Happy Christmas

I'm writing this post in the car on our way back from C-bus. Went down to visit the in-laws and nephews. Hooked them with some serious toys.

My apologies for not posting as often as I should. I'll get back to semi-regular posts ASAP. I've been busy at work, sick, and had a death in the family. Now I am on vacation until 1/5.

Poker has been uneventful as if late, no cashes in the tourneys and still can't win at $1 cash games. Still undefeated at $1-2 since Sept, so that and the tourney cashes have kept my bankroll in the black. I'm hoping to get to mountaineer this week. I am also going to read some basic Omaha strategy for the mixed tourney at Dave's tomorrow. I got pretty deep in the last one I played, and in fact did best at Omaha.

Last week at Daves I made 10th place after playing well after being nearly felted by players that cannot fold. Then I push against Chan's raise and he wakes up with KK vs my pocket 10's. Oh well. Chan had a monster lead yet barely made 4th. Mailman defeated Pyxis heads-up for the win.

Poker Update

Despite a dismal evening at Dave's on Saturday, I'm still upbeat this week after yet another win at Hip's game. 5-0 now. It was a crazy night. I made a $75 snap call on the river against Caveman in a $150 pot with A-high that was good. Everyone was aghast. I knew it was a stab. Calling a bluff like that or making a great laydown is so much better than hitting that miracle card on the river...although I did a little of that last night too.

I totally pwned Caveman last night. I pushed on him twice with the nut flush and he paid me off. I called him down twice with 10-2 suited (hit the 10 both times) and was good. I was on a bit of a roller coaster after Hip made a couple good calls against me (next time I WILL have a hand bro...or a least a better kicker lol), Uncle Bob hit his usual 2-pair with A-7 against my AJ, and even Knish got a piece of me. He flopped a set of 7's, bet all the way to the river (I just called, looking to hit the nut flush), and then the river pairs the K but also gives me the nut flush. I had put Knish on 2 pair or even a total bluff. He CHECKS the full house, and I bet out $50 (which was the same as the turn bet), and he just calls. I ask..."no raise?" He said I had him confused. My flat-calls apparently made him think I had a bigger boat? Either way, I saved a ton of $$ on that hand as I thought I was way good.

There was another guy there that came with his brother (seems to love to gamble) that was bleeding chips like crazy, I just couldn't get any of them. Hip had his number.

So the roller coaster went like this: Buy in for $200, down $100, add-on $200, up $400, down $100, up $350, then run for the door. I had been kicking myself for not leaving when up $400 and was lucky Caveman rebought several times and stuck around to keep me ahead. He was the only one I could beat. I'll take a win like that any day. I dont know what it is about the lower stakes game, but I really need to stay away from it and just play the donkaments.

Still undefeated at Hip's

Decided to let the heater roll last night and headed to Hip's to play the $1-2 cash game. My first table was pretty lame and after rebuying early I hovered between down $100 and up $100. I gave Con a nice chunk of change on one hand, but dont remember the specifics at the moment. Something like middle pair on flop then open-ender, then hitting my kicker for 2-pair (or tripping up) only to be hit with a straight....or something to that effect.

Anyway, there wasn't much money at that table so as soon as a seat opened up at the main table I jumped on it. Uncle Bob, Charlie (still playing every pot together), Gross, Hip...there was some action on this table. Ended up calling UB down with bottom pair, getting open-ended on the turn, and finally hitting on the river. I also flopped a flush on him for a big pot. Superior play rules the evening. Hey, a win is a win, right? I am still ahead of Slacks in $$ won this year for sure. Talk all you want about my skill, but the bottom line is what counts. :)

2 straight first place finishes

Pretty good weekend! Played the cash game on Wed night and actually won $20!! Woo hoo!!! I'm going to have to throw a freaking party. There was also a guy with 1 hand visiting from NC, and looked us up on meetup.com. TK was sitting next to him, so I sent TK a text: "when you tell that guy nice hand, it's literal"...TK couldnt stop giggling. He then asked him how he lost his hand, and he admitted that he was trying to make a bomb. WTF??? Of course, TK segues right into "I work for an explosives company". Hilarious. Anyway, we had a great time.

