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The TICK's BLOG
ON TILT Fantasy Football - Playoff edition!
01-10-2010 09:59:24 AM
The Tick:
T. Romo(21,7) - DAL, S.Morris(1) - NEN, J. Addai(n/a,3,9) - IND, M. Austin(14,3) - DAL, G. Jennings(19) - GBA, A. Gates(n/a,9) - SAN, M. Crosby(9) - GBA, Jets(11,10,4) - NYJ.
Total:120
Johney Rebel:
P. Manning(n/a,21,27) - IND, R. Rice(27,6) - BAL, B. Wells(9,6) - ARI, D. Jackson(7) - PHI, V. Jackson(n/a,11) - SAN, T. Heap(0,3) - BAL, M. stover)n/a,8,9) - IND, Eagles(4) - PHI.
Total:138
Christeeler Smith:
P. Rivers(n/a,23) - SAN, P. Thomas(n/a,6,21) - NOR, B. Westbrook(2) - PHI, M. Colston(n/a,14,2) - NOR, L. Fitzgerald(20,7) - ARI, V. Shianco(n/a,7,8) - MIN, D. Akers(2) - PHI, Bengals(2) - CIN.
Total:115
Mario:
T. Brady(18) - NEN, C. Benson(23) - CIN, M. Barber(0,1) - DAL, P. Harvin(n/a,2,4) - MIN, M. Floyd(n/a,3) - SAN, B. Celek(5) - PHI, J. Feely(6,5) - NYJ, Vikings(n/a,21,3) - MIN.
Total:91
Jenn 'JC' Carvalho:
B. Favre(n/a,32,18) - MIN, L. Tomlinson(n/a,2) - SAN, R. Bush(n/a,20,9) - NOR, D. Driver(4) - GBA, P. Garcon(n/a,3,21) - IND, J. Finley(15) - GBA, R. Longwell(n/a,10,4) - MIN, Colts(n/a,20,6) - IND.
Total:164
Matt 'not for' Knotten:
D. McNabb(16) - PHI, L. Maroney(0) - NEN, F. Taylor(0) - NEN, J. Edelman(16) - NEN, R. Moss(4) - NEN, J. Whitten(2) - DAL, S. Shuisem(10) - DAL, Cowboys(16) - DAL.
Total:64
Paul 'The southern gentleman':
D. Brees(n/a,25,25) - NOR, D. Sproles(n/a,6) - SAN, C. Hightower(9,16) - ARI, B. Berian(n/a,3,10) - MIN, A. Boldin(0,0) - ARI, D. Clark(n/a,5,6) - IND, N. Kaeding(n/a,2) - SAN, Chargers(n/a,6) - SAN.
Total:113
Inbre...Neil Mello:
A. Rogers(46) - GBA, A. Peterson(n/a,7,31) - MIN, R. Grant(7) - GBA, R. Wayne(n/a,12,5) - IND, S. Rice(n/a,32,10) - MIN, M. Bennett(0,2) - DAL, G. Hartley(n/a,9,7) - NOR, Packers(3) - GBA.
Total:171
The Kid Mel:
M. Sanchez(13,10,22) - NYJ, T. Jones(9,4,6) - NYJ, S. Green(19,18,4) - NYJ, R. Meachum(n/a,0,1) - NOR,
J. Cotchery(6,2,10) - NYJ, J. Shockey(n/a,9) - NOR, S. Gostkowski(2) - NEN, Patriots(4) - NEN
Total:139
Excused absence: Anthony 'Fozzy T. Bear' LaFazia.
NO SHOWS! Big Pete Germano (BPG), Mike 'The MooooN' Wright(O), Billy Babblecock...aka...Billy Bumblebach...aka...Billy Jabberwock.
It has been learned that the moon was hard at work above the coast of California causing the tides, so he has been excused!
It Has been learned that Billy CinderBlock blew off the ON TILT Fantasy League for......THE AUPT (ayyyUpTeee)!? Say it ain't so Babble!
COMMENTS
iO plays in #600! Closes in on Johney Rebel!
