On Boredom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you at The Mookie.

FTW!

Today's episode is brought to you by the number 2. As in the number of times I've won The Hoy. It's also the number of blogger tournaments that I've won this year. With a MATH and Mookie down, it's like hitting a double and home run on the way to the cycle. I still need a Big Game win (triple) and a Wheaton (single, but with a knuckleballing fonkey on the mound).

Today's episode is also brought to you by the letter S, as in suckouts. I had my share of them last night. I turned a straight against TPTK early after calling a short all-in flop raise, and that seemed to set the tone. With around 14k in chips, I had at least a BB in with KJo (can't remember if I was the BB, limped, or bet) and IslandBum1 raised all-in with his short stack (< 1000 chips) with AKo. J on the flop, K on the river. I took some flack for this one, mostly from Don, but I'd make that call any day -- it cost me almost nothing relative to my stack, rank, or image with cards that were live against anything but a big pair, AK, or AJ, and I had no doubt that Island was pushing with any ace or paint with the blinds about to swallow him. I was partially right.

But my biggest suckout of the night came with 4 left. I raised pre-flop with some crap like K8d, and BuddyDank went all-in. I had him covered by only a few hundred chips but was tired, getting short and felt that he was maybe trying to re-steal, so I called just for the hell of it. AdQc (or similar) gets flipped over and the flop brings KKx and I'm suddenly much more alive, and Buddy goes home. Bad, terrible, horrible poker I know, but sometimes you get lucky. My apologies.

I lost some races (Presto beat by The Hoy, Ax losing to KJo for some poetic justice, etc.), but they were all minor in comparison to my wins.

That said, I think I played a solid game overall. 2 of those 3 hands were mistakes, one of which willingly put my tournament life on the line, and I got a little weak in the middle-game, but otherwise I stuck to my game and played well. Getting cards at the right time didn't hurt either.

My toughest hand was against BuddyDank earlier, with maybe 6 or 7 left. I was getting short with A6o in the SB. I raised and Buddy (with the chiplead in the BB) called. Flop comes junk and I bet out at it for most of my chips (about 1/2 the pot). The inevitable reverse Hoy raise comes and I need to make a call... I had to put him on a face with a kicker and went all-in. He flipped over far worse than I had and mine held up, giving me some much-needed breathing room. Poor stack management from me here, as I didn't realize I was committing myself until I put out the bet.

Fun times though. Early on I found my first Hammer of the game and raised it, only to get re-raised with a push. I folded and found the hammer AGAIN the next hand. Since I'd just griped about folding the previous one, it made playing this new one very easy.

As everyone knows, AJo is GOLD in the MATH. I had at least 7 of of them, and 2 suited (which are useless). My two favourites were both at the final table. One took some good cash with an A on the flop, and was followed up with THE HAMMER immediately after. Lightning and Thunder, Shake 'n Bake, Scylla and Charybdis, the unstoppable force and immoveable object, the overdramatizing and redundancy. My other favourite was of course the one in the screenshots that won the whole thing. It seems only fitting that The Hoy took down The Hoy.

For those who don't like KJ, I saw it 5 times, and it won 3 of those times, and was folded the remaining two. I also saw it win at least twice more from others. Poker is just like blackjack, right?

And for those keeping track at home - no bullets at all. Not once did I see pocket aces.

I don't remember much once we were down to 3. I know I gave a bunch of chips to Wippy1313 when I chased a draw to the turn and he made a great bet to get me off of it. I know Bayne_s had a solid chiplead at one point and I took a good chunk of it from him in a hand he was chasing and then knocked him out with some low pocket pair that held up. Heads-up was fun with the chiplead, I knew it was just a matter of time.

Thanks to InstantTragedy for the support from the rail last night. Too bad he's not a hot woman - a cheerleader's outfit would have suited him otherwise. It's always great to have some support to keep you focused and awake.

Great game to Wippy1313 too. I'll be honest, when I was next to him early in the tournament I didn't think he stood a chance to go deep with the way he was playing. Congrats on the cash.

All-in-all, worth the exhaustion this morning. The money's nice (although I wish it was on Stars, since I can't deposit there), but the pride and leaderboard rankings are better :).

I think I may actually make The Wheatie tonight for the first time in a month. Mookie, Riverchasers and a Big Game this week as well. I'll likely miss at least one of those, although I'm debating on bringing a laptop to the Victoria Day BBQ I'm going to on Sunday. Beer, BBQ, fireworks and poker... think I stand a chance?

WTF?

As usual, commentary will have to wait until I'm awake and bored at work.


We'll start here... it took a bit of doing.


Hammer rank again!


Down to 3


As soon as I saw it, I knew it had to be the one to end it.


I had to rub my eyes.


Yup, not dreaming.

Oh Desi...

Asif Mandvi rocks. That's all I'm saying.

"But Asif, DC didn't have up to 50 bodies a day littering the streets!"

"Of course not Jon, this isn't Baltimore."

For the Ladies

Ain't these sweet? Check out the collection link before judging.

Hide 'n Seek Anyone?

Ok, I've been thrice-tagged - by Fuel, Kat, and Instant Tragedy. Here are 7 random things you don't know about me... that I'm actually willing to put out there. I fucking hate tag.

1.- I own a '99 Pontiac Grand Prix that I actually really like, but I leave it a 45 min commute away at my folks. My best friend's newer, more expensive car is parked in my spot downtown, because I'm nice that way. Also, I get to drive it. One day I'll break down and buy something new, but it will be small and make sense for downtown life, despite at least one friend trying to convince me to get a Porsche. Maybe a Smart Roadster if they ever make it to these shores.

2.- I took Judo for a couple years when I was 12, but like all things, I got bored and stopped.

3.- I was once a certified lifeguard and swim instructor, but like #2, I never did anything with it.

4.- I have, at one time or another, played piano, guitar, saxophone, and sang. I have owned a guitar (given to my brother who gets much more use from it), own a grand piano that is ALSO at my folks place (my condo lacks the space necessary), and will one day buy a sax I will likely never play.

5.- My mother had the opportunity to trade my youngest brother for two Chinese girls outside the gates of the Forbidden City in Beijing around 12 years ago. She turned the nice lady's offer down, but offered me instead. We remind my brother to this day that he could have been traded in.

