Catching Up

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008

Catching up on Poker After Dark on the TiVo, and you know what that means... two days in a row of posts that, while maybe not poker related, at least had some poker going on during their creation. w00t for you! haha :) Firing up a SnG on FTP...

So I'm watching the Director's Cut of the "Nets vs Vets" week, and the players are all introducing themselves and whatnot. One thought I can't shake: these internet players are going on and on about how they've played just as many hands as Doyle has in his lifetime because they play 32 tables at a time. Yes, BUT... playing live has so many facets beyond the poker itself that these net players have NO experience with - and in a lot of cases, it shows and gives away a wealth of information. I'm just appalled that they can seriously feel justified in comparing themselves to the legends of poker. Hell, the one kid can't even figure out how to cut out his chips.

It's a new age, I guess.

I enjoy playing online - don't get me wrong. But I play online because I can't get to the casino as often as I'd like, or because I don't at this moment have an actual bankroll. The authentic poker experience, to me, occurs in the poker rooms of the world, and not on living room couches. I'm sure some of these zillion-multi-tablers would disagree.

How many computer monitors does it take to run 32 friggin tables simultaneously??

Is anybody watching HGTV's Design Star? I want Jennifer to win so bad!!! :)

Nothing doing in this SnG. I need some cards and soon, or else I will be making an early exit.

Did this guy just say, "Doyle is a tight player..." The net kids must define "tight" differently than I do.

Shocker, he went out first.

True multitasking: watching PAD while playing a SnG while giving myself a manicure.

Now up: the Poker After Dark heads-up challenge. I like this show, but I really miss High Stakes Poker.

At some point today, I actually have to get out of my PJ's and go to work...

Just got knocked out. I'm mildly irritated at the range of hands people will call an all-in re-raise with for 1/3 of their stack. K3 suited? Really?

Let's roll this one more time...

Ahhh, nice little double up on the first hand with the nut straight. 3rd pair bet it all the way and called my river all-in reraise. Okie dokie!

It's amazing how Chris Ferguson can look so friendly yet so menacing, all at the same time. I'd have a messy chair to deal with if I ever had to stare him down heads-up.

Yowza. Made my straight J9 with a 10-8-10-Q-4 board. Was up against 8-10. Ouch.

Still 2nd in chips but the chip lead felt much more comfortable.

Well, that did not go well. 10-10 and out, knocked out by a caller who chased me down with K-10 and hit a K on the river. A pair draw? Really?

Scoobies 3, Me 0

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Poker!

Date: Wed, Jul 30, 2008

Yes, ladies and gents, it's a quickie sit n go, starring ME!

Got back from vacation in Boston a couple days ago. Love that city. I'd move there in a heartbeat if the winds of fate shifted so. We hit all of the usual tourist haunts - the Duck tours, Prudential Center, Newbury Street, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Marketplace, Cheers (both the real and replicas), the Boston Common and Public Garden with the swan boats and the Make Way for Ducklings statues, various cemeteries, Fenway Park, the Boston Garden, Hard Rock Cafe Boston, the New England Aquarium Whale Watching cruise, Harvard (including Mr. Bentley's Burgers - highly recommended). That's all I can remember! Oh, and we checked out Salem, which after 2 visits I now feel comfortable saying it's overrated and rather lame (this coming from a girl who used to dabble in some of the esoteric arts). Boston, though, is an awesome city. I've been there twice now and absolutely love it. The subway ("T") is clean and user-friendly, and the people are great. There's so much history there.

Nothing doing so far in the SnG. Folded orbit #1.

For the photography geeks amongst you - has anybody used Costco's private label brand ("Kirkland") Professional Glossy Inkjet Photo Paper (8.5x11")? It was rumored that originally, this paper was a private label of Ilford's Gallerie Smooth paper, but that was when the packaging indicated that it was Made in Switzerland, where Ilford produces paper. Now, it is Made in the USA, and I've read once in passing that it is made by Mitsubishi and is not as good. Others claim it's a re-branded Epson paper.

I'm curious, because it's extremely reasonably priced, and has the same weight specs as some good papers (69 lb, 255g, 10.4mil). I'd love to know the source, mostly for estimating its permanence and archival qualities with pigment based inks.

