Wise Hand Poker

No..... my headline is not related to poker in anyway today. Although it could be used in the life of a poker player, it is not my intention to do that today!

I played in 3 tournaments since making the final table last week at the Bike. Two of them I was completely card dead. The third, well I got knocked out early and there is no reason to go into details as of why.

If you have read my article "Keeping things in There Proper Perspective" on the front page of this site,I hope you have enjoyed it. I often go back and read it myself to remind me about the day I wrote it and why.

I took three really awful beats the past two days,the last one being in a $280.00 satellite when I was heads up to win a seat in the "Winning of The Green" Main Event at the Bike today.

A $2,600.00 NL Tournament that started at 4:15 today with 105 entries. This would have been my biggest buy in event I had ever played. Except my QQ ended up losing to J4 when a 4 hit the turn to give my opponent 2 pair and send me home wondering HOW I am going to stop getting beat.

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of Poker players that wonder the same thing. It was told to me today,when you leave that casino and you head to your car to go home,the beats stay behind you in those doors that just shut as you left. When you come back the next time to play,it's a new day and those bad beats are a thing of the past and no longer exist.

Some very good advice. If you do not leave those behind and you bring them home or to work,they will send you to an early grave or divorce court.

So before leaving for work this morning, I again read my own words. It is always good for me or I would think anyone else to be reminded of certain life changing events and how blessed we truly are.

I spent the evening with my wife and daughters,Monique,Jennifer,Jasmine,Mia and Bianca. It was nice to have Monique over. Since she got married last September she has being staying with her In-Laws as her Husband is still in Iraq and she works full time. When I came home from work my wife, Lupe and Monique went to El Pollo Loco and brought some dinner home and we sat and watched one of the most touching movies I have ever seen.

As the movie started in black and white, there was this old sign at a movie theatre. The ones where they put the movies which are showing at the theatre. The Sign read.

"The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh'

The Movie,"We Are Marshall" A true story of the tragic loss of a College football team,Family members Teachers and Coaches on November 14th 1970 in a tragic Airplane crash in a thunderstorm and how the program and the Town rebuilt itself.

If you have not seen this movie I highly recommend it!!!!!!!! Its amazing how certain events that happen in your day lead you to something that becomes so profound in your life.

I am going to leave you with a quote that was sent to me by a good friend after he witnessed my demise at the Poker table last night. I am not sure of the Author,but it almost sounds like something Benjamin Franklin had written.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,but where he stands at the times of challenge and controversy".

Take care Be safe.........

POKERROAD FREEROLL!! $100 and Free Prizes
2008 March, 20

In order to show our appreciation for our users, we are hosting a Freeroll event on FullTilt! You will have a chance to show off your skills to members of the PokerRoad team including Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith, Scott Huff, and Joe Stapleton, who will all be playing in the event. As well as giving you the chance to win some free cash, we will be giving away five PokerRoad T-shirts to the top five finishers.

All you have to do to qualify is Sign Up for the PokerRoad Newsletter. The password to the freeroll will be sent out in the newsletter prior to March 29th.

I just played probably my worst tournament ever last night at the Bicycle Casinos Winning of the Green $545.00 NL event,

I was seated with a couple of very good players when I finally arrived. The traffic yesterday here in LA for some reason was bumper to bumper on every freeway because of accidents. It took me almost 2 hours to get to the Bike from my house and when I arrived at 4:23pm,the tournament had already been running 8 minutes. I was frustrated and I was not the only one late but I hate feeling rushed and last night I walked in frustrated. Allen Le,Jim Pittman, Paramjit Gil and a very aggressive player in seat 8 were at my table. Eventually 126 players showed up for a chance at the 23,000 first place prize.

