Quickie

Maybe I missed a memo that redefined the term "dominated" in poker. Last I checked, if you have KQ and you opponent has AK, you're dominated. Why? Because you share a card, but one of you has a better kicker, hence making that shared card all but useless to the one with the lower partner.

If you have JJ, and you meet KQ, the KQ IS NOT DOMINATED. Yes, the JJ is a favourite, but it isn't dominating a damned thing. JJ vs JT is dominating, but no shared card = no domination. Ditto for JJ vs TT, the TT isn't dominated.

Just thought I'd clear that up, since the term has been misused regularly for the past while.

A Matter of Perspective

New Blogger issues fixed, security settings were a problem.

Despite exhaustion, I played in the Wheatie last night. Played a game of stay-alive for awhile, got lucky when I needed it, and eventually found myself in the final 4. Much like the Hoy on Monday, I finished in 4th. The difference this time is that 4th paid out, and my exit was mostly by choice.

As I said, I was wiped. For some reason, 5 hours of sleep a night isn't working as well as it did before I went on vacation. I also, quite stupidly, signed up for the 2nd chance. Why? Because I figured it was a cheap, safe way to try out limit stud 8 H/L. I knew full well that it would take forever, but I figured I could just donk off my stack if need be. Anyway, the final table on the Wheatie and starting up the 2nd chance was a bit much for my compromised consciousness. It didn't help that the final table as boring as dirt (agriculturalists, spare me the lecture) -- quiet, and the players were scared. I SHOULD have been able to take their chips with gusto, but I was too distracted by the 2nd table and its active chat window (Wil was at my table), and too tired to think straight. So after a less than stellar chipping away of my stack, I decided to push with a flopped flush draw and JTs in my hand. I figured if I won I was golden, and if I lost, then I was one step closer to bed. I lost, but was happy to cash and get away from the paint-drying. I love me this Tuesday ritual... good turnout, and frequent cashes for yours truly. I still want a win, and last night was probably my best chance if I was more into it. Oh, and Hoy and Jecii? 2nd night in a row without seeing pocket rockets once.

Meanwhile, in the 2nd chance, I learned that I apparently am the Limit Stud 8 H/L master. Actually, I confirmed that the best way to win is to want to lose. I kept trying to give away chips with marginal hands (not terrible ones mind you, I have SOME dignity), and kept hitting straights, 2-pair (all kinds of 2-pair, sweet jeebus did I hit them), etc.. and at one point kept a solid lock on 4th place. I'd get within chips of being knocked out and then hit the low, followed by both pots, and then find I'd be back in the top 10. I finally went out in 13th out of 35... missing the money by 8. I probably should have sat out and auto-folded my way into the money :).

That said, Wil was totally my bitch in the 2nd chance... I had him folding all night long. Granted, I did have decent hands when I scared him off, but I think he gave me far too much credit. I know at least once he had me beat when he laid down split jacks against my straight draw, but my naked K was too scary for him.

Mookie tonight? I think so.

Same as it Ever Was

Ok, I truly dislike the new Blogger. Doesn't work with my Avant plug-in, also doesn't work with IE 6.. at least not at my work. (Yah, yah.. I should be working).

Regardless... there's posting to be done.

Been over 2 weeks since I've been able to play I think. Maybe got one game in (CC's perhaps?). Big computer problems (seemingly ongoing, but that's another rant), trip preps, and a week in Israel can do that. But breaks are good, and have traditionally resulted in my results improving. Apparently this is not the case this time around.

Logged onto Stars to discover that the WSOP satellites are back. Sweet. So I fired up a $16 turbo double-shootout to Sunday's qualifier. I like these, but I'm not sure why. It's probably the challenge of winning not once, but twice in a row. At my first table, I fought back from being the very bottom of the heap (and 2nd last in the whole game) to a sizeable chip lead to get heads up against a guy who by all rights should have been knocked out 7 times already but kept getting lucky. He continued his streak by eventually knocking me out. I believe the last hand saw him turn a full house with unconnected cards vs my pocket pair.

