More Ying & Yang

Much thanks to everyone who commented yesterday about my dog. No need for money, Daddy, but thanks for the thought. Our issue is that we?re living in someone else?s house, and they didn?t want him here. We have another dog that gets along fine with the cat, and he?s welcome anytime.



Well, Mrs. Big picked him up yesterday from the woman that tried to foster him. She also had to make a command decision, and I know how hard it was for her and respect her for doing it. We heard that many of the local shelters are expecting this weekend to be a big adoption weekend due to the holiday, so she was able to convince a no-kill shelter to take him. We?re sure he?ll be placed quickly due to his great temperament with people, especially kids. But, that still doesn?t make it any easier. We were both in tears yesterday when she called to tell me. Neither of us has had the nerve to tell the kids yet. They aren?t old enough to understand the situation, so they?re going to take it hard and look to blame someone.



------------



It looks like Mrs. Big may have a part-time job soon, teaching pre-k here in Jax. So, that?s good.



Poker-wise, yesterday was interesting. When I go through little runs as far as cashing/not cashing in SNGs, I?ll just stop playing for the day. Either I?ve won enough, or lost enough. The only time I play a lot of sessions in a single day is when I?m alternating not-cashing with some thirds and occasional seconds, staying basically breakeven. There?s something that drives me to be a winner or a loser for a day, and those breakeven days just frustrate me.



Anyway, yesterday started off rough, so rough I would normally bag it. Four straight losses at the $225 turbos would usually get me to turn off the PC and come back tomorrow. But, I was feeling like I was playing well, so I stuck it out to finish with 2 wins in my last 3 for a $315 profit and 20% ROI on the day for 4 table hours. It felt good to keep it together and avoid the tilt, just keep playing my game and knowing it would all work out in the end.



BuccaneerMike is the only person in my real life that knows the real extent of my recent success. Mrs. Big has an inkling because of a couple of sizeable cashouts I?ve done to pay for a few things, but I suspect she thinks I?ve made about half of what I?ve actually made. If she knew how high I play, she?d have a conniption. BuccaneerMike tells me I should just say ?fuck it? and do this for a living, but I just can?t see it. I don?t think I have the temperament. There?s just something inside me that tells me I won?t play the same way when it?s my rent/mortgage on the line. I like being able to provide for some necessities and the occasional luxury during this time, but I?d much rather have a real job with a steady salary and benefits. Landlords and mortgage companies prefer their customers to have real jobs, and my entire focus right now is getting out of this place. I would much prefer poker to have its place in my life as a vehicle I use to pay down some debt and fund some retirement/college accounts. That alone would be huge, and I could certainly count myself among the lucky few.

Read The Full Article:
http://bigslicknuts.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-ying-yang.html

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Tourney: Hammer Out Cancer

What: Hammer Out Cancer - WPBT-POY Circuit Event
(Tournament ID 3381723 under the Private section.)
When: April 16th - Sunday
Time: 9pm EST
Where: Full Tilt Poker
How Much: $10 + $16
($15 goes to American Cancer Society so buy-in is 25+1)
Password: dahammer

I'm definitely going to try to make this tournament. My father died of cancer 6 years ago, and the devastation of cancer has touched not only my family, but the families of dear friends. We can cure cancer in this lifetime. Help out. Play some cards Sunday night and spend the evening not only doing something you enjoy, but helping a great cause.

Tags: poker tournament, cancer benefit, Full Tilt Poker, HellaHoldem, poker, texas hold'emFiled Under:

• Tourneys
• Online
• FullTilt

Read The Full Article:
http://hellaholdem.blogspot.com/2006/04/tourney-hammer-out-cancer.html

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Good Friday, My Arse

These half-assed holidays are the worst, especially on Fridays. I always forget that no one will be in the office, because everyone is much smarter than I am and requested the day off, as they knew it'd be a wasted, half-assed day anyway. Boo, me.

ScurvyWife is going to be in Dallas for a chunk of the weekend, so hopefully I'll get much poker time in. Haven't played at all this week and I'm definitely jonesing to play some. I think I'm going to burn some FPPs on Stars on some WSOP satellites, and probably some more satellites at my new favorite site Full Tilt.

Still not really feeling the LHE love, although I've been tempted of late to sit back down at 20/40, for whatever sick reason. Still avoiding the temptation successfully, for all the reasons I've elaborated on in the past, but it is there, lurking.

I also need to get an ungodly number of plants in the yard, plus lug much mulch and dirt around, so it's not going to be all reindeer games this weekend.

