BadBlood on Poker - 2007-11-12

Date: Mon, Nov 12, 2007

I missed a day and don't have much either tonight. So here's a stat dump.

Finished off the $22+2 Turbo's, this time, they were 6-handed. Here are the stats:

Number: 100
ITM: 50%
ROI: 34.2%
2nd's: 27
1st's: 23
Profit: $820.80

I beat the $11+1 numbers in overall profit, but not ROI. That was somewhat expected. Now, it's off to the $33+3 where I should approach my Peter Principle level of incompetence. Unless I can keep up the pace set by my 1st SNG:

Number: 1
ITM: 100%
ROI: 92.5%
Profit: $33.30

Basically, extrapolating those results to 100 should be feasible. Gugh.

BadBlood on Poker - 2007-11-09

Date: Fri, Nov 9, 2007

I followed through with my intentions and played the Riverchasers tournament last night. I'd forgotten how interesting and fun these tournaments could be. On one hand, you have some solid tournament players and on the other, you have some who are there to just donk around. The trick is identifying who is who.

I'll relay one interesting hand which drew some criticism from the rail, but I'm not 100% sure to whom it was directed, me or my opponent. The blind level was 25/50 and I had about T2700, opponent had me covered. I open raised from the button with AcKc and my opponent in the big blind simply pushed all-in.

What do you put him on and what is your action? I ended up calling mainly because I couldn't really put someone on a hand at that level on an overpush. I was happy to take my chances. The rail mentioned something about the willingness to take coinflips so early in a doublestack tournament which is certainly a valid point. But from my perspective, I just didn't understand the tactics behind the all-in move at that stage. Still, I am easily confused.

****

I have the luxury of a three day weekend coming up. It was actually a bonus day because at the beginning of the year we weren't scheduled to get Veteran's Day off. Even better, the kids have to go to school. I'm planning a brunch with the wife and then some early holiday shopping. My son is dying for Guitar Hero III for the Wii. Here's the sucky part. We have it in the house and I can't give it to him yet. I want to play the damn thing so bad, but noooooo. Gotta be Mr. Dad and wait until Christmas.

FYI: If anyone can point me to a website/store where I can get a second guitar controller for the Wii without buying a second copy of the game, I'd appreciate it a ton. I took a look at redoctane.com as suggested by TheMark, but couldn't find anything. Hopefully there will be something available in the next six weeks or so. Our house is a house that requires two controllers. It's that simple.

BadBlood on Poker - 2007-11-09

Date: Fri, Nov 9, 2007

I followed through with my intentions and played the Riverchasers tournament last night. I'd forgotten how interesting and fun these tournaments could be. On one hand, you have some solid tournament players and on the other, you have some who are there to just donk around. The trick is identifying who is who.

I'll relay one interesting hand which drew some criticism from the rail, but I'm not 100% sure to whom it was directed, me or my opponent. The blind level was 25/50 and I had about T2700, opponent had me covered. I open raised from the button with AcKc and my opponent in the big blind simply pushed all-in.

What do you put him on and what is your action? I ended up calling mainly because I couldn't really put someone on a hand at that level on an overpush. I was happy to take my chances. The rail mentioned something about the willingness to take coinflips so early in a doublestack tournament which is certainly a valid point. But from my perspective, I just didn't understand the tactics behind the all-in move at that stage. Still, I am easily confused.

****

I have the luxury of a three day weekend coming up. It was actually a bonus day because at the beginning of the year we weren't scheduled to get Veteran's Day off. Even better, the kids have to go to school. I'm planning a brunch with the wife and then some early holiday shopping. My son is dying for Guitar Hero III for the Wii. Here's the sucky part. We have it in the house and I can't give it to him yet. I want to play the damn thing so bad, but noooooo. Gotta be Mr. Dad and wait until Christmas.

FYI: If anyone can point me to a website/store where I can get a second guitar controller for the Wii without buying a second copy of the game, I'd appreciate it a ton. I took a look at redoctane.com as suggested by TheMark, but couldn't find anything. Hopefully there will be something available in the next six weeks or so. Our house is a house that requires two controllers. It's that simple.

