Chutney Hut

Vacation, all I ever wanted

2008-06-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I posted here; my other interests have been consuming all of my free time, and writing posts has not seemed so important. I haven't played in many blogger tournaments lately, because ~~my FTP bankroll has become totally depleted from playing in blogger tournaments~~ I needed a break. I did win one of those satellites to a satellite in the Poker Stars WSOP run-up, and then traded in some WSOP $ for real $ with some guy on 2+2. I don't know why they don't just have a trade-in directly on the site; Full Tilt charges 5% for their trade-in, so they might make a bit of money. Anyway, I'm trying to build up some money in my FTP account, but it's not working out so well at the moment.

I also started another blog at Green Chutney, to chronicle our attempts to become less wasteful. Even that has been slow this month, as I have also started reading the political blogs, such as Daily Kos. Poker has sure been a shroud over my eyes the past 4 years, as I glanced at the headlines in the Globe or Times, and spent all of my free time playing and/or reading about poker. Now, I'm still playing some, and I'm still reading most of the poker blogs that I've read over the past couple of years, but I'm letting posts build up, or only hitting my favorites if I have just a few minutes in the morning. Now, I've been reading only the front section of the Globe or Times in depth, and read Daily Kos quite a bit. I barely watch any television at all -- I'll flip on a poker show at 11:00 at night, or watch the new green channel for a little while before bed.

It's a very scary world out there, and most people in the United States are so concerned with their next purchase of a plastic/electronic piece of junk, or whether their new "outfit" makes their boobs look good, or complaining about gas prices, that they have no clue how good they have it. Try getting beaten, tortured or raped for supporting a particular political candidate. Or being born with AIDS. Or contracting malaria, as 300-500 million people will this year.

We're on vacation this week, off to the Cape for a few days, then back. We were planning to drive down to Maryland, but Granny's recent health problems make it more sensible for us to remain close to home. I think I will bring the laptop, so I can catch up on all my reading and writing. It's going to be nice to sit in the ocean, bake in the sun, and wake up late every morning. It has been my goal all year to use up all of my time off. Just to keep up with where I was last year, I will have to take something like 27 days off. At the end of next year, I will be eligible for a 3-week sabbatical in addition to regular time off. So 2010 may involve a nice 2-month vacation. Something to look forward to.

Lost

2008-05-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm not Lost, but I have watched the show since the beginning, and I'm still very confused. If you enjoy the show, and want to get unconfused about it, check out Julius Goat's blog. His commentary is often incisive and always funny. He promises to have an uber-post up by tomorrow or so. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the Lost episodes from the past.

I'm going to play in Kat's Donkament tonight, as she has promised to continue the tradition. Yay! Thanks Kat!

I've played a few Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Turbo Sit-n-Go tournaments lately, and have been doing OK. In one instance, I mistakenly signed up for a Holdem tournament instead, and won that one. However, in the BBT3, I've been doing terribly lately. I busted out on the first hand of one tournament. It was my first and only hand of No-limit Omaha Hi-Lo -- this was a while ago, but I'll try to remember. I had T987, with 2 suits, and I said to myself, Oh no, this is not going to be pretty. I limped, someone raised, the big blind called, and I called. This is not a great hand because of all the middle cards, but it's such a tempting hand, because you can have a ton of draws. Of course the flop gave me the flush, an open-ended straight flush draw, and two pair for a draw to a full house. I bet out and the big blind called. Not great for me, as this should have signaled me that he had a higher flush. The turn gave me 3 pair and one more out, for a total of 7 as it turns out. The big blind bet, and I pushed all in, and of course my opponent called with the nut flush plus a low draw. The river gave me 4 pair, as I couldn't suck out, and lost all my chips on my only hand ever of NLO8. That gives me a winrate of -10,000 big blinds per 100 hands lifetime in NLO8.

The last tournament of the BBt3 is this Sunday, in Miami Don's Big Game. I guess I'll try to win a token and see if I can cash in the last tournament.

Bankroll management

2008-05-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

I definitely have a problem with bankroll management. Before we went to Europe, I stashed my bancake in a file folder, and then forgot where I put it. No problem, I haven't been playing any live poker, so I didn't miss it. I think just before we left, I made a deposit on Poker Stars, and made a mental note to transfer the cash from my bancake to my lunch money or to the wife's lunch money, or whatever. OK, fine. The other day, I went to make the transfer, and couldn't find it anywhere. I went through all the usual hiding places, and finally, it dawned on me as I was coming downstairs after having cleaned out my sock drawer for the third time, I put it in a file somewhere! So I quickly dug it out, made the transfer to my pocket, and put it back in its regular hiding place. (I'm not sure why I felt the cleaners would my money while we were in Europe; we're often not here when they are, and they've never taken it before.)

Later, changed into shorts, because it was a warm day, and I had to drive my son to baseball practice or a game. I stuck the lunch money in my shorts, just in case. The next morning, I brought the laundry down, and went to work with no lunch money! Oh, I also had to renew my license, so it's a good thing they take credit cards! The next day I also went to work with no lunch money! I stopped at the ATM machine and entered my PIN number. Finally when I got home that night, I went down and fished my money out of my shorts. This is the second time in the last few weeks that I have had to rescue wads of twenties from the laundry -- the first time, the machine was running, and I had to stop it just in time. Those laundered bills are always a little smaller, I guess because they use cotton in the paper.

Sheesh, what a dope.

Wii are Faam-a-lii

2008-05-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Wii've had our Wii for a few wiiks now, and I don't think the kids have watched more than a couple of hours of television in total since then. So I guess that is one check box in its favor. I think the last video game console that I owned was an original 8-bit Nintendo that I got second-hand from a teenager who was buying the next version. This was back in 1992 or so. It's good to see how far the graphics have come since then -- umm, at least Mario had arms, right? What is it with the floating hands in the baseball game? The kids received it right after wii got back from Amsterdam, on my daughter's birthday. It was after wii had already celebrated her birthday, and shii had opened her presents, and they flipped out.

It's fun playing baseball or tennis or bowling with the kids, and there's a ton more to explore. Wii just got the Wii Fit on the day after it came out (I think, Coffii Jones put her name on a waiting list.) I did my initial evaluation, and it said I'm 52 years old in Wii years. That's not so good. So I punched in a goal to lower my BMI from 23 point something to 22 point something over four wiiks. OK, two days later, I did it again, and I'm down to 36 Wii years old. Must have been all that biir and wiine I drank last night! Now the crazy thing is that my 10-year-old son has a goal to lose 4 pounds, and his BMI is only 15! I'll bet Ana and Mia are happy about the new Wii Fit. I told him hii's a kid, and should be gaining weight, not losing it.

I enjoy some of the balance games; two of them are skiing related. After a few sessions, more routines are opened up. The rhythmic boxing one may make one break a sweat eventually. Other than that, it's not much of a workout. Some of the strength routines are OK (female trainer, view from behind, LDO.) There's one that involves pushups on the board, and then twisting your body over while supporting yourself with one hand. I don't usually do pushups with my hands flat on the floor, as it hurts my wrists, so I grab the edge of the board. There's another one that involves resting your foreams on the board, and then keeping your body in a pushup-like position for a set amount of time. On that one, I scored couch potato! Hmm... I haven't tried the yoga yet, and I'm not sure how they integrate the board into a yoga routine. One thing that is a little annoying is the shortness of the routines, and the length of time between routines. 4-5 clicks with a few seconds between each click can make your 30-minute "workout" turn into 40-45 minutes.

Overall, I think the Wii is a good addition for our familii, and it is slightly better for the kids to be jumping around swinging their arms than sitting on the couch when getting their scriin time.

Poker Stars freerolls

2008-05-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've tried a couple of the WSOP freerolls on Poker Stars, and made it to the low 200's out of 3400 tonight. With the blinds and antes escalating so fast, it quickly becomes a luckfest, but with some good opportunities for stealing with an all-in raise after a couple of limpers. There's also the dead money players, who are sitting out during the first few levels. There were a couple of these at my first two tables, and I noticed a strategy by one player to minraise in early position when the dead money was in the blinds. That might be a decent strategy, as you can shut out some of the players who would call for their share of the dead money, but you are not committing too many chips in case of a reraise. If I ever get some dead money directly to my left, I'll have to try a reraise steal when I notice a player using this strategy.

I'm not sure why I'm playing in these freerolls, as I won't be able to go to Vegas during the Main Event anyway. We're heading off to a retired friend's retirement party house on the Cape around then. And then driving to Maryland and back.

How to win the Donkament

2008-05-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

I won Kat's Donkament last night, and need to update my donkament strategy, which I previously posted.

Step 1: Make sure you play the "next 5 hands all in" when Kat sez so. I did this (or at least called the all-in) all 11 times, and built up massive karma points for ...

Step 2: Get crazy good cards, and have them hold up:

Hand	# of times	Win%
AA	5	100
AKs	1	100
AKo	1	100
AQo	6	100
ATs	3	67
Etc.	Etc.	Etc.

Step 3: Double up against the chip leader, and become the new chip leader.

Step 4: Flop the nut flush heads up, and have your opponent bluff you off of your "draw".

Step 5: Profit!!! Or, maybe not, maybe just get back some of the cash that I've burned off in the weekly Friday night tournament. If I'm anywhere close to break-even, I'm way ahead life-wise. It's my favorite tournament of the week -- nice start time, great format, and friendly people who will not go ballistic if you make a bad play.

Today I did a lot of yard work, including pulling up almost all of the wild garlic (I think that's what it is), gathering and bagging or cutting up all the sticks, and starting on the raking and dandelion pulling. I don't remember this many sticks last year; it seems as though all of our trees dropped a branch or two over the winter. Anyway, I'm way behind on house stuff, partly due to being in Europe for vacation instead of at home. So, I worked all day, and into the evening, and now I'm about ready to fall asleep.

Minraises

2008-05-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm getting killed by minraises, in tournaments and cash games. There are at least two types of minraises, the clueless minraise and the minraise that wants you to call. What the hell are you going to do with a minraise? Reraise? Call? Fold? Rewinding to check behind or to check in hopes that he will slowplay his monster would be the best option, but I don't have that button. I was so frustrated last night that I ejaculated insults at my opponents while trying to watch television with Coffee Jones. She told me to STFU, and not get so upset. I guess I must have been on tilt. It's not the beats that get me, it when I play bad, or when someone outplays me continually that I get frustrated. Time to change tables I guess.

I'm playing in another BBT3 tournament tonight, the Riverchasers. After my quick start, I haven't done much lately. I decided after the first few weeks not to play in the later starting and/or more expensive events, so that leaves two tournaments a week, starting at 9:00 and 9:30. That's not too bad, and the way I've been playing, leaves plenty of time for sleep.

Spatial relationships

2008-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Driving in the U.K. was difficult, because my brain has a model built up of what a car is, and the model includes everything from where my body should be in relation to side of the road, how to make a left turn, how to pull out into a gap in the fast lane, and everything else that is completely automatic about driving in my usual milieu. When plunked into a wide SUV on narrow roads with cars parked on both sides, and asked to drive on the wrong side of the road with the shift lever on the wrong side, my mental model breaks down, and I have to use brain power just to keep the car's position and velocity approximately correct. Brain power that is normally used for things like reading signs, navigating, talking, eating, or looking for cool stuff. It can be exhausting. After each long drive, I would ask when my next driving assignment was, and upon hearing that it was more than 12 hours away, I would crack open that first (refrigerated) beer. Glass to lips is another one of those automatic actions!

We drove from Fountain's Abbey to Newcastle to catch the ferry, and my toture was almost over for the vacation. Just one last exercise in navigation -- dropping off the rental in downtown Newcastle. So I asked a friendly bobby, and he pointed to a large entertainment building and said to follow it around, but don't go in the far right lane. So I did this, went straight, and then noticed that the building was fading off to my left. So, with the rental car place less than one block in front of me, and probably visible if I had been looking at it, I made the next left, and wandered around for a while. Finally, I pulled into a parking lot, and called the rental company. As I was describing where I was, I saw a sign down the hill with the the word Westmoreland in the name of a business. Since Westmoreland was the name of the street the rental place was on, I was happy. The employee said they were right across the street from that building. Once I dropped off the car, I asked where the train station was, and she pointed at this large building, when I realized -- Doh! -- it was only 2 blocks back to where I had asked the cop for directions. I also remembered the map that I had looked at on the web before the trip, when the rental location looked real close to the train station. So now I have a great, but probably useless mental model of downtown Newcastle.

We took a bus from the train station to the ferry terminal, and boarded the ferry. The security guys gave me the full frisk, but did not touch the rest of my family. Maybe my "angry liberal" attitude shows when I come in contact with papers-please-asking control freaks. Anyway, the ship was much nicer than we thought it would be. We were expecting something akin to the Scotia Prince, but it was closer to the Norwegian Majesty. Unfortunately, the casino was not as good as the ones on the aforementioned vessels. So, no poker for Daddy. I chatted with the ~~potential child molester~~ Kids' Club pirate character, making sure he wasn't going to take my daughter to find any "special treasure." I did this by juggling three balls to show that I could hold my own in any potential entertainer-vs.-parent battles. He said that his son is also a juggler, and they sometimes perform in Amsterdam, so I felt that was enough to leave them alone for a little while at least.

We slept like crap, possibly because we were so far down as to qualify as ballast in case the ship was riding too low in the water. I tried to determine whether we were under water, and I'm guessing that we were not. We were on deck 2, with just 1, engine room, bilge, and Davey Jones levels below us. I don't know, is it legal to have passengers below water level on a ferry?

When we got to Amsterdam, we dropped the bags at the hotel office, and went to get some lunch. We ended up buying the canal boat tickets for the day, up to noon the following day. When we got back to the office, the ~~bitch who cheated me~~ manager told us that our houseboat was unavailable! What the frickin' frick?! After some discussions, we ended up taking a 2-bedroom apartment for 200 euros a night. Not what we wanted, but who wants to go traipsing around Amsterdam with 5 people looking for rooms at 5:00 in the afternoon. Make that 17.00. Well, she will be getting a horrible review from me on the travel site where I found the Amsterdam House.

Our standard operating procedure in Amsterdam was to walk for an hour, then eat for an hour. Repeat until overcome by sleep. We took it pretty easy, as I only dragged the family through one museum. My wife was quite taken with the architecture in the city center, and also by the cafe lifestyle. I met her shortly after arriving back in the U.S. from having lived in Amsterdam for the better part of a year, and I would throw in Dutch phrases here or there, and regale her with stories of sitting around drinking biertjes or coffees outside at one of the pleins. Now she understands how cool it really is. However, it was cheap back then. A small beer was maybe 2 or 3 guilders, and the dollar was worth 1.8 guilders. Nowadays, a small beer is 2 or 3 euros, and the euro is worth 1.6 dollars. According to a friend, when they switched to euros, everything went way up in price, as they just erased the ƒ symbol and replaced it with the € symbol. So that's almost a tripling of prices in 15 years. Maybe that's not a lot, but it seems like it to me.

