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.

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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

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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.

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?

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!

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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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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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.

The European Option

Haven't seen this posted anywhere yet -- not that I've been looking all that hard. It's obviously still in the twinkle-in-the-eye stages, but could hold some promise, and may be the best shot the US online poker players have. Eventually the US government will have to realize that the EU is a force. This ain't Antigua and Costa Rica they're dealing with, where the US can be found in violation by the WTO and then say, "so?" The EU likes to enforce its will.

It is nice that someone with more of a voice than a blog is calling it for what it is - protectionism. It's time people looked away from it being about Frist and his ultra-right cowtowing, and instead to something that actually holds some weight. This is why horse racing, lotteries, and casinos are untouched, because they contribute directly to the USA's pocketbook... online poker sites don't.

This will obviously be a long time coming, and there's nothing saying that the US government won't do their usual schtick of "Oh no! We is in trouble with the (WTO/UN/Other International Body)! What we gonna do? Go fuck yourself." But as I said, it's a bit tougher to push around the EU.

Rinse and Repeat

4th in The Hoy again. As usual, 'twas the bubble. Somewhat unusually... Fuel done gone and sucked out on me to knock me out. AQh vs my AKo. Kh on the flop, Jh on the turn, Tc on the river, straight beats my pair. Of course, I knew the T was coming, and I was expecting it to be a heart.

Ah well... Fuel excels at the suckouts, he just plays bad, bad, blogger poker. I hope he can look himself in the mirror after this. :) Freakin' Canadians.

Glug

Man, I have a lot of beer. Just take a look on the right-hand side there. Yet, I still feel I need more?

You should see my hard liquor collection... and the wine... and the pop. Maybe I should take up alcoholism.

*WARNING*

This Post MAY Contain Traces Of Poker - It Was Written In A Blog That Creates Poker Content.

It's not so easy to capitalize every word - damn my punctuational abilities!

Anywho, been a bit since I posted anything, mostly due to the lack of exciting do-ins a-transpirin'.

Look, sentence and line number 4.

Eh-Vegas is coming soon! Less than two weeks away. Not that anyone reading isn't reading Kat's blog as well, but it's been awhile since she's posted about it. It should be a good time... so come kick it T-Dot style! Or something.

Mansion switched the time of their 100k from 0300 GMT to 1600 GMT. What the hell? This relegates my ability to play in it to Saturdays and Sundays when I don't have something better to do. That hasn't been the case of late. I'll have to look into eliminating this "social life" thing. Oh, of course... no more US poker players = no need to run it so that they can play. Leaves us poor Canucks out in the cold... but it's not that cold, because we're tough. Why not 2300 GMT? I could have pulled off a 6pm start time.

Neteller - oooo... bad move guys. Now the poker players that were flushing their money out of you are pissed. You should have just put inordinate delays on transfers. Unlike Hoyazo, I don't think they're about to royally screw everyone over. They are a publicly traded company, so it's not quite so easy for them to close up shop and move to Sealand. Plus, they do have business (however dwarfed by their US business as it is) in other countries. I think it's far more likely they're closing the shutters to weather the storm, and are protecting their assets. It's tough to turn around in your next quarterly report and say "80% of our clients withdrew all their funds en masse." Mostly because some people don't speak French. The stock has lost over 80% of it's value over the last year, I'd be worried if I ran the place. This is month one of their year it seems... great way to start it off.

Been screwing up my Tier 1's of late. Haven't played too many, but got nailed when my great call turned into a bad beat in one, and when my cowboys ran into a set of twos on the flop in another. Smokkee and Surflexus were on hand to see the latter. I found it quite coincidental that there were 3 bloggers types randomly in the same Tier 1. All told though, the cash game was nice to me last night when it more than doubled me up in one hand (why would you think your pocket 8's are worth a $19 re-raise on your $12 bet pre-flop? Why would you THEN think that me re-raising your $30 bet on the brickish flop with an all-in push would be worth your call? Oh yah, cuz you're donkey, and my Aces kicked your ass when your river straight didn't happen.) I finally (I'm slow) figured out the beauty of the 1/2 cash games, play the multi-tablers. You'll always know what they have when they're in a hand - Aces or Kings. Take their blinds the rest of the time, and just be wary of the people only playing 1 or 2 tables... but they're fish anyway.

Lastly, I'm off to Israel I think in a few weeks. Visiting a friend there... wonder if he knows any good local games. I mean, I'll be missing a home game here where I'm some kind of defending champion or something... so I should make up for it, right?

So Crumbles the Cookie

Played live yesterday. $200 deep-stack that I went out 13th in (out of 20)... 2 hours of play. I was doing pretty well until my KT ran into a KJ with two kings on the flop and both of us slowplaying until the end. Oops. This short-stacked me and when I flopped 2 pair with KT out of the BB on a 9TK flop, I went all in and ran into Mr. QJo and his straight.

Unlike some of the previous 7 people (and many of those that followed), I didn't storm out, but sat around and watched the Bears/Saints game and then the Pats/Colts. A $60 freezeout started and I signed up and bubbled in 4th (grrr), when an old co-worker of mine flopped the nut flush and checked-called my all-in when my M was about 2. He went on to win with his dominating stack.

So what's a guy to do but drop $60 more in the 1/2 cash game to finish off his night? That lasted around 40 min (I never min-buy... but I still felt like playing and didn't want to commit), and I finally went home after being at the club for 7 1/2 hours. I think I'll stay away for a week or so.

I pointed out my mistakes above... my all-in ouster from the $60 was a desperation play that failed miserably, the rest I think were valid at the time. I'm not a horrible player, but I think I really need to buckle down and get consistently better.

----------

I wonder how the blogger events are going to pan out over this week. I'd imagine this Neteller thing is going to lower numbers. That kinda sucks a lot.

Soft Serve

I know, I know... everyone knows the Tier 1 token games at FT are stupidly soft. But I hit a new high of disbelief last night.

