Sitting in Starbucks, drinking a tall mocha...no whip...and reading The Rum Diary.
I usually sit in one of the comfy wooden chairs but opted for the boothish padded thing along the wall. Its not comfortable either.
Two portly woman sat across the way and cackled at each other's stories.
Three old woman came in. One glanced at me and wondered aloud if the store was closing...I have no idea if I figured into the question.
I finished chapter 10 and gave a friend a call. Got the machine. Left a message, as you do.
Put the book down, sat back, took a sip, and tried to figure out if I wanted to keep reading.
An ambulance passed with siren blazing. That happens most nights around here. Alot of eldery folks.
I'm back at home now. Although it doesn't really feel like home as much as Starbucks does...
Its a sick world.
SEEYa
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Time to Play
I had a request to update my blog. Admittedly, it has been a while. I've been waiting for inspiration to strike. It may be on strike instead. So I'll forge on with some uninspired poker-related stuff.
Things haven't been going great for me. I still manage to play solid and make good decisions. I also recognize my mistakes...about a second after I make them. So I am doing my best. At least I can say that.
For the last few weeks, the main topic on my mind has been game selection. I realized I don't fare too well against maniacs. And there are tons of them at Commerce. So I have to tread softly. I started scouting the $400 games before electing to get on the board. This led me to choose the $200 tables more and more often. It seemed like a wise choice. I found reason to doubt that on Monday.
I arrived at 2:30pm as I normally do and took a seat in a brand new $200 game. The collection of players were very good for me. I could play my tight-aggressive game and bluff on occasion as long as I picked my spots well. That is just what I did for the better part of 6 1/2. I only missed one bet and only made one move that didn't work. I left stuck only $70. But the real bug was that my high point was +$250. That's really not bad for a $200 buy-in table but it is an insignificant amount to me. It was a lot of work getting there and it still wasn't enough.
An upswing of 125%...at a $400 table, that would be +$500. And I could book that as a good win. So I've decided I have to play higher. I need to be in the $400 game. But how do I manage playing with the nut balls? It hit me out of the blue on Tuesday. I can play at a different time. Starting in the middle of the day, most of the players in action are "players." Either that or they don't need (and therefore don't care about) money.
I used to go home after work and wait for traffic to settle around 8pm. The theory is that there are more and different players later in the night. People with day jobs only show up in the evening. Those are my prey. They don't have as much experience and still know the value of a buck. So I would now leave around 8:30 and be in action by 9pm. And I would play for as short or as long as I wanted. One of the problems with the 2pm start is that I didn't want to leave before 8ish because I would just be sitting in traffic for an hour or so. If I had a good rush within the first few hours and wanted to cut and run, I couldn't...or didn't want to. Since there is no traffic at all after my 9pm start, I can leave early if I happen to win early.
I also like the fact that I wouldn't be stuck in a casino when its nice and sunny outside. My new plan is to enjoy the daylight before hitting the road at night. Wednesday was my first go at this. In fact, I just got back. The field was exactly what I hoped for. Unfortunately, I was completely card dead but managed to come away stuck only $202. I would have kept playing but my table broke and I didn't feel like trying to learn a new table on a short stack. And maybe it just wasn't going to be my night.
He who fights and runs away...
SEEYa
Things haven't been going great for me. I still manage to play solid and make good decisions. I also recognize my mistakes...about a second after I make them. So I am doing my best. At least I can say that.
For the last few weeks, the main topic on my mind has been game selection. I realized I don't fare too well against maniacs. And there are tons of them at Commerce. So I have to tread softly. I started scouting the $400 games before electing to get on the board. This led me to choose the $200 tables more and more often. It seemed like a wise choice. I found reason to doubt that on Monday.
I arrived at 2:30pm as I normally do and took a seat in a brand new $200 game. The collection of players were very good for me. I could play my tight-aggressive game and bluff on occasion as long as I picked my spots well. That is just what I did for the better part of 6 1/2. I only missed one bet and only made one move that didn't work. I left stuck only $70. But the real bug was that my high point was +$250. That's really not bad for a $200 buy-in table but it is an insignificant amount to me. It was a lot of work getting there and it still wasn't enough.
An upswing of 125%...at a $400 table, that would be +$500. And I could book that as a good win. So I've decided I have to play higher. I need to be in the $400 game. But how do I manage playing with the nut balls? It hit me out of the blue on Tuesday. I can play at a different time. Starting in the middle of the day, most of the players in action are "players." Either that or they don't need (and therefore don't care about) money.
