Recap of the past 5 days

Fri 1/29 - made chili
Sat 1/30 - won first place for chili.
Sun 1/31 - up $397 at Gemini Columbus
Tues 2/2 - up $475 at Gemini Columbus

Got through about half the field in the deeper stack at Dave's (58 people...wow) but folded myself out of contention down the stretch. No love. Lost 3 - $100 buy-ins in the cash game. I switched tables because Jamie had a monster stack, but he was getting some hands. I paid him off on a big pot where I had AQ and he had KK, and flop was Q high. He even rivered a K. I gave Chan my last hundo when his A had mine outkicked. I showed him the A, thinking he didn't have one. I am 0-3 when showing Chan cards, so that is not going to happen again.

Gemini in C-bus isn't nearly as nice and new as the Berea location, but their hours rock. They are open just about 24-7 and had been running a few days straight when I was there. The first night I made my $400 in about an hour off a couple Russians. I got JJ on my 3rd hand and he doubled up my $150 buy-in at the $1-3 (yes 1-3) table. I got his brother on a couple small pots and the first guy again later when I flopped a flush against his top-2.

Tuesday night was a tough table. There was a $2-5 Nautica regular there (little guy, looks like Rod Stewart, always wears a funny hat and girlie sunglasses) and he was sitting on about $4500, and pushing it around. Didn't mess with him much. Another Asian guy bought in for $2000 and I was sandwiched in between, and left shortly after that. Anyway, I managed to chip up about $400, lost it all back after this old fat lady called $25 preflop with 10-2 suited and flopped top pr vs my JJ. What is it with women in their 50's/60's and 2-pr? They seem to play any big/little suited hands and always hit 2-pr on me. It's either that or they play every A. I got a big chunk back from her later though after she missed the same straight I was chasing, but i had also hit a pr on the flop. I scraped it all back to a $475 profit and left at 4:30 am.

The 2nd session was certainly the best, not only because I cashed higher but I played well. I made a couple decent moves and laid down decent hands a couple times when I knew I was no good. I also managed to get up when my little man told me to. As soon as the Asian dude bought in for $2k, and started getting aggressive, I knew it was time to go.

...oh, and another cool thing about the C-bus Gemini...they have free wi-fi, and an ATM. There was also a coffee machine, which I didn't see at Berea.

I was down there for the annual education tech conference. Fell off the diet for a few days as you can see. Mon night went out with my coworkers for dinner, then Tues I met a couple friends from there in town. My friend's former frat bro is the GM at Hyde Park downtown C-bus, and he showed us some serious hospitality. He must have brought us about a hundred bucks worth of food, including the 10" high carrot cake. The chocolate cake was just as big and weighed 3 lbs. Nuts. Needless to say, I was a little over on the calorie count the last couple days.

We also went to see The Road, which is not playing in the Cleveland area. Pretty good movie. Very bleak and grim. Feel good movie of the year.

Hey Chan

For some reason I couldn't add a comment on your blog. Anyway...WTF are you doing laying down A's full? Awful laydown. I will NEVER EVER fold the 2nd nuts, especially a full house, unless someone shows me their hand. My guess is he was slow-playing a smaller full house. Bad fold. Bad. Very bad.

You have no guts.

Gemini Report

Had a good night overall. MUCH better experience than Nautica. No parking fees, no hourly $15, etc. The place is nice and clean with free snacks and soft drinks, though I had to pay $.50 for bottled water. I only had a couple bananas as snack because of the diet. The dealers are pretty fast and very courteous. Card shufflers would be a great addition.

Sat down at a $1-2 immediately after getting my membership papers, and chased a few hands that didn't pan out, and was down almost $70 when the tourney started. The tourney sucked, only because I got jack shit for hands, and only won the blinds 3 times before busting out after almost 2 hours. NOTHING hit the flop when I was able to see it. I only folded 1 hand that turned out to be a winner. 7-8 off. So, down $50 from the tourney. With the membership fee, I was down almost $145, and sat at another $1-2 after about a 20 min wait. One thing they do correctly is keep the main table full with must-moves. I wish they did this at Nautica. You often have several tables with 6-7 people, and sometimes very few chips in play.

