It was a wild and crazy night!

CPL rules? What CPL rules? It was all the familiar faces but things
strayed from the normal almost immediately as the night started. With
mom and dad gone from the show this week we had a no holds bar game
on our hands. It started out so innocently with raising the starting
stacks to 3000. Harmless enough by itself but quickly grew out of
control when only 3 hands into the night Brad announces as he's faced
with a raise, "are there rebuys tonight?" Everyone came to a quick
agreement that if there were going to be rebuys, there should also be
add-ons. So then it went, re-buys and add-ons until the first break
was over. Peoples average stack suddenly became 6000 instead of 3000
and we were off and running. The pot grew to $230 and we decided to
pay out to 4 places with 4th place getting their money back and 1st
place taking home a whopping $110.

The night grew louder and we came up to one of the worst beats I've
seen in a very long time. After being hammered for the third time in
two weeks with pocket kings, Greg looks down at A K off suit. He
raised from under the gun, Jeff re-raises and Greg moves all in.
After thinking about it for a moment Jeff calls and flips over A K
off suit as well. Certain to chop the pot we ran the cards. The board
came out spade, spade, club, spade, spade. Guess who had the spade
and who didn't. Greg hangs his head low in disbelief and took it like
a man. First out two weeks running he is almost certain to run over
everyone in the final week of the CPL next Wednesday in Blain. I
would not want to be in this mans path as he mows over everyone in
absolute anger and revenge for the session he's been having. Good
luck to you Greg, you deserve some cards to fall in your direction
for once.

With Greg out and our faithful Phil not with us we don't have an
accurate account of how the night unfolded from there. We had a great
turnout of 12 CPL members and the final table looked like this:
Wally, Jeff, Mike, Gene, Jodi, Shane, J.P., Wanda and Pam. Pam was
unfortunate enough to go out on the money bubble in 5th place. After
that we lost Jeff M. in 4th, Mike in 3rd, Wanda took 2nd and the man
that couldn't be beat for a second time in the night (after losing
his chips and re-buying before break) Shane the no-nano man Converse.
That puts three wins for Shane during this CPL session with this win
being about as unofficial as you can get. He looks unstoppable
heading into the final week and into the TOC.

A big CPL honorable mention goes to Bill tonight as he stuck around
after being knocked out to provide comic relief for those of us still
in the game. Thanks Bill! Thanks to everyone else that could make it
out tonight, it was a lot of fun. Good luck to all who need it next
week on that ever so dangerous and stressful TOC bubble. I will not
be making it due to a business trip to Atlanta. Good night and
remember, you can't win if you don't put your money in the pot, but
you may just get blinded down into something nice.

-Mike "Blind Me Down" Behr

Directors' Battle of the Bands

Oh - it's on! This week's podcast is out and it's time for Band vs. Band, Planet Melvin vs. Tolaan McDonald, Mark vs. Phil in our first installment of the "Directors' Battle of the Bands".

The ground rules - a) The selected songs must come from Garageband.com and b) the band selected must have a major Minnesota connection (i.e. - most, or all, of the band is from the state).

Cast your vote for your preferred song by leaving a comment.

Mark's selection is from the Minneapolis band: Planet Melvin. The song is: Twist and Crawl (click on the song title to listen to it - click on the green arrow when the page comes up).

Phil's pick is from Stillwater's own Tolaan McDonald. The song is: Princess Chardonnay (click on the song title to listen to it - click on the green arrow when the page comes up).

Don't forget to cast your vote by leaving a comment.

The TOC....the Numbers

Okay....so we've been crunching some numbers and the following scenarios exist for the TOC.
So get out the green visors, the pocket protectors and the tape calculators...cause here comes the TOC NUMBERS!

Note: Members must finish in the top 16 in order to be invited to the TOC on 4-19-08.

