Woke up yesterday morning and the house was freezing. Yaaaayyy, I thought, my furnace broke again. Then looked at the clock and realized, yaaaaayyyy, have no power, that's not so bad. A few hours and things will be back on. At least I don't have to fix the furnace, again, I thought. Looked out the window and instead of seeing anything, it was just a coat of ice. Nooooooooooooooo.
Two years ago had an ice strom that knocked out power for 5 days. Snapped trees breaking things, smashing windshields, denting roofs. Big trees breaking, like 16" diameter trees. Just a mess. No heat, water, computer, TV. Nothing. 5 days.
Got myself out of bed and went downstairs, made some instant espresso, ewww, and went out for a smoke and a look. Once again, had the luxury of seeing everything coated in nearly an inch of ice. Trees sagging, that slow crackling then crashing sound far off as something big just broke and tumbled to the earth. It was a both amazing and sickening sight. Not again, I thought. But then I remembered, yessssssss, my generator. The one bought soon after the last ice storm, the one that hadn't, of course, been needed in two years because once I got it, of course, it wouldn't be needed. And, of course, it wouldn't start. After about 2 hours of trying, I finally figured out the problem, I thought. An hour later, it roared to life and I was in business. Thankfully through my years of stubborness and need to try to fix anything before paying someone else to do it, I've picked up some handy skills. Left for town to get some supplies, had coffee with friends and on the way home, there were 6 power company trucks working on my road, awesome I thought as there were some big trees that had taken down the lines. Hell, this many trucks, they'll get it done and I'll have power tonight!
As I was inching by the first truck, I asked what the word was. "Tonight, you think?" in an excited tone. The response, unfortunately, was laughter. Apparently, a small section of lines runs through the woods, through a swampy section and of course, a pole had snapped in there. "Tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest". Ugh, great. So ended up making it home, reserved in the fact that it was going to be another 24 hours, but would be at least in for a warm evening, courtesy of the trusty space heaters, topped off by watching Psych DVD's with my daughter and catching up with some work on my laptop.
Woke up this morning and took some photos with my phone, they actually came out alright I think, and posted them below to hopefully offset the TL;DR, day in the life, blog post.
Going to be updating my bio page and wanted to post here about it as well. These are my numbers from FT over approximately the last 18 months for the primary areas I coach. I played hardly at all from Sept thru Dec. Since the first of the year, I've primarily been bankroll challenging myself on both Stars( I always hated Stars for some reason, but since the new year, that's where I've played the most) and FT, starting with about $20 or so on each site. I'm up to $25PL/NL on both sites at this point and taking shots at $50 again on Stars. Once I hit my goal for each I'll post about it. I'm holding off for now as I don't want to jinx myself. For some reason, whenever I talk to much about my goals, I gain too much confidance, get arrogant, then blow up.
At the end of the year, I started a new fullt time job, as well has had a whole buch of other changes in my life. The job is great and awful for two reasons. I work from home and on my schedule. Sounds like it'd be great, but really has been difficult to keep focused with a consistent schedule. Over the past few weeks I've started to have some success scheduling everything, finding the balance between work, family and poker that I need to maintain. Oh how I wish I was 19 again sometimes!.
I have to get started with working on the new bio, so for now I'll end with a few reasons why the games are still pretty good and it's worth getting into PL or NLO8. All this person did was open shove, they ran like god until the table broke from people getting tired of it. I however had patience.
