Life, The Universe, and Poker - "Ohio Mike"

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that we are safe and happy in the new house in Johnstown. Working on unpacking boxes and getting ready for the holidays.

Take care all and i'll post more later.

ttfn

Pokerstars Blogger Tourney

2007-10-10T22:15:00.001-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 9719636

House update 10/10/07

2007-10-10T15:42:00.000-04:00

First off....an electronic wish for a happy anniversary for my lovely wife. Nine years and still going strong. Not to say that the last few months have been easy with the house and all, but we're so close to moving into the new place. And regardless, I still love her more every day and am lucky to have found her and have her in my life.

and yes...I did wish here a happy anniversary first thing this morning....so this is just an extra wish in case she checks the blog.

On the house front...we're moving stuff now and will continue in full force tomorrow and Friday to get out of the rental property....having some problems with the well and water flow at the moment, so we're hoping to still pass plumbing inspection tomorrow and be able to gain occupancy as well so we won't be homeless.

Very excited about the family and friends that are assisting this weekend...Dave & Julie, Joe, Jason, etc...can't wait to see everyone.

Haven't had time for much poker lately....played a few hands over last weekend and won a couple of bucks...but seriously, only played for 5-10 minutes, so no real effort. Looking forward to everything calming down in the coming weeks and getting back to normal.

back to work now...ttfn.

Still alive and kicking

2007-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Wow....what a month or so...and it's not over yet. For anyone still checking, we're still alive and kicking in Johnstown.....here's a rundown by topic...

The New House.....is pretty much finished. Flooring, countertops and plumbing have all been finished. Final inspections scheduled for today/Monday, with the hope for an occupancy permit on Monday so we can officially move in and live there. Need to put in a mailbox, finish some basic wiring (cable and phone jacks) and do some adjustments to the front and back steps over the weekend to be ready for inspection and to initiate mail delivery and such...we're so close and can't wait to move in. Kids are excited and ready to move as well. Not to say it hasn't been without a huge amount of stress....but then end is near and we're very happy.

Poker - still playing a bit here and there. Have worked the UB funded $10 up to $190 now, so pretty happy about that. Finally updated Pokertracker software and started tracking hands and performance again...too early to draw any conclusions, but I'm happy to be playing and generating a bit of cash again. Hoping to continue to run well and possibly get to the point to start making car payments again from the poker fund. I seemed to do very well with this strategy before and if I can keep my expectations reasonable, maybe I can repeat that bankroll growth again this fall and winter.

WoW - not much going on there...no time to play recently with the house and travel for work. Burton is taking some time off the game for the wedding and such, so that was a downer...haven't had much luck in catching Bruce online of late, but hopefully things will turn around in the coming weeks as we get moved into the house and all....can't wait to get my desk back.

Work - tons of travel and internal process meetings going on. Spent a week in CA in September and will be spending a bunch of time on the east coast this month with various audits and such. Such is the glamerous life of an auditor.

Speaking of....time for yet another meeting. Hoouse pics coming soon.....ttfn.

Life update

2007-08-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

wow...time flies these days....

House Update
- drywall installation was finished on Saturday, first coat of mud went in yesterday. Waiting to see how it dried overnight to see if we're still on schedule to paint this weekend. Terrible weather for fnishing drywall (high humidity and lower temps).
- Making final decisions on paint this week. Jen has done a great job in coordinating the paint scheme for the house....course, if she had left it to me the rooms would all be either Steelers Gold and Black or Buckeye's Scarlett and Grey, so better that she is doing the color selection.
- Can't wait to get into the house...still scheduled for end of Sept...so only about 6 weeks to go...light at the end of the tunnel.

Other Stuff
Not much going on...did get to visit Foxwoods and Mohegian Sun casinos during a recent trip into the CT/RI area. Very nice casinos, played some slots as I wandered around, pretty much broke even, so no harm there.
Work is pretty hectic, as we're still trying to adjust to the reorg and my new boss is getting up to speed.
Between work and house, probably explains why I've been so tired lately....way too much stress.
Danielle starts school tomorrow (first grade) and lost her fourth tooth last night. She has a top tooth loose as well, but if she looses it now she'll look like she was a boxer or in a car accident with all the missing teeth. Hoping it hangs in there for a couple of days to allow her to get into the swing of school. Ash starts back after Labor Day, so that will alter my work schedule back to a 9-6 routine to minimize the travel back and forth for Jen and Alan, not to mention the extra gas. Will also give us a chance to have lunch together and have Jen pick her up here at work, so that will be fun.

Time to get back to the grind...ttfn.

Monday Update

2007-08-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

What a crazy week and weekend....

Spent the majority of last week trying to recover from the layoff here at work. Lost some very good friends and now trying to recover. Been slow going, as it seems like everyone is in a tailspin right now, so trying to get things to happen is taking even longer than usual, as we have to find new contacts in departments and try and get things to happen all over again....but a least I'm here.

House is moving along...spent most of yesterday running the extra cable and phone lines for the first floor. Need to go back tonight and fix the last line that I ran, as I made it a cable outlet instead of a phone outlet...didn't have time to change it before cleaning up and getting home for Jen to go to work. Have a couple of lines left to run, but they should go quickly, as all I need to do is run the wires...all the holes are drilled already, so piece of cake.

Basement should be poured tomorrow, so have to make sure the floor is cleaned up tonight. Hauled a bag of garbage out yesterday before I left, but will need to double check again tonight and make sure everything is ok. Hope the high humidity and heat wont cause any problems. Also need to see if the garage is getting poured at the same time or not and get that cleaned up as well if needed tonight.

Not much else...siding is almost completly done, septic and well are completed and waiting for the floor to get poured to finish of those connections. So we're still on schedule.

Did play some poker yesterday morning on UB...still on the 0.25/0.50 NL tables for $10 buy-ins...donked off a buy in when my pre-flop raise to $1 from late position with QQ was called by both blinds. Flop came down 8-10-Q, giving me a solid set but also a bunch of straight draws. Blinds checked to me, I put in a pot sized bet of ~3.50, which was called by the BB (sitting with about $30 at this point). J falls on the turn and I know I'm in trouble, as AK just hit a straight, as well as anything with a 9. BB checks, I toss out another $3 bet and get pushed all in for my last $3, which I pretty much have to call at this point with the odds and the potential for a boat on the river....doesn't happen and the dude turns over 9-7os for the suck-out straight. Not sure why he called the pre-flop bet there, but I was in trouble with his open-ended straight draw on the flop....which of course he hits.....a bigger bet pre-flop may have chased him, but with QQ, I want some action.....sigh. I bought back into the same table and ended up recouping my lost $10 plus another $4 before calling it a session and getting to work around the house. Bankroll up to $80 now...woot.

ttfn.

House update

2007-07-31T08:50:00.000-04:00

Stopped by the house last night...septic system is almost completed (tanks in, drainage trenched and laid out) and internal plumbing is going in. All the tubs/showers have been installed, so we're excited about seeing something in the house rather than studs and windows. Jen will be able to do laps in her bathtub in the master bath, so she's excited about that. Not to mention the girls can't wait to use the tub as well, so there may be some fighting on who gets to use the big tub on batch nights.

Septic should finish today with inspection tomorrow. Siding should start going up today as well. We have our meeting with the construction foreman tomorrow to discuss lighting placement, wall outlets, phone and cable outlets, etc. Should be fun.

Signed up to take some local classes at the Home Depot on laying tile and ideas for a wireless house this weekend...should be fun.

Survived the big lay-off here at work last week. Trying to recover now and get the new boss up to speed on what I'm doing...always fun to train the boss on what to do.

ttfn.

Quick Friday update

2007-07-27T09:26:00.000-04:00

On the house front, the kitchen pantry issue has been resolved. KHov made an error that we were able to prove on the size and location of the pantry, so no change order and the pantry has been moved already. HVAC is supposed to get started today...Jen is at the house now checking to see if they are there and to discuss placement of the furnace so we can get as much finishable space in the basement as possible.

Well is finished...they had to go 309 feet to hit water, but we're getting 50 gallons a minute and everything is set there. Meeting the setic company this afternoon to discuss septic system and they should start next week. So things are moving along.

More over the weekend....ttfn.

Wednesday update

2007-07-25T11:03:00.000-04:00

Quick update before heading off to lunch....

Work
Dismal day at work....can't say much here, but let's just say it starts with RE and ends with ORG. Many stressed individuals siting around waiting for the phone to ring.

House
Jen had to bear the brunt of two days of house issues. Apparently the 48 inch kitchen pantry that was approved via change order 3 months ago never made it to the the final blueprints, so we currently have a 32 inch pantry in the kitchen. KHov has agreed that it should be 48 inches and are trying to figure out what to do.....duh, move wall 16 inches and be done with it.

Also having issues with the well....contractor has been there since Monday morning drilling our well. As of last night around 7pm they were approaching 300 ft with no water....not sure where they stand today or what the cost or next steps are. more to follow

Poker
Actually played some poker over the weekend and while in NJ. Have worked the $10 from UB up to almost $70 via some profitable sessions at the low stake NL tables and by winning a prestigious and action packed $2 SNG (18 man) on Monday night while in NJ. Decided the bankroll could afford the $2 entry fee for the chance to win $18....ohhhhhhhhh.

First hand - AA in the BB, no action to speak of, but won the pot. Sounds like a good start, but hopefully don't peak early with good hands and then go dead later on.
Proceed to get a steady stream of solid hands, or hitting on cheap flops. I mean, who doesn;t love getting a free flop in the BB with Q2os and seeing Q-Q-2 flop and then bust a dude that slowplayed AA. Anyway, steered clear of confronting other big stacks and focused on pressuring the short stacks as we wound down to the final table. Once there (top 3 paid), again just biding time, picked up small pots by exerting big stack pressure and stayed in the top 3 of chips. Bubble boy went out when my pocket 22 spiked the set on the flop and a boat on the turn to bust his AA when he went all in on the flop. Put me in the chip lead (~10k-8k-6k) traded chips back and forth a bit, as one guy was playing pretty solid poker and not willing to roll over and let me push him around constantly.
Everything was going pretty slow when he suddenly pushes from the SB...button had called the blind and action was to me in the BB looking at Q-10s. His push felt like a weird play with the tempo the table had been keeping....mid-pair or AK was what my brain screamed to me. I paused for a sec to consider....I had him covered by about 3k, so not out of it if I loose and can still play with the 3k. Have already made the money (not that a $1 profit was exciting, but hell...its a max profit of $16, so WTF). I make the call, button folds and we see a flop. UB has modified their all in program by not showing cards until after the river. So I see a open ended straight on the flop with 1 spade (K-J-x), a second spade on the turn and then a lovely A on the river for a straight. cards are revealed to see him with AKos and top two pair and a loosing hand. Pot gets raked to me and he explodes. Berates me for making the call, telling me I knew I was beat and such. I tell him that I was only slightly behind pre-flop, ended up with a ton of outs on flop and turn and nailed a winner. He's steaming from a terrible play on his part (IMHO) by pushing with AKos. Sure, my call was WAY loose, but WTF, it's not like this was for millions of dollars or anything. Anyway, I end up crushing the remaining player in heads-up when he pushes into my A9 suited with K-10 and I catch an A on the flop to win the tourney....wheeee....$16 in profit for the hour of work.

So, I'm happy to be playing some poker for a change as well as WoW. Nothing exciting on that front, as haven't really played since the weekend.

Time for lunch now....ttfn.

House pics

2007-07-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

For anyone checking this out...here are some pics of the house as it has progressed.

Pouring footers back in June

Broken driveway conduit...now completly clogged and acting as a dam when it rains.

Foundation getting put in place.

Back of house with completed roof (July 16).

View down upstairs hallway looking into master bedroom and closet, master bath is to the right of the closet. Alan's room is the doorway that you can see on the right.

Ashley snuck into this pic of the great room...I'm standing in the kitchen lookin at the fireplace, sliding door to backyard on left.

Pic of house and family on July 16...the missing windows are what were stolen from the house that night. Apparently they were left out so that the roofers could get access to the house from the second level. Payments and orders for replacements were made yesterday, so hopefully things will get turned around quickly. House now has a roof on it, pics of that coming this weekend.

F&^%ing Rat Bastards

2007-07-17T14:18:00.000-04:00

Well...I had planned on getting some pictures up of the new house in progress. Took some interior and exterior shots last night, but just didn't get the pics loaded yet....be patient, they'll be up soon.

Roof was up yesterday, with tar paper and shingles scheduled for today (weather permitting). Starting to look like a home now and we're very excited.

But, here is the fiasco that was this morning. Apparently some local scumbags decided to rob the house last night, taking a service door, two bedroom windows and the foyer 3-window piece that were all not yet installed on the house. Have to figure on 2-4 guys to do this, as the big window was upstairs waiting for installation and had to come back down the stairs.

Get so pissed when I even think about all of this....and I'm in NJ so I'm completly of no use in helping Jen work through the police, insurance and construction issues that have come up. Biggest concern at this point is the potential delay in siding the house waiting for the custom windo to get reordered and delivered, not to mention the potential weather damage with 3 days of rain scheduled for this week. Contractor is trying to board up the windows and install doors and locks to secure the house as best we can against future break-ins. May have to push to get the security system installed earlier or start sleeping at the house once some of the interior pieces start getting delivered.

I hope they all stepped on nails and have hernias today from their 'work' last night.

No other news worth reporting at this point....ttfn

Weekend update

2007-07-16T10:43:00.000-04:00

Hey all...actually have some poker news. UB has tried to lure me back to the site by putting some free cash in my account.....a whopping $10. Wow...that makes me want to come and play ona site, a free $10......

ok, so it worked....I had UB up and running about 10 seconds after reading the email. Played some 0.25/0.10 NL ($10 max) and I think I'm up to about $25 now, which includes a $10 loss yesterday morning when my JK suited in the BB called a pre-flop raise to $1 (heads-up, as everyone folded). Play on the table was pretty LAG, as it was 6 handed and the pre-flop was typiclaly raised to about $1 every hand by someone. So I called and watched a flop come out K-K-6, giving me trips with a decent kicker. We both checked the flop as I tried to see what he would do (for reference, I had $9-10, he had $35), no continuation bet indicated he was either slowplaying something big or the KK on the flop had him scared. I checked a turn of a 9, no flush or straight on the board, he put in a $2 pot sized bet, I come over the top for $5, he insta-pushes. Now the only hands that have me worried at this point are AK, KQ or that he boated up on the 9 or 6 with a small pocket pair. Would love to say that I made a smart laydown, but with only about $3 left, I called to see him flip AKos and take the pot with a bigger kicker....not really upset about it though...

I rebuy with my last $16 and play around a bit (hey...not like it's my money). Few hands later, I see AQs in the BB and have the button make an overly aggressive push (had not seen this move from him yet) for about $8. I contemplate folding the nice had when the SB folds...but remember a conversation the other night at a poker dealing gig that 10-10/J-J are pretty much all-in or fold hands pre-flop in some games. So I put him on one of these two hands and know that I'm in a 50-50 race with my suited AQ. I call, watch a georgus A hit the flop with one spade, a second on the turn gives me extra outs if i need them (UB doesn't flip the cards immediately on all-ins for some reason). River produces a blank and we flip....he has 10-10 and I take down a nice pot, recouping most of the $10 I lost above.

Played a few more hands and won a couple of small pots with pre-flop raises and continuation bets on blank boards. Then left with my account back to the $25 or so that I started with.

In other news...we ate our first meal at the new house on Sat....burgers from the local burger joint on a blanket in the great room of the house. How cool. The second floor is up (walls only). Figuring they will be putting up the roof today. Will have pics tonight, as I was able to find the USB cord for the digital camera over the weekend.

Not much else....pulled 3 garbage bags of weeds from the front flower bed with the girls yesterday, looks less like a jungle now and we can see the flowers. Girls did a good job helping, found a toad living in the garden that fascinated them. Looked like he was having a good time with all the bugs around that we were kicking up...not sure where he came from though.

Off to NJ tomorrow through Thursday, so will update as I can. ttfn.

Wow...2 month break

2007-07-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

Well....can't make any excuses, just haven't had the desire to update. That's not to say that there hasn't been a ton going on. Will work over the next few days to provide moe details, but here are the highlights...

- sold the house in Reynoldsburg and moved to Johnstown, OH.
- Construction has begun on the new house. Hope to move in Oct.
- Been to China again, caught flu virus that had me crying like a baby.
- No poker to speak of....played in a freeroll here and there, but with no cash to focus on messing with playing poker online, just hasn't been any fun.
- Still playing Warcraft with friends.....Martello is lvl 70 and working on pimping his gear. Drop him a hello if you play on Emerald Dreams.
- Kids are getting big...trying to wrap my head around having a 7, 5 & 2 year old in a few short months.....hard to believe they are getting so big so fast.

That's it in a nutshell.....so if you're checking here for poker content, don;t expect to find any soon. If you're family and friends, I hope to start getting back into the swing of things of updating more frequently.

Take care all.....ttfn.
Mike

Back in the saddle

2007-05-07T11:20:00.000-04:00

Quick update....

Vacation in Walt Disney was great...kids had a blast and are still talking about it a week later, so left a good impression with them...now just to process the 20 rolls of film we took...need to buy stock in Fuji Film.

House build is moving along...in the permit process now, but house is staked on the property and plans made for the initial landscapeing changes and driveway. Hole should be started by the end of the month.

No poker playing of late...no easy way to get sites reloaded after my extended break, so that is proving the biggest hurdle. Getting an itch to play again soon online, so may have to look into finding a way to move the money...any suggestions from anyone?

Lots of travel scheduled over the next two months.....trip to Mexico and China between now and end of June. Looks like I'll miss Jen's birthday and Father's Day with this set of trips...not happy about it, but not much I can do about it at this point.

Kids doing well....headed for a doctor's visit today as they have had lingering colds and we want to make sure nothing serious is going on.

Back to the grind...ttfn.

Rainy Wednesday

2007-04-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

So much to discuss......where to begin....

- looking forward to a case of carpal tunnel syndrome on Friday as we sell our house, close on the property and new construction loans. Should be signing my name about 1000 times I think. Loads of fun, but will be excited to get the day over with, get the house sold and move into construction mode.

- Speaking of the new buyers.....they have their final inspection walk-through today. House is pretty much a mess with all of the packing and such going on...hope they don't expect to see the pristine beautiful house they saw a few weeks back, cause it ain't there anymore.

- Finished the last of the home repairs needed last night (digging up a downspout drain and reconnecting the piping). At least it wasn't raining/snowing for a change.