I was disoriented somewhat, because my memories of exact street locations and orientation of the major pleins are faulty. I still have the basic shape of the city correctly mapped, as I used to study the map for dozens of minutes per week. I used to be one of these young people casually avoiding getting run down by a bicyclist or taxi. But now, I'm just another tourist gawking at the buildings and people, and getting dinged at by said cyclists. I had the location of Rembrantplein right, but the British pub was in a corner rotated 90 degrees from where I remember it. It's very strange how memory can work. The school where I took Dutch classes now is missing the large set of stone steps that I remember on the outside of it (or maybe they were on the inside?)

My wife remarked about how good-looking everyone was, and I craftily told her I hadn't really noticed. She wants to go back, and I would not mind, as a starting point for a nice sabbatical in 2010. The funniest part of the trip was a small moment where I was in Leidseplein with my son, looking for a newsstand, and I wandered into the Bulldog, a famous coffeeshop. There were a couple of tables of potheads with fancy-looking marijuana ready to roll, and I quickly turned tail. Perhaps strangely to some, I didn't take a single puff, toke, or bong hit the entire time I lived in Amsterdam, although friends would regularly offer it. The Bulldog seemed to have moved to the other side of the plein, and I think the nearby McDonalds was in the same place, but turned into a Burger King.

On the last full day, we took the train to The Hague to meet a friend of my wife. We had some poffertjes, little pancakes with butter and sugar:

Here's what they looked like when complete:
I'm not too into the sugar, but the buttery goodness was irresistible. If you like both buttery and sugary goodness, then poffertjes are for you.

We walked right through the Dutch Parliament building's courtyard, with no security other than some anti-vehicle posts and some video cameras. That is in stark contrast to the metal-detector/buffer zones around the U.S. Congress and White House.

Then we did take the tram (which I mistakenly omitted from my previous post) to Madurodam, which is a miniature city covering a couple of acres, and comprising many famous buildings from many Dutch cities. At first I thought it was very lame, but as I wandered around, it kind of grew on me. The buildings are quite detailed, and there are so many of them. What is the mentality of a person who works on a miniature city? Do they stand in front of the real building for hours? Do they just work from pictures? Do they imagine themselves as small people standing in front of the small building? Does Elmo know? Does Dorothy know?

Maintenance

2008-04-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

We got back from our European vacation on Saturday, and then immediately went into full blown activity mode. When you ignore items, the items rust and rot away, and then mushrooms and insects start to spontaneously generate thereupon, until, voilà, the roof is leaking, the front bumper of the car falls off during a downpour when the car is supposed to be picking up the kids at school, and you have 758 emails to delete. Maintenance is hard, though, so the fewer items you give yourself to maintain, the better off you are. That is why Phil Hellmuth is so good at No-Limit Holdem tournaments, and why NASCAR drivers can do a pit stop in 12 seconds. Focus is the key; multitasking is evil.

We had a great time in England and Holland for 9 days. We traveled by car, shuttle bus, airplane, car on the wrong side of the road, foot, ferry boat, bus, canal boat, and train. Strangely, we did not travel by tram or bicycle while we were in Amsterdam. We waited in many lines, and were usually last in line, since we had five people, three of whom were outside the first standard deviation for quickness.

First, we flew from Boston To Amsterdam, then changed planes, and flew from Amsterdam to Manchester. It took us quite a while to get through immigration and customs, because of the aforementioned outliers. Then, it took us a while to get our car, then we had to get some food and try to find a bathroom in the under construction terminal. Finally, we hit the (wrong side of the) road, and 242 rotaries later, we arrived at Studley Royal, which is a deer park near Fountain's Abbey in Yorkshire. We stayed in the Chorister's House:

The deer were all over the place, as were the giant old trees, several of which had fallen. It's not a forest, but more of a field with big trees scattered about. They leave the fallen trees as part of the "ecosystem", but the smaller trees have fences around them, presumably to prevent the deer from destroying them. Here's a pic of the largest diameter tree near the house:

That's my ten-year-old son standing in front of the tree, so as you can see, one of the pieces that had fallen was about four feet in diameter, and the main trunk was probably ten feet in diameter.

We had a couple of days of parties, including a trip to the nearby Lightwater Valley amusement park, which boasts the longest roller coaster in Europe, or maybe the longest wooden one in the world -- something like that. The kids did great, with my son going on everything that I did, and my daughter trying many more rides than I thought she would.

Then we had the big event, Magdalen's wedding. You can see her recap and photos at her blog. It was a beautiful day, the first since we had arrived, sunny and warm. After a nice short ceremony, we went down to the foyer of the Fountain's Hall and had a Pimm's cup, which was quite good. My wife brought home a bottle last time she went, so we'll have to serve that on nice hot summer days here in New England. We wandered around the ruins of Fountain's Abbey, which is very impressive:

I think I'll just stop here, and write another post about Amsterdam.

Counting down

2008-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

We're headed to England and Holland in a few days, so the weekend was spent in a mad scramble to get things done before we leave. We're going to Magdalen's wedding in Yorkshire, at Fountain's Abbey, staying in the Corrister's House in Studley Royal. The bachelor party will be at an amusement park, so probably no strippers, though you never know. At the same time, for the ladies, there will be a tea party. My daughter has her choice between the two, and she says it is a very hard choice. Maybe for you it is, kid, but my decision is made. It's not that the rides and midway games are calling me, but more that I don't really like tea. :-) I can't wait to experience carny shock -- that feeling of knowing you are being completely ripped off as you pay $5 to throw 3 dull darts at Hoppity-Hop-thickness balloons in a vain attempt to win a plastic lei -- except this time, in pounds sterling. I'm not sure my aging heart will be able to handle it, when I multiply everything by 2.

After the wedding, we take a ferry from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Amsterdam's ferry terminal, from which we take a bus to Centraal Station. We will stay on a houseboat for a few days -- the price seemed reasonable when expressed in Euros, but yikes! We will be looking at museums and historical places, and taking a side trip to The Hague, where we will visit with the wife of a war crimes tribunal lawyer. I will probably not get to play any PLO against the Europeans while I am there, and that is very likely a good thing for me. Who knows what could happen to my pathetic US dollar-denominated "bancake" if I tried to puff it up to meet the buy-in for a 1/2 Euro game.

I will also miss playing in a bunch of blogger tournaments, such as the Riverchasers on Thursday, Kat's Donkament on Friday, and the Skills game on Tuesday. There is no way I'm bringing a computer with me on this trip -- what would the point be? OK, I suppose to write about my wonderful experiences. But doesn't that detract from the experience sometimes? I think so. We're not even bringing the better camera, because it's too big. I'm still not so sure about that decision, but I guess the little Canon does OK, and it has the wide-angle lens. I looked into posting photos or text from my cell phone, but, I have a lame cell phone, so no dice. In fact, it won't even work over there, so we are renting cell phones from Verizon Wireless for free*. We pay a per-minute charge of $0.99-1.29, but no rental fee, and no shipping charges. Of course, the battery in our doorbell pick this morning to die, so I haven't got my hands on the phones yet...

Well, in any case, no posts until I get back, and then I will have a few up my sleeve.

:wq

Red light district

2008-04-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about whores a lot lately. We're going to Amsterdam, so we may catch a glimpse of a real-life prostitute. We'll be staying less than 1/2 a mile from the Heineken Brouwerij, so we may just "get lost" on the way back to the houseboat. Of course, I would never go there on purpose. Or would I? I just may be in the window myself, as I accept money for acts that I would not otherwise do in my full time job. Nothing illegal or unseemly, mind you, but the mere fact that I toil under the yoke of a corporate master makes me a whore.

Let me think about the non-whores in my life: my wife, who several years ago quit her day job to buy a needlework business (previously her hobby, and something she loves); my mother, who retired and now is able to do her art full time; my mother-in-law, who retired, and now volunteers for the ACLU; my sister, who quit her day job, and does lots of crafty stuff now; my sister-in-law, who took a retirement package and now is a freelancer. All of them do what they love for zero through quite a bit of money, money that does not have to be split with a pimp. And I am turning tricks for the man, turning wave after wave of brain activity into cold hard cash for the shareholders.

Don't get me wrong; I am a high-paid hooker, but, to paraphrase that famous someone who once said to the Duchess of something, we've established what you are sir, now we just have to establish the price.

There is a bonus currently available on PokerStars, and so now the low-limit tables are full of bonus-whoring rocks. The tables went from fairly loose to very tight in one day. So, I will make the deposit on the last day before we go to Amsterdam, and wait until the sharks have disappeared before I work on my low-priced tricks.

My cash game win streak continued after leaving Vegas, as I was up each day until the streak finally broke on Tuesday. I'm starting a new streak, though, on Full Tilt, while I wait for the blood on Poker Stars to dissipate.

:wq

Fool in Vegas

2008-04-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Synopsis:

A quick trip to Vegas to play poker. I played a lot of poker.

By the numbers:

Door-to-door round trip time: 62 hours
Poker time: 26 hours
Total air travel-related time: 20 hours
Total non-airplane sleep: 10 hours

This trip really started in October of 2006, when my then-boss' boss needed a booth bimbo for a conference in Vegas. I volunteered, and because of that trip, earned
enough frequent flyer points for a free ticket. I delayed using the ticket until it was ready to expire, and even tried to give it away to several family members, to no avail. Like the island in 'Lost', Vegas was pulling me back, and nothing would stand in the way of its magnetic powers. Vegas was circling for the kill as I booked a two nights for the price of one room at the Palms, right in the mouth of the shark. I was determined to feed off the shark as a remora does, rather than be chomped by it, as a porpoise is. In and out for a quick bite of no-limit hold 'em cash games, plus a tournament, with no extra-curricular activities, drinking binges, blackjack or roulette.

It was a challenge to myself to see if I can handle playing against real poker players in no-limit games. I've only played live no-limit cash games on a small cruise ship, against some pretty bad players. Vegas would be completely different, as the wise guys, wanna-be pros, and other serious players mix with the online players and the occasional tourist. Why do I want to challenge myself like this? I guess I would like to be able to walk into any poker room, live or online, sit down, and have a better than average chance of winning money. To do that, I will have to play against players that are better than I, and learn how they do it.

I planned to play only 1/2 no-limit, and a tournament at Caesar's. I was also going to play it by ear when I arrived at the Palms late Sunday night or early Monday morning Vegas time. It turned out I arrived at the Palms poker room just before 1 am on Monday, and there was a 2/5 no limit, and 2/4 and 4/8 limit games going. I passed on dropping my limited "bankroll" (more like a bankpancake) in a single hand to the crazy Palms players, and decided to play some low limit. I did OK against some drunk people and convention-goers, until a new player showed up and started straddling. The conventioneers had left, replaced by locals, and game became more loose and wild. I was getting into pots where the pot was so big that I was going to see the turn no matter what, and would then call down a turn and river bet with marginal hands, because the pots were so big. Argh. OK, so not a great start, but I did not lose too much.

The next day, I planned to head to Caesars' Palace to play in the 1:00 tournament, but first decided to fuel up at the Palms buffet. I really tried to eat well, and had a giant salad on several occasions, including this one. Unfortunately, the seating goddess decided to seat me facing a table where a young lady's "coin slot" was clearly visible. Unfortunate? Yes. For the coin slot in question was more properly a "Yap gap", to coin a term. I still managed to fill up on salad and prime rib, which was the best of a fairly unhealthy buffet.

I made it to Caesar's in plenty of time, only to find that the tournament was at noon. Damn no Internet existence. Why should I have to drag a laptop with me across the country just to check tournament times? It was bizarre being in a situation where I needed information, knew that it was right there, but could not access it. That happened several times throughout the trip. Maybe we will have to get those iPhones.

So I joined a 1/3 no limit game that started up shortly after I arrived, and signed up for the 3 o'clock tournament. An Asian woman sat down at the other end of the table, and started chatting with the other players. From her voice and from what I remembered of her picture, and from the fact that she covered up her right eye in order to see my remaining stack and a bill that I had in play, I knew I was sitting at the same table as BWoP. When I got home, I checked my facts, and it turns out I was wrong. I'm glad I didn't make any comments like, "Oh, you've got ace-jack, eh?" Or, "Are you CK?" This woman bought in for $100, and left with about $500 less than two hours later. Nice.

Meanwhile, the game was a lot of calling preflop raises 4-6 ways, and then checking around on the flop and turn. Also a lot of smallish bets into these inflated pots. I had no idea what I was doing, but managed to escape with just a minor loss after a suckout.

I played the tournament and ended up going out with a short stack with 66 against two other players, one with AJ, and one with AK. A jack came on the flop, and a king on the turn, and off I went to find the monorail. Except on the way to the monorail, I saw the sign for the Imperial Palace, and decided to check it out. I saw the almost famous Geisha Bar, and then found the poker room. I sat down in a loose 1/2 no limit game, and chatted with the guys at my end of the table. They told me that the old guys at the other end of the table would not lay down a hand, and so we discussed strategies for winning their chips. I figured the best way is to value bet with larger than normal bets. This strategy worked, but only after I lost a buy-in to one of the guys
at my end of the table, with a flopped set vs. a turned straight. Maybe I could have gotten away from the hand, but I didn't. Again at the last minute, I doubled up against one of the LOGs (Loose Old Guys). I started to rack up, as I was heading back to Caesar's Palace to play the 11:00 tournament, and the LOG said, "You're leaving?!" I said, yes, I'm going to play in the Caesar's 11:00 tournament, and the dealer backed me up as having asked for a rack and having said I was leaving at the blind. I was still racking up when I was playing my last hand -- AQ. After I hit the flop, and made bets on the flop and turn, I hit two pair on the river, but my opponent hit his flush, and I lost back a bunch of what I had just won. So once again, I left with a small loss. Maybe I should have stayed in that game, because the guy that I doubled up on
was pounding Coronas, and was definitely going on tilt.