6.- I used to be able to solve a Rubik's Cube in under 2 minutes... now I'm at about 3 min. As an aside, I own multiple cubes, a revenge, a professor's cube, a darth maul cube, a cube keychain, a mini-cube, missing ling, 5-link missing link rip-off, square 1, rubik's magic, and a variety of other rubik's-like puzzles. They're kind of dusty.

7.- Tragedy is right about me needing to get out more. I'm about this close > < to going crazy.

Who to tag next? Maybe I'll take the Time Magazine cop-out route and tag YOU!. Or I'll just follow Kat's lead and tag Guin and Joanne.

A Story...

It was February 09, F9 for short, 11:02 am. I was sitting in seat 9D of the route 74 bus on the way to E3, hoping to see the new HD-DVD players. I had the 5B's (Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Bizet and Berlioz) on my Sony D8 DAT player. 41 minutes into the 56 minute trip I realized I'd left my standby ticket for my flight at home. I was a bit worried, because I'm a C5 priority and even though there were 63 open seats, if I needed my ticket I was screwed. I'd timed it all too well. 56 minutes on the bus would get me there with 88 minutes to spare, but I had no time to go back. I guess it could be worse, I could be flying Centralwings (IATA code - C0, for those who are curious)... a low-cost subsidiary of LOT? Colour me scared.

Bullets

56/75 in The Mookie. I am less than pleased with myself. All my fault, played like a weak-tight fish.

This was followed by me totally donking it up in a $16 Turbo DS on Stars after taking a good lead at my table.

Then I became a card rack in 1/2 shorthanded LHE at Full Contact, to the point where everyone else just left the table. Winning 7+ consecutive hands at showdown is fun.

Then I lost most of those winnings at 0.25/0.50 NL. I hate anything less than 100NL, it's too easy to just say "meh". I'm sure the same can be said about the limits I play at by anybody who regularly plays 5/10 or 25/50.

Maybe no poker tonight. Ha! Who am I kidding?

My best friend is in Vegas for the next few days. I gave her some slots money to waste for me. Maybe that will turn out better than my own gambling efforts of late.

Speaking of Vegas, I still haven't booked anything for June. Maybe I should do that, what with being 1/3 of the way through May. Although a buddy of mine called up the other day to see if I wanted to go for a week with him some time. I highly doubt I could take a week of Vegas though. I love that town, but only in short bursts, even if he does want to do the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon - two things I haven't bothered to see yet. The rumour is that there's actually stuff outside the city, but how can you see it without neon?

ME + AHEAD x MATH = ARGH!

It appears I missed not three, but FOUR BBT tournaments last week. I knew about the 3 during the week, but didn't find out about the HORSE tourney on Sunday until Monday. Alas.

Regardless, this week I did make The MATH, and the points. I had a good-size chip lead after knocking out Alceste when my Aces met K-something. I knocked around my new table for a bit (including back-to-back hammers taking the hammerless flop) until InstantTragedy's cold meds got him cranky and Don decided I was just stealing after the break. Problem was I had 5 straight hands with either double-paint or A-decent kicker and no action before me (except once when I had AQo). Am I supposed to NOT play in that situation? Then I went card dead until I found The Hiltons in the BB. Don goes all-in, IT calls and I re-raise IT all-in (I had him covered about 3.5 : 1), he calls. Don with A5d, IT with AKo. So I'm just over 50% to win. K on the flop, flush for Don on the river and I get nada while IT gets the side and Don the main.

That hurt a bit, but was still less than half my stack. I didn't see much in the way of cards for an orbit or two, and suddenly the blinds and antes have me with an M less than 2. Shit. That was until I woke up to pocket rockets for the second time that night. Jecii goes all-in before me, I re-raise all-in and IT calls that. Jecii shows sixes, and IT has cowboys. K on the turn ends my night quite handily in 20th out of 54.

So it's obvious I have nobody to blame but Tragedy for my loss. Crazy doped-up patient-zero deejay :). I kid, I should have remembered that The Hoy is the home of the suckouts. Points are still nice to come back to.

No Wheatie for the 4th consecutive week for me as I was at the opening show of Evil Dead: The Musical (3rd round in it's home city of Toronto, first since its New York run, and my 5th time seeing it). I saw a preview show on Saturday and was given free tickets to last night's, and passes to the after party. Sweet. Severe lack of blood splatter on me though, so that was incredibly disappointing. I got good soaked on Saturday. If anybody out there likes cult horror films that have been turned into comedic musical theatre, or just likes to laugh, I strongly suggest swinging by the Diesel Playhouse during the show's run in Toronto.

La Mookie est ce soir. I have an early ouster to revenge.

Transparencies

It was past the witching hour when I walked in. Fallsview and Rama have nothing on River Rock when it comes to poker room size. There were plenty of seats open, and I grabbed one just before they broke one of the other tables. This was my first mistake.

Sitting UTG with a hand in play, I sized-up my opponents. The SB, in his early twenties, had arranged his chips in an interleaved pattern, each pseudo-circular tier containing 5 chips, with a pillar of 15-20 chips on top. This told me he was weak-tight, but willing to see a flop with a pretty wide range of starting cards. Obviously, he had caught a hand or two this night. I think he believed his last name was Negreanu, but instead of being able to read opponents, he simply folded to scare cards.

BB was easy to read after just one hand. He was throwing chips at the pot in an effort to scare away the table with inferior hands. Somehow he believed that the pathetic way he was putting chips on the felt would scare off the more seasoned players around him. TP was gold against this donk.

Next was me. I know how I play.

To my left sat a good stack of chips with no player. Their owner would soon return and reveal himself to be a loose-aggressive player who liked to talk. The LAG aspect was obvious as soon he opened his mouth and straddled my BB.

Next was an empty seat, soon filled by a mid-twenties Esfandiari look-alike. One hand was enough to put "ABC" across his chest. Raise pre-flop and bet at the small board? Jacks.

Next to the less-than-magical Antonio was the biggest stack at the table. Originally orphaned, the man behind 4x the max buy-ins returned with the player to my left. They could have been carbon-copies of each other when it came to play. He'd just had a slightly better night than his friend.

Next came the rock, the dealer, and the hard place. The two players on either side of the man with the cards were quiet, folding regularly, and screamed "dangerous". If they spoke and had cards in front of them, I knew I'd be folding.