- Moving this weekend will be an adventure....we have struggeled to get anything packed or prepped for moving at this point. Tonight will be a work night, as Jen and I will both be home or the evening, so we should be able to make some headway on getting stuff organized. Tomorrow is gymnastics and such, so that will put a dent in the time, Friday is closing, Sat is moving day with the movers coming to take the big stuff to storage and the rental house. Then we have to get the rest out and turn in the keys by the 19th. Plan is to be living in Johnstown by Sat night. Cable and internet will be stopped in Reynoldsburg on Friday night and then we'll be switched to Time Warner in Johnstown on Sat afternoon....will send out new email address to everyone once we get it established with TW.

- Fully into performance review mode...meeting with my technicians today and tomorrow to do their review. Not sure when mine will be...but sometime between now and the end of next week with the vacation coming up.

- no poker curently....no easy way to get money online anymore...not that I have any at this point. Hoping for some summer poker dealing gigs to rebuild the poker/gambling cash roll and then maybe have some way to get the money online to play once we get into the new house. Interesting note...heard from a collegue here at work that the WTO (world Trade Organization) has deemed the US law as illegal (or at least not in good standing with the WTO rules)....wonder if someone will get it taken off the books then????

Not much else....need to get back to prepping for the review this afternoon....take care all.....

ttfn

I Hate the Florida Gators

2007-04-03T16:16:00.000-04:00

As I grew up watching sports with my father I inherited two things, a dislike of any teams from UCLA (he grew up watching them dominate college bb and grew to hate them) and Notre Dame (damn NBC and the fighting irish every Sat during the college football season). So, I now have developed a hatred for the Gators after watching them deny the Buckeyes a National Championship in both Football and Basketball over the past few months. After watching the bb team grow and mature this season, as well as battle trough the tourney, I thought they would succeed where the football team failed and knock of the Gators last night....but 4-23 from 3-point range spelled the doom for the team last night....make 8-23 and we win the game by a point, or dump 8 of those shots inside to Oden and have him add to the monster game he had and we're in the game at the end rather than chasing a 10-12 point deficit the entire game. FL had no answer for Greg and he showed his skills at dominating the paint for the entire game....the dude played the entire second half and worked his ass off for the team. I only hope that he and Conley come back to finish off a national championship for OSU that was so close last night.

In poker news, I yoyo'd the money on sportsbook.com the last two nights, taking my final $5 up to $20 in one session, down to $18 the next, then loosing it all in a brutal series of suck-outs on a very loose table last night before the game started. Lost the first buy-in ($6) at a .10/.20 NL table when my KK EP pre-flop raise to $1 was called by 3 others to see a flop of K-Xc-Xc. I go all in (final $4.60 into a $4 pot) to try and end the end, only to get called by a dude with a low flush draw, which of course hits on the river to wipe me out. I buy in for another $6 and battle to win nack the loss...get up to $8 when I get KK again in EP....I toss another $1 bet on the table only to see a mid-position re-raise to $3 followed by an all-in of $8 by the flush chaser from earlier. I figure one guy for AA at least...but the flush chaser had pulled this move a couple of time to try and buy pots and had been successful....and I really didn't want to fold KK....so I push and the three of us all flip...showing me in the lead against JJ and QQ....as I start a fist pump I see Q-J-x hit the flop and my jaw hits the table....no straight draw of mircle K hits and the QQ takes a huge pot (flush chaser from above)....so now he's sitting with roughly $22 on the table and really starts pushing things around. I figure I'm going to get my cash back from him eventally, as he was slinging cash around with no regard now that he was in control of the table...so I bring the last of my $ to the table (final $6) and start to wait him out. I finally hit AKs on the button in a 5 way limped pot. I raise to $1 and everyone calls. Flop comes A high with two clubs to match my AK....everyone checks to me and I toss a $3 bet in, as I want some action on the top pair and flush draw....everyone folds but the big stack, who pushes all in on me. Now....I know I have him beat...make him sweat for a second or two and then call. He shows 5-6os, having matched a 6 on the flop for bottom pair. I have a huge lead and a ton of outs to lock the hand, only to watch a 5 hit on the turn, giving him 2 pair to my AA and then I miss any of the club outs and pairing the board to see him collect the last of my chips. So I promptly deleted the sportsbook.com software from my laptop and headed for the Buckeye game. Glad it wasn't my money anyway.

I'm actually tempted to start playing seriously again in the near future. I know I have the skills to beat the online game, but the issues with getting money online is a severe drawback to the game...was such a sweet little moneymaker for awhile. Would love to be able to start making the car payments and such again from the fish online. Wish the US Gov would get their act together and just let the Vegas/AC casinos run online sites and be done with it....would be sooooo sweet to have the online play get linked to comp rooms and such.

anyway, have to sign off now and get packed up to board my flight home.

ttfn.

Finally Friday

2007-03-30T08:22:00.000-04:00

Ahhh....what a week. Spent the beginning of the week in Vermont on a company audit, only to find myself spending a day in the hotel room with a nasty head cold on Tuesday. Finished the audit on Wednesday an thankfully made it back home with no incident and no relapse on the cold, so I'm glad that is over. I probably should have just cancelled the trip at the last minute, as I felt the cold coming on last Thursday night, but thought I could tough it out.....guess I was wrong.

I'm actually playing some poker again. Sportsbook.com saw fit to give me $25 to open an account with them....never one to pass up the opportunity to play some penny poker, I've been dabbling over the last few days with some .10/.20 NL games. They're soft, but I've been playing pretty loose and just having some fun rather that trying to really build the bankroll. I have no idea what the requirements are to actually cash out with the money, but don't really care either. So I played a few hands this morning, lost $10 over successive hands when my limp in on stellar hands like 10-9s and Q-Js from early position saw me flop top pair both times. On both hands I put in pot sized bets and had the BB call me down both times and see them catch trips on the turn to take down nice pots with stellar BB hands like Q-7os (trip 7s) and 10-4os (trip 4s) to my top two pair both times......sigh. Table was pretty much calling any minimal raise (say .60) and folding to anything over that. So in both hands, I wasn't in position to toss a huge raise out there, so the better option would have been to fold, but suited connectors are sold, and it was free money, so meehhhh.

Just finished setteling up my outstanding tax bill with the city of Columbus....as I mentioned before (I think) our house in Reynoldsburg (and in the Pickerington School District) actually sits in the city of Colubus city limits, thus we have owed them a 0.5% income tax since moving in (2001). So Merry Christmas Columbus....at least we done with it and can now sell the house with no issues and move to Johnstown.

Headed out to the construction company tomorrow to do the carpet, lights, etc for the house....basically spending our $10k upgrade allowance and trying not to go overboard. Then back home to do some packing and then get ready to watch the Buckeyes/Georgetown game tomorrow night. Then off to Montreal on Sunday for a two day conference on Mon/Tues. Thankfully I've been able to avoid any heavy travel for the month of April, so the moving and closing should be safe from any issues....not to mention the vacation at the end of the month.

Of course this is going to come back to haunt me, boss mentioned two trips to China between now and October, as well as 1-2 trips to Mexico on top of the normal travel. Will see if they actually happen.

Having trouble getting excited by the sale of the house....we'll be in a small, dumpy rental property in Johnstown while the construction is going on.....Going to be a rough 6-9 months until we can move into the new home. At least I won't have any grass to mow for the summer.

Time to get back to work.....btw, do any of the poker.com gand know anything about any Blogger Tourneys getting started for the WSOP??? Please drop me a comment if you know of anything brewing.

ttfn

Sitting in te Hartford, CT Airport

2007-03-19T16:35:00.000-04:00

Just finished a vendor audit and I'm enjoying the free wireless here in Hartford while waiting to get home. Halfway through a Ten Penny Ale (yummy) and waiting for a burger and fries for dinner before hitting the 6:30 flight home.

On the home front, we are successfully in contract on our house. The offer I mentioned below was finalized on Friday afternoon and we're all set. The home inspection is scheduled for Friday morning, and barring any issues, we'll be out of here by April 19th. Can't believe it.

We'll be in temp housing (ie, small rental property) while the new house is being built. Hopefully, we'll be in the new place in around 6 months, which means October...but we're hoping sooner, as we'd like to get setteled before the school year starts, but I doubt that a 4 month build is possible. We have a meeting on Sat to start working on some of the design elements for the house already....have to meet with all of the specialists (excavator, driveway, builder, waste, etc) as we'll be on well water and a private septic system, so all of that fun to deal with. Jen said she's been getting phone calls all day, so she's already going a bit nuts, but we're just happy that the house sold as fast as it did...now we have to get out in four weeks.....ugh.

Burger just arrived, so I need to take care of that before it gets cold....ttfn.

So Shoot Me!!!!

2007-03-16T08:38:00.000-04:00

I know, over a month and no post....I have not died or been injured in any way, just extremely busy with too much to do. But since I caught some crap from a certain Ogre last night, I thought I would go ahead and update quickly this morning.....

Poker has been pretty non-existant...I had picked up $25 on poker.com for getting a new player to sign up, had worked that up to about $50 playing .05/01. NL games here and there. Played a bit while travelling in Dallas last week and proceeded to loose the entire $50 when I dropped one $25 buy-in when my AA was cracked after flopping a set on a flush draw board to a guy that wanted to gamble on his draw....he hit it on the river and I dropped $25 to him....not much I can do when the fish want to play J-10 suited, see and A and two clubs hit the board, call my pot sized bet and then call my all-in when he misses on the turn and wants to gamble on one card....whatever.

So I'm tilted a bit and toss the other $25 on the table.....loose a bit when a couple of flush draws of mine don't hit, down to about $15 when I hit KK in the BB....5 limpers in front of me and I jump up to $4 (again....05/.10 table). Get two callers to see a flop of Q-7-10 rainbow. Check to me, I push my $11 into the $14 pot and get a caller with QJos....of course the J hits the river and he scoops the pot from my KK....perfect flop for me to make some money and the poker gods decided to toss down the 5 outer to the fish again.

So...my online poker account is empty, and I have no cash to reload, or any way to reload thanks to the US Government. So little to no poker will be played for the time being. Hoping that the poker.com blogger events will start again soon for the WSOP events.

In other news, work is kicking my butt...new projects every day to try and get done. Now I'm trying to schedule a vendor conference on April 12th here in Columbus.....fantastic. Trying to pull together 12 vendors and internal VP schedules should be a great time.

Finally...we received an offer on our house yesterday after 7 days on the market....they seriously low-balled us and asked for the moon with closing costs and inspections....we countered this morning, but probably won't budge if they don't take it and will see what happens in the coming weeks. Have had great feedback on the showings we've had so far, so I'm optimistic that we'll get more offers in the coming weeks.

OK...back to work now...ttfn.

Sorry for the lack of updates

2007-02-11T01:03:00.000-05:00

Have to blame poor internet connections from the lack of updates during the last week in China. Everything went well, saw some amazing production facilities in south China...they put many of our American counterparts to shame with their level of control, cleanliness and dedication to high quality control. What is the difference you may ask.....well, for producing a typical shower gel or body lotion (non-medicated).....

America - refurbished production facility in 40-50 year old building. Production workers wear hairnets and street clothes (sometimes a lab coat). Standard air conditioning.

China - workers pass through a gowning area where they put on sanitized jumpsuits, head coverings, boots, gloves and masks. Pass through a blow-down airlock (high pressure air spray to remove dust/hair), then into the production area that is brand new (3-5 years) designed for the production of personal care products, cleanable walls, ceiling and floors, well lit, and amazingly clean. Positive air pressure in production rooms to keep 'dirty' air out.

An amazing difference...and this is for a typical personal care product. State of the art equipment and a high dedication to high quality products. Now don't get me wrong, I did see stereo-typical 'sweat shops' in China....rows of people hand painting Christmas ornaments or folding necklaces into gift boxes, etc. Average worker in China makes about $300-400 a month, but they do typically get free room and board from the company, as they live on site in dorms. Work 12 hr shifts 5-6 days a week as well.

Anyway, the trip in China went well. Spent a day in Hong Kong (very much like NYC)...visited the night market and picked up some more trinkets for the kids. Not any luck in jewelry for Jen, so I guess I'll make some jewelry store in the states happy with a nice gift when i get home....she has earned it in spades after the three weeks of me travelling.

We're in Frankfurt, Germany now. Spent yesterday at the Ambiente Home Fair yesterday. Largest international home furnishing, decorating and such show in the world. It is huge!!!! And my feet are feelin it this morning. Anway, dawn is breaking here in Frankfurt and I need to hit the shower to get ready for breakfast. More info later today on what we're doing here in Germany.
ttfn.

Photo Dump from past week

2007-02-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

Cool Dragon statue outside Shenzhen

Street Sweeper in China...Govt job to hand sweep the highway...and you think your job is bad???

Hand carved tea set out of a single piece of wood

Chinese junk sailing in Hong Kong harbor

Sunset in ShenZhen overlooking a lake outside the hotel.

Good Morning from ShenZhen

2007-02-04T17:40:00.000-05:00

Quick update before I hit the shower and get going for the day of auditing.

No significance to this pic....just a neat advertisement on the side of a building here in ShenZhen.

This is a pic from outside the local shopping market/mall. Similar to a flea market in the states, except with twice the number of people and shops, as well as the constant barrage of 'runners' that try and intice you to come into their shop. They hand out business cards for various shops in the store, all of which are pretty much selling the same things, watches, bags, electonics, DVDs, etc. Did pick up some papercuts and hand painted glass baubals for the kids that I hope they will like.

Here is a shot from Sunday night from the hotel balcony...laser show and lights from the 'Windo of the World' park across the street. They were playing the Star Wars theme which attracted my attention from the hotel room. Had a huge fireworks show afterwards.

Not much else to note from the weekend. Dinner here in the hotel and then an early night to get ready for today. Super Bowl starts in about 30 minutes for everyone in the states, but I'll be in a car to a supplier. I'm rooting for ther Colts in the game, as I think the Bears are a bit overrated and Manning is due to win the big one. ttfn.

Good afternoon from Shenzhen, China

2007-02-02T04:02:00.001-05:00

Hello all....this is the view from my new hotel in Shenzhen overlooking an amusement park that has been built here containing replics of some of the man-made wonders of the world....the Eiffel Tower replica can be seen in the photo. And yes, that is my frosty beverage on the ledge...just spent three hours in a car, 2 hours in an airport 2.5 hours on a plane and another hour in a car to arrive here, so I'm having a beer or maybe two. It's 5:15pm here, so no problem there. The hotel is georgeous as well....will try and snap some more pics over the next couple of days...here is another view from the balcony...

Not sure if you can see from the pic, but there is water visablein the distance, in addition to some mountains....very pretty. Finally able to unpack the suitcases, as we'll be here for a week as we visit a number of local suppliers for the next 7 days before heading to Germany.

Planning on a nice Italian dinner here in the hotel later tonight. Our rooms come with free mini-bar and happy hour drinks on the executive level (concierge level in the states), so that will be a nice unwind every evening.

Take care all, and I'll update again over the weekend after we've had some time to do some sightseeing.
ttfn.

Day 4-5 updates....

2007-02-01T03:16:00.000-05:00

Hello all...currently 4:15pm on Thursday here in Changzhou, China. Spent yesterday traveling from Beijing and getting a first hand experience of some very interesting Chinese customs/practices......for example....

Unlike US airline travel, there is no organization for boarding an airplane in China. They announced boarding and everyone headed for the line and onto the plane. Once on the plane (booked to capacity I might add), the Chinese don't have any issues with sneezing, picking, coughing, and hacking in public....in fact, I had not realized that the airsick bags were also available to catch anything that one might cough up.....what fun.

No headaches to speak of, flight was uneventful and our hosts picked us up at the local airport. The hotel here in Changzhou is AMAZING....4-5 star hotel for $80 a night. Huge room on the 19th floor gave me this view when I wake up in the morning.

Spent last night at a Karaoke club with our hosts. I refrained from starting an international incident by staying away from the mic and just enjoying the company and a few beers. Slept well last night and conducted an audit today at our wallflower manufacturer. Everything went well.

I really have enjoyed the trip so far, especially the dining experiences. Had a great Indian meal last night and then a very good traditional Chinese meal today for lunch. Everythign served family style on a lazy suzan that allowed everyone access to whatever they wanted. I am slowly progressing with my ability to use chop sticks for dining, which gives some additional entertainment value to the meal for everyone else as they watch me try and eat. Also tends to slow down the meal, so I've noticed that I don't eat as much, which is always a good thing.

Finally, one of the interesting things about Chinese construction can be seen below...

Scaffolding in China is made from tied together bamboo....this is a picture of some dorms that the company we visited today is putting together for their workers that live too far to communte and want to stay close enough to do the work.

Anyway, time to get some work done and get ready for dinner.....mmmm .....seafood. Will post more later...We're headed to Shanghai early in the morning (3 hr car drive) to make a 12pm flight to Shenzhen where we'll be staying for the next week. Not sure when I'll get to update again, but will on Saturday for sure.

ttfn.

Good Morning from Beijing, China - Day 3

2007-01-30T04:24:00.000-05:00

Good morning all.....not near as exciting news today. Spent the day at the new Libbey glass factory outside of Beijing. The factory is just getting ready to go into manufacturing mode...so not much to look at today. Discussed training and quality systems they are implementing. No photos of the plant for obvious reasons......

I did snap some pictures as we came into town...I apologize for the quality of the pics in advance, but they're all from a moving van.

This is the Jianguo hotel where we're staying. Very nice place....and they just updated the rooms TODAY to include a flat panel high-def TV in each room. Very slick.

And just in case anyone was worried about the Starbuck's chain...they're here in China serving the billions of Chinese...and myself, as we've had the pleasure of starting each day with a quality cup of joe.

Not much else to show.....ttfn.

Day 2, Beijing, China

2007-01-29T03:47:00.000-05:00

Slowly recovering from a 5 hour walk around Beijing this morning. Saw the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. My feet are killing me....

Had to come back and take a shower, as there was enough wind kicking dirt around that Steve and I were pretty well covered in a layer of grime by the time we got back. Anyway, here is a picture dump for the day....

Me in front of the Forbidden City....9,999 rooms for the Emporer of China to live in, keeping his 2000-3000 concubines for his needs. Must have been rough being the Emporer.

Cool lion statue outside the Forbidden City. Steve and I decided not to take the tour of the City due to time and cost. Was surprised by the number of people at the City for a Monday morning...I had figured that it would be slow, but maybe the crowd we saw was small compared to the weekend, I have no point of reference to compare.

Statue comemerating the People's Revolution in Tiananmen Square...there was a matching statue to the left of this one.

Temple of Heaven...the picture doesn't do it justice, as the coloration of the temple is just amazing. Brilliant reds, yellows and blues are just amazing. Very beautiful temple.

