busy breaking promises and the donkey w/ 99

yeah, that's right. the same day i post about how i'm gonna read instead of playing i played before i read. blech. i deserved to lose at the stupid limit .25/.50 table.

after finally getting out of work around 11 i rolled to my old stomping ground, daddyo, to enjoy a cold beer, hector's fried shrimp, and do the xword. i finished it up and headed my ass home shortly after midnight in order to watch the end of the math and girlie chat it up. earlier in the evening i had alan keeping me up-to-date on the craziness that is what_sarah_said.

this person popped up on ftp a few weeks ago and accused chad and don of colluding at a 1/2 table. as if. and then said he/she was going to report them to ftp. riiiiiight. so now anyone who is friendly w/ someone else at the table must be colluding with them? i'd like to see ftp enforce that! the thought of astin and i exchanging hands when we're at the same sng is just plain ridonkulous, as is the thought of chad and don doing the same at a 1/2 table. i'm sure some of the pros know each other, how do we know they aren't colluding when it's two of them against some no-name at a 100/200 table? the truth is we don't, but all anyone at ftp has to do is look at betting patterns and hands to see it's an inane accusation.

work has been craaaaaaaaaazy, it's just one thing after the other. i barely had time to read hoy's post today!

i appreciate the thoughts on the poker hand i posted. i was the donkey w/ 99.
i didn't open raise b/c it was so early in the tourney and blinds so small, that i wanted to try and see a flop for cheap, and get rid of hand if overcards came. i was in pretty early position, and didn't want to get re-raised. but then that dude min-raised, which i didn't like. i re-raised after his min-raise b/c min-raises always seem fishy to me, and i figured if he re-popped me pre-flop (wow, lots of hyphens in this sentence) i'd fold, plus now i really wanted to get rid of the blinds, who could have anything, including A-T rag, which meant if a T flopped i'd still have no idea where i was at. nicely, blinds folded and he called, and when i bet out close to the pot i was thinking he'll (likely) fold anything but AA, KK, QQ, AQ and maybe JJ. thought if he re-raised i'd be done. perhaps the bet should have been smaller, maybe half pot, to accomplish same goal, but lose less money if i do get re-raised.

hopefully i'll be off to momofuku shortly, and in bed relatively early after staying up way too late last night!

thoughts? non poker edition

i walked over to starbucks, and while i was on line, the guy making the drinks called over to ask what those of us on line wanted, thus speeding up the process of getting our drinks once we're finished paying. i love when they do this. i was fourth on line, and the woman in front was third (duh) and the first was paying. the woman in front of me ordered her drink, then shifted out of line, and eventually made her way over to the coffee bar. without paying. do you say something?

i just couldn't bring myself to point her out to the cashier and say, she didn't pay! nor did i say something to the barista. i actually thought about saying something to the woman, along the lines of, did you forget to pay? she was professionally dressed, in a decent looking suit (not sure it matters) but it looked like she could afford to pay for a $4 coffee. it's possible i missed her paying, but i doubt it, as there was only one cashier!

i vacillated b/w being a tattle tale, and also pointing out that someone was, technically, stealing a coffee. anyway, i'm not really sure i did the right thing in not saying anything, but am curious what others think.

poker

i didn't play much poker over the w/e until last night. i did enter a super satellite friday night when i got home, but my heart wasn't in it.

last night my heart was in poker, but i wasn't getting my game on. i went up a buy-in in .25/.50 cash, and then played a couple hours later and lost a buy-in. i grinded a little in .25/.50 limit just trying to hit my next bonus, which i finally did, so that was nice. i played in a bunch of mtt type tourneys ($5 90 person, $3 rebuy, 24k) and in a couple went middle of the pack/deep but couldn't cash. as usual, i chipped up earlyish, and then stagnated in the middle stage of the tournament.

upon some friendly advice from chad, and some thoughts i've had on my own lately (and probably even posted about, though never followed through) i'm going to really take some time and do some poker reading. i have a lot of poker books sitting on my shelf that i've never read, and while i don't want to overwhelm myself, i think i should at least attempt to insert all that knowledge into my brain.

i find poker books difficult b/c they're (as don said) like textbooks, and it's not really true pleasure reading. i enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but don't find no limit hold em theory and practice a walk in the park for my brain. not that it should be. but i need to buckle down and read that, re-read harrington on hold em, and maybe pick through a few others (poker tournament formula, re-read play poker like the pros, and ace on the river). oh, i also got the ftp strat guide, and would like to read through that.

so not to say that i won't play at all over the next couple weeks, b/c i think it's too much information to try and implement all at once, but i want to get out of the habit of coming home and playing, and into the habit of coming home and reading. we'll see how that goes. : )

harry potter (read at your peril)

there are no "spoilers" on plot following, but i make general observations about the book that some may wish to avoid until they've completed it themselves.


i finally finished the last harry potter, only a week after it came out. so glad that i avoided any spoilers before finishing. i loved it, though it felt less climactic than i expected. i actually found the last book much easier to read and less "heavy" than the two or even three that came before it. which i guess meant (for me) that it made for a quicker read and less crying. i would like to re-read it again before passing final judgment, but i thought it was a fitting end to a series of books i've enjoyed tremendously, and you will hear no complaints here. jk rowling, moreso than a lot of quasi celebrities today, deserves every penny as far as i'm concerned. i wonder whether she'll just retired gracefully or if she's got other books planned. anything else she writes will invariably be compared to harry potter, but i think she's got the goods to churn out other novels (though if i were her i'd be taking a good long break from publishing). i'll have to google and look into that.

thoughts?

fifth hand of 24k. blinds are 15/30. neither player has played a hand. player 1 in early/middle position limps first. player 2 in co min raises to 60. blinds complete. player 1 (limper) re-raises to 150 and only player 2 (co) calls. flop is Q83 w/ two clubs. player 1 bets out 400, slightly less than the pot. player 2 calls. turn is a non-club 9. player 1 bets out 960, about 3/4 of pot. player 2 min raises over the top to 1900. player 1 goes all in for remaining 700 or so, gets called. river is a brick, non club, and player 1 turns over 99 for a set of 9s. player 2 turns over KK for top pair.

thoughts?

