Call it what you want, I am a fish in the grand scheme of this poker game. My blog is aptly named. I'm not the worst player but I'm not the type that would ever be able to actually make a living at this game either. I am 100% good with that though because I've got a great wife at home, I have a job that pays the bills and I get to play poker when I have time, for fun, and always enjoy the game.
My last session ended with me being a fish after playing well for a few hours.
I built my stack up with a series of hands that started with a straight and ended up trips. I'm getting close to the end of my session and I look down and see AK suited and that's when everything fell apart.
I raised and got re-raised and this is where the first mistake happened. There were too many people in the pot for a re-raised pot by the time it got back to me and I realize that I don't have enough experience in these situations to actually play them well and yet I told myself that I will only continue post flop if the flop hits me hard so I called.
I wanted to put in another raise to narrow the field to just one or two players. I wanted to put in another raise or fold but instead I took the least desirable path and just called the 3 bet.
The flop comes out AK6 and the first person to act puts $75 into a pot of about $150. The A and K are both spades and the 6 is a diamond. I think about it for a minute before calling, wanting to Jam any non-spade turn. The next person to act makes it $300 and in my mind this SCREAMS 666.
I'm tired so the screaming is more of a faint whisper "that bitch has a set of 6's and you must fold."
The original bettor is thinking and thinking and thinking and during this thinking my mind got distracted and somehow I started putting the person who raised on a possible large ace or A6 that was suited, maybe even another AK just trying to chase away a flush draw. My mind started going over all the scenarios of things she could have had that were not 666 and by the time this other person finally folded I forgot all about my original screams of concern.
If I had to make a decision in 10 seconds after her bet I would have folded and thought nothing about it but this other person taking so long to debate and make a decision let my mind wonder and then I got attached to my hand and top two and sort of let the obvious fall to the wayside.
So, there I was putting my money into the middle hoping for another A or K to fall because true to my instincts the other player turns over her pocket pair of 6's.
This is my first losing session since becoming a married man and it wasn't just a simple cooler that did it to me, it was my own stupidity, my own fishiness. I know I should have folded and somehow I just couldn't make myself do it and my bankroll is several hundred dollars smaller because of it.
I guess the good news is that on my way to the poker room I won $5 at the craps table and on the way out I talked myself out of Tilt Playing Craps trying to make my poker money back at Dem Good Tables!!!
Don't Play Tired kids. Pretty sure if my mental state was better I would have made this fold.
But, that's what fish do. Fish get attached to their own hands and talk themselves into making calls because they are ahead. Fish play tired and not in the right mindset.
Fish go home broke (most of the time).
May my next session be better!
Bankroll still around $1200
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
And in other news
If you'll all forgive my lack of a follow up with the actual ComicCon currently and instead indulge me in this probably brief little bitch session I'd truly appreciate it.
One phrase that I have heard a lot growing up is that being a step-parent is probably the hardest job there is. I never fully realized it until I jumped in with both feet (and it is a decision I will NEVER regret). Sometimes it's just a look you get or a comment thrown your way.
When you do what I did and become a step parent right around the Mid-Life Crisis point your entire world gets flipped upside down. This is not a lame cliche, this is not the lament of someone who doesn't get it, this is the dog's honest truth of the situation.
I jumped into this relationship willingly, heart first. I love my family and the bond that we have and am thankful for them every single day of my life. However, this is my first go round with children. I went from being single and having all of the freedoms that come with it to being a parent. A lot of the normal relationship stuff is altered when one person has a child. The relationship is formed with a complete lack of alone time. The relationship is formed with always having other people in the mix. It's different, it's strange.
But, now I am subject to trying to play by a different set of rules and a lot of those rules are extremely foreign to me or unknown. I'm constantly left wondering where my boundaries are, what I can or cannot do. Is it OK for me to say this or is this something I need to keep my mouth shut on? That's just at home, throw step grand-parents into the mix and things start to get more complicated.
Today was one of those days.
I was brought up differently than my child and (I assume) my step-siblings. I have a different belief system of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and today my words got me into an uncomfortable situation.
I left without bothering to defend myself as I know that it honestly doesn't matter. I've found a new boundary that I cannot cross while I'm over there and I'll just have to remember it in the future. But man, doesn't make me feel any less pissed off at this particular moment.
My next post will hopefully be about the lessons I have learned during my first trip to a ComicCon!
P.S. - the end to that USA vs Portugal game absolutely blew.
One phrase that I have heard a lot growing up is that being a step-parent is probably the hardest job there is. I never fully realized it until I jumped in with both feet (and it is a decision I will NEVER regret). Sometimes it's just a look you get or a comment thrown your way.
When you do what I did and become a step parent right around the Mid-Life Crisis point your entire world gets flipped upside down. This is not a lame cliche, this is not the lament of someone who doesn't get it, this is the dog's honest truth of the situation.
I jumped into this relationship willingly, heart first. I love my family and the bond that we have and am thankful for them every single day of my life. However, this is my first go round with children. I went from being single and having all of the freedoms that come with it to being a parent. A lot of the normal relationship stuff is altered when one person has a child. The relationship is formed with a complete lack of alone time. The relationship is formed with always having other people in the mix. It's different, it's strange.
