Vegas/Commerce/Pool/Drunk Trip Report

The weekend of the 24th had some serious potential. It could have been a blast or bust. It ended up falling somewhere in between.

As mentioned in my pre-trip report, I took Thursday and Friday off of work and would head to Vegas some time on Thursday. That meant I could go play at Commerce on Wednesday night without a time constraint. So I did.

There was something strange in the air that night. The line for valet parking was long…really long. That usually means alot of people inside and, therefore, a ton of action. As I entered, I saw there were, in fact, very many tables running in the top section. But when I came in sight of the main room, it wasn’t as crowded as I had presumed. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of tables running. But there were several conspicuously empty.

No problem. I was able to get on a 10NL table right away. It was full but was, unfortunately, a must-move table. I went through the blinds twice and dragged the blinds once. Suddenly we were 4-handed and the game broke. We drew cards for two open seats in other games (apparently, they were dropping like flies…made of cheese) and I missed. I would have to wait about 15 minutes until another seat opened.

The new table had tons of chips in play. That’s what happens when people keep getting knocked out…lucky me. I wasn’t sure if I meant that, though. It could have been a wild table. That doesn’t generally suit my game because I like to look for spots to occasionally steal. Wild players like these are likely to chase down with anything. As it turned out, they weren’t too crazy. A couple players wouldn’t leave me alone but the others were kind of passive when involved against me. So I just had to navigate the bullies.

I quickly noticed there were two players who liked to call pre-flop raises with small suited connectors and would call down on any flush draw. But, for some reason, I didn’t use that info in a hand I got into early on. I found J-J on the button and raised to $30 with one limper ahead. He was one of the flush chasers so I new he would give me action. We got heads up and the flop came 9-high with two clubs. But I didn’t notice the clubs (I wasn’t playing well to start off.) He checked and I bet $50, realizing that he would call a larger amount if he was willing to call 50 so there was no reason to inflate the pot. He called. The turn was a J and he checked to me again. I saw a possible straight out but wasn’t worried about him having that. I counted out $120 and pushed it in. He quickly came over the top all-in and had me covered. For some reason, I beat him in, calling off about $260 more. As soon as I said call, I followed it with, “That was a bad call,” because I realized the turned J was a club and he had his flush. I was so appalled at my bad play that I didn’t bother asking for the board to pair. It didn’t and I had dumped my initial buy-in. He showed 4c-2c. So at least I knew he would push everything in with the worst flush. I hoped to use that info to my advantage later.

After that, I tightened up in the sense that I made an effort to maintain some focus and take time before acting. This was still a good table for me because the flush chasers weren’t leaving any time soon. With my rebuy, I was able to double through to $600 with AA against the same chaser that had taken me down earlier. He left shortly after but his friend stuck around and we tangled. He was in the BB and I open raised in middle position with Q-Q. The button called and so did Chaser2. The flop came Q-high with two hearts. I should have been afraid of the heart draw since there always seems to be a flush draw out when I flop a set. But I got cocky and followed C2’s check with the same. The button checked as well. The turn brought an off-suit blank and C2 again checked. Now I found a chance to redeem my previous slow play and take control, hopefully driving out any draws. This time, I bet $60 into a $95 pot which I thought would appear strong. It was good enough to get rid of the button, but C2 stuck around. I felt sick when a heart hit on the river and checked, not hiding my frustration. C2 bet $150 and I decided to think about it…just because I should.

Its always tough to lay down a set, especially when you’ve completely misplayed the hand and surrendered on the end. But, as I thought about the situation, it dawned on me that C2 might not have the flush. I recalled, in previous hands where he caught a flush, he would move all-in, hoping to get the most out of his opponent. And why not? Everyone seemed to be calling that night. However, this time, he bet $150 into a $215 pot. For anyone else, that’s a value bet just begging for a call. But he doesn’t do that. I squirmed over the decision for a while longer, stacking and restacking the chips for a call, and finally decided I was probably good. I made the call and he declared, “Jack high.” I tabled my set and took it down. Someone else…someone who obviously doesn’t pay much attention…asked, “Jeez. What took you so long.”

After 4 ½ hours, I still didn’t feel great about my play, but I was playing smarter and managed to get ahead by a bit. I decided to go talk to my friend, Keith, who was playing in a nearby 5NL game and then head out. I left winner $13 which was just about enough to tip everyone on my way out. All in all, I am happy that I was/am able to keep my head and play smart when I get into trouble like I did. So I don’t mind breaking even. Its better than being stuck.

The next day, Roman didn’t make it to my place until just before 2pm. So we got a late start but managed to beat the traffic out of town and made it to the Riviera in Vegas by 6pm. Not bad, really.

