Hmmm

Dropped $500 into Neteller recently and started making deposits (and withdrawals, thank goodness) from a couple different poker sites and trying to become a bonafide bonus chasing whore. But as I sit here, I can't avoid seeing and hearing about the devastation Katrina has left behind; and it makes typing about Pocket Aces getting beat seem kind of trivial.

I don't have any family out in that area, nor have I been affected by it personally in any way; but with the loss of lives and livelihoods... it really makes my worries and stresses seem inconsequential. I think I went into this same mood after the SE Asia tsunamis - kind of sad that it takes an event of that magnitude to make me remember to truly appreciate the things I do have.

My evening online-time, be it poker playing or blog reading, will probably be limited for the next few days, as I spend that time snuggling with my kids.

I'm Just Too Smart

So last time, I insinuated Tommy Reed was an idiot for folding his set.

I wish I could be that much of an idiot sometimes.

A $10 SnG on Monday night... the first hand I limp in with is JTd; BB min-raises and I make the call. Flop is 5JJ. I manage to get myself all-in and I lose to AJ. Okay, let's try this again... next SnG, the very first hand I get is 99. The flop comes 9TJ. I get a caller so I figure he's paired up or has an 8 or Q for the open-ender. The turn is a blank and I make a large bet to try to push him off but he goes over the top. I call... he didn't need the 8 or the Q because he had KQ for the made hand.

I mope around the house for a bit, then head off to PJ Pockets for the Monday midnight tourney. I'm the 2nd alternate, and it seems everyone is playing tighter than a [insert your own analogy here], 'cause I don't get in until 20 minutes later, already into the 2nd round. I pay my $25, I sit down, post dead, and am dealt KTc in the BB. "Hey, look out, Trouble's here," jokes one of the regulars. I give him a smile and an acknowledging nod as I check to see the flop. The cards fall with a Q and J of Clubs. Flush, open-ender, Royal/straight flush draws. Nice. The Ace or 9 of Clubs would be even nicer. I raise the min-bet put out by the SB and only one LP caller. The turn completes my flush with the 4 of clubs. We both check. A red 4 on the River and I get the rest of my chips in. LP calls... he not only has the Ace of Clubs, but the 9 as well!

From the time I get my name called to the time I pat the table and stand up... less than 2 minutes. The guy who called me Trouble shakes his head in disbelief, "Where you going, man? You just got here!"

Three first-hand bust-outs in the span of 3 hours.

But at least I'm not an idiot player who lays down his Trips and King high flushes!

Actually, in a tournament I played at the Midway a few weeks ago, I did make some "smart" plays and it just didn't pay off. I took my visiting cousin there on a Sunday, not knowing they had just started a new $10 tournament, with up to 3 $10 rebuys. Most everyone just put down the $40 up front. The were full at 40 people, and I got our names in as alternates 20 and 21! We went to the pit to play some BlackJack and get some food, not really expecting to get in, and just waiting for a live game. Almost 45 minutes later, the Floor rushed out and grabbed us and said we were up... there was only a minute or so left in the 3rd round - which was the final round for alternates and rebuys. We both bought in for $30. I catch a couple of nice flops and get some chips, so I don't have to worry about playing a short-stack game right away. I see Pocket 6s in the BB, and UTG goes all-in and gets called, so I easily let 'em go. It's AA versus AT. Nice laydown, I tell myself, that is, until I see the 6 on the flop. Grrr!

Somehow I manage to survive down to the final 2 tables and am still in good chip position. I get AJh in MP - short-stacked UTG goes all-in and I make the decision to call him, but the player right before me instantly goes all-in as well. Calling and losing to him would cripple me so I make the wise move and let it go. That's what the book would say to do, right? Flop is all hearts, and both of the All-ins had nothing but KQ offsuit. GAAAH!

Next thing I know, we're drawing for seats at the final table. Maybe those smart plays did pay off. Right away, I take out two people with KK and become the definitive chip leader. First place is almost $1000, so I vow to sit back and let the other monkeys take each other out. Then I see AA and it's another two All-ins by the time action is around to me. I have to call, right? Or do I make a Reed-iotic play and fold 'em? Of course I'm gonna call! It's JJ and QJ versus my AA. An Ace on the Flop, and I'm already starting to think about where I'm spending the $1000. Get some new DVD box-sets, take the kids to Six Flags, throw some green chips around on the craps table... but runner-runner King and Ten snap me out of my daydream as MY chips are pushed to someone else.