09-12-2009 10:23:34 AM
iO,
Congratulations on participating in your 600th EPT event! (A regional ALL-TIME record!) Johney Rebel should feel your foot steps. The Tick has you passing the Mexican next summer. Take the month that you had in August! Unbelievable performance, I am in awe! Your longevity / endurance is inspiring!...
25 events played! (led the region by 6 events, crushing the non-believers who said iO didn't have the stamina to go past 20!)
5 top 16's!
NO cashes!
19th for the month!
It is this type of stubborn mule-like poker that will eventually take you to the top! I would be honored if you gave The Tick the prestige of 'dealing out the first card' at your 1000th event (~winter of 2010).
Also, because I think the other regions should know about these amazing feets I will also be posting this as a blog post, as I think it deserves that kind of respect and recognition!
Your fan,
The Tick
Coming along....for the ride!
02-25-2009 02:08:38 PM
‘Coming along for the ride’---calling a relatively small all-in bet (with any two cards) with the hopes that others will also ‘come along’ thus creating a much larger pot than otherwise expected; this strategy works great when you have a bunch of ‘checker downers’ at the table.
Blinds: 300 – 600
Anthony ‘Fozzy The Bear’ LaFazia: Pushes all-in for 1700
Me: early / middle position: call with the 5 – 4o
One other player calls
Flop: check, check
Turn: check, check
River: check, I bet 2k, fold
Fozzy has middle pair; the TICK has a straight.
I win a 5700 pot for the 1700 investment. The ‘Bear’ storms off in disbelief; The TICK goes to the final table and probably would have taken it down if my boat didn’t get sunk by flopped Quad 5’s.
The strategy is mathematical and sound; the implied odds are sky high, and you only have to call that initial all-in without the pressure of a sure fire continuation bet on the flop. The strategy is contingent on the fact that many poker players have the false belief that they should just ‘check it down’ when someone is all-in (read my previous post on this ‘etiquette’).
Long live The Donkey Checker Downer! (DCD) this special species of poker animal hates to break established poker etiquette and will be seen checking down top pair consistently, the DCD then laments of his poor luck when he loses on the turn or river and then is personally insulted when you bet at him, the DCD is usually a rigid player with little creativity, you can hear them saying “I hate A – A, I never win with them, or A – K is just a drawing hand!” HAHAHAHAHA!
Coming soon: Why you should never over bet A – A.
Damian 'the TICK' Barbosa
COMMENTS
03-01-2009 05:56:38 PM
And the only other reason I called a 1600 dollar raise with j10 o was because of the 4 other callers and pot odds...
alot of people don't understand that majority of the time their cards are live and they have a good chance on making alot of $$ calling a nice pot with rags.. and no matter what you will ALWAYS be called a donkey..
... but if you're walking out with a full pocket then sometimes it's a good thing
:)
..always admire your play Tick
Checking it down: a recent example
08-04-2008 12:41:02 PM
Not checking it down leads to a win:
Tavern 12: Saturday, August 2, 2008
Players remaining: 4
Blinds: 5K, 10K
My position: Small blind
Under the gun: Pushes ALL IN for 17K
2nd position: Fold
Small blind (me): 10 / 9 off suit, call 12K
Big Blind: call 7K
Flop: 10, blank, blank
I lead out with a minimum bet of just 10K, as I have top pair but a weak kicker.
Big blind: Shocked that I just bet into a dry side pot…folds his Ace / rag.
Turn and river: Both blanks
I take the pot down: 51K
Here is the point: If I had been a ‘checker downer’ I would have let the Big Blind catch a straight on the river! Instead of having 100K in chips I would have only 50K. This very well could have been the difference between winning and not winning.
COMMENTS
08-06-2008 12:10:55 PM
At that point in the tournament on the money bubble to me... it was
worth adding 12,800 to a 20K stack chop two ways for $2600 each. That
move put me in a position of 30 times the blinds instead of being close
to 10 times and needing a double up in order to compete.
Ironically i chopped with the guy who I bet out of the all in situation
and he complimented my play after of course we both came out winners.