Sat down at the computer around 12:40, Colbert report on (only reason I was staying up), and decided to fire up a Tier 1. Sound off on my machine, watching the show, and I KILLED the game. I'd time out because I missed that action was on me, I wasn't paying any attention to the donks around me, and I got to the final table in 23 minutes with around 44% of the chips in the game in front of me. The number of semi-bluffs (middle-pair with a 4-card flush on the board?) was unbelievable, and the people calling down with bad draws... wow. I think I knocked out half my starting table.

Final table dropped to 8 quickly, when someone was so in awe of my chipstack that they got knocked out while commenting on it. Then it sat at 8 as I decided to fold my way to 5th and everyone else just passed chips around. Finally I found a decent pair in front of me and called a small all-in bet to knock the button's 74o out (bad time for a steal I guess). 7. Then I knocked out 7th to get to 6, and finally 6 to get to 5 (someone had to do it). I had over 50% of the chips at this point, and the all-in fest (after 4 hands) found me finishing in 2nd to the only other player who seemed to know what he was doing, and got lucky when his T's full of 3's beat my 3's full of T's (T3xT3 :) ).

By far the most effortless token I've ever taken... and that's saying something. I guess I could have been sucked out on once or twice and it would be a different story, but this time the odds were in my favour. Not saying I played a genius game or anything, but I had the cards, and made far fewer mistakes than my opponents.

O Canada

So yet another blow is dealt to US online players. Yup, us Canucks are a devious lot who create companies like Neteller to bring down the US government... or something stupid like that. That said, *I* (and others in this world of blogitude) am still able to move my money through their glorious instacashing. Which is a good thing, because I'm down to $0.44 or something like that on Stars.

What can be said that hasn't already been said? Did anyone not see this coming? To be fair though, although 85-95% (depending who you believe) of their transactions were to gambling sites, that leave 5-15% that weren't. This means that it served a legitimate purpose beyond transfer of funds to poker sites. Doesn't that count for something?

It's obviously a scare tactic by the feds. Hit the biggest player in the yard and watch the smaller ones scatter. They know the poker/gambling sites aren't stupid and will stay offshore and off US soil, so they'll cut off their funds. Problem is... these guys are rich former lawyers, and no doubt have some sort of case already in the works. Plus, Lefebvre is a philantropist hippie busker who's given away millions to the arts and other causes. Not exactly the big bad money-launderer image. I imagine that (a) this will go on a while and (b) people will be watching.

Newb

Hit some live action last night for the first time in a while, brought a buddy along to introduce him to the exciting world of underground poker. Place was PACKED, running a full over-stuffed 4 tables for a $40 freezeout. Me and buddy ended up on the waiting list because I didn't reserve earlier (never had a problem before), but we didn't have a problem getting in.

Due to a coworkers 40th birthday the day before, some coworkers and I decided to have a few frosty beverages after work... 3 beers was just enough to make it not so cold, and make my judgement drop ever-so-slightly. That said, I played pretty well for the first hour, and had a decent stack in front of me. 5 minute break, and buddy and I run out to grab some food. McD's down the road and we're back having missed maybe a hand. One hand later, in the BB, I've got pocket 9's. I completely miss the SB nearly chucking his hand pre-flop before someone points out he is the SB, and check when he completes for the only action before me. Whoops. Flop of 55x gives him his set, and I give it all away. $40 double cheesburger combo. I don't think I could have played that MORE incorrectly.

So I finish off my food and wait for a 2nd cash game to break out. Sit down with my max buy-in, and slowly chip up. A turned straight nets me a nice little win and I'm doing well. I lose a pile when my flopped TPSK runs into cowboys (put him on AK), but learn a valuable lesson and fold to the guy's AK later on when I have KQ with a K on the board. Got slowly chipped down until I started playing the girl on my right. I think she was KK's girlfriend (or maybe sister?), and she was learning the game that night. She'd chase mid-pair all the way, kept asking for the definition of an inside straight, and won with straights she missed while looking for a flush. She "loved [her] hand" far too often when her hand was T5d or equivalent. So, a flopped straight, two pair, even TPMK would be enough to take her down and get paid. She COULD be scared out though, but I ended up chipping back up to a small loss. On my last orbit I gave away a few more bucks and called it a night.

Until I got home and found Kat still alive in the Mookie (congrats on 3rd!). I sweated her for a while and joined Weak in the 1/2 cash again, where we were soon joined by Don and CC. Not a bad mix, since I find a full blogger table a bit too even, but half a table is just about right. And what a table it was. I stupidly raised Weak's small bet at a straight (which we both made) and scared out the 3rd player whose stack would have been worthwhile, but that was one of only two mistake I think I made in the game.

Taking one stack with a flush that took out an A-high straight (one of THREE KT's dealt in that hand, and he was the only one to call me) was nice... but taking out Mr. "I'm going all-in on the flop that gives you the 2nd nut flush because my useless missed straight has to get me something" was sweeter. I personally enjoyed the comment from our favourite victim who piped up with "How can you think about NOT calling with the 2nd nut flush? If you can't play that hand, you don't deserve to play poker." Strange... I DID play it, but I had to think about it with paired tens on the board -- nut flush, numerous ways to have a boat, or even quads were all possibilities, and I had to make a call for 1/2 my stack. Plus, I figured a little hemming and hawing might draw in another call... not that Don would fall for it, but it's good to practice. Needless to say, the bloggers jumped on the guy's unneeded commentary and he quickly decided to take his ball and go home. I'm sure glad I played it, because I'd hate to lose my poker privileges.

