If You Are Looking For Fun Summer Plans, Read On!

I was looking on-line for some interesting things to do with the family this evening and I stumbled across an event that is fashioned like an old fashioned cattle drive right here in Manitoba.  It runs over the course of 5 days and takes 12 campers and 2 wranglers from Minnedosa to Carberry with a pack of mules in tow.

I was surprised that the event was sponsored by Kramp Chiropractic of Winnipeg.  Kind of strange to be sure.  I passed on the event but I bought some support gear.

If you happen to own a donkey and his bones need a adjusting, I suggest you crack your donkey here - krampchiropractic.com.

Urban Dictionary - The On-Line Straight Shooter!

1.	brain-cramp	8 up, 4 down
	buy brain-cramp mugs, tshirts and magnets A stupid, pehaps embarrassing, mistake; commonly confused with brain-fart (which is an idea). I had a brain-cramp and for a moment couldn't remember which hand was my right.

Law Enforcement Torch Run - Poker Tournament

LETR Texas Hold’em Tournament

1091 Portage Ave.

NCO’s Mess

D Division Headquarters

Friday, May 6^th, 2011

Registration 5:30 pm

Tournament Starts 6:30 pm

Limited to 63 Players

 Entry Fee $60

No Re-buys

2^nd Chance Tournament

Light Lunch Provided

For tickets contact:                                                               *Tickets are non-transferrable 

Lindy Yeo 983-6856                                      *All proceeds donated to Special Olympics 

Tammy Deslaurier 983-4565

          *Lottery Licence # MGCC-2313-TH                    

The Law Enforcement Torch Run is holding this tournament as a fund raiser for the Special Olympics, so the cause is good and hey, the field should be light (ie) Cloney is playing...

Chairs For Sale

With the purchase of new chairs for our poker game, I now have 18 chairs for sale.  Some of them have almost never been used while a few of them have small rips in the vinyl or the seat slants forward.  I am looking to sell the lot for $50.  If I don't get any offers for the lot, I will be willing to sell them by piece.  E-mail me or comment below if you are interested.

Imagine yourself sitting in this very chair.  It doesn't have to be just a crazy fantasy...

For those in the Isle of Man - the above price is in Canadian dollars and does not include shipping.

Isildur1 VS Negreanu results from Round 2 of 2

For those of you that only check in regularly to the blog, I've been following the SuperStar Showdown between Isildur1 and Daniel Negreanu.  This was to be a 2 part heads up match with all the player and pre-game information here.  The results of the first match where Daniel was destroyed by Isildur1 can be found  here.

For the second match I checked out the results mid-match yesterday and the posts in the blogosphere were announcing another big win for Isildur1.  Perhaps they jumped the gun.  Negreanu started an improbable comeback making the match's outcome unsure until the final hand had been played.

In the end Daniel had proven that although his opponent had been running sick through the first match and the first half of the second game, he could live up to his nickname KidComeback.  Book it as a $26 500 win for the old school pro.

Here is a link to an awesome article on pokerstarsblog.com.  This recap is exhaustive and has video replays of some very interesting hands.  It is well worth the read!

Another link of interest is fullcontactpoker.com.  This is a quick write up by Negreanu followed by 39 hand histories.

The next SuperStar Showdown starts this Sunday and pits Isildur1 against nosebleed regular Scott "urnotindangr" Palmer.

Poll Results

WHICH OF THE LAST 3 WSOP MAIN EVENT WINNERS DO YOU RESPECT THE MOST?

I recently listened to a Poker Road podcast where Duhamel was interviewed and I was impressed with him.  He is humble, grateful and gosh darn it, he's Canadian.

A Piece of History - Happy Birthday Sheldon!

I recently had a chance to play poker with Sheldon to celebrate his latest birthday.  He had some colourful stories of his prowess at the tables and in honour of his birthday I've decided to post a picture that Sheldon peeled from a shoebox in his attic of one of the poker games from his younger years.

Happy Birthday Sheldon, may your decisions at the table be as clear as this photograph.

(By the way Sheldon is the fuzzy guy in the very back on the right in the white shirt, wishing he had the scratch to get in the big game - 2 cent / 4 cent Limit Stud.)

Separated at Birth; Tom "Durrrr" Dwan vs Mr. Spock

TOM "DURRRR" DWAN vs MR. SPOCK

In case you are a non-believer, check out the following Mr. Spock quotes and you just might see Tom Dwan in them somewhere.  Besides you've never seen them in the same room have you, they just might be the same person...

Spock: Difficult to be precise, Captain. I should say approximately seven thousand eight hundred twenty four point seven to one.

Spock: Random chance seems to have operated in our favour.

Spock: Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically. You must rely on your human intuition.

Spock: Captain, you almost make me believe in luck.

Spock: I made an error in my computations.