UPDATE: what about the way player 1 played 99? donkey? lucky? lucky donkey?

no poker

i guess i'm taking an unplanned break! totally forgot about riverchasers till i read cayne's blog this morning. had some drinks last night, including a stop at mdm x to hear jon spin. today is going to be another boring coding day at work, and hopefully nothing else will come up.

i finally bought harry potter yesterday, so i probably won't be playing much until i finish it (hopefully by sunday?) i have about a 2 hour ride, i think, each way to/from the hamptons, and i'm also hoping to read a little after drinks w/ jen tonight, although that's doubtful, especially if i trek out to greenpoint to see her. gasp, brooklyn!

have a great weekend!

you know you're tired

when you look down after arriving at work and realize the tag on your shirt is in the front instead of the back.

work tilt

as hoy might say, i am on serious work tilt. i'm on poker tilt, too, but that is taking a back seat.

life at a biglaw firm is stressful. the expectations and demand on your time are made with little regard to sleep, social life or sanity, and things are managed so poorly it is difficult to fathom that they somehow keep track of their millions in profits. it's not worth getting into too much detail, because it will just send me off on another tear, but needless to say as a junior associate i feel quite helpless and very much not in control of my day to day life. i have no interest in becoming a partner (at my current firm or really any firm) and since that is the "carrot" (as bayne so eloquently put it earlier) that law firms lord over us associates, this leads to a very obvious differentiation between gunners (people looking to make partner) and people like me.

when working for a gunner senior associate and having a gunner junior associate also on your team, one can want to pull her hair out since senior gunner constantly expects one to be there the crazy hours that gunner junior is and keep the same uber high level of enthusiasm for tasks so boring your eyes would bleed if i listed them here. uh, no thank you. plus, i'm not mormon so i don't get sundays off (NO OFFENSE at all to mormons or observant jews (one of those on my team also, he doesn't work on saturday)) but it would be nice to have at least one built in non-work day, even it were to involve doing religious stuff.

i've always said that with respect to a good amount of the work i've done at my firm, i could train a monkey to do the work even better, and they wouldn't wonder why they weren't out with all their friends at midnight on a friday night. supposedly as i advance in my career here i will be allowed to do things that trained monkeys couldn't do, but i think the bigger/more prestigious your firm, the longer that takes.

hoping to make it out to hamptons this weekend for mer's bday, but looking unlikely due to work on a project for something due monday. should make blogger freeroll tonight, i am betting good money that i am going to go out to 23skid. i'm generally non-confrontational, and until last week don't think i ever wrote an unkind word about any other blogger/player (except maybe unwittingly about bayne or astin, but they know i kid -- hey astin, speaking of, nice call w/ T8off) : )

it felt really weird to do it, and even moreso to get called out, seeing as i would never even have guessed that he read my little blog. i have had negative things written about me before on blogs, but i choose to believe that people who do that will get what's coming. thus, i reiterate my prediction that i will be knocked out early by 23skidoo. very glad to see bayne is not playing, and crossing my fingers that daughter will be making a guest appearance (doubtful though that may be).

in the heat of the moment

my last post was a little harsh, though i appreciate skidoo and jamie's comments (uh, chad and astin's too). not to sound like a wife beater who wakes up the next morning and is all baby, baby i didn't mean it, but i was very frustrated last night, and i decided to (as jamie pointed out) use my blog to let off a little steam. i don't know 23skid, and thus am not too concerned that i offended him (and please, he came in second, so who the fuck cares if the donkey in fourth place writes something mean) but that was my way of letting out my frustration.

to answer mike's email comment (which was something along the lines of, bitching seems counterproductive, and don't you want donkeys playing against you b/c more times than not you'll beat them) yes. i want to play that Q8 girl again and again, because she's not usually going to flop quad 8s, and i'm going to take the hand. unfortunately i'm not going to have the chance to play her again. i was pissed at 23skid for that particular play, but he could probably kick my ass and take names in nl hold em any day of the week, so not sure how often i want to encounter him at that game. but overall you are right. i'm by no means calling myself a good player, b/c frankly i consider myself a prime donkey, but good players take bad beats more often than others b/c they almost always get in w/ the best hand, and so it's only when people suck out on them that they get beat. shit happens. as for going on tilt and calling them names being counterproductive, uh yeah i guess. is that $60 i would have won gonna buy me a new house? hell no. at the end of the day it doesn't matter all that much, it's just frustrating to be so close and go out on the bubble b/c of poor play against the other bubble person, who i felt should have been out much earlier. that's all.

it's all the result of a very frustrating couple of days of poker. i didn't raise enough w/ pocket aces on saturday, and got cracked by T4s. I went out of the ladies tournament yesterday shortly after the first break w/ QQ v. AA (just call me don). i went out on the bubble of the 50/50 last night when i had 77 v. 44 and AJ and a J hits on the turn. not that i can expect to win that every time, but the triple up at that point in the tournament was key.

so poker hasn't been the best for me over the past couple of days, but on the bright side i made a lovely new canine friend (shout out to lucy!) and had a fantastic time hanging out w/ don in vegas. maybe bayne was right about that old adage.

stupid blogger horse tournament donkeys

i'm on the bubble w/ khanwoman (who is that?) and iam23skidoo decides to call me all the way down to seventh street in hi/lo W/ NOTHING when i have three to a flush starting hand, four to a flush on 4th street, a pair of 3s on sixth street, and that donkey gets a 9 on seventh street to make him a better pair. who the fuck calls down in STUD HI with A23. i had AQsomething, and had him beat all the fucking way, raising and re-raising him. i really could have used the money in my bankroll and just like the Q8 bitch from the other night, this DONKEY gets rewarded for going to 7th street without any kind of hand. argh! not to mention, khanwoman was a short stack for numerous orbits, and iam23skidoo doubled him/her up TWICE in hands that he had no business even playing. great job iam23skidoo.

mgm

i played at mgm last night and was having an awesome night. i never went below my initial 200 and at my highest point was up to 650. i lost a good amount of that on a horrible call that i made when i flopped top pair, re-raised the cbet of the guy next to me, and he popped all in. i knew i was beat. i asked him, aces or kings, and he said, you know. there is no way i shouldn't have gotten off my hand. so shame on me, cause i called and he did indeed have AA, but i still had over 400 and was sitting pretty. i lost a decent pot when my flopped top two pair lost to a straight on the turn by the other player. i won a decent pot when i flopped a set of 7s (my only set of the night, despite having KK once, JJ twice, TT three times, 99 twice, and several smaller pairs) but one dude called me all the way down and if he had an 8 he had a straight. he didn't, and i picked up a decent pot. on my last big winning pot i limped utg w/ KJs and about 7 people limped. flop came rainbow QT9, and i checked, the same girl who turned the straight on me earlier bet out the pot and i called. the turn came another club (i had KJ clubs) and i checked again. she bet out 100, i re-raised, and after barely thinking she folded.

so she's gunning for me, and a few hands later i pick up AA. there was a raise to 7, one caller (a few limpers, including said girl) and i pop it up to 22. she called (yay!!!) and so does the initial raiser and the guy to my right. flop is 888. i bet out the pot, and girl calls. everyone folds. i put her on KK or QQ. i can't imagine what hand she'd have w/ an 8, as she just wasn't the type to call w/ 78s (at least as far as i could tell she seemed to like her face cards). i bet the turn, she pushes in for her remaining chips, and i happily call. river is an A, but i am shocked when she turns over Q8 OFFSUIT for the flopped quads. there is just no way i can put her on that hand, and i'm amazed that she called a raise and re-raise w/ those cards. i was so excited when she called, and i'd want her to do that every day of the week. it just kills me that she plays so shitty, and gets so SO lucky to hit quad 8s w/ that hand.

