Friday, March 30, 2007

Sometimes I Get Art

This is interesting. Now, I'm not an artist, and generally my artistic sensibilities lie in the realm of "I like it." or "No sir, I don't like it." I've found some of the more out-there pieces of the past offensive, but generally if it's outlandish I see it as just there for shock value. But all art is open for interpretation and speaks to each individual differently.

That piece? My Sweet Lord. An anatomically correct, naked, chocolate Jesus? I like it. I haven't seen it, but I like the idea. Assuming it's as described, I think those that are offended are being ridiculous and reactionary and are close-minded buffoons.

Jesus, arms outstretched (I'd assume in a Crucifixion pose), no loin cloth, made of milk chocolate, displayed during the Holy Week of Easter. Brilliant.

I'm not sure what people are offended about. The nudity? Jesus was a man, with all them man-parts. Christianity teaches that mankind was created in God's image. I've never understood the religious issue with nudity outside of a sexual view. The problem there is that if they hadn't been so uptight about nudity in the first place, it wouldn't be viewed as sexual. But that's another rant. There's nothing about this work that seems to indicate it's anything but anatomical. David's nude, as are countless other works of art.

Is it the pose? I don't see why, Jesus with arms outstretched is hardly uncommon.

The chocolate? It's a medium. It's also a key part of this piece, which ties in with... the timing. There seems to be consternation that such a "blasphemous" display would be shown during Easter week. Well of COURSE it is. That's the whole point. Easter, which has its roots in pagan spring ceremonies anyway, has long been a source of confusion and disassociation with the Church. What do eggs, rabbits, and chocolate have to do with the death and ressurection of the Christian Messiah? Pink? Yellow? Lavender? Huh? So here's a statue that exemplifies this dichotomy succinctly and brilliantly. Jesus, in a pose that is all about Easter, made of a material that is inextricably associated with Easter, laid bare and human for all to see. As I've said a few times, brilliant. I love it. I'd love to go to NYC to see it.

So yah, I'm confused. Jesus is naked. Ok. Jesus is chocolate - not the first time, I think I can go out right now and buy a few chocolate Jesuses (Jesii?) if I wanted. People make no sense to me, but this sculpture does.



It's not the band I hate, it's their fans.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Less Than Expected

Well, as intended, I played live last night. Tossed in my $40 for the once again full tournament (55 runners). Played with abandon, raising and re-raising a slightly looser range than usual. The real beauty was the post-flop play. Two pair and buddy with TPNK thinks he's gold. Straight and the overcards are playing like they've got the nuts. Nothing at all and everyone folds.

Eventually though, I went dead and got slowly blinded away. With the blinds at 800/1600 and me with 7400 in the small blind, with one limper, final table bubble, I pushed with A5o. BB thinks and folds and the limper stares... I stare back. Finally he calls and shows 33. Great call on his part I guess. His pair holds up and IGH. No regrets. Althought the $740 first place would have been nice.

It was coming up on Mookie time then, and I was feeling better, so I abandoned the idea of the cash game and went home. Signed up, and lasted 20 min in the Mook. Who the hell let Schaubs have AA when I had TT?

CC tonight?


Door closes, window opens.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

F _ C K

*insert endless swearing here*

Anyone want to buy a vowel?

I'm going to play live tonight and probably give away a couple hundred bucks to clear my head. Anybody in Toronto is welcome to come out to take what I give. Then again, I'm dangerous when upset.

Maybe I'll get home in time for The Mook and continue my donating ways online. One can hope.

Today is not my best.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Hoover

Out 14th of 60 in The Wheatie. I played a pretty good game, often sitting in the top 5, making moves when needed, and playing my strong hands properly. Traps were set and sprung, all was well.

Then I called home to discuss an upcoming trip and chipped down a bit. Got it all back. Then I got a phone call that distracted me into being blinded out and finally calling with my last 95 chips with K8o and meeting AKo and AA.

Looks like I'll be able to make both The Mookie and Kat's martini party after all. 'Nuff said.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Wheatie tonight. Fonkeramic play, moronic dialogue, hopeless fanboy/girl panting, tools with small tools bashing Wil, dicks with time machines, and all the old-school bloggers joining in the fun. What's not to love?

