But They Were Suited...

But. They. Were. Suited. Four random words that when separate are pretty meaningless...but when used together they can be used to illustrate the unique entity that is the poker donkey.

But since this site is about dodging said creature...allow me to guide you through:

"THE MIND OF THE DONK"

Case File: 001
Game: $1/$2 NL Hold'em

Hero: KcKs on Button
Villain: Big Blind

A little background on our participants. The Hero is a tight and right, ABC player. Not ultra-creative and willing to grind away all night.

The Villain is ultra-loose, agressive, and will call off stack with most draws.

Hero raises to $12 and Villain re-pops to $24. Having played with Villain for years, I know his range is W-I-D-E here...he could be holding any two. Hero re-raises again to $64, villain calls.

The flop comes 5c jd 3s

Villain checks, Hero bets $45. (Too small in my opinion, but it was a harmless flop for KK, so I'm sure he was trying to string the Villain along) Villain calls.

Turn is 6c. Villain checks, Hero bets ALL IN for remaining $118. Villain shrugs and says "Oh well, I have outs..." calls and shows 7c 3c for a gutshot and flush draws.

The river brings the 3d to give our villain the winning trips.

When asked about the hand our villain stated the following "I'd rather have those hands than 2 aces...I have more outs...and I WAS SUITED."

Look, I don't mind the call there on the turn. The price was close enough to right. My issue lies on the getting there...I just don't get it. It's not like he floated to try and steal on the turn or river, he tried to it his gut shot, lucked into a frickin club, and decided to gamble because he had committed over 2/3rds of his stack.

He must have read "Stupid System 1".

The Final Table of the EPT Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure is set and "The Dragon" sits on top going into the final day of play. David "The Dragon" Pham is the reigning 2007 Card Player Player of the Year, and it looks like he will begin 2008 the same way he ended 2007...scooping the money. Here is the final table breakdown:

David Pham — 7,390,000
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier — 3,060,000
Joe "BigEgypt" Elpayaa — 2,755,000
Haffiz Khan — 2,560,000
Kris Kuykendall — 2,150,000
Richard Fohrenbach — 1,855,000
Craig Hopkins — 1,770,000
Christian Harder — 905,000

Here's some news for all of the DodginDonkeys.com female fans:

The WPT has formed the WPT Ladies League. The circuit, which begins on January 20th at the Borgata in Atlantic City will feature multiple events at different entry price points to accommodate players of all skill levels. Another great feature is that 15% of the circuit's $1,500.00 Championship buy-in will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, an organization dedicated to fight breast cancer.

Here's the schedule if any of you ladies are interested or if any of you degenerates care to put on a moo-moo and wig:

* Jan. 20 — Borgata — $300
* Feb. 2 — Commerce Casino — $970
* March 16 — Bay 101 — $300
* March 29 — Foxwoods — $530
* April 13-14 — Bellagio — $1,500 WPT Ladies championship

Good Luck to the ladies...

That's all for today folks...come back tomorrow for the "Donk of the Week".

DDJ

Small Ball Conquers All

Daniel Negreanu has gone on record about his love of small ball poker. Who am I to argue with one of the greatest in the world? When most of us started we fell into two categories...either too tight or too loose. Before my discovery of Super System, 2+2, etc. I was a complete donk. Blasting away with marginal hands and calling off my stack with a flush draw was my M.O.

Fast forward to the present. As my poker knowledge has grown, I've come to appreciate the beauty of small ball. It's not an easy style to play, blasting away is far easier, but I believe the money you save during a session from being able to lay down strong but still losing hands is well worth the extra attention you need to pay to your opponents. Player reading is the most important piece of the small ball puzzle and if you aren't willing to dedicate the first few hours of your session to your player reading...then small ball isn't for you. Remember sometimes the best earned money at the poker table is the money you don't lose. It's been working so far this year as I've scooped well over a G in two sessions.