Time to get some dinner now and then finish preparing for tomorrow, as we start the work that we came here for with a visit to a new Libbey glass manufaturing plant...planned for the bulk of the day, so the sightseeing in Beijing is pretty much over. ttfn.

Good Morning from Beijing, China

2007-01-28T13:34:00.000-05:00

Well...it's 2:35am Monday morning here in China, and I'm still not quite adjusted to the time change as you can see here.

Arrived Sat evening around 6pm on a very quiet and uneventful flight from Chicago. Business class is the bomb, but I did find out that the company will allow you to elect to fly coach and give you the difference in cash if you choose to do so....kicker is that you can then pay to upgrade (using points) and end up in business class and a couple of thousand ahead in the process. Something to think about next time, as I should have enough points to upgrade now.

Anyway, Steve and I made our way to the hotel, checked in and pretty much crashed for the night....I made it until about 11pm watching HBO and Cinemax in the room (War of the Worlds). Woke back up at 3am and pretty much stayed up all day.

Steve and I had a pretty normal breakfast at the hotel...eggs, bacon, toast then decided to take a quick walk around and see what we could see....saw this and decided to take the pic...not sure what it is, but it's in downtown Beijing. I have to admit I've been impressed with everything so far. People have been very nice and helpful, city is fairly clean (reminds me of NYC in alot of ways)...although you do get a whiff of some pungent smells walking the streets at times.

Made back to the hotel in time to find out that there was a daily tour bus that left for the Great Wall at 10:50am...so we quickly gathered our stuff, paid the $280 RMD....about $35 USD (8-1 exchange) and got ready for the trip. Ended up on a very nice bus with a French husband and wife for the tour, along with the tour guide and her family (husband and two children). Made the 1.5 hr drive to the great wall and snapped the following pics....

This is from the ski-lift heading up the mountain. For anyone that doesn't know, the GWC was built around 1400BC and runs along the spine of a mountain ridge....

...as you can see here...the wall snakes back and forth on the top of these mountains....it boggles my mind the work that it took 3400 years ago to drag the bricks up by hand to build this wall. Simply amazing....

Me on the Great Wall....the other amazing thing is that there are very few flat spots on the wall...the bulk of the wall is on stone staircases. I made it to the first guardhouse, but then decided that I wanted to be able to get back down and not be airlifted off the wall, so left Steve to walk the rest of the steps while I snapped pics and admired the view.

The next building is where I stopped...long walk, lots of stairs...and I'm way out of shape for that type of thing.

Not sure how to caption this, but that blade was real metal sitting on my shoulder......brrrrr. Cost me $2 usd for the pics....no biggie for a cool picture.

After leaving the wall, we went to a silk manufacturing business and spent some time learning on how Chinese silk is produced (does come from silk worms) and the silk threads are unwound from the cocoon. Anyway, ended up in a store front with the goal being selling us some silk products. I have to admit, I couldn't pass up a nice silk tie for $120 rmd ($14 usd).

Next, we stopped at a tea shop that showed us 5-6 different types of traditional teas and explained the brewing, smelling and tasting of the different teas. Of course, we ended up in a shop where you can buy tea and tea sets...didn't purchase anything as I think I can get better prices outside of Beijing later in the trip. On the drive back to the hotel we drove past some of the Olympic sites for the 2008 Summer Olympics....will be interested to see what everyone thinks of the aquatic center and 'birds nest' when they see them for the Olympics next year.

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up day one...planning on Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven tomorrow before starting the work on Tuesday and the sightseeing pretty much ends until Sunday.

ttfn...going to try and get some sleep now.

Poker update

2007-01-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

Actually played some poker over the last few days (WoW was done for some patch uploads and such...what's a guy to do when Wow is down but go play poker).

With all of the recent shutdowns and lockouts in the online poker community, I'm glad I've weened myself off the daily poker addiction and just play when I feel like it now. Poker.com is still my home for now...hopefully they won't break to the pressure of the crappy US laws and will continue to allow US players to play....at least as long as I'm travelling for the next few weeks....While I hope to see the sights, I expect there will be some down time in the hotels to mess around on the poker tables while watching Chinese TV....can't wait.

Anyway, picked up a profit of about $50 over the last few days across 3 sessions of 0.25/0.50 NL 6-handed poker....probably represents about an hour of playing, so $50 and hour is fine with me. Nothing notable as far as hands or suck-outs.....I did crack AA once the other day when I caught my set on the turn when he slow played the rockets on the flop and then tried to milk the table post-flop for a small bet. Caught the set for cheap on the turn and made him pay for his slow-play with check-raising on the turn and then a pot-size bet on the river which he reluctantly called. I did see a guy catch a straight flush on the river when his 6-7s caught an OESF draw that he called down to the river to see his straight flush connect on the river and crack KK and 10-10. They gave him hell for it, but they didn't start betting at the pot until after the turn and he had odds to make the call with his outs.

Only other notable hand was a joker that called my $3 pre-flop bet (I had JJ) from the BB. Flop of 2-6-9 rainbow....called my half-pot bet. 10 on the turn...he tried to check raise my $5 bet, I pushed my $25 into the pot and he called, showing 77 and missing his outs on the river for a nice $40 profit on the one hand. Not sure why he would risk the cash on a gutshot straight with mid-pair....I was betting like I had an overpair to the board, so he had to know that he was drawing thin.....but then again, he dropped $70 into the table over 20 minutes by playing every hand and getting run over once we figured him out. Walked away with about $20 to the good....my stats showed I saw 38 hands, winning 2 for the profit....so happy to get away from a cold table with a profit at all.

I'm keeping an eye out for using my free tourney entry on poker.com from the BPT. I believe I get a free entry into a grand finale tourney, which is typically a $200+ buy-in tourney that awards a WPT/WSOP type seat for the winner. May be just the ticket for an evening while I'm travelling over the next few weeks if I can catch the right tourney.

Anyway, the blog will most likely be a travel log for the next couple of weeks as I travel overseas....take care all.

Goodbye Grandma...you'll be missed

2007-01-18T09:54:00.000-05:00

Farewell on the other side. You'll always be in our thoughts.

Thelma Ullom - 11/16/18 - 1/17/07

Nothing else compares to this news....will post more when things get back to normal.

New Year, New Post

2007-01-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

Hey all....been awhile I know....the last two weeks have been full of highs and lows....

first off...the poker tourney didn't end the way I had hoped. I busted out in 18th place after going on tilt after PureChaos pushed into my top pair, top kicker with bottom pair and promptly hit his outs for two pair and the pot. Congrats for going on and winning the whole thing. While I admit that you have to get lucky to win any tourney at times...PureChaos seemed to defy the odds by winning at least three hands that have been posted on the various blogs when he was behind when all the money went into the pot. I really feel that I would have gone far in the tourney if not for that hand, as it made the difference from me being in a nice chip lead on a tight table to being a short stack at the same table. I ended up busting out a few hands later in the tourney when I pushed with paint pre-flop , got called by mid-pair with a big stack and missing everything.....but I now have an entry into a WSOP qualifier tourney, so I'll have to see if I can work some magic there.

Haven't had time to play much other than an hour session on poker.com (.25/.50 NL) yesterday for a $0.19 profit.....considering I was as low as $13 ($50 buy-in) and made my way back makes the profit a bit easier to swallow....better than a loss. No amazing plays...I was in the hole fast as I called an all-in post flop after having a nut-flush, royal flush, straight draw with overcards (KJs, board A-x-10)...called a $12 all in (pot was at $5 pre-flop I believe) with all my outs and lost to A-10. Next hand lost another $15 when my flopped set of 9s (again called a short stack all in) hit his flush draw and my boat never materialized...so 2 hands, down $27....wheee. Sat at $15-27 for most of the hour, then hit a nice 3 way pot to get back up to $48 when my AKs flopped an A and turned a K to beat A-J and KQ that called my 1/2 pot bets to the river. Happy to get the money back into the account after all was siad and done.

And for once......no BlackJack for me....yeah.

The holidays were pretty good....the kids were recipients of a very generous Santa (other than Ashley, who has not received all of her gifts after we found out she had been hunting for them in the basement. She has to earn those presents that she found through good behavior over the coming weeks.....still had plenty of gifts to open though.

Made the trip to Toledo three times over the past 12 days....Jen's family party, took a dining room table to my dad, then back to Dad's for my family Christmas and New Year gathering. Won't get into the drama from the New Years Weekend....suffice to say that we won;t be having any more gatherings where my diviorced parents will be present at the same time.

Alan has been fighting the cold that I have just gotten over (mostly). Poor kid can't breathe well and it wakes him up when he is sleeping, which makes for rough nights for Jen, as she tries to let me sleep so I can work and such....ended up staying at home yesterday while she slept til noon or so after being up all Monday night....last night was better, so hopefully Alan is on the way to rebounding.

Trip to CA next week may get canned, as we can't get enough business meetings and audits scheduled to make the trip worthwile....may end up out there in later Jan or possibly late Feb/March....will wait and see.

Enough for now....back to work...ttfn.

Buzz wearing off

2006-12-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

I think I'm finally coming down from Saturday....I had forgotten what a nice rush it is to win a poker tourney of any kind, as it has been quiet some time since I was able to do so....mostly because I have not played much tourney poker outside the BPT over the past few months. Between work and home (and WoW), just hasn't been much time to play poker online. Now that I have some cash on poker.com again, I'll probably look to play some tourneys again and try and continue to improve my game for this Saturday's big event.....20 player shoot-out for a trip to Australia in January for the Aussie Million. Only chance I have to make it, as I think Mike has the blogger event coverage trip all taken care of over on his site. Mike has already posted some of the key hands from the event....my flopped straight that propelled me to the chip lead, etc....I'll try and find more later tonight on Poker.com, but no promises. Best of luck to all players on Saturday.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much a blur....dealt some blackjack on Sat evening for a office party hosted at the home of the manager/owner of said office....needless to say the house was a mansion, which probably could have held the contents of our house in the garage....the place was huge....the party was held in the 'basement'...IE, walk-out entertainment room (wet bar, big screen TV, etc). Enough room for 50 people, including 2 blackjack tables, 1 poker table and 1 craps table. Had a great time talking with everyone and dealing the games...the tip from the host was nice as well at the end of the night. Everyone had a great time, and I hope to be invited back next year to deal the party again.

Didn't get home until after 1am, so the 8am wake-up call to try and get moving on Sunday was rough...needless to say we didn't get on the road until 10am (instead of 9am), which put us behind for the entire day. But, we weren't last to the cookie walk, and beat Santa to the family party (pics later) and were still home by 7:30pm last night.....exhausted, but home. Jen was able to come home from work early (YEAH) and we actually got to sit and watch the Survivor finale for a change. I was pulling for Ozzie, but Yul won 5-4 on the voting and took down the $1 Million. Then off to bed and a start to another hectic week.

Time to get some work done and suck down some more coffee....ttfn.

Finally

2006-12-16T18:56:00.000-05:00

Was able to finally play and concentrate in the blogger tourney today on Poker.com...thanks in most part to my mother-in-law being with us this weekend and watching the kids for the afternoon. And it paid off....first place, $125 and qualified in 20th for the tourney and a chance to play for the trip to the Aussie Millions in January. Made 20th by 3 points, so it ended up that I had to win the event to get enough points.

Couple of big hands that propelled me to the final table were a flopped straight against KK that I took out a large stack, and then a flopped set of Js that took out two players (QQ and AK I believe)...I'll post more when I have a chance to get the hand histories from Poker.com....the site is doing maintenance and I can't get them right now.

No more time to post right now...have to get ready to deal at a charity event now.

ttfn

'Nuff Said

2006-12-08T13:18:00.000-05:00

Some cool news from UB....just received a note saying that they miss me and they've loaded me with $100 in cash to come back and play on the site. I'll need to accumulate 100 UB points to get access to the cash (about 200 hands), and they're running their UltimePoint conversion this week again, so if I get enough points, then I can start converting my points on the site back into more cash...so it looks like I'll be firing up UB over the next few days to try and earn a bit of cash on the site.

Steelers won another game last night....while I love seeing tem beat the Browns, it's bittersweet after the expectations for the team to come back and defend their SB title. Going on a run now lowers their draft pick status into the middle of the pack. While 9-7 may be a 'save' to the season, there is no true value in it, other than pointing out the games they should have won all season.

In other news....found out today after returning from two days in NJ that I'm back on a plane on Monday am to head to TX for three days to perform a sort on some mis-labeled products...wheee what fun. Was ok with the trip before realizing that I'll miss Ashely's first Christmas recital for school on Tuesday night. Not happy at all about missing it (neither is Jen). Hoping to find someone to go along with her to help with the kids and the video camera. Will see what happens.

time to get back to work....ttfn

Post Blogger Tourney, OSU and Steelers

2006-12-04T09:18:00.000-05:00

Well...looks like all my boasting about going to Australia in Jan is for naught. I busted pretty early in the tourney on Sat when my JJ in EP (blinds 10-20) and my bump to 120 is called by the BB only. Flopped a set with 2 spades on the board. He checks, I make a 3/4 size pot bet, he calls, third spade hits the turn, he checks, I make another 1/2 pot bet, he goes all in. I figure he's representing the flush and trying to get me to fold my set...I call...he has the K high flush and I hit a blank on the river. He called the pre-flop raise with K-10 spades I believe and catches the flush to drown my set. One more event to go and I doubt that a final table or win will get me in the top 20....will see how it goes on the 16th.

The National Champ game has been set...OSU vs FL on Jan 8 for all the marbles. I didn't watch the FL game over the weekend, and missed the USC meltdown as well. Congrats to FL for coming to the slaughter house for a whipping by OSU. Can't wait. I do feel sorry for Michigan, as I think they are proably the legit #2 team in the country....they could probably beat USC or FL if given the chance. But they had their shot at OSU in a game that should have been a larger margin of victory for OSU if not for the three turnovers we gave Michigan to allow them to stay in the game. Take the turnovers away and we beat them by 17 and no one is talking about them as a legit #2.

The Steelers won a game....wheee....watched most of the game, but it was pretty ugly, as Ben was still under pressure for most of the game, and the running attack was anemic. Hoping we land a couple of monster O-linemen in the off season to get that fixed.

Not much more to speak of. Off to NJ tomorrow evening for a couple of days, so I'l probably be pretty quiet on the blog.

TTFN.

Post-Thanksgiving wrap-up

2006-11-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

Well....the holiday season is full steam ahead. Only 27 shopping days until Christmas for anyone that needs a reality check.

The Steelers season officially ended yesterday with the 30-0 thrashing they took from Baltimore. Big Ben was sacked 9 times during the game, and I heard reports that one of them knocked him out of the game briefly with a bruised chest. All I can say is that I'm glad I wasn't able to watch the game while in Toledo yesterday, as that would have pushed me over the edge of what turned out to be a bittersweet end to the holiday weekend.

So what happened to the Steelers....Esentially the same team that won the SB last season, now can't even score against Baltimore. Two things they need to address during the off-season (IMHO)....

(1) Offensive line - they need to replenish an aging O-line with some fresh studs ASAP. Parker's running has been inconsistent, and Ben can't get sacked 9 times in a game.
(2) Turnovers - this season has shown how much of a fime line there is between winning and loosing in the NFL and how much of an impact turnovers have on the game. Ben has thrown a ton of picks this season, many of which are coming under pressure or on tipped passes from the receivers. The pressure issue should be addressed by the O-line in the off-season. I think this is just one of those seasons that is the karmic payback for last season. Everything bounced our way last year, and is now bouncing against us this year.

At least we'll end up with a high set of draft picks...I figure we'll end up 6-10 or so for the season, which should get us in the top 10 or so in the league.

Poker news - I had qualified for the poker.com 50k freeroll that was heald yesterday, so I had the laptop all set and ready to go after the birthday party festivities had ended yesterday for Alan. I would like to say the poker gods smiled on me and I made it to the money....but of the 1900 players in the event, I went out at 1814 after about 5 hands when my AA was cracked by QQ turning a set. I was in EP and made a raise of 80 (blinds still 10-20)...fold around to the BB that goes all in for 2000+. I had to call the all-in with AA and was ready to double up after he missed the flop only to see him hit the 2-outer on the turn for his set...no A on the river and IGHN. Can't complain, as I had all my money in as a huge favorite and the cards let me down. Not like I was outplayed or made a bad call.

Quick question....does anyone know where Netteller is legally located? I'm tired of their overcharges on deposts, but owe them a small amount of cash from a deposit i made a couple of months ago and they never withdrew from my bank account. Now I'm getting letters to settle up and I'm half tempted to just ignore and let them close my account. Any chance that they can screw up my credit rating here in the states?

Anyway...time for more online shopping from work on cyber Monday....ttfn.

O-H-I-O

2006-11-20T11:45:00.000-05:00

GO BUCKEYES!!!!! One of the best college football games that I've seen in a number of years happened on this past Saturday afternoon. OSU and UM slugged it out and I'm sure all of the players are feeling the pain of that game today. On the OSu side, they've completed a perfect season, going wire-to-wire in the polls and finishing with the first BCS perfect score of 1.000. Congrats to the Buckeyes. Hoping that USC takes care of business on Saturday in beating ND and leapfrogging UM in the polls to get the shot at the National Championship agains the Buckeyes.

Hitting a dry spell of poker recently....no burning drive to play over the past couple of weeks. Missed the Blogger tourney on poker.com on Sat due to the OSU game and the friends we had over for the game. Still finished at 55 out of 104 to pick up some points, but the pressure will be on for me to play well and finish high in the next (last) two tourneys to try and crack the top 20 and make it to the qualifier tourney. I still vow that I will be there at the end to get the trip to Australia.

Holidays are starting to ramp up in full stream. Jen just sent me the December event calendar and it's going to take me 20 minutes to update my calendar here at work to keep track of everything. Going to be a crazy month.

Well...my Steelers have won two in a row in very un-inspiring fashion. A come from behind win in Cleveland was a nice win, but the three fluke interceptions were troublesome to say the least. I figure that they have to win out and get lucky to even have a chance at the playoffs. They have to leap frog the following teams to try and get a wildcard spot, as the division is pretty muh Baltimore's to loose by going into the tank....

1 Indianapolis 9-1-0 (div leader)
2 Baltimore 8-2-0 (2 to play against Pittsburgh) (div leader)
3 San Diego 8-2-0 (div leader)
4 New England 7-3-0 (div leader)
5 Denver 7-3-0
6 Kansas City 6-4-0
7 Jacksonville 5-4-0
8 N.Y. Jets 5-5-0
9 Cincinnati 5-5-0 (1 to play against Pittsburgh)
10 Pittsburgh 4-6-0

11 Buffalo 4-6-0
12 Miami 4-6-0
13 Houston 3-7-0
14 Cleveland 3-7-0
15 Tennessee 3-7-0
16 Oakland 2-8-0

So, at this point they're 3 games back of Denver and 2 games back of KC for the 2 wildcard slots in the AFC with 6 games to play. Going to be very tough for them to catch Denver or KC with this few games to play, especially with the schedule the Steelers have the rest of the way. Turnovers have plagued the team this year for the first time in a long time. Amazing on how the fine line in the NFL is between winning and loosing is, especially when you start turning the ball over too much.