Thanksgiving was great as always. I cook a mean turkey. Mashed potatoes made with Yukon Golds...mmmmm! Killer stuffing and all the other trimmings. Just had the family over. Grandpa will be 95 in 6 days. (12/7) Gonna have to take some chicken paprikas over for him.

I missed the caravan to WV on Friday, after all the hype. I turned off my alarm clock, happy that I didn't have to work. TK even called but I didnt hear the phone. Oh well, next time. Glad I didnt go anyway, everyone lost.

Played Dave's "deeper stack" tourney on Sat, and actually won it all. 26 players I think. I got VERY lucky a couple times. Put a couple great bluffs down on Matt G and Doc Donator. Folded JJ to Hacker before we got into the money. I just wasn't ready to get crippled if I lost, so I laid them down. At the final table I was all-in with A5 suited, got 2 callers, who each had pocket pairs. Spiked an A on the flop and that was all she wrote. Later, I had the pleasure of taking Chan out, calling his push with K-10 vs. his 9-6 suited. Flopped 2 pair. Buh bye. The biggest luck shot came later when I blasted Father Time to get us down to heads-up. I had an A4 off, and the flop was Q4x with 2 diamonds. I call the flop bet and get another diamond on the turn, and FT pushes. I had told him earlier that "next time, I call" after making a fold with middle pair. I pondered a few minutes and made the call. Flushed on the river.

Almost gave it all away to Hacker during heads-up play. I got him to go all-in after just calling with my AQ. He had A3 and nailed the 3. I dont remember what hand actually won it, but I got the winning hand shortly after talking about a chop. I wanted to play it out. I have had pretty good luck after refusing to chop. So much for superstition.

Being a $50 tourney, 1st place paid well...$590. Gave some back at the cash game of course. Misplayed flopping the nuts that turned out NOT to be the nuts on the turn. Shit.

So anyway, the non-existent POY race that Theo is keeping track of has me in the lead. The top 6-7 players are actually interested now that things are heating up. Should be fun to watch going into spring.

Tourney win and cash game loss

First place in Dave's Sat night tourney! The usual combination of tight/aggressive play and a sprinkling of good luck. Then I sat down and played some $1/1 HA, and immediately got up almost $200, until Chan pushed on me with his draw and I had hit top 2 with AQ. He had a flush draw and gutshot, and hit the flush. I then lost a big hand where I thought I had a straight but misread my cards. Oops. Ended up losing $100 playing cash, so I still came out ahead, but once again I stayed too late.

Meats and our local pro player Hiphop were there. Meats got sucked out. He almost certainly would have cashed for the third week straight if he hadn't.

OK, sorry for the lack of posts

So Saturday, I took some chili out to Amherst and watched the Buckeyes game with some friends at the hunt club my friend belongs to. The weather was too ugly to shoot a round of skeet, so we just hung out and talked about old times.

Went to Dave's in the evening and jumped on the roller coaster. Bottom line...an $8 loss for the night. I only had $55 for the cash game (after finishing 10th or 11th in the tourney. no cards) and that immediately went bye-bye. So I borrowed $100 from Dave and built it up to over $300, then lost about $100 calling down Dave who hit his kicker with some kinda crap. I tilted a bit and gave some more away after that. I just cant figure out how I am playing differently there than at a $1-2 or 2-5 game. I do think I need to be a bit more aggressive and raise more often when someone bets out and I have what I think is a better hand. I also should have quit when I was ahead too. Live and learn. Or not.

Spent a lot of Sunday downloading movies online, and pirating a few I had rented via Netflix. Packed up a laptop I bought on Craigslist for $40 from a pawn shop and sold on eBay for $160. Nice little profit. There are a couple of others I am looking at as well that I may resell. Pays for poker.

Weekend

I missed Dave's on Saturday, dammit. I guess the cash game was juicy. Meats even showed for the tourney from what I hear.