So I went on to the MATH. I should note I also had the last two episode of Heroes (not concurrently) playing alongside the game as I missed last week's. I was far more interested in the show than the game, but still managed to catch when I needed to and make the final table. From there I once AGAIN bubbled in the Hoy. I think that makes 3 or 4 in a row, and at least 5 or 6 total. Obviously, the bubble is where I'm meant to be on Mondays. I'll have to do something about that. Fuel played like a madman, taking Lucko's ATC philosophy to an extreme. J7o? Really? He made some claims against 2:1 money and 60/40 giving him the right odds, but I think I saw him fold about twice in the final table. That said, he came in 2nd, and he's been in the zone for a while now. Guess it's time I started doing some math again.

Wheatie tonight, 1st place or not!

E-H-V-E-G-A-S

And so ends the beginning. To those who came to Toronto on our sunny, warm (-6ish Celsius - just multiply by 9/5 and add 32 for you Yanks), fun-filled weekend -- it was great to meet you. For those who didn't come -- that's your loss. Worry not degenerates, for I doubt not that there shall be future opportunities, in more temperate times, to visit my fair city in search of good fishing and fun.

I'm sure Kat will have a full report up soon enough. Needless to say, it was great to meet Jules, Graham, Iakaris, PlatKat, and Gus, and to get some live action against Guin and Kat again (been awhile since our paths crossed live). The turnout was small when compared to the Bash or Vegas standards, but landslides start when a single pebble starts rolling.

Good food and great wine on Friday, was followed by some profitable live action against many drunks (I being one of them, just less-so than the rest). It was firmly established that Gus is a luckbox at the table, but that played nicely to my advantage when he rivered his flush and ran into my flopped boat. Passing out for 5 hours and waking up to creepy children's voices singing about teacups on your TV causes an unsettling environment when you stumble around in the dark at 6am with a mouth full of cotton.

I unfortunately missed dinner on Saturday, but made the tables. Bubbled in the inaugural Eh-Vegas tournament. This, however, was soothed by being able to drop the inaugural HAMMER of Eh-Vegas, and later seeing my pocket Tens turn into a big fat DQB! against Kat's full boat (not a suckout, I was ahead from the deal). Congrats to Iak for taking it down and Gus for placing. Our unfortunate 10pm closing time for the beer and liquor stores meant a dearth of alcohol at the games, but that didn't stop myself, Guin and Iak from playing cash until 4am or so. A down night overall, but not enough to wipe out the previous night's winnings, thanks to a big gain to nearly septuple my final, wallet-emptying buy-in. It's amazing what happens when your last $60 turns into chips... I focused, read the table like a book, and got the cards to do something about it. QQ5 on the flop and me with J5s (cheap flop BB special)? Yah, you don't have the Queen mr. better... why, you have AKo. THAT'S how I called your bets and raises.

These two days proved something else - I am Jules' personal walking, talking poker jinx.

A requested wake-up call from Kat the next morning 5 hours after I found my pillow had me up for brunch with the Two Kats and Gus (what a horrible band name). A surprise was discovered when our waitress came up to us and she happened to be the same waitress as at our poker club. Needless to say, she was tipped well, or maybe it was because Gus was dumping his Canadian cash :).

After dropping off PlatKat and Gus at the airport (29th busiest in the world, 17th in North America - apologies for my inaccurate information on the drive), Kat and I headed off to Fallsview, with hopes of Iakaris and perhaps VinNay catching up with us. Alas, it would turn out to be just the two of us, but we had fun nevertheless.. with 5 solid hours of winning poker. I kept up my roll from the previous night, reading the table with ease and messing with their minds. If I raised to $10 with rockets, what the hell did I minraise with? Why do I limp sometimes and then declare that limping is pathetic and raise 7.5x the BB? I called your raise with 79c? 35h? No way you put me on my straight. You raised on a raggy flop and I re-raised you hard? Surely I don't have crap in my hand. By the time I left, I think the table was sad to see me go, but happy that I wasn't taking their chips any more.

Then I promptly dumped my winnings into the slots, failing to follow the cardinal rule of "quit while you're ahead," as I was almost instantly up an additional $200 on those Blazing 7's I so love, but I pissed that away post haste. Back to the T-dot and the end of Eh-Vegas I. I can't wait for Eh-Vegas II - Electric Boogaloo. I can only hope that Eh-Vegas III will be in 3-D.