BadBlood on Poker - 2007-11-08

Date: Thu, Nov 8, 2007

BadBlood on Poker - 2007-11-08

Date: Thu, Nov 8, 2007

Unconventional Bad Beats

Date: Wed, Nov 7, 2007

Back in the hey day of The Depot, I used to arrive a bit early. Being a good friend of the proprietor allowed me certain benefits that I was happy to take advantage of. One such benefit was access to the good alcohol. Riding Dirty is always a precursor to a good night of poker, and I had no problem making myself (and Otis if he was there) a nice Grey Goose martini prior to the card slinging.

One night, I opened the cabinet under the bar to fish around for the tall bottle of Goose only to find that it had perhaps only a shot and a half left. Not to worry, that would be plenty. Of course I'd only be having one drink that night now; but often times, the first drink is the best drink.

I took a clean mixer from the side of the sink and filled it with ice. I poured the contents of the Goose bottle into the mixer along with an appropriate amount of olive brine. I find a two to one ratio works rather well.

I found a nice martini glass (The Depot was all class, baby!) and poured some Dry Vermouth into it. I swirled it around the inside of the glass, letting it coat its entire surface area and then dumped the remainder in the sink. It's a trick I once saw a bartender at Chang's perform.

I closed the mixer and shook, feeling the outside of it chill as the ice inside did its job. I opened the top and poured the contents into the martini glass.

And then I saw something unusual. Suds. Tons and tons of suds followed the alcohol out the top of the mixer into the glass. I am used to bubbles. Any time you shake something as vigorously as I do, there's going to be tiny air bubbles in the concoction. But suds? Something was amiss.

Undeterred, I tasted it anyway. Blech. I spit it out immediately afterwards. Sadly, the mixer, while clean, had not been rinsed. At all.

Grey Goose. Olive brine. Vermouth. And Palmolive. Riding Dirty became Riding Clean.

I had no martini that night. Poker bad beat equivalent: You've flopped two pair against someone's overpair. Turn and river are running 3's.

****

If you follow the rules of The Procedure and your poker game starts in the 8pm time frame, then you will find yourself a purveyor of "The Afternoon Shift." There's not much to say about it that hasn't already been expounded upon by the likes of the Good Doctor, but it's safe to say that it's a different environment than your average midnight scene.

Generally, the girls are the same group who day after day make what they can before they leave the premises as the more business-like ladies come in. Business-like. That's not a quality I enjoy in a female entertainer. "You want a dance?" "No." And they move on in rapid succession from one customer to the next. The afternoon shift will actually talk to you; and while the conversation is usually as meaningless as what they're wearing at the moment, it's at least a more friendly approach to doing business.

So, like I said, if you follow the rules of The Procedure, you're going to probably encounter the same people each time you go.

Perhaps you even have a favorite employee, one who's nicer than the rest, more willing to make the experience worthwhile. It had been a long time since I performed a Procedure. A very long time. I'm not sure what my problem was, but it had lost some luster. I got busy with life and neglected The Afternoon Shift.

Then one day, I went back. One of the more familiar faces approached me, lamenting my long absence, claiming to have missed me. I believed her, because seriously, who wouldn't miss me? I miss me sometimes. But that's neither here nor there.

For it was then, yet again, that I saw something unusual. Sure the hair color went from completely blonde to completely black. But that wasn't it. Certain body parts were bigger, but not in an unnatural way. Just as I figured it out, she blurted it out.

"I'm five months pregnant." She told me about the biological father and completely destroyed any chance of me further supporting her endeavors on The Afternoon Shift.

Poker bad beat equivalent: You flopped a set against a flush draw and it gets there.

Unconventional Bad Beats

Date: Wed, Nov 7, 2007

Back in the hey day of The Depot, I used to arrive a bit early. Being a good friend of the proprietor allowed me certain benefits that I was happy to take advantage of. One such benefit was access to the good alcohol. Riding Dirty is always a precursor to a good night of poker, and I had no problem making myself (and Otis if he was there) a nice Grey Goose martini prior to the card slinging.

One night, I opened the cabinet under the bar to fish around for the tall bottle of Goose only to find that it had perhaps only a shot and a half left. Not to worry, that would be plenty. Of course I'd only be having one drink that night now; but often times, the first drink is the best drink.

