Playing in a satty to the 100K on stars tonight and doing ok. Took a couple small pots to get my stack up to around 2.4K and followed a few hands later with QQ bringing me to 6.5K, two hands later I am dealt AA from mid pos. I check my coast potential and I am in 11th place with 42 to go, top 27 qual, so I still have to play some poker before coasting. The villain from utg shoves in with a little over 4k, 2 folds and I feel that I have to call. Rather then have someone else come along I decide to shove instead of call. Villain flips up 88 to my AA and hit a set on the flop crippling me to around 2k in chips. Exactly four hands later from utg I get AA again. I feel like folding the facking cards right there. I totally felt that a 23 off was a better hand at that very moment. I raise 3x to $450 from the utg pos all along while chat is still going on from my last adventure with this same hand so I figure cool it will be a funny hand once I get my money back. co+1 calls my raise, and the bb goes all in with 1875 in chips, the caller has 750 left so I do the exact same thing thinking the exact same thoughts in regards to the number of players in the hand and shove hoping that the caller will go away, but now we have three all in the hand. I turn up the AA, the caller in the co+1 turns up KQ, and the bb turns up JJ. The board comes out 7,7,3,6, (party starting to get louder in my pants) facking J.
This is what causes the typical beginner to on line poker the most problems and pretty much restricts their ability to get any better at the game. I no for a fact that I will not call a shove with AA again for a very long time or at least until which time I can feel confident that my opponent has some sort of a brain. I would just a soon go blind then to play a hand that has so few ways of being played only to have it repeat itself as a failure multiple times in a row. There is just no way to play these donks and win from skills alone. At this level of play the entire game is nothing but luck because the players are playing in ways impossible to predict. I truly think that I need to move up to a level that will allow for skill as compared to luck and see what happens. A level where the player have been playing for a year or two and has at least a clue as what not to take chances with. The methods taught and written in books come from many years of playing the game at a level of which everyone at the table have a working knowledge of how to play a hand and are not the methods proven to work in the micro levels filled with players who haven't the slightest idea of how to play. I am now beginning to understand why the chat box fills with negative banter after a donk plays so stupid and yet still wins the pot. I find it very frustrating that I have given so much time to learning the proper way to play only to be beat up again and again by these thoughtless, lucky ass donks. There should be a skills test you have to take before getting into any match and the results of that test determine what type of players your matched against.
End of rant.
jd
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Have we lost one of the greats?
Well I just went over to Freddy's blog today and found that it has either been closed or restricted. This concerns me big time. I chatted with Freddy today for well over an hour or two and boy did I have allot to say. It reminded me of my getting stoned days where as you get really deep into thought and try to figure out the meaning of life. At any rate I was able to express some of the reasons I feel that he needs to pack up his shit and come to America but he still seems hesitant. All I know is that Suzanne and I have pretty much happily put some plans that we just came up with last week on hold in order to fulfill our promise of showing Freddy around America as well as work on our goal of working on his depression.
Suzanne and I have become so very close with Freddy in the last few months. Suzanne went from never ever using IM Chat to spending hours in her office chatting with Freddy so we both feel that we have known Freddy for many years now and have pretty much had to sit by and watch his life continue to spiral downward on a daily basis. Day after day Suzanne and I watched as his spirit was being eaten away resulting in his only working harder and harder, giving even more of himself looking for the end of the negative swing that everyone around him assured him was there.
I can only imagine the tremendously empty feeling that he must have in the pit of his stomach on a daily basis after going from such a profitable professional poker player, making every single penny of his income through grinding a huge number of hours each week sitting in the same uncomfortable chair hour after hour day after day month after month playing poker and having pretty much the lead way to make as much or as little as he needed to fulfill his lifestyle and reward himself just enough to start it all over again the following week. He is by far the most goal oriented individual that I have ever come across in the poker community, every Sunday planning his week, setting his weekly hours and calculating to within a few dollars his weekly take home pay, and for years achieving the expected results each and every time without fail. I feel that now something has changed and no matter what he try’s to do to fix the problem it only seems to grow worse. In this case the years of experience has been his worst enemy, well that and coupled with the fact that all of his closest friends are also poker players who have all come to understand that no matter what, a bad swing will eventually bottom out and return to normal just as sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. Not sure that I believe that as a rule etched in stone any more and I am certain that Freddy has second thoughts about that rule as well.