Then came my favourite, who I shall dub Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel. Not that he looked like a Cletus, but his lower jaw must have weighed a good 30lbs, since he seemed incapable of pulling it up. A baseball cap and gaze that said "Where did I put those brain cells?" painted him as the grouper at this table. He was the typical case of someone who believed aggression made up for a lack of skill. Much like the BB though, he carried none of the conviction required to make believers out of anyone. The fact that his eyes weren't bloodshot and there were no Cheetos to be found actually surprised me.

Finally, on the button was a mirror. Here sat a guy who I pegged immediately as mimicking my style. As the game progressed, I realized he had a wider starting range than I, but otherwise was a known entity. In fact, as I watched the play, my starting range came more in-line with his.

This gave me a lay of the land. 2 LAGs, 2 rocks, 1 ABC player, 2 donkeys, 1 weak-tight superstar, me, and my mirror. Great. 5 players I could take down, 2 I wanted to avoid, and 2 who had the chips and aggression to push me out of the way. I'd have to catch cards and pick my spots, which wouldn't be easy with the LAGs to my left.

The two donkeys busted before I could take their money, but were fortunately replaced by their doppelgangers. One brought his mildly attractive girlfriend, who was more of a distraction to him than the rest of us. The other brought a friend who seemed to be little more than a paperweight.

I was dealt my first hand. It set the trend for the next two hours -- garbage. Now this is a table one can excel at if they catch some cards. In fact, with a table like this, I'd love mediocre and drawing starting hands that can catch on the flop or turn. With at least 2-3 callers pre-flop virtually guaranteed, premium hands aren't worth nearly as much as at a tighter table. By the end of the first hour, I wouldn't have cried about seeing aces or kings in front of me.

My best starting hand was... pocket threes. This was my final hand as well, as I was short-stacked and ran into fishhooks in the hands of one of the LAGs. The only other hand I held that netted me anything? An ATo (the 3rd of the night, and my SECOND best hand after the 3s) that split with an AJ on a board of A73Q3. In fact, only a Q8o that I threw away pre-flop caught anything of significance when the flop came TJ9. Even then, if I was still in the hand I would have tripled up to only 75% of my starting stack.

So, no solid starting hands, no catches on the drawing hands, and aggressiveness constantly in position on me led to my walking away 2 hours later a couple hundred lighter. I don't think my play was terrible, although I was undoubtedly coming off as weak-tight. What upsets me is that I was at a table I should have made a mint off of and couldn't get anything going. There was no respect for table image, no fold equity, and limited skill sitting there and I couldn't catch to save my life. It was a table made not for aggression and bluffs, but for playing your big hands like big hands and getting paid off. It was made for trapping the guys who thought they knew how to play and teaching them a lesson. Unfortunately, this required a bit of luck that had long since abandoned me.

Yes, I said luck. The Q8o was the ONLY hand I regretted folding all night. Someone would catch middle pair and fire repeatedly at the board, which is fine, except that the caller would inevitably have the nuts, or the 2nd or 3rd. The chipstacks would call down and catch the one card they needed. Since I wasn't hitting anything anyway, this would have been disasterous. Maybe 1 in 5 hands didn't see a showdown, and those were between the LAGs and the Rocks, usually because the LAG would throw a (significant) pot-sized bet at the turn or river. I'd spent the first hour building a tight image, and my raises would get no respect, my re-raises got only marginally more. It wasn't worth the bluff.

But I've determined The River Rock hates me. I was there twice this trip, once meeting up with Fuel and Schaubs and the next day when I missed a flight and stayed overnight. The slots were against me (speaking of which, the slots selection there is pathetic), the craps tables were ice cold, and the poker dealers obviously felt the need to beat me into the ground. I don't know what I did to them... was it because I said he salmon was overdone and dry? Because it was, which is a crime against humanity in BC.

It really gets me looking towards Vegas even more strongly. They've got it figured out there. Let us schlubs feel like we're winning, even as we're giving it all back to your restaurants and bars. At the very least, we feel like there is value in the entertainment our denarii bought.

The Last of a Generation

I have been blessed. I am the oldest of the youngest group of grandchildren on my mother's side. The same can be said of my father's side. My mother is the youngest of her siblings, my father the oldest of his. That said, their parents weren't far off in age. Why have I been blessed? I had all four of my grandparents alive and well throughout most of my life. My parents tell me, and there are pictures to back them up, that I also knew some of my great grand-parents, but I have no memory of them. This started to change when I was in University. My mother's father died of prostate cancer when I was 21. My father's mother passed away in October of 2005, possibly of pneumonia, possibly of a stroke, likely of old age. My mother's mother passed away last November while I was in Banff.

The last of my grandparents passed away on April 13th. My father's father, John. 91 years old. From what I've been told, he just gave up. He stopped eating, stopped talking, and slept his last few days away. I don't blame him if this is true. As a friend of mine said, if I ever reach 91, I think I'd be pretty tired. When my grandmother, his wife of over 60 years, died, he slowly starting slipping away. Those who saw him claimed his memory was failing and his mind was slowly going. I think there was just nothing worth remembering. The same four walls, the occasional visit from one of his few surviving friends, scheduled meals, and regular nurse visits to make sure everything was still alright. On my most boring day, I have more excitement than that.

My grandfather was a bear of a man. Growing up, he was the biggest person I knew. At least 6'2" (although when you're 6, that may as well be 10 feet tall), and built like a grizzly. Even as he grew old and stooped, he still filled a room. A voice like thunder, but more bluster than storm. I never feared him, but you knew not to cross him.

The farm always had dogs. Duke was the first I knew, the greatest German Shepherd that ever lived. Then came Rex, the dumbest German Shepherd that ever lived. Next came Thor, the meanest German Shepherd that ever lived. Thor liked nobody. He chased my cousin and I around the farm until we fell, scraped and terrified into the living room (to be fair, I imagine we thought it was fun at the time); he nipped at my grandmother when she tried to feed him, which she never did again. However, he NEVER crossed my grandfather... until one day. He leapt and snapped at him as he was being brought food, and he was cowed by one holler. The next day Thor was back at the pound.

As the years passed and we both grew older, I discovered the unbelieveable amount of charm this old farmer had. He'd flirt with waitresses a quarter of of his age and have them legitimately blushing. He had dozens of phrases that he pulled out regularly that always got a smile, even if everyone in the room could sing along with them. Anyone who was his friend stayed his friend for decades, and loved to visit and shoot the shit. He regularly "stole" flowers for my grandmother or vegetables for the table. The fact these came from the fields of old friends didn't change the tale of thievery.