Anyway, I made one other mistake that cost me a good-sized bot and around 1/6 of my stack (after I was up over $200). I had pocket ladies and re-raised a 4x BB bet to 8x BB and got called. Flop comes all diamonds, of which I have none. $15 bet to me and I deliberate and call. Flop is Ah and it's checked to me. I check and the river comes a 4th diamond. A $20 bet (into a $65 pot) is made and a think and call. Pocket 9's are flipped over with the diamond in there. Some might claim my mistake was calling on the flop, but I just couldn't put him on the made flush... gotta trust your reads. My mistake was not betting hard on the turn, with the A there along with the flush draw, it should have been enough to scare off my opponent, but I didn't take advantage because I was scared of the same things. The check SCREAMED weakness and I did nothing. The weak bet on the river also called out "I have a weak diamond!", and I could have re-raised hard there, especially with the 2 flushes I'd cashed in on earlier and possibly taken it. Hell, for that matter I could have re-raised on the flop if I really trusted my read. Nothing saying he wouldn't have been a calling station anyway, but at least my play would been right. Somehow though, in my sleep-deprived mind, I figured I'd wait for him to bluff at the missed 4-card flush and I'd take it down with my superior pair, knowing full well the 4th diamond would come. The call on the river was simply because I had to be sure.

In the end, I made back my live losses + a bit, and once again got insufficient sleep.

Always Room For One More

And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!

I signed up for Mansion Poker last night, despite the need for ID to withdraw funds. The way I see it, I've never withdrawn funds from any site (since, you know, I suck), and if by some miracle I made enough to make that worthwhile, then it would be a minor inconvenience.

I signed up for one purpose - play the $100k. 593 entrants (word might be spreading, but that's still a huge overlay) @ $100 each. I wasn't necessarily card dead, but it was a rare occurence that I'd get any action on decent pockets. I did manage to double-up at just the right time as the blinds started becoming significant, but then went dead again. Finally, with an M around 4 and KQo on the button with one limper in EP, I went all-in. Unfortunately, the BB called with AQo, and the limper folded HIS KQo. I didn't hit my 2-outer and went out in 195th place. I guess top 33rd percentile isn't TERRIBLE, but with the play as soft as it was, I should have done better. I'll call this a $100 fact-finding mission. If I find myself home in time tonight (unlikely), maybe I'll try applying some facts.

I did win a tier 1 though... of course, that's an accomplishment on par with successfully waking up in the morning.

12x

Not a bad night at all. It's late and this'll be quick. Only two games - a tier 3, in which I came 3rd for $124.50. Then The Mookie. Up until the final table, I played pretty solidly and made the final table in 1st overall. Then I started winning races and sucking out when needed and found myself deeper than I've been in this tourney. Almost lost it when my ladies lost to cowboys with two jacks on the flop... but scratched back to first. Then dropped again when my AJs ran into A7o - A on the flop, 7 on the river.

Tens were golden though and got me some blind to keep me afloat, and a pair of 6's that turned into a straight flush (which I completely missed!) and then this happened:


DQB!! Finally got heads-up with DonkeyPuncher (who got my chips with that A7o), and clawed up a bit (as in, he still had a 3-1 chip lead on me) before going all-in with The Hammer. Hey, I'd just folded the velvet hammer two hands before... how as I to know he'd have pocket 9's? Caught the 7 on the river, but it obviously didn't help and I go home in 2nd with $119 and change. Still, $19.80 spent, $234 earned... not bad.

This makes 1 Hoy Win, and 2nd in the Wheatie and Mookie (and a host of other cashes in all of them).. let's see if I can win each at least once this year.

Fearless Stupidity

Got into another Blogger 1/2 cash game last night. It was about midnight, I just planned on playing for half an hour and calling it quits. Put in my $100 and started playing.

Unlike Monday night, this time I played by the rules. I wasn't tired yet, and I didn't have 7 other things going on (only 2). I was mildly aggressive and it paid some dividends in small and medium wins. As 00:30 rolled around, I let it be known I was leaving soon (and I planned to stand up after that hand)... and found the ladies in front of me again. A raise got it down to me and Don again. Flop of 29J didn't scare me much, and I bet the pot to Don's check. He check-raised and I called. Turn wasn't scary and he put me all-in. I debated and called. It seemed to aggressive to be a set of Jacks, and I put him on overs or TPTK. Turns out he had the ducks and flopped his set, so I was out anyway.

If this was a tournament, I'd probably regret it more. While I'm not thrilled with being unable to get away from my overpair, and maybe should have turned up the volume on the voice that was warning me to be careful, I did get a bit more info on Don, which he will no doubt exploit in the future.

Later...

Some thoughts on Apple Inc.'s new toy. Okay, the iPhone is cool. No doubt about it. Let's do a quick run-down of features off the top of my head:

- One big honkin' touch screen
- Touch gesture interface is always nifty
- 2 MP camera
- 4 or 8GB iPod
- WiFi, Bluetooth, EDGE
- 3 sensors (proximity, ambient light, and accelerometer)
- POP3 and IMAP e-mail, AND now Yahoo! push
- OS X
- Full native web browsing
- Visual voicemail
- All them nifty widgets (stock watch, weather, calculator, notepad, calendar, etc.)
- Sleek add-ons
- Seemingly easy to use

And the downsides:

- 5 hours of battery life (16 if only used as an iPod)
- Tied to Cingular (this is apparently not a great thing. I'm in Canada, I don't know)
- GSM only
- Can't be used if NOT on the phone network (ie.- can't buy one and just use it as an iPod/camera/internet device)
- iPod and all the issues that go with it (iTunes DRM, non-functionality with other services, battery removal, etc.)
- Can't download wirelessly, has to be done with iTunes on a computer
- Can't be wirelessly synced with the computer, has to be docked
- Lots of new tech = lots of possibilities for problems
- Is a phone/camera/internet device/iPod - no option to be anything but all of these things
- $600 WITH the 2-year contract for the 8GB model (and really, why would you get the 4GB for $500?)

Frankly, the cons temper my enthusiasm tremendously. Much like Microsoft's Zune, there's a TON of potential that is being ignored, likely due to copyright concerns. But DRM and copyright law and how they're crippling innovation and usability is a rant for some other day.

Battery life - this is fully expected with a device that has as much on it as the iPhone. A video iPod only gets 6.5 hours, so 5 hours isn't terrible, but it's not great.