I think I'll go ahead and win it tonight. Have to make up for missing Los Hoy last night. Of all the MATHs to miss, I miss the one where WAFFLES takes it down. Congrats Sir, you're an inspiration to all us donkeys. Then again, if I can win a Hoy, then anyone can.

I'm hoping I'll miss The Mookie tomorrow, because otherwise it means I'm probably missing Kat's birthday bash on Friday, which would suck. I'm sure she'd understand though. After all, Kat is renowned for her patience and understanding.

Guess I should start winning some games since Neteller has done the completely unexpected and ceased Canadian transfers to poker sites. Note the sarcasm. Nice of a Canadian company to turn its back on its Canadian customers. Firepay and Citadel have already quietly stopped as well. Did I miss a memo? Are there plans afoot to idiotically ban online poker for Canadians too? or is it just because all the Yanks are using Canadians/Canadian addresses to finance their unholy, degenrate habit?

So, what reliable options does this leave? Guess it's time to join the PPA after all, even if I'm not a US citizen. First they came for...



What? You expected a dancing banana?

Monday, March 26, 2007

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Damn am I zonked. In bed around 12:15 or so... awake at 4:30am. There is something very wrong with a world where it is 10:30am and I've been up for 6 hours already. But that's what I get for being the greatest friend anyone could hope for and driving someone to the airport so they can go relax in a ocean-front condo in Fort Lauderdale for a week. Joke's on them though, because it's gonna be 19 degrees here today! (That's Celsius you Fahrenheit-loving freaks. Talk about a hackneyed measurement system.) It'll be a miracle if I make it through the day conscious.

Good weekend though. ZERO poker content, mostly food-related. Go home now if you really want to read another fascinating high-level discussion of how much I suck. Didn't play a game (okay, one $3 rebuy WSOP super sateliite on Stars on Friday). Instead, I spent Friday at home bemoaning how much the Leafs suck for taking an 8 minute beating in the 3rd period to turn their 3 goal lead into a 1 goal deficit. We needed that win.. it was a gift that was thrown away. Also, I cooked for the 2nd time that week, which is something I hadn't been able to do for 2-3 weeks previously. Between some kick-ass steak fajitas, and some uber-tasty chicken and sausage stir fry, I was a happy camper. Saturday was helping run a couple errands and then a dual-birthday for 2 good friends. One rented hall, lots of booze, a decent live band, and 3am Chinese on Spadina and it felt like I was 10 years younger. Not so much the next morning.

But I was running a rooming house, with 2 friends crashing, and another coming by the next morning. Breakfast was made (by friend #3 - who had not been drinking the night before, but WAS leaving for Florida today), and enjoyed, and then the day was spent by me making the best roast beef I've yet managed, and some kick-ass french onion soup (but it's always awesome). I love my remote thermometer (which is in Fahrenheit you Celsius-loving freaks. Who bases their temperature on the fixed-points of the most ubiquitous and necessary compound on Earth and evenly divides it into 100 gradations? Really.) Watch some movies and get to bed in time to get 4 hours of sleep. Tonight? I imagine there'll be something involving a sandwich and leftovers. There's The Hoy too, but I have serious doubts as to my lucidity at that point.




Coupon's expired. No freebie for you.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Two days

Mookie = out in some unrespectable position.

CC's = out 6th of 15. I regret nothing. Even my last hand (KQ vs AA) almost made it when I turned two pair, but then the board paired giving my opponent a better two pair. It did get damned boring towards the end though. Weak-tight was the name of the game, with blinds being passed around. I finally upped my aggression to take more than the others and it was working until I met Mr. AA. No table chatter either.

Now comes the weekend, no plans tonight = chores and maybe poker. Or maybe games. Or movies. Tomorrow = HUGE double-birthday bash for some friends, conveniently located 5 minutes from my place. This should mean that Sunday = recovery from Saturday.

Things are, as always, good.



Monkeys make terrible butlers. Don't ask.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

How Low Can the New 1st Go?