In the Caesar's 11:00 tournament, after literally running across the street from the IP, I made the final table, and was hungry, so I ordered some food. There was talk of a chop, but a couple of guys wanted to play for a while. I made a questionable play with AT on the button after two early position limpers. There were about 3700 chips in the pot, and I had about twice that. One of the limpers was the chip leader, and called with 99. I guess I figured that I could steal, but my stack was not big enough to worry the chip leader. It was the curse of the food order, because I busted out before my food arrived. I was nice to the food lady, as she didn't have enough change.
Another guy who order under $10 worth of food paid with a $100 bill, so I changed it for her, and gave her exact plus tip for my bagel.

Which brings me to the health care tips portion of the trip report.

Tip #1: Do not touch your face.
Tip #2: Wash your hands with soap for longer than is normal, and scrub them.
Tip #3: Do not eat without washing your hands first, and do not eat any finger foods.
Tip #4: Especially, do not lick your fingers.

So, there I am with finger food, having just played at least an hour of poker with chips that have been through the fingers of every nose-picking, ass-scratching, finger-licking degenerate in town. What to do? I had a knife and fork, and flipped over the bagel and spread the cream cheese without touching either. Then I folded the large cloth napkin and grabbed the bagel in the napkin. It worked out pretty well, and I haven't come down with anything so far.

OK, so it was now 2:30 am, time to head back to the Palms and have a few beers while playing some more 2/4 limit. This time there was a family and friends table, and I got seated between the friend and the wife. The wife was recovering from throat surgery, smoking cigarettes, ordering rasberry kamikazes, chicken wings, salads, and strawberry daiquiris. This was after the three of them lost $3000 at the Mirage. With that kind of gambler at the table, sitting down so they don't lose as much money, I figured I was good in this game. And I was. As in most of the games I played, I was very tight, and expected to get paid off with my good hands. Almost everyone was in almost every hand, and I just kept folding. I did hit some good hands, and left at around 5:30 to get some sleep. I think that was my first winning session ever in Vegas.

The next day was my last, so I had to check out and leave my bag at the Palms. I followed my previous plan to go to the Luxor, and sat at the wise guy end of the 1/2 no-limit table. I may have played a little too tight, but I did get paid off on at least one big hand by a bad player. After that, I slowly dwindled down, losing a coin flip to a short stack for a small chunk, and eventually leaving with a small win for my second straight winning session. I found myself unable to concentrate by the last couple of hours. I was also paranoid that the wise guys were playing me, and I was probably justified. They could probably see exactly what I held each time I was in a pot, just as if my cards were face up. I wanted to avoid a confrontation with them if at all possible. One guy with sunglasses hanging out of his ears was gunning for one of the wise guys, because of a suckout or two, and of course sunglasses guy overplayed a marginal hand when the wise guy held a monster, and left steaming.

It's funny how there is almost always a tribal atmosphere at each end of a poker table. "Our end," "down here," sit all of the solid thinking players. "Down there," at "that end," sit all of the loose idiot donkeys. Mostly I just listen and nod when my end complains about the other end, gathering information for potential internecine warfare. I give away too much information myself sometimes, however, getting caught up in the cameraderie. That was definitely the case at the Imperial Palace, where as soon as I arrived at the table, I was informed of the LOGs at the other end of the table. So I offered my opinion about how to play them (no bluffing or even semi-bluffing, bet larger than normal with good hands, lay it down if they raise, unless you have a monster.) Too much information! I should just nod and agree sympathetically.

After two days of CAGs, HAGs, LAGs and LOGs, I made my way to the airport, only to find that my flight was delayed over an hour, due to strong headwinds. So I stopped in at the ridiculous Budweiser/NASCAR bar, and bought a giant beer and a whiskey, and whipped out my library book: 'Why We're Liberals," by Eric Alterman. I even took a picture on my cell phone, but I'm too lame to figure out how to Bluetooth it to somewhere for upload. The incongruity was amusing to my beer-addled brain. When we got on the plan, I found I had a whole row to myself! I figured all planes leaving Las Vegas are less full than those arriving, but I never dared dream that I would have three whole seats to myself. As soon as we took off, I immediately lay down and buckled the middle seat belt, so noone could try to weasel their way into "my" window seat. I slept straight through the very short (due to the tailwinds) flight -- jackpot!

Slow Comin' Water

2008-03-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

First, a couple of notes.

My kids have started blogging -- see Beary World Stories if you would like to read some of their words of wisdom. One future topic will be an English to Lemur dictionary, so stay tuned.

Last night, I had a hand in the Riverchasers BBT3 tournament that made me feel bad. But I didn't feel bad enough, so I had to quantify how bad I should feel. It turns out I can build a misery index based on one simple parameter. Let me explain. I was on the button with about 15k in chips. The blinds and antes totalled 2100 chips. Everyone folded around to me, and I decided to raise, in order to steal the blinds and antes. I figured that my short-stacked opponent would fold a good percentage of the time. If she re-raised, I would have to call, because she only had enough for a min-raise. She raised, I called, I hit a full house to knock her out, and was roundly chastised in the chat box. I even had to put my head on my paws.

I ran the numbers, and my hand (62 offsuit) is about a 65-35 dog against two random cards. Against a fairly tight range of reraising hands (any pair, any ace), it is about a 72-28 dog. Pretty bad. Until you factor in the percentage of times she is expected to fold. If she folds, I win the blinds and antes (ignoring the small blind.) If I expect her to fold 100% of the time, then I always win 2100 chips. If I expect her to fold 0% of the time, I am a 66-34 dog (assuming I will always call the reraise.) I used the 72-28 number for my calculations, and it turns out that if I expect her to fold about 50% of the time, my expected value is positive. I do not think that is an unreasonable assumption, given that the big blind was about 15% of her stack, and she would want to make a last stand with some kind of a hand, not garbage. Maybe 50% is too optimistic, in which case I made a -EV play.

The call of the reraise was clearly +EV, as I had to call 2670 chips to win 8970, or 3.3-1 pot odds, and I was a 72-28, or 2.5-1 underdog. So strangely enough, after I acted, my new EV for the remainder of the hand was positive, no matter what she does. I like that. Of course, some of that value is "my" money coming back to me, so it doesn't change the EV from the perspective of the overall hand. But it is good to know that someone can't make an effective re-raise.

This sounds like something out of Julias Goat's Stupid/System . If it is stupid, please tell me how.

I will be at Kat's 1st anniversary Donkament (nee Martini Game) tonight, honing my skillz for my upcoming quick trip to Vegas.

:w
:n

Now, about the title of this post. I saw Mean Gene post about misheard song lyrics, and I've been saving up for a post on this topic. I may come back to it in the future, as I remember more, but here is my list:

From "Smoke on the Water":

Slooooow comin' waaaaater,

There's fire in the skaaiiee.

Of course, I knew there was a famous song called Smoke on the Water, and I knew the song with the lyrics above; I just never made the connection. Apparently, a lot of people are confused about the lyrics to this song.

From "I Will Survive":

Oh Commodore!

Just turn around now,

You're not welcome any more!

The real lyric is "Walk out the door," not "Oh Commodore!"

From "I Feel the Earth Move":

I feel the Earth move under my feet.

I feel the sky come on and down,

A come on and down,

A come on and down.

From "Come Back" by J. Geils Band:

You're a scumbag,

Babyyyy!

This one was perpetrated by my friend M on his sister, and I went along with it.

That's all I got. I thought I had more, but I don't. If I think of more, I'll post them.

:wq

Strange Days Indeed

2008-03-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

The last two weekends were quite a whirlwind, as I saw my long-lost friend, permanent student Dr. Dre, in town for a Psychologist's conference, and then visited over half of the counties in the great glacier of New Hampshire. According to the calendar, it was the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, also known as the day rabbits lay chocolate eggs and marshmallow chickens. However, with 3 feet of snow on the ground, the rabbit decided to stay snug in its burrow -- no chocolate for the kids. My mother's 400 foot driveway is a rutted sheet of ice/frozen slush, complete with axle-deep potholes conveniently placed so that one needs to drive into the swamp in order to avoid them. Luckily, the snowbanks on either guide the cars back into the ruts.

I followed my Easter tradition of sleeping as late as possible, and then not taking a shower for the whole day. It's not usually a conscious decision, but more of an organic event. Several years, my wife suggested a walk around the neighborhood, and I had to ~~scramble through the shower~~ put on a baseball hat. I always got that familiar feeling of the believers looking at me as if I'm crazy. It started very early, in first grade, on the day after Easter. This was in the days when towns had not yet received the message that requiring children to pray in a public school is unconstitutional. We would have a minute of silent prayer every morning in first grade, and on the Monday after Easter, the teacher asked us to draw a picture on the back of a worksheet of "what you got for Easter." I drew this:

NOTHING

I told this story to my children as I tucked them in tonight, as this is their first year in public school. My second grader sounded like I felt in first grade, a little bitter and envious, and wondering what the "hell" is going on with the believers. I told her that it's OK for people to have different beliefs, and that we don't celebrate Easter, because it's more of a religious holiday than Christmas (which we do celebrate in a Santa Claus/Season's Greetings way.) I did not tell her about the 4th grader who stared at me in disbelief, saying , "You don't believe in God!?" I forgave her for that remark, because she was on my list for multiple "Saint" Valentine's Day cards casually placed in her construction paper mailbox on several trips around the classroom.

NOTHING

is also what I have won in the last week of playing poker. Not exactly nothing, but I have not made either the points or the money in any of the BBT3 tournaments. I also played some stupid cash games, such as Razz, 5-card draw, and Stud Hi/Lo. Finally last night I had a winning Hold 'em session, and this week is another 4 tournaments. Next Sunday, I head to Vegas for a quick couple of nights of poker, so I'll miss the Blogger Big Game. Good thing, because I haven't even been able to beat the token sit-n-goes.

OK, time for some non- transubstantiated libations.

:wq

Rally Against Criminalization of Poker

2008-03-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

I attended the rally at the Massachusetts State House today to support the PPA in their effort to strike the provision criminalizing online poker from Deval Patrick's casino bill. It turns out that there is another bill being proposed by Rep. David Flynn of Bridgewater which contains the same language: http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht00pdf/ht00357.pdf. It seems that the race track lobbyists are the prime suspects for placing this language in both bills, but no one will own up to it, nor will anyone admit to supporting the provision.

If you live in Massachusetts, you should be paying attention to this.

Mass Poker Playing Could Be Criminalized

2008-03-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Go here for more info:

http://pokerplayersalliance.org/pressreleases/newsandarticles_article.php?DID=362

Governor Deval Patrick's casino bill criminalizes online poker, to the tune of 2 years in the state pen, and $25,000. For players. Needless to say, I am outraged by this underhanded and hypocritical attempt to babysit the citizenry. I will be attending a rally on March 18, 9:30 am at the State House to protest this sleazy bit of politics (now that the paragraph has been discovered, no one will admit having included it in the first place.) I will also be contacting my state reps to let them know that I am a voting poker player, and to vote against the casino bill as long as it includes this provision.

:wq

Math Night

2008-03-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not MATH night, because that is on Monday, by definition. But it was Math Night at my daughter's school. One of the games was to place six different colored tiddly winks in a paper bag, and keep making draws until you got at least one draw of each different color. There were apparently many who didn't understand, because 6 draws hit about 6 different people. Uh-huh. Maybe try putting the wink back in the bag and mixing them up between draws? The rest of them seemed fairly normal (heh), with one kid taking 19 tries and one taking 26. We got a 13 and an 11. If you squinted real hard, the distribution on the blackboard was starting look like a normal distribution. It was fun spending time with my daughter doing math games, and I will be looking for similar games we can play at home (a lot of them are on her homework sheets, but most of those are more quizzy than game-y.) We walked home by the light of the moon, and enjoyed the stars.

Tonight is also Mookie Night, and I will once again be trying to win a place in the tournament of champions of the BBT3. I cashed in both points and money in last night's Skills game, coming in 4th place. The game was Pot-limit Omaha, and I had a lot of good hands, combined with a dose of luck to make the final table. I think I must have had aces or kings at least 20 times, and doube-suited aces several of those times. I also pulled off a bluff that was either stupid or decent. I happened to be bluffing with the best hand, but I was doing it into a bigger stack, and he called me on the flop and turn. The river gave me a higher two pair on a board with a possible straight and a couple of flush draws that didn't get there. He folded, and I survived. On my final hand, I either called a small raise in a four-way pot or checked the big blind. In any case, I didn't have much of a hand, but I hit top two pair on a rainbow flop, and figured I'm good to go. I bet the 16K pot, and Astin raised all-in, having me covered. I instacalled and lost to his middle set. I'm not sure I have the discipline to get away from that hand in a short-handed situation. I should at least have taken my time to consider what he could have: bottom set, AKJ9 for a wrap draw (QT were on the board), AQxx, KQJx, TTxx (not likely), or QQxx (not likely). It turned out he had TTxx, which I didn't consider likely. So in addition to my "must have draws" PLO mantra, I will add, for all pot-limit and no-limit games, pause before calling off all of my chips.

:wq

Vegas Baby!

2008-03-10T21:52:00.000-07:00

I made my hotel reservation for a quick trip to Vegas at the end of the month. I had a free Jet Blue ticket, and researched the cheapest hotels. I found the site TravelWorm.com through CheapoVegas.com, and I got a free night at the Palms. Since I'm only staying two nights, I'm getting a rate of less than $50 a night. I wanted to stay right on the strip, but I figure I can't beat that price. I've been to the Palms before, to a party at the nightclub Rain. I suppose if you're a twenty-something shallow person, it's probably a great place, but I thought it was lame. I grabbed some free food and drink and headed for the poker room at a dead run.

On this trip, I think I'll try to get the free shuttle to the strip (it may be to the shopping area) and play at Luxor and Excalibur. I may also try out the Caesar's Palace tournament, which I've heard is a decent deal. I'm getting in late on Sunday the 30th, so I'll either sleep or play at the Palms if there's a good game going. Either way, I'll sleep very late the next day, and then play as long as I can on Monday.

I'm back playing in the BBT3 tournaments this week. I busted out of the MATH tonight in 13th place out of 86, to earn a few points for something or other. I was mostly happy with my play, except for about 3 hands. One was raising almost half my tiny stack with A6o, and calling the button's reraise. I ended up sucking out with a 6, but, I should have gone all in instead of raising a smaller amount with a relatively weak hand. The second was reraising Kat's 3x raise when she was short, and taking a chunk out of my replenished stack. And the third was calling a reraise after a steal attempt with KJs against tilt away. He went all in on the flop, and I had to fold, leaving me short again. I doubled through the chip leader, then got short again, and finally went out after a small flurry of eliminations, probably gaining some extra points for something.