This recap is longer than I had intended. So I’ll continue in my next post. There is still plenty to tell…We’ve only just arrived in Las Vegas.

SEEYa

The Quick-E-Mart is...D'OH!

I've mentioned before that I don't have anything to do at work. Well I also don't have anything at work. My cubicle is normally bare except for the necessities (computer, phone, supplies.) But I recently brought a couple items in with me. This morning, I looked at them and found it kind of surreal...

SEEYa

Welcome back, Mr. Cottaaaaair

"I'll be honest with you, I love his music, I do, I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, it doesn't get any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman".

Just a quick update on my status. I got back from Vegas on Sunday but I am still recovering...So you know I had a good time. But I haven't fealt like writing about it yet. Maybe later today. For now, I just want to say hi to both my loyal readers.

I also need to vent. "The Man" has blocked access to Pandora. So I need to find something else to listen to while at work. I'm thinking about getting Sirius or XM but I'm not sure which. Of course, Sirius has Howard. But XM has Jericho in the Boneyard, a channel that plays mostly 80's metal with alot of hair metal. So I'm at yet another cross-roads. But the point here is that work (or my lack of it) sucks!

And, now, a couple more Office Space quotes…

“So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.”
”What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?”
”Yeah.”
”Wow, that's messed up.”

--------

“Mother... shitter... Son of an... ass. I just...”

SEEYa

Vegas Tomorrooooooooow. Commerce Tonight.

I’m going to Vegas, baby! It’s been schway too long. I’ll be heading out some time tomorrow for a long weekend. I’m going for a team pool tournament (8-ball) with some friends from my weekly league team. It’s the first time I have been able to field a team for this event so I’m psyched.

Unfortunately, this falls around the last Saturday of the month which means I will not be in town for poker at Paul’s. Damn it! I really enjoy our monthly home game, especially since it has changed to $50 buy-ins and a slightly smaller turn out. It’s a bit less hectic and more intimate, so to speak. Last time out was a hell of alot of fun.

But there is an outside chance that I might come back on Saturday and make it to Paul’s. That’s only likely to happen if my team gets eliminated from the tournament early. Now here lies an internal dilemma. I don’t go into any competition wanting to give any less than my best effort and I’d never root for my team to lose. But I don’t really have anything at stake in this thing and don’t expect my teammates to perform well. They might, but I have no reason to expect it. So I may have to fight off the inner quarrel and maybe not think about poker at Paul’s.

You’d think it wouldn’t be too hard since I will be playing cards in my choice of poker rooms on the strip. So I won’t be starved for action. But its just once a month that we have to get together for a good-natured yet competitive game with friendly faces in a welcoming home. Good times…Good times.

Oh, well. My immediate plan is to just get through today at work. Then I’m going to Commerce tonight to get the gambling weekend started early. I haven’t played live since Chumash about a week and a half ago. So I’m really itchin’ and happy to know that, tonight, I will be in action. Tomorrow, I’ll be on the road with my friend Roman (Ruh-mawn) – he’s driving – and I’ll be in “Whatever happens, I’m along for the ride” mode.

(Is it ironic to introduce a Vegas post with a reference to a movie starring a guy named Zero?)

SEEYa

Chumash III – Trip Report compl’t’d

Continued from trip report II

…Sunday morning I woke to a warm breeze which was odd because I didn’t think the hotel room windows could be opened. Well, they couldn’t. Kid was still frrrrrrting remnants of the two bowls of pea soup from the previous afternoon. Damn you, Kid!

Paul and Dena stopped by to give Kid a lift back to Santa Barbara and I got ready to check out. I did so and headed for the poker room before making the trek home. I felt the need to play poker since I had not gotten in as much table time as I had intended throughout the weekend and I wanted to improve on my play from the night before.

The Sunday morning tournament was underway but a couple tables had already cleared and cash games started. There was already a good list for $5 NLH so it wouldn’t be long before I found some action. The game was announced and I managed to snake the 2s. I always prefer the 3 or 7 seat so I can see everyone at the table. But I’ll take the 2 or 8 seat as my next choice.

I started out in my normal tight-aggressive mode, surveying the table and trying to find some tells. It didn’t take long to figure out which players were playing rags and calling down with second or bottom pair. As it happened, there were 4 or 5 players of that type while there didn’t seem to be anyone that I would need to avoid (loose-tricky). I managed to almost double through fairly early with A-K on an ace-high board against an old gentleman who seemed to know he was beat but couldn’t get away from his pocket Qs.

