Tuesday at the Blue Parrot: The Return of Rick Blaine and Swish

Ferrari threw together a game at the last minute. The infamous Rick Blaine was in town and by coincidence so was Swish. Those were two hardcore regulars at the Blue Parrot when I first started playing there over a year and a half ago, along with Ferrari, Ugarte, Coach, and Om.

The dynamic of the Blue Parrot changed drastically after Ugarte went into a self-imposed exile and Rick Blaine and Swish moved out of New York City. With me being back in town, Ferrari decided to have an impromptu game. Little did he know that he would hit the skids and go on tilt for the second half of the evening and that I would help to get him there. Yeah it was awesome that we got so many people on short notice and we got to see a rare occurrence... Ferrari on severe tilt and executing an even more rare rebuy.

It was packed to capacity at the Blue Parrot. Usually Ferrari likes to cap the games at 8 players but since it was a special night he made a rare exception. We play a friendly cash games with a $100 buy in. Dealer's choice of $2/4 Limit Hold'em, $2/4 Omaha Hi/Lo, $1-5 spread Stud Hi or Hi/Lo, and a few other games with management's approval. It's not rare to see the betting capped preflop either.

The Lineup:

Seat 1: F Train... He's the guy to go to for the best reviews of underground NYC poker rooms. He's also been playing the $5/10 Omaha tables with Erik Seidel on Full Tilt.

Seat 2: Diane... The recent college grad and former East Village resident is a poet, singer, writer, and activist. And she's also an action junkie, who is Ferrari's biggest nemesis at the tables.

Seat 3: Julie... Who could forget her 3rd place performance at the first ever WPBT live tournament at Sam's Town last December? She outlasted a group of some excellent players, knocked me out, and also survived the advances of Daddy who was blatantly hitting on her during the final table.

Seat 4: Ferrari... The venerable proprietor of the Blue Parrot does not own any birds but does have two cats which run rampant through the poker room.

Seat 5: Rick Blaine... The "Ricker" is in town on business and had to stop by and see the old gang. You can find him playing at Bay 101 near his home in California.

Seat 6: Om... He's the downtown fashion photographer by day and the Tilt Master by night. He worked his magic and got Ferrari on Super Tilt.

Seat 7: Coach ... The Dan Harrington of the Blue Parrot recently cracked Quad Kings with Quad Aces on a Stud hi/lo table on Poker Stars. He had a live long dream of being a contestant on the Price is Right. He made an appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire though and we didn't recognize him at first because he lost 30+ pounds. Coach is shrinking.

Seat 7 (Late Night): Ugarte... The Skecky Green of the Blue Parrot has been in exile after a disagreement with Blue Parrot management. The always quick-witted, sometimes malcontent Ugarte was working a stand-up comedy gig and arrived late.

Seat 8: Swish... The famous sportswriter was in town doing an interview for a cable news program. Since he left NYC and moved to DC, the games at the Blue Parrot have lacked a definite panache. Swish can and will play any two cards.

Seat 9: Derek... My younger brother has been rounding with me since I got back. He wanted to improve upon his performance at Casa de Bad Blood and Brad-o-Ween this past weekend. He was eager to meet Swish and Rick for the first time.

Seat 10: Pauly... Your hero who has a weakness for blondes, donuts, and travel. I was pretty sick the last two days, so I pulled all my strength up to make it out to the Blue Parrot to see some old friends.

7:50pm... Cards are in the air.

8:15pm... Coach jumped out to a huge chip advantage after winning several big pots in Hold'em.

8:17pm... -27. I tried to bluff with the Hammer and capped the betting preflop against Coach's AQs, F Train's Hiltons, and Ferrari's JJ. No flop help for me.

8:44pm... Diane won a big pot in Stud and moved into the early chip lead when her full boat 2s over Kings held up.

8:58pm... Playing Stud Hi/Lo Push, a game that Coach loves to call, Diane scooped the entire pot with The Wheel. She was dealt 2-3/5-A-4.

9:37pm... -65 after a horrendous round of Omaha Hi/Lo.

