I haven't hit the green felt in a while, partly due to a lack of funds but also due to time constraints from time to time. Thursday changed that.
The PQ has been killing it lately playing video poker. For example, last weekend we went to play. I started out poorly and in an effort to actually have a positive day, I decide to give up on the video poker and play the real thing. I head to the poker room and there is a list for Omaha that is 7 players long. The week before I had been 5th on the list with 2 tables open and left the room an hour later still 3rd on the list so I knew I'd be waiting an hour or two. I decided that was enough of that. So I bounced around the Hard Rock for awhile and at least didn't spend any more money.
When I met up with the PQ again she was not doing well either. She was done with as much as she was going to spend so I split my remaining funds with her and once we were done with those, we were done. 5 minutes later, we weren't done. I look over and she has AAAA2 on her screen for a sweet $500. Back in black in 5 minutes. The gal to her right had been chatting with her while they both played and she was very happy. The PQ went to cash out her ticket and I turned to her neighbor and said "Watch, when she starts hitting on this game, it gets wild" Even I wasn't prepared for what came next.
In the next half hour I watched as she pulled quad Kings after dumping her original hand and drawing all 5 cards, quad 4s, and finally a royal flush as well. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't sitting next to her. We walked out of there flush which was a very good thing as there was a deposit to pay for our daughter's new apartment among other things. On the way home we made a stop and picked up the PS3 we had planned on getting at Christmastime. So it was a very good weekend last weekend.
We went back to the scene of the crime Thursday night. We played a little before heading to dinner but neither of us hit anything. After a good dinner I decided to go back to the poker room while the PQ went to play some different poker machines. This time I was able to get a seat immediately on a 3-6 Omaha hi/lo table with a full kill. I dumped every hand preflop until I finally get some decent cards. This turned into the nut low hand plus the second high flush which was good enough for the high hand. I split the low with another guy so I got 3/4 of the pot which never sucks.
The night proceeded right along this way. I stayed pretty selective on the hands I played but many of the times I did play I ended up with at least a portion of the pot and a few times I scooped nice pots. The previous times I had played I had been almost this selective but my results never backed it up. This time, I was the guy getting the card I needed to win the hand or getting the great flop that held up. Two examples, I'm holding KKJ10 and the flop is K32 of spades. I got no spades but call the post flop bet with top set. A 9 on the turn is no help and I debate calling the turn but the money in the pot is pretty good and I've got 10 outs. The river is the 2 of clubs which completes my full house. Even better the original bettor leads out and is called by another guy. The both dump to my raise and I scoop a nice one. Another hand I'm in the big blind with 8543. I might not have played it if not in the blind but it wasn't raised so I'm in preflop. Flop is 976 rainbow. I checked not realizing at first that I had a straight on the flop. One guy bets at it and is called by 3 others to me. I call wondering if I'm up against 10-8 for a better straight. Turn is another 7 and I unhappily call the turn bet. River is another 9 which is checked around. My straight is best hand, two people had trips but no full house and since no low hit I scooped that pot as well. As I said, the cards hit me pretty well. When I cashed out I had run my original $100 up to $370. Not a bad night on the felt if I do say so myself.
I joined up with the PQ but her luck had not turned this time. We played a bit more on the video poker. Still no luck for her but I managed to pop 4 aces for a $200 score making my night just a little bit better. All in all, no complaints here.
So I've been thinking, when I hit Vegas this summer, where do I go to play Omaha like this? I'm not sure I want to play too much NL holdem, and I do want to play a few tourneys but I need to see if any poker rooms are spreading limit Omaha 8 around town as I really prefer playing that to NL holdem. Anyway, I hope everyone else is having some success as well. If not I recommend you get your own PQ.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
It's been awhile
Since I last posted about the stock market. Hell it's been awhile since I posted at all. Sorry the muse has not grabbed me and there really hasn't been a whole lot of interesting stuff going on. Money's been a bit tight so I haven't been hitting the poker tables or the Hard Rock at all. Work has been busy but nothing like a year ago so I'm not putting in monster hours at work right now. That may change before too long.
Anyway the markets have been going up and up. Some of my stocks have done well, a number have not. I'm not that concerned, I've been picking up some nice dividend payers that keep growing as I reinvest while gathering a number of smaller mining companies that I think have a good chance to grow as they start producing. Unfortunately when the gold prices fall as they have lately, the miners get hit and the smaller ones are hit harder. I am probably too early to be in some of these stocks but I'd rather be too early to this party than too late. When the price of gold and silver truly explode, and I fear they will explode, I want to be ahead of the curve.
I was reading some interesting stuff about platinum and palladium and the projected shortages in the near future in them. Both metals along with rhodium are used in catalytic converters among other things. Apparently production in South Africa has been cut significantly and Russia has sold a lot of the metals they stockpiled. China is buying cars hand over fist and while they were not putting catalytic converters in their cars before, they are now. The air pollution there has become so bad that they may even have to retrofit older cars with converters as well. So I decided to take a flyer on a couple of miners to take advantage of this trend. Stillwater Mining (SMC) is a major platinum group miner and can really take advantage of higher prices BUT they invested in mines in Canada and Argentina over the past couple of years. A copper mine in Canada makes some sense to diversify themselves but the Argentine mine is a long way from producing and the political climate there makes investors nervous.
Many people are unaware that Argentina has nationalized the largest oil company in the country, YPF. Hey what you do in your own country is your own deal as far as I'm concerned but the problem is YPF is 57% owned by Spanish company Repsol. The government is taking over 51% of the company and they are taking it from the 57% owned by a company based in another country. Really? Now the people will be happy with this and the little stockholders won't mind but taking it from a major foreign company will not lead to other companies investing in your country. It's one thing to negotiate a buyout but quite another to just expropriate another company's investment without so much as a nickel changing hands. Now they may get away with it but I do know companies with major investments in Argentina are at least a little nervous. Yamana Gold is in the process of bringing a big gold mine online there and has announced a 44% increase in reserves at the mine. Some people fear the Argentine government may wait until Yamana is closer to actual production and then take it over or force the company to sell the property cheaply, especially if gold prices really do take off.
So getting back to Stillwater, the people in charge are being challenged by the former governor of Montana and a hedge fund who both think management is killing the company with these new mining ventures and that the company should concentrate more on their current mines in the US instead of wasting money on new mines which may never produce. This has driven down the stock price just when I was doing well. I was up about 30% but now I'm only up 5%. But I can wait.
I also bought shares in a smaller miner, North American Palladium, who is producing from a mine in Quebec. They are ramping up their production at hopefully the right time. I'm up just a little bit in this one but I hope to be up a lot later. Then again I can hope in one hand and ..... well you know.
"I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow"
One of my fave movies is on and that line just was said, and no it's not the Wizard of Oz. Funny how movies can play such a part in what we remember. You hear a line or remember a line from a favorite movie and remember when we first saw that movie, what it meant to us etc. Everything from "make him an offer he can't refuse" to "I'll have what she's having" to "I love the smell of napalm in the morning, smells like victory" to "snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?" and countless other ones. What are some of your favorite lines?
Not much else going on this weekend. Watching a bit of basketball of course. Not picking too many games right either. I did get the Gators covering yesterday but who'd a thought Florida Gulf Coast Univ would beat Georgetown. The PQ and I watched most of the 2nd half. That alley oop dunk late in the game was just incredible. I couldn't believe how high that guy jumped to get to the ball then throw it down with one hand. What a play. I really thought VCU would give Michigan a game today. Boy was I wrong. Michigan looks like a final four team. So does Indiana, Ohio St, Miami, Arizona, and maybe Louisville, Duke & Florida.
Well that's all from sunny ole Florida today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Anyway the markets have been going up and up. Some of my stocks have done well, a number have not. I'm not that concerned, I've been picking up some nice dividend payers that keep growing as I reinvest while gathering a number of smaller mining companies that I think have a good chance to grow as they start producing. Unfortunately when the gold prices fall as they have lately, the miners get hit and the smaller ones are hit harder. I am probably too early to be in some of these stocks but I'd rather be too early to this party than too late. When the price of gold and silver truly explode, and I fear they will explode, I want to be ahead of the curve.
I was reading some interesting stuff about platinum and palladium and the projected shortages in the near future in them. Both metals along with rhodium are used in catalytic converters among other things. Apparently production in South Africa has been cut significantly and Russia has sold a lot of the metals they stockpiled. China is buying cars hand over fist and while they were not putting catalytic converters in their cars before, they are now. The air pollution there has become so bad that they may even have to retrofit older cars with converters as well. So I decided to take a flyer on a couple of miners to take advantage of this trend. Stillwater Mining (SMC) is a major platinum group miner and can really take advantage of higher prices BUT they invested in mines in Canada and Argentina over the past couple of years. A copper mine in Canada makes some sense to diversify themselves but the Argentine mine is a long way from producing and the political climate there makes investors nervous.
Many people are unaware that Argentina has nationalized the largest oil company in the country, YPF. Hey what you do in your own country is your own deal as far as I'm concerned but the problem is YPF is 57% owned by Spanish company Repsol. The government is taking over 51% of the company and they are taking it from the 57% owned by a company based in another country. Really? Now the people will be happy with this and the little stockholders won't mind but taking it from a major foreign company will not lead to other companies investing in your country. It's one thing to negotiate a buyout but quite another to just expropriate another company's investment without so much as a nickel changing hands. Now they may get away with it but I do know companies with major investments in Argentina are at least a little nervous. Yamana Gold is in the process of bringing a big gold mine online there and has announced a 44% increase in reserves at the mine. Some people fear the Argentine government may wait until Yamana is closer to actual production and then take it over or force the company to sell the property cheaply, especially if gold prices really do take off.
So getting back to Stillwater, the people in charge are being challenged by the former governor of Montana and a hedge fund who both think management is killing the company with these new mining ventures and that the company should concentrate more on their current mines in the US instead of wasting money on new mines which may never produce. This has driven down the stock price just when I was doing well. I was up about 30% but now I'm only up 5%. But I can wait.
