Dear Diary...(2015)

by Anthony Panza

PPT #1 - 1/9/2015

A new season has approached us and that brings us new rules and same all PPT. This year we began with 7500 and took out the 75-150 blind. Pete thought the game would take longer but it actually went a lot smoother than he thought. We only had 10 players but it was a good set of players and chips were flying everywhere. The first one out in the new year was Mr. Lew and with the chip stack increased he easily bought back in with more than 6,000 in chips. The second one out was Jose and he did everything right except win the hand. So his 2015 is starting like his 2014 ended. Shitty. There was a raise pre flop by Crilley and Jose called in big blind. The flop came 1092 and Jose checked. Thats when Crilley bet 800 and Jose went all in right after that. Crilley thought for a while and thought he had nothing and called. Crilley flipped over AK but Jose flipped over A10. Unfortunately for Jose the turn was a King and Crilley knocked out Jose in 9th. As we continue to play the other table said that he hit an 8 high flush. Tony P. thought they said he hit a Straight High Flush. He continue to say it after we told him it was an 8 high flush. Pretty Funny. Jose also said that when he plays cash game they got a guy they call, Figure That, The reason they call him that is because after he loses a hand and you show him what you got he says, I figure that. Alright, last year was the Year of The Rob but this year so far it isn't. He was our next victim when he was all in with QJ to Jay O's 43 suited clubs. The flop was J104 with two clubs and then the turn was another J giving Rob trips and he said, "no club on the river." He didn't get what he wanted and a 6 of club came on the river knocking him out. TYOTR no more. Our final table was set and within 15 minutes Tony P. was nexted out as he went for a flush draw that he didn't hit, as Mr. Lew hit a full house. Then it was my turn as I could not get the double up i needed and eventually went all in with AQ. Campbell called with 88 and the flop came AK8. Shockingly I lost another race. I lose those bitches 8 times out of 10. The turn and river didn't help as it gave me two pair compare to the Legends trip 8s. Next out was Jay O as he raised to 3,200 preflop and Crilley went all in. Jay called and flipped over AQ to Crilley's JJ. Nothing higher than a 9 came on the board and Jay came in 6th with 5th place points. Then the final five played for a while until Sherwin went all in preflop for 10,500. Mr. Lew called for 9,000 and Pete right after Mr. Lew called for 9,500. Sherwin was holding 99 Pete AQ and Mr. Lew AK. The board read 1081087 and Sherwin knocked out Mr. Lew in 5th and Pete in 4th. We were down to our final three, Crilley, The Legend, and Really aka Sherwin. Crilley had the chip lead but Sherwin was right on his ass. Campbell was sitting with about 15,000. But after playing for a little bit Sherwin raised to 8,000. Crilley went all in and Sherwin snapped called with AJ. I was surprise by that with only AJ but it actually was the right call. Crilley flipped over KJ. The flop came 8108 and Sherwin was looking good. But just like what he did earlier to Jose, Crilley spike one of the remaining Kings on the turn and took Sherwin out in 3rd place. Sherwin at the time had about 30,000 to Crilleys 40,000. So campbell had an uphill battle ahead of himself to take Crilley out. Well, Campbell won the first two hands they played heads up and got over 20k. Then he pushed again on the third hand with QJ and Crilley called with A3. The flop came KJ5. You think Campbell was looking good but you are wrong. It was Crilley's night and the turn was a 4 giving him a gut shot striaght draw and the river ended Campbells run when it was a 2, giving Crilley the straight. Campbell being Campbell was pretty upset but he took home 2nd place. Crilley is our first winner of 2015. See you all in two weeks

PPT #2 - 1/23/2015

Well the game started at 8:20 sharp and we had 14 players. We got the see the usual Pete blow up, funnny comments from Tony P., and a Dave buying back in. Just not the one you would think. As the game got to about the hour mark, we got our first comment from Tony P. He was in a hand with The legend and he told him that this is his magical moment agianst him. No one had a clue what it was but in the end he just folded his hand. Then not much later Karen's name got bought into the conversation becuase she was coming over. Someone said something about Karen missing and Tony P. once again had another comment to say. He goes, "I miss Karen like I miss a dose of the clap." Yup he said that. Ok back to Poker. Our first victim around the hour mark was Dave Charma Jr. Yes not Bud Dave but Bud Dave Jr. He rebought back in but didn't last much longer becasue he was knocked out again along with Tony P, two players later. Our next victim was Poker Steve. He just said it was a warm up for tomorrow. I don't know how he did but i hope it was better than the 13th place finish he got tonight. As I said before Crilley took down both, Tony P. and Dave Jr not much longer in the same hand. Then Doris was our next victim and she could not get much going all night long. She wanted to put the game under protest becuase she was in a hand but not paying attention and someone made a bet after the flop. They folded all their cards and the flop and she then turns around and said she was in the hand. She had suited connectors and the person who won hit two pair on the flop. She would have lost anyway but being a Panza, she put up a big stink for some time. We blame Kiersten, thats all I am going to say. The Legend couldn't muster up a winning hand and went all in with pocket 5's. Matt called him with pocket 8's. Nothing hit on board and the Campbell was out in 10th place. Then Dave Sr. followed and we got our final table. It didn't take long at the final table before we lost our first player. Jay had to go all in because he was low stack with 82. There were two callers and after a flop of 86Q, Pete made a 3,000 bet. The thing is he didn't have anything when he flipped over AJ. Everyone else already folded and the turn came a J giving Pete the hand. The river was a meaningless 7 and we were down to 7. The only time Rob slow playing a hand works is when he is up against Campbell. Instead of raising in first position with QQ he just called and let the small and big blind see the hand. The flop came 734 and Crilley bet 1,600. Rob went all in right after that for 4,100 and Crilley snapped called. Crilley flipped over 73 and it held up knocking Rob out in 7th. Next out was Matt and he was second in chips at the time he was knocked out. Unfortunately he got into a hand with Crilley. Matt raised preflop with A9 suited to 7,000 and Crilley went all in. Matt debated for a while and then finally called. Crilley flipped over 88 and Matt flopped a flush draw. Nothing else came out higher than an 8 and not spade, knocking Matt out in 6th. Pete took a bad beat but its part of poker. The flop came out KJ2 and Mr. Lew bet 6,000. Pete went all in for 9,000. Mr Lew called. Pete had K10 Mr. Lew had J10 of hearts and two hearts were on board. Mr. Lew hit his flush on the river and Pete was disgusted by the way he lost. Pete's W.O.W. was he said "I have been playing good poker just not able to finish." I couldn't catch a cold all night and somehow was still in the game. I decided to push with J5 of hearts in first position for 5,000 and Crilley only had to call for 2,000 more. He had A2. I hit a jack on the flop but Crilley running hot and hit an Ace on the river to make me bubble bitch. The last three remaining were Jose, Mr. Lew and Crilley. They played for a little while and then the two chip stacks got into a big hand. I only caught the end but the river was a 9 and the board read J10559. Jose checked and Crilley went all in. Jose called quick and flipped over J9. Unfortunate for him, Crilley was holding KQ for the straight and knocked out Jose in 3rd place for 23 points. Crilley then offer Mr. Lew the split even though Crilley had over 100K to Mr. Lew's 15K. Mr Lew decline his offer and said, "He is going to have to work for his win." Mr. Lew made it all the way back to even before they finally decided to split the pot. Lucky enough they did because the roads were getting bad. They played one more hand for the points and Crilley had 88 to Mr. Lews 108. Nothing hit and Crilley technically wins two in a row. Mr Lew took home 25 points and Crilley took home 31 points. See you in 2 weeks bitches

PPT #3 - 2/6/2015

PPT #3 had some new faces, old friends, same finishes for me, and Pete being upset once again. What didn’t change though were the results of the game. We had a few no shows but still were able to play with 11. We like to welcome, The League members, to our game Ariel, Rudy, Stan, and Xavier. The game began and there was plenty of action early on. Only one stack kept getting lower as the first hour was coming to a close. That person seems to be making a habit of it this year as well as the latter part of last year. That person is Jose. He decided to push all in when three people limped in and I was the big blind. I folded but Mr. Lew didn’t and called with AQ. Jose said, “Shit, I was trying to steal the pot,” and flipped over 85. The board read J6J63 and Jose immediately rebought. He still keeps complaining that he should be able to get more points even though he was first out. Jose, it’s been the same conversation that we have had over the last 6 months since you seem to be in this position a lot. The answer will never change. You are stuck with 2 points and you can play for the money. Next to follow right before the break was a newbie, Rudy. The flop came 732 and Xavier went all in. Rudy debated for a quick second and called with AQ with the smaller stack. Xavier flipped over K9 so it was the right call, even though ballsy. The problem was though there were two cards still to come. The turn was a K and the river was a 9 giving Xavier two pair and Rudy finished in 10th. Karen would not stop talking about how Jose and Xavier looked alike and they eventually took a picture with each other. Maybe Karen can post the picture and you can decide. I said no. To be honest there was not much excitement and quotes to put into this diary entry, maybe that’s because Tony P. didn’t play. Therefore I am going to go back to poker. Karen and Steve were the next victims when she was all in for 1900. Mr. Lew and Steve were already in for 600 and easily called her. That’s right our Central American friend Steve showed up and gave us some of his philosophical quotes and jokes that all of us have missed. The flop came, K86 and Mr. Lew made a 1500 bet. Steve went all in for exactly 1500 . Mr. Lew flipped over KQ and Steve flipped over 55. The turn was another K and the river was a J. Karen flipped over AJ and she finished in 9th. Steve, who had more money, was knocked out in technically 9th but received 8th place points. We were down to our final table. No one was sitting with a monster stack but we did have a couple of small stacks. Within the first 15 minutes, one of the small stacks decided to try to make a move after the flop but it didn’t work in his favor. Xavier was big blind and had two other callers. The flop came 10410 with two diamonds and Jose checked and Xavier went all in for 1900. Pete folded and Jose snapped called and flipped over 109. Xavier flipped over 86 of diamond and the two remaining cards did not give him the flush and Xavier received 7th place points. Not much longer Rob and Mr. Lew got into a big hand where Mr. Lew took most of Rob’s chips and took the chip lead in the process. After playing for a little bit Pete became the low stack and pushed with 43 of diamond. Unfortunately for him the small blind, Rob called with 55 and the big blind, Stan, called with JJ. The board read 8977A and Pete took home 6th place points. Ariel was pissed because he folded A7 and lost out on a huge pot. The problem for Ariel was the fact the he was low also and not much longer he was all in. Mr. Lew pre-flop raise to 6000 and Ariel and Jose called. The blinds at the time were 1500-3000. The flop came, A65 and Mr. Lew went all in. Ariel called for his remaining 3500 and flipped over 94 of hearts. Mr. Lew flipped over QQ. The turn was a J of hearts giving Ariel a flush draw but the river was a K of club knocking Ariel out with 5th place points. Next out was Jose as he could not muster any good cards with his remaining small stack. We were down to four and Rob was low stack. I tried everything to get him out of the game but he kept getting lucky to secure his place in the money. One hand I had 108 to his 94 and we split the pot. Another hand, I had A9, he had AQ, and I hit a 9 on flop he hits a Q on the river. With that being said I was the bubble bitch once again. Blinds were 2500-5000 and I went all in, in first position with A10. But of course Mr. Lew had to have KK in his hand. Nothing hit and I took 4th place points. If you didn’t notice the trend, Mr. Lew was winning the big hands that made him the chip leader that he never would relinquish. Stan finished in 3rd as he called a pre-flop raise of 6000. The flop came 1098 and he went all in with J2. Mr. Lew, being that it was his night called, with KQ. The turn and river were 4 and a 3 and Stan took home 20 points. The very next hand Mr. Lew raised pre-flop and Rob went all in. Mr. Lew called and flipped over A9. Rob had 103 of spades. The board read AJ7Q2 and Rob finished in 2nd place and took home 22 points. Mr. Lew won this game and technically has won two in a row. He took home 28 points. See you in two weeks

PPT #4 - 2/20/2015

Let’s just say there was Panzamodium in the Panza house. I envied the people who played upstairs and I felt bad for the people who were at my table with the noise. We had our biggest field ever of 30 players and at least 24 people were going home unhappy. I am still trying to figure out why someone made the dumbest call I may have ever seen. It was that bad that the guy came up to me and said, ”That was a bad call,” and he was the one who did it. We still had our usually things happen as, the Poker legend went home disgusted, My father’s blood pressure was off the roof before the game, Pete was pissed, and I was a loser again. My father will bitch and moan every time we have more than 20 players but once he heard we were going to have 30 he was pissed. He eventually got over it and the game went smoothly. Now for the cash game that was a different story. Pete’s WOW statement was written down in the diary. He wrote, He Sucks and an arrow pointing to his own name. Ha. I like to say hello to the 10 new people or recently newbies/foreigners. We call you foreigners until you played 5 games and then Rob will give you a gutterpoker card that he makes up for everyone. Ok back to poker. Our first casualty for the night was a newbie in Anthony Rivera. He was knocked out within the first 30 minutes and re-bought back in. He had AA and was cracked by Matt Perls with 98 as Matt hit a full house on the river. Not far after that we lost Silent Mat. Then Earl decided to just call a hand and leave himself with about 600. He lost the hand and the next hand he was knocked out. We went into the break with 28 players still left. Within the first 30 minutes after, we lost Dave Ch., Steve Poker, Tony P., Xiomara, Ariel, and Karen. And as usual, Karen complained on how she got out. She kept bitching by saying how she couldn’t believe he called that hand and how he had no respect for her. No joke she said this about 5 or 6 times. I told Dave II to just let her speak her mind and don’t say anything back. It’s what I learned to do. Not too long after I was knocked out along with our Central American friend Steve, Matt Perls, and Jose. Then we had our first bickering from a player and it wasn’t Poker Legend Dave Campbell. It was someone just as similar in Ryan Dinella. He said, “I went into the hand ahead.” As I was hearing Ryan say those words we lost another player in Kerri. With his knock out and Kerri’s, we were down to two tables. With 16 players left we still had a long way to go. Keith and Pete were our next victims. Pete had to go all in with K2 but could not hit anything as Alex D.’s AQ held up. Then as I look over to the secondary table we lost, Anthony Rivera again when he pushed with AQ to Ed’s KK. Nothing hit and we were down to 13. About 10 minutes later I looked over again at the secondary table and I see Ed stacking more chips to his stack. As he was doing that, I saw Ricky and Jen getting up as the feel victim to Ed’s wrath. Noah kept getting low and then getting back to even but then was knocked out in 11th place. Then the world stopped as the Poker Legend was all in with A9 and was snapped called by Ed with JJ. The look on the face of the legend said it all and he was our 10th place finisher. We were one person away from having or final table and it took one hand to not only get us to the final table but to get us to all the people in the money. This is the hand I am still scratching my head over. Doris was big blind for 3,000 and just went all in with her remaining 500. She was called by Mike, Rudy, and Dave II. The flop came 842 Rainbow. Mike checked and Rudy went all in for his remaining 500 and then Dave II went all in for about 6,500 more. Mike called and this is why I said what I said at the beginning of this diary entry. Doris flipped over 106, Rudy had K10, Dave II had A10 and Mike had K5. Yes that’s right he called with K5 with a board that read 842. It was for most of his chips too. Well the turn was a 9 and the river was a 5 giving Mike the win with his terrible call and knocking Doris out in 9th, Rudy in 8th, and Dave II in 7th. With that knock out we had our final table. Out of the 6 players 5 were newbies and one was an original member. Within the first 10 minutes of the final table Paul D. was out. There was a min raised pre-flop and Paul and Ed were in the hand. After the flop no one bet and then the turn came. Paul went all in with a board that read 10472 with A6. He was called by Ed with 66 and the river was a 9 giving Paul a 6th place finish. Then it was Alex D next to follow. He was all in for 6,500 with blinds at 2500-5000 and was called by Mr. Lew and Freddy. The flop was 1098 and there was a small bet with both players calling. Then the turn came another 8 and they both checked. The river was the third 8 and Freddy made a bet and Mr. Lew folded quickly. Freddy flipped over J8 to hit quads and Alex was our 5th place finisher. Then Mike tried to make a move with K10 for over 30,000 by pushing all in pre-flop but was instantly called by Ed who was holding QQ. Nothing hit and Ed took down another player with another monster hand and Mike went home in 4th place. Mr. Lew who had been running hot lately finally met his match in an unlucky way. Mr. Lew went all in pre-flop with 1010 and was called by Freddy with Q10 for roughly 18K. The unfortunate thing for Mr. Lew is that we had to see the cards. The flop was AKJ and it was all over for Mr. Lew as Freddy hit Broadway and nothing else came on the turn and river to help him. He took home 3rd place. Freddy and Ed were very close in chips and decided to split the top two. Well we had to play it out and Ed won the first hand and then won the second hand to knock out Freddy in 2nd place. Ed took home PPT #4 1st place finish. That’s it for now, We will see you in two weeks in Milltown.

