Random Rants

Holy Carp- I’m swamped!

Posted by stevet on May 5, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

It has been quite a week (maybe two). The small company I work for (40 people) just got bought by a much bigger one. Perhaps you have heard of them- IBM. I have been running around like a headless chicken for about 10 days now doing everything from packing FedEx envelopes to handing out laptop locks. There really is no end in sight.

Poker has taken a back seat- I missed WWdN on Tuesday, The Mookie on Wednesday, NeverBluff’s Memorial and WWdN NOT yesterday. I just don’t have the time, and in some cases the energy to devote to MTTs.

Since my last report I have played *exactly* three SnGs and no Limit. 2 Token Turbos on FullTilt where I ended up 2nd in both, and one $10 on Stars which I ended up winning after getting heads up with one of the most timid players I have ever played against. I had an 8-5 chip deficit for about two hands before I just rolled. I ended it by completing a small blind with 58 and flopping trips.

Off to migrate more mailboxes now… fun fun.

very little poker of late..

Posted by stevet on April 24, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

Just a few SnGs which I do enjoy, but are seemingly -EV for me. Played 4 over the weekend- cashed in two to just about break even. The last one I doubled someone up when it was 4 handed to get to 1 BB (actually < 1 BB w/ the ante) and was able to backdoor into the money because another player went broke the next hand. Not much of a profit - but way more than the guy who bubbled. Three concerts this weekend. Blue October w/ People in Planes and Bril at Stubbs on Friday. My buddy Chris and I went down and caught the opening acts. Jason and BC showed up and scalped tickets when Blue October hit the stage. Great show. Highly recomended.

Saturday it was GAMF’s 30th birthday at the lake (Gay Ass Mother F-er… he really does hate that). My friend Lanea was doing her 2nd to last gig in their cover band at the same place. We drank some 3.50 domestics and enjoyed the show. There are pictures- one of which may involve me being on the stage. I should probably get those sometimes. I think some of the Vegas pics on there as well.

Kid Scott got some industry tickets from Monica and passed them on to us for- get this- Blue October at La Zona Rosa. It was a Jack Daniel’s event with free drinks- that is until they ran out. Who runs out of booze at a booze sponsered event? People in Planes opened, Bril did not play. A bit different set and being a club venue it was pretty damn cool. Hit the backside bar with Tae Kwon Joe, AllieCat, and Summer after the deal and enjoyed the hell out of a Sunday evening. Today is rough. Really rough.

This week in poker…

Posted by stevet on April 13, 2006
Posted in: Poker, Random Rants.

I had two very bad sessions in my LLH Challenge over the last two days. Results Here. Hopefully I can snap out of it tonight or tomorrow.

No WWdN for me this week, I was running late from work and ended up way late getting home. Probably saved me $11. I did play in Mookie’s weekly event last night. So. Card. Dead. I went to an M of like 5 and had to wait two orbits before I got anything to push with. 66 against AJ. I lost. It happens.

I now have a very cool monitor setup (no pics yet) of dual 20″ Dell flat panel monitors. Yes it is cool. And extravigant. And mostly useless 🙂

However, it is not as over the top as This Guy. 12 30″ panels mounted on a wall. Damn. Scroll down to see his 5 screen setup for his desktop. “Crazy Jon” indeed.

I have started to play golf on Tuesday mornings. By leaving my driver in the bag (and hopefully getting a bit better) I dropped 15 shots last week. Yeah- that was mainly going from one truely shitty round to a very solid one this week. Mook is having a golf-bbq-poker deal on Saturday. It is best ball, so I don’t need to worry about my score. My goal is to be shooting in the low 90s by summer at Forest Creek here in Austin (rating 71.2, slope 128 from the blues – pretty tricky course). I figure by that time I can shoot low 90s/upper 80s anywhere.

That is all. I am heading out. See you on the felt. Or maybe the links.

Taxes feel like Death

Posted by stevet on April 4, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

E-Filed my 2005 taxes today. I owe $5500. Ouch.

I’m working on my Low Limit Challange tracking page (here). It works pretty much exactly as I want with one exception- I would like to put a status percentage next to the running total.

However I’m not sure which percentage to use. My two options are:

Running Total/Overall Level Goal

or

(Running Total – Level Starting Amount) / (Overall Level Goal – Level Starting Amount)

Currently the first one would be 67.23% while the 2nd one would be 34.45%. I am leaning toward the 1st option for two reasons. One: the goal is to increase my overall bankroll, not squeeze out a level. Two: it is a lot easier to program 🙂

Because of the last few sessions, I am actually above water at FullTilt even if you take out the bonus currently worked off.

Tuesday’s WWdN event is tonight- but I don’t know if I will be able to play. I played golf this morning (don’t ask- I sucked) and I will have to work late to make up for it.

Wednesday is Mookie’s weekly online game. Come play with us- the water is great.

Busy week for poker and other things

Posted by stevet on March 28, 2006
Posted in: Poker, Random Rants.

First: GMU? Seriously? Wow. Apparently 4 people in the estimated 6 million entries on ESPN have this Final Four picked. When UConn lost, I lost all of my sheets. Now I root for the Patriots to win it all.