Two more desperation All-ins that I call with the better hand (AK versus 23, and KT versus Q5) both spike their pair and all of a sudden I can't even afford to pay a Big Blind! I'm out in 4th and take home only a measly $200.

That's poker, right? As skillful as you can be, luck is still a factor... getting the good and avoiding the bad. Sometimes you make the right moves, make the perfect plays, and still end up regretting it.

The Boob Tube

Did I miss this discussion already? About the WSOP Circuit: Lake Tahoe episode where Tommy Reed folded his turned set of 10s? I haven't seen anyone else mention it, though I found a few threads about it on the 2+2 forums.

The action went as such - David "The Dragon" Pham raised preflop with QQ, Reed calls, and another player calls with 67d. Flop comes AJ7 with 2 diamonds and a spade; and it gets checked around. Turn comes the Ten of Spades. Pham checks, Reed checks, and 3rd guy puts out a relatively small bet. Pham calls. Reed takes his time... it looks like he's just trying to figure out how much to raise... but then he folds!!!

The river is a blank, Pham calls another small bet, shows his Queens, and pats himself on the back for making a good call. It shows Reed whispering to Phil Ivey (seated next to him), "I just screwed up... I threw away 3 Tens." Ivey says, "What? You didn't have 3 Tens!" The guy next to Ivey hears him and throws in a comment of disbelief as well.

Did he really think he was beat? Pocket Aces, Jacks, or a KQ... but to fold on the Turn for such a small bet? At least throw out a raise to "see where you're at." Some of the posts on 2+2 say the hand was faked... that ESPN spliced in some footage of the Pocket Tens to make it look good. When a player says he folded something, it's probably only the truth 10% of the time, if that. Heck, when I tell someone I threw away a winner, I'll exaggerate on my kicker a bit. Someone postulated that he probably had a weak Ace, with which he would have won the pot, but that's an easy enough laydown to make. But why would he go and say he had 3 Tens???

I hate to call the guy an idiot... he did make a WSOP final table and score almost $100K. I know I've overplayed sets and busted out early because of it. But seriously, if he really did have the Pocket Tens, wouldn't it have been at least worth a call?

I found more boobs on the tube, and not necessarily the kind you want to look at, when I flipped over to Celebrity Poker Showdown, with Reality TV stars: Bachelor Andrew Firestone, Amazing Race midget Charla, Apprentice Bitch Omarosa, Survivor Jonny Fairplay, and Real World's Trishelle (who was the only one worth looking at, and she was definitely showing some nice boobage). Talk about BAD play... Charla folded the nut straight. Jonny called all the way down with middle pair. Omarosa caught her flush on the river when Andrew hit his set and she thought she lost until it was announced.

At that point, Fairplay was already in the Loser's lounge with Trishelle, berating everyone else's play, even though his was arguably the worst. When Omarosa said she was glad she didn't have to go back to the Lounge with Jonny, he said, "Hey, who made Omarosa the good guy? Oh wait... I did!" That got a good chuckle out of me. But without shots of Trishelle's cleavage every other minute, or Fairplay's constant wisecracks at the table, I really couldn't stand to watch the rest of the episode to even see who won. Besides, there's a lot better bad TV out there to watch.

RANDOM!

I was back up in Alaska 2 weekends ago for one of my best friend's wedding, which also happened to be a day before my mom's birthday, so it turned out to be a jampacked trip. While there's no casinos or underground cardrooms (that I know of yet) in Anchorage, there was still plenty of Poker to be found. A comic book/card shop that normally held Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, was now holding weekly NL Hold'em tourneys. It was $6 to play, and prizes consisted of merchandise and gift certificates. One of my brothers was volunteering as a dealer, and I was there as just an observer because the tourney was open to only 18 and YOUNGER! Something surreal about railbirding a bunch of 10-16 year olds and hearing prepubscent calls of All-in.

The tourney that I did participate in was my brothers' weekly $10 buy-in that they held in the family restaurant after-hours. They just slid a couple tables together and set down the padded foam tabletop w/ oval rail that they built. The last time I was up there, they had about 10 of their friends that came on a regular basis. Now the regular player base is around 25! I busted out pretty early with AJ versus AK on a AKJ board, and so I spent the rest of the evening dealing... which was fine because they needed an overly-experienced degenerate like me to straighten out some of their bad habits. String-raises, discussing the board when not in the hand, and making their own change out of the pot. I had to slap a couple of hands and scold them like a kindergarten teacher: "You guys better clean up your act if you expect to play in the WSOP or WPT someday!"