Even though he spoke less in recent years, he was still as sharp as they came in his 90's. This is a man who never had anything worse than a cold into his 80's. No health problems, no disease, no hospitalizations, nothing. He was briefly sidelined by an infection when most people his age are taking a pharmacy's worth of pills, and was back to normal in a couple months. I can only hope I have a fraction of his good health and vitality.

He loved us all, but had no idea what to do with children. As we grew older, he became more comfortable with us. This was a man who loved to go out golfing with his friends, spend his winters in Palm Desert, and go to his "hunting lodge" to hang out with the rest of the codgers. How much was he that guy? He founded a golf club near Chilliwack, started an annual tournament in Palm Desert, and founded the lodge his memorial will be held at -- an old boy's club that still has a waiting list.

I've always called him a farmer, but in truth he never had more than a large vegetable garden on his hundreds of acres of land as long as I knew him. Once there was livestock and workers, and the farm was at one time the largest chicken providers in the Fraser Valley. Lillydale chicken? Some part of that is the old Willows from days of yore. Bought out at least a few times since it was in the family. The farm was sold years ago, but the house still stands, and there be cows there again. It was always odd for me as a teenager and through my twenties to go out West to visit and take an elevator up to their condo... not the long service road past the farm smells in Yarrow on the way to that poplar-lined drive.

I'll be heading out that way again next week with my family to pay our respects, see the well-wishers, and say goodbye one last time. I imagine we'll swing by the farm on the way to The Hole-in-the-Wall, and stay in the condo, and visit with the ghosts who will be waiting for us. You are already missed Grandpa, but at least you have Granny and enough friends to fill a barn waiting for you.

I have been blessed with an endless supply of happy memories and love that I will carry with me until my grandchildren are remembering me.

Changes...

They are coming. Maybe. I perform the equivalent of verbal doodling in this blog on a regular basis. I believe the time has come to elevate my game. In the realms of both poker and writing. This means being more analytical and dedicated in my approach. We shall see what develops.

Of course, those who know me know that despite what talents and virtues I may possess, laziness and procrastination reign supreme. Too often do I take the path of least resistance, and this will be the largest obstacle to overcome. Wish me well, but do not expect miracles.

Why now? I'm not sure. Boredom is the most likely answer. Perhaps hope as well -- hope that this will be stepping stone to distributing this effort into other aspects of my life. As I often say, we shall see.

Poker Can Go...

...fuck itself. No, I'm kidding. I love me my poker, and even my shitty performance last night in the Mook won't sour me. Out something ridiculous, like 65th of 72 or something. Certainly out of the points, so that streak is over.

In the first 2 orbits I saw KK, 88, 66, and a bunch of other perfectly playable hands that caught zilch better than a draw. The 88 is the ONLY one that netted me anything. KK I folded to an ace and two hearts on a flop when Prophesy reraised me. He had JTh... I fumed a bit, and got the snowmen on the next hand, the 66 ran into Smokkee's TT. I so suck.

I very quickly found myself with about 450 in chips and blinds at 30/60... so I came over the top of Iak's min-raise when I found AQo. He called with 33 and sure enough a 3 came on the flop. Then the 4-flush by the river, and me with no club gave him the J-high flush to overkill me. Not my night.

Maybe it was the drink I poured myself a couple hours earlier with dinner... apparently 3 types of vodka, cointreau, and some blue curaçao, whilst tasty, don't make me a better poker player. Next time I'm just making juice. At least I got to bed at a more reasonable hour than usual.

Didn't play a lick of poker afterwards... I almost loaded up a token game, and realized I wasn't in the right state of mind to play even a play money tournament. Good fold me.

Anyway, I may play in the Donkament on Friday... I'll definitely play if I've got no other plans. I'm going to miss the bracelet race on Sunday though, since I have a home game to play in and a title to reclaim after I missed the last one. Always a good time that game. Next week I'm out of everything due to my being on the west coast for the week, so I fully expect that I'll have to fight my way back up the leaderboard when I get back.

Long Time No See

So, there was a Monday at The Hoy last night. Strange that it would fall on a Monday. As I've rued in the past here, I tend to bubble in these things. If it's not a cash bubble, it's a final table bubble. I'm sure looking at past results would reveal that this is all in my head and I actually do far worse.

Regardless, I know it's been a while since I've actually cashed in one, which is a shame since the prize pool has been rather large of late with the BBT in full effect and The Hoy becoming a token buy-in. So getting 3rd last night felt pretty good, both for the cashing and the points. Especially since I almost didn't make it in.

You see, I thought it started at 10:30. Heroes was back, and a friend was over to watch it. Luckily, Heroes is on at 8pm here in Toronto (because the station airs 24 at 9), and my friend was ready to head home at 9:30. I signed up before driving her and made it back having missed only 3 hands. Fascinating stuff, I know.

As usual, don't expect any insights into my play. I played the cards mostly right, and quickly focused after folding a winning hand to a well-played Hammer on the turn. I have no problem losing to a hammer, but I do have a problem when I think "This smells like a Hammer bet" and then get scared. I trusted my reads a lot more after that, and it saved my skin a few times, and got me some chips the rest of the time. Traps, bluffs, and the usual fun (including one or two suckouts) saw me hit first with 33 runners left. I stayed near the top for the rest of the game, regaining 1st a couple more times, and holding it into the final table. I dropped as low as 6th due to eventual winner scots_chris catching cards whenever I raised. Lucky me they were calling cards, not raising cards. Unlucky me, they caught regularly. However, I was smart enough to fold, and he was kind enough to show.

Once the bubble burst, action was quick. I'd say it was maybe 15 minutes from 6 left to the end.

And for those keeping track in the home game, I saw pocket aces 3 times last night. One of them knocked out someone, another got folded to pre-flop, and the 3rd won on the flop. Does my hammer that flopped a pair of aces count too?

Probably missing The Wheatie AGAIN tonight, but should make The Mookie tomorrow. Then I'll be missing all the BBT events next week as I'll be attending a funeral in BC and staying for a few days. Flying out Monday night, coming back Friday. I'll have to drop Schaubs and Fuel a line and see if we've got some coinciding free time to meet up.

1am Quickie

Hoy's done. Once the bubble burst, things went quickly. More after I've slept.


Haven't seen this at MATH in awhile.


Still there at the final... although there was some up-and-down.