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A 2 J J BTN/SB raises to $102.42 all in, Hero calls $27.23 all in
Flop: ($54.96) 6 9 9(2 players - 2 are all in)
Turn: ($54.96) 3(2 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($54.96) 6(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $54.96 Hero shows A 2 J J (HI: two pair, Jacks and Nines) BTN/SB shows J K T T (HI: two pair, Tens and Nines) Hero wins $54.46 (Rake: $0.50)
Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN/SB with T K A 3 Hero raises to $0.50, BB raises to $25.28 all in, Hero calls $24.78
Flop: ($50.56) 7 5 6(2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($50.56) K(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($50.56) J(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $50.56 Hero shows T K A 3 (HI: a flush, Ace high; LO: 7,6,5,3,A) BB shows 8 6 9 A (HI: a straight, Nine high; LO: 8,7,6,5,A) Hero wins $25.03 Hero wins $25.03 (Rake: $0.50)
Haven't been as visible on the forums recently, a lot of IRL things being dealt with. I'll touch on those someday as for poker players, it may be relevant. Still be coaching and playing, so that's been going well. I taught a beginner student a dry ace bluff line the other day, he really liked that. Not usually a big deal, but in PLO8, bluffing isn't always so easy.
For all those people who clown on Jackie Chan, do some research. Rewatched Snake and Crane arts of Shaolin(my 80's VHS version) and remembered why he was so bad ass. It should be viewed by all kung fu film fans. Old time Wu fans will also recognize quite a bit from it as well.
What is it with different areas using different terms for things. Like Pop vs. Soda. The one recently that has been bugging me is " Did you go sleigh riding today?" My usual response is uhm, no. Where do they have horse drawn sleigh available? But then I ask, do you mean sledding? "Yeah". Who calls sledding, sleigh riding?
It's -11 degrees here right now. My furnace went out at about 8am and I went to fix it like I normally do. After about an hour of no success, I decided to test the transformer, like I've done about 100 times. This time however, it didn't go so well. I managed to have about 10K volts run up one arm, through my chest, down my other arm and back into the transformer. It hurt like a sonofabitch. But that thankfully I was touching the other side, because otherwise it would of probably blown a 10" exit hole out of some part of my body and killed me. So, yay me.
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 8 2 A K 2 folds, CO raises to $1.75, Hero raises to $4.50, 2 folds, CO calls $2.75
Flop: ($9.75) 6 8 4(2 players) CO checks, Hero bets $7.50, CO calls $7.50
Turn: ($24.75) A(2 players) CO checks, Hero bets $24.75, CO calls $24.75
River: ($74.25) T(2 players) CO bets $12.50, Hero calls $12.50
Final Pot: $99.25 CO shows J A 4 3 Hero shows 8 2 A K Hero wins $48.15 Hero wins $48.10 (Rake: $3.00)
Super thin, but villain had a really high 3bet%, so basically all suited A2xx's, AAxx AKKL etc. Pushed me off a couple of hands earlier, couldn't let it continue when I actually had equity, turned out more than I thought. Of course he flipped out, but I was actually a 54% fav.
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with A 2 K 4 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.50, CO calls $1.50, 2 folds, BB calls $1
Flop: ($4.75) J 4 5(3 players) BB checks, Hero bets $4.75, CO raises to $19, BB folds, Hero raises to $58.70, CO calls $39.70
Turn: ($122.15) 9(2 players)
River: ($122.15) J(2 players)
Final Pot: $122.15 Hero shows A 2 K 4 CO shows 6 A K 3 Hero wins $119.15 (Rake: $3.00)
And sometimes you just have to run good. Surprisingly enough, the BTN and I both had 37% equity, while the CO was at 27%. The BTN's spades and K were defintely favorable for me relative to the CO.
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with 3 2 Q A Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, CO calls $1.50, BTN raises to $6.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $5.25, CO raises to $27.75, BTN calls $11.50 all in, Hero raises to $48.75, CO calls $18.25 all in
Flop: ($111.00) T 5 Q
Turn: ($111.00) Q
River: ($111.00) 5
Final Pot: $111.00 CO shows 3 K A 2 BTN shows 8 2 A K Hero shows 3 2 Q A Hero wins $55.25 Hero wins $52.75 (Rake: $3.00)
Showing a bluff is something I rarely do, the circumstances have to be just right. At the end of this hand, actually right before I raised the turn, it struck me that this may be an opportune time to show. This was about 10 hands in with the villain.