I also bought shares in a smaller miner, North American Palladium, who is producing from a mine in Quebec. They are ramping up their production at hopefully the right time. I'm up just a little bit in this one but I hope to be up a lot later. Then again I can hope in one hand and ..... well you know.
"I'll miss you most of all, scarecrow"
One of my fave movies is on and that line just was said, and no it's not the Wizard of Oz. Funny how movies can play such a part in what we remember. You hear a line or remember a line from a favorite movie and remember when we first saw that movie, what it meant to us etc. Everything from "make him an offer he can't refuse" to "I'll have what she's having" to "I love the smell of napalm in the morning, smells like victory" to "snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?" and countless other ones. What are some of your favorite lines?
Not much else going on this weekend. Watching a bit of basketball of course. Not picking too many games right either. I did get the Gators covering yesterday but who'd a thought Florida Gulf Coast Univ would beat Georgetown. The PQ and I watched most of the 2nd half. That alley oop dunk late in the game was just incredible. I couldn't believe how high that guy jumped to get to the ball then throw it down with one hand. What a play. I really thought VCU would give Michigan a game today. Boy was I wrong. Michigan looks like a final four team. So does Indiana, Ohio St, Miami, Arizona, and maybe Louisville, Duke & Florida.
Well that's all from sunny ole Florida today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Making plans
Well the PQ and I have been putting together our schedules for this summer to plan out the annual Neophyte birthday trip and extravaganza. Over the past few years we have taken the opportunity around my birthday to travel the highways and byways (mostly byways) of the south in search of ................ nothing at all. When we started this I was determined to see parts of Florida I had never seen before because after living here for more than 20 years I really had not been much of anywhere away from the coasts, main cities, or theme parks. Which led us to such metropolises (metropolii?) as Cedar Key, Steinhatchee, Micanopy, Two Egg, Steam Mill, and Little Hope. But we've seen parts of Florida I never expected to and really enjoyed the trip and relaxed along the way.
This year we are switching it up a little. We'll still be doing some travelling but we'll be seeing such cities as Mesquite (sorry Lucki, not in Texas), Littlefield, Springdale, and Hurricane. No these cities are in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada which means we are going to VEGAS. Not quite the byways of the south but hey, its VEGAS!! We'll be there in mid July in time for the last few days of the main event of the WSOP. I know visiting Vegas in the middle of the summer is probably not the brightest idea we've had but it works out well for us. BTW, Hurricane Utah?? Really?? Maybe we should name a city Blizzard, Florida. Both are about as likely. We also got 5 of the 6 days comped at Ballys so that cuts down on the expenses just a little bit. So we are defnitely looking forward to this trip and the one we will take a few weeks after when we head back to New Orleans.
So even though it's 5 months in the future, we are ready to go on vacation. We're setting up rental cars and checking into places to go. Looks like we'll visit Zion National Park among other places. To get there you have to drive a good way through the Virgin River Valley along I-15 which I've been told is very picturesque. We'll be playing some poker, video poker, and the like while we also visit some of our favorite restaurants like Hash House A Go Go, The Bellagio Breakfast Buffet and of course, In and Out Burger. Hopefully some of you will be around then as well. You'll have plenty of opportunities to take some cash off a donk like me.
Well unlike the PQ, I am working in the AM so it's time to sign off. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Time for a change
I went out early this morning, early for me anyway since I left the house at 8:15 on a Saturday, because I wanted to play in a free roll poker tourney at Derby Lane at 9. You can qualify for the freeroll by getting a hand with Aces full or better and every morning at 9 they run it. Only 50 people can play in it so when they have more than that they draw for seats and some people don't get it. I tried to get in on Monday and was the last person not to get a seat. That sucked. But today I got in, for all the good it did me.
The tourney is structured as a turbo with only 10 minute blind levels. Start with only 2K in chips but you can add on another 2K for $5 which goes to the dealers and everyone does it. I got off to a slow start but made sure I folded a lot of hands early instead of making a couple of dumb calls. Figured I could use this image later. It did work as I got 99 and raised and got a walk then a bit later got JJ under the gun, raised and got another walk even from the big stack. I was wanting to get him in a hand so I could double up but JJ is a hand I'm generally happy with taking down preflop.
The big stack came out raising early. He waylaid one guy when his J6 flopped trips and beat AJ then he took out an all in shorty with A8 beating A9. A bit later I got in a hand in the big blind with 92 suited. Flop was 10-8-8 and everyone checked. Turn was a 7 putting the straight draw and a flush on the board. I thought this was a good opportunity to try and steal the hand and bet 500. Call down the table then the small blind throws in a 1000 chip but says raise after and the dealer makes him call only. Well now I know where I stand. River is a nothing while I was hoping for a 6 or Jack. Even if it was what am I gonna do. I suspect a flush in the small blind anyway. Small blind pushes in, I hollywood for a while then fold while the guy down the table calls. Small blind surprises me by showing 9-6 for the straight. Guy down the table doesn't surprise me by showing the ace high flush.
Very next hand I get QQ in the small blind. 3 callers for 200 each then the big stack raises to 800. I push all in for a bit over 2500 and everyone folds to the big stack who goes into the think tank for a minute before finally calling. He wondered aloud if I had a hand or was tilting and finally convinces himself I have a big ace or something. He was not happy when he called and I showed QQ vs his 33. But it didn't matter as a 3 hits the turn and I'm out. Good play, bad result, typical for me lately. When you're in a rut you can play perfectly - which I didn't I'm sure - and still lose your ass. My play in Omaha lately has been kinda bad so I'm gonna do a bit of reading and see about improving my results.
So thats how my weekend started. Well not really. Last night I was over at a buddy's house playing a PS3 game called Sniper Elite. You play a WW2 sniper in Germany and it's cool as hell. When you shoot someone the game shows the bullet leaving your gun, tracking through the air then entering the enemy's head or chest and you see it going through the organs and everything. Probably not a game I want my nephew playing but I truly enjoyed it. I ended up killing 72 Germans in my last go round which was best of the night. Had a few really nice shots so if poker doesn't work out I can always join the Marines and kill for my country. Of course they'll need to get me to the right place to do it, no way am I hiking 30 miles in the desert just to kill people. Well not most people, I would make an exception for a few. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Hitting the movies this afternoon with the PQ and some friends then heading out to a nice meal.
The tourney is structured as a turbo with only 10 minute blind levels. Start with only 2K in chips but you can add on another 2K for $5 which goes to the dealers and everyone does it. I got off to a slow start but made sure I folded a lot of hands early instead of making a couple of dumb calls. Figured I could use this image later. It did work as I got 99 and raised and got a walk then a bit later got JJ under the gun, raised and got another walk even from the big stack. I was wanting to get him in a hand so I could double up but JJ is a hand I'm generally happy with taking down preflop.
The big stack came out raising early. He waylaid one guy when his J6 flopped trips and beat AJ then he took out an all in shorty with A8 beating A9. A bit later I got in a hand in the big blind with 92 suited. Flop was 10-8-8 and everyone checked. Turn was a 7 putting the straight draw and a flush on the board. I thought this was a good opportunity to try and steal the hand and bet 500. Call down the table then the small blind throws in a 1000 chip but says raise after and the dealer makes him call only. Well now I know where I stand. River is a nothing while I was hoping for a 6 or Jack. Even if it was what am I gonna do. I suspect a flush in the small blind anyway. Small blind pushes in, I hollywood for a while then fold while the guy down the table calls. Small blind surprises me by showing 9-6 for the straight. Guy down the table doesn't surprise me by showing the ace high flush.
Very next hand I get QQ in the small blind. 3 callers for 200 each then the big stack raises to 800. I push all in for a bit over 2500 and everyone folds to the big stack who goes into the think tank for a minute before finally calling. He wondered aloud if I had a hand or was tilting and finally convinces himself I have a big ace or something. He was not happy when he called and I showed QQ vs his 33. But it didn't matter as a 3 hits the turn and I'm out. Good play, bad result, typical for me lately. When you're in a rut you can play perfectly - which I didn't I'm sure - and still lose your ass. My play in Omaha lately has been kinda bad so I'm gonna do a bit of reading and see about improving my results.
So thats how my weekend started. Well not really. Last night I was over at a buddy's house playing a PS3 game called Sniper Elite. You play a WW2 sniper in Germany and it's cool as hell. When you shoot someone the game shows the bullet leaving your gun, tracking through the air then entering the enemy's head or chest and you see it going through the organs and everything. Probably not a game I want my nephew playing but I truly enjoyed it. I ended up killing 72 Germans in my last go round which was best of the night. Had a few really nice shots so if poker doesn't work out I can always join the Marines and kill for my country. Of course they'll need to get me to the right place to do it, no way am I hiking 30 miles in the desert just to kill people. Well not most people, I would make an exception for a few. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Hitting the movies this afternoon with the PQ and some friends then heading out to a nice meal.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Isn't this supposed to be fun?
You know sometimes you're playing a poker tourney or a cash game and things are going good and it's a friendly table and the game is just fun. It's just a joy to play the game in those situations. Valentines Day was not that kind of situation.
The PQ and I always play in the Valentines Day couples tourney at Derby Lane every year. It's a fun tourney and we've usually done pretty well in it. You play 6 or 8 levels and then they total the chips for everyone left. Any couples who are both in at the end are added together but if you or your partner busts out, you can still win if you can build a big enough stack. The first 2 or 3 years they ran it as a limit tourney which was interesting but for the past 4 or 5 years it's been a NL tourney. They would limit to fifty couples and pay the top 5 couples. We cashed 4 or 5 times but never placed first.
