Moonies

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

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

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

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

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

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.