GSM/Cingular - This means that in Canada only Rogers/Fido (same company) will be able to carry the phone. Bell and Telus are both CDMA, and Virgin rides the Bell network. Assuming Cingular has at least a 1 or 2 year contract to be the exclusive carrier in the US, that means a CDMA version isn't likely.

Unable to use without a cell contract - Some people would likely pay $1000 for this toy without a contract, but that's not going to be possible. This means you're not only paying $600 for the phone, you're paying a monthly fee for 2 years for a voice plan, data plan, and whatever other costs come into play. Let's say you stick to the cheap, not planning to use it as anything other than an iPod... that's still at least $20-30 a month for 2 years, or $480-$720 on top of the cost of the device.

iPod issues - These have been discussed ad naseum out there, but DRM, battery issues, etc, still make the iPod unappetizing to me.

Multi-device lock-in - What if you already have a phone you like? Maybe you don't want to surf the web or check your mail from your iPod. Too bad, you're paying for features you won't use.

Missed opportunity - WiFi, EDGE, Bluetooth... and you CAN'T sync wirelessly with your computer? You're paying $60 a month for an unlimited data plan and you CAN'T download iTunes songs directly to the device?? For that matter, can you transfer the pictures from the camera to your computer without going through the phone network? How about other files? This ties back to the phone company lock-in -- so many features get crippled on phones by the carriers, why would this be different?

Cost - Let's face it. $600 is a lot of money for a phone. The iPhone doesn't quite match the Blackberry for actual business e-mail usage (lack of security, PIN messages, etc.), so the execs won't be switching en masse, and $600 WITH the contract is pricey for Joe average. This thing better be built like a brick for when it gets dropped.

Personally, I'll be waiting for the next generation to come out. I can't imagine Apple won't migrate this tech to an iPod-only platform in a year or two. I also have to believe that the price WILL drop once it gets widespread acceptance and the costs go down. Besides, in a year or so the rest of the MP3 player and cell market will have their own pathetic knock-off attempts coming out, 200 patents be damned.

Jobs is right though - this will revolutionize the industry. It's created a potential paradigm shift in cell phone design. Once it gets FCC approval, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, LG, etc, etc, will be pushing the carriers to allow THEIR design changes. If the things takes off, and doesn't adopt CDMA compatibility, then you'll see some shifts in the carriers as well. GSM over CDMA anyone?

I've never owned anything by Apple. I eyed the Mac mini as an addition to my TV setup, but now the Apple TV is out and looks to fill my needs. As is my wont though, I shall wait for the early adopters to find the bugs first.

Oh, and wait until the exclusive iTunes access to the The Beatles catalogue gets announced.

Regardless, cool device. Too much hype. I watched RIM stock go down 7% yesterday, and Apple Inc. go up just as much. I imagine this will correct itself shortly, once the reality of a June delivery date, single provider, $599 price point, and the large number of people in locked-in contracts sinks in.

Keynotes and A Thought

First, Apple iPhone - wow, more on this later. Now if only they can drop the phone, camera, and iPod (and all its DRM), it'd be a kickass music/video player and Internet device. Second, Apple TV - will be next to my TV if it supports non-iTunes video (looks like it does mpeg-4).

Next - Daniel Negreanu's latest blog post had some interesting high-level ideas towards the end. This quote struck me:

"In the meantime, spend some time thinking about all of this. Look in a mirror and ask yourself if you spend enough time experimenting with new things? Are YOU stuck thinking inside a box? Do you play poker thinking in terms of hard fast rules? If so, maybe it's time to think about improving your play in some more unconventional ways... for example, have you ever gone to the mall and just watched people interact? "

I think it's something a lot of the poker blogger world could think about. I see a lot of non-adaptive, immutable play out there. Reads I've put on some players months ago still hold true today. I'm sure I'm guilty of not changing as much as I should, and I know I've got holes in my game, but I generally try out new strategies on a regular basis. Some work, some don't, and some just don't have the numbers to back them up, but if I don't try them, then I'll never know how I feel about them.

5 years ago, it's probably safe to say that most poker players were casual, home-game types who played 5 card, 2 draw poker and had maybe dallied in some Texas Hold 'em but weren't sure how to play anything other than pocket pairs and would chase a flush until it killed them. They're the true donkeys today. Since then, there's been a proliferation of books, and I'd imagine Doyle Brunson's made more of the 2 System books in that time frame than all the years before. The problem with this is that it's created an swarm of players that take these books like their Bible. You can peg the Brunson followers, the Harringtonites, the Gordonologists... heck, there's probably even a few Hellmuthians. Kidpoker himself has books coming out, which will undoubtedly grow the number of Negreanists. This does, however, make it easier to play against those who are hung up on one system, since we all have access to these books.

In the end, you have to find the right mix of styles that suit you. There's an even an argument to be made for playing "terrible" poker to win... I mean, if you can scare out the Harringtonites with a raise, the Gordonologists when they're out of position, or the Hellmuthians if they don't have 1 of 10 hands... then why even look at your cards? Or use the theory that online sites are rigged and go all-in when you're short-stacked and have the worst hand. The fact that you're not following a "proper" system will freak out a large number of players. Of course, that's -EV in the long run :).

We Have Nothing to Fear...

1) Play smart, not scared
2) Don't play exhausted
3) Don't play drunk
4) Pay attention to your table
5) The chips in front of you have already been spent
6) Be aggressive
7) Keep 'em guessing
8) Don't size your bet based on your cards
9) Trust your instincts/reads
10) Play within your limit

Last night I broke rules 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Needless to say I could have fared better. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it's not a bad sampling of what I try to maintain when playing poker.

Found myself with nothing but chores to do last night, so in lieu of actual work, I sat down to play poker. Fired up a Tier 1 on Full Tilt (first time I'd played on the site in a month) while chatting with Joanne and Kat while they played their own token games. I fared better than they, pulling out a 3rd place finish.