I definitely feel that his game is broken and have railed Freddy hundreds of times in the last few months and I too notice the plain and simple fact that his game has turned so fucking unlucky that there just seems to be some outside powers at work here. Lord knows that he has tried to fix the problem in every imaginable way possible and even has had a strong pool to pull from leaving no shortage of suggestions coming from some pretty dam great players all with negative results. Now you take all of this and consider that not one individual that he comes into contact with on a daily basis has suggested that he quite playing poker and get a real job, all except for my wife but she would just a soon see poker go away forever anyway. Each and every individual pleaded with Freddy to not just walk away from his poker and to just hang in there until it turns around, of which they all promise will happen eventually. Hell Freddy and Deal are the ones that have taught me this rule of the game.
Wow that was a lot of writing just to get to my point that this has to be the reason for shutting down his blog, not playing one hand of poker in four days now, and walking a thin line to fading into the woodwork never to be heard from again. I feel that Freddy will indeed survive and do what ever it takes to not end up homeless. I am just sorry that I, one of his closest friends never opened up my eyes until now and continued to push him on and on and on and on to keep at it well beyond the stopping point, or more appropriately the point of no return. Freddy told me over a week ago that he had really done it now and had no idea what the hell he was going to do now. Hell that could very well have been two weeks ago. I am so blind.
Freddy my man I am here for you brother, oops my bad, Suzanne and I are here for you brother. Please do not just disappear from all of the people who love you bro. Allow us all or at least Suzanne and I to join you on your path back to the land of sanity where the simple things are all we need to be happy. I know you probably feel pretty darn defeated, beat up, unsure of what to do and when, or whether you are even capable of doing anything at all without falling square on your ass, but just know I have been there before as well (and not to sound so sure that things will get better, similar to the same thing everyone said about the reversal of your down swing) and can assure you, no wait, I feel confident when I say that tomorrow will still come no matter what and by taking baby steps at first you will find the confidence to widen your stride in time. Tomorrow is the first day of a new direction my friend of which I would love to explore along with you, not in front of you nor behind but with you step for step side by side, for once we get to where ever we are going we both will be stronger and wiser and ready to take on anything that this dam life can throw at us in the future.
Luv u my Brother!
Steve and Suzanne
Suzanne and I have become so very close with Freddy in the last few months. Suzanne went from never ever using IM Chat to spending hours in her office chatting with Freddy so we both feel that we have known Freddy for many years now and have pretty much had to sit by and watch his life continue to spiral downward on a daily basis. Day after day Suzanne and I watched as his spirit was being eaten away resulting in his only working harder and harder, giving even more of himself looking for the end of the negative swing that everyone around him assured him was there.
I can only imagine the tremendously empty feeling that he must have in the pit of his stomach on a daily basis after going from such a profitable professional poker player, making every single penny of his income through grinding a huge number of hours each week sitting in the same uncomfortable chair hour after hour day after day month after month playing poker and having pretty much the lead way to make as much or as little as he needed to fulfill his lifestyle and reward himself just enough to start it all over again the following week. He is by far the most goal oriented individual that I have ever come across in the poker community, every Sunday planning his week, setting his weekly hours and calculating to within a few dollars his weekly take home pay, and for years achieving the expected results each and every time without fail. I feel that now something has changed and no matter what he try’s to do to fix the problem it only seems to grow worse. In this case the years of experience has been his worst enemy, well that and coupled with the fact that all of his closest friends are also poker players who have all come to understand that no matter what, a bad swing will eventually bottom out and return to normal just as sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. Not sure that I believe that as a rule etched in stone any more and I am certain that Freddy has second thoughts about that rule as well.