I wasn't getting any cards again. This was the third tournament I have been absolutely card dead. I tried to generate some pots but ended up losing on the river to a bigger full house and a flush another time. I was down to 1400 chips after starting with 2500 and I had back to back pocket 9s and moved all in both times pre-flop with them. I only picked up the blinds both times and after being blinded back down to 1500 chips, I again have 99 and raise to 300 chips when the blinds were still only 200-100. I got called from the aggressive guy in seat 8 who just had busted Allen out with a hand he should not have gone up against Allen with. He turned a flush against Allens KQ when King high was on the board. Seat 8 played 3-5 diamonds for a 300 raise.

Seat 8 calls me and the flop is a J-4-2 rainbow. I go all in and he calls me. Now if he would have had a Jack I do not think he would of checked in front of me. I was right he had 7-4 spades and he turned a 4 to give him trips and I was done for the evening in the tournament.

I went over to the 200 NL cash game and sat down at a full table. I ordered some dinner and about 30 minutes into the game I went on a mini rush. QQ and hit a set for 125.00 profit,AA for another 85.00 profit and finally AA again against this older guy who plays all the time there and loves to bully. I raised 35.00 pre flop and he bumped it to 100.00 I just called his raise. I was not quite sure what he had but I wanted to see a flop with AA against him. The flop came out 4H-AS-2S. I checked he bet 150.00 so I called and he looked at his cards then he looked at me with a fake look of puzzlement on his face.

The turn was the 10H and he again led out with 150.00 as he asked me how much I had left.I told him 185.00 so he didn't put me all in, I still had 40.00 left. The river was the KS putting a flush out there and now I am thinking this is what he might have chased. He announced all in and as I put my last 40.00 in the pot I asked him if he had hit his flush. He said "NO" he had an ace with a baby kicker sarcastically and he turned over AK. I turned over my AA and he went into a rage telling me I am the worst player in the Casino. How could I slow roll AA and some other things for at least 2 minutes. For the next 20 minutes he told anyone and everyone about how I slowed rolled him.

So with a nice profit again this week from a cash game, I went back into the tournament area where the satellites were going strong and bought into a $120.00 satellite.
It came down to three of us after I went on a mad rush and was now the chip leader. We agreed to save the buy in of 120.00 each making the prize pool $960.00. I went heads up with this guy who I always see there and I apologize for not remembering his name because he is a very nice guy.We chopped it at $480.00 a piece and I watched some of the final table of my donk event before heading home.

There are super satellites today at $260.00 buy in for the Main Event this Saturday. I am not sure if I am going to play or not. The main event is a 2 day ordeal and I work this weekend. I do not see that many players entering because the $1500.00 buy in this week only had 37 players. I expect about 110-120 people.

There is one amazing hand I have to tell you about that happened at my table last night. My good friend Jim Pittman was down to about 1000 chips when 4 people in front of him went all in at the table. Jim said "I feel Lucky tonite with this hand" and called. Jim 88 seat 6 AA seat 7 AK seat 9 JJ and seat 3 10-9 Diamonds. The flop 8-8-3...Jim flops quads and rakes in a pot of over 4k. It was a very exciting hand,several people playing came over to check the table out when everyone stood up pre=flop. Kenna James who was at another table even came over to see what was going on.

It gave Jim momentum and he went to the final 2 tables after taking a tough beat with about 20 people left. He had AQ on a flop of AA-4-turn was 10 and river was a 7. His opponent had A-10 for a full house and Jim at the time had 80k in chips. He then busted out with 10-10 vs KQ. Another fine showing by Jim who won an earlier event this month at the Bike.

Jan Fisher wrote a great article in Poker Player Newspaper about the Charity Event and I would like to thank her. Jan and Linda are TWO of the nicest people on the face of the earth and it's an absolute honor to know them!!!!!

The tournament scene here in LA dies down a bit until April 10th when the Stars and Stripes series begins at the Bike. These are small buy in events and no POY (player of the year points) are given out during this series. however I look for big fields because of the buy ins.

I hope everyone the best in the coming days and weeks and please be safe out here. take care.....