Bummer. Just folded 67c to an all in preflop raise for 6xbb out of position with no previous callers... he had AA and against one caller, I'd have turned the straight.

Redemption, with a twinge of sadness: I just knocked out the donkey of the table. At these $20 tables, I find that there are on average maybe 5 decently solid players, 1 or 2 really good players, and a couple scoobies. It's kind of sad to see the donkeys go. Makes the game just a little bit tougher.

The Experimental Techniques photography class that I'm taking ends tonight. Overall, I'm pleased with the work I created for this class. We did some interesting techniques - hand coloring, solarization and the Sabbatier effect, infrared photography, paper negatives, and Polaroid image and emulsion transfers. I particularly liked the emulsion transfers and the infrared stuff.

For infrared, we shot with Ilford SFX 200 red-sensitive film (not true infrared - more of a "special effects" film). I shot my first roll with a Red 25 filter, and while the result was interesting, it wasn't quite infrared. I've since picked up an R72 filter but haven't had a chance to shoot another roll of film with it yet - though I did shoot some digital with the Canon PowerShot G9 and the R72 filter, and it definitely appears infrared. I only had a monopod in Boston and not a tripod, so nothing really came out as crisp as I'd like. A tripod is a definite must with that R72 filter. My camera was able to meter through it, but even in sunlight, the exposure was 1 second.

Flopped an OESD. Fingers crossed. Great. On the turn, a guy pushed all in for 1900 with 400 in the pot, and another guy called for his 1500. Was an open ender with one card to come worth my tourney life, even though I had top pair 7's? There was a 4-card lower gutshot onboard. I figured one of the two had it. I folded. The caller had the lower straight, and I'd have rivered the higher straight.

I should stop folding, eh? If only I were psychic.

Woohoo, FedEx just brought me my tickets to Dave Matthews Band at Alpine Valley (near Milwaukee, Wisconsin) next weekend. Sweet!

I'm short stacked at 6xBB right now, 4th of 6 remaining in chips.

And now I'm out, AJ vs AA. Whoops. Or not - had a few chips left and just doubled up to 3xBB! Life support!

Doubled again! Back to 3rd in chips with 8xBB. LOL!

Chip and a chair, buddy... chip and a chair.

I've got about an hour and a half to kill before I leave for class (and for a tasty Subway sandwich). Storm clouds are gathering. I didn't expect rain in the forecast today, but the skies look menacing.

If you caught any of my tweets last week, you may have read about my Blackberry mishap. I've got the Pearl 8130, the 2nd generation Pearl. I've been loving it since December. In Salem, we got caught in the rain, and though I took the phone off of my hip as soon as it started pouring (and put it into a plastic bag with my camera gear), the phone's screen shorted out from liquid damage. Strangely, though, it did not even get wet enough to trip the liquid sensors inside the phone. Just my bad luck, I guess. I had insurance on it and Sprint replaced it with no problems, but as I dug around on the internet, I found many reports of similar damage. The repair guy at the Sprint store told me that he has even seen sweat from people carrying the phone in their pockets cause this damage on this model. It seems to be overly fragile. I'm not hard on my phones. I had my last Blackberry for 5 years, and retired it only because it was so friggin old. Spare a couple of dings on the corners, and the thing was a tank.

With the Pearl, I managed to scratch it on the very first day I had it, by bumping up against the side of my car. I mean, really? Since December, it has earned more dings in its plastic case than my original BB ever had, and the silver plate around the trackball has chipped and lost most of its silver. I only had a skin on it for protection, so I've learned my lesson. I ordered the OtterBox Defender case for my new Pearl. It's water resistant and much more durable.

By the way, I'm heads up in that SnG.

And... out! Ha! From the gutter to the penthouse, baby - or, just beneath the penthouse. Second place. That's a win to me!

And with that, I will go get ready to head to school...

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Bricked!

Date: Tue, Jul 15, 2008

What if the iPhone "brick" tragedy extended to other parts of our lives? Brought to you by Revision3.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Go, Iggy!