:wq

Case Dismissed

2008-03-07T07:33:00.000-08:00

From the Simpsons movie, one of our favorite lines:

Stereotypical Jewish Mother (who is being arrested for some reason): Latkes are a deep-fried...

Chief Wiggum: Case dismissed.

An update on the note that my daughter found in her backpack. The teacher apparently read the note to the class, without naming my daughter, and said it was bad to do such things. I said great, now she will get retribution for being a tattle-tale. However, the teacher also wrote a note to Mrs. Burger, starting off with:

Dear Mrs. Burger, You are such a great mother!

Mrs. Burger: Case dismissed.

Too friggin funny.

Also funny is my Pot-Limit Omaha playing ability. Although I went out early in last night's Riverchasers tournament, I think I only made one bad blunder. That was the mistake of making a continuation bet on a board with 10-9-8 (or possibly J-10-9) against bayne (the bayne of my existence in this case.) I had just an overpair, and no draw, so I had to fold when he check-raised me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do in that case, even though I have position. Probably I should just check behind and give up on the hand. I had about 4k in chips left, and the blinds were at 80 and 160. Still enough to do some damage if I'm the one check-raising all-in. I think the takeaway from this hand is that the continuation bet is pointless in PLO. Unless you've got a decent draw and/or a made hand that you're willing to call a reraise with, you should not make the continuation bet.

I had experienced both edges of the drawing sword earlier. On the first hand, I had two pair on the flop, and the turn gave me a boat against my opponent's ace-high flush. He thought it was good, and I more than doubled up early. I started playing more hands, seeing if I could hit a flop with a big draw for me. It didn't happen, and I slowly chipped down. I then had a hand where both my opponent and I obviously had made the nut straight on the turn, but I had no draws. He did, and hit the full house on the river, but checked it. I had raised him on the turn, and he should have reraised on the turn or at least bet the full house on the river. I probably should have just called the turn bet, because I had no redraws. I guess my thinking was to try and take it down right then. I will internalize the mantra for next time: "Must have draws."

I will play in Kat's donkament tonight, but I will not reveal my strategy. Well, OK, since no one reads this, I will reveal it. The basic strategy is only to purchase 1000 chips at a time, rather than the double rebuy of 2000 chips. When you do this, you have the advantages of playing with a short stack, which are easier decisions, and free fold equity from other players while you are all in. Of course, you have to maintain the illusion that you are as loose and wild as everyone else, so you should go all in 4 or 5 hands in a row at some point. If you have a stack at the end of that, great, if not, you will get calls on your next all-in, which will be with a hand. With 20 minutes left in the rebuy period, up your rebuys to double if the other stacks are 8-10k or bigger. If they are still 4-6k, then stick with the singles.

If you have only 10 minutes left, then you have to play more hands and be more aggressive. Don't end up with a lame stack that will leave you with less than 3500 after the add-on at the break. Bet the odd chips so that you have 1000 exactly, or more than 2000 if you win.

After the break, there will usually be way more chips in the tournament than are normal for the first hour (this is true for all rebuy tournaments, I guess, but is more pronounced when the rebuy is only $1.) So if you have a big stack, you can afford to be very patient at this point. Don't double up the short stacks with coin flips, and don't get into big pots without a great hand. I like to attack the middle stacks when possible, no matter what size stack I have -- they have the most to lose, and so you gain some fold equity when playing against a middle stack as opposed to a desperate short stack or complacent big stack.

Last week, I missed the start of the tournament, but I won't miss it this week. After all of those tough BBT3 tourneys, it should be a lot of fun.

:wq

So Stupid

2008-03-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

My daughter came home the other day with a note in her backpack that said "You're stupid" and it was signed "from Tom" (name changed to protect the youngun who may or may not have perpetrated this dirty trick.) Three problems are immediately evident:

1. Some kid is picking on my daughter, and she feels bad about it. She has had trouble adjusting to her new school, especially in math, and maybe she feels stupid. My wife and her brother helped her disperse those negative thoughts, and I'm going to be helping her out more actively with the math.

2. The note was in a second-grader's large scrawl, and the signature was in a 3rd-through-5th-grader's smaller, neater printing, indicating that possibly two people wrote the note.

3. The signature was misspelled! This is a huge clue!

Here's my theory: it was the son of the lady at Bingo Night, and they were talking about my daughter the next day at the dinner table. The son is in my daughter's class, and has an older brother at the school. So I think the boys conspired to write the note, and tried to pin it on a classmate. All the more reason to bench them if they are ever on a team that I coach.

Alternate theory: "Tom" wrote the note, and intentionally wrote the "You're stupid" in poor writing, and intentionally misspelled his own name. Probably not. You can reasonably assume that an older brother would say to a younger brother, "Hey! Sign it with Tom's name, and you won't get caught!" But it would take a true future deviant to come up with the double-reverse trick of misspelling his own name in a different hand.

Mrs. Dino's theory: Whoever wrote the note thinks my daughter is So Saga, and this is his way of expressing his love. I suggested that we go to the valentines, and compare the handwriting, but she thinks we should just talk to the teacher about it. Too sensible.

I've played 4 events so far in the BBT3, and cashed in last night's Stud Hi version of the Skills Series. I was very lucky to make the BBT points (top 25%) and the money (top 15% or so). I was squeaking by with a very short stack, and at one point got the rest of money in behind early in the hand, and hit trip 3's to take the hand and cripple my opponent. He said "So stupid". I assume he was talking about my play, and not me, and I later apologized for my stupid play on his blog. He replied and it's all good. Too sensible.

Tonight, in the Mookie, the same player sits down directly to my left! That's not good, because it means he will have the preferred position in most hands when playing me. I would rather it be the other way around, to give me a fighting chance. Anyway, I was out early tonight after getting good cards, but losing on consecutive hands to a crippling suckout (80/20, so not that unusual) and a coinflip for my greatly diminished stack.

I'll have an update on the stupidity in a few days.

:wq

First World Problems

2008-03-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

So much whining to do, and so much time.

The Brazilian ladies who clean our house had the audacity to show up while we were still eating breakfast. I told their boss to start always after 9 am. Boo hoo hoo.

I can't get into the shower because they are still cleaning up in our room. Boo hoo hoo.

I can't go to work and shower because the wife took off with my car, the cleaners parked behind her car, and, well, I don't want to just take Granny's car. Plus, I don't have shower privileges yet at work, and I would have to do another geek in front of the cheerleaders thing (Here, let's walk past all the sales guys and marketing chicks to fill out this needless insurance paperwork.) Sob!

I had to do my exercises this morning without the help of the DVD, because I left my laptop power supply at work, and ran the battery down last night. No battery also means I can't login and delete my email or get some work done. Waaaaaah!

Last night in the second BBT3 event, Mondays at the Hoy, I played fairly well, and got my money in with the better hand against pushmonkey72, and he hit his three-outer on the turn to send me packing. Snivel. Quiver.

So, I'll have to wait it out and read poker blogs while waiting for my bathroom to free up and for my wife to get home with my car. I guess that's better than being blown up by a suicide bomb, cruise missile, or mortar fire. Or being hacked to death or beaten by the police for my political beliefs or ethnic background. Or having to walk five miles for fresh water and firewood (can you say "courtesy flush" and "nice long hot shower"?) Or being in danger of foreclosure. Or wondering if I can scrape up enough money for my next hit.

So I think I'll STFU (as it says on my T-shirt).

:wq

Leap Day

2008-02-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

Almost time to spring forward, and just in time, too. The light is starting to encroach on my morning sleep. Today is Leap Day, and also Pepper Martin's 26th birthday. There should be no such thing as Leap Day. There should be 12 30-day months, and a 5-6 day (or two 2-3 day) holiday(s) around the beginning or middle of the year. No more "30 days hath September, April, June and November." It would be "30 days hath every month." What did February ever do to get such a raw deal?

I'm going to play Bingo at the kids' school tonight, with the kids and one of their friends. That will warm me up for 3-4 tabling No Limit Hold 'em tables while playing in Kat's Donkament tonight. The theme of the evening is "Disco," so I'll be dressed in my usual jeans with my Guinness jersey -- quite appropriate, I think. I don't think Granny will be going, as she's not your average Bingo-type Granny.

Last night was frustrating, as I missed buying into the Riverchasers tournament, because, well I'm not sure why. But when I looked up at 9:00, there was the new-style Full Tilt registration screen still open, with the password entered. I guess a table must have popped up before I hit the right button. Hmmph. So I continued to two-table (that's a lot for me) NLHE at Pokerstars, and played one round too many. I turned a decent win into a small loss when I failed to remember that when someone plays back at me, they might have a hand.

I will try to concentrate harder during the BBT3 series of tournaments, because there's no shortage of good players who will be trying their best to trap me or push me off the best hand. The first event is Sunday night, the monthly Blogger Big Game, and the list of players already registered is a Who's Who of good blogger poker players. The entry fee for the first event (out of 55 over the next 3 months) is $75.00, or one token, which can be won in satellite tournaments. I've already won my entry token in my second try at a satellite. So I'm in for $30 on the first event. I've got a stockpile of $26 tokens (won via satellite tournaments at an average cost of $13, I'd say) for entries into the weekly Mondays at the Hoy events, and I think the rest are $11-$13 buy-ins. To avoid total demolition of my Full Tilt account, I'll need to make the money in several of them. I think what I'll do is play the March events, and see where I stand at the end of the month. If I haven't come close to breaking even, then I'll probably scale back and only play a couple of events a week.

Speaking of the end of March, I'll be heading out to Las Vegas for some live poker on March 30-April 1. I had a free ticket on Jet Blue to use up, so I booked myself as far in advance as I could. Now it's coming right up, and I need to make a hotel reservation (probably the cheapest one I can find, such as Circus Circus or Stratosphere.) I'm somewhat apprehensive about getting robbed or beat up; the only other time I was there, I stayed at the Venetian for a business trip, and only went as far as Harrah's on foot, and to the Palms by bus with the rest of the conference attendees. I've never taken the monorail, walked anywhere off the Strip, or even been outside after about midnight. If I can, I will try to meet some real poker bloggers, who will be there at the same time. I may also try to meet "the Aunts" for lunch one day -- although I can't remember whether they are still out there. I'll bet they know all of the best value buffets in town. Money is also an issue, so I'll be checking the couch cushions, kids' piggy banks, etc., for poker money (just kidding about the piggy banks, the 529 funds can tapped for this "educational" trip.)

OK, the kids' friend is here, and the wife is leaving, so I gotta go.

Update: Bingo skillzzzz!

I won at bingo tonight, scoring on the diagonal with B3 followed by I30 FTW! As I raced to the front to claim my prize, the woman hosting the event said I was the first adult winner in the (now two-year) history of the event to win...

And NOT LET THEIR KID CLAIM THE PRIZE! Doh! I guess this must be what it would have felt like, had I gone to a big high school. Socially inept person gets made fun of by cheerleader in front of the whole school.

She harassed me for the next ~~eternity~~ 30 seconds, and finally let me go. Thanks, thanks a lot, Mrs. C. Remind me to put your kid in right field if I get him in baseball. Just kidding. He'll be on the bench, feigning injury (kids have to play at least two innings, unless they are injured.)

Geez, I bring 3 well-behaved children, somehow gain 2 more whose parents are not at our table, clap for everyone, stop talking when the kids are calling the numbers, and that the thanks I get. Well, I think there will be no penguins in the movie I watch with my prize of pair of movie passes. In fact, I might use them both myself, on consecutive movies, on a weekend afternoon.

...aaaand damn! I missed the start of the Donkament, because I was typing this post. Must... not... tilt...

:wq

Catching up

2008-02-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

I spent a few more relaxing days at the end of last week and over the weekend reading, sitting around, and playing poker. Thursday night I played in the Stud Hi/Lo version of the Riverchasers tournament, and played in a few cash games beforehand to warm up. The cash games (at the very lowest stakes on PokerStars) were easily beatable, even by me, but the tournament, ah, was not. I did OK in the first hour, probably due to luck, and then went swiftly down. I found the cash games enjoyable, so I continued to play some of them over the next few days. I suspect I'm not getting any points from them, though, so I have to get back to the no-limit hold 'em cash games to try and make my bonus. I guess it would help if I at some higher limits, but I'm still not good enough for that. Friday I played in Kat's Donkament, with a far smaller field than normal, because of the Eh-Vegas event in Toronto (lovely this time of year.) I played well after the rebuy period ended, even though I had not built up a stack prior to the break. You can read meanhappyguy's very long post, to see his take on the final table. I guess I got impatient and busted out in 5th or 6th place. Dat is geen probleem. (Practicing my Dutch for our family trip to England and Holland in a couple of months.)

The rest of the weekend, I played in token satellites and Stud Hi/Lo cash games. The token satellites because the BBT 3 series is coming up. This is a series of tournaments that will culminate in a tournament of champions for the winners, with 7 WSOP seats at stake (2 Main Event, 5 preliminary event seats)! Last time, I did not play in the later starting tournaments, nor in the more expensive Big Game tournaments (other than the first one.) This is a better chance than I've had in a long time to win a WSOP seat. (There was a series of freerolls that Milwaukee's Best Light ran a couple of years ago that was unbelievably easy, and they were giving away 8 seats. I won a few events while they were still in beta, but once the crowds showed up, never really got close to a seat. I think there were 500 or 1000 players in each week's final, with one seat and a hundred set of poker chips. People were going for the chips, believe it or not.) The competition will be fierce, and I will be ready. I may have to adjust my sleep and work schedule, though, to make sure I don't fall asleep in meetings.

I also read a book about being a cheapskate, and did a budget for the first time in decades. The last time was when I was in my early twenties, and had bills and debts all over the place. That was less of a budget than a payment schedule. Now it's more about living within/below our means, and making conscious decisions about where our money goes, rather than just pissing it away 59 or 119 dollars at a time, and not accomplishing goals (such as a big plasma TV, heh.) I'm not getting any younger, and the next layoff might mean a giant pay cut, so we need to be prepared to live on much less than we do now, in my "peak earning years."