But, now I am subject to trying to play by a different set of rules and a lot of those rules are extremely foreign to me or unknown. I'm constantly left wondering where my boundaries are, what I can or cannot do. Is it OK for me to say this or is this something I need to keep my mouth shut on? That's just at home, throw step grand-parents into the mix and things start to get more complicated.
Today was one of those days.
I was brought up differently than my child and (I assume) my step-siblings. I have a different belief system of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and today my words got me into an uncomfortable situation.
I left without bothering to defend myself as I know that it honestly doesn't matter. I've found a new boundary that I cannot cross while I'm over there and I'll just have to remember it in the future. But man, doesn't make me feel any less pissed off at this particular moment.
My next post will hopefully be about the lessons I have learned during my first trip to a ComicCon!
P.S. - the end to that USA vs Portugal game absolutely blew.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Las Vegas ComicCon - the Pre Post
Tomorrow is the last day of the Las Vegas ComiCon and the only day I'll be able to attend this year due to having to work late at work yesterday and today. I already have my tickets bought and this morning I'm going through the lists of people who will be attending and going over my meager physical comic book collection trying to pick out some stuff to get autographed by the people who do the work I enjoy.
Sitting here trying to figure out if I want to get a second copy of that #1 issue autographed or if I want someone to autograph my favorite cover out of the series has me feeling like a giddy high school kid who just touched a boob for the first time.
Sure, some of this stuff is easy even if the artist is a douche and charges extra to autograph certain issues just because those issues are worth more and he can get away with it.
Yes, I'm looking at you Rob Liefeld.
Last year one of my friends went and got a few things signed for me and they told me they waited in line for Liefeld and by the time they got up there they learned that he was charging extra for New Mutants #98 and a couple of others. Oh Deadpool how ye hath cost me so much money over the years. You and your bloody popularity and your 3 million variant covers and your whoring your ass out to every bloody variant cover for comics you don't even appear in. I will never complete your collection but I'll gobble up the cheap shit as I can!
So this year has a lot of Deadpool people and a few of them I'll have to miss out on because I don't own anything they did. One guy did a Kid Deadpool one shot but I never got my grubby hands on it.
However, I'm hitting up the Creator and two others which makes me all happy in the pants.
In addition to Liefeld, Gerry Duggan is going to be in attendance and he is one of the guys responsible for the entire run (ongoing) of the Marvel Now Deadpool series which I absolutely love. Last year my friend got an autograph for me on the Baby Cover variant of Issue Number one and this year I'm trying to figure out a couple of other issues to get signed. I'll probably get another Variant cover signed and then pick one or two of my other favorite issues or covers from there. As from the pic above I'm totally going with the Wedding Issue as the cover is now in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the most characters on a comic book cover, like in the history of EVER.
Next up is Charles Soule who took a book with a great premise but whorable delivery and turned it into something worth reading, the Marvel Now Thunderbolts. Honestly the only reason I even got into this book in the first place was because of the inclusion of Deadpool and he is the only reason I stuck with it. The book floundered through the first part of the run and then Soule took over and it became one of my favorite books to look forward to. I was very disheartened when it was announced that starting with issue #27 another creative team was taking over. However, I have found a writer I like and am now looking for other things he is doing so I guess all's well that ends well. I think I'm going to take the 1st issue he was part of and the last issue as well (even though I kinda hated the ending) so that I can have the bookends of his Thunderbolts run.
Then there is some minor stuff that I've found I can get signed by various people as well. The guy who colors Wolverine: Origin II is going to be there and I ended up picking up a Variant Cover for the 1st issue with Deadpool (of course) on it. Haven't bothered to read it yet but whatever.
One of the artists doing the new Harley Quinn series will be there so I'm bringing issue #0 (with 17 artists, and I hope to get them all before I perish) and #1 along. And a guy involved with The Chew (comic, not that show on TV) will be there and I have a partial issue of that which was attached to Revival which I have been getting. That pretty much rounds it out for me. I'm going to also try to hit up the Liefeld panel when he speaks at noon and hope my boy doesn't get too bored with it. Well, just generally hoping he doesn't get too bored with the whole thing but there should be enough awesome stuff to look at that he should maintain a bit of excitement most of the time. Now to prepare myself for "Dad, can we buy this, can we buy that, can we can we can we Oh I'm hungry and I want you to buy me that over priced whatever right here then let me touch your new shiny autographed comic books with my disgusting dirty greasy ketchup covered hands oh I'm sorry it will wipe off I didn't mean to smear it good thing you didn't pay for it oh right you kind of just did but hey it's the memories that count right dad?"
Sitting here trying to figure out if I want to get a second copy of that #1 issue autographed or if I want someone to autograph my favorite cover out of the series has me feeling like a giddy high school kid who just touched a boob for the first time.
Sure, some of this stuff is easy even if the artist is a douche and charges extra to autograph certain issues just because those issues are worth more and he can get away with it.Yes, I'm looking at you Rob Liefeld.
Last year one of my friends went and got a few things signed for me and they told me they waited in line for Liefeld and by the time they got up there they learned that he was charging extra for New Mutants #98 and a couple of others. Oh Deadpool how ye hath cost me so much money over the years. You and your bloody popularity and your 3 million variant covers and your whoring your ass out to every bloody variant cover for comics you don't even appear in. I will never complete your collection but I'll gobble up the cheap shit as I can!
