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  Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Week Twelve Wrapup

I thought this was going to be a record week. When I started the week with two strong days, I thought I was looking at a record week, but then I got clobbered by several bad days in a row.

I don't think my game has changed significantly. What I actually assume the problem is, is a form of game selection: I'm playing in the extreme wee hours of the morning, where the only fish likely to be playing are drunk Hawaiians. And so, despite the occasional tagged fish, most of the players I've been playing with aren't making many mistakes. And if I'm catching only average cards, then I have plenty of opportunity to lose money with my own mistakes.

I could as easily have decided not to count the time-warp day out; the time-warp isn't extreme yet. But it will be. Alternately, I could shift the dates around and call week twelve the six-day week I've been planning to have to make my weeks start on Monday like normal people. But then I'll have to have another time-warp day.

The easy thing to do about this is to restrict my playing to the few hours either side of midnight, but the way my sleep schedule shifts around (I'm on a 25- or 26-hour day), I'm about to enter a stretch where I'm asleep then. So, I'll probably try to keep my play during the day as a second-best option.

I should see my sister tomorrow, and we'll make plans for Vegas. Currently we're thinking May 12–16. Is anyone going to be there? Let me know.

(Apparently I'm going to get an invitation to the wedding of someone I once dated. That's really strange.)

The (barely) winning numbers:

DATE LOCATION START END  SB   BB   RESULTS       
4/20 PP Tbl 12501 11:00 PM 2:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (48.00) WEEK TWELVE  
  PP Horizon 11:00 PM 12:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     10.00  
  PP Las vegas players 11:00 PM 11:30 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (2.00)  
  PP Jumpin Jacks 11:35 PM 2:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     33.00  
  PP Make a boat 11:45 PM 2:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     86.50 Followed Nupe03  
  PP Pirates Cove 12:05 AM 12:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     77.50  
  PP Tbl 13133 12:35 AM 12:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      8.00  
  PP Tbl 11374 12:45 AM 2:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      3.83  
4/20 TOTAL:      $   168.83  
4/21 PP Tbl 12421 12:20 AM 12:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      4.00 Computer acting strange  
  PP Tbl 12822 12:30 AM 5:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     68.50 (Night of 4/21)  
  PP Tbl 12660 12:30 AM 3:15 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     21.25  
  PP Tbl 12761 12:30 AM 1:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (46.50)  
  PP Mesmerising Moments 12:30 AM 3:20 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   214.00  
  PP Bohemian Rhapsody 1:35 AM 6:10 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (68.00) Rebuy  
  PP Push and Pull 3:15 AM 6:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   301.50 Nice confab w/WarTigger, Dooud
  PP Tbl 12501 3:25 AM 6:10 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (76.33) Rebuy  
  PP Autumn Breeze 5:05 AM 6:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (64.00)  
  PP Las vegas players 6:10 AM 6:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     52.00  
  PP Ice Cheese 6:15 AM 6:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     30.00  
4/21 TOTAL:      $   436.42  
4/22 PP STT Qualifier 5:50 PM    NL     $     (8.00) Finish: 4/10  
  PP Tbl 12535 11:30 PM 2:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (4.00)  
  PP Captain's choice 11:30 PM 12:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (122.00)  
  PP Tbl 12985 11:30 PM 1:15 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (32.50)  
  PP It's Your Life 11:30 PM 2:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (3.00)  
  PP over the horizon 1:15 AM 2:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (1.00)  
  PP Tbl 12791 12:55 AM 4:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     36.50  
  PP Gold canyon 2:05 AM 3:25 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     20.00  
  PP Lucky Bucks 2:35 AM 3:20 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (74.00)  
  PP Tbl 12822 2:35 PM 3:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     15.00  
  PP Gallopin gooseberry 3:00 AM 4:10 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     37.00  
  PP Tbl 12761 3:20 AM 4:10 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (101.50)  
  PP Horizon 3:25 AM 4:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      2.00  
4/22 TOTAL:      $  (235.50)  
4/23      $          -   No play: Time Warp  
4/24 PP Deposit Bonus 4:00 AM   15%    $   100.00 (Night of 4/23)  
  PP French Fries 4:25 AM 7:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (119.00) Rebuy  
  PP Tbl 12637 4:25 AM 6:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (121.00) Rebuy  
  PP Tbl 12626 4:25 AM 7:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     98.00  
  PP Dunkin Dough 4:25 AM 5:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (12.00)  
  PP Gold canyon 5:05 AM 5:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (33.00)  
  PP Mona Lisa 5:35 AM 6:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (23.00)  
  PP High Hopes 6:00 AM 6:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (60.50)  
  PP Make a boat 6:05 AM 6:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     54.00  
  PP Push and Pull 6:50 AM 7:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (60.00)  
  PP Dasire plus 6:55 AM 7:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (44.00)  
4/24 TOTAL:      $  (220.50)  
4/25 PP Tbl 12626 4:00 AM 5:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     61.00  
  PP Dasire plus 4:00 AM 5:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   102.00  
  PP Tbl 12687 4:00 AM 5:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (61.75)  
  PP Tbl 12535 4:05 AM 5:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (68.50)  
  PP Tbl 12822 5:05 AM 7:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (39.00)  
  PP Mona Lisa 5:35 AM 5:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (7.00)  
  PP Tbl 11409 5:35 AM 7:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (3.50)  
  PP Tbl 11132 5:35 AM 7:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      5.00  
  PP Make a boat 5:45 AM 7:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (35.75)  
4/25 TOTAL:      $    (47.50)  
4/26 PP Chimney Sweeper 11:35 PM 2:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     89.50 Internet down  
  PP cuckoo's nest 11:35 PM 11:45 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     43.50 (Morning of 4/26)  
  PP Tbl 11327 11:35 PM 2:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   135.50 Internet down  
  PP over the horizon 11:50 PM 12:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (41.50)  
  PP Flombe 11:50 PM 12:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     33.00  
  PP Tbl 12581 12:55 AM 2:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (123.25) Internet down  
  PP Tbl 12238 12:55 AM 2:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (28.00) Internet down  
4/26 TOTAL:      $   108.75  
TOTAL FOR WEEK TWELVE:      $   210.50  
CUMULATIVE WEEKS 4-12:      $2,895.33  
      WEEK THIRTEEN  
       
