Busto

I have just enough left in my FT account to cover the Skillz game tonight and the Big Game on Sunday. Man, did I ever stink up the last couple months. I could have taken the roll I'd built up in the beginning of the year and given it to a crack addict so at least someone was having fun.

PPI/Riverchasers last night sucked. At least the menonite-style sausage with carmelized onions, baked sweet potato fries, and tomato and cucumber salad was good.

I'll likely make The Mookie on Wednesday too (because I'll reload), but am kind of hoping I miss it due to other plans. I doubt that will happen though.

And barring a colossal ousting from the regular home game on Sunday (the one I dominated last year, but have missed the first 3 of this year), I'll miss the Brit Game.

So that means 2 or 3 chances left for yours truly to make the TOC. My chances at taking down the Skillz tonight (Stud - Full Tilt, 9:30pm ET, pw: skillz) are minimal, but stranger things have happened. Taking down The Big Game wouldn't be the first time I won my seat in the last event (also a Big Game).

I don't even know if I CAN go to the WSOP (but if I won, I'd try my damndest), but I haven't missed a TOC yet, and I really don't want to start.

Bits

Mookie tonight! Full Tilt, 10pm ET (9pm CT, 8pm MT, 7pm PT), pw: vegas1. 7 shots at BBT4 TOC seat left! Chances of me making the Brit game on Sunday are below slim, so only 6 shots for yours truly.

Skillz went horribly last night... largely because I had a huge case of "meh" going on and didn't give a rat's ass. Oh, and because my trip aces with a better kicker got riverboated.

Tonight? Condo general meeting, which is always aggravating and boring at the same time. At least they're not installing 800k worth of A/C on the roof this year. I should probably open and read the package sometime. Mookie after that, and I may, possibly, be riled up.

Jays lose 2-1 to the Red Sox last night. Pitcher's duel, with Wakefield coming out on top... barely. Tallet continues to impress.

Wings go up 2-0 in the series against the Hawks. Chicagoans, ask yourself honestly - can the Hawks win 4/5 against Detroit?

Speaking of Chicago - I've got an invite to head down that way in June or July for a weekend with a bunch of friends. Still debating if I can swing the time. There's also the possibility of a weekend at a cottage closer to home which is slightly more appealing (nothing against Chi-town, I just like relaxing next to a lake with beer, and seldom get the chance)... I'd ideally like to swing both.

Spinal Tap/The Folksmen - Unwigged and Unplugged tomorrow night! Should be a good show... Tap acoustic could be interesting, no idea how you turn an acoustic performance up to 11.

I've been playing around with High Dynamic Range (HDR) a fair bit these days, some might say too much. But then again, I don't go to the completely unrealistic extremes some do out there. For some reason, I particularly like this shot. It's right on that border of hyper-real and looking computer generated. I like the almost bump-mapped look of the pavement too.



Alright, enough ramblin' for now.

Tuesday, The New Monday

It was a long weekend up here in Canadia, where we celebrate the roving birthday of a long-dead lady with a crown. It seems she celebrated it every May, on the last Monday before the 25th.

I love long weekends. Who doesn't? Workoholics I guess, but I never acquired a taste for workohol.

A lot of home PC work filled up my weekend, but now my friend's computer is running well again, and mine is feeling fresh and error-free. Nothing like a format and reinstall to fix what ails ya.

BBQ on Sunday was uneventful, but involved copious amounts of food and fireworks.

I also now have one of these, which of course means I'm trying out a bunch of homemade soda syrup recipes. So far, cream soda is a piece of cake, and I'm tempted to pick up a few oils to try a cola. I was rather annoyed when I found out that even the non-diet syrup options from the company had a whack of articifical sweetners. Simple syrup is your friend (2:1 sugar to water, boiled and cooled).

I almost forgot about the Riverchasers game last night, since it was a long weekend and "Monday" didn't register. But I signed up, and got annoyed.

I jumped up early with a river suckout when I misread wwonka's hand terribly (he had two pair, I put him on air, but rivered the set). After that, I maintained with selective aggression, but when I made the right moves - isolating with the best hand, drawing in weaker hands, etc. - I got nailed by the RNG. At one point I was down to 850 chips and 25th place out of 25, but I got 3 successive pairs (33, KK, 77) that held up or scared away opponents to get back in the race. In the end, I got in with AQ vs KJ and the rivered J bubbled me out in 10th.

