Hella Hold'em

The true indicator that summer is almost over is that I have almost cleared out all of the poker show re-runs on my TiVo.

An alternate indicator is that I've actually been able to play a little poker lately, and when not completely card-dead, I've been doing alright the past couple weeks. Thank goodness - the August bills will be a little tight, so I will need to invoke the Cash-Out Curse on Full Tilt...

Poker has settled into its own little niche in my life. I don't pore over poker books obsessively like I used to, though I do pick up a good one every now and then, and occasionally re-read ones I've got. I still thoroughly enjoy watching poker on TV - but not *any* poker. I won't waste my time with the more poorly done shows, just because it's poker. But High Stakes Poker or Poker After Dark still hold my attention. And I love playing, whenever I can - even more if I can get out to the casino.

I like thinking about poker. I do still pore over statistics, and review plays, and think about how I might have done things differently. I love debating poker strategy. The thinking part of poker is right up my alley.

I've come to accept that I'll never really be great at poker. I don't have the proper intuition to read players consistently. I can read situations, but when the situation falls outside the realm of predictability, and into the mind of a crafty opponent, I'm generally lost. I'm not aggressive enough, and at the rate that I have gained aggressiveness over the years, I'll be 98 years old before I play with acceptable quantities of aggression.

No, I'll never be great, but it is nice to run well enough to pay a bill or two every so often. And really, that's about all I ever wanted out of my investment in learning the game.

I do love that there's always something new to learn. I've been fascinated lately with Tom Dwan. I'm typically not a fan of the punk ass kids, but something tells me he is smart enough to adapt and grow with the game - because I'm sure once everybody plays like him, and everybody figures him out, he won't be successful anymore. But that whole notion of adapting makes me think of Gus Hansen. He had this wild, crazy image for so long, but very quietly tightened up his game - all the while, people playing him like he's insane. The smart ones make like Gumby and bend. I think Dwan is going to prove to be one of the smart ones.

And he's from Jersey, and though I only lived in Jersey for a brief handful of years, it's kind of like the home I'll always long for. That was a pretty amazing time in my life, way back when.

Really, this blog post is all about procrastinating a gargantuan task I'm about to undertake. I've got about 100 books stacked on my poker table right now (see the tie-in?), from when I had my upstairs living room painted. I want to move the bookshelves and books downstairs... but oy, they are heavy, and there are many of them... so I've been putting this off for weeks, but alas, I need my living room back. And so it goes...

I hope everybody's doing well - I certainly don't make it out to Vegas as often as I'd like, but I do think about ya's often....

Yeah, that poker thing!

Forgot about that!

Home games don't happen around here as often as they used to. It's a shame, as live poker is my favorite. Favoring home improvements and my new photography hobby, I don't really maintain a bankroll to play at the boats anymore.

Thank goodness Full Tilt exists, both for the occasional fix and to keep poker around my world.

Look at that - my favorite hand, first hand in!

Fold.

Hehe. 97-off doesn't do so well for a 10xBB raise preflop.

I see there are a couple episodes of High Stakes Poker waiting on my TiVo. I wonder if they're re-runs or new... though I don't mind the re-runs. I rarely remember the whole show anyway, as often I'm playing online while watching.

Dave Matthews Band tour dates have been announced. I will definitely be at Alpine Valley (Milwaukee, WI 8/9-10) and Bridgeview (Chicago-ish, IL 6/6). St. Louis (6/7) and Toronto, Ontario (Canada 6/18) are possibilities. If anyone is going to any of the shows, holler! I will miss my absolute favorite venue this year (Deer Creek, IN aka Noblesville). I'll be in Boston that week, boooo :( Well, not booo, as I absolutely love Boston, but booo for missing DMB at my favorite place. Boston will be awesome, though. Been there once before and can't wait to go back!

Sweet! Tripled up right outta the gate. Flopped a King-high spade flush with KJs, versus set-over-set. Only of FTP, right?!

I may make a visit to Potowatomi Casino this summer while up at Milwaukee for DMB. You never know...

I like flopping sets on uncoordinated boards. This game ain't so bad!

Let's see, what else is new in my world?