PPT #5 - 3/6/2015

I apologize for not doing this earlier but I was sick with the flu for the last 4 days. For once I will not say Pete is completely pissed off but he was mad. His words of wisdom,”I have been playing well just not well enough.” Pete was actually overwhelmed with the amount of people that showed up. We never had more than 11 people in Pete’s house until this game. 18 players showed up and Pete was all over the place. He had to bring chairs from all over the house, set up a table in “The Dungeon”, and look for as many chips as he could since we didn’t have enough greens. With that said we started late and still people showed up almost 45 minutes later. I like to say hello to the newbies/foreigners to our game in Luke, Tom, Tom sr., and Orlando. Early on in the game we were speaking about the diaries, The Legend says he always gets in it well this time you are in it for terrible reasons. I say that because Campbell was our first victim of the night within the first hour of the game. I think Jose just showed up and may have played two hands. He was called by 9’s to his Q’s and Luke hit a 9 on the flop. It was the next hand though that knocked him out. He re-bought immediately but didn’t fare much better as he was our 3rd person out when his two pair were lower than someone else’s two pair. The funny thing is that Luke, who took most of his chips, lost all of them in about 45 minutes and was our second person out. Once Campbell was knocked out the second time we combine to two tables. It was there that Dave II, AKA Bud Dave Jr., said to me, “How come I haven’t gotten a quote yet in your diary. “ It’s because I haven’t heard something funny or interested enough that would make it. Or I may just have missed it when you said it. When we were down to two tables Dave did go, “Well I am down to 2,500 I guess I can go home early since I been up since 3am.” That’s when things changed for him. He began to hit cards and his stack kept growing. As this was happening we lost Tom Jr., Tony P. who says he still hasn’t hit any cards since before the TOC, Tom Sr, who I believe got knocked out because he felt bad for his son and didn’t want him to hang out by himself, and Ariel. Maybe three hands later I was all in after Pete rose to 2,500. Pete had pocket JJ and I had pocket 1010. Nothing hit and I finished in 13th place. I must say I have been played shitty so far this year and I am really pissed off. Still mad about those trip 8’s that I had with a shitty kicker that I lost to Jay O with. Next out was our Central American friend Steve who is wise been his years and as funny as ever. Noah was next to follow but I don’t even know if he even knew he was out. He seemed to be on his phone more than paying attention to the game. So when he was knocked out he just got up and continued to play with his phone. We were down to 9 and it was Rob that was the unfortunate victim as being the bubble bitch to the final table. With a flop Q95, Freddy made a bet on the flop and Rob went all in over 9,000. Freddy made the call and Rob flipped over QJ to Freddy’s A9. Well since it has been the Freddy show over the last two tourneys he hit his 3rd 9 on the river to get us to our final table. They played for a little while until Karen was out first. The flop came, KK9 and Dave II bet 1,600. Karen went all in for around 11,000 and everyone folded excepted Dave. He called and flipped over KQ. Karen unfortunately flipped over KJ. The turn was a Q and the river was a 10 giving Dave a full house and Karen finished in 8th. Rudy was getting low and decided to push with A5 for 5,000. Dave called again and he flipped over J9. The flop came, J74 giving Dave the lead. The turn was interesting as it came a 6 giving Rudy a straight draw but the river was a 9, giving Dave two pair and Rudy finished in 7th place. Then Orlando was too low to wait any longer and called Jose’s raise. He was big blind for 3,000 and pushed in his last 500. Jose flipped over QQ and Orlando had J7. The flop came 678 giving Orlando some hope. But the hope vanished quickly as Jose dealt the next two cards quickly and flipped a 9 and a K. Orlando finished in 6th. Now it was our bubble bitch time and that distinction went to Pete. He too got low and was able to see a flop when it was just him being the big blind and Freddy being the small blind. The flop came 326 and they both check. The turn came a 4 which now had three diamonds on the board. Freddy check and Pete went all in. Pete thought he might be good when he flipped over 75 for a 7 high straight but the only problem was Freddy flipped over A9 of diamonds for an Ace high flush. The river was meaningless and Pete finished in 5th. Now that we are in the money it didn’t take long until one brother knocked out another brother. Jose raised pre-flop and Jay O. went all in. Jose called a little and flipped over QJ. Jay had AK. The board read, Q9J54 and Jay finished in 4th place. Now we were down to three and they began to talk about a split. Everyone seemed to go with it but Jose was, lets’ just say he was clueless on what was going on. They didn’t split at first and played for another 15 to 20 minutes. Jose was eventually all in with A5 and Freddy called with KQ. Freddy hit a Q on the flop but Jose got what he needed on the turn with an Ace giving him the hand and then he finally woke up. He realized after the hand they talked about a split and the three of them decided to do it. Dave was down because he said, “Shit I will take it since I been up since 3am.” So instead of playing it out they decided that winner of the points will be by chip stack. Jose finished in 3rd since he had 37K. Dave II finished in 2nd with 54k and Freddy took home 1st by 1,500 chips with 55.5K. Peace out bitches, see you in a week.

PPT #6 - 3/20/2015

First off I would like to say I am a little salty because I suck and have been playing the worst poker in the last few months. With that said here it goes. Before I begin with Poker updates, I like to make a few comments. Please comment below if you believe the Panza’s ever are nice to each other in a poker hand. Even people on Friday saw it firsthand that it doesn’t happen. Doris tried to bluff Tony and Tony caught her on it. We never slow play our family. When money is on the line you should go for the win. I like everyone and consider everyone friends but once we sit down at a poker table that goes out the window and the game is on. You definitely don’t see Bud Dave and Dave II check to each other. Even when Pete and I are in a hand, and I have known the kid for 30 plus years, and we both have shit, I will still go after his chips and vice versa. Ok I am done. Back to Poker. Even on this shitty night we had 19 people show up. We did have one bitch who didn’t show up and I will not mention any names, Rob, but he didn’t want to drive in the snow. I like to welcome a newbie to the game in Yoan. He got first glance at what it is like to have a rebuy seat at a game. Within the first hour and a half, Yoan was out and didn’t even know that there was a buy back seat. When he was told that he could re-buy, he immediately re-bought. The question is, did this work out in the end? As we were playing Bud Dave, said “Any day above ground is a good day.” I then said to him, ”You like quoting Pitbull.” Steve then chimes in and says, “Who is Pitbull?” Dave goes, “He is a singer and Steve if you put a suit on you would look like Pitbull.” We all laugh and Kerri tried to be quiet but I heard her say, “Pitbull is a lot cuter.” After the fact, Steve says he looks like Michael Chiklas. Which we all agreed he looked like more. Haha When Yoan came downstairs to rebuy we had our second person knocked out within 3 minutes from Yoan in Jen. After that we didn’t have another knock out for some time. When someone was finally knocked out it was Kerri when she was all-in after a flop of A74 with AQ. She was called by Steve with A7 and Kerri didn’t catch the Q to stay in the game. After Kerri was knocked out a few minutes later Dave II was knocked out by Doris with her flush on the flop. We were down to 16 and combine to two tables. Right after we combine Bud Dave was out next when Pete caught trip 2’s to take him out. Then Ariel a few hands later was all in with pocket K’s to Pete’s pocket A’s and we were down to 13. Matt then goes, “Wow in the last 10 minutes we lost 5 players.” That’s because when the price of poker goes up people have to start making moves. Well that was what I tried to do next and it completely didn’t work out. I was first to act for 2k and went all in with K10 I was called by Rudy and Jay O. The flop came J75 and Jay bet, Rudy raised him all in, and Jay called. Rudy flipped over AJ and Jay flipped over 1010. Nothing else hit and I finished in 13th while Jay finished in 12th. I sat around for a while until I finally got up and went over to the other table. That is when I saw a familiar situation. Pete was standing up. The only time he does that is when he is all in. Well he had A10 and Freddy had QQ. Freddy hit a Q on the flop and Pete was out in 11th. Matt then followed next and then Doris, we were down to bubble to the final table. I will only say this once more. We play down to 8 to the final table. It has been 8 for 8 years now and it will always be 8. Even when Karen had her tirade where she said to me, “You will not even do it for family,” I stuck to my guns and we played down to 8. With that said, it was Steve who was knocked out in 9th place but received 8th place points because Yoan was still in. We had our final table. I would first like to thank Jen for dealing the final table. Thanks Jen. The first person out at the final table was Tony. He didn’t raise much pre flop with AJ and was called by Freddy. The flop came, J710 and Tony went all in. Freddy called and flipped over the straight with 89. The last two cards were rags and Tony finished in 8th with 7th place points. Mr. Lew, who never was above 10,000 for the night, was low and went all in with JJ. Unfortunately for him Karen had KK and nothing hit, making Mr. Lew our 7th place finisher with 6th place points. Not too much later Rudy was low and went all in with 55. Yoan called and the big blind Freddy called. The board read 7897A. Yoan flipped over A6 and Freddy flipped over Q2. Yoan hit his Ace on the river knocking out Rudy in 6th place with his 5th place points. We were down to our bubble bitch. It was Karen, Jose, Freddy, Yoan, and Ryan. Now if you don’t understand what I am talking about in my opening paragraph, you will now know. When I say I play to win and throw friendships out the window when we sit down to play cards, I mean it. It may make me a douche but that’s how I play. Now you are entitled to play the way you want and you are a nicer player than I am, With the bubble bitch looming and with Karen and Ryan being low, it was only a matter of time before one of them got knocked out. I would first like to ask Yoan and Ryan, Were you two on a date and Jen was a bad waiter to you? The reason I ask is whenever you two were in the hand I think you kept asking Jen for the “CHECK.” I never seen so much checking between two players in my life. Then I realize, earlier in the game when Yoan ask if him and Ryan can chop a pot, it dawn on me. Damn you Horsemen. It was two against 3 in the final 5 and Yoan was not going to be the one to take out Ryan. I knew that for a fact when I saw this hand play out. They were the only two left in a hand as small and big blind. They both had A7 and none of them raised pre-flop. Then to make matters worse, there was an Ace on the flop and none of them bet and just checked it down to the river. Seriously fellas, Play to win. It was that bad when even Freddy, who barely talks, says in a hand with him and Ryan only in it,”Want to chop, want to chop.” Jose and Karen were in their own world and had no clue what was going on. With that said it was Karen who was our bubble bitch when she had to go all in with J8 to Freddy’s A10. Nothing hit and Karen finished in 5th with 4th place points. Then things began to turn for Ryan as he began to hit cards against Freddy and Jose, since Yoan didn’t play a hand against him. Ryan gradually built up his stack and it was Freddy who finished in 4th. Jose raised to 20k and Freddy went all in with KQ suited spades. Jose called with AA. The flop came 3510 with two spades giving Freddy life. But the river and turn didn’t give him the third spade he needed and he finished in 4th place with 3rd place points and $80. Now it was Jose against the Horsemen. Funny thing is Jose was in a world of his own, if you know what I mean. He had Karen and Kier still next to him talking to him and he was playing on his phone. It was Ryan who then went all in, first to act with AJ and Jose called in big blind with A5. Nothing hit and that was a huge chip amount shipped towards Ryan. The next hand, Jose went all in as small blind with 43 of hearts for 12k and Ryan called with A8. The board read J10862 and that was it for Jose as he finished in 3rd place with 2nd place points. Right after that, Yoan and Ryan decided to chop and we didn’t play a hand. That’s because Yoan who rebought, came all the way back and was the first this year to come back and technically win after rebuying. Ryan took home 1st place points since Yoan only took home 2 points. Congrats to the two of you. I will be watching the two of you next time. Later Bitches, see you in two weeks.