Second: Work. Busy as hell. I’m digging the job, lots to do and learn. But it has made my mind pretty frazzled after work and that makes it hard to concentrate on my hobbies (such as poker)

Third: Poker. My low limit challenge has been hit or miss. I set up a tracking site called Poker Track. It isn’t all that fancy although I am learning CSS to do the colors and formatting. It does work however. I think I am going to try and use FullTilt for the remainder of this challenge. When I clear the 100% bonus I should be pretty close to matching the LLC bankroll with my real bankroll there. The only problem is that they do not have anything lower than 25c/50c – so if I dip below $50 I just have to keep playing. No biggie. I played in the WWdN game tonight. I was doing really well up until these two hands (no bad beats, I promise):

I am in seat 2 (8 handed) with the button to my left just after the first break. I get dealt JJ. drewspop makes it 450 (3x BB) in mid position. I call. 678 rainbow flop. drewspop continuation bets 600. I pop to 1200. He re-pops to 1800. I call time. I don’t think he has the nuts- we are too deep and we have some chip leaders (myself included). Opening raises with AJ, KQ and above seem reasonable. I folded on the flop, he didn’t show. But I have to think I folded to a made hand there and you don’t typically see re-raises with 99 to have the open ended. Either way. I did lose a bunch of chips, but I think I made the right call.

Last hand of the night (about 10 hands later): UTG limps. I have AK in mid on the same 8 handed table. I make it 600 (4x). The UTG (GScottW) makes it 1800. I go all in for 3027, he calls with KK and goodnight SteveO.

Those two hands killed a great run I was having with a solid shot at making the final table. It sucks, but that is poker. I hit FT, made a great limit run and cleared my Poker Tracker bonus tonight- so it isn’t all bad news.

Fourth: I got tickets to Blue October @ Stubb’s in April. Kick ass. I love Austin.

Fifth: I think I will finally get working on the base to my poker table this weekend. When it is complete I will be running a small cash game followed by a tourney to break it in. Should be fun. Those folding legs suck.

a bit off-topic

Posted by stevet on March 15, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

Short post about music. On a recommendation by the lead singer for Left Hand Smoke, I recently acquired the debut album of Rocco DeLuca & the Burden titled “i trust you to kill me”. He (and, obviously, the band) are good. Real good. Check them out if you get the chance. It is a mellow style with lots of instrumentation. Hard to put into a genre- iTunes calls it “rock”. They are the lead act for a new indy label called “Ironworks” whose founder is a name you might recognize: Keifer Sutherland. Yep, who knew it but Jack Bauer is a indy music fan.

If you happen to be in Austin this week- they are here. Check their website for details. I’m not sure if I will be able to find a show I can attend, but really would like to.

And a poker related item: Mookie is having his weekly online event tonight. Try and join us if you can.

Undisputed Champion of the Universe

Posted by stevet on March 13, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

That is right. I have a new title.

Some of you know of my prowess on the felt- but you may not be aware of my primary skill. 42. A game of skill, luck, and reads- just like poker.

I competed in BD Riley’s 4th 42 championship yesterday and was able to pull out a victory when my partner (it is a rotating partners tournament) went 3 marks nelo made it. Good times. For my effort I was able to secure my name on the trophy, a championship belt, and a toaster.

As for the title. Well, our universe (little ‘u’) has a more restricted definition than normally expected.

Got absolutely shellaced at poker this weekend. Bad run, bad play (on my part), at Mookie’s. Just plastered on the cash tables on Stars. No love.

New worst hand for me: AJ. First hand: Hit top pair. The other guy hit his 3 outer with A-10 on the river to sink me. Second time: Hit my J on the flop. Lost to QQ. The first hand I knew he hit it. Just a sickening feeling. The 2nd one- I just priced myself into the hand and didn’t hit my miracle on the turn or river to suck out.

I think I will stick to the bones.

WWdN: An Apology

Posted by stevet on March 8, 2006
Posted in: Poker, Random Rants.

After flying back from Vegas today I was pretty much spent. After I got home and cleaned some sort of yellow shit off my checked bag and the back seat of my truck where I put it I was ready to eat some dinner and maybe play some cards. I entered the WWdN weekly event and was playing ok. Got to about 2000 before the first break. Got lucky flopping trips and getting someone to put me all in and I was at 4300. Phone call. My boss. What? Our webserver was hacked? Shit. I told the folks on my table that I had to go and if I could I would make it back. Then I signed off.

Mookie called me as I headed to the office and told me Wil was seated to my left and could collect my chips. Nice of me, eh?

I couldn’t get back into the event. I signed on to check my progress and saw me bust out in 20th spot. Not bad for not playing a hand since the first break.

Sorry folks, but sometimes duty calls. We had a crappy CMS system in place since before I got there and somehow someone uploaded a program and got it to run on our webserver. I don’t think they did any damage, but I had to rebuild a box (nearly from scratch) and get the content moved over.

It is now midnight, and I am running on 5 hours of crappy sleep. I am off to bed.

Better lucky than good…

Posted by stevet on January 5, 2006
Posted in: Random Rants.

Not poker related but: I won the lotto on Saturday, ok not the *whole* lotto. But I did with $102 on $1 ticket. Nice. I let $2 ride and took a crisp $100 bill.

Well I checked my numbers for the 4th. One of my 2 tickets hit for $4. Double Sweet.

That Texas/USC game was one of the most amazing events I have ever witnessed. And Leinart came across as a tool. And I picked Texas to cover. I should have bet them on the moneyline.