Time to get to work....take care all.
ttfn.

Steelers Win - Blogger Update

2006-11-13T13:33:00.000-05:00

Wow...the Steelers won a game...figured I may as well post something as well. Happy to see them finally play a decent game, although I am still not happy with the way the Defense has played this season, and now to have Troy and Townsend banged up with concussions with some critical divisional games looming on the horizon....not good.

OSU is preparing for the biggest game of the decade when the A$$holes from Ann Arbor show up in Columbs this week in a historic 1 vs 2 match up with a berth in the national championship game on the line. Bucks looked real good this last weekend in blowing out Northwestern, so that's a plus. Predicting that OSU will win again in comfortable fashion.

Poker has been on a bit of an upswing....played a bit in the evenings while travelling this last week on poker.com. Pretty much broke even for the trip with some modest gains and subsequent losses from session to session, mainly plaing 2/4 limit. Pretty bad players for the most part, calling with any two cards, chasing to the river, etc...but it is low limit, so that's to be expected. I love the whiners that start ranting when their AA gets cracked by someone when they slowplay the monster and then get caught with their pants down when someone with 9-3os flops trips or 2 pair.....funny stuff.

I haven't been able to crack any tourneys lately. I've played enough on poker.com to qualify for the nightly and weekly freerolls, but no luck in any of them.....either miss the tourney due to dinner/work or get sucked out by someone....or make a couple of bad calls and loose chunks of my stack. Played in the 10K freeroll yesterday...made it through the first break and then was getting blinded away while picking up Danielle at a birthday party...came home to find myself still in the tourney, but down to 650....picked up suited AK and pushed, getting 2 big stack callers (A-Q and 10-10)...caught the A on the flop and tripled up to around 1900. Missed a couple of flops with blinds at 100/200 and fell down to 1200....pushed with 55 in mid position on an unopened pot....BB with 4000 called with K-10 suited, I survived the flop, but watched and K hit the turn and a 10 on the river to seal my fate. Why call 1/4 of your stack pre-flop with a suited K-10? In hindsight I should have tried a stop and go with the flop....modest raise pre-flop and then push on the A...but no telling who would have called behind me with a weak A and I would have been toast anyway.....oh well....at least it was a freeroll.

Looking forward to the blogger tourney this weekend during the OSU game. Hoping to pick up some more points this week and get a crack at the top 20 as the season winds down. Congrats to all that have played well to date...I'm still planning on qualifying and winning, so you've been warned again.

ttfn.

long time

2006-10-27T09:10:00.000-04:00

Wish I had alot of comments for all of you to write about after taking almost the entire month off from blogging. The Buckeyes are still #1 and the Steelers are still struggling to find a groove and start winning some ball games.

The month has been good, but nothing outstanding. Lots of work travel, birthday parties for the kids and now I'm fighting a pretty bad head/chest cold to end the month. sigh.

Poker has dropped to almost non-existent for me. I've stopped playing on UB and have been almost exclusively on Poker.com for the past 2 months when I do play. I'm pretty much just messing around with $1/2 limit or $0.25/0.50 NL to get a poker fix in. I have to say that I could probably make some good money again if I spent more time playing, but for some reason the passion and drive just isn't there to play right now. I'm up about $150 over the past month or so playing the lower limts, as the players on poker.com are not that strong and constantly slow-play and give away free cards when they shouldn't. Two things I don't like about the site: you can't see a players mucked cards at showdown, I do like to see what they call down with when they get beat, and the site is not supported by PokerTracker. Otherwise the interface is pretty good and the players are loose, so that's good.

One hand in particular that shows the caliber of players....I see KQos in the BB on my first hand on the table the other day ($1/2 limit). Two players limp in, SB calls and I see a free flop. A-J-x rainbow, giving me a straight draw. I'm guessing that at least one of the limpers has Ax and decide to see what happens by leading out on the flop after the SB checks to me. Everyone calls, confirming that at least one A is sitting out there, along with probably Jx and something else. Turn misses my straight, but I lead out again to see what happens. EP calls, LP folds and SB calls again. A miracle 10 hits the river, giving my my nut straight. I lead out again and get called by both players. Now, I have no idea what they had, as they both mucked to my straight, but the EP player went on tilt for me hitting my 4 outer for the straight. I retorted that if he had a winning hand, he should have bet it rather than letting me dictate the action. If he had shown any strength in the hand by reraising, I would have folded when I missed on the turn. No one listened, as I was able to see many free flops from the BB, catch alot of cards late for flushes an boats that I should not have been able to see if anyone was the least bit aggressive with the betting. Oh well....I like the passive play by the players there...just wish there was a bonus structure like UB.

Not much else to discuss.....This cold is killing me and I'm getting pretty disgusted with feeling like crap all the time. Time to get back to work I guess.

ttfn.

What truely matters

2006-10-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

I was getting ready to post about another poor showing by the Steelers last night, or the most recent meddling of the US government in their attempt to protect us from ourselves by banning internet gambling...

but then I read this (found it on Mean Gean's site...thanks for pointing it out Gean), and realized that there are much more important things going on than me rambling about a Steeler's loss.

It's been realitively easy to start to orget about the war going on in Iraq. We don't watch the national news, as the kids are usually in the room and I don't feel the need to explain the guns and bombs and flames to them....life will hit them sooner or later...I just want it to be much later. The newspaper is pretty much a conduit of sports news, comics and entertainment for me. I don't read the front news sections on a regular basis, as there is little good news reported, only another mugging, murder, car crash, political investigation, etc. reported. Who needs it?

When all is said and done....here's what truly matters to me:
- Jen...my partner for 8 years tomorrow...she amazes me with her dedication to the kids and me day in and day out. I would be lost without her.
- Danielle, Ashley and Alan...the best kids a father could ask for....even if I did help Danielle write a letter asking one of her kindergarden classmates to be her boyfriend over the weekend...he said yes. I'm shoppingg for a nice baseball bat in the near future.
- A stable job...while it may not be the best job in the world, it's air conditioned, comfortable and relatively low stress.
- Quality friends...Burton, Ogre, Bruce, Fitzy and the rest....if you're reading this know that I value your friendship very highly. We are long overdue for a get together for some beer and poker.
-and Family...after just spending alot of time with my dad and brother, I am lucky to have them in my life. Jen's family is great as well, having accepted me into their family from day one. I wish I could say that things have improved recently with my mom, but she stills seems to ignore that we exist here in Columbus, so I'm not sure where that will all end up in the future.

Poker doesn't matter....nor does Wow, or the Steelers or Buckeyes in the grand scheme of things. Not to say I don't enjoy them, and am passionate about them, but my life is full and complete without them.

That being said....to those on the BPT....I've spotted you 2 weeks now...I'm coming with guns blazing from here on out. I will be going to Australia in January to represent the bloggers. Take that to the bank.

Time to get back to work.

ttfn.

Blogger tourney

2006-10-07T16:52:00.000-04:00

Short and sweet today...knocked out on first hand of tourney. Wish I could say it was a terrible suck-out or something, but here it goes.

I'm in the BB with A5 spades.
ReplicantPoker (last tourney winner) opens from early position with a bet of 165. Fold around to Mada1970 who calls from the SB, as do I.

Flop comes down 9-6-7 with two spades, giving me a nut flush and gut-shot draw. Replicant checks from EP and Mada puts 1000 into the pot. I put him on a steal, as this is a strange overbet from middle position. I put him to the test and go all in with my draws...Replicant folds stating that he has JJ and Mada calls me....and shows 44. Basically went all in with bottom pair and no draws. Alas, my read was correct, but none of the spades, an 8 or and A falls on the turn or river and I'm the first one out of the tourney.

Not too upset, as Jen was working and I needed to fix dinner for the kids, so not all that broken up over it. Will be looking for Mada next time if he's willing to risk his chips like that again.

ttfn.

Tourney finished....
Natsdad finished in first with
iyatoni
DamRiver
booboy119543
brodoughno
mick5434
Porkrind333
Quackpot
purechaos
elc3105

all finishing in the money...Mada1970 was able to ride that first hand chipstack to 16th place. ReplicantPoker ended up in 57th and EgonOlsen in 55th. Until next time.

ttfn.

PAAAAA---THET---ICK v2.0

2006-09-25T08:16:00.000-04:00

I can't come up with anything better to describe the home loss by the Steelers yesterday afternoon. While the running game got on track against a weak Cincy D, 5 turnovers just doesn't cut the mustard in the NFL. And with two of those picks coming in the Cincy endzone, taking away at least 6 points, if not 14, is just NFL suicide. So we handed a game to Cincy and are now two games out of first after playing three....Some way to start the season for the World Champions. Here's hoping that Ben gets a ton of practice in over the bye week and is ready to light up the scoreboard in San Diego in two weeks....sigh.

Buckeyes held on to win and maintain their #1 status for another week. Will need a better performance against Iowa, as USC and Auburn are nipping at their heals in both polls and could overtake them if OSU doesn't perform like the #1 team in the country.

Poker is still on the backburner at the moment...bankroll is depleted and I'm hoping to catch one of the freerolls to start the rebuilding process yet again. This is the time of year that I went on a tear last year, so I'm hoping to recreate that bit of magic at the tables this fall once I get some cash online again. Trying to avoid paying any upcharges, but may have to sooner or later. Thankfully I'm travelling a lot over the next month or so, so I won't have much time to stress about not playing poker.

time for some work....ttfn.

Blogger Tourney

2006-09-23T15:35:00.000-04:00

Getting ready to start at 4pm est. 75 players entered so far with $500 in prizes up for grabs, as well as the first set of points towards the season finale tourney for the trip to the AussieMillions. More updates as the tourney starts.

3:55pm - tables are set...can't recall anyone at my table from last season, but that could just be my memory. Starting with 2000 in chips, $125 to first place, and a bounty on Shane from poker.com. Will see what happens.

4:01 - took down the first hand...just the blinds. cawtbluffin and lightening36 at my table.

4:06 - picked up 2 hands in a row...sitting at 2240 right now

4:22 - lost a nice hand to cawtbluffin when he reraised my pocket 7s and got me to fold with his pocket 5s. Sitting at 1585 now.

4:30 - still sitting around 1500...can't get anything going and i have large stacks bracketing me now.

4:37 - doubled up through the chip leader when my 44 held up against his AQos.

4:43 - doubled up again trough the chip leader on a flopped flush against his AA. He had just finished off another player when he called an all in with second pair on the flop and he turned trips to knock out TPTK.

4:54 - 2 straight doubles.....KK gets me started....then my 55 hits a set on the river. 7655 now.

5:01 - Break time. I have Shane sitting to my right and I probably could have taken him out on a hand when he had a set of 10s and I flopped a straight...I avoided risking too much as there was a flush on the board that had me worried and kept me from betting too hard at the pot. I'm in 4th place with 7280 in chips with 47 of 75 players remaining. Top 10 get cash and then the points towards the championship. I think I can take out burnley1 (chip leader) as he's playing alot of pots and leaning on the table with his big stack. Tedns to overplay a bit though, so I think I can get him again, as I've doubled thgough him three times already.

5:14 - Shane just busted after getting crippeled on a bluff gone bad when he ran into a made hand, then his Ax ran into AA and he was gone. I'm in 6th with 43 remaining.

5:23 - card dead for awhile....moved tables as well, so got away from the big stack for a bit. 9th place with 30 remaining.

5:37 - 19 left, still running ok. Have the big stack to my left yet again....sigh. 9th place.

5:58 - Knocked out in 15th...had 66 in the SB with 5000 in chips....two big stacks limp in with blinds at 500/100 and I push to try and buy the pot. BB calls off his last 500, then EP limper calls the bet as well...my 66 against AQos and A8os....I survive the flop only to see a Q hit the turn and no 6 on the river. Surprised BobbyOlsen called off a third of his stack with AQos but I guess a top 15 out of 75 isn't too bad to start the season.

OSU winning 14-3 with 7:38 left in the game. PSU just jumped offside on a 4th and goal on the run to end up kicking a FG to draw within 8.

Here's the final money results from the tourney...congrats to all.

1 - ReplicantPoker
2 - Michael1965
3 - Irongirl
4 - BobbyOlsen
5 - JCL514
6 - natsdad
7 - Quackpot
8 - Hacksaw2000
9 - astinaguy
10 - brodoughno

I had hoped to link to their blogs, but can't easily find them in the poker.com blog list. Overall it was a decent tourney, but I didn;t see any spectacular play at any of my tables. I played ok, but need to get back into the swing of tourney poker, as I have played almost exclusively limit, which definately effects my decision making and betting in tourneys. Looking for better performance in a few weeks at the next event.

ttfn.

Poker Blogger Tour

2006-09-21T09:03:00.000-04:00

Well...as you can see, the PBT is getting ready to start, as the ad link over on the right side is now updated to the Aussie Million in January. I want to go on this trip so bad I can taste it. Australia has always been a dream destination for me, so getting an chance to go and play poker would be an absolute blast. I registered on Poker.com this morning, and there is a low turnout at this point for the freeroll on Sunday. I expect it will pick up over the next couple of days as people get the info and get registered. Hoping to do well on Sunday to revitalize a depleted bankroll. I'm also planning on live-blogging the event, as their giving away a second trip to the Aussie Million to the blogger that gives the best coverage of the qualifying events to have them attend the tourney and blog the coverage...which would also be really sweet.

Poker has continued to be on a downswing for me....dropped my limits and switched over to $0.25/0.50 NL with $25 buy-in....dropped 2 straight buy-ins as my TPTK ran into turned flush draws both times I pushed the pot. If someone is willing to push all their money into the pot on the flush draw, I can't do anything about it except wait for the odds to catch up with them and the money start flowing my way. But 0-2 so far on winning that race.

Took the girls rollerskating last night. First time that either of them have been on real skates (not the strap over shoes, in the driveway skates). They both tried very hard and Danielle is getting the hang of it. Ashley was very tired (fell asleep in the car before skating) and got pretty frustrated by the skating and wanted to play games instead, but we kept to the skating. Danielle showed a ton of independence by going out on the rink and trying her best to skate by herself as I stayed with Ashley....very proud of both of them.

Not much else going on. Planning a trip to China for November, heading to NJ and then Canada over the next couple of weeks. Busy, busy, busy.

ttfn.

PAAAAA---THET---ICK

2006-09-19T09:18:00.000-04:00

I know it's spelled wrong, but the "ICK" seemed to sum up my feeling this morning while recovering from a slight Gin & Tonic hangover and the piss-poor performance of the Steelers yesterday. I have to tip my hat to the Jag's defense, they did a great job shutting down everything we did on the ground, and with Ben sporting a 104 degree fever, that was all that mattered, as he was definately off his game last night. I can only hope they get alot of work this week or Cincy will have a field day with us next weekend.

To add insult to injury, my poker game has gone in the toilet since my last post....the string of positive sessions ended with a thud on Sunday as I watched a buy-in get flushed in a series of brutal beats. I had every pocket pair busted, flopped straights get run down by runner-runner flush, K high flushes get beat by A high flushes, etc, etc, etc. My last hand saw QQ get busted by A2os when he called my pre-flop raise, then let me check-raise on a flop of 2-7-9, then we capped it on a J on the turn with the last of my cash, only to see an A hit the river and the last of my cash disappear into his stack.

To follow that up, I hit the tables again this morning over coffee before work and watched another buy-in float down the river. My profits for the month are gone and I think I'm negative now....same story as the Sunday game...solid hands beaten by chasers, final hand had my 10-10 run into KK of all things on a flop of 3-7-9 and of course I get the last of my money in to see that I'm wayyyyyy behind.

The only thing I can think of is that the poker gods to not appreciate my posts about running well, so they decided to pimp-slap me back into line. I just hope I can recover and running positive again soon. Maybe time to move to a different site for awhile and see if the change of scenery makes a difference.

back to work now...ttfn.

Poker Update

2006-09-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

Haven't had much to write about on the poker front, but felt it was time to recap the last two months. I'm happy to say that I am running positive again Since Aug 1...here is a quick breakdown.

Aug 2006: +164 over 885 hands with a 1.85 BB/hr rate.
---Aug would have been much better if not for a single terrible session of -$390 where I tilted against a table full of donkey players that all had horseshoes shoved up their backsides. But I'll take a positive month wherever I can.

Sept 2006 (to date): +$515 over 457 hands with a 11.28 BB/hr rate.
---I love these numbers....I've run 7 positive sessions in a row for a much needed boost to the bankroll. Was finally able to make a withdraw from the online account for a car payment and some much needed RAM for the computer. I'm not playing much, but the sessions have been good to me.

I decided to play a bit this morning over a fresh cup of coffee before work. Sat down at a full $5/10 table (10 players) and end up with two very loose players with huge bankrolls to my left (one had over a grand, the other with $800). The most you can buy into the $5/10 game on Ub is $500, and most buy in for less than that....so either these guys had been running well or they padded their stack after sitting down at the table. I think you can add chips over the $500 mark after sitting at the table, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

Anyway, I have no PT notes on either of these guys, so I decide to see what happens...I wait for the BB and catch garbage on my first hand....bleh. UTG (with $1K - known as $$ now) fires in a raise and 3 people call him....I have decent pot odds to call, so I do to see a flop miss me completly. I check, he fires another bet in, both otehr players call and I fold. End result was that he was playing the aggressor from UTG with 9-10 suited and tried to buy the pot that he completly missed on against a slow played KK in late position that took down an easy pot. So now I know that he's a little loose and will try and bully pots.

A couple of hands later I catch big slick in late position with $$ on the button. One limper ahead of me and I raise. $$ reraises and the blinds fold, Limper calls, I cap and everyone else calls. Flop comes down rainbow K-9-3...looking good for me so far. Check to me, I bet, $$ raises, EP calls, I reraise, $$ caps, EP folds and I call....I can't put him on a great hand at this point, as he's played every hand much the same way since I sat down...he could have anything at this point. A J hits the turn, giving a straight possibility now if he has Q-10, and gives me a gutshot for a 10 along with my TPTK. I bet, he raises and I call at this point, as I'm now cautious that he may have a real hand here. A 8 hits the river, which gives a few more straight possibilities to the board, but my TPTK still looks strong. I bet, he raises a final time and I call to see him flip over 8-3os and rake a very nice pot away from me.....so that is how he's been making his money.....

