Came back yesterday for a quick hit and run of Atlantic City. End Result: +$565. I didn't have a single losing session and I played exactly as I should be playing, tight and aggressive.
Best played hand:
I have 5c-7c in the BB. MP raises to $11 and 4 people call so I make the call for a $2 discount. Flop is 7h-4c-2s. Top pair with running straight and flush draws. Ok, I'll take a stab. I bet out $22. I get two callers, including the original raiser (O.R.). Turn is a 3h, giving me an OESD along with my top pair. Assuming no one has a six, I have 13 outs to improve here (two 7's, three 5's, four 6's and four Aces). A perfect time to semi-bluff. I confidently carve out a silo of $100 (half my stack) and push it forward. The first caller folds. The O.R. tanks and starts cursing to himself before mucking QQ face up. Cherry!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Not getting hassled, anymore
Ernie Barnes, the guy who painted the memorable painting "Sugar Shack", featured in the opening credits of the TV Show "Good Times", has died.
Not Dy-no-mite.
Fun fact, though; he was a former football player. And if you comment on how I mangled that punctuation in that last sentence, I'll kill you.
Not Dy-no-mite.
Fun fact, though; he was a former football player. And if you comment on how I mangled that punctuation in that last sentence, I'll kill you.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The mystery is solved
Last year, my beloved Starbucks which was just outside my door, mysteriously closed with no warning whatsoever. This, by the way, had nothing to do with the mass closings of Starbucks that happened at the same time since this location wasn't on the published list of closings. For a year now, the windows were taped over and I'd been pondering what was happening behind those sheets. I knew construction was occurring, but to what end? Would the Starbucks be reopened, perhaps remodeled? Maybe another eatery? Well, yesterday the mystery was solved as the workers hoisted the letters of the store to their place over the doorway.
TOURBULLON
Yeah, I'd never heard of it either but a quick Google search confirms that it's a fancy shmancy watch store. Yeah, good timing guys. Bring back my coffee!
TOURBULLON
Yeah, I'd never heard of it either but a quick Google search confirms that it's a fancy shmancy watch store. Yeah, good timing guys. Bring back my coffee!
America...Fuck Yeah!
Coming to kick your Mother Fucking ass now!
Who says we're not the best country in the world? A flying robot sniper helicopter is now a reality. I'll repeat that. A flying robot sniper. And (yes it gets better), the whole thing is controlled by an XBOX 360 controller.
Excuse me. I just jizzed in my pants.
Who says we're not the best country in the world? A flying robot sniper helicopter is now a reality. I'll repeat that. A flying robot sniper. And (yes it gets better), the whole thing is controlled by an XBOX 360 controller.
Excuse me. I just jizzed in my pants.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Memorable hands from Chicago Trip
In the blur of activity that was my Chicago area trip (not really since I was 200 miles from Chicago in some instances), it's hard to remember particular hands. Even harder when you've played thousands of hours in your career and have gotten close to seeing all possible situations. But still, some hands manage to stick in your short term memory. Four hands from my recent trip are memorable and worthy of inclusion here:
Hand #1 - Memorable, but not terribly exciting. Basically, I doubled up with AA in a $1/$2 NLHE game. Happens all the time, right? What struck me about this hand, though, is that I played it poorly coming out of the gate. I was UTG+1 and raised to $11. As soon as my bet was out, I knew I'd made a mistake. 4 players called my raise. $11 is too little. I should have made it $16. Yes, you run the risk of not getting any callers, but anyone who *does* call you is likely to stay to the end. It all depends on the table make-up, naturally, but $11 was too little here. As it turns out, I got lucky when the flop was KJx and a guy with KQ paid me off on every street. I bet out $40 on the flop, he called. Turn was a rag, I pushed for $110, he called, I won.
Hand #2 - I have 8c9d, again UTG+1. I limp and there's a raise to $7 in MP. 4 people call, myself included. Flop is 5s-6h-7s. I flop the stone cold nuts, but I'm wary of the spade draw. I check in early position and the next player (not the original raiser), bets out $25. The original raiser folds, the guy on the button goes all in for $35 and I smooth call. The other guy calls. There's now $20 in the side pot heads up and about $100 in the main pot. The turn is the Js, putting a 3 card flush on board. At this point, I have to decide what to do and I study my opponent. He's a mid 30's indian guy, sucking on a beer and looking pretty sullen and aggressive. I take into account that he bet out on the flop, so I have to put him on a made hand; either two pair or a set. His aggressive look and sullen demeanor give me an indication that he's going to play for the pot. So I check and he shoves all in for $95. For the reasons indicated, I didn't put him on the flush draw, so after some more thinking, I called. My feeling was I was beating this guy, so even if the all-in guy had a flush draw to win the main pot, I could win a nice side pot. The river was the 2s! Four spades on the board and not one in my hand. I figure I'm beat by luck and the indian guy shows down 3h4c for the flopped bottom end of the straight. No spades! I win the side pot. The all-in guy shows Jc-8d, for the flopped OESD! No spades! I win the main pot as well on a stone read that turned out to work in my favor when no one had any spades.