Hammer Position!


How it ended... quickly. Not a bad return on 3 hours.

Congrats scots_chris, that should help with the bad run... amazing how "fuck poker" never really works. Now please, I don't mind you calling my raises, but STOP HITTING YOUR DRAWS AGAINST ME! :)

Not 723rd

But 383rd out of 574. Hey, does anybody else hate poker? My pocket aces meet snowmen. 665 flop and I bet 1/2 the pot (and 1/2 my stack) hoping to look weak.. and get re-raised all-in which I call. Yay me, doin' great. 8 on the turn means I'm in 2-outer land and the 6 on the river, whilst giving me a boat, doesn't give me the better one. So it's true that there's an element of luck involved here.

I DO Believe in Suckouts!

Riverchasers tonight. Short version? I finished in the points at 36th of 85. Longer version? I was sitting in dead last (70th) with 25 chips at one point.

My all-in 53o vs ATs and some folded limpers = 3A3Tx for 100 chips.

My J8h all-in vs Kx that flopped a pair? River straight in the Riverchasers. 360 chips.

Pushed/ground my way to 1,510 at one point and foldfoldfolded to the points. Out when my 99 met DDionysus' KK and IGH. Oddly enough, on the very next hand, DDionysus gets cowboys AGAIN and knocks out TOPKING333's 99. Sticky cards I tell ya.

So yah, not a great showing, but in the points and one hell of a lucky comeback to do it, so I'm not complaining. Now I get to chill and get some sleep. Yay!

Donkament tomorrow again? I could be in...

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Addendum: Just checked the results of the Riverchasers... holy shit... Congrats Waffles! He was sitting around my chip level as we waited for the points bubble and took it all down. Sellthekids had an $11 bounty on him and Waffles got him to triple it if he won (thereby taking himself out). Nicely done Sir.

Eh

First - In December 1900, Ladies Home Journal published this list of predictions for the year 2000. It's a great list. Some are bang-on, some get it half right and the take a strange left turn, some are relegated to extensions of the existing technology of the time, and some are completely nuts. One thing that struck me was how little knowledge of the interconnectivity of species in an ecosystem there was. There was little thought to wiping out entire populations of insects or the decimation of large mammals.

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I was completely wiped yesterday. Out with coworkers for drinks, a fantastic dinner, and more drinks, I strolled in at 1am, and was in bed around 2. I have cat. He doesn't do well when he gets all night alone to sleep and then I come home and don't pay any attention to him... so I didn't sleep well due to many a meow and batting of items off my nightstand. I do, however, have a spray bottle handy, and one very wet kitty (see I avoided the obvious joke?) later, I was able to snag a couple hours of rest before my alarms went off.

I also happened to receive my Wii that night, although I was too tired to unpack it. What's all this leading to? The Mookie. I'd come home, set up the Wii, played with that, and then fired up the Mook on about 4 hours of sleep and a full day of work. I finished 31st, which met my meager goal of finishing in the points, and maintaining my played/points streak (6/6, I missed two events). I was reading everyone right last night, but didn't realize that until after I folded my ladies to osu's AQs that caught nothing, but his all-in was enough to get me out of the tiny side-pot we were fighting for (the main went to the rockets that were all-in). I did make the right call when someone (TripJax? Not sure), re-raised my 3x BB bet with AQd and I called with my short stack and pocket 4s. Too bad about the A on the flop.

Al's Riverchasers tonight at 9 at FT. I've played in this once, maybe twice before, so we'll see if I can make the points this time with a very different field of regulars.

It also seems the next WBPT (#4) event is Sunday, and it's Limit HE. I have yet to ever play in one of these due to orignally not being a blogger, and then the events always falling at inconvenient times. I might actually make this one... although I'll be multi-tabling with that WSOP ME satellite on Stars methinks. Well, I HOPE to be multi-tabling and not grumbling about how I went out in 732nd.

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

WPBT in Vegas in June. Looks like it's finally starting to gather steam. I plan on going, but I'm waiting on the seat sales to kick in, since I plan to fly out Thursday night and back Sunday night, meaning premium Vegas ticket prices (althought it's still < $700 CAD non-stop). Orleans? That's off the beaten track. Not that it matters as long as you go where the party's at and can slur your hotel name to the cabbie. But I wonder if cab fare will wipe out hotel savings? I'm still undecided on where I'll stay. I've got me a soft spot for TI, but that's on the other side of the world if everyone's staying at Orleans. Regardless, I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow donkeys

Hoy Redux

"I'm going to take down the BBT with 11th place finishes." - Me, tonight, post-knockout though.

I'll add a +/- 2 on that 11th though.

Not too much to say, played my game, got in trouble early on, but double-stacks means I can make some mistakes and loosen up a bit. Pokertart on my right was NOT helping though. Crazy westerners (well, west to ME) and their aggressive play and big blind stealing from their fellow Canucks. For shame! Naw, she played a solid game, I just had nothing to go to war with. Apparently though, InstantTragedy did.

It was suckout city tonight, especially near the final table. In the span of maybe 7 hands... AJo beat QQ with flopped trip Jacks, 88 beat 99 to knock out #10, I got knocked out 11th (hence the quote) when Tragedy's K6o beat my KQs with a 6 on the turn, A4 beat KK with a 3-6 straight, etc, etc.. It was nuts. We were calling each suckout, and they were hitting.

Other highlights? (note: I'm not in any of them), Wigginx and Sir Al facing off with AJo each (GOLD), and this hand.. only numerologically speaking:



So, I got me some points, added a couple more to the Yahoo list, and had fun... all before midnight. Can't complain.

The Landlord

Ok, this had me laughing out loud at work today. Enjoy.

The Landlord

Mixed Success

Well, a less successful weekend than planned. The Raptors game was a ton of fun, if only because of the 4th quarter. Poker, on the other hand...

I couldn't have won a token if you'd held my feet over hot coals this weekend. I think I played 6 or 7 Tier 1's and won 2 of them. I played 3 Tier 2's and lost 'em all. I think my best showing was 8th. Between these and the 2 or 3 attempts during the week, I spent more trying to get into The Big Game than if I'd just bought in. So I ponied up and paid. 53 runners, which is fantastic. Top 6 paid, and 6th paid more than 1st usually does in any of the other games. THIS is what The Big Game was meant to be. So, top 27 would get points... I finished 22nd. Yay points!

