Monday, August 27, 2007

She's Leaving Home...



Three years and go by so fast, make that three and a half, and all of a sudden the munchkin is going off to preschool. I could get all mushy but all I will say they grow up so fast and I cherish all of the moments that I have had with her so far. As soon as she started to babble I needed to hear her talk, wondering what her voice would sound like, now I can't wait to see the girl she is going to grow into.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Nothing Complex

Some days you wish that your days are as complex as a three years old's. In some ways their lives are forth with indecision, be it which toy it is that you are going to play with or which piece of your dinner you are going to throw against the wall. I wish some days that was all I had to worry about but needless to say I am 37 years older than my daughter and I have many more things to worry about.

I have never shied away from responsibility but some days I would like to not having anything to think about other than what to eat, if I should play poker or go to the beach for the day. It seems my job is giving me to much to think about and it's not like I am making life or death decisions. I don't pilot jet planes with hundreds of passengers that will die if I make a mistake or even some doctor that if I give the wrong drug to someone it will have adverse reaction an kill them. I work at local YMCA as member services coordinator. I love the place and I have been sucked into the whole Y experience. I enjoy working for a place that is more about helping people and families then it is about making money.

The only problem is I now have a boss that is stupid man with a Neopolian complex. Now I know that you believe that everyone thinks that their boss is stupid and I am just whining, but really he is. He sold the upper management a bill of goods that he has yet to deliver on and most everyone is calling his bluff. Now if I was working in government or the CIA I would call this business as usual. The fact of the matter is I am working for a non-profit that grossly underpays all of it workers but we are all there for reasons other than making a million dollars (that's what poker is for). We should all be working for a common cause united in our mission to improve the lives of the people of our community.

I have worked for more companies and in a great variety of careers than my forty years of life should indicate. I have interned as singer/actor at a professional theatre and received 20 points towards my union card, was a production assistant for a number of network series, worked as a waiter in restaurants with sizzling fajitas three inches from my head, did dance routines on the dining room floor to bad disco tunes, or work in a high end bistro with temperamental chefs. At a dinner theater with a producer that had two bad knees from a fail dancing career and choose to take it out on us that she wasn't the next up coming to be discovered by Fosse and knew we all saw through the fact that she added an e with accent to her name to change it from Berger to Berger`e trust me she wasn't French. I have taught music to inner city kids in the South Bronx and survived lunch room duty only armed with a bullhorn and my quick wit. I have directed a local cable new cast with a news anchor who never addressed me by name. The thing is that it's this current job a the Y that is giving me the most angst.

The fact of the matter is I made some personal decisions that I can live with but may have worked against me in my current position. I choose not to go full-time right after the munchkin was born and I wouldn't give back any of that for the world. The time I have gotten be with her is worth more than anything that I could have gotten paid in any job. I think my current boss doesn't think there is any value in that or he recognizes that I have his number an would rather have me go away but I won't. The last crazy boss I had was just bipolar but he actually knew something about the field that he was working in. This guy I got has no clue and is only about him. to top it of he had hired someone above me that I am not sure if she can become my ally just yet and I don't know what it is that he is whispering in her ear. It is really sad that I am thinking about this in this way but I guess just like in poker we all have to think on a couple of levels and be one step ahead of your opponent. I have pushed my hand once and know I feel like on am on the bubble and I am going to have to push with a 7 2 off suit.

I could score big the next time I go up to Foxwoods and this could all be moot. ;p

Friday, August 24, 2007

The Truth of Lies

An interrogator for a Mexican drug lord is trying to get some information from a suspect. He realizes that she is vague about most things but has a precise alibi ready for the night he is questioning her about. This is her mistake. As he puts it: "A professional liar knows that the key is not to make his lies sound like the truth. It is to make the truth sound like lies…"

I found the over on BiggerDeal and it just struck a cord with me and I think It has great relevance to my poker playing. Grub Smith writes and interesting article about what I have been feeling about my tourney play for awhile. I haven't been able to break out of it. In all of my live play, I know I haven't played aggressive enough and even online in MTTs I definitely haven't. The funny thing is Playing Single table Sitn'gos I have been able to pick my spots better, when to ratchet it up and when not to. The ebb and flow of just nine players is easier for me to deal with. I have to play MTTs like it's a Sitn'go, being I should only worry about the others guys at my table and not worry about the rest of the field. Once I have a bit more time in my life I will start playing more big field tourneys until then I will stick with the HU or Single table Sngs.

Back to the above quote. I also have to convince the other players that I am lying when I am telling the truth and telling the truth when I am lying. I guess that last sentence pretty much sums up what it means to play poker. I think my HU Sng play has help me realize how important that is. I haven't been playing big buy ins in HU but I have found that the above philosophy has help me get closer to that third level of thinking in my play. All of this is tied together. What do I have, what does he have, and most importantly what does he think I have and how can I use it. The last level is achieved by getting your opponent to believe the lies that are truth and truth are lies.

That's it I solved it! Now only if I can use it. ;)

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Heads Up and Down

When you dance and you have to take the lead or you're lost.