I definitely feel that his game is broken and have railed Freddy hundreds of times in the last few months and I too notice the plain and simple fact that his game has turned so fucking unlucky that there just seems to be some outside powers at work here. Lord knows that he has tried to fix the problem in every imaginable way possible and even has had a strong pool to pull from leaving no shortage of suggestions coming from some pretty dam great players all with negative results. Now you take all of this and consider that not one individual that he comes into contact with on a daily basis has suggested that he quite playing poker and get a real job, all except for my wife but she would just a soon see poker go away forever anyway. Each and every individual pleaded with Freddy to not just walk away from his poker and to just hang in there until it turns around, of which they all promise will happen eventually. Hell Freddy and Deal are the ones that have taught me this rule of the game.
Wow that was a lot of writing just to get to my point that this has to be the reason for shutting down his blog, not playing one hand of poker in four days now, and walking a thin line to fading into the woodwork never to be heard from again. I feel that Freddy will indeed survive and do what ever it takes to not end up homeless. I am just sorry that I, one of his closest friends never opened up my eyes until now and continued to push him on and on and on and on to keep at it well beyond the stopping point, or more appropriately the point of no return. Freddy told me over a week ago that he had really done it now and had no idea what the hell he was going to do now. Hell that could very well have been two weeks ago. I am so blind.
Freddy my man I am here for you brother, oops my bad, Suzanne and I are here for you brother. Please do not just disappear from all of the people who love you bro. Allow us all or at least Suzanne and I to join you on your path back to the land of sanity where the simple things are all we need to be happy. I know you probably feel pretty darn defeated, beat up, unsure of what to do and when, or whether you are even capable of doing anything at all without falling square on your ass, but just know I have been there before as well (and not to sound so sure that things will get better, similar to the same thing everyone said about the reversal of your down swing) and can assure you, no wait, I feel confident when I say that tomorrow will still come no matter what and by taking baby steps at first you will find the confidence to widen your stride in time. Tomorrow is the first day of a new direction my friend of which I would love to explore along with you, not in front of you nor behind but with you step for step side by side, for once we get to where ever we are going we both will be stronger and wiser and ready to take on anything that this dam life can throw at us in the future.
Luv u my Brother!
Steve and Suzanne
Monday, April 14, 2008
Exciting live game last night
So Suz has been out of town since last Friday and comes home tonight. I figured last night would be a great time to head over to the card room before she comes home. I arrived later then I would have liked but had to go to the bank, Walmart and get my car washed before heading over. I get to the Phoenix and there are 7 names on the list for the 4/8 tables so I tell myself I will give it an hour to see if I get on or not. One nice thing about playing there is that you can eat for free while playing at the tables. I have Robert serve me a Tangery Tonic and sit back and observe all the activity in the room. I know all of the employees there as this is the place my wife worked at for years so I have an advantage of getting the inside scoop on what is going on around the place. Nicole and Robert are discussing how many Patron Shots the one table has had and Robert is thinking of cutting them off. It appears that there are three low twenty’s kids at the table trying to get this Asian gal drunk off her ass. Fifteen minutes later Nicole mention that the Asian gal’s husband has just gotten involved by coming over and drinking her shots before she gets a chance to drink any more. This started some banter back and forth between her and her husband and the three yahoos at the table. Robert decides that is enough for now but allows one more drink to be served to the gal because she missed her last one.
I think all this is great stuff to watch and decided that I would like to get a closer seat to the action. I ask Steve the floor man to get me to that table which is a 4/8 kill table and slipped him a $5 to ensure quick placement. Ten minutes later I am being seated in the #5 seat directly across from the dealer. The number one seat was the drunker then hell Asian gal and to her right a mouthy drunk regular who was about 24ish, and to his right two more drunk early twenty something’s. In seat eight was this very large African American fellow who was playing a very lose aggressive game and taking down quite a few pots. The guy to his right had a stack of chips reminiscent to Jamey Gold and was playing pretty tight.