Story of my week in poker. It's enough to make one thing decision-based poker can kiss one's ass.

Limit Hold'em tonight in the Skillz Game, 9:30pm ET, Full Tilt, password: skillz. I'll be there, and I plan to chase every draw I can. I think there are but 8 games left in BBT4, and there have been plenty of multiple winners to thin the TOC herd. I really want a spot in that.

Oh - and an unoriginal thought re: the economy to finish this off. The phrase "worst economic crisis since The Great Depression" is tossed around less now, as people keep trying to fool everyone into thinking we're pulling out of it (we're not). Please bear in mind this: The Great Depression ended with WWII. The reason it did was because the majority of European and Asian industry had been literally destroyed. Factories bombed, cities levelled. North & South America were relatively untouched, and as such were the ONLY providers of manufactured goods and aid in the world. There's a tiny fraction of that production capability in industrialized nations now, and the US hasn't actually been a producer of things in years. So how do you pull yourself out of this one?

3-3

Ovechkin gets a hat trick? Well then, Crosby steps up and gets one in the same game. Shame someone else scored a 4th goal for Washington. Or not. I don't really care as I'm so far out of the money in my playoff pools that it doesn't really matter.

Here's hoping Pittsburgh steps it up and wins a couple. I'd hate to see this series end in a sweep.

On the far more important front, after blowing through a big chunk of change on Sunday (did that day ever suck poker-wise), I grabbed back some of it last night by taking down a $30 super turbo on Tilt. No skill involved in those, just an ability to fold and catch.

But I'll miss the PLO Skillz Game tonight (dammit!). Don't YOU miss it, 9:30 ET on Full Tilt, password : skillz.

Tired, unfocused... that's today. That's every day. Still, got a doc at 10 tonight that I want to see. A Rothschild discovers Thelonius Monk, that's got to be a good story. The puma-raising meth addict ticket is bought as well, but that's later on.

And I only caught the first bit of Star Trek: Generations last night (up to Picard crying about the loss of his family), but I'll be damned if the beginning of the whole thing isn't better than I remembered. The "joke" about everything coming in on Tuesday seems to have a darker tone now than it did originally, and the camaraderie between the original crew (or, Kirk, Scotty and Chekov at least) moves nicely to the friendship with the Next Gen crew on the deck of the sea-faring Enterprise.

The Undiscovered Country was on Sunday - yup, pretty great Trek movie. The Rura Penthe stuff was a bit weak though.

Yah, this definitely gets tagged under "rambling".

Who Gots Skillz?

Ain't me.

I donked it up huge in the Skillz game last night, as planned from the start. If I'm going to play something as mind-numbing as online Limit Stud H/L (I'm sure I'd be more enthralled live), then I'm going to be the biggest donkey at the table (there is currently $3.2 billion invested in research into how this is different than any other time I'm at a table), ON PURPOSE. But much like the last time I donked it up in the Skillz Stud H/L a month or so ago, nobody came to this realization until I started sucking out on them with terrible hands.

So I ended the night by taking a chunk of Lucko's chips with some horrible 4-suited hand (AQT8h?), that caught an 8th on 6th street to outpair his 7's, took a bit of commentary from him, and then gave them all to TuscaloosaJohn the next hand with an equally donkish hand... I think I was chasing nothing while hoping he didn't have the straight he had. Like I said before the game - IF I was there, I'd be playing terribly. The 4 or so post-work beers on an empty stomach didn't help matters either.

But tonight is The Mookie! (10pm ET, Full Tilt, pw: vegas1) I may not be able to make this one, as I'm meeting up with a friend, but I'll try and be there eventually. That may mean free blinds for a while until I show up with a few hundred chips left and climb to the top of the leaderboard. Or not. Since it's the non-stop excitement of NLHE, I'll only be playing like my usual donkish self, not the über-donk I am during Stud.

Jays, NHL, and the Rest

And the Jays potent offense took a break last night in a 7-1 loss to the vaunted Kansas City Royals. It's one game, there are 3 more in the series. I'm much happier they lost big in game 1 than game 2 or 3, because it SHOULD wake them up a bit that they can't take anybody lightly. This is a team that is, realistically, mediocre on paper. They have a lot of young talent, and some veterans that have been all-stars and should be far from washed up, but they still need to work hard game in and game out to be consistently winning.

I imagine Cito will chat with them, point out a few mistakes here and there, and generally put them at ease and let them have some fun. He knows they can beat the Royals, the Royals know it, and the team knows it. I expect them to bounce back tonight.