Damn...busy at work, I'll have to post more later.

The election is finally over

The people have spoken. Now if everyone will just STFU, maybe we can get back to playing cards and having a good time.

Somewhere out there, Rush is popping an oxy tablet, grumbling about socialism.

-Ron Paul in 2012!!!!

Happy Election Day

Thankfully it's finally over. Maybe everyone on the message board will STFU about politics.

Ron Paul in 2012!!!!!

Recent purchase

Got a used Beretta 96D Centurion .40 for $200 last week. It's the black one next to my Taurus PT-99. I'm going to order some rubber grips for it this week. I have shot it once, and it shoots like a Beretta, nice and smooth. It has a spurless hammer and it's double action-only, (no safety) so the trigger pull is a little long, but not too stiff. It has some wear and tear but for $200 it's a steal. I already have a standing offer of $350 for it. I'll take it out to the range this weekend with Slacks.

Cash game success

Finally a win at Dave's cash game. No love in the tourney. Dennis called a monster raise preflop with 7-9 sooted and caught a gutshot/flush draw. No way he's laying that down. Of course he hit it, he was hitting everything Saturday night. (and he thinks he's just good)

Hacker was back for a 2nd week. I think he busted in the HA game, which turned out to be a "let's put all our money in and see who wins" type of game. I dont get this. The Omaha players think they are so high and mighty like Omaha is a finesse game. WTF? Data refuses to play NLHE, yet sits down in a pot limit game with the likes of Theo and Big Timmy. Whatever.

Anyway, had a pretty good cash game. Called EVERY bet Jamie made on the river if I was still in the hand, and came up the winner about 75% of the time. He's pretty awful, but he'll rebuy 3 or 4 times. One thing I need to do is start raising Dave W early in the hand if I think my hand is good. It usually is if I have that gut feeling, but he seems to catch his money card on the turn/river every time.

So, I was up about $400 when I get big slick and put in a raise. Father Time and 1 other player call. Flop is A Q 10. Father Time bets, I call, the other player folds. Turn is the J, giving me the nuts. No flush possible yet. Joe, bets and I just call again. I had put him on KQ, so I figure we're chopping after I misplay the hand. River pairs the Q, and Joe pushes the last of his chips in. I call, saying "OK, let's chop it up", a little pissed at myself. Joe shows Q 10...ugh. Cost me over a hundo. I did manage to get some back. We played until what was technically 5 am because of the time change. Good times.

Dave thinks he's gonna have a cash game this week sometime. I'll give it a shot, mostly because it's so close to home.

BTW... Fuck the Browns

1st Place

Took 1st at Dave's last night, woo hoo. Here's a shot of the final hand. I had 8-9 in the first hand of heads-up and Ryan Thoms called of course. I'll post a couple of hands and more details sometime soon.

That's it...no more fifty cent games

Played at Ken's last night. Lost $150. I just cant win at the fifty cent game. Uncle Bob pulled a boat out of his ass with 4-6 off. I had J-6 of spades in the SB in an unraised pot. Flop was 66x...he called me all the way until the river when I pushed...he caught his 4. I cant lose at $1-2, and cant win at $.50-1.00

Gibran showed up...hadn't seen him in months. TK was also there, along with Felix. No Gross/Caveman/Ryan/Paoli combo. Charlie actually played low stakes.

Poker update

Let's see...it's been a while since I've updated...Tuesday before last I went to Ken's and lost. I just cant seem to win at $.50-1.00. I dont think I play any different.

The following Friday I decided to check out Nautica's indoor complex in the Flats. It's right across the hall from The Improv, where the arcade used to be. I dont know how many tables were available, but about 1/3 of them were full at 6pm on a Friday. Just before I sat down, I learned a friend of mine, the network admin for Avon, had been killed in an accident. He got hit by a car on his scooter that he'd bought to save $$ on gas. Bummer. We weren't best friends or anything but me, him and Fish have lunch together at least once a month, and used to do it a couple times a week. He had a wife and 2 kids and was a great dad. RIP...