Long story short the punk next to the Asian gal was a very mouthy sort of dude and continually used the f word which many called foul on of which he would reply I don’t give a shit I will leave any time and would repeat the f bomb over and over just to be an ass. Play went on for quite some time and I pretty much got into only two hands blinding away at least half my stack. After many hands with the mouth stating he had a set and everyone should fold but showed crap hands this setup some hellasish bantering between the black guy and the mouth. They would continue to chase hands with each other only to say things like you just got punked etc…
Well on one hand the mouth stood up when winning a hand and said take that bitch at which time many at the table said hey watch your language. Fuck that he said the dude is a bitch and I will say what ever I want. Steve the floor man said oh no you wont followed by the guy stating that he would just cash out and leave. That is when the black guy said I am gonna cash out as well meaning that he was going to go outside with the guy. Well the mouth proceeded to repeat the bitch word yet again and that is when the very large African American walked around the back of the table and let him have it. One punch almost put the dude over the rail. All I remember after that was the whole place coming to their feet and two very small security guards running into the door. The mouth started yelling that he wanted the cops called so that he could press charges. No one seemed to be on his side at all. I had already picked up all of my chips and figured that this match was not going to go well for quite some time and decided to leave. Before I walked away for the table I made it a point to get the mouth to look me right in the eye and said you my friend are one dumb ass bitch and you got what you had coming dude.
I went to the bar and let Kim the new bar tender and Nicole know exactly what had happened and told them good bye. In my opinion the staff did not act appropriately or early enough to defuse this situation. Early on when I first sat down and heard and saw how this guy was behaving I asked him what online site he played at. His answer was I don’t play at any online sites only live games. He reminded me of many of the loud mouthed ass holes you run into online. He also reminded me of the young blond headed kid I seen playing in the wsop on tv as well. Can’t nor would I ever want to remember his name so that last line is hit or miss as far as you knowing who I might be talking about. Who ever said drunks and Holdem is +ev for the other players. Well I obviously haven’t learnt enough about the game to work that kind of atmosphere to my advantage. But then again I didn’t really sit down with enough cash to make an honest go of it. I sat down with $100 and left with around $30 after the entertainment was over. I did have a front row seat for the fight though and a very nice dinner so fight and a dinner is worth $70 to me any day.
jd
I think all this is great stuff to watch and decided that I would like to get a closer seat to the action. I ask Steve the floor man to get me to that table which is a 4/8 kill table and slipped him a $5 to ensure quick placement. Ten minutes later I am being seated in the #5 seat directly across from the dealer. The number one seat was the drunker then hell Asian gal and to her right a mouthy drunk regular who was about 24ish, and to his right two more drunk early twenty something’s. In seat eight was this very large African American fellow who was playing a very lose aggressive game and taking down quite a few pots. The guy to his right had a stack of chips reminiscent to Jamey Gold and was playing pretty tight.
Long story short the punk next to the Asian gal was a very mouthy sort of dude and continually used the f word which many called foul on of which he would reply I don’t give a shit I will leave any time and would repeat the f bomb over and over just to be an ass. Play went on for quite some time and I pretty much got into only two hands blinding away at least half my stack. After many hands with the mouth stating he had a set and everyone should fold but showed crap hands this setup some hellasish bantering between the black guy and the mouth. They would continue to chase hands with each other only to say things like you just got punked etc…
Well on one hand the mouth stood up when winning a hand and said take that bitch at which time many at the table said hey watch your language. Fuck that he said the dude is a bitch and I will say what ever I want. Steve the floor man said oh no you wont followed by the guy stating that he would just cash out and leave. That is when the black guy said I am gonna cash out as well meaning that he was going to go outside with the guy. Well the mouth proceeded to repeat the bitch word yet again and that is when the very large African American walked around the back of the table and let him have it. One punch almost put the dude over the rail. All I remember after that was the whole place coming to their feet and two very small security guards running into the door. The mouth started yelling that he wanted the cops called so that he could press charges. No one seemed to be on his side at all. I had already picked up all of my chips and figured that this match was not going to go well for quite some time and decided to leave. Before I walked away for the table I made it a point to get the mouth to look me right in the eye and said you my friend are one dumb ass bitch and you got what you had coming dude.