The tourney started slowly for me. I could not draw two playable cards it seemed. I spent the first four levels mostly folding and only a couple of good bluffs allowed me to get my chip stack almost back to even at the first break. After four levels I had gotten exactly one pocket pair (threes) and exactly no Aces with any face card. I had bluffed at a pot early and screwed it up and played too softly but after that I buckled down and my other bluffs went well. But I wasn't feeling overly positive about our chances with the way my tourney was going. The PQ hit the break at about 9K from our 6K starting stack so she at least had accomplished a little but there was a long way to go.
Right after the break I finally get AK suited. Raise and get two callers. One caller is in the big blind and one is behind me, not the best position. Flop is of course Jack high. Big blind puts out a healthy bet and I decide to let it go as my only choices there are fold or push all in. I was hoping my luck with hands had turned but I was wrong, I immediately went back to 3-7 and J4 type hands. I kept getting blinded off while the play got looser, especially the guy 2 seats to my right who sucked out on the river and had gotten a big stack and now was bullying the table.
The blinds and antes just started killing me. The table bully and the guy in seat 1 raised my blinds a lot but with my stack size I couldn't defend well and I never had the cards to push back. I was about to push in with KJ in mid position but a raise, a shortie going all in, and a reraise was enough to convince me not to play. I was down to 2000 chips when I finally picked up AQ. Table bully raises to 1500 in early position and I pushed in. Everyone folded and it was only 500 for him to call which he did with 85 offsuit. I flop an ace and he gets nothing which more than doubles me up. The very next hand I look down on 99. Mr Big Stack does his part and raises preflop again, this time even more to 2500 and he looks me up again when I push all in for a bit over 5K. He looks disgusted when I flip over the 9s and he has 4-5 of diamonds and he doubles me up again. Sorry Charlie and I'm over 12K
The tourney continued but my run was mostly over. Mr Big Stack got himself a bit short then lucked into a winner with A2 over AK when he four flushed the guy. I got nothing for a long time then tangled with him again and took more chips off him when my AJ ran down his 77. The tourney ended and I was sitting on a paltry 17K. I looked over at the PQ at the next table over and she was sitting on a healthy stack. I figured we'd need around 65K to make the money and we came close at about 63 but ended up being on the bubble as we finished 5th but they only paid top 4. The PQ was pretty pissed but I took it a bit more philosophically. It was a fun tourney but I was a bit disappointed in my play being a little lax and I also wished I had gotten more than 4 or 5 hands worth playing. I did channel my inner Mojo to lock down and not do anything stupid as I was getting short which allowed me to stay in to the end. Considering I only got 4 pocket pairs the whole time, QQ, 99, 33, and 22 and only AK twice and AQ once, I thought I had done ok. But I was rusty and missed out on some chances too.
Last night the PQ and I visited the Hard Rock in Tampa. They were giving away 5K to 20 people that she was entered for and there were not all that many people registered so she was hoping for a 5K score but it didn't happen. I decided to spend my time playing Omaha while she whiled her time away on video poker. I probably should have stayed with her. I got mostly crushed. Not very many good hands and most of the time I had a good hand the flops just completely missed me. It was hard to deal with, especially since the guy across from me was raising just about anything and then sucking out. He raised preflop with A-4-9-10 once and ended up taking 3/4 of the pot when he rivered an inside straight. He pushed it all the way, got half the low and on the river a Jack hits to give him a straight to the queen with his crappy 9-10 beating out the guy who flopped top set with QQ. When I left he had started giving it all back but I just couldn't stay any longer than 3am.
It was a more disappointing night than the Valentines tourney but that is how it goes sometimes. I am thinking of going to Derby Lane tomorrow morning and taking another swing at Omaha. I'm also going to start a pot roast in the crock pot before I leave so that when I come home the house will smell fantastic and I won't have to do much of anything to get dinner ready. Well that's my week in a nutshell. Hope everyone else is having fun. And better luck than me.
The PQ and I always play in the Valentines Day couples tourney at Derby Lane every year. It's a fun tourney and we've usually done pretty well in it. You play 6 or 8 levels and then they total the chips for everyone left. Any couples who are both in at the end are added together but if you or your partner busts out, you can still win if you can build a big enough stack. The first 2 or 3 years they ran it as a limit tourney which was interesting but for the past 4 or 5 years it's been a NL tourney. They would limit to fifty couples and pay the top 5 couples. We cashed 4 or 5 times but never placed first.
The tourney started slowly for me. I could not draw two playable cards it seemed. I spent the first four levels mostly folding and only a couple of good bluffs allowed me to get my chip stack almost back to even at the first break. After four levels I had gotten exactly one pocket pair (threes) and exactly no Aces with any face card. I had bluffed at a pot early and screwed it up and played too softly but after that I buckled down and my other bluffs went well. But I wasn't feeling overly positive about our chances with the way my tourney was going. The PQ hit the break at about 9K from our 6K starting stack so she at least had accomplished a little but there was a long way to go.
Right after the break I finally get AK suited. Raise and get two callers. One caller is in the big blind and one is behind me, not the best position. Flop is of course Jack high. Big blind puts out a healthy bet and I decide to let it go as my only choices there are fold or push all in. I was hoping my luck with hands had turned but I was wrong, I immediately went back to 3-7 and J4 type hands. I kept getting blinded off while the play got looser, especially the guy 2 seats to my right who sucked out on the river and had gotten a big stack and now was bullying the table.
The blinds and antes just started killing me. The table bully and the guy in seat 1 raised my blinds a lot but with my stack size I couldn't defend well and I never had the cards to push back. I was about to push in with KJ in mid position but a raise, a shortie going all in, and a reraise was enough to convince me not to play. I was down to 2000 chips when I finally picked up AQ. Table bully raises to 1500 in early position and I pushed in. Everyone folded and it was only 500 for him to call which he did with 85 offsuit. I flop an ace and he gets nothing which more than doubles me up. The very next hand I look down on 99. Mr Big Stack does his part and raises preflop again, this time even more to 2500 and he looks me up again when I push all in for a bit over 5K. He looks disgusted when I flip over the 9s and he has 4-5 of diamonds and he doubles me up again. Sorry Charlie and I'm over 12K
The tourney continued but my run was mostly over. Mr Big Stack got himself a bit short then lucked into a winner with A2 over AK when he four flushed the guy. I got nothing for a long time then tangled with him again and took more chips off him when my AJ ran down his 77. The tourney ended and I was sitting on a paltry 17K. I looked over at the PQ at the next table over and she was sitting on a healthy stack. I figured we'd need around 65K to make the money and we came close at about 63 but ended up being on the bubble as we finished 5th but they only paid top 4. The PQ was pretty pissed but I took it a bit more philosophically. It was a fun tourney but I was a bit disappointed in my play being a little lax and I also wished I had gotten more than 4 or 5 hands worth playing. I did channel my inner Mojo to lock down and not do anything stupid as I was getting short which allowed me to stay in to the end. Considering I only got 4 pocket pairs the whole time, QQ, 99, 33, and 22 and only AK twice and AQ once, I thought I had done ok. But I was rusty and missed out on some chances too.
Last night the PQ and I visited the Hard Rock in Tampa. They were giving away 5K to 20 people that she was entered for and there were not all that many people registered so she was hoping for a 5K score but it didn't happen. I decided to spend my time playing Omaha while she whiled her time away on video poker. I probably should have stayed with her. I got mostly crushed. Not very many good hands and most of the time I had a good hand the flops just completely missed me. It was hard to deal with, especially since the guy across from me was raising just about anything and then sucking out. He raised preflop with A-4-9-10 once and ended up taking 3/4 of the pot when he rivered an inside straight. He pushed it all the way, got half the low and on the river a Jack hits to give him a straight to the queen with his crappy 9-10 beating out the guy who flopped top set with QQ. When I left he had started giving it all back but I just couldn't stay any longer than 3am.
It was a more disappointing night than the Valentines tourney but that is how it goes sometimes. I am thinking of going to Derby Lane tomorrow morning and taking another swing at Omaha. I'm also going to start a pot roast in the crock pot before I leave so that when I come home the house will smell fantastic and I won't have to do much of anything to get dinner ready. Well that's my week in a nutshell. Hope everyone else is having fun. And better luck than me.
Friday, February 8, 2013
They'll find a way to get you
Conventional wisdom tells us that if someone really is motivated and wants to get you, they will. No matter how many secret service men surround the President, an assassin intent on doing him harm will be able to do so if he is willing to pay the price. You can make it hard but you cannot make it impossible. Such is life for many of the powerful and famous, always looking over their shoulders, fearful some looney tune is waiting to get em.
That hardly explains why they would get me though. While my smell is sometimes powerful and I am somewhat famous in some parts for my temper, I never thought I was much of a target for anyone. I just stay under the radar. Or so I thought.
People who know me, know that I do not own any Apple products. As an investor I have admired their model and how they've made money hand over fist. I admired their innovations, how they set the standards for others to catch up to. But I also admired how they locked people in to their own closed system with their products forcing people to buy everything from them. They made sure they provided excellent service but when you bought a product from them, you went to them for anything else you wanted be it music, downloads, etc. And boy did the sheeple keep buying. In 2003 you could buy Apple stock for $7 a share. When the markets crashed in 2008-09, you could get shares for $85. But in 2012 their stock price reached $700 a share and the company was valued higher than any other company in the world.
I've watched all this and been told by friends and coworkers how much they loved their Apple Iphone or Ipad etc but I would not buy. I would not be enthralled to the I tunes store or be standing in line outside my local Apple store for days when a new product was about to come out. Not me. They weren't ever gonna get me as my money was staying right in my pocket. I'll buy an Android phone, hell I'll get a Blackberry or a Windows phone if necessary but I'll never buy an Iphone. And what use do I have for an Ipad? I have a desktop and a laptop. I don't tweet, I don't facebook and I'm not linked in. So I had no use for an Apple. We just went on ignoring each other. Or so I thought.