So this year has a lot of Deadpool people and a few of them I'll have to miss out on because I don't own anything they did. One guy did a Kid Deadpool one shot but I never got my grubby hands on it.
However, I'm hitting up the Creator and two others which makes me all happy in the pants.
Next up is Charles Soule who took a book with a great premise but whorable delivery and turned it into something worth reading, the Marvel Now Thunderbolts. Honestly the only reason I even got into this book in the first place was because of the inclusion of Deadpool and he is the only reason I stuck with it. The book floundered through the first part of the run and then Soule took over and it became one of my favorite books to look forward to. I was very disheartened when it was announced that starting with issue #27 another creative team was taking over. However, I have found a writer I like and am now looking for other things he is doing so I guess all's well that ends well. I think I'm going to take the 1st issue he was part of and the last issue as well (even though I kinda hated the ending) so that I can have the bookends of his Thunderbolts run.
Then there is some minor stuff that I've found I can get signed by various people as well. The guy who colors Wolverine: Origin II is going to be there and I ended up picking up a Variant Cover for the 1st issue with Deadpool (of course) on it. Haven't bothered to read it yet but whatever.
One of the artists doing the new Harley Quinn series will be there so I'm bringing issue #0 (with 17 artists, and I hope to get them all before I perish) and #1 along. And a guy involved with The Chew (comic, not that show on TV) will be there and I have a partial issue of that which was attached to Revival which I have been getting. That pretty much rounds it out for me. I'm going to also try to hit up the Liefeld panel when he speaks at noon and hope my boy doesn't get too bored with it. Well, just generally hoping he doesn't get too bored with the whole thing but there should be enough awesome stuff to look at that he should maintain a bit of excitement most of the time. Now to prepare myself for "Dad, can we buy this, can we buy that, can we can we can we Oh I'm hungry and I want you to buy me that over priced whatever right here then let me touch your new shiny autographed comic books with my disgusting dirty greasy ketchup covered hands oh I'm sorry it will wipe off I didn't mean to smear it good thing you didn't pay for it oh right you kind of just did but hey it's the memories that count right dad?"
Friday, June 20, 2014
Building a Bankroll at Bally's
I'm still in the process of trying to think of a label to attach to all of my new, post marriage poker posts so that I can link them all to the side and people who just want to read about the local fish at the tables can just go to them immediately. Until it hits me I'll probably put something generic in there as a "just because."
You won't realize this but I came back to this spot after finishing the rest of the post and just decided that I was going to stick it under "Bankroll Challenge" which is already on the side from a previous time I started to try to build a roll but gave up due to ....uh.... I have no bloody idea why. So, Let the new Bankroll Challenge begin. Lets tear this mother up!
Before work yesterday I mentioned to my lovely wife that I'd like to go play poker in the evening since she worked early and I had to work late. The other factor is that she didn't have to work tomorrow so me coming home late and waking her up wouldn't be as big of a sin, especially if I happened to bring home bad news of blowing $850 in poker and the rest on a hooker who kisses on the lips. I let her know that I'd give her a call after I got out of work and if she didn't answer I would assume she was sleeping and go play poker for a few hours and underneath her sarcasm she was OK with it.
So after work I hoped into my car and made that phone call and much to my dismay after about 3 or 4 rings she answered the phone. I asked her if she wanted me to bring anything home and she said that she knew I wanted to play poker so I should just go out and play for a little bit. I headed home to drop off my lunch bag, get my Players Cards and kiss my wife goodnight. Before I left the door she told me to win her lots of money, then I drove to my old standby, Bally's.
I love playing at Bally's. Bally's has by far my favorite set of dealers who remember me even if I haven't been there in over a year. They recognize me, chat with me and last night one even looked at me and said "oh you finally got married, congratulations" and then we proceeded to talk about it for a bit while she didn't deal me any winners. Bally's has also been host to some of my bigger wins and even though they don't have games like they used to (I think Planet Hollywood stole those games) I still cannot help but make this the place that I head to 80% of the time when I go out.
Last night there were 4 All In games running when I got there and one limit game. I only waited around for maybe 3 minutes before being seated and while playing at my first table I got to experience the fun of the river. There was at least a series of 7 hands in a row that were all won on the river where the money was in the middle before that last dreaded card appeared and I was involved in 3 of them.
The first of three had me making a raise with KJ pre-flop and getting about 3 people to come along to the flop. The flop was KKx and I lead out getting one hesitant caller. The turn was a 2. I bet, got raised and pushed the rest of my money in. The "gentleman" turns over K2 and I turn up KJ just in time to watch a Jack hit the river so the pot could be pushed to the good guys.
A couple of hands later I had Pocket Tens and called a raise. The flop comes out 8 high and I lead out which gets a caller. The turn is a safe card and I get a short stack all in only to watch the river flush so his 93 of hearts takes all of those precious chips and puts them in front of the wrong guy.
Two hands later I get the dreaded pocket kings (which Rob Assures me I played wrong and should have folded pre-flop) ((I just made that last bit up)).