While I was finishing up this game, I got a call and had a minor emergency to attend to. I hurried out the door, and made it back in time to late reg for The Hoy (mere seconds before Drazz got knocked out). The fates decided to toy with me however, and kicked out my wireless connection, causing me to miss around 5 minutes and come back with a not-insignificant chunk taken in blinds. I wasn't long for the game after that.

But that's okay, because the night was still young... or at least middle-aged. I joined the blogger 1/2 cash waiting list, fired up a level 2 token game on FT, and an 11+1 5 table Turbo SnG on Stars. I went out 21st in the SnG (sloppily) and was at the final table of the token when I finally got into the cash game.

This is when the rule-breaking started. It was late, I was tired, I had another game open, two chat windows, a friend's article to edit, and the TV on. These were not ideal conditions for giving the game my undivided attention. I made the first of two mistakes I regret near the beginning.

I find the Hilton Sisters in front of me in EP and raise 3x BB preflop. I get my set on the flop, but there's two clubs there. I bet out a less than 1/2 the pot ($6 into $14), and Don re-raises to $15. I've still got the slow token going on, and just finished at the turbo, so my head is in tourney mode, not cash game... I re-raise to $50 and Don thinks for a bit until folding. I show the queens and get a "thanks for saving me money." Any game other than a blogger game and I kick myself a lot harder. I still like the re-raise on my part, but it should have been for much less than 1.4x the current pot.

I finish 3rd in the tier 2, netting a $75 token, and now only have the one table open (and all the other distractions + a cat who's suddenly about to hack up a hairball on my carpet). More rules are set to be broken. I start limping with just about any face, suited cards, or 1 or 2-gapper. Why? Because I just want to play, it's a blogger table that's limping all over the place, and I'm distracted. I've been playing at too many weak cash games, and it's developing a nasty limping habit at them and a dangerously loose hand selection. What made this is worse is that I'd start raising with premium hands, becoming totally transparent.

Then I find the ladies again in LP. Preflop raise gets us down to Lucko and someone else. K-high flop and checks to me so I bet out 1/2 the pot. Lucko calls, player 2 folds. 7 on the turn, and my weak bet gets a big raise from Lucko. I stop and think and I'm sure he doesn't have the K, so I call. Another 7 on the river and Lucko goes all-in (I have him covered... barely). I think until my time almost runs out and reluctantly fold. Damnable tournament mentality. I'm relatively sure I had him beat there, but I played scared and feared losing my chips (which I should have already considered lost in a cash game). If I can't trust my reads, then I shouldn't bother playing beyond 0.01/0.02. His "whew" after the hand didn't help matters.

So, I played scared, was distracted, was tired, limped, protected my chips, was transparent, played my cards (not the table), and didn't trust my gut. Everything BEFORE the cash game was fine, and as long as I stuck to my game, I was good... and then I released my inner donkeyfish. That said, I eventually did leave down only $80 in the cash game, so at least I can still walk away.

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Doubt I'll make the Wheatie tonight, but I may swing by the 2nd chance. All those chores I avoided are eventually going to catch up with me.

Just noticed the Big Game is back on this Sunday... shame that I have other plans, especially with that token burning a hole in my account.

Take Me Out...

I'm a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays. I remember going to games with my dad when I was a kid at the old "Mistake by the Lake" Exhibition Stadium. I'd get cool things like a Blue Jays digital watch just for being under 14! I almost caught a George Bell foul ball when it ricocheted off a pole and flew backwards into the most impossible place in the stadium to hit a ball... and the fat woman next to me who had JUST sat down in the 6th inning caught it instead of me. I remember not knowing who any of the players were and not even being quite sure how the whole thing worked. Why didn't we get to stay for the whole 9th inning just because the home team was already winning? I lost interest during the baseball strike (and was angry that the Expos were robbed of their playoff glory), but in the past few years my interest has returned. There's a lot to like in this team.

I think my favourite Jay of all time was Tony Fernandez. It didn't take long for me to like the guy... he was amazing on the field, and seemed to ALWAYS get a hit. Sure, Fred McGriff or George Bell could hit them further, but Tony was almost a sure thing to be on base. How many guys hit 17 triples in one season? I was sad when he got traded along with McGriff for two guys named Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar, and I was thrilled when he came back in '93 (Alomar and Fernandez up the middle.... wow). He was nuts to leave after that season, and the two more times he came back made me smile.

Strangely enough, for all the great double-plays, all the clutch hits, the '93 playoffs... my best memory is at the end. September 4th, 2001 vs the Yankees at the Skydome. Day after Labour day, and I'm in the 200 club seats behind home plate with my brother. Jays are up 8 or 9 to naught in the 7th inning. Tony's on his retirement tour, and gets subbed in DH for Shannon Stewart. The tiny crowd (couldn't have been more than 20,000 in a stadium that seats 55,000) starts cheering as Tony's name is called, with the bases loaded and 1 out. I yell "HIT IT OUT ONE MORE TIME TONY!" He hadn't hit anything out of the park in the time he's been there this season as a pinch hitter, and he's never been a home-run hitter. Next pitch... swing.. crack.. and THERE. SHE. GOES!! GRAND SLAM TONY FERNANDEZ! The crowd goes absolutely NUTS!! If you closed your eyes you'd swear there were 60,000 people and the Jays just won their 3rd World Series in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out and 2 strikes. A more meaningless and meaningful grand slam could not have been hit. The Jays went on to win 14-0, but all that mattered was that Tony got yet another moment of glory.

17 years, 2158 games, 7911 at-bats, 2276 hits, 1057 runs, 414 doubles, 92 triples, 94 home runs, 3 grand slams, 844 RBIs, 690 walks, 784 strike-outs, .288 career average, .347 on base percentage, .399 slugging percentage... and he's on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year. Cal Ripken Jr. and Mark McGwire are also there, and Alan Trammell is trying for the 6th time. Tony doesn't need the Hall of Fame, but I sure as hell would like to see him there.