Those sneaky bastards at Apple finally got to me. They figured out my weakness and they exploited it. They knew how much I enjoyed trivia and such and they turned my love against me. There is a website called The Pioneer Woman - you can view it here. She has a cooking show on the Food network and I've made and enjoyed a few of her recipes very much. She taught me how to make country gravy. And she does trivia quizzes from time to time on her website. Last Saturday I participated in an online movie trivia quiz on her site. Movies from the 80s. Apparently I saw a lot of movies in the 80s. I breezed through the quiz and scored 100 on it. And I was the first one to do that. Well the first person to score 100 on this quiz got one of these
That hardly explains why they would get me though. While my smell is sometimes powerful and I am somewhat famous in some parts for my temper, I never thought I was much of a target for anyone. I just stay under the radar. Or so I thought.
People who know me, know that I do not own any Apple products. As an investor I have admired their model and how they've made money hand over fist. I admired their innovations, how they set the standards for others to catch up to. But I also admired how they locked people in to their own closed system with their products forcing people to buy everything from them. They made sure they provided excellent service but when you bought a product from them, you went to them for anything else you wanted be it music, downloads, etc. And boy did the sheeple keep buying. In 2003 you could buy Apple stock for $7 a share. When the markets crashed in 2008-09, you could get shares for $85. But in 2012 their stock price reached $700 a share and the company was valued higher than any other company in the world.
I've watched all this and been told by friends and coworkers how much they loved their Apple Iphone or Ipad etc but I would not buy. I would not be enthralled to the I tunes store or be standing in line outside my local Apple store for days when a new product was about to come out. Not me. They weren't ever gonna get me as my money was staying right in my pocket. I'll buy an Android phone, hell I'll get a Blackberry or a Windows phone if necessary but I'll never buy an Iphone. And what use do I have for an Ipad? I have a desktop and a laptop. I don't tweet, I don't facebook and I'm not linked in. So I had no use for an Apple. We just went on ignoring each other. Or so I thought.
Those sneaky bastards at Apple finally got to me. They figured out my weakness and they exploited it. They knew how much I enjoyed trivia and such and they turned my love against me. There is a website called The Pioneer Woman - you can view it here. She has a cooking show on the Food network and I've made and enjoyed a few of her recipes very much. She taught me how to make country gravy. And she does trivia quizzes from time to time on her website. Last Saturday I participated in an online movie trivia quiz on her site. Movies from the 80s. Apparently I saw a lot of movies in the 80s. I breezed through the quiz and scored 100 on it. And I was the first one to do that. Well the first person to score 100 on this quiz got one of these
Have some candy little boy
Late this afternoon UPS came knocking on my door and dropped off 32GB of Apple's finest. I admit it, I am taken by it. The simplicity, the sensitivity of the touch screen. Hell it even has Siri. I held off on asking her "What does Marcellus Wallace look like?". How hilarious would that Iphone commercial have been if Samuel L Jackson had asked Siri that? The PQ and I have oohed and aahed over it since it arrived. We even visited the App store and downloaded a couple of games, freebies folks. The Borg have not sunk their tentacles that deeply into me yet. But I fear it's only a matter of time.
So if you're stopped at a red light some day soon in Florida or maybe Vegas and you see a poor soul holding a sign on the side of the road saying "Will work for Apps", have mercy on the poor sucker and drop him a couple of bucks or some spare change. Its not his fault, they got to him too.
One final word, I have come to the following conclusion. Ipads won are much sweeter than Ipads bought and paid for. Stay lucky folks, maybe the evil empire will get you too.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Getting my Mojo on
Had a chance to play a little poker at Derby Lane last night and since this was the first time I had truly felt like I could stand the rigors of the poker table without my back bothering me so much that I couldn't concentrate. I had started off the day with a 90 minute massage. I explained to Hildy my masseuse how I'd managed to pull a muscle in my back coughing and how I still felt some pain there and in my ribs as well. Hildy took that as a challenge and for the next 90 minutes she tore into my back and ribs. It hurt so good. And so bad.
Afterwards I felt a bit more pain than I had before the massage but today I feel very little so I know she did some good inside me. My range of motion now with my right arm is getting closer to normal without the pain I had been feeling. I went to the doctor during the week and she told me to expect it to take another 3 weeks before my back feels right. I'm not looking forward to it taking that long. Hopefully it won't take quite that long.
Anyway I mentioned last night was a poker night. That's because we had a special guest visiting Derby Lane. Word around the campfire was that none other than Memphis Mojo would be paying a visit to our sleepy little burg. Now I couldn't pass up a chance to see the world famous tourney player in action, besides which I had always wanted to meet the man, the myth, and the legend, so I made it a point to get down to Derby Lane in plenty of time for the 8pm tourney.
Unbeknownst to me Mojo was already there when I arrived and had been playing limit poker for awhile. So I signed up for the tourney and waited for him to appear while taking seat 3 at my table. A little later I got a text from him saying he was at seat 1 on my table but I still hadn't seen him come in. He came up to me shortly afterward and explained he had been playing some limit holdem while killing time before the tourney as he'd been there a couple of hours already. We chatted some before the tourney then got right down to it.
Neither of us seemed to be getting much in the way of cards. Mojo made a good raise early on I assume with a big pair, got one caller on every street but the river and made a few chips but otherwise he was the epitome of patience. I thought I played it pretty tight but Mojo was much tighter than I was. Which I should have taken to heart as I managed to lose a couple of fairly significant hands when I rivered a flush with J9 to lose to some guy who raised preflop with K5 suited. Then I lost another chunk with A9 on an A55 flop when A8 rivered an 8. I bluffed to pick up a couple of pots but I was bleeding chips pretty badly. I was down to 1225 chips when I picked up 33 in the small blind. A guy in early position raised to 1200 and 3 others called by the time it got to me. I decided a quadruple up would be perfect so I pushed in. Another gal called as well so with a lot of luck I had a chance to get back into this a little. The flop was 945. The original raiser pushed all in and got one caller. Original raiser flipped over KK. Other guy flipped over J9 with a flush draw. Turn was my magic 3. No club or K on the river and I took my 1225 up to over 6500. I managed to make a couple of more hands into some chips and even got to win with KK (I raised and got a walk which is the only way to win KK most days it seems). It was my only premium hand of the tourney.
I managed to build my 1225 all the way up to near 25K when I pushed 64 of clubs in position. Called by a big stack the flop was KQQ. He checks so I push all in. He thought for a while and I thought he would fold but he eventually calls with AJ. Really? No credit for even a pair there? But it worked out when a 4 hit the turn and I got a big double up. But with blinds at 800/1600 I was still pretty short so I was determined to stay aggressive and try to build up a big enough stack to final table with. Which of course led to my undoing. I raised preflop to 4200 with QJ suited and got one caller in early position. Flop was 10-9-4. It was checked to me and I bet out 7K which put almost half my stack into play. Probably a mistake. The caller then pushed all in for about my stack size. I called with my draw and 2 overcards. Unfortunately I didn't hit this draw and the guys 10s held up taking me out. I probably got too aggressive there especially after recently pushing 6-4 I should have known I wouldn't get credit for a big hand. Then again, big hands were very few and far between in that tourney. I was very lucky to last as long as I did. Mojo was the epitome of patience though taking some chips when he could including some off me on a blind vs blind and just waiting for his moment. I should have imitated him a lot more when I got up over 20K. But I just got impatient to score more chips and it was sayonara for me. I went out around 22 and Mojo a bit short of the final table. I was playing 1-1 no limit when he busted and he came over to say good bye. It was great meeting and playing with him. He wrote up his night here along with a couple of pictures. Too bad our results weren't better.
My 1-1 game continued my luck from the tourney. Early on I made a nice flush and lost to a full house. Lost a straight to another full house. Then my top pair and kicker got crushed by a set of 10s. In a short time I was down 70 bucks from my 100 buyin. But I stayed patient and it turned in a big way. I got AA in early position and raised to 6 with 2 callers. Flop was queen high and I pushed in my last 22. Both folded and I got a little breathing space. Probably should have played it a little slower but was hoping one had a queen and would play back and as short as I was, I didn't have much to push with. That gave me a bit of breathing space. The very next hand I have KK under the gun. This time I just called as the table was pretty aggressive with many hands raised. I figured I'd have a decent chance of reraising then. I was right when a guy a few places to my left raised and a short stacked lady moved all in for about $18. It came around to me and I moved all in which was called by the original raiser. My kings held up against both hands and I was back to even in 2 hands.
It was well after midnight and I was getting tired and thinking about calling it a day when I got JJ on the button. UTG raised to 4 and the shorty I had busted with KK reraised to 8. I figured there were some good hands but wanted to see what happened so I called with JJ. After midnight, every time someone hits a hand with quads or better they get paid a bonus. First hand gets $50 and every hand goes up by $50 until they reach $500. They had paid the $250 bonus a little before this hand started. The flop came down J45 with 2 clubs. It was checked to the lady who bet $20 which was more than half her stack. I figured she was committed so I decided to push all in. Thinking back that may have been the wrong move. A call and maybe the original raiser calls as well. Or maybe not. He folded but the lady called the all in with all her chips. Turn was another J. YES. I wasn't even thinking about the bonus until that J fell. River was the 5 of clubs so I actually could have lost that hand to a straight flush if the lady had been playing 23 or 78 of clubs. But she actually had AA. She flips it over and says I have 2 pair. I flipped over the jacks and said I have quads. I cleaned her out again plus get a $300 bonus to boot.
I gave a good tip to the dealer and bought a round for the table. Made it through another hour of play staying even until I just got too tired then packed it in with a nice profit for the night, even including my tourney loss. It was a pretty good night after all. Hopefully next weekend I'll play again. Till then stay lucky folks.
Afterwards I felt a bit more pain than I had before the massage but today I feel very little so I know she did some good inside me. My range of motion now with my right arm is getting closer to normal without the pain I had been feeling. I went to the doctor during the week and she told me to expect it to take another 3 weeks before my back feels right. I'm not looking forward to it taking that long. Hopefully it won't take quite that long.
