Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Roller Coaster
This week has been a real roller-coaster of events.
First, I had a bad session of poker last Friday night and lost some money. Roller coaster going down.
Then, I found out that I’m getting a new assignment at work. I’ll be leaving a position that I was not really very well-suited for and frankly not all that good at. I’ll be taking a position in call center operations management. This job is more in my ‘wheel-house’. I'm really looking forward. Roller coaster going up.
Then, on Wednesday night, I come home to find my family (Wife, Kids, and pets) freaking out about a noise coming from one of the interior walls of my house. I soon assessed the situation to be some sort of vermin trapped inside of the wall. By the sounds of the scratching and clawing, this could have been anything from a small mouse, to a bird, to a large raccoon or bobcat for all I knew (your imagination can sometimes get the best of ya in a situation like this).
Being the manly man of the house, I didn’t need to call any type of service to remove this pest. I’d handle it myself.
I quickly determined that the animal was trapped in a exhaust vent from my downstairs bathroom. So, perched on a step stool, I carefully removed the fan exhaust cover. I was in a very vulnerable position. I was guarding against the likely possibility that as I removed this cover, the raccoon (or whatever) would come launching out of the hole in the ceiling, attach to my face, and either suffocate or scratch me to death.
Whew! The cover came off without incident. Now, for those of you who maybe unfamiliar with the makings of a bathroom exhaust fan - it is made up of a housing and a motor/fan. I carefully removed the fan from the housing. I noticed that the vent is actually covered with a sort of one-way valve. This valve allows exhaust to flow out of the room but prevents air from flowing into the room. I thought this was pretty handy safety feature as it might prevent the bobcat in my ceiling from gaining access to my face.
After a quick assessment of the situation, I thought my best course of action was to prop open the exhaust valve and quickly run out of the bathroom and close the door. This way, the sewer rat in my ceiling could climb out and I’d have it locked in the bathroom – of course I didn’t really have a plan beyond that point to deal with this particular contingency.
So I prop open the exhaust valve with a piece of wadded up paper towel and scramble out of the bathroom and slam the door behind me.
Now, I positioned just outside of the bathroom door. I have broom in hand ready to clobber any vermin such as a small mouse that maybe able to squeeze under the bathroom door. After a while, the scratching noise in the wall ends. This is my cue that the animal in my ceiling has found it’s opening to escape the exhaust vent. So I crack open the door to sneak a peek at the horrible creature. It turned out to be a small black bird. I’m able to easily catch the bird once it gets tangled in the blinds on the bathroom window. No injuries to report. But I’m feeling like a bit of a sissy for being a little intimidated by the situation. Roller coaster down and then up.
Then, on Saturday, after weeks of pleading and begging, I finally gave into my wife’s and daughter’s manipulation to get another family pet. My daughter just had a birthday and she thought she needed to have her own puppy as the ultimate present. So, against my better judgment, I caved in. I’ll admit, the puppy is cute and funny and all that other stuff, but I swear it’s just like we had another baby. We are dealing with pooping and peeing in the house. We’re up in the middle of the night attending to this infant canine. Then, there’s the baby talk, “Annie need to go outside?”, “Annie want a treat?”, “goochie, goocie, ga, ga”. I’m going to have to say roller coaster going down at this point.
Finally, I escaped for some late evening poker on Saturday night at a home game. I arrive about 10p. This is a cash game that follows a large 40-50 person tournament. Over the years, this has been a pretty good cash game. It seem like the players usually show up with several hundred $$ that they are willing to gamble with. The play is usually pretty loose/wild. I attribute this to the fact that most of these players just spent 2-3 hours playing very tight in the tournament, now they are ready to gamble it up. The downside is that at a 10 handed table, there may be 5 or 6 really good players. My biggest problem is playing against players that are comfortable enough to get ‘creative’ and make some very non-standard plays. I usually loose a lot of money on these more creative plays.
Anyway, I had a good night. I won $435 (whooo hooo!). Roller coaster going back up.
At this home game, we usually end up playing NLHE all night. There is not much tolerance for other games. Even though ½ of the table may be willing play some different games, there are usually a few people who object. I don’t really mind as this gives me a chance to work on NLHE against some better players.
The interesting part of this evening was a general willingness of the table to play games other than NL Hold’Em. I don’t consider myself a really good poker player at anyone one game, but I think I have graduated up from being a terrible player on most of the games. As it turns out, not being a terrible player was probably enough to make a little money at this particular session.