Hand #3 - The one I'm most proud of on the whole trip is one I folded. I have AQo UTG+2 and I limp, because I don't like raising AQo in early position in a cash game. Luckily, 5 players limp and the flop is Qd-8c-9c. First player checks. Second player bets out $15. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was fishy there. The $15 bet was a tad over pot sized and it raised the hackles on my neck. I started thinking about hands that would limp that would be killing me on this flop. Q9, Q8, 89, JT, 88, 99. QQ is a raising hand, so I discounted it. As I was 7th best out of possible hands here, I decided to muck. Top pair, top kicker, a moderate bet to me and I went with my read and mucked! Good fold too, because it went to showdown after someone shoved with QJ (!) and the bettor ended up having 89 in the hole for a flopped two pair.
Hand #4 - Almost as good of a read as the last one. THe game is $3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo. I have T-K-2-4 in my hand. The flop is TT3. I'm first to act and I bet out with my trip Tens. Another calls and the guy to my right raises! I call one bet, hoping to fill up on the turn and the other guy does too. The turn is a 3. It checks around to the raiser, who bets and I say, "This is the fold of the year here" and I muck. It wasn't really the fold of the year, because I didn't have the best kicker with the Ten, but it was a great fold because I knew what the guy had. Just before he exposed his cards at showdown, I called it out, "Quad Threes". Sure enough, he rolled 33 and scooped the pot. I don't like drawing dead. Something about how fearless he was against the TT3 board told me he had flopped a boat. And if I have one of the Tens, it's more likely he has 33 then T3. That fold saved me some bets because a King came on the river, filling me up!
Hand #1 - Memorable, but not terribly exciting. Basically, I doubled up with AA in a $1/$2 NLHE game. Happens all the time, right? What struck me about this hand, though, is that I played it poorly coming out of the gate. I was UTG+1 and raised to $11. As soon as my bet was out, I knew I'd made a mistake. 4 players called my raise. $11 is too little. I should have made it $16. Yes, you run the risk of not getting any callers, but anyone who *does* call you is likely to stay to the end. It all depends on the table make-up, naturally, but $11 was too little here. As it turns out, I got lucky when the flop was KJx and a guy with KQ paid me off on every street. I bet out $40 on the flop, he called. Turn was a rag, I pushed for $110, he called, I won.
Hand #2 - I have 8c9d, again UTG+1. I limp and there's a raise to $7 in MP. 4 people call, myself included. Flop is 5s-6h-7s. I flop the stone cold nuts, but I'm wary of the spade draw. I check in early position and the next player (not the original raiser), bets out $25. The original raiser folds, the guy on the button goes all in for $35 and I smooth call. The other guy calls. There's now $20 in the side pot heads up and about $100 in the main pot. The turn is the Js, putting a 3 card flush on board. At this point, I have to decide what to do and I study my opponent. He's a mid 30's indian guy, sucking on a beer and looking pretty sullen and aggressive. I take into account that he bet out on the flop, so I have to put him on a made hand; either two pair or a set. His aggressive look and sullen demeanor give me an indication that he's going to play for the pot. So I check and he shoves all in for $95. For the reasons indicated, I didn't put him on the flush draw, so after some more thinking, I called. My feeling was I was beating this guy, so even if the all-in guy had a flush draw to win the main pot, I could win a nice side pot. The river was the 2s! Four spades on the board and not one in my hand. I figure I'm beat by luck and the indian guy shows down 3h4c for the flopped bottom end of the straight. No spades! I win the side pot. The all-in guy shows Jc-8d, for the flopped OESD! No spades! I win the main pot as well on a stone read that turned out to work in my favor when no one had any spades.
Hand #3 - The one I'm most proud of on the whole trip is one I folded. I have AQo UTG+2 and I limp, because I don't like raising AQo in early position in a cash game. Luckily, 5 players limp and the flop is Qd-8c-9c. First player checks. Second player bets out $15. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was fishy there. The $15 bet was a tad over pot sized and it raised the hackles on my neck. I started thinking about hands that would limp that would be killing me on this flop. Q9, Q8, 89, JT, 88, 99. QQ is a raising hand, so I discounted it. As I was 7th best out of possible hands here, I decided to muck. Top pair, top kicker, a moderate bet to me and I went with my read and mucked! Good fold too, because it went to showdown after someone shoved with QJ (!) and the bettor ended up having 89 in the hole for a flopped two pair.