So, I sit down with a min buy-in of $300 at the $1-3 NL. 2nd hand I get an 8-9 or 6-7 suited, make a small raise, get 2 callers, and flop the nut straight. There is a bet of $40, a fold, and I put $100 on top, and get called. There is not flush draw or pair on the board and I have the total nuts. Turn puts out a brink but a 2nd club, and I push all-in for about $175-ish. CALL!! We flip our cards, and this guy had a gutshot for a lower straight, and 4 clubs. Who wants to guess the river? Yes, I lost the hand. AAAAGGGHHHHHHH!!!

I re-bought, played for a couple hours and lost another $150. Just nothing happening. I paid a total of $50 for 2.5 hrs in the seat, which is completely stupid. If that hand had held up, I think I would have played out another hour and got out, but since I was stuck, I tried to get it back. Oh, well, lesson learned. The place would be a gold mine if you can hit some hands.

I took the following Tuesday off because I shelled out $800 to Ken W to fix my Sebring, which my wife drives. It needed brakes all around (pretty much all the hardware), tie rods, bearings, tires, an alignment, and an oil change. Ken did it all except the tires, which I'll wait on until next month. He did a great job, and it would have cost double anywhere else. It's like having a new car. Hopefully we'll get a chance to put the top down again once more this fall. I think in the spring I'll get a new ragtop installed. The current one leaks.

So, Saturday at Dave's. Had a decent tourney. Took out Julie and Bill D after I caught AA in early position and just limped. They each pushed pre-flop and my hands held up. Actually, I made A's full both times, and once in the cash game with them as well. I had a huge stack going into the final table, but couldnt catch anything. I ended up in 3rd after a 2-man bust-out. Puts me in 3rd place for the "POY race" thast Theo is keeping track of. I wish now that I'd attended all the tourneys. I'll definitely be at the more expensive ones, as well as the bounty tourney coming up.

The cash game was cool, but I gave back a bunch of my winnings. Some new guy named Jamie just couldn't miss. He sucked out on Colin a few times, who'd already been smacked by the 2nd place tourney finisher. Colin flopped the nuts/nut straight, and he hit runner-runner flush with his AK. I had just remarked that he was still in tourney mode after he raised big. I put him on AQ. Close enough. Sick suckout. It was just one of those nights for me. I got back above even at one point, and my little man started screaming to get my $$ off the table and be happy with a $25 win, but NOOOOO....gotta start listening!!! I have an uncanny instinct about knowing when I've hit my high mark for the night, but often igonore it. Kinda like TK in Vegas. "You think I'm ever leaving this table?"

I also managed to snap a shot of some female asscrack. She came with a guy at my table, so I didn't want to be too obvious.

Me, Mailman, Matt G, Theo, and RR Dave went to breakfast at 5am. Colin was supposed to join us but never showed. Matt was supposed to go to Mountaineer with Doc Donator at like 8 am. Not sure of he made it, but he'd had a shitload to drink. I couldn't have done it, so if you made it Matt, I salute you.

Oh, and by the way....fuck the Browns.

This is a test

Testing a new blogger app on my iPhone...

BBJ Tourney hands

I had the high hand for the entire tourney, although there were 2 sets of quads where there was no call on the river. I had A's full of 8's and nearly stacked the player to my right (John??). He had an A. It's a freaking miracle! Risk your whole stack on top pair. I flopped the set of A's and bet hard all the way, going all-in on the river and doubling up. TY sir.

The next interesting hand, I called a 3.5x raise by Ken Walker. I put him on a big A and I had 55. I figured he push on the flop regardless of whether he hit or not, so all I needed was a low flop. Well, I got what I wanted. Flop was 9-3-2, rainbow. Ken goes all-in and I pretty much insta-call. I flip my pocket pair and Ken semi-slow rolls me, not showing his set of 3's until the turn card. River is a 5...ship it!!! Ken went ballistic..."that's bullshit!"...talking about what a bad call it was and how he's tired of getting sucked out on by donkeys. I mentioned that I had a much better hand pre-flop, and his reply was "not when the money went in". True. I put him on a hand, made a decision, was wrong, and got lucky. Move on. I didnt bitch at Ken at his place on Tuesday when he called $15 preflop with K2 suited and got lucky.