i was tilting a bit (something i need to work on) when two hands later i picked up AK. i called a raise, and some dude on the blinds pops it up to $50. the girl calls, i (STUPIDLY) call, and then dean, dude on my left, jams for about 200. the initial raiser (donkey) folds, and girl announces call. thinking i'm priced in (and honestly not putting them on awesome hands) i call also. flop is 944, girl goes all in for her remaining 150, and i call off hte rest of my chips. no improvement, and dean turns over 88 to take the pot down and chick turns over 55. to take the side pot and the rest of my money. i think in that situation i should have just folded. it was my 5th AK (not that that matters) but i was tilting and figured maybe i'd make back some of my money. i don't even know what i was thinking, really, other then even now, hours later, i still can't stop thinking about that fucking luckbox bitch who called a raise and reraise w/ Q8 off and flopped quads. hoping that writing this will help expunge it from my system so i can go back to mgm today and kick some ass.

i got hit w/ cards yesterday, and still ended down a buy in, but hoping that even if i don't get such great cards today i'll make it work.

oh, two other hands from yesterday from earlier on. i limped w/ jacks, some dude popped it up to 15, and i decided to call. mistake, the whole reason i limped was thinking i'd repop a raise but i figured i'll hope for a set. the guy to my left, who just sat down, called the raise also, i think there were four of us. flop is AT9. happy i didn't re-raise, i check, dude to my left bets, other dude calls and i decide i'm beat. don't know exactly how betting was on turn and river but next think i know dude to my left is taking down the pot w/ a pair of 55s. unbelievable. i guess going up against 5s was bad for me yesterday.

another hand same guy raises pre flop, and everyone folds to me in bb. i have 85s and decide to gamble w/ him. (haha, probably tilting from the JJ hand). flop comes K87. i don't put him on a K, and i call his small bet on the flop. the turn is a brick, i push him all in (he has maybe 80 in front) and he instacalls turning over JJ. hahaha, nice hand sir. at least i was right, he didn't have a K. but a beautiful 5 on the river gives me two pair and he gets up and leaves the table. i said something like, wow, that was so lucky and one of the guys to my left was like, yeah, well he wasn't very good, it was gonna happen eventually. that was exactly what i'd been thinking and was just glad i'd gotten his money.

one last hand, probably my first big pot, a guy raised in middle position, i picked up AK off and re-raised. back around to him, we're heads up now, and he re-raises another 50. i say, let's gamble, push the rest of my stack in, and he calls w/ AQ. A on flops two tens, and my K kicker win me the pot. i probably took 125-150 from him in one hand that he threw away on AQ. why i play AQ very carefully now...

i'm number three!

i came in third in a couple tournaments today.





overall i was happy with how i played in the tournaments. i've gotten very good at folding during my "really?" moments, and have been playing way tight. i still lost hands w/ A rag, but i also won some, cause i'm learning when it's ok, and when it's not.

unfortunately my tournament cashes were cancelled out by satellite attempts and CASH which continues to be the bane ("bayne?" hehe) of my existance. i got stacked a couple times. the worst was when i raised w/ AK, got called by the guy behind me (i was mp) and everyone else folded. flop came A rag rag, three clubs. i had the K of clubs, so top pair and nut flush draw, and when dude pushed all in i called, he showed 76 of clubs, and no fourth to flush. boooooo. i also called a 3x bb raise w/ AJ, flop came AJ6, by the river i was all in and he showed AA. awesome.

i played an ftops satellite in the morning, and then just played a number of tournaments. sadly, i lost again to bayne in our second hu match, but i still believe that despite the luckbox force that surrounds him i will take a $2 hu match from him one of these days.

i just finished packing for vegas, after having some delicious drinks w/ some friends. i didn't have to go to work today (evacuation day) and switched to earlier vegas flight tomorrow. i somehow ended up in an omaha hi super sat to ftops event 4 (so yes, mike, i am playing and did break my express warrant.) i just went out in 6th, which to be honest seeing as how bad i am at omaha hi i'm not ashamed of. i also played a quick hu match, and am extremely proud to post this:

beware

i actually have positive things to say about poker! well, that's not to say i still didn't make some fuck ups, but i cashed in three tournaments last night, and am pretty psyched with my performance, even if i coulda done better. it's scary to say, but i think the fact that work could not be further from my mind may have played a role.

for those who don't know, a steam pipe exploded two blocks from my work. my building was evacuated, and i was literally grabbed from my office. it was a very freaky scene. nobody knew what had happened, and all i'd seen from my office window was people running away from the direction of my building. everyone's first thought, i think, was 9/11 and whether there was another terrorist attack. there wasn't, but it was still scary before we knew what was going on. i got the hell outta there, and walked/ran west and then south, before grabbing the 1 at 34th street and training home.

as i settled down at my computer, i thought, damn, i'm home early today!!! then i realized it was 7pm, and that lots and lots of people get home far before 7pm on a daily basis. sigh. on to poker!

first i won a tier 1 token and played in the 24k. and i cashed!!!! i have to stop being so happy with simply cashing, b/c it leads to me making donkey moves. in this case, i tried the stooooooopid "resteal" only i have not yet learned to pick my spots, it was a stupid, stupid move, and i went out re-raising my bb (from the sb) with T9 when he called me w/ AT. uh, oops. i can't win w/ AT, and i can't win against it.

then i played the mooooooooookie. i can't find the hands i most want in my history, but essentially i doubled up early, and had a decent stack for most of the early part. i played good poker for a couple hours and then threw it away w/.....yup FUCKING AQ SUITED. i don't know what is wrong w/ me, honestly. i can put up post its, talk about it on this blog, talk about it in girlie chat. and yet, there i go again trying to "resteal" w/ AQ. i don't know which is more of a problem in my game.

guy utg or two off raises to 1800 (blinds 300/600) and i see AQ and instead of FOLDING, i decide to push. unfortunately a player behind me jams, and i end up being up against AA (guy behind) and 22 (initial raiser). SHOCKINGLY my AQ does not pull out a diamond flush or straight, and i am left w/ 550 chips. yes, a few short of the final table, and i have blown my 8k stack and am left w/ less than 1k chips. so i pick up AQ two hands later utg, and call the bb. cause i don't have enough chips to raise. triple up, then call an early position raise w/ J5. mostly b/c by now i'm deep in an omaha h/l ftops satellite, and playing two other games and figure i'm almost done in mookie anyway.

so then i hit a 5, i think i was up against AK, and i double again. somehow i then go from 4k to 8k, from 8k to 16k, and i believe that was when i hit a set of sixes against mookie (sb v. bb once again). i raised it up, he re-raised, and i just called. i figured i could still get away from the hand if the flop came AKQ or something stupid like that, but he pushed all in post flop w/ AT and i scooped up a nice pot.