I'm making more of an effort to stay informed about politics and foreign affairs. For example, I'm skipping the scientific articles in the daily paper, and reading the Nation and World sections. I watched the first part of the movie about the Iraq "War," and learned that our clueless leaders not only lied about weapons of mass destruction (about which I knew,) but also intentionally and willfully mishandled the runup to the invasion, the immediate aftermath (orders to stand by while the country was looted,) and the short-term security and reconstruction effort (firing the Iraqi Army, turning them into insurgents.) Somehow, I had given the Bush administration credit for just misunderstanding what would happen, or for putting too much confidence in the military. But they really fucked up every step of the way. So, I'm trying to read meaty articles and opinion pieces, rather than stuff about which poll said Obama is ahead of Clinton, or which candidate has momentum. I've got a couple more books from the library, one about the financing of wars throughout U.S. history, and the other called "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America is Losing the War on Terror." These assholes work for us, not the other way around. If we don't want the police state to continue, let's make a change. I have voted for Green Party candidates when possible, and I believe that third and fourth parties are the way out of the horrible situation that is our government. However, voting for Ralph Nader is not the answer -- it has to happen from the ground up. Throwing away a vote on a Green or Libertarian Party presidential candidate is ineffectual, or worse. Electing 5 Greens or Libertarians to Congress could lead to a coalition government, with the minorities being the swing votes on issues important to one major party or the other.

Another habit that I've recently formed is working out, albeit only to the ultra-cheesy ":08 min." series of exercise videos. The ridiculously ripped leader and his buff guys and gals would have you believe that doing 8 minutes a day of pushups and biceps curls with no weights will make you look like they do. But it is better than not exercising, which is mostly what I've been doing for the past year. I think I've done a session or two for 6 out of 8 days. If I can first make it into a real habit, then I can start branching out into more difficult exercises, more cardio, etc.

OK, quite enough rambling and ranting. I'll be playing in the Blogger Skills Series tonight, with the game being HOE - Limit Hold 'em, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Stud Hi/Lo (the E stands for eight-or-better, which all cards making the low hand in Hi/Lo must be, in order to qualify as a low hand.)

:wq

Moonies

2008-02-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

The lunar eclipse is in totality, looking like a ball of molten glass heated in the flames (according to one sleepy child). A while ago, it looked like an ember with a steady stream of oxygen blowing from one side, blinding white, while cooler orange on the back side (according to the other sleepy child). We just got back from the harmonic convergence at Magdalen's house, and we couldn't find the homework binder with a month's worth of moon observations in it. Arrrrrgh! After we turned the car and house upside down, we decided to table the search until tomorrow, and take observations during the eclipse. That was very exciting, and reminded me of the last lunar eclipse I saw, during the final game of the 2004 World Series, when the moon turned red in honor of the Red Sox. The kids were enthusiastic, and thought it was really cool. Plus they got to stay up late.

The harmonic convergence was nice -- lots of R&R, good food, and fun times. Unsurprisingly, there was no poker, but shockingly, there was no bridge! We had a foursome, but we just never got around to it. OK, maybe next time.

The kids are on vacation this week, and so am I. I'll be checking out several blogger tournaments over the next few days, and lots of cash game action, but tonight poker was eclipsed by a shady character.

Butt Splice

2008-02-14T17:21:00.001-08:00

Today was Valentine's Day, so I gave Mrs. Dino a nice card, and a beautiful butt splice. You can see a picture of it here. This week is also my mother-in-law's birthday, Magdalen's birthday, and my mother's birthday (yes, even my mother has a blog.) We're having a harmonic convergence at Magdalen's house this weekend. Tonight, we're having a nice session of taxes, followed by a little poker, I hope.

OK, we're done with the taxes for tonight, with 5 minutes to spare before the Riverchasers Online Poker Tour weekly tournament starts. Not many people signed up - I guess nice dinners and glasses of wine are being consumed by spouses.

:wq

Skills - not

2008-02-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

Back in the Blogger Skills Series - this time it's 6-max limit hold 'em.

I'm at a table with three recognizable names - twoblackaces, Donkey Shortz, and chitwood. I guess I should shudder with fear. However, the giant club of the all-in bet is removed. The most they can raise me is a stubby single bet. We'll see how I do.

20 minutes in, I have the chip lead at my table with T3865. I got that mostly by raising a flush draw on the flop, hitting it on the turn, then having Donkey Shortz call my turn and river bets. I also won an early pot where twoblackaces played aggressively, and I called down with my top pair, top kicker.

Just flopped a boat after Donkey Shortz raised preflop and I defended with 66. check-check, check-check, check-fold - oh well. Next hand, AA on the button, checked to me, raise, blinds fold. Oh well.

I watched Howard Lederer's chat on FTP, and submitted a question about his dad, whom I met many years ago at a party. He didn't answer the question. The chat was drivel, as he cherry-picks the softballs and puts up pat answers. Guess I won't be doing that again. Howard left the "chat" room so quickly after one hour, I'm surprised the Road Runner sound effect wasn't played.

Just raised on the button with 55, both blinds called, flop 679 rainbow, turn 6 river 8, putting a flush possibility on the board, and giving me a straight. Mondogarage bet both the turn and river, and I just called both times. Probably should have raised both times. It turned out he had an 8 in his hand, for an open-ended straight draw.

AA in the small blind, limp reraise twoblackaces. Flop comes an ace, and I check-call. Turn is a jack, and I bet, he raises, I reraise, he folds. I'm thinking he had QQ. Getting hit with the deck here, up to T5745 after 40 minutes.

At the 100/200 level, I've got T6685. Just played a 4-way pot, and took it down wnd with A2ith TPTK. Up to T8085, and in second chip position in the tournament, out of 30, at the first break.

After the break, 120/240. Tried to KO twoblackaces, but doubled him up instead. I had second pair to his bottom pair, but he hit trips on the turn. Chipped back up by picking off a bluff/semi-bluff by Gump47371. I was in the big blind with A2 suited, and he raised preflop. I called, and bet out on the flop when my suit hit the flop for a flush draw. He raised and I called. The turn was a 2, giving me two more outs. I checked, he checked. A blank came on the river, and I bet out. He hesitated, then folded. Maybe he had a small pocket pair.

Bam Bam showed up at our table - go to his blog and enter your made up porn star name.

I was drifting down, but now I'm plummeting. I'm down to T1835, in the 250/500 level. Wait -- ooh pocket aces in BB - walk. Oh well. Next hand, twoblackaces knocks me to within a couple of big bets of out, when he bets his flush draw on the flop, and hits the flush on the turn, pairing my jack.

The torture is over, as I'm out in 20th place. Terrible performance, given all of the great cards I got. Aces 3 times, many Ace-x suited or not, and quite a few pocket pairs.

Super Bowl Results, and No Poker

2008-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, was I close on my Super Bowl prediction! I got the Giants' halftime and final scores right! Unfortunately, the Patriots scored just 4 touchdowns fewer than my prediction. So good game Giants, they certainly deserved the win. As in the Patriots' first Super Bowl win, no one gave the Giants a chance, and they pulled it out in the last minute. I missed the reaction of the Boston fans, and didn't even have time to read the Globe online on Monday. Personally, I am appalled by the videotaping revelations, but don't think it had much if anything to do with their 3 previous Super Bowl wins. I think they will still be the team to beat in the AFC next year, assuming an upgrade to their linebacking crew.

I was literally the last person to board the plane -- as I walked up to the gate, the gate person said my name, and I said, "Yep." (Strangely, on the way back, I could have been literally the first passenger on the plane, if I had wanted to shove my way around a couple that needed a little assistance getting on the plane. They had given my seat to two people, so they offered me the aisle seat in the front row, with preboarding and a free drink. But I'm very cognizant of asshole-y behavior when traveling, and so decided not to walk around these innocent people.) Jet Blue is nice, but it's starting to lose its luster a little. The TVs were great a few years ago, but now I notice that the resolution sucks. They only come around once or twice to serve drinks, and the selection is awful. I guess decent beer in a can is an oxymoron, Guinness excepted. The flight was 6 hours and 20 minutes across the country -- geez that's a long time.

I took a few barely legible notes during the game, including these gems:

5:10 Stuck straw up nose

Nat. anthem - just sing it FFS - Fenway incident (Hmm, which Fenway incident was I thinking of? Probably the time Michael Bolton forgot the lyrics.)

Fucking sneezers - bastards!!! (Between two cross-country flights and 6 buffet meals, I'll be lucky if I don't catch a virus.)

We're in ~~Utah~~ Nevada

17-14 Giants - We're in California

GG Giants

I did not get to play poker at Bay 101, as my VP (who also plays poker) set up an event at a pool hall on the only open evening. Hmm, $20 cab fare each way, plus lose $100 at 3-6 limit, or free beer and schmooze with VP? Free beer wins.

Super Bowl Prediction

2008-02-03T08:58:00.001-08:00

I'll be flying out to California during the Super Bowl(TM) today, and this time, the TV's should be working. I am planning to get in some live poker at Bay 101 on Thursday night, so I am bring my copy of Small Stakes Hold 'em to read on the plane. However, this time, I actually played some limit holdem before heading out to the poker room. I opened up a few lowest-limit tables on Full Tilt, and tried to concentrate on a) playing reasonably tight; b) folding bad draws in small pots; c) value betting my good hands, including draws in larger pots; and d) not bluffing. I made a small profit over a couple of hours, and felt I played well. I find live (limit) poker to be much more difficult than online. The action is very fast-paced during the hand, and it's hard for me to make a plan for the hand while trying not to interrupt the flow of the game. In online, I can take as long as I want, up to 15 seconds. That's a huge amount of time to look at opponents' stats, figure out pots odds and make a plan. I typically only play one table online, so I can concentrate when I'm in a hand. Good luck me.

I predict the Patriots will win the Super Bowl by a final score of 42-17. The halftime score will be 35-3. The score after the first 6 minutes will be 14-0, with Moss and Stallworth each scoring a touchdown. No breasts will be exposed.

Gotta go finish packing now.

Super Bowl is a registered trademark of the National Football League.

Hope is not a strategy

2008-01-30T17:48:00.000-08:00

Last night was the latest edition of the Blogger Skill Series, and this time the games was Pot-limit Holdem. This is a game I know not much about, other than Cloutier's advice (I think) that you have to build the pot in PL, while the pot takes care of itself in NL. But, whatever - it's fun, because people chat, there's an internet radio station that is sometimes broadcasting during the tournaments, and the stakes are not so high that you have to worry about it if you don't make the money. I made it further than I should have, because of a hand that CK described here. I played the hand like crap, as one of the commenters said. Here's what was going through my head at the time: when it was raised, and then called to me in the BB (with J6 s000ted) I hesitated, then called the extra 250 in an 850 pot. Maybe I'll hit something, and double or triple up (I had a short stack due to general weak play.) On the flop, I'm thinking, "Aha! I have a pair. Neither one of my opponents has hit the flop. I'll lead out, and they will fold." This was wishful thinking, as CK held an overpair with QQ -- a jack would not help me. OK, so I should not have bet, unless I hit two sixes, right? Let's check it out:

Pre-flop:

Me: 23.9% Jd6d
Hoy: 31.7% A2+,22+,JT+,72
CK: 44.5% 22+,QJ+,78s+

OK, so not a terrible call preflop.

Flop:

Board: 3h 3c 6c

Me: 24.4% Jd6d
Hoy: 25.3% A2+,22+,JT+,72
CK: 50.3% 22+,QJ+,78s+

OK, so I'm basically throwing my chips away 75% of the time (and those are generous ranges, I know). Not a good bet. Now, let's run the numbers with my "hope neither one of them has a pair" strategy:

Flop:

Board: 3h 3c 6c <--- Aha! Because I hit, I will ignore overpairs!

Me: 60% Jd6d <--- Lookin' good!
Hoy: 23.2% A2+,55-22,JT+,72
CK: 16.7% 55-22,QJ+,78s+

This is how I get in trouble. It's also how software projects get in trouble -- I cringe whenever I hear the H-word in meetings, or even worse, find myself thinking or saying it. I'm going to try to apply the same cringe to my poker decisions, and take the extra few seconds to apply some thought rather than just hoping that they other player has a hand that I dominate. The operative word there is try, so don't be surprised to see me do the same thing today, tomorrow, next week!

:wq

Omaha Hi/Lol

2008-01-23T19:44:00.000-08:00

Last night (now two nights ago), I made the money in another blogger tournament - the Limit Omaha Hi/Lo version of the Blogger Skills Series. I made it there by folding most of my hands for the first hour or two, picking up some chips here and there, and getting lucky when I had to. I had a couple of good players say "wtf?" on a couple of hands, and, while I will defer to their superior poker abilities, I will explain where I came up with my plays.

Let me take the second hand first. There was an all-in player after the flop. I was SB and Hoy was BB. The flop was 8 8 A, and the turn was an 8, and I had the fourth 8 in my hand. There was a $2 bounty for knocking out the all-in player. So I had the nut high, no card could come that would make a better high. I had T84A in my hand, so I could not make a low, and I did not want Hoy to share the bounty or the pot by hitting a low on the river. So I bet. Hoy called and hit a low on the river, so we split the bounty. I guess the "wtf" is that there was no possibility of a made low hand when I bet, so I was possibly driving out the winning low hand that would knock out the all-in player, if the all-in had a weak low draw. That's a subtlety that goes beyond my limit Omaha Hi/Lo with a knockout bounty tournament experience, so at the time, I didn't see it as a dry pot bluff - I was concentrating on the bounty. Now I know that it was a bluff, and will probably never run into that situation again.

Now the first hand second. It was the tournament host, cracknaces, and I, blind vs. blind, and I was in the big blind. I had KQJ2h, so no low possibility, and limited draws. I called a flop bet when I hit top pair, and then a turn bet when an ace hit. So I had second pair for high, there was already a possibility for a made low on the board, and I had 4 outs to a straight, and 2 jack outs, which would make me trip jacks. The bet was 400, making the pot 1200, and I could only win half (unless he did not have a low), so I called 400 to win 600. That's a very bad call with only 6outs (assuming he has an ace in his hand, which he did.) I guess I thought cracknaces would not hesitate to push me around, so I hung onto the fantasy that he might be bluffing. Yeah, pretty lame. So, I hit a 10 on the river, filling the gutshot draw, and raised his river bet, again, hoping he only had a worse high hand, and no low. So I deserved that "wtf?"

At the final table, it was pretty wild, with stacks oscillating up and down, except for the chip leader, who continually accumulated chips. It's amazing how in a limit tournament, you have to stay so disciplined for so long, and then, over the course of a couple of levels, everyone is on the brink of being eliminated. I hit some hands, squeaked into the money, and then really squeaked into fourth place, when the blinds hit lifesagrind one hand before they were about to hit me. I lasted a few more hands, and went out in fourth. I was generally happy with the way I played, not including the two hands mentioned at the beginning of this post. There was a lot of speculation with bad hands at the beginning, so tight play was called for. Middle cards ruled the day -- I've never seen so many middle card straights and full houses. I found the advice at http://www.playwinningpoker.com/omaha/ to be good back when I was playing Omaha Hi/Lo on Party Poker. The most critical piece of advice is to fold garbage hands, because the good hands are great hands in Omaha. Where I used to lose my way was short-handed, where you have to loosen up and play more hands, or you are just feeding blinds into the other players' stacks.