After that, I got mostly cold cards. But that isn’t normally a problem. On that morning, however, it would lead me to trouble. From the beginning of the session, I didn’t really feel like I wanted to be there. In hindsight (and I realized this after a couple hours of play), I knew I didn’t want to stay later than 2pm and, having started at about 10am, I was feeling restricted. I usually go to play on my own terms with no one in tow so I can play for as long or short a session as I feel is needed. This time, I was battling conflicting mindsets: (1) I wanted to get some time in to make up for the night before and (2) I wanted to go home. I couldn’t do both, so my body stayed while my mind had one foot out the door.

The end result was a lack of patience. Patience is another strength of my game. So, without it, anything could happen. I tried to talk myself into the proper state of mind and, for a while, it seemed to work. But I finally gave in to whatever demons were haunting me that morning and began to loosen up…loosen way up. I decided to try to bully a few select players at the table. So I raised pre-flop from early position with hands that I normally wouldn’t play from there (like A-x suited and small pairs). Then I would make continuation bets at the flop regardless of what hit. It worked for a little while but I was only taking down small pots and these guys were going to push back eventually.

My bully strategy was actually born from the way the table had been playing. There were way too many limped pots followed by a bluff by the button that would take it down on the flop. I folded top pair/weak kicker a couple of times from early position in that situation and decided not to let it happen so much anymore. But I was not making plays with absolute rags…at first.

Things were going my way for a while. In the hand that marked the turn, I raised in middle position with A-Qo after one player had limped. The big blind (a pretty tight player) and the limper both called. The flop came 10 high with two diamonds and the BB led out for $20 into a $50 pot. I had seen him lead out like that before in this game when he was on a flush draw. But I really didn’t have enough reason to think he was on a draw this time. I convinced myself that he might just have over cards (A-J) and decided to raise and find out. I thought I might be able to take it away right there with a raise to $60. He thought only long enough to look down at his chips and then pushed them all in. He had a ton of chips, so it was quite an over bet. But it told me exactly what I was trying to find out…he had the best hand. I quickly mucked and he kindly showed me pocket 10s for top set. He seemed a little embarrassed at his all-in as he said, “That was probably a bit much, huh?” I assured him that I wasn’t going to call even a min raise.

I still felt like I could control the table so, on the very next hand, I looked down at 3-2o and…raised! Now I’m in earlier position than the last hand and I’m raising with rags. That’s bad. But I should note that I had been aggressive with the same hand just 3 deals prior and taken the pot. So it wasn’t really about the cards at that point. This time, I was only called by the big blind who had played very passively so far. The flop was J-7-x and he checked. I had no reason to do anything but bet here, especially since my opponent only had $40 behind. I bet $40 and he called all-in…oops. I had failed to acknowledge that this guy was the kind of passive that will check-call with any pair. I hoped for a luck-out river after the turn brought me a flush draw, but nothing came of it. He showed his A-7 for the nut second pair. I decided to show my rags for a laugh (however pathetic) and to ruin my image so I could get paid off with my next big hand.

I did tighten up from there but only stuck around for another half hour while looking at more cold cards. I decided that 4 ½ hours of play was more than I should have put in and cut my losses. I left, down $49 for the session. Somehow, I managed to contain the bleeding during the butchering or my game that morning.

I log my results in a journal after every session but, this time, I was hesitant. I guess I didn’t want to commit my faulty play to ink. But after writing it in the book, I immediately felt better. I realized that I knew exactly what my leaks were that weekend and I wasn’t afraid to address them. I still feel confident with my game and look forward to getting back to executing it the right way.

SEEYa

Chumash II – Trip Report cont’d

Continued from trip report I

…I was crippled after my loss to the Fisherman. With only T600 left, I began looking for a hand to get it all in with. With blinds at 50-100, that was my only move. I did manage to double up once and dragged the blinds in a couple other rounds to keep myself alive. But I eventually ran into a stopper. It was folded around to me on the button with K-Qo. This was a great spot to push my last few chips in. I figured I would only take down the blinds but I didn’t mid getting called. Unfortunately, it was the Fisherman’s big blind and he called, saying, “I’ve got an ace.” He then turned over his cards, revealing only a 7. Then he slowing fanned it to show the ace. I laughed and said, “Hey! You can’t tell me you have it and slow roll.” Anyway, his ace held up and the tournament came to an end for me.

I took a quick scan around the room but didn’t spot any of my friends. So I decided to check outside the tourney room for anyone that had already been eliminated. I didn’t immediately find anyone but ran into Joe after a couple minutes. It turned out he was knocked out of the tourney just a minute or two after me. And he was the last one from our group! Wow! That was a first. We were all out by 12:30.