Final Pot: $31.50 Hero shows A Q 6 4 Hero wins $29.95 (Rake: $1.55) He'd quickly run that stack up, in a matter of just 10 hands, playing basically any four and potting everything, resulting in either a scoop with some random crap 2 pr OTF that held or backed into a FH or inducing a fold OTR. As soon as he didnt pot here, him having a 5 was way less likely, when he min bet the turn, he WANTS to fold. I'm guesstimating a percentage here, but I'd say >95% of the time this bet means will fold to a raise. The other 5% means AAxx, regardless of the flop or turn. But not to digress, he had been making random comments, "I had it", "9's full", etc., that lead me to think he's an emotional player as well as a weak one tabler. I didn't want to underestimate him too much, so the next hand I wanted to make sure I had some equity. Turns out I had 70% OTF and 83% OTT, but assumed it to be closer to 50% against his range when I got it in.
Final Pot: $215.50 BTN shows 5 T A 9 Hero shows Q K 5 A Hero wins $212.50 (Rake: $3.00)
The villain ran it up and down again for a bit while slowly the table had become somewhat of a reg fest. Concern was growing that he'd dump his stack to some rock and it'd be over. I'd over limped/called a few marginal hands to try to flop well enough to get him in a big pot, but nothing was connecting, until this hand.
Turn: ($31.50) Q(2 players) UTG+1 bets $31.50, Hero raises to $126, UTG+1 raises to $140.75, Hero calls $14.75
River: ($313.00) K(2 players)
Final Pot: $313.00 UTG+1 shows 9 2 K Q Hero shows 5 3 5 A Hero wins $155.00 Hero wins $155.00 (Rake: $3.00) I like to think that the sequence of hands played a contributing role.  I do feel that laying a foundation with players is too overlooked as well.  Oh, a unique side not on this hand for me was it was the first time I had 99% equity on the flop without a full house+
Been rebuilding the bankroll the past few weeks. I say rebuilding as after my April withdrawal(leaving very little cushion) for taxes, mortgage, etc., I went on a nasty downswing into the beginning of May, then didn't play much as I was busy with work. So for the past few weeks I've been rebuilding, mostly at RUSH PLO8 and then some NLO8. I've been mostly playing RUSH as an addiction of sorts, as it was something I had a good deal of trouble adjusting to, a real rollercoaster ride of sorts, but something that had to be conquered. I've finally started to make some real strides with some observations:
It's extremely volatile if you play any sort of laggy game. The swings can be associated more to PLO than I ever thought. This primarily relates to two things, the player pool is generally a little stronger/reg filled than regular ring games and the basic fact that people are autofolding a lot more of their marginal hands than in regular games. I've found I have my best days when I play just shy of maniacal, my worst when I go a bit further into maniac territory.Â
For me, it's been a test of my tilt control. The swings, being closer to PLO, have really been difficult to adjust to as they're something I rarely experienced in regular ring games. With this, they are frequent and they can happen fast. I've run overall way below EV, but have still been pretty well in the black, around 4ptbb/100. Had I run closer to expectation, it'd be somewhere around 8 or 9ptbbs.
I've been taking a lot of notes and hopefully will be able to put together some short article or possibly a vid when I feel 100% about my thoughts. I hope to satisfy my desire to conquer it, completely, and soons as NLO8 is where my heart is. It's far from "everyone's solid":Â
Final Pot: $100.00 BTN/SB mucks 9 Q A 4 Hero shows 8 2 2 A Hero wins $49.75 (Rake: $0.50)
I like making things as well as restoring them, so today I got around to making a lamp I'd been putting off. It's out of a 19th C silver clarinet, mounted on a alabaster base I drilled. I think it came out pretty well.
I go way to long between posts and end up wanting to cram a bunch of stuff into one post. Going to try to cram now obv, but I'll try to keep each one short and maybe will expand later on.
