Bittersweet

So I took third in another one. Won another $36, making $72 in nine tries. Put the tenth one in, even though I've yet to play it, and even if I lose it, I've won $72 with a cost of $55. Seventeen dollar profit at this point. If I cash in the tenth one, it's gravy. Lots of interesting hands, but I cut and pasted the two that were the most interesting. I think I made a good push on the first hand. Had top pair, best kicker and nut flush draw, plus the ace as extra coverage. Even if I'm not ahead, and there's decent reason to think I might not be, although just as good reason to think I could be, I've got plenty of outs, and my best one hit on the turn. Put me comfortably in first place at a critical time.

It's bittersweet, though, because of that last hand. I got kind of tight for a while, hoping xfl would go, because he was ss at 3000 chips. And Cweb was aggressive. Finally xfl got to where it was clear he wasn't on life support anymore, and even took the lead. I had been getting marginal hands and missing the flops. Really stung. Got raised in the BB by CWeb, but he did that almost eevery hand. Didn't like J5, but I called. Usually I'll often call with just about any face card, but they had me off my game, and it was a hard call. Flop is 99J. CWeb goes all in. Automatic call for me. If he has the nine or a bigger pair, hats off to him. He didn't. AQ. Then he hits his damn Ace on the damn river.

It really hurts. I mean, it's tough to complain, since I got my fair share of good cards and favorable flops and even a couple lucky hits (although, to my credit, always from good plays with the right odds) along the way at just the right times. Still, what a way to go out. And I'd have had a staggering chip advantage over xfl. CWeb went on to win, in fact.

Assuming I don't cash in the next tourney, I've honestly got to be dissappointed in this round of tournies. Don't get me wrong, a $17 profit is sweet enough, and I played pretty badly in two or three of those tournies, but I really do think I'm at the level where I can come out 85 dollars ahead per every ten tournies on a regular basis. We'll see on the next round. And, hey, there's still one more tourney left.

Full Tilt Poker Game #1333521178: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (9365639), Table 4 - 500/1000 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:54:34 ET - 2006/12/01
Seat 2: jmiller3299 (14,120)
Seat 4: boredmomma (10,710)
Seat 5: cow62087 (2,365)
Seat 6: dave_worrell (10,210)
Seat 7: xfl615 (15,115)
Seat 8: CWeb (14,980)
cow62087 posts the small blind of 500
dave_worrell posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dave_worrell [7c Ad]
xfl615 raises to 3,000
jmiller3299: tx
CWeb folds
jmiller3299 folds
boredmomma calls 3,000
cow62087 calls 1,865, and is all in
dave_worrell calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [7d 3d 6d]
dave_worrell bets 7,210, and is all in
xfl615 calls 7,210
boredmomma: oh man
boredmomma folds
dave_worrell shows [7c Ad]
xfl615 shows [Qh Qs]
cow62087 shows [Qd 8h]
*** TURN *** [7d 3d 6d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [7d 3d 6d 2d] [5s]
dave_worrell shows a flush, Ace high
xfl615 shows a pair of Queens
dave_worrell wins the side pot (16,325) with a flush, Ace high
cow62087 shows a flush, Queen high
dave_worrell wins the main pot (9,460) with a flush, Ace high
dave_worrell: gg
cow62087 stands up
The blinds are now 600/1,200
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 25,785 Main pot 9,460. Side pot 16,325. | Rake 0
Board: [7d 3d 6d 2d 5s]
Seat 2: jmiller3299 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: boredmomma (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: cow62087 (small blind) showed [Qd 8h] and lost with a flush, Queen high
Seat 6: dave_worrell (big blind) showed [7c Ad] and won (25,785) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 7: xfl615 showed [Qh Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: CWeb didn't bet (folded)
Full Tilt Poker Game #1333579247: $5 + $0.50 Sit & Go (9365639), Table 4 - 1000/2000 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:08:12 ET - 2006/12/01
Seat 6: dave_worrell (19,415)
Seat 7: xfl615 (27,305)
Seat 8: CWeb (20,780)
CWeb posts the small blind of 1,000
dave_worrell posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dave_worrell [Js 5d]
xfl615 folds
CWeb raises to 6,000
dave_worrell calls 4,000
*** FLOP *** [9s 9c Jh]
CWeb bets 14,780, and is all in
dave_worrell calls 13,415, and is all in
CWeb shows [Qc As]
dave_worrell shows [Js 5d]
Uncalled bet of 1,365 returned to CWeb
*** TURN *** [9s 9c Jh] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [9s 9c Jh 3c] [Ac]
CWeb shows two pair, Aces and Nines
dave_worrell shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
CWeb wins the pot (38,830) with two pair, Aces and Nines
dave_worrell: wow
dave_worrell stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 38,830 | Rake 0
Board: [9s 9c Jh 3c Ac]
Seat 6: dave_worrell (big blind) showed [Js 5d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 7: xfl615 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: CWeb (small blind) showed [Qc As] and won (38,830) with two pair, Aces and Nines

And a big ol' helping of defeat

Three five dollar tournies, three whiffs.

