Wise Hand Poker

Everyone is wondering now another blog about Devo..aka Bryan Devonshire, doesn't he write for pokerpages.com. Why all the fuss??

Well for me I started reading Bryan's blogs when I got interested in Poker 2 years ago.I would send some comments back to him and he would reply very quickly. Bryan probably gets 15-20,000 hits a day on his blog and alot of e-mails,so for him to respond like he did I appreciated it very much.

Bryan and I finally met at last years LAPC at Commerce Casino. Although I am old enough to be his father we hit it off and enjoyed each others company.

Bryan was instrumental in helping me get my first writing job at Pokerpages during the LAPC and if not for him I may not be blogging here today. So again, I thank you Bryan.

I went to the WSOP last year and sweated Bryan in his Omaha event for two days and was there at his final table when he had the Russian by his _ _ _ _ _!! Kravachenko made a historical comeback on Bryan and won the bracelet. I even ran to a store for Bryan with my bad leg and all to get Bryan some chew while he was at the final table. It was like a three mile walk,but I am sure he would of done the same for me. After all a FINAL Table at the WSOP. I walked with Bryan to the cashier after his loss and tried to be a big brother,but he was upset and righteously so. I said my goodbye's and headed home.

Bryan and I have kept in touch via phone the past year. He has been close by several times but we just can't seem to be able to go to dinner due to his busy schedule when he gets in town.

It's a pleasure to be one of Bryan's many friends and I wish him nothing but the best today at the WPT final Table in Reno. Win or lose,Bryan is still a winner in my book because of the person he is and that will carry him further in life than he can imagine. GO GET EM DEVO!!!!!

Last Night I went to Commerce casino to play in a free roll Poker Tourney sponsored by a local radio station, 97.1 FM. They had a great spread of food and it was worth the drive to Commerce just for the free dinner. You had to sign up on line to get in and if you received an e mail back you were in. Well about 12 of us from the Exterminators Poker Crew made it into to the event and it was an all in fest at the beginning. Over 600 people and you started with 1000 chips with 20 minute blinds. I had a bunch of fun and was knocked out early in level 4. No cards and no luck. I mean there were people playing any two cards because as the one person told me "They Look Pretty Together" That pretty much tells you the majority of players there last night.

Great evening and if they have it again as they say they are,I will be there.

Ok one very sick hand I have to tell you about and then I will never complain about luck again...

Forty dollar cash game with a couple of the guys before we headed home. I have 2-4 diamonds on the button and there are 7 players in for $15.00 so I say what the heck I am going to make the call. I had won a few pots in the 20 minutes I was seated there and had $160.00 in front of me. My buddy Paul was standing behind me and I said, "this is a sick call"

Well this guy who had just came to the table with his buddy bragging about how they were playing downstairs in the big cash game all night. I thought to my self,if they were playing in the big cash game they must have gone broke to be in the $40.00 game. The first two hands one of them went all in both times and lost one and rivered the other with a KQ lost...and won with an A-10. All of you know from reading my blogs I do not like cocky arrogant rude individuals at the Poker table.

I understand the frustration in defeat and some times we say "Hellmuths" but these two were really annoying..

So the older of the two "Rude Brothers" raises it to $60.00 pre flop and everyone folds. I begin to laugh and tell Paul, "it's my birthday and this is a very sick call" but I push $60.00 into the pot.

The flop is 10d 8d- Kc. I go all in with my 2-4 of diamonds for another $100.00 and he calls and flips over AA..... oops!!!! So I turn over my 2-4 and he looks amazed and starts talking in Armenian. I told him it was a sick call but I am out the door and I am only in it for $40.00 and Theres always a chance with any two cards.

I have a diamond draw and he is not happy as he is holding the As-Ac.. The turn is a 4h and the river is a 2c to give me two pair and win the $430.00 pot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me...sick huh..

Take care and be safe.....

And for this week's installment of "Joy Miller's Friends Are Great Poker Players And She Can't Figure Out Why She Is Not"....
Good Luck to DEVO a.k.a Bryan Devonshire a.k.a our Fantasy Football League Winner that I owe $250 to still a.k.a The Chip Leader at the World Poker Challenge in Reno right now.

He's an astonishingly great player whose MySpace mathematical percentage fights with Rick Fuller make for great reading material when I want to fall asleep.

I'm hopin' for heads-up against Ivey so we can all fly out and be the loud, proud friends again! GOOD LUCK, DEVO!

(secretly excited that my friend's Michael and P.I. are doing well, too!)

But GOOOOOooooo Deeevoooooooo!

Wonder if he'll tip? Guess I'll have to read some forums to find out ;-) Ouch, that wasn't nice of me.

I played two tournaments this week. They were at the Hustler casino owned my the infamous Larry Flynt in Gardena California.

I had never been to the Hustler and my buddy Jim Pittman has his office close by and after visiting him Monday night we went to play the Deep Stack $255.00 NL event.