       

Poker in the real world

I ran across a poker reference in a short story that turns out to be about time travel (sort of), by Orson Scott Card, that gets the poker right. Strangely, the poker is immaterial to the story.

     One weekend he even took me to work with him. Doc made his living in Nevada. We left Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon and drove to Wendover, the first town over the border. I expected him to be an employee of the casino we stopped at. But he didn’t punch in, just left his name with a guy, and then he sat in a corner with me and waited.
     “Don’t you have to work?” I asked.
     “I’m working,” he said.
     “I used to work just the same way, but I got fired.”
     “I’ve got to wait my turn for a table. I told you I made my living with poker.”
     And it finally dawned on me that he was a freelance professional—a player—a cardshark.
     There were four guys named Doc there that night. Doc Murphy was the third one called to a table. He played quietly, and lost steadily but lightly for two hours. Then, suddenly, in four hands he made back everything he had lost and added nearly fifteen hundred dollars to it. Then he made his apologies after a decent number of losing hands and we drove back to Salt Lake.
     “Usually I have to play again on Saturday night,” he told me. Then he grinned. ”Tonight I was lucky. There was an idiot who thought he knew poker.”
     I remembered the old saw: Never eat at a place called Mom’s, never play poker with a man named Doc, and never sleep with a woman who’s got more troubles than you. Pure truth. Doc memorized the deck, knew all the odds by heart, and it was a rare poker face that Doc couldn’t eventually see through.

(from "Prior Restraint," ©1990 by Orson Scott Card, in Aboriginal SF, September 1986, collected in Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card, New York: Orb, 2004.)

Week Twelve wrapup coming shortly.

  Monday, April 26, 2004

Iggy asked a question about why it is we like blogs, as authors and as readers. I liked my answer so much I thought I'd share it. (And, also, my Email client is acting up.)

What I Like About Blogs, by Lord Geznikor Whompbucket

[Yes, that is a second-grade title. So?]

There are a number of things I like about blogs, why I read them and why I write one.

  Saturday, April 24, 2004

But What About Winning Players?

PartyPoker is offering a 15% deposit bonus through April 30 with the deposit code RELOAD. It maxes out at $100, which is 15% of $666.67 if you were planning on depositing.

But I haven't made a deposit since January. Oh, boo hoo, it's so unfair, winning players can't take advantage ...

Actually, I could, but I'd need to withdraw almost right away, too. And after a losing day yesterday, my online bankroll is below $2000, boo hoo hoo ...   —Actually, I probably have almost exactly $666.67 in my checking account at the moment, and $100 is $100. I'd have to play 1000 raked hands before the $100 is mine, but hell, I do that in a night.