Anyway, Guy UTG raises to $12 and gets a caller, I re-raise to $40 with two ugly kings, folds to original raiser who pushes and then back to me with the obvious call.
He turns over AQ of spades after I turn up my Kings. The flop has 2 spades and I tell him that the river has been really kind lately and as he is getting ready to leave (already grabbed all his stuff and pushing his chair in) a 3rd spade hits the river and the dealer had to point out to him that he actually did win the hand.
So, 3 hands played and 3 rivers being the deciding factor. I got to watch my stack double up and then go back to short again.
A bit later the table broke and I kept playing for a little while.
I'm in late position and raise pocket Jacks to $12 and get 2 callers. Flop comes out Axx with 2 to a flush on it and the first guy to act bets $10 into me. I'd seen him do this several times but never saw a hand so I'm not sure at this point if he didn't have much, was trying to get me to raise, was trying to chase his flush cheap or if he just didn't know anything about bet sizing.
I think about it and call so that I can "one time" him due to his poor bet sizing choice. We are the only two to the turn.
The Turn is a Jack giving me a set and keeping the flush away. He leads out for 20 and I make 70, he calls.
River is a blank and he bets, I push and he calls with AK. As he turned his cards over he said "Ok, send me home for the night" and I replied (as I was flipping) "Your wish is my command sir."
The two guys to my left started complaining that I just sent the biggest calling station home for the night, but we had a good time talking despite my rudeness.
Shortly later I packed up for the evening with a profit of $100 bringing my total bankroll to somewhere over $1400 (if I remove my seed money, if not I'm around $1900 instead).
And - Finally a head Scratcher.
At my first table I wasn't paying attention too much during this hand due to trying to get me a Blue Moon.
There was no raise pre-flop and by the time the river showed up the pot was only maybe $30 bucks or so.
The Board was KAKxx with the KAK on the flop (obviously).
First guy to act checked, second guy bets $10, First guy check raises to $20, Second guy CALLS!
Second guy is the first to show and he flips over AK for the flopped boat and inside my head I'm screaming "HOW THE HELL DID YOU NOT RAISE OR PUSH OR SOMETHING - WHERE IS YOUR POT?"
The first guy flips over AA for the flopped TOP BOAT and my head explodes.
My nose starts to run and my ears start bleeding.
Three fingernails fell off and hit the felt. I picked them up and munched on them like they were potato chips as small particles of my melting brain settled into the bottom of my skull like a bowl of cold soup.
I stared at the bored and their cards trying to find any rational explanation as to how there was no real money in the pot when they both flopped boats, STRONG boats and both were 2+ buy-ins deep and neither felt like actually putting money in the pot.
Guy number one remarks "Man, I thought you had Pocket Kings that whole time and didn't want to invest too much" and that's when my heart exploded and I pissed myself.
You won't realize this but I came back to this spot after finishing the rest of the post and just decided that I was going to stick it under "Bankroll Challenge" which is already on the side from a previous time I started to try to build a roll but gave up due to ....uh.... I have no bloody idea why. So, Let the new Bankroll Challenge begin. Lets tear this mother up!
Before work yesterday I mentioned to my lovely wife that I'd like to go play poker in the evening since she worked early and I had to work late. The other factor is that she didn't have to work tomorrow so me coming home late and waking her up wouldn't be as big of a sin, especially if I happened to bring home bad news of blowing $850 in poker and the rest on a hooker who kisses on the lips. I let her know that I'd give her a call after I got out of work and if she didn't answer I would assume she was sleeping and go play poker for a few hours and underneath her sarcasm she was OK with it.
So after work I hoped into my car and made that phone call and much to my dismay after about 3 or 4 rings she answered the phone. I asked her if she wanted me to bring anything home and she said that she knew I wanted to play poker so I should just go out and play for a little bit. I headed home to drop off my lunch bag, get my Players Cards and kiss my wife goodnight. Before I left the door she told me to win her lots of money, then I drove to my old standby, Bally's.
I love playing at Bally's. Bally's has by far my favorite set of dealers who remember me even if I haven't been there in over a year. They recognize me, chat with me and last night one even looked at me and said "oh you finally got married, congratulations" and then we proceeded to talk about it for a bit while she didn't deal me any winners. Bally's has also been host to some of my bigger wins and even though they don't have games like they used to (I think Planet Hollywood stole those games) I still cannot help but make this the place that I head to 80% of the time when I go out.
Last night there were 4 All In games running when I got there and one limit game. I only waited around for maybe 3 minutes before being seated and while playing at my first table I got to experience the fun of the river. There was at least a series of 7 hands in a row that were all won on the river where the money was in the middle before that last dreaded card appeared and I was involved in 3 of them.
The first of three had me making a raise with KJ pre-flop and getting about 3 people to come along to the flop. The flop was KKx and I lead out getting one hesitant caller. The turn was a 2. I bet, got raised and pushed the rest of my money in. The "gentleman" turns over K2 and I turn up KJ just in time to watch a Jack hit the river so the pot could be pushed to the good guys.
A couple of hands later I had Pocket Tens and called a raise. The flop comes out 8 high and I lead out which gets a caller. The turn is a safe card and I get a short stack all in only to watch the river flush so his 93 of hearts takes all of those precious chips and puts them in front of the wrong guy.