Round 1 of the NHL playoffs is over tonight. Two game sevens happening nearly simultaneously. Jersey vs Carolina and Washington vs The Rangers. Two games that look to be good, but I'd much prefer the Devils-Canes game. Except it's on TSN2 here, and Rogers doesn't carry it. Go figure. I'll probably tune into the Jays game and jump in and out of the Caps-Rangers game (also known as Ovechkin vs Lundqvist).

The west is already set up for Round 2, with Detroit vs Anaheim and Chicago vs Vancouver. I can't see the Wings going down to the Ducks. Sorry Anaheim, but Detroit is no San Jose - this is a team that KNOWS how to win in the playoffs, and your only hopes are Pronger and Scott Niedermeyer grabbing the team by the neck and dragging them to some wins.

As for Chicago and Vancouver, I'm naturally cheering for the remaining Canadian team, and I think they'll put up a hell of a fight. I still don't think the kids on the Hawks have the experience to win it all, but they've shown they've got some grit and determination in there and could be a challenge for the Canucks. Still, I think Vancouver pulls this one out.

I missed Heroes last night. Completely forgot the season finale was on. I'll grab it tonight and watch it, fully prepared to bitch about it tomorrow. I personally like Torontoist's prediction for it (having not watched it this season since it's sucked since season 1) - Monkey Sylar. Or maybe just have Sylar do a T2 homage and change between all the personas he's been while melting in a pool of molten steel. I think that's required to kill him now. Of course, not before Peter touches him and absorbs all his powers at once, and then shapeshifts into Sylar so the character can continue... or something lame like that.

Skillz Game tonight. Stud H/L. I imagine I'll be doing something else, as limit, hi/lo, and stud are all anathema to me. If I do go crazy and sign up though, expect me to be playing incredibly loose in an effort to suck out a win. Where's PLO8?

I Got No Game

Wow, have I been stinking up the felt lately. Last night was just more terrible, distracted play from yours truly during the RC/PPI BBT NLHE game. Yes, those acronyms were intentional.

And the wee bit I played Sunday was characterized by terrible beats. At least those I can't be anything but frustrated with.

Not sure if I'll play the Skillz Game tonight or not. It's Limit HOSE, which I enjoy half of, but cry a little when limit comes into play. I may use the time to go for a swim instead. I think that will be more productive.

Considering I've owned my condo for over 4 years now, and I've used the pool about 3 times, I don't think I'm getting full value for the high, but not unreasonable, monthly fees I pay. Also, I'm about 22 lbs above the weight I'd like to be, so maybe this will be a step that leads to another step and another... or maybe I should stop eating the easter candy next to my desk.

Because I Haven't Posted Enough Today

Just a quick reminder that tonight's Skillz Game is Stud Hi. Sweet crap on a stick that will be fugly. Naturally, I'll be there to donk it up like it's LHE.

CEM also brings up a point - Summer Gathering. Is that happening? Or will it be another "people kinda show up one of two weekends" like last year? After all, June is only about 2 months away.

The Plan Nearly Worked

Finished 9th in the Skillz Game last night. That would be the money bubble... damn. I played like a donk, as planned. I laid some pretty bad beats on some decent players (and some shitty ones). I warned ahead of time that QT was the nuts as far as I was concerned.

The scary thing is, that the RNG DID pay out to my donkish play a lot more than I thought it would. Granted, LHE makes this much easier to do, but I was still amazed by what I ended up with. In the end, I was crushed by 3 hands where my TP was killed by big overpairs. Lesson was: FT favours the donkey, but loves the overpair more.

Something like 4 or 5 boats, ridiculous flushes, flopped straights... and of course the one time I got aces, they didn't get much.

Might employ a similar system at The Mookie tonight. Let's go with "get-in-cheap with middling hands and catch big". Although I doubt I'll see as many rivers in NLHE.

Skillzzzz...

This morning as I brushed my teeth, I decided that I would play at least one BBT4 game in the most donkish way I could imagine. This was followed by the thought that if tonight was Limit Hold 'Em in the Skills game, then it would provide the perfect opportunity for such an effort.

From my mouth to CEM's ears it would seem! LHE - the marathon of options. Not quite as donkish as LO8 would be, but plenty good.

So after getting a few things done around the homestead, I plan to hunker down and pay a modicum of attention to playing hands like QTo like the nuts, and calling 3-bets on the flop with QJo and 33 unimproved. I expect I'll win the whole damned thing.