I have been playing mostly Heads Up Tourneys and it has been great, meaning in lessons of how to play just ok in the profit range. I like concentrating on just one player and their tendencies and try to exploit it. Right now I am playing between $2 and $10 over on FullTilt and have a small profit to show for it. I start off good playing O/8 then hit a bad batch over the weekend but I earned it all back playing Hold'em. I have been mixing it up with No Limit and Pot Limit. I am kind of getting fond of pot limit for these heads up matches I like the fact that it takes time to build the pot and you just don't have to be a push monkey. The one thing that I have notice, and maybe it's because it low limit, but most of the players don't raise enough on the button and really play hands that are a bit to predictable. Pocket pairs, Ace anything and two paint suited or not just don't happen enough and you must open up your range of hands that you are willing to play. Looking over my PokerTracker stats I noticed that I haven't gotten to many playable hands but I have won more then I have lost and that means I am doing something right.

O/8 is a different story. I have found limping in and only raising with the best hands have worked well. The only reason I have not done any better over this weekend is that I second guessed my gut. I was almost always right with my first impression each time win or lose. I have to remember that the goal of O/8 is to scoop and if I can't be drawing to the nuts one way or the other then I have to give it up to pressure. I just have to go with my gut in this game and remember it's a Omaha High or split is a game of redraws and just because you flop the nuts doesn't always mean you are the favorite.

Another thing about these HU matches is that you can win or lose in one hand and I did just that on two occasions. The one I lost I was the clear favorite when the chips went in but I died at the river and the one I won I couldn't find any reason that he called other he really had to go to the bathroom and for got to buy the Depends so he could just soil himself. It's the yin and yang that is my reality.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

If the Wall won't Fall Go around it...

Why can something work so well one place but seem to be such a challenge somewhere else? That is the question that I am asking myself these days.

I have been chronicling my exploits at rebuilding my bankroll over on PokerStars in a couple of entries here. I started with $100 and played .25/.50 O8 until I double up my bankroll. I have been successful even in the limited time that I have had to play. I have moved up a level and have only been able to play one night there because when I have time to play I seem to always get to the tables when there are already 4 people on the wait list. Who knew .50/1.00 was so popular. So I figure my FullTilt account could use a injection of cash so lets try this over there. Even though I have a bit more cash in that account I thought I would do the same thing and start with the .25/.50 and build it up till I made a hundred more. Sounds sane now doesn't it.

I have been doing this for a week now and I have made some initial progress and then I hit the most incredible wall. I would flop the nuts for the low only to get counterfeited on the river more times then I can count. I would hit the nuts for the high and a scoop and the board would pair and I would lose to the most improbable full house. I have a love hate relationship with FullTilt the ring games have never seemed kind to me but I have a a +EV at the sitn'gos there. I know we should do what we do best at and maybe it's just that I like the challenge of these games but for some reason, that I assume a psychologist could get to the bottom of, I still play because I do believe I can beat it . I feel that if I can beat these games at a certain level on one site I should be able to beat them on another. I was playing on Monday night and wasn't going anywhere so I sat down at some HU sit'ngos and totally ruled and recouped some of my losses from earlier. Then for some reason last night I didn't do that again, no I needed to grind it out at the O/8 table and the bad beats and never getting there continued. There just seems to be this immovable force for me at the ring games at this site that I can't seem to move. I have a way around it but something inside of me just wants the satisfaction of figuring out how to knock it down. I guess it's just my stubborn nature that has gotten me in this mess just like it has in other areas of my life. I just have to face up to it and admit that the time has come to try it a different way, in poker and in life.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

More is Always Better

A win is a win is a win. No matter how you cut it, more is always better and I don't care how small it is. I finally had time to sit down at a O/8 table at the next level and my only gaol for the night was to post a win. I only won a $1.35 but it was worth it and I have step off in the right direction. I take whatever I can get. I hope to post much more on the positive side soon.

Till next time Goodnight and Good Luck!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Movin' on Up...

Movin' on up to the next level. My patience has paid off and I will be raising the stakes in my O/8 game. I started with a goal a while ago and half of it was to rebuild my bankroll on PokerStars and half of it was to see if I could stick to a plan. It was to basically to double up my roll and not to move up a level until I achieved that goal. Well I this mission has been completed and I am ready to set off on the next one. As soon as I have decide what the goal is for the next level I will post it here but more importantly if I start to run bad when will I drop back down a level? That is really the question and I throw it out there, should it be a percentage of my roll or a simple monetary level? I will sleep on it tonight and face the next level tomorrow night.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Not a Post

This is not a post because every time I have posted about how good I have been running I have taken a nose dive. I will not post about the fact that I am just a couple of dollars away from my O/8 goal on Pokerstars or that I have been very disciplined and not jump up a level yet. I also will not post about the fact that I have done some great hit and runs on FullTilt to rebuild that bankroll there or that I have been very happy with my play even when I have taken a hit. I repeat this is not a post, this is not a post, poker gods hear me now THIS IS NOT A POST!!!!