Two hands later I get the dreaded pocket kings (which Rob Assures me I played wrong and should have folded pre-flop) ((I just made that last bit up)).
Anyway, Guy UTG raises to $12 and gets a caller, I re-raise to $40 with two ugly kings, folds to original raiser who pushes and then back to me with the obvious call.
He turns over AQ of spades after I turn up my Kings. The flop has 2 spades and I tell him that the river has been really kind lately and as he is getting ready to leave (already grabbed all his stuff and pushing his chair in) a 3rd spade hits the river and the dealer had to point out to him that he actually did win the hand.
So, 3 hands played and 3 rivers being the deciding factor. I got to watch my stack double up and then go back to short again.
A bit later the table broke and I kept playing for a little while.
I'm in late position and raise pocket Jacks to $12 and get 2 callers. Flop comes out Axx with 2 to a flush on it and the first guy to act bets $10 into me. I'd seen him do this several times but never saw a hand so I'm not sure at this point if he didn't have much, was trying to get me to raise, was trying to chase his flush cheap or if he just didn't know anything about bet sizing.
I think about it and call so that I can "one time" him due to his poor bet sizing choice. We are the only two to the turn.
The Turn is a Jack giving me a set and keeping the flush away. He leads out for 20 and I make 70, he calls.
River is a blank and he bets, I push and he calls with AK. As he turned his cards over he said "Ok, send me home for the night" and I replied (as I was flipping) "Your wish is my command sir."
The two guys to my left started complaining that I just sent the biggest calling station home for the night, but we had a good time talking despite my rudeness.
Shortly later I packed up for the evening with a profit of $100 bringing my total bankroll to somewhere over $1400 (if I remove my seed money, if not I'm around $1900 instead).
And - Finally a head Scratcher.
At my first table I wasn't paying attention too much during this hand due to trying to get me a Blue Moon.
There was no raise pre-flop and by the time the river showed up the pot was only maybe $30 bucks or so.
The Board was KAKxx with the KAK on the flop (obviously).
First guy to act checked, second guy bets $10, First guy check raises to $20, Second guy CALLS!
Second guy is the first to show and he flips over AK for the flopped boat and inside my head I'm screaming "HOW THE HELL DID YOU NOT RAISE OR PUSH OR SOMETHING - WHERE IS YOUR POT?"
The first guy flips over AA for the flopped TOP BOAT and my head explodes.
My nose starts to run and my ears start bleeding.
Three fingernails fell off and hit the felt. I picked them up and munched on them like they were potato chips as small particles of my melting brain settled into the bottom of my skull like a bowl of cold soup.
I stared at the bored and their cards trying to find any rational explanation as to how there was no real money in the pot when they both flopped boats, STRONG boats and both were 2+ buy-ins deep and neither felt like actually putting money in the pot.
Guy number one remarks "Man, I thought you had Pocket Kings that whole time and didn't want to invest too much" and that's when my heart exploded and I pissed myself.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Lead me not into Robvegaspokers Temptation
Since I have been married I have gone out and played poker exactly twice. During these two sessions it is pretty safe to say that I'm riding a hot streak. That is a huge plus because I really didn't have any type of bankroll to speak of and a hot streak lets me keep playing occasionally.
The second session started out with me deciding to take a trip down to Bally's for the evening and upon arriving I noticed that they had 3 tables going. Two of them the All In variety and one of them the slow bleeding death and the smell of rotting corpses variety. I put myself on the wait list for the former, of course. The problem was that the list was about 6 people deep, nobody really wanted to bust out or go home and Bally's wasn't particularly interested in opening another table at the time. This lead me to taking a walk over to Planet Hollywood where my Bravo poker app told me they had 7 All In games running.
The walk was pretty crowded as foot traffic is increased because of that sweet sweet World Series of Poker action. About a minute into my walk I hear someone saying "Psst, hey." "Hey You."
I assumed that this was directed elsewhere and kept walking. However, thirty seconds later I hear "Hey you, yeah you" and I look over because curiosity killed the cat and all that nonsense right?
As I look over I get a smile and a "So, what are you doing tonight?" To which I respond that I'm just going to meet some friends.
She replies "Well, maybe your friends should meet my friends and we can all have a good time."
This is the part where the new grrouch took over and shut out the old grrouch part of his brain.
Instead of inquiring about what a good time would entail. Instead of continuing the conversation to see where it might lead and then giving the rejection in the end. Instead of a myriad of different things I could have said or done in order to get a much better story for this blog post....
"Yeah, no. My friends and I don't like to have fun."
No more words were spoken between us, but I did manage to slow down so that I could get a few "from behind" shots of my would be assailant. Getting any frontal shots would have been too much risk.
As for the poker portion of my tale, it was mostly uneventful. For most of the nearly 3 hours I was there I ran pretty card dead and when I had something playable I missed. My stack fluctuated but I won or stole enough hands to keep me in the game.
I moved seats near the end of my session because I didn't want to sit next to the guy who just came to our table with $600 and tried to rat-hole down to the regular buy-in.
At my new seat I won a couple decent hands and then the last playable hand I had (and the last hand I played oddly enough) was this.