I set up a home darkroom in my garage last weekend. (Just folded the hammer). I'm enjoying black and white film photography (though I'll likely stick with digital for color). I've registered for my next two photography classes this summer - Digital Darkroom and Basic Lighting. (Damn - flop 7-5-2! Shouldn't have folded that hammer!)

I attended Severe Weather Spotter Training from the National Weather Service over spring break, so I'm now an official spotter. Bring it on, tornado alley! :) One of these springs I will go storm chasing. There's a great program offered by a local college here, involving a 10-day driving trip through the midwest chasing tornadoes with some local meteorologists. I picked up a book on weather photography last week. Just started reading it, in anticipation of storm season (though it seems like spring is never going to make it to Chicago this year).

Love it when people try to get all trickery-dickery-dock with disguising their hands, and then get NO action cuz they checked it down waiting for me to bluff.

5 people left in this SnG.

So what's new with you guys? I've had to clear out my RSS reader, as I just got way too far behind to catch up. Work has been a bit nutty, but hallelujah - 5 weeks till summer break! That sounds insane, considering it's not even spring yet, weather-wise.

No flopped set that time. Fold.

Had to bring my beloved iMac in to the Apple Store for repair last week. Power supply died. Kind of sucks, considering it's only 5 months old, but I had it back in a couple days, free of charge, so I'm not going to complain too loudly.

Just hit a 2-outer to knock a guy out. Why is it my gut reaction to say, whoops? hehe

Ouch. Set over set to my bad that time. 4 left. We all have around 3k chips. Watch my dumb ass bubble. Grr!

I thought it was a dream, cuz I never flew before....

So who saw the pregnant guy on Oprah today? WTF?

Excellent - in the money!

Excellent again - JJ! Nice, held up.

I hate folding to blind-stealing aggro's, but sometimes...

Out in 3rd. My 88 vs KQ (I pushed, he called). Q on flop... not a bad re-entry into the atmosphere.

I suppose I'm live-blogging this SnG I'm playing in on Full Tilt - except that I'm not recounting the hand by hand action. So, is blogging while playing without specifying each and every hand that I fold still considered live blogging?

Everyone is posting their Vegas plans. I went to Vegas last month, and since it was not a gambling (aka poker) trip, I spent way too much money. That may sound ironic, but typically I can play poker well enough to offset or completely negate the cost of the trip. This was more of a clubbing trip. If you're on my Flickr friends list, the damage to my liver and thusly my wallet is evident.

I told California April a few months back that I'd make the trip out in December. Now, I'm not sure if I can. Of course, money is the reason. But, you say, you bought that camera over the summer and have spent all kinds of money on toys this year! Yeah. I have. I'm now in debt up to my eyeballs. Wise? No. Fun? Absolutely. Vegas, though, requires liquid cash, and I've got a shortage of that. I'm still trying to think my way through this and find a way to do Vegas on the cheap. I tried to do Vegas on the cheap last month, and it definitely was not cheap.

Damn it. I just folded pocket 3's to a ridiculously large preflop raise, and a 3 flopped.

Holy hell. The river was also a 3. I sure have no timing whatsoever.

Pocket 5's. Can presto be gold? Two flopped sets in a row: highly unlikely. Did flop a boat though. And won with my pot sized bet. w00t!

I haven't played any live poker in a while. I had a run at it out of my last income tax refund, and alas, the deck was perennially cold. I'll make another run at it this winter, assuming I get some money back from Uncle Sam. The other 2 things on my tax refund wish list: new glasses and contacts, and a digiscope for bird watching (and photographing).

Part of the reason I finally invested in a decent dSLR camera this past summer was to shoot wildlife, particularly birds. Since then, I've started getting into bird watching, through my back yard feeders and trips to local nature preserves. I've spec'd out a digiscope setup that is reasonably priced and will work with my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XTi). When I bought the camera, I also got a nice 70-300mm telephoto lens, but without the magnification of a digiscope, it's tough to get a nice frame-filling picture of a bird.

Speaking of birds, I've started a bird blog to chronicle my bird watching: My Avian Friends. It's brand new - not much there yet, but when my Project FeederWatch welcome packet arrives, you can be sure I'll have some bird goodness to post!

