...Good Day at Work.

A bad day of poker is better than a good day of work. Well it almost was a bad day but I pulled out a small profit in the end but was it ever hard fought. I know when you are playing $2/4 at Foxwoods it sometimes can get a bit frustrating. I was better than the last time I went up there I was lucky to walk out with what little profit I did, it was amazingly sedate that day. There was bit more energy there yesterday. The games at that level up there always are loose passive types and there isn't much you can do, but put your head down and hope that the chasers stay there long enough that when you do get you big pairs they chase their draws and the odds turn on them. It was one of those days of tight up front loose in the back and most of those paid off for me but it was up and down, more down then up, for most of the day. When I got there the just called a new table and it took some time to get the feel for what was going on. There wasn't much raising pre-flop because it rarely did anything to thin the field, in for one why not two kind of thinking. This only gave the other players to more reason to chase even though I don't think any of them had any idea of pot odds. In the course of my play I got pocket Aces twice, Kings,Queens and Big Slick once and raised every time and they held up. I might as well have turn my hand up it was so transparent but nobody really pays attention so this made up for all of the river suck outs when I would flop two pair with over cards and someone would stick it out and trip up on the river, lost count how many times that happened. I still had fun and as long as I leave the table with more than I came with whether it is $2 or $200 it's still better then a good day at work.

I also was amazed that someone would straddle a this level. This old lady who sat down and won one pot off the top decided that a straddle bet would go good with a Mai Tai with Meyers dark and whipped cream on a cold rainy day at low limit hold'em in a casino in the hills of Connecticut. I was sitting to her left and was the benefactor of her folly one time. I guess if I was going to gamble it up I would at least follow through with a bet on the flop regardless of my two cards. The time I was able to beat her she check called me to the river with a pair of threes and a eight kicker. Got to love it. Then there was the young studious guy who just couldn't catch a break every time he had a good hand someone would make one just slightly better. Young loose guy got lucky a couple of times playing trash hands but pretty much broke even for the day, he even tried bluffing out a table of calling stations. Angry old guy in the ten seat who would check in the dark if he had middle pair or was on draw and would only bet or raise when he had a lock. Or kind old lady to my left who would call with small flushes and lose to bigger ones. Just your typical day of low limit Hold'em at the biggest casino in the world. I am looking forward to when my bankroll is healthy enough to move up a level. I won't even talk about the Act I sitn'go for the Foxwoods World Poker Finals I was first out and was beat by a stack that was being blinded out because he was in another sitn'go. The high point of this game was I drew the Ace of spades for the button and it was all down hill from there. Not good, not good at all.

Freeroll For Bloggers

PokerStars is doing it yet again an offering a freeroll with $40,000 in prizes just for bloggers.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7124549

I played in one last year had a great time. If you have blog and like poker click through and sign up. Nothing to lose but plenty to win. See you on the felt.

V(b)itch

The letter B and V are very confusing when speaking Spanish. En Español they are pronounce so close I have played the "Beh" "Veh" game with the Spanish speaking crew at work more than once. That is after this week of playing online I am going to call what I have gone through VITCH.
We all say that variance is a bitch so why not shorten it. You would think from this post that I continued on the downward cycle but I finally made it all back. I understand that it is part of the process and I would like to say that the downside of variance doesn't effect my play, but damn does it shake my confidence. I feel that every move that I make is wrong and it goes back to when you are running bad you are probably not playing as bad as you think and when you are running good you are probably not playing as well as you think. I think I was still playing smart but I never would have guess. I won it all back and am no worst off today then I was last Monday but it was definitely was a vitch of a week.

Hard Way to Make a Easy Living

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had this great idea that after I drop the munchkin off at preschool for the morning I would put in some serious time playing poker. It would be going fine if I could figure out what the hell is happening to me in my Heads Up matches. Now, I know it is the lowest limit of O/8 that I can play on FullTillt but I have had the most awful run of cards I have seen lately and I can't even blame it on going up limits to quickly, which is usually when I crash and burn. I really haven't looked over my hands in PokerTracker to see if I am playing like the donkey I feel I have been. The second best everything hitting the call button when I know I should fold, OH POKER GODS WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!!!!! Alright I may be getting a bit dramatic and it's not like I have even taken a huge chunk out of my roll, It just sucks!!! I have made back about half of what I lost all week in one huge hand playing .05/.10 PLO. I flopped the nut straight but without any good redraws and I knew exactly what the other guy had but I couldn't fold, he had all of the redraws and for once this week they didn't get there for him. I guess it made up for some of the other suck outs I was on the other end of the rest of the week. I could share with you all of the bad beats but it still seems to surreal to me right now. I would still like to take the few hours I have alone at the house on those morning to turn this poker thing into a profitable side thing or maybe I'll just take up something safe like day trading ;)

On a side note all of this has made me think about my life in a way that you would think I hit bottom from an addiction and have started on my twelve steps. It's not quite that bad but I will share with you all when I have a better handle on whatever it is that I am going through. Work, life, poker and my own inner voice all need a serious revamp and I may have to go to a professional for help. I have suffered from a severe identity crisis before, not just once a few times, but I feel I have a bunch more on the line at this point in my life to go through this on my own. My wife will support me in anything that I want to do and I love her for it more then she probably knows but I need an objective eye to help me lift the curtain on whatever it is that is gnawing at me.

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.

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

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. ;)