Stuff

"I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob."

I am so not interested in working today (Tuesday and every day following...and preceeding). I spent the weekend playing poker with Kid and, in spite of an overall loss, I find no comfort in the security of a steady job this morning. As I walked to my desk, I saw and heard all the office dwellers and was quickly reminded that I really don't belong here. There is not a single person in this place that shares any of my ideals...or at least I share none of theirs. While they all take breaks and lunches together, I consider any time away from the PC as an opportunity to separate from the herd and do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g...because anything is better than this. In other words, I have changed nothing in my life.

I'll focus on the positive for a moment.

Last weekend was all about poker. It was the last Saturday of the month which meant poker at Paul's. This time around, Paul called folks in an attempt to garner a decent showing. It wasn't as great a turnout as we have had in the past, but its a start. 14 in the first tourney and 12 in the second. With a $50 buy-in, the payouts were still nice.

I think Kid and I have, for a long time, been the best players in Paul's game. I've been pretty consistent with several wins and cashes and Kid has broken through this year. The one thing we've been trying to do is get heads up in one of these tourneys. We figured a key component to this would be starting at separate tables. Well we finally pulled it off. In the first tourney, we got heads up and I pulled out the win. But that's not all. In the second tourney, it looked like we were on our way to another 1-on-1 battle but I fell short, finishing 3rd. Kid took second for his second second of the night...a significant feat if you ask me.

The great thing about this is that we started at the same table in each tourney. We simply played really well and managed to avoid any confrontations with each other. As far as my win over Kid...how else could it have gone down? I mean, how in the hell. I'm obviously better...

OK. I'm just kidding. Truth be told, I think it comes down to timing and luck when it gets down to us. The Kid has great poker ability and I like to think I am on par. We can both change up our games as needed or on command. Whatever different skills we have, we are very similar overall. Each one of us is equally likely to bluff or trap at any moment depending on the situation or read. He doesn't give anything away. I hope I don't either. Basically, luck was my only edge.

While we were playing out our heads-up match in the first tourney, the rest of the guys got impatient. They were playing dealer's choice on the side but were eager to get the second tourney going. Every few minutes, a different person yelled out "Chop!" or "Are you guys chopping it?" Kid had already stated that he doesn't chop. I had no intention of cutting it short since we had been looking forward to this match up for so long. So we were not keen to oblige. My response to them (mostly in jest) was, "Its not our fault you're not good enough to last longer." Everyone knows I'm always joking so no one took that badly...but they may have taken it to heart as they piped down for a while.

Kid and I were planning to drive out to Morongo Casino following poker at Paul's. After finishing the first tourney, Kid asked me if I wanted to just take off right then. He was serious. I pointed out how badly that would go over seeing as everyone had been waiting at least 30 minutes for us to finish. They could have started without us if they had known. We both found the thought of it quote funny. As we sat and laughed, it was obvious we were both thinking about really doing it for the comedic value alone. In the end, we opted to stay because we wanted to be invited back.

It was a good decision since the poker weekend started with a 1st and 2nd for me and two 2nds for Kid. We finished up at Paul's after midnight and hit the road. Next stop: Morongo. Suddenly, retardation set in. On the way to the casino, I took a wrong turn. I cruised for 30 miles until I realized at 2:45 a.m. we were not headed toward Cabazon. I also was not sure where I went wrong and needed some help. But in the middle of the night, where do you go for help? I was lucky. Fred was on vacation in Hawaii! He knows his way around So Cal and would certainly still be awake. And, fortunately, he had his cell phone on. Problem solved and we were back on track. We made it to Morongo just before 4 a.m. Oh, nothing...just an hour later than expected. But we were winging it so no big deal.

Being a holiday weekend, Kid and I were sure the poker room would still be buzzing when we arrived. It was. There were three 2-5 NLH tables running with one or two open seats at each. We decided to sit in on one that had vacancies in the 2 and 3 seats. But it wasn't long before the table broke. We moved to another table where I got the 3s again and Kid filled the 6s (I think). There was a woman in the 9s who knew very little about poker and gave plenty of action (I'll call her Sally since she was fishy). I liked having her there. But Kid was in a bad mood that was only worsened by her presence. When the 4s opened up, he moved to it to get some distance from her.

We played for about 2.5 hours during which time I turned the nut flush holding Ac-4c and rivered the bottom end of a straight-flush. I only got a small payoff from it. I also called a preflop raise and flop bet against Sally with Q-Jo on the button. I flopped a gut shot on a board of 7-8-T. My intention going in was to play looser than normal...so that's what I was doing in case you are wondering. A nine came on the turn giving me the nuts. I was rather pleased when Sally moved all-in ahead of me. Of course, I called and everyone else folded. When we turned up our cards, she still thought she was good with A-J for a jack-high straight. I raked in the chips as she stared at me in disgust. She proceed to tilt off her remaining $120 by pushing all-in UTG on the very next hand. She was called by one player with a big pair. Sally had 8-7. Time to rebuy, Sal.

I picked up a great tell on Sally and shared it Kid. He didn't get an opportunity to exploit it but I did. I took another nice pot off of her holding just A-high by coming over the top of her when she had nothing. Good times.

After a while, Kid had moved to a limit game and my table got down to four-handed. We played short-handed for a while until I lost most of my profit by betting into big pairs preflop only to lay down on the flop. Those hands did enough damage.

Kid was still in a bad mood. I know that he plays his best when he is enjoying himself. So I went over and asked if he wanted to go get something to eat. I figured any reason to get away from the poker table and change things up was a good idea. And the room had died down big time. There were only three or four tables running, all small stakes.

We hit the casino's coffee shop and ate and talked over what had gone down. Its always good to hash out poker stuff with Kid. We share insights and help eachother learn a thing or two. That seemed to work for Kid since he turned things around when we got back into action. I think we played for about five more hours. He played a little differently but it wasn't all that noticable. Whatever the change, it worked. Kid turned an early loss into an overall win. I, on the other hand, played well all night and day but came out loser for a smallish amount. Still, we both had a good time.

Currently listening to: Blind Melon -- Soup

SEEYa