I sat down with $150 and slowly built it up to almost $700 over the next 3 hrs. Played fairly tight for a cash game, but loosened up after I figured out who the donks were, and there were certainly a few at my table. One hand, I tried river bluffing a $30 pot by tossing out $20, and got called by A9 high (I missed an open-ender). I got it back a bit later after hitting a flush.

I hit 4 flushes and a couple straights to make most of my money. I cashed $690, up almost $550 with in that session, and up almost $400 on the night, even after the tourney, initial $1-2 loss, and membership fee.

There were some familiar faces there; some Nautica regulars, Riegler, Chan, Linda, RR Dave, Grayday, and Gross were all there. Even Pavel the Russian kid that used to play at Ken's was playing $2-5 and had a nice stack built up.

So, my initial thoughts are that this is a great idea, but it's hard to say how long it will last. I think that when the casino is built, legal or not, the state will find a way to shut them down if they feel money is being diverted from the casino. Until then, I'll play there before going to Nautica. It's cheaper and closer to home for me as well. The area is safer. One thing that worries me is the fact that the restrooms are open-air at the ceiling. A Doug Poker, TK, or MEATS could really cause some damage to the room if they have to do the nasty.

Tonight...cooking chili.

Wed night

So, I drop off some chicken paprikas for my dad/grandfather, and head over to the gun range to meet my brother and cap off some rounds (traded up a Kel Tec PF9 that I was having trouble with for an XD 9mm subcompact...sweet deal), but bro Diabl0 can't make it. I've been wanting to try out the new CC sidearm, so I went in by myself and fired off about 100 flawless rounds. Sweet gun. I have the 4" model in .40 with tac light at my bedside for home defense, and love it too.

So, I head downtown to Nautica, figuring to play the 7 pm tourney. I walk in and the place is EMPTY. Just the mgr teaching some dealers. I totally forgot they aren't open until Thursdays during the week. I hadn't been there since before my dad had his heart surgery, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Gemini was closed and no one else was having a game, so I just went home and ate a plate of paprikas. I have enough to have for dinner the rest of the week, since I am only eating a single plate a night. Snacking on apples and salad. Gay, I know, but I weighed in at 187 this morning. That's 16 lbs down and counting. The gut is going away.

So, back to this sweet gun deal. I placed an ad at swapgiant.com that I was looking for that particular gun, after getting a full refund for the Kel Tec, even though I got it way back in October. That thing was a total lemon. Most of the reviews I read were great, and everyone on the gun forums I read liked it as well, but this thing would not extract spent rounds. No stove piping. They were fully seated, with gouge marks from the extractor. Still wasn't fixed after I sent it in.

I get a response from a guy in Strongsville that will sell me his XD for $425 (A new model is about $460 +tax, and there is a long wait list) or he'd toss in 3 extra mags with finger extensions and a Crimson Trace laser grip for $550 total. I didn't want the laser at first, until I looked up what they cost...almost $300 new. So, I got the whole thing for $550, sold the laser on eBay for $225, kept the extra mags, and got a $460 gun and about $90 worth of mags for $325!! Basically about $30 outta pocket after the Kel Tec refund. Ordered a decent holster for it which should be here in a few weeks. The XD is a little bulky to carry, and I still have the LCP for deep concealment, but I can trust the XD to go boom if I ever need it to. Holds 10 +1 or 12 +1 with the finger extension mags.

No poker last week

Didn't get a chance to hit the new Gemini Club last week. I left my bank card in an ATM, and once the machine sucks it up, it becomes property of Diebold Corp (the company that makes the voting machines where they sell elections to the highest bidder) and you cannot get it back. My bank is all online (ING Direct) so I can't jsut walk in with my ID and pull out money. I think I'm gonna ask for a spare card.