PPT #7 - 4/3/2015

It has been a long few weeks with the accounting season coming to the end but it is my duty to provide you with a recap of PPT #7. What can I say, the poker legend went home pissed once again and will be haunted by J8 suited, Pete not winning one hand all night, yes not one hand, maybe the best quote of all time, and there was PANZAmodium at the final table. This question is to the Poker Legend, will you never go home completely miserable and pissed off when you get knocked out of a game? I cannot remember the last time that has happened. Well we had 16 players show up and one of those players was a newbie in Vikas. Welcome Vikas. The game started almost on time and there was a lot of action going on early. I felt like at our table to only ones winning were our Central American friend Steve, Karen, and Freddy. Emotions were flying high as Ariel was completely pissed at Freddy for beating him with 23 suited to his pocket 10’s. It was a great night. One of the best quotes of the night was when Steve was in a hand with Rob. Rob was playing every hand, literally every hand and when it was just him and Steve, Steve says, “It’s you and me. Rob how many times have you heard it’s you and me.” Seriously Rob kept calling everyone’s raised and I believe most of the time he had shit. Not too far into the game Rob was getting low and was eyeing the buyback stack but before he could blink, it was Mr. Lew buying back in within the first hour of the game. The game played on for a little while before we lost another person. As the game was going on there was one hand that Steve felt he made the right move but people were questioning him. The flop came 1052 of clubs. Steve was no blind and called pre-flop. After the flop Mr. Lew bet $2000 and Steve folded and flipped over 69 of clubs. Yes he had the flush but felt he was beat or going to be beat. He asked Mr. Lew what he had and all he said was that he had the Ace of clubs. Karen goes to Steve, ”Honestly Steve, what were you looking for on the flop.” Which was a valid question and I felt Steve gave a valid answer back by saying he felt he was beat. Steve later told Karen that he got her on the remove read. His explanation for what a remove read was, He was able to read Karen who was not in the hand. Finally when all of this was over we lost our second player in Crilley. No three peat for you kid. Then it was Jose. But that still didn’t stop him from talking. He was doing his own commentary over both tables. Then Rob and Vikas followed suit. We were down to twelve in a matter of 30 minutes. Then a game changing hand happened. Steve and Freddy who were two of the bigger stacks at our table got into it. The flop came, K87, Freddy checked and Steve fire a bet. Freddy called. The turn was a 4 and Freddy checked again Steve bet and Freddy called. The river was a 6 and Steve went all in for less than 1000 and Freddy called. Freddy flipped over K9 but unfortunately for him Steve had 105 and hit a straight on the river. That hand crippled Freddy and 15 minutes later he was out next. Then the man who didn’t win a hand all night in Pete was out next and then Ariel. This is where things start to get a little crazy. The Poker legend raised pre-flop to 3,600 with AQ and Tony P. called. The flop comes 1097 and Dave goes all in. Tony says, ”yeah I call,” and flipped over J8. The face that the poker legend made was priceless and he kept saying to everyone and Tony, “How can you call that big of a riase with J8?” He kept complaining about it all the way out the door. Sorry Campbell, you can’t win the all. That got us to the final table. 4 Panzas vs 4 others. It took only three hands before the Others had the advantage. I went all in on the button with KQ and just my luck, my father who was small blind had AK and he hit an Ace on the flop. That knocked me out in 8th place. I sat around for a little but chips kept passing from one person to another. And not many hands after I was knocked out I thought we were going to see another Panza in Kerri getting knocked out. The flop came, K65 and my dad checked and Kerri went all in for $5000. Tony called quickly and flipped over 65. Kerri had KQ. But unlike my own luck, which is bad luck, Kerri got what she needed when the turn and river were a 2 to give her two higher pairs. After a little while I went upstairs for like 10 to 15 minutes and when I came back down we were down to 4. Steve was our next victim as he was all in after the turn with three spades on board and an Ace. Steve flipped over Ace rag and Tony P. flipped over two spades for the flush. Then Mr. Lew got knocked out when he double the blind pre-flop with A6. The flop came 1064 and Mr. Lew went all in for about 10k and Kerri called instantly with 1010. She had trips and Mr. Lew finished in 6th. Next to follow was Rudy. So close yet so far away from the money. The flop was Q52 and Rudy made it 4k. Billy raised and Rudy went all in. Billy called and Billy flipped over Q9 and Rudy flipped over KQ. The turn was garbage but the river was a 9 knocking Rudy out as our bubble bitch. So we were down to the ugliest final four. Kerri Karen Tony P. and Billy Devine. Yes that was Kerri’s plus one for tonight. Now I thought this night was going to be over quick since it was already down to 4 and it wasn’t even close to 12. Boy was I wrong. These four played FOREVER before it was the last of the Others who was knocked out in Billy. Billy went all in blind since he was big blind and only had 10k left. Tony P called with JJ and the board read 92474. Billy had hope after the flop but it quickly dashed as the two remaining cards did not help. Billy took home 4th place and 4th place points. So we were down to the Panzas and yes there was no chop. PANZAS DON’T CHOP. And this is where one of, if not greatest quotes I ever heard came out of Tony P. My dad had a good stack but lost a lot of it. Mr. Lew goes to him, “Tony, what happen to your stack.” My dad goes,” My daughters are taking my pants off.” Yup that’s right his daughters were taking his pants off. No clue where that came from but only the infamous Tony P could say something like that. It left Mr. Lew speechless and the rest of the room dying of laughter, except for Kerri and Karen. Ha. Finally Karen was knocked out when she was all in with J10 to Kerri’s 56 and Tony P’s K9. The board read Q927Q and Tony took out one of his daughters who were taking his pants off. Karen got 3rd place and 3rd place points. Kerri had a huge chip lead but every time Tony P. went all in he would hit prolonging my misery. Finally Kerri went all in with AJ and Tony P called with KQ. The board read 1053108 and it was finally over with Kerri Panza taking home 1st place and Tony, my pants were taking off by my daughters, took home 2nd place. Alright bitches see you all in two weeks.

PPT #8 - 4/17/2015

What can I say, the alcohol was flowing, well flowing through Billy and Poker Steve mouths while the rest of us were comfortable with the couple of drinks we had tonight. Once again, I am completely pissed at how I played and also how shitty my cards were. When I had an Ace, a King or Q would flop when I had KQ an Ace would flop. No matter how I look at it, I just suck. Pete’s WOW for the night is,” I come so close but I can’t get over the hump.” Once again he was at a final table and once again he did not cash. There was no siting of the Poker legend tonight so there was no completely pissed off, how can you call me with that, face tonight. Don’t get me wrong there were plenty of pissed off people just no one like the Legend. Alright we had 19 people play with a buy back from a very unlikely person. This person even said, I don’t know what to do I am never out this early. That distinction went to Karen. Within the first 30 minutes she was buying back. The board read 238A2. There was a lot of action after the turn and river with Karen calling Ed’s all in and she flipped over A2. Unfortunately Ed was holding 33 and she lost to a higher full house. I am going to say this once and I don’t know if I ever will say this again, but Karen was by far the quietest I ever heard her at a poker table. When we combine I didn’t even know she was still in the game. Not joking. She wasn’t feeling well and she was a little mad. Whatever it was, can that happen more often, minus the sick part. Lucky for Karen being knocked out as early she was, or was it, because Freddy and Stan followed suit not much further after her. All I know is a little drunk, Poker Steve, raised with 93 and beat Stan’s all in with KJ. Terrible but that is what you get when you play a guy like Steve. Poker Steve had a huge stack and by the time we combine, which was only 1 person away, he was out. He can lose them as fast as he can get them. He told me Billy hit two cards on the river to knock him out. Oh well Shit happens. After we combine it was Tony P who got knocked out because he only sees what is in his hand and not what is on the board. The flop was 8K8 and there was a bet, a call, and then he raised and two people called him. The turn was a K which made him bet again and then on the river Matt put him all in. He called saying he had the full house with the 8. The problem is that Tony P. didn’t think Matt had a K, which he did, and he was now watching from the sideline. Then Mike M, Rudy, Mo, yes that Mo, who played for his first time this year, were the next few out. We were down to 11 and I thought it was going to start to turn for me but it didn’t. I was next out with A8 to Kerri’s QJ. She hit a J and I once again was pissed off and had to watch the fucking final table once again. Then the next two out were two Panza women in Doris and Karen. Karen couldn’t make a run from the buy back seat and it seems she really just got blinded out. With Karen’s knockout we were down to our final table. As all of this was unfolding there were a few snowball fights, where the joke that Ant took balls to the face, came about. My mom decided to chuck a snowball probably 5 feet away right and hit me in the corner of my eye and I couldn’t see for a little bit. Also Pete was talking about next week’s game because he is having his Child on the day of the game. We all said what a terrible day to have the child. We told him that he blew his load too early and should have waited a couple of more days. This week there was no mention of Tony P. daughters taking his pants off. Still funny thinking about that quote. They played for a little before it was Ed that went all in for about 14k. Mr. Lew was to follow in the small blind and called for about 10k. Ed flipped over AJ and Mr. Lew flipped over A8. The flop came, AJ9 and the turn was a 7 giving Mr. Lew some hope but the river was a 4 and Mr. Lew finished in 8th place. Then it was the other guy’s, who was hammer tonight, turn to talk. And when I mean talk he talked. Billy decided to say, “I am not playing for points or for the money, I am playing to annihilate this table. I am the variable here.” Yes he said variable but he actually meant to say the x factor here. Haha. Pete was our 7th place finisher. Ariel was right before him and went all in for 13.5K. Pete then went all in right after with A10 for 10.5K. Ariel flipped over KQ and it was pretty much over right after a flop of J109. Ariel flop a straight and the two remaining cards did not help Pete. At this point they played 6 handed for a while since pretty much everyone was sitting around 25 to 30k. But Billy continued to talk and continue to play reckless and no one had the balls to call him. Most of the time when he was making moves he had absolutely nothing but everyone just didn’t know because he was literally all over the place on the poker felt and with his words. I actually believe he got into the heads of everyone haha. Since he was in their heads it was Matt who was next to follow suit being out. He went all in for 25k on the button with AJ but Billy in the small blind was holding QQ, and called. The board read Q95A4 and Billy’s trip Q’s sent Matt to the rail. Just messing with you Matt, he really wasn’t rattled. Or was he? Then it was our bubble bitch time and that distinction went to two weeks ago winner, Kerri. She tried and battle but just could never get a big enough stack to take down the big boys. Kerri was pretty low and was the button. She went all in for 8.5K. Jose was the big blind for 5k and called her 3.5k because he had too and he had the stack. She flipped over A2 and he had J2. I said, “Kerri you got this he is not hitting a jack.” That was the kiss of death. The flop was 989 turn was a 7 but then she flipped over the river and it was a Jack. Jose got up in my face and said, “What you say. Huh. I can’t here you. You said I am not going to hit a jack.” He was amped and high five everyone left because they were in the money. Money was going back and forth but most of it was going Billy’s way. Ed had to go all in for 6k and Billy called in the small blind. Ed flipped over 32 and Billy flipped over Q9. The board read 8857Q and Ed was our 4th place finisher. Ariel and Jose tried to Split but Billy was noting having any of that. And I don’t blame him. The stacks were Billy 95K, Ariel 40K, and Jose 15K. Blinds are 4k-8k. With that being said Jose was all in, in the small blind with A7 and Billy walks into AK from the big blind. Nothing hit and Jose took home 3rd place. Ariel asked again for the split but once again Billy wasn’t going to have any of it. They played for a little and Ariel was ballsy and made a great bluff to take a pot that got the chip counts closer. But it was Billy’s night and he did what he said he was going to do and that was to annihilate the final table. On the last hand, Billy just called and Ariel went all in. Billy called and they flipped over their cards. Billy had A2 and Ariel had K3 suited. The board read, 659J2 and Billy’s pair of 2s was the winner and Ariel took home 2nd place. Even if Billy was drunk he played a hell of a game and took home 1st place. Later bitches.

PPT #9 - 5/2/2015

What can I say? I am beginning to hate writing these because I have nothing good to say about myself in these entries. I hate poker but I can’t get enough of it. Pete’s WOW, “Maybe I should have stayed at the hospital with my wife.” The Poker Legend was back and being his usual self and the Spanish connection took over the game. I am going to keep this short because I am mad. We started with 10 and it would have only been 9 if Campbell didn’t convince Karen to come. I have no clue how and why The Legend did it, but it nipped him right in the ass. If he didn’t invite her he would have gotten an extra 6 points but instead settle for 3. As you can tell he was knocked out second in the game not much after Ariel was knocked out first and rebought. This all happened within the first hour of the game. The Legend later complained that he doesn’t like turbo tourneys. Shit I didn’t know 12 minute blinds constitutes a turbo tourney. This is to the Legend, “Why don’t you just say you played like shit and lost.” I do it every week in my tourneys. I got no shame. Oh and fuck Freddy. You will see why. Right before the break, we played one last hand and I was holding pocket AA. I rose to 1,500 and Freddy called. The flop was 1097 and I bet 1,500 again and he called. The turn was a meaningless 2 and I bet 1,500 again and he re-raised me. I thought for a second maybe he hit trips, but playing as shitty as I have been, I still went in. The river was garbage and he went all in for his remaining 800. I called and he had trip 9’s. I got caught by a two outer. That is when the game turn into, “I can’t lose another hand Freddy.” Maybe 20 minutes later, Freddy raise to 2,500 and Pete went all in for 6,100. Freddy called, and I have come to the conclusion that Freddy will never believe you will have a higher pocket pair then him even if he was holding 2’s. Pete flipped over JJ and Freddy flipped over 1010. The flop was 876 and the turn was a 3 and Pete said, “No 9.” Well he didn’t hit the 9 but unfortunately he again hit one of the remaining two 10’s on the river for trips. We were down to our final table. It took maybe 10 minutes before Ed raised pre flop with QJ to 1,600. Freddy called from the small blind. The flop came AQJ all spades and Freddy bet 2,500. Ed went all in for 1,300 more and Freddy called. Freddy flipped over K9 with one of them a spade and because it was his night, a spade came out on the river to knock Ed out in 8th. Then Tony P. got too low and went all in with A7 and Ariel called with A10. Ariel hit a straight on the river and Tony finished in 7th. I never heard someone in my life say, “I had to do it” as much as Ariel does. Most of the time we have to tell him of course you had too. Next out was Karen, who didn’t even want to play and didn’t have the money too. She went all in with 88 for only 800 and Rudy actually protected her by making a big raise. He flipped over AQ of spades. When the turn came it game Rudy the flush and Karen finished in 6th place. Then it was my turn as I got blinded out and was all in with J6. Unfortunately for me Freddy had J10 and his 10 played to knock me out in 4th. Honestly best hand I seen at final table was K10 and someone already made the push before I could. Next out was Mr. Lew. I left for a little so the only thing I could get out of the hand from what I was told was that Mr. Lew pushed on the turn with 2 jacks on board and shockingly, Freddy called because he had J2 and Mr. Lew finished as our bubble bitch 4th place. I think Freddy was big blind but he probably was small blind and called the big blind with J2. We were down to our money winners, The Spanish Connection, Rudy, Ariel, and Freddy. The played a couple of hands before splitting three ways. Ariel took third place because he could not get any more points than 2 that he got for getting knocked out first. The other two decided to play it out for the points and like I said before, it was Freddy’s night. After maybe 5 to 7 hands there was a flop of 986. Freddy bet and Rudy went all in. Freddy called. Rudy flipped over Q9 and Freddy flipped over K7. Now you would think he would hit his straight but no, the turn was a 7, which now negated his straight draw that he could only win. It was the river King that gave Freddy the win and 1st place. Rudy finish in 2nd. Finally the man wins money being that he has been ever so close a few times. The question is, when will it be Pete’s or my turn to win. Hopefully in two weeks. Alright bitches see you in two weeks.