Obviously, it can get as low as 6th. Since that's where I finished in the Wheatie last night. Nice to cash in that beast. 54 runners I think. A few hours of work = $35.10, so a $24.10 profit. Let's call it 2 1/2 hours... so about $10 an hour. Wow. I think I can quit my day job now! :)

Not a bad game, didn't have a ton of cards, but they counted when I got 'em, and I was able to win enough pre-flop to stay alive. But it's the Wheatie, whatchya gonna do? The highlight was being named Wil's nemesis for the night (this is the 2nd or 3rd time now)... just before I got moved to a different table and he later got knocked out by some non-nemesis. Didn't play the 2nd chance, which I think had a bigger turnout than the 1st. Could be because the main event didn't get posted until the evening, while the 2nd chance has been there all week.

I loved the "I wish Wil would sign on." comments in the 2nd chance. He certainly attracts an... intriguing crowd. Have I mentioned I dislike celebrity hounds? See my post on Toronto on how much we just don't care. I like Wil, he was da bomb in Python, yo. Plus, I'd just seen the end of Deep Core the previous night, and he's just a total badass in the end credits. :) That said, I started playing because of his blog, and I started reading his blog because of Slashdot, not because I was really curious about what Wesley Crusher (DIE DIE DIE) was up to.

Where was I? Beats me. Got a new toy though, and it should stay being fun for the next few days. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures that will never be seen.

I'm audi.


Left a message... no return call?

Monday, March 19, 2007

Hrmph

No poker Thursday, no poker Friday. Woke up Saturday pretty bummed out for no really good reason other than I'm far to critical of myself. Poker Saturday!

Only a Tier 1 peep though. Possibly the luckiest game of my life. Let's recap a few hands quickly (note, I was shortstacked on most of these):

Me: KT. Flop: AK4. I check, opponent raises, I push for my last 150 chips. I'm facing two pair - A4. JQ river turn for the straight.

Me: 33. Push pre-flop. Meet AT. A on the flop... 3 on the turn.

Me: K9. Opponent: A8. Board goes nice and straight for the split.

And there were at least 3 more. I went from last to 1st and of course got the token. I felt dirty the whole way.

Then I went out for St. Patrick's Day and came home far too sober. Played in the Tier 2 and dominated it for an easy 1st place take-down.

And that ended my poker luck.

Sunday was the monthly $200 buy-in, 10,000 chip tournament at the club. 18 runners, I went out 7th when KJo on the button (2nd shortstack) met AA (shortstack) and AT in the blinds. Was mostly card dead the whole time.

Got home for the Big Game (hence the token games earlier) and went out 9th of 12. I place the blame all on FT on its lack of a time bank. Don and I got into it early on. I had ladies, he claims he had snowmen. He raised, I re-raised, he called. Flop was low crap and I bet the pot. He re-raised big and I hesitated. I thought, thought, thought... and then hit the raise button to go all-in and time ran out, auto-folding me and costing my over 1/2 my stack. Went from 3rd to last. Still outlasted Don due to Waffles being the definition of a luckbox last night. I avoided hands with him as much as possible. In the end, I laid down KJo to a re-raise (why do I always get KJo when I'm facing elimination?) and then went all-in with KTd pre-flop when my M was all of about 3. Didn't improve, and lost to someone's trips or something.

Ah well, Hoy tonight. Don't know if I'll be playing or not. Got a phone call to make.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Well, That was a Bust

Not the good kind of bust either. Which is shame, because there are many definitions of the word that are good.

As planned, I met up with one of my closest friends (who happens to live down the hall from me) for a drink and some grub. We chatted of many things, and my Cornish pastry was quite tasty, as was my beer. So far, so good.

I then wandered off to the club, where the tournament had just started, but I was still in before cutoff and got my seat. I'd just been blinded, but it was nothing. I also missed the first hand being Aces vs Kings with the Kings tripping and winning and sending someone home early. They kindly put me just right of Kat. I lasted maybe 20 minutes. I believe I chipped up a little bit and then sat around and folded and chatted for 17 minutes as I was seeing crap and there were many a raiser in front of me.

Then I found me some Cowboys. Raise and re-raise to 1500 in front of me. This is a loose game. Problem was, I wasn't paying enough attention to the guy next to me who had re-popped it. I re-raise to 3000 and he goes all in for 350 more. I know he's got Aces but can't not call that. Sure enough, my Cowboys go brokeback. I've got 350 left in front of me, which gets pushed with blinds at 100-200 and me seeing K9. My two callers actually had worse hands, but they caught and I didn't. So I'm out.