So now I'm down about $70 and I've played 2 hands out of the first round of play....great way to start the day......sigh.

Things turn around a bit when $$ hits a down turn and looses about $200 over three straight hands. I take the last bit from him on the following huge hand....

I'm in LP again with A3 suited in hearts....$$ is on the button again and I fully expect the raise form him, so I limp in with 3 others ahead of me, willing to pay an extra $5 to see the flop, but not wanting to initiate the raise/re-raise war that will ensue with $$. He does raise and the BB, along with the rest of the table (5 in all) see a flop. A solid flop for me comes with A-6-8, with the 6-8 in hearts....so I get top pair, terrible kicker, but more importantly the nut flush draw. Check to me and I bet with the Aces and draw...$$ reraises (as his MO) and one other calls his raise, as do I. A lovely J of hearts hits the turn and I do a slow happy dance....EP checks to me, I bet and watch $$ reraise and EP call....now I have a decision....do I re-re-raise with the nut flush or wait until the river to try the same play, fully expecting the same betting sequence regardless of what falls on the river? I decide to hit the pot here and pop it another $10...$$ now caps (as I kinda expected), EP CALLS and I call very happily. A fourth heart hits the river (the 3 I think) and we go through the motions again....check to me, I bet, $$ calls this time, EP re-raises me...I pop it again, $$ calls and EP caps....I call and watch my nut flush take down a huge pot against the second nut flush (K-J os) in EP and A-5os from $$. This puts me positive for the session by about $60 bucks or so.

So the coffee is gone and I'm still sitting positive around $50 bucks and playing out the last round when $$ and I tangle again. I get dealt A-8 suited on the button and raise a folded pot around the table....$$ in SB calls and we watch a flop of A-J-7 rainbow hit. Against him, I like my A-8 now and bet into him and watch him raise as usual...I just call at this point, as A-8 is good, but not terrific in this situation. I check-call him on the turn and watch an 8 hit the river for my two pair....which I believe is golden against this guy. I check-raise on his river bet and he calls to turn over A-3os and I scoop a $80 pot with a nice $40 profit. He then chats that he can't believe he didn't win the hand with A3os when he was behind the entire hand...was funny to watch him rant a bit as I sit out my blind, wait for PT to collect the hand history and log off for the day with a nice $90 in profit. The table was down to 5 players at this point anyway and I didn't want to butt heads with $$ every hand, as everyone else was running scared from him....not to mention I needed to get to work and all. Nice start to the day though.

Not much to speak of otherwise. Huge Buckeye win over the weekend. I think I lost my first round in the fantasy football league here at work by about a point thanks to a late TD reception by Gates last night....guy has 2 catches and makes one of them a TD to beat me....sigh.

Back to work now...ttfn.

Steelers Perfect Season gets underway

2006-09-08T08:14:00.000-04:00

Hello again all. I know, I've been a major slacker the past couple of weeks with updates. Sue me.

Here's a run down of recent events....

Poker - Ended August up a modest $150 according to PokerTracker. September has started well with a +$160 uptick to the bankroll in two meager sessions....the bulk of that coming yesterday in a quick +$105 session on UB. I have played a couple of the elimination poker tourneys on UB as time wasters....serious money drain for me playing blackjack online...I have to continue to fight the urge to sit down for 10 minutes and playing BJ to get a gambling fix. Online BJ is an evil, evil thing.

WoW - Still playing WoW...trying to slow down the time that I'm playing, as there have been a few comments from the lovely wife on my new addiction, and I have to agree that I have been playing too much. I'm now caught up with Tom and Burton though (lvl 33) and that was my goal, so now we can spend more time questing on a level playing field. Still a great game though.

Work - been in Chicago and Rhode Island the past couple of weeks. Headed to NJ, Wisconsin and back to NJ ini the coming weeks, so no rest for the wicked.

Steelers - and finally my beloved Steelers. Started off the season with a nice win last night over the fish from Miami. Batch looked ok, as did the team as a whole. Santonio Holmes needs to keep his head screwed on straight as a punt returner...you don't fair catch on the four yard line, or bring it out of the end zone from three yards deep on a punt from midfield...both returns had the Steelers starting deep in the end zone...thankfully a couple of defensive penalties helped them dig their way out and win the game. The pass to Miller was a thing of beauty, as was the running of Parker during crunch time late in the game. Defense looked good most of the night, swarming over Brown and holding him to 30 yards rushing. Was nice to see a win with a solid defensive effort and typical Steelers offense. Steelers Special Teams looked pretty weak thoguh...they were burned for a number of onf punt/Ko returns, and added nothing of their own to spark the team and win the field position battle. Good thing the defense showed up to bail us out. Looking forward to Ben coming back soon though.

If I had one complaint about the game it was the officiating....the blown pass interference call in the first quarter was obvious. The late hit on Batch on a scramble when he did the feet first slide and Zack Thomas crushed him was another. But the officials did assist with a couple of minor calls against the fins to keep us moving, so it all balanced out. Saban will get ripped for the late challenge to the Miller TD....clearly out of bounds (another blown call), but the late challenge was terrible on Saban's part. Would have given the Steelers the ball on the 1-2 yard line, and most likely a score to tie or go ahead, but we did fumble one other time at the five, so strange things can happen.

time for work...ttfn

Friday morning

2006-08-25T09:30:00.000-04:00

Wow...can't believe it's Friday and the last full week of August has passed us by. Amazing how time flies.

Actually played some poker last night...was able to steal a couple of pots from weak players and then have my hands hold up when they hit...walked with a tidy $194 in profit, which seriously helped the bankroll. No hands to speak of, but my AA held up when I slowplayed to a pre-flop raise (cold call in late position) to see a ragged flop of low cards...pre-flop raiser (UTG) fired, 2 players folded and I cold call again. Second club hits the turn and I re-raise his bet. Third club hits the river (I had Ace of clubs) and he check-calls my river bet, turning over 9-9 to my AA...he did have a gutshot straight draw on the river but missed and then paid me off with his mid-pair, which I was thankful for.

My only suck-out of the session was hanging around for no reason with AKs on a missed flop and turn, calling min bets in a multi-way flop and catching a K on the river to win the pot against QQ that had been leading the betting....any shows of strength and I would have been gone, but with 4 people calling down the pot, it was too good to let it go...donkey poker, I know, but sometimes it pays off.

Best hand of the session, came when I get to see a free flop with 4 limpers with 62 suited...flop comes down 3-2-2 and I'm figuring I'm in good shape. I check from the BB and call the single bet (as do the 3 others). Turn brings another 3 and now I'm in great shape, barring a A3 or something like that...not putting anyone on 33 at this point, although it is a possibility. I check, MP bets, 1 fold, a call and I raise. MP calls and LP folds. The poker gods smile on me and deliver the case 2 on the river, putting a boat on the board, but giving me quads....I bet, MP raises, I reraise and he caps the pot, showing his slowplayed AA and rivered boat and watching me rake the pot with quads from my monster 62s. He pretty much melted down at the table, and i reminded him that he limped with his AA and let me see the flop for free, after which, he was behind the entire hand. He shut up after that and soon left the table. Slow playing AA is nothing but trouble.

Not sure if I'll get any poker time in over the weekend...Jen is working tonight and tomorrow night, so I'll be managing the kids for the evening. Bath night tonight should be a fun time, as Alan has developed a healthy fear of bath time for some reason. At least the girls are used to the routine, and Danielle is almost completly on her own in the bath now, so that will help out. Not to mention balancing time with WoW after the kids go to bed....anyway, time to run.

ttfn.

Short and sweet

2006-08-23T10:58:00.000-04:00

not much to report...played some poker over the weekend with positive results...picked up about $80 in the one session I was able to squeeze in between travelling to Toledo for my cousin's wedding.

Spent the past two days in Chicago....no poker from there thanks to the lockdown on the company laptops keeping me from installing UB anymore...sigh. Going to be pretty busy over the coming weeks, so updates may be pretty sporadic.

Take care all. ttfn.

Thursday morning

2006-08-17T08:06:00.000-04:00

Not much to note today on the poker front...haven't had the time or desire to play over the last couple of days. With the new desk purchase, we've been working to rearrange furniture and such between the new upstairs office space and the kids area in the basement. Still need to carry some pieces of furniture upstaris from the basement, but that will probably have to wait for the weekend.

Had the opportunity to meet up with my good friend Jason last night, as was in the area interviewing for a new job over in Minster, Ohio today. Good luck with the interview Jason...we're all pulling for you!!!!! Spent the evening with Jason and the family at a Bob Evans over in Springfield. Was a nice time, but the kids had a tendency to dominate the activity, between entertaining Jason to Alan getting fussy...had hoped to be able to talk more one-on-one with Jason, but just didn't pan out. Hopefully he'll get the job and we'll be able to see more of him and his family in the near future.

Anyway, got home, got the kids off to bed and thought about playing some poker. Decided I was tired and not focused enough for a session and opted for WoW for a couple of hours. Hooked up with some guys to complete a minor quest, which we did after recruiting a couple of other guys...so that was a nice bonus for the evening...pushed me to level 19, so I should have no trouble hitting 20 by the end of the weekend to hook up with Burton when he comes back from his vacation. Did some additional character clean-up this morning....buying and selling, auctions, etc, then headed off to complete a couple of delivery quests before coming into work this morning. Nothing much to note.

Should be a pretty laid back day here....we're having a 'Field Day' today during lunch and ealry afternoon....not sure what they have planned, but there are tents and such set up outside, and the weather is perfect, so we'll see what they have in store for us.

Anyway, time for some meetings.....ttfn.

Monday Morning

2006-08-14T08:51:00.000-04:00

Well...pretty quiet weekend. Jen worked Friday and Sat evenings, and then opened on Sunday for a short shift (9-1). This left me with some time to play poker and WoW after making sure the kids were down for the night.

Pretty much stuck with WoW for the majority of the weekend. Hit level 17 yesterday and started to upgrade my armor and such...finally. Not sure where this dude is headed overall, probably a tank/healer as that seems to be what I'm focuing on now. I REALLY wish he had a ranged attack, as I tend to run into most of my problems when I'm trying to fight one dude and 1-2 more show up....one-on-one I'm in pretty good shape, but I can't manage the multiple opponents. Would be nice to target and drag each guy out to me and then deal with him, rather than having to wade in and take on all comers. Oh well. Making some friends and such in the game, so that has upped the fun level.

Played 2 freerolls and 3 cash table sessions over the weekend. $5/10 cash table sessions posted a +$180 for the weekend. Nothing to speak of, other than one hand that cost me some initial profit that I had to fight back for....

me - AQh on the button. One EP player limped in pre-flop and I bump. SB folds, BB calls, EP also calls.
Flop - 6-Q-Q rainbow (so I flop trips with the A kicker....nice).
Check to me...I bet, BB calls, EP raises(?), I reraise, BB folds, EP caps(???) and I call. At this point, I had him on either Qx or AA/KK....all of which I beat at this point, so I feel I'm golden for a nice pot.
Turn adds a 7 to the board. EP bets and I call.
River adds a 10...no flush and only a weak straight draw. EP checks, I bet, EP raises and I call to see him flip over 66 for a flopped full boat. Ugh. At that point in the session, all the profits I had accumulated were gone and I had to start to rebuild. Luckily, the cards continued to run well and I was soon back up $80 before having to quit the session.

Also played some nickle/dime no limit on Titan, after they gave me a free $5 to mess with again...I have that up to $12 now....will see how far I can run it up in no-limit play.

The two tourneys were nothing to speak of....busted early in the Cardplayer.com freeroll on UB...late in the first hour and I get QQ, only to run into AKs that flops an A and IGHN.

Also played in a 100k qualifier on bodog.com. Started with about 60 players and we were down to 30 and into the second hour. I was sitting in the top 10 in chips with about 8k and was one of 2 chip leaders at the table. Blinds 100-200 (I think)....

2 players limp and I see 55 on the button. I decided to raise the pot and see where everyone is, so I drop 800 into the pot...blinds both fold, EP limper folds, LP to my immediate right calls.

Flop: 10-10-7 rainbow. LP checks and I put in a pot size bet (1000 into a 1300 pot)...he reraises me an extra 500. I found this an odd reraise, as we had comparable stacks. If he has a 10, then he smooth calls and tries to milk me on the turn and/or river. Same for a draw or overpair...I don't put him on a straight draw, so he either has an overpair (which I doubt from his pre-flop play)....anyway, I don't want any additional cards to fall if he has AK or somthing, so I push all in...he hesitates for a second and then calls with AhJh?????? WTF?????

He calls all his chips with a missed flop and needing a runner-runner draw. Of course, he catches a heart on the turn to make it interesting before spiking a J on the river to send me to the rail. I ask him how he made that call with nothing but overcards to the board and he says..."I don't know".

If anyone reading this can give me some insight on how I should have played the hand differently (outside of not committing all my chips with 55) please let me know...I think I had the right read on the situations and just got really unlucky to not be the chip leader after this hand.

One last thing...purchased the new computer desk (thank you poker.com) on Saturday. Looks really nice...I'll post pics tonight of the new set-up.

Anyway, enough for this morning....ttfn.

1/2 Day Friday

2006-08-11T08:07:00.000-04:00

Well....coffee in hand and only 4 hours to put in at the office today...wheeeee. Was a gorgeous drive into work today, had the windows down, about 70 degrees. Perfect.

Started the day off with a nice session on UB....Played for about 20 minutes on a shorthanded $5/10 table and walked with $100 in profit. During the time on the table, had JJ, KK, AK and A-10 all hit or hold up to win pots, so that was nice to see for a change after getting quality hands decimiated during the session the other day. always nice to start the day with a boost to the bankroll.

On a different note, I'm considering a lawsuit against the Ohio Lottery Commission. I had received a coupon in the mail for a free $2 scratch off when I buy a $5 scratch off...so when i stopped yesterday to get the MegaMillions tickets, I snagged a WPT (World Poker Tour) scratch-off and a generic $2 dollar ticket. Didn't hit on the $2, so started scratching the WPT ticket. First hand, I hold JJ against the house 7s8s....start scratching and see the board come J, J, 9, 10.....so I think I have a winner and scratch the prize to see $150,000.....I about pass out and I think I had a heart palpitation....I look closer at the numbers and realize that I do indeed have Quad Jacks, but that the house has 7-8-9-10-Js for a straight flush and I loose. I showed the ticket to Jen and she had to look at it twice to see the same thing...I wonder if I could get anything for the 5 minutes of mental anguish??????

Anyway, Jen's scheduled to work all weekend at B&N, so i doubt I'll get much poker or WoW time in until the evening after the kids all crash.

Congrats to Pauly and the gang for making it through another WSOP...great job guys. Hope to see you all there next year.

ttfn.

Thursday morning

2006-08-10T08:04:00.000-04:00

Hello all. How about a quick Thursday update while I'm working on my fre cup of coffee this morning? Work has been fueling the masses with free coffee, donuts and fruit all week in an effort to boost morale and reward everyone for the hard work going into the SAP implementation that we've been working on. everyone seems to enjoy it, but for the carb counters, donuts and fruit don't work that well, so I just suck down some coffee all morning....free is good.

Anyway, here's a quick run down of what has been going on this past week.....

Monday - stayed up way too late with a long poker session and then a longer WoW session. Poker was a disappointment, as I had my first significant loss (~$200) in awhile at the $5/10 tables. The table had a few maniacs on it, playing 50-60% of the hands dealt and taking down huge pot after pot with premium hands like J6os, 92s, Q3os, etc. My pocket pairs were getting cracked like nobodies business and I struggeled for about 2 hours to try and play tight and make up the loss....was as close to even as -$75 and then lost a $100+ pot with AKs when I flopped the spade draw and a pair of Kings, only to miss the flush draw and loose to a flopped set of 2s....sigh.

Monday ended (or is it Tuesday began) with a WoW session until about 3am. I'm working on getting my Paladin up to a level that I can quest with Burton and Wood (they're both up around 22)...I'm at 13 right now after playing last night. Anyway, I'm pretty addicted to the game right now and enjoying the time away from poker.

Tuesday - sepnt the day at the Ohio State Fair with the family and mike and Leah. The girls had a great time (pictures coming tonight), as they're now tall enough to ride alot of the kids rides by themselves and they loved it. They even mastered the giant slide (the one with the burlap sacks). It was a perfect day, we ate way too much fair food (one day off the diet won;t hurt....and the fair fries are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good). Alan was great all day, and even seemed to prefer hanging with me rather than Jen, which was a first, as he usually prefers clinging to her.

We did have a repeat showing on the house Tuesday evening, but apparently the couple has moved us from their "top 1-2" house to "out of the top 3" house, so it looks like we're staying here through the winter. Jen is a bit depressed about the whole thing, as now we're staring the adjustable rate ARM in the face for next June. Short of winning the lottery, we'll have the house on the market in April and try to unload it next spring as quickly as possible. Let's just hope the Fed doesn't raise the rates again.

Wednesday - nothing of note yesterday....played a bit of WoW yesterday evening with Burton. He helped me complete a couple of very tough quests and level up to 13 in the process. I'm finally getting some quality items to outfit my dude with, so that's pretty cool. Watched the Mythbusters dudes play with Mentos and diet coke, so that was pretty cool as well.

Last thing to comment about is the WSOP....The final table has been set as follows (snagged the data from Pauly at Tao of Poker...thanks Pauly)....

Chipcounts courtesy of PokerWire:
1 Jamie Gold 26.5M
2 Allen Cunningham 17.7M
3 Richard Lee 11.82M
4 Erik Friberg 9.725M
5 Paul Wasicka 7.97M
6 Doug Kim 6.77M
7 Rhett Butler 4.815M
8 Michael Binger 3.14M
9 Dan Nassif 2.84M

Allen C. is the only 'named pro' left in the event and has a good shot at taking the bracelt and $12 million. Now, the interesting thing is the story that broke yesterday regarding Jamie Gold on ESPN.com. In short, it looks like the guy may play for second place as opposed to winning the whole thing, as he has expressed that he doesn't want the spotlight and attention that winning the hole event brings.....now, this may be true, or could be a psychological ploy against his opponents to get them to play more hands against him, thinking that he is dumping chips. Will be interesting to see how things unfold today. Regardless, everyone on the list above is guaranteed more than $1.5 million....sigh.

Anyway, coffee is getting cold and I need to get some work done now. ttfn.

Monday Morning

2006-08-07T08:41:00.000-04:00

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had found a potential car for my mid-life crisis in 2 years (when the van gets paid off and I can upgrade from the Ford Focus)....here is the link for anyone interested....