PPT #10 - 5/15/2015

Alright this is going to be the shortest entry to date. I am beyond pissed now and some people can see it when I again watching the final table and being pissed off. All I can say is I have played all 10 games have 5 final tables and 2 bubble bitches yet no money to show for it. I thought I couldn’t play any worse but I defy myself every time I play. I literally gave away over 8000 in chips in two hands to the same person with mostly nothing in a matter of 5 minutes. Then I get blinded out and it seems to be the same routine week in and week out. I have come to the conclusion that Freddy is my jinx. Every time he has played I have not come close to the money except for one time. And he has now played 7 games. Back to poker. There were 15 players and 1 rebuy. During the time we played Jose goes to Campbell, “You use to suck” Then he tried to back tract his saying by saying he wasn’t bad but he has gotten a lot better. “I respect your game now.” Later on Tony P. goes to Karen as she was dealing, “Come on girl be good to Daddy,” in a creepy voice. Then he goes to me, “Ant, She was good to daddy.” Just weird but only Tony P. can get away with it. Karen was our first person out and bought back but unfortunately she was the bubble bitch to the top 4. This was the first time I didn’t right down how each person got knocked out because like I said before I was pissed. So I am going right to the final four and their accomplishments. Mrs. P made a valiant effort but pretty much got blinded out and finished in 4th for her first cash of the year. Then Jose who has been consistent this year and when I mean consistent he finished in 3rd for the 5th in 9 games. Yup 5 third places but it is money in his pocket. Congrats Jose. Our second place finisher I have finally figure out how he does it. Since I am always watching final tables, I notice that Freddy, Yes Freddy, gets the cards that he needs, when he is all in, to make it to the money. Then all bets are off and his luck sometimes runs out. Last night I think it was at least three times he was all in and was behind in a race a caught his cards. Still not going to take away from what he has done since he has to make it to the final table and say that he played well and continues to make the money at the PPT. That is 5 times out of 7 games that he has made the money. The other two times he didn’t make it to the final table. Congrats to you too Freddy. The biggest accolade goes to Pete, our PPT #10 winner. Even though it took two suck outs for him to win, he played well and deserve the win for his first cash of the year. I called his win with 7 players to go. Now maybe I can start calling myself a winner and actually win money. Most likely not but I got to hope.

PPT #11 - 5/29/2015

What can I say, I hate poker but I can’t get enough of it. So it was the same old results for me but at least I made the final table and then got sucked out on. Therefore Freddy you are not my jinx, just my poker skill is. The thing is it didn’t put a damper on my night because I found out that I passed my second part of the CPA exam leaving me with on two parts to go. Ok back to poker. It was a small showing for tonight with 11 players. But it was a quality 11 players except for Campbell. Lol Pete’s WOW, “I have found my poker game once again.” It was a battle for the buy back seat. Both Jose and the legend Campbell were low stack and Campbell just beat Jose for. Campbell literally came over to our table to buy the stack as Jose was all in and Mr. Lew just called. Jose was winning all the way to the river but Mr. Lew spike an Ace while holding A7 to win the hand. So within a 2 minute span we lost two players right before the break. Mr. P was battling a low stack all night and finally met his doom shortly after break. While the legend was playing at our table he decided to make a comment about me sucking. Well I went back at him by saying, “I am not the one always buy back in and having nothing to show for it.” Well his comment bit himself right in the ass as he was our next victim and out of $80 for the night when Mr. Lew once again won with A7. We were down to our final table. It didn’t take long for our first victim as Doris was short stack and pushed for 1,600 with AJ. Rob was big blind and the blinds were 800-1600 so he just had to flip over his cards. He flipped over 72. The board read, K9723 and Rob won with 2 pairs. Doris finished in 8th. Then about three hands later it was my turn. I went all in as the dealer for $3,000 and the big blind for 1,600 Ed, called for 1,400 more. I had AJ he had 54. The board read 9547Q and I was knocked out in 7th. Then maybe 10 minutes later both Pete and Rob were all in for $4,000 exactly and Ed called. Pete had JJ, Rob had 88, and Ed had A8. Nothing higher than a 10 came out on board and Pete got a much needed trip up to 12K. Rob finished in 6th. Then it is an all too familiar scenario for our 5th place finisher Rudy. The man seems to be right there every time, just to fall short. Rudy you got one cash and there are more to come. Rudy went all in for 4k and the big blind, Pete had to only call for 1k more. Rudy was all in with AJ, yes again AJ goes down to a shittier hand, to Pete’s 43. The flop was 438 and the turn was a 7 causing Rudy to finish in 5th. Then it got a little interesting with the final four. Pete raise to 12k and Mr. Lew went all in and flipped over 77. Pete wasn’t all in and debated on calling the remaining 5k but eventually did with Q10. Nothing hit on the board and Pete was crippled after that. Ed was our next victim as he was all in after a flop of 952. Mr. Lew called the all in for 3,500 and the turn was a 4 giving Ed and up and down straight draw along with his 76 being live. Unfortunately he completely missed on the river when a J fell. Ed was our bubble bitch leaving Pete, Mr. Lew and Ariel, who was quietly holding his own with a huge stack, as our final three. It wasn’t long until we were down to 2. Pete eventually got his stack to a reasonably amount and decided to push with 77. Ariel debated for a few seconds and decided to call. He then uttered his famous words, “I had to do it.” Just kidding. But he did say, ”Oh well I call.” Ariel flipped over KQ. The flop was AJK , the turn was a 2 leaving Pete with one card left and two outs. The river was an 8 and Pete finished in 3rd place. Mr. Lew and Ariel played for a little while. They went back and forth with chips but Ariel stack began to dwindle. Ariel finally went all in for 14k with KJ and Mr. Lew called with A7. The board read 396Q9. Ariel finished in 2nd place and Mr. Lew won with his infamous A7 on the night. Congrats again Mr. Lew and I will see you all in a week.

PPT #12 - 6/12/2015

What can I say more? I hate poker. I just can’t do anything right. We had a few people we haven’t seen playing in a while join us tonight with Jeff, Kevin, and Frank Zaitz, yes that Frank, giving us a total of 16 players. Oh and John Decibus showed up for his once annual visit a year. One person that was missing was the Poker Legend himself as he has left us to move to the shit state of Wyoming. I told him that we will see him in a few months when he realized there is nothing to do out there. Back to Poker Within the first 45 minutes of the game we had our first victim in Jeff who immediately rebought and we still had 16 players. After that we had a very long time before we saw our next person out. After the break, we then began to lose some players. Probably 20 minutes from the break Matt was out next. A couple hands before he was knocked out he lost most of his chips going on a gut shot straight draw and then was finished off a few hands later. Right as I was writing his name in the diary I looked over to the other table and saw our next victim getting knocked out. This time it was Freddy who was all in with 99 to Rob’s AK and Rob spiked a K on the turn. Then John, who couldn’t catch a hand all night, was all in with 33 and was knocked out by KQ. Bud Dave bluffed away most of his chips in one hand then the following hand he was all in after the flop with A7. He was on a straight draw but missed it and was knocked out in 12th place. Jeff for the second time of the night, was knocked out again as he lost to Tony because of a higher kicker. Point’s leader, Mr. Lew, had the same kind of fate as Bud Dave. Frank was starting to get hot with cards and in a hand where Frank had a straight and flush draw hit a fourth heart on the river to take most of Mr. Lew’s chips. Then a few hands later Mr. Lew was all in and was all out and it was an early night for our leader in points. Like most of the year, I couldn’t catch a draft for most of the night even if I bluff, chase, or had a dominant hand pre-flop. I just kept on losing. I was all in and I was up against pocket queens. Therefore you know I don’t get lucky and I was out in 10th place. It is roughly where I finish pretty much every fucking game. We were one away from the final table and it didn’t take long after I was knocked out. Kevin was all in and lost to Rob and we had our final table. It didn’t take long into our final table before we lost a player. Probably 5 hands in Rudy and Tony P. got all their chips in with Rudy being on the losing end of the hand. Tony P raised 4k pre-flop and Rudy called. The flop was J107 and no one bet the flop. The turn was a K and Tony P. went all in. Rudy debated for a second and then decided to call with 99. Unfortunately for him Tony P flipped over AQ for the straight and the river was meaningless. Rudy finished in 8th. Doris was low stacked throughout the final table and decided to push with 33 for 4.5k. She was first to act and was called by Frank, Tony, Ed, and Ariel. The flop was Q8J and Ariel went all in for 2,100. He was called again by the other three. The turn was a Q and river was a 2. Ariel flipped over KQ and said his signature saying joking around but I know he really meant it. “I had to do it.” The rest of the guys had nothing to beat him and Doris finished in 7th place. Next out was Rob because Frank made a terrible call. Frank raised pre-flop to 5k and Rob went over the top all in for another 11.5k. Frank, after sitting there with his usual lost face, decided to say “Fuck it, I call.” Frank flipped over QJ and Rob flipped over JJ. Frank spiked a Q on the flop and Rob was our 6th place finisher. It was our bubble bitch time and that distinction went to our new point’s leader, Pete. Pete was battling a low stack with the remaining five players and was all in for the big blind of 3k with AK. Frank was next to acted and pushed all in. Tony P. debated for a while and decided to fold his JJ, which actually turned out to be the right play. Frank flipped over QQ. The board read 87558 and Pete finished in 5th. After a little playing Tony P. was low stack and was all in with A9 pre-flop. He had two callers in Frank and Ed and the flop came, 7J10. Frank went all in and Ed was like, “How can you do that on a dry pot trying to get someone out.” Frank’s response was, “I had to do it to get you off of a flush draw if you had one because I flopped a straight.” He flipped over 89 and the turn was an A only giving Tony two outs to get a push. The river was a 5 and Tony finished in 4th. The final three was an ugly final three with it being Ariel, Ed, and Frank. Ed and Frank kept talking shit to each other and Ed was telling him that he was going to get most of his chips but in the end it was Ariel that did. Ariel made a ballsy call that took all but a 1k from Frank. Frank raised 15k and Ariel said, “Fuck it I am all in,” and Frank called. Frank flipped over K8 and Ariel flipped over J10 suited. The flop was Q710 and Ariel had the lead. The turn was a 3 giving Frank a flush draw but the river was a garbage 8 and Frank was down to 1k. He won a few hands to get back up to 6k but then was knocked out when he was all in with Q10. As it was Ariel’s night, he hit a straight on a board that read 2458A with his J3. Frank took home 3rd. The final two played for about 20 to 25 minutes with chips going back and forth. Finally Ariel limped in and Ed raise to 15k. Ariel went all in and Ed called. Ariel flipped over A6 and Ed flipped over QJ. I just said it was Ariel’s night and this hand to win it proved my point. The flop was 7Q5 giving Ed the lead. The turn though was an 8 giving Ariel an open ended straight draw. The river was a 4 giving Ariel the straight and the win. Ed finished in 2nd and congrats to Ariel for get over the hump and getting his first win of the season. Some quotes of the night worth mentioning were, Karen was there not even playing decided to say she needed to get a load in, her laundry she meant, your dirty minds need to get out of the gutter. Lol. Kevin also said that Chad is a Debbie Downer or as he said it, “Chad, Debbie downer, Wentworth.” Alright bitches, see you in two weeks at Pete’s house.

PPT #13 - 6/26/2015

What can i say that hasn't been said before. I suck and have no luck what so ever. I had the chip lead and lost it all in two hands. The legend is still on vacation in Wyoming. Wondering when he will be back. Does anyone think that one day we will have a news story out of Wyoming that a hiker has been missing for a week and it will be Campbell. I have. Secondly Rudy bought in twice and both times when he was knocked out, he got very unlucky. He flopped two pairs while Ed was holding trips. And the second time he hit trip Jacks on the river but Mr. Lew had the other Jack and a Queen to hit the full house. Tony P. bought in twice too because some asshole says he is going to play and forgot he was playing and went to a bar to watch the USA world cup match. Really you go to watch a soccer game over playing cards. You do realize you could have played cards, drank, and watched the game at the same time. Anyway Tony's downfall hand both times were Pocket Jacks. Yes Jonathan they are not always good. Ariel did himself in by dealing himself the losing hand that made him the bubble bitch. He was all in with 66 to Pete's A4. The flop was 774 but the turn was another 4 giving Pete the full house and the river was an 8. Pete and Ed played for a while but it was the hand that Pete said he likes a lot that was his downfall. Ed raised pre-flop and Pete went all in with J10 for about 20k. Ed called and flipped over K8. nothing hit on the board and Ed was our PPT 13 winner and Pete took home second place. Pete's WOW moment was actually trying to inspire me for once. I just lost 9k in a hand and Pete goes, Ant you have to let it go and start fresh. Don't let it get to you." Then of course he says, Why am i trying to help you, you are my opponent and you usually are the grim reaper of bad news. LOL so true. Later Bitches, See you in about a week at my parents house.

