BLUE MONDAY

Velly, velly cold and wet here in NYC. If there's one thing everybody can agree on it's talking about the weather. Lots of sturm und drang in Kelso's own life, but all that will come out down the road in later postings.

In addition to lots and lots of poker from Mississppi, today's topic is (finally) the NSA spying issue. The sanguine view first. We beat back COINTELPRO during a popular-then-unpopular war and we can probably do it again. For the millions of us whose international (and intra-national) conversations have had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism, privacy concerns aside, Kelso really hopes the NSA had a good laugh at his conversations, most of which are pretty fucking funny. He doesn't not hope, however, that any of those dickheads got rich off Kelso's sports and horse-racing opinions. That would be too much to bear!

Now, for the melancholic view. This is no laughing matter. That anyone's privacy has been breached and no, Kelso does not believe McLellan for a second when Simple Scotty said "no one was interested in Little League baseball conversations between partents." Of course, they were interested in Little League baseball conversations between parents! It was the terrorist stuff that they had NO interest in. The NSA because of realpolitik loves the terrorists, the madrassas, the Saudis, and most of all (gasp!) 9/11/01. The point is to break down John Ashcroft's imaginary wall and elimiate all AMERICAN'S RIGHT TO PRIVACY. And that they are brazening this out is very scary. The new court will uphold everything Bush wants with regard to the NSA's domestic spying, but will deny everything Pres. Bayh, Clinton, Edwards, Gore, Kerry or Warner want -- i.e., using the NSA to trace terrorists to the source (Saudi Arabia, Israel) and fucking doing something about it.

No worn out saws here about "liberty...safety....etc." You've heard them all. Here's a new/old one you might not have heard: LIBERTY WILL ONLY BE ACHIEVED WHEN THE LAST KING IS STRANGLED WITH THE ENTRAILS OF THE LAST PRIEST.

FINAL NFL: Seahawks +4 over Steelers. Intends to watch with the sound off because he hates the cliched commentary and think all the attention paid to the ads is Karl Marx's worst nightmare.

Kelso's Nuts love you. Poker follows.