Anyway I mentioned last night was a poker night. That's because we had a special guest visiting Derby Lane. Word around the campfire was that none other than Memphis Mojo would be paying a visit to our sleepy little burg. Now I couldn't pass up a chance to see the world famous tourney player in action, besides which I had always wanted to meet the man, the myth, and the legend, so I made it a point to get down to Derby Lane in plenty of time for the 8pm tourney.
Unbeknownst to me Mojo was already there when I arrived and had been playing limit poker for awhile. So I signed up for the tourney and waited for him to appear while taking seat 3 at my table. A little later I got a text from him saying he was at seat 1 on my table but I still hadn't seen him come in. He came up to me shortly afterward and explained he had been playing some limit holdem while killing time before the tourney as he'd been there a couple of hours already. We chatted some before the tourney then got right down to it.
Neither of us seemed to be getting much in the way of cards. Mojo made a good raise early on I assume with a big pair, got one caller on every street but the river and made a few chips but otherwise he was the epitome of patience. I thought I played it pretty tight but Mojo was much tighter than I was. Which I should have taken to heart as I managed to lose a couple of fairly significant hands when I rivered a flush with J9 to lose to some guy who raised preflop with K5 suited. Then I lost another chunk with A9 on an A55 flop when A8 rivered an 8. I bluffed to pick up a couple of pots but I was bleeding chips pretty badly. I was down to 1225 chips when I picked up 33 in the small blind. A guy in early position raised to 1200 and 3 others called by the time it got to me. I decided a quadruple up would be perfect so I pushed in. Another gal called as well so with a lot of luck I had a chance to get back into this a little. The flop was 945. The original raiser pushed all in and got one caller. Original raiser flipped over KK. Other guy flipped over J9 with a flush draw. Turn was my magic 3. No club or K on the river and I took my 1225 up to over 6500. I managed to make a couple of more hands into some chips and even got to win with KK (I raised and got a walk which is the only way to win KK most days it seems). It was my only premium hand of the tourney.
I managed to build my 1225 all the way up to near 25K when I pushed 64 of clubs in position. Called by a big stack the flop was KQQ. He checks so I push all in. He thought for a while and I thought he would fold but he eventually calls with AJ. Really? No credit for even a pair there? But it worked out when a 4 hit the turn and I got a big double up. But with blinds at 800/1600 I was still pretty short so I was determined to stay aggressive and try to build up a big enough stack to final table with. Which of course led to my undoing. I raised preflop to 4200 with QJ suited and got one caller in early position. Flop was 10-9-4. It was checked to me and I bet out 7K which put almost half my stack into play. Probably a mistake. The caller then pushed all in for about my stack size. I called with my draw and 2 overcards. Unfortunately I didn't hit this draw and the guys 10s held up taking me out. I probably got too aggressive there especially after recently pushing 6-4 I should have known I wouldn't get credit for a big hand. Then again, big hands were very few and far between in that tourney. I was very lucky to last as long as I did. Mojo was the epitome of patience though taking some chips when he could including some off me on a blind vs blind and just waiting for his moment. I should have imitated him a lot more when I got up over 20K. But I just got impatient to score more chips and it was sayonara for me. I went out around 22 and Mojo a bit short of the final table. I was playing 1-1 no limit when he busted and he came over to say good bye. It was great meeting and playing with him. He wrote up his night here along with a couple of pictures. Too bad our results weren't better.
My 1-1 game continued my luck from the tourney. Early on I made a nice flush and lost to a full house. Lost a straight to another full house. Then my top pair and kicker got crushed by a set of 10s. In a short time I was down 70 bucks from my 100 buyin. But I stayed patient and it turned in a big way. I got AA in early position and raised to 6 with 2 callers. Flop was queen high and I pushed in my last 22. Both folded and I got a little breathing space. Probably should have played it a little slower but was hoping one had a queen and would play back and as short as I was, I didn't have much to push with. That gave me a bit of breathing space. The very next hand I have KK under the gun. This time I just called as the table was pretty aggressive with many hands raised. I figured I'd have a decent chance of reraising then. I was right when a guy a few places to my left raised and a short stacked lady moved all in for about $18. It came around to me and I moved all in which was called by the original raiser. My kings held up against both hands and I was back to even in 2 hands.
It was well after midnight and I was getting tired and thinking about calling it a day when I got JJ on the button. UTG raised to 4 and the shorty I had busted with KK reraised to 8. I figured there were some good hands but wanted to see what happened so I called with JJ. After midnight, every time someone hits a hand with quads or better they get paid a bonus. First hand gets $50 and every hand goes up by $50 until they reach $500. They had paid the $250 bonus a little before this hand started. The flop came down J45 with 2 clubs. It was checked to the lady who bet $20 which was more than half her stack. I figured she was committed so I decided to push all in. Thinking back that may have been the wrong move. A call and maybe the original raiser calls as well. Or maybe not. He folded but the lady called the all in with all her chips. Turn was another J. YES. I wasn't even thinking about the bonus until that J fell. River was the 5 of clubs so I actually could have lost that hand to a straight flush if the lady had been playing 23 or 78 of clubs. But she actually had AA. She flips it over and says I have 2 pair. I flipped over the jacks and said I have quads. I cleaned her out again plus get a $300 bonus to boot.
I gave a good tip to the dealer and bought a round for the table. Made it through another hour of play staying even until I just got too tired then packed it in with a nice profit for the night, even including my tourney loss. It was a pretty good night after all. Hopefully next weekend I'll play again. Till then stay lucky folks.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Wasted Youth
George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying "Youth is wasted on the young". Oftentimes I think about this when I am seeing another episode of Scorned: Love Kills or Unusual Suspects and see some 20 year old go to jail for the rest of their lives for doing something stupid. Or watching the evening news on the rare occasion I don't turn it off. I've thought about this some during the week, thinking of my own wasted youth. Not to say it was all wasted, in fact it wasn't terrible at all, but there are so many other things I could have done to have made my future better. So I wasted some of my youth for sure.
Still feeling the way I have all week with my back issues has casued me to reflect some on when I was a younger man. I have also been comparing myself to some of my coworkers most of whom are 20-25 years my junior. I'm afraid youth is wasted on most of them. Not because they are a bunch of party animals or anything like that. On the contrary, most of them seem to be living rather sober lives. And I am greatly disappointed. After all, how do I live vicariously through them when my weekends (outside of the last two) are generally more exciting than theirs? Some of them ask me how poker or sports betting went over the weekend because they are living vicariously through me. Yeah that's right, I'm the life of the party. Yeah got my own lampshade and everything. So the last few weeks I have been letting them down. And they are wasting their youth working hard and saving money for their retirements.
This was a difficult week at work, after a difficult partial week the previous one. I only worked 3 days last week after the New Years holiday and put in 36 hours in that time. I was tired from not sleeping well at night - I'm still so uncomfortable I can't sleep in bed as my back just aches. Sleeping upright in my recliner is easier on my back but not that conducive to sleeping particularly well or deeply. This week I managed to work all 5 days but every day was painful and I gimp around like an old man whenever I get up from my desk. I could barely use my right arm as it hurt everytime I lifted even something as light as my coffee cup. Now that sucks. It improved a bit on Thursday and Friday enough that I could carry a cup of coffee and even unzip my own pants without pain. More than that is anywhere from discomfort to outright pain. Sucks to be me huh? Could be worse, my cough is almost gone at least.
So today is just a sit back and watch football kinda day. I actually put some money down on the Ravens getting 10 points in Denver. At first I wasn't going to but really cold weather seems to be hard on old quarterbacks. I figured Peyton Manning would not be his usual awesome self and the Ravens would have a chance. Or Joe Flacco would throw a few picks and my bet would die a quick death by halftime. With 11 minutes left in the game I'm looking ok. Manning has not been great and in fact has almost given up on throwing anything but short stuff. Flacco has been good actually. If it wasn't for a punt and kickoff TD for Denver, they would be down 14. So I'm liking my chances so far.
Rest of my picks this weekend are GB over SF, Seattle over Atlanta, and NE over Houston. We'll see how they go. Not sure if NE covers tomorrow so I won't play that one but I am playing GB tonight. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Still feeling the way I have all week with my back issues has casued me to reflect some on when I was a younger man. I have also been comparing myself to some of my coworkers most of whom are 20-25 years my junior. I'm afraid youth is wasted on most of them. Not because they are a bunch of party animals or anything like that. On the contrary, most of them seem to be living rather sober lives. And I am greatly disappointed. After all, how do I live vicariously through them when my weekends (outside of the last two) are generally more exciting than theirs? Some of them ask me how poker or sports betting went over the weekend because they are living vicariously through me. Yeah that's right, I'm the life of the party. Yeah got my own lampshade and everything. So the last few weeks I have been letting them down. And they are wasting their youth working hard and saving money for their retirements.
This was a difficult week at work, after a difficult partial week the previous one. I only worked 3 days last week after the New Years holiday and put in 36 hours in that time. I was tired from not sleeping well at night - I'm still so uncomfortable I can't sleep in bed as my back just aches. Sleeping upright in my recliner is easier on my back but not that conducive to sleeping particularly well or deeply. This week I managed to work all 5 days but every day was painful and I gimp around like an old man whenever I get up from my desk. I could barely use my right arm as it hurt everytime I lifted even something as light as my coffee cup. Now that sucks. It improved a bit on Thursday and Friday enough that I could carry a cup of coffee and even unzip my own pants without pain. More than that is anywhere from discomfort to outright pain. Sucks to be me huh? Could be worse, my cough is almost gone at least.
So today is just a sit back and watch football kinda day. I actually put some money down on the Ravens getting 10 points in Denver. At first I wasn't going to but really cold weather seems to be hard on old quarterbacks. I figured Peyton Manning would not be his usual awesome self and the Ravens would have a chance. Or Joe Flacco would throw a few picks and my bet would die a quick death by halftime. With 11 minutes left in the game I'm looking ok. Manning has not been great and in fact has almost given up on throwing anything but short stuff. Flacco has been good actually. If it wasn't for a punt and kickoff TD for Denver, they would be down 14. So I'm liking my chances so far.