Date: Thu, Jul 10, 2008

Go, Iggy! Cheers and good luck from Chitown!

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Falstaff Explained It Best

Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2008

On PageRank, nofollows, ads, and SEO - Falstaff said it best:

PageRank is based on the quality of incoming links. By putting a nofollow into the link, the site that is linked doesn't get the PageRank boost, but your site doesn't get considered a linkspammer and your PageRank doesn't get hurt. It seems like Google has decided that some of my advertisers are buying links to manipulate the system, and need to be punished for that. Since I'm providing the link without a nofollow, I'm getting punished as well, because I am part of manipulating the system.

I'll be keeping an eye on that post over at PokerStage. I'm curious to see fellow bloggers' responses.

I'm a bit disturbed that Google can effectively decide who is allowed to buy and sell ads on the internet via this "policy." It's a little too Big Brother for my taste.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Falstaff Explained It Best

Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2008

On PageRank, nofollows, ads, and SEO - Falstaff said it best:

PageRank is based on the quality of incoming links. By putting a nofollow into the link, the site that is linked doesn't get the PageRank boost, but your site doesn't get considered a linkspammer and your PageRank doesn't get hurt. It seems like Google has decided that some of my advertisers are buying links to manipulate the system, and need to be punished for that. Since I'm providing the link without a nofollow, I'm getting punished as well, because I am part of manipulating the system.

I'll be keeping an eye on that post over at PokerStage. I'm curious to see fellow bloggers' responses.

I'm a bit disturbed that Google can effectively decide who is allowed to buy and sell ads on the internet via this "policy." It's a little too Big Brother for my taste.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

The Google Thing

Date: Sun, Jul 6, 2008

Many, many, many poker bloggers are finding that they've been dogged by Google, with a drop in page rank and a disappearance from search results. If you search Google for hella holdem right now, you'll see that I too have fallen off the map.

It appears to be related to buying/selling links / banner ads / affiliate programs. On the page to request reconsideration by Google, they note:

In general, sites that directly profit from traffic (e.g. search engine optimizers, affiliate programs, etc.) may need to provide more evidence of good faith before a site will be reconsidered.

I'm not sure if it will do any good, but you can request reconsideration from Google.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Fireworks!

Date: Sat, Jul 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July, everybody!

The fireworks were fan-friggin-tastic this year! As usual, we went to the New Lenox, IL display, and they never fail to put on a great show. It was a full half hour long, and not a bit of it was cheapo-filler-crap. I love their show.

I shot on a tripod with a cable release, and used ISO100 and f/11 for the entire show. Most of the time, I used a 2 or 3 second exposure. I made a few shots with a 6 second exposure, when they were firing off multiples in sequence, and those turned out pretty cool too.

Here are a few of my favorite blasts:

Read Full Poker Blog Post

A Letter to HP

Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2008

I've just dropped the following letter into the outgoing mail (postal mail, that is):

July 3, 2008
Customer Service
Hewlett-Packard Company
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185

To Whom This May Concern,

I am writing regarding a recent experience I had with your technical support representatives (Ticket #801330xxxx). On June 28, 2008, I purchased the HP Photosmart Pro B8850 printer and several packages of Advanced HP photo paper. I ordered these items online via CircuitCity.com. The items were delivered in June 30, 2008.

I unpacked the printer and began setup. When I plugged the printer into the wall outlet, the printer received no power. After troubleshooting via telephone with one of your support representatives, it was determined that the AC power adapter was likely faulty. Your representative shipped a new AC adapter to me. It arrived on July 2, 2008.

The new AC adapter did not solve the problem. I called technical support again, and after troubleshooting, the representative determined that there was likely a problem with the printer itself. While I was disappointed, I understand that this happens. Hardware fails. It’s the way of the world, when it comes to computers.

What I was most disappointed in, though, was the solution offered by your representative. She offered to replace my brand new printer with a refurbished one. I explained that this printer was brand new out-of-the-box and was dead on arrival. I paid for a new printer. I expect replacement with a new printer. I could understand a refurbished replacement if I’d owned the printer for some time and it needed repair, but this printer was not used. The support representative agreed with me, but that she could not guarantee that the replacement would be new, and that she had no other options to offer me.