PUT US UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, ATHENS:
I played the 1000 NLH yesterday at the Grand. Being on a Saturday, I thought we would have a nice sized field and a big overlay. I had thought some about my tournament approach following my elimination from the WPT main event. I discussed my thoughts with my Father. He is an invaluable source of support for me. He taught me how to play. In addition to providing a valuable service to the public by being an excellent psychologial therapist, He is a fine poker player. We discussed the approach some of the more agressive players take in tournaments. By playing a lot of pots early in the tournament, these players give themselves a chance at acquiring a lot of chips. This may lead to early elimination, but the advantages gained by having a top chip stack are well worth the risk. With this in mind, I began my play Saturday at noon. We had 414 entries. 131k for first, 36 places paid. We started with 2k in chips and 25-25 blinds. I was at one of the last few tables, ( a benefit of signing up early ) so I would stay at the same table all day. After a short while I realized that I had a VERY soft lineup at my table, so I tried to play as many pots as possible. I limped some and made some small raises. The first major pot I raised to 125 at the 25-50 blind level, with 5s7s one off the button. The big blind defended. He had shown an inclination to defend his blinds and had checkraised me postflop in a similar situation earlier. Flop Js9h6d. He checked. I felt he would at least call me so I took the free gutshot draw. The turn was the 3s which gave me a HUGE draw. 4 or 8 for a straight and any spade for a flush. He bet 150. I raised as a semi-bluff to to 450. He reraised but only 400 more. I had 1600 left and he had about 2200 left. I thought about moving all-in, but I felt he was committed and I was getting a good drawing price. 4-1 now and some implied odds if I hit. I called. River 2s. He bet 1000 pretty quickly. Of course I was calling. The question was if I wanted to put my last 175 in also. I decided he could have AsJs and the 175 was worth more as a short stack that I could run up than having 4500 vs 4300. I called. He showed J9 and I had over 4k in chips. I was raising to 125 quite often now. I was not raising just to steal blinds, but to play pots with position, and players I felt I could read well. I won another pot with the 5s7s. I made a flush on the river after semibluffing on the flop and taking a free card on the turn. Blinds went to 50-100 Now I raised to 250 with AdJs. A tight player reraised the minimum. I took the flop. Flop KsTs3s. I checked to gather information. He bet 400 leaving him with 1100 more. I did not think he was willing to go all the way with his hand so I raised him all-in with some outs if called. He took a while, but folded. Now my active play really paid off. I raised to 250 with JJ. The small blind who had a decent chip stack ( I was the chip leader ). made a small reraise to 600. I called thinking he had a big hand. Flop J73. He bet 1000. I just called. Turn 6. He went all-in for about 2k. I called. He showed 99. I had gotten 3k in chips with my opponent drawing dead. I won a little pot with 99 vs 77. I lost a pot when I raised with AQ and the blind went all-in on a shortstack with K9. I got AQ again and raised a limper who I thought was weak. He called. Flop 9J5. He went all-in but only for 1/2 the pot. I called and he showed Ac3c. I won. I got 22 back to back hands. I raised the 1st time and won the blinds. I limped the 2nd time and missed the flop. I was playing a ton of hands. I limped on the button with 6h7h and 2 other limpers. I flopped a 6 and called a little bet then folded on the turn. I won the blinds with 9h7h, AQ, and AJ. Now came a key pot. I limped with 68 on the button and 1 other limper. This young kid raised small from the blind. He was inexperienced but I could tell he was trying to play well, and he had some gamble. We had mixed it up a couple times alread and he had made me fold. I called. Flop K65. He bet small( 400) the other player folded and I called. Turn A. He bet 1000 into a 1800 pot. I decided I wanted to take this pot away. I raised 1800 more. He took forever to make his decision and I was thinking this was perhaps not the best play I'd ever made =). He had the clock called on him by another player and he mucked KdQd. Whew. Blinds went to 100-200. Now I played a bunch more hands. I had AcJc and raised to 525. It was raised and reraised. They were both all-in for similar amounts, so I had a math problem to solve. I was getting 3.2-1 from the pot and after some thought I decided there was a good chance one of them had a better ace. They showed JJ and AQ. Nice Fold. I had a nice stack of about 8k at this point. I doubled the kid up. I had AdJd and I raised to 525 and he called. Flop Td8s4h. I bet 700 and he went allin for 2200 more. I decided to call with my overcards and backdoor draws. He could have a hand like JQ and I'm in the lead. He showed 99 and I missed. I had A3 in the small blind and was heads up with the big blind who was new to the table and only had 1400. I raised to 800 and he went all-in. I had an easy call and he showed TT. I lost and was down to 4k. I was a little frustrated as we went to the 2nd 15 minute break. Blinds 100-200 25 ante. A player raised to 600 and he had 2k more. I made it 2600. He