2025.06

Once again, the time was right for a gathering of gamblers - 10 enthusiastic degenerates convened around the big blue table, in the garage around back, to throw down in the Hold-Em streets of low stakes big fun cash game poker!

A bevy of extra curricular activities added to the festivities.  Boisterous bomb-pots, a nifty Nit Game, sexy straddles and more!

It was all the usual suspects, plus a groovy new guy who played in his first live cash game ever!  Mr. Joshua, brought by Mr. Jeff G. who also happened to be Josh's dad.  Great to have you on board sir!

All the accouterments ready to go!

Allen R., Art, M.C., Ian, Wiz, Lea Anne, Colin and yours truly rounded out the rest.  Action was big right from the get go.  The second or third hand had someone open to $6 over one limper, and there were 6 callers!  My kind of game!

Your humble host found himself up quite a bit early after a rather large multi-way pot.  One nice thing about playing the same game for 3 hours, there's no explaining of the rules (there always is in Mix games, even with people who've literally been playing the same games for years) and no slowing down of the action at all.  It really is a great change of pace!

As always, we took a short break at 1030.  The Nit Game was at 930 and as per usual, was a lot of fun - unfortunately one player took it on the chin and lost his third buy-in at the end of the NG - so he had to skedaddle and have the house cover for him to pay out the bounties.  All good, I know where this guy lives!   A couple of other players left at around the break - being down to dust or crumbs - but we continued on into the night, now with PLO added to the mix.

Alas, one of these departing folks was the new cash game player Joshua - but he didn't really do anything wrong, save for maybe one hand. He just found himself on the cold side of the deck more than a few times.  I hope he doesn't get discouraged, you played well sir!

Yours truly got tangled up in two big pots that went the wrong way (for me) and I found myself at half of the $200 profit that I had been sitting on.  Fortunately I grinded most of it back over the remaining hours and finished up almost that much in the green.

The other big wieners were Mr. M.C., with $400 in front of him at the end of the night (at well after midnight I believe) and the inimitable Mr. Art who had a good amount more than $400 in chips to cash out when he was finished.  Nicely done fellas!

A huge thanks to everyone who came out and made it a great time as always - y'all really are the best!

Our next event is next Saturday, it's Tournament time!  It's March (the 1st of March to be precise) so that means Omaha Eight or Better!  Always a favorite in the garage out back.  The Evite is already out so be sure to let me know if you didn't get it for some reason.   

As per usual we will be playing mixed cash before the tourney, starting at 1 and going to 430.   An Evite for that will go out soon.  I don't have everyone on that list, so if you're not getting the invites and you have a hankering to play cash, be sure to let me know you want in!

Until then, peace and we out!

2025.05

1300 brand new poker chips were ready in racks, as I set up the tables and chairs for our fifth event of the year, our third cash game session (plus two tournaments so far) - and for the first time ever we were ready for Friday Fix Limit lunacy!

This was not going to be "dealer's choice" - this was an 8 game mix rotation, where we played 8 hands of each variation.

Getting a fix on how many players we would end up with proved a bit tricky.  I had 9 on the Evite forever, but then I had a player drop because of a cold (which I very much appreciate, last minute cancellations are absolutely fine if someone is sick) - and then a second player who thought he was coming (though I didn't know about it) drop for the same reason, so that was a surprise.  Then I had another last minute add and then I had someone respond 'no' and then in the last hour change the response to 'yes'!  And finally, I had someone else show up without responding on the Evite at all!  This is all ok, it turned out we had 11 instead of 9, which was fantastic for two tables of 5 and 6.

Allen R, Stuver, M.C., Ian, Lea Anne and moi were at table 1.  Wiz, Alan S, Rich, Priya and Jason made up table 2.

Yours truly took big hits to his stack early - which was strange to me, because I thought damage would be mitigated because of the fixed betting limits.  And I guess it was, still, I was down to $40 out of $100 probably within an hour and a half or so.   No problem, top off!

                  

Between the fixed rotation of games and the locked in bet sizing (it's always either $2 or $4) - it definitely gave the evening a very different feel.  I for one loved it, but I know it wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

Kill Pots also added an unusual wrinkle.  Since this was the first time for us ever doing this fully (other than occasionally flirting with the idea in a handful of other cash games) it was a bit awkward in sorting out how exactly it worked in every situation.   But I think we did get a handle on it, and I truly love it, as it doesn't happen too often - even with high only and low only games included in the Kill mix, we only had Kill Pots maybe 20 or so times max, in an evening of probably 150 hands or so, that's not a ton.  But it definitely ratcheted up the excitement and the action.

The two big wieners on the night as much as I could tell were Mr. Rich and Mr. Ian.  The latter was at my table and so I could get a good shot of his monster stack towards evenings end.

So big he needs TWO card cappers!

As you can see, there were canary yellow chips in the mix!  These were $20 chips, and that meant we used all 1200 white dollar chips!  Yes, there was a lot of splashy splashy all around!

As always, the rest of the field was up a bit or down a bit, a couple of players left after they had been felted.  Your humble host ended the evening stuck $60, but at one point I had been down over $160, it was nice to make a bit of a comeback.  Felt like a win to me!

Believe it or not, most stayed to midnight, and then we finally broke table two.  A big thanks to Mr. Jason and then Mr. Wiz who both took on the dealing duties over there, it really helps a lot, especially with a fixed rotation and a strict betting structure.