Joe and I found everyone else playing Let It Ride. We were all hungry so it was off to our traditional post-tourney spot, AJ Spurs. We made it over there by 1pm and ran into a new predicament. They didn’t open until 4pm. We’d never had this problem because we’ve always had at least someone last past 4 o’clock in the tournament. Oh well. We opted for Anderson’s Pea Soup. Thems was good eats! Kid had two bowls of pea soup which would make for rough waters (so to speak) later that night. I had a monte cristo because I hadn’t had one in ages and felt like being really unhealthy. Surprisingly, Paul had never eaten or heard of a monte cristo sandwich. I still can’t figure how that is possible.

After lunch, we went back to Paul’s cabin and played some more cards of the silly variety. By 9pm, we were ready for dinner and headed back over to AJ Spurs. We got lucky this time because they were closing at 9:30. Huh? 4 – 9:30? Whatever. After a really good steak and a couple drinks, we split up. Everyone was done for the night except Kid and me.

We went back to Chumash and hit the poker room. It was, as Kid described, pretty dead for a tournament weekend. We took the only seats readily available at a $5 NLH game, him in the 6 seat and me in the 7. Just sitting in that game, I was breaking one of my unwritten rules…Don’t drink and play. I only had two drinks with dinner but it was enough to loosen me up. I was too loose. I was having a ton of fun but that is usually secondary where poker is involved. This time, focus was secondary at best.

I played too many hands and made 0 lay downs. Actually, the hands I chose to play weren’t all that bad. But I was acting too fast, resulting in missed bets and over calls. The truth of the matter was that my opponents (I was usually heads up after the flop) were calling big bets on the flop and hitting their draws against me. Several times, I had two pair or better up against a straight or flush. I knew I had the worst every time as my opponents would min-raise me on the river but I never got away from my hands. One of my more valuable abilities is laying down losing made hands. But I didn’t do it even once that night. The result was two lost buy-ins.

Amidst this madness, Kid and I were playing side bets on suits/colors. I had spades and hearts (I think). With a buck at stake each hand, I was getting my ass kicked at that, too. I waived the white flag after dropping around $15. You own me, Kid. We left after I lost my second buy in. But at least Kid was playing well and easily left winner.

That’s all for now. I’ve got one more day of the trip to recap. So stick around.

SEEYa

Legs at 10 and 2

I use a crappy, company-supplied headset to listen to music at work. It doesn't hold in sound well so I try to be sensitive to those around me and keep the vloume down. But damn it all to hell! Skid Row's Psycho Love just came on Pandora. I'm blasting it! All these nerds around me could use a little kick in the ass.

Good God, all mighty
Bless my soul
I need a fix
Of rock n' roll
-- Baz

(Holy shit! Psycho Love ended and I'm now listening to Reckoning Day. YES!)

SEEYa

Substandard System – How I Lost Hundreds at Poker

Chumash Trip Report

Last weekend, I went up to Chumash Casino for their big, tri-annual NLH tournament. The trip was a success only in that I had a blast. Poker was a losing venture for me for several reasons that I will detail here. But I had a really fun time with Kid, Joe, Paul & Dena, Kirk, and Joe’s friends.

I left my place on Friday around noon and headed up to Santa Barbara. There, I met up with Kid, Joe, and Joe’s friends at Joe’s apartment. Joe, Mike, Kid, and I jumped right into a 4-way freeze out on the table they built. I have to say, they did a very nice job on the table. We didn’t play for money, however, so there isn’t really anything to recap.

After playing cards for a while, we met up with Paul and Dena at a nearby Red Robin. Good times. This is a relatively new group of friends for me. So I am really happy that we hit it off so well. It seems we always have fun together just talking, whether we are playing cards or out to eat. And Joe’s friends added to it. Mike is nutty.

After lunch, Paul and Dena went back to the cabin they were staying at for the weekend and the rest of us went back to Joe’s. We finished our poker free roll with Kid and I heads up. Same result as last time. Kid 2; Darsky 0. Then we bought some booze and headed out to Paul and Dena’s cabin for some more cards and what not (or not what.) Paul had brought along cards and a couple cases of chips so we were ready play. $20 buy-in, dealers choice. We played a bunch of wild card games and, mostly, blood n’ guts. For only $20, I played really loose and had a ton of fun. I think we all did. We played until around 11pm. I hadn’t even been to Chumash so I had not been able to check in to my room yet.

I left and drove to the Casino and checked in and I was thinking about putting in some time in the poker room at the casino. But after getting settled into my room, it was midnight, I was tired, and the tournament would start in 9 hours (9am start time. Ouch!) I was too tired to put in an all night session and play the tourney, and I like to play for at least 4 hours when I play for cash, so I decided to call it a night. I watched Crimson Tide on TNT as I tried to sleep. The TV emitted a terrible high-pitched noise which made it difficult to watch, not to mention difficult to sleep. But it was Crimson Tide…a great movie. Its one of those that I can’t help but watch whenever it is on. So I watched the whole movie and then went to sleep. (Really interesting, eh? -- This is gold, Jerry! Gold!)