Rest of my picks this weekend are GB over SF, Seattle over Atlanta, and NE over Houston. We'll see how they go. Not sure if NE covers tomorrow so I won't play that one but I am playing GB tonight. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
"Cough, Cough, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Had a viscious cold last week causing me to miss out on some work. I'm still not feeling great, especially when you factor in I worked 36 hours between Wednesday to Friday. But I am much better than a week ago. Or at least I was better until a few minutes ago. I was planning on heading into work this morning as well. There is a lot of work I need to do and some hours today will help a ton. But all that is now changed.
I was just out of the shower and starting to get dressed when I felt the need to cough again. I've been coughing a lot off and on trying to clear the fluid from my lungs. I went through 2 bottles of cough medicine over the past week and all that expectorant still wasn't enough to keep my lungs clean. I've coughed so much the muscles along my diaphragm are sore and it felt like I pulled some of the muscles along my ribs on the right side. Needless to say sleeping has been a bit of a problem with this pain which has moved into my back on the right side a little as well. Then today came the capper. I started coughing again and felt this "sproing" in my back on the right side. Next thing I know someone had put a knife in my back and was twisting in time with every breath I took. I was bent over gasping waiting for a pain to stop but it never did. I'm not sure if I really pulled or tore a muscle or if maybe a group of muscles spasmed and are kind of locked up. Maybe I should head over to Derby Lane and get my back massaged while I play cards. It can't be worse than how I currently feel and it's closer to the hospital if something really goes wrong. I took one of the prescription ibuprofen pills right after it happened but I don't feel the pain going down much. I'm just falling to pieces it seems.
Not much else has been going on. Hell just moving around is hard enough right now. I have a Dr appointment set up for Tuesday morning already but I might head over to the clinic and see if they can give me something for my back. Every cough is somewhere between ouch and OMG THAT REALLY HURTS. The PQ rubbed some muscle rub into my back and there is definitely a knot there. Whatever it is, it is really screwing up my plans for this weekend. I really don't want to go through the rest of the weekend feeling like this, that's for sure.
Just back from the Drs office. I pulled a muscle in my back coughing. WTF. This is as bad as Jose Canseco pulling a muscle swinging a bat in the on deck circle. The doc called in a couple of prescriptions, one for coughing and one for a muscle relaxant. I gotta call Walgreens and get them to have it ready tonight cuz I don't want to go through the night feeling like this. Well guess I'll watch a little football as there is no way I'm going to play poker tonight. Hope everyone stays lucky and healthier than me.
I was just out of the shower and starting to get dressed when I felt the need to cough again. I've been coughing a lot off and on trying to clear the fluid from my lungs. I went through 2 bottles of cough medicine over the past week and all that expectorant still wasn't enough to keep my lungs clean. I've coughed so much the muscles along my diaphragm are sore and it felt like I pulled some of the muscles along my ribs on the right side. Needless to say sleeping has been a bit of a problem with this pain which has moved into my back on the right side a little as well. Then today came the capper. I started coughing again and felt this "sproing" in my back on the right side. Next thing I know someone had put a knife in my back and was twisting in time with every breath I took. I was bent over gasping waiting for a pain to stop but it never did. I'm not sure if I really pulled or tore a muscle or if maybe a group of muscles spasmed and are kind of locked up. Maybe I should head over to Derby Lane and get my back massaged while I play cards. It can't be worse than how I currently feel and it's closer to the hospital if something really goes wrong. I took one of the prescription ibuprofen pills right after it happened but I don't feel the pain going down much. I'm just falling to pieces it seems.
Not much else has been going on. Hell just moving around is hard enough right now. I have a Dr appointment set up for Tuesday morning already but I might head over to the clinic and see if they can give me something for my back. Every cough is somewhere between ouch and OMG THAT REALLY HURTS. The PQ rubbed some muscle rub into my back and there is definitely a knot there. Whatever it is, it is really screwing up my plans for this weekend. I really don't want to go through the rest of the weekend feeling like this, that's for sure.
Just back from the Drs office. I pulled a muscle in my back coughing. WTF. This is as bad as Jose Canseco pulling a muscle swinging a bat in the on deck circle. The doc called in a couple of prescriptions, one for coughing and one for a muscle relaxant. I gotta call Walgreens and get them to have it ready tonight cuz I don't want to go through the night feeling like this. Well guess I'll watch a little football as there is no way I'm going to play poker tonight. Hope everyone stays lucky and healthier than me.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Season of my discontent
I've been playing fantasy football for quite a long time now, since around 1995 in one form or another. You'd think I knew a little bit about it by now. You'd be wrong but you might think so. In all that time, this has to be one of the most frustrating seasons I've ever had. I'm in 3 leagues this year, my wife's work league where I took 3rd last year, my work league that I won last year, and a new league. 2 are free leagues for bragging rights only, but my wife's league is a money league.
After the draft this year I really felt like I had a good team in my wife's league. With Aaron Rodgers, MJD, McFadden, Jamaal Charles and Ahmad Bradshaw I was sure I would be fine with running backs. My receivers were a little weak but with Antonio Brown, Eric Decker and Danny Amendola I thought I was pretty good and I figured on trading an RB for a top notch receiver at some point.
Well the best laid schemes and all. First MJD gets hurt for almost the entire season, McFadden forgets how to run, and Jamaal Charles is coached by Romeo Crennell. One week he gets 30 carries, the next he gets 7. Hey Romeo, you have maybe the best running back and the worst QB in the AFC so why not spend entire games ignoring your RB? Bradshaw was about the most dependable and most weeks that meant he was top 10 or 12. My receivers were ok but Antonio Brown was a major disappointment. And Aaron Rodgers was good but nearly as good as the previous 2 years. So I start out losing 3 games, then winning 3 to get back to even, then lose 7 of 8 to finish the year. How disappointing. The other free league was even worse. I didn't draft well in that one and ended up winning 2 games all year. Even my work league where I made some nice draft picks turned out disappointing. I went 10-2 for the year but finished 2nd in my division. Then I proceeded to lose both rounds of the playoffs to finish 4th. Overall a very disappointing year.
The only bright spot in my year was the pick em league I'm in. I started out the year in 5th, moved up to 2nd in a couple of weeks, took over 1st a couple of weeks later and have never looked back. I slowly extended my lead until for week 17, I am leading by 7 games. There are 5 people within a game of each other fighting for 2nd and 3rd but unless I completely blow it, I should be good to win. That's nice because that pays more than any of my other leagues.
My stock picks this year have been about as good as my fantasy football picks. I really went after mining stocks this year. I diversified across a number of junior gold and silver miners and even a couple of platinum/paladium miners as well. I really believe at some point in the near to not so near future, gold and silver are going to skyrocket up along with interest rates in the US. For now the Fed can keep rates low because Europe and Japan are worse off than we are. At some point that will change and the market will determine our interest rates. So I picked up some good junior miners at cheap prices but they haven't improved for the most part this past year. My longtime pick Yamana Gold has done well up about 14% this year and it was up a lot more until recently. Drilling company SeaDrill has been solid and pays a great dividend as does NY Community Bank who I've held for the past 4 years and those reinvested dividends are really adding up now. Otherwise my stock picks have been forgettable this year. I just believe at some point in the near future the only stocks you will want to be in are precious metals, energy, and strong dividend payers. I am looking forward to a much better year next year for some of them. We'll see.
After the draft this year I really felt like I had a good team in my wife's league. With Aaron Rodgers, MJD, McFadden, Jamaal Charles and Ahmad Bradshaw I was sure I would be fine with running backs. My receivers were a little weak but with Antonio Brown, Eric Decker and Danny Amendola I thought I was pretty good and I figured on trading an RB for a top notch receiver at some point.
Well the best laid schemes and all. First MJD gets hurt for almost the entire season, McFadden forgets how to run, and Jamaal Charles is coached by Romeo Crennell. One week he gets 30 carries, the next he gets 7. Hey Romeo, you have maybe the best running back and the worst QB in the AFC so why not spend entire games ignoring your RB? Bradshaw was about the most dependable and most weeks that meant he was top 10 or 12. My receivers were ok but Antonio Brown was a major disappointment. And Aaron Rodgers was good but nearly as good as the previous 2 years. So I start out losing 3 games, then winning 3 to get back to even, then lose 7 of 8 to finish the year. How disappointing. The other free league was even worse. I didn't draft well in that one and ended up winning 2 games all year. Even my work league where I made some nice draft picks turned out disappointing. I went 10-2 for the year but finished 2nd in my division. Then I proceeded to lose both rounds of the playoffs to finish 4th. Overall a very disappointing year.
The only bright spot in my year was the pick em league I'm in. I started out the year in 5th, moved up to 2nd in a couple of weeks, took over 1st a couple of weeks later and have never looked back. I slowly extended my lead until for week 17, I am leading by 7 games. There are 5 people within a game of each other fighting for 2nd and 3rd but unless I completely blow it, I should be good to win. That's nice because that pays more than any of my other leagues.