called and I was hoping to look at AQ or AJ. He had 99. Flop AK7. Turn 8. River A. I was back to almost 8k. I wanted to slow the Kid down who was two to my left so I did something neat. I watched a hand that I felt he stole on the turn. I said THIEF after the hand was over, and called his hand as being JQ. I could tell that shook him, and he made a number of comments about staying out of my way after that. I continued to play a lot of hands and was catching cards too. I won some blinds with JQ, JJ, Js9s, 22, AQ, KT, 88,QQ,5d8d, AsQs. I folded 99 to a reraise and another raise. The last 3 hands before the dinner break were amazing. One hand was heads-up with Jd8d vs KJ. Flop 9dTdQc. They both checked their straights. Turn 4h. They got it all-in. River 7d for the Straight Flush. One hand later a new player to our table with a big stack of 25k doubled the blind to 600. He got a few callers. Flop QdTd3d. The new player ( who I knew from Biloxi Ms, He was a pot-limit player and a pretty good one) bet 1500. The Kid called. Turn 4h. The Biloxi player checked. The kid bet and the Biloxi player said the 4 helped you?? I'm allin. The kid took forever again. I figured the Biloxi player for a set, or AQ with the Ad. The kid called with QT. I don't blame him. Biloxi Player showed AdJd for the nut flush. The river was Kd for the ROYAL. I went to the break with 11,275 a solid position. I had some crab legs. I've found that is a good meal for me, as it fills me up without making me sleepy like heavier food would. I was pretty card dead after the dinner break. We had a bunch of players go broke and some loose players with lots of chips moved to our table. Here is an example. I raised with Q9 and the action went cold call, raise all-in, reraise, I fold, reraise. The hands shown were AK, 44, and 55. So I knew that I could win some chips at this table but I would probably need a hand. I couldn't get one. The action was really slow with all the loose players so we we only got to play about 22 hands per hour. Blinds were 300-600 and I had 22. The first player in made it 1200 and with only 9k I had to fold. As it turned out he got 3 callers and I would have flopped a set and doubled through his JJ. Now we were down to 48 with 36 getting paid. I had a really good handle on my table when I caught a horrible break. I was moved to a new table to even the number of players at each table. Now I had a kinda short stack ( next to last at my new table) and no knowledge of my opponents. I had no cards and was forced to fold in a spot where I would have liked to take advantage of tight bubble play. I could have played KJ in first position and 6s7s in 2nd position but I chose not to. I had looked at the short stacks and figured I could fold and lock up the 1500$ payday and still have 8k-9k with 400-800 blinds when we redrew at 36 players. I don't know if this was the correct strategy or not. We made the money. At my new table I only knew 2 players which was suprising. I picked up nothing but junk for the next 40 minutes. I was down to 4300. I got AQ in 2nd position. I wanted action from a worse ace and figured an all-in move would be more likely to get called. I won the blinds. One round later I had A4 and raised to 3200. A loose player with 60k called. He asked how much I had left which was 1100. Flop2s7s8s. I went allin he called. He showed JcQc. I doubled up to 10,500. The next hand the same player raised and was called by a player with 35k. He moved in on a T88 flop and was called by TT. He only had A7. The blinds went to 500-1000 with 100 ante. We had about 29 players left. Now the same player made it 3500 on my big blind. He was clearly steaming but still had 22k left. I had KhQd. I considered reraising. I felt he would call since it would only be 8k more and decided to see the flop. Flop AhKs3h. I had a tough decision. I did not pick up a tell from him. He could have a lot of hands, with ace rag being one of them. I had 7k and the pot was 9k. I could check and see what he did. Drawback is this elimiates the possiblility of him folding and he might draw out. I could bet small (2k?) and see his reaction. I could go all-in and either win it there or if called I had outs with a pair and some backdoor draws. He made a comment that "we are not on TV" and I was unsure what to make of that. He had a few buddies at the rail and I thought he shook his head to one of them. I decided to move in. He called and showed A3 for 2 pair. I did not improve and was out. I was disgusted with how I got my case chips in. I was suprised when I got my pay slip that I got 27th for an extra 700$ or so. If I had known that, I would have been even more likely to move in on the flop. I collected 2275 afet the 3% Mississippi withholding tax. After such a long day, and with the 10K Championship starting Tuesday, I decided to take Sunday off and skip the HORSE tournament. I also did not feel they would have a lot of entries. They wound up with 130. I am very pleased with my play early in this tournament, but I hate how I bled away at the end. I know that having 4 nice finishes in 10 events is great feedback for how I am playing. I am a little frustrated at now big paydays so far. I will be resting up and doing some reading until Tuesday at noon. I will be going to LA in Febuary. I'm not sure of the date yet. I know I will play the 10K WPT event and the 1 Million limit holdem event plus a few others.