Semi-Skillzed

Further proof that skill doesn't mean a thing in the Skill Series - I took 2nd last night. I think that's my 2nd cash since CEM took it over... and possibly my 3rd time playing? Anyway, nothing overly memorable other than once again torturing PirateLawyer with my cards as usual (loved the nut flush vs 2nd nut flush), and cardracking BamBam with my Aces over his Kings in stud (with the rivered set for me and 2 pair for him). Oh, and a hand that I have a screenshot for at home... my 2-8 seven-card straight. That's got to be worth something extra, right?

Once again, I reload on Tilt, and I have a wave of cashes. I lack a hat made of any mettalic substance, but I love me coincidences.

One Of Those Nights

Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.
- Orson Welles

That one's for Falstaff, and has no bearing on the post.

Got home, boiled some white corn on the cob, threw together a fruit compote and then snacked on bits and pieces of whatever I had kicking around. Did laundry, changed cat's litter, and sat down in time for the Skill Series, because it was PLO, and I loves me some PLO.

I may do up something Asian-like tonight.

PirateLawyer told me to have fun and that he wanted to repeat. I knew right then he was in trouble. Seated a few seats to my left, I had nothing but fun driving him nuts as he critiqued my starting hand selection in IM. That alone was worth the price of admission :).

Went out 10th when my flopped sevens full of kings went down to Jec's rivered Kings full of Aces. Ah well, 'tis Omaha for you, and I got in ahead, although barely by more than a coin flip.

The Mookie tonight! I plan to have more fun, although I'd like to move up the leaderboard a bit, especially after bubbling last week. If nothing else, I hope I'm seated with Waffles so I can watch the fun as he tries to dethrone LJ.

Wednesday Already?

Oh short weeks, how do I love thee?

Bombed out of the Skill Game last night in 42nd. Whatev. Mookie tonight, but I may play live, which always confounds Mookieness, especially with the 1500 starting stacks.

A lesson learned - don't marinate chicken in a vodka-based marinade for 16+ hours. It makes the chicken taste too much like vodka. Dinner didn't get finished last night as the flavours mismatched just enough to be unsettling. I think I overdid the szechuan pepper. It numbs the tongue, and messes up other flavours. It smelled really good though. With luck I'll be home in time tonight to do a quick chicken something with a quick side... since I have one breast in the fridge that's got a best before of today.

I found this game to be quite interesting. It's seemingly dry (balance the US budget), but the interesting part comes afterwards. You get to compare to other demographics (state, age, salary, geneder, political affiliation, or any combination), which reveals a fair bit. I made my 3 badges (environment, health & wellness, and small government), reduced the debt to 18.7% of GDP, and put together a budget that sees a surplus past 2070. Have fun.

Fear, I Know Thee...

...and thy name is No-limit Omaha.

I forgot that was the Skill Game for tonight. I'm so there.

PL is one thing, but will it actually be possible to chase someone off an Omaha draw with NO limit? I doubt it. At least nobody will lose a limb in this minefield.

Ugly, ugly poker... that's what this shall be. Grab on tight, keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and enjoy the ride.

I Got Skillz

Well, except when I throw them out the window.

12th of 76 in the Skill Game last night. Good for 54 points or something. Also good for fishcake points as I believe I outlasted the rest of that field. Only a 4 point improvement there though.

I played a fairly decent game with two bad decisions that I can think of. I started out fairly loose-weak and paid the price (okay, maybe 3 bad decisions). But from a short stack as low as 500 chips early on, I climbed back to as high as 4th at one point. I made the calls and bets on strong hands and draws that I needed to and they either held up or caught, which let me build up to a decent stack that I could wield, as is my wont.

I made some tough folds throughout and was patient. Then there was the first bad call.

I was on the button, with Lucko in the BB with a huge stack. I find AJo and it's unopened, so I raise it to 3x the BB. Lucko re-raises. I put him on a resteal and push it. He thinks briefly and calls with AKo. Damn. I suckout with a J on the turn.

I hovered around this level for a bit, folding away chips and stealing them back. Then I made mistake #2. I find TT in the BB. Blinds are 500/1000, and I have around 14k. Blinders raises from the button, but not too large. I repop for around 6k and Blinders thinks before putting me all-in for a bit less than 9k more. He has me well covered.