My stock picks this year have been about as good as my fantasy football picks. I really went after mining stocks this year. I diversified across a number of junior gold and silver miners and even a couple of platinum/paladium miners as well. I really believe at some point in the near to not so near future, gold and silver are going to skyrocket up along with interest rates in the US. For now the Fed can keep rates low because Europe and Japan are worse off than we are. At some point that will change and the market will determine our interest rates. So I picked up some good junior miners at cheap prices but they haven't improved for the most part this past year. My longtime pick Yamana Gold has done well up about 14% this year and it was up a lot more until recently. Drilling company SeaDrill has been solid and pays a great dividend as does NY Community Bank who I've held for the past 4 years and those reinvested dividends are really adding up now. Otherwise my stock picks have been forgettable this year. I just believe at some point in the near future the only stocks you will want to be in are precious metals, energy, and strong dividend payers. I am looking forward to a much better year next year for some of them. We'll see.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Playin Hooky
But I'm not getting to really enjoy it. I'm taking a couple of enforced days from work starting today. Seems like all year long I've been battling chest colds and I have another doozy now. There is no way I could work today coughing like this and infecting the rest of the department would not have done me any good either. And that's the least of my problems
Somehow I have also picked up an infection in my leg. It is swollen, hot, and painful. The doc basically said I needed to spend the next few days with my leg elevated while the antibiotics go to work on it. I noticed some pain and swelling last week and hoped it would improve but when it didn't I figured I better get it looked at. Glad I did. So here I sit with my legs raised in my recliner, hacking up a lung and trying to stay warm. That cold front that dropped snow and ice across most of the US brought some chilly weather here as well. Not a white Christmas like they had in Dallas but still a bit cooler than I'm used to now.. I'll enjoy it while I can as in a few months it will be 90 again for 6 months straight.
Well that was my entire post from Thursday. Kinda tells how lousy I'm feeling when I spend the whole day at home and get two paragraphs done. But enough of my woes.
So much has gone on this year that I haven't talked about. I've been so tired from work that I've had no energy to post much here. For that I am sorry as I really would like to be one of these people who posts multiple times a week instead of a few times a month if I am really being talkative. That's probably why some of my missives seem to go on forever and ever and ever, etc.
Haven't been playing too much poker lately. I did play a tourney last weekend but my luck was very poor. Early on I got a good read on 2 players to my left. The guy across from me would never dump top pair no matter what was bet it seemed. I made sure it cost him when I raised in mid position with KK. Flop was queen high and not too threatening so I bet about half the pot. He called while one other guy folded. I put him on a queen and hoped he hadn't flopped 2 pair. Next card was a 4 that paired the board. I put out almost a pot sized bet of 2500 and he called again. Final card was nothing. He checked again and I bet 3K into him. I didn't think he'd call much more than that but I wonder if I had pushed all in if he would. Probably. That will come back to haunt me.
He calls and flips over KQ and is not happy to see my KK. Thanks for the chips sir. A bit later on I get 99 under the gun. I don't like to push too hard with mid pairs early in a tourney so i just called. Another guy called and the guy I had whacked before pushes in for almost 4K. Everyone folds to me and I have to make a decision. I thought it a fair chance he had 10s or Jacks but also very possible he had a smaller pair or Ace anything. I weighed my options and called him. I flipped over my 9s and he stands up and gets ready to leave as he flips over 7s. But a 7 on the flop saved his ass and I didn't suck out a river straight or 9 of course. Sometimes I hate this game.
After that things went badly. Every raise was met by 3 or 4 callers. It was hard to make moves when I didn't improve after the flop and I got some play back from others as well. I did manage to sneak a straight on the turn from the big blind to make back some chips. At the break I'm sitting on near 10K from my original 12K stack. And I'm not thrilled. Early on after we return I pick up AA in mid position. I raise the 200/400 blinds to 1500. Guy next to me is loose aggressive and calls and a guy across the table in the big blind does as well. Flop is queen high with 2 clubs. I look at the pot of about 5K and my stack of just over 8K and decide my only options are to check or push in. So I pushed in. Guy next to me folds but the guy across the table hems and haws and gets a count then finally calls for about half his stack. He has A9 of clubs. Of course you know the rest. The river is a club and its goodbye me. I really cannot see putting in half my chips on just a flush draw there. I wasn't giving him the odds to do it but then again, he wasn't overly bright anyway.
I wasn't overly unhappy with my play, I could have done a couple of things better but I got pretty unlucky twice as a fair favorite to lose. And thats the difference between winning and losing tourneys. You can make all the right plays but sometimes the luck factor just kicks your ass.
Outside of that the PQ and I have been over at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa more than at Derby Lane. She has been crushing the video poker games there walking out with 800 a couple of times. I have done mostly ok but usually I play video poker for a while, lose some cash, go to the poker room and play Omaha 8 and make back more cash, then score a bit on the video poker before I leave. Except for once where I got my butt handed to me in both Omaha and Video Poker. The PQ is getting some decent comps for playing so much. I'm getting free drinks in the poker room and thats about it. But I haven't had her luck with games so I don't play nearly as much.
Well lets wrap it up. I'm starting to feel like Kevin Costner in Tin Cup right about now after he lost his swing and tried all those contraptions. I ve got Vicks on my nose, a humdifier going right next to me, I just took some cough syrup and ibuprofen, and I got some more antibiotic to take after dinner.
I'm feeling kinda like him but I'm starting to look more like this guy.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Running bad and running good
Still working like the dog that I am but things at work are improving. Of course with the end of the year fast approaching and another tax season around the corner, I expect our volume of calls to become much higher and in fact it already is getting busier on the phones. Still all of my long hours are not going unrewarded on a financial basis and I am making huge strides in clearing up my work so things are looking up indeed.
The last couple of weeks have also been somewhat rewarding on the felt fields of battle as well. I think I'm seeing the hands more clearly, I'm definitely being more aggressive, and I'm making better reads as well. Of course I haven't had too much bad luck either which is often the difference between a good result and no result at all. The weekend before this past one we played a tourney and while the PQ was out fairly early, I had a good deep run going out just before the final table. Bad cards most of the time but I was able to make good reads and get more aggressive. Caught a couple of bad breaks trying to take out the guy on my right. He managed to beat my AJ with A6 for all his chips then beat me again when he rivered a flush vs my top pair all in after the flop. I make one of those and I'm into the final table but I've heard some people say that's poker.
Monday the PQ was off from work so I took a vacation day as well. We grabbed a great breakfast then headed over to the Hard Rock casino. We figured to play a little video poker and she had a gift from the casino for all of her video poker play. Not sure why they reward her for taking money off them but then again she has given a good bit back to them too. We play for 10 minutes or so and she hits quad aces for 500 bucks. I couldn't hit crap and decided shortly afterward to see if I could play some Omaha 8 in the poker room instead. Got in there and got seated in 5 minutes.
Had a bit of a slow time, mostly losing in dribs and drabs and never making much of a hand. After a couple of hours I was down about half my buyin. Finally my luck turned. Won a very nice pot to go from down to up in one hand when I flopped the nut low then turned a straight to claim the high end as well. A couple of hands later I made a decent pot on a high only hand. Won a couple of other small pots to about double my buy in but went card dead again and after a couple of more hours I decided to call it quits. I was still up over 50% so it was a profitable run for us both as the PQ was still doing pretty well.
After 4 more wonderful days of work we made it to another weekend. The PQ had planned on playing in this womans tourney on Saturday afternoon but some family things got in the way of that so we both decided to play the 6pm tourney instead. The turn out was a bit low and I had a hard time making anything happen early. I did manage to score some chips from the big blind when I had K4 and flopped 2 pair. Turn was another 4 and I got paid off on the river for a fairly good score. The blinds went up every 15 minutes so keeping up with that was not very easy. At the first break I was sitting on 10500 chips from my 6000 starting stack. I was a little above average but the blinds were already up to 200-400. The PQ was out already as she pushed all in against 66. Unfortunately she only had AA and when a 6 hit the flop she was out. And quite unhappy. I assisted her to enter the 8pm tourney as well and her luck did not change. She was the epitome of running bad that night.
After the break I started making some moves. While I didn't get great cards I got stuff I could work with and I was willing to make moves in position. Once we were down to 2 tables this younger gal maybe late 20s or early 30s got moved to my right. She was pretty aggressive and I figured I better be careful with her. Too bad I didn't listen too well. A bit later I decided I needed some more chips and made a move after she called the big blind. I only had 86 but I knew I couldn't wait on cards. Unfortunately she called my raise as well. Flop was not too good with A95. Especially when she pushed all in. I didn't think she had much or maybe nothing but I knew I had nothing and her nothing was probably better than mine. Or she had an ace and I was really cooked. I made a good show of debating my next move before I folded.
As the blinds went up so did the aggression. I found it harder to pick my spots and basically got down to push all in or fold time. Which I did successfully a couple of times. The big stack in seat 10 really gave me a look and I figured he would look me up with any decent hand next time I pushed. Not long after I picked up 88 and pushed in under the gun. I was right as he called me with KJ. Luckily he didn't improve and I got a much needed double up. People were dropping pretty fast by now having to make the same decision as I did. Before long we were down to 11 but then it slowed down a bit. I was able to chip up a little more by stealing a couple of times but finally one more guy busts and we are down to the final table.
I was seated at number 4 at the final table. The big stack who was now a bit smaller was in seat 5 on my left and the aggressive gal was in seat 1. On my right was a good sized stack as well. He was the guy who knocked out the PQ with 66 against her AA though I didn't know that at the time. The first few hands were pretty tight but then the chips started to fly. I kept out of the fray at first as I had nothing to play with but I knew I couldn't wait long. In short order we were down to 7 as 3 shorties busted out pretty quickly. My neighbors and the gal in seat 1 were the beneficiaries. There was an older lady in seat 10 and she had a good sized stack but she got pretty tight here. Not a wise move the way the blinds were going up. When we got to the final table the blinds were 800/1600 which meant her 40K stack was only 25 big blinds. Of course that was much better than my 17K.
With 7 left I was 7th in chips and new it was time to move. I got my chance in mid position when I picked up AQ of hearts. The gal in seat 1 UTG raised to 4500. I figured her for a decent hand but I hoped it wasn't AK, AA or KK. I pushed all in on her and everyone else folded. She asked for a count so I knew she didn't have a monster and eventually called my 16K which was half her stack. I flipped over my cards and she shocked me and showed J8 of diamonds. Really? Does that seem like a good move to you, I don't think I call there in her position. Maybe she just read me for any 2 cards and a resteal, I don't know. She flopped 2 diamonds but thankfully didn't improve and I got some space with a big double up. She went out not much later. I got my next double up opportunity courtesy of PQ's nemesis. I had lost some chips back to just over 30K and was in the small blind with Q10 suited. The kid to my right calls from the button and so I just called while the big blind looked at his cards and decided to check. With a big stack on both sides of me I thought I better be careful there.