First the ‘standard’ game was NL Hold’Em, $100 max buyin, $1/$1 blinds. An interesting hand came up. I was in the big blind with AK suited. 2 early position players limp. A very tight and, up to that point – inactive, player raised to $5. The small blind calls. I raise to $20. Action is folded to the original raiser who re-raises and goes all in for an additional $20. Other player folds. I call, getting more than 3:1. We table our hands. He shows QQ. I show my AKs. We look at each other. I could sense we were both looking for a way to avoid flipping a coining in this spot, so I say “chop it?”. He agrees instantly. We pull back our money and chop the 7 dollars in dead money. What do you think of this play? Is this a sissy play, or is the play of a seasoned poker player who has no interest in flipping coins for a large pot?
Then, another interesting hand came up when I had a pair of 5s – again in the big blind. The pot was raised to $8 and it was cold called by 2 players. I called as well. 4 of us to the flop. There’s $32 in the pot. The flop was a thing of beauty 2-3-5. I was already anticipating how I was going to triple up through players holding overpairs. I check. The early position player bets $20. 1 player folds, one player calls. Since the board was coordinated and the pot was multi-way, I decided to stop messing around right then and there. I check-raised to $65. The original raiser goes all in for another $40. The guy who called the initial $20, folds. I call. Other guy shows A-4 for a flopped straight. I need the board to pair or to somehow or find the case 5. Another 2 falls on the turn and I suck out for a big pot. I take a little flack for sucking out. I try to play it up like I’m a big fish that likes to gamble for all of my money.
Then, the game was switched to $2-$10 spread limit stud. Once again, I’m not a good stud player, but I figured to be at a small advantage vs the field.
On the very first hand of the rotation, I’m dealt A-K-Q with the ace in the door. After the bring-in and 2 limpers, the guy who called the game, raises the pot with a queen in the door. Since, I had a queen and there was another queen dead behind me, I decided to re-raise to isolate. I made a full $10 re-raise. My cards were completely live. It worked. I was heads-up. 4th street was a blank. I made a continuation bet/bluff, he called. 5th Street, I caught a pair of Kings and bet. He called. 6th Street was a blank, I checked my one pair. His board was really uncoordinated. He checked behind. River – I made Kings up. I bet, he folded I dragged a nice pot without showing.
On the very next hand, I was dealt split kings with a 5. I figured that there may be some players that would like to take a flyer for $10 with some weak hands, so I raised to $12 after 2 limpers hoping to thin the field. I get 2 callers. 4th street is a good card – a 5. I made Kings up and it’s well disguised. Plus, I’m guessing that since I didn’t show down my last hand, I may get someone who wants to “look me up” if I bet. So I bet $10. I find the table sheriff that I’m looking for. I get re-raised a full $10. In a structured limit game, where the betting doubles on 5th street, I’d just call here and then check raise on 5th street to trap more money in the pot, but since the betting did not go up on 5th street, I decided to re-raise a full $10 right here on 4th street. I get called. I know I’m in good shape here. 5th street is a brick. I bet $10. He calls. 6th street are bricks for both of us. I check, he checks. I still have Kings up on the river. I check – no sense in getting raised here if he made a straight or flush. He bets. I make an agonizing call and immediately announce my hand. He mucks. I drag a nice $150 pot. I made about 100 bucks in 2 hands of stud. That’s nice!
Then, someone started calling Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better with $1/$1 blinds. Interestingly, we played this game for the rest of the evening (approx 4 hours straight). This may be a sign of things to come when NLHE specialists prefer to play PLO8 at the cash game. Anyway, I played pretty well and made some money. On one particular hand, I made a play on a good player. This is a play that simply would not work on a newer player. I executed what was a “promo” fake check-raise on the turn. Here's how it went down.
First, I had a bad session of poker last Friday night and lost some money. Roller coaster going down.
Then, I found out that I’m getting a new assignment at work. I’ll be leaving a position that I was not really very well-suited for and frankly not all that good at. I’ll be taking a position in call center operations management. This job is more in my ‘wheel-house’. I'm really looking forward. Roller coaster going up.