PPT #14 - 7/10/2015

I don’t know what I was nervous more for, my test that I took on Monday or having a chance to make the money in the PPT. Honestly I think I was more nervous about getting into the money since I was playing like crap all year. Still haven’t seen a story on the news from Wyoming about Campbell being missing so he is still alive. And if you are on Facebook you know exactly what the legend is doing all the time when he is not working. Ok back to poker. We had 13 players and by the second hand there was someone already buying back in. Yes that is right, the second hand. Ariel was all in with a flush but Frank had a better flush when there were four hearts on the board. Ariel had it on the turn but once again the river knocked him out. With Ariel buying back in we still had 13 players. But we were playing with 11 players for quite a while because Pete and Rob were running late. This is nothing new for Pete but they were actually really late. The crazy thing about Pete was that he was in the game longer when he wasn’t there than when he was. He came about 45 minutes late and maybe played for 15 minutes before being our next victim. Pete made a huge pre-flop raise and got two calls, with one of them being Kerri. She said as she called, “I call because I been hitting trips all night.” The flop came like Q43 and Pete went all in and Kerri called. I guess Pete didn’t listen to Kerri when she said she was hitting trips all night. She had 44 and Pete had 1010. The turn and river didn’t help Pete and he was pretty pissed off. ‘He said his night just got worse with his son’s team losing in a tourney game and now this.” Pete’s WOW, “Ant you got this, don’t blow it.” The reason he said this was at the other table I was gaining momentum and had a huge stack for once. That is because of Rudy, who once again got a terrible beat and suffer a huge blow to his stack. I was big blind and Rudy only called and Tony P. called from the small blind. The flop came, A26 with the 2 and 6 being spades. Tony P. was first to act and bet 600. I decided to call and so did Rudy. Tony P. tried telling us both that we shouldn’t call but we both did. I knew that meant he hit two pair but I was on a flush draw with 74. Yes it was terrible but he only made a min. bet and Rudy didn’t raise. The turn was the 5 of spades giving me the flush. Tony P. bet again 600 and we both called again. The river was the 3 of spades giving me the straight flush. Tony checked and I bet 1200. Rudy raised me to 2,400 and I re-raised another 2,000 on top. He called and flipped over AK of spades for a flush but I had the straight flush and I took a huge pot as Rudy just shook his head and said that hand has to go in the diary. As we continue to play Karen was our next victim and then Keith. Keith almost had Frank out as I watched one of their hands but couldn’t catch the open ended straight on the turn and river. Eventually a few hands later he was out. Then Rudy, battling a small stack, succumbed to me as I sucked out by hitting a 10 as he was holding AK to my A10. Ed followed next as he tried to make a move pre-flop by pushing with pocket 4’s after Billy made a raise. Billy took a while and eventually called with pocket 9’s. Nothing hit on the board and we were down to our final table. It didn’t take long before we lost Tony P. He was low and called Doris’s raise to 3,000. He only had 2,800 and flipped over 66. Doris had KK and the board read 929Q4. We played for a while until we lost the buy back in Ariel. He took a bad beat even though he went into the hand behind. Billy pre-flop raised in first position to 1,600. Ariel called and the flop came 522. Billy put Ariel all in and Ariel called. Ariel flipped over 55 and Billy flipped AA. Ariel had the full house already but the river was an Ace and Billy took all of Ariel’s chips. Ariel hit the table and said he knew that shit was going to happen. Next out was Rob. Rob didn’t raise pre-flop and Doris and I were in with him. The flop came 567 and I bet 1,500. Doris folded and Rob went all in for 8k. I called and flipped over 55 for trips. He flipped over 99 and the turn and river didn’t help him. Doris was pissed because she had 44 and the river would have given her a straight. We were down to five and Kerri was talking about making the money and winning tonight. Well she should not have opened her mouth because Frank started a roll a few hands before when he was getting 55, QQ, KK and it continue as he kept getting cards to build a huge stack and eventually taking her out. After those few hands Kerri was holding 1010 and raised pre-flop to 3,500. Frank said he would have done that if she didn’t and called. The flop came, Q9Q and Kerri led out for 3,500 and Frank called. The turn was a 9 and Kerri checked. Frank bet 4,000 and Kerri went all-in. Frank call so quick and couldn’t wait to turn over his cards. He looked like a kid in the candy store as he flipped his cards. He had AQ and Kerri was knocked out in 5th. It was bubble bitch time and that distinction unfortunately went to Doris. She got low in chips and finally pushed with J10. Frank raise to get everyone else out and flipped over 44. Nothing hit on the board and Doris was our 4th place finisher. That left, Billy, Frank and me. That’s right I made it to the final three and was playing well. Since we were in the money it was time for Billy to do what he loves doing and was aggressive and going all in. Well that caught up to him because Frank got lucky as shit. Once Frank got the roll going with those earlier hands with 5 to play he just kept getting lucky. Billy went all in after Frank just called. Frank called with Q8 suited clubs and Billy flipped over AA. Billy was all-in for over 15k so it wasn’t an easily call for Frank. Well the luck of the Zaitz flopped 1096 of clubs to hit the flush and the turn was a Q knocking Billy out in 3rd. It was Frank and I heads up with close stacks. It didn’t take too long before the luck of Zaitz struck again. I was sitting with pocket K’s and just called because I knew if Frank had anything decent he would raise. I was right and he raise to 10k. I went all in for over 30k and he called quickly. He flipped over 44. The flop came 745 and Frank hit his two outer to hit trips. The turn was a third spade in a 9 and I had the King of spade. Unfortunately the river was a 3 that was not a spade and Frank had me cover. Frank is our PPT 14 winner. Alright everyone, I will see you all tomorrow.

PPT #15 - 7/24/2015

What can I say that hasn’t been said before? There were a couple of newbies playing and one was sitting right next to me. I told him early in the game that either his friend or he is going to win because for some reason when a newbie plays they find a way to win their first game. This year we had Ed, Freddy, and Yoan all get a part of first place prize during their first game playing at the PPT and nothing changed for tonight. Still no Legend news story. Campbell you need to spice up Wyoming. During tonight’s game Rob goes, “Who raised, oh I should have known it was Pete with all of those reds in the middle.” Pete always puts his lowest chips in first even if he is making a big bet. Also Pete was farting all night and it stunk terribly. Even the newbie David goes, “I never was at a poker room with a fart that stunk this badly.” Ariel also said, Pete farts and reloads, farts and reloads. It was stinky and funny at the same time. Pete also told Ariel, “Who are you Mr. P. clocking my cards.” We had 14 players tonight and it didn’t take long for our first person to be knocked out. But unfortunately for him he did lose most of his chips on one bad beat hand. Rob had QQ and the newbie David had 22. The flop came, AQ2 and Dave bet Rob called. The turn was an 8 and Dave bet again and Rob called. The river was the final 2 and Dave bet, Rob raise, Dave raised again and Rob just called. Rob was like, “I only lost this hand if he has pocket 2’s.” Well Rob was right and we were in shock that he wasn’t out of this game. He was left with 2k and eventually lost it all within the next half an hour. He immediately rebought and didn’t finish much better as he was the 4th person out before the break even came. The two guys who were knocked out between both of Rob’s knock outs were Dom and Tom who once played before and had early exits like tonight. We played for a while before we lost our next two victims within a 10 minute span. Ed and then Tony P. were victims to the card sharks at the table. Then Freddy decided to give it a shot on one hand for all of his chips and Jose called. Jose won the hand and we were down to our final table. Ariel was mostly quiet tonight because he wasn’t getting good cards and couldn’t do much with the hands he got. He eventually was our first victim at the final table. Ariel went all in for 3,400. Pete as the big blind called, and I was already in and called also. The flop came, AJ9 and Pete checked. I bet 3k and Pete folded. I flipped over AJ and Ariel flipped over KK. The turn and river were 8 and a 4 and that was it for Ariel. Next out was Mr. Lew. He was up and down and finally he was down and out when he went all in with 89 for 4k. The big blind was already in for 1,600, called. This was our other newbie in Steve and he flipped over Q10. The flop was Q23 and the turn ended Mr. Lew’s night as it was another 3 with the meaningless river an 8. Next to follow is our hard luck loser most of the time in Rudy. Rudy went all in for 6k with KQ. Jose called with A10. Nothing hit and Rudy was out in 6th. We played 5 handed for a while until Pete got low and was first to act. He went all in for 4,500. He was called by the small and big blind in Jose and Steve. The flop came, 5Q4 they both checked and the turn was a 9. Jose checked and Steve bet 4k. Jose folded and Steve flipped over QJ. Pete flipped over A6. The river was an 8 and Pete was knocked out. We were down to our bubble bitch and that distinction went to one of the newbies in David. He was up and down but he wasn’t the only one. I was also up and down and thought I was going to finish in 4th. But I got a much needed double up and David was the next one out. He was all in for 15k with AJ and was called by his friend and other newbie Steve with AK. The flop was 10Q4 giving both of them straight draws. But the turn and river were a 2 and a Q and Steve raked in the chips. We played three handed for a little and I was Jose’s kryptonite. I got another double up off of Jose and then he was low stack. He had to go all in with 52 and I called for a little bit with 42. The flop was AA10. The turn was a 5 giving Jose a good chance at doubling up but the river was a 3 giving me the straight and knocking Jose out in 3rd. Jose hasn’t played in a while but he came back just like he left off. He came in 3rd for the sixth time this year. He has no other cash but 3rd. Crazy. It was down to Steve and me. We went back and forth and we just kept getting crappy hands against each other. Then finally we both got a hand and it was all over. Steve limped in for 8k. I raised it to 20k and he went all in. I called my remaining 23k and we both flipped over. I flipped QJ suited and he flipped over A2. The flop at first looked good for me but by the third card it went straight downhill. The flopped was J9A. The turn was a 3 and the river was a 5 making our newbie Steve our PPT #15 winner. See you all in two weeks.

PPT #16 - 8/7/2015

What can I say, It was Panzamodium at the PPT last week. We had 29 characters come out and play. And yes I mean characters. We had two newbies in Richie and Eddie, a few people that haven’t played in a year or two, and a few people that haven’t played in months join our game tonight. Of course I got a little heat from my dad because of how big the game was but it went off smoothly. Also someone was trying to call them self a PPT legend but that distinction will always go to the man somewhere in Wyoming right now. I could tell you where he is actually at if I decide to go on FaceBook and see his last post. Alright back to poker. With 4 tables in play it didn’t take long before our first person was knocked out. I actually called the table where the first person was knocked out early in the game because of who was playing at the table. That distinction went to Poker Steve. He immediately rebought and we still had 29 players. The alcohol was flowing and there were a few people that were pretty wasted during the game, Poker Steve being one of them. You name it I think people were drinking it. Hennessey, Jack Daniels, Beer, shots of fireball, etc. Right after Steve was knocked out about two hands later we lost Amanda. Next to follow in her footsteps was Freddy. I will say Freddy didn’t deserve it but the newbie Richie called a big all in with A9 off suit and hit his Ace. Then they just kept on getting knocked out. Yoan was next, then Rob, then Richie, who lost most of his chips because Poker Steve raise pre-flop with J5 off suit and the flop was A55. Richie had AQ and went all in. Of course Steve called and Richie was low. Yes he did raise with J5 off suit. Once Richie was knocked out we combined tables to 3 with 24 players left. It literally was the first hand at my table that Ryan became the chip leader of the game and one of the new players at our table was out of the game along with Frank. There were three people in the hand as the flop came, J94. Frank was first to act and went all in for about 4500. Ryan called. Then it was up to Dave II and he called. The turn was a 2. Ryan checked and Dave II went all in. Ryan called immediately. Frank and Dave II both flipped over J10 and Ryan flipped over AJ. The river was a 3 and Ryan took two people out and had a chip lead. Before that hand that note went to Kerri. We will speak about Kerri later. Not too much later we lost Mike and Rudy and we were down to 20. It was break time. We lost 10 people before break making it a record at the PPT. Right after the break before I could even blink we lost Bud Dave. The thing about that is I don’t even know when he got knocked out because probably 15 to 20 minutes after the break I look over and he wasn’t sitting there anymore and no one told me that he was out. He was probably more than happy to be knocked out since there was a killer cash game going on the money was flowing. He definitely made a lot more than the buy in to this tourney. I can’t say that for a lot of the others who played cash. Then our resident casual drinker Keith was knocked out. I was then moved over to another table. Within the first three hands I was there Karen got so low that she eventually was all in lower than the blind and was knocked out in 18th. Then our second newbie, Eddie, fell victim to Anthony Rivera and we were down to two tables. We played for a little until we lost Sherwin. Next to follow was Jon Cruz, who couldn’t get the hand that he lost to Ariel a few hands prior off his head. He even admitted to being on tilt. Ariel played mind games with him and would not tell him what he had. Probably two hands later, I was all in for less than the blind. I got good cards early but didn’t get shit after the first hour. Kerri took me out with a straight and we were down to 13. Billy and I were going back and forth saying we were going to be next out and right after I was he followed suit. Then Poker Steve made a valiant effort, even though I don’t think he knew what was going on, and was knocked out again after the flop when Kerri called with nothing but an AK and hit her Ace on the river. You can kind of see where this is going. Pete eventually was next out when his 77 lost to 99 and then Ed lost when he called an all-in with 99 to another Steve’s JJ. Mr. Lew and Steve were the blinds and the only two in the hand. The flop was nothing higher than an 8, and Mr. Lew went all in. Steve called and the turn and river did not help Mr. Lew. He flipped over J8 but Steve had K8. We were down to our final table. It was long into the final table until we had our first victim. Ariel was all in pre flop with Q8. Steve called with AK the board read A79A8 and we were down to 7. Since we had 30 people play we were paying out 6 people, which meant the next person out was our bubble bitch. We thought it could be Jen when she was all in with AK and Eric called with QQ but Jen hit a King on the flop and she got the double up she needed. Unfortunately, the bubble bitch was the one and only Tony P. He did get a few double ups to stay in the game but his luck ran out when he was all in with A10 and had two callers. With a board that read J9K26 it was the 6 that did him in. Anthony R. flipped over A6. Not too much later Jen was our next victim. I believe this time she had the pocket pair and she was called by AK. The person hit their Ace and she finished in 6th. The man who tried calling himself a PPT legend was next out. And of course he said his usual line. “When I get knocked out I always have the best hand pre-flop. “ Sorry Ryan, THAT’S POKER. Ant raise and Ryan went all in for 16.5K. Ant called and flipped over AJ, Ryan flipped over 55. An Ace hit on the flop and Ryan finished in 5th. Then they played four handed for a while and it was a huge hand between Steve and Ant that changed the game and got the ball rolling. The flop was AJ9 all spades. Ant bet big and Steve went all in Ant called. Steve flipped over K4 of spades for the nut flush and Ant flipped over AJ. The turn though was another Jack and Ant hit his full house, hurting Steve’s stack while giving Ant the chip lead. But that wasn’t saying much since Ant had somewhat no clue what was going on. The McDonalds cup of Hennessey got the best of him. He was hammer. With that said a little while longer Steve went all in with a flop of 874 and Ant instantly called. Ant flipped over AK and Steve flipped over 109 for a straight draw. Nothing else came to help either one and Steve finished in 4th. We were down to Eric, Ant, and Kerri. Eric didn’t have much of a stack so it was always all in or fold. Eric went all in for 18k and Ant called. Eric flipped over A4 and Ant flipped, KJ. The flop was KJ2 and the turn was another 2 giving Eric three outs. The river was a 3 and Eric finished in 3rd. Now anyone who was not completely wasted probably, not saying definitely, but probably would had won this tourney with the stack Ant had compared to Kerri. It was 4 to 1 in chips to start. Ant was making illegal bets and at one point said all in and Kerri called. I tell him that this is how much he calls and he tells me that he doesn’t want to call. Yes he didn’t realize he was the first to say all in. Well he lost that hand and eventually lost a lot more. The final hand was interesting. The flop came, J910 and Kerri checked. Ant went all in for 50k and Kerri said “screw it I call.” What was surprising was when Kerri flipped over 82 she was actually in the lead. Ant flipped over 65. The turn was a 7 and the river was a meaningless 2 and we had our PPT #16 winner in Kerri. Even though the other 5 spots were taken by not regular PPT players it was the one that took home the top prize.