I wait for the cash game. People are dropping like flies so it starts about 15 min later. I take a seat and go for the max buy-in. I was feeling loose, but liked my reads. Except one that took about a 1/3rd of my stack (read a flush draw, he turned 2 pair). That said, I shut down the LAG next to me quickly when I refused to back down to his obvious crap. He beat me when he caught bottom pair against my flush draw, but his exposed 24o was enough to make him fold for the next half hour as he had zero respect after that.

Up and down, and finally at 9:30 is decided to finish my orbit and leave to make The Mookie. Down $70 in cash and $40 for the tourney in about 2 1/2 hours.

Made it to the Mook just as the big blind was about to hit me. Played like a fish. It's not that I was playing any looser than usual, but for some reason I just wasn't trusting my reads. That, or my raises were getting no respect. I folded at least two hands post-flop that I should have called or re-raised, and that cost me a fair chunk. Suddenly I was short-stacked and holding out for something other than card death. Tossed a couple weak aces, suited connectors and a suited king away due to poor position or raises before me. One of these folds was stupid at the time but ended up working out as the board filled in. Finally, with pocket 3's I pushed and was called by a weak ace that caught. Out I went in 27th.

Signed up for the second chance, treaded water for a bit, and finally threw in the towel. I like Omaha, but I just wasn't tuned right for it last night.

CC's Bash tonight - password is pokerworks, and it's the best kept secret out there. Small tourney, quality play. I, unfortunately, will not be attending as I have a condo to tidy up and a bunch of other miscellaneous things to get done. Yes, chores trump poker tonight.

BTW - What happened to those blogger 1/2 cash games? Neteller fiasco cause everyone to fear losing $200 a shot?

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's A Helluva Town

I love Toronto. Have I mentioned this? I've been all over the world, and I have not liked one single place more than home.

Yesterday gave me a "I love this city" moment. I was walking through the Eaton Centre (big honking multi-floor mall in the middle of downtown), and in the doors walks Andrea Bargnani. 7 feet tall, 250 lbs, 21 years old... and the NBA #1 overall draft pick. He's been tearing it up the last few months for the Raptors, scoring consecutive Rookie of the Month honours and has become a force on the team.

Nobody noticed.

At first.

Then, a kid smacks another kid and whispers "Hey! That's Bargnani!" No shit Sherlock, you see any other 7-foot Italians walking around?

Andrea strolls down the hall a bit, and one or two heads turn as he passes. He stops, scratches his head and looks around, seemingly a bit lost. Then he continues on.

Not one person approached him in a full mall in the middle of a city of 3 million. No, "Hey! Great game last night!" or "Andrea Bargnani #1!" not even an "Italia!!" (trust me, you hear it here). No, it's not because Toronto is a hockey town. The Raps have developed a pretty solid following since they started, and they've got some serious buzz this year with their play. They're 1st in their division after all, and 4th in the conference. I've seen Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmour, Pinball Clemons, Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay and tons of other sports stars walk the streets undisturbed. During the film festival, stars are wandering all over the place, and the most anyone does is look or take a picture from afar.

Is it because Torontonians are respectful? Naw, it's because we don't really give a shit who you are, just stop walking so damn slowly in front of me.

I love my city.

It's Just The Wheatie

Not sure why, but Wil's tourney has taken a bit of flack this week. Some blogs focused on the donkey play inherent in it, and someone said to me "It's just the Wheatie."

Don't get me wrong, the WWdN's are pretty much only played for fun these days. The variance brought in by the non-regulars and novices keeps it interesting, but not necessarily educational. But where else can you play with a Team Poker Stars member for $11? Turns out Wil is also a writer, actor, geek, and totally not that loser ensign from that show about green babes. Yah, this we've known for years. What? You don't read his blog?

