I've moved my site
Testing 1, 2, 3...
Posted 08/27/2006
Heading to Ireland in a few. Maybe this thing will start getting updated.
Playing Poker
Posted 02/18/2006 | Poker
So my company has this Poker game every Thursday night at our offices. The first one I played happened to be the free roll in which I think I ended up in 12th place or so. The tournaments don't occur every week necessarily but I've been working for about 3 months and I've played in pretty much every one of them since I've started.
I had been progressively doing better until the last tournament we played. The tournament prior to that I had just finished on the bubble losing a race against a pocket pair. The last one I had just done terrible in.
The one I played on Thursday night was a rebuy tournament for $10/T1000. Rebuys meant you could buy another 1000 in chips up until a certain point. There were also an extra addition you could buy at the first break.
For the most part I didn't play too much before the first break. I think I may have won one hand but for the most part I let some of the maniacs at our table push their stack in on each hand. One of our guys is a certified maniac. He went in with T7o vs AJo and sucked out on the river w/ a pair of sevens. Once a few people were out at our table they brought in another guy who was just as crazy. At a certain point they would rebuy into the tourney, push, lose the hand, and then repeat it all over again.
So at the end of the first break I think I have about T1200 so I buy the addon for another $10. I think a few people have chip stacks in the high thousands while the chip leader has about 20,000 in chips. Definitely lots of rebuying.
After we're reseated to three tables after the break. I play a couple of unmemorable hands but end up with about 6 thousand by the time they have to break tables to put everyone into two tables. At this point even though I have T6000 in chips, I am easily a very small stack. A couple of people look to have T10000 easily so basically any good hand I see I'm going to push and hopefully get one big stack to call me.
When it's UTG to me, I pick up Bullets. It's the best hand I'd see all night. I immediately take my stack and plop it down on the felt and announce my all-in. Red to my immediate left instacalls which tells me she has an Ace w/ a high kicker (YES!) or a Pocket Pair. She immediately regretted her instacall as she had realized that CallPreflop had yet to play in the hand. CallPreflop like the name suggests, always calls a preflop raise even when someone is all-in and immediately gets instacalled he still contemplates whether or not he should call. At this point, Red is going to push on the flop regardless so unless he had a huge hand he probably should have folded.
Of course CPF cold calls so now I'm against two people with Aces which still has a pretty good chance of winning. The flop comes 66T rainbow. The dealer forgets that there is going to be action on the flop and almost deals the turn so Red has to shout to him to not overturn the next card. Red pushes her stack in and after thinking for 30 seconds, CPF folds. Red turns over her cards, she has pocket sevens. I avoid a seven on the turn and river and tripled up my stack. While this mistake didn't necessarily cost Red anything other than losing the main pot, by calling and allowing CPF to call, I was able to triple up.
The next couple of orbits or so nothing of interest happens but I do notice that CPF, while he just calls preflop, is able to make a bluff at the pot on the flop. In one hand Canadian on my right makes a bet of 3BB and its folded around to CPF who calls him. The flop is all clubs, Jack high and Canadian just checks it. CPF makes a stab into the pot for about T1500 and Canadian just calls. The turn is a blank and Canadian checks it again. CPF, who has Canadian covered, calls an all-in and Canadian instacalls. I don't remember what CPF had (I think nothing?) but Canadian had flopped the nut flush with AQc. I'm not sure if CPF was unaware that there was three clubs on the flop but he sure didn't believe Canadian had that hand.
At that point CPF still had a huge stack. He had one a lot of pots from the Maniacs before the first break so he was sitting on a lot of chips. In fact a lot of our table had huge stacks of chips. Losing to the nut flush only cost CPF maybe 15% of his chips. At this point in the game (thanks to the triple up) I have around his chip stack.
Finally on the button I see AJo and do the standard 3x raise. CPF calls and Canadian (who had initially limped from the cutoff) calls behind me. The flop comes JJT. This is why position is so crucial and why the Pros always emphasize this point. CPF is the first to act and after thinking for 5 seconds pushes all his chips in. It was about a ~T1000 pot which was very small. This was such a terrible move because no one with a hand was going to risk a huge overbet with crap or a drawing hand but if someone has a monster then they're going to call. By betting a small amount first he can see who hit their hand.
Canadian immediately folds and I have to call this right away even if he had JT. He shows King high and I go on to win the hand and the pot knocking CPF out of the tournament.
At this point I have a big chip stack so I basically start playing tight just so I can get to the final table. Eventually we are able to whittle it down to 9 people and we take another break to redraw for the button. I cannot remember 1 of the 9 but the final table consisted of me, Vader, DonkShirt and his brother, Wahlberg, ITGuy, Wamp, and MegaTilter.