PPT #17 - 8/21/2015

What can I say? PPT is causing Panzamodium around the state. People want to see what makes this game hot and you don’t have to look any further than the Panza’s, themselves. 5 Panzas were in attendance tonight with 17 others. We had 7 new faces tonight and an oldie but goodie show his face. The oldie was Mike Burke but that was only because his brother-in-law came down from another state and wanted to play poker. We like to welcome, Dennis, Glenn, Charles, Ron, Victor, Matt, and Brett to our amazing league. Alright, lets’ get to the action and when I say action I mean someone went home completely pissed off at me within the first 30 minutes of the game. Something happen for the first time in PPT and I was completely confuse on what I should have done. Two people got knocked out on a hand and they were the first two out. We only had one stack set up and therefore I allowed the lowest stack to buy back and the second was shit out of luck. Bud Dave was not too happy with me and he had a good argument. After talking with my VP Pete the next day, we decided that from here on out, if two people get knocked out first in tourney the second person will have the opportunity to buy back. This is called the Bud Dave rule. I will say that my head wasn’t completely in the game because I had a lot on my mind with my test being 3 days away. But that still does not give me a good excuse. I have to be a better Tourney Director. Burke was low stack because he was in a hand early where he had pocket AA and the board had an A and two 7s on the board. He bet, Brett re-raised, and Burke said, “I am going to be nice and not raise you. There is only one hand in the deck that could beat me, I call.” Well Brett did have that hand which was 77 to have quad 77 to his full boat. The next out after those two was a newbie in Charles losing with a king high flush to an ace high flush. Then the one and only Jon Cruz followed suit and we had to hear about the hand he lost most of his money all night. No joke for real. He goes to me, “I am trying to get better.” Corny Jon real corny. Then Burke lost again with AA when he re-raised a raise and was call. The flop was Q75 and He went all in and was called by Freddy who had QQ. That’s right Burke lost huge hands twice with AA. Next out was another newbie in Ron. He was out of my house within 30 seconds I feel. There was going to be no repeat as Kerri was next. We combined tables and within the first 4 hands I was next out, followed by a newbie named Matt who got unlucky to the Luckbox, called Steve. That name fits perfectly because I haven’t seen someone get as lucky as him in a game in a long time. Then Matt P was a victim to Doris. Tony P. got low and followed next. As I was watching one table I so happen to look over at the other table and notice that a newbie name Dennis called an all-in by Eric with second high pair and was knocked out because Eric had the top pair. At this time I do believe though that Dennis was a little tipsy maybe more. Next out was Ariel and then the man with nine lives Rob. He must have gone all-in with the worse hand every time and hit about 4 times. But his luck only lasted so long as he finished in 10th. We were waiting for our bubble bitch to final table and of course Karen bought up about having 9 at the table. I will say this once more. Final Table is 8 and has always been 8. 8-9 years now and it hasn’t changed. Not too long after Karen’s complaining we did lose our person in newbie named Victor. The final table had some very big stacks in Luckbox Steve, Eric, and Freddy. A few decent size stacks in Rudy, Doris, and Brett and two small ones in Karen and Glenn. Speaking of those two, it so happens that they were our first two out. Glen went in with the smallest stack at the table which wasn’t even enough to cover the big blind. He was all in with 65 but ran into Freddy’s 99. The board read 973J4 and it was good night to newbie Glenn. Then it was Karen’s turn. She was all in for 5k with AQ and the big blind, Steve called for 2k more. He flipped over KJ. It was a race and Karen fell short as the board read 62J78. Sorry Karen but you ran into the Luckbox. With only 6 left it was down to Doris as the only original member. Unfortunately for her she was next out. Rudy raise pre-flop to 5k and she went all in for 9k. Rudy called and flipped over 88. Doris flipped A9. Which I know and she says is the hand she hates the most yet went all in with it. The board read K66Q4 and that was it for Doris. Next out was Brett and I don’t know what he was thinking when he made the call. There was a min bet pre-flop by small blind Steve and big blind Brett called. The flop came 436 and Steve went all in. Brett didn’t hesitate long and called with QJ. Steve flipped over A2. The turn and river were a 10 and an 8 and Brett finished in 5th place. The Luckbox strikes again. They played four handed for a while as Eric kept going all in with an Ace rag and would either steal the pot or get a call with someone having a lower kicker. At this point Freddy was low and went all in for 6k with A8. Steve as the big blind called 2k more with 95. Guess who won. If you guess Steve you are correct. A 5 hit on the flop and that was good enough to take Freddy out in 4th. Then Rudy was gaining momentum and then lost it all on one hand. He was up to about 30k and blinds were 2k-4k. He was first to act and pushed with A2 of spades. Again the Luckbox had a monster hand and called with AQ. The board read 103493 and Rudy came in 3rd. It was down to Eric who was playing well and Steve who also was. Eric just couldn’t get the cards when he needed them and was struck down by the Luckbox again. Eric eventually got down to 20k while Steve had 172.5k, with blinds at 4k-8k. Steve try to steal the pot by raising to 16k with J7. Eric went all in and Steve said he was trying to steal the pot and he had to call for only 4k more. Eric flipped over AJ. Guess what Steve hit? Nope not the 7. The flop came 986 and on the turn a 5 came giving Steve the straight. The river was a Q. and Steve was our PPT #17 winner. See you all on Friday.

PPT #18 - 9/4/2015

For the first time in a while we haven’t had a newbie but we did see someone for the first time in a while. Jimmy came out of hiding to grace us with his presence. We had 16 players and it was a nice and quiet game for the most part because no women were in the house. I feel I am one of the unluckiest people to play cards but there is someone just as close in Rudy. The beats he has suffered this year are like none other I have seen before. But things did change for one of us. Guess Who. We played for about 35-40 minutes before we lost our first victim in Freddy. He was mad at the call made by Ed but he only did min raise and the big blind caught two pair on the board. Freddy went after it with nothing but an Ace and he left pretty upset. Next to follow was Ron. Funny though is that he said that what happen last week will not happen again. He was knocked out early probably within the first hour to an hour and a half and the same thing happen tonight. Then I made a mistake that could have sent Rudy home early but I caught it just in time. Only problem is that I made Mr. Lew pretty upset at me. The board 107105 with three of them spades. I just burnt a card thinking that Rudy just called Mr. Lew. But it was Mr. Lew’s turn to bet and he threw out a raise. Rudy eventually went all in and Mr. Lew called. Mr. Lew had a flush but Rudy had K10 with the King being a spade. I unfortunately burned another card and flipped over an 8 of diamond. Right after I did that I said wait I messed up and took back the card and flipped over the second burnt card. And of course it was a fourth spade and Rudy took home the pot. Mr. Lew was not happy with me and he was right to be. Rudy on the other hand finally had some luck on his side and took home a big pot. Probably 5 hands later Mr. Lew was out. Then I continued my shitty luck in cards this year. I pushed after Ed made a move for the pot with K10. I had AQ and he river a 10 on me. At this time still no one has bought the buy back so I did. Tony P. was next out followed by Glenn. Then it was Ed who lost all his chips to Jay who just kept hitting cards throughout the night when he was moved to our table. It wasn’t just one hand it was like 3 or 4 that he kept losing to him. Then again with my luck I was all in with K8 of spades to 105 off suit. It only cost the big blind another 1k to call and Jeff had a huge stack. The first card over was a King and I was happy but the third card on the flop was a 10. Of course then the turn was a 5 and the river was a blank for me and my bad luck continues in 2015. Then a few hands later Pete was all in with A8 to pocket 2’s and nothing hit. This got us to our final table. This final table went pretty quick and I haven’t seen a table go as quick as the infamous Jimmy, I have to go, final table which took no more than 15 minutes to play. The first victim was Rob who went all in after Rudy raised to 3,600. Rob was all in for 4,900. Jay O. called the 4,900 and Rudy finish off by calling the 1,300. The flop came, JJ8 and Rudy went all in for 10.5K. Jay immediately called and flipped over AJ. Rudy flipped over QJ. And like I said before someone’s luck changed and it wasn’t mine. The turn was a Q giving Rudy a full house and the river was a 6. Rudy took a huge hand and Rob finished in 8th. Not much later Matt was all in for 4k. He was called by Rudy and Jay and the flop came 8103. Rudy made a bet and Jay folded. Rudy flipped over AJ and Matt flipped KQ. The turn and river did not help Matt and he finished in 7th. Then this is where it got crazy because I haven’t seen someone hit cards like Jeff was tonight when he was dominated every time. Two weeks ago Steve was lucky in hitting his cards but Jeff was another story. As I just finish writing down how Matt got knocked out we lost another one. Jay raised to 3k pre-flop and was called by Jeff for 2.4k more. The flop came 1047 and Jeff went all in. Jay called and flipped over QQ. Jeff flipped over 108. The turn was a blank but the river was an 8 knocking Jay out in 6th. Now Jimmy should have been out a long time ago but made it all the way to bubble bitch. Not even 2 minutes later, Jimmy was all in for 2k with KJ and Jose called with J10. Jose hit a 10 on the flop and it was over for Jimmy. Ariel was really low and the following hand went all in with A3 and was called by Jose with 99. Jose hit a 9 on the turn and Ariel finished in 4th. Then a familiar person finished in third for the 7th time this year. That’s right 7 times this year this guy has come in 3rd. That person is Jose. The finally three each had good stacks but it was Jose who got unlucky because again Jeff caught a card on the river. Jose went all in pre-flop for 10,800. Jeff said he was probably behind and still called after debating for a little bit. Jose flipped over AK. Jeff had KJ. The flop was Q52. The turn was a 9 giving Jeff a gut shot and the river was a 10 filling in his straight. We were down to our final two, Jeff who was lucky as hell tonight and Rudy who finally got some luck on his side. They played for a little while and Jeff had the big stack early on. He called Rudy’s all in but Rudy had the straight and now Rudy was the huge stack. Rudy would not relinquish it and it came down to an all-in after the flop. Rudy bet 10k after the flop of a 956. Jeff who originally checked decided to go all in for 21k. Rudy didn’t hesitate to long and called. Rudy flipped over 98 Jeff had 75.The turn was an Ace and the river was a Jack giving Rudy the Hand and the PPT #18 win. These last few weeks now has made the top spot interesting with only 7 games to go. See you all in two weeks.

PPT #19 - 9/18/2015

Pete’s words of wisdom this week were, we need more funny comments in the diary. Even though the diary is thorough we need some good comments. I agree, we need more that’s what she said, or you can drive a truck through that, silly bitch, or even though you may go that way I do not. Yes some classics but we need more of them. With 17 players at the house tonight it was an interesting game and if it wasn’t for Karen telling me 10 minutes after the game already started that Fred wanted to play, it would have gotten even more interesting. But enough with that, lets’ get to some poker. The first person out was the same person that was knocked out first last time and lets’ just say he wasn’t happy about this one either. It wasn’t a good call by Jeff but he sucked out on the river and caught a queen against Freddy’s 1010. And yes just like the last time Freddy got up and left without saying goodbye, he was that mad. Now Jeff had a huge stack but like how he gets them he gets rid of them that much faster. He was our next victim and most of his chips went Ed’s way. Then Jose could not get his 8th third of the year and was next out. Sorry Jose, maybe next week you can do it. As all of this is going on chips are flying back and forth to many people except for one person. That person so happens to be Tony P. He got low as usual and went all in and was all out next. Rudy who has been hot of late at the tables couldn’t mustard much for the night and followed Tony P. out the door, figuratively. Kerri followed suit while playing one bad hand that cost her much of her chips and then played low stack for a while until she finally could not catch a card. Right as this was happening, at the other table, Matt P was getting up and was done for the night. The Year of the Rob has come and gone and we may never see it again as he was next out and we were down to 9. We were waiting for a little while on this until Doris got unlucky with jackass John’s favorite hand JJ. Ariel called her all in for $2,800 with A9, the hand she hates the most. Of course he hits an Ace on the flop and Doris was our bubble bitch to the final table but still got final table points as Jeff rebought earlier and had a huge chip lead. When we combine to the final table I believe Jeff had the same amount as everyone else at the final table combine. With 8 left, I had to here from Jeff that I should change the way I give points because he sucked early on and got knocked out. I am saying he sucked early on and he got only 3 points but he thought he would get more since he was still in the game. Well Jeff it does not work that way. If you want to be aggressive and get knocked out early you will get rewarded for that dumb play with the lowest or in this case second lowest points for the night. After playing a few hands, it was Karen who was our first victim at the final table. She went all in with 22 and Jeff called with A9 of spades. The way Jeff was running you thing he hit the flush after the flop was 673 with two of the cards being spades. Well he didn’t win that way. Instead on the turn there was another 6 and the river was another 3 giving Jeff two pairs with the Ace kicker and Karen was out. She couldn’t believe she lost that way and all we could do was shake our heads on that. Then it was my turn. Tonya was first to act and just called for 2k. Everyone else folded and I checked. The flop came, 985. I checked and Tonya checked. The turn was a King and I was sitting with K7. I bet 4k and she went all in and I called for my remaining 4k knowing I was behind. She flipped over AK and the river was a measly 2. I was like, “Shit I should have went all in on the flop and I can’t believe she didn’t raise pre-flop with AK when she only had about 10k total.” But my luck being my luck she had to have the better kicker and I finished in 7th. After I got knocked out I don’t know much after it because I had to drive down to Philly for my race that I killed in 24:33 the next day at 8:30 in the morning. When I left Glenn was sitting with the low stack and everyone else had pretty good stacks. From what I was told Ed called Jeff’s all in with 66 while Jeff had A8. Ed had 12.5k. The board read Q58A9 and Ed was out the door in 6th.Tonya was next out when she went all in for 7,500 with A2 and Jeff called with AJ. The board read 96k65 and Tonya was our bubble bitch to the money. Next out was Glenn when he was all in with KJ to Ariel’s A9. The board read Q82103 and Glenn finished in 4th place. That left us with Ariel, Mr. Lew, and Jeff. Jeff still had a big stack but Ariel was catching ground. Mr. Lew was our next player out when he was all in with A4 to Jeff’s 52. I have to imagine Mr. Lew didn’t have a lot of chips for Jeff to call 52 but I am talking about Jeff so I could be wrong. The board read 5106q5. That’s right Jeff hit trips with that shit hand. After that hand was over Jeff and Ariel decided to chop since they were close to each other in chips and Jeff said he wasn’t going to get any more points. What I call a Chop is not appropriate for the post but they can do what they want. Congrats on Jeff and Ariel being our PPT #19 winners and thanks to Glenn for dealing my table and the final table and Tonya for writing in the book the hands for the final 5.