Saturday morning, I was up, showered, and made a trip to the complimentary continental breakfast (how very) in plenty of time to hang out before the tourney began. The first person I spotted was Joel, another poker friend who had driven up that morning to play. Everyone else funneled in and we chatted for a few until it was time to take our seats.

I had table F-7 seat 2. When I found the table, there were five men already seated, their average age well above 50. I was the youngest by about 10 years. My plan going in to the tourney was to play a little looser and more aggressively than normal. I wanted to pick up chips early and try to control the table. With a crew of older players in the round, I thought I was likely to be able to execute that strategy. A couple of slightly younger men showed up as the table filled. But the overall look didn’t change.

One possible downside relates to the fact that I like to talk and enjoy myself in any poker game. I doubted these old dogs would be very interactive. They hadn’t been talking at all since I had arrived. But once the action got under way, they liven up. The old guy on my right was actually a great audience for me. He laughed at everything I said. Well, the jokes, anyway. So we had a good time. Then something else happened. I picked up quality starting hands from the get go.

What the…! That wasn’t part of the plan! I was ready to get cold cards for a while and look for spots to steal and make calls in position with busting hands. Instead, I found A-Jo in late position on the very first hand. I got heads up with one of the younger guys and won the pot, showing down against his A-10 with an A on the flop. But I couldn’t make him pay much when the river brought three spades. Oh, well. Good start anyway. On the very next hand, I had A-Q. I got heads up with the same guy after he called my pre-flop raise. The flop came K-x-K. I had already figured him for K-something so I followed his check with the same. The turn didn’t matter because I wasn’t betting into this guy. He bet the turn and I surrendered the hand.

So, already, I got good cards, was playing passively (rightly so), and relinquished control. This was nothing like I had envisioned. But I know how to adjust. Things went south for me when I picked up K-K in middle position. I had a good read on the big blind. He would look at his cards as soon as they came out. So I knew he liked his hand before I even knew what I had. With blinds at 25-50 and one limper ahead of me, I opened with a raise to 200. The cut-off called (he had a chip with a picture of himself and a 15lb salmon on it, so I’ll call him the Fisherman) and it folded to the BB. He raised to 1,000. “I knew it,” I exclaimed in a mumble. The limper folded and it was on me. This is where my style comes in. I like to just call with big hands like As or Ks when I am re-raised. It really disguises the strength of the hand and gives me a chance to out play my opponent after the flop. If everything goes in pre-flop, I could be ahead with pair over pair but my opponent could turn or river one of his outs. If I just call, I could take down the pot after the flop without showing down. Most people will call all-in pre-flop with middle or high pair after they have already raised. But they’ll lay it down if the flop comes with over cards.

In this case, there was another player to consider. Since the re-raise to 1,000 was so large, I thought the Fisherman would not call after me. So I just called. But he did too. Oops! My trap play is better suited to play against one opponent. No worries. The flop came K-x-J with two clubs. I was ready to slow play this but the BB moved all-in for 2,650. I decided to just call because I actually wanted the Fisherman to call, too, since it was too expensive for him to stay in with just a flush draw (which I thought he might be on) but could call with a few other hands that were dominated. Fisherman did call. The turn brought another club and I immediately realized I was in a bad spot. But he only had about 900 left and I was first to act. I wasn’t going to lay my hand down for that amount, so I might as well bet out and hope he folds. If I were to check and he bet, I would have to call anyway. So I bet all-in and he called. I got a rebate but was now trailing to his nut flush (Ac-7c). The river didn’t pair the board and I was down to 600…crippled, as they say. BTW, the BB made a set with J-J. Tough loss for him, too.

After the hand, I asked the Fisherman if he would have folded if I had moved all-in on the flop. He said he wasn’t going anywhere once he picked up that draw. I believe that. As it turns out, the only way I could have played the hand better was to re-raise pre-flop and force the Fisherman out. I’ll definitely consider that next time this situation comes up with more than one opponent.

That’s it for now. In my next post, I’ll go over the rest of the tournament and the rest of the weekend including Anderson’s Pea Soup and more poker.

SEEYa

You're a sick individual, man.

I have been sick for a couple days and, as a result, have not fealt like writing. I have an occassional moment of inspiration every time I hear one of the Finance nerds that sit near me using a calculator. They use the kind with the print tape and they hit the keys really hard, sort of fast. I can tell they are proud of their abilities with this obsolete device. Anyway, they bug me.