also, about two seconds after i went down to 550 my friend tony stopped by. he works in the hood and i hadn't seen him in ages. so i'm playing three ftp games, going crazy about the mookie, getting psyched cause i'm at the final table of the ftops satellite, and he just sat in my apartment w/ his mouth gaped open at the insanity that is a night on ftp for lana. chats going crazy, orange blinking lights, me cheering. i think he was scared. he didn't stay long. : )

so now i'm final table at mookie, and the EXACT SAME SITUATION happens again. except this time i have 99. i think, great, this is a perfect resteal hand. so when there's an early raise, i re-raise (either all in or just higher) then there's a push, the original raiser folds, and i end up w/ 99 v. AA and go out in 7th place. that's not once, but TWICE that i ran into AA behind me. i guess i can fold 99 there, or just call the raise, and then fold to the AA push, but i'm not sure i'm that good a player 7 handed. maybe i'm not supposed to hope for a race v. AK or a lower pair. i don't really know.

on to my omaha ftops sat. i paid $8.80 for that one and there ended up being 43. my first table i'm in a jecii hoyazo sandwich, that was fun. jecii made a huge suckout on my AA high in an early hand i went down early. but i battled back, hit some pretty flushes, and somehow kept myself in the game. i went into the final table a medium stack, at one point was the lowest by far when we were down to 5, but also had taken a few people out. it's such a game of chance, and the blinds are so big, that you really just have to find a hand and go w/ it. so then we're down to hu, the guy has a pretty big lead on me, and i battle back and get him down to 11k. had i re-raised him even once or twice on one of two hands i won, i woulda had him down for the count, but instead i gave him an opening, and he used it. after he was down to 11k he raised and re-raised everything, and i just couldn't get a win. we stayed about even in chips, and every time i had the nut high he had the low. in the end i went out to his AA that hit something or other, and i cried in second place.

at the same time, i won $64 for my efforts, and while it's not an entry in the ftops $200 event w/ chad, my bankroll could really use the $64 bucks right now, so that's how i'm consoling myself.

today is an "evacuation" day, and there's a chance the office will be closed tomorrow also. i sure wish i'd booked an earlier flight to vegas!! i have loads of work to do, but everything is at work, and the stuff i need to do is very difficult w/o all the docs i need, printed out, at my disposal. it would almost be silly for me to try to do what i need to do with everything on the computer screen, so i'm not sure i'm gonna try.

i also played in an avatar satellite and made it fairly far, but couldn't finish it off and went out when there were 11 or 12 left. ok, now for my effort to post screenshots of my cashes. we'll see how this goes.

help, please

which lucky reader wants to explain how i go about posting hand histories on my blog? do you copy and paste from ftp? from the little text files that save on your pute? from pokertracker/pokeroffice?

i think don taught me how to do a screenshot, but the part i can't figure out is how to just get the poker window in the picture. i realize as i type this that i sound like a computertard, but i am just not familiar w/ these standard poker blog features.

i think it will be fun to add some color to my blog, and make it more of an interesting read to my nearly twenty daily readers (it varies). i used to only have one reader, so this is a very exciting time for medusa's castle. shiny colors may inspire one or two first time visitors to become returning visitors, which would put a big smile on my face. [insert toothy grin yahoo emoticon here]

oh, also, how do i do that thing that hoy always does, where he crosses out astin and inserts luckiest guy ever. i think that would be fun to do.

THANKS!!

neteller and hu

yay!!!! i got my neteller money. i had linked neteller to my dutch bank account when i was living in the netherlands, and used it to transfer money to my old ftp account. i had to change it up when i signed up for raketherake, and used my us address (sigh, i miss my old ftp name), and decided neteller would close my account if they knew i was back in the us.

desite checking my account numerous times and transferring money to and from it, it wasn't until a few weeks ago that they arbitrarily closed my dutch neteller account, ostensibly for accessing it from the us. after a series of phone calls and emails they agreed to deposit all of the money back into my dutch account, and there it sits. yay!!!!!!!

it was not as much as a lot of ballahs have sitting in their frozen us accounts, but a thousand bucks is very helpful to my bankroll right now, so i'll take it!

i really want to try satelliting into some ftops events, and i think my endgame has improved enough to give it some small shots here and there. i definitely fucked up some satellites the last time around when two spots paid and i got down to final four only to go on lana tilt (see pushing w/ AT when one can cruise to final table/final spots). i saw that kod already has a spot in the omaha h/l event, and i would love to play in that.

psyched for mookie tonight, i have a good feeling about this one. after that i'm going to take on bayne in a hu rematch. he killed me when he turned a straight in typical bayne fashion, but i have confidence in my hu game right now. i did lose to chad, but i had him down to the ropes. if my A8 holds up against his T5 he's toast! i did take one from don, which puts our all time record at 8 for me and 7 for him. i completely sucked out on him when we both hit top pair (he had AK, i had AT) but a ten fell on the turn and he was done. in fact i've sucked out on him a bunch in our hu matches, but i suppose that shouldn't surprise me (or him). let's hope i can inflict some serious astinbaynage on bayne tonight, although i'm not sure if his sheer being can repel it. that may be why i have trouble winning against him. yes, that must be it.

last night was the first time in awhile i didn't have to do work upon my return home and it felt nice. got a new assignment for an old case that SUCKS earlier today, but i should be able to get some of it done friday afternoon and on the plane to vegas. i believe the plan right now is to play a new deep stack tourney at caesar's on saturday, and then if i go out early i'm gonna hit up mgm for cash. i am still deciding whether to play the orleans open ladies event on sunday. i would really love the challenge, but may want to have one free day in vegas to see the city and hang out. eh. who am i kidding, i'll be in a poker room somewhere.

da play! da play!

i just saw what might be the tightest play i've ever seen, and i'm not just saying that because it only lasted an hour. that's right, AN HOUR! and it was funny and awesome. so to recap: i slammed through work so i could see the play, it turned out to be well worth it, AND i'm home in time for math. life is good.

on the down side, i still have a little work to do, but hopefully it will help me play tight and i won't be back here in twenty minutes writing about yet another flaw in my poker game. : )

info on the play is here. go see it. best theatre value i've seen.

vegas, of course

so you just turned 21, but unfortunately you missed celebrating "properly" cause you were in a lenient "rehab" facility in california for the past 45 days (that allowed you out to sunbathe at the beach and hang out with friends). supposedly you're staying away from drugs and alcohol, and you're even wearing a monitoring bracelet. where would you go? home in cali to chill with some friends? back to li to see your family? (uh, scratch that, seeing as your mom probably provided you with far too many drugs over the past year). nope, you go to VEGAS. to PURE. of course! hopefully we won't be reading about the next rehab stint after something worse than driving up on a curb with cocaine residue in the car.