I used to go home after work and wait for traffic to settle around 8pm. The theory is that there are more and different players later in the night. People with day jobs only show up in the evening. Those are my prey. They don't have as much experience and still know the value of a buck. So I would now leave around 8:30 and be in action by 9pm. And I would play for as short or as long as I wanted. One of the problems with the 2pm start is that I didn't want to leave before 8ish because I would just be sitting in traffic for an hour or so. If I had a good rush within the first few hours and wanted to cut and run, I couldn't...or didn't want to. Since there is no traffic at all after my 9pm start, I can leave early if I happen to win early.
I also like the fact that I wouldn't be stuck in a casino when its nice and sunny outside. My new plan is to enjoy the daylight before hitting the road at night. Wednesday was my first go at this. In fact, I just got back. The field was exactly what I hoped for. Unfortunately, I was completely card dead but managed to come away stuck only $202. I would have kept playing but my table broke and I didn't feel like trying to learn a new table on a short stack. And maybe it just wasn't going to be my night.
He who fights and runs away...
SEEYa
Monday, September 11, 2006
A Qvicky
Poker Alert! I'm going to recap some recent goings on but without any detailed hand histories.
Poker results have been up and down for me in the past week. I started off my plan of paying cash each day before the evening tourneys with the outcome I was hoping for. First, on Tuesday, I opted for a seat in a 5NL game after waiting a while for a 10NL game and not seeing any movement on the board. It was a fortunate decision because I landed in a game full of loose-passive players and I managed to find some good cards. In my first two hours, I ran my $200 buy-in to $600. Over the remaining hour and a half of play, I worked it up to $730 by stealing.
After cashing out and paying my tournament entry, I ensured myself winner for the day. I played well in the tourney but only managed just inside of the 100 mark out of 671 entrants. But I enjoyed myself along the way.
Then, on Thursday, I returned hoping for a similar situation in a cash game and found it at another 5NL table. It seems that the 10NL is now flooded with wild, loose players who don't care about money. That's not good for me in the long run. So the 5NL may offer the best chance of finding a passive group that I can take advantage of. Again, I ran my stack up to $650 in about 3 hours. Then I grinded it up to $750 in another hour in which I didn't actually have very good cards. In the end, I cashed out for a hair over $700.
Again, I was able to book a profit before the tournament started so I was happy with that. This time, the tourney didn't go as well for me. I had a hyper-aggressive guy on my right who limped and pushed all-in over the top of my late-position raise before the flop. I figured to have the best hand but he knew I couldn't call. He made the same play at someone else with the same result then started chatting with me about how I should have done that in another spot. I stayed away from him as much as possible.
Then who should get moved to my table? None other than Heather. My god. What are the chances? And Amir was at a table nearby in a seat that put her close to him too (he had some of her action and a last-longer). Funny thing, I kept finding hands on her big blind and raised in that position several times. She gave me hell for it.
Also at my table was a kid that I was sure I had played with at Chumash. I remembered how he really liked to pull off a bluff. In talking with him and others, it became apparent that he wasn't just a kid from Chumash. He was Jeff Madsen...the wonder kid from Santa Barbara who won two bracelets at the WSOP this year. I guess his tournament style is far from his cash style because he pretty much played straight forward, looking for good starting hands.
Madsen got short stacked but managed to double through once and drag the blinds a couple more times. Then he stuck it all in again on my big blind. As it was folding around to me, I joked, "I aint afraid of you." Then I looked at my cards and instantly said I call. He had A-9. I had J-J. Mine held up. So the big story of the week is that I knocked Jeff Madsen out of a tourney. Oh...I'm also pretty sure that Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) from Grease was on the bike next to me at the gym on Friday. I'm 99% sure it was him.
Its been quite a "Jeff" week.
SEEYa
Poker results have been up and down for me in the past week. I started off my plan of paying cash each day before the evening tourneys with the outcome I was hoping for. First, on Tuesday, I opted for a seat in a 5NL game after waiting a while for a 10NL game and not seeing any movement on the board. It was a fortunate decision because I landed in a game full of loose-passive players and I managed to find some good cards. In my first two hours, I ran my $200 buy-in to $600. Over the remaining hour and a half of play, I worked it up to $730 by stealing.
After cashing out and paying my tournament entry, I ensured myself winner for the day. I played well in the tourney but only managed just inside of the 100 mark out of 671 entrants. But I enjoyed myself along the way.