Now I know Blinders isn't one to REsteal (but will steal), but he's also a player I can give credit for going deeper than level 1 thinking. I have TT, 6-handed in the BB, and when I've been in a hand lately, I've been aggressive. The button raises, and I re-raise. It can look very much like either I've put the button on a steal and I'm defending, or I have a strong ace or pocket pair. I figure Blinders has put me on a defending move, but since it's Blinders I know he isn't full of shit here. Since I figure he figures I'm defending, I widen his range to a strong ace (AKs, AKo, AQs, MAYBE AQo), or a decent pocket pair (88-AA). MAYBE a suited connector, but that's highly unlikely. Plus, if I fold, my M is around 5 with 12 left, and I'll be near the bottom (10th or 11th). But if I win, I'm in the top 5 with a healthy stack. I figure I'm likely racing and call for the rest of my stack.

Blinders flips over KK and I'm toast. No 2-outer for me and I'm gone. Only one KO on the night too.

As expected otherwise, people had no clue when the game switched to Omaha. UTG limps, no pot control, pot-betting draw-heavy flops with AA unimproved, calling off stacks with low flush draws, etc.. Wow. Of course, when I went out, the chipleaders were te ones playing that way, so what do I know?

Mookie tonight! Doublestack KNOCKOUT! I feel like kicking some serious ass in this baby.

HA HA!

Let's not talk about how I went out of the MATH last night in 55th place thusly:

Pocket 7's in LP, limp before me and I raise it to 4x the BB. Limper calls. Flop comes 7-high rainbow for my set. I slowplay. Turn comes a 2nd spade, limper pot bets. I re-raise to around 3x the bet. Limper thinks and calls. River brings 3rd spade, limper bets my last 850 chips. Pot is over 3500 and I make the call I know is behind and lose to QTs.

I said let's NOT talk about that.

Instead, let us talk about tonight's Skill Game! PL HA. So that's two enjoyable things - pot limit, and hold'em/Omaha Hi. No fucking aggravating "everybody calls to the river" limit, no splitting a pot because someone caught their nut low with absolutely no other draw. Plus the shift between games is obvious. No "Oh shit, we're playing stud" moments.

Not that anybody will have any clue about position, pot control, the weakness of top pair, or the ability to fold the non-nuts on a double-paired flush board. And I can't wait for the "oh, right, I can only play 2 of my cards" realization after a showdown shows they don't actually have quads.

This will be fun. I'll be out within 5 minutes, no doubt.

---------

Habs are in round 2, and their dumbass fans set 5 cop cars on fire, and damaged at least 11 more as they celebrated rioted in the streets of Montreal. Fucking retarded.

Tonight are some big games. San Jose and Calgary, Washington and Philly... two game 7s. I'm pulling hard for Calgary and Philly to win. I wouldn't be upset about Washington winning though, other than it totally screws me in my office pool.

Mindest

I played in the Skill Series last night. Limit Omaha H/L. I never quite got my head tuned just right to the game. In other words, I constantly forgot about the low. That said, playing for the high did pretty well for me during the first couple hours. In the end though, when you're only playing for half the pot, you go out 36th of 90.

Yup, I prefer Omaha Hi. Thinking is hard! But I still obviously did more thinking than some of the players I saw. Let's review 2 simple SIMPLE Omaha rules:

1.- You don't get to play all 4 cards dipshit. You only get to play 2 of yours and 3 of the board's. So if there's 3 tens on the board and an ace, and you have one ace, you have a set, not a boat.

2.- 4th pair is not the nuts. In fact, you have nothing at all.

And for H/L:

3.- See #1 - If there aren't 3 cards 8 or lower on the board, you don't have the low.

And here's one more:

4.- Constantly re-raising preflop with multiple players is idiotic in limit Omaha. Doing so on a 1-suit flop when you don't have any of that suit or at least the A of that suit, and there are 4 players in the hand, is also completely retarded. Especially 4-way. Someone is raising because they have the flush, someone else is doing it because they have the low, and whoever is calling has the nuts or is drawing to them. You don't have a hope in hell. It's called pot control, look into it.

And I don't claim to have any clue what I'm talking about, but that's from about 30 seconds of thought being put into the game. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong... just be sure to explain why.

Winning a $22 Turbo SnG before hitting the hay at least gave me a little profit for the night.

There's some sort of poker game tonight at 10pm on Full Tilt for $10+1 with the password vegas1. It's called The Mowkey or something. I may be there. I'm hitting the club and playing live, so it depends on my performance there.