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Anyway...the local paper ran a nice article about the car...only problem is the production model (due in 2007) was running a base proce of $80,000. Now, if we're concerned about the environment and foreign oil...why produce a state of the art electric car that no one can really afford? I mean I know they want to make money on the car, but bloody hell...I can't afford $80k on a car, no matter what the mileage. Too bad too, as it sounds like a very nice vehicle.

Didn't play much poker over the weekend....2 short sessions (+$72 and +$12). Instead played a ton of World of Warcraft. I'm now the proud owner of a level 11 Paladin (Martello) hanging around Goldshire on the Emerald Isle server. Drop me a note if you see me online. Have some work to do to catch up with Burton and the gang (all currently level 20+), but it's a fun game and much more action oriented.

Time for some work...will update more later.

Finally Friday

2006-08-04T09:33:00.000-04:00

Ugh...what a week....the temp and humidity finally broke last night....actually was able to drive into work with the windows down for the first time in 2 weeks.

Doctor confirmed the poison ivy on my neck and face, so I'm hopped up on roids for the next week. Good thing I'm not a professional athlete or anything....lol.

Played a quick bit of poker last night on BoDog....I'm not a fan of their site layout....buttons seem small and action is pretty slow. But as long as I'm freerolling in some tourneys, I'll make do. Played in another 10k qualifier last night...was doing well...top 10 in chips early on when I ran into the following hand....

Blinds $10/20 - I'm on the button with KK, 8 players at the table. I have about 3k in chips

Two mid position players limp...guy to my right limps (tilted luckbox) , I pop the pot to $200 to weed out the table and/or collect the limp-ins....BB calls me (2.2k) and luckbox calls.

*** side note...Luckbox had just lost about 1/2 his stack to a guy that busted his set of aces with a rivered straight, so he was on a bit of tilt.***

Flop comes 2-A-4 rainbow....the A scares me a bit, but both players check to me and I put out a 1/2 pot continuation bet to see what happens...they both call and I gain little information on where my KK stands....I'm slightly worried about Ax at this point, but the table had been fairly tight/ABC poker, so the $200 preflop bet should have scared Ax off.

Turn adds a 5 to the mix....so a straight is now possible...so if anyone stayed in with 33 at this point, I'm toast. Checked to me again and I have to make a decision....I either check and relenquish control over the hand, or bet out again and continue to show strength. I push another 1/2 pot bet into the table....BB folds and I get another call from the luckbox. A J falls on the river, prompting a min bet from the luckbox ($20 into a pot of $800????). I reraise him, putting him all in and he gladly calls, showing his J4 suited for 2 pair.

I proceed to call him a huge donky for playing the J4 suited into a $200 pre-flop raise...he said that the $200 raise wasn't that much (WTF - at 10/20 blinds....10x BB raise isn't too much????). He then states that it was a tilt call and chase to the river...then calls me out for not being scared of the A on the flop. I end up loosing about 1/2 of my stack on the hand and get put on tilt for a few hands.

I rebuild my stack over a few hands until I push too hard with A9os and run into a slow played AJ on a A-5-7 flop...he cold calls my late position raise pre-flop and pot sized bet post flop. He check on the turn (10 I believe) and I push to try and chase him off the pot....he hesitates for about a minute before making the call....I don't improve on the river and am left with about $300 in chips with blinds at $30/60....I double up once with AK and then steal some blinds to get back up to around $900 in chips....I push all-in pre-flop with 33 from late position and get called by AK....he flops a K and I'm busted in 17th place. In hindsight, I should have slowed down on the A9 hand, but the guy had been playing pretty weak the entire tourney and had folded to aggressive bets in previous hands...guess he was willing to risk it all with AJ.

Didn't play any $5/10 last night or this morning...watched 'Failure to Launch' with Jen last night (good movie, although I could have done without the naked scene with Terry Bradshaw...ugh)and then grabbed a couple of extra snoozes on the alarm this morning before coming into work. Probably no poker tonight, as Mike and Leah are coming over for some steaks and such. Should be a fun time as always with them. Hopefully will play some poker over the weekend...but will be installing World of Warcraft tonight with Mike, so I may spend some time exploring that game during my 10 day freee trial.

One last thing...if anyone reading this is on UB, please drop me a comment with your screen name. I had to recently re-install Ultimate Buddy and lost all of my old contacts, as then new install didn't carry over any of the names/notes from the previous version....ugh. For anyone that gives me a screen name, I'll respond with the fish list I've accumulated over the last couple of weeks if you're interested.

time for some work now....ttfn.

Streak ends, new one begins

2006-08-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned below, I had a nice run of positive session to finish July and eat into the hole I had dug early in the month. August had started out well, with the positive session on Tuesday evening. The run of 8 positive sessions in a row ended yesterday afternoon when I sat down at the computer to do some bills and play a quick session...ended up at a full table of some of the loosest and craziest poker players on the planet....players capping pots with 58os and flopping straights, AA and KK getting cracked constantly, flush chasers galore...seemed like the table had alot of international players (which is unusual for UB) and they were all playing hyper aggressive. I tightened up my play, but had AA and KK cracked by crap hands and then I tilted into playing crap hands as well....lost one medium sized pot with Q9 when the flop came Q high and I bet down to the river to loose to a slowplayed AQ.....then two of the loosest players on the table decide to berate me on my hand choice as they scoop pots with 10-4os and such...crazy. Anyway, I ended that session down $170, breaking my string of positive finishes at the tables.

So as of 7pm last night, I was -$70 or so for the month.

Fixed that last night and this morning...hitting a more normal table last night for +$125 and then a super quick session this morning before work for +$72. So I'm back to +$130 for the month and on a two session streak again.

Not much else to speak of....fantasy football is gearing up again. I'm organizing a league here at work and have drafted into some free ones on ESPN.com and such to see how the players are getting drafted. Nothing too exciting so far.

Getting ready for dinner and such with Mike and Leah tomorrow night, looking forward to steaks on the grill.

Have to call the doctor this morning and try and sneak in real quick...seems like something I pulled out of the flower bed over the weekend may have been of the poison variety, as I have developed an itchy rash on my wrist and neck...time for a steroid shot I guess.

Time to get some work done now....ttfn.

July Poker Report

2006-08-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

Well...wasn't able to get in another poker session on Monday evening to try and get even for the month, so ended up posting -$230 for the month of July. Not terrible, concidering I was down almost $800 at one point...and that does not account for the $$$ from the poker.com tourney over the fourth of July weekend. So, it was a positve month overall.

I did get August started off on a good note last night with a +100 session on UB. Sat down at a full table with 3 other players, so the varience was pretty big early on...once the table filled up, I was able to hit some hands and get paid off to post a positive session. So I'm very happy about that. Did ID two more players that love to play A-rag and chase to the river, so I'll be looking for them as well in future sessions.

Also found out something pretty cool last night....I had played in the CardPlayer.com freeroll early in July and made the final table...as part of the winnings, I won $60 in tourney entry cash on Bodog.com that I was unaware of until I was registering for the August Cardplayer.com freeroll and fired up the Bodog site to verify my screen name. So, it looks like I'll be playing some tourneys on bodog.com in the near future. I'll probably try and take some shots at their 100K guarantee tourney qualifiers and see if I can hit a nice payday on the site.

Nothing much else to report. Working on some travel for work at the moment...August is going to be busy.

ttfn.

This is just plain wrong and unAmerican

2006-07-31T14:46:00.000-04:00

Just saw this on Yahoo News....

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian gambling software company CryptoLogic Inc. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. will expand their relationship by launching the first Playboy-branded online poker Web site, the companies said on Monday.
The exclusive three-year licensing deal means CryptoLogic will provide the only software used by the site, which will target players around the world except in the United States. No terms of the deal were disclosed.
The two companies already have a similar agreement in place to launch a new Playboy casino site. Playboy plans to cross-promote the gaming Web sites in its other properties, including print and online, the companies said.
"In CryptoLogic, Playboy has found an innovative and proven partner who can help us capitalize on the growth and excitement of online poker," Playboy chief executive Christie Hefner said in a statement.
The poker site will use marketing similar to that of the casino site, offering Playboy merchandise, invitations to events hosted by the company and even trips to the "legendary" Playboy Mansion, the companies said.
CryptoLogic shares rose 58 cents, or about 3 percent, to $20.90 on Nasdaq on Monday morning. They were up 62 Canadian cents, at C$23.60, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

WTF - Playboy is launching an internet casino and poker room that won't be marketed/target players in the US.....How is that possible? Almost makes me want to move to Canada to enjoy the site.

ttfn

Monday Morning

2006-07-31T11:07:00.000-04:00

Wow...what a weekend. Had a great time seeing all of the family for the reunion this past weekend. No major issues or such, just alot of reconnecting and such. Will post pics on the family site (and send pics out this evening from home).

After the last of the family departed yesterday, had some time to pay some poker and finish off HL2:E1. Spent about an hour trying to solve the final puzzle in HL2 before I realized that there was a break between the two trains that would allow me to get to the rocket ammo and blow up the strider, jump on the train and watch City 17 dissolve before my eyes while riding out of town.

Poker was good to me...had two sessions yesterday, both with positive end results....so that's a great thing. If I can get one more session in tonight, then I might be able to erase the losses from earlier this month and at least break even for the month. For the record, I'm still up for the year, but took some beats earlier this month that I've been slow to recover from, mostly due to lack of playing time.

The sessions yesterday were fun, as I had good notes/history with about half of the players at the table, so that helps alot. Best session was yesterday evening (+$112)...started out up $70, only to watch it slide away along with another $70 on some wicked bad beats (KK loosing to 67 suited when he flops a gut shot and chases it to the river to hit...ugh). Turn around started when I was the second recipient of three straight hands where someone on the table showed down AA....all winners for a change. I proceeded to then get hit by the deck....picking up 10-10, KK, 88, AKs, QQ and JJ over the next 10-12 hands...culminating in a nice run in profit to erase the -$70 and get me well back into the positive cash flow for the session. Final hand found me UTG with AA (again), and the table folded to my UTG raise...I showed the hand then left the table.

Time to get some work done...ttfn.

Evening of poker and dead soldiers

2006-07-27T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hadn't planned on playing any poker last night...was exahusted after the travelling and needed to get some work done around the house...so after cleaning out a sink drain (ugh...what a disgusting job), fixing Alan's crib and filling in the screw holes on our cornhole set for the weekend, I decided that a little me time was in order. So, after dinner I went down to see what I could find to mess around with. Ended up at a 10-seat $5/10 table with a bunch of solid players that I had played with before, along with at least one huge fish that I had notes on. Unfortunately, the fish left to go play in a tourney before I could cycle into the blinds...but knowing that the majority of the players were solid, tight players made for a very good game. Players respected pre-flop raises and re-raises for the most part, which made stealing a bit easier....played about 75 hands to a nice $120 profit. Kept the stealing to a bare minimum and just played the solid hands...bailing if I missed (keeping the risk at a minimum). About the only hand I pushed on and lost was QQ when the flop came with an A and two others in the pot...they both checked to me and the dude with A7os called me to the river with his top pair and took the pot. Nice to make the note on him that he'll play Ax and juct call to the river though.

After that I went on to about an hour of Half-life 2: episode 1 that I downloaded last week. Amazing game play and graphics...I love it. Chucking granades and rockets around is also a great stress reducer as well. Ended up calling it a night a bit after 10pm with the plan to head to bed only to be captivated by Alton Brown and some tenderloin recipies....mmmm peppercorn crusted filet....just had to watch. And he's such a crazy dude on TV, love the sketches and such that he comes up with.

Anyway, time for some lunch now...going out house hunting again after work, then back to get ready for the family coming into town. Daryl and Heidi are due in late tonight/tomorrow morning. Probably taking tomorrow off from work to spend some time with him and paiting the cornhole set. Planning on a Steelers based design,but probably only time to get the primer coat done for this weekend. Will post pics when they're done if they turn out as nice as I hope.

ttfn.

Back in Columbus

2006-07-26T14:31:00.000-04:00

Nothing of note to post...bankroll was caught in limbo for a couple of days until I realized that UB had transfered the money to my firepay account rather than my neteller account. If I had known, then i probably would have played some poker the last few nights while in NJ...instead I was relegated to freerolls and such. Didn't fair too well either night...last night I was busted by the chip leader when my all in on 10-10 from a ss position was called by KJos, and he catches a K on the flop...mghn....

On the amusing side...on the way into NYC yesterday morning, our van full of LimitedBrands employees was pulled over by one of NYC's finest for the driver making an illegal left turn. Apparently the signs are posted 20 feet off the ground and the driver didn't see it...neitehr did the guy that was in front of us in the little operation, or the two others that were pulled over while we sat there. After reviewing the driver's papers and license, the cop informed all of us that the driver's license was under suspension and that we could be sitting in the van for awhile...we grabbed a map and decided to hoof it the 16 blocks to where we needed to be. At least it was a beautiful day in the city for a walk.

Hopefully will be playing some poekr tonight, now that I have the money reloaded. ttfn.

Monday Quickie...Tuesday Update

2006-07-24T16:26:00.001-04:00

Update from yesterday (below) didn't load correctly for some reason...It's Tuesday morning now and I'm in NJ waiting to catch a van into the city for the day. Will update on anything exciting later tonight.

One quick note....played in a freeroll last night...was playing pretty tight and had accumulated some chips until the following....UTG+3 (me) with 10-10, UTG goes all in for half my stack...I call (its a freeroll and I figure I'm good, as a big PP would have limped to get the action)...he turns over 92os, and I watch in horror as a 9 hits the flop and a 2 spikes the river to take half my stack with the worse hand in poker...unreal.

----Monday----

Getting ready to head out of work to catch a flight to NJ again...spending the next two nights in luxurious Saddlebrook, NJ...wheee. Will be in SoHo (NYC) for the day tomorrow, probably no time to get in any trouble or anything, as we'll be locked into the shuttle service back and forth from NJ...no way I'm driving a car into the city.

Anyway....HUGE thank you to Jen's mom and Jessica for coming down for the weekend. Allowed Jen and I to have some fun together over the weekend. I discoved on Sat that my limit of ribs is 1.5 racks....the last three bones almost had me in the bushes, but damn were the ribs good. Mike and Leah were excellent company as always (raspberries to the rest of the gang that decided not to show...you know who you are...missed a great time).

Jen and I did some shopping for the new computer desk with little luck...cheap stuff at $100-200 (laminate and cardboard) or solid oak ($700+) not much in between. Will keep looking and see what we find over the next few weeks...no real hurry, as the family is coming in town this weekend and we don't have time to rearrange the house between now and then anyway.

Played a bit of poker over the weekend....up and down, but overall I'm up $110 from my $300 deposit a couple of weeks ago...not bad since there was a $200 loss mixed in there over two sessions. Also...a note to anyone reading....do not play blackjack on any online site....I'm a pretty decent BJ player and I've been getting shelled online. UB is ok...definately streaky..poker.com is atrocious.....lost what seemed like 30 straight hands...ridiculous.

Anyway...time to jet...ttfn

Monday Quickie

2006-07-24T16:26:00.000-04:00

Getting ready to head out of work to catch a flight to NJ again...spending the next two nights in luxurious Saddlebrook, NJ...wheee. Will be in SoHo (NYC) for the day tomorrow, probably no time to get in any trouble or anything, as we'll be locked into the shuttle service back and forth from NJ...no way I'm driving a car into the city.

Anyway....HUGE thank you to Jen's mom and Jessica for coming down for the weekend. Allowed Jen and I to have some fun together over the weekend. I discoved on Sat that my limit of ribs is 1.5 racks....the last three bones almost had me in the bushes, but damn were the ribs good. Mike and Leah were excellent company as always (raspberries to the rest of the gang that decided not to show...you know who you are...missed a great time).

Jen and I did some shopping for the new computer desk with little luck...cheap stuff at $100-200 (laminate and cardboard) or solid oak ($700+) not much in between. Will keep looking and see what we find over the next few weeks...no real hurry, as the family is coming in town this weekend and we don't have time to rearrange the house between now and then anyway.

Played a bit of poker over the weekend....up and down, but overall I'm up $110 from my $300 deposit a couple of weeks ago...not bad since there was a $200 loss mixed in there over two sessions. Also...a note to anyone reading....do not play blackjack on any online site....I'm a pretty decent BJ player and I've been getting shelled online. UB is ok...definately streaky..poker.com is atrocious.....lost what seemed like 30 straight hands...ridiculous.

Anyway...time to jet...ttfn

Finally Friday

2006-07-21T08:53:00.000-04:00

Apologize for the lack of posts this past week...was stuck in NJ for three days with no internet access. Hard to believe how disassociated I felt without emails or blogs to check up on, let alone play any poker while camping out in a hotel room.

The new monitor arrived and is AWESOME. Ended up with a 20" Samsung flat panel from newegg.com. Free shipping and a $60 rebate from the manufacturer pushed the price under $300, so that was a good enough deal for me. The monitor looks fantastic, and I broke it in last night with some tourneys on UB and Titan. Played in the following over the evening:

$30 No limit (UB)
$20 Omaha limit 8/b (UB)
$5 SnG (UB)
Freeroll on Titan
$5/10 limit (UB)

Ended up swinging and missing on all of them. Played solid in the $30 NL event, waded through about 140 players down into the final 30 before busting out when my BB found me with A7s and a free flop with 2 other players. Flop of Q-7-7 had me smiling and betting. An A on the turn had me positively grinning as I bet and was re-raised, gleefully going all in with my full boat, only to see my stack disappear as the other guy turned over QQ for a flopped boat and out I go.

Played pretty wild in the Omaha event. Always seemed like I was just missing on my low hands (A2458 vs A2358), not hitting my nut flushes and so on...was all in on a couple of occasions only to see me rake big pots and survive. Made it again down to sniffing distance of the money (final 30 with 20 paying), but my nut low draw missed on the river and I was out.

Also played in an Ultra turbo $5 SnG...I've cashed in the previous 2 that I had played in, and walked out to a huge chiplead early (had about 6000 in chips with 2 players knocked out). Gave a bit back to try and knock out some short stacks, then the following hand happened...

me - 77 in the BB (400-800) - I have about 5k in chips
Idiot - AQos in early position (4k in chips)
Luckbox - 10-J on button (1500 in chips)

Idiot limps in, Luckbox goes all in...I call the extra 700 and so does the Idiot. Flop comes down 10-J-4....I check, idiot puts in a half pot bet....I reluctantly fold while cursing the idiot (there are 5 players left...top 3 pay)...The cards flip and the Luckbox rakes a very nice pot....oh, BTW, did I metion that a 7 hits the river!!!!!! I tilted and berated the Idiot for tossing the bet in there and forcing me out of the pot. Why he bet with a gutshot draw I'll never know. Luckbox ends up taking me out a few hands later when my JJ runs into his slowplayed AA and I'm done in 4th place. Idiot ended up cashing in the event.