I went to the bar and let Kim the new bar tender and Nicole know exactly what had happened and told them good bye. In my opinion the staff did not act appropriately or early enough to defuse this situation. Early on when I first sat down and heard and saw how this guy was behaving I asked him what online site he played at. His answer was I don’t play at any online sites only live games. He reminded me of many of the loud mouthed ass holes you run into online. He also reminded me of the young blond headed kid I seen playing in the wsop on tv as well. Can’t nor would I ever want to remember his name so that last line is hit or miss as far as you knowing who I might be talking about. Who ever said drunks and Holdem is +ev for the other players. Well I obviously haven’t learnt enough about the game to work that kind of atmosphere to my advantage. But then again I didn’t really sit down with enough cash to make an honest go of it. I sat down with $100 and left with around $30 after the entertainment was over. I did have a front row seat for the fight though and a very nice dinner so fight and a dinner is worth $70 to me any day.
jd
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Tinkerbelle goes all in!
If you look closely at the picture below you may see an image of the Virgin Mary, or possibly an outline of Jesus, or better yet look even closer and you may see a royal flush. If you’re in the bb you may even see dollar signs. My advice would be to just limp in and eventually you will be able to read the word VISA. The picture is of a piece of a pigs ear that measures 7/8”x1" and is 1 ¼ of an inch from corner to corner, or about the size of one quarter of a playing card. Pig’s ears are commonly sold in pet stores as a dog’s chewable treat. Our pet has been eating them for years without ever having a problem.
As many of you know, Suz and I doubled up last week going from pet to pets. The new addition Tinkerbelle is pictured below in an earlier post. Get a read on those cute little eyes, who wouldn’t love a face like that, but who knows what hand she is really playing. I am currently working on getting a better read from my opponents but she fooled me big time… I figured I was shoving my way into guilt free poker for a long time. Hell I could of bought a Harley for the money I have in that little cutie pie.
The pic of the golden pig’s ear above was removed from Tinkerbelle’s throat yesterday. When attempting to take the small piece of pig’s ear away from her so that she would not choke on it she growled and like a donk swallowed it whole. This was followed by an episode of choking, my finger going down her throat in an attempt to remove it, vomiting up foamy white crap, another choking episode and additional projectile vomit all over Suz’s chest.
Next day the puppy was very sick and after looking at her gums which had turned gray we went online to investigate. The first article we found mentioned bloat and said to go to the vet immediately. We made a call to our local vet who said to take her to another vet as an emergency patient. We called that vet and they said to take her to yet another vet even farther away immediately. Long story short we had to drive an hour to get to the VCA Vet on the other side of town.
They checked her out and took x-rays (at a $140 a pop) and found something lodged in her esophagus which required removal or she would die (game over). That would require her to be placed under Anastasia, a tube put down her throat, followed by a scope sent down to find the foreign object. They found it and then sent another tube down with a clamp attached to pull it back out. The picture above is what was removed from Tinkerbelle’s throat.
Total Buyin, $1800. Then they had the gull to demand that we buy a special dog food for her at who knows how much per can. Kiss my what…..? Instead I stopped at the store on the way home to buy purple cool-aid to add the poison to that I plan on drinking when I get home
Suz leaves for Massachusetts on Friday so Joe Dirt and I are going to deep fry the new puppy and have our selves a feast of sorts. If only I was better at poker I would not worry about the $4,500.00 I have in this dog as of today. We have only had the dog a total of eleven days now, by her first birthday she could be worth well over a wsop buyin.
Let me see, if we breed her and she has one puppy like her mom had when she was born, depending on the sex of the puppy, male worth about 1k, female worth about 1.5K, it should only take her four years before I can see a profit. This dog is a donk. She is about as good a money maker as I am at poker, hence donk’s attract. I figured hell even though I paid $2500 for the dog she will make that money back after two litters. What a bad beat….Before everyone goes flying off the hammer, just know that I still love Tinkerbelle very much and will only hock/pimp her out should I ever need poker money
jd
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