I took a clean mixer from the side of the sink and filled it with ice. I poured the contents of the Goose bottle into the mixer along with an appropriate amount of olive brine. I find a two to one ratio works rather well.

I found a nice martini glass (The Depot was all class, baby!) and poured some Dry Vermouth into it. I swirled it around the inside of the glass, letting it coat its entire surface area and then dumped the remainder in the sink. It's a trick I once saw a bartender at Chang's perform.

I closed the mixer and shook, feeling the outside of it chill as the ice inside did its job. I opened the top and poured the contents into the martini glass.

And then I saw something unusual. Suds. Tons and tons of suds followed the alcohol out the top of the mixer into the glass. I am used to bubbles. Any time you shake something as vigorously as I do, there's going to be tiny air bubbles in the concoction. But suds? Something was amiss.

Undeterred, I tasted it anyway. Blech. I spit it out immediately afterwards. Sadly, the mixer, while clean, had not been rinsed. At all.

Grey Goose. Olive brine. Vermouth. And Palmolive. Riding Dirty became Riding Clean.

I had no martini that night. Poker bad beat equivalent: You've flopped two pair against someone's overpair. Turn and river are running 3's.

****

If you follow the rules of The Procedure and your poker game starts in the 8pm time frame, then you will find yourself a purveyor of "The Afternoon Shift." There's not much to say about it that hasn't already been expounded upon by the likes of the Good Doctor, but it's safe to say that it's a different environment than your average midnight scene.

Generally, the girls are the same group who day after day make what they can before they leave the premises as the more business-like ladies come in. Business-like. That's not a quality I enjoy in a female entertainer. "You want a dance?" "No." And they move on in rapid succession from one customer to the next. The afternoon shift will actually talk to you; and while the conversation is usually as meaningless as what they're wearing at the moment, it's at least a more friendly approach to doing business.

So, like I said, if you follow the rules of The Procedure, you're going to probably encounter the same people each time you go.

Perhaps you even have a favorite employee, one who's nicer than the rest, more willing to make the experience worthwhile. It had been a long time since I performed a Procedure. A very long time. I'm not sure what my problem was, but it had lost some luster. I got busy with life and neglected The Afternoon Shift.

Then one day, I went back. One of the more familiar faces approached me, lamenting my long absence, claiming to have missed me. I believed her, because seriously, who wouldn't miss me? I miss me sometimes. But that's neither here nor there.

For it was then, yet again, that I saw something unusual. Sure the hair color went from completely blonde to completely black. But that wasn't it. Certain body parts were bigger, but not in an unnatural way. Just as I figured it out, she blurted it out.

"I'm five months pregnant." She told me about the biological father and completely destroyed any chance of me further supporting her endeavors on The Afternoon Shift.

Poker bad beat equivalent: You flopped a set against a flush draw and it gets there.

House Keeping

Date: Tue, Nov 6, 2007

Based on Maudie's post, I decided to clean up my blogroll and basically put a link down for each entry in my bloglines subscription. So, as it were, if you and your blog somehow got left off the list (definitely possible) please shoot me a comment so I can fix it ex-post-haste-o or whatever means quickly in Latin.

I also broke down and purchased me (South-Carolinian for "bought") one of them shiny MacBooks I'd been drooling over. I went with the smaller model, not the Pro, mainly due to budgetary constraints and the fact that the larger models are simply too large for my tastes. I guess I'm turning into somewhat of an Apple fan boy after playing with my iPod Touch for a while.

Poker on the Mac works very well so far, with the Full Tilt native client and the Pokerstars windows client running under the Crossover software from Codeweavers. Anyone want a 5-year old Toshiba Satellite?

Live poker continues to painfully remind me that I was probably running well over expectation last year. Lately it seems that the only thing I can do is avoid losing money by making proper plays, and even then, I'm not always doing that successfully. It's tough playing a 5-hour session wherein there was simply no opportunity for me to make a decision smart enough to win me the pot rather than lose it. It's a time where the skill factor isn't going to win me anything, it's just possibly going to give me an opportunity to lose less. And that's not exactly fun.

