Tangents

So happy to see Pauly posting again. I needed to get my Thai Hooker fix.

Personal to Pauly: I'd be proud to publish any stories you have about the seedy underbelly of the industry, if you need some relatively anonymous place to vent about the editor you saw doing lines in the mens' room and the married bracelet winner doing the bodog chicks two at a time during the dinner break.

I'm considering tagging myself as the National Enquirer of blogging. Just ask Phil Mickelson.

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Nothing like a juicy, unfounded rumor to drive traffic. Failing that, offering the opposite of what the searchers are looking for works also.

By the way, there is no truth to the rumor that Cindy Violette gave Shannon Elizabeth poker lessons in exchange for hot lesbian sex action in a strip club after a wet t-shirt contest between Jennifer Tilly boobs and what appear to be Annie Duke's new fake boobs.

[ducking and running...]

----------

Had my first win in 7 days. If I were more motivated I'd go back and figure out if that's my longest stretch without a win. I come in first more than any other finishing position in my SNGs, even at the higher levels, so its been a... trying situation, to say the least. Prior to tonight's win, I'd played 20 SNGs in the last week, with only two 2nds and one 3rd for an ITM rate of a decidedly fishy 15%. I also dumped a few hundred playing NL ring games over the weekend. I've had to drop down to the 114's because this bad run coincided with another large cashout to pay for summer dance classes and a couple of week-long day camps. I'm considering those investments, though, as a little quiet time with the bigettes out of the house could pay nice divdends as far as the job search and ongoing pokah-playing go.

Anyway, I don't know if tonight's win was a signal that the run is coming to an end, but I'm going to pretend it is for a day or so, ok? I'll get back to grinding the AP bonus tomorrow night, and maybe dip a toe back into an SNG if I'm feeling up to it.

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

I'm starting to get into a rhythm for posting daily over at my weight-loss blog, RunFatAssRun. For now, I seem to be losing weight in spite of myself, which is good considering the horrible junk I've stuffed into my mouth during this crazy week. The week is coming to an end, though, and a new daily rhythm will take over next week when we complete our move to Jax.

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

Regarding the move: This is much harder than I anticipated. Not the hardest thing I've ever gone through by a long shot, but definitely humbling. For the last 3 weeks, the eldest biggette and I have stayed with my parents while she attended school for enough days to get credit for the year. Mrs. Big and the l'il biggette went ahead to Jax, and we've traveled to see them each weekend. Physically and emotionally, it's been draining.

Tomorrow, we leave Brooksville behind permanently. It's weird, I spent the least amount of time here growing up compared to the rest of the places we lived, but this has always been home to me. Probably because it's the place I left when I went out into the world. Or, as out into the world as you can get as a college student getting a monthly allowance from Daddy. Anyway, going home always meant going to Brooksville. Three years ago, I finally returned here to live and enjoyed being here more the second time around. But, circumstances have dictated a new path.

The first twenty years of my life were spent growing up. The last twenty years of my life were spent becoming a husband, father, and growing into a career where I was once valued but have now been cast aside. What the next twenty years will bring, I can't predict. I can only predict how I will approach the coming sea change in my life. After the last 6 months, I no longer take it for granted that I will be able to provide for my family.

I feel I have become a little harder inside for the experience. I defintely feel a "looking out for me and mine" attitude growing inside. In some ways, I think this is a good thing. Too many years spent as a company-man made me a fish in the corporate world. Do my job, don't make waves unless ethically obligated to do so, and I'd live a nice, secure existence, right?

Whether my poker ship rights itself or not, I will be taking a little of the table-shark with me into the next phase of my life. I started making money at poker, real money, as soon as I knew I HAD to. I became more disciplined, studied harder, and pushed on other people every single time I thought I had an edge by virtue of the hand I was dealt or the strategic situation I was in. Before I became a husband and father, this was how I built my career. But, obligations can make a man tight-weak, and that's no way to go through life.

Tight-agressive isn't just the right strategy at the table, it's the right strategy in life.

I don't know if the next phase will be a continuance of corporate work or taking a shot at entrereneurship, but I have a feeling I may not be seen by my co-workers in the same friendly, non-threatening light as I've permitted myself to be cast in the last few years. I'd like to be liked, but its more important to be respected.

----------

To that end, I made a significant career decision earlier this week. I had applied for a job a few weeks ago, same industry, same job, working for a direct competitor of my last two employers. They contacted me earlier this week and it was like a switch went off in my head. The recruiter was only interested in my salary and relo requirements (located 2000 miles away), not a word about my qualifications, experience, etc. I asked myself, why should I be fucking reasonable with a second-tier company in an industry that will only need me (and use me like a Thai hooker) for the next two years, do nothing to develop me for a future with them or anyone else, and then cast me adrift?

For the money. Period.

For the last few months, my salary requirements have been coming down. Gotta get a job, gotta provide for the family, gotta get the base level in Maslov's Hierarchy of Needs set, gotta get my career back on track.