it's so sad. she was actually good in mean girls, and had the potential for a career as an actress, rather than a tabloid celebrity. luckily hollywood and the american public have relatively short memories.

work work work

i've been pounding out work today at a speed rarely seen (blech, stupid deadlines), and even found time to go get a pedicure (while pounding through the first half of a new assignment). well done me.

the problem is, here i am wanting to take a break, and i have nobody to read. hoy, what gives? bayne, where arrrrrrrrrre you? i made it through a few blogs on my lunch break, but where is my mid-afternoon reading when i need it! UPDATE: i just checked out hoy's blog and there IS a post now. yayyyyyyyyyyy! i guess i can take quick break...

ok, back to the grind. trying to get out of here in time to go see a play written by a friend of a friend, but will probably have to work from home after. no math for me tonight, but i should be home in time to watch astin bubble four spots from the money. hehehe.

links to be added when i don't have such crazy deadlines.

booo A anything but K

i went out on two really stupid hands tonight. one was around 12 or 13 in the bad beat. ig imed me a little before it began and i decided to give it a go. i don't have time to recount how i got so many chips, but essentially i could have cruised into the final table, and instead re-raised (er, jammed) a small raise when i was on the button, and sucked my ATs into JJ, which of course held up. it was a terrible move on my part. my friend michael who just started a blog even emailed wondering what i was thinking (in a good way).

then i proceeded to bubble the 50/50 the exact same way. i scored a token for the bargain price of 4.25, and was close to turning it into 50 bucks. unfortunately, i decided to take AQ to the felt, and called for all my chips up against 99. yeah, oops.

so, i have a new hole in my game. i guess on the bright side i'm making it deeper than i was when i suffered exclusively from "really?" problems. baby steps.

most of all, i'm writing this post to congratulate don. after taking a series of sick beats over the past few weeks (the latest of which was AA v. AA at the orleans where the other dude four flushed him -- puking), he had some good play and suckoutage of his own. 65s v. KK - rivers straight; 77 v. AA - seven flops. YAY! i'm sure he'll write in more detail about the less desperate hands where he jammed and re-jammed w/ QQ or AK and came out on top. he played a solid tight game and went out 13th (of 1461). i know all these ballahs are only happy w/ 1-3, but i think 13 is pretty fucking awesome!

woe is me

i went to bed kinda late last night, sorta sick, thinking, no problem. i'll sleep in late and get a good night of sleep. unfortunately i did not count on the jackasses at coned who have been jackhammering directly outside of my bedroom window NONSTOP (as in, not even a five second pause) for the past ten minutes. ARGH!

nothing to say

believe it or not. i am tired, even after 8 hours of sleep, b/c i stayed up too late every other night this week. i am feeling the early warning signs of a sinus infection coming on, which does not make me happy.

i played some frustrating poker last night. as i was on my way home, psyched for the 28k and token frenzy (and a 50/50 sat?), i got an assignment i needed to do asap. despite this, i decided to play in both tournaments anyway. in the first hand of the tf i missed my turn and woulda had a huge flush in first hand. after turning up my volume i proceeded to tilt away the rest of my chips in tf, and went out of 28k on first hand in a "really?" moment. as in, really, you limped utg w/ T8 off and then called my raise? nicely done fucktard. but i'm not bitter or anything. i still could have gotten away from the hand w/ chips, but needed to send something out and so i made a stupid call on the river.

then in riverchasers i got bluffed out of pot after pot. one hand i think if i'd raised i might have taken down, but instead i folded, having been slightly induced by advice received earlier. i know people are trying to help my game, and i certainly appreciate advice, but it's hard when you see it used against you in a tournament. such is the way of poker, of course, friends off the table and enemies at the table. i need to get used to this, b/c surely i should have learned it by now. thus, i vow to avoid bayne and hoy at all costs in the future.

i'm supposed to play in a home game tonight, but won't get out of work in time to make the first tournament. hopefully i'll make the second, and maybe even have time to see a friend for happy hour. i'm not feeling live cash, so unless i get a good vibe from the tournament i think i'm likely to either go home and crash or meet up w/ some friends for a drink or two and then crash.

i am going to have a bunch of stupid busywork to do this weekend. hoping to get a good chunk done sat morn, before meeting up w/ a friend/blog lurker who i haven't seen in forever. so aside from tournament tonight, my only real poker plan is the 28k on sunday night, and i'm not sure how much playing i'll do otherwise. i just got no limit theory and hold em, and would like to give it a good read.

i'm still super excited for vegas, but a little bit sad, cause i realized about three hours after booking the trip that the new harry potter book comes out that saturday. my plan for the past two years has been to clear up that weekend and read from the moment it came out until i finished. if it came out friday i could probably get through a good chunk if not all on my plane ride, but sadly that was not meant to be. the next weekend i'm supposed to go to the hamptons, which means my only time to read will be the first weekend of august. and in that time i will have to avoid most mass media, b/c surely spoilers are going to abound and given my penchant for all things internet i think they will be difficult to avoid.

sirius prime country hearts me

for real. here i am puking my brains out about my shitty bbt experience, when i hear "meet in the middle" by diamond rio, one of the first country songs i ever loved. then, not ten minutes later, they're playing "bye bye" by jodee messina, which i think i've mentioned before on this blog is my all time favorite country song. all i need is "sittin on go" by bryan white and my day will be complete.

left of center was also doing me right this morning, playing a little bruce springsteen, which i've never heard on channel 26 before, and that arctic monkeys song that i love love love but can't possibly think of the name of right now (something fluorescent, electric??). last night they played "sing me spanish techno" by new porn, which was a nice pick me up as i tried to finish up my work before the mookie.

i just happened across this blogger, greenfishbrian, who has been playing in the events lately. i like how he uses song titles for his posts and plus he had a bad ankle injury, which i can certainly relate to.

i'm posting a lot today, which i think is due to procrastination on my part. i have to finish something by this evening that won't take me long once i buckle down and do it, but then i have boring busywork hanging over me that i should do before the weekend. otherwise i will be working on the weekend, and that will not be nice. i shouldn't be doing it at all, b/c they're desperate for lit assignments for summers, and what i have to do is the most perfect litigation assignment ever for the kids, but my mid level thinks the work is too "nuanced" for a summer. yeah, it's not. such bullshit.

face blindness part 2

thanks bayne, for sending me this great article. it is a story (w/ pictures) of what it's like to suffer from face blindness.