Hey y'all,

just a quick note to let you know about tomorrow night's show. I know i always say its going to be a good one, but considering current events and the importance of a guest's ability to converse, I'm convinced this is going to be one of our best.

First we'll be having Brandon Cantu on the show. if you're living under a rock, Brandon just won the bay 101 Shooting Star in dominating fashion, collecting a (confirmed) record six bounties en route to a seven figure win. Brandon's going to be talking with us about the tournament, the reasons he took time away from poker just before it and how his life, which includes living next door to Jeff Madsen, has been affected by the turns of wealth and stardom it's withstood.

After Cantu, we'll be bringing on a more experienced warrior of the felt. Layne Flack is one of hte most charismatic characters in the poker industry and he'll be joining us tomorrow to talk about the art of table captaincy, the rigors of withstanding an extended dry spell and some of the misconceptions about his career. i haven't had many chances to get to know Layne, so I'm looking forward to the convo.

So that's the deal. The show starts at 8PM EST over at roundersradio.com tomorrow (Wednesday) night. I hope you'll come and listen in; I think you'll be missing out if you don't. See you there,

Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com

Vote

http://www.pokerroad.com/_/polls/prr_poll1.php

Here are examples of two possible examples:

I only played in one event last week and it was the $545.00 with 126 entries. I thought this was a very good sign for me because I have been in very large fields lately.I lasted until about 40th when my JJ was beat my AQ. I literally only played about 6 hands in 4 hours and the blinds were starting to get to me. I pushed with my jacks on the button and a very arrogant guy I have played with several times and loves to do battle with me went all in with his AQ.He hit a Queen on the flop and gave a little smirk and I was done for the evening. I was not upset at all. I had been so very patient through out the evening and I just didn't get any cards to build up a stack.

So before leaving I sat down and played some cash games because I just did not feel like driving 55 miles home at the moment. It was a good decision because I ended up with a 1260.00 profit and I am already entered in this Wednesdays $545.00 NL event at the Bike. Thursday starts the mega Satellites for the Main Event on Saturday, a $2500.00 buy in. Depending on how I do tomorrow,I may play a satellite Thursday or Friday.

I will be taking a break until near the end Of April when the Heavenly Holdem Series starts at Commerce. I am actually buying a new boat and going to be spending some days off in Laughlin with my girls who love to do outdoor activities.

I am looking forward to the WSOP that is just around the corner. I am going to attack the satellites there this year and hope to play in some of the 1500.00 events.

Congratulations to my buddy Jim Pittman for winning the $545.00 re buy event at the Bike the other night.He has been playing some solid poker the past year and I look for him to do well this year.

Also Gary has had some great guests on Wednesday Nights at Roundersradio.com, Tune in and listen or go to the site and download a show on your Ipod.

If you get a chance to read Joy's blogs here,please do so. I met Joy 2 years ago and she is one of the nicest woman I have ever met. She is always so bubbly and I cannot remember not ever seeing a smile on her face. Welcome to wisehand Joy. See you soon.

Take Care, Be Safe....Also my LAPD buddy and Xterminators Poker Crew Member,Paul Valencia just had some surgery to repair a Hernia. Paul I hope you get better real soon. The streets of Downtown LA will not be the same without you......

(and I am fully aware that everyone in the poker media has already used this pun, but i like it anyway!)

Instead of my weekly Top Ten list, I'm going to drop The Good and The Bad from Brandon Cantu's historical WPT Bay 101 win.

Good: At 4pm, I successfully convinced my homie Jeffrey Madsen (aka "The Kid", aka My Child, aka MC JMad) to drop everything he was doing in Los Angeles to get on an airplane with me and fly to San Jose to watch Brandon at his Final Table.

Bad: By the time we navigated LA traffic and got to the airport, we were informed that the 7pm flight only had one seat available and the stand-by line was "extremely long" Boo.

Good: My unwaivering determination that we were both getting on that flight. I managed to convince a supervisor to put Madsen 2nd on the standby list.