Then, on Wednesday night, I come home to find my family (Wife, Kids, and pets) freaking out about a noise coming from one of the interior walls of my house. I soon assessed the situation to be some sort of vermin trapped inside of the wall. By the sounds of the scratching and clawing, this could have been anything from a small mouse, to a bird, to a large raccoon or bobcat for all I knew (your imagination can sometimes get the best of ya in a situation like this).
Being the manly man of the house, I didn’t need to call any type of service to remove this pest. I’d handle it myself.
I quickly determined that the animal was trapped in a exhaust vent from my downstairs bathroom. So, perched on a step stool, I carefully removed the fan exhaust cover. I was in a very vulnerable position. I was guarding against the likely possibility that as I removed this cover, the raccoon (or whatever) would come launching out of the hole in the ceiling, attach to my face, and either suffocate or scratch me to death.
Whew! The cover came off without incident. Now, for those of you who maybe unfamiliar with the makings of a bathroom exhaust fan - it is made up of a housing and a motor/fan. I carefully removed the fan from the housing. I noticed that the vent is actually covered with a sort of one-way valve. This valve allows exhaust to flow out of the room but prevents air from flowing into the room. I thought this was pretty handy safety feature as it might prevent the bobcat in my ceiling from gaining access to my face.
After a quick assessment of the situation, I thought my best course of action was to prop open the exhaust valve and quickly run out of the bathroom and close the door. This way, the sewer rat in my ceiling could climb out and I’d have it locked in the bathroom – of course I didn’t really have a plan beyond that point to deal with this particular contingency.
So I prop open the exhaust valve with a piece of wadded up paper towel and scramble out of the bathroom and slam the door behind me.
Now, I positioned just outside of the bathroom door. I have broom in hand ready to clobber any vermin such as a small mouse that maybe able to squeeze under the bathroom door. After a while, the scratching noise in the wall ends. This is my cue that the animal in my ceiling has found it’s opening to escape the exhaust vent. So I crack open the door to sneak a peek at the horrible creature. It turned out to be a small black bird. I’m able to easily catch the bird once it gets tangled in the blinds on the bathroom window. No injuries to report. But I’m feeling like a bit of a sissy for being a little intimidated by the situation. Roller coaster down and then up.
Then, on Saturday, after weeks of pleading and begging, I finally gave into my wife’s and daughter’s manipulation to get another family pet. My daughter just had a birthday and she thought she needed to have her own puppy as the ultimate present. So, against my better judgment, I caved in. I’ll admit, the puppy is cute and funny and all that other stuff, but I swear it’s just like we had another baby. We are dealing with pooping and peeing in the house. We’re up in the middle of the night attending to this infant canine. Then, there’s the baby talk, “Annie need to go outside?”, “Annie want a treat?”, “goochie, goocie, ga, ga”. I’m going to have to say roller coaster going down at this point.
Finally, I escaped for some late evening poker on Saturday night at a home game. I arrive about 10p. This is a cash game that follows a large 40-50 person tournament. Over the years, this has been a pretty good cash game. It seem like the players usually show up with several hundred $$ that they are willing to gamble with. The play is usually pretty loose/wild. I attribute this to the fact that most of these players just spent 2-3 hours playing very tight in the tournament, now they are ready to gamble it up. The downside is that at a 10 handed table, there may be 5 or 6 really good players. My biggest problem is playing against players that are comfortable enough to get ‘creative’ and make some very non-standard plays. I usually loose a lot of money on these more creative plays.
Anyway, I had a good night. I won $435 (whooo hooo!). Roller coaster going back up.
At this home game, we usually end up playing NLHE all night. There is not much tolerance for other games. Even though ½ of the table may be willing play some different games, there are usually a few people who object. I don’t really mind as this gives me a chance to work on NLHE against some better players.
The interesting part of this evening was a general willingness of the table to play games other than NL Hold’Em. I don’t consider myself a really good poker player at anyone one game, but I think I have graduated up from being a terrible player on most of the games. As it turns out, not being a terrible player was probably enough to make a little money at this particular session.
First the ‘standard’ game was NL Hold’Em, $100 max buyin, $1/$1 blinds. An interesting hand came up. I was in the big blind with AK suited. 2 early position players limp. A very tight and, up to that point – inactive, player raised to $5. The small blind calls. I raise to $20. Action is folded to the original raiser who re-raises and goes all in for an additional $20. Other player folds. I call, getting more than 3:1. We table our hands. He shows QQ. I show my AKs. We look at each other. I could sense we were both looking for a way to avoid flipping a coining in this spot, so I say “chop it?”. He agrees instantly. We pull back our money and chop the 7 dollars in dead money. What do you think of this play? Is this a sissy play, or is the play of a seasoned poker player who has no interest in flipping coins for a large pot?