Read The Full Article:
http://suckout.blogspot.com/2006/04/good-friday-my-arse.html

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Easter Punday

Resurrect your poker game! Crucify the competition! Let your stack rise again! It's Easter at Full Tilt!



(I'm really playing fast and loose with this "going to hell" thing)



Easycure, aka The Messiah of the Pacific Northwest, King of the Pike Place Jews, The Emerald City Carpenter, Our Lord and Savior, has set up a charity event on Full Tilt. WPBT POY points will be awarded. BYOP.



(Peeps, dammit. Peeps.)





What: Hammer Out Cancer - WPBT-POY Circuit Event

(Tournament ID 3381723 under the Private section.)

When: April 16th - Sunday

Time: 9pm EST

Where: Full Tilt Poker

How Much: $10 + $16

($15 goes to American Cancer Society so buy-in is 25+1)

Password: dahammer



Please accept my apologies for all the above.

Read The Full Article:
http://obituarium.blogspot.com/2006/04/easter-punday.html

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What's Your Plan On The Turn

© COPYRIGHT 2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



Since my last post, I have spent my poker time navigating the bumpy waters of low limit Hold'em:



Poker Syndicate $2/4 LHE: $60 loss, 162 Hands

World Poker Exchange $2/4 LHE: $21 loss, 168 Hands

Paradise $2/4 LHE: $29 profit, 117 Hands

Poker Stars $2/4 LHE: $20 profit, 73 Hands

Paradise $3/6 LHE: $78 profit, 125 Hands



A whole lot of work (645 hands) for little profit ($41) isn't it? I started on some stronger pain meds (percocet) for the root canal pain yesterday, so I didn't have many better options for spending my time. Not sure if the stronger meds helped or hurt my performance at the tables (LOL).



I tested out the Paradise $3/6 LHE games or he first time yesterday, with some good initial results. Not surprisingly, I found the $3/6 game just as soft as their $2/4 games. You just can't beat Paradise for soft games these days, at least this side of Poker Syndicate.



What's Your Plan On The Turn?

Here's a hand I played recently that comes up a lot, or at least a lot more than you would think:



World Poker Exchange

Limit Holdem Ring game

Limit: $2/$4

8 players



Pre-flop: (8 players) Michael is EP1 with [A? Q?]

2 folds, Michael raises, MP1 calls, Button reraises, 2 folds, MP1 calls, Michael calls.



Flop: [A? J? 8?] (7.5SB, 3 players)

Michael bets, MP1 raises, Button folds, Michael reraises, MP1 caps, Michael calls.



I have spent little time playing against MP1, so I don't have a real good read on him.



Two questions for you:



(1) Would you have reraised the flop and what is your reasoning?

(2) What is your plan on the turn and what is your thinking?







I am registered to play in the

Online Poker Blogger Freeroll

Win your share of $25,000 and a set

of Nevada Jacks poker chips.

Hosted By: Absolute Poker

Sponsored By: Poker Source Online

Registration Code: 65334548

Read The Full Article:
http://countingmyouts.blogspot.com/2006/04/whats-your-plan-on-turn.html

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Aww, Poker, I's Just Joshin'...

I feel like I've been a little heavy on the doom and gloom of late, in regards to poker. Well, not really doom or gloom, but the general tone has been trending towards the cautious and/or wary end of the spectrum, as sort of a preamble to something or other. Sort of like when you're stuck in a limping, lumbering, soon-to-be-imploded relationship and it's nearing Christmas, and the idealistic part of you wants to put on a brave face and buy her something nice but the realist insists that you buy her a shitty unscented candle, wrap it in newspaper, and pitch it to her, saying "Ho ho ho," and just rip the band-aid off yourself and be done with it.



Part of me has been tempted to just quit poker cold turkey. Not much of me, but there is a portion of my monkey brain that's not convinced that playing poker is +EV for me in the long run, even if I make money doing so. There are a ton of things I want to do in this world and sitting in front of a computer for hours on end isn't one of them.



I enjoy playing poker, though. A lot. And it's something I'm pretty good at. It'd be pretty dumb to quit doing something I enjoy, that I'm good at. So yeah. That's dumb. Let's not do that.



But I'm still undecided as to what form that playing of poker will take. And, by extension, what form this blog will take in future months.



One thing I always took a little pride in was taking the time here to put down thoughts on assorted poker strategry, as I was always frustrated that other people didn't do the same. And it wasn't all golden, by any stretch of the imagination, but most of it was reasonably solid. People seemed to appreciate it. So it felt good to do that, to feel like I was giving something back, and for the simple validation that came from posting it and getting favorable responses.