I had registered for the Titan freeroll earlier in the evening (9pm) and forgot about it until 10:30...ran downstairs to find myself still in with about 900 in chips. First hand sees me triple up with KK, about 3 hands later I double off the chip leader with QQ against his 10-10. I wade through for awhile and make it up into the top 20 as the ghosts are weeded from the event. Top 15 play and I finally have to resort to some shortstack play. I end up pushing with 99, getting a call from the chip leader with KJos and he hits the K on the turn to bust me out....again no cash.

However, my luck turned and I posted a profit for the evening with some play at the $5/10 tables...taking about $120 in profit in two short sessions. Bankroll is over $500 now from the $300 I reloaded with after the poker.com win. Hopefully I can hit some cash in these tourneys soon and get some breathing room in the bankroll.

Looking forward to the weekend...local Rib and Jazz festival with some friends...weather looks perfect (78 tomorrow) and Jen will finally get to go along for the ribs. Can't wait.

Time to get some work done and then buzz out of here for the afternoon. Have a great weekend all....

ttfn

Poker.com rocks

2006-07-12T08:28:00.000-04:00

Quick update...after mulling over the monitor from the poker.com tourney and discussing with my better half, decided to send an email over to poker.com last night checking to see if I could take the cash value on the monitor rather than the monitor itself. While the monster monitor would be way cool...the cash will allow us more flexiability. Within about 30 minutes, I had a response from poker.com customer service approving the transaction and stuffing the cash into my account on the site. How cool is that.

So here is the current plan....still going to upgrade our monitor to a more reasonable 20-22 inch flat panel to allow the girls to have out 15 inch monitor, and give them the current computer desk. Also still planning on a new computer desk, so the cash will allow us to pay for that outright rather than slapping it on a credit card. And finally, I get to beef up my bankroll online without paying any transaction fees to neteller or firepay for quite some time.

Everyone happy.

So if anyone knows where to get a good deal on a new monitor, please let me know.
ttfn

Weekend Update

2006-07-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

Not much to speak of...I placed in the money on Sat afternoon during the Cardplayer.com freeroll. 2 for 2 on Saturdays the last two weeks. Made it to 5th for $60 in the freeroll and picked up some points in their leaderboard standings. Need to be more diligent about playing in these freerolls every month. Thy typically get 300+ to register, but only about half show up, so you get 15 minutes of blind stealing before UB removes all the dead wood and the playing gets started. I played pretty well....never putting my stack at risk and steadily ammasing chips. Was the chip leader with under 30 players remaining before another guy doubles/triples up to shot past me by 40k chips. I make it to the final table in 2nd or 3rd....we get some short stacks that were happy with their $30 and push all in immediately and then we're down to 7.

I make a questionable play at this point that almost crushed me....I'm on the button with AQs and get a mid-position player (average stack) limping in....I do a pot sized raise for 1/2 his chips, SB and BB fold out and he goes all in. Now, at this point, my brain should have screamed (coin-flip or way behind), but I didn't take time to do anything but hit the call button....of course, he has AA and I don't catch anything to help. This takes about 2/3 of my stack and now I'm short. Fortunatly I get a great run of cards and pick up lots of blinds and antes to work my way back up to 3rd in pretty short order. My final hand again comes from the button with AK suited. mid-position player goes all in, I re-raise all in for another 15k, chip leader in the SB goes all in over the top (uh oh)....cards flip with my AK dominating the shortstack A6, but behind the SB KK....no A hits the board and he knocks us both out on one hand....the $60 was a nice addition to the bankroll though.

I did play some limit over the weekend as well, picking up about $100 in some short sessions on UB. Were not easy sessions, as both time I had maniacs at the table that were raising or folding every hand. I actually reported two players to UB from Friday night as I believe they were colluding against the table. They would raise/reraise every opportunity as long as someone else was in the hand, then check/fold to their partner when the other players folded. Hopefully UB will see the same pattern and shut them down. Should hear something today from them.

No sign of the new monitor yet. Hoping it shows up this week, as I've been waiting to download the new Half-life campaign to play on the new monitor....itching to see what it looks like. Jen and I have been shopping for a new desk as well...She wants to get something really nice, so we're taking our time in shopping....also need to physically see the monitor to get a sense of size and such to plan the desk accordingly.

Finally...downloaded and started playing EVE Online thanks to a 14 day free trial from the Ogre in PA. Seems like a pretty cool game...slowly getting used to all the nuiances in the game. Not sure if i'll play once I have to start paying the $20 a month or not. It's not too challenging at this point, as I've just been running missions for the local government....basically courier stuff for now as I skill up, build resources and try and outfit my ship. Will see how far I get over the next 2 weeks and go from there. If any EVE players read this...drop me a note online....player name Martello.

Time to get some work done now...ttfn.

Happy Birthday USA and other musings

2006-07-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

For the handful of people that may read this, I would like to remind everyone to reflect on the men and women that have given their lives into making this country what it is. While we have our problems, I can think of no better place on this planet to spend my existence than right here in the good old USA....unless I had an island in the south pacific that I could call my own with no taxes or traffic laws. But I digress. Take the time to thank a serviceman/woman the next time you see one for what they stand for and sacrifice in order to wear that uniform.

I don't think I mentioned it here, but a few weeks ago I was witness to one of the most moving scenes in my life (outside of my wedding to Jen and the birth of our children). I was sitting in an airport terminal here in Columbus waiting for my flight, and across the walkway was a flight of servicemen/women heading somewhere. There were numerous family members saying their goodbyes, and the amount of tears and emotion that surrounded the departure of the servicemen was profound. One young couple held an embrace for what seemed like 10 minutes as they were repeatedly making the last calls for boarding...you could see the pain and sadness that they felt for their upcoming seperation. Many young children were there, obviously not really comprehending that mommy or daddy was leaving for a long time...was one of the most profound moments I have ever witnessed. As much as one could complain about the state of our lives on any given day, most of us are very fortunate to have the people and creature comforts that we are surrounded with and should take the time to be thankful for what we have.

Disappointment has been replaced with giddiness after the tournament on Saturday. Many thanks to all of the other players that have made comments here on my site or on their personal blogs regarding the tournament and my performance. I am very happy with the way I played and was really victimized by the cards and the poker gods in not winning the tournament and the trip to the WSOP. I'll be back in season 2 with a vengence, as I would love the opportunity to travel to Australia for the Aussie Million in January.

Been checking out the specs on the monitor I won on the dell.com site....man, is this thing going to be SWEET....can't wait to get my hands on it. jen and I are planning on converting our 'formal' dining room (aka kids play area) into our computer/media room in the near future...giving the kids the basement for the toys and allowing us to utilize the computer and monster monitor as a second entertainment center for movies and such, given that it is bigger than our current TV and all. Amazing.

Anyway, time to head home for lunch with the family.

ttfn.

Poker Blogger Tour Tourney

2006-07-01T21:19:00.000-04:00

Just finished the freeroll for the Poker Blogger tour that I qualified for a few weeks back. 39 bloggers met this afternoon with a trip to the WSOP Main Event on the line. Long story short, my A-10 gets all his chips with his A5os on a board of A-10-Q, only to watch Q and Q fall on the board to conterfit my kicker and result in a split pot. a few hands later my 3-1 chip lead heads-up for the trip melted when my AK when up against 5-6os on a flop of A-5-10 when I called his all in and he catches a 6 on the river to double up and pull even. I miss a couple of hands and can't call his all in bets, putting me down 1-2 to his stack when I push after flopping bottom pair on a ragged flop, only to see him call me with middle pair and win the tourney. I walked away with a 30" Dell Monitor for the trouble, so I'm pretty happy with a $2k monitor...will have to get a new computer desk to hold it...but am seriously disappointed to have come so close to the WSOP only to have it slip away in such discouraging fashion.

Time to drown some limes in some gin and enjoy the evening.
ttfn.

kdollar & porkrind - thanks for the comments guys...you two played a tough game...some gin and tonic helped take the sting out last night, as well as planning on a new computer desk for the new monitor, so can't complain too much. Looking forward to season two now and a shot at a trip to Australia. See you guys at the tables.

Decline of Workplace Productivity

2006-06-29T14:04:00.000-04:00

BLEH....can't stop thinking about the upcoming vacation and am loosing all will to be here at work.....probably started with an early morning session of NLHE on UB at the ultimatepoints table....dropped a buy-in (1000 points) when my AKs hit top pair and nut flush draw to a flopped set of 7s when the BB called my 200 point raise from LP with the pocket pair. He hit his set and I failed to improve, costing me the chips I had at the table....course, this all happened at 7:15 this morning, resulting in a quick shower, shave and race to the car to get to work 20 minutes late....

Been fairly successful at playing on the points tables, especially pot-limit Omaha...started with about 1200 in chips last week and am up to about 6000 after the loss this morning. Enough to 'buy' entry into some $5 and $10 tourneys on UB and try and hit some cash that way to start rebuilding the account before I reload. Hoping to find a timely tourney tonight after the girls head for bed if alan doesn't mind hanging out with me by the computer.

Exploring options to reload my cash account...looking at Firepay.com, as they charge a flat fee of $3.99 to transfer funds, rather than the 8% that netteller charges. May reload my pokerstars account soon with some ebay sales that I have made in the near future and start building a bankroll for the November trip to Vegas.

That's right....Jen and I are going to be in Vegas the first week of Nov (5-9) with Jen's sister and brother-in-law. Hoping we can take care of the babysitting for the kids for the week by calling in some family favors. Hard to believe that both girls will be in school then and Alan will most likely be walking...amazing how time flies.

Not much else to discuss...looking forward to the trip to SC for the weekend. Looks like sunny and 92 every day down there for the weekend, so that will be fun. I do have to take time out on Sat afternoon to play in a 50 man freeroll tourney online for a shot at a WSOP main event seat...can't beat those odds...free swag just for playing regardless, but man would I love a free trip to Vegas at the end of July.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone.
ttfn

Slacking

2006-06-26T11:19:00.000-04:00

Been awhile since my last post, so I figured I'd waste a few minutes beflre lunch updating on all kinds of things...be prepared for various topics....

- on the poker front...been playing in numerous freerolls and such on various sites attempting to qualify for WSOP seats or other various events/large tourneys. Have been fairly successful in getting through the first level of tourneys, only to get ousted in the second level with nothing to show for it. Still, I'm happy with my tourney play of late, as I feel I'm playing well and making good calls and reads in most instances. Usually been crippled or ousted from tourneys with the best hand going in, only to watch someone hit a OESD or flush to bust my flopped set or two pair...that's poker I guess.
- I did play in a small live game over the weekend...$5 Bachelor party tourney...8 guys playing. Unfortunatly I was the first busted from the tourney when my initial raise fom UTG with AA (15-30 blinds, raise to $100) was met by a re-raise to $300 from the college student next to me. Everyone folded and I pushed my remaining $700 into the table, to which he stated...."you know what, I'm going to call you"...which I happily said "OK" and flipped over my AA to his KK....elation crushed when the first card on the flop was a K, followed by a Q and J (two spades)...third spade hits the river, giving me a flush draw to my A of spades and a straight draw to the 10. Unfortunatly I missed everything and was bounced from the tourney. My only consolation is that the kid mis-managed the huge chip lead he had to get bounced in 4th with no cash...Dave (bachelor) and Tom (best man) ended up with the cash, so that was as it should be.
- Spent a good portion of yesterday looking at houses in Johnstown and Granville...saw a nice house from the 1920's in Johnstown that was very, very nice....pretty much a lateral move for us...not any bigger, residential lot, similar price range to our current house....but with no offers on our house, we're in a bit of a wait and see situation.
- Danielle and Ashley are currently on their first day of their Ocean Explorer's class through Danielle's pre-K school. Ashley was very excited to be going to school, so that will be fun to hear about later today.

Not much else to discuss....getting caught up on work projects and planning trips for July/August/September. Hoping to be in Vegas in November with Rick & Mary, which should prove to be a really fun time. Hope we can work out the details.

ttfn

The Good, Mediocre and Bad

2006-06-14T08:51:00.000-04:00

Well - good news first...I passed my American Society of Quality Certification exam for Quality Auditors. Way cool. I was very stressed about the exam and passing, as it was not an easy exam. If it had ben memorizing facts and then answering factual questions, I would have been fine....but it was full of questions like, what is the BEST option given this scenerio type of stuff. And then three of the four options are pretty decent and you have to judge which is the best answer in the eyes of the dude that wrote the questions....regardless, I did well enough to pass and I am pretty stoked about the whole thing. Can't wait to tell the bosses here at work.

Mediocre - played in a 16 man two table shootout last night over at Bishop's house. As always, Bishop and Julie were fantastic hosts. Anyway, was able to win a couple of nice pots off of Bishop and got hiim to lay down a flopped two pair against my AQ when I hit the Q on the flop and moved all in on him...he read my body language as wanting him to call and convinced himself that I had flopped a set, so he folded. I had built a nice stack until my flopped two pair from the BB (5-7) ran into a short stack with an OESD that called my all in bet and hit his straight on the turn....river failed to help and I lost half my stack. I played pretty tight after that, trying to steal pots when I could and stay in the game. The guy that caught the straight draw ended up getting a bunch of chips dumped to him by a couple of short stacks that went all in with stellar hands like A3os and 5-9os on steals when he had something....ended up he and I heads up with him having about a 5-1 chip advantage. I won a couple of pots to get within 3-1 of him before he limped to my BB (2000-4000) and I check with 6-7os to see a flop of J-7-8...I push all in, figuring that he didn't have the jack or he would have pushed my BB (as he had been doing), he debates then calls with 8-2 suited and his pair of eights knock me out of the tourney. In hindsight, i should have raised his limp...but did respect the fact that he could have been baiting with something better than 6-7os...not exactly the powerhouse hand that I would have liked at that point. So...2 hours of live poker and I got my $20 back, so no harm done to the bankroll.

And the Bad - well...the 16 month run is over....my bankroll online is gone. 13 straight months of car payments, a trip to Vegas and numerous other gadgets around the house are all I have left to show for a pretty nice run ove rthe last 16 months. I'm going to take a break from online poker (with the exception of freerolls and such) and focus on getting the house sold and getting into the new place. Hopefully I'll get some expendible cash in the near future....dealing poker or hitting the lottery and will be able to reload without dipping into household funds. So...Unless any kind hearted reader wants to loan me some funds on one of the sites to get started again, I guess I'll be taking a break from grinding online for awhile. Leave comments if interested in donating to the "Reload Campaign for OhioMike".

ttfn

The Good, Bad and Mediocre

2006-06-14T08:04:00.000-04:00

Well - good news first...I passed my American Society of Quality Certification exam for Quality Auditors. Way cool. I was very stressed about the exam and passing, as it was not an easy exam. If it had ben memorizing facts and then answering factual questions, I would have been fine....but it was full of questions like, what is the BEST option given this scenerio type of stuff. And then three of the four options are pretty decent and you have to judge which is the best answer in the eyes of the dude that wrote the questions....regardless, I did well enough to pass and I am pretty stoked about the whole thing. Can't wait to tell the bosses here at work.

Mediocre next - played in a 16 man two table shootout last night over at Bishop's house. As always, Bishop and Julie were fantastic hosts. Anyway, was able to win a couple of nice pots off of Bishop and got hiim to lay down a flopped two pair against my AQ when I hit the Q on the flop and moved all in on him...he read my body language as wanting him to call and convinced himself that I had flopped a set, so he folded. I had built a nice stack until my flopped two pair from the BB (5-7) ran into a short stack with an OESD that called my all in bet and hit his straight on the turn....river failed to help and I lost half my stack. I played pretty tight after that, trying to steal pots when I could and stay in the game. The guy that caught the straight draw ended up getting a bunch of chips dumped to him by a couple of short stacks that went all in with stellar hands like A3os and 5-9os on steals when he had something....ended up he and I heads up with him having about a 5-1 chip advantage. I won a couple of pots to get within 3-1 of him before he limped to my BB (2000-4000) and I check with 6-7os to see a flop of J-7-8...I push all in, figuring that he didn't have the jack or he would have pushed my BB (as he had been doing), he debates then calls with 8-2 suited and his pair of eights knock me out of the tourney. In hindsight, i should have raised his limp...but did respect the fact that he could have been baiting with something better than 6-7os...not exactly the powerhouse hand that I would have liked at that point. So...2 hours of live poker and I got my $20 back, so no harm done to the bankroll.

And the Bad - well...the 16 month run is over....my bankroll online is gone. 13 straight months of car payments, a trip to Vegas and numerous other gadgets around the house are all I have left to show for a pretty nice run ove rthe last 16 months. I'm going to take a break from online poker (with the exception of freerolls and such) and focus on getting the house sold and getting into the new place. Hopefully I'll get some expendible cash in the near future....dealing poker or hitting the lottery and will be able to reload without dipping into household funds. So...the run has been fun, but time to take a break from grinding online.

ttfn

UB $200k Tourney - Live Blogging

2006-06-11T17:01:00.000-04:00

4:59pm - Will make an attempt to update as the tourney progresses...approaching 800 players at the moment. First pays $47k.

5:05 - first guy out on first hand (not me)....QQ raises to, guy in late position goes all in and gets called...KK vs QQ and KK takes the lead in the tourney....I had 10-Jos.

5:07 - win my first hand of the night....late position AQos, raise to 120, get one caller, flop comes A-K-4...check to me and they fold to my 100 chip bet...yeah me.

5:26 - just picked up 2 pots in a row...JJ and 33 won me small pots.....just lost a nice one with 55 though....down to 1800 in chips.

5:42 - just moved tables....sitting at 1700 in chips still very card dead.

6:26 - made it through the break and hit a nice run of cards...up to 7170 and in 42nd place.

6:50 - bounced around a bit....took a hit down to 3000 in chips, back up to 6220 now...still in top 100 with 414 left.

7:30 - So much for that....got busted with A-10os in the SB when I pushed pre-flop with 5000 in chips and was called by a guy with 6000 in chips and K-9os....he caught a K on the flop and the 10 on the trun didn't help me. Can't believe he made the call with K9os, but there you have it.

Moneymate - Blinds were 200-400, and I was sitting with about 5000...so my M was getting low. I really just wanted to pick up the blinds and the limp in....very surprised that he called with 90% of his stack with K9os.

ttfn

Sunday tourney, here I come

2006-06-09T19:49:00.000-04:00

Can't figure out how to post the screen shot...but just finished taking down a satellite to the Sunday $200 tourney on UB ($200k added) at 5pm. 90 players already registered, so I'm hoping it doesn't get too big...I am super stoked though to play for some serious cash....especially after the last few days at the limit tables went...could use an infusion of cash into the bankroll.