Then, on Thursday, I returned hoping for a similar situation in a cash game and found it at another 5NL table. It seems that the 10NL is now flooded with wild, loose players who don't care about money. That's not good for me in the long run. So the 5NL may offer the best chance of finding a passive group that I can take advantage of. Again, I ran my stack up to $650 in about 3 hours. Then I grinded it up to $750 in another hour in which I didn't actually have very good cards. In the end, I cashed out for a hair over $700.
Again, I was able to book a profit before the tournament started so I was happy with that. This time, the tourney didn't go as well for me. I had a hyper-aggressive guy on my right who limped and pushed all-in over the top of my late-position raise before the flop. I figured to have the best hand but he knew I couldn't call. He made the same play at someone else with the same result then started chatting with me about how I should have done that in another spot. I stayed away from him as much as possible.
Then who should get moved to my table? None other than Heather. My god. What are the chances? And Amir was at a table nearby in a seat that put her close to him too (he had some of her action and a last-longer). Funny thing, I kept finding hands on her big blind and raised in that position several times. She gave me hell for it.
Also at my table was a kid that I was sure I had played with at Chumash. I remembered how he really liked to pull off a bluff. In talking with him and others, it became apparent that he wasn't just a kid from Chumash. He was Jeff Madsen...the wonder kid from Santa Barbara who won two bracelets at the WSOP this year. I guess his tournament style is far from his cash style because he pretty much played straight forward, looking for good starting hands.
Madsen got short stacked but managed to double through once and drag the blinds a couple more times. Then he stuck it all in again on my big blind. As it was folding around to me, I joked, "I aint afraid of you." Then I looked at my cards and instantly said I call. He had A-9. I had J-J. Mine held up. So the big story of the week is that I knocked Jeff Madsen out of a tourney. Oh...I'm also pretty sure that Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) from Grease was on the bike next to me at the gym on Friday. I'm 99% sure it was him.
Its been quite a "Jeff" week.
SEEYa
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Thought Scotch
"...Because I'm allowed to."
I just finished watching City Hall. Excellent. Have you seen it? No? Well, then, come over some time and I'll watch it again with you. Its one of those flicks that makes a glass of good scotch so inviting. On Friday, I rescued a bottle of Macallan Fine Oak 10 from a friend's house. I went for two pours of it through my private viewing of the movie tonight. Good times.
I'm thinking about inviting some friends over this Sunday for a repeat screening. While I'm at it, the invite goes out to any of "my loyal 3." Leave a comment if you'd like to come.
The quote above is from Paul F. Tompkins' Driven to Drink. If you happen across it on HBO, check it out. Its a great one man show. Just the thought of it makes me want to go to the Yard.
Before City Hall, I tried watching Dancing at the Blue Iguana. I couldn't watch the whole thing because, while there are several great actresses putting forth their best renditions of screwed up stripper lives, the first 30 minutes passed without a hint of plot. Channel change.
This afternoon, I went to the local Starbucks to get a now-rare coffee and banana bread and do some reading. I finished reading The Tender Bar yesterday so today I started Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary. One of the few regular workers that I know was there and he gave me a discount for now particular reason. Then the girl who was making my tall mocha caught herself as she accidentally made it with 5 shots and almost served it. I told her that I don't have caffeine much any more and, with that, I would have finished the book I just started. Got a laugh out of her with a different comment that followed.
Got my coffee and bread and was well into chapter two when she (must find out her name even though she is most likely gay), on her way out for a smoke, saw what I was reading and exclaimed, "The Rum Diary. Yeah!" We low-fived and that was that. Afterward, I thought I might have appeared standoffish since I didn't say anything beyond, "Yup." But I think since she read the book, she knows. Its all cool.
As I'm writing this, Blue Iguana is on again but its further along...still no sign of a plot.
Night all. SEEYa
I just finished watching City Hall. Excellent. Have you seen it? No? Well, then, come over some time and I'll watch it again with you. Its one of those flicks that makes a glass of good scotch so inviting. On Friday, I rescued a bottle of Macallan Fine Oak 10 from a friend's house. I went for two pours of it through my private viewing of the movie tonight. Good times.
I'm thinking about inviting some friends over this Sunday for a repeat screening. While I'm at it, the invite goes out to any of "my loyal 3." Leave a comment if you'd like to come.
The quote above is from Paul F. Tompkins' Driven to Drink. If you happen across it on HBO, check it out. Its a great one man show. Just the thought of it makes me want to go to the Yard.
Before City Hall, I tried watching Dancing at the Blue Iguana. I couldn't watch the whole thing because, while there are several great actresses putting forth their best renditions of screwed up stripper lives, the first 30 minutes passed without a hint of plot. Channel change.