Getting Closer

Goal #1: Play better in PLO
Goal #2: Win the Skillz Game and get this TOC seat out of the way

1 out of 2 ain't bad.

This will be all over the place, because it's nearly 2am.

Finished 3rd in the PLO Skill Game. I think I actually played pretty well. I got lucky a few times, but had a stack when I did, and that's Omaha.

Last two hands:

AAKA 4-suited, shitty flop and I had to fold to pressure from Smokkee.

Then Ac4cAsKh, standard raise from Smokkee and I call like a donk. Flop comes 3 hearts, Smokkee bets 1/2 the pot and I wonder if my Kh is good. I push and get instacalled by the nut flush. And am done.

AA is shit preflop in Omaha, right? Because I had 'em 7 times, and had AKAA once on top of that.

What about KK? Had that 12 times.

AK? 25 times, including times where I had AA and KK.

Suited AK? 6 times.

277 hands.

Bah says I, I could should have taken this one down.

Had at least 6 or 7 knockouts too, which is pretty good since my first Skill Game KO was tonight.

I'm mad at myself for how I went out. I think the AAKA beforehand threw me off.

Thanks to everyone who railed me. It's appreciated.

Garthmiester's analysis of hands on IT Radio was a great thing to hear too. Even if he claims to not know a thing, just the constant discussion made for good listening. The thing is that I agreed with him on a few of my hands after the fact. I made a couple poor decisions that may have cost me a medium loss instead of a medium gain. These things matter 3-handed.

It's okay though. I noticed a bunch of things out there from everyone playing. I'm a complete Omaha donk, but going this deep and paying attention really opened my eyes to how little thought anybody is giving to anything other than their cards in these things. I may just play the Dookie tomorrow.

Smokkee just took it all down - congrats, well-deserved.

I'm feeling it though... I ain't done yet kids.

Impatience

Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment.
- Evan Esar

Out 17th in the MATH last night. 86 runners isn't a bad number. In the previous theme of knowing where the blame lies, I lay it all at TuscaloosaJohn's feet for having cowboys.

No, I of course blame myself, which is why I was pissed off and spent the next 40 minutes playing Guitar Hero.

The hand I went out on was just plain stupid, and compounded by my own impatience and idiocy.

TJ raises 3x BB UTG, I call from the BB with 56h. Flop comes 458 with one heart. I "decide" (read: fool myself into believing what I want) that TJ is on two high cards. I check, he bets less than the pot and I push all-in for 99% of his stack. He calls. Turn 3 brings me the OESD, but that's all she wrote and I'm done.

I was tilting from TJ vehemently defending his blinds for a couple orbits early when I had legit hands that I had to lay down to his pushes. The 2nd time I nearly had to force myself not to hit call with a decent suited ace for 2/3 of my chips. I figured I was ahead and he was just protecting, but I wussed out. If I was right and call here, then there's a good chance he's gone and I've got over 30k in chips instead of pushing with 2nd pair and runner-runner prayers for my still-decent stack shortly after. Even if I lose on the earlier hand, I still have enough chips for fold equity and a few orbits of patience.

I had the right mindset going in, got lucky with QQ holding up vs two bigger stacks and trippling through to jump from 2nd last to 4th in one hand, played a strong game, and then fucked it up at the worst possible time.

Bah.

Congrats to Lucko for taking it down. 50 more events to go. I plan on showing up for PLO in the Skill Game tonight, and I plan on doing better than I have historically in non-NLHE events. At least it's PL, so getting impatient like I do with Limit shouldn't be a problem.

Here's another quote that can often be applied to the poker world:

He who praises you for what you lack wishes to take from you what you have.
- Don Juan Manuel

No Skillz

Somewhere near the bottom of the list from the Skills Game last night, you'll find my name. 84th? 82nd? Something like that. Not Gigli though.

It's not that I dislike stud, it's that I dislike limit. As soon as my brain realized that I'd be there all night, it decided that draws were worth chasing hard. Totally my brain's fault.

Tonight is The Mookie. With luck, I'll miss it because I'll be heads up with Kat at the club. Yes, I'll likely wade through the 20cm of snow that's falling to play some poker with flesh-and-blood competition. How does it go from 11 degrees on Monday to 20cm of snow last night?

So, any thoughts on the Mookie turnout tonight? 200? 500? 1000? 1 MILLION PLAYERS?

If I'm out of the tournament before the Mook starts up, I'll see you there.