So now I suppose I shall look towards Vegas in June. Let's see how that works out, shall we?

Take a Look...

... and you'll find a world of pure procrastination.... lalalala

Oh Mr. Wonka (Gene Wilder, not the bloggers) and your chocolate factory. That really has nothing to do with anything. Look not here for poker content - other than for the second day in a row I was eliminated on the river (this time AK vs A8 with A on the flop.. 8 on the river). I'll live. Just some random thoughts.

Like, why is it so hard to make the information I need easy to find? I'm off to Israel in a week, and need an International Driver's Permit to drive my buddy's car while I'm there. CAA (think AAA, now replace the A with C cuz I'm a Canuck) offers these, but to mail in the application with pictures and license copies takes 3 weeks of processing and mailing. So I wonder if it's faster (ie.- right away) if I walk into the office... main site says nothing. Once I make my way to the CAA site of South-Central Ontario, I finally find one line that says it will take about 15min to do it in person. Easy decision.

I also have a bathtub full of rigid styrofoam packing (from various furniture, appliances, and electronics), because my condo doesn't deal with it anymore. I want to find out where I can toss this stuff, but it's a pain to fine. 3 different google searches before I found a pdf with a link to the proper site (toronto.ca, but it's on a chart that's connected to something else). The place is a 10min drive away, right where I figured it would be... which is more than I can say for the info.

I want a Wii. I just can't find one. Apparently there's a big shipment coming in this weekend, Toys R Us will have a minimum 20 per store. I expect they won't last. I'm hoping Future Shop and Best Buy also get some stock - they're both infinitely more convenient for me... as is EB Games and The Source... and CompuSmart.... and HMV... and anywhere else. Did you know Loblaws and The Real Canadian Superstore sell Wii's? Me neither.

Eh-Vegas starts TONIGHT! Now if only we knew what we were doing. Here's hoping it's downtown and close to my place. Queen St. anyone? College? Richmond even (although I dislike clubs)? I'm lazy... and if it's up at Kat's, my probability of going out tonight drops significantly. If it's at my place, probability goes up :). Still, I'll be sure to kick ass AND take names tomorrow night. I wonder if I'm anathema to Jules at a live table as well... hmm...

Toronto Life is pissing me off. How many times do you have to pay for a subscription before you get it?

Bell is annoying me too. My cell plan expired last year, so I've been wihout contract since May. That said, they've maintained the status quo with my bills (same price, same features.. I can just leave whenever I like). But it's time for a new, smaller phone. This means new contract (or $200 more for the phone - not worth it). I've got a corporate option that would run me $25 a month + whatever asinine fees they charge. 250 min, 1000 eve & weekend, bell-to-bell calling, 6pm-9pm free calls (how odd)... Bell itself can't seem to match this, which is fine, but it annoys me that they aren't even TRYING. Number portability FINALLY comes to Canada in March, so maybe I'll hold out until then and switch to Rogers... we'll see who looks better. I like me them Sony Ericsson phones.

And finally... another pic from the Creatures in my Head. This one's a great commentary on you SHOULD play when you've got the nuts.

1/2 Hammer

Well, made it home in time to play the Hammer Day tourney. Even had enough time to sober back up. I have to say, I think I played a damn good game. I had ONE re-suckout (AQo vs K8s, K on the flop, straight for me on the river), and that was it I think. Picked my spots and played my solid hands, watched the table and made the right calls.

Got hurt pretty bad (4th -> 9th) near the end when my rockets got cracked by a 99 that found a set on the flop. Mostly my mistake, but I have to give "Saab 9-5" credit, he hesitated on the flop just right for me to read a steal/pair. At least I didn't slow-play. I stayed alive, doubling up a couple times, but eventually went out in 7th when I pushed my TT (which is GOLD dammit) over JoeBrooklyn's 45h steal. 332 flop. 4 turn. 4 river. IGH. SICK. But 7th out of 158 is fine, and $46.41 for $7.90 ain't bad. AND 7th place = 1/2 hammer, so that's just like 1st place in this one. :)

Sox went out shortly after when JoeBrooklyn once AGAIN sucked out with a 4-flush on the river. Man, some guys get all the luck.

Had a blast, HUGE field with the Riverchasers and Bloggers joining forces, and gets me all warmed up for this weekend.