But I am going to go home at lunch today, if not earlier. So maybe I'll find enough time and inspiration to write later today. Maybe I just need to finally eat something today. We'll see.

SEEYa

Poker – How to Lose

I have been meaning to write more about poker. And with the Chumash tourney just two days away, now seems like a good time to start. But how to write about it, troubles me. I don’t like detailing hand histories. I enjoy reading them but I prefer writing about the concepts involved. And I have read many blogs in which the authors only write about their successes. I tend to only want to write when I am upset or something is just eating at me (I think I’m getting better at simply writing, though.) Anyway, here it goes…

About a month ago, I was playing 3/5NLH, lower that my current regular spot (5/10NLH), at Commerce. It was a Wednesday night but the action was still quite good. You can always find a game there. I got there around 8:30pm and was in a game just before 9pm. The buy-in is fixed at $200 for that game and it tends to be pretty loose. But that’s the kind of action I like. I can try to pick some spots to limp with marginal starting hands while I look for some monsters. Nobody notices just how tight I am in that case and they’ll usually give me action when I do finally come in for a raise.

On this night, I was getting really cold cards but still finding a few to play that didn’t pan out. However, I managed to maintain my stack until a small rush hit me and I got up to around $250. Then a big hand just happened. It was one of those situations that anyone would have played the same way.

I found JJ under the gun and made my standard opening raise to $15. Very often, in this position, I won’t get action because no one else has committed anything to the pot. But this time, I got two callers from MP and the button. So now I have no position and need a small or otherwise favorable flop. That’s exactly what I got: J-5-5. With a monster like that, I just had to check and hope the aggressive player on the button would make a play at the pot. MP checked and the button did bet.

He put out $50 and I had a decision to make. Do I smooth call and hope the MP calls too? I looked at her and figured that she wasn’t going to call anyway so I might as well raise right there. I only had about $215 behind so my raise to $150 left me pot committed. I new I was only likely to get called if the button was holding A-J or A-5. But there was a flush draw on the board. So there was an outside chance of being called and having him drawing dead. In any situation, I want action.

Instead of folding or just calling my raise, the button moved all in. Of course, that is smarter than calling. He would have been committed to calling an all-in from me on the turn so he might as well get it in right there. I called and turned up my hand but he didn’t reveal his right away. The turn brought another 5 and I immediately had a bad feeling. One look at his face and the apologetic expression on it and I knew…He had it. He turned up A-5 and the table let out a collective, excited gasp followed shortly by an “OMG” sympathy response for me.

The button looked at me as if to say, “Sorry.” We had had a friendly rapport up to that point, so he felt bad. I reached into my pocket for 2 C’s for a re-buy. As I did, everyone continued to look at me with sorrow and empathy. But I wasn’t thrown. My read was correct. I was most likely to get called by a hand that had an out. As unlikely as it was, it could come. I looked around that table and said, “You all look so upset. Its OK. I got the call I wanted. Good hand.” And I meant it.

The point of this story is that losses happen. I could have treated it like many do. I could have cursed the poker gods and blamed fate for me “never catching a break.” But I know better than that. Throughout that night and every night I play poker, I get some breaks, too. Its up to me to maximize those that are in my favor, minimize those that are not, and understand “the breaks” are not the cause of long term wins and losses. Don’t lose your head when you are running bad and play your best until things swing back in your favor. That’s the way to handle it.

Side story: In the story above, MP was played by a nice woman who happened to be there with her friend, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was playing at a different table. He came over and told her they had to leave. I said, “Quick. He just sharted.” He pretended to not hear me. Now that he’s got an Oscar, maybe he can afford to play in the top section where they won’t let on to having seen Along Came Polly.

SEEYa

The Real Office Space

I’m living it.

The finance nerd who sits behind me just got up, walked over to the printer, looked at the printer’s display, and exclaimed (quite seriously), “Service error?! What’s ‘service error’?!”

Understand, he was not joking.

SEEYa (in hell)

Poker Persona

“You’re really lucky.” – Young Chumash regular
“You obviously haven’t played with me much.” – Me

That is a pretty common misconception people have about my poker game. I think its good for a couple of reasons. For one, the players who make statements like that reveal that they aren’t really paying attention. If they did, they would note that I tend to play very few hands while seated for a very long session. And anyone who says that is thinking about his luck, too.

I think those are two factors that distinguish winning players from losing players. It should go without saying that attention to people and action at the table is required to be able to make correct decisions and be a consistent winning poker player. But most people don’t seem to put it into practice. So, where I am involved, those players see me winning an occasional large pot and label me lucky, all the while ignoring the many small losses I have incurred along the way. As far as they’re concerned, I win every hand I play.