First two were pretty bad play on my part. First I played one more at 3am when I should have been in bed. Blinds were still fairly low and short stack of 450 went all in a couple times. Went all in again and I had AJ suited. I pushed to isolate her. She's got Kings. They held up. Horrible play on my part. No reason to call. Too early, weak hand. I only had about 1200 chips myself. I guess I was thinking she was going all in a lot and could have had anything. Still a really bad play. Left me severely short stacked at a time when the blinds were moving into the 100 chip range.

Next tourney was tonight just card dead and made an early mistake, literally got confused on which tourney I was looking at, and called a min bet I wouldn't have otherwise. It didn't hurt that bad, but it did lower my stack enough where I was behind more than I should have been at a time when it made a difference.

Third I was doing ok. I limped in a multi-pot with 67. Flop was 358. I put in a half pot bet, just to see where I was. Only 180 chips, but I only had 830 left after that. Two callers. Pot is 800. Turn is a 7. I figure I've got the open ended draw and a pair, so I make the aggressive pot bet, leaving me with 30 chips. One caller. River is a six. I put in my last 30. He hesitates, then calls. He's got Kings. I win with two small pair. I think I played it fairly well. Some might say the potential of a made nine high straight on the turn was too big to be that aggressive, but I think it was reasonable. And the Kings probably should have folded with the possible straight on board and the stiff bet. Not sure if I would in that situation, but I don't slow play high pairs.

So I'm in decent shape at this point. Catch KQ in big blind. Like 6 limpers in front of me. I raise to five hundred. Most of them call. Flop is JTK Pot is huge. 2400. I'm in early position, I bet the pot. Get called. Everyone else folds. Jerk called 5x blind with KT. I'm out of the tourney. Very bitter, but wondering about my pot bet. Someone maybe called with Jacks, Tens, or AK. Probably not Queens, Kings, or Aces. Last two callers probably had odds to call with lesser hands. But I had to make a bet there, I've got to go strong enough to 1)weed out a draw, b)not look like I'm weak and trying to steal the pot or just making a probe bet, and 3)take away automatic pot odd calls. And once I do that, I'm chip committed when KT reraises me. I think I made all the right moves, other than raising stronger there pre-flop. And, frankly, if he's calling a 5x raise under the gun with four people left to act behind him and he's only got KT, I'm not sure he folds to anything. Sticks in my craw, though.

And now I'm $1.50 down net, with only two tournies left to cash in and break even for this round.

First taste of success

Lost one more 5 dollar tourney tonight, but hit third in one. I played very well, no blow by blow, though. I got lucky once when I hit three of a kind and so did another guy. I was outkicked but hit a boat on the river. That saved me from getting booted early and doubled me up to a nice stack. Then I won a couple big hands and was in the top 3 for most of the tourney. Had a small setback when I caught AQ and raised the short stack. He called 3x and I missed the flop. So I'm in a quandry. I act first. If I check he almost certainly bets something unless he's just a coward or really thinks I'm trapping him. I pretty much have to call anything he bets, because he's at that point where his stack size is less than the pot. On the other hand, his stack size is big enough where I'm gonna lose a good 2k. I went with the aggressive move and bet the pot. He calls. He had JT suited and had hit the flop. I probably should have put him all in to begin with. He might have still called, but that'd have given me more folding equity and kept me from being in a bad post-flop decision.

I got my chips back and even got back in the lead because the chip leader loved his cheap chips. Went all in with Queens (three limpers), he called with A7 suited. Ridiculous call. I mean, this is for a hell of a lot of chips and he's got basically nothing worth calling that big a raise with. Lucky for me he missed, but he came close to his flush.