There's definitely a fair bit of fonkey play going on. But this is the granddaddy of the blogger tourneys. It's also the major feeder to the rest of them. Wil plays in another game, invites everyone over, and some of them might actually stick around a few weeks and decide it's worthwhile to improve their play. This of course means that the Wheatie is seldom a skill competition. The Mookie, MATH, The Big Game and CC's Bash have more-or-less kept pace with the bloggers' improvement though, so they're for fun and a means to test oneself.

But I, like everyone else, love the weekly Wheatie. It got me into this crazy poker world, and it's probably the tournament I most look forward to every week.

BTW - I went out 19th I think. And 16th in the 2nd chance, but that was pretty much on purpose.

Personally, I think it's great. $11 for one of the least-stressed games out there, and it gives hope that there are still those who are starting out and want to learn and improve. Surely we all remember when $11 was a pretty big buy-in for us and we had no idea how these players could know when to scare us off a pot... or why our top pair never held up. So I'm happy to see the new luckboxes and fish join in the fun. Some will even come back, and they'll start getting interested in improving their game.

I did love one guy's complete breakdown in the second chance when he ran into a hammer boat. Nothing quite like a newbie having no idea about the power of 72o. He didn't last much longer and kept ranting well into the observer chat. Not that anyone paid him any mind.

Although I think Wil needs a bot to answer the chat. It would have these responses.

- I don't have time to sign autographs and send them out
- I'm a member of Team PS because I was asked to be
- I'm playing in this tourney because it's MY tournament and I like the people
- Thank you for saying you loved me in Stand By Me or TNG
- I haven't really been a celebrity for years
- Greg Raymer

Maybe that would cut down the chat traffic a bit. That, and if Stars would implement an individual observer mute.

Anyway, yay to The Wheatie! May it continue for many moons.

Mookie tonight. If you're lucky, you'll get to steal my blinds for a while as I rush home to defend.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Danke Schoen

Goodbye Stardust.



Nothing

Mostly writing this as a means of avoiding some work. So feel free to pay no attention to it at all.

Missed The Hoy last night. Opted instead to get some groceries done and visit my family for dinner. Since I hadn't seen them for more than 5 minutes since before I went to Israel, I figured they deserved some of my time. But I didn't get home until 11pm, far too late to fire up a game. I fully intend to make the WWdN tonight though, and tomorrow will be pokerpalooza. I think it'll go down something like this:

Drinks with a buddy after work. Then I head to the club for some live action with Kat, and then I hurry home to make the Mookie and defend my title.

I actually want to play in the 2nd chance, since I picked it - PL Omaha Hi. No fargin' low hands, and no freakin' 16 hours of raising by the big blind. I have a severe problem with 2nd chance limit games, since they start at 11:30 pm EDT and I have work in the morning. Pot limit is at least something I can go broke on when I want to leave.

Worst case, I'll be registered and donating my buy-in for the main game. But the only reason I won't be there will be if I'm still alive in the freezout at the club... or down to my last $20 in a cash game. I SHOULD be in good form, having warmed up live.

Damn, but I miss live poker. It's been over a month. I COULD play almost every day if I wanted, but I just haven't had the motivation to make the 15 minute walk to my club.

Ok, now I'm fired up. Shame it's only 11:20am.

Monday, March 12, 2007

DST

Ever miss a clock change? You know, you forget the night before, and then sleep in... a lot. Then you don't turn on the radio, or any valid TV that might remind you, and you stay off the web. Then, when you go to meet up with some friends, you're an HOUR LATE because they didn't forget? No? Me neither.

Ok, once... a few years ago, I missed the switch back to standard time and the gf and I ended up at some friends' place 45 min early while they were in the middle of dinner.

This weekend however, I was actually awake at 2am, so I set the clocks ahead to 3 and went to bed. I guess I should set the last couple TVs...

Yah, that's kind of how exciting my weekend was. Friday night was spent getting some things taken care of at home, until I ran into one of my best friends down the hall from me (because he lives there). A couple martinis later and it was bedtime. Oh, one of those things around the home involved almost breaking expensive things in frustration at my on-going computer issues.

