Vegas Baby....

Well, I will be boarding my flight 8hrs from now. I was planning on taking the laptop and posting updates on my final table(s), but I won't be able to take it with me. I don't have as good of a memory as some of the bloggers, but I will do my best to recap when I get home. Good luck at the tables.

Surf's up

TOC at the Beach

View from our condo


When I scheduled my Vegas trip, I didn't realize I would be gone on Father's Day. strike one. When we scheduled our Myrtle Beach trip, the TOC date was May 31st, according to the Full Tilt bbt4 page. So I promised the wife and family that the Myrtle Beach vacation would be "Poker Free". strike two. So here I am, on vacation with the family and will be playing tonight. My wife asked "Do you have to play?" Well no I don't, but to pass up a freeroll 1 in 21 (or better) shot at 12k seems unthinkable. Luckily, my wife somewhat understands and doesn't have a problem with me playing tonight. Thank you Mrs. Jenkins.

My wife has asked me in the past "Don't you sometimes wish you didn't have a family so that you could move to Vegas and play all of the time?" Well to be honest, that thought has never crossed my mind. Yes, I love to play poker. I also love coaching my kids in baseball and softball, going to track and swim meets and waiting for hours just to watch a couple of races. I love coming home from work and hearing Cody yell DaDa as he's running to the front door. Poker gives me an outlet to compete with others at something I like to think that I am good at. I mostly play tournaments and sng's because of the "rush" I get when my name is at the top of the leaderboard at the end of a tournament. I also play to win money to be able to take my family on trips, to buy things for the house, and to hopefully one day win my way into and cash in a major tournament.

I hope to log on in the morning and see a bunch of comments congratulating me on my TOC win. However, whether or not I win a seat, tomorrow I will be boogie boarding with my daughter, golfing with my son, building sand castles with my youngest daughter, and chasing the baby down the beach. If I don't win a seat, I know I will get another kind of "rush" when I see the looks on my kids' faces as they catch a big wave or show me how far they can swim under water or hit a great shot on the golf course.

I have had a great time playing with everyone in the BBT and wish everyone good luck in the TOC.

Skillz Baby..

Any opinions on this hand?

I got deep in the 28k gtee again last night. I'm just wondering what other people might do or think is the best play in this situation.

Once we were down to around 80 players, the tourney dynamics changed quite a bit. Everyone was taking a lot of chances and 3 betting with marginal hands. I had just gone from 35k chips to about 90k (about average) in the span of a few hands when this hand came up.


Full Tilt Poker Game #12458265087: $28,000 Guarantee (92762037), Table 11 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:33:04 ET - 2009/05/27

Seat 2: Shabazz Jenkins (89,956)
Seat 3: Oaklandish (79,055)
Seat 4: woundedknee99 (107,040)
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 (110,928)
Seat 7: xHanzox (54,748)
Seat 8: AriAri7 (117,695)
Seat 9: icudonk (102,400)
Shabazz Jenkins antes 500
Oaklandish antes 500
woundedknee99 antes 500
ErikTheKing7 antes 500
xHanzox antes 500
AriAri7 antes 500
icudonk antes 500
icudonk posts the small blind of 2,000
Shabazz Jenkins posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [Qc Qd]
Oaklandish folds
woundedknee99 folds
ErikTheKing7 folds
xHanzox folds
AriAri7 raises to 9,555
icudonk folds
Shabazz Jenkins raises to 28,000
AriAri7 raises to 117,195, and is all in
Shabazz Jenkins calls 61,456, and is all in
AriAri7 shows [Ad 2h]
Shabazz Jenkins shows [Qc Qd]
Uncalled bet of 27,739 returned to AriAri7
*** FLOP ***
[Kd Kc Ks]
*** TURN ***
[Kd Kc Ks] [6h]
raskals1 (Observer):
whoaraskals1 (Observer): whoa
*** RIVER ***
[Kd Kc Ks 6h] [Ac]
raskals1 (Observer): whoa
AriAri7 shows a full house, Kings full of Aces
Shabazz Jenkins shows a full house, Kings full of Queens
AriAri7 wins the pot (184,412) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 184,412
Rake 0Board: [Kd Kc Ks 6h Ac]
Seat 2: Shabazz Jenkins (big blind) showed [Qc Qd] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Queens
Seat 3: Oaklandish folded before the Flop
Seat 4: woundedknee99 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: xHanzox folded before the Flop
Seat 8: AriAri7 (button) showed [Ad 2h] and won (184,412) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
Seat 9: icudonk (small blind) folded before the Flop

When I was thinking about this hand today, I realized how much of an impact my stack size had on my decision, which cost me my tournament life. I had approximately 22 big blinds at this point and was comfortable with my table. If I had just 15 to 18 BB's in this situation, I definitely shove here. In the past I would have probably shoved this stack most of the time not wanting to risk getting called by a marginal hand. If I would've shoved, he most likely folds and I am still alive in the tourney.

So the question is: Is the best play here to raise for value or play scared poker and shove to just take down the 18k pot?

Freak Ice Storm Last Night

No, not really. This was our first winter in this house a few years ago. We moved from a 1/4 acre lot without any trees to an acre lot full of trees. This storm came 2 days before Christmas and I ended up working 3 days straight. We were lucky as our power was only out for 10 hours. Luckily, we didn't have any damage to the house or to the tree house. Okay, I might have gone a little overboard on the tree house.

Sick Hand and a bad Sunday

The flop was checked around and we got it all in on the turn. The river actually helped me get about 1/2 of my chips back.

It was an all around pretty bad Sunday for me. I finished 3rd in a FTOPS ME sat where top 2 got seat. In the brit blogger game I barely missed the much needed points. And just about every 0ther tourney I got fkd one way or the other. When I start losing like this I keep registering for more tourneys and blowing through my bankroll. Just as I am typing this I get fkd again in the 5050. I 4 bet donk and after taking all of his time he can't get away from his hand, which I of course know I'm beat when he calls.