Wamp I believe is the first to guy because he was already short-stacked at the final table. ITGuy goes out having complained about not hitting anything during his time at the final table. At this point I think MegaTilter should have gone out. When he still had about 10xBB he raised and DonkShirt called. The flop came down AA9 and they both checked. The turn was a blank and DonkShirt pushed all-in. MegaTilter thought about it into our next break and eventually folded. I later heard he had a 9 and DonkShirt had nothing.
A few hands go by and then I think I see probably the most costly mistake of the night. Wahlberg and DonkShirt push each other all-in which meant that if DonkShirt won, MegaTilter would be in the money. I can't recall the hand but Wahlberg ends up losing and bubbling out of the tournament. Giving MegaTilter at least 5th place with only 3xBB which would not have lasted him long given the blinds and antes.
MegaTilter is really low on chips so hes going to have to push in soon. Eventually he does go all in and I call him with K9o to which he flips his 9x. I knock him out and now we're 4 in. Vader eventually knocks out DonkShirt's brother who I couldn't get a read on because he didn't play too many cards.
To make a long story moderately longer. DonkShirt and I at this point have 2x the chips Vader has. Vader started to get aggressive for a while and eventually he pushes all-in when I pick up pocket eights and I immediately go over the top and put myself all-in which causes DonkShirt to fold. Vader turns up pocket fives and I eventually win with trips. At this point DonkShirt and I agree to play 10 hands and if neither of us win we would chop based on percentage of chips. I think I lose the first 6 hands to him by making some terrible mistakes that cost me most of the stack I won from Sith. Eventually I picked up AQs in the small blind and I raise it to 3xBB which causes DonkShirt to push all his chips in. I call him and he shows me Q3o and I end up winning when nothing hits on the board. I'm the winner of the tournament and I go home with a nice chunk of winnings. Because I am a winner.
I had been progressively doing better until the last tournament we played. The tournament prior to that I had just finished on the bubble losing a race against a pocket pair. The last one I had just done terrible in.
The one I played on Thursday night was a rebuy tournament for $10/T1000. Rebuys meant you could buy another 1000 in chips up until a certain point. There were also an extra addition you could buy at the first break.
For the most part I didn't play too much before the first break. I think I may have won one hand but for the most part I let some of the maniacs at our table push their stack in on each hand. One of our guys is a certified maniac. He went in with T7o vs AJo and sucked out on the river w/ a pair of sevens. Once a few people were out at our table they brought in another guy who was just as crazy. At a certain point they would rebuy into the tourney, push, lose the hand, and then repeat it all over again.
So at the end of the first break I think I have about T1200 so I buy the addon for another $10. I think a few people have chip stacks in the high thousands while the chip leader has about 20,000 in chips. Definitely lots of rebuying.
After we're reseated to three tables after the break. I play a couple of unmemorable hands but end up with about 6 thousand by the time they have to break tables to put everyone into two tables. At this point even though I have T6000 in chips, I am easily a very small stack. A couple of people look to have T10000 easily so basically any good hand I see I'm going to push and hopefully get one big stack to call me.
When it's UTG to me, I pick up Bullets. It's the best hand I'd see all night. I immediately take my stack and plop it down on the felt and announce my all-in. Red to my immediate left instacalls which tells me she has an Ace w/ a high kicker (YES!) or a Pocket Pair. She immediately regretted her instacall as she had realized that CallPreflop had yet to play in the hand. CallPreflop like the name suggests, always calls a preflop raise even when someone is all-in and immediately gets instacalled he still contemplates whether or not he should call. At this point, Red is going to push on the flop regardless so unless he had a huge hand he probably should have folded.
Of course CPF cold calls so now I'm against two people with Aces which still has a pretty good chance of winning. The flop comes 66T rainbow. The dealer forgets that there is going to be action on the flop and almost deals the turn so Red has to shout to him to not overturn the next card. Red pushes her stack in and after thinking for 30 seconds, CPF folds. Red turns over her cards, she has pocket sevens. I avoid a seven on the turn and river and tripled up my stack. While this mistake didn't necessarily cost Red anything other than losing the main pot, by calling and allowing CPF to call, I was able to triple up.
The next couple of orbits or so nothing of interest happens but I do notice that CPF, while he just calls preflop, is able to make a bluff at the pot on the flop. In one hand Canadian on my right makes a bet of 3BB and its folded around to CPF who calls him. The flop is all clubs, Jack high and Canadian just checks it. CPF makes a stab into the pot for about T1500 and Canadian just calls. The turn is a blank and Canadian checks it again. CPF, who has Canadian covered, calls an all-in and Canadian instacalls. I don't remember what CPF had (I think nothing?) but Canadian had flopped the nut flush with AQc. I'm not sure if CPF was unaware that there was three clubs on the flop but he sure didn't believe Canadian had that hand.