[puking]

so i just saw a link to the bbt leaderboard roi, and am feeling a little sick. i knew that i lost a lot of money playing these events, but seeing it on a computer screen made it feel way worse. on the bright side, i didn't actually lose that much money, b/c i don't think i ever bought into a math, and had insane luck in winning a token in just about every tier 1 i played for a long stretch. i did buy into 2 of the big games, though, so that was all on me. while i'm not proud, and it makes me, um, puke, i dropped that much (or more) on dinner and drinks this past week, so i have to put it all in perspective.

i also think my game is constantly improving - see third in math this week and 1st in dookie. : ) watching hoy in the 50/50 makes me want to try my skills in it so badly, but i'm sticking to my no buying in for anything higher than an $11 tournament. won two tokens last night, may use one for a 28k one of these days, and then the 8pm tournament on sunday. i wish the $2 rebuy for 50/50 started a little later, cause 6:40 is just an obscene time for me to be home from work. even the $15 tournaments have started by the time i get home, so that's a bummer.

i started doing a sng challenge in $2 turbos but couldn't make it past 15. the play was so bad, and i just ended up getting frustrated. i made money overall (don't have my notebook to report accurately right now) but i have been playing more of the $5 and feel much more at peace. if only i could buy some cash game!

mookie ouster

i was feeling really proud of myself for finishing almost all my work in time for the mookie. i had one last document that i needed to go over, but after some log on troubles, i decided to wait until dookie was over and then finish it up. good call. i won! woo hoo - i won a blogger tournament! yes, certainly i'd preferred that it be the mookie, but that was not meant to be. stud hi/lo is one of my fave games, and while i'll admit the deck astinned me for a little while i was able to overcome those times i went card dead and take it down.

sadly, my mookie did not last so long. i made it to the break, but lost almost 200 chips when i hit call accidentally when i meant to fold, and had donked away a few other chips. then i was getting a bit short and everyone folded to me in co. i raise to 350 (blinds are 100/50) with 33 and get called by bb. flop comes 888. he bets out pot, i push w/ my remaining 2k, and he calls, after thinking for a long time, w/ 99. sigh.

i played a turbo sng and one $5 but couldn't get any traction. on the bright side i won two tokens in tier1 sats, so that put a smile on my face. gonna try to play in riverchasers tonight if i get home in time. i have a lot to do at work today, and some definite weekend work in my future unless i can pound out a lot between now and then.

seeing as i spent the later part of my night railing hoy to his SECOND CONSECUTIVE FINAL 50/50 TABLE (woo hoo), chad to a 9th place finish in a six-handed tourney, and don in his cash game (where some dude got so pissed when don cracked his KK with T9 - where have i seen kings cracked before?), i am guessing today will consist of me trying not to fall asleep and trying to finish the assignments i've promised people.

at least i have vegas to look forward to!! gonna hit it up next weekend and play in a ladies tournament at orleans. and, uh, say hi to this guy. yayyyyyyyyy! i'm goin to vegas! yayyyyyyyyyyy!

former surgeon general "muzzled" -- shocking

uh, not. article here, link from 4dbirds.

as don knows, i constantly bitch about the problems i have with abstinence-only education. it starts with the notion that republicans are supposed to leave things like education up to the states. then, they complain and bitch and moan about people on welfare and single mothers. but, strangely, they only want to allow abstinence-only education. i mean, am i missing something? how is the rest of the country (in particular democrats and the media) consistently letting this hypocrisy go unmentioned.

brings to mind the time the bush campaign went all negative cause kerry used a curse word, but then the democratic spin machine made NOTHING of cheney telling leahy to fuck off. oh and then there was the time bush called a ny times reporter a "major league asshole." where was the outrage then? the republicans are so hypocritical it blows my mind!

(see also senator using callgirl, bill bennett losing a fuckload gambling, rush limbaugh's narcotics addiction, etc. etc.)

fall out boy

i have loved their song "this ain't a scene" for quite some time, and currently sirius is playing "thanks for the memories." each time i hear their songs, i am struck by how showtuney they sound. not like ms. saigon showtuney, but more like a rock album. i have pondered purchasing their entire album on itunes and determining if their other songs sound like this, but i guess it's not quite that important to me since i haven't done it, and i've had these thoughts for almost a month now.

i am desperately trying to finish this project in time for the mookie (yes, i prioritize poker over work, is that a problem?). it is looking decent, though by no means a done deal. probably this blog post is not helping.

i think bayne's comment about awarding "chips" or some such thing to the winner of each tournament (complete with a little smiley face at the bottom) is so hilarious --and it kills me that literally everything this guy writes, girlie chats included, puts a smile on my face.

awwwww yeah hoy!

hoy came in fifth in the 50/50 last night. woo hoo! a $2400 return on a $30 investment is not so shabby! i was sneaking little peeks at his table as i tried to fall asleep, but i finally succumbed to slumber shortly after he made the final table, so unfortunately i missed most of his final table action. part of the reason i couldn't tear myself away to sleep is because he's got great end game, and i think my game can benefit simply from watching him play his. oh well, next time, when i don't have a ridiculously huge project to finish at work.

congrats man!!

as for me, i am going to do my best to tear myself away from the internet most of the day, allowing only for short breaks. i look forward to reading hoy's longer post about the 50/50 during my lunch break, although after yesterday i fear the routine may be broken for good. ok, time to tackle the world's most boring project! (ok, maybe that's a bit of a hyperbole)

genarlow wilson

don't have time to do a long post on him, although it's possible i wrote something about him back in the day. he's sitting in jail in georgia for having a girl give him consensual oral sex. at the time, he was 17 and she was 15, and incredibly he has already served more jail time for that than scooter libby ever will. he has a ten year sentence, and although the Georgia SC recently denied an expedited hearing, they reversed that decision and will now hear (i think) the AG's appeal on July 20th. article here. an excerpt:

"Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing a Monroe County Superior Court judge's decision to reduce Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor and free him from prison. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson's habeas corpus last month. Wilson's attorney is arguing his 10-year prison sentence is cruel and unusual punishment."

thurbert baker, wtf is wrong w/ you!?

i have no facial recognition skills

it is a long-running joke among my friends that i have a complete inability to remember people. i've always attributed my problem to using hair to discern differences between people. so girls w/ long dirty blond hair tend to look alike to me, unless they have some significant distinguishing feature (for example a nose ring, or even just a huge nose). if you are a tall guy w/ short brown hair and no instantly distinguishing feature, there is a better than 90 percent chance that i will either instantly forget what you look like, or assume you are another tall guy w/ short brown hair.

this is especially a problem because i am relatively tall, have a very distinct hair color, and am generally an enthusiastic and friendly person. thus, people often remember me, whereas i have no idea who they are, how i know them, and why they know my name. (this happens ALL THE TIME to my mom, so i've often thought that it's hereditary). it also is unfortunate when i confuse, say, two indian people, because it is often thought of as a racist thing, whereas i do it with white people constantly.

when i was a senior in college and captain of my soccer team there were two girls on my team who were freshman. they both had long brown hair. they didn't look that much alike, and when the two of them were standing next to each other, i knew that one was tess and one was katherine. the problem was, i just couldn't put a face to a name. this was a problem, b/c we all played on the field, and it helps to KNOW THE NAMES OF YOUR TEAMMATES. my housemate was dumbfounded by my inability to distinguish between them. "THEY LOOK NOTHING ALIKE," she'd say chastisingly. it didn't matter. now, when i think about them, i'm pretty sure that i can picture each of them, and would no longer confuse them. but at the time, i could not, for the life of me, put names to their faces.

so i don't think that i have a complete case of "faceblindness," a real affliction that a friend recently sent me an article about; however it is possible that i have a mild case. article is from wsj, and i don't think they have free links, so i'm going to try to copy and paste here for your enjoyment.