I find your policy of replacing brand new, defective items with used, refurbished ones to be completely unfair. I spent $549 on your product in good faith that it would work when I brought it home. When a brand new item is defective, I expect a brand new replacement - not just from HP, but from any company.

I am a photographer and a professor, and despite the advice of many of my colleagues to purchase an Epson (the reigning king in the professional photo printing arena), I decided to give HP a shot. The B8850 might be a fantastic printer. I did not get the opportunity to find out. Based on this experience, HP is not the kind of company I want to do business with.

As a result of my disappointment in your company’s policies, I have returned the HP printer and papers to Circuit City and instead purchased the Epson Stylus R1900 and Epson papers, and will recommend to my colleagues and students that they do the same.

Sincerely,

Shelly

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Finally...

Date: Thu, Jun 26, 2008

Well, I finally upgraded my old template to a Blogger Layout to take advantage of the ease of editing with widgets. I put all of my old code sections into widgets, and was quite happy - until I tried to install a new custom theme.

Silly me thought that widgets were modular and would just transfer over from layout to layout. Apparently, that is only true if you switch between one of the lame-o default layouts that Blogger provides. If I want to switch to a custom layout, I have to re-enter all of my widgets.

Ugh.

So that will be a project for another day. Until then, my apologies for the bland layout.

Read Full Poker Blog Post

KO

Date: Wed, Jun 18, 2008

Signed up for a KO sit n go on FTP. Yes, a 90 player game is a bit more of a time commitment than I usually undertake these days - but we're in the wee single digits of the evening, my friends, and I feel some productive web surfing time ahead (and maybe some productive poker winning time to go with it... especially since I missed both the Trojan Wars game AND an impromptu Forest game this weekend). I know it's lame to say, "I'm due," but... well...

60 people registered so far. Getting there...

First up, did everybody go download the new Firefox 3? Get yourself into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads in a 24 hour period! Download Firefox NOW!

With that, though, I have to say that I've morphed to using a Firefox-based browser that isn't Firefox.... Their latest beta (released yesterday, based on the new Firefox) crashed like crazy on my machine, but the one based on FF2 is rock-solid, and hopefully the bugs will be squashed soon in the FF3 release. If you blog or use social news or networking sites or are into media and photography online, Flock is uber cool. I know, I can't stop gushing, but it has made my time on the web so much more productive and enjoyable.

Tourney has begun. If I'm not mistaken, it's a turbo deep stack knockout tournament. Alrighty then! Say that 5 times fast. Man, people are doing some CRAZY preflop raising. 20xBB???!??!?!

Did I miss something?

So, I finally got around to creating a WordPress theme of my own. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It was for my "business" site (the one I use to represent me for web dev/consulting projects and hopefully for photography in the near future) - http://purplepenguins.com. You likes? Me likes. My logo needs work, but aside from that...

Damn it, YOU FREAKS, STOP RAISING SO DAMN MUCH!!!!!

Listening to a recording of Don't Drink the Water by Dave Matthews Band, featuring Bela Fleck, from last week's show at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. Sick. Just sick. Show was fantastic, and I'm absolutely giddy to have seen Bela Fleck! I'm downloading a new recording of the show that I hear is better quality (less wind noise) than the first recording I downloaded. The wind gusts were only 45mph. No biggie, right?!

Omg these overbets are KILLING ME.

Srsly.

At this moment, I'm checking out some pinhole photography. I made my first pinhole camera in the Experimental Darkroom class I'm taking. It is made from a Santa Claus cookie tin. I've got some work to do to get it working. I haven't figured out the right exposure times yet - partially because I used a needle that was too big when I made my pinhole. Such is life - live and learn! I'm really digging on getting a Leonardo pinhole camera. That would be mighty cool.

AKs - maybe I can play this hand? Pretty please? With a standard 3xBB preflop raise on top?

Or not. 2-3-6 flop and the PFR'er pushed all in on the flop. Sigh.

Finally won a pot - a most unlikely one! 4 diamonds onboard and no diamonds in hand, but 2 pair held up after a check-check on el flopo.

