Weekend Recap

Friday:

I had a chance to play some live poker at The Mark, but had to stay in and catch up on some things.  Translation:  I stayed up way too late on Thursday and needed to make a long-term +EV decision with respect to marital bliss.  That still didn’t prevent me from donking off $100+ online.  Bah!

Saturday:

The mini’s had friends over, so I did much of nothing.  Played some more online, which I’m sure you’re all FASCINATED to find out how I did.  Again, donked off $100 again, this time at the $3/6 Stud8 game on Pokerstars.  Gugh.  (Aside: for those of you tired of the word “donk” or “donkey”, too freakin’ bad.  I still find it hilarious to say AND type.  Donk-da-da-donk, donk.  Donk donk.)

Saturday did turn around as it was Mrs_Blood’s grandmother’s turn to buy dinner.  We alternate who pays, making it easy on everyone so there’s never any awkward moment when the bill comes.  We went to the Outback where I immediately began to get my drink on.  A couple of BadBloody Mary’s followed by some tall Fosters with dinner was enough to get me going.

(Another aside (Sappy as sappy gets):  As I was sitting there at dinner with the Mrs and the kids, I realized that there is not a man alive luckier than I.  There’s that old adage that you never know what you got ‘til it’s gone – apologies to Tom Kiefer – but in my case, I know what I have and I appreciate it more than anything.  A few brews in me and I’m either off to a strip club or getting all maudlin about my family.  I embody the dichotomy of man in all it’s nonsensical glory.)

After dinner, it was off to The Marks.  Traveling to a live poker game where you can bring your wife and kids is about as ideal as ideal gets.  Our kids travel well and sleep anywhere, so it’s not ever a problem to bring them by The Marks so their degenerate parents can play poker.  Thanks to pokerbtch having recently started a blog, you can read about the exploits there.  My results:  -$40 in the tournament – predictable, +$158 NLHE side games.  Thanks again to G-Rob for paying me off on the trip 7’s. ;)

We got a little punchy by the end of the night, which was actually early Sunday morning.  G-Rob had me cracking up over and over with his naming convention for donkeys playing any two cards.  Bitch Suckleton.  Probably one of those “have to be there” things, but I’m still LOL’ing.

Sunday:

Another lazy day around the house.  I watched the Patriots game in all its high definition misery.  I’m not sure how good or bad they are yet this year, but one thing is for sure, the Chargers are for real.

More online mayhem saw me win about $30 at the NLHE ring games.  Then I did something I’ve never done before.  If you’re an action junkie who likes to play EVERY hand, then these games are for you:  Headsup SNG’s.

I played three $30+1.50 on Full Tilt.  Results were great, I went 3-0.  The first and the third were solid dismantlings of my opponents.  After reading Harrington’s headsup section in volume 2, I felt I was a bit better prepared for these things than your average player.  I saw many players fold pre-flop on the button with the small blind.  According to Harrington, that’s a huge mistake.  There were a couple of times I flopped two-pair with junk.

The second session was a knock down, drag out event.  I picked off a bluff early and took a 1800-1200 lead.  My opponent rallied a bit until the hand where we both flopped a flush.  His was higher and I found myself outchipped 2850 to 150.

I don’t know about you, but if I have that kind of an advantage, I’m putting my opponent all-in every hand until they get back to over 1000 in chips.  The odds of not getting sucked out on even when you’re behind have got to be good enough in a cumulative sense that this has to be the proper strategy.

My opponent chose another path.  He folded to many of my all-ins and after one suckout on the river, I managed to find myself with the chip lead.  We got it all-in when I had AJ and he had K9d suited on a 667 two-diamond flop.  He missed all his draws and I won.

Those headsup matches are great.  You have to focus COMPLETELY at all times.  There is no period of fold, fold, fold where you find yourself tooling the Intarweb for decent porn waiting for a hand to play.

And that’s where I leave you on this Monday morning, 16 days away from my solo trip to Vegas.