With one week to go the following 12 members have clinched an invitation to the TOC:

Shane

Jill

Bill

Wally

Damon

JP

Mike

Tim

Mark

Gene

Jeff K

Pam

Steve needs 1 point during Week 11 to Clinch TOC invitation

Steve

This leaves 7 members fighting for the remaining 3 TOC invitations:

Wanda, Brad, and Jodi claim the spots at the moment....but could lose the invitation if:

Greg is in if:
He finishes 4th or higher with 20 players and Wanda, Brad, or Jodi only score 1 point.
He finishes 6th or higher with 20 players and Brad, or Jodi, only score 1 point.
He finishes 10th or higher with 20 players and Jodi only scores 1 point.
He finishes 7th or higher and scores 1.5 points ahead of Jodi's top 10 finish.
He finishes 3rd or higher and scores 8.3 points ahead of Brads top 10 finish.
He finishes 2nd or higher and scores 11.6 points ahead of Wanda's top 10 finish
He finishes 1st with 13 or more players.

Phil is in if:

He finishes 4th or higher with 20 players and Wanda, Brad, or Jodi only score 1 point.

He finishes 6th or higher with 20 players and Brad, or Jodi only score 1 point.

He finishes 10th or higher with 20 players and Jodi only scores 1 point.

He finishes 7th or higher and scores 2.0 points ahead of Jodi's top 10 finish.

He finishes 3rd or higher and scores 8.8 points ahead of Brad's top 10 finish.

He finishes 1st with 13 or more players.

Malinda is in if:

She finishes 2nd or higher with 20 players and Wanda, Brad, or Jodi only scores 1 point.

She finishes 4th or higher with 20 players and Jodi only scores 1 point.

She finishes 2nd or higher and scores 11.8 points ahead of Jodi's top 10 finish.

She finishes 1st and scores 18.6 points ahead of Brad's top 10 finish.

She finishes 1st and scores 21.9 points ahead of Wanda's top 10 finish.

Jeff M is in if:

He finishes in 1st place with 20 players and Wanda, Brad, or Jodi only score 1 point.

He finishes in 1st place and scores 28.3 points ahead of Jodi's top 10 finish.

He finishes in 1st place and scores 35.1 points ahead of Brad's top 10 finish.

--
CPL Director Mark Cardenas
and
CPL Co-Director Phil Fuehrer

Find the Podcast on ITunes: CPLDirectors Podcast

The Cowboy Takes CPL Week 10!

Wally The Cowboy Behr has done it again and takes the top spot during CPL week 10!
He grew his stack often and he grew his stack big and as we collapsed into one table Wally had 1/3 of the chips in play. Wally road this huge chips stack all the way to heads up play!

CPL Honorable Mention goes to Pam Black Widow Muldoon, who must have been all in at least 7 times during the tourney and took a possible 8th or 7th place finish to heads up!

Wally and Pam had a back and forth battle during heads up play that lasted at least 25 minutes. Both players had several chances to take the other one out....but in the end Wally survived Pam's comeback to take the week.

Congrats Wally for your 2nd win this session!

Below are the points awarded for CPL Week 10:

Wally	35.9
Pam	21.0
Jodi	15.2
Phil	12.1
Brad	10.1
Mark	8.8
Mike	7.8
Malinda	7.1
JP	1.0
Jeff M	1.0
Jill	1.0
Gene	1.0
Wanda	1.0
Tim	1.0
Steve	1.0
Greg	1.0

Below is the CPL Leaderboard with only 1 week remaining before the TOC:

Shane	98.20
Jill	91.20
Bill	90.20
Wally	88.30
Damon	85.30
JP	83.10
Mike	71.80
Tim	69.10
Mark	68.30
Gene	63.10
Jeff K	70.30
Pam	57.00
Steve	54.90
Wanda	41.30
Brad	38.00
Jodi	31.20
Greg	29.80
Phil	29.30
Malinda	19.50
Jeff M	3.00

--
CPL Director Mark Cardenas
and
CPL Co-Director Phil Fuehrer

Find the Podcast on ITunes: CPLDirectors Podcast

TOC Analysis

The point totals will come shortly, but here's an analysis of the TOC potentials as we approach the final week of play.

Competition at the Top and Bottom

Nanoman Shane, JJ Gold Jill, Comeback Kid Lanoux AND Wally the Cowboy are all in the chase to break the record high points for a session, currently at 128.8. Each would need to win the final week to do it and there's some attendance requirements (# of players to show up), but we could see a record fall.