Okay, I'm doing it ... there. Now I have a free $100 in my account. Deposits are instant (of course), so I see that free $100 in my account. I'll start the engine of withdrawal tomorrow. I wonder how I should log that? Probably "4/24 FREE MONEY +$100" or something. I wonder if I can do this twice?

Now for my biggest hope of all: I hope that the fish that take advantage of the bonus add greatly to my bottom line.

  Thursday, April 22, 2004

Another HAMMER Victory

Once again, my victory isn't perfect, but this time my HAMMER wasn't suited.

I was in the big blind, of course, and only one limper to let me see the flop. Something like QT4 rainbow. I check, the limper checks. Turn is another Ten, and I bet out. Limper folds, and I show:

#543675662: LordGeznikor wins $16 from
the main pot with a pair of tens.

patrickf: lucky hand
zeekule: very very GOOD hand
LordGeznikor: Fear the HAMMER!
lintoid: monster
#543677496: repine wins $19
zeekule: honestly, it was like candy from a baby

  Wednesday, April 21, 2004

A Semi-Hammer

27 in the big blind. I have the "Check/Fold" button pressed, because I've got three other tables that might get a hand, and I don't really care if people see that I've checked really quickly when it's my action.

Board flops AKQ♠. The small blind (angelsrule) bets out, almost certainly with an ace and maybe two pair or the straight. But I have a ridiculous flush draw, and so I raise. When the small blind three-bets, I call along, and get my diamond on the turn. Here I merely call, but he checks the river (another diamond), so I bet out. He calls, and I show my suited hammer for the win.

The funny bit is this exchange afterward:

#541383732: LordGeznikor wins $60 from
the main pot with a flush, ace high.

LordGeznikor: Fear the HAMMER!
angelsrule: fk off lord
LordGeznikor: I love you too

  Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Week Eleven Wrapup

In short, this week wasn't nearly as triumphant as the preceding two weeks. It's actually sort of refreshing, really, to have a down week, in the sense that the pressure is off to keep posting $1000+ weeks. Of course, that said, I now need to post a $1000+ week.

I played in the casino twice this week, for miserable showings both times, for the same reason. It makes me think that casino play is very –EV for me, since the sitzendesfleisch to fold for four hours isn't necessary online: Playing four tables, the good cards will come. Pretty soon, too. It's the difference between playing 30 hands an hour, and playing 300 hands an hour.

On the other hand, playing solely online, while a much better EV for me, is a bit too solitary for my taste. I'm single, and even though Otto the Cat is pretty cool, to have Otto as my only companion most of the time would drive me buggy. So I'll continue to play in the casino, but maybe I'll cut it down to once a week or so. Except when I go back to Vegas next month.

I need to break another newly-formed habit. After two weeks that were more than $1000 to the good, I started thinking of myself as someone with money, and starting spending it a little too profligately. Playing in Detroit was fine on the way to see my sister, but I could have played during the day instead of the evening, and stayed with my sister instead of spending $100 for a hotel room. Ditto for the ballpark: Did I need to spend $40 apiece for the tickets, or would it have been just as fun to spend $10 apiece and sit in the bleachers? (Well, okay, they were pretty nice seats.)

I'm actually pretty good about going into "frugal mode" because of the number of times in my life I've had to do it, living paycheck to paycheck. But I've also become pretty good at convincing myself that this $50 thing or $100 thing or $500 thing was something that I really had to have, and I'll go back to being frugal afterward. (My second monitor falls in this category.) And, after so long of not really having money, there's a bit of thrill, still, at being able to say, "Oh, $275? No problem," and whip out a few Franklins.

Life as a gambler changes how you view money, as I told my mother once (she didn't like to hear it), and though I'm not at that level, I completely understand how, in McManus' book, he can be so blasé about betting the price of a nice luxury car on a bluff. Having $700 in my wallet would have been astounding to me just a few months ago, but now it seems no different than carrying $50 was. And it's different, because if I had only $50 in my wallet now, I'd be feeling pretty short-stacked.

(While on Amazon to get the link for McManus' book, I ran into a situation like what I was talking about a minute ago: Their front page recommended me to buy the second season of "Cheers," and damn me if I didn't click "OK, buy it" just as soon as I did the McManus link.)