PPT #20 - 10/2/2015

What can I say that I haven’t said before? I hate poker and my luck still sucks. Now you would think it was a quiet game without the Panza girls but you are wrong. There was one person in particular who did enough talking for everyone that no one else needed to talk. That person was Frank. Yes that Frank. If I have to see Frank throw money in a pot as the first to act before the cards were dealt and say “What if I raise to this.”, one more time, I might have shot myself. With 11 players it was a small game and for the most part an entertaining game. There was a familiar person leaving without saying goodbye and ugly calls mostly by Frank. With that said lets’ talk some poker. We might have been about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes into the game when we lost our first person. That person was Jose who went all in with an AQ and lost to a pocket pair that actually hit trips on the board. Not much later than that we had Frank’s first ugly call. I will not say it was bad but it was definitely ugly. With a board that had a Q high and a couple of spades after the turn Frank decided to make a bet of 1,500. Ariel decided to push all in for more the 5k to 6k and Frank called quickly. Frank flipped over Q6 of spades and Ariel flipped over Q9. Ariel was already standing because he said “Just flip the card I know what it’s going to be.” Tony flipped the last card and it was a spade knocking Ariel out second. He rebought. Then our familiar face, which has been leaving quite quickly these days, was out next. That person is Freddy. He pushed all in with nothing and got called by Rudy with a full house and he was up the stairs before you can say what happen. Then Mr. Lew was knocked out as he pushed with 66 to Rudy’s 22. Rudy hit a 2 and it was good night for Mr. Lew. That got us to our final table and it wasn’t even break yet. We played for a while before we finally lost another one. Ariel was quietly building a stack and was making some good moves. But then there is Frank who seems to be his Achilles heel tonight. With first to act just calling and Ariel being the button, he decided to push for about 7k. Frank called immediately and I was big blind and folded along with first to act. Frank was only in for 400 and flipped over Q4 of spades. Yes that was the hand he had and Ariel flipped over A7. He got up so quick I didn’t even see him leave and the hand wasn’t even over yet. He goes I can’t believe this shit and put on his sweatshirt and walked towards the stairs. The hand still wasn’t even dealt yet and he was pretty much gone. The flop was Q64, the turn was a J and the river was a 10. Now I usually would say that the person was knocked out but Ariel knew he was before the hand was even dealt. Frank just had his weird face going when he scooped up the chips. A few hands later Tony P. made the right call and hit his card against Frank to put a little damage into his stack. Pete goes, “ Mr. P you finally learn what to do and it only took you 15 years.” I couldn’t agree more with you Pete. Then later I said to Frank that he is golden, that his stack was huge and he had nothing to worry about, because he was thinking of leaving. Which we all knew was bullshit. Right after I said that Ron goes to Frank, ”You should record that.” Frank says, “Record what?” Ron said, “That you have something huge.” That was funny. All of a sudden Frank’s phone rings and the ringtone was club music. Ron goes, “Nice ring tone for your mother. How do you speak to her like that?” He didn’t have a response to that. I couldn’t help but laugh. Alright back to poker. Our Central American friend Steve was next out. He was all in pre-flop for 3,400 and got two callers. The flop was J83 and both Pete and Ron check. The turn was another J and Ron bet 2k and Pete folded. Ron flipped over A9 and Steve flipped over KQ. The river was another J and Steve finished in 7th. Then Rudy was bleeding chips at the final table and eventually went all in pre-flop for $3,200 with 87 and was called by Ron and Frank. They didn’t bet all the way and the board read 5AKQ9. Ron won the hand because he had 33 and Rudy was our 6th place finisher. Then Tony called Pete’s all in for less which was $7,600. Pete flipped over AQ and Tony P flipped over AJ. Nothing hit and Tony P. was our 5th place finisher. It was bubble bitch time and that distinction went to me. I could not get much going at the final table but got what I needed when I was all in. When we were down to 4 I wasn’t that bad in chips but when the blinds come around so quick you lose them quickly. Frank most of the final table was playing bingo poker because he kept pushing to get the game over with so he could leave or lose his chips and get knocked out. I was first to act and looked at my first card and it was a King. I pushed. I usually had the best hand pre-flop and the hand I got knocked out on was third time Frank had an ugly call. But I can’t blame him because it was only for $2,500 more. I was all in for $5,500 and he was already in for $3,000. I said, “Frank I know you are going to call with shit but I am going to win this hand.” Yes for once I was confident but after the flop that went out the door. Frank flipped over 103 and I had AK. The flop was J109 giving me a lot of outs. The turn was an 8 giving me more outs to at least chop but the river was a 2. No luck. I finished 4th. Right after that hand Frank asked Ron and Pete if they wanted to chop and they all agreed. I am pissed because about 15 minutes before I said that if I had AK someone will hit on me and if you have AK you will hit an A or a K. Well that bit me in the ass. They had to play for points and Ron came in 3rd, Pete came in 2nd, and Frank the Tank won PPT #20.

PPT #21 - 10/16/2015

There was PANZAmodium at the Panza’s house and it was the good kind. Well Karen is Karen so that is not all true. We had 17 players and one of them was a foreigner. Yes I am calling her a foreigner because I can’t remember the last time she played. That’s right I am calling out Amy Fabian. She almost didn’t play but eventually decided to with about 2 minutes before we started. We had our usual shenanigans and that’s what she said comments but besides that there really weren’t many good quotes for tonight. The distinction of being first out for the night was Rudy. Unfortunately for him he played a guy who pretty much calls anything and I am not talking about Poker Steve. He was called by Silent Mat and lost with a queen high flush to a king high flush. Oh did I forget to mention this happen within the first 20 minutes of the game. Of course Rudy bought back in and made it to the final table. Our table saw trips beat trips twice and a full house beat a flush in 3 consecutive hands. Unfortunately for Rob he was the one that lost the most chips out of the hands and eventually was second out. Then before you can blink an eye Matt P was out and watching our table. Rob of course asked if there is midnight madness poker but we keep giving the same answer that we give every week. No. Guess who was knocked out next. I will tell you he is a myth, a man of many words, and he gives you guidance at the poker table. That man was Pete. Then it was the DTTF connection that followed suit. First it was Wes, next Glenn, then Sherwin, then Ant Rivera, and finally the man who took all of Rudy’s chips early, Silent Mat. We were down to ten and we were down to our bubble bitch to the final table. Ariel was up and down all night and lost most of his chips to Ed when he went all in with AQ to 22. The 2s held up and a couple of hands later Ariel was out. We were down to our final table and it was four Panzas vs four Others. Rudy came over with a small stack and got a much needed double up early but was knocked out first at the final table. He call from the small blind and the flop came 983. He went all in after the flop for 5k and Karen debated for a little bit. Karen finally called and she flipped over 109 and Rudy flipped over 107 for the open ended straight. The turn was a 4 and the river was a 9 giving Karen trips and all of Rudy’s chips. Panzas 4, Others 3. Next out was Mr. Lew. I believe he was mad at me because I beat him in two hands where one held up and the other was looking like a chop until I hit my second pair. He eventually got real low after losing a hand and was all in for 1k. Two people called and the flop came, A3J. As usual, Tony P. bet the flop for 2k and the other person folded. Everyone knew what my dad had and Mr. Lew was already standing up when he flipped his cards. Mr. Lew flipped over 66 and Tony P. flipped over A10. The turn and river didn’t help Mr. Lew and he finished in 7th. Panzas 4, Others 2. Next out was a man we haven’t seen for a while this year. He has played only twice this year. Yoan was not playing much early and then started to hit cards and playing well. He came over with a good stack but couldn’t mustard much. He eventually tried to stab at the pot pre-flop by going all in for 6,500 with 109 but Karen called him quickly with AK. The flop was K47 so it was looking bleak for Yoan and it was all over on the turn when it came a 5. The river was a meaningless Jack and Yoan finished in 6th. Panzas 4, Others 1. That one was Ed. And guess who was next out? I was low stack but started to build it when I got lucky and caught a 4 card flush on the board that matched my Jack of spades to give me a much needed win. Everyone else had decent stacks and Amy who came over with the chip lead still had a commanding chip lead at this point. We gradually chipped away at Ed to the point he went all in for only 7,500 with blinds at 2k-4k. Tony was small blind and called it. Tony flipped over 22 and Ed flipped over A6. The board read Q7974 and Tony P’s twos held up and we had the PANZAmodium final 4. Panzas 4, Others 0. Of course right of the bat Karen was looking for all of us to chop but just like the Goonies who say, Goonies never die, the Panzas say, Panzas don’t chop, therefore we played it out. I had a decent stack to start the final four but when you are a blind almost every other hand it starts to add up. I couldn’t mustard much and went all in with 66 to Karen’s AK. I have been winning my races most of the night, which was very unusual for me, but I couldn’t win this one. The flop came, A33, the turn was a 7, and the river was a 9 to knock me out in 4th. Then they played three handed for a little while until Karen pushed pre-flop with QJ for 30k. Amy debated for a while and she had over 80k when she decided to call and flipped over K10. Karen was beside herself when she saw Amy flipped over K10. She goes, “You called 30k with that, I can’t believe you called with that.” Well she did and the flop came, K6A. Amy had mid pair and Karen was sitting on a gut shot straight draw. The turn was a 4 and the river was an Ace and Karen was our 3rd place finisher. Now Amy had a huge stack compare to Tony P. and it took about 6 to 8 hands before it was over. Amy just called pre-flop and the flop was A76. Tony P. went all in for his last 4k and Amy called. Tony P. flipped over two pair with 76 and Amy flipped over K10 with a flush draw. She had suited K10 and two of her suits were on the board. Well the turn gave Amy the flush and the river missed for Tony P. giving the foreigner Amy the PPT #21 the win.

PPT #22 - 10/30/2015

What can I say, I hate poker. Nothing was different at the Lewandowski’s house that you haven’t seen before. My dad yelled at Karen then eventually I yelled out her for making a suggestion. We had 14 players and within the first 25 minutes of the game we had our first person out and re-buy. Unfortunately for Rudy his pocket kings were no match to pocket aces and was our first victim of the night. After that we didn’t lose another one for quite some time. As we were waiting for someone to finally get knocked out it was another kind of knock out that almost made us stop the game. We don’t know what Rob ate but whatever it was it didn’t settle well in his stomach. He was ripping ass a lot that most of the time people had to get up and leave the table. At one point Ariel goes, “Can we stop the clock because Rob’s farting and it is disgusting.” After the smoke settle down we had our second victim of the night. Mr. Lew min raise only and the flop came two hearts and a 5. Freddy bet and Mr. Lew went all in. Freddy called and flipped over A5 of hearts and Mr. Lew flipped over KK. The turn was a heart giving Freddy the flush and Mr. Lew was out. Next was Ed when he thought Pete didn’t have trips but was mistaken and called Pete’s all in. Pete flipped over pocket 4s for trips and Ed had A4 for two pair. The turn and river missed Ed and he was out. New Steve finally came back to play and was out next when his kicker was lower than Rudy’s kicker with both having trip aces. Then Jose who couldn’t get his game going for most of the night, follow next. Rob, whose ass was on fire all night, was not on fire with the cards and was knocked out in 10th. Tony P. was battling a low stack at our table and when you are playing five handed it catches up to you quickly. Eventually Tony P. had to settle for bubble bitch to the final table. There was going to be no repeat 2nd place performance out of him. We were down to our final table. Mostly everyone had decent stacks except Kerri and me, with Pete being the chip leader. It didn’t take long into the final table before we got our first action and our first out. Freddy and Pete were in a hand. The flop comes 973 with two hearts. Freddy bet 3,500 and Pete called. The turn was a 10 and Freddy once again fired 3500. Pete went all in and Freddy called quickly. Pete flipped over Q10 of hearts and Freddy flipped over A9. The river was another 10 and Freddy was knocked out in 8th place with 7th place points. Then we settle down for a little while until I went all in with KJ of hearts for 5k. Karen went all in for 8.5k and the next three people folded. Nothing hit on the board and I was out in 7th. Later on her reasoning for calling was that it was going to be heads up. There were still 3 people behind her to act and she only had 8.5k. Don’t see the heads up scenario but whatever it worked and I was out. Next to follow was Victor. He had a decent stack going into the final table but couldn’t mustard much and went all in after Kerri, in first position, went all in for 10.5k. Victor was big blind and was all in for 7.5k. Kerri flipped over 77 and Victor flipped over A6. The board read 9JJ52 and Victor was knocked out in 6th. After the last hand Kerri was starting to heat up but that flame quickly extinguish after a few more hands and with Ariel raising all in almost every other hand. Kerri though was not the next one out. It was Rudy’s turn to be knocked out. Karen went all in for 12k and Rudy in the big blind called to put his tournament life on the line with A5. Karen flipped over AJ. Nothing on the board helped either one but Karen’s kicker was higher and Rudy was out in 5th. We were down to bubble bitch and that distinction went to Kerri. Kerri had to go all in for 4.5k as the big blind and Ariel as the button pushed to get Pete out of the hand. Kerri flipped over 85 and Ariel flipped 88. The board read 36J5K and Kerri was out. We were down to our final three: Karen, Pete, and Ariel. They played for a little but it was one hand that changed the game. Ariel was first to act and raise to 15k. Pete called. But Karen decided to think, hey wait a minute if I push and win, this game is over. Therefore Karen pushed with the chip lead and both Ariel and Pete called. Pete was the low stack at the time. Ariel flipped over JJ, Pete had KQ, and Karen had A10. The board read 24549 and Ariel took down a huge pot and a commanding lead. Pete finished in 3rd and Karen was left with less than 8k. I don’t know how Ariel dodged all three high cards but I bet you if that was me one would have hit. Just saying. Even with Ariel having almost all the chips Karen somehow kept winning hand after hand and eventually getting pretty much even. Now you all know my feeling about chopping but this chopping is the worst thing ever. I hate it the most. You decide to play it out and then you get even up with chips and decide to chop. That is just dumb. Play to win it was only a 50 dollar difference. I am implementing a rule next year since our rules committee is somewhere lost in Wyoming. If you are going to chop, you must chop before dealing one card as final two or even three. If you deal one hand and then suggest it you cannot and have to play it out. Then I will follow you out to your cars to make sure that you do not split your money if you had to play it out. I will be watching. Oh and by the way Ariel won the last hand to win PPT #22. Later and see you in two weeks.

