Ramblin' Man
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Because I am miserable at work (nothing new, but this time due to a weird combination of being overwhelmed with work followed by an immediate dearth of work -- er, dearth of work that I want to do?), you are going to be subject to one of my rambling posts. Let's get to it with the first subject off of the top of my head.
Live poker is my bread and butter. I am 5 for 5 (wins and/or chops for 1st place) in live tournaments this year (and yet, 0 for 2 in live casino cash games), so I'm obviously anxious to play some more. The next stop on the HighOnPoker live tour is in New Jersey to play with some friends, including Matty Ebs. I'm not sure how public the game is, so I don't want to out some of the other participants, but it should be interesting, as there will be some good players, some of which seem to think that I am, shall we say, overly loose.
I don't know how I feel about have a reputation. On one hand, as long as I know what people think about me, I can exploit it. If I didn't know what they thought (or didn't know what my table image was), then I'd definitely be at a disadvantage (compared to the knowing me), so at least there is that. Do I wish that people thought I was a great player? It would be nice to recieve some recognition. But realistically speaking, whether I am a great player or not is not for someone else to decide, and quite frankly whatever skill I have is not on display at my lower stakes to earn the respect of some of my contemporaries. I guess it all goes back to my competing neuroses: My addictive personality is kept in check by my anal retentiveness. Stated otherwise, I play a shit load and think about the game constantly, but I only play with money I can afford to lose.
New topic, bankroll. My live bankroll started after I won some money playing and decided not to just spend it. Instead, I tossed it in an old velcro wallet that I never used, free from Structure, now known as Express for Men. Over time, I have let it slowly build, but if there was no cash in the house and I had a delivery coming, or if there was a special occassion, or if I wanted to buy something that I did not think should come out of wifey Kim and my "real" money, I'd dip into the poker wallet. I know it is bad for discipline and bankroll building, but if I can't use my poker winnings to make my and, more importantly, wifey Kim's lives more comfortable, then what is the point? After my big win at Salami last Friday, I finally broke the $2000 mark in the roll. I then proceeded to promise wifey Kim a shopping spree for Valentine's Day, all of which would come from poker funds. When she hit $330, I started to envision a bill higher than $500, dropping me below $1500. I have to admit, I internally panicked, but after the $330, she didn't find anything else particularly worthwhile and I arranged for the $330 to come directly from this month's spending money (wifey Kim and I both get general spending money aside from our savings). So, I might be eating free crackers from the bistro downstairs by the end of next week, but my roll is still close to $2000. And yes, I have bankroll envy.
Speaking of shopping, I left something out of the Un-AC Trip Report. After I played poker and checked out with wifey Kim, we went of the aforementioned shopping spree. Atlantic City added gambling and casinos to recapture some of the coastal city's heyday, but in the long run, all they got was a decent strip of hotels, gamblers, and inner-city suffering. Outside of the boardwalk and hotels, the city has always been a bit of a slum, but it looks like AC is finally changing for the better.
Last year, a new crop of stores were built a few blocks from the Boardwalk. The outdoor outlet mall, as it now exists, has a slew of new stores in some great modern buildings. Aside from this, Tropicana has extended their hotel to include the New York-esque The Quarter (okay, it is supposed to feel Cuban, but the stores are largely NY staples), and Caesars has bought and renovated a mall on the Boardwalk. All this means that AC has more to offer than just gambling, and while the gambling (and really, poker) is all that I care about, it's still nice to see that AC is building itself up in a positive way. It's kinda like that fuck buddy from college. All you care is that she keeps putting out, but if she happens to get a great GPA in a semester, you still feel glad for her...as long as she keeps putting out.
Speaking of AC (new topic), the Gathering is really chafing me. It has turned into exactly what I didn't want. There were more than a few people interested early on, and I suppose that I am probably making a self-fulfilled prophecy here, but since then I haven't heard any interest from anyone except Guin. Ironically, before Guin contacted me, I started my contingency plan and now Roose is on board for sure and Matty Ebs may join as well. This is ironic because if Roose is driving, I am not in a position to hook Guin up with a ride from NYC if he flies in from Canadia AND I already have a roommate. I hope I didn't sound gruff to Guin, because I would sincerely like to meet the guy, but I would feel bad if he came to AC expecting something akin to Vegas only to get a living, breathing HoP Trip Report. In hindsight, Roose and I always have a great poker-filled time in AC, so I think any blogger would enjoy hanging with us, but I am a bit disappointed with the feeling that the Gathering is a flop. It may be a flop or it may not be, but the point is, I didn't want to have to even think about it. I really just wanted to go to AC and since we have a ton of NE bloggers, I figured why not invite everyone to go down on the same weekend. Alas, looking back, I see I was setting myself up in a position that would require effort, coordination, and more than a bit of people-skills, three things that I generally lack. That said, I'm still going the weekend of March 9th to 11th, so if you are heading down there, let me know.
I think I'm running out of steam. Okay, one more. I have been toying around with buying a Nintendo Wii. I have a bit of the ole carpal tunnel from too many video games and computing in the past, so I think the Wii's gyroscope action might be light on my fingers. Still, it definitely feels like one of those unnecessary purchases, and without a bunch of buddies around, as per the college days, I wonder if the entertainment value is as high.
Okay, I lied. One more. I'll be heading to beautiful, sunny Buffalo, New York in April with wifey Kim while she goes to a speech/hearing conference up there. She'll be at the conference for the entire day on a Friday, so I'll be heading to a poker room in the nearby casinos. I went to college in Buffalo, but back then I didn't play poker and there were no poker rooms in the sole Canadian casino anyway. Highlights will hopefully be the poker, eating at a bunch of shitty eateries in Buffalo for a little bit of college nostalgia, and dropping by the ole fraternity house. Iakaris lives up there too, but he seems like a busy mofo, so I don't know if that would work out.
Okay, last one, I swear. I should have about $50 in my Full Tilt account now, and I just received $105 in my Stars account, although the source is, well, unknown to me. What does this mean? I have money online again, so expect me to write about losing $155 in about 2 hours time. Whatever the case, I really have finally shook the online poker bug, so I don't expect to be returning to my old habit. At least I have that going for me.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 5:37 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 9:51 PM,
said...
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I will make trip up to buffalo when April gets here. Just let me know the dates. I would not mind throwing some chips around at a table with you.
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At 11:44 AM,
Gydyon said...
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BUY THE WII
I absolutely love mine.