Chicks, Tits, and Cards

2008-01-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some safe for work photos of chicks, tits, and cards.

Chicks:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino_burger/2207915622/

Tits:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino_burger/2207929520/

Cards:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino_burger/2207138987/

Hehe, those are some nice pix, eh? Because there's a sheet of glass between them and me, there is a lot of reflection from inside. So I will try to minimize that in future pictures. We just set up the buffet recently, and these were among our first customers.

Ugly Americans

2008-01-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

I attended the Bruins game at Madison Square Garden North yesterday with the dino nuggets, with the Bruins facing off against the New York Rangers. The Rangers fans were out in force, as Bruins tickets are easier to score than just about anything around here. They were very helpful in directing Bruins fans who seemed lost or dioriented by dint of never having seen the inside of the new Garden.

They also corrected long-time Garden singer René Rancourt, who forgot the lyrics to the national anthem, chiming in with, "Let's go Rangers (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)." They helped Bruins fans survive the oh-so-boring and meaningless celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bruin Willie O'Ree breaking the NHL color barrier, serenading us with more entertaining Rangers chants. Unfortunately, some of the fans were overcome by excitement, and had to be assisted out of the arena.

We had seats in the very last row of the house, requiring the occasional use of oxygen tanks to supplement the thin air. I think that the thin air went to the Rangers fans' heads, as they disputed the dominance of Boston sports teams. One guy told a young Boston fan that he was "only a sperm" the last time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup (1972). Another brought up "1986." Oh, that's a good one -- let's see, the Patriots were in the Super Bowl for the first time, the Celtics won the NBA championship for the 16th time, and the Red Sox were in the World Series. Yes, I guess that was a really crappy year. Another one brought up the Mets -- yes, the same Mets whose collapse at the end of the most recent season rivaled that of the 1978 Red Sox.

What is it about the hockey jersey that causes the wearer to believe that he is actually the person whose name is sewn onto the back, that he himself is in competition with the opposing team, that the hits and fights on the ice represent a call to him to intimidate, put down, hit and fight? I guess it must be the requisite alcohol that is downed upon donning the sacred garment. Or the nasty nature of tribalism -- if not for the abundance of resources and wealth in this country, would New Yorkers, Bostonians, and Philadelphians be slaughtering each other like Hutu, Tutsis, Serbs or Croats? This sub-species of human, the hockey fan (or is it just the overly trimmed young male?), ridicules his "opponent" at the faintest sign of softness, always projecting a tough, edgy, cynical image. I pity their girlfriends, doomed to breakup/divorce if they're lucky, or to a life of wondering why the fuck they don't leave this asshole. Seemingly self-confident, these guys prove the old adage that certitude does not equal certainty. Ugly Americans indeed.

The game itself was entertaining, ending up in a shootout with the Bruins winning (Update: the Bruins won the rematch today at MSG South). I think I'd rather stick to baseball from now on, and just watch the Bruins on TV. The fans at Fenway are no Sunday school teachers, but compared to a hockey game, it is better for the kids.

Poker update

2008-01-17T21:42:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I posted, but that's OK, because I have very few readers clamoring for content. I've been playing in the Blogger Skill Series and other poker blogger tournaments lately, and kind of avoiding the cash games, partly out of necessity, and partly because my Full Tilt bonus expired in December. I put a small deposit in Poker Stars, so I have a bonus that I'm working on there. I thought it never expired, but apparently it does, so I will have to get back to the cash games on Stars. Which are very good for me so far this year. In just 3 hours of play, I'm up 278 BB -- them's cheatin' stats!

In the tourneys, I've won one - the Blogger Donkament on Friday nights, and tonight came in second in the Riverchasers Online Poker Tour. Tonight, I busted out BamBamCan, among others, turning the nut flush, and avoiding the board pairing on the river to suck out on his flopped set. His wife is Pebbles, of course, and I'm the Bad Puppy. Babykins is a good baby when he's sleeping (or on the rail). In the Skill Series, I haven't done as well, busting out early in the PLO tourney last week, and surviving into the top half in Razz this week. Well, like I said before, I could only improve from where I started. The two cashes leave me in positive territory on tournaments for the year, which is not easy to sustain.

I'm heading out to California in a couple of weeks, and I may try to get in one session at the Bay 101. If not, I will be out in Vegas at the end of March/beginning of April.

I've had to work the last two nights, interrupted only by sleep, and today, a company party. It was at the MIT Museum, which was pretty cool. It was open bar, so of course I drank only water because the wife and dino nuggets were skiing at the time of the party. At least that left me sober enough to work and play poker at the same time. I also won a $50 gift check door prize, so I'm on a roll -- that's going straight to the bankroll.

The last shall be first

2008-01-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe not first, but I hope higher than last, which is where I am currently. I busted out first in the first Blogger Skill tournament of the year. I used to know how to play 7-card stud, but not any more. Well, maybe I never knew how. Anyway, if I retire now, I'm guaranteed to finish in last place for the year, so I have to play every week, at least until I draw, er ..., claw my way out of the cellar. Next week, the game is Pot-limit Omaha, about which I will make this prediction: watch this! When playing HORSE-like events and giving demo, never make a substantive prediction. I think there is supposed to be a leader board of some sort, but it wasn't working when I checked yesterday.

I returned from a sleep-, gift-, and relative-filled week of delicious time off to an 8:30 am dentist appointment. Apparently, I haven't been brushing or flossing well enough, because it hurt like it used to, and the dentist was scolding me more vigorously than his norm. Then it was in to work, where I made it through another "strategic planning" season without being riffed. I think I will make it through the next one as well, but the 2009 strategic plan may well call for my head (as did the 2005 one, by the way, but somehow I scrabbled around, and managed to cling like a burr to another project, buying myself a year and a half, until another project jammed its sweater onto me, ripping me from my carrier/savior.)

I checked my "PTO" balance and usage. I have 154 hours of PTO built up, and will receive another 200+ hours this year. In each of the last two years, I only used 120 hours. I also cashed out 120 hours' worth last year, to help out with our cash flow during moving, renovations, and (gulp) selling. Let's see, I've got the kids' school vacation weeks blocked out; that's 80 hours. I've got a couple of days in April for a Vegas Baby trip; that makes 96 hours. A few days next Christmas, which makes 120 hours. That leaves 254+ hours. That means I can leave 5 hours early every Friday all year! I'm making it my only resolution to end the year having used my 5 weeks worth of time off, and without taking the money this time. If I accomplish that, I will go into 2009 with about 4 weeks built up, and saving for a winter 2009-2010 sabbatical. Maybe I will take the last week of December 2009, all of January 2010, and the first three weeks of February off. We'll see if that works out. That could be some nice skiing, maybe some time in Vegas, maybe a trip to a warm place. All financed by my poker winnings, of course (hah!)

The Fleecing of the Burgers, Part I

2007-12-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a series of posts that will track how the Burger family bleeds money due to corporate greed, our ineptitude, laziness or naïveté. There are some things that are worth the time and effort to pursue, and some that are not.

About an hour ago, I climbed down from our roof, which was leaking this afternoon, after a couple feet of snow followed by 1/2-3/4 inch of rain last night. Most of the snow had melted, and it wasn't all that deep on the roof to start with, so there was a maximum of about 3 inches of snow/ice/water up there. OK, so what? Why the hell was I up on the roof, and what does this have to do with the fleecing of the Burgers? Well, this is a new roof. A very expensive, flat, rubber roof with fancy copper flashing and drip-edge flashing. A new roof that was installed less than a month ago, and which started leaking this afternoon, after all of the rain last night.

As I was up there, watching the beautiful sunset view, I felt a little like Par Ingalls (must use the r sound to bridge two vowels when in Massachusetts.) One false move with a 15-pound load of ice chunks, and whoop! I fall 12-35 feet to my hospitalization-death, depending on which side of the house I fall off. Luckily, the edges of the roof are slanted up at the edge, to allow water to flow toward the roof drain. So I would plant my front (left) foot, placing most of my weight there, and shove with my shovel arm from about 3-4 feet away from the edge. I was on the roof for a good hour and a half, and got it all shoveled off (with a plastic shovel, of course.)

OK, boo hoo hoo, my new roof leaks. And it was expensive. So what does this have to do with the fleecing of the Burgers? The fleecing in this case comes from the initial lowball estimate from the contractor, and the subsequent tacking on of the copper drip-edge flashing. Originally we thought we would be able to use the original flashing, but oh, no, it's not wide enough, we'll never be able to save it. OK, ouch (a 23% increase in the original quote)! But save the old copper for me. OK. Where's the old copper? Oh one of the guys took it. All right, what ever, man, just finish the job already!

It turned out that on the lower of our two rooves, there was nothing between the roof decking and our playroom "carpet" (just that Berber stuff that everyone who wants to throw down carpet when selling a house installs.) So when the workers took up the old tar and gravel roof, large amounts of ground up tar (a.k.a. soot) fell down between the cracks in the roof decking into our house. Lovely. The guy asked me if I wanted him to clean it. Yeah sure, go ahead, tromp in here with your boots, and do a half-assed job. Yeah, that would be great. So we vacuumed many times, and even brought in a carpet cleaning service. We had guests for Thanksgiving, and then had a big party the following weekend. Not that anyone would have noticed, but at least we did our best.

So am I going to sue this guy, or get him to pay for the carpet cleaning? No. Why? Because, (a) I want him to fix the damn roof; and (b) it would take more time out of my life, and I would rather waste time writing about it than waste time arguing and taking days off to go to small claims court.

Speaking of which, our delicious Christmas Eve dinner of fondue and champagne interrupted this post, and now it's time to go watch IAWL with the family. Merry Christmas!

Next up: Verizon Fios.

Welcome back to Poker Stars

2007-12-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

Thank FSM that I'm back on Poker Stars. I made a deposit on Full Tilt Poker, and earned a bonus, but was only able to work off about 1/3 of it before it expired. That's mostly because I only play one table at a time, and I play at the lowest possible stakes (.05/.10 NLHE). After the FTP bonus expired, I moved back to Poker Starts for my cash games, and I'm finding them much easier than the FTP games. Sure, there are still lots of bad players on FTP, but there are also a ton of bot-like players 8-tabling at the lowest limit tables. I started out this go-round on Stars at the .05/.10 tables, but the bonus is structured so that no fractional points are given. So I moved up to the .10/.25 tables, where there are many more hands that rake the minimum .40 for scoring a bonus point. I have been kicking ass at those tables. There are few tricky players, and lots of very loose calling stations. I had one guy call 4 of my bets, for his whole stack, while he was holding pocket 4s (I had an overpair.) I made lots of money off of that guy. Of course, it has not all been roses, but in general, I like Stars much better.

I've been reading Ed Miller's blog for a while now, and it has been helpful. I'm concentrating a little more on opponents' stack sizes, and on hand reading rather than hand hoping (putting my opponent on a hand that is dominated by my hand instead of on a range of hands.) I think the experience of playing the tougher FTP tables has helped.

Bubblicious

2007-12-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

Thursday and Friday night I bubbled out of poker tournaments. I don't think I played particularly well, especially in the Friday tournament. But playing well is not the point of that particular tournament -- Katitude's Blogger Donkament. The point is to blow off steam from a week's worth of work, kids, and real life. Or a year's worth. I made a laydown of QQ at one point when there was an all-in raise followed by a re-raise all-in. I had them both covered, and was definitely considering re-re-raising all-in. But I guess I must have left my balls in the minivan again. So I ended up finishing 4th, and the top three places paid, and the previous night in the Riverchasers tournament, I finished 6th with either 4 or 5 places paying. Oh well, at least I had fun.

The kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement about Christmas, and we took a ride around town looking at lights after eating dinner at Ixtapa Cantina, voted the Best Mexican Restaurant in the Greater Lexington area. That's because the only competition is breakfast burritos at the McDonalds in the highway rest stop. Anyway, it was a fun time, and the food there is pretty good. I left a nice tip, because "it's 'tis the season."

Winter Wonderland

2007-12-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

It snew last Thursday, Saturday, and this Wednesday (I think.) Merry Christmas!

Steroid results

2007-12-13T13:58:00.001-08:00

OK, 2 out of my 6 predicted previously unimplicated steroid guys (Clemens and Gagne) were on the list. I considered adding Pettitte, because he was such good buddies with Clemens, talked him out of retirement, etc., but I did not. So I guess Dan Duquette was vindicated after all -- Clemens really was in the twilight of his career after the 1996 season. He allegedly took steroids in at least two of his post-Red Sox Cy Young years (1998 and 2001). Mo Vaughn allegedly purchased HGH when he was down with an ankle injury. Mike (The Hypocrite) Stanton allegedly purchased HGH. I guess he learned to cheat in his little prayer group with Pettitte. Stanton makes me puke every time he opens his mouth, because he can't answer a question without praising his god. From one crutch to the next, eh Mike? I hope his wife divorces him. It will be interesting to see what Schilling has to say about Stanton. Schilling of course defended Lenny Dykstra through thick and thin. Curt, if you're going to be a senator, you're going to have to learn to throw people under the bus when necessary (you'll also have to leave Massachusetts.)

The fact that Theo Epstein apparently knew of the Dodgers' suspicions of steroid use makes the 2007 acquisition of Gagne even more of a bonehead move by Epstein:

When the Boston Red Sox were considering acquiring Gagné, a Red Sox official made specific inquiries about Gagné’s possible use of steroids. In a November 1, 2006 email to a Red Sox scout, general manager Theo Epstein asked, “Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?"

The scout, Mark Delpiano, responded,
Some digging on Gagne and steroids IS the issue. Has had a checkered medical past throughout career including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay healthy, maintain body and re invent self. What made him a tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff . . . Mentality without the plus weapons and without steroid help probably creates a large risk in bounce back durability and ability to throw average while allowing the changeup to play as it once did . . . Personally, durability (or lack of) will follow Gagne . . .426

I guess they didn't give up a tremendous amount of talent (Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, Engel Beltre,) but still, they could have used those prospects in a deal this winter.

I wonder which hat Clemens WON'T be wearing into the Hall of Fame now?