PPT #23 - 11/13/2015

Poker just sucks right now but I will continue to come back and play every other week. I don’t know why I do it to myself. Oh wait, I run the league that’s why. I had some bad luck this week so it is different than usual. Usually I just suck. Not many funny comments or farting this week so the game was more intense. We had our first knock out within the first 25 minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Jeff his AA went up against Rob’s 1010 and Rob hit a 10 on the flop. Then not much longer we had our second knock out and I didn’t even know he was gone. He literally got up and walked out without saying good bye. Do I smell a sore loser? Well I would do the same thing if I didn’t run the league. Oh yeah the person who got knocked out was Ron. Then it was poker Steve’s turn. He took a few bad beats but that’s the life of a poker player. At this point no one has bought the buy back seat. Well Ryan who was our next victim decided he will buy that seat. Even moving to another seat it didn’t help him much as he was knocked out after maybe 2 or 3 more people were out. Sherwin, who decided to call me at 818 to ask if he could still play, was knocked out next followed by the Panza connection. Doris, Tony, and then me, were the next three out. We were down to our bubble bitch for the final table and I thought it was going to be Pete. He was sitting there with 1600 with blinds being 600-1200 and was first to act. He folded. It went all the way to the blinds and Anthony R. went all in. Mr. Lew called with the smaller stack. Mr. Lew flipped over AJ and Ant flipped over 99. Nothing higher than a 10 hit the board and Mr. Lew finished in 9th. We had our final table and it took roughly four hands before we lost our first player. Pete went all in on the button. Freddy already raised pre-flop and Kevin called. The flop was 952 and Freddy went all in. Kevin folded and Freddy flipped over AA. Pete had KJ. The turn was a King giving Pete some hope but the river was a 3 extinguishing Pete for the night in 8th. Freddy came to the final table with one of the biggest stacks because he was hot early on and continue to stay hot for the whole night. If I didn’t give it away on who won just now then you are dumb. Lol JK. I went upstairs for a little bit because I was trying to figure out the situation for my dad’s bday party drinks I had in my car. Well when I came back down, Kevin was knocked out in 7th by Ant. R. Ariel also followed suit in 6th when he was all in for 7k with blinds at 2k-4k. The small and big blind called him. Well nothing higher than a jack was on board and Rob’s Ace high won. Ariel didn’t even show us his cards. I found out later he had a king high. Then the next hand Victor had to go all in as the small blind with J4 and was only against the big blind. Too bad for him that was Freddy and he had A3. Freddy hit an ace on the flop and it was all over for Victor in 5th and our bubble bitch. Then I left to go drop off the soda at the hall and within the next 20 minutes while I was there the game was over. Anthony called Freddy’s all in with pocket 7’s. Again too bad for him it was Freddy who did that because he had pocket 8’s. His 88 played and Anthony finished in 4th. Then Rob was our next victim as he went all in for 12k. Freddy called with A3 suited cards. Rob flipped over Q6. Rob hit his 6 on the turn but Freddy hit his flush on the river and Rob finished 3rd. Heads up was Freddy and new Steve. Now I wish I had a run like new Steve has had in our poker game. Newbies kill me. He has played 5 times and has cashed 4 of them. Shit I suck so I am not even close to that. Well Freddy and Steve played, I guess, a few hands and Steve pushed with K6 and Freddy called with A7. Nothing on the board hit and Freddy’s ace high held up. Steve had a good amount of chips but it was Freddy’s night tonight and Steve finished in 2nd. Freddy was our PPT #23 2015 winner. Only 2 games left for the year. Top 16 play in the TOC so if you are on the cusp looking in or just barely in you might want to show up these two weeks.

PPT #24 - 11/27/2015

The game was a quiet game because there were no ladies in the house. It was grind it out style poker with a little luck going to many different people. We had 13 players and 2 buy backs because someone decided not to show up, Jose. Tony P was back to his antics with his quotes that you can’t make up. We were talking about Tony P. and the year he was born. Ed goes to Tony, “My mother was born the same year as you.” Tony with a straight face goes, “Is she older than me.” No joke we all started dying laughing at the table. And he just went on with his business. Only Tony P. can make those kinds of quotes and no one second guesses him. Lol Alright back to poker. Unfortunately for Rudy, we had Jeff at our table and he was making moves early on and then catching on the river. He played his cards well and then got a little luck on the river once or twice. Because of that Rudy was our first victim of the night and rebought at our table. Then not much longer after that Ariel had an early exit and because Jose decided not to show up when he said he was, Ariel rebought. Ariel didn’t last much longer and he summed up his night in one quote. “What a tough day.” He had AK versus AA and was knocked out after Rob and Freddy had early exits. Then Tony P. ran into Jeff, I hit my flushes, and lost most of his chips on one hand. We went on a break and right after the break we lost Rudy for the second time. We played about 6 to 7 hands before I had 42 in the big blind with only a min raise and the flop was 4210. Rudy went all in after I bet and I called. He flipped over K10 and the turn and river did not help him. That got us to our final table. It didn’t take long into the final table before we had our first victim. Pete came into the final table with the shortest stack and he got knocked out without making any noise. He went all in for 2700 and his father called him quickly. Pete flipped over 33 and Mr. Lew flipped over A8. Pete was not happy with his father calling him that quick he even said, “How do you call with that, that is terrible.” Well the flop was J84, the turn was a 9 and the river was a 6 and Pete finished in 8th. I finally got my revenge on new Steve when he beat me heads up earlier in the year. He pushed for 9.5k and I went all in on top to get everyone else out of the hand. I flipped over AA to Steve’s 22. Nothing hit on the board and Steve finished in 7th. We played for a little and as we did Matt’s chips were dwindling quickly as his hair. He eventually lost most of his chips against Ed’s AA and was forced to go all in with K7. Victor pushed everyone out by going all in on the same hand with Q10. The board read. AQ1043 and Matt finished in 6th. With his 6th place finish he solidified his place in the TOC. As we played five handed the low stack was Victor. He kept pushing here and there and no one would call. He hovered around 8 to 9k most of the time and eventually got knocked out because someone was trying to make a play. Ed was first to act and made it 4k. Victor went all in for a total of 6.3k and Ed called. Ed even said he was trying to steal the pot and flipped over 87 suited. Victor flipped over AQ. The flop was 642 keeping Victor ahead. The turn was a 9 still giving him the lead but giving Ed more outs and then the river came an 8 and that was it for Victor. He finished in 5th place. We were down to our bubble bitch time. I thought it was going to be me as I was by far the short stack but I got AK in the big blind and got a much needed double up. The bubble bitch distinction went to Mr. Lew. As blinds were, 1k-2k, Mr. Lew raise to 5k and Jeff called. The flop was 1075 and Jeff checked. Mr. Lew went all in for 12k and Jeff called. Jeff flipped over K10 and Mr. Lew flipped over K8. The turn was a Q and the river was a 3 knocking Mr. Lew out in 4th. The final three were set. It was Ed, Jeff and I. I was still battling the low stack but every time I went all in, I kept catching what I needed or staying ahead. As I continue to gain chips it was Jeff that was losing his. He eventually loss most of his chips to Ed and was all in for 8k when Ed made it 12k. Ed flipped over A6 and Jeff flipped over J8. Since the board read 73K46 Jeff was knocked out in 3rd. It was now down to Ed and I and Ed had a huge chip stack. I got close and even took the lead for a little but eventually I lost a few hands and he took it right back. We played for about 30 minutes and with blinds at 3-6k, I looked down at K10 and raise to 23k. Ed put me all in and I called for my remaining 17k. Ed flipped over A9 and I was behind. Nothing higher than an 8 hit the board and Ed was our PPT #24 2015 winner. I finished in 2nd. See you all in one week.

PPT #25 - 12/11/2015

This was by far the grimiest game of the year and the grimiest player was the one who won it. And that is not saying much because it was totally disgusting all night with the way he played cards and the way he was ripping ass. Pete even sent me a text that read, He is the worst poker player on the east coast and u can quote me on that. You are going to be able to figure out who won early in this diary entry because Pete was the second person knocked out that gave Mr. Lew and me the chance to jump him and take the top total points for the year award. We like to welcome an old friend who hasn’t play in a long long time back for the last game of the year. That person is Danny Orr. Yup you read that right he came with a new hairdo and it was good to see him. There were three people who showed up real late and only one lasted long in the game. Pete, Rob, and Danny showed up at least 30-40 minutes late and as late as an hour and fifteen minutes. Rob was the second latest but it didn’t take him long before he took out Freddy for our first victim of the night. He rebought but later on he was knocked out again with about 10 players left. Then we played for a little and this is where Pete’s quote comes into play. Pete raise to 1500 and Rob decides to re-raise him all in and Pete called him instantly. Pete flipped over AA and Rob flipped over 1010. Pete had over 7k at the time but Rob was well over 10k. The flop missed everyone, the turn did also, but the river was a 10 giving Rob trips and sending Pete home disgusted by what just happen. He was completely pissed at Rob for making that move and I can’t blame him. Danny O had only been sitting for about 45 minutes until he was finally knocked out trying to steal a pot that he was called on by Ryan slow playing AQ. Karen followed next when she pushed with KK. Unfortunately for her Mr. Lew had AA and they held up. Ed was moved to another table but that didn’t help him much because Rob was running a freight train that wasn’t stopping for anyone. The train also took out Ryan not much longer when he had KK again against Ryan’s Ace something. Can’t remember what the other card was but it didn’t matter because his KK held up again. With that knock out, that got us to our final table and also secured Billy’s spot in the TOC. As always with Billy he doesn’t play for points he plays for the money. And since he was already in the TOC he went for the money and was our first victim at the final table. After we played for a little Billy in the small blind went all in for 6.5k. Rob also went all in for 12.5k and Ant Rivera who raise the blinds to begin with, called Rob’s all in. Billy flipped over 63, Rob KK again, and Ant R. AQ. The board read J8938 and Billy finished in 8th. Ariel was fighting the short stack at the final table and when Mr. Lew in the small blind put him all in as he was the big blind, all Ariel could do was call when he looked down at A5. Mr. Lew flipped over AK and hit a King on the flop to take the pot and knock out Ariel in 7th. Next to Follow was Tony P. With blinds at 1.5k-3k and him being the big blind, he decided to fold when I raise from early position. The problem was he left himself with 1k behind and had Q7. Don’t know what he was thinking but the next hand he was automatically all in with 73 and Mr. Lew who was the big blind flipped over J9. The board read 652Q5 and Tony P. who had a lot of outs on the flop, finished in 6th. Next to follow was Mr. Lew. After a flop of K73, Ant R went all in and Mr. Lew called him. Mr. Lew flipped over KQ and Ant flipped over K9. Mr. Lew was looking good until the river Ant spiked a 9 to hit two pairs and Mr. Lew went home upset and in 5th place. That locked me up as point leader for the year but now it was time for a win. With four players left someone had to be the bubble bitch. I got unlucky a few times but also got lucky too. I should have been out 8th when I had AK to Rudy’s KK but I spike an Ace on the river to stay in the game. Well I did hit a few unlucky spots after that but it was getting lucky that knocked Ant R. out in fourth place. I raise with AK and Ant in the big blind went all in for 18k so I only had to call 6k more. Ant flipped over K2. The flop came 982 and I flipped my chips in the air because I thought I was going to get unlucky again for the 3rd or 4th time at this final table. But the turn was another 9 giving me more outs for the win and the river was an 8 to make two pairs on the board and making my Ace play over his 2. We were down to three, Rudy, grimy Rob, and me. We played for a little and this is where I got really pissed for the first time at cards in a while. I was first to act with KJ and went all in for 18k. Rob who was big blind for 8k looked down at his cards then his chips and debated for a little. I was yelling at him, “What are you looking at 108 off suit, if you really don’t have anything just fold.” Well he looks down at his chips again and goes “If I call you are going to be pissed” and decides to call. His justification was that he had 40k and that he had the chips to do it. Rob you just put a quarter of your stack in with 94 suited. Yes that’s right he called 10k more with 94 suit spades. Well the flop was K38 with two spades on the board. Then the turn was the 2 of spades to give Rob the flush and knocking me out in 3rd. I was not a happy camper. Then one hand later and I really mean one hand later Rudy and Rob ended the game. Rob just called in the small blind and the flop came, A68. Rudy went all in for about 30k and Rob called quickly. Rudy flipped over Q8 and Rob flipped over AJ. The turn was a K and the River was a 10 giving Rob the PPT #25 win and Rudy finished in 2nd. It was an ugly game and the grimiest player won. I will see the 15 of you in four days for the TOC.

PPT TOC 2015 - 12/18/2015

What can I say I hate poker. Here is the breakdown of the top 16.

16. Tony, i get low stack most games and have to push with crap, Panza
15. Rob, Grimy farter, Alberti
14. Rudy, I have the worst luck, Peralta
13. Anthony, I cant win a race or when I have a dominating hand, Panza
12. Jose, two time champ but not three time, Vela
11. Karen, I don't know how not to talk, Panza
10. Ed, Jets are number one, Walker
09. Doris, I wasted my son's chips away, Panza
08. Ariel, I had to do it, Peralta
07. Billy, I played 5 games and some how i am here, Devine
06. Freddy, I don't know how i lost all my chips as chip leader, Bernal
05. Pete, Bubble Bitch but yet my best finish ever at TOC, Lewandowski
04. Kerri, somehow i got here and got lucky Pete got knocked out, Panza
03. Matt, How did i get here, Perlman
02. Mr., I decided to push with 105 suited, Lewandowski

TOC Winner Steve, I got the cards when i needed and people made bad moves when i did, Espino.

Alright Later Everyone I will see you in a few weeks for the beginning of the 2016 PPT.

1st - Steve            2nd - Mr. Lew            3rd - Matt