From there, it was downhill. I got decent cards twice in a row and raised 3x. Both times the guy to my left, now the chip leader, called. First time I missed the flop with AQ and he bet out. I was dubious, but there was a ten or a jack on the board, so I went ahead and folded. Next hand I catch sevens and raise 3x. He calls. Miss the flop, but there's just a Jack on the board, with two under rags. I made a small bet and he reraised me all in. I almost called, but I'm sitting in 5th and the other two are seriously short stacked. So now I'm down to pathetic levels and can't really do anything, because the two chip leaders have me outchipped 6 to 1 each and the short stack only has a third of my stack. Made more sense to let him die. He did, and I actually briefly doubled up, but I just didn't have the cards.

Still, took third. By my calculations, I only need to finish 6th twice and 5th twice every ten of these to more or less break even, so this finish puts me on pace to cover that. One third place finish in four attempts. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.

Round 2, Loss 2

Not a lot to tell. Another 5 dollar 45 man tourney. Early on I called a minimum raise with sixes. Four other callers. Flop was 64Q rainbow. Three checks and an all in. I called. Actually raised all in, but the raise was negligible. Everyone else folds. He turns over 8s. I have around 3700, which is a great start to these things. I'm set to pick my spots until well into the tourney. I needed it, too, because I got no cards for forever and I'm not really the stealing type. I guess I need to work that into my game more, though, at least once in a blue moon, if not regularly.

Had one hand where I had did try to steal, but it wasn't in the best spot. Had suited connectors, 6th position. Problem was, first position limped. I raised, they folded, but he called. Then he bets on the flop. I'm thinking he had a high pair. I actually had a straight draw, but it wasn't worth it to me. Started to worry, but caught AQ suited with two limpers in front of me. I did a pot bet and everyone folded. That helped things a little, but I still needed more. Won a blind from a limp when I was in the BB. Caught AT suited and went all in, making four limpers fold. That netted me about a grand. I was getting in better shape.

Raised with KQ from the button and got one caller after several limpers folded. Flop was 9Q9, two diamonds. He checked, I bet the pot, which was pretty much an all in bet. He looked like he wanted to call, but he folded. I didn't check, but I'm in pretty good shape now. Caught AK. Had a raise in front of me. I reraised.Everyone folded he called. Flop is 7JT. He min bets. I call. Turn is a nine. He min bets. I decide not to see a river and try to raise him off the pot. Fairly stiff raise. He comes over the top. I know I'm beat, but the pot is huge and I've only got a grand left afterwards. Probably smarter to fold. He turns ovewr the straight. I'm a little ticked that he called a reraise with KQ, but my reraise probably wasn't big enough. Bigger than a minimum, but not as big as I should have.

So I'm out 15th. Regret that last hand. Raising there isn't my normal move, and I really should have been more wary from the start. Really disappointed in my play there. I was in good shape to make the final table, too.

Blogging again

So I'm gonna start this here thingee again. I never really had anything to say, and only had two readers, anyway, but we're switching things up here. It's poker blog, basically. I've decided to try these little five and ten dollar 45 man tournies to get some steady cash in. I figure I need to finish 6th twice and fifth once out of every ten tournies to stay just about break even. Anything on top of that is gravy. So I'm journaling to review what I'm doing, what kinds of hands I'm playing, how I'm losing, what my record is, etc. With luck, it'll help my game.

So tonight, just minutes ago, I do my first tourney under the new system. Five dollar, nine table tourney.

1st $85.50
2nd $56.25
3rd $36
4th $22.50
5th $13.50
6th $11.25

Played tight, aggressive. Didn't get many hands. Caught KQ spades fairly early on at the button and one early limper folded and one early limper called. Flop was a bunch of rags, nine high. I led out with a probe bet and he took forever but finally folded. That set me up decently for a while. Ended up getting pretty good respect, which wasn't a great thing. Blinds started to grow and I caught AQ in third position. Raised 3x and everyone folded to me. It's nice to win, but the blinds still weren't high enough to make it worth it. Ended up in a decent pot from the big blind with a couple of limpers. Had 49 off. Flop is 345 rainbow. Pot is 280. I think about putting in a bet, just to see where I am, but out of position and only middle pair, weak kicker, I just checked. Next guy bets 120 and the other guy folds. I go ahead and call, which is kinda weak, but he might have the straight already, so raising wasn't right, and you gotta figure he's weak, too. Nine hits on the turn. I'm feeling good, but afraid of the made straight, so I bet 360 into a 560 pot. Get called. River's a two. Figure there's a good chance he's got an ace, so I check. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Lucky bastard. That hurt, too. That pot would have got me to the final 15 and would have set me up nicely for the final table.

