivey checks
RazorEdge (Observer): how you guys know?
McWrinkles (Observer): i hope phil gets his money back from that horrible beat
dontsaveher (Observer): hey phil i know a hot white chick that wants to bang you
thepenisblue (Observer): THAT QUESTION IS ASKED EWAYY TOO MUCH
AAziatik (Observer): 16 000
ryne2516 (Observer): LUIGI IS MICHAEL BINGER
dimmy (Observer): HE'S DAVID PHAM
Luigi66369 has 15 seconds left to act
McWrinkles (Observer): luigi is marios brother
syracuse44 (Observer): binger sucks
dukeer (Observer): the thing about phil he puts on sready pressure
Soundbwoy611 (Observer): patrik antonius
Luigi66369 bets $25,800
cobrasu27 (Observer): everytime i watch poker on tv, phill takes a bad beat man... it sucks
woowoo3 (Observer): hes antonius
nnfire (Observer): here we go again
A_Varkoni (Observer): no he is patrik antonius
nvdoug (Observer): luigi is the man here, lol
Phil Ivey raises to $51,600
Luigi66369 calls $16,499, and is all in
Phil Ivey shows [Kc Kh]
Luigi66369 shows [9h Ah]
XxArt-VxX (Observer): nice
thepenisblue (Observer): lol pot sized bet
Uncalled bet of $9,301 returned to Phil Ivey
*** RIVER *** [2h Qh Qd 3d] [Ad]
Phil Ivey shows two pair, Kings and Queens
Luigi66369 shows two pair, Aces and Queens
Luigi66369 wins the pot ($109,797.50) with two pair, Aces and Queens
PaulDenh (Observer): lol
seat0 (Observer): wow
mds278599 (Observer): wow
XxArt-VxX (Observer): omg
cyborgatakk (Observer): ??"?
Fearme85 (Observer): omg
jpaznstyle (Observer): whoa
RiverMikey (Observer): damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Xthefour4sX (Observer): oooooooooooooooo nh
Soundbwoy611 (Observer): wow
tiffany23cutie (Observer): o wow
nnfire (Observer): lol
The Hate (Observer): OMG LOL
nvdoug (Observer): omg
AAziatik (Observer): jeeeeeez
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $109,798 | Rake $0.50
Board: [2h Qh Qd 3d Ad]
Seat 1: Phil Ivey (big blind) showed [Kc Kh] and lost with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 2: Luigi66369 (small blind) showed [9h Ah] and won ($109,797.50) with two pair, Aces and Queens

Had an odd situation come up yesterday. I'm playing two tables on Full Tilt. On one table I get dealt two black kings just as the flop gets dealt on the other table. Two red kings show up on that table and I think to myself how nice it would have been to see that flop on my other table.

It gets raised to me and I 3-bet with my black kings and the initial better callers. The flop comes 2 red kings for quads on the flop! Anyway, the hand was pretty uneventful. I raised the flop hoping that he wouldn't believe I had a king. I find that more often then not people will reraise you when you bet a paired board. Anyway, the guy folded so it was just an normal hand, but the coincidence was worth noting. Or perhaps the random card dealing software was stuck!

I really enjoy listening to the Circuit radio broadcast. I listen to it via podcasts. You go to the itunes music store and download the broadcasts to your PC and then sync with your ipod. They are free. The show is hosted by a young guy named Scott Huff and two poker pros -- Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok. Joe is Barry Greenstein's son. These guys have really good chemistry and it's a lot of fun to listen to them discuss hands, tournament strategy, the latest poker news and basically have a good time while talking poker.

Gavin and Joe are very loose aggressive players and they have both had good tournament success. Gavin was the WPT player of the year last year and Joe is fairly new to tournament poker but has had some really impressive results in the short time he's played. Listening to them discuss their aggressive style is pretty interesting and has helped open my eyes to the benefits of playing a more aggressive style. Gavin is a big advocate of playing small pots. He likes to call raises in position with both good and so-so hands and then put people to the test with raises and even calls PF. His thought process is that he can freeze the pf raiser by calling post flop and then moving in for the kill with a raise if the PF raiser blinks and slows down. It makes a lot of sense and has worked well for him. Give the broadcasts a try. I think you'll really enjoy them.

Today is Monday, and I really miss my weekly fix of High Stakes Poker. Not only is this my favorite televised poker show, it's probably my favorite TV show. Period. The show is just so entertaining and fun to watch. Much more so than the typical poker show. The tournament shows are just not that entertaining to me any more. They always turn into all-in fests because of the fast structures and the TV editing. Most of these shows do too many interviews and other features -- I guess to appeal to the non-poker players.

Contrast this to High Stakes Poker where we get to see how poker is really played. We see both pre and post flop play. Most of the players are really good and we can learn what these professionals do and don't do. I guess it's also fun to see how some of them players goof up and don't necessarily play as well as we believe they should. There is real money on the line; sometimes hundred of thousands of dollars, which makes for some interesting 'train wreck' moments as there is true pain in the big freefalls.

A close second to High Stakes Poker would be the Heads Up Championship on NBC. It also features mostly professional players and to a large extent we get to see many interesting hands.

Season 3 of High Stakes Poker will be on in January. It looks like Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold and a few other new players will be joining the mix. Even Gabe Kaplan will be playing this time. It should be fun.