Most of the suckouts I've dealt to Ken were the result of him checking a big hand hoping to trap. I'd check and hit or he'd just call my bet. Not my fault he let me catch up. Oh well, I'm surely not changing my gameplan to suit his needs. I'm winning 100% of the time at $1-2 in just over a month and 4 sessions. Lower stakes is another story. I should just give it up, or quit when up $100.

Poker week in review

Tuesday at Ken's:

Nothing much to speak of. I did win a hand with 4-5 people in the hand...there were 4 hearts on the board, and I had pocket 2's with the 2 of hearts for the winning flush.

I was up about $250 at my peak but Ken called a good sized bet preflop with K-2 sooted and flopped trip 2's against my 10-10 on an 8-high board. I ended up giving him about $150 on that hand. (and Ken bitches at me all the time for getting lucky)

I was about even up to the last hand when I pushed against Laidman when I hit my A on the flop with a suited A5. He had AJ and won. Finished down $90.

Friday at TK's:

23 players in the BBJ. I finished 4th, winning $230. I also profited $170 in the cash game, so it was a pretty decent night. If I had quit on Tuesday when my little man was screaming at me, I'd be up around $2K this month. Instead, it's about $1700. Still not bad. If I can pull $500/month average I'll be happy as hell. It's a car payment. Another great thing is that I'm keeping my losses much smaller than my wins, so even if I do lose a few in a row, it hopefully will not be a huge bankroll hit.

I'll add more tourney details later this week. There were a few interesting hands.

Saturday night at Dave's

2nd in the tourney, $320...not bad. Played well, got lucky, and hit some hands. All the ingredients of a tourney win. I also finished up $145 in 2 hrs of cash game. Pretty good night overall. Great tourney structure.

I'm now up almost $1500 in less than 3 weeks. I feel a heater coming on.

Part of my post from the CPMG board:

I went on a run there with AA twice (2 sets), and AK about 5 times, along with various other decent hands that played well. I won a big race vs. Dave W and got very lucky vs Father Time. I also made a pick-off sweet call vs Twitch for $4000 chips in a roughly $5500 chip pot. I called with 66, board had mostly paint and was paired. I call, Twitch mucks. NH sir. Mailman said something to the effect "I think there was some history in that call".

RIP Paul Newman

Paul Newman, my all-time favorite actor, has died at 83. The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Color of Money should be on everyone's top 100 films list.

I also have 2 of his salad dressings in my fridge, lol.

HipHop's Tuesday night

Quite a few new faces at Hip's on Tuesday. There were like 4 guys I'd never seen before. Check out the pic, I hadn't seen this donk in a long time either. I gave him a couple hundo...he had me outkicked on 1 hand and called my river bluff when I missed a monster draw.

I was up about $250 at my peak but cashed $140 in the positive. I knew the $250 was going to be the best I could do that night too. Gotta listen to the little man in my head. Just one of those nights where I wasn't really "on" and wasn't catching either, so any profit is good on those nights. I actually caught myself slipping into the mindset that "if I can't win $500, then I dont mind losing $200"...I've been guilty of this in the past. I managed to pull my head together and recover. I won 2 more pots then cashed out. 3-0 at Hip's, but I cant win at $.50-1.00. WTF???

I'm gonna play Dave's tourney and cash game again this weekend but if I dont win at the cash game, I'm hanging it up for a while. Saturday nights that is.

Dohar was pushing a Vegas trip. I probably cant make it at least until spring. Damn.

For any geeks out there

These are great...

Screw the kiddie table

I'm seriously considering not playing the cash game any more at Dave's. Too many suckouts by terrible players. This past weekend it was Fireman Frank and some new guy. No one knows how to lay down a hand. Any pair is worth $100 or more. Oh well.