I raised to $7 with J9 of spades and got 7 callers.
Flop came out TT7 with two Diamonds. This ended up getting checked around.
The turn was a non diamond 8 and I bet out $65 getting 2 callers.
The River was the ugliest 7 I have ever seen and I checked, but oddly enough so did everyone else.
I turned over my straight and one guy mucked. Another guy pretty much cursed himself out and then threw his cards in eventually. I'm guessing busted flushes with the last guy kicking himself for not trying to steal it on the river scare card.
Either way, I cashed out up over a buy-in on a night where I didn't have anything going for me until right near the end.
I wasn't willing to part with whatever donation they were looking for in order to get a better, focused, pic with the girls so I just stood back and waited for them to not pay attention and snapped a series of out of focus pics where this was the best of what I had. Whatever.
New grrouch. Married grrouch. Took the safe route with the hooker and then took the safe route with the hot bikini cops as well.
Married life has turned me lame!
The second session started out with me deciding to take a trip down to Bally's for the evening and upon arriving I noticed that they had 3 tables going. Two of them the All In variety and one of them the slow bleeding death and the smell of rotting corpses variety. I put myself on the wait list for the former, of course. The problem was that the list was about 6 people deep, nobody really wanted to bust out or go home and Bally's wasn't particularly interested in opening another table at the time. This lead me to taking a walk over to Planet Hollywood where my Bravo poker app told me they had 7 All In games running.
The walk was pretty crowded as foot traffic is increased because of that sweet sweet World Series of Poker action. About a minute into my walk I hear someone saying "Psst, hey." "Hey You."
I assumed that this was directed elsewhere and kept walking. However, thirty seconds later I hear "Hey you, yeah you" and I look over because curiosity killed the cat and all that nonsense right?
As I look over I get a smile and a "So, what are you doing tonight?" To which I respond that I'm just going to meet some friends.
She replies "Well, maybe your friends should meet my friends and we can all have a good time."
This is the part where the new grrouch took over and shut out the old grrouch part of his brain.
Instead of inquiring about what a good time would entail. Instead of continuing the conversation to see where it might lead and then giving the rejection in the end. Instead of a myriad of different things I could have said or done in order to get a much better story for this blog post....
"Yeah, no. My friends and I don't like to have fun."
No more words were spoken between us, but I did manage to slow down so that I could get a few "from behind" shots of my would be assailant. Getting any frontal shots would have been too much risk.
As for the poker portion of my tale, it was mostly uneventful. For most of the nearly 3 hours I was there I ran pretty card dead and when I had something playable I missed. My stack fluctuated but I won or stole enough hands to keep me in the game.
I moved seats near the end of my session because I didn't want to sit next to the guy who just came to our table with $600 and tried to rat-hole down to the regular buy-in.
At my new seat I won a couple decent hands and then the last playable hand I had (and the last hand I played oddly enough) was this.
I raised to $7 with J9 of spades and got 7 callers.
Flop came out TT7 with two Diamonds. This ended up getting checked around.
The turn was a non diamond 8 and I bet out $65 getting 2 callers.
The River was the ugliest 7 I have ever seen and I checked, but oddly enough so did everyone else.
I turned over my straight and one guy mucked. Another guy pretty much cursed himself out and then threw his cards in eventually. I'm guessing busted flushes with the last guy kicking himself for not trying to steal it on the river scare card.
Either way, I cashed out up over a buy-in on a night where I didn't have anything going for me until right near the end.
 |
| I will never get tired of this view |
New grrouch. Married grrouch. Took the safe route with the hooker and then took the safe route with the hot bikini cops as well.
Married life has turned me lame!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Throwback Thursday pics on a Friday Morning
We finally received all of the pictures and videos and such from our wedding so a little bit over time I am going through them and reliving the moments. This is one of the last pictures from the reception that was taken and I thought with the party favor we were giving out this would be perfect for me and my guys.
My vision was kind of like an old western whore house where you had a line up of girls to pick from but with the cartoon slant of you didn't quite know what you were getting because most of the face was already covered. Is it going to be a handsome bachelor or is there a horrible scar lurking underneath.
Last night we went to Walmart to get some Graham Crackers because that happened to be the current craving and I was about to ask if she wanted to go anywhere else or if we were just heading back home but I was interrupted by a phone call. So, because I'm lazy and a great husband I waited until she got off the phone before I left the parking lot - mostly because if I made it back home she would b shit out of luck and I wasn't about to go anywhere else.
While waiting for her to get off the car the most amazing "woman" happened to come to her car which was park basically in front of ours.
I do realize that Karma suggests that some day in the future I will also be subject to this same justice but I honestly cannot help myself.
If there was one person whom I was disappointed didn't end up making it out to my wedding it would be my old high school chum Spank. You see, through modern social media we just became re-acquainted after having lost contact for the last decade or whatever but to this day he remains one of my favorite people. So, the other day his wife adds me to the book of face and throws this old happy picture onto my wall. Prom Picture of which there appears to be very few pieces of remaining evidence that I ended up in a dress. Of every picture I have ever had taken of me this still ranks as one of my favorite lifetime moments. We were the reason Swag is now a word.
