To Work or Not to Work
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
I'm eating humble pie today. My prediction that the MTA strike would not occur has been derailed. As of 3AM last night, all Subways and Buses stopped operating. As a result, people are hoofing it to work when possible and are otherwise getting around however possible.
To me, my initial thought was 'Adult Snow Day'! I take the subway to work daily. The walk is about 80 blocks, or 4 miles. It seemed like a no brainer....BUT stupid taxis are still operating. So, I am going in to the office late probably. I have some work that I could do at home, but overall I suppose I should go into the office. Keerist!
Last night I attended an impromptu live game at Robbie Hole's apartment in Queens. At first, it was just Robbie, Randy Hole, Roose and I. We played a $10 winner take all tourney. I placed 2nd. I had a couple of great hands in which I maximized profit. Maximizing the good hands seem to be my specialty. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Roose took 1st. More power to him.
J.R. and Scotty showed up and we played a .25/.50 NL cash game with a $20 buy-in. Scotty is an interesting character. He is near twice the age as the other players. He plays for leisure and, while his game has improved overall, at times he reverts to very fishy play. I think he ended up losing 4 buy-ins ($80), maybe 5.
Luckily for me (and Roose, I believe), Scotty is in many ways an open book and wallet. He'll call pre-flop bets with crap. He'll call you down with crap. If he bets pre-flop get out of the way. If he bets at all slow down.
And that was all there was to it. As for JR, he is definitely a better player than Scotty, but he's tight as hell.
So, let's look at the hand that helped me win $55 for the cash game ($45 total profit after the $10 tourney loss):
I held Jh3h UTG. It was late and near time to leave. I decide to just play it, hoping to get lucky. Scotty calls in UTG+1. Roose calls in the cutoff. JR raises to $1.50. Randy calls in the SB. Rob calls in the BB. I feel obliged with implied pot odds and call. Scotty calls. Roose chucks it in.
The flop had two hearts, QT4 or thereabouts. I check. Scotty checks. JR bets $2. Randy raises to $5. Rob begrudgingly calls. I call. Scotty folds. JR thinks it over and pushes all-in for $8 or so more. Randy calls. Rob hesitates and seems to be having a real hard time with this hand. He calls. I call. Everyone is surprised that we have so many players.
The turn is 5h. I've made my flush. Now, I'm a bit worried about an over-flush. That was always on my radar. But now that I had my flush made, it seemed like I only had one move. Randy and Rob check. I push all-in. Randy calls relatively quickly. I pushed all-in with 15.50 and he only had 8.50 left. Rob is trying to decide. After a while, I start goading him. "Hey, if you beat me only you get $7 back" (our side pot). Rob verbalizes, "You are acting like you want me to call, so you don't want me to call..." I'm salivating. Clearly he doesn't have the heart (literally). He finally mucks his hand. Damn! A good decision by him.
I show my flush. Randy never showed his cards. Robbie had top pair, Qs. JR, my real competition in this hand, held AA, with one heart. The river was a blank, and I grab my fat pot.
That's pretty much one of the few hands I recall. Robbie's games are often hazy, and slow to boot. Some of the players are there to socialize more than to play poker. It was tough for me because I didn't want to seem overly excited or anxious to play. There is definitely a social aspect of the game that I love. If I didn't, I'd be playing online and not at Hole's homegame. BUT, and this is a big but, I am there to socialize while playing poker. So when you are UTG and you say, "I really want to play some hands but these cards are horrible" and then start a different conversation without folding, I'm saying something. When you are constantly distracted, I'm saying something. Will any of it help? Temporarily. But overall this is the largest problem facing Hole's game. I don't knock Hole for it though. It isn't him, but rather some of the players, and those are the same players that buy in multiple times, ensuring my $45 win.
That was my 4th winning live poker session in a row. It's nice being on a winning streak at the end of the year. According to my ledger, I am up a little over $850 for the year, not including any online profit that is still online. My goal for the year was to be up $1200, or $100 per month. My theory was that if I could win $100 per month, then this time playing poker was worth it at least somewhat. I mean, $100 a month is a drop in the bucket, but at least it is better than losing AND it is a comfortable sum to win per month for a guy who started with $50 online and played micro games live once every two weeks in January. As you can see, I'm short of that goal, but hopefully I can win $350 in AC this upcoming holiday weekend. Even if I don't play a lick of poker for the rest of the year, I still consider this year a success. With the $450 in BestBuy gift cards (I just got one recently) I received from PSO and VPP this year, I have in a sense "earned" over $1200 in poker. Yep, it wasn't by winning pots entirely, but without poker I'd never have that $450 in gift cards and my TV would've costed a couple of hundo more.
So, there you have it. I'm looking forward to the rest of this year. Things are going well at the tables and at home. Work is super. One of the attorneys just resigned, which oddly makes me the attorney with the most seniority in the firm, aside from the partners. A new attorney starts in January and we are going to replace the resigning attorney, so there will be two new faces soon. This means less of a work load which is also a good thing.
Have a great day everyone.
No other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by suckout. But it's the only way if you want it just... right.
posted by Jordan @ 7:36 AM,
3 Comments:
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At 10:26 AM,
said...
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When are you going to be in AC? I will be arriving Tuesday at noon. Will you be gone by then?
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At 12:29 PM,
said...
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Well if you can't get to work then you can always stay home and play poker, or as I read from your comment on GoBeRude's blog you like to surf for gay porn. (j/k) I had to rub that one in. You gotta be careful what you post on other blogs hehe.
Nice work this year. Earning $450 in Best Bug gift cards from PSO is a nice feat. I managed to earn a $100 gift card myself. PSO was nice to me this year. -
At 1:14 PM,
said...
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I'll be in AC from Saturday to Monday. Sorry Weak. Maybe next time. I'm planning on going at the end of January as well.
As it turns out, I am in the office. Cabs were running fine, so I was able to get here without too much trouble.
Hey folks, if Chipper can get $100 in gift cards and I can get $450 in giftcards, so can you! Check out the links to PSO and VPP (the banners on the right column).
I expect to do a post later about Xmas in AC.
