Going South

Nah, not the taking money off the table south...just heading down to the sunshine state for a pre-holiday get together with the family. Tonight I'll be packing up the minivan, the vehicle that comes with a free castration, and then at about 3am tomorrow I'll load up the sleeping family and begin the drive.

It's only 778.3 miles of fun. It's somewhat sad that I'll be packing up the GameCube so the kids can play during the ride. But it's either listen to Mario gobble a power up or the fingernails-on-a-chalkboard-like arguing of the mini's. Life's all about choices. I have a loud family.

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Speaking of choices, I made the decision to drop down in online limits and play a statistically significant 20,000 hands to reassess my game. Good fucking gravy, I don't think I can put up with it much longer. About 2500 hands into my penance, I've discovered that two-tabling the full 9-handed ring games are the epitome of grinding. Over the course of those hands, I've run into maybe two morans looking to give their money away. Other than that, it's tightbox central. Where did everyone go?

If you combine my live and online bankrolls, then I should just man-up and play the limits that I've shown success at. It would mean transferring some of the live roll to online, and for whatever reason, I'm loathe to do just that. It's just a mental block that I have, a personal pride in not ever having to reload personal cash into the online poker machine since I started this blog in 2004.

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I'm reading all the Vegas trip reports with a combination of melancholy, jealousy, and hatred. I kid, but sure wish I had gone. With an ever increasing frequency, I find myself divided by the facets of my life that continually oppose each other. It's similar to the battle fought by relationship-George and single-George.

On one hand, you have family man: the responsible adult who needs to set a good example for his kids and the husband who needs to make sure his wife has everything she needs and wants.

On the other, you have the poker/drinker/socializer: the person who wants to play live poker at least twice a week, the person who wants to head downtown and shoot the shizzle over his gay-tinis with a few friends.

The buildup of tension between these two people will culminate on April 21st, 2008. Because I've decided that for my 40th birthday, I will be in Vegas come hell or high water.

Boot To The Head

This just in from the kicking a man while he's down department:

The scene is GucciRick's Monday night game, once known as the G-Vegas big game back in days of yore when our bankrolls were but a fraction of their current states. One regular player who likes to call himself Tight Passive Tim, sometimes justifiably so, won the first two pots of the night with aggressive check-raises.

"Where's Tight Passive Tim tonight?" I queried into the smoke-filled air above GucciRick's 5-car garage.

"I brought Money-Making Tim tonight boys," he replied with a smile as he stacked his chips.

Fast-forward an orbit or two. Rhett, acting from under the gun, raises Money Making Tim's (MMT) $5 straddle to $20. It's folded around and we hear the words "re-raise."

"All in," says MMT.

Rhett goes into the tank; and since he's to my direct right, allows me to see his hole cards. King Jack of diamonds - hardly worth an all in to many players. But not Rhett who vocally declares, "I think you're on a straight steal."

"How much more is it?" Rhett inquires. MMT had over $200, easily covering Rhett who'd lost a few pots early.

This would be quite a read to put someone on an all-in steal in a cash game, but is the read worth his entire stack? Apparently it is.

MMT tables his pocket Tens and I congratulate Rhett on an amazing call, even though we all know better.

The flop is KJx. The turn brings another K and MMT's stack built on early aggression takes a major hit. You could see the steam come pouring out of MTT's eyeballs. Welcome to Tiltville, population: You.

Undeterred, the very next hand MMT raises pre-flop to $10 and gets called in late position by another player who's name would remind you of the 1974 National League Player who stole 118 bases that year.

The flop comes Jack high and MMT checks. Brock leads out for $20 and MTT pushes leading to one of the funniest lines I'd heard at a poker table in a long time.

Brock asks just as did Rhett one hand earlier, "How much more is it?"

Enter G-Rob, in pure dead pan voice, "Not as much as last time."

Hype

Having stayed home this weekend, I managed to get a few things done. You may want to sit down when you read this because hot damn if it ain't exciting shit. Friday after work, I took my son to his basketball practice. He's 6 and has inherited his old man's vertical leap, but doesn't know it yet. Ignorance is bliss. And there's still time to work on his calves. Then afterwards, I went drinking. With the wife of all people. We just hung out at a local restuarant/bar chillin' since we had some free babysitting.

Saturday I was Mr. Fix-it. The basketball hoop, once tilting like a poker player after a one-outer, now stands perfectly vertical and at the appropriate height. Also, I re-screened the trampoline in the back yard. The old one had ripped and was currently unsafe for use. The kids reported it as being more springy after the fact. The wife congratulated me on fixing both things without once cursing or swearing. I actually surprised myself.

Played some online poker too. Yay.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, had my cell phone ready all weekend. It remained dormant with nary a dial-a-shot. So screw you guys. Yeah you heard me.

I'm still waiting for TheMark to email me the G-Vegas '06 Championship results. Once done, you'll find out who the Player of the Year is. Which reminds me, the 3rd Annual New Year's Day tourney is a go if anyone is around. Should be fun for most everyone but me. Details will eventually migrate out via email. If you're not on the email list, and want to be, just ask. If you're on the list and want off? Well, TFB.

miniBlood Knows My Game

I was playing in a double shootout, figuring what the heck, last day to qualify for the PCA. I was still in round one, when miniBlood challenges me to a double shootout of his own: Street 3 on the Gamecube, then one on one outside in the driveway. I told him he'd have to wait until this tournament was over.

