Vacation, all I ever wanted

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

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

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.

Poker Stars freerolls

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.

Minraises

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.

Fool in Vegas

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

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,

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

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

Mass Poker Playing Could Be Criminalized

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

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!

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

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

Leap Day

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

Skills - not

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.

Hope is not a strategy

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

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.

Poker update

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.

Welcome back to Poker Stars

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.

Trip report: Seabrook

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.