My vision was kind of like an old western whore house where you had a line up of girls to pick from but with the cartoon slant of you didn't quite know what you were getting because most of the face was already covered. Is it going to be a handsome bachelor or is there a horrible scar lurking underneath.
Last night we went to Walmart to get some Graham Crackers because that happened to be the current craving and I was about to ask if she wanted to go anywhere else or if we were just heading back home but I was interrupted by a phone call. So, because I'm lazy and a great husband I waited until she got off the phone before I left the parking lot - mostly because if I made it back home she would b shit out of luck and I wasn't about to go anywhere else.While waiting for her to get off the car the most amazing "woman" happened to come to her car which was park basically in front of ours.
I do realize that Karma suggests that some day in the future I will also be subject to this same justice but I honestly cannot help myself.
If there was one person whom I was disappointed didn't end up making it out to my wedding it would be my old high school chum Spank. You see, through modern social media we just became re-acquainted after having lost contact for the last decade or whatever but to this day he remains one of my favorite people. So, the other day his wife adds me to the book of face and throws this old happy picture onto my wall. Prom Picture of which there appears to be very few pieces of remaining evidence that I ended up in a dress. Of every picture I have ever had taken of me this still ranks as one of my favorite lifetime moments. We were the reason Swag is now a word.Thursday, June 12, 2014
Mojo Rising
As I sit here waiting to get motivated to get dressed and ready for work I have been suffering through a headache that has now lasted over 24 hours.
This is the longest one that I have had in a couple of years now I do believe.
I've been wanting to type something up on my poker session for the past few days now but haven't had the time to get around to it and when I do it probably won't be nearly as epic as I'd like it to be because I didn't take any notes, oh well.
However, something more important has happened in our little blogging community and that is fellow blogger and all around good guy, Memphis Mojo, decided to finally run deep in a WSOP event - finishing 3rd place and taking home some large amount of money that I'm sure makes his toes tingle - $279,000 give or take.
So, here is the LINK GO GO GO GO to his words and feel free to check out my blogroll for other people and their write ups as well.
Congrats my man! You make us all proud.
Could I borrow a few until next payday? :)
This is the longest one that I have had in a couple of years now I do believe.
I've been wanting to type something up on my poker session for the past few days now but haven't had the time to get around to it and when I do it probably won't be nearly as epic as I'd like it to be because I didn't take any notes, oh well.
However, something more important has happened in our little blogging community and that is fellow blogger and all around good guy, Memphis Mojo, decided to finally run deep in a WSOP event - finishing 3rd place and taking home some large amount of money that I'm sure makes his toes tingle - $279,000 give or take.
So, here is the LINK GO GO GO GO to his words and feel free to check out my blogroll for other people and their write ups as well.
Congrats my man! You make us all proud.
Could I borrow a few until next payday? :)
Monday, June 09, 2014
Cauliflower Alley Club 2014
Last week was the annual CAC gathering and fun time. Monday included a wrestling show, Tuesday was a Bologna Dinner with some awards and then Wednesday was the big fancy dinner and the big awards.
Cauliflower Alley Club this year was celebrating their 49th anniversary, next year they are trying to go big for 50. I'm really curious to see what they can pull off as I've been enjoying it for the last 5 or so.
This years big awards were given to Michael PS Hayes of The Fabulous Freebirds fame, and Terry Taylor who is sadly best known as The Red Rooster.
Some of the usual people were in attendance which is one of the things that make events like this fun for me. J.J. Dillon and Terry Funk were the MC's for the evening. Jim Ross was there again as well. Normally I harass these people for a picture but this year I didn't feel the need to do it -I'm pretty sure that I will once again next year.
Before I put my crappy pictures up (my phone's camera sucks especially through ZOOM which apparently means Zoom in and Unfocus) ....
There is a membership for CAC, you can choose to buy a Lifetime membership or you can pay yearly but the fact is that up to this point the membership really hasn't meant much in terms of the actual club. The money is partially donated so you are helping out a charity (and claiming a tax deduction if you itemize). This year I had decided I wanted to get the lifetime membership and 5 or so years down the line if my son is still huge into wrestling then I'd get him one as well.
Lifetime membership is $300 this year and because of a hot craps run I was armed with the money. I went up to the President and asked him what I needed to do and he said I had to wait for some lady to come back as she takes care of that stuff. When she got back she told me that they were either out of or they just couldn't find their membership papers and they told me that I needed to fill out the forms and submit my payment online.
Here I am with $300 in hand trying to give my money to them and they are basically telling me that they didn't print out enough forms on cheap paper before the event started and I was unable to give them my money.
So, here I sit a week later still not having become a lifetime member. I was in the "hear and now" and I wanted to do it but telling me to go home and do it online took away the desire. Now I do realize that there is speculation that the membership prices are going up next year and you will, in fact, have to have the membership to be privy to buying the dinner packages to the awards banquet and whatnot. But I lost my motivation. Maybe if I still have the money after this years ComicCon I'll pony it up. If not I'll just stick with the yearly membership and deal with the price increase.