He replies simply, "Bluff. Go all in with 7-2."

With

With success comes enthusiasm.

With enthusiasm comes proficiency.

With proficiency come expectations.

With expectations comes frustration.

With frustration come questions.

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

Way to bring your online game here to Rick’s – G-Rob

Yeah, it’s sad that I’m leading off another post with a quote from G-Rob.  But quite frankly, I haven’t played much poker with him the last month or so.  It was good to have him back at the Monday game at GucciRick’s.

Alas, ‘twas one of those nights.  I believe I played rather well, in fact, I believe I had the most money put into the pot while ahead last night than I have in a long time.  Turns out I finished up a loser.  Not a big one, less than one buy-in, but a loser nonetheless.  And things started out so well…

On hand #3, after one pre-flop raiser and a caller, I find pocket Queens.  I re-raise and GucciRick goes into the tank his brother has made so famous.  He ends up calling and it folds all around.  The flop is 8-high rainbow, so I bet out.  Rick pushes and I insta-call, putting him on a smaller pocket pair above 8’s, but below Queens.  Tens fit the bill, and he didn’t 2-outer me, so I had a quick double up.

Very next hand.  Very.  More raising, more calling, and I find pocket Kings.  Re-raise!  The original pre-flop raiser from UTG re-raises me and I employ my new found psychic ability to determine he doesn’t have Aces.  So I push.  He calls with AKs.  “I folded an Ace,” comes a comment from one of the folders.  Super.  River.  Suckout.  Stack size:  $200.  Stack size shoulda been:  $600.

Not soon after, and I mean within probably one orbit, I get dealt pocket Tens UTG in a straddled pot.  Raise.  GucciRick calls and G-Rob puts him immediately on Ax, as did I.  The flop was Ten-high with two clubs.  I bet out, but on the weak side, hoping to induce a raise.  I got one.  I pushed.  GucciRick called with his A8 of clubs.  Super. Turn.  Suckout.  River doesn’t pair the board.  Rebuy.  Stack size:  $0.  Stack size shoulda been:  $800.

We’re still in the first hour here.  And yet again, there’s a pre-flop raise from TheMark and I look down to find pocket Queens.  Re-raise, again.  Mark calls.  The flop is 8-high, all spades.  It goes check-check.  Turn is a Ten, I bet close to the pot.  Call.  Super.  River.  Suckout.  Ten.  Check-check.  Mark tables AT, no spades.  I had the Queen of spades.  I gave him the turn card for free, such that he was then drawing to a 3-outer.  Stack size:  $300 (I had won some other pots).  Stack size shoulda been:  $1000.

Later in the evening, I got dealt pocket Kings again, but folded on the turn when the board read AQQx.  Nice board there.  I had pocket Jacks, but folded on a AQTx board.  The last time I had pocket Jacks, I was up against AK.  The flop was K-high.

Still, I only came out of there down less than one buy-in.  But man, to have $1k at that table would have made the whole night a helluva lot more fun.  There would have been so many opportunities to play some big-stack poker, but alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.  On those three suckouts, I did not put one single dime of money into the pot behind.  And for that, I came away feeling that I played better than the final results showed.

Deposits to the equity bank suck.

Lords of Discipline

There are a bunch of definitions for discipline out there.  Here’s mine:  Doing something you don’t want to do, even though you know it’s the right thing to do.

For me personally, discipline is turning down the Krispy Kreme offered to me at breakfast during my daughter’s early morning soccer game.  Discipline is hitting the gym on a Thursday after a late Wednesday night session at the Spring Hotel.  Discipline is folding AJo in EP to a pre-flop re-raise in the early stages of a tournament (fucked up on that one this past Saturday).

And now, discipline for me means dropping down in limits when I play online poker.  Ugh.  I still feel I’m playing well, but I’m getting drawn out on like nobody’s business.  My online bankroll has paid the heavy price and has done its best impersonation of George Contanza’s privates in a pool of chilly water.

It’s no small amount of swallowing pride here.  I worked pretty hard for a long period of time to build the bankroll to support playing in mid-limit NL ring games.  I have made withdrawals to outside investment accounts, and left myself with the requisite twenty buy-ins.  But after the last few weeks, I simply can’t justify playing at those levels without incurring a much higher risk of ruin.

So I’m taking a step down in stakes.  I don’t like it.  In fact, I hate it.  But I know it’s the smart thing to do if I wish to continue to play poker online without supplementing that bankroll with the fruits of my live one.

You read quite often stories of pros that went broke several times before they hit a big enough score to finally keep them permanently afloat.  When I read those stories, I attribute that behavior to the inherent gambling personalities that many of them have.  To be honest, I don’t consider myself much of a gambler.  I’m a bit more calculating and conservative.  It’s that conservatism that will hopefully prevent me from going broke.  But it also may prevent me from that big jump in stakes that many others before me have made.

And that’s OK.

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Sadly, I’ll be missing all the bloggery goodness this weekend in Vegas.  I don’t have enough vacation time remaining to make the trip thanks to having to drive to Florida the week after for a parental visit.  Vegas would be a nice way to donk off my swelling live game roll, but I guess that will have to wait.

I will probably be in Tunica in January when the New Year brings back my vacation day supply.  Until then, I hope everyone has a safe, memorable trip.  Take many pics please.