One strange thing about poker is that I think many of us exist in a weird limbo land of indecision, unsure if we're simple luckboxes who have been dodging the odds or if we're veritable superstars who are just running poorly. There's just no short-term measure of success or validation. So we end up glomming on to anything we can find, grasping at validation wherever we can find it. Validation through results, through friendships made via poker, through what we post on these gay Internet blog diaries, through whatever we can wrap our monkey paws around.



And the sad truth is that for most of us, it's never going to be there. It's always going to be slightly out of reach. We're never going to be as successful as we dream of being.



The long run definitely exists, but it's a hell of a long run. I guess that's the one thing I've learned in the last four or five months, more than anything. I didn't really understand just how poorly you can run at times, and just how thin any edge you hold is. Didn't grasp to what extent we're at the mercy of random chance, especially at fairly crucial points in ones poker development. Didn't understand that simply being good at poker isn't enough to propel oneself ever-upward.



Improving at poker is definitely an incremental journey, and you will definitely see positive results in the long run if you focus on making the correct decision, each time you're faced with a decision. No arguing that. If you make consistently make +EV decisions, your results will be +EV. Dead true. Carve it in stone.



But if you persist on that journey you'll eventually come to an abyss of sorts, that few poker types like to discuss. Suddenly you're brought up short and realize that you're woefully under-equipped, and that the only way you're going to traverse it is to take a flying leap, and put much trust in your leaping ability. Because you're not quite as in control of the situation as you were lead to believe.



Peronally speaking, my abyss was to finally realize the sheer randomness of what I was engaging in. That sounds over-simplified and dumb but there you go. I wasn't prepared to get my teeth kicked in and lose thousands of dollars on a weekly basis, playing my best, while watching someone cap preflop with 36o and keep jamming until the river, when they hit their straight. I wasn't ready to see some monkey with a VPIP of 89% show a $22,000 profit over 18,000 hands in a month, playing 10/20 short. I wasn't ready to see that I had no idea what it meant to truly run badly at stakes capable of inflicting pain, when "good" play netted me a huge loss while others played any two cards and made many grandusands.



Should I have seen that coming? Of course. It was there to see before, but easy for me to ignore, until the dollars involved became meaningful and painful.



But guess what? I digress. Ha.



Here's the point. I'm going to keep playing poker, and blogging about poker, and telling people they should play poker. But the only grand advice I have is to watch your corn hole out there at the poker tables, and prepare for the worst. Because it's not as easy as it seems and it's not as simple as playing good poker. And at certain points you just have to jump and hope you land on the other side.

Read The Full Article:
http://suckout.blogspot.com/2006/04/aww-poker-is-just-joshin.html

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Hazy Thursday, Great Friday

I can't help it folks. When people say its Good Friday, the saying just pops into my head: "Good Friday! Hell, its Great Friday!" I guess its akin to when I'm sitting under the gun and the dealer points to the SB and BB and says, "Small blind, big blind..." I always chime in with, "and I'm the huge blind! Hugest blind you've ever seen." I'm just low brow like that.



I've been missing out on a lot of blogger tournaments lately. They've been proliferating, what with the WPBT, DADI, Mookie's weekly, and the WWdn tournaments. Its almost maddening, because I'll sign up after wifey Kim is asleep and invariably, everyone is an hour into a tournament while I'm kicking myself for missing out. Last night was an exception however, as I sat down at a blogger only private tourney hosted by Veneno in conjunction with the Heads Up Challenge 3 finals. Congratulations to Will Wonka on his HUC3 win! He was one of the originals from the first Heads Up Challenge (of which I was founder and Commissioner) so it was great to see one of the originals take it down. I didn't get to watch the match, but I'm sure he faced stiff competition from FishyMcDonk, a mainstay in these new crop of blogger games.