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

Ok, geek tangent. So a little over a month ago, my C: drive up and died. It was fine one night, I shut it down, and the next morning "invalid system disk". Shite. Reboot, BIOS checks, cable checks, etc... nada. No backup, no recovery disk... drive not even being seen. So out comes the drive and off to my folks' I go. I hand it to my brother to scan and see if it's recoverable. My mother comes back with "all that money on Computer Engineering and you can't fix it yourself?" I then explain the need for a VALID C: DRIVE to fix it. That or a bootable Linux disc, which I was also lacking. Anyway, the data was still there, so all documents, mail, photos, etc, were backed up. Luckily the bulk of my non-program stuff was sitting on separate striped RAID arrray, so I wasn't too devestated. The drive was in the death throes though, with bad sectors magically appearing.

So off to my favourite computer store to pick up a replacement drive. Once there, I decide TWO drives are better than one, so two WD 160GB SATA II drives leave with me. First experience with SATA for moi, and I like trying new things (feel the excitement). Get home, plug it all in and.... blargh. *many hours pass* I finally get a semblance of RAID 0 (mirrored) array up. WinXP installed! (took 3 passes to succeed), poker software on! Woohoo! Off to bed.

Next morning - BLARGH! Horrible horrible errors with the array! Faulty drives! Cats and dogs living together! Sigh. Why what's this? My Asus board doesn't support SATA II? I need to rummage through my parts bags to find jumpers to force the drives to SATA I? That would have been nice to find mentioned. Thank goodness I had my Archos WiFi kicking around to surf teh intarneets and find this stuff out.

And then success was met, and I was able to leave for Israel with the knowledge my computer lived again, and my C: drive was now wonderfully mirrored so I'd never have to worry about losing it again. Ever.

Until I got home and it turned out the drive on Channel 0 was faulty and the slave drive had to be duplicated. Not a big deal, because I could still fully use my system off the slave. That's the beauty of mirroring. Days pass and on Friday last I decide to finally fix this.

This obviously involves me duplicating the faulty source drive to the slave! ID 10 T errors abound. Ah, but I was not so stupid as to not back up my C: drive this time. Somehow, I was miraculously able to get back to Windows (drive faulty - data preserved, just outdated!) And restore the backup. Attempt # 2 - copy the RIGHT way. Array still buggered. No booting. Anger... rising. Unplug faulty drive, reboot.. yay! No array = no problems. Plug faulty drive back in, do NOT create array. Windows recognizes 2nd drive. Full scan... drive okay?? Ummm... scan good drive... no problems. Hrmm...

Blame motherboard and stupid VIA controller. Plug SATA drives into Promise controller ports (yay flexibility!). Create brand new mirrored array, duplicate the right drive. WinXP... success!! Turn off computer. Turn on again (gotcha gremlins!) Success!

SO, as of this exact moment, my C: drive is mirrored and operational. Let's see if it's still that way when I get home.

/tangent

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

Saturday was the moving of aforementioned friend. By far the easiest move I have ever helped with. Nothing heavy (so much solid wood furniture, all so light). One truck load. Sweet. Home in time to continue fixing computer (covered above) and put together a to-do list of stuff I need to get done (as to-do lists involve).

Sunday was the capper to getting the computer to live, followed by me heading over to another friend's place to try and fix her computer issues (much less serious than mine). I think I've met with some success with that computer, but today should tell. It was a worthwhile visit and hopefully stopped some serious issues from escalating.

There is obviously a lack of poker content in there. Oh, here it is!

Saturday night - semi-functional computer. Fire up FT peep token and Stars WSOP $16 Turbo DS. FT is fine. Stars however, has a severe case of no slider. I found my self in a NLHE Turbo DS without a slider to increase my bets. No entry field either. So I'm relegated to min bets/raises. What the? Obviously my opponents are fine. Must be the computer... something missing in a system file (does the Stars client use Active X? Java? .Net framework?) or something. I sit out and reinstall the software, update, and.... nothing! Ok... sit-out, restore my most recent backup and... nada! Ermmm... restart! Nope. Back in the game that all purposes is a limit game for me now. I look like some sort of nutcase betting nothing but a BB into big pots. I scare people with my constant min-raises because I've shown some monsters with nothing but min bets. What the hell? It's too deep into the 1st table to sit out again and restore an older backup. I finally, mercifully go out in 3rd on the first table and do said restore. Load up stars and a cash game and.. there's the the slider! Whew.

