People Should Know When They're Conquered
Thursday, June 30, 2005
People Should Know When They're Conquered
I watched Gladiator last weekend and was reminded of the above quote. I resolved to use it the first chance I could after killing it on the felt. Tonight was that night. Six Heads-Up matches played - six wins. Three were $5 and the other three were $10. That's a good thing. I decided to call it a night early and walk away with a smile on my face and extra padding in the pocket.
Eeyor In Arrears, Takes It Up Arrears
Tonight was the type of night where the hero (that's me folks) is all in with top two pair and gets called down with two lower pair. Or, on another match, you would have thought Eeyor was on the other end of the computer with as many folds as I saw. I raised so much he finally got fed up and called me down to the river for most of his chips with middle pair when I had a King high made flush on the flop. Thanks Eeyor.
This post is gonna be short, but I've got some other things to do. Next up for me is finding a new poker book to read...I'm thinking it's gonna have to be Harrington On Hold'em since I've heard so much good stuff about it...although $30 bucks is a hefty price to pay for a book. Anybody wanna sell me their first version since part 2 is out now?
posted by TripJax @ 10:51 PM,
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Put Your Money Where Your Money Is
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Put Your Money Where Your Money Is
That, my friends, was a response from a Yankees fan after a BoSox fan was giving him a hard time last night at the 2/5 NL tables. They were punching and jabbing all night about their respective teams and clearly the Yanks fan got fed up and yelled the above line out of frustration. He obviously meant to say mouth, but was getting so angry his mind was elsewhere. It was met with a hearty laugh from all 14 folks, then it was back to the felt. I can't laugh too hard at the guy cause I've dropped some pretty bad ones in my day. As an example, just a few weeks ago I asked my buddy, "which one's which, the chicken or the egg?" I'm pretty sure I'd had a few beers (we were headed for the bar), but still, how stupid is that?! Some day I'll have to write down all the funny stuff my wife and I have unintentionally said.
At the 2/5 table last night I made some good cash and didn't win one hand. That's cause I dealt the whole night. I owed the host 3 hours of work for free and once my 3 hours was up he had enough folks for 2 tables and needed me to stay longer. It worked out well for me cause I need the money. I'm trying to fund our family vacation with poker money, whether playing or dealing. Good to show something good for the family can come from my hobby.
Makes me wonder...how many hobbies out there can actually make you money?! Almost all end up costing you money, no matter what your hobby is. Even the casual hobby, like MeanGene playing volleyball, ends up costing money...what with the potential club/league fees and - lest we forget - the food and beer afterwards. I use Gene's hobby just as a simple example and I certainly don't consider it a bad thing (I'm not very good at volleyball, but if it is a sport I'll play it). We all have our own hobbies because that's what makes us happy. I'm just throwing out the thought that poker can be that rare hobby where - yes you can lose money - but you can also win lots of money. At some point, for some folks, the line between hobby and job begins to blur. Again, not a bad thing if you enjoy it and you're good at it!
O.K. that was a random tangent, and this will not be a long post, so I gotta tighy up and be done with it. I played a $2500 guarantee at Noble tonight. Had the following 3 things happen in succession - this after making it to the final 60 of 120 with top 20 getting paid.
- My KK in big blind vs. AA in small blind - Half my stack gone. Next hand...
- My QQ in small blind vs. AA in big blind - Another chunk gone. Next hand...
- My 99 on the button vs. A9...he catches A on river.
Just like that I was out. It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed. Das poker. I would normally call it quits after something like that, but I decided to hit the 6 max NL ring games. I've been running well there lately. Within 30 minutes I doubled my buy-in and got back all the money I had lost in the tournament, plus a chunk of change. I then decided to call it a night feeling much better, and less vexed.
That's it for me. I took the day off today and spent it next to the pool with the fam. It was nice, but now I'm tired and morning looms. Some of the guys that play at the 2/5 game started up a blog and I told one of the guys I would pimp his blog. Not many other Greensboro poker bloggers out there, so I gotta give a shout out to the GSO Crew. There's something like 6 contributors so I expect there will be posts early and often.
posted by TripJax @ 2:50 AM,
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My Two Cents: Bad Beats & Lucky Draws by Phil Hellmuth
Friday, June 24, 2005
My Two Cents: Bad Beats & Lucky Draws by Phil Hellmuth
Let's start this off by noting that I don't go out and buy books all too often. I'm more of a wait for it to hit the library type of guy. That's not to say I'm some total leech who doesn't want to put a dime towards anything of worth. It's just that when it comes to my money - whenever the option is available - I like to try it before I buy it. If I read something from a library and really like it, there's a good chance I'm going to inevitably fork up the dough to own it. If it's worth its weight, then I respect that the people involved in making it happen deserve to be paid. But if it's total tripe, then I've done the smartest thing possible by testing the waters via the public library.