Yesterday, with this company, they went right back up. I quoted my last salary (still slightly below the national median, BTW), and told her I'd need a full relo package minus the cost of selling my home since I'd already done that (a fucking bargain for them, as anyone that has relo'd knows). She gave me their range, which was -12500 to -2500 less than my last salary. I told her I'd have to make the very top of the range right from the start, and the only way I can be flexible if I can telecommute so I don't have to move.

She couldn't get off the phone fast enough.

I can no longer tolerate stupid people with stupid companies. I've already left the industry in my mind and my heart. I'll gladly start over in a place I want to live, doing a job I'll enjoy, for a fraction of what I used to make.

In the first and second tier of that industry, there might be 20 people in the world as qualified as me to do that job, and I don't consider myself a dog to any of them. So, I just decided that I'm going to be a fucking mercenary with every inquiry I get from this industry.

Their choice is to take someone with the functional experience but no industry experience, or industry experience with no functional experience, and pay them the bottom of the range.

"Lets find someone that that's willing to do the job for this much"

Or, for 10K more, they get someone who has flawless referrals and recommendation gained from years of experience in THAT SPECIFIC JOB. Someone who will be productive in the time it takes to find the bathroom, not 6 months later after a lot of hit-and-miss efforts. Someone who understands going in that when the heavy lifting is done in 2 years, he'll be replaced by someone 10 yrs younger at half his salary (which has happened twice now).

"Lets find the best person for the job and pay him the least he's willing to
take"

I have no problem with companies that use the latter strategy. It's the 99% that use the former that teh suck.

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http://bigslicknuts.blogspot.com/2006/04/tangents.html

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I, I Captain

I have had a good couple of days.

I stayed home today and pulled weeds.

I don't know what I'm going to do about my new apartment.

I haven't had a cigarette in 6 days.

I'd like to put a slug in the ass of the jerkwad who was supposed to buy my house, but pulled out prematurely.

I have a token.

I've taken dumps with more baseball savvy than Ken Macha.

I stopped wearing my iPod on the train so I could talk more freely with the hot Southeast Asian girls that get on at City of Industry.

I have been totally self-centered.

I have not read many blogs for many days.

I will rectify.

I use FIVE products on my face every day. Suck on that, BG.

I am remembering parts of my marriage where I didn't so much like being married.

I could have cheated first.

I have morals.

I am back to my pre-Troubles weight, thanks largely to the silo of popcorn I've eaten since I quit smoking.

I have never NOT won a token in an MPS. Two for two, bitches.

I expect the A's to lose no matter the circumstance of the game.

I put the over/under at me having meaningless sex with meaningless women at 65 days.

I am having regular erections again.

I found my Breakup Song. It rocks. It's angry. Its lyrics include both "trustworthy" and "dead eyes." And, oddly, "cutlery."

I feel good.

I look good.

I need to go to the gym, though. Or score some juice.

I'm re-reading "Naked Lunch." Maybe some of those Southeast Asian skirts on the train have a junk problem.

I will be playing the DADI WSOP event on Monday, even though it starts too fucking early.





I'm going to play the $17K right now.

Read The Full Article:
http://obituarium.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-i-captain_20.html

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Target Practice

You?ve all seen them.  They stand out from the crowd like a sore thumb.  Some internal poker-based radar picks up their particular behavior and you begin to track their every move.  The sights are set, the plans are laid, and it?s just a matter of playing the waiting game until they fall into your trap.

They?re the people that you KNOW will double you up.

****

G-Rob and I again ventured out into the dark realms of the underground G-Vegas poker scene last night.  As the summer months approach, people instinctively get busier and putting together a sustainable home game becomes more difficult.  Not impossible, just more difficult.

And so it?s at times like these when it?s just easier to make the drive to a game with a dedicated dealer and a guaranteed player base.  The free food, free beer and dealing services make the rake tolerable.  The player base makes the game profitable.

****

When I sat down at the table, the guy to my left had the largest stack.  He was a fresh face, completely new to me.  I had to give his stack some respect even without a read on how he built it.

Depending on your playing style, sitting down at a table of unknowns can mean different things.  If you?re an aggressive player, more often than not, you?ll make the players at the table adjust to you.  If your style is more selective, it may take some time to get a read on people before you know how best to play against them.  The latter is more descriptive of my style.

But it didn?t take long at all to realize that the guy to my left was my primary target.  After a couple of orbits, it became painfully obvious how he built his stack.  I?m sorry CJ, but you don?t hold a candle to this guy.

****

The target loved him some draws.  Of any kind.  Inside straight draw?  I saw him call off over $200 chasing one with KJo on an ATxx board.  He missed.  I saw him call of his entire stack on another inside straight draw.  He hit.  His swings were wild and the whole night, I stayed out of his way.  Until the time I didn?t.

****

It wasn?t necessarily a really bad beat and I don?t even really care that much that I lost the hand.  Suffice to say, I got all of the target?s money into the pot as a 3:1 favorite after the flop and lost.  No big deal, just a small measure of disappointment at the lost opportunity.  I figured there would be more.