There were 341 people who got into the event and another 71 alternates who didn't get a shot.I tried playing position poker and it seemed to work until I called a guys all in with pocket Queens and he had pocket 9's. He turned a 9 and he put a dent in my stack. I then lost with a set of fours to a flush on the river the player chased. I even bet the pot on the turn because I knew he was chasing and lost another 2,500 chips there instead of winning 6,200.

The finale was my pocket aces against pocket Kings when a king hit on the river and I was on my way home at the level 4 break.

They play 30 minute levels with 5,000 staring chips and the blinds are 50-25 to start. The poker room is the nicest here in Southern California. The tables are a little larger then normal and the chairs are very comfortable. The food is very good and there is plenty of parking.

Tuesday night I played the $340.00 NL event and there were about 135 people entered. I was on fire the first 6 levels and was probably the chip leader when I was moved to another table with about 70 people left to go.

I played a little to tight at this table. there were 3 very aggressive players at this table and one guy who hated to lose his blinds or any hand he was in. He had built a decent size stack up by intimidation and made some huge over bets to pick up pots. Another player no matter what kind of ace he had and where he was position wise made big bets. he also had built a stack up at another table before being moved to this table so I did not see how he built his chips up. The reason I now he was calling with ace rag was because he had 3 showdowns with a small kicker and he beat AQ with A-3 twice to win big pots.

I beat the first aggressor on a flop with two clubs when I had AK clubs in my hand and he led out with a 2k bet when the blinds were 800-400 into a 2k pot. I went all in and he seemed disturbed. Later I had pocket 10's against him,again in his blind and we saw a flop of 2-5-2. he made a 3500 chip bet into 2200 chip pot. I folded and he tells me "Good Lay Down" and starts telling the guy next to him he had a huge pocket pair. He didn't even raise pre flop....

I stayed away from him after that hand and began to pick on some of the players with shorter stacks. But my luck turned sour when I called an all in with my pocket Aces against KJ off and the flop came ..A-10-7 and the turn was a Q giving him a straight and half of my stack. I lost the rest in level 12 with 29 players left when I had KK on a flop of 7-6-10 and moved all in. The second aggressor called me and turned over A-9 and hit his ace on the river and sent me home. I still cannot understand his call but if he doesn't hit an ace I am going to make the final table with the way I had been playing. He made a huge raise pre flop under the gun and it was his pattern with any ace. I just called the 3500 chip bet and when there was no ace on the board, I pushed it trying to represent a set or a big pair, which I had.

So tomorrow Friday there is an event for my poker crew at Paul's house. I have to work this weekend and his event doesn't start till 7:00pm and it is also my birthday so I may pass this up. I am still trying to decide if I am going to continue with the Poker Crew. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Joy!!!!! tell Brandon not to worry about what is being said in the forums regarding his not tipping after winning the Wynn last week. All these events now take their percentages out before hand and if Brandon said he thought the Wynn had continued this new tradition, I believe him. As for Brandi Hawbaker, they are confusing Brandon with Mark Newhouse, so it just goes to show the intelligence level of the ones bashing Brandon. The good posters have respect for other players as well as the game.

Take Care..Be safe

The good news is that the people the run tourneys in the Green Bay area have started one in my hometown. Even better news is everyone that plays there except my friends are absolutely terrible. Now for the bad news, I have bubbled both times I have played in it.

They have a point system and I’m doing OK in that since I’ve been deep both times. If I do well enough in the points I get an entry into a tournament for some free trips like money to buy in to a WSOP event. However, this weekend is probably going to be my last week playing in it before that time, so I need to win. The winners each week are invited to the special tourney also. We’ll see how it goes; after bubbling twice I feel kind of sick about it.

The nice thing is I’ve easily made those buy-ins back online in the last few days. I discovered heads-up cash games and it has been ultra juicy for me. One session I was down over two buy-ins and managed to come back and be a small winner. It has been a little crazy at times. In that particular game my opponent was holding over me for the first 80 or so hands and it was just sick. I knew I was the better player though so I stuck in and grinded my way back. The really strange thing is that everyone comes in firing at me, but after 80 hands they are playing really passive. Maybe I just make them change their style.

I hope all of you running bad can find your niche to help get you off the slide. GL everyone.

So....my article on forums here on Wise Hand from last month seems to apply to my friend Brandon Cantu right now. (Why Forums are my Arch-Enemy)

Not only did a writer incorrectly put in an article that Cantu dated Brandi Hawbaker (he's never even MET her), but now the 2+2 forums have had a 36 page field day on a subject that probably 97% of them will never encounter - correct tipping after winning a major tournament.

It's a shame that after playing so well, being so gracious in his win, and having fun with his family and friends that came out to see him...the thing everyone will remember is that someone made a public deal about something that wasn't anyone's business.

And we wonder why people think poker doesn't take "skill"

Garry Gates is no longer a contributing writer/blogger for WiseHandPoker.com.

He is currently writing for PokerNews.com.

We left Garry Gates' bio page on our website as a courtesy for the work he has done while writing for WiseHandPoker.com,

Wise Hand Poker Staff