Hrm

Just got back from a busy night - picked up a friend at the airport, followed by my dad's birthday dinner (which I talked the family into doing downtown, so it would be easier for me), and then met up with an old high school friend and others for drinks. Coincidentally enough one of the "others" was an even OLDER friend from grade school who I hadn't seen in probably 16 years. Quite the reunion.

Anyway, being mostly sober and having a cat who spent all day alone, I'm staying up for a bit. Time for a non-gambling post.

The interesting thing about this high school friend is our generally different political views. He's much more left-leaning than I am. This means that most of his friends follow suit. I generally don't have a problem with this, as I'm socially left, but economically right, and political arguments seldom spring up due to pure economic beliefs. Regardless... one topic that did come up was essentially this: Do banks have the right to screw with their customers?

Phrased that way, the obvious answer would be "no." However, this discussion started when I said that banks weren't making people bankrupt. This was answered by one of the people at the table (old grade school friend actually) with a "WHAAAAT??" I clarified - banks weren't bankrupting people with user fees and such, and people that were suddenly unable to pay for their exorbitant mortgage had to shoulder SOME of the responsibility for their situation. This lead to a one hour argument over it.

I won't get into all the details of the debate (and I believe we all parted on friendly terms), but my high school friend and his girlfriend ended up siding with me as they heard my argument, but the other two people at the table steadfastly refused to abandon their side. It boiled down (in my mind) to me saying that people had to take personal responsibility for their actions and them saying that banks were greedy and shouldn't be allowed to offer mortgages that people can't afford if the situation changes.

It literally got to the point of me being asked "What if someone can't grasp the concept of a zero-down mortgage with a 6-month variable rate?" And me responding "Then they shouldn't be buying a house!" This got gasps from my opposition and cries of "Or be allowed to live? or work?!" To which I attempted to clarify that if ANYONE is borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars with NO savings of their own and they lack the ability to either (a) RESEARCH or (b) ASK FOR HELP, then they are in no position to make a decision this big. It wasn't like I was denying them the right to breathe. I know full well that in their mind they had two Downs-syndrome people buying a house and me standing there saying "You're too stupid to do this!" Where I was really saying "Ask someone for help first." They were still appalled.

Although aggravating, it was refreshing... it's been awhile since I've had a good, solid debate with anyone. I know I felt rusty, and on my walk home came up with many superior arguments I COULD have made... they're stored for round 2, should it ever happen. They definitely wanted to continue, but I should have been in bed 2 hours ago.

Clawing Back

Let's hear it for SnG's and The Wheatie! I've been mildly addicted to $11+1 Turbo SnG's on Stars of late. $12, 45 players, top 7 paid, and it takes about an hour. 2nd place brought me back from the brink of reloading, and affords me the chance to play some more of 'em.

As for the weekly WWdN - good field this week. I'm not sure what the final tally was, but it was at 68 a few minutes into the tournament. So let's say 70. Top 9 paid, with first getting around $207. Lots of new faces due to Wil advertising in his Team Pokerstars anniversary tournament thingy. To be honest, I was getting a bit worried about the Tuesday game of late -- smaller fields, and lots of the big names disappearing (yet still showing up in The Hoy or The Mookie) -- but this week had some familiar faces again.

First hand of the tourney I get dealt Hilton Sisters in the blinds. 23skidoo raises, Gracie (peacecorn) and another player call, and I re-raise. Calls all around except for Gracie who folds. Flop comes Q9x, making me very happy. I bet about 1/2 the pot, and Ski calls, the third straggler folds. Turn is crap and I again bet 1/2 the pot which Ski raises. I re-raise all-in, and Mr. Doo goes into the tank with 400-and-some chips left. He finally folds and I show my ladies. Before this, Gracie says "I had the best hand." My response while showing is, "you sure?" She folded pocket 9's (GOOD fold pre-flop, I'm impressed), and was happy to have done it. 23skidoo had Tens or some such I believe. I figured this was a sign of things to come.

Won some small pots for a bit, then got to take someone else's money when I flopped a straight after checking from the BB with a 1-gapper. After this I got moved to the TV table and kept my game going. A few hands come to mind. I had K-rag but got in cheap to see two Kings hit the flop, we checked to the turn, and my opponent put out a good-sized "represent the K" bet, which I re-raised all-in for not much more. He dutifully folded. Another hand I had K-rag suited and got in cheap to see a flush draw on the flop, and a K on the turn. Another steal attempt by a player led to me once AGAIN re-raising all-in for not much more to see him fold after much thought. Then I got the ladies again against Wil, with my set once again hitting on the flop. I pushed all-in (was getting short-stacked at the time), and Wil figured I was desperate so he called and I enjoyed his chips immensly. Finally, there was the KQo (which I saw A LOT to little avail) that flopped two pair against Iggy's Q-rag... he was all-in and I knocked the blogfather out.

In the end, at the final table with 8 left, in the SB, I had Ingoal in the BB. We were trading the short-stack back-and-forth at this point and it folded to me with A4o. I push all-in and he is forced to call since he has THE HAMMER!. I utter one word... "damn." Sure enough, turn and river are both 7's and IGH in 8th. There's no shame in losing to the strongest hand in the game though. $35 and change for a 200% ROI ain't so bad, even if it does only work out to a bit more than minimum wage. RogueTV - sorry I couldn't take it all down for Canada.

One other thing I noticed - the observer chat was far more civil this time around. No hurled insults, no attacks on Wil's acting. Some good-natured ribbing about sequel possibilities (which would all involve zombies), and Wil doing his very best ambassador job. Glad to see the Internet Fuckwad Theory wasn't in effect.

Take it Easy

Hope the Holidays are going well for everyone. I'm one of those poor schlubs who is actually at work between Christmas and New Year's, mostly because work is dead during the time, so I leave the vacations to those with kids and such.

So I'm a tool. I tossed in a few hundred bucks at Pokerstars to take advantage of their deposit bonus - not the full $600, but more than I usually drop in at one time. I lost most of it in 3 days. Granted, since I started tracking my Stars deposits, I haven't even dropped a paycheque's worth of funds in there, but it still stings to lose quickly.