That is just not the case. Believe me, I wish it was. However many of poker players not only place a luck factor on others’ games, but they attribute their own (bad) results to that fickle lady. Luck is exactly why I have never been into playing slots. Why in the world would anyone put a significant amount of money at risk when luck is the only thing determining whether they win or lose? I wouldn’t. But that’s just me…obviously. Millions of people vacation in Vegas and throw down random amounts of green on games they don’t know how to play properly. So, even with games that can be played using methods to maximize one’s odds of winning, people ignore the possibilities (and probabilities) and hope for divine intervention.

The same thing happens at the poker table. Except poker is a game in which there are many different ways to lose money. When playing slot machines, most people either play the min or max bet consistently. So, barring a winning pull, they will lose their money at the same rate every time. Other games, like blackjack, craps, or roulette, have high enough limits that someone could lay their entire bankroll on one turn. But the average Joe places the same small bet until it is all gone because they don’t intend to risk it all.

When playing poker, Joe Average buys in intending to play a few hands and, hopefully, get lucky. Whether loose or tight, he does have a range of starting hands that he is willing to limp with or call an opening raise. One of these pretty hands will appear. When it does, whether he will win or lose is all that’s on his mind. Its only after the hand is over that he will realize how much he won or lost. So he could misplay a big hand and only win a small amount or lose a big amount. Or the opposite could occur as he misplays a bad hand and manages to win a large pot or lose a small one. There are other ways for it to go down but the key is that, in Joe’s mind, luck will only have come into play in the hands he lost.

“How did you win those other hands, Joe? Was it luck or skill? Or a combination of both? Think about it, Joe.”

Well, I do think about that. I lost that hand. Could I have played it differently and won? Or could I have lost less? And that hand that I won before, could I have played that better? Could I have extracted more chips from my opponent? He didn’t show down…Did he have me until the river and I got lucky?

So the other night at Commerce, when the friendly guy on my left suggested, after I had raised with AK and then flopped an Ace,
“You raise with that, you hit. I raise with that, nothing comes,”
my response didn’t suggest that I was not lucky…
“That’s jealously talkin’.”

I guess what I’m trying to say is, good luck at the tables.

SEEYa

Pandora - Letting Me Out of this Box

A few days ago, I found Pandora. Network security at my office doesn’t allow streaming so I can’t listen to net radio running through Real or Windows Media. But they don’t block Flash-enabled streaming. So I did a google search for “Flash Radio” and found Pandora among a few others.

I’m really diggin’ it. You create your own music stations by entering an artist name or song title. From that simple step, Pandora plays music that is similar to, or inspired by, your selection. I started with Megadeth and got a genuine heavy metal mix. No hair metal included there. Then I created a station for Skid Row, another of my favorites. But I wasn’t so happy with the result which included more modern so-called rock groups instead of bands from Skid’s era.

So, since I was now looking for some hair metal, I tried Lynch Mob. Unfortunately, they don’t have it in their db. But they do have Dokken. Close enough, I went with them and ended up with just what I was hoping for…Bands like Whitesnake, Ozzy, Winger, Ratt, Autograph, and Skid Row.

Today, I created a couple more stations. This morning was Harry Connick Jr. I found myself falling asleep. But that’s my own fault for choosing such a soothing genre. This afternoon, I created a Stevie Wonder station. Perfect! So far its played Stevie, Tower of Power, Freddie Jackson, and Maze & Frankie Beverly. Now I’m feeling a bit more energized.

This is cool, listening to music in the office without having my own CD collection in tow or draining the battery on my iPod. The only problem…Now I really need noise-canceling headphones to drown out all these people around me. Where the hell did they come from anyway? Oh, yeah. They’re pretending to work here, too.

SEEYa

Movies - Tell me watcha think

I got this idea from the Adam Carolla Show. I’m not the kind of person to call in to radio shows so I’ll share my opinions with you here. And I’d like to here what you think.

Name a movie you think is underrated.

And…

Name a movie you think is overrated.

I find it hard to narrow each of these down to just one, but I’ll force myself, starting with two comedies.

One underrated (or at least it has been limited to an underground following) movie is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. If you like Old School or 40 Year Old Virgin, you’ll like this. Its silly and smart at the same time. But mostly, its just silly. You might argue that it is well liked. But it is the least successful one from these guys.

The mere mention of the highly overrated Meet the Parents just sets me off. First of all, it has to be the worst effort from Robert De Niro. Oh, wait. Its not quite as bad as his role in Analyze This. (I don’t even want to link to that one.) But worse than that, the entire movie is based on a stupid name. I can’t believe how many of my friends actually think the name “Focker” is funny. They could have named him “Asface” and pretended it was Italian…still not funny.