The HUC3 private "lounge" tournament, arranged by Veneno, was a great idea. Basically, it was just another private tourney, but it coincided with the HUC3 finals. There were 12 players, and, well, I came in 10th. But it was on a suckout by Weak Player, with my AQ vs his A9. I was playing a different brand of poker against the table, slipping into some manic habits. I saw about 30% of the flops, and was doing my best to be erratic and control the table. As a result, I went from chipleader to last place, to middle of the pack, to last place, to top 3, and so forth. Basically, when you play a lot of hands, you see large swings. The over-aggression was working though, and because of it, I was able to get Weak to call my all-in with his A9. In the hand, I was in the SB and he was in the BB. I believe I raised pre-flop, which happened a lot. I had about 1k and the blinds were 50/100 so I raised to 300. He called. I missed the flop, which was all low cards, and maybe a pair, like 525. I decided to push because I thought he would assume I was bluffing. I was, but I knew he would call me with a WIDE range of hands that included hands I could beat, because I was relentless. I also knew that he could fold the hand easily too. He called me with A9, I cheered and typed "booya" and then lost on the turn. I've said it before, but not on this blog: Jordan's rule for celebrating is to celebrate right away, so that when you get sucked out on, at least you had that little moment of joy! I don't mind losing to a suckout anyway. It just means that I got in with the best of it.



In other news, the 45-person SNG Challenge has ended. The winner...Poker Champ! Yes, even after he ceased to exist, the Champ continued playing, well, like a Champ. Congratulations to him and our 2nd and 3rd place finishers (and two guys who seem to be making a tear in the win department) DrewsPop and Kaellinn. I played my 14th (and, in this case, last) 45-person SNG last night. I had lost all but one of the prior 13, so I needed to 1st place wins or thereabout to make it ITM in our Challenge. I decided to stop the $10+1 tourneys and just go buckwild in the $1. I pushed left and right, showing my 26o or whatever crap hand I had. It was fun tilting an entire table. And for $1, it was affordable. I lost when some jackass sucked out my 47c with JJ! By the way, I believe the $1 45p set up my mood to play ultra-aggressive in the HUC3 lounge tourney. So, um, maybe I'll avoid that situation in the future.



Other things? Why yes! The DADI 5 is coming up, and we need your help! Spread the good word, people. Use the banner below, or the one on TripJax's site, because we need over 50 players just to send one blogger/reader to the WSOP. Take a look at the DADI website for details.



Finally, I got my first dial-a-shot ever last night, and it was from AlCantHang himself! I hear whenever Al makes a dial-a-shot, an angel gets its wings! Al, it was a pleasure talking to you. Rock on!

Read The Full Article:
http://highonpoker.blogspot.com/2006/04/hazy-thursday-great-friday.html

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Rest In Peace Poker Champ

RIP Poker Champ January 2006 - April 2006 "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." - Verbal Kint from The Usual Suspects "Nope, it's true. In the end, it is I who...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/002636.php

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MEanderings

Chat comment to me during a stud game: "csquard, what do you call with?" This was after I took down some pot in the brutal $0.25/0.50 Stud H/L game four-handed. Of course, I called with 29 in the hole and a 2 on board, but it was like $0.10. What do I call with? For the love of Felicia, how do I know what I call with? I either shove my dime or fold, then a bunch of cards come and I have to count with my left hand to see how many diamonds have come on each street. This is why I'll never be more than a pocket change stud player (although it is a decent way to kill twenty minutes).



OK, new feature will be Friday's Recipe, where I'll give you a recipe from my collection that is easy enough for me to make and will serve you quite a long time (also could get you some sweet additional poker time from your significant other if you can knock it out). My mom made a recipe book for me when I went to college, with recipes like Green Beans ("...open can, put in pot, turn to medium heat, salt/pepper/bacon grease to taste, 15-20 minutes), baked potato, and some advanced level dishes (buttermilk biscuits). Spaghetti is part of the cc core of dishes I can knock out to treat Sweetie and the boys. She's also adopted it, and it is so absolutely easy.

• 3 cans tomato sauce (small), one can tomato paste (add can of water too), one can of diced tomatoes
• Cook in pot with two bay leaves, oregano (a pinch, less is more here--shake in your hand first) and Italian seasoning, a little pepper (I never use salt, but you can throw in a pinch of salt), 1/2 teaspoon of garlic (get the small jar of chopped garlic)
  
  
• Medium heat to bubble, then lower a bit, stirring every few minutes (20-30 minutes)
• Options: brown 1 pound ground beef (drain grease), brown 1 pound of sliced Italian sausage
• Noodles: bring water to a boil (pour in some salt and a few drops of olive oil), put spaghetti or linguini in the pot (either break in half or push down until it bends, then put the rest in), bring down heat a bit or be there to take the lid off (or you have to clean up the overboil afterwards), boil 5-7 minutes (just take a piece out and eat it until it's good for you), pour into callender (how do you spell that word? strainer)

That's it. You can throw in mushrooms, but we don't like them. It's extremely simple, extremely great, and you can knock it out in 30-45 minutes. Feeds 4-6. You can double the recipe no problem, then you'll just need to play with the spices a bit (taste with a spoon like they do on TV).