All that duly noted, I won't be forking up $20 to have Bad Beats & Lucky Draws readily available on my bookshelf at home. In fact, I don't foresee ever seeing the need to read it again. That's not to say it was a piece of dung, but it just didn't deliver its full potential. Maybe I'm asking too much, or maybe I expect every hand to be the shizzy, but I swear there were way too many mediocre entries to be book worthy. It just seemed to me like Phil was thinking one day, "I wonder if I could slap a book together with some random hands, give a little BS about each hand and other pros, then see if anyone will buy it." Unfortunately I'm sure many a person - possibly someone reading this right now - has this book perched upon their book shelf at home. Don't feel bad...whether you like it or not, if you are a fan of poker, Phil Hellmuth will seep into your being and there's nothing you can do about it. He has a way of doing that. I must note I think Phil is good for the game. I enjoy watching tournaments with him involved cause I know it will be more interesting than without him. Unfortunately for him - and us - that does not make him a good author.
Let's go ahead and break this down into 3 classic categories:
The Good
Luckily for Phil, some of the hands are actually interesting. On occasion I do recall finishing a paragraph and saying "wow that was a bad beat" or "lucky bastard...what a suckout." Unfortunately those times are few and far between. Some of the best entries are towards the back when other pros give their recollection of memorable hands, though I must admit, even some of those entries were pretty blah. Wait, this is the good section right? Let me get back to more of the good stuff. Um....eerrr....yeah so, the book gave me something to do during lunch and definitely made falling asleep while reading in bed quite easy.
The! Bad!
The absolute worst part of this book was the use of exclamation points! I swear he used an exclamation point after every fucking sentence! No shit! Every sentence! It was brutal! Phil, I have some advice for you...settle the fuck down! Not everything is so monumentaly important to be deserving of an exclamation point!
Another item that got a little old was his name dropping. I realize he is a pro and does spend alot of time with other pros and celebs, but please Phil, enough with the atta boys. He would write briefly about a particular person - usually another pro - then end the paragraph with something to the tune of, "Wow
The Ugarte
OK I've written enough bad things about this book so I'm gonna finish this up with something a little more positive. Phil is good for poker. He believes in himself and he's a damn good poker player. Possibly the best ever...I just wish he'd let other people say that about him.
Now, let's pimp a fellow blogger. I've always wanted to do the Good, the Bad, the Ugly thing, but replace Ugly with Ugarte. It just works all too well. I first came upon Ugarte (a comedian named Rick Blaine) at a blogger tourney and I loved his picture on PokerStars. We did a little chatting and I've never spoken to him since. However, I have kept up with his blog and he's got a good thing going. He's always got a funny to share with his readers and occasionally he's got some Poker Grovel. So without further writing, I give you...
posted by TripJax @ 7:41 PM,
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Ever Feel Like Somebody Else Got Your Fish?
Monday, June 20, 2005
Ever Feel Like Somebody Else Got Your Fish?
Me Too.
Actually, I've had a good run at the tables lately, but I thought that picture worked all too well with the "fish" term as it's used in the poker world. I don't usually use the fish word on this blog cause it gets so overused everywhere else. From now on, however, I will think of this picture when I see someone else taking advantage of the fishy play when I just can't seem to reel them in. Good stuff.
As for my poker play, I don't hit the ring games nearly as much as I should, but my last two sessions were at $25 NL tables at Party and Noble and I more than doubled my buy-in both times. I wasn't in the mood to give any of it back so both times I shortened my session and walked away from the laptop with a smile on my face. I probably could have taken down more than I did, but you can't complain when you turn $50 into nearly $120.