In any case, here are this week's less-than-stellar numbers:

DATE LOCATION START END  SB   BB   RESULTS       
4/13 PP classic table 1:45 PM 2:25 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (41.00) Stood up mistakenly: WEEK ELEVEN
(morn) PP Jumpin Jacks 1:45 PM 2:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     53.50  
  PP Captain's choice 1:45 PM 2:25 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (20.00)  
  PP Lucky Bucks 1:45 PM 4:15 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (84.50) Rebuy  
  PP High Hopes 2:00 PM 2:55 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     49.00  
  PP Peanuts 2:25 PM 2:30 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (13.00)  
  PP Tbl 11351 2:25 PM 4:15 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (43.00)  
  PP On the rocks 2:30 PM 4:20 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $      7.00  
  PP It's Your Life 3:00 PM 4:20 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     14.00  
4/13 PP Tbl 13001 11:50 PM 12:05 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     51.00  
(eve) PP Tbl 12085 11:50 PM 1:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     27.00  
  PP Tbl 12581 11:50 PM 12:25 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     49.50  
  PP A nony moves winners 11:50 PM 12:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (15.00)  
  PP Push and Pull 12:05 AM 3:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (54.40)  
  PP Dasire plus 12:25 AM 3:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (42.00)  
  PP Tbl 12761 12:55 AM 3:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   193.00  
  PP Tbl 12501 1:50 AM 3:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   104.50  
4/13 TOTAL:      $   235.60  
4/14 Trump Gary 2:00 PM 4:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (85.00) Poor starting hands  
  Trump Gary 4:00 PM 6:00 PM  $ 5  $10  $  (259.00) Poor starting hands  
4/14 TOTAL:      $  (344.00)  
4/15 PP Lucky Bucks 1:25 PM 3:55 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     51.50  
(aft) PP Ice Cheese 1:25 PM 3:55 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     20.50  
  PP Captain's choice 1:25 PM 4:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (106.50) $1189 buyin, for some reason  
  PP Mesmerising Moments 1:25 PM 4:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (52.00)  
4/15 PP On the rocks 12:30 AM 2:40 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (57.50)  
(eve) PP Make a boat 12:30 AM 3:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     35.50  
  PP Tbl 12085 12:30 AM 1:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (72.00)  
  PP Tbl 12581 12:35 AM 1:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (1.50)  
  PP Dasire plus 1:40 AM 1:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     17.00  
  PP Pirates Cove 1:45 AM 2:40 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (176.00) Rebuy: lucy18 killed me twice  
  PP Tbl 12280 1:55 AM 2:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $      2.00  
4/15 TOTAL:      $  (339.00)  
4/16 Greektown 4:00 PM 1:00 AM  $ 5  $10  $  (184.00) Poor starting hands  
4/16 TOTAL:      $  (184.00)  
4/17 No play      $          -    
4/18 PP Mesmerising Moments 7:00 PM 1:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     43.50  
  PP Tbl 12187 7:00 PM 12:30 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   171.25  
  PP Riffle the Chips 7:05 PM 1:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (39.50)  
  PP Tbl 11132 7:05 PM 10:50 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $      1.00  
  PP Plum Passion 10:50 PM 1:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $  (150.00) Suckouts  
  PP Dasire plus 12:30 AM 1:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     10.00  
4/17 TOTAL:      $     36.25  
4/19 PP classic table 10:25 PM 12:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     51.00 great table, later  
  PP Gallopin gooseberry 10:25 PM 12:35 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     82.00  
  PP Tbl 12687 10:25 PM 12:25 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (22.00)  
  PP Tbl 12791 10:25 PM 11:00 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (80.00)  
  PP Tbl 12280 11:00 PM 11:45 PM  $ 3  $ 6  $     (1.00)  
  PP Captain's choice 11:45 PM 12:00 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (12.00)  
  PP On the rocks 12:00 AM 12:45 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     48.50  
  PP Tbl 12743 12:30 AM 1:50 AM  $10  $20  $  (210.00) 6max: followed bpaalco510  
  PP Tbl 10773 1:23 AM 1:35 AM  $10  $20  $   105.00 6max: followed bpaalco510  
  PP Tbl 12164 2:20 AM 2:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $    (45.00)  
  PP Mesmerising Moments 2:20 AM 2:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     24.50  
  PP Rubberband 2:20 AM 2:50 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $     29.00  
  PP Tbl 11294 2:20 AM 2:55 AM  $ 3  $ 6  $   115.50 Final hand a monster  
4/19 TOTAL:      $     85.50  
WEEK ELEVEN TOTAL:      $  (509.65)  
CUMULATIVE WEEKS 4-11:      $2,684.83