The deep stack at the club was abysmal. The phrase "card dead" doesn't begin to do justice. My BEST hand (statistically) pre-flop the entire night was pocket tens in the 3rd or 4th hand of the game. After that? Pocket 4s once, and pocket 3s once. I think I saw AQo and AJo a couple times, and missed the flops by a mile. I pushed at the end with M=5 when I saw A9c in the SB with the action folded to me on the first hand after the 2nd break. BB had KQo and called for probably 2/3 of his stack. KQJ rainbow on the flop, and no T for yours truly sent me packing. I think I went out 15th out of around 20 or so players. I don't think I've ever folded so much. Normally with that level of decrepitude in the cards, I'd be picking spots to steal, taking advantage of table image... but these tables are mildly LAG-y, so I was almost always facing raises. That or it's a weak-tight cash player who will call to the turn (if that makes any sense). With my stack dwindling fast in relation to the blinds, I couldn't afford to gamble that much for long. I think I would have cheered if I saw matching faces or aces at any point last night.

On the upside (other than ranking in TBG), there was the $3 rebuy mentioned below. One of the smoothest 4 hours in poker I've played. I was inexplicably tired at the beginning (despite a solid night's sleep and large brunch). But only paid 4 times total, including initial buy-in and add-on (so an inital re-buy and one additional one), and found myself with a comfortable stack at the break (M ~ 20). I sat out for a bit to make some coffee and returned with gusto. Blinds were easily stolen and big hands were winning. I dropped low (M ~ 5) once or twice, but chipped back up and took down big pots when needed. Cards were catching, and if I lost, it was when I had my opponents well-covered. The final couple tables were a bunch of fish with one or two halfway decent players left, and since I had chips (but not the lead until there were 4 left), it was easy pickings as nobody wanted to go out so close to the money. Top 3 is tough to actually play for at that point -- everyone hopes to fold to the win and let the others take themselves out. I exploited this, as anybody should, and the ATC and bubble philosophies worked brilliantly here. As the final tally indicates, it was a walk for the last 30 min or so.

Small tangent here - I love the whiners who have no argument. I turned a straight against a guy's AK/top pair. His comment "3 hours wasted. Who calls my raises with 9T?" Well, let's see... 9Ts in the BB and you MIN RAISE, I call every time. I put out a feeler bet at the flop draw and you min raise AGAIN, I call every time it doesn't commit me. Straight on the turn and you're history. Grow a pair. A REAL bet anywhere before the turn and I'm out.

I didn't make it back in time for the WSOP qualifier, but that's fine. I was in no mood for such a long haul after the club. I had already pulled my entry and will probably use it next week. As Fuel said in the comments... great start, now I have to finish. But if I don't, there's still plenty of time.

Here's hoping my Wii shows up soon... because I need more things to waste time with.

Time to Turn it Up a Notch

So the big game has cost me a double buy-in. I spent as much as just paying would have in tokens yesterday, and failed miserably. So I bought in. What's this mean? I'm going to have to cash. Unless I kick as at the club today, then I'll be less concerned :).

Not that I don't want all those points anyway.

Colour Me Impressed

It's not a new joke. In fact, it's been around the web a few times I'm sure. But Saturday Night Live just had a "Sofa King" sketch on. I'm sure it'll be on Youtube (and then off Youtube) tomorrow.

Our prices are 'Sofa King' crazy!
Our delivery is 'Sofa King' quick!
Our loveseats are 'Sofa King' comfortable.

The beauty of live TV... but it's impressive it got on, and past the censors. Let's see if it makes it to a repeat.

Still doesn't beat Sneed's Seed and Feed from the Simpsons though.

So Far...

Well... no token to speak of yet. 4 tries, 4 failures. Not even close really.

But THIS did happen:



Shame I've already got so many games going on tomorrow already. Maybe I'll play, maybe I'll keep it until next week. Regardless, 4hrs 18min. First win into the satellite after a bunch of the $16 DS and other rebuys. It was actually a pretty easy win. I think I've mentioned my love of rebuys in the past. Donkey play for the first hour, and then continued donkishness beyond that's easy to take advantage of. One just has to dodge the suckouts.

Winds of Change

This article, and this article feel like seeds. Do I expect sweeping reforms to take place in the next couple weeks? Nope. But the right people are finally getting the message. Of course, this just increases the rank smell of base-pandering that the original bill has, but so be it. For those of you who have contacted your reps in the past, and those who haven't... now is the time to start driving that message home again, take down the gambling bill!

A Weekend of Degeneracy Awaits!

Went out 25th of 77 in Das Mooken on Wednesday. Good for 36 points in the BBT. AKo apparently is no good against cowboys. Stupid cowboys... and the horse they rode in on.

Anyhoo. Went to The Rocky Horror Show last night and had the expected level of fun. I didn't have time to get dressed accordingly, but mayhaps those days are behind me anyway. That said, I was just about the ONLY audience member who participated vocally. Sure, some people picked up on SLUT! and ASSHOLE! or "Boooorrring" chants when the Narrator was on. Post-intermission a couple more participants spoke up for the obvious lines. But really, I was the only one who kept it up with any sort of regularity, and I missed a TON. On the plus side, it's not often that one is solely responsible for getting a sold-out 876-seat theatre laughing heartily. Ah dick jokes... do they ever get old?

Tonight I'll be missing the Donkament for the Raptors-Pistons game. Raps win, Heat lose, and the good guys get 3rd in the East all locked up, with 2nd still in reach. Andrea Bargnani may be making his return tonight as well. Plus, the 1st place Pistons vs the 3rd place Raptors should make for a great game.

Tomorrow will be focused on getting a token for The Big Game. I played a couple tier-1 peeps last night but really wasn't into it. Although I went out 7th (stupid bubble) in the first. I've only been able to play one of the Token Frenzies this week, and came damn close to tokening there too. Worse comes to worst, I'll just buy in on Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday - now that will be a day of pokering. As usual, the Big Game and my club's monthly deep-stack long grind tournament fall on the same day (since they both happen on the 3rd Sunday of the month). Luckily, they're 6 1/2 hours apart, so I'll have plenty of time for both, and probably some cash in between. Could be either a very profitable or very costly day.

There's a couple holes in my tournament game I might work on getting plugged tomorrow... we'll see.



Uh-oh, Happy learned how to putt.