The bottom is the where the real stress is, however. The bottom 4 point-getters will NOT make the TOC. It's really the bottom 7 players vying for the final three seats into the tourney. Wanda, Brad and Jodi are currently seeded 14, 15 and 16 with Greg, Phil Malinda and Jeff M. looking to make up ground. Greg and Phil should make it in with any 4th place or higher finish and any top half finish (getting points) could do it for them. If things fall well for her a 4th place finish could get Malinda into the big game, but a higher finish puts her into better control. Jeff M, has the toughest task - he not only MUST win, he'll need several other people to finish out of the points.

As always - it's interesting in the CPL.

The Blind Me Down "Hand of the Week" - Hand 6 by Mike Behr

Hello everyone, it was an exciting hand last week and here are the
results. For a refresher of the entire hand please read the last hand
of the week post. After sitting in "no lobster land" for about a
minute thinking about what to do I flashed on a chapter I read from
Sklansky's book "Theory and Practice". His classifications of players
put me in the range of being weak tight. Meaning I look at a
situation and immediately think of all the hands that have me beat
and almost assume it must be one of those. Maybe a phobia I picked up
playing online poker. Something I've been working hard to overcome.
Anyway, after thinking about it and working it out in my head the
way Sklansky suggests I came to the conclusion that the odds of him
having a better hand then me were worse then me having a better hand
then him. If he was on a draw then he made a mathematical mistake by
moving all in. This game is all about capitalizing on those type of
mistakes whether or not they fall in your favor or not.
Mathematically you will come out ahead in the end. So I made the
call. Theoretically its what I wanted anyhow. All his chips in the
middle. I just went about it in an unorthodox manner. He flips over
Kd Jd and the river came an Ace. I end up with Aces up and he ends up
pulling out his wallet for another hundred dollar bill. Which he
eventually lost and then did it again to lose another. A very nice
pot and a wonderful start to a no limit relationship for me. Can't
wait for the next time.

Now onto this weeks hand of the week. This hand took place about an
hour ago and I'm going to title it "To collude or not to collude." It
takes place at a $5 90 player multi table sit and go. I saw Greg
Durand signed up for this game and decided to hop in hoping we could
make it to the final table together and represent the CPL. But the
odds were against us as we were seated at the same table right away.
We are almost 20 minutes into this game and the blinds are at 20/40.
Greg is sitting in middle position 4 off the button and I am sitting
on the button. I have 3140 in chips and Greg has 2290. The person to
Gregs right calls the 40 and greg immediately raises it to 160
(already I'm skeptical). I look down at As Kh. I think for a few
seconds and decide that I can't fold this on the button even if Greg
is the one raising it up. So I just call. The small blind calls, the
big blind folds and the original limper to his right folds. This puts
the pot at 560. The flop comes Qs 9c Kc. First player checks and Greg
bets out 560. I think about it for 10 seconds and call. The other two
players fold and we are now heads up. This puts the pot at 1680 with
Greg having 1570 left. The turn gives us the Ks. Greg checks. My
question is now. Given the situation of being ahead at the moment. Do
I bet out here or do I "collude" with Greg and check it down. With 2
flush draws and a straight draw on the board I risk losing the hand
by giving him a free card. But if I bet and he calls on either a draw
or a worse hand I risk taking him out of the tourny. Normally I would
have NOOOO problem with that. But this being online and wanting us to
both do well I didn't want to take him out. So. What do you do here?
Remember, he is my father and law and there could be bad memories of
this that float to the surface on birthdays and christmas. Tune in
next week to see what happens, who won, and if I'll ever see another
gift from the Durands or vice versa.

Jill Controls CPL Week 9! Claims Victory #2!

She will no longer be called Jill Schmidt.....she will forever be known within the CPL as Jill Jamie Gold.

And in Jamie Gold fashion, Jill Jamie Gold (JJ Gold for short) tore across the CPL during week 9 like she could see the Turn and the River cards before they were dealt. She had great cards and won....and she had horrible cards and won....JJ Gold was behind pre-flop...only to outdraw her soon to be gone opponent. JJ Gold was ahead pre-flop...fell behind at the turn....then came back again at the River...time and time again!!! Even your CPL Director was calling flushes and straights for JJ!! It was an amazing show to watch.