Steroid prediction

2007-12-13T06:11:00.000-08:00

I predict the following names will be on George Mitchell's list today:

Nolan Ryan
Roger Clemens
Pedro Martinez
Eric Gagne
Nomar Garciaparra
Brady Anderson

Not on the list:

Luis Gonzalez
Gabe Kapler
Randy Johnson
Alex Rodriguez
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ricky Henderson

So saga

2007-12-08T19:37:00.001-08:00

"I don't see what's so saga about her!" said the 8-year-old me. I was looking at the cover of Newsweek magazine, which had the famous picture of Patty Hearst holding a machine gun. And, as a matter of fact, I did see what was so saga about her. I don't remember it as being blue; I thought it had a black background, but maybe I'm confusing/combining this image with Carrie Fisher's cameo in the Blues Brothers movie, or with Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. I guess women holding machine guns/grenade launchers/flame throwers are just ... so ... saga. I'm not sure why I remember that incident after all these years. I remember my mother cracking up, and the image is/was burned into my brain. It's truly sad that as adults we cannot remember all of our thoughts and feelings as children. We look back on those days as idyllic and carefree, but at the time, we did not savor the moment. If any one of us were to travel back in time or become a kid again, we would be loving it. But that's only because we have a lifetime of experience outside the protective cocoon of our parents' care. The act of growing up and taking on responsibility for oneself gives one the perspective to realize that kids have it made. Unfortunately for the kids, they do not realize this until it is too late. Then they can only look back wistfully at those halcyon days and weep tears of joy/sorrow for innocence held and lost.

Getting Things Done

2007-11-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

I just fixed my iPod! After at least a year of being without it, I have it back! My wife told me about this trick, and it worked! I have such a feeling of accomplishment, and not just because of the iPod fix. For the past couple of years, I've been adhering to David Allen's Getting Things Done system. I have my ups and downs, but each time that I have an up, the concepts and habits become more strongly reinforced, and I'm building a system over the years that is based on the core concepts in GTD.

Over the past few months, I have been so swamped with work, that I have literally been working every evening and every weekend for several months. In the past month or so, the pressure has mounted so much that I had to juggle multiple development tasks on multiple machines and multiple platforms at the same time. So, while a build was happening for 5 minutes on machine A, I would work on a different task on machine B. Or while I'm testing on machine A, machine B is doing a build. I also used the interstitials to go through the few emails that have built up since the last time I checked. I get to Inbox Zero almost every time. Here's Merlin Mann's talk on Inbox Zero.

I've kept the Inbox Zero habit for two years now, again with inevitable periods of backsliding. I think that it is the most critical piece of the puzzle for achieving success with GTD. It is the sine qua non of GTD. Ok, so I've had this habit, and have been able to keep at Inbox Zero even during my most trying of times. So now that the pressure has been reduced somewhat, I have found myself with a tremendous amount of work energy, and I've rekindled the other parts of GTD. I processed my entire home desktop, which was piled with folders, papers, routers, and other stuff. I got to Inbox Zero at home. I got to Inbox Zero at Yahoo. I had never seen an empty inbox in the latest Yahoo interface. It felt more than a little strange. I actually lost an email or two during my Yahoo purge, but good ol' search found 'em for me.

After being at Inbox Zero everywhere, I was cleared to truly start Getting Things Done. We had roofers waking us up at 7:00 this morning, stomping and smashing to break up the ice on the roof. That new rubber roof is something that had been hanging over our heads for months. I got it contracted even in the middle of one of the busiest work periods of my life. We have our new HD Tivo received and ready to accept the cable cards from the Verizon installers on Monday. Dinette has the Tivette downstairs ready to accept the Ethernet cable and be up and running. I signed the kids up for ski lessons, the leaves have been blown away, I called my sister for her birthday, and I did party planning with the wife. I am Getting Things Done.

Now, I recently read a somewhat disturbing article about David Allen in Wired. He is apparently a member of a religious cult, and possibly originally developed GTD to recruit members for the cult. For the past two years, I have been haranguing family members about GTD, and urging them to try it, do it, read it, listen to it, here, have some literature. Despite the fact that Allen has a cult-like following(tm), I don't think that people who follow the methods described in his book are in danger of being sucked into the religious cult. So, in case anyone was worried, I'm not a member of a religious cult.

The next things I have to form habits around are the daily and weekly reviews. I'm often hitting the snooze button on my Outlook reminders to go home (set phone forwarding, review task lists). I guess a habit is formed in 21 days, so I will try to do the daily and weekly reviews for 21 days, and see what happens. I did an in-depth weekly review this week, and got lots of stuff crossed off. I also devised a custom view in Outlook that allows me to see the items I've crossed off that day, and that helps with the daily reviews.

Here are some pictures of my iPod before, during, and after.

I used the smallest screwdriver on my trusty Leatherman, and eventually was able to pry up the cover.

I had no problems with ribbon cables, nor was there any padding back there. I accidentally turned the damn thing on a few times by pushing down on it while it was upside down. I squeezed the hard disk with my fingers, and it made a final crunching sound, and sprang back to life!

I sacrificed a Guinness beer mat, using two thicknesses, for a total of maybe 3 mm. I squeezed the case shut, and voila! It was fixed! I quickly navigated to Audiobooks > Getting Things Done, and it had saved my place after all these months. It was within a minute of the line about the second item in your pile being a letter from the president, and the first being a piece of junk mail. Not coincidentally, I had just been expounding on the virtues of Inbox Zero, and the evils of cherry-picking last week at a family dinner. Don't cherry-pick, or you will soon be overwhelmed with junk mail, making it that much harder to cherry-pick!

OK, that's enough for now; I have to go get our house ready for Thanksgiving next week.

Nerd king

2007-10-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I just missed a great family outing, in which everyone had birds eating out of their hands.

I was stuck working at home, sitting at the computer. I saw this, and took the test, and it turns out I'm an Uber Cool Nerd King. A score of 0 on the Dork scale is a little surprising -- maybe they just didn't ask the right questions.

I also broke the build, and got emails from three other nerds who are working on Sunday.

Looking for the Sox to wrap it up tonight -- last night was a little stressful, and a lot long.

Taxile Island

2007-10-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Now sit right back, and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of an idiot,
Who started on his taxes in
The dingy month of March.

He found that there were ov'rages,
Withholding was not there.
Because of things like mortgages,
To pay he did not dare.

Now forward to October 10th,
The taxes were still due.
Except with int'rest, penalties,
His options were but few.
His options were but few.

The wife had a business of her own,
Or was it a hobby?
His hobby was gambling,
Did not need Schedule C.

Now finally he made it through,
From beginning to the end.
State taxes were quite a breeze.
Tax software was his friend.

He filed electronically,
Just as Turbo said.
'Cept one day later, note came back:
"Your e-File's rejected!"

"Argh!" He said, but luckily,
He had a spare cartridge
Of ink for printing out the forms
For dead-tree fiyaling.
Dead-tree fiyaling.

The printout, it was clean and true,
The check was not a blank.
Because they sold some real estate,
The money's in the bank.

Now wifey's business had a lot
Of shipments at the post.
She took the sheaf and brought it down
To the place she knew the most.

She sent the letter certified,
As often people do.
Five minutes later hubby rang,
"Oh what did I do?"
"Oh what did I do?"

She flipped the Razor shut my friend,
And turned back on a dime.
She begged the postman for a break,
Just for once, this time.

You see, my friend, he had forgot
To sign his legal name,
The IRS will not accept,
And they will cause you pain.
They will cause you pain.

So if you ever have to file
The good old-fashioned way,
DON'T FORGET TO SIGN, my friend
Or man, you'll have to pay.
Man you'll have to pay.

Sunset, Sunrise

2007-10-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on our old house, after it had been on the market since early May. We moved in April, and have been waiting ever since. On Wednesday afternoon, Dinette picked up the kids, and then I met them over at the old house to put the last of our stuff on the curb. The kids were pretty choked up about it. As I was closing up the cellar, I realized that it was finally clean!! Too bad only the new owners will get to enjoy that cleanliness. Really, there was much more stuff in the cellar when we bought the place than when we sold it. We got rid of a bunch of the previous owner's junk, waterproofed it, took all the hazardous waste to the hazardous waste collection station. We were quite good doobies about it.

Anyway, it was about 6:30 or so as I was driving up the hill to our new house in a woodsy subdivision, and the sun was tequila sunrise color as it set over the semi-distant hills. The view was not quite like this, but since I took this picture out our kitchen window, I knew that I would have many more opportunities to see such sights for the rest of my life. Less than half an hour after I left the old house, the realtor was walking the buyer through for the last time. Sunset on the old, and, finally, sunrise on the new.

Yeah baby!

2007-09-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Dino went to a Jimmy Buffett concert yesterday with her mostly single friends, and some of their mostly single friends. So I stayed home with the kids, and baked in the sun at their school's fall fair. My son was completely wiped out from the heat, but he recovered, and we took a swim in the late afternoon before ordering Domino's for dinner.

After dinner, while the kids were watching TV and doing a puzzle with Granny, I was playing Omaha Hi/Lo on Full Tilt, and my cell phone buzzed. Pix message from Mrs. Dino! Pix of her friend's boobs! With a shirt on, unfortunately. So I texted her back and said to pull up the shirt. A few minutes later, another pix message! Shirt pulled up! Alas, still with a bra on. So I texted back, "Yeah baby now take it all off," but that was to be the last pic I would receive for the evening. Oh, well.

After getting the kids in bed, I entered the Full Tilt $3 + 0.30 w/ rebuys $6000 guaranteed. I have never played a non-SnG on FTP, and I expected it to be over within 4 hours. Little did I know they have this incredibly slow structure, and so I was still up when Mrs. Dino returned from the parrot-fest. I complained about the lack of follow-up pix, and she was like dream on buddy, and reminded me that the husband had been at the concert as well. My son came down for a complaint about his stomach, and Mrs. Dino took care of tucking him back in, and then went to bed.

I stayed up, playing well and getting lucky a couple of times. My M varied between about 4 and 15 for many levels. I was pushing with good hands when short-stacked, and stealing enough blinds to stay ahead of the glacial (to me) structure at Full Tilt. I suppose I should welcome it, because it does allow a lot of poker, and should reduce the luck factor a little bit. But you still need to get lucky to make it to the final table, and I don't often have 6 straight hours to devote to a tournament.

At the final table, I was about 3rd or 4th in chips to start, and kept adding to my stack as people were knocked out. I would fold my big blind to steals, but would steal blinds when in position, and finally repopped a guy who had stolen several times on me. That put me close to the chip lead. As the number of players dwindled, the payouts rose substantially. The lowest payout at the final table was about $100, and first place ws over $1100. So each time someone busted, I would do a subdued version of the RainKhan dance (lean forward on couch, pump fist, take sip of beer. Actually, it was so late that I stopped drinking beer (!) Even though Mrs. Dino was snoring away, er, getting her beauty rest already, I still had to get up in the morning with the kids.)

I crippled the third place finisher with A-n vs. A-n-1, and entered the heads-up battle with about a 3-2 chip lead. We had a good battle back and forth, and my opponent was one of the stronger heads up opponents I have faced. I played maybe a little too tight, but was observing his tendencies, especially his rule of always punishing for limping. I limp-reraised once or twice without forcing an all-in. On the final hand, he raised from the button/small blind, and I went all-in with ATo. The blinds were only 25k/50k, with a total of about 3M chips in play, so I could have reraised a smaller amount. But I was hoping he would call with a smaller ace or weak broadway cards. If he called or folded a pair smaller than tens, I was also happy. He called with pocket tens and I was out in second place for a $720 cash.

Yeah baby! After my buy-in, double rebuy, and add-on, my profit was $707.70. OK, maybe not the $8.25 million that Jerry Yang took home, or even but still my largest online cash so far. Also a much-needed infusion to the anemic bankroll after donking and tilting off quite a bit on FTP, and after a disastrous three nights at Bay 101 in San Jose a few weeks ago. We had discussed a split when we were down to three players, but FTP doesn't have that feature, and the idea was a non-starter. Second-place money was just about what a split would have been, so I am very happy. I woke up Mrs. Dino as I crawled into bed and told her the good news. This morning, she asked when my next tournament is -- yeah baby!!

Trip report: Seabrook

2007-07-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

On our recent vacation to the beach in Maine, I escaped one evening and headed back down I-95 to the greyhound park in Seabrook, NH, where there is a poker room that opened up within the past couple of years. They donate some portion of the rake to charity, which is why they are allowed to operate in NH. The rake is about 20-25% on tournaments and SNGs, so you have to go deep to make any money. I'm not sure how they make money, as they have to donate a large amount to charity. One dealer said they have 70 dealers, and their web site is advertising for more. They do give a free race book to poker players, so maybe they make money on the greyhound and wire action.

They have several tournaments daily, with buy-ins ranging from $50-$250, starting at 5, 7, and 9. On weekends, they add a 1pm tournament. They also have limit Omaha Hi-Lo and HoldEm, and $50 and $150 SNGs. One interesting feature is that they do not seem to have security cameras at each table. I guess when you donate all of your money to charity, you can't afford such luxuries.

It was a Thursday night, and I got there in time for the 5:00 $50 NLHE tournament. I signed up for their player card, which is required to play, and bought in. Then I bought a (soft) drink and walked out side for a minute. As I walked back in, the security guard hassled me about the drink. I told him I bought it there, and he let me bring it back in.

The 5:00 attracted about 80 players, which I think is pretty good for a Thursday. The stacks were 2500 with blinds starting at 25/50, and 20-minute levels. I made it to the first break with a smaller than average stack, not having gotten many good hands, and not in a mood to bluff much. On the last hand before the break, I re-raised all in with JJ, forcing a limper and a min-raiser to fold, though not after some thought. After the break, I was slowly building up a stack, while a player two to my left bled away his massive stack that he accumulated by getting hit in the face with the deck. I got crippled on a hand where I called two all-ins that I had covered. One had A9d, and the other had 77. I had AKs. A 7 came on the flop for the main pot, and a 9 came on the river for the side pot. I think it was a good call, even though I suspected the second all in had a pair. Maybe not, because I figured one of them had to have one of my aces. The guy to my right said he folded K9, so both of us with aces were drawing thin. The funny thing is, on the very next hand, the two all-ins were again all in, this time against QQ. This time, the guy who had 77 on the previous hand had AKc, and the other guy again had ace rag. This time the ace came on the flop, and that guy went from about T2000 to T20000 in two hands.

A few hands later, I busted out and put my name in for a $50 SNG. The wait was maybe 15-20 minutes, and I ordered a burger and fries at the cafe.

Editing months later: it's now October!

I bubbled out of the SNG. There were a few regulars, and a couple of young guys. The final four were two regulars, one young guy, and me. The blinds were getting high, and I called the young guy's all-in with a semi-reasonable hand, and had him dominated. He hit to double up, and then sucked out on me the next hand or two to eliminate me. No big deal. Pokernews has done a few reviews of NH poker rooms lately, so I might try to get up there again soon.