After midnight, I'm pleased to report that the game continued!  First it was five handed, and then M.C. called it a night, and play continued for a good while afterwards - four handed!  We dispensed with Kill Pots at that point, as it made sense so we wouldn't be constantly playing $4/$8 - but the action was still hot and heavy and a hell of a lot of fun!

True late night gamblers!

It was after 130am when we finally gave up the ghost and called it a night!  That might be a record!

A huge thanks as always to everyone who came out and made poker a great time as always.  I especially appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and willingness to try such a radically different format.  I have been wanting to do this, a Fix Limit night, forever - glad I finally stepped out of my comfort zone and made it happen; and it's so awesome that a bunch of folks jumped right in with me!

We are taking a week long break - no poker next Friday as it's Valentimes - but we will be back the following Friday, February 21 at 730pm, with our Big Bet format cash game.  No-Limit Hold-Em only until 1030, then a 2/1 Hold-Em/PLO mix afterwards.  Don't forget, we'll also have occasional Bomb Pots and the Nit Game!

Our next tournament is Pot Limit Omaha/8 - and that will be Saturday, March 1 at 530 pm.  Evites for both the Friday cash and the Saturday tourney will be going out today.  Very much looking forward to both gatherings.

Until then, peace and we out!

  

2025.04

For the second time this year, the stars aligned and the universe was right for another Pepper Street Poker special event, a.k.a. - a monthly tournament. This time, once again, it was good old-fashioned no limit Texas hold ‘em!

No less than 20 eager degenerate gamblers squeezed into the garage around back, this time a little more spacious because table 3 was a brand new Barrington poker table, which is a great and cheap 8 handed oval available at Costco! I swapped it out for the green beast, and there was definitely more room! We very likely might seeing another one of these Barrington tables soon! 

Easier to deal - more room in the garage!

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before the tournament could start, once again we indulged in the relatively recent tradition of cash game poker in the afternoon. We went from 1 PM to 4:30 PM, and had a great time with seven mix game enthusiasts gambling it up.  Priya, Allen R, Rich, Colin, Lea Anne, Ian and yours truly! The perfect number to play ALL the games!

Your hosts final stack - up nearly $150 in profit.

Colin was the big wiener - almost $300 in profit!

While Colin and I walked away winners, others finished up or down just a little bit, and a couple were down to the felt.  Mr. Ian for once did not have a winning session, but he would have his revenge in the tournament!  Spoiler alert!

After a dinner break - it was time to bust out the tournament chips and throw down in what is still the most popular poker format in the world, Hold-Em a' la' Tournament!

It was great to see so many familiar faces, including some who had been away for awhile.  Mr. Marc returned after a long absence, and he brought a buddy along - a new player Mr. Aaron who was visiting from Colorado.   Aaron chipped up rapidly by getting involved in seemingly every pot.  Eventually, I'm told, his enthusiasm caught up with him and he hit the rail, along with Marc unfortunately who had busted a bit earlier.  Grateful you both came all the way from Playa del Rey fellas!  Sorry you didn't last longer - next time join us for cash and you can reload!

Along with the boys from PDR, two others busted well after the break and we were down to two tables by 830 or so.

One for the Gram.

Father and son doing battle!

Your hosts stack.

Yes, yours truly had spun up a nice stack by the time it was Final Table time, somewhere around 10pm.

Unfortunately I couldn't hold on to my chips and ended up bubbling after an ill-advised river jam bluff against Mr. Jeff got snapped off lol.  One of my nicer punts I must say.  And then we were in the money!

Art had actually busted earlier, a nasty cooler (one of more than a few on this fine evening, happening to almost everyone at one point or another) - and volunteered to deal while his better half was still playing.  Art is a great dealer and this host very much appreciated his service!

First to exit with moolah was Mr. Jeff, who took home $120 in fifth place.  Jeff stuck around to help shuffle (see above pic) as his offspring was still in contention - and also in the money in his second ever live tournament!

Next out to hit the rail was Ms. Carla, who cashed for the second month in a row for $160 in fourth place.  And then there were three!

Joshua had battled long and hard all night, but finally ran out of chips as we passed 11pm - and had to settle for a very nice $240 in third place.  Nicely done Jeff Jr.!  And now it was heads-up!

Priya had Ian on the ropes fairly early on, and then all the chips went in and she had the goods - pocket rockets vs. Ian's measly 45 off-suit.  The flop however, had other plans...

Zoinks!

After this hand it looked like Art might be sleeping on the couch for awhile. However, the battle continued and Ian took a couple of hits, and when the dust cleared, we had our February 2025 champ!

Love the Wonder Woman over her shoulder!

Ian had to settle for $320 in second place but it did wipe out his cash game losses and put him firmly in profit-ville!

Priya got the massive PSP card protector, the TOC seat, the cashola ($460) and the glory!  Nicely done and well deserved!

****

Our next monthly tournament will be the first Saturday once again, March 1st at 530pm.  The evite will go out soon!   As always, in March we do Omaha 8 or better - I expect it will be Pot Limit, which should be a hell of a lot of fun!  Hope you can make it.  

Between now and then we will also be hosting several Friday night cash games, including next weeks first ever FIX LIMIT only evening of cash play.  Very much looking forward to all of it!

A huge thanks again to everyone who came out and made it such a fun time.  I really appreciate all of you, your friendship and your fellowship and your gambling enthusiasm!  Until we meet on the felt again...

Peace and we out!