That Was Unexpected

As expected, I missed the WWdN due to seeing The Host instead. A worthwhile trade I believe, as the movie was plenty entertaining. I did, however, make it home with plenty of time to play in the second chance. What's this? Why it's PLO. Excellent. Not that I'm any good at Omaha, but at least I can lose quickly if need be. So up I did sign.

10:30 rolls around and so starts the tournament! Why, I am all alone at my table. In fact, not only am I all alone, but there is but one other seat. How queer! It's a head's up tournament and I have a bye! Off to Wil's table to see what's up. It seems he mistakenly set it up HU. Silly Wil. So I get up and do some things and return to round 2. I find Hacker at my table and we enjoy a brisk back-and-forth game until I finally take enough of a lead and a solid enough hand to move on. Then comes the waiting for the last table to finish and Wigginx appears across from me. This match lasts all of 5 or 6 hands. It seems that Omaha is, in fact, a game of the nuts. When one holds a J and a 2, and a J and a 2 appear on the flop, followed by another 2 on the turn and one's opponent is playing just as weakly as you are (but you're cleverly setting up a trap), it is possible your opponent has the other two jacks. Also, jacks full of twos beats twos full of jacks any day of the week. After that crippling loss, it took about 3 hands for me to give it all to The Wig. I hope he did well.

As much as I'd like to say I should have laid that down, I think I'm going broke with boat-over-boat every time. Although with a pair of twos on the board I should maybe think that 2's full of anything will get beat.

Mookatron 3000 tonight. More points needed. While Don and Oossuuu are running away with the top spots, I can't help but think that If I was able to play all 4 tourneys, I'd be close. Seriously. Extrapolating from my 2 data points (what? 2 isn't statistically enough? Fie to you!), I'd have over 200 points, putting me in 5th if I'd played in all 4 tourneys instead of 2. Fear us near-bubblers! So, I'm just going to have to win tonight... and Sunday.

Close?

Considering that I wasn't supposed to be around to play in The Hoy at all, I guess it's a bonus. I had a spare token sitting around, so I used that instead of buying in, so it only cost me $8.70 or whatever a level 1 peep costs. There were 52 runners, which is just scary for a MATH. Throw in double-stacks and this was going to be a looooong game. As expected, eliminations were slow to start, but picked up with the blinds. I played a solid aggressive game, but in the end, a series of boneheaded moves lead to my elimination in 12th. I'm not sure, but I think this means I missed At least I made the points in the BBT. as well (if they're going with the Poker Stars scoring system, then only the top 15% of the field gets points). That stings more than missing the final table and the money.

I'm at my best in two situations - either being the agressor or trapping. When I play a hand weakly (which happens), I usually end up shooting myself in the foot. My last hand went down like this (or a close approximation thereof):

I'm in the BB with KQo and an M in the same ballpark as 10ish. Button limps, SB limps. I think both were known bloggers, but I can't remember who exactly (edit: Lightning36 was the button). I go to raise and then decide to check and see what develops instead, figuring it's a strong enough hand to catch something with but weak enough to get away from.

Flop comes TQT and it's checked to me. Button puts out a weak bet and I call. Turn is an ace, I bet somewhere in the neighbourhood of the pot and the button re-raises. I'm shortstacked completely at this time and push. Easy call by the button as he happens to be holding QTc for the boat. River doesn't bring that 4th queen to split the pot and IGH as predicted by Waffles mere moments before (except he put me on KJ, which would have at least looked better).

Bah. Can't complain about the hand because it wasn't anything but a legit beat. I made two mistakes that I almost never make. I checked an unraised pot with KQo late in the tourney near the bubble in the big blind, and I gave no credit to my opponent holding a monster (or even a set). I walked right into a trap and got eaten by a Grue. Hell, I helped set the trap. It's not that I didn't trust my read, it's that I didn't make enough of one. My thought? "Q with a worse kicker than me. AQ gets raised pre-flop." I was right.. the kicker was the T, and it was suited, which is a perfectly acceptable "let's see if I catch" hand, especially on the cheap. Not like KQo, which is a hand that should be thrown in the garbage with TQTA is in front of you on the board and you're facing a sizeable bet by a solid player. See how earlier I said it was hand that was easy to get away from? Apparently not when your brain decides to reset after 2 1/2 hours of play.

Hypothetically, if I raised pre-flop, I imagine I'd be called on anything less than a push. So let's say I put a raise of 3-4x the BB in, get called and then TQT rainbow comes down. Do I still go broke? I make a continuation bet that will get called or possibly pushed... I probably still call in this situation because of the money I've put into the pot (and my now very short stack) and I still lose. Only chance I have is that QTs gets folded pre-flop.

Ah well. Wheatie's tonight, but I think I'll be going to see The Host instead. Maybe I'll make the second chance, as long as it isn't limit Razz/HORSE. Oh how I hate those for second chance tourneys.

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

In other news - as expected (and I think I predicted pre-season) The Leafs missed the playoffs by ONE point. Let's look at the bright side... umm... that's one more point than they had last year? WAY TO GO TEAM!

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I'm a bit perturbed by these pullouts of deposit/withdrawl systems in Canada. There is NO push in Canada to ban online gambling or poker, hell it's provincially, not federally mandated. If anything, Canada would look to tax it. No, all I can figure is it's due to the U.S. situation. Tools. Both the US gubmint for the laws, and the payment processors for being such chickenshits.

So, no Neteller. Lucky me, I can still use a credit card to deposit on Tilt, but not withdraw. Can't use the card on Stars (gets denied by the bank), but they did have eChecks. Now that's down for some undisclosed problems (which worries the hell out of me security-wise). So that leaves ePassport which is for US accounts, and I have no desire to pay $50 to do a wire transfer to a Canadian account. On Tilt there's still Click2Pay, but I'm getting sick of signing up for more services... but since I never win enough to warrant a withdrawl, I'm not affected by that... yet.

Grr....

Donkery

Had fun in the Friday Donkament. I barely played, since I was up and down cooking, but I luckily septupled up on the first hand when most of the table went all-in. If I'd rebought to start, I'd have quintupled up instead. So I was able to coast on that for awhile. Ended up out in 9th of the 17 who joined.

Then I played a cash game on Stars. First time in awhile. I only half bought-in with $100 at the 1/2 NLHE. Got up to $250 when my multi-out straight/flush draws caught on the river against two fools.

Then on my last hand (button hit me and I was going to bed after that hand regardless of what happened).