Poker Shirts - The Pass The Dip Edition

This shirt rode Mike to the final table at the Binion's Daily in our first Vegas trip in 2004

The ultimate poker-shirt heater.  Please do not drool on your keyboard.

If any of you have poker shirts (or poker vests Dandy), wear it out so you can live in infamy with Gipeddo and Me.

Bloch Parents Must Be Proud - March 22, 2011 Results and Pictures

Last night's game started with the surprise introduction of our new personalized chairs.  Thanks go to Kramp for getting the name plates done for us.  I suspect he had an ulterior motive because when he had the plates engraved, his had mysteriously changed to a self-proclaimed nickname, rather than the group anointed Brain Kramp.  I'm pretty sure that self naming is illegal; next time you get a speeding ticket, give the police the name that you WISH you had rather than your given name.  Tit for Tat (I'd love to know what a tat is, but I digress,)  Kramp showed up only to find that his chair wasn't exactly as pictured in the blog post...

Kramp claims this chair is ergonomically better for his back, I think he does it to punish himself for his bad play.

And Goldie Kramp said "This one is just right!"

WSOD 2011 - EVENT #2 - Pot Limit Hold Em

We had 2 tables of 8 start the tournament with a new blind structure for this event.  In the money were...

4th - Co-Bra

3rd - Princess Leahy

2nd - Ali-G

1st - Drumroll please...as J-Lo's writers so brilliantly penned "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I drop, I'm still Dandy from the Bloch."

Dandy Bloch is first time bracelet winner.  He is an Aries and enjoys long walks with his vest...

The seventh sign of the apocalypse.

Being that no one is familiar with Pot Limit, I'd guess that 90% of all bets were "pot".  This turned the new structure into a shove fest.  After the first three levels, it felt like if you chose to play a hand, it could be your last -  no matter how many chips you had.  On the other hand, you knew if you doubled up, you had another rotation of breathing room.  I had a lot of fun in this one even though I donked out in 7th.  

Update on the following;

1.  Dandy Bloch has placed a $20 bounty on Nat X's head. Co knocked out and X and Dandy took the whole thing down.

2.  Ali vs Big Stack on the last longer.  This challenge was BS to incite side action, however Ali would have won it.  There were more last longer bets amongst the group and Big Stack and I both were in the positive from the side action.

Here are some pictures from the tournament.

Back when we all thought we had this one in the bag...

Stand and Deliver...the river

Harvey missed the all black attire at the black table memo.  His black heart makes up for it.

Co takes out X and collects the $20 Dandy put on his head.  So sweet!

The losers side of the final table.  We ended up starting a cash game where we sat, while the money winners duked it out on the other half of the table.

Then there were two.  Dandy made coin flips and Ali had a small starting range.  Both strategies worked great in a pot limit format.

Following the tournament, we had a few more guys come out and we ran two tables of .25 / .50 No Limit Hold Em, starting with the kids table.

The Blog Bonus was won by Big Stack Bobby Allen, the second most prolific poster, leaving the number 1 poster, Brain Kramp needing to win his money legitimately at the tables.  A new page for all Blog Bonus winners has been started here.

Sheldon timed his entrance perfectly to catch the first 3 players out at the kid's table cash game.

Kirby and Special K picked out kid's toys as card markers.  When the other two were getting theirs, I reminded Kramp that the doll he was given may contravene his court order, so I switched it to a little people lion.

Another.......tough........decision........

Cheeseburger tries to eat himself as Kirby eyes the leftovers.

Sheldon and Chocolate Chips went "nuts" in big pot after big pot after rebuy after big pot after rebuy after ...

It's like a poor Mexican zoo.  Wherever you look, you see donkeys.  Bwahhhh Hahhh hahhahahaha.

Big Stack Brunson once again lives up to his name and played good, taking down some serious coinage.

The Jackpot Bonus was won by Gosselin on his first night of many out at our home game.  You can see the particulars of this hand and a picture of the big man on a new page I created for all Jackpot winners here.

New nickname given - Jerry is a friend of Dandy's who has come out a few times and is a really decent dude.  He has been bestowed his Pass The Dip nickname - Jerry Bust.  This is a rip of Jerry Buss the poker playing owner of the LA Lakers who also did not win our tournament.

Tonight's Game

Game is tonight  (tournament and cash).  Looks like we should have a good showing.

Now for the fun side action:

1.  Dandy Bloch has placed a $20 bounty on Nat X's head.
   
2. As posted by Ali...

 Ali said...

Bob's running his mouth right now that he's going to clean up at the tournament tomorrow!!!!!

We already bet $20 that I'd beat him!!!!

Who wants some action that I beat his ass???????

March 22, 2011 12:12 AM

A review of tonight's game and pictures will be posted tomorrow, so check back Wednesday.