Flop was Q92. I liked it enough to bet 4K. Big blind folds. He played pretty careful with me after the hand we played earlier and the other hands he saw me show. The kid on the button didn't fold but raised to 8K. Now I had to think. Did he have a bigger Q? I doubted that. Did he play Q9 or 92? I thought it possible for the first but not the second. The one thing I feared was he played 22 and flopped a set. Not much else made sense. QJ or better and he raises I think since it was folded to him. 99 or QQ as well though I could see not raising QQ and taking a chance on busting someone - pretty risky though. So after going through the scenarios I pushed all in. I really hoped to take it down there. I thought he might have nothing but put me on a steal and try to take it back from me. He went into the think tank then so I knew he had something. I just looked at the board while he pondered his move. Eventually he called. He was very disappointed in my Q10 as he had 98 for middle pair. He did not improve and I doubled again. This made me almost chip leader. Then when I have plenty of chips I get dealt AA twice in a row. After winning a couple of hands, no one wants to really tangle with me I fear. The first time I called in 2nd position and hoped for a raise or all in push but it was not to be. Only the older woman in the big blind and I saw the flop. She had been bemoaning how she couldn't play a hand and her stack had dwindled to just over 20K. Unfortunately a flop of 942 saw her check and then fold to my bet.
Next hand I get AA again and figure I'm not playing around twice with it. So I make a moderate raise and take down the blinds and antes. From there we got down to 4 fairly quickly. The kid next to me made a great comeback to third in chips and with only 3 getting paid he was in good shape. Eventually the older woman pushed all in and he called immediately. I was happy because I got to fold a crap hand there and when he took her A6 out with AJ we were in the money. We chopped it up evenly from there since our stacks were pretty close, guy on my left had a little more than me and the kid did. I was more than happy to walk away $400+ ahead of where I expected to be.
Well that wass my Saturday and in an effort to make myself a little less like Rob I am quitting here. I can talk about Sunday in my next post. No poker in that one. I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. We are having a late dinner and the house smells fantastic right now. Spend some quality family time today and I hope you all get lucky on Black Friday. I will be working unfortunately but I will be doing the online thing too. Buy me something nice everyone. And stay lucky, I know I am.
The last couple of weeks have also been somewhat rewarding on the felt fields of battle as well. I think I'm seeing the hands more clearly, I'm definitely being more aggressive, and I'm making better reads as well. Of course I haven't had too much bad luck either which is often the difference between a good result and no result at all. The weekend before this past one we played a tourney and while the PQ was out fairly early, I had a good deep run going out just before the final table. Bad cards most of the time but I was able to make good reads and get more aggressive. Caught a couple of bad breaks trying to take out the guy on my right. He managed to beat my AJ with A6 for all his chips then beat me again when he rivered a flush vs my top pair all in after the flop. I make one of those and I'm into the final table but I've heard some people say that's poker.
Monday the PQ was off from work so I took a vacation day as well. We grabbed a great breakfast then headed over to the Hard Rock casino. We figured to play a little video poker and she had a gift from the casino for all of her video poker play. Not sure why they reward her for taking money off them but then again she has given a good bit back to them too. We play for 10 minutes or so and she hits quad aces for 500 bucks. I couldn't hit crap and decided shortly afterward to see if I could play some Omaha 8 in the poker room instead. Got in there and got seated in 5 minutes.
Had a bit of a slow time, mostly losing in dribs and drabs and never making much of a hand. After a couple of hours I was down about half my buyin. Finally my luck turned. Won a very nice pot to go from down to up in one hand when I flopped the nut low then turned a straight to claim the high end as well. A couple of hands later I made a decent pot on a high only hand. Won a couple of other small pots to about double my buy in but went card dead again and after a couple of more hours I decided to call it quits. I was still up over 50% so it was a profitable run for us both as the PQ was still doing pretty well.
After 4 more wonderful days of work we made it to another weekend. The PQ had planned on playing in this womans tourney on Saturday afternoon but some family things got in the way of that so we both decided to play the 6pm tourney instead. The turn out was a bit low and I had a hard time making anything happen early. I did manage to score some chips from the big blind when I had K4 and flopped 2 pair. Turn was another 4 and I got paid off on the river for a fairly good score. The blinds went up every 15 minutes so keeping up with that was not very easy. At the first break I was sitting on 10500 chips from my 6000 starting stack. I was a little above average but the blinds were already up to 200-400. The PQ was out already as she pushed all in against 66. Unfortunately she only had AA and when a 6 hit the flop she was out. And quite unhappy. I assisted her to enter the 8pm tourney as well and her luck did not change. She was the epitome of running bad that night.
After the break I started making some moves. While I didn't get great cards I got stuff I could work with and I was willing to make moves in position. Once we were down to 2 tables this younger gal maybe late 20s or early 30s got moved to my right. She was pretty aggressive and I figured I better be careful with her. Too bad I didn't listen too well. A bit later I decided I needed some more chips and made a move after she called the big blind. I only had 86 but I knew I couldn't wait on cards. Unfortunately she called my raise as well. Flop was not too good with A95. Especially when she pushed all in. I didn't think she had much or maybe nothing but I knew I had nothing and her nothing was probably better than mine. Or she had an ace and I was really cooked. I made a good show of debating my next move before I folded.
As the blinds went up so did the aggression. I found it harder to pick my spots and basically got down to push all in or fold time. Which I did successfully a couple of times. The big stack in seat 10 really gave me a look and I figured he would look me up with any decent hand next time I pushed. Not long after I picked up 88 and pushed in under the gun. I was right as he called me with KJ. Luckily he didn't improve and I got a much needed double up. People were dropping pretty fast by now having to make the same decision as I did. Before long we were down to 11 but then it slowed down a bit. I was able to chip up a little more by stealing a couple of times but finally one more guy busts and we are down to the final table.
I was seated at number 4 at the final table. The big stack who was now a bit smaller was in seat 5 on my left and the aggressive gal was in seat 1. On my right was a good sized stack as well. He was the guy who knocked out the PQ with 66 against her AA though I didn't know that at the time. The first few hands were pretty tight but then the chips started to fly. I kept out of the fray at first as I had nothing to play with but I knew I couldn't wait long. In short order we were down to 7 as 3 shorties busted out pretty quickly. My neighbors and the gal in seat 1 were the beneficiaries. There was an older lady in seat 10 and she had a good sized stack but she got pretty tight here. Not a wise move the way the blinds were going up. When we got to the final table the blinds were 800/1600 which meant her 40K stack was only 25 big blinds. Of course that was much better than my 17K.
With 7 left I was 7th in chips and new it was time to move. I got my chance in mid position when I picked up AQ of hearts. The gal in seat 1 UTG raised to 4500. I figured her for a decent hand but I hoped it wasn't AK, AA or KK. I pushed all in on her and everyone else folded. She asked for a count so I knew she didn't have a monster and eventually called my 16K which was half her stack. I flipped over my cards and she shocked me and showed J8 of diamonds. Really? Does that seem like a good move to you, I don't think I call there in her position. Maybe she just read me for any 2 cards and a resteal, I don't know. She flopped 2 diamonds but thankfully didn't improve and I got some space with a big double up. She went out not much later. I got my next double up opportunity courtesy of PQ's nemesis. I had lost some chips back to just over 30K and was in the small blind with Q10 suited. The kid to my right calls from the button and so I just called while the big blind looked at his cards and decided to check. With a big stack on both sides of me I thought I better be careful there.
Flop was Q92. I liked it enough to bet 4K. Big blind folds. He played pretty careful with me after the hand we played earlier and the other hands he saw me show. The kid on the button didn't fold but raised to 8K. Now I had to think. Did he have a bigger Q? I doubted that. Did he play Q9 or 92? I thought it possible for the first but not the second. The one thing I feared was he played 22 and flopped a set. Not much else made sense. QJ or better and he raises I think since it was folded to him. 99 or QQ as well though I could see not raising QQ and taking a chance on busting someone - pretty risky though. So after going through the scenarios I pushed all in. I really hoped to take it down there. I thought he might have nothing but put me on a steal and try to take it back from me. He went into the think tank then so I knew he had something. I just looked at the board while he pondered his move. Eventually he called. He was very disappointed in my Q10 as he had 98 for middle pair. He did not improve and I doubled again. This made me almost chip leader. Then when I have plenty of chips I get dealt AA twice in a row. After winning a couple of hands, no one wants to really tangle with me I fear. The first time I called in 2nd position and hoped for a raise or all in push but it was not to be. Only the older woman in the big blind and I saw the flop. She had been bemoaning how she couldn't play a hand and her stack had dwindled to just over 20K. Unfortunately a flop of 942 saw her check and then fold to my bet.
Next hand I get AA again and figure I'm not playing around twice with it. So I make a moderate raise and take down the blinds and antes. From there we got down to 4 fairly quickly. The kid next to me made a great comeback to third in chips and with only 3 getting paid he was in good shape. Eventually the older woman pushed all in and he called immediately. I was happy because I got to fold a crap hand there and when he took her A6 out with AJ we were in the money. We chopped it up evenly from there since our stacks were pretty close, guy on my left had a little more than me and the kid did. I was more than happy to walk away $400+ ahead of where I expected to be.
Well that wass my Saturday and in an effort to make myself a little less like Rob I am quitting here. I can talk about Sunday in my next post. No poker in that one. I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. We are having a late dinner and the house smells fantastic right now. Spend some quality family time today and I hope you all get lucky on Black Friday. I will be working unfortunately but I will be doing the online thing too. Buy me something nice everyone. And stay lucky, I know I am.
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