Then, another interesting hand came up when I had a pair of 5s – again in the big blind. The pot was raised to $8 and it was cold called by 2 players. I called as well. 4 of us to the flop. There’s $32 in the pot. The flop was a thing of beauty 2-3-5. I was already anticipating how I was going to triple up through players holding overpairs. I check. The early position player bets $20. 1 player folds, one player calls. Since the board was coordinated and the pot was multi-way, I decided to stop messing around right then and there. I check-raised to $65. The original raiser goes all in for another $40. The guy who called the initial $20, folds. I call. Other guy shows A-4 for a flopped straight. I need the board to pair or to somehow or find the case 5. Another 2 falls on the turn and I suck out for a big pot. I take a little flack for sucking out. I try to play it up like I’m a big fish that likes to gamble for all of my money.
Then, the game was switched to $2-$10 spread limit stud. Once again, I’m not a good stud player, but I figured to be at a small advantage vs the field.
On the very first hand of the rotation, I’m dealt A-K-Q with the ace in the door. After the bring-in and 2 limpers, the guy who called the game, raises the pot with a queen in the door. Since, I had a queen and there was another queen dead behind me, I decided to re-raise to isolate. I made a full $10 re-raise. My cards were completely live. It worked. I was heads-up. 4th street was a blank. I made a continuation bet/bluff, he called. 5th Street, I caught a pair of Kings and bet. He called. 6th Street was a blank, I checked my one pair. His board was really uncoordinated. He checked behind. River – I made Kings up. I bet, he folded I dragged a nice pot without showing.
On the very next hand, I was dealt split kings with a 5. I figured that there may be some players that would like to take a flyer for $10 with some weak hands, so I raised to $12 after 2 limpers hoping to thin the field. I get 2 callers. 4th street is a good card – a 5. I made Kings up and it’s well disguised. Plus, I’m guessing that since I didn’t show down my last hand, I may get someone who wants to “look me up” if I bet. So I bet $10. I find the table sheriff that I’m looking for. I get re-raised a full $10. In a structured limit game, where the betting doubles on 5th street, I’d just call here and then check raise on 5th street to trap more money in the pot, but since the betting did not go up on 5th street, I decided to re-raise a full $10 right here on 4th street. I get called. I know I’m in good shape here. 5th street is a brick. I bet $10. He calls. 6th street are bricks for both of us. I check, he checks. I still have Kings up on the river. I check – no sense in getting raised here if he made a straight or flush. He bets. I make an agonizing call and immediately announce my hand. He mucks. I drag a nice $150 pot. I made about 100 bucks in 2 hands of stud. That’s nice!
Then, someone started calling Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or better with $1/$1 blinds. Interestingly, we played this game for the rest of the evening (approx 4 hours straight). This may be a sign of things to come when NLHE specialists prefer to play PLO8 at the cash game. Anyway, I played pretty well and made some money. On one particular hand, I made a play on a good player. This is a play that simply would not work on a newer player. I executed what was a “promo” fake check-raise on the turn. Here's how it went down.
I was playing with a 2-3-x-x in my hand. A beautiful Ace came on the flop with another low card. Somehow the pot got built pretty good (~$70). I was in early position. When another low card came on the turn and I made the nut low, I checked preparing the check raise pot. The other player checked behind. Then, I made some comment that indicated my disappointment that was not able to check raise him. Right as I was saying this, the dealer put out the river. I said something like, “Ok good! The board didn’t pair so now I can bet pot”. I bet pot. The other player thought a while and mucked what he later claimed was 2 pair. This is an example of the perfectly executed ‘fake out promo check-raise on the turn” in PLO8.
Next weekend – no Poker. Family vacation to Fort Wayne. Roller coaster going…..?
Next weekend – no Poker. Family vacation to Fort Wayne. Roller coaster going…..?
Comments:
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about the chop...
i'd do it.
with those donkeys, you can find much better spots to git-r all in there.
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i'd do it.
with those donkeys, you can find much better spots to git-r all in there.
# posted by 
: 10:16 AM
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