RUSH, plo8 style. After an awful stretch, then completely quitting RUSH, I decided I couldn't give it up, that it needed to be conquered. So for the past 3 weeks that's primarily been what I've been playing. I think I've made the right adjustments and had some realizations to where I can beat it with consistency. A lot is PF, a bit is postflop and it may be different than others approach's, but it has been working for me. In another couple of weeks I'm going to see about putting together some video content. Another bit of content I'd like to put out is "And now for something different" featuring 5card draw(laugh all you want, but it's a great break from grinding for me, quite fun).
I'm currently looking for inspiration. I've been stuck in status quo for a while now, so I'm looking to break out. Networking, reading, learning, listening, all things I need to improve on. Recently some car(?) commercial has been using Pure Imagination as part of its ad campaign. Some may have noticed that that's my blog undertitle. I've been a fan of Pure Imagination for a long time. I youtube linked it a while back on Thundercats Hoooo(funny when I linked it then it had like 50k hits, now it over a million) and always wanted to sample the beginning of it, it has such a sick vibe to it, reminds me of Nautilus. And now I'm going to link it here too, for me as much as anyone else interested.
That's some bad hat, Harry. I don't talk about my daughter's exploits much, but this just amazed me, what a child is aware of. At the end of the closing credits for House, there's a quick animated short for their production company. All they say is, "That's some bad hat, Harry". Hadn't watched House for months. The other day, my daughter begged to watch Jaws. Strange for a kid, but obviously not much worse than half the stuff on TV these days. So I said ok. A little ways in, there's a scene where Brody is watching the beach, the day he wanted it closed because he didn't believe the shark was dead. An old guy walks up after getting out of the water, wearing his swim cap, and starts razzing Brody about not being a swimmer. Brody's comment? That's some bad hat, Harry. My daughter goes, 'Isn't that from the end of House?" I was amazed that a 7 year old would be that perceptive. It was eye opening.Â
I opened and read it, it said they were suckers. Actually it was two letters and they simply reinforced my opinion that government agencies are absolutely wasteful, dispicable entities.
I go to my business po box and there’s a legal collection letter. I think, great wtf is this about. I opened it and it was a collection letter on behalf state of Pennsylvania for some back tax owed from a few years ago before I cancelled my state resale certificate. Amount looking to be collected? $.06. So the state paid a a law firm to collect $.06? I wonder how much the lawfirm charges them. Hell, they lost money on postage alone. Seems pretty -EV.
The second letter I received at home, same day, from the good old irs. It appears after a review of my year 2000, that’s right, 2000, they found a mis-applied credit of $52. So of course they want their money immediately. However, they don’t want just their $52. Of course they need to apply penalties and interest. Total due with said penalties and interest- $478.36. WTF!? Legalized MAFIA, plain and simple. Instead of breaking your legs for not paying them, they’ll just loot your bank account, steal your house or throw you in prison. I often wonder what the founding fathers would think of the irs and how government operates these days in general. The thought of it makes me ill.
I haven’t posted many poker bits, haven’t posted much of anything really, over the past couple of months as since about the middle of March I’ve been on my worst run ever. I was approaching 35 bi -EV at one point. It was pretty demoralizing because at first it was some major swings, had 3 -8+ buy in days in a 2 week period, but then just became a slow and continuous runbad. After the big swing days I seemed to rebound over the next day or two, unfortunately after that it was, drop $100(no biggie by itself) when my EV was +$600, then again and again and again. I had to take out a modest chunk for taxes, as well as some other miscellaneous bills, so that didn’t help. Looking back i think I didnt leave enough of a cushion, nearly went online busto ffs, which ended up compounding the psychological affects of the swing.
So as of late I’ve dropped down a level to help rebuild some confidence, as I think a hit to confidence is inevitable in these situations, and done some serious analysis of my play to hopefully spot some leaks. I think I did come up with some that stemmed from tilt(at least historically they had) that I’m working hard to keep aware of.
This post somehow just got really long. I drag on too much at times. Next post will hopefully be an In a Nutshell summary(again any hh’s anyone wants to send in before the end of the weekend, do it!- see mixed forum thread) and a brief outline of my general coaching program.
Gonna end it with a little Tom Scott for your listening pleasure- Today
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