Played OK in the tourney but got nowhere. Below average all night. No big hands. Tom Gross, HipHop, and Karl Tsu were there. Big tourney. Theo and Nunzio Posante the Jewish Eskimo were 1st and 2nd.

The only bright spot was I think we found a perfect match for Data. Check out the top 2 pics, they look exactly like each other. Her name is Linda and I'm pretty sure I gave her a CPMG card at St Rocco's a few weeks ago. The guy to the right of Data is the new guy that sucked out on me. Runner-runner for a flush, but he thought his A-6 high was a good all the way.

I will be watching very little football for the rest of the season, barring some miracle. Sundays are now wide open again. Call me a fair weather fan, but I think teams need to earn my viewership. They are entertainment after all. I dont watch any other TV shows that I dont find entertaining, and watching my team get their asses kicked week after week is not entertaining.

Not a bad weekend despite the weather and sports. Took Alesha to dinner Friday night then went to see a percussion group at Baldwin Wallace. The group was called "Africa West Percussion Trio" described as "performing African, Afro-Cuban and traditional classical percussion music." We were expecting some individuals with African roots, but got 3 dorky white guys instead. They were good, but quite stiff and lacking "soul". See pics.

It RAINED Saturday like you wouldn't believe. I was at a shooting class all day so no big deal. Got home in time to shower and head to Dave's for poker. Played well in the tourney, but ran into Julie's KK with my QQ just before the final table. At least she didn't waste my chips...she went on to take 1st place. The heater continues for her. She had also placed the night before in TK's BBJ tourney. Dohar got into the money as well. We miss you Dohar! Father Time was there at Dave's also. Good to see he's still with us. He smokes Pall Mall without filters. That's some bad shit! He probably had one in his mouth as he stormed the beach at Normandy.

I played decently in the cash game as well and was up a little over $100 but ran into Twitch's well-disguised straight, beating out my 2 pair and taking most of my profit. The quality of my cards and my play went downhill from there, and I lost a little over $100. Not sure if I'll make it this weekend, I may get out and enjoy the weather if possible.

Had another great night at Hip's last night, finishing up $340. I was actually up almost $600 until the last hand where I chased an open-ender/flush draw against Charlie, who I had basically owned all night. His KK ended up being good after I totally whiffed on the turn and river. I put a decent bluff on Charlie earlier in the night by check-raising with a very similar draw, but I dont think he would have laid down the KK, especially since he was on his 2nd or 3rd buy-in. He goes into full gamble mode if he has to rebuy more than once. Oh well, I gambled and would have been up nearly a grand again, but cashed out right after that anyway with a decent profit. 2-0 vs the old $1-2 crowd. No one at that table makes me nervous any more. Used to be Charlie did, but he really telegraphs his hands with his betting patterns. I can mix it up and disguise my hands pretty well. Go ahead, try to put me on a hand! If anyone makes me nervous, it would be inexperienced donks that call everything, never raise, can't be bluffed.

As for the sporting events over the weekend, not much to say. Season is probably over for the Browns, unless Pittsburgh is plagued by injuries and bad luck. The Buckeyes didn't even show up, and the Tribe was out of it a long time ago.

HipHop's Gizame

First off, I heard from Hip this morning that he totalled his car. Hope he's OK and everything works out. Pics please!!! :)

Thanks HipHop for hosting and letting us raid the fridge. It was worth the 45 minute drive. There were a couple of new guys that seemed pretty cool and instantly fit right in. Dave the Mute was there. (new nickname?) He has never fit in. He plays Ken's game and never says a word, just sits and folds, then checks his big hands. If he EVER check-raises you, FOLD IMMEDIATELY unless you have the nuts. Strange guy, he almost never says a word. Tell a joke now and then dude!! Laugh at a joke. Crack a smile. Uncle Bob, Charlie Ha, e-Rock, caveman, Eddie J, Doug C, Brad "I cant get" Laidman, Gross, Lawyer Jen, and a couple other familiar faces that I cant put names to were also in attendance. 2 full tables. I forgot to snap a couple pics. When we broke down into 2 tables, I really wanted to be at the other one, it seemed pretty soft, but everything seemed to work out fine.