Hey, my first inclination was to call myself Poker Geek back in the day, but that moniker was already taken! :)

I'm down to <10 BB. It's getting to be push-or-fold time.

Did I mention that I switched to Mac? Yes, I drank the Apple Kool-Aid. (Now that I repeat that phrase, I have a feeling I did post about my Mac switch, but I'm too lazy to go verify). The new iMac is part of my glorious debt, and yes it is gloriously worth it. I'm in love with Leopard.

Yesterday at work, I booted up XP as per usual, and literally scowled at it as an involuntary "Ewwww..." escaped my lips. I've officially crossed the line. Somehow - and I can't say exactly what it is - but Windows is offensive to me. Repulsive, even. I still must work with it quite regularly, as I do some tech support as part of my job, and we're a Windows-mostly shop, but... Ewwww. It's like that. Visceral, almost.

Another hobby making a resurgence in my life lately is astronomy. I was into taking photos of the moon when I first got my camera, and then took photos of the total lunar eclipse over the summer. Last week, I got shots of Comet Holmes, and all of a sudden, I find myself asking my brother if he still has my dad's old telescope. I know - all I need is another blog!

Folded my big blind to a raise with Q9o. <6 BB. Cards are sucky.

I've also decided what I want to do with my life. Well, I mean, in addition to what I already do. I'm generally happy in my career, and it being a union position that pays financial dividends based more on longevity than quality of work, the longevity alone is starting to inch me to a point where it would be silly to leave. I was having thoughts of changing careers or going back into industry over the summer.

I've sorted through most of those thoughts (with some help from the What Color is Your Parachute? book). I'll likely stay in my current career for the foreseeable future, but I'm starting to take courses in photography and meteorology. I'd like to photograph weather... maybe chase some local storms. I don't know that either topic will ever aspire to anything career-worthy, but maybe career-enhancement-worthy? I don't know. All I know is that since I've made the decision to start taking classes, I'm devouring everything weather and photography related that I can get my hands on, and am loving it immensely.

I took one photography class this fall - a sort of field survey class, made up mostly of on-location photography shoots (nature and urban photography). I got an A in the class and had one of the most highly praised photos in my final portfolio. That got me really excited.

I've been a point-and-shoot photographer since I was a little kid (with the occasional instances where my dad let me try his "good" camera). Since I got a dSLR, I've been completely immersed in photography. Part of it might be in the honoring of my dad's memory. He was an avid amateur photographer. It was a hobby of his, but a very serious hobby. I'm very glad and proud that I can carry on that tradition.

We may even start taking family photos on the holidays again. I plan to revive that tradition at Thanksgiving dinner next week.

Still at 6BB. Pushed a few times and the field folded. Only one player has more than 7BB. We're all hovering around death. If I can wait out these few people pushing... maybe?

Yes! 2 more knocked out. 2 to go till the money.

Hey - it can be done. Last week, I was down to less than 2 BB after a harrowing loss, and hung on long enough to make the money after a guy pushed and ran into bad luck. His bad luck was my good fortune!

I need some good fortune fast, though, as I'm down to 3BB now.

Folded Q5o UTG. I'll take my chances with the big blind.

34 of hearts. Here goes. Vs ATo. Yay, a pair of 3's! I win!

6BB.

One more out.

WOOHOO in the money with 4BB left!

LMAO :)

All in AK spades. Flopped K. Chance to triple up. Both opponents are in. Oy the one guy is disconnected. Yawn. The disconnect timer is SO out of control on FTP. It seems insanely long.

Wooo, I win, another out. Heads up! BRB

Yay, I won!! Patience, my friends. Patience. Flopped boats also help.

And now, I sleep.

Took 3rd place in a turbo NLHE SnG tonight. I played mostly to distract myself from the reality at hand.

I'm not typically one to get all personal and spiritual and whatnot on this particular blog, but if you've got the energy to spare some prayers or well wishes, please send them my friend Becky's way. She was in a horrific car wreck yesterday and is in critical condition tonight. I've known her half my life, and all I can think about is how her kind soul does not deserve this.

I appreciate any positive energy you can put out into the world on her behalf.

Thanks.