It made for a very interesting exercise. Playing limit in a no-limit environment makes for some interesting choices. I'm still trying to figure out if I learned anything.

Friday, March 09, 2007

F-O-C-U-S

Think I've mentioned focus enough recently?

CC last night. I bubbled in 4th out of 18. Really not a bad showing, but I should have cashed, and I was feeling good about taking down the whole thing. Then came that dreaded distraction.

It wasn't a good day for me. I won't get into the details, but the game was not anywhere near my main focus when I started. Then I had a friend call with some somewhat major problems of his own as the bubble approached. I still managed to take the chip lead while talking to him, but then tightened up when I should have loosened and made some bad decisions. Stack got chipped away and suddenly I had an M of 5 with 4 players left. A4s in front of me on the button and and UTG limp with a bit less than double my stack, so I pushed. The limper called quickly and flipped over pocket Tens, and I didn't improve. Ah well, I still liked my game plenty.

Apologies to Kat for apologizing for knocking her out, I was distracted and it was a reactionary post. I really wasn't sorry because you had pretty much exactly what I figured you did in the position you were in.

Tonight - I plan to get some stuff done around the homestead. Yup, an exciting Friday planned. But that's because I have to be up stupid early for a Saturday to help a friend move. Why am I so stupid that I said yes?

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Details, But No Film

The poker load on my shoulders just got a bit lighter. I, like everyone else in the universe, want to win each of the regular blogger games at least once this year. Glad I could kick that off with The Mookie, especially with the number of final tables I've seen in this particular event.

But I couldn't have done it without so many other people behind me *sniff*. There's Kat, who transferred $11 to my Tilt account so I could register, since for some reason, FT wasn't letting me deposit, and I didn't win enough a 0.05/0.10 cash game for the buy-in until 20min into the Mookie.

Then there's Mookie, for hosting this event every week. Without him, there'd be no The Mookie. His tireless dedication to setting up this tournament is comendable.

And there's my agent. Stanley Lipshitz... no, wait... he doesn't exist. Plus, he's a tool.

Of course, I couldn't have done it without everyone who folded to my bets, and even more importantly, called when I had them beat. You... yes YOU, are the true heroes.

[cue music]

Oh my God! Momdadgramma,Iloveyou!BillyandStaceygotobed!

-----

Wasn't that fun? No? More like long and tedious and unfunny? Fine... be the jerk, see if I am caring.

I knew it was going to be a good night when I doubled-up via Zeem and my chipstack was 4,444. 4 being my favourite/lucky number, this was 4 times as good. See how that works? Perfectly scientific.

I'd love to give all the minute details and screencaps and commentary on the game... but I just played poker. I made one small adjustment to my game that was hurting me, got cards exactly when I needed them, and otherwise played the same as I always do. This time, the stars were aligned properly. I'm thrilled that heads-up lasted only one hand, because I truly suck 1-on-1 and have seen my stacks dwindle far too quickly in that situation. In the end, it's the same old story - focus, make less mistakes than your opponents, be patient, focus, fold those easily dominated hands, focus, trust your instincts, and focus. Also, focus is key.

It's been a good couple of days. I do believe I'll pay a visit to CC's tonight.

Picture = 1e3 Words


















'Tis late. Details at 11.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Meh... Yay!

Wheaton tonight, minus our illustrious host. Out in the high teens/low twenties. Called an all-in with AQh... discovered AKo in LOK1's hand. This hurt. Then came the flopped ladies into bdidde's pocket rockets. Ah well.

Not as bad as finishing 3rd in the $16 Turbo DS, sure it paid $72... but top 2 got tickets to the Sunday qualifier, and the hand that put me out was moronic on my part. I don't wanna talk about it.

Momentary lapses in concentration and judgment, that's all it takes. 1 mistake and you're toast. Strangely enough, poker is one of the few things that holds my interest enough that I can actually concentrate on it. Not that I have ADD or anything, but I like to be stimulated... mentally that is.

It's all okay though. My night ended with the phone call, and all is a bit more sunny in the world. I don't even mind that it lead to me sitting out an SnG on Absolute. Especially when she mentioned she was busy Friday because she had a poker game. That's about as personal as this blog is ever going to get.