OK, OK, blame it on luck. I did hit some hands, but people are willing to pay me off for them. Do I really bluff that much that no one ever believes me? Charlie certainly bluffs more than I do. Uncle Bob too. In fact, I only bluffed once last night, and 2-3 times on Saturday night. The one vs. Grayday was perfect.

Anyway, long story short, I sat down at Hip's just before 8 pm last night and cashed just before 11 pm, up nearly a grand. Charlie and Uncle Bob were my personal ATMs. I bought in for $200 and was down to $50 when I reloaded another hundred. With Charlie, I flopped middle pair and an open-ender with something like 6-7 suited, Charlie bet and I called until I hit runner-runner for the flush on the river, and went all in. Charlie will call with just about any pair. I later got him with 6-7 again, flopping 2 pair and rivering a boat.

So it went on like that. I flopped 2 boats, chased a few straights and flushes that hit, etc. I had JJ and made it $10 then Charlie made it $30 with his AK. Uncle Bob is in of course. Flop is AAJ, and I had already checked in the dark. It checks around. I check again on the turn, and Charlie puts out a nice bet, UB folds, and I bump it by about 1.5x, putting Charlie all-in. He calls and doesn't catch.

I have AQ of hearts and put $10 on top. I dont remember who else was in the hand, except for UB. Flop is A-heart-heart. UB checks and I bet something like $40 and UB makes it a smooth hundo to go. I call and hit the nuts on the turn. UB leads with $100 and I push. He has about $100 left and calls with his single pair (he has A3 off...I had him the whole way) ...Ship It!!!

I folded a ton of winners as well. Nice to catch hands and have them hold up for a change. Charlie and UB (and many others that play $1-2) really seem to over-commit themselves with very marginal hands. Sure, I still do it on occasion but I have really learned the lesson NOT to go broke with a single pair. Been burned way too often...as recently as last weekend.

So that's 1 win in a row. Finally, a winning streak!

Movie Reviews

Whatever you do, don't waste your time/money on Doomsday. Sucked ass. It's a terrible cross between Mad Max, Escape from NY, I am Legend, and 28 Days Later. Awful movie.

There Will be Blood, on the other hand, was excellent. This is a movie with the message that money cant buy happiness. Although, I'm a genuinely happy person to begin with, so a ton of money would certainly add to it. Anyway, interesting movie with great characters.

Another good one...AKA Tommy Chong. This documentary chronicles the investigation and arrest of Tommy Chong for selling glass bongs online. He was basically set up by the feds.

Shooter was pretty good if you like the action thriller.

I had to see Catch Me If You Can again recently after reading the book. Good movie, but the book is even more fascinating. There is much that the movie left out, including several other cool scams he pulled.

TV-wise, I've been watching Dexter and Californication (via Netflix of course). I got the first few episodes of The Wire but couldnt really get into it for some reason. Just seemed a bit too choreographed to me. I also just added The Sarah Conner Chronicles to my Netflix queue.

The return of Dave's game

Woo hoo...Dave's game is back. Nice and close, great venue, and updated lighting. I bought in late and was behind immediately. Didn't win a hand and was out within 30 min. Ugh. Julie won the tourney and a few others chopped. Nice job Julie. She also placed in an online tourney this weekend as well. What a great feeling to be on a roll like that. It's been a while for me. Last year starting in January, I was down to the last $700 in my bankroll, and went on a run that built it up to $13k. Seemed no matter where I played, I couldnt lose. I cashed positive about 80-90% of the time in cash games. I even went 16 straight sessions without a loss. These days...

The cash game was ripe for the picking...I should have been up well over $200 if it weren't for dumb luck. Instead I lost a couple hundo. I wont go into it here because I vented on the CPMG board, but I will say that I will sit at that table with those same players any day of the week. Me and Colin were joking that if we could play against those guys every day we could quit our jobs. I'll get them next week.