What really bothers me isn't so much that I lost the cash, but that it happened stupidly. I was actually up after a couple SnG cashes and a successful ring game, and was feeling good. So on Christmas day, after the family had left and I was full with turkey and wine, I jumped into another $1/2 NLHE cash game (remember kids, wine+poker = lose money). I lost most of my post on this:

Cowboys pre-flop, LP. Raise to 3x the BB ($6) one seat before me, and I re-raise to 9x ($18), he calls quickly. Flop comes 7T9 rainbow, he checks, I put out the pot-sized bet. He says "ding!" He re-raises and I think for a second and decide it's worth it for one more card. King on the turn and I have trips. Figuring he's either on a flush draw or overs, I check.. he re-raises me all-in and says "AK no good." I ask, "how about 2 Kings?" and call. He says, "nope" and shows the freaking J8h!! Nothing comes on the river and I'm looking at my chips next to me.

Now I'm on tilt. I don't go on heavy tilt, but this hand did it. Obviously I understand his play POST flop, but who the hell calls a re-raise pre-flop that's twice what your raise was when you have J8-suited? You like the 2:1 pot odds on a suited 2-gapper? Guess I should have believed the commentary after the flop. Stupid cowboys.

Anyway, I sat for a few minutes and the bought back in... and over the course of an hour or so, donked off another max-post. I was exhausted and playing simply out of stupidity and tilt. The next day I played a couple $11 Turbo SnG's out of boredom (after the WWdN 2nd chance), and realized I was STILL tilting. Didn't play the next couple days, and probably won't play tonight... I still need to calm down. Perhaps alcohol will help... it is the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems, right?

Remind You of Anyone?

I saw this and couldn't help but think that it represents the vast majority of online poker players. Image is from the great Creatures In My Head

What's That Behind Me?

Why, it's the bubble! Played the WWdN last night... 40 players I believe. Played my game, but experimented a bit with some things, and played much looser in the early levels. Kept running into one player early on who played her hands VERY passively. She appeared to have little faith in her weak aces or mid-pairs, but happily called down. This just meant that I only kept betting into her when I had a strong hand, as did the rest of the table until she got knocked down a fair bit and got moved.

Anyway, managed to survive being the short-stack a few times. I hung on to the final table, and played short-stack poker from there on until I was back up to a decent level. In the end, with 5 left (in the money!), and an M around 5, my pocket 4's ran into WigginX's AT which caught an A on the flop. Still, nice to cash after bubbling in the Hoy last night. A shame that I lost to the guy who came in second though :). Congrats to Pisco Bandito for the win. Although it chafes a bit that my TWO pocket Ace's (with one hand in between) got zero callers, and he becomes the chip leader on his :).

After more Christmas shopping and the catching up on the backlog of chores at home, I MIGHT play in the Mookie tonight. 2 decent nights of poker... would like to make it 3

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I'm getting a touch annoyed with Google pushing the New Blogger on me. I don't want a Google account. Leave. Me. Alone.

Hoy Boy

Damn I'm punny! Anyway, I played in The Hoy last night... after heading out for a "drink or two" with a couple coworkers. 4 (5?) Vodka+Sodas later I'm heading home, with time to spare before the cards start flying. Now I was good and tipsy... beyond buzzed, but not yet a full-fledged drunk. Still, playing poker in the state is not recommended. Generally. To compound the difficulty, I decided to open up a $3 Rebuy to the Saturday PCA tourney (I thought that was wrapped up? Who knows what I was playing). I love rebuys and haven't played in one since the WSOP qualifiers.

So, time for some MATH (ha! I kill me)... 4 (5?) drinks + Das Hoy + Rebuy madness = WTF was I thinking? I have a hard enough time multi-tabling, let alone between a solid blogger tourney and the fish pond that is a $3 rebuy.

Final results? I finished something like 78/1014 in the rebuy, and 4th (stupid bubble) in The Hoy. I think I played alright... generally stuck to my game, got away when I needed to, and upped the aggression when necessary. In the end, short-stacked, I moved all-in with AT, and was called by 64 or somesuch... with a flop that came 537, giving my esteemed opponent a straight and me nothing. It was that kind of game though, especially on the bubble - suckouts and unbelieveable boards for everyone.

But I wonder how I would have done sober (which I pretty much was by the end)... I think I maybe was extra cautious with my middling hands, just like the teenager who comes home and tries his best to act sober by being extra deliberate in all his motions.

Regardless, tonight will be a night of sobriety... and perhaps a visit to the WWdN, if I get my shit done in time.

Fallsing

Sometime I'll get that Banff report up. Have I mentioned my tendency to procrastinate? Anyway, spent a good chunk of yesterday at Niagara Fallsview. It was a buddy's birthday, and he had a poker hankering. He didn't win.

I've never played poker at the Fallsview before. I think they've expanded their poker room since the last time I was there though. 1/2 NLHE, $100 max buy-in (does this not seem small?). I repeated my performance with Joanne in Calgary - ie.- I was card dead at a loose table. Up until the last 30 min I played, my best hands had been pocket deuces twice, pocket 8's once (the only hand I was able to take at that point - woohoo $5!), and a couple AJ (one off, one suited). The last 30 min went better card-wise, with pocket J's, flopped straights, pocket 10's that ended up being useless when the board became a straight... but we were down to 4-handed at that point, and I split 2 pots. It was enough that I walked away down only $90 instead of $160. It's a shame really, because I was able to read every player at the table but couldn't do anything about it.

From there it was slots, slots, and s'more slots. Not my night for slots. The other slot players were out and had staked out the machines I wanted. More slot reserving going on, I really need to see if that's legit. I did have fun with the Double Diamond burger slot though, getting to the side game plenty, to win $55 on a quarter machine. But I stuck those winnings right back into the casino.