In more important poker news, the Borgata Winter Open is right around the corner. The DodginDonkey staff will be down there in full force both playing some pre-lim events and in support of our local pros taking a shot at the title. I'll update throughout the week so keep coming back for the latest from the beautiful Borgata Poker Room.

Young American poker prodigy, Jimmy "Gobboboy" Frike, won a sweet $16,800 by outlasting 95 other players at Event 3 of the Aussie Millions. "Gobboboy" is best known for his second place finish to Gus Hansen in last year's Aussie Millions Main Event. He also recently made some news when an email from Howard Lederer calling Fricke a "freak" made it back to Fricke's inbox. "Gobboboy" went ahead and posted it on the 2+2 forums and the rest is history.

I guess "Gobboboy" got one over on "The Professor".

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of a new weekly feature where I explore the mind (or lack of mind) of the Poker Donkey. Sounds complicated huh? It isn't. What I'll really be doing is detailing a ridiculous hand where our Hero gets crushed by the Vile Donkey Villain. Here's a small preview of tomorrow's hand...

Hero = KK
Donkey = 73 SUITED!!!!

See you tomorrow.

DDJ

SQUADOOSH!

That's what Ken Light and Jennifer Harmon ended up with at the end of this week's Poker After Dark after Phil Hellmuth felted them both on the final hand. If you didn't catch this week's episodes, use the link on the left and head on over to PokerTube and check them out.

Since this week was all about an amateur on TV, here's the info to win a seat on NBC's Head's Up Poker Championship:

First off it's at Caesar's Palace in Vegas on Feb 17th. Secondly it costs $500 and only guarantee's one seat. If you need additional info here's the number at Caesar's:

800-634-6001

Ask for the Poker Room and if you tell them that DodginDonkeys.com sent you...you'll get absolutely nothing.

If you happen to win a seat and feel like wearing some free swag, hit me up and I'll hook you up with some official DodginDonkeys.com gear. (coming soon, no really)

In a cool twist of poker fate, I found myself sitting at a low-stakes home game with Blair Rodman's brother and Jamie Gold's mother. I've played with Jane before and she's a delight to play with...even though she hit a one-outer on the river to take my stack. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. ;)

ESPN Classic is running the 2006 USPC as I type away and I just made a new observation even though I've probably watched this event 173 times. Whenever they show the railbirds on an all-in hand you'll see some of the creepiest guys to ever grace a television broadcast. Freakin ghouls I tell ya.

That's it for tonight folks.

DDJ

Friday's DONK of the WEEK!

In an effort to get you degenerates to come back here at least once a week, I am starting the "Donk of the Week" Award. I'll try and nominate players from TV so we can actually see the hand in question, but if I come across a particularly awful display of poker during my adventures throughout the week, I may use that too. Don't like it? Oh well. Make your own blog and award.

So without further ado...the Inaugural "Donk of the Week" is...(drum roll please)

Ken Light!

...cricket...cricket...

WHO?!?!?!

This guy:



He offends me on a multitude of levels:

1. He's from New Jersey, so every hayseed that stays up to watch Poker After Dark will associate NJ with this guy. What people don't understand is that any person that lives south or west of Newark might as well live in Idaho. North NJ is the only stretch of dirt in this state that is worth anything. That's why Tony Soprano does his business up north, and not with the rubes down south. Atlantic City gets a pass too...but only because it's an oasis in the desert of suck that is South Jersey.

2. He single-handedly ruined news boy caps. Apologies to Brad Pitt and Kangol, who made these lids cool for the rest of us to wear.

3. Then he embarrasses himself in the most cringe-worthy exchange in Poker TV history. I don't care what he claims, we know it, and everyone at that table knows it. He thought his Kh10s was good. It was donkey poker in it's purest form and I cackled with glee when Hellmuth needled him.

Click here to watch (the hand in question is at the 5:25 mark in the video)



The worst part of this hand is that he tables the cards. Way to give free info to the best players in the WORLD.

Like my friend Greg says: "Good Luck Bro."

Let's all stand and applaud Ken Light, the first ever Donk of the Week.