So that was my Saturday night. Sunday...football!!! I was pretty psyched about the start of a new Browns season, especially after the 10-6 showing they gave us last year, which could have been 12-4 easily, if we lived in any other city in the US. At least they were watchable and were fairly exciting.

Yesterday...not so much. Freaking pathetic is more like it. No D...No O...nothing. A 27 yard punt. Penalties out the ass (except for a penalty-free 1st qtr). Dropped TDs. I'll get to the FG in a minute.

I watched the game at Fish's place after biking over there. I made it to his place in 1 hour via the Black River Reservation. About 12 miles total, which is damn good for a mountain bike with fat tires. Fish has a sweet man-cave set up in his basement. 108 inch HD screen with projector. We cooked wings, ribs, and Fish even baked brownies. Our old storm chase buddy Russ (Russ Jeske from the WTAM golf show) was there, I hadn't seen him in quite a while, probably about a year. We talked old times and had some laughs. Watched his dogs swim in the pool. Those little Jack Russell's have some serious energy. Speaking of storm chasing, I'll have to add some pics and a couple stories sometime.

So, back to the game. Earlier in the day Pittsburgh kicked the shit out of Houston by 3 TDs and it wasnt that close. The Browns looked worse than the Texans. The only real bright spots were the 9 min drive to tie the game at 7 (We're thinking "yeah, this is gonna be a game!") and the interception in the end zone. Other than that, there was zero pressure on Romo, so they just passed to their heart's content. TO did a bit of showboating that cost a penalty. Braylon dropped a sure TD. We cant blame this loss on the QB...Anderson actually looked OK. This loss was a complete team effort.

We're down 21 pts with about 10 min left. It's 4th and (I think) 3 0r 4 to go. Romeo decides to kick a FG!!!! WTF???? Boggles the mind. We're still down by 3 TDs.

If we go 0-2 next week and look this bad vs the Steelers, I'll be freeing up 3 hours every Sunday afternoon for other things.

Weekend poker and Google's new browser

Google launched a new internet browser yesterday that seems pretty speedy so far. Check it out: http://www.google.com/chrome

Made it to St Rocco's this weekend for some cards. Played well but was on the roller coaster and ended up down a buy-in. Got KK cracked twice, once by an idiot calling $100 cold with Q 10 off. Q on the flop and river after I push for another $200. Wow. He had over $1000 in front of him and gave it all away in about 45 minutes.

Dave W.'s game returns this weekend, that's always fun.

Labor Day weekend was perfect weather-wise. Did some grilling, biking, hiking, etc. Me and the Mrs. are going to be planning a NYC vacation soon, hopefully in mid October. Gonna take a train, which should be very cool.

I'm back! With a great tan...

Sorry for the long delay in updates. I've been busy as hell at work and at home.

Enjoy some pics from the past few weeks...

Me and Coleman at the Browns game. Thanks JC for the ticket. We barhopped back to his place where my ride was waiting. Check out Porn Star #69...bastard stole my original Poker Stars nickname. JC also points out the vomit chunks in the sink. A lot of people seemed to be tossing back their nachos. Must have been something in the cheese.

TK's birthday party. Good times, good food, lots of rain. Me and Slacks saw a chupacabra in TK's back yard.

eRock's garage game with the Joose. Good stuff. I was up over $120 in $.25-.50 game, but gave most back to Vinnie in a few hands. Vinnie likes to go all-in on just about anything when he's had a few, and I like to call all-in's when I've had a few. I ended up losing $3. I loaned Vinnie $50 after a bust out and he ends up profiting like $170. Bastard.

Island hopping with Slacks and friends (thanks Slacks for the invitation). We had a great time. Saw a man with a fine Corinthian leather epidermis. Lots of drunks. My kind of place.

Klan sheep at the Lorain County Fair. I was appalled to see this at my home county fair.

You should be seeing me back at a poker game again sometime soon. I plan to get out this weekend, either to eRock's or a casino. Dave W's game resumes next weekend. I'll certainly be there for that one, and may even bring Fish.