January 1, 2100

Who is PencilGeek?

My name is Robert Collins, and I’m an amateur poker player. If you’re curious what I do for a living, you can read my resume at www.rcollins.org. I wont' say much about my poker skills...but I will say plenty of things about yours.

I primarily play Omaha Hi/Lo because that’s my strongest game. In case you are wondering where I play, you are just as likely to see me at a $1/2 game, as you are at $15/30. Often times I play the low stakes while I’m waiting for a bigger game to open up, or want to play for stakes I don't care about. For some reason, people at the $1/2 tables can't believe a WSOP tournament finalist is playing at $1/2 level...but I do...and I do it often.

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Posted by PencilGeek on January 1, 2100 12:00 AM | | Comments (2)

November 15, 2007

How to win $200 from a bunch of Hillbillies -- while avoiding a fistfight.

How do you know when you're in a Hillbilly Hell Hole?  That's a good question...but it's better to ask:  What was I doing there in the first place?

The simple answer:  my wife's sisters wanted to play $5 Bingo and $1 Blackjack.  That's their version of high stakes gambling.

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Posted by PencilGeek on November 15, 2007 9:55 AM |

June 28, 2007

Event-44: $2000 Omaha Hi/Lo -- Day-2. Out in 15 minutes.

Day two of my WSOP Omaha Hi/Lo tournament couldn't have gone any worse -- and was in stark contrast of day one. In Day-1, I managed to weather the storms, take bad beats, and always make a come-back. Day-2 consisted of three unlucky hands in a row to knock me out of the tournament.

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 28, 2007 2:44 PM | | Comments (0)

Event-44: $2000 Omaha Hi/Lo -- Day-1. 31,000 chips.

Thank Goodness that this isn't the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament I played a few weeks ago. In that tournament, I was at a table filled with complete lunatics, and it played more like a $5 re-buy tournament than a $1500 WSOP event. Today's event, went much different. My table actually played textbook Omaha Hi/Lo -- if there is such a thing. We started the day with 4000 chips, and I ended the day with 31,000 chips -- while the tournament average is 27000.

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 28, 2007 2:34 AM | | Comments (0)

June 7, 2007

Making a killing in the WSOP side games (at least that's my story)

Today, June 6th, I decided to play in the 6-handed NL Holdem tournament at Binion's Horseshoe Casino. If I did well in this tournament, I was planning to play the $1500 short-handed NL Holdem event the following day. As you can tell from the title of this blog entry, I didn't do so well in the tournament. But I did do quite well in the cash games afterwards.

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 7, 2007 2:35 AM | | Comments (1)

June 6, 2007

Event-9: Busted after 6 hours.

This year's tournament didn't go nearly as well as last year. Last year started rough, but I kept my cool and perservered to build a healthy chip stack which gradually took me to the final table. This year, my table played more like a $5 re-buy tournament at PokerStars than a $1500 buy-in at the World Series of Poker.

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 6, 2007 1:16 AM | | Comments (1)

June 4, 2007

Getting Ready for Event #9: $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split

The road to this year's WSOP has been a long one. It really all started the day after I finished 6th place in last year's WSOP Omah Hi/Lo event. In the year since my 6th place finish, I've won five tournaments, placed second in another five; and in the process won over $9,000 in these small stakes tournaments.

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 4, 2007 10:29 PM | | Comments (2)

June 3, 2007

Off to the WSOP 2007

Today I set off for the 2007 World Series of Poker. I'll be playing in two events this year:

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Posted by PencilGeek on June 3, 2007 11:54 AM | | Comments (0)

March 5, 2007

Cadillacpoker.com NLHE "Tri-Tip" Tournament: 03/03/07 Results

When I set up the CadillacPoker.com tournament structure, I envisioned a maximum size of 54 players. I never thought a home game would ever get to that size, so I never had to think much about beyond the hypothetical planning stages. When I redesigned the CadillacPoker.com poker chips, I made sure to order enough for a 60 person, re-buy/add-on tournament -- just in case the unthinkable happened. This month, the unthinkable happened. I was more than maxed out at 59 players. This tournament size not only tested my planning abilities, but it also tested the parking limits in a residential neighborhood, the space in my house, the efficiency of running my tournament, and my blind structure. If any of these things were out of whack, the tournament could become a nightmare.

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Posted by PencilGeek on March 5, 2007 10:45 AM | | Comments (0)

January 28, 2007

LA Poker Classic Part-1: Early Touranment Results

After finishing so well in the world series of Poker hi/lo tournament this summer, I anxiously anticipated playing in the LA Poker Classic. I was much more excited to play this tournament than the Bay-101 Open for many reasons. 1) Bay-101 is my home town, and I already know how bad the players are. One would think this makes winning easy, but it actually has the opposite effect. 2) Many of the WSOP players, and even one of my final table-mates came from the LA area, and I was looking forward to seeing many of them again. I was also looking forward to meeting many players that I've met online -- including the always fun, "Dr. Mouse."

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Posted by PencilGeek on January 28, 2007 8:29 PM | | Comments (1)