IDENTITY PROBLEM
Mysteries of the 'Faceblind'
Could Illuminate the Brain
Strange Deficit Impairs
Ability to Recognize;
'Are You My Mommy?'
By HEATHER WON TESORIERO
July 5, 2007; Page A1

update - i deleted the text of the article. damn was that looooong.

i've fallen behind

on posting for sure. having a guest in town takes away from blogging time, but luckily not poker time, which i have not fallen behind in so much. i came in second in a 90 person sng, which i am LOVING as far as improving my game in mtt. so far i cashed in my first two, and went out early in my third, on a play where i flopped top and bottom pair in my bb, and unfortunately the limper on the button flopped top and middle pair and called my push on flop.

i know for some ballahs they are a waste of time, b/c four hour tournaments are not worth the 70 bucks for second (110 or so for first) but for me, a five dollar investment yielding 70 bucks over 3 and half hours or so is just fine. i can still play a sng/token frenzy/tier1 or even another mtt at the same time and keep my concentration up. they are a commitment for sure, but they are helping me tighten up my middle and end game.

speaking of, i made my first big cash in a blogger tournament last night with third in the MATH. i made some questionable plays three handed -- alan discusses one, where he re-raised my raise pre flop, and i think i need to push there, rather than call, and then watch him check raise me when the flop comes 663. i didn't hit it, but i had him beat. i also should have pushed in a spot where alan raised, the other dude called, and instead of pushing i folded. next time. i finally pushed on button w/ 55, got called by AT, and watched him hit an ace on the river. always on the river, as bayne was quick to point out. (although he seems to be doing pretty well on the turn, if this hand is any indication.)

there was another situation earlier w/ alan where he limped and i checked my bb w/ 94 suited. he bet out flop and i called w/ nothing thinking i'd raise him on turn. i picked up a diamond draw, but then decided just to check behind him when an A came, and then a second A came on river. he checked and i think i needed to bet there, but was worried about him going over me, as he was using the resteal last night like it was going out of style, and i end up taking it w/ my 9 high to his 6 high (65 soooooooooooted, so now i know what he limps with!).

i've got a call in a few minutes, so not sure i have time to do our home game justice, but i went to hoy's on sunday night and had a blast. first we ate at rain, this awesome fusion restaurant on the uws. we started the game w/ a $20 freezeout, and then moved to cash. it was a mix of bloggers and their friends/co-workers. jordan recounts his play in a post, using me as an example of someone who he "played." he definitely forced me to lay down hands where i was ahead, but i am actually proud of myself for being comfortable laying down hands where i wasn't sure where i stood. i was trying to play smart and give myself a chance to actually win the thing, and not lose it with another "really?" play which have been the bane of my poker existence lately. i ended up finishing third in the tournament (ahead of him) and i cleaned up in cash, so overall i'm feeling great about my play that night.

one of the worst hands for me was the first of the tournament. everyone limped to me on the button, and i made a 2.5x raise on the button. both sb and bb called. flop comes Qxx (7 5 maybe?) i bet out 3/4 pot, get called by sb, and bb folds. turn is an 8, i bet out again 3/4 pot and after a long thought process, sb calls. at this point i'm slightly worried that he has made two pair, not really concerned about a straight, as he is a relatively new player, and i'm pretty sure he'd fold w/ a crappy hand like 96 or 64 to a raise. then the river comes a Q and i know i'm fucked. his play screamed Q and if he didn't have me beat w/ two pair, he def had me beat w/ the trips. so he checked, i checked, and he shows KQ. i ended up turning over my kings just to show that i wasn't raising/betting w/ shit (since somehow i've acquired a rep as LAG).

cash started off amazingly for me, and kept getting better. one of my first hands was pocket fives. i raised on button and got about five callers. flop came AQ2, everyone checked, and i threw out a cbet. i had a feeling that someone had an A or Q, and figured if i got re-raised i'd fold, but couldn't let the hand go w/o at least trying the cbet. jordan in sb (i think) called, and everyone else folded. at this point i figured he had a higher pair, but when a 3 came on the turn i threw out another bet, prob about half pot, maybe even less. the turn gave me more outs (well, up to six from two) and i figured there was still a chance he was drawing w/ something like KJ. he called my turn bet, and the river was a beautiful 4. unbelievable. i bet the rest of my stack (8 bucks, started w/ 20, so b/w pre flop and turn i put in 12 bucks) and he called w/ Q6s. seems like a bad hand to play out of position when there were five people in pot to act behind him (after my pre flop raise) but he did make second pair. if he re-raises me on flop i'm outta there, but luckily i priced myself in for the draw.

that seemed to be the way things went. i limped w/ 54, got raised, called a little bit more, and flopped a wheel. stacked hoy's friend w/ AK. earlier, i limped w/ 34s, and hoy made a huge raise to 3.50 (blinds where .25/.50). for some reason i either thought he was just pushing around trying to pick up pot (in the past hoy has definitely pushed me around when we play -- not maliciously or anything, but he uses what he thinks he knows to his advantage), or had a big pair, and figured i had a good hand to crack with (ok, not great hand, but decent). flop came 653, giving me backdoor flush, oesd, and bottom pair. i checked. he bet out 3, i re-raised to 10, and he called. i as suprised. thought he'd fold for sure, was actually hoping he pushed, cause i woulda called, and don't run the risk of him outplaying me if i don't hit. which is of course what happened. turn is a second 6, he checks, and i decide to check behind him, just in case he's planning a check raise. on the river (a blank) he hesitated and said he had no idea what i had, so he was going to check. again, i figured rather than risk the check raise, i would just check it down, and hope my pair of threes picked up the close to $30 pot. indeed, he showed A9, and i took it down. woo hoo.

i stacked hoy (man, i've never been able to say that before and it feels nice :)) later on another hand where i limped (hmmmmm, trend, perhaps a bad one) w/ J9s. he raised to $2 and i even made a comment like, you know i'm not going to fold to that kind of bet (this after his raise to 3.50 that he knew i called w/ 34a). so clearly he wanted some action. flop comes J23 and i can't remember if i checked, he bet and i re-raised, and then he pushed, or if i bet, he re-raised, and then i re-raised him before the push. either way, all the money was in on the flop. i had top pair and he had AK. my pair held up and i took it down.

later on i limped w/ 97s and got raised on the button by my friend sam. i called, and flop came 653. i checked, he bet a decent amount, saying, i don't want you drawing at your straight, and for some reason i called, thinking if i hit my gut shot i'll wipe him out. lucky for me the 8 comes, and now i have him. i check, he bets, i re-raise, and he calls. unlucky for me, the river is a 7. BOOOOOOOOOOOO. we end up all in and he shows a pair of 9s for the split pot on the river. that is a bad beat, if you ask me. (to quote one of my favorite bloggers).

after a super awesome week/weekend i'm fairly crushed by work, so this is my little break (ok, my first little break of probably many) as i try to finish an excrutiatingly long, boring assignment. hoping to finish in time for mookie tomorrow night!!

post 311

i have a lot of trouble believing that i've produced over 300 posts on this blog. crazy, huh?