Monday, March 05, 2007

I Meant to Push All Those Buttons

Another $16 DS down... not a great game, although I didn't dislike my play.

Hoy - not Gigli, not bubble.. out 14th... stupid move on my part. TPSK no good? Of course not, but it was more of a "either double up and sit out or get out and continue this phone call without distraction." No, not THAT phone call, but still one that was more important than the game.

That is all. Nothing more to see here. Today.

Stupid Button

Well, it hasn't happened in ages, but I actually pushed the wrong button last night.

Great weekend, no poker until around 10:30 last night. Fired up a $16 DS Turbo and a $3+rebuy on Stars. Played well in both, until I got blinded away in the Turbo and stupidly didn't push with an Axo just before the BB when we were 4-handed. 78o in a BB that took half my stack didn't hold up when I called the SB's raise and home I went.

In the rebuy (which I love), I was sitting pretty with 1 min to go to the break, with around $9,000 (M=60). Pocket 9's get dealt and a guy who's been betting with anything and everything for the last 10 hands has just rebought (again) and pushed before me. I call immediately, but then 2 to my left re-raises all-in, and has 425 less than me. I'm not willing to throw it all away against two all-ins, especially when I think the other was a raise to isolate due to a decent, but not great, pocket pair. So I plan to fold... AND HIT THE CALL BUTTON. Sunuvabitch. Any-two shows T2o, and the re-raiser shows QQ and I curse. Q on the flop totally negates my 9 on the river and I'm down to 425 in chips. I toss that away, rebuy twice and we go to break, where I take the add-on. So I'm at 5000 in chips, but instead of being in the top quarter of the players with an M > 42, I'm now in the bottom third with all the other donkeys. I should have left instead of re-buying, but I just couldn't quit like that... instead I gave away my 5000 and left about 15 min later.

MATH tonight... or as it's come to be known here - Bubbletime! Naw, I'll probably Gigli the thing.

Did I mention that I had a great weekend until the poker? Now if only I can find her number...

Friday, March 02, 2007

Who Got Game?

It ain't me.

CC's Bash and a couple $16 Turbo DS qualifiers last night... the less said the better. I played like an absolute donkey last night. To be honest, I haven't felt anywhere near the zone this week. Maybe it's just part of being off for a couple weeks, or maybe it's arrogance. I just know I've kind of been sucking. Bored, distracted, tired, drunk... oh, those might be contributing factors too.

At least I'll be out tonight, so I shouldn't have much of an opportunity to throw away money. Oh no, I'll be much better off spending it on food and alcohol.

Of course, I'll then proceed to continue flushing tomorrow when I attack $2 rebuys and log back onto Mansion. Good times.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Well Rested... NOW

+EV fun just ain't enough some times. Went out for a couple after work yesterday, but made it home with plenty of time to spare for El Mookie. A bit too late and too inebriated to make a proper dinner, in went the microwave pockets. Mmmmmm. Registered for the Wednesday ritual and then fired up a $16 double shootout on Stars. Holy donkerific table Batman.

Since it wasn't a turbo, I treated it like any 1-table SnG and sat back at the start. Occasionally I'd get in cheap with connectors, and caught me some straights. The sad part? even TPNK was enough to win a few times when flush draws were bet hard against me by the biggest LAG I've seen in a while. As it would turn out, it was LAG and me heads up on the first table, and me going completely card dead. Against this guy, Q6 would have been a good hand to go with, but I seldom saw higher than a 7 for a good 10 min. If I saw a K, he'd have an A, if I saw an A, he'd river bottom pair, etc.. In the end, I flopped top and bottom 2 pair, and pushed... into his top 2 pair. Whoops.

So I went out of that about 3 minutes after I went out of The Mook. Guin to my left was catching cards and playing hard. I ended up short stacked on a bad call and called an all-in with AJo (yah, I know... but M was shite), which ran into Guin's AQo and GScott's AK. Q flops and two of us are gone.

I then fell asleep in my chair until my cat woke me and I stumbled to bed, desperately in need of sleep. So maybe playing poker wasn't the wisest decision I could have made.

CC tonight... we'll see if I've got all the other crap I need to do done. I need to prioritize.