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.