Hand #4 - Almost as good of a read as the last one. THe game is $3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo. I have T-K-2-4 in my hand. The flop is TT3. I'm first to act and I bet out with my trip Tens. Another calls and the guy to my right raises! I call one bet, hoping to fill up on the turn and the other guy does too. The turn is a 3. It checks around to the raiser, who bets and I say, "This is the fold of the year here" and I muck. It wasn't really the fold of the year, because I didn't have the best kicker with the Ten, but it was a great fold because I knew what the guy had. Just before he exposed his cards at showdown, I called it out, "Quad Threes". Sure enough, he rolled 33 and scooped the pot. I don't like drawing dead. Something about how fearless he was against the TT3 board told me he had flopped a boat. And if I have one of the Tens, it's more likely he has 33 then T3. That fold saved me some bets because a King came on the river, filling me up!
RAZZ cash!
I made a ghey cash in a 10+1 RAZZ tourney last night on FTP.
5th of 44 ain't shabby, even if it was the lowest money in the tourney. Just the fact that I cashed in RAZZ makes me very happy. I even got it all in with the best of it. After the bubble burst, I had (36)8 to start against (56)2. Fourth street was a 2 and fifth street was a seven, making me an 87 low. My opponent was showing xx24T when I went all in. And even though I managed to spike a 4, improving me to a 76 low, my opponent rivered an Ace, giving him a 65 low and taking me out. Too bad, too, because I would have doubled up and had a fighting chance to win it if that had worked out.
Ah well. Maybe I'll get some sleep now. It's 3:45AM!
5th of 44 ain't shabby, even if it was the lowest money in the tourney. Just the fact that I cashed in RAZZ makes me very happy. I even got it all in with the best of it. After the bubble burst, I had (36)8 to start against (56)2. Fourth street was a 2 and fifth street was a seven, making me an 87 low. My opponent was showing xx24T when I went all in. And even though I managed to spike a 4, improving me to a 76 low, my opponent rivered an Ace, giving him a 65 low and taking me out. Too bad, too, because I would have doubled up and had a fighting chance to win it if that had worked out.
Ah well. Maybe I'll get some sleep now. It's 3:45AM!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Chicago area poker trip - By the numbers
It's been a long day. After waking up today in Milwaukee, WI and driving to Chicago, IL for lunch, I flew out of Midway airport to LaGuardia to have dinner with friends and I'm not comfortably back home.
Which means that I really don't have the energy to type up a full trip report. So for now, I'll crunch the numbers and post the results. It was a VERY successful trip.
The Numbers
Cars Rented: One (Nissan Versa)
Miles Driven: 1,210
Tanks of gas used: 3.75
Total Driving Time: 22 hours, 57 minutes
States Visited: 5 (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan)
Casinos Visited: 16
Poker Rooms Visited (Defined as using a live dealer): 14
PokerTek Poker Rooms Visited: 1
Profit as a result of Poker: +$932.75
Profit as a result of Table Games: +$85
Casino Employees interviewed: 6
Casino Employees yet to be interviewed over the phone: 1
Types of Poker Games played: 13 ($3-$6 Limit Hold'em, $3-$6 Limit Hold'em w/full kill, $4-$8 Limit Hold'em, $5-$10 Limit Hold'em, $4-$8 Limit HO w/half kill, $6-$12 Limit HO w/half kill, $10-$20 HO w/half kill, $3/$6 O/8, $5-$10 O/8, $0.50/
$1 No Limit Hold'em, $1-$2 No Limit Hold'em, $2-$5 No Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em Tournament)
Poker Sessions (Switching games counts as a new session): 21
Total Session time: 45 hours, 3 minutes
Avg. Session Length: 2 hrs, 8 minutes, 43 seconds
Best Session for time spent: A 31 minute session playing $5-$10 Limit Hold'em at the Hollywood Casino in Aurora, IL yielded $172 in profit.
Best Overall Session: A 1 hr session playing $1/$2 NLHE at the Ameristar East in Gary, IN yielded a $252 profit.
Worst Overall Session: An 88 minute session playing $5/$10 O/8 at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf, Iowa yielded a $194 loss.
Shortest Session: A 30 minute session playing $1/$2 NLHE at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, IN yielded a $37 profit.