This afternoon, I went to the local Starbucks to get a now-rare coffee and banana bread and do some reading. I finished reading The Tender Bar yesterday so today I started Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary. One of the few regular workers that I know was there and he gave me a discount for now particular reason. Then the girl who was making my tall mocha caught herself as she accidentally made it with 5 shots and almost served it. I told her that I don't have caffeine much any more and, with that, I would have finished the book I just started. Got a laugh out of her with a different comment that followed.
Got my coffee and bread and was well into chapter two when she (must find out her name even though she is most likely gay), on her way out for a smoke, saw what I was reading and exclaimed, "The Rum Diary. Yeah!" We low-fived and that was that. Afterward, I thought I might have appeared standoffish since I didn't say anything beyond, "Yup." But I think since she read the book, she knows. Its all cool.
As I'm writing this, Blue Iguana is on again but its further along...still no sign of a plot.
Night all. SEEYa
Monday, September 04, 2006
Constant Revelation
I like that for a title. Came up with it on the way home from Commerce just now. You see, I'm still running bad. I think I'm playing well, making good decisions, but the cards are cold and the overall results are dismal. And when things are going like that, you end up in your own head. Always thinking about what you've done and what you should do next. I manage to avoid second guessing myself or playing scared or tilting but I find myself in a state of perpetual analysis. So I am always thinking and unable to just be in the moment. Imagine if you were constantly having revelations. It would mean you're thinking every minute of the day to arive at one and then analyze it until reaching the next one.
I feel like I'm in that space...except without the defining moments of epiphany. It sucks to be there. I am confident in what I'm doing but consistently aware of it. It makes it tough to fall asleep or focus on reading a book. And the hours at the poker tables seem like days.
The results I have been thinking about are the two buy-ins I just dropped in 7 hours of play, two negative days of play at Chumash (small losses), and another dip into two buy-ins at Commerce before that. I just came off a week of not playing so I could focus on getting in better physical shape and wait out a bit of this bad streak. Oh well.
I've got to keep at it because I know things will turn around. I'm very pleased with the way I am handling it both physically and financially. I'm planning on playing quite a bit over the next month as the California State Poker Championship tournament series will be running at Commerce starting this Tuesday. I'll be arriving early to play for cash before the tournaments start at 6pm each day. They are mostly $330 buy-ins so I'll hopefully make that each day before having to pony up. If not, I'll just try to play as many of the tourneys as I can without cutting to far into my shrinking bankroll. While I am running bad in general, I feel confident that I can work around that in some tourney play. A mixture of tight and loose and an occasional bit of luck and I may find my way to a final table or two.
A big thanks to Kid Crash for letting me stay at his place in SB while I was up there to play in the big tourney at Chumash. I also would have been stuck for the trip if not for him. I staked him in the $200 buy-in games on Thurday and Friday nights and took half his action. He played great and turned a profit for us each night. I swear, he's a better poker player than me. I saw it first hand, sitting to his left for close to 16 hours.
Its beddy bye boze time. SEEYa
I feel like I'm in that space...except without the defining moments of epiphany. It sucks to be there. I am confident in what I'm doing but consistently aware of it. It makes it tough to fall asleep or focus on reading a book. And the hours at the poker tables seem like days.
The results I have been thinking about are the two buy-ins I just dropped in 7 hours of play, two negative days of play at Chumash (small losses), and another dip into two buy-ins at Commerce before that. I just came off a week of not playing so I could focus on getting in better physical shape and wait out a bit of this bad streak. Oh well.
I've got to keep at it because I know things will turn around. I'm very pleased with the way I am handling it both physically and financially. I'm planning on playing quite a bit over the next month as the California State Poker Championship tournament series will be running at Commerce starting this Tuesday. I'll be arriving early to play for cash before the tournaments start at 6pm each day. They are mostly $330 buy-ins so I'll hopefully make that each day before having to pony up. If not, I'll just try to play as many of the tourneys as I can without cutting to far into my shrinking bankroll. While I am running bad in general, I feel confident that I can work around that in some tourney play. A mixture of tight and loose and an occasional bit of luck and I may find my way to a final table or two.
A big thanks to Kid Crash for letting me stay at his place in SB while I was up there to play in the big tourney at Chumash. I also would have been stuck for the trip if not for him. I staked him in the $200 buy-in games on Thurday and Friday nights and took half his action. He played great and turned a profit for us each night. I swear, he's a better poker player than me. I saw it first hand, sitting to his left for close to 16 hours.
Its beddy bye boze time. SEEYa
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