Still reading pinhole photography stuff...

Nice, doubled up with the 2nd nut flush vs a guy who pushed all in on his straight draw with 3 clubs onboard?!?! Alrighty then! The overbetting continues, though now I have some tolerance chips.

By the way, did I ever mention that I hate blog spam?

Antes have begun. I'm 17th out of 45 remaining.

Now I'm cruising MySpace, the ultimate in boredom. w00t just won a knockout bounty :)

Here's a photographer on Flickr that I really like: ScoutJ

I took some pictures today hoping to kick-start a new theme for a project I have to do for class, but they all sucked. Booo. I had a great time yesterday though, making paper negatives from magazine pages - a la "found art." My 2 faves:

Eye for Love


and

Within


Created in the darkroom as contact prints (a la paper negatives) and then scanned and processed digitally via Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Break time in the tourney. I'm currently 6th of 30.

Growing bored of reading hand histories lately, I won't bore you, but let's just say I made a pretty ballsy move just now, and it paid off. I could feel my opponent agonizing and wiggling in their seat. Mwah!

Another bust-out bounty, and I'm 2nd out of 20. *pats self on back for a good read*

I'd blog more about what I'm reading, but I'm still on pinhole photography, to which most of you are probably like, "Yawn..."

How about Twitter? Like, rock star. I'm phlyersphan. Follow me!

Oooh! KK!

As in, King King, not answering my own command... anyway, no action. I'll take it. Better than losing!

I'm reading about making pinhole body caps for cameras. I have a Canon Rebel K2 film camera, and the Digital Rebel XTi. Both are EOS and use the same body cap, if I'm not mistaken. It would be pretty cool to try out. Probably more reliable than my Santa Claus tin can pinhole camera.

Wow - from top 5 to out, in 2 hands. One was carelessness on my part (acting too quickly without thinking it through), and the other was bad luck (JJ vs 77, he hit his set of 7's). Maybe I'll try again.. finished 2 out of the money. I feel like I'm playing well tonight...

Read Full Poker Blog Post

July 2008 Calendar

Date: Mon, Jun 16, 2008

Download the large size -
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2582874758_783e95982e_o.jpg

Read Full Poker Blog Post

Because my printer is driving me insane

Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008

I'm playing a SnG on FTP because my printer is driving me insane.

I have a Canon Pixma printer. It was a $300 printer a couple years ago. (Today, of course, the ink inside is worth more than the machine). I bought it for the exclusive purpose of printing photos. I have one of those HP all-in-one thingamajigs for document printing.

Everything was lovely until recently. The printer has started printing random stray marks on my photos. It almost looks like stray hair marks, but very small, and generally not in the same spot twice. I do have 3 cats, so I took a can of air to the inside of the printer. Bad idea. Not only did it make matters worse, but for a while, the printer gave me an error that it needed repair service - until I smacked it a few times, and the error went away.

I did all of the built-in maintenance options - nozzle check, head cleaning, deep head cleaning, bottom plate cleaning, and roller cleaning.

No good.

Desperate, I bought one of those inkjet printer cleaning kits. I swabbed everything I could reach with alcohol. I ran the moist towel like paper through it, just like it said.

Still, there are a couple tiny stray marks printing.

I can't think of anything else to do, and it is driving me insane. I'm neck deep in photography classes right now. I need to be able to print.

Calgon, take me away.

The SnG has become a push-fest, even though most everybody still has 20xBB in front of them. Whatevs.

Any ideas on the printer? Seriously, I'm open to anything at this point. Exorcism maybe?

Why did I just limp with JTo in MP? Flop = nada. Turned a gutshot, but not enough in the pot to pursue. Boo me.

And, am I the only one who is bothered by the people who ALWAYS and ONLY make a pot-sized bet? Srsly. Do you know anything about bet sizes in relation to the pot and your intentions?

On the photography front, I got a few pieces accepted into a gallery - my first exhibition :) It's a group exhibit at a local gallery. It opens this Friday. I'm excited and nervous! I finished writing my first "artist resume" this past weekend and applied to another exhibition out of state. I'm certain I won't get in, as the photos I had that fit the theme weren't the best, but I want the experience of trying - and, kind of like in hockey, you throw the puck at the net and sometimes, it finds its way in. I'm not above taking a lucky bounce if it comes my way!