Just got my new card this afternoon, so I'll be headed that way this week for sure. Probably play a tourney and some cash.

I'm down 14 lbs, to 189!

I'll be cooking an award-winning batch of chili this Friday night.

Weight loss

I've now lost about 11-12 lbs since 1/1. I haven't been this weight for about 10 years. Feels great.

The following "comedians" suck

* Jeff Dunham
* Wanda Sykes
* The fat bastard on TBS...Frank Caliendo

The above-mentioned, self-proclaimed comedians are not funny. They are the comedic equivalent of a burger and fries.

No poker news to report. I'll probably hit Nautica tomorrow night.

Back to running bad

Wed night at Dave's...

* My middle set of 7's vs Mailman's top set of Q's beat. We both flopped them.
* Stacked off to Grayday with AJ and a flop of J77. He had 7-8 off after calling $8 preflop.
* Small blind, I have 3-5 of spades, get to check it, see a free flop, and flopped a flush with gutshot SF draw. Get my stack in against Grayday (again), and he had flopped the nut flush from the BB with K6 of spades.

FUN FUN FUN!!!

Only real bright spot of the night was spotting Dave's quads after he hit them on the turn. His hesitation at calling my $10 bet screamed "I have quads!". Always does. I bet the same $10 on the river and of course he says..."raise". I said "I know", showed my AJ for the full house, and mucked. Board was 10-10-J-10-4. He showed the quads. I've had quads enough times to be able to spot them. If he'd quickly called my turn bet, or even raised it then, I'd have paid him off on the turn and river for sure. Saved me a bunch of money.

Anyway, I played fine again, with my only real mistake being the call from Grayday with my AJ. Didn't get beaten by dumb luck either...my good hands just weren't good enough.

Happy New Year

...and happy birthday to me.

The holidays were nice. Spent a lot of time with the family, and got a ton of rest.

After some brutal December beats, finally a cash game win at Dave's on Saturday. Got crippled in the tourney after some moron shoved with Q9 on the hand before break (always bad for me) I had pocket 10's, and knew he had junk, as he ALWAYS does. I've taken a ton of money off this guy over the past few years, and he mentioned one instance where I sucked out on him for $200. Whatever. He says "I thought you were making a move", after I'd shown nothing but great hands all night. He goes runner-runner straight after I hit a set on the turn. Oh well, I played good. Can't beat dumb luck, as usual. I just wish my hands would hold up after getting my money in way ahead.

Nearly doubled up on the first hand of the cash game after flopping a set of 5's, then just played conservative poker the rest of the night. Was up about $270 at my peak, and cashed out up $240.

December notes...lost $420 at Adam's just before Christmas and about $350 at Dave's way back in the middle of the month. 2 Sets cracked at Adam's, along with a flush beaten by a straight flush. I was down to my last $30 at Adam's, built it back to over $800, was gonna cash out, but didn't want to break up the game, and lost it all in about 20 minutes over 3 hands. Ouch. I'll go broke with a set EVERY time.

So I am hoping to play a bit more over the coming months. My dad is doing much better (but back to smoking like a chimney), so I don't have to be there every day to take care of him and Grandpa. I still stop by a few times a week to drop off containers of chow (lots of homemade goodness), and take them to the store/pharmacy. I want to play some more tourneys to sharpen up. Probably Nautica during the week.

I am also making a serious attempt to lose weight. I have lost about 8 lbs so far, but it has not been easy. I am probably eating about 1/3 to half of what I normally stuff down my throat, so it's a shock to the system. Major withdrawals for a few days.

I am however learning to appreciate food again. I hadn't realized it until now, but I can't remember the last time I got hungry between meals. I REALLY look forward to dinner. My basic plan is to stick with around 2000 calories a day (until I drop to 180 lbs, then go to 2500/day) by eating smaller portions and by cutting way down on sugar, fat, and dairy. No snacking, no eating out of boredom. So far so good.

No poker this week

Looks like I cant make it out to play this week with the weather and taking care of my dad/grandfather. SOON!!!