P.S. - Bone Daddy just went out in 4th, thus eliminating the last of the bloggers... another one down and now we're heads up with Saab and JoeBrooklyn, the two people most responsible for my elimination... go Saab. Aaaaaaaaand....... JoeBrooklyn wins. Well, glad my chips did some good.

A Harsh Lesson

Went out early in the WWdN. Decided not to play the 2nd chance, then changed my mind. PLO. Played aggressively, got me some good hands, and sat at or near the top for a good chunk. Eventually slipped away, came back, slipped away.

Me: 9sAhKsKh - all in.
Hacker59: 5dJc8cJd
(61/39)

Flop - As 7d Td (48/52)
Turn - 4h (60/40)
River - 6d (0/100)

And out I went in 9th place. PL Omaha's a bitch. Just look at the percentage swings. I've learned something today. I like Omaha, but I know squat about it.

-----

Addendum: I find it kind of funny that Hoy and I were trading 1st and 2nd place back and forth for the first hour of the game, and then we went out one place apart at the end.

Mild Annoyance

So we've all seen the paid reviews on a variety of the bloggers' sites. This started months ago, and I didn't really have a problem with it. I get it, some of you need the income, some just like it as a supplement, and some use it exclusively to play with.

But last week I really noticed it. At least 3 of the blogs I read had a review for a card room supply store on them. From what I saw, not one of the reviewers had actually used the site, but commented on how it looked, the free shipping, etc.. Whoop-de-doo. Hell, all the reviews sounded the same, and could have just been shipped out as boilerplate. Shit like that just reeks of sellout to me.

Fine, review products to your heart's content, but at least USE the stuff you're reviewing! Your opinion is useless if it's, "well, this LOOKS good from the pictures I've seen." Otherwise it might as well be a banner ad. Maybe it's just me, but I put a lot of research into any purchase I make, and try to find out as much as I can about any merchant I use before I use them. This has resulted in me being happy with just about all my decisions. If, for whatever reason, I'm actually looking for a site to buy a table or set on, and all I get is the same vapid review for it, then I'm not going to be filled with confidence. Hell, if I didn't already READ these blogs, and just stumbled upon them in my searches, I'd assume they were astroturf.

And to the company that pays for these reviews -- MIX IT UP. The poker blogger community is big, but it's interconnected. If you're sending out the same review option to the whole group, then you'll end up with 10 sites that are all reviewing the same service on the same day. This numbs the readers, who are your target audience. When they covered PSO a week or so ago, at least I KNEW that most of the reviewers used them, but seeing the same review 3 or 4 times made me roll my eyes.

I know the market is slowly evaporating in the US with this Neteller crap, so the options are becoming limited, but teh Intarweb is a big place.

Melted Snowmen


First, one of those stupid tests. But hey, if you gotta be from ATHF...



I am Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force!!

Which Aqua Teen Hunger Force character are you??


So, played in The Hoy last night against my better judgement. I was wiped from not enough sleep the night before. But, I was staying up to watch Studio 60 anyway, so I figured I might as well split my attention as usual. Short version: Went out in 8th when my snowmen got speared by Shadowtwin's hockey sticks when the hammer flop came down. [Insert Pokerstars rant here... I'm far too lazy to get upset over a $20 buy-in blogger game.].

Longer version: I was shortstacked at the time, having jumped to my usual strong position early and slowly getting chipped away until the blinds mattered and my stack didn't. I had strong hands to start, but then went card dead. The few times I did go for a position move, I'd be re-raised out. It's really quite sad that we're all expecting to get sucked out on (or suck out) when we're in ahead (behind) on these online sites. I don't track hands, but I'm tempted to just to run the numbers.

Hoy made a comment when I flipped over aces at one point that I got pocket aces more often than anyone he's seen in these tournaments. As I said to him, God favours children and fools. I think it's actually just a matter of perception. I see aces probably as much as anyone else, I just have a tendency to show them as well. Usually because (a) I get NO action on them and need to show my dissatisfaction of it, or (b) my opponent goes in the tank before folding and I feel I should throw them a bone (in the blogger games at least).

Anyway, The Wheatie tonight, Eh-Vegas this weekend... good times.