I can raise UTG with pocket T's, get one caller behind, flop top set and lead out as fishy as I possibly can, only to see my opponent fold (you know who you are). Meanwhile, others are flopping sets, busting AA, and hauling in $600 pots. Blah. Still, I play.

Online, I hope to complete my next set of 100 turbos in the next couple of weeks and post those results. So far, things are going well at that level and if things continue, I can move up to the 33+3's. Data forthcoming.

In other random news, since there's only 30 days left until I head out, I may try to post at least once a day regardless of length and content just to make myself do it. My blog's been "rusty" of late and perhaps I can brute force my way into a quality post somewhere along the line.

House Keeping

Date: Tue, Nov 6, 2007

Based on Maudie's post, I decided to clean up my blogroll and basically put a link down for each entry in my bloglines subscription. So, as it were, if you and your blog somehow got left off the list (definitely possible) please shoot me a comment so I can fix it ex-post-haste-o or whatever means quickly in Latin.

I also broke down and purchased me (South-Carolinian for "bought") one of them shiny MacBooks I'd been drooling over. I went with the smaller model, not the Pro, mainly due to budgetary constraints and the fact that the larger models are simply too large for my tastes. I guess I'm turning into somewhat of an Apple fan boy after playing with my iPod Touch for a while.

Poker on the Mac works very well so far, with the Full Tilt native client and the Pokerstars windows client running under the Crossover software from Codeweavers. Anyone want a 5-year old Toshiba Satellite?

Live poker continues to painfully remind me that I was probably running well over expectation last year. Lately it seems that the only thing I can do is avoid losing money by making proper plays, and even then, I'm not always doing that successfully. It's tough playing a 5-hour session wherein there was simply no opportunity for me to make a decision smart enough to win me the pot rather than lose it. It's a time where the skill factor isn't going to win me anything, it's just possibly going to give me an opportunity to lose less. And that's not exactly fun.

I can raise UTG with pocket T's, get one caller behind, flop top set and lead out as fishy as I possibly can, only to see my opponent fold (you know who you are). Meanwhile, others are flopping sets, busting AA, and hauling in $600 pots. Blah. Still, I play.

Online, I hope to complete my next set of 100 turbos in the next couple of weeks and post those results. So far, things are going well at that level and if things continue, I can move up to the 33+3's. Data forthcoming.

In other random news, since there's only 30 days left until I head out, I may try to post at least once a day regardless of length and content just to make myself do it. My blog's been "rusty" of late and perhaps I can brute force my way into a quality post somewhere along the line.

Silly

Date: Mon, Nov 5, 2007

I can't stop talking like Kenny Tran. I'm taking mundane situations at work and home and pretending it's the WSOP.

"I fix that bug like no other. I so sick with that bug fix."

"Nobody cook steak like that. Genius! I genius at cooking steak."

This is perhaps funny only to me.

I fine with that.

Silly

Date: Mon, Nov 5, 2007

I can't stop talking like Kenny Tran. I'm taking mundane situations at work and home and pretending it's the WSOP.

"I fix that bug like no other. I so sick with that bug fix."

"Nobody cook steak like that. Genius! I genius at cooking steak."

This is perhaps funny only to me.

I fine with that.

Tales of the Great Reconstruction

Date: Fri, Nov 2, 2007

"I just booked my trip to Vegas," I said to my co-worker Random101.

A singular eyebrow was raised in Spock-like fashion as he replied, "Don't you need a bankroll for a trip like that?"

Ouch.

"Good point," is all I could muster.

****

My live game bankroll took a nosedive in the months of August, September and October. And by nosedive, I mean wings-off-the-plane, engine-failing, pilot-already-dead nosedive. Proper bankroll management dictates that twenty buy-ins is sufficient padding to theoretically survive the variance encountered by those who espouse the never-ending "all one session" philosophy.

However, for me, in the live games here in G-Vegas, there are a couple of problems with that.

Problem 1: When your bankroll drops, you're supposed to drop down in limits in order to recover. Well, for me, there are no lower limit games to play in. It's not as simple as dropping from $200NL to $100NL with the click of a mouse. G-Vegas homegames are most likely going to always remain $1/$2 blinds.