Terry Taylor. This is one of the big reasons I keep coming to these shows. Over the years I have gotten to meet some of my favorite wrestlers that I grew up idolizing. Terry Taylor, Brett Heart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mic Foley, Jim Ross, Terry Funk, etc. Every year I at last run into someone new that I haven't gotten to briefly meet and sometimes I get to snap a picture to remember it.
This is Sinn Bodhi who briefly wrestled in the WWE as KarNizy. I honestly really enjoy watching him and talking to him. This year he had a booth set up and I got a shirt and a poster off of him with an autograph on the poster. He also had a lot of custom wrestling figures up for sale that will be hitting Ebay soon. The only one I really wanted sold before I even made it to the event and that was a Bray Wyatt.
Sinn also happens to work at a Tattoo Shop here in Las Vegas and I'm pretty certain that my next work is going to be done by him now. I probably won't be getting the elaborate piece that I wanted on my calf but instead I'll have him do something small on my "reserved for cartoons, comics and video games, section of my arm"
That's Buddy Love, or something like that. Pretty much looks like a mini Gangrel from a distance but he wears some swwweeeetttt Guns n Roses tights. Also, when introduced they said "And standing tall at 9...um... and a half inches...."
He received an award on the 2nd night because he actually forked out a few thousand dollars of his own money to pay for the insurance to have the wrestling show put on. That I thought was a great gesture especially coming from an independent wrestler.
This here be Matt Hardy, the only "big" name to appear for the wrestling matches. I guess he does a lot of indy work now and appears in FSW from time to time (FSW is a local Vegas Wrestling Federation).
Cauliflower Alley Club this year was celebrating their 49th anniversary, next year they are trying to go big for 50. I'm really curious to see what they can pull off as I've been enjoying it for the last 5 or so.
This years big awards were given to Michael PS Hayes of The Fabulous Freebirds fame, and Terry Taylor who is sadly best known as The Red Rooster.
Some of the usual people were in attendance which is one of the things that make events like this fun for me. J.J. Dillon and Terry Funk were the MC's for the evening. Jim Ross was there again as well. Normally I harass these people for a picture but this year I didn't feel the need to do it -I'm pretty sure that I will once again next year.
Before I put my crappy pictures up (my phone's camera sucks especially through ZOOM which apparently means Zoom in and Unfocus) ....
There is a membership for CAC, you can choose to buy a Lifetime membership or you can pay yearly but the fact is that up to this point the membership really hasn't meant much in terms of the actual club. The money is partially donated so you are helping out a charity (and claiming a tax deduction if you itemize). This year I had decided I wanted to get the lifetime membership and 5 or so years down the line if my son is still huge into wrestling then I'd get him one as well.
Lifetime membership is $300 this year and because of a hot craps run I was armed with the money. I went up to the President and asked him what I needed to do and he said I had to wait for some lady to come back as she takes care of that stuff. When she got back she told me that they were either out of or they just couldn't find their membership papers and they told me that I needed to fill out the forms and submit my payment online.
Here I am with $300 in hand trying to give my money to them and they are basically telling me that they didn't print out enough forms on cheap paper before the event started and I was unable to give them my money.
So, here I sit a week later still not having become a lifetime member. I was in the "hear and now" and I wanted to do it but telling me to go home and do it online took away the desire. Now I do realize that there is speculation that the membership prices are going up next year and you will, in fact, have to have the membership to be privy to buying the dinner packages to the awards banquet and whatnot. But I lost my motivation. Maybe if I still have the money after this years ComicCon I'll pony it up. If not I'll just stick with the yearly membership and deal with the price increase.
Terry Taylor. This is one of the big reasons I keep coming to these shows. Over the years I have gotten to meet some of my favorite wrestlers that I grew up idolizing. Terry Taylor, Brett Heart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mic Foley, Jim Ross, Terry Funk, etc. Every year I at last run into someone new that I haven't gotten to briefly meet and sometimes I get to snap a picture to remember it.
Sinn also happens to work at a Tattoo Shop here in Las Vegas and I'm pretty certain that my next work is going to be done by him now. I probably won't be getting the elaborate piece that I wanted on my calf but instead I'll have him do something small on my "reserved for cartoons, comics and video games, section of my arm"
He received an award on the 2nd night because he actually forked out a few thousand dollars of his own money to pay for the insurance to have the wrestling show put on. That I thought was a great gesture especially coming from an independent wrestler.
This here be Matt Hardy, the only "big" name to appear for the wrestling matches. I guess he does a lot of indy work now and appears in FSW from time to time (FSW is a local Vegas Wrestling Federation). |
| Matt Hardy and Americo |
 |
| Myself with Greg The Hammer Valentine |
 |
| Terry Funk and Jim Ross |
 |
| The Hammer |
 |
| Terry Funk and Jim Ross |
 |
| Terry Funk |
 |
| Some Guy with his 4 dogs at work |
 |
| Michael PS Hayes |
 |
| Steak Dinner, Undercooked and TOUGH |
 |
| Multicolored Cheesecake |
 |
| J.J. Dillon |
 |
| Dillon and Funk |
 |
| Jerry Brisco |
 |
| Cheerleader Melissa |
 |
| Sinn Bodhi |
 |
| Michael Hayes |
 |
| Jim Ross |
 |
| Terry Taylor |
 |
| Random Chicks Butt |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)