See you on the felt. In the meantime, enjoy this sweet video

The donkeys that roared

Sorry, been pretty busy lately. My dad was in the hospital and had open heart surgery the day before Thanksgiving, and we almost lost him. His blood refused to clot after the procedure and they pumped a bunch of blood into him. They managed to get him stabilized after a few tense hours.

Anyway, Tues before the holiday I went to Nautica and lost 4 freaking buy-ins. Riegler was at my table and I know he told the stories of these 2 lucky morons, so I am not going into it now, I don't have much time. Crazy night, and the 1 idiot left with nothing after building a $1600+ chip stack, a couple times! Ugh...

Then, Saturday, Jamie doesn't know how to lay down AJ high against my pocket 6's, and catches on the river. He is so bad. Hopefully he will never quit playing, because he is making no effort to improve. Lost a total of $250 or so Sat night. Ugh...gotta turn this around. Tomorrow.

The donkeys have to win eventually

Played great poker all night, hovering around even with $400 on the table. No cards most of the night. At 11:00, I got AA busted by 99. One guy makes it $20 preflop, Mr Pocket 9's makes it $100, I push for almost $400. Mr 9's claims he cant fold now and he's sure he's beat, and calls off his last $160-ish. You guessed it.

A few hands later, the rest of my stack went in when I hit top-2 with my AK. I shoved post-flop in the dark after my idiot opponent said he wasn't going anywhere (with his 3-card straight and 3-card flush). Runner...Runner...Flush. NH idiot. This guy is there spewing chips all the time, so no biggie. I'll get it back.

Lost 2-buy-ins.

Weekend update

Stopped by Nautica briefly on Friday while I had a minute, and won $267 in about a half hour. My AA held up against KK.

I later stopped by Colin's game and won $12 in about a half hour.

Another win at Dave's

Cashed $700 for a $500 profit last night. I was actually over $900 at one point but gambled a bit in the last half hour or so.

Started off stacking Dave with Q4 of spades when he made it $4 preflop, and I was in the blinds. Flopped 2-pr to crack his AA. I cracked Danny C's AA later with Q9, hitting 2-pr on the river.

Busted Grayday a couple times, as always. Got him with a 7-high flush after I flopped a pair, and he bet out on the river with 4 spades on the board. I knew he was spadeless. Correct! Later, I re-raised him preflop with pocket 10's. Rob M bets the 9-8-2 board ($20), GD calls, and I make it $100. Rob folds, GD shoves for almost $300 more. I finally call, and he shows a flush draw. No good. He wasn't happy. There was a long stretch there where he only showed me good hands, and lately it's been nothing but bluffs, so until he shows me some hands, he's getting called. Actually, if he had raised Rob's initial $20 bet instead of calling, I probably would have laid it down. I almost folded anyway.

I showed Rob a couple of sweet bluffs to take a couple nice pots. He had me beat each time but I had a decent draw. He cashed big. He hit everything last night. He made a couple of HUGE calls with crap like bottom pair (he had 8-2!!!!!), and then hit runner-runner boat against Colin. He must have had a half dozen boats. In the 8-2 hand, he called something like $30 on the flop with just a 2 and an 8 kicker.

Me and Hip got into a sweet hand. I have QQ, and Hip is on my right. He makes it $12 preflop and I toss $20 on top of that. Flop is AQ-10. Don't remember the flop betting, but we got it all in right then and there. I knew he didn't have AA, so I said "please just dont show me KJ", and he shows AQ. Whew, crushed!...Turn...A. NH sir. Hip forgot to slow-roll me, which would have been an awesome move. Nice 2-outer donkey. :)

So I seem to be stringing together some decent wins lately. Hopefully I can keep it rolling.

Nautica win

Cashed $517 on a single buy-in last night in 1 hour of play. No exciting hands to speak of, but there were a couple donks at the table. One guy was on tilt and tossing around no-look bets. I got a couple hundo from him. Called him once with bottom pair since I knew he hadn't looked at his cards. Love that guy.