Problem 2: During my time online, I've seen swings of +/-10-15 buy-ins happen quite frequently. If you read the forums at 2+2, there are many successful long-term players who suffer downswings of that variety. It's not really too uncommon. However, for me in the live games, the 15 buy-in downswing with nowhere to go to regroup was just a jackhammer to my poker psyche, wearing it away chip by chip until there wasn't much left. Of course, my play suffered which compounded the issue.

****

What was the solution? It hurt, but I had to make a decision. I hamstrung myself by putting away nearly all of last year's winnings, leaving myself no cushion for any downswing of this size. If I was going to continue to play, I'd have to reload the live game cash roll by making a withdrawal. I hated doing it. It still rubs me the wrong way just thinking about it. But if I wanted to continue playing in the few home games that I do, and if I wanted to go to Vegas in December with enough cash to play in the variety of games that I enjoy; then I had to do it.

The check game on Tuesday.

****

If I don't learn from this, then I'm not the player I think I am and I'll never become the player I want to be. Fifteen buy-in downswings can happen. While some of it is due to bad luck and bad play, the bottom line is that I need to take measures to ensure that if and when it happens again, I'll have the cushion I need to keep playing the game the way I need to play it in order to make that rebound happen without making another withdrawal.

My ability to play well depends on a clear mind. It depends on not having thoughts that I could go broke if things continue. It depends on a big enough buffer of cash such that downswings don't impact my decision-making process.

I'll hopefully get back on the winning track. And when I do, I'll keep a 50 buy-in roll before I sock any of it away again. Because if I end up losing 50 buy-ins, then the decision to continue or not will be oh so painfully easy.

Tales of the Great Reconstruction

Date: Fri, Nov 2, 2007

"I just booked my trip to Vegas," I said to my co-worker Random101.

A singular eyebrow was raised in Spock-like fashion as he replied, "Don't you need a bankroll for a trip like that?"

Ouch.

"Good point," is all I could muster.

****

My live game bankroll took a nosedive in the months of August, September and October. And by nosedive, I mean wings-off-the-plane, engine-failing, pilot-already-dead nosedive. Proper bankroll management dictates that twenty buy-ins is sufficient padding to theoretically survive the variance encountered by those who espouse the never-ending "all one session" philosophy.

However, for me, in the live games here in G-Vegas, there are a couple of problems with that.

Problem 1: When your bankroll drops, you're supposed to drop down in limits in order to recover. Well, for me, there are no lower limit games to play in. It's not as simple as dropping from $200NL to $100NL with the click of a mouse. G-Vegas homegames are most likely going to always remain $1/$2 blinds.

Problem 2: During my time online, I've seen swings of +/-10-15 buy-ins happen quite frequently. If you read the forums at 2+2, there are many successful long-term players who suffer downswings of that variety. It's not really too uncommon. However, for me in the live games, the 15 buy-in downswing with nowhere to go to regroup was just a jackhammer to my poker psyche, wearing it away chip by chip until there wasn't much left. Of course, my play suffered which compounded the issue.

****

What was the solution? It hurt, but I had to make a decision. I hamstrung myself by putting away nearly all of last year's winnings, leaving myself no cushion for any downswing of this size. If I was going to continue to play, I'd have to reload the live game cash roll by making a withdrawal. I hated doing it. It still rubs me the wrong way just thinking about it. But if I wanted to continue playing in the few home games that I do, and if I wanted to go to Vegas in December with enough cash to play in the variety of games that I enjoy; then I had to do it.

The check game on Tuesday.

****

If I don't learn from this, then I'm not the player I think I am and I'll never become the player I want to be. Fifteen buy-in downswings can happen. While some of it is due to bad luck and bad play, the bottom line is that I need to take measures to ensure that if and when it happens again, I'll have the cushion I need to keep playing the game the way I need to play it in order to make that rebound happen without making another withdrawal.

My ability to play well depends on a clear mind. It depends on not having thoughts that I could go broke if things continue. It depends on a big enough buffer of cash such that downswings don't impact my decision-making process.

I'll hopefully get back on the winning track. And when I do, I'll keep a 50 buy-in roll before I sock any of it away again. Because if I end up losing 50 buy-ins, then the decision to continue or not will be oh so painfully easy.

Rebuy!

Date: Wed, Oct 24, 2007