Damian, i agree with you 100%.. as did my bank account that night :)
08-06-2008 12:09:56 PM
example #2: Foxwoods $100-
I hold As-7s in BB at 600-1200 w/ 200 ante and call an all-in (3600). 3 in the pot (12,800) Flop comes out 5x - 7h - 9x... the small blind checks... i go all in for 20K thinking small blind didn't hit... hoping all-in guy didn't. Small blind fold... Kh - 2s on the turn and river. All in guy didn't hit A-8.. my pair of 7s are good. Small blind furious he folded a K. I said "I needed that pot and had to protect my pair"
"Checker Downers"
07-29-2008 06:43:11 PM
Checking it down: a wrongheaded philosophy
We all know that there is a certain level of luck and skill involved in poker, some players exhibit more or less of each but every player has some quantity of both.
Lets look at the luck aspect of the equation: if there are 50 players remaining in a poker tournament then based on pure chance the odds of any one individual winning the tournament is exactly 2.00%, if one player is eliminated then your chance of winning has been increased to 2.04%. Is this really a reason to HAVE AN AXIOM OF ALWAYS CHECKING IT DOWN? As you can see, the chance that you will win has been negligibly increased---based on pure chance alone. How does this improve your odds? I could see if you are down to 12 players at Foxwoods and the final 10 cash.
Now let’s take a look at the skill factor: There really is no formula for this, but a few generalizations can be credible, there are exceptions to these but they are reasonable expectations when considering a large sample size; 1) as the tournament progresses, more skilled players will advance than less-skilled players; 2) as the tournament progresses you will need an ever increasing chip stack to compete with other large stacks, as well as managing the blinds; 3) players have differing goals i.e. some players are happy to make points, others want to last in the tournament as long as possible, some players want to cash, some players want to WIN. Anyone who states that it is some sort of ‘etiquette’ between players about checking it down AS A PRINCIPAL regardless of the circumstances (i.e. your own chip stack, the pushers chip stack, the blind level, number of players remaining, the individual players goal, your hand strength etc.) is not only wrong, but arrogant and ignorant...what you are implicitly saying is that my strategy is superior to your strategy. How can one say this when you have NO IDEA what the goal of any given player is? Some players play loose and wild in the beginning of a tournament as to acquire chips then play tight when they have them, other players do the exact opposite, some are always loose, some are always tight, some mix it up. If I feel that I have the best hand, I will bet into a bone dry side pot to drive off the “checker downers”…so I can take the pot down. This is how I play; it has worked well for me (it is only a small piece of an overall strategy, but an important one as I find that it is a reliable source of chips), I love being involved in these hands because the “checker downers” will let you catch hands that you would not ordinarily catch without an ‘all in’. It is by no means a rule or axiom; I take each situation as it develops.
Here are some things which involve etiquette:
1. Do NOT splash the pot; place your bet / raise neatly in front of you. This goes for the people who artistically toss their chips, often you see them clumsily toss the chips and they roll all over the table.
2. Do NOT act out of turn; people look at their cards then whisper to the player next to them…”muck me”. This is just as bad as acting out of turn; you give information to the bettor, wait 30 seconds until it is your turn and muck the cards yourself.
3. Do NOT berate people for playing a poor starting hand and drawing out on you, this is ridiculous.
4. Keep your ‘bad-beat’ stories to a minimum, no one really cares that someone called your KK with A4 and that the ace was ‘in the window’…I mean the ace will hit 25% of the time, it will happen plenty of more times.
5. If you’re not involved in the hand SHUT THE @#$% UP!
My point is this… …IF SOMEONE IS NOT BREAKING THE RULES OF THE GAME, THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE AND LET THEM PLAY AS THEY SEE FIT!
Damian 'The TICK' Barbosa
FEATURED
PLAYERS
The Grasshopper
01-11-2010 02:15:32 PM
Just want to say no fair that you got a win yesterday and over took my lead in one day...its cool..i'll be expecting free poker lessons soon...just sayin:) have a good day...
Grand Mastah