Congrats to JJ Gold for a very impressive Week 9 victory!!

Thanks to Greg for hosting during Week #9!

Below are the points awarded during CPL Week #9:

Below is the CPL Leaderboard through Week 9 (Adjusted totals):

--
CPL Director Mark Cardenas
and
CPL Co-Director Phil Fuehrer

Find the Podcast on ITunes: CPLDirectors Podcast

Phil's Musical Choice of the Week--IKKI

Post your comments here on this week's CPL Podcast musical segment wtih the St. Cloud group IKKI. We want to hear your opinions!!

The Blind Me Down "Hand of the Week" - Hand 5 by Mike Behr

I'm back this week after taking a week off from the hand of the week
while I did some "real work" down in sunny Florida. I managed to
leave some time open to do some live poker playing though which is
where this weeks hand will be coming from. But first we must deal
with what happened with our last hand. For a refresher please take a
look at the previous "hand of the week" posting. With the villain
throwing out a check raise on the turn and then leading out on the
river we had to put him on something somewhat good. At the very least
he had top pair I would think. And I have to side with Phil on this
one. A good way to slow me down and really make me think is to play a
hand exactly the way our villain did. It would appear as though he
probably has us beat but I can't see us laying this down for the size
bet that he makes here and the right move I think would be to just
call. Our hero has two pair Q's and 10's and the villain was slow
playing A J suited from the small blind. Our check on the flop gave
him a chance to catch up on the turn and make his straight and it was
all over for us on the river. Way to go Mark for laying this down
although I don't think it was the right move. Too many chips in the
pot and we need to pay him off in this situation, especially with the
chip stack that we have.

And now on to this weeks "Hand of the Week". We are sitting at a 9
player table of a 1/2 no limit game. My very first time at a no limit
cash game and I was very nervous. It was a $100 min/max table so you
could only buy in for that amount. Although you could sit there all
day and accumulate chips without removing them so some players were
big stacked by the time I got there. We've been sitting for about an
hour and played a total of 3 hands very carefully putting us $18 up
before this hand starts. We are in the small blind and the UTG puts
in a small raise of $6. Seat 4 and 6 join in the fun and it folds
around to the button who puts in a raise to $16. The button in this
case over the last hour has been playing aggressively. He does a lot
of raising and has talked my ear off about his home in Vegas and all
the playing he does at the Belagio.I have also inadvertently seen his
hole cards on occasion while I'm not in a hand before he folds his
hands and noticed some semi-bluffs that he has made. We look down at
Ac Jc. I think about it for about 15 seconds and just call. Our UTG
player calls and the other 2 fold. The pot is now $62. Already a
little on the big side and I can smell trouble brewing as things can
get a little out of hand pretty fast at this table. The flop come 2h
7h Js. Not bad but a little scary as we really only have top pair
here. I decide to lead out with a bet of $25. The UTG folds and the
button calls. The pot is now $112 and we have $77 left. The turn is
the 8d. I decide to check in the hope to check raise him out of this
pot or to see if we can see the next card for free as I'm a little
worried about the heart flush and this guy has been known to chase a
bit. Well he decides to move all in for his remaining $58. We don't
have anything better then top pair and this isn't a tournament so we
are looking at almost all of our buy-in being spent on this one hand
with a pair of jacks. With so much committed and such a large pot do
we really want to let this go. So what do we do with our hard earned
money here?

Nanoman Strikes Again in CPL Week 8

In fine fashion Nanoman came back from near death several times to storm back late and take down CPL week 8! Congrats to Nanoman for his second win this Winter Session!

Thanks to Wanda for hosting week 8!

CPL honorable mention goes to Pam "Black Widow" Muldoon for her comeback to finish 4th this week!

Below are the points for Week 8:

Below is the CPL Leaderboard through Week 8 (Adjusted Totals)

One Less Gamer

While it's progressed to poker and the CPL - the whole thing really started with a game called Dungeons and Dragons. Now, the co-creator, Gary Gygax has passed on. He was 69. The CPL family is a little sadder tonight.