It's Snowing Sideways

No, seriously, it is. Only 2-4cm forecast for today, and it's a bit chilly (-24 C with the wind chill). Enough about the weather.

Let's get the boring ol' poker content out of the way first. Ended up playing on Friday... Tier 1 that I got knocked out of, the 25k on FT where I went out in the 800's (being the first blogger out in our little girly chat), and then hung around until 53rd or thereabouts in the $2 rebuy... top 27 paid. The rebuy was fun, where I donked up a HUGE chip lead at one point by going all-in with paint and catching unbelieveable cards. I then donked it off with the same play... to the amazement of my table. "Some people like rebuys so much they go in with any two cards. *cough*astin*cough*. The 72o was a beauty." People just don't get the hammer. That said, I loosened up the table a whole bunch, and was above average when the break came. My usual play post-break worked fine, and then I got nailed by a bad beat and a bad call and eventually went down.

Now then. Stupendous Bowl anyone? Apparently the horses beat the ursine creatures. I don't get this interspecies violence. I'm sure Stephen Colbert will have much to say tonight. Sloppy game all around, sloppy weather, sloppy play, sloppy field. I guess Peyton deserved it, but I was cheering for Da Bears. I mean, c'mon! Lovie Smith looks like John Amos, and how can you not like John Amos? That said, Manning has one killer ice-cold stare when he wants.

What else? My new toy (see last post - Archos 604 wifi) is great. Now I just need to upgrade my wireless network so videos stream worth a damn. Music is fine, but videos are choppy at best when streamed. However, videos look fantastic when stored on the drive, music is good when you've got headphones (or, I imagine a full sound setup, but I haven't plugged the dock into my amp yet), and the web browsing is totally serviceable. A faster processor would have been nice though. Now if they'd just release their code like the GPL tells them too... or some hackers would get on it and homebrew some apps, it'd be golden. Major downside? The fact that MPEG-2 and AC3 need a "plugin" (read: generated security code to unlock the codec from the firmware) downloaded for $20. Should keep me occupied on my trip.

Isreal ho! I'm off in a less than two weeks to visit a friend. I'm really looking forward to it as it's the first time I've been out of North America in years, and I used to travel all over the world all the time.

And of course, Eh-Vegas THIS FRIDAY! Come one, come all to Toronto for the coldest blogger meetup of the year. Ok, I'll stop perpetuating the myth that's always cold here. It's not cold, you're just a pansy.

B'oh!

Mookie last night. Out 14th of 50. Waffles is back to being my cheerleader, but unfortunately he wasn't around long enough to stalk me from table to table as is usual in the Mook. I took the very early chip lead when I knocked out an AK with my set of 7s on the first hand. I got some decent cards for awhile to maintain, and then went on a sick run where I got:

K9o that flopped two pair to eliminate one player, 66, AKo, KK (knocked out Fuel when I flopped a set), AKh, KJo, in that order, consecutively.

This brought me to nearly double the chips of 2nd place. My table broke and my new opponents had less chips combined than I did alone. This is where it started to turn a bit. I still caught some hands, but there came a strange mix of repsect and disbelief. People would fold to me with hands, but then go after me assuming I was being aggressive with draws later on. This resulted in perfectly good pre-flop hands getting called and chased off post-flop. I stood up a few times and got smacked down by perfectly valid outs. I soon found myself dropping in the standings.

One hand I don't regret was flopping two pair on the flop against pokerpeaker's nut straight, which I felt he might have (for no good reason), and figured he deserved my money if did have it.

I stupidly folded on the turn to 3:1 odds when I had 15 outs (inside straight, flush, set and aces for over possibilities), I miscalculated the pot odds and let it go. I blame FT's lack of a time bank. This hurt me enough to tighten up.

Then my KQo ran into a KJo that caught the J on the turn, crippling me. All-in with A9-soooted vs snowmen with no improvement and IGH.

Eh, that's poker.

Then I donked off $100 in a 1/2 NLHE cash game to finish my night on a sour note. I think I'll avoid the poker tonight, maybe tomorrow too... and most of the weekend. Considering next week is Eh-Vegas, I doubt I'll suffer from too much withdrawal. Besides, with any luck, I'll have a new toy to distract me.