I know I’m pretty much alone in my disdain for Mr. Focker. But I’ll try to back this up with a couple of examples of names made funny by context.

1) Keeping Up Appearances: This was a British TV show that still airs on BBC America or KCET from time to time. The main character is a woman named Hyacinth Bucket. She and her husband live in a modest home in a small English town but she fancies herself living a lavish and dignified lifestyle. She continually puts up a front as such, hence the title. The humor in her name, Bucket, arises as people meet her for the first time and pronounce it as it is spelled. She swiftly corrects them, reciting her preferred pronunciation, “bouquet.” It continues to be funny as it is quick and only comes up occasionally in the show.

2) High Anxiety: In this 1977 comedy which spoofs several great Hitchcock films, the main character, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (now that’s kind of funny on its own. The H stands for Harpo), runs into his old mentor, Professor Lilloman. Upon first seeing him, they excitedly react:

Professor: Richard!
Richard: Professor Little Old Man!
Professor: Lilloman. Lilloman. (mumbling; annoyed) Little old man.


Check out each of those if you can. Then let me know whether or not you agree. At the very least, you should see High Anxiety. Its brilliant.

So… Tell me what movies you think are under- or overrated.

SEEYa

Done and Done

I feel mighty productive. That’s been rare for me over the last, oh, two years or so because I have become very lazy. But I have actually taken care of some things in the last few days that just needed to be done. I could have put them off as I so often do. But I didn’t and I’m feeling good now.

(1) Got the Firebird off the street and into a repair shop. (2) Gave Kid Crash my buy-in for the Chumash tourney so he could put me in this week (He did that and mentioned it in his blog…thanks, Dude!) (3) Bought a really nice floral arrangement for my mom from 1800flowers dot com. I bought them in time so they will arrive on her birthday, today. (4) Reserved my room at Chumash for the weekend of the big tournament.

I’m really looking for to the Chumash tourney. Its not big as far as the buy-in. I’ve played in bigger tournaments. That’s for sure. But it is a big thing at that casino, only happening 3 times a year. It’s a $200 + 20 buy-in limited to 700 seats with 100 alternates. First place pays $50,000 and they pay out 100 spots. Instead of listing the entire payout structure, I’ll do the math and just tell you they seed the tournament with $10,000. And with a cap of 800 players, its not like your normal guaranteed prize fund. They have no chance of having the gap covered by extra buy-ins. I think that is pretty nice. You know what kind of field you will be up against going into it. No chance of having to best a field of 1499. No sir. There will be, at most, 799 slappy bastards in my way.

And the structure of the tournament is really good for a one day event. It starts at 9am and ends around midnight. The first level is 60 minutes and 30 minutes for each thereafter. I’ve been very patient in the early levels of this tourney in the past. But I have found after the first 4 hours of play, you need at least 4 times the starting amount (T5000) to really play right. I’ve done well in the early going of the first two of these events that I have played, accumulating around 15k in chips early on. But I was basically playing tight. And I continued to play pretty tight after building a stack. This time, I’ll be looking to play loose and really find some spots to take control. I feel really good about my game and my chances. Wish me “good poker.”

Back to my recent diligence: (5) Attacked my PC to figure out why the Ethernet card is no longer functioning. My sister recently used a crossover cable to copy all of my music to her laptop. Since then, no network connection. A quick inspection revealed the Ethernet card was not functioning properly and, in fact, was not recognized. I made several attempts to reinstall the driver to no resolve. I finally took apart the pc to reseat the card…last ditch effort. That didn’t help either. So my sister is going to pick up a new network card. It did happen on her watch, after all. I’m going to finish that up tonight. (In case you are wondering, I have been using my laptop for two weeks while the pc has been out of commission. It was easy to ignore the problem thanks to my trusty lappy.)

(6) I mounted my sister’s new TV on her bedroom wall. She got a Polaroid 32” LCD HDTV. Its one of the lower end brands in the television market but it provides a beautiful high def picture. Even non-HD channels look good. Anyway, she wanted it mounted on her wall and that kind of task usually falls squarely on my shoulders without discussion. Fortunately, she was out of town for a couple days so she could not get in the way. I had a bitch of a time trying to install the mounting bracket. I’ll spare you the gory details (I’m kinda tired of telling the story) except to tell you that I kept at it and got the job done. I finished it off when my sister came back by mounting her speakers along side the TV. Ace (my sister) is very happy with it.

I think that covers what I was able to accomplish recently. I have a few things ahead of me, too, such as re-tipping my pool cues, practicing pool, writing about pool, and hanging my bike in the garage. Sounds exciting, don’t it?

SEEYa