On Boredom

If there's one thing I've espoused here, it's focus. The biggest enemy of focus is boredom.

I fired up the WWdN tournament for the first time in weeks. JL514 came online and talked me into getting into level 1 token at the same time (it didn't take much). I don't multi-table well. I especially don't multi-table tournaments well. I also had random TV going in the background and three chat windows opens. Needless to say, I wasn't giving anything my full attention.

The peep was going along just fine but I eventually lost when AJo rivered a straight against my set of queens. However, The Wheatie was suffering. I turned off the TV, closed a chat window, and refocused on the WWdN and chipped up. Then I decided to enter the $1 MTT with $1000 added. 2541 runners. $650 first prize, top 360 paid. I love deep fields full of donkeys. No good could come of this.

Sure enough, I found myself dropping in the Wheaton again, and can't even remember what I went out with, but I was out 20th of around 37. I don't think it was a terrible ouster, but it could have been avoided.

So now I'm fully focused on this $1 donkfest. It was painful to watch what people were going all-in with, but I was consistently in the top 100, peaking as high as 8th once we were in the money and dominating my table. Two sick beats against shorties knocked me down a bit, but I had plenty of chips remaining. Then, with 108 left of the initial 2541, I decided I was done.

I was tired and I suddenly stopped caring. So with A4d I raised pre-flop and got called twice. 5AT rainbow on the flop and I bet at it and get called by the chipleader. 6d on the turn and I push. He debates for a loooong time and finally calls with A5o for the two pair. No diamond for my flush and IGH in 108th with a whopping $4 profit for 2 hours of play.

People were dropping like flies, we here going hand-for-hand every 5 minutes as we moved up in prize levels, and I was comfortably in the middle of the pack. I could have stuck around for at least 2 or 3 more levels before needing to push, or I could have won any other hand... but I gave up and figured, "Well, I have TP shitty kicker, a flush draw, and 13 outs to NOT lose, what the hell." It's been bugging me all night, which is sad for a $1 MTT. I think it's because I KNEW I could final table, if not win this thing, and just decided I was done. Of course, I then stayed up for another 1 1/2 hours instead of going to sleep, thereby negating any sensible reason I could offer.

-------------------

Probably play live with Kat tonight. I realized this morning that my condo's annual general meeting is tonight as well, but I really don't feel like sitting around for two hours listening to people bitch about the most inane shit with ignorant arguments. "Why do we put up holiday decorations? That costs money!" No... it cost money 10 years ago when they were bought. "Why did you replace the handles and knobs on the entrances? That costs money!" Because they were 20 years old and there's a certain upkeep of property to be maintained... and if you spread the cost over the 350 units in the three buildings, it works out to about a nickel a month. "You're turning off one of the fans in the garage! We'll all die of CO poisoning!" There are 4 more, which is more than sufficient, and I don't know about you, but I'm neither idling my car in the garage nor standing around breathing the air. "The front garden is ugly! We should fix it!", umm... you mean with the gardeners that have been there the past two days now that the weather is nice? And of course, the annual classic "Why are our monthly fees so high?! I can buy a new place and pay half the fees!" FOR FUCK'S SAKE PEOPLE! Find me another complex in the city that has a pool, saunas, a gym, a billiards room, a table tennis room, a squash court, 3 rooftop terraces, a ground-floor patio, a party room, 24 hour 2-person conceirge/security, front, side, and rear gardens, with electrical, water, heat, and DIGITAL CABLE covered in the monthly fees!! Now find it RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF DOWNTOWN! What? You can't? Oh, that may be BECAUSE OTHER THAN HERE THEY DON'T EXIST! I did enjoy the property management company rep last year telling the guy that all the new places will double their fees in the 2nd year of ownership, since they're low to entice the easily-fooled. I know I almost blurted out, "Then MOVE! I'll buy your place and rent it out if you don't want it."

Fuck, it's these idiots that cost us REAL money because they fight, bitch and block any major repairs or improvements because they don't want their fees to go up. This results in lawyer's fees and legal bills when the management finally tells them to shove it. If it was up to these morons, the place would be falling apart and worthless, as opposed to a building that has changed everyone's mind about condos when I invite them over. Friends who were just like me, "I don't want a condo, I want a house. I don't want to pay fees." now live down the hall from me or are always asking if anything's available. Hell, if residents would pony up and buy appliances that are less than 25 years old, then the costs would easily stabilize since most of them are attributed to paying for the water and electricity-guzzling relics they own.

I think that rant settles it, I'm playing tonight... that stress doesn't come back when I think back to it. I'm in no mood to suffer idiots. Wait... why am I playing poker then?

See you at The Mookie.