Longest Session: A 6 hour and 35 minute session playing $3/$6 O/8 at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee, WI yielded a $181 profit.
Times I felt skeeved by the nastiness of the hotel room I stayed in: 3
Number of matzoh related items I ate: Zero
Number of matzoh related items available for purchase: Zero
Number of confirmed Jews spotted during the entire trip: One
Number of times I overheard Anti-Semitic remarks at the poker table: Two (In neither case were the participants aware I was Jewish. Both times, the remarks revolved around how people should own a particular stock because 'The Jews like it')
Number of Aryan Nation members I ate dinner within earshot of: One, possibly two
There are more stats, but I can't think of them right now. Overall, a good trip pokerwise. Not so much in terms of sightseeing. I didn't get to stay in Chicago at all, except to visit for a brief 3 hours on my way back to the airport to come home. At least I got to eat deep dish pizza though. It was at Pizzeria Due and is highly recommended!
That was on the list of things to do. On the way to the airport, I passed, completely by accident, the Jelly Belly factory in Kinosha, WI.
I stopped off to take the tour but they were, sadly, closed for Easter.
Which means that I really don't have the energy to type up a full trip report. So for now, I'll crunch the numbers and post the results. It was a VERY successful trip.
The Numbers
Cars Rented: One (Nissan Versa)
Miles Driven: 1,210
Tanks of gas used: 3.75
Total Driving Time: 22 hours, 57 minutes
States Visited: 5 (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan)
Casinos Visited: 16
Poker Rooms Visited (Defined as using a live dealer): 14
PokerTek Poker Rooms Visited: 1
Profit as a result of Poker: +$932.75
Profit as a result of Table Games: +$85
Casino Employees interviewed: 6
Casino Employees yet to be interviewed over the phone: 1
Types of Poker Games played: 13 ($3-$6 Limit Hold'em, $3-$6 Limit Hold'em w/full kill, $4-$8 Limit Hold'em, $5-$10 Limit Hold'em, $4-$8 Limit HO w/half kill, $6-$12 Limit HO w/half kill, $10-$20 HO w/half kill, $3/$6 O/8, $5-$10 O/8, $0.50/
$1 No Limit Hold'em, $1-$2 No Limit Hold'em, $2-$5 No Limit Hold'em, No Limit Hold'em Tournament)
Poker Sessions (Switching games counts as a new session): 21
Total Session time: 45 hours, 3 minutes
Avg. Session Length: 2 hrs, 8 minutes, 43 seconds
Best Session for time spent: A 31 minute session playing $5-$10 Limit Hold'em at the Hollywood Casino in Aurora, IL yielded $172 in profit.
Best Overall Session: A 1 hr session playing $1/$2 NLHE at the Ameristar East in Gary, IN yielded a $252 profit.
Worst Overall Session: An 88 minute session playing $5/$10 O/8 at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf, Iowa yielded a $194 loss.
Shortest Session: A 30 minute session playing $1/$2 NLHE at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, IN yielded a $37 profit.
Longest Session: A 6 hour and 35 minute session playing $3/$6 O/8 at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee, WI yielded a $181 profit.
Times I felt skeeved by the nastiness of the hotel room I stayed in: 3
Number of matzoh related items I ate: Zero
Number of matzoh related items available for purchase: Zero
Number of confirmed Jews spotted during the entire trip: One
Number of times I overheard Anti-Semitic remarks at the poker table: Two (In neither case were the participants aware I was Jewish. Both times, the remarks revolved around how people should own a particular stock because 'The Jews like it')
Number of Aryan Nation members I ate dinner within earshot of: One, possibly two
There are more stats, but I can't think of them right now. Overall, a good trip pokerwise. Not so much in terms of sightseeing. I didn't get to stay in Chicago at all, except to visit for a brief 3 hours on my way back to the airport to come home. At least I got to eat deep dish pizza though. It was at Pizzeria Due and is highly recommended!
That was on the list of things to do. On the way to the airport, I passed, completely by accident, the Jelly Belly factory in Kinosha, WI.
I stopped off to take the tour but they were, sadly, closed for Easter.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
How cool am I?
I ate lunch at Shake Shack today on the UWS at Columbus and 78th at 1:30p. When I was done, approx. 2:10p, I walked across the street and then south to Columbus and 75th. Now, the good folks at Gawker Stalker have told me that Bono, the U2 lead singer, was eating lunch outside at Isabella's (Columbus and 77th) at 2PM. Which means I walked right by him and didn't even notice.
That's right. Like a TRUE NEW YORKER. Suck it, bitches!
That's right. Like a TRUE NEW YORKER. Suck it, bitches!
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