At that point CPF still had a huge stack. He had one a lot of pots from the Maniacs before the first break so he was sitting on a lot of chips. In fact a lot of our table had huge stacks of chips. Losing to the nut flush only cost CPF maybe 15% of his chips. At this point in the game (thanks to the triple up) I have around his chip stack.
Finally on the button I see AJo and do the standard 3x raise. CPF calls and Canadian (who had initially limped from the cutoff) calls behind me. The flop comes JJT. This is why position is so crucial and why the Pros always emphasize this point. CPF is the first to act and after thinking for 5 seconds pushes all his chips in. It was about a ~T1000 pot which was very small. This was such a terrible move because no one with a hand was going to risk a huge overbet with crap or a drawing hand but if someone has a monster then they're going to call. By betting a small amount first he can see who hit their hand.
Canadian immediately folds and I have to call this right away even if he had JT. He shows King high and I go on to win the hand and the pot knocking CPF out of the tournament.
At this point I have a big chip stack so I basically start playing tight just so I can get to the final table. Eventually we are able to whittle it down to 9 people and we take another break to redraw for the button. I cannot remember 1 of the 9 but the final table consisted of me, Vader, DonkShirt and his brother, Wahlberg, ITGuy, Wamp, and MegaTilter.
Wamp I believe is the first to guy because he was already short-stacked at the final table. ITGuy goes out having complained about not hitting anything during his time at the final table. At this point I think MegaTilter should have gone out. When he still had about 10xBB he raised and DonkShirt called. The flop came down AA9 and they both checked. The turn was a blank and DonkShirt pushed all-in. MegaTilter thought about it into our next break and eventually folded. I later heard he had a 9 and DonkShirt had nothing.
A few hands go by and then I think I see probably the most costly mistake of the night. Wahlberg and DonkShirt push each other all-in which meant that if DonkShirt won, MegaTilter would be in the money. I can't recall the hand but Wahlberg ends up losing and bubbling out of the tournament. Giving MegaTilter at least 5th place with only 3xBB which would not have lasted him long given the blinds and antes.
MegaTilter is really low on chips so hes going to have to push in soon. Eventually he does go all in and I call him with K9o to which he flips his 9x. I knock him out and now we're 4 in. Vader eventually knocks out DonkShirt's brother who I couldn't get a read on because he didn't play too many cards.
To make a long story moderately longer. DonkShirt and I at this point have 2x the chips Vader has. Vader started to get aggressive for a while and eventually he pushes all-in when I pick up pocket eights and I immediately go over the top and put myself all-in which causes DonkShirt to fold. Vader turns up pocket fives and I eventually win with trips. At this point DonkShirt and I agree to play 10 hands and if neither of us win we would chop based on percentage of chips. I think I lose the first 6 hands to him by making some terrible mistakes that cost me most of the stack I won from Sith. Eventually I picked up AQs in the small blind and I raise it to 3xBB which causes DonkShirt to push all his chips in. I call him and he shows me Q3o and I end up winning when nothing hits on the board. I'm the winner of the tournament and I go home with a nice chunk of winnings. Because I am a winner.
I'm writing this to not forget
Posted 01/09/2006 | CA
Clubbing at the Shark for Richard's birthday.
Limp Handshakes
Posted 01/05/2006
Attn: People who give the "fish" or limp handshake. Everyone hates you 
Ultimate Spider-Man
Posted 01/04/2006 | Games
CHASE, CHASE, CHASE, FIGHT BOSS, CHASE, CHASE, CHASE, CHASE, FIGHT BOSS, BE VENOM, CHASE, CHASE, FIGHT BOSS, BE SPIDEY, CHASE CHASE CHASE, FIGHT BOSS.
Have you ever been in love?
Posted 01/03/2006 | Quotes
"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love."- Neil Gaiman
Old Boy
Posted 01/03/2006 | Movies
Old Boy was great but a real mindfuck. The fight scenes were incredible, none of the blurry action crap you see in Hollywood these days. I need to see people fighting not see two people, a blur, then see someone knocked down (DareDevil, Batman Begins, I'm looking at you). I also loved the progress of the main character, Oh Dae-su, from this sort of big loud mouth into this lean mean intelligent fighting machine. Definitely a great movie that you should see.
NYE in Vegas
Posted 01/02/2006 | Party
It's been a day since New Years... and I don't feel any different.
Funniest shit I've seen on SNL in a while.