9:47pm... I got Ferrari on tilt after he folded the winning hand on the River. I had Kournikova... KQ. The flop was Q-10-x. Ferrari bet, Coach called, and I raised. Ferrari reraised, Coach called, and I called. The turn was a Jack and I misread my hand. I thought I had a straight, when all I had was top pair and an open-ended straight draw. I honestly thought I had a straight and only called on the turn because I wanted to keep Coach and Ferrari in and get them on the river. Alas, the river was a 10 and Ferrari sighed and checked. He had A-Q and put me on the 10. Coach checked with Q-9s and I flashed my cards to F Train to proudly show him my phantom straight (the one that wasn't there.) He gave me an odd look that later he'd say was, "What the fuck did Pauly raise with just top pair on the flop?" I bet and Ferrari folded, thinking he made a great laydown. Coach figured he was way behind but made a crying call because he still had a lot of chips. Ferrari almost fell out of his chair when I showed K-Q. I was a little embarrassed that I misread my hand, but saw the benefit of Ferrari going on Tilt after that hand. The Tiltboys had a phrase called "implied tilt odds" and even with the misread, the implied tilt odds on that particular hand was huge.

9:53pm... After a lengthy five minute discussion of the hand by Ferrari, Coach uttered, "Number one, it doesn't matter."

10:02pm... Al Cant Hang called for a Dial-a-Shot and because he wanted to be the first person to call me to say he saw me on ESPN for their coverage of the WSOP Main Event. Even Derek was spotted sitting in the stands during the event that "Ephro" won. I missed it, lol. Oh well.

10:10pm... +27 made my loses back with a strong showing in Hold'em. Swish has been playing a lot of pots and did his first rebuy on the night.

10:51pm... +2. The expression "Betting on the come," gets a thorough examination by Rick Blaine. When Julie did just that, he uttered, "There's no cum on her bedding."

11:23pm... Coach flopped a flush. Everyone wondered where I would be heading to next. I told them Barcelona for the EPT with a stop over in Amsterdam for a 24 hour hash and hookers bender. When F Train said it cost 50 Euros for a hooker, Rick offered to give me a handjob for 40 Euros.

11:45pm... +23. Ugarte arrived after Swish, Diane, and Coach departed. It was late night at the Blue Parrot and that's when weird things happen.

Late Night Lineup:
Seat 1: F Train
Seat 2: Julie
Seat 3: Ferrari
Seat 4: Rick
Seat 5: Om
Seat 6: Ugarte
Seat 7: Derek
Seat 8: Pauly

11:50pm... I almost cracked Rick's AA with K-8 when I flopped two pair on a board of K-8-3. Of course the river is a 3, and Rick rivered two pair on me. Ouch.

Midnight... -1. To end the "betting on the come" debate, Julie randomly mentions "If it weren't for girls, I wouldn't know how to come in my bed."

12:59am... "I fuckin' hate Omaha!" I scribbled in my notes. Nothing is worse to play live when you are behind. I had KcJc5x6x. I flopped a straight and a redraw to the club flush with a flop of 4-7c-8c. The betting was capped. Ugarte also had 5-6 and folded in disgust when a 9 hit the turn. I knew my straight was no good but still had outs for the second nut flush. I didn't get there and Rick's J-10 straight was better. I had to do an $80 rebuy soon after.

1:20pm... Derek won a monster pot in Anaconda when he had a King high straight flush against Rick's full house. It was at least a $280 pot.

1:55pm... -15. I chopped a $320 Anaconda pot when Derek's low wasn't good enough to beat F Train's Wheel. I had the high locked up. Derek went from up a few bucks to down a lot in one hand.

2:03am... Ferrari went on Mega-Tilt after his aces were cracked by Om's Q-2. Om flopped bottom pair and called Ferrari all the way to the river when he spied a Queen for two pair. Ferrari dropped his head onto the table and sat motionless for a few minutes. (See pics below!)


The hand that got Ferrari on Mega-tilt...
2:04am... Ferrari, obviously still stunned from that vicious bad beat drew a few comments from the peanut gallery. Ugarte blurted out, "I lost $60 tonight. It was well worth $60 to see that hand!"

2:10am.... Ferrari raised my blind and I declared to the table, "I'm only calling the raise because Ferrari is on tilt." My 5-6 holds up when I flop top pair and win with a full house.

2:27am... I won the last hand of the night, a big pot in Anaconda and went up a few bucks, almost $50.

The final tally:
Rick +273
Diane +136
Om +83
Pauly +50
F Train +25
Coach -43
Derek -65
Ugarte -75
Julie -90
Swish -137
Ferrari -150

Yeah, it was a fun night at the Blue Parrot especially seeing Rick Blaine and Swish again, along with the rest of the gang. Thursday night I'm playing with Toni and her pink chips at Townehouse for some more NYC homegame action.