Next hand I'm in the small blind with 10 7 off. Two limpers, I call for the odds, and the BB checks. Flop is 5 Ace 7, two hearts. Everyone checks. Turn is an 8 of clubs. Again, I almost do a probe bet, just to see where I stand, but theace is already there and the 8 is higher than my seven. Ends up we all check again. River is three of clubs. I figure nobody's slow playing at this point, unless an 8 was scared of the ace, so I do a little 120 chip bet. Everyone folds to me. Not a bad pot, but I'm still behind pace.

Five hands later, catch tens in early position. Not sure if I should push or do a 4x raise. Don't really like tens at second to act. Decide to do just a 3x, but I pretty much have to push if anyone raises me or if the flop is anything but an ace, as it's about half my chips for the raise. Again, I get respect and everyone folds to me.

Next hand I catch 8s. Decide to limp this time since I'm under the gun. Guy to my left goes all in and everyone folds to me. His stack is shorter than ine. He could have a big pocket pair, but I'm thinking High cards. Really hard decision for me, tempted to fold. I ask him if he has a pair and he actually tells me no. Ordinarily that'd scare me off, and I did wonder, but decided he was telling the truth and decided to race. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Why he told me, I'll never know. If he said he had a pair, I'd have folded for sure. Flop is 5 10 4, two spades. Turn is a two. Anyone wanna guess the river? Yep. Three. That was harsh. So he doubles up and I'm crippled with like 300 chips left and in the big blind. He says he got lucky, but it was a race, he wasn't far behind, if at all. Get a limper and an all in call in front of me, so I have to call, even with 8 ten off. First guy checks on the flop, second guy bets strong. He's got Queens. I've got nothing. I'm out at 24th.

Played decent, if tight, poker and just got a couple bad breaks. Maybe should have folded the 8s, since I had plenty of time to double up under better circumstances, but I'm gonna have to learn to make calls like that now and then, especially if I play more multi-table tournies.


Post Script:

Took second in a 6 dollar turbo after the loss. To say I got all the breaks back that went against me in the 45 man tourney would be a big understatement. I was dead several times over and kept catching the card that saved me. Anytime they caught a pair, my higher pair also hit. It was amazing. I'd rather my hands in the 45 man tourney held up, if I was gonna get luck in one or the other, but I won't turn it down.

Anyway, $16.20 won there, subtract the $6.50 entrance, and I netted $9.70. Subtract the $5.50 from the other tourney, add 85 cents from taking third in a dollar turbo, and I'm at $5.05 for the night and the next 45 man tourney is almost free. That sounds anal and nit-picky, but my whole plan revolves around cashing in x number of the 45 man tournies out of ten tries to become profitable, so a free try is fairly significant in those terms.

Life's theme song

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/member/birthdayno1.php

A fun little link that tells you the number 1 song on the US and UK charts on your birthday.

You can also find your so-called "Life's Theme Song" by the number 1 song on your 18th birthday.

#1 on the day I was born:

Joy to the World by Three Dog Night

Yeah!


My life's theme song:

Like A Prayer by Madonna

Halloween Meme

Halloween is here at last. Witches, goblins, big black cats.

Leave your answers and post the questions on your blogs with any additions or subtractions you want.

Any plans for Halloween this year?

Any favorite Halloween memories?

What was your best costume?

What's your favorite movie for Halloween?

What was the best spook house you went to?

What's your favorite mood music for Halloween?

What was the best haul you ever got from trick or treating?

What's your favorite spooky story? (Tell it or link to it if you have the time.)

Favorite costume for the opposite sex? (Or the more attractive sex, if that's a more applicable question.)

Who would you most like to find in your trick or treat bag?

What's your favorite Halloween party game?

What was your biggest scare on Halloween? (That scared you, I don't want to hear about your sadistic adventures. Well, o.k., but answer the other one, too.)

Fights I've Fought This Week

I'm tired. I'm tired of making the same point time after time after time, only to have people come in and make the same faulty point that completely ignores the facts that I've so kindly made available. Yes, I've engaged in net debates and think there's a way to win. Perhaps my parents did raise a fool or two, afterall.

So, in the interest of posterity, these are the fights I've fought this week:

1)No, "global warming" has not increased the frequency or intensity of hurricanes. Nobody is claiming that it has caused an increase in frequency, mostly because there is no increase in frequency of hurricanes. There are normal fluctuations, and we've seen the peak of the fluctuations, but that's not unusual. It's normal. So the next person that claims some expert said "global warming" caused an increase in hurricane frequency, they made it up and there is not a single bit of data to back that up.