Bad: All the unfortunate people who had been waiting for hours on the standby list that were relegated to waiting even longer for another flight since Madsen cut the line. Those death stares gave us the willies.

Good: We also convinced our friend Jim Shipley to fly in from Vegas last minute

Bad: We forgot to get him a room, therefore accidentally setting him up for sleeping on the floor of Ali Najad's suite at 3am.

Good: When we arrived in the WPT Final Table tent, all of Cantu's friends and family that flew in were sitting together and having a great time. E-Tay, Hudy, Fuller, Angela, Jake, Palmer, Ali, Grandma & Grandpa, and Mom.

Bad: Layne Flack stole my seat so he could sit next to Madsen and heckle people.

Good: He made up for it by asking TD Matt Savage why he was wearing Jim Carrey’s suit from "The Mask" (hilarious evidence here http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wpt/season6/bop-brandon-cantu-wins-bay-101-shooting-star )

Bad: We were THAT group of loud friends at the Final Table

Good: We were THAT group of loud (supportive, amazingly proud) friends at the Final Table

Bad: Cantu had his back to us for the heads-up

Good: Heads up was only 2 hands, Cantu sprinted in to the crowd to watch his winning hand, and we all got to jump around and celebrate it right with him. Yeeeaaaah!

Bad: I cried a little (in joy, but still).

Good: My college boyfriend, who knows NOTHING about poker, came to watch the last hour with us. He was so excited by the end that he called someone and said, "I just watched a dude win a million dollars!" Also, Matt from PokerListings, the CardPlayers guys, and photog Joe did a marvelous job of providing covering the entire event.

Bad: Final Table finished at 12:30am, therefore ruining any chances of us being able to go out and celebrate since bars in the Bay Area close at 2am. So we made do with The Dolphin Lounge in the middle of Bay 101. Cantu runs so good that he got off without having to buy bottles at a big Vegas club - he probably spent $300 max on drinks for the whole bar.

Good: Cantu had the genius idea of sending me and the ex to 7-eleven to get beers so we could continue to party in our suite later.

Bad: I went a little overboard and got 9 cases of beer for 12 people. We had to donate about 5 of those to the Front Desk the next day.

Good: 2nd place finisher Steve Sung - and his clever bending of the rules that allowed him to sport an Obama shirt (YES WE CAN!) - came over and played cards and hung out with us in the suite after. What a guy!

Bad: The food at Bay 101. Suck isn't even a strong enough word to describe it. EVERY meal was a monstrosity.

Good: Cantu paid for it.

Bad: Esther (E-tay) and I thought it would be funny to switch passports and see if the airport security would notice. Esther is Korean with straight black hair, I am African-American with an afro of brown hair. And we successfully made it through with EACH OTHER'S passports and tickets without ONE word from anyone checking our tickets. But all 5 of the boys were searched and frisked. Sad proof of my theory that having airport screening is a waste of money and time, and was probably solely invented to make me constantly late for flights.

Good: There was no one on our flight so all eight of us got to fly together.

Bad: When Shipley went to drive me and Palmer home, he had left in such a hurry (see GOOD thing #3) that he couldn’t remember where in the Las Vegas
Airport he had left his car. I had to bat my eyes at some bike security to ride around and look for it. (Bonus BAD: The guy checking us in at the San Jose airport spelled his name SHITley. Wait, change that to a GOOD thing because it provided us with giggles for hours!)

Good: One of my dearest, favorite friends whose an amazing poker player overcame a poor showing at the WSOP last summer to play dominant poker for the last few months. Finally winning another major title and showing the poker community that his bracelet wasn't a fluke and that he’s a viable threat at the table.

Bad: I didnt take a piece of him. So I'm as poor as ever - but rich in memories of his incredible win! Photo Proof!...
http://www.pokerlistings.com/blog/wpt/season6/bop-brandon-cantu-wins-bay-101-shooting-star