Oh Happy Day!

I received the following notice via e-mail yesterday.

What has it been, almost four years?

Dear Lucki Duck,

The purpose of this email is to inform you that your Petition for Remission has been approved and you are entitled to receive a distribution from the assets forfeited in connection with United States v. PokerStars, et al., pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

A payment in the amount of $---- will be paid electronically via ACH to the bank account that you specified in your Petition.  This payment represents the full amount of your Full Tilt Poker Account Balance, which you confirmed on the Full Tilt Poker administration online filing site.  Payment will be made within the next seven business days.  

If you have any questions, you can call us toll-free at (866) 250-2640, email us at info@FullTiltPokerClaims.com, or write to us at Full Tilt Poker Claims Administration, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 9965, Dublin, Ohio 43017-5965.  For additional information you may also visit the administration website at www.FullTiltPokerClaims.com.

I wasn't smart enough to heed the warning signs that the end could be near for online poker. I let my poker roll build on Full Tilt, treating it as a "savings account," earmarked for a rainy day or perhaps a future vacation.

Once the hammer dropped, I soon learned (as we all did), that Full Tilt was nothing more than a ponzi scheme and the money was long gone. It was not a fun time. I got pretty good at sit-n-gos and built a nice bankroll. To see it vanish was traumatic and I am thrilled to recover it. Heck, I would have been happy to get half of it back.

So, today is a good day!

If and when online poker is legalized, I'll not make the same mistake. I don't know exactly where my cut-off will be before I cash out part of my roll, but be assured it'll be well below what my Full Tilt balance was.

Till next time, win the flips.

Poker is Easy

I attended a local poker game last week, one I hadn't been to in several months. The last time I played, I walked away with a $400 profit in their $1-2 NLHE game.

I had heard that the game had gotten quite wild since I had been.

"One, two, forty," is how one of my friends described the game. Some of the new players were well financed, and I've learned that it's hard to win when your opponents don't care about the money.

But, it had been a while and I had an open evening, so I made the half hour drive and hoped for good cards.

I bought in for $200 and peeked down at the "dreaded pocket kings" on my first hand. We were six-handed and I was in middle position. There was one limper in front of me and I raised to $10. The big blind and limper both called. The queen high flop was dry, with the BB betting almost full pot. The limper folded and I smooth called. The turn card looked harmless, but the BB shoved.

Well, hell.

Recalling my buddies description of how wild the game had gotten, I thought it was possible the BB only had top pair. After a moment I made the call and was shown A-Q. The river didn't help him and I doubled-up on my first hand.

Nice!

The very next hand I was dealt pocket aces.

"You've got to kidding me!" I thought.

There was a raise to $8 in front of me and I three-bet to $24 from the cut-off. The button called, as did the original raiser and we saw the flop three handed. Unlike the previous hand, this A-Q-T flop had a lot of chemistry. I had top set, but there was an obvious straight possibility and also two clubs. The original raiser checked and I tossed 12 redbirds out. Both villains called.

The turn was another Q and also hit any flush draws. The original raiser pushed for his last $160. I just called with my full house, hoping the button would come along for the ride. Even better, he shoved and I insta-called and flipped my aces-full. The original raiser had the nut flush and the button showed Q-T for queens full.

Why would you call a three bet with Q-T? This was a wild game indeed!

Two hands in and I'm up $520.

Sah-weet!

Definitely the fastest start I've had at a poker table.

I played for a few more hours, missed a few draws, and occasionally hitting a hand before racking my chips and cashing out with a $450 profit.

Easy-peasy!

Till next time, win the flips.

One to Go

Yeah, I know its been a while since we've visited on the corner of Poker St, and Sports Betting Av, but as we say in the south, "ya git whacha pay fer."

Our Vegas or Bust Poker League met on Friday the 13th for the eleventh of twelve league tournaments. I have a slight lead over Tin Man and a little bigger one over Stamps and Ranger Rick, and my goal for this night was to finish ahead the three players who could knock me out of my WSOP seat.

Alas, it was not to be.

For those of you just now boarding this train, our league is vying for two seats to the World Series in Las Vegas this summer. Second place is as good as first, so the goal is to either win or place (that's a little horse racing lingo for ya!).

Our starting ten was whittled down to five quickly, but none of the villains mentioned above fell on his sword.

We stayed at five for a loooong time. This is the third year we've played the league and I think some of the other players have figured out that this league is about survival. That means a lot of nitty play.

Finally, Tin Man found a hand he liked and pushed with K-J but ran into Stamps pocket aces. A king on the flop and jack on the turn kept him in the game. It was the start of half a dozen hands where the underdog pulled out a win and avoided the dreaded toe tag.

Unfortunately, Stamps knocked me out in fifth. I open pushed from the small blind with pocket nines and found myself flipping against A-J. The Samurai jack appeared on the flop and I felt the pain of the steel blade as my chips were dragged away.

Tin Man was next to go, followed by Stamps and Ranger Rick, leaving Big Daddy was the last man standing.

Although I didn't accomplish my goal, at least I didn't lose too much ground. After putting a pencil to it, I determined that a sixth place finish in our final tournament next month will seal the deal for me. With that in mind, I'll do my best to avoid mixing it up in any big pots early. I'm figuring that Tin Man and I will have targets on our backs.

CLICK HERE for the latest standings.

Till next time, win the flips.

Hockey Picks, March 12th

One game looks like a winner on tonight's NHL docket.

$18 on St. Louis (-175) over Philadelphia

The Blues have won their last 2 games and 4 of 6. The Flyers have dropped 3 straight. St. Louis is 23-10 on home ice this season. Philly is 9-25 on the highway.

Starting Bankroll                           $1,500.00
Profit/Loss                                       $39.75
Current Bankroll                           $1,539.75

All picks are for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees implied. Any money wagered is at your own risk.

Good luck!

Texas Lottery Chronicles- "All or Nothing"

What up my little gamblin' degens? Today we try to siphon a lil' cashola from da' man with another Texas Lottery scratch off ticket. A few extra greenbacks will come in handy when the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us.

 
We're a 3-1 dog on "All or Nothing," but we'll consider the glass half-full until we learn otherwise.

To turn a profit on our $5 investment we must first scratch off our 12 numbers at the bottom of the ticket. Next, we scratch off the numbers that match ours on the Game Board section. The numbers surrounded in black are the money numbers. We count the number of matches and look at the Prize Legend to determine how much ammo we can afford to take out a few of the undead.

Let's pull out our lucky quarter and get this party started!

After scratching off the first six numbers we only have one match. I guess our best hope is to whiff the last six and collect 500 big 'uns.

On our second line we matched four more numbers, giving us five total. If we look at the Prize Legend, we see that we won...nothing.

Well that sucks. 

Looks like we're forced to go toe-to-toe with the Zombies. 

 
 She's with me. I like our chances.

Tickets                      12
Winners                     3
Investment             $65.00
Winnings                $20.00
Net                        ($45.00)