Dealt QTo. A LAG who's been raising everything if it's unraised to him raises to $8 (standard for him). I call. One other caller. Flop comes QQ2 (two spades) and I'm laughing. Bet of $12 from LAG ATC and I re-raise to $36 to show I'm serious. Caller calls, and ATC raises another $24. I'm reading flush draws, and MAYBE another Q. I push all-in. Caller calls THAT and ATC calls (has me covered by about $20). $500 pot. 8 and 6 fall on the turn, the flush isn't filled.

Any guesses what ATC and the other caller were holding?







ATC = Ducks. Caller = does it matter?

I Take It Back

Well, my trip to Paris has been cancelled. The reasons are perfectly sound, but I am still disappointed.

On the flipside, I should be able to make the Riverchasers tonight (Al should be pleased) and The Hoy on Monday. AND I'll be able to watch the Leafs sputter to a near-miss of the playoffs. Go Raptors. Oh, and I'll get to watch Grindhouse on opening night. Unless I find myself in BC this weekend. I'll wave to Fuel and Schaubs if I'm there.

Played The Mookie last night - holy shit! 78 runners! I played my game, and bubbled in 10th. I was first for a bit, 3rd at the first break, 5th at the second, and generally stayed in the top 10 most of the night. Except once when Waffles took my chips when the card that gave me a straight also gave him a flush. I wasn't surprised.

Pissed off Al when my A7h beat his Jacks with a rivered straight. Something about me being a donkey. I dunno, my M was < 10, I had two all-ins before me, I was last to act in the BB and it would cost me 1/5th of my short stack with 4:1 odds... I think Al's the only one who disagrees with my call. I felt dirty about the straight though.

Went out when my JTh met the chipleader's 77. At least I wasn't crushed.

So 10th in The Mook puts me 25th in the BBT leaderboard. Not too shabby after one game. Still, would've liked to cash.

Vegas? Vegas? June 6-10 or something like that, right? Guess I should get on the booking of that.

Rise of the Jays

Okay, so big Leafs game tonight, because they all are now. Go Buds! Also, go Bruins!

Raptors now aiming for a division clinch and a home-court advantage.

Jays season started yesterday.

Yes, I'm a homer. But not a bandwagon jumper I thank you very much (okay, maybe the Raptors, but that's because I'm not a huge basketball fan).

Jays = wow. This is possibly the best team they've fielded since the back-to-back (+ strike year = 3 year champs! :) ) World Series teams. When the meat of your batting order goes from 1-6, (Johnson, Overbay, Glaus, Thomas, Wells, Rios), and then a guy like Aaron Hill who hits for average, and a clutch hitter like Zaun are in your bottom 3... well... I'd say you'll see a lot of hitting.

Roy Halladay is, bar none, the best pitcher in the majors. If it wasn't for freak injuries and a mediocre bullpen backing him up, he'd have at LEAST 3 Cy Young awards instead of 1, and he's a workhorse. A.J. Burnett at #2 is no slouch either, especially once his arm healed up last year. Chacin at #3 could be interesting - he reminds me of Jack Morris... he'll only give up as many runs as you can afford. Leading 1-0? He'll pitch a shutout. Leading 6-0? He'll give up 5, but not 6, and this team should be all about run support. Ohka's got something to prove, and Towers has a paycheque he wants to justify. I like what I've seen from Josh in the spring, and his attitude is great. Hell, he's learning from Halladay now, and that's got to be good.

Bullpen is tighter than last year, with the only big question mark being who's going to be doing the setup for B.J. Ryan?

Oh? And all those hitters? Pretty damn good in the field too.

2nd in the AL East last year behind the Yankees and ahead of the Bo Sox... 1st is VERY possible this year, and the Wild Card should be no problem at all. If everyone stays healthy of course.

I'm missing the home opener, but I'll be at the SkyDome (Rogers Centre be damned) a fair bit this season methinks.

----

Oh yah, missed The Hoy last night, plan to make The Wheatie. I love the BBT concept. Unfortunately the only one I'll be able to make this week is the Mookie (maybe), and I'll miss the Hoy next week as well. See... I'm heading off to Paris for Easter weekend, and won't be back in time for the usual Monday fun. I can think of worse predicaments to be in.

Spring, When the Leafs Fall

Argh.

That's about as much frustration as I can muster as a Leafs fan. 40 years of losing. Maybe 4 or 5 years in there where the team played beyond their abilities to make it to the semi-finals.

Argh.

Missed the playoffs by what, a point, last year? Looks pretty good that they'll do it again this time. After that 7-2 debacle last night against the Rangers, it's do-or-die now. The Leafs have lost control of their destiny. Philly, the Isles and the Habs are left. They need to win 'em all or forget about it. Maybe it's a good thing I'll be out of the country when the last two games go down.

Can we please get an owner? Not an ownership group concerned solely with the value the franchise adds to the pension plan, or a guy who is more concerned about condos than championships. You know, someone who says, "Hey! I like the Leafs. I want to see them win the Stanley Cup again." and MEAN it, instead of just blowing smoke up the collective arse of the fans. Maybe a GM who knows how to make a trade and has a pair. I like Yanic Perrault just fine, but he ain't the guy to put us over the top.

Bah. I'll try an be positive - good young talent, great coach, great captain (although he'll be retiring in the next few years), and an alright goalie. Let's lay off Raycroft here shall we? 36 wins. Only Belfour had more in the blue-and-white, and there's 3 games left. A bad stretch in December does not a season make... although it does a season break.

Argh.

Sometimes I Get Art

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Less Than Expected

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

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

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

CC tonight?


Door closes, window opens.

F _ C K

*insert endless swearing here*

Anyone want to buy a vowel?

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

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

Today is not my best.

Hoover

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

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

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

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

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

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

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

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

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



What? You expected a dancing banana?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

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

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

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




Coupon's expired. No freebie for you.

Two days

Mookie = out in some unrespectable position.

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

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

Things are, as always, good.



Monkeys make terrible butlers. Don't ask.

How Low Can the New 1st Go?

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

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

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

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

I'm audi.


Left a message... no return call?

Hrmph

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that ended my poker luck.

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

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

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

Well, That was a Bust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's A Helluva Town

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

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

Nobody noticed.

At first.

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

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

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

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

I love my city.

It's Just The Wheatie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danke Schoen

Goodbye Stardust.

Nothing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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