Opportunity Knocks
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I had an interesting evening last night. When I got home from work, wifey Kim was out shopping for more shoes. She has already reached centipede status with well over 100 individual shoes and now she's seeking out millipede status. We are thinking about renting out the neighboring apartment to hold her shoes.
While she was out shopping, I was busy at work, putting together an Astin-like dinner. It wasn't anything as fancy, but after cooking for 8 guests (including wifey Kim and I) for this Saturday's MexiWii Birthday Extravaganza for my lovely wife, I had some left over peppers and onions. I stopped by the nearby supermarket/deli and picked up one potato, two pieces of sandwich steak and a soft roll and made myself a helluva cheesesteak with wedge-cut fries. As I sat down to eat, wifey Kim was just returning home. Before I went food shopping, I checked if she had eaten. "I just had some soup for dinner." Once she saw the cheesesteak, though, I was glad I made it an extra-long hero roll. She got the shoes and half my meat.
As for the shoes, wifey Kim was kind enough to model them for me. "Um, honey, aren't those the same shoes you wore on Saturday?" "No, those were heals, these are wedges." "Um, are you sure. It looks the same to me. Closed-toe, Mary-Jane style." Yes, I have been learning about shoes. It's the natural course of things when your wife bi-weekly tries to convince you that she needs this pair because unlike the other pair of brown slingbacks, these are a matte finish. "This heal isn't as high, and the wedge makes it less formal and better for work." "Wait a second, didn't you say that the shoes were for your friend's bridal shower." "I can use them for work too." "How do you even choose your shoes every morning? It would take me an hour."
As much as I don't get the shoe thing, I don't begrudge it. We all spend money on stupid stuff. For wifey Kim, it's more shoes than are necessary to clothe a small village. For me, its poker...which actually earns me money... Okay, admittedly, there are stupid stuff like comic books and video games too. It's all about perspective.
At around 9:30, wifey Kim wanted to watch the Fashion Police wrap-up of the Academy Awards, so I fired up the comp. I had $9 left on FT and entered a token SNG. AA fell to 67s and I was near felted. A few minutes later, I was felted.
I fired up a Stars Turbo 180-player SNG, only to lose near the bubble. I also fired up a 45-player turbo SNG on Stars, falling in the same fashion. While still playing the 45-player SNG, I realized that there were 15 minutes until the Hoy. I told myself that if I didn't win my token with my last $9, I wouldn't play. As I neared the game, I felt like I was playing well, even if the results didn't show. I finally bit the proverbial bullet and sent an IM to GCox. "Can you spot me $26?" G was happy to comply.
With barely enough to play, borrowed money no less, I started the Hoy with high hopes. I played uber aggressive at times, chipping up by taking down small pots. I lost a big pot in the middle of the game when I made a bad play against a player who turned an inside straight. That left me with under 1500, but I kept the pressure on my opponents, chipping up with small pots. Eventually, I found myself in 2nd place out of the remaining 12 players. At this point, my uber-aggression had set up my table image nicely. I raised two hands in a row and my opponents folded. On the third hand, in the BB, I held JJ. It folded to Katiemother in the SB. She raised, probably assuming that my uber-aggression would be curbed. With my strong hand, I raised. She raised back and we got all-in. She held A8o. The flop was JTX, giving me top set. The turn was a Queen. The river was a 9. With her straight, Katiemother took down the hand and more than half of my chips. I was now the shortstack. Earlier in the game, a player stated, "pp (pocket pairs) are not doing me any good." I replied that mine were doing just fine after I took down the pot. After the hand against Katiemother, CMitch, who was looking on while he played at the other table, typed something along the lines of, How are those pps now? I don't remember the exact statement, but it wasn't mean spirited. I just got the impression that he thought it was a bad suckout and that I was in trouble. I replied, "I'm still healthy." And for the most part, I was. Even though I was the shortest stack, I had more than 10x the BB, so I knew that there was more game in me...and I'm a shortstack specialist.
By the time we reached the final table, I was still in last place. I tightened up at times and loosened up at others, depending on the play at the table. Sometimes, the shortstack can chip up through sheer aggression. The key is to have a stack that is at least a little scary. It also helps if players see that you are aggressive. It isn't the first bet they fear in these situations. It's the continuation bet all-in for your whole stack that curbs players from calling you preflop.
In that way, I was able to claw my way back up to fourth place eventually. Sixth and Fifth fell, and I was ITM. Fourth fell as well, and I was three-handed with about 12000 against two players with 24000 or so. My comeback had ended in 3rd place. At least I had money to pay G back. And I'm still in the #4 position for most money earned in the Hoy this year. And it was a hard-fought game as well. I came back from a shortstack on more than one occasion and played well from what I can recall.
Future poker is looking good. I planned to return to the Wall Street Game on Friday, but I have to reconsider my plans. The Big Boss Man wants me to take a deposition in Pennsylvania by myself. I looked up the location and its about 90 minutes from AC. I could, hypothetically, take the deposition at 2:30pm, finish by 4:30pm, head to the casinos by 6pm, and make my way back to NY at around midnight. It's a bit of a degenerate's move, and one that I haven't done before, but I'm really itching to play some casino poker. I can also opt to grab a room in some nearby town, crash for a few hours and then head back. Wifey Kim is busy Saturday afternoon and I don't have anything to do until Saturday night.
If you're going to be in the AC area, let me know.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 10:01 AM,
3 Comments:
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At 12:34 PM,
Pokerwolf said...
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She got the shoes and half my meat.
Well, now we know why you let her buy shoes! Nice payoff! -
At 2:13 PM,
KrazyBangs said...
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"..from AC. I could, hypothetically, take the deposition at 2:30pm, finish by 4:30pm, head to the casinos by 6pm, and make my way back to NY at around midnight. It's a bit of a degenerate's move.."
think of it as....
an opportunist's move... -
At 1:39 AM,
Riggstad said...
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Dude, I'm 90 minutes from AC.
Your deposition is probably 10 minutes from RC HQ!
email or girly chat me and I'll get you my cell. Def would go down to with ya.
Yahoo is riggstad with way