Trip Report: Bermuda Cruise

2007-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

We went on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda last week, and had a great time. We we're not really cruise types, and this was our first cruise, but we found ways to enjoy ourselves. Or, I did, anyway, once I saw that the casino offered a $1-$2 no limit holdem game and two no limit tournaments (which turned into three by the end of the cruise.)

My wife's mother gave us a ride to the cruise ship; it took us all of about 30 minutes on a Sunday morning/early afternoon. We got there at about 12:15, and walked right through everything. We even stopped to chat with the lady at the bottom of the escalator. There were several of the obnoxious photographers who took our picture -- one of them was against a green background, and so in the print, the ship showed through my green shirt. Pretty hilarious. They had another one with a blue background, so they were hedging their bets. The photographers were obnoxious during the whole trip. when we got off the ship, they were there, HOLDING UP THE LINE TO GET OFF THE BOAT, to take stupid pirate pictures. I couldn't believe that people were stopping to allow their picture to be taken.

Anyway, we were on the ship in about 10 minutes -- apparently that is very good; we were expecting to wait in lines, but it was all clear sailing for us. We got up to the room and then headed up to the top deck for lunch. Since we were among the first people on the boat, there was no line for burgers ans fries. Later in the day, we went to the upper deck, and nicknamed it the "Fat Deck" and "Club Penguin". We were laughing our asses off. It was definitely not our scene.

Now for the good stuff. I went down to the casino to register for the first tournament (to be played Monday). I also tossed in $20 to get $30 in gaming chips to give to my wife. That was six $5 promotional chips, and you could not split a chip. So she played some roulette the next day. She won $180 by placing a $5 chip on number 10 for our tenth anniversary. That was nice, because it paid for a massage for her later in the cruise.

Later on, a $1/$2 no limit holdem game started up, and it was a very good game! There were kids who had clearly never played a live hand of poker, and several fairly decent players, including Jimmy, Mike, and Phil. An old guy sat down in seat 1 or 2 ( I was in seat 8) and proceeded to make some terrible calls, quickly losing his $100 buy-in. Mike and I were wondering what the fuck was going through the guy's mind, but Mike was harassing the fish about his play! I told him several times not to knock on the glass.

I busted Jimmy by calling his all-in with A7s on the flop. I was about 50%, but Jimmy gave me shit for the entire cruise for that call. Then the fish moved to seat 5 or 6, and I took a couple of $100 buy-ins off him. Two of the hands that I remember, he just got unlucky, but in general, the guy was a whale! He just kept buying in and buying in. I believe he was down $500 for the night by the time he left. He may have won 1 or 2 pots, but that's about it. The two times I busted him were AQ vs. AJ and AA vs. QQ, so like I said, he could have just been unlucky.

At the end of the first night, I was up over $500. That's 1/3 of my original poker bankroll! What the hell am I doing playing for these stakes!?

In the tournament the next day, I bought in for $60, and rebought 3 times. Then we had an add on, so I was in for $300. I knocked out two players on the same hand with KK just after the break to bring us to the final table. We started with 3 tables of 7, and the final table started with 10 players. They only had one poker table, so two of the tables were blackjack tables. I was in seat 4 at the final table, and had a decent stack of about T22000 (the initial stack was T2000, rebuys got T2000, and the add-on was T4000). After a couple of people busted out, I picked up 99 in EP, and raised it up. The big blind in seat 1 called. Flop was AQx, and I bet out. She called. Turn was a blank, and I bet out. She called, leaving her with just about 2000 in chips. river was another blank, and I bet out, and of course, she called, and turned over the ace. My ears were burning, as I knew that I had foolishly bluffed off my chips against a terrible player. Argh! I should have just checked it down after she called me on the flop! I was in position to win this tournament, and I blew it!

So I bubbled out in sixth place, and the lady who called my bluff ended up winning it. Happily, she bought into the cash game later that night for $100, and quickly lost it. I ended up getting trapped by Mike with a queen high straight when he had the king. That was about a $600 pot, and I ended up down over $200 for the night. At the time of that pot, we were 3-handed, and I had had several drinks. I vowed not to play short-handed drunk against Mike for the rest of the trip.

We landed in Bermuda, and went to Horseshoe Beach, Dockyards, Hamilton, Tobacco Bay, St. George, and a snorkeling trip to a shipwreck. The first night we were there, a drunk person fell down the center of the stairwell and died. It is rumored that he was trying to slide down the railing. We saw his family angrily leaving the ship the next day, but there was never any notice to the passengers. Club Penguin just kept on Calypso-ing. We ate at the extra-charge restaurant one night, and had Chateaubriand. It was quite good. Another cool thing is that you can order a bottle of wine, have one glass, and they will store the bottle for you. You can then request the same bottle later in the cruise from any restaurant or bar, and they will go get it for you.

We also had a great time snorkeling at the wreck and reef, and at Tobacco Bay. I would say that Virgin Gorda was much better for water clarity and quantity of fish, but this was OK. Definitely bring your own snorkeling equipment, or just buy it at the gift shop in town, as they charge outrageous fees to rent or buy at the beaches. We took buses and ferries around the entire archipelago, and generally had a very relaxing and fun time. On one ferry ride, I fell asleep because of the rocking of the boat. I also got a sunburn on the final day at Tobacco Beach. I blame my wife.

Back at sea, we had another$60 + rebuys tourney on Friday, and this time I had one rebuy and ended up at the final table again. I pushed on the first hand with T11000 and 22. I got 3 callers, TT, JJ, and KJ. The KJ won the main pot, and the JJ won the side pot, and I was out. Another questionable play, although I was figuring people might be tightening up a bit.

That evening, I ended up winning about $190 in the cash game. The action was considerably less than on the first night, so I think on future cruises, I will make sure to get in the game right away on the first night. There were a couple of young guys who were at the tables several nights, and they were very wary of me. One of them won the first tournament, but had to borrow a buck to buy in to the cash game. I guess he didn't want to risk his winnings, or maybe he blew it on dice.

The next day, we had a bonus tournament, two tables, and 13 entrants. I had about T4000 or so, and found KK on the button. I raised, and the big blind put me all in with AJs. The ace fell in the door, and I had to rebuy plus add-on for an extra $120, for only a paltry T6000. Oh well, I was vowing to play better at the final table this time. When we made it to the final table (after three bustouts) we got a free drink. At the first final table, I took a beer, but at the other two, I just took a free drink coupon. We were joking that these were some of the most expensive drinks we had ever had. I was in seat 1 this time.

By the time we were at the final table, I had maybe T10000. I doubled up to about T21000 when I knocked Mike out with a flopped pair of aces against his 77. Once I had a bit of a stack, I was again in position to win. I started picking up blinds, I knocked out another strong player, and my stack kept growing. When we made the money, it was only for $60, so I had to go for the win. I kept up the pressure, and kept building my stack. When we were down to 3, I had about T40000 or so against about T20000 or so for each of the remaining two players. Blinds were 1000/2000, and I was raising to 6000 on just about every hand: "Six," (everyone folds,) "Six," (everyone folds,) etc. I was relentless, and these guys admitted that they hadn't played many tournaments. I haven't played many live tournaments, but I've been in plenty of online tournaments, and won plenty of them. I really felt that I should have one the first one, and felt that this one was a must win for me (and for my bankroll.)

So these two guys, one of whom ended the week with a first, a second, and a third, failed to repop me until it was too late. They ended up making stands with pitiful hands as they were about to get blinded off. I think heads up lasted about three hands, one of which I folded, much to the consternation of some of the spectators. I figured, the guy had T8000, so two double-ups, and we were almost even. I had a 52o on the button/small blind, so I gave him the 2000 instead of doubling him up to 16000. The next hand, he went all in and took down the tournament for a $486 first prize. The best part was the impossibly hot Belarussian casino hostess/tournament director seeing me later, and saying "Congratulations, Jason!" when my wife was with me. My wife was a little miffed, and called her "the other woman."

As we got closer to port, the crew were looking forward to their two hours off, and one Indian guy asked if we knew any Indian restaurants near the cruise terminal. One of the poker dealers was going to the Cheesecake Factory for a piece of cheesecake. Whatever.

At the cash game on the final night, I bought in as usual for the maximum $200, and was steadily going down. We had a couple of drunk guys at the table, so it was frustrating that I wasn't able to increase my stack. On one hand, I put a kid all in after I raised with JJ and he reraised me with TT. He hit a four-flush on the river, with the Jh as the river card, just to twist the knife. So I rebought again, bringing my total buy-ins to $400 for the evening. I made a few bucks as we took apart the table, and on the final hand, we were down to four-handed. I raised to $8 on the button with 99, and Mike re-raised in the BB to $20. I called, and the flop came T2x. He bet $25, and I raised to $75. He raised all in for another $66. I went into the tank and considered my options. I figured him for a higher pair than mine at that point, but the pot was something like $250 at that point, and I only had to throw in $66. So I figured I was beat, but priced in, and I said so as I called. I was not looking forward to being down nearly $400 for the night. I said, "I've got nines. What do you have, jacks?" He flipped over K2o for a pair of 2's, saying, "No, I've got twos." The turn and river were no help. Mike had me pegged as an ABC player who raises only with an ace or a pair, and I guess he decided on that hand I had an ace and thought I was bluffing. I'm not sure what I would have done if he had had a much larger stack and moved in on me. I'm sure I will see him again, either at Foxwoods or Seabrook, and I think I can learn a lot about live play from him. But, for this trip, ABC and a little luck won out.

We arrived on time on Sunday, and disembarkation was almost as smooth as embarkation. We had to hunt just for a few seconds for one of our bags, but then it was out to the taxi line and on home. That taxi driver was sure lucky to have such an expensive fare. We had originally thought we might try to take the T, but one of our bags was so heavy that we would have been exhausted.

I think that I would like to go on another cruise, especially a poker cruise. I might like to try something a bit more upscale, but even then, the pool scene is unlikely to delight me. I might also like to try one that doesn't force you to pay extra for every beer or soft drink. My wife said she likes the multiple days in port, because I could not go to the casino while we were in port. And, or course, there's always the accidental deaths to worry about. I think the kids would probably like it, but it would be a pain to keep track of them all the time. Maybe when they're a little older, we can try one with them.

The auction's over

2007-04-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

Kinda sorta almost over. I've been working on the kids' school auction for the past two months, and for the last three weeks in every waking minute that I was not working on my regular job, the new house , or the old house. I was the technical and business guy on an auction committe comprising 5 moms and me. The hours are brutal -- I was up till at least midnight every night, usually past 1 am, and several times past 2. It's strange that I felt such a sense of duty, responsibility, and dedication to a non-paying job that interferes with my paying job.

Leading up to the auction, I kicked it into high gear with data entry, scheduling, printing gift certificates, bidder sheets, guest lists, etc. For the last two years, I helped out by developing a slide show that is shown during the live auction, with one slide per page. I also did photo slide shows to display before and after the live auction. This year, I got someone else to do the live auction slide show, and she did it much faster than I would have. I guess I tend to be a perfectionist and slow, and she was good and fast. I stll did the phto slide show, taking a couple of nights, and then the show did not get used on the night of the auction. What a waste. Well, at least my company will pay the school for my volunteer hours (at $12.50 an hour!) For last Friday and Saturday, that will be a cool $400.

On the night of the auction, my highly untrained volunteers and I managed to record almost every winning bid, donation, and pledge correctly, in a frenzy of flying paper, gift certificates, and bags of items. We had the auction at the new school building this year, so I was able to plug into the school's network, and used their copy machine as the printer for the event. That kicked ass compared to last year, when my wife had the print server die on her in the middle of checkout. Many people came to us after the big rush was over, and said we looked professional, organized, and efficient. From the other side of the desk, I felt that it more like controlled chaos, but I'm glad we projected the appearance of organization. I had meditated long on the checkout procedure, and while it did not work as smoothly as I had hoped, we were able to get it done. There is just not enough time between the end of the silent auction and when people start coming at you, requesting their total and items.

After the auction, we kept going, entering missed bids, reprinting invoices, and generally cleaning up. The next day, I went in and did more of the same. Of course, my wife had scheduled two family events for the afternoon, and called to give me a ration of guilt. I had literally moved my home computer to the school for the auction, and so rushed the hell out of there, running down the ramp to my car with all the paperwork and computer equipment. I work well under pressure, but only if I can concentrate on the job at hand. I am very bad at rushing to get out the door, and will inevitably leave something behind.

We got the kids their bikes for their birthdays, but cancelled the family dinner with her nephew.

In the following days, I re-checked every bid, every payment in cash, check or credit card, and handled inquiries from guests missing their items, or had not paid. The scariest part was transmitting the credit card data to the bank, knowing that if anyone called, my call waiting would destroy the upload. The upload is done via a credit card terminal that has no * key, so I couldn't disable call waiting. Luckily, no one called while I was doing it.

Now, I just have to mail out a few invoices and gift certificates, and collect from a couple of rejected credit card holders and deadbeats who didn't pay at all. And then I will be DONE forever! We are not returning to the school next year, so someone else will have the pleasure that I did this year. Now it's on the the move, taxes, selling the old house, and kids' birthdays.

874 channels

2007-04-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

I just tried out the cable box in my new house, and we get channels 2 through 874. So with 2-based indexing, that's 873 channels. Of course, most of those are not subscribed, so we probably only get 200-300. Boo hoo hoo.

The real loss will be the Tivo. We are moving to HD, kinda sorta, so the Tivo will have to go to the studio or the playroom. We will have to deal with the Verizon/Motorola DVR. Ugh. We are so used to the Tivo, from 7 years of use, that it will be a severe blow to lose it.

Update: I can't tell you how much I hate the Verizon DVR. You'll have to read for yourself how bad it is. It's not worth wasting the bits to describe the horror. Between the bad DVR and our bad wireless experience, the television-watching portion of life has been ruined. Therefore, we're switching back to Tivo! I just received the email about the Series 3 HD Tivo for $300 plus $200 to transfer the lifetime subscription, so I'm going to do it. We'll have to get cable cards from Verizon and give them back their DVR. The old Tivo Series 2 will have a year's subscription for free (just to get/keep us hooked on whatever we use it for). I don't know if we'll end up using it, because the analog output from the Tivo seems broken. I've tried it on two (admittedly old) TVs, and it gets a terrible pinked-out picture. If we get a plasma for the TV room, then the current TV could work with the old Tivo, because it has various newer inputs.