There were two recent papers claiming "global warming" may be responsible for a measurable increase in the intensity of hurricanes in recent years. The most recent paper, especially, has been quoted quite a bit in recent weeks. Invariably, this is what people point to when they say they've "heard it suggested" or "read a report". They mean they saw a headline for a story that ended up demonstrating that the guy is a quack and shouldn't be listened to. Most scientists dispute the man's report, call it junk science, and even he admits his methodology had a large margin of error. He has also stated plainly in recent days that "global warming" had nothing to do with Katrina.

So don't tell me what the guy from the World Wildlife Fund said and think you've won points, because the guy from the World Wildlife Fund was taking his conclusions from that same discredited report. Only he doesn't care about his source, because he knows it's been repeated enough that it's now truth by reporting and people will soon safely be able to say Bush is willfully ignoring the proof about global warming and hurricanes because he's such an evil fool, even though the actual data shows no such thing.

2)No, Bush did not cause or contribute to the disaster in New Orleans by cutting anti-disaster funds. Even if he personally cut 100% of the funding, he would not have caused or contributed to the disaster.

The levees were engineered to withstand a category 3 hurricane.

Katrina was a category 5 hurricane.

If you listen to reports on the levees, or do research, you'll find that this disaster has been warned against for many decades. It was "an accident waiting to happen", as has been stated time and time again. This was the worst case scenario hitting in the worst possible way. Fully funding the requested budget would not have averted or ameliorated this disaster. You're falling victim to partisanship at a time when there should be none. Let's at least find all the bodies before you say it's all Bush's fault.

3)No, even if the levee situation in New Orleans had been one of Bush's top priorities when he first entered office, any changes enacted probably wouldn't have gotten far enough in four and a half years to change anything. We're talking about a huge problem that would have taken an enormous amount of time and money to fix.

4)Yes, if the Bush administration has overseen the biggest rollback of constitutional rights in history, I would expect you to be able to give twenty examples. Or ten. Or five. Or more than one. And if you can't, then you've probably lost that argument.

5)No, if someone suggests a scientific theory based on demonstrably and admittedly shaky data and that the foremost experts on the subject have resoundly debunked, we do not have to remain skeptical that the theory is true. That is not how the scientific process operates.

6)No, the CIA operative in question was stationed in Washington, D.C. at the time and was never in any physical danger whatsoever.

7)No, Karl Rove may indeed have done something nasty and petty, but he is inarguably not a traitor and almost definitely not guilty of a crime, if you're going to look at the actual facts of the case at hand. The more facts that have come out about the case, the more evident that has become.

8)Look, the guy that wrote the report admitted his methodology had a wide margin of error, said he ordinarily wouldn't have published such a flimsy report, and flatly stated this week that "global warming" had nothing to do with Katrina. What more do you need?

9)What exactly could Bush have done in response to the disaster that hasn't been done?

10)No, capping the price of gasoline would be a disastrous mistake and would lead to a gas shortage and gas lines. It would be one the worst things Bush could do.

11)Yes, stating that the destructive path of a hurricane was the karmic payback for a region's past actions is a really slimy, pathetic thing to do.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

I joined up with Real Player's SuperPass thingee a few years back. I honestly don't remember why. It was around fifteen bucks. It gave me access to various stuff from a variety of entertainment sources. I got Big Brother's 24 hour live telecast one year, for example. It was o.k., although I don't watch Big Brother. I got some video from NASCAR.com that let me see parts of a few races I missed. That was nice. Still, it was all coincidental and any value I got from the service had nothing to do with why I signed up. So I tried to cancel once. They asked me why. I told them I just didn't use it. They gave me two free months. At the end of the two months I tried to cancel. They offered to knock the price down to $9.95. I caved. Didn't matter that I never used it. I was getting a deal! (It's a healthy tip that I've used several times in the past few years. You'd be surprised how good a deal you can get if you tell people you want to cancel their service. And if you get no deal, you can always sign up again.)

So then I found out that I got two free music downloads ((my choice) and a free game download (their choice) every month, as part of the service. That made it more attractive, but I still found I couldn't justify paying for a service I almost never used. So I tried to cancel again. They offered to knock the price down to $6.95. I caved. And a month later, I'm just about ready to try to ditch it again, because I don't use the service, don't have room to download games I don't really want, and never seem to remember to download my two songsd a month.

That brings us to tonight. Tonight, Real networks informs me that I now get 10 music downloads a month with no additional charge. Any ten songs in the entire Real Music Store catalog. Every month.

I'm paying $6.95 a month to receive $10.00 worth of music downloads, plus whatever service I can find from the SuperPass. I'll take it. Yes sir. That's the kind of deal I can get behind.