Poll Results

WHICH PLAYERS ARE THE HARDEST TO READ?

I was at Kramp's office the other day, and  I asked him how many computers he had access to.  He said "Oh lots, like 7 or so."  It was then that he came clean and admitted he voted 4 times for himself.

I don't hold this against him, because I don't think he can read himself very well - he thinks he is a decent poker player and that is a definite mis-read.  I also believe he voted for himself 5 times, but mis-remembered much like when he tries to re-tell a hand.

You know I'll never let a guy do adjustments to my bones if he can't even make adjustments to his poker game.

There is one poll running and another will be up soon!  Go vote.

Isildur1 VS Negreanu results from Round 1 of 2

Thanks to Nat X who left the following link for those of you interested in how the first SuperStar Showdown unfolded.  This is a link to an article posted at highstakesdb.com.  There are 4 hands featured and when you click on each of the links, the hands are shown on the virtual felt as if they are being played in real time - they look really cool and you can sit back and relax as you watch the hands unfold.

Isidur1 VS Negreanu results - round 1 of 2

Here are Daniel Negraneau's tweets from the contest;

RealKidPoker

1. Ok, officially shook off the loss. Back to the grind this week and a rematch with a fresh 150k next week.less than 20 seconds ago via ÜberSocial
2. Wrote a quick blog about the match:http://tinyurl.com/4eeacd9 contains the 14 pots we played that were 20k or more. He won 12 of them.about 1 hour ago via web
3. That was pretty frustrating. Lost the match in 1439 hands. In 20k + pots he beat me 12-2 and I ran 44k under par in all in pots again.about 2 hours ago via ÜberSocial
4. This has been pretty disgusting so far. Can't imagine running any worse.about 5 hours ago via ÜberSocial
5. Pinnacle line changed to Isildur -1.93, and you get +1.77 on me. About to start. Let's get ready to rumble!about 6 hours ago via ÜberSocial
6. A little mood music for today's match:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy2-VMBk0Do&feature=relatedabout 7 hours ago via web
7. Match vs Isildur starts in 30 min. I won't be tweeting, follow @bluffmagazine for updates. Had trouble sleeping but should be ok.about 7 hours ago via Twitter for iPad

Here are Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's;

My first Tweet, More poker tomorrow8:29 PM Sep 25th, 2010 via web

ViktorBlom

Viktor Blom

Not much of a tweeter I suppose...

Isildur1 VS Negreanu

PokerStars is hosting another high stakes heads up match as part of their SuperStar Showdown series.

This time Isildur1 is taking on Daniel Negreanu and you can watch it live, on-line on March 20th and March 27th.  The matches start at 3:00 PM ET.

THE PLAYERS

Courtesy of Wikipedia...

Viktor Blom is a Swedish high stakes online poker player, best known as Isildur1. ^[1] His rise to fame drew considerable audience around thepoker world in late 2009,^[2][3][4] taking part in all ten of the largest pots in online poker history.^[5][6] In December 2010, it was announced that then-anonymous Isildur1 had joined Team PokerStars Pro. Blom's online identity was revealed by PokerStars on January 8, 2011 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.^[1]

^{Daniel Negreanu (pronounced /nɨˈɡrɑːnoʊ/; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional pokerplayer of Romanian ancestry. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles. He is now ranked first in the all-time career earnings list, surpassing Phil Ivey who held that mark [2] and is also currently the star of poker game show Million Dollar Challenge.}
(editor's note - Negreanu was just passed in lifetime tournament winnings by Erik Seidel)

THE BACKSTORY

Blom's rise and fall at the nosebleed stakes on fulltilt have received an incredible amount of attention for those that follow on-line poker.  The fact that until January of this year, his real identity was unknown only added to the mystery.  Negreanu on the other had is about as public a poker player you can find.  He is everywhere and is very open about the development of his poker game.  Isildur1 is an online specialist, Negreanu is a legend at live poker.  One is part of the new wave of young phenoms and the other is a proven old school player.  It will be a clash of styles, a clash of cash.

This is Isildur1's 6th match in the SuperStar Showdown matches at PokerStars.  He lost his first match to Isaac Haxton, but then went on a run of 4 wins by defeating Eugene Katchalov, Daniel Cates, Tony G and on-line qualifier Attila Gulcsik which he curiously won by a measly $10.

THE FORMAT

Courtesy of PokerStars...

A SuperStar Showdown is a high stakes, heads-up match consisting of a single session of 2,500 hands. The match is played across four tables of No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, at stakes no lower than $50/$100. The winner is the player that shows either a profit after 2,500 hands, or wins all of their opponent’s match bankroll.

LINKS TO MORE...

Fox Sports

PokerStars

Poker Listings

Bluff Magazine

BONUS POKER T-SHIRT