Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's nice to sit back once in a while and think about all the things that we have to be thankful for. Personally, I feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world and I'm most thankful for my family, friends and loved ones. I've been surrounded by the greatest people that a guy could ask for and I consider myself really fortunate. I hope everyone out there has something to be thankful for and if you can't think of anything, think harder.

I'm in Canada right now, playing in the BC Poker Championships. I cashed in the Pot Limit event, barely, and the main event starts tomorrow. The players were unbelievably bad in the PLHE event and I expect the field to be pretty soft for the main event. The structure is pretty good and I'd be surprised if none of my friends(Carl, Ozzy, Smokey, Bushman) make the final table with me and eventually chop it with me heads-up. First prize is estimated to be around $700K and that would definitely make the trip worthwhile. If you don't like poker, skip this next part...some hands from the PLHE event:

Blinds 50/100, I raise to 250 in the hijack with 22 and the SB calls. I have about 3400 chips behind and he covers. The flop is K72 rainbow and he leads for 200. I raise to 700 and he quickly calls. The turn is an 8 putting two spades on board. He asks for a count of my chips, about 2600, then checks. I bet 1100 into the 2000 chip pot and he folds pretty quickly. I think I should have repeated the 700 chip bet.

Same blinds, I open Qh8h in the CO to 250. I have about 4400 chips behind and they both have similar stacks. The button and BB, same dude in the hand before, call. Flop is 542 with two hearts and I bet 425 into the 800 chip pot, planning on 3-betting all in if I'm raised. The button folds but the BB calls. The turn is an offsuit Ten and the BB checks again. I think about checking behind but the structure was so terrible that I didn't want to lose the pot if I missed. I finally decided to pot it, betting 1650 and leaving myself with about 2300. This way I can just call if he raises me instead of betting 800 and folding. He calls pretty quickly. The river is an offsuit 7, he checks and I go all in almost immediately. He sighs and folds. Wheeeee!

Blinds 100/200. UTG limps, leaving himself with 800 chips. UTG+1, same guy from the previous two hands, raises to 800 leaving himself with 1525 behind. It folds to me in the BB and I look down at AKo. I re-raise to put them both all-in. UTG folds and my friend folds 99 fairly quickly. I can't begin to explain how terrible that fold is. Terrible for him = good for me!

Blinds 300/600. UTG min-raises to 1200, leaving himself about 10K behind. I have 12K in the CO and call the raise with 33. We might be a little too shallow to call here but the blinds were going up to 500/1K in under a minute and I didn't feel like I could sit around forever. I also knew that I would be in position so I didn't necessarily need to flop a set to win the hand. The BB, a tight-looking old guy with about 20K, reluctantly calls and we see the flop 3-ways with 3900 in the pot. The flop is AJ8 with two clubs. The BB stares at the board for a loooong time and checks. UTG checks immediately and I bet 1800. BB calls and UTG folds. The turn is some small brick and now the BB leads for 2000 chips into the 7500 chip pot. It really felt like he had some crappy ace and was testing the waters to see if it was good or not. I felt pretty positive that he would fold to a raise so I jam for about 9K total. He tanks for a pretty long time and studied me intently. I just looked at him and smiled. Finally he folded and I turned to the guy on my left to show him the bluff. Obviously, the old guy says, "I want to see that hand" so he got the bluff rubbed in his face. It felt really good to (a) make the right read and (b) have the cojones to pull the trigger.

I ran my chips up to almost 40K before it all came crashing down. The blinds were 1K/2K and I found Th8h in the hijack. Stealing blinds isn't as important in Pot Limit because of the absence of antes but it's still good to pick up chips when you can and the table was playing tight. I raised to 5K and the BB tanked for a while before moving all-in for 11K and I had to call. He had AdJd and I couldn't find a ten or eight. The next orbit, the CO pots it to 7K, leaving himself 2K behind and I find AdTd on the button and repot but run into JJ. There's 20K down the drain and I basically ground my way into the money on steals and resteals. Every time I'd build my stack into a respectable size I'd run into AA and go back to potting all-in with Q2o. I finally busted just inside the money with T9o on the button against the BB's Q8o. I guarantee that he folds if we're still on the bubble. I bet he would fold at any point in the tournament, other than directly inside the bubble. People seem to lose their minds once the bubble bursts and chips go flying. I ended up making $600 CAD profit which is better than a kick in the pants. It was nice to get some live play in and I'm uuuuuuuber stoked for the main event.

Next weekend, Davis, Kenny, Silky and I are invading Denver for the Seahawks-Broncos game. I knew the 49er game was going to be tough but we'll get back on track against Green Bay this Monday Night. The Hawks are 6-4 but I think they're going to go 11-5, losing to either Denver on the road or San Diego at home. I can't wait to hang out in Denver over the weekend. I went out on the town when I was on the baseball road trip and the downtown area has a lot of cool bars condensed in a 3 or 4-block radius. Tailgating before the game should be fun too and I hope we don't get our asses kicked, both in the parking lot and on the playing field. Jay Cutler is rumored to be starting and hopefully he lays an egg. Anyway, more on that as it draws nearer.

I really need to get to bed so I don't fall asleep at the table tomorrow. Everyone out there, root for me to play well and run good. Peace.