I was wrong.

****

The final hand my target played was a 4-way all-in on a flop of K53 with two hearts.  The pot was well over $900, 4 ½ buy-in?s worth.  It was pretty sick.  Player A had a set of 3?s, player B had KQo (what was he thinking?) and player C had a set of 5?s.  What did the target have?  What two cards were worth nearly $300 to him on this particular hand?  Pocket Kings?  No way, what were you thinking?  Ax of hearts?  Get out of town; that would almost be reasonable.  Two random hearts?  That makes more sense, but that wasn?t it either.

42o.

Yeah that?s right.

****

You may be recall from the above paragraph that I said that this was his final hand.  You may be thinking he lost the hand, went bust and left.  You are quite wrong.

He hit a 6 of hearts on the turn and avoided all the re-draws the other players had and raked in a $900+ pot.

Then he left.

He cashed out and left the game after pulling in the biggest pot I?d seen played there in the three sessions I?ve been to the game.  And he fell off my radar.  The guy that was going to double me up took my expected value and left the game.

That was my bad beat.

Read The Full Article:
http://badbloodonpoker.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_badbloodonpoker_archive.html#11455
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What Are Your Favorite And Least Favorite Sites

© COPYRIGHT 2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



This posting comes from my patio, as we have been displaced by the good folks at Stanley Steemer. It was time to get the carpeting and tile cleaned and we could not have picked a better day to be outside. Sunny and a high of 80 degrees with light winds. Not bad!



Since my last post, I took a break from playing. I hadn't really thought about it, but I have actually played every day online since my last day off on January 1. Obsession or dedication? Hard to say (LOL).



At any rate, back to work today. Nothing like playing a few hands while relaxing outside.



What Are Your Favorite and Least Favorite Sites?

It intrigues me that each online poker player has a site that is their favorite site and least favorite sites, for whatever personal reasons. And usually for any two players it will not be the same sites.



For me, my favorite two sites have always been Paradise and Stars. In part, it's probably because I have always done well at those two sites. I also like the looks of the software at each, as they are easy on my eyes. And I also like that these two sites have the lowest rake of any sites online.



On the other hand, my least favorite site has always been Poker Room. I have always hated the looks of their software from day one with their avatars and color schemes. I also dislike their rake structure, which is one of the worst around.



I also believe that online poker is not rigged, but if there is a site that would be rigged, it would have to be Poker Room, in my opinion. It often seems like their flops are often "action flops", where many players seem to have caught enough of the flop to continue on drawing.



Ok, I'll put my tin foil hat away now . In short, I'll never play there again, no matter how big a bonus they offer. That also includes all of their skins (Eurobet, etc.). If you don't enjoy playing at a site, that should be the most important thing.



What are your favorite and least favorite sites and why?







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.

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Registration Code: 65334548

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Short and Sweet

I've been easing back into the 20/40 LHE trenches, with pretty good results so far. The drill of late has been to play one table, for exactly thirty minutes a session, and to concentrate fully and not open any other windows, or distract myself with any other work or browsing or baseball scores or porn or anything else.



The 30 minute time limit/session is pretty arbitrary but it's a nice change of pace, as I basically just focus on playing as well as I can, for the time I have, and then closing out the table, no matter whether I'm stuck or flush with profits, getting up, and doing something else for awhile.



Yes, indeed, this flies in the face of my recent embracing of the poker hobbyist mentality, as far as playing mid/high limits. All I can say is that I'm a stubborn monkey sometimes, and that I'm still grinding out bonuses and profits at much lower limits in the majority of the time I've been playing of late.



Still lugging much decomposed granite gravel around the homestead, slowly working down Mt. Granite from a massive towering heap in my driveway, where the landscape supply people dumped it, to a mere bump. This should be pretty much it, though, as far as major outdoor landscaping projects. That leaves the kitchen and bathrooms to remodel and then, wonder of wonders, most of what we want to upgrade at Casa Scurvy will be finished with.

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http://suckout.blogspot.com/2006/04/short-and-sweet.html

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Get ye to a real poker room!

A first article from poker player/writer Colombo. Welcome to the Poker Prof's Blog-Flipchipro Pick your favorite poker room and play some live action poker Playing alot of internet poker? Feeling like you have all the answers but you are not...

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http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/002646.php

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Blah

No fun at Empress tonight. Four big pocket pairs got cracked (twice by blind hands chasing gutshots to the river). That is the prescription for dropping 20 big bets in 4 hours. Such is the game some days...



I came home and had similar luck online, and played a bit longer than I should have trying to catch up. That is never a good idea.



Not a fun day. I hope the felt was more kind to you guys. Better luck tomorrow...

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http://hellaholdem.blogspot.com/2006/04/blah.html

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Introducing the BG Manifesto

We'd like to introduce BG from Random Thoughts and Thoroughbred Selections to the Las Vegas Blog family. We'll give him a bit of room here to stretch out and let you know what to expect from him from here on...

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http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/002647.php

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