One of the funniest things was the cry of "RANDOM!" when someone would take a bad beat or catch their T3o Full House. It was also used as a verb: "You're all-in? I guess I'll have to Random your ass... Call!" with a 94 soooted, which of course flopped the Flush!

Speaking of random, as I was leaving the deli yesterday with my sandwich, I overheard some guy telling his lunch mate, "And the flop comes out King, Queen, Four..."

Oh my god, it's EVERYWHERE!!!

In current news, this week has been a helluva lot busier than I expected it to be. The boss was pretty sure it would be a slow week while he's on vacation, but every customer and their mother has called with some sort of inquiry that I have to spend an hour researching to answer. On top of that, my wife was called out to New York for an indeterminate amount of time. She has a producer boss that is currently working on a new Broadway show... she had gone out there earlier in the year to help him with some of the songs and the casting - she wasn't expecting to have to go back until September when the previews begin, but rehearsals are starting now and he wants her to be there through that process as well. So I'm wifeless for at least 2 months... I guess that means more poker fundage for me, yay!

Speaking of Broadway shows, I've currently got the soundtrack for "Wicked" stuck in my CD player. It's a show based on a book that tells "the true story" of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. She's a smart young book-worm kind of girl, but is an outcast because of her green skin. In college, her roommate is Glinda, who we all know eventually becomes Glinda the Good. But during the campus years she's the typical blonde - caring only about boys and her popularity status. Haven't read the book yet (wife has it with her in NY), and while you don't get the entire story in just the soundtrack alone, it's still a great listen. You know the music is doing its job when you realize how much empathy and sympathy you end up feeling for the "Wicked Witch." Can't wait to see the show when the tour hits the "West" coast.

It's been awhile since I've watched the original Wizard of Oz. It's been even longer since seeing it WITHOUT using Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as its synchronized soundtrack... but there's just no other way to watch it. I may just have to pop in my "Dark Side of the Rainbow" DVD tonight!

Random!

I guess that's enough rambling for now. This should get you football fans hyped up for the season: For You, T.O.!

Languishing

"Did you drop off the face of the earth or what? Your fans want an update!"
-EasyCure

Okay okay, so it's been a month and a half since a post... and damn, does it feel like a lifetime already!

Lessee, the trip to DisneyLand was awesome! We took turns driving and powered through from Seattle to Anaheim in 20 hours... the worst part was that we hit LA at about 5pm, so it took us 2 hours alone to get through that mess! My girls were just big enough to get on some of the bigger-kid rides, so they had an excellent time. Wifey and I talked about swinging by to check out the Commerce one evening, but we ended up staying at Disneyland until closing both nights we were there and were just too pooped when we got back to the hotel room to even think about leaving again.

The drive back up the coast was nice and relaxing... stopped at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and got to dip our toes in the sand and ocean. And though we had our camping gear packed in the van, we decided to save it for another time and just headed straight home. We knew there were a couple casinos in Northern California (Rolling Hills) and in Oregon (Seven Feathers), so the deal was that if we happened to pass by one during late evening, when it was dinner time and it was cooler outside (we had the dogs with us), we would stop to feed the kids and of course, throw a couple of bucks around. Unfortunately, our drive took us past during the hottest hours of the day and everyone had just eaten, so there was absolutely no gambling to be had during the road trip.

Back in the office on the 5th of July and had a wonderful time playing paperwork catch-up, since I didn't go online for office purposes once during my week vacation (which is an amazing feat for me!). As I finally got back on top of things at the end of my second week back, I took a sigh of relief, but only a short one, because I knew I was going to be doing it all again since the company was sending me to Dallas for a week for software training.

So a week vacation, two weeks back at work, and then a week long business trip. If you couldn't tell, I've been a bit busy... too busy to type out a few hundred words here, but never too busy to play some Poker! Shot an email before I left to Jaxia at Stealtheblinds.net and found a card-room in Dallas, where I actually money'd in their daily tournament! I've had a couple of other tournament successes (and failures) since I've been back home.

I'll flood my "fans" with those stories over the next couple of days. It always comes down to quality versus quantity, so I'll go with the quantity to make up for the missing month+! Besides, it'll give me something to do 'cause my boss is on vacation this week and I won't have to work too hard at trying to look busy.