And of course... craps. I FINALLY had a winning craps session again, and to top it off, *I* was the reason for it. I had a solid roll going for awhile once the table moved up to $15... winning around $300 or so. I gave some of that back before leaving though. All-in-all, I ended up down on the night, but had a blast nonetheless.

Yup, fairly small amounts, but I'm hardly trying to make a living off of gambling.

One for the ladies

Faster, pussycat! Blog! Blog!

You know you want it.

Ice and Fire

Just got in from my extended-weekend trip to Banff. I'll post some of the hundreds of pictures I took of mountains and scenic vistas later. Right now, I'm exhausted, so here comes a short recap. More details later.

The point was to ski. This goal was achieved in spades. The west-coast cold snap ended literally on the day we arrived. We made it to our 2 floor + loft cabin in Banff around midnight and got some sleep. We hit Sunshine Village on day 1 and loved the conditions. Coming from the eastern Canada, anything that isn't icy is fantastic. Lake Louise on day 2 was just breathtaking in the beauty and the runs, but the snow was MUCH icier and harder to ski. Plus, the World Cup was going on, which meant the place was PACKED. Back to Sunshine on day 3, and it was a great, easy finish to the skiing. Much soreness and tiredness... all good.

Since Joanne mentioned it on her blog, I'll go through it here - I (and 3 friends) met up with her at a casino in Calgary to gamble a WEE bit. As she said, I was card dead the whole time, and the table was loose. I couldn't steal, and I couldn't play with the crap I had in front of me. The guy with $1200 (when we sat down.. when we left it was more like $2000, and this was a max $200 stake table) would call anything, and raise if he had a hand. My AKs looked a lot less pretty when faced with a raise that would cripple me on my 3rd hand. Those were the best pockets I had all night (ok, not STATISTICALLY speaking, I did have a few low pocket pairs on occasion). It took a while, but I ended up down $200. From poker we moved to the casino, where my 2 of my friends wanted to watch me play craps... so I indulged them and lost $100 in 10 minutes, teaching them a valuable lesson about probability.

So with poker and craps failing me, I had but one option - SLOTS! I mentioned in my Vegas post how I won around $2700 from two slot machines in Vegas (Blazing 7's in TI for all you bloggers venturing there this week), thereby paying for my trip. Wandering around the casino, I saw a dearth of slots that interested me. Nothing with fun side games, LOTS of video and mutli-line slots (which I despise), and very few $1 slots. I tried a few that looked okay, and lost $20 after $20 after $20. Then I saw them - two Blazing 7 machines (by a different name here) - high-percentage progessives. The problem was - they were occupied. No worries, people will leave. Soon enough, one of the women was gone. I strolled over and saw that a winnings-cup was upside-down over the coin slot. I reached for the machine when the woman on the other one said "Someone is playing that one." I walked away, thinking, "since when can you reserve a slot machine? If you need a smoke that badly, then you lose your spot." Then, when that woman returned, the other woman did the same thing. I was mightily annoyed.

Near those machines though, were the Monte Carlo Spin-and-Win machines. $1, with a side-game, and good-sized progressives ($15,000 - $120,000). The highest progressive one had a player, so I popped in some cash on one of the others... and lost. I tried a different one.. and lost. At this point was down $100 - $120 on slots now. That would make it $420 down on the night. I wandered some more and glared at the harpies at the machines I wanted. Then I noticed the $120,000 progressive was unattended, so I plunked down in front and put in the last $20 I was willing to spend that night. Joanne and my 3 buddies gathered 'round as they were getting ready to leave as well. They'd heard of my legendary slot abilities, and wanted to see them in action. I had little faith as the night had not been going well. All I really wanted was one shot at the side game (which involved a ball spinning around a Wheel-of-Fortune-like dial and landing on a payout from $10 - $1000).

This is a diverse machine, with your standard range of winnings for BAR combinations ($2+), then better winnings for 7 combinations ($25-$1000), and finally a bunch of novelty wins for 3-credit plays ($100, side-game spins, and the progressive). I played down my $20, getting $2 here, $8 here, and generally going down. My friends watched as I came close to 0 and a down night... then I hit a triple-7 combination. This paid $50 for 3 normal 7's being on the pay line or one notch off. Nothing big, but it kept me alive. I kept playing. Then I hit the PAY100 symbol to jump to $100, bringing me to $101. Finally I was hitting. I spun and got nothing... a I spun again... and in standard slow-mo action -- 1 blazing 7. 2 blazing 7's....... THREE blazing 7's! All on the payline. Whistles blow, bells ring, loud annoying music plays, and lights go off. Strangers all gather 'round, to stare in wild wonder at the joy I have found. A pit boss comes over and asks me to push the red button to shut the damn music off. Joanne and the rest congratulate me, a couple of them with jaws dropped. One says, "Ok, I'm a believer now."

No, triple blazing 7's does not win the progressive. It wins $1,000. But it's $1,000 hand-paid by casino staff, and it involves lots of noise. It also happens to be just a touch less than the progressives on the blazing 7 machines were paying, so I got that big chunk of schaedenfreude on the fine women hogging the other machines. I played out my remaining 95 credits, which resulted in me FINALLY getting to play the damned side game and winning $50 on that, which I spun away. All told, I left up around $560-$580 on the night - once again thanks to slots and blazing 7's.

For those who haven't met Joanne, she's a sweetheart. Vibrant, friendly, open, and a great person. This is away from the poker table of course. She reminds me of Kat in many ways, even though they are distinct individuals... it's no wonder they get along so well. I'm glad I got to meet her in person.

On a final note (THIS is my idea of "short"?? Wait until the full trip report.) - It looks like my Vegas quandry is being resolved by circumstances beyond my control. I'd say there's a 99% chance I won't be going (never say never). There's been an unfortunate event that wipes out this week (and possibly beyond) from being anything but family-oriented. I'll be fine, but right now is a sad time, and going away to have fun this weekend would make me feel like dirt. Heck, part of me feels bad for being away this last weekend, and I had that planned months in advance.