I've set my sights on playing the $25 NL tables and building enough money to cover a portion of our family beach trip this year. Every year it seems to be a stressful time getting enough money to comfortably enjoy the trip, so I figure I should put some of this bankroll to good use. It will be nice to show Mrs. TripJax what some poker winnings can do for the family. Plus, I've been wanting something to work towards in my poker game so this can be it. Now I just have to focus and play great poker. May the cards be with me.
posted by TripJax @ 4:01 PM,
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Hysteria To Euphoria
Friday, June 17, 2005
Hysteria To Euphoria
Sorry Speaker for stealing your idea of posts titled with band albums, but these two from Def Leppard just fit too well this week. Monday thru Thursday was my little Hysteria. Friday was my Euphoria. Why?
The audit at work is over. If you read my previous post you know this week has been rough. I work in the financial services industry - basically the most regulated industry in the universe - and my main job is to make sure our branch office is compliant year round and passes the yearly audit.
Bottomline is we did great and I shouldn't have stressed nearly as much as I did. I can't help it though since the ramifications of a failed audit are so extreme. A passing audit means people stay off your case, they listen to what you have to say, and the bonus is so much better. A failing audit brings pressure for the rest of the year, people not trusting you with their work, endless "training sessions" and a small bonus if I'm lucky. So you can imagine my relief with Friday coming and going with a good report. We won't know the final grade for a few months, but we did just as well as last year which was a passing grade. Sweet Valley High I needed that good news.
As for poker - after not playing for over a week - I gave myself a little post audit treat and played some tonight. I caught a $20 buy-in $1000 guarantee at Noble with what looked to be a small amount of overlay, but by the time I was registered we had 51 playing. I've built a nice bankroll their so I like to play some of the MTT's on occasion to try for some bigger payouts. As for this one, I lost half my stack early on when my set was smacked on the river with a guy cleaning up by filling his straight. I then went out 38th when I had TripJax (one in the hole and two on the board), but a guy rivered an 8 with 8's in the hole to take down a fullhouse. It was not to be my night at the tourney table.
Not ready to call it a night I decided to try out the NL ring games, but the server went down and I couldn't get back on. That's the first time that has happened to me at Noble so I'm not gonna make a big deal of it. I decided to hit the $25 NL tables at Party. I've been playing the Mini Steps their, but have been tired of treading water the last month in those games. What I needed was some cash games. I hit a 6max table and cleaned up doubling my buy-in pretty quickly. I never got even close to all-in and was able to just buy most of the pots. I took down almost every hand where I had nothing or bottom pair, but whenever I had a hand I ended up losing it. Thank goodness for buying pots. I left the tables up so I could write up this post and then hit the sack.
Oh, Happy Birthday to my wife who just turned 31 about 20 minutes ago (June 18th). With her B-Day, Father's Day, and a buddies B-Day on Monday it's gonna be a busy weekend so I may not hit the tables for a few more days. Gonna party something fierce tomorrow night and probably end up looking something like the picture you see in the previous post...sans dress shirt and tie.
I must give a sorry for the lack of posts lately, but with this audit taking up all my time it was really tough to even think about touching the computer at home, much less hitting the felt. I would like to say thanks to the lady and gentlemen who left a comment about my new blog template. One blogger misses the sweet piece of azz that had been up there (and I understand), but if he looks closely at the new template, there's a new fem up in the left hand corner on the poker table. Not every day you get a chance to take down a pot with that in it eh?!
Glad to have everybody back from Vegas safe, sound, and writing again. Though I don't have too many readers, I felt like crickets were chirping whenever I hit the Publish Post button.
Next up for me is a review of Hellmuth's Bad Beats & Lucky Draws. I know you're waiting by your computer every waking moment to see that one huh...
posted by TripJax @ 3:20 PM,
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Send Help...Please
Monday, June 13, 2005
Send Help...Please
Apologies for the lack of posts recently. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I am neck deep in work due to an audit. The biggest part of my job every year is preparing for and passing the audit and ours began today. I'm dreaming of Friday and a cold beer representing completion, whether good or bad. This past weekend I spent about 30+ hours in the office getting ready and now it's on. Wish me luck.
All that said, it's an understatement to note I haven't even thought about poker. I've been away from home and family so much these past few weeks I just want to be home and taking it easy. Poker will be back soon enough, but for now I'm gonna just leave it at that.