88 has become a deathly hand for me. i lost the other night w/ it in the mookie, and then overplayed it today in the 17.5k. called a 3x raise on button, as did small blind, then big blind raises to 600 (bb was 60). i stupidly pushed and saw i was up against AA. shoulda folded, obviously. as bayne says, i suffer from "really?" syndrome. it is a big problem. i have to start remembering that you lose less money making a bad fold than making a bad call.

i have a terrible feeling that a huge storm is about to hit me at work, but luckily i was able to finish everything up for the weekend, and it should be a relaxing one.

last night i hit up momofuku, one of my favorite restaurants, and then tried a new (to me) bar called death and company. it felt a lot like milk and honey, and similarly delicious drinks to boot. i went w/ the ramble. yummmm.

tonight i'm going to another favorite restaurant, blue ribbon, with friends anna and steve (astute readers will remember them from vegas posts). sad to miss the donkament hosted by kat, but blue ribbon is worth it.

best comeback ever. went down to 80 in a hu match against a donkey (i re-raised w/ oesd, he called me w/ QJ high and it held up) when i pick up QQ and he thanksfully puts me all in. i proceed to push until i pick up TT, whereupon he pushes me all in. about ten minutes later we're even again, and i go on to win the match when another push w/ an oesd actually results in a rivered straight. from 80 to 3000 in twenty minutes!

happy 4th

hope you had a good one! my day was spent at battery park, listening to my favorite band, the new pornographers. neko case, the one and only girl crush of my dreams, was there and singing her heart out. the sound was a little bit off, not sure if it was just the acoustics of the park or that they were having an off day, but it was still fun. the crowd was not the best, they seemed to know the music, but weren't even bopping their heads, much less dancing. i really enjoyed the newer stuff, which highlights neko much more than twin cinema, their last disc, and i plan to start streaming it at work today.

had a lovely dinner at employees only, where i enjoyed more of my favorite blackberry cocktail, the amelia. played the mookie, where i busted in 11th overplaying my 88 to someone's KK. i had taken about 2 or 3 pots uncontested prior to the hand w/ the 8s, and i think instead of raising and assuming someone was finally pushing back, i could have limped, and then either folded to a large raise or called a small raise to set mine.

i had a crazy dream where i sat down to play at treasure island, and all these women from the ladies event were there, including julie dang who i was disappointed to find at my table. then they served us hershey ice cream, but we could exchange it for cookie dough, and everyone was having teeth pop out (uh, hello braces fitting into my dream). next thing i knew i was trying to get a cab to take me to a brunch place where i'd agreed to meet a friend, and then shortly after that i was walking around the city with hoy who was taking me to a home game w/ his friends and telling me that one might be able to help me fix my pokeroffice. i may be confusing the order somewhat, but it was definitely one of the more insane dreams i've had of late.

commuting libby

ugh, i can't even get into how bullshit this is. instead i'll link to the cato institute's post here, which suggests other, slightly (ok, hugely) more deserving people serving sentences that bush could commute before he leaves office. the four examples they give are:

Mandy Martinson — 15 years for helping her boyfriend count his drug-dealing money.

DeJarion Echols — 20 years for selling a small amount of crack and owning a gun, causing Reagan-appointed federal judge Walter S. Smith, Jr. to say, “This is one of those situations where I’d like to see a congressman sitting before me.”

Weldon Angelos — 55 years for minor marijuana and gun charges, causing the George W. Bush-appointed judge Paul Cassell, previously best known for pressing the courts to overturn the Miranda decision, to call the mandatory sentence in this case “unjust, cruel, and even irrational.”

Anthea Harris — 15 years when members of her husband’s drug ring received sentence reductions to testify against her, although she had not been directly involved in the business.

nc-17 oh my!

according to some website, my blog is rated nc-17. i think it has to do w/ my potty mouth.

Mingle² - Online Dating

robb rolfing

i've been rather flippant with my disdain for gwb, and the quagmire he's gotten us into in iraq, but until just a few minutes ago it was never this personal. i just received an email from my college alumni office, announcing that robb, a fantastic guy who graduated two years behind me, was killed on june 30th in iraq. robb played soccer, and the mens and womens teams were very close, partying almost every weekend during season and often out of season. he was also from south dakota, where one of my senior year roommates was from, so i saw him even more than most sophomores. article from boston herald here and sioux city journal here.

no shore

was bummed out yesterday morning, after realizing that the whole ride situation wasn't going to work out. rather than take a train to meet a ride and first get to the beach late on saturday night i decided to stay in the city, get some work done, play some poker, and see some friends. i'm sure the beach would have been fun also, but i ended up having a blast here. i worked for most of the afternoon, while playing a ftp guarantee tournament and chatting intermittantly w/ bayne, waffles and alan. even though i wasn't exactly a shortie just yet, i was feeling shortstacked about halfway through the tournament, and when i picked up 99 on the button i pushed for my last 5k chips. some doofus who limped in early position (i honestly think he thought he was slow playing) had 200 more chips than me, and called w/ AQ offsuit. and of course, the river is an A and i'm out. in hindsight, i should have raised a little, and when the flop came w/ no A or Q (which it did) fired out then, and he probably would have folded. although there is no guarantee, given that he wouldn't have hit flop or turn i think i would have taken the pot. oh well.

i satellited into the 50/50 w/ the $2 rebuy, which i LOVE. rebought once and added on at break, so got into a 55 tournament for 6.25. sweeeeet. busted out of 50/50 when i pushed w/ AK and got called by QQ. caught K on turn but sadly it made him a flush. that was fine, because shortly after a friend called and i was off to drinks. another friend is in town from out of state and a bunch of us went to slainte, this random irish bar on bowery. good times. i didn't get to bed till after 5, so this morning is a bit of a struggle, but i'll make it.

going to brunch w/ the mom and then to this performance w/ her. we saw the same conductor last year, and he is not only fantastic, but hilarious! very excited. then it's back to do a bit more work and play some more poker. i think i'm going to try out the 24k guarantee at 8pm, and then cheer on all my favorite bloggers in the big game. i tried for my last token last night, where top 15 got them, and i fell in 22nd place. grrrrrrrrr. i was sandwiched b/w crazdgamer and wippy 1313 for most of it, which was sort of funny.