I'm very near push-or-fold status. I play the turbo SnG's because I have trouble committing more than an hour to an online SnG anymore - but boy, those levels go fast when you're card dead.

There's a Trojan Wars game this weekend. So many darned things going on this weekend.The only thing I've got in stone is the gallery opening. The rest is up in the air. Will have to figure it all out one of these days.

Out vs. a flush.

I think I've got one more SnG in me. Turbo, of course.

So, how many of you have to-do lists of things you really want to get around to doing someday, or things you've started but haven't finished? Oy. Every year, I think I'll have time over my summer "break" from work, but every year I end up working a lot more than I expect to, and spend too much of the remainder of my time off vegging out. Here are some of the things on my list:

- Finish reading Scott Kelby's Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Digital Photographers. I only started it in like April 2007.
- Go through the now-giant stack of photography magazines next to my bed and scan the articles I want to keep into PDF files - or at least tear them out of the magazines and store them in binders or something.
- Clean my home office - I mean, REALLY... shred old paperwork I don't need anymore, file the giant stack of bills and whatnot that's been collecting for almost 2 years now, etc.
- Frame and hang the 20 some odd Dave Matthews Band tour posters I've been collecting for years. Speaking of - if anybody has an extra DMB tour poster from this past Friday's Bridgeview, IL show, I'm looking to buy one!
- Buy some tulips to plant in my front yard, and some decorative bricks to edge my landscaping.
- Re-stain my deck.

Yeah... one of these days.

Well, out again - I was ahead AK vs A7 and got the scooby all-in on the turn... and he/she/it rivered the gutshot straight.

With that, I will log off having both lost my SnG's *and* not accomplishing anything on my to-do list! Ha - procrastination accomplished :)

Read Full Poker Blog Post

DMB!!!

Date: Fri, Jun 6, 2008

I'm so friggin anxious for DMB tonight! T-minus 40 minutes and counting till I go load up the truck and head out for tailgating festivities. I am stir crazy, so I am donking around a micro limit NLHE table on Full Tilt.

This will be my 25th Dave Matthews Band show tonight. I usually see no fewer than 5 shows per year, but this year I'm only slated for 3. Money's tight, and gas prices are killing me. Still, 3 will be wonderful (tonight in Chicago/Bridgeview, then 2 shows in August at Alpine Valley - Wisconsin).

While killing time this morning, I decided to try and give myself a quick French manicure. Oy. Apparently, there is no such thing as a "quick" French manicure. Oh well. So my nails look like a 4 year old colored on them. I'm seeing Dave tonight!

That is, if the weather holds out. We're at moderate risk for hail and tornado-bearing thunderstorms tonight - but who trusts the weather man, anyway? You know where I'll be: out in an open stadium with 30,000 other DMB freaks!

Wow. I've only killed 6 minutes. This is going to be a long half hour.

On the bright side, my pigtails cooperated fantastically! Totally stoked re: the pigtails today.

Haven't won a hand yet.

Twitter has been down for the past 18 or so hours for me. I see others have gotten some posts through, but not I. Sadness. I can't believe how mainstream twitter has become. For so long, it was only my geek friends on there. Now, look at you all!

Low pocket pairs in early position. It's so hard to raise them up. Flop it or drop it...

Wow. Donkey called my 1/3 to 1/2 pot bets all the way after turning the J high flush. Ummm hello, raise maybe? (I missed my gutshot straight flush draw but did have pocket 8's on a J-5-6 flop).

Ahhh, won it back on the bet-a-holic, check-the-river donk.

35 more minutes.

AKJ flop is generally not what you're looking for with 22 in the hole.

I found the negative of one of my favorite photos of my dad yesterday. I brought it to photography class and scanned it with their film scanner. I feel really lucky to have it.

Uh oh, tornado siren. Hmmm. Ya know, we hear these so often around here that people begin to NOT hear them. I should probably go scan the skies, just in case... there are tornadoes in the forecast today.

Read Full Poker Blog Post