In the Zone, Out of the Zone
Thursday, December 22, 2005
In the Zone
I had a lovely evening last night. Wifey Kim, aka Trooper Kim, has been getting up at around 5am to get to work thanks to those MTA duesche bags. As a result, the sleep sniper took her out at about 9:45 last night. With the Mrs. out, I decided to sit down for some pokah!
I was hoping to see some of my blogger compadres online, but the only folks were DP and Kipper. DP was watching a live feed from the Bike in CA, in which Phil Laak and Jean Roberte Bellande were going at it. I checked it out for a few, but I wanted to play more than watch. Besides, I had the Borgata Open WPT event on the TV, and was enjoying the final table of all-stars, including Ivey, Negreaneu, Williams, Arieh and some random old skool shlub. Kip was tearing it up at the Party Poker satellites. So, with no SNG partners, the logical choice was to play some 2/4 limit at Gaming Club in pursuit of GC and PSO's promotions.
For the first time in a long while, I was in the zone. I can't even say that I had great cards. It was more that my timing was superb, my hand selection was fantastic and I made the right value bets and folds. When it comes to limit, it is all about getting and saving those extra bets. As a result of my hard work, consisting of playing two 2/4 tables (one 10-person and one 6-person), I ran my GC bankroll from about $150 to $210.
I could feel the cards turn bad and my patience waning, so I closed GC at about 11:15. I still had an itch to play, so I decided to go back to Noble Poker and see if I can run the $4.15 left out of the free $10 they gave me. My strategy was to play using O-Poker' s step-HU challenge, in which, if you win 2 HU matches, you move up to the next $$ amount. I started with a $2 HU and plainly dominated my opponent.
Upon completion, I moved up to a $5 HU because the last time I played on Noble I had played and won a $2 HU (constituting my 2 $2 wins, before moving up to $5). This one started back and forth, but once I got up in chips I never looked back. His loss came when he was all-in with ATo against my ATo preflop. By the river, my Td filled a four-card flush. Somehow when the flop came off with 2 diamonds I already knew that I had this one in the bag.
With a good feeling, I started my 2nd $5 HU SNG. The player was reacting very slow and timed out a couple of times. I was getting annoyed, but when he timed out for longer than a hand, I started auto-raising and stealing his blinds. I normally don't see anything wrong with this, since it was his fault that he was playing with a shitty connection. However, I did feel bad when he started chatting with me: "What the hell is wrong with this room?" "It's working fine for me." "This sucks." It's one thing to steal the blinds of an absentee player. It's a whole other thing to do it while he is frozen and can watch it all happen and even chat. To his credit, he never gave me any shit for blind stealing. To my credit, I kept doing it whenever I could. It went off and on for a while, during which I stole as much as I could. I finally said to the guy, "Trust me when I say that I'd rather be playing poker." I meant it too. Give me a choice between playing poker and hitting the Bet button for 10 minutes, and I'll choose poker...at least at the $5 stakes. For $10 or $20, I'll take the button. Every man has his price, and mine is apparently $10!
I finally put the fucker out of his misery and decided to call it a night. It was about midnight. I wanted to play more, but I also wanted to leave the night on a high note. I am looking forward to playing a $10 HU SNG later. This will constitute my 3rd Step.
Out of the Zone
It's time for everyone's favorite segment. Jordan's F-bomb laden Subway Rant. Today's topic is the NYC Zones. The Zones have been created for taxis to determine how much to charge. If they went by the meter, we'd be spending $10 every block because of traffic wait times. Instead, I've been paying $10 flat for a fare that would normally cost $15 (but take 15 min instead of an hour). Today I found out that I should have been paying $15 a fare according to the chart, so I've been earning a bigger discount from cabs than I got from the MT-fucking-A's dollar off discount.
Now, here is where the F-bombs come in. I get in a cab and tell him to go to 58th Street for work. We take the FDR, a highway that wraps around the city. We get to the 60th Street exit and...it's FUCKING CLOSED! Why? Because of a minor fender-bender! No big deal, right?
So we head to the 96th Street exit, the next one available. I resign myself to the fact that a trip from 96 to 58 will be another 45 minutes. But when we get to 96th, the cabbie starts heading uptown! I'm thinking, what the fuck man. But then I see that he is looping around to go to the FDR South. We get to the entrance and more po-po are there. Now we are told that you can't get onto the FDR without 4 fucking passengers! Fine then, local streets it is, right?
So we get to 96th and Lexington (the street I want to take downtown) and there are more 5-0! Now they tell us that we can't go South on Lex but we can go to 5th Avenue. Fine then, fucker.
We get to 5th Avenue and guess who are there? The ever present police. "You can't enter Manhattan without 4 passengers in the car!" What? What?? WHAT??? I'm stuck at 96th street because of a fucking closed exit ramp and sent outside of the Manhattan Zone!!!! No getting in with more passengers!
It's a good thing I'm a resourceful motherfucker. "Let me out here, cabbie!" I get out pissed. I stomp my way two blocks, from 96th to 94th, and I get into another cab. A cab that's already IN the Manhattan Zone. And I'm off to work. One hour and a fucking half! Fuck the MTA! Fuck the Transit Workers! Fuck the Police (for this at least)! Fuck em all!
"Ortisha? Where you at? I can't hardly see!"
"Orlando? Orlando!"
"Damn baby, what'd you do to yo cards?
"Orlando, you like it? It's "nut straight.""
posted by Jordan @ 10:11 AM,
5 Comments:
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At 11:50 AM,
said...
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I am curious...and none of my business. But I gotta ask. I personally think it would be great to experience NY or another major city for a year or so but full-time I don't think so it would drive me crazy.
Why you live in NYC?
-Better job market (I can definitely see this as a plus)
-Would not know how to function if could not order takeout from a million different places. (This also would be cool)
-You love the commutes to work and sitting next to drunks in the MTA
-Wifey Kim likes the nightlife. (Also could be fun)
-Family all lives close.
-Rolling paper directly downstairs
-Underground poker rooms
-You are a glutten for punishment -
At 1:03 PM,
said...
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Good question Kip. All of the above! The truth is, I don't want to live anywhere else. There is something so freeing about being in the City.
First off, work-wise, it's the major leagues of law, not to mention the major leagues of finance, fashion, art, international politics (UN), and probably just about every other career path aside from technology and the sciences, I suppose.
Second, since I am going to work here (where I can make the most money AND be in the big leagues), I'd rather not commute too far. Living in the city saves me about 2 hrs a day (1hr each way), which to me, a self-identified man of leisure, is worth a whole lot.
Third, while apartments are expensive, I've found a beautiful place AND I save money by not having to pay for the commute ($200+ per month), a car, parking, and car insurance.
Finally, everything is right here for me. No drinking and driving. No long car rides. I don't have to leave a 5-block radius if I don't want to.
The city isn't as bad as everyone likes to think. Picture a small town. Now, cram everyone into a one block radius. Yes, it's more crowded, but your own personal circles (of acquantences and places) is still small. You have more opportunities if you want them, but you can still have privacy.
Make mine NYC! -
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At 8:41 AM,
said...
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