As I lay in bed last night at 3am with a wake up time of 6am, I knew it was gonna be a rough day today. And I'm not sure why, but for some reason I thought up a Your Mama joke. Just out of no where, while I was staring at the ceiling, it popped in my mind. What the hell is that all about? I fancy myself a pretty funny guy, but I don't think up jokes, so this was new for me. My usual funny is just making a dumbass comment about a situation. Anyway, I wanted to see if it is even remotely funny or if I'm just a dumbass...
Your Mama's so poor...the only time she eats leftovers is when she's flossing.
So that's it. Please comment. I think I thought of it cause one of the ladies I work with - and worked with most of the weekend - is a habitual flosser.
For now, I must go. Hope you like the new template. See previous posts for details...
posted by TripJax @ 9:33 PM,
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When Beers Attack
Monday, June 06, 2005
When Beers Attack
Yes that is me. No that is not Vegas. That's a bar near my house after work this past Friday with some of my fellow employees. That is also the look of a man who had 5 heavy beers in a little over an hour. I was actually trying to give my one eyebrow up, one eyebrow down confused look, but it just turned into a me looking like a dumbass look. Nothing like 5 pints right after work to have me passing out on the couch by 10pm. So much for sneaking in a few SNG's before bedtime.
Saturday turned out to be another good ole time as we ended up at a bar catching one of our buddies who plays in a band. Good times were had by all and by the end of it all I was spent. The Jager-O-Meter broke the 5 shot barrier and that pretty much did me in. Many a picture phone pic was taken, but I've yet to see any incriminating pics. Day ain't over yet though.
As you may now see, I've updated my template (see the previous post for details). I still have some kinks to work out, but I'm getting to it slowly but surely. On the priority list is fixing the links at the top of the page, of which only a few work.
As for poker, something happened to me last night that I've almost always been able to avoid. I was deep into a heads-up match on Stars when the guy I was playing against writes, "Have you ever won money?" For some reason this really pissed me off cause he had already sucked out on me twice just to stay in the match when I had him against the ropes (AK vs. A3 then KQ vs. QJ both times he hit his weaker card).
Instead of just letting it go, I started grilling him with my own comments. Next thing you know I've called off half my stack with 2nd pair and was down to the felt with only about 100 out of 3000 total chips. Not long after I was out of the match and just staring at my keyboard wishing I could just take it all back. I had let this guy get into my head and the result was me handing him my money on a silver platter. I want to search his punk ass out and play him again, but I don't think that would solve anything for me. It might make matters worse. Instead I'm just going to let it go and use it as a lesson. He accomplished exactly what he wanted to - put me on tilt then not say another word - and I let him do it. Just writing this down makes me feel much better about it so I think I'm better for it. I just can't let players get into my head and change the way I play.
That's it for now. Again, if I had you linked on my old template and now you aren't, just let me know so I can set you up.
posted by TripJax @ 7:56 PM,
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New & Improved Poker In Arrears
Sunday, June 05, 2005
New & Improved Poker In Arrears
If you're a regular at this site then you're probably going WTF?!
Now you know what happens when a poker blogger doesn't go to Vegas with the rest of the community. To keep from pulling my hair out at the thought of not being in Vegas, I decided to tinker with my template to keep me busy. I know some of you will miss the chick at the top of my old template, but it was time for a change. I really only liked two things about the old template...the pic at the top and how clean it looked. So, as I searched the land for a new template I finally fell upon this one and something just seemed to click. I felt like this should be the skin I'm in for a while.
Next up was finding a good picture for the top of the template. I searched high and low on every possible image web site out their and couldn't find anything. Finally, after more time than I'd like to admit, I came across the chick you see above. I played around with Photoshop for a while, and managed to make a decent banner. But it was still lacking that extra spice to make it look real good. Luckily my buddy Alx was up to the task and he conjured up the above banner. Major props to him as I really like it. I hope you do to.
Moving on...
I've still got some work to do since most of the links at the top aren't ready yet. Plus I'm having issues with the titles from all my old posts not showing. So I'll try and work on that stuff tonight, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy. If you have any ideas or things you'd like to see on this site let me know. Also, I moved my blogger list from blogrolling.com to bloglines.com so if for some reason you were linked on my old template, but now you aren't, just let me know and I'll set you back up.
Right about now I think I need a beer...
posted by TripJax @ 7:45 PM,
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