I have a couple secret sites that I go to, guilty pleasures you might call them. GoFugYourself I've written about before, but there just great (yesterday's post is titled The Jessifugcation of Ashlee). My new one that I've seen on a couple bloggers is New York Hack, pictures from a New York cab driver. I know I'm late to the party here (she gets 125-450 comments daily on this site), but it's pretty neat stuff to be sure.



Got to IM with willwonka last night during his HUC3. We were watching Survivor, which Will is a fan of also. No spoilers here, but this season may cause a significant shift in Survivor going forward. The one tribe, after getting numbers of 6-4 on the other tribe, have just methodically picked off the other tribe with no thought of anything. They don't even compete in the challenges, and the whole thing is very frustrating as the people are just horrible. Survivor now falls way behind 24 and Lost as must-see-TV (and American Idol). Any time I feel guilty about playing poker, all I have to do is turn on a TiVo'd Bones or Lord of the Rings and have my Sweetie watch David Boreanaz or Viggo Mortensen. We're watching LOTR2 Wednesday night after TiVo Lost, and I'm looking over at her and she's actually drooling in some sort of trance looking at Aragorn. Not exactly great for the ego for sure. I say something about David and Viggo, and she says something like "...no, it's Aragorn and Angel..." I then say, "Well, why do we watch Bones then?" She then wipes the drool from her chin and returns to her trance. PrimeTime Live tonight with Tom Cruise, which will complete the Evil Triumverate.



I have sitetracker on this blog to look at traffic, and I've started looking at top referrers daily to visit folks who have visited the site, as well as Google search terms. It's taken me to my poker buddies you see to the right, but also I'm able to visit blogs that I don't get too much. GuinPoker from Canada, Fat Dan, PokerShark, and Fat Bald Guy are a few that I've been to a few times that you should check out.



Two bits of good news yesterday which will complicate my life. I'm now 95% confident that the China project will go through (it's never a done deal until I have a signed scope of work, but I think we're there). That will be probably three trips to China over three months, which will screw up my soccer coaching. I'm assuming we'll kick things off the week of 28 April or the following week. The second was a videoconference interview with a headhunter regarding a VP position, corporate role at a $10bil company, direct report to a Vice Chairman. It would be tailor made for my background, would probably mean a relo, would be a probable segue into P & L/General Management roles but would mean moving every couple years.



My company and career have been in a real swamp-like holding pattern for probably a year now. I probably am at 30% individual capacity, never really challenged, able to keep money coming in but nothing great. I have no clients or prospects in the ATL or surrounding area, and I've lost most of the enthusiasm. I have structured the company to be able to close it if the right opportunity came along. This was after an interview with a headhunter representing a $20bil company, where the CEO (who had worked with me previously) said I was on his list of 25 people that he'd like to have work for him at some time. Neat stuff for sure, but I couldn't do anything at the time because of employees and long-term relationships with clients. I'll post a couple of ethical situations and my decisions next week that also may give you some insight as to where I've been and who I am, for what it's worth.



All that said, these are times for me that will hopefully get us to a point to really decide what's next. Could I create a process where I had billable work averaging $20k/month or big projects with big gaps, limited expenses (home office), and that's my life, should I get back into the corporate world with the uncertainty of moving around, or is there possibly something here in the ATL? All a good problem to have, I know, and we are blessed to have survived all this stuff. We'll see, and I'll keep you posted.



My goals for April so far are looking good: don't lose my bankroll and have a positive month. Due to my $0.85 stud loss yesterday, I needed $2.05 to proudly state that my bankroll was at $8k. Should be easy, right? Well, FullTilt $1/2 6-max (which everyone knows I don't play 6-max), and it's taken me forever to get unstuck trying to get somebody to give me $2.05. It took Kh9h flopping KK9 to finally push me over the top (you tend to get called down when you bet 96o and raise it when nothing hits three times in a row). I don't know how to play 6-max, stud, or Omaha, but I am now the proud owner of a $8,006.45 bankroll.



Have a good weekend and holiday everyone.



Read The Full Article:
http://ccexplore.blogspot.com/2006/04/meanderings.html

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CBS Sports Network Joins in with a Star-Studded
Poker Show

There it is, CBS and Poker on the same banner. CBS Sports is the latest major television network to jump on the sport of tournament poker. PartyPoker.net and CBS Sports have partnered to produce the first annual Intercontinental Poker...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/002635.php

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