Time to get some work done around the house....wheeee.

ttfn

for your viewing pleasure

2006-06-07T23:11:00.000-04:00

A lost buy in ($25) in one hand on UB....

Hand #32405341-170 at Franklin (No Limit Hold'em)Powered by UltimateBetStarted at 07/Jun/06 22:57:10
MVilla888 is at seat 0 with $37.15.
7daytheory is at seat 1 with $40.55.
A_Fool is at seat 2 with $50.05.
Daddy_2A is at seat 3 with $74.50.
fourfours is at seat 4 with $51.
RUMOR is at seat 5 with $39.80.
The button is at seat 5.
MVilla888 posts the small blind of $.25.
7daytheory posts the big blind of $.50.
MVilla888: Kd Kc7
daytheory: -- --
A_Fool: -- --
Daddy_2A: -- --
fourfours: -- --
RUMOR: -- --
Pre-flop:
A_Fool folds.
Daddy_2A calls.
fourfours folds.
RUMOR calls.
MVilla888 raises to $3.25. (figured to win the pot right here with this bet with the way the table was playing)
7daytheoryfolds.
Daddy_2A calls. (he's rebought once after I busted him early, but has busted some terrible players to rebound)
RUMOR folds.

Flop (board: 4d 2s 6s):
MVilla888 bets $7.50. Daddy_2A calls.

Turn (board: 4d 2s 6s 5s):
MVilla888 goes all-in for $26.40. Daddy_2A calls.

River (board: 4d 2s 6s 5s Kh):
(no action in this round)

Showdown:
MVilla888 shows Kd Kc.MVilla888 has Kd Kc 6s 5s Kh: three kings.
Daddy_2A shows Js 7s.Daddy_2A has Js 7s 2s 6s 5s: flush, jack high.
Hand #32405341-170 Summary:
$3 is raked from a pot of $75.30.Daddy_2A wins $72.30 with flush, jack high.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Any thoughts on how to play this differently....then the guy berates me for keeping his money for so long and knowing he'd get it back from me....WTF?

ttfn

Poker update

2006-06-07T08:23:00.000-04:00

Played some more .25/.50 NL on UB last night...made about $10 on a very aggressive table that saw me playing pretty tight. I sat down with $25 and two guys at the table had over $75 and were taking turns bullying the table....I waited until they bullied while sitting on KK and took the guys for most of the profit that I had for the session. Really having to adjust my playstyle to NL from Limit....much tighter hand selection and less chasing of flushes and such. But fun none the less. I have worked the $18 that I had left on UB up to $90 in the past week or so, so that is encouraging.

Played in a freeroll as well last night....had preregistered for the event and then forgot about the 10pm start time....figured by 10:20 I had been cleaned off the table, but was still sitting there getting blinded down....proceeded to play for about an hour (so much for going to bed early), working my way into the top 10 with about 130 players left. Lost about half my stack (blinds 200-400, sitting with 8k) when my AKs failed to improve against one of the chip leaders and I folded to his river bet. Two hands later I get 33 UTG and decide to push and see what happens...other big stack on the table (20k) calls me with 55 and I fail to improve. I'm thinking that if I hadn't lost the chips on the AK, the 8k push probably would have had him fold the 55 and I would have picked up the blinds and stayed in, but I was tired and really didn't care.

There's another freeroll at 9 tonight that I'll hit to try again. This one is on Titan, so we'll see how it goes, as I normally have good luck on Titan.

Also...rented a couple of movies last night....Hostel and Doom....enjoyed Doom, as I am a fan of the game and the special effects were pretty cool. Hostel wasn't as scary as everyone had made it our to be...just typical Tarantino-esque blood and gore....however I did appreciate the additional topless scenes in my unrated version....very nice.

ttfn.

Black Monday

2006-06-05T15:41:00.000-04:00

Grrr.....had a post all finished during lunch today...but posted it on the Family site...In the process of trying to get it off that blog and onto this one, I lost it. Bloody heck.

Anyway, only pertinant thing regarding poker is that I lost two buy-ins yesterday as I was lounging by myself in the house...Jen and the kids are on their annual vacation in Toledo for the next two weeks and I figured I'd have nice quiet house to play some poker....which was the case except for the deluge of missed flops, flush chasing river rats and just general garbage play that was very effective in reducing my bank-roll by $400 over the course of two hours. Was never able to get ahead in either session, starting from loosing the first significant hand in each session and slowly falling to zero.....how crushing.

I also played in a couple of freerolls on UB...didn't get anywhere with them, so no biggie there. Will probably attempt to skip playing poker tonight and get the rest of the house cleaned up.

ttfn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!!!!

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000-04:00

Wishing my wife a wonderful birthday today

...the flowers have been ordered and gifts purchased. Her only outstanding gift is a possible date to the Dixie Chicks concert in July...tickets go on sale on June 10th. Without her I would not have the wonderful children and happy life that I am able to enjoy. She is my best friend and I can't imagine being with anyone else. Happy birthday Jen....I love you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the grind here at work...6 hours under my belt here at the cubicle and I've finally finished the expense reports for the past three weeks. I'm not sure who decided the new software was easier to use....must be for the accountants on the back end, cause it sure sucks for those of us submitting the information via the web tool.

Well...I made the big plunge today...had a message from the eye doctor that I visited back in November regarding my eye surgery...they're now offering 18 months 0% financing for the procedure. I have a date to get 20/20 vision on June 23. If I'm able to make the date, I'll be looking to make some extra cash to finance the surgery along with the car payment every month via the poker tables. Thank goodness for the fish and donkeys floating around, which will surely increase as we get closer to WSOP time. Doubt that I'll make the trip out there at this point, as my bankroll is still sitting at about $1K, and will grow even slower as I take bigger hits from it every month to take care of the eye surgery and car payments.

Speaking of poker....I've added the banner for the 2006 PokerStars Blogger Championship over on the right. Was a good tourney last year, so looking forward to a better finish this year.

Haven't played in poker since my last update...betweew the activities with the family over the weekend (check the Villa family page later tonight for updates) and readjusting to the home time zone (not to mention getting caught up on three weeks of Alais, CSI, Survivor and Lost), I've had little time for poker in the past few days. Things should open up this weekend and beyond to get back into a routine of playing and building the bankroll.

ttfn

What a wild ride

2006-05-28T00:27:00.000-04:00

Well....for the three or four of you that have been wondering where I've been....here's an update.

When I last posted, I was sitting in a hotel room in London, just having spent three days in Estonia. The hotel in London was nice, but the internet connection was not that fantastic, so uploading more pics wasn't going to work. Did play some poker and was up a couple of hundred while in London. Spent Sunday wondering around the town, saw Big Ben, Buckingham, etc....also shopped at Herrod's (damn expensive).

Spent the next couple of days east of London (Bath) with no internet access.....ugh.

Then headed back to Germany for 3 days.....was actually the best part of the trip, as we spent three days in the same hotel...was nice to be able to unpack and get comfortable in a room for a change. Didn't get any opportunity for sightseeing, as we were out to dinner both nights with clients...good food, but no pics or such. As such, internet access was limited and I didn't play any poker while in Germany.

Flew back to Columbus on Friday (5/19)...spent Sat and Sun trying to readjust to the time difference before heading to California. Nothing exciting to note....had a couple of loosing sessions at the $5/10 tables...did manage to achieve Silver Star status on PS, so that was a bonus. Didn't do much in CA except eat some great food and conduct the business audits needed for the trip. Flew back home on Thursday night (arriving at Columbus at 12:45am Friday morning) and pretty much vegged all day Friday, helped Jen get the house ready for our first showing this morning.

Went down to the Bob Evans Farms in southern Ohio today....they had a craft and kids day going on, so the girls got to ride horses and do crafts for the day. All in all was fun for everyone. I took a nap when we got home with a splitting headache, which explains the update to the blog at 12:31 am on Sunday.

Just finished a 60 minute session on PS with a +$190 in the bankroll. I'm almost back to the pre-trip level on PS, so I'm happy about that...had made about $500 in the European trip, cashed that out and then promtly went in the hole (-$700) while in CA before coming back with a couple of winnning sessions to get most of it back into the bankroll (-$80). But overall, I'm still up about $700 for the month.

Will update with pics and such tomorrow....ttfn.

Saturday in London

2006-05-14T06:09:00.000-04:00

Sunset and clouds from over the English Channel last night as we flew into London from Germany.

So we're in London now...can't get over how expensive this place is...the pound is about 2-1 against the USD right now. So a 50 pound breakfast here at the hotel will be about $100 when the conversion takes place. The cab fair from the airport to the 'business recommended' hotel here in Londo was another $100. Welcome to London. Not to mention that we're in a very 'eclectic' hotel...would rather be in a Hilton or Marriott. This place caters to a younger, hipper crowd....definately not me.

We're headed out to see the sites here in a few minutes. Loren wants to do some shopping, but I think I'll wait until Germany in a couple of days to do much more than take pictures...so, here are some pics from yesterday in old town Tallinn, Estonia.

Olde Hanna resturant where we ate dinner.

Church in the middle of town...maybe Russian Orthadox? Looks cool regardless.

Cobblestone street through shopping district in Tallinn. We walked through a number of local shops...glassware, woven cloth, amber jewelry, etc.

More pics from London later on...enjoy.

Also...played some poker...or at least tried, as the wireless connection isn't fantastic here in the hotel (for a small fee of 15 pounds per day ($30usd). Anyway, lost a buy in last night before calling it a night on a couple of bad beats. Won back about $50 this morning while waiting to head out for the day around London. First time I've had sessions at the 6 handed tables with really long runs of bad cards....20-25 hands folded in a row, and not playing tight, just terrible cards. Was happy to make a bit of cash back after last night.

Time to sightsee....ttfn

I'm an Uncle again...

2006-05-12T17:41:00.000-04:00

Please help me welcome the newest member of the Villa family....my nephew Julian Louis Villa!!!!

More tomorrow from London!!!!!

Friday in Tallinn, Estonia

2006-05-12T10:36:00.000-04:00

While all of you have enjoyed your morning coffee and started your day, I've already completed my vendor site assessment and travelled 2 hours back to Tallinn from Valjandi in southern Estonia. Visited a candle and match factory that was surprisingly automated for such a small rural town.

So...let me update you on the last couple of days...hit the Columbus airport at 1:30pm on Wednesday to get on a flight to Chicago, then spent about 2 hrs in Chicago waiting for my flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Boarded the flight around 6pm and headed across the pond...business class is a great way to fly (BTW)....especially when the company is picking up the tab. Had a nice meal of filet and shrimp along with a couple of gin and tonics, watched Better by the Dozen 2 (not a great movie, but passed the time). Crashed around 11pm est and was able to get about 3 hrs of sleep prior to waking about 2 hrs outside of Frankfurt. Cleaned up as best I could before landing in Germany.

Spent about an hour trying to locate Loren (from NJ offices of LimitedBrands) and we then made the Lufthansa Business Class lounge our home for 2 hours before heading to our gate and the flight to Tallinn, Estonia. Arrived here at about 4pm and waited for about an hour for Jan to arrive from Stockholm. Then met with our local driver and headed 2hrs south to Viljandi. Met with Harri (part owner of the manufacturer), who treated us to dinner at a local pub...very good food and some great local beer. Then back to the hotel and a deep sleep.

So..woke up this morning at 7am (midnight back home) and promptly turned off the alarm and fell back asleep until Loren called me from the lobby at 9am with Jan and Loren waiting for me in the lobby and the driver due any minutes....good thing I had showered the night before. Tossed on some clean clothes, packed everything and off we went across town to the plant.

So..that catches you up to now...sitting in the Radisson, listening to VH1 from Eurpoe (ugh) and getting caught up before heading out to dinner here about 7pm. Oh, and I'm killing a $5/10 table as well...up $214 as I type this....wheeee.

ttfn.

Weekend review

2006-05-08T11:06:00.000-04:00

Quick update...

Pretty much worked around the house all weekend...we now have a sign in the front yard, at least for the next 90 days. Still looking for a new house though, so could get interesting if we get a great offer on the house.

Played a couple of quick sessions of $5/10 over the weekend...had my first loosing session on friday night, as I only played about 10 hands and was down $50 when I had to stop playing and take care of Alan and the girls...Made it back last night when I ran over a table and was up $270 at one point, before giving a bit of it away when my made hands were run down by flushes and gut shots on the river....still made about $170 for the evening, so recouped the short loss and made some cash.

Gotta run....time to pick Danielle up from school.
ttfn

Finally Friday.....and Jessica

2006-05-05T14:34:00.000-04:00

and so comes an end to my tribute to Jessica Alba this week....

Not much else to speak of...did some additional house hunting last night. Saw a real dump on 9+ acres that needed to be burned to the ground...a nice house that had been completly remodeled, but was small with 3 bedrooms on 5+ acres, and then revisited a couple of houses in Johnstown that we've been to before. There is also the possibility now of building this summer in Johnstown....all comes down to cash and timing.

Interviewing the second selling agent tonight. Hope she is more personable and open for discussion than the last one.

Alan has been keeping Jen and I up the last few nights as he's teething and really hates to be in his crib....so 1-2 hr crying fits at 2am don't make for well rested parents the next day...fortunately, Danielle and Ashley have slept through his fits.

No poker in the last couple of days....lack of sleep has kept me in bed later in the morning, and crashing earlier in the evenings, so no time to play. Hoping to get some playing in over the weekend, but will have to see how everything goes, as I have a ton of stuff to take care to get the house in order and get ready for my upcoming travels. Ugh.

I'm having trouble coming up with another topic, so I guess I'll get back to work and try and get out of here early today....

ttfn.

Hump day

2006-05-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

Since I got such a nice response from the last pic of Jessica...I thought I would toss another one out there. This one is a bit more 'risque', but it sure brightens my Wednesday afternoon.

The shorthanded $5/10 tables are still proving a juicy hunting ground, as I've run seven straight positive sessions over the last 2 weeks....now, that's not alot of poker by most player's standards, but with Alan and the house getting on the market, I play when I can without upsetting the balance at home.

I'm not sure why the players on the shorthanded tables seem so much worse than I would expect...I mean, $5/10 isn't chicken feed, as pots can occassionally reach $120-$150 if things get crazy. While maniacs usually occupy one or two seats on a full table, they're occupying 3-4 seats at a short handed table. I do understand that you relax your starting hand requirments when playing shorthanded, but calling raises or re-raising with a single face card and then staying in the hand when you miss, just hoping that your K3os will be good is just suicide. I've watched so many terrible poker players loose their money at these tables it's almost scary....and then they start complaining to heaven and hell when their KK gets busted when no one at the respects their 15th consecutive pre-flop raise and snaps them with 89s when they catch an 8 on the flop and a 9 on the turn, calling the KK to the river before raising for the crying call.....not that 89s is a terrible hand to see play, but typically a NL player with KK would have raised enough to get the 89s to fold pre-flop...they just don't understand that limit doesn't play like NL and you have to take the good with the bad.

Anyway, I'm not complaining, as I currently have a lot of these players money sitting comfortably in my bankroll as I look to build it back to the levels prior to the January meltdown. I just struggle with the mentality of these players thinking that they know how to play the game.

Let's see...what else is going on...we're interviewing realtors to list our house....had the first one over last night. He was pretty honest about his opinion of the house....but we were hoping his market analysis would allow us to list the house for 5-8k more then he suggested. We're hoping for a 90 day sell on the house, so we have to be very competative with the pricing on the house. We'll see what the other realtor says on Friday and then go from there.

Oh, I may be heading overseas for the first time in the near future. I've been working to hammer out the details of a 10 day jaunt to the UK, Germany and Estonia starting next week if we can get the companies in Europe to fit into our schedule. Excited about the possibility of the trip, but it means I'll be in Europe over Mother's Day...I guess some really nice gifts for Jen will be in order for missing the day with her and the kids.

Not much else to speak of...time to get hammering away on the travel arrangements and various other projects that I have to accomplish before heading out next week.

ttfn.

Weekend review

2006-05-01T10:11:00.000-04:00

While the weekend didn't go as well as I had planned, I have to admit it was one of the best weekends I've had in quite awhile....

Friday...relaxed at home with the family...boxed up some books in the basement preparing for the move. We're hoping to have a sign in the yard by the end of the week.

Saturday...Headed over to Bishop's place for the $200 tourney. I played pretty well through the first 4 blind levels...not getting too much of my stack involved with pots and picking up a few smaller ones with some solid hands. I make it past the first break and we consolidate down to two tables with 16 players left. The chip leader (Action) sits to my immediate left....not where I want him, as he tends to play a little loose but very aggressive....and it's paid off as he has busted about 5 players and is sitting with a mountain of chips. With blinds at $300-600, I'm in the SB and see Q2os....the table folds to me and I (foolishly) decide to look up the BB with a standard raise to $1500. Action peaks at his cards....explains that he is pretty sure he has me beat at this point and calls the bet. Not good for me....but the flop come Q-3-7 rainbow, giving me top pair. I ponder my move for a minute, as I believe I have the best hand at this point.....why???

- if Action had a small pair, he would have raised me out of the BB to protect it.
- if he has a big pair, he puts me all in pre-flop...he's not the type to try and milk a big hand in this position.

So I put him on Ax at this point since he just called my pre-flop raise...now I have hit my hand and toss in $3000 to see what he does. He double checks his hand and says he thinks I'm putting a move on him...which makes no sense in hindsight....I know he has a solid hand...why would I try and put a move on the chip leader at this point. I either have a hand, or I'm an idiot to risk my stack against the chip leader.

So he raises me to $6000. Now I have about $10000 left at this point and push it all in. He has to call at this point, although he looks unsure of himself at this point, as now his read isn't quite so positive....but being Action, he calls the bet.....and flips over AJos and he's drawing to 3 outs....which in typical Action luck, allows the A to fall on the river and bust me out of the tourney.

In hindsight, I did reinforce the idea of not messing with the big stack unless I reeeeeealllly have something. Was a bonehaed play to do anything with the Q2os and ended up costing me the seat at the tourney. I also should have pushed post-flop instead of a smallish bet and then pushing afterhis raise...he may have folded the AJos when he missed on the flop to the all in bet, which would have really been my only play at that point.

Lessons learned at the poker table.

Made it home in time to play in the Poker.com Blogger tourney. Played very well, taking the chip lead in the tourney at the halfway point and not looking back until we hit the final table. Ended up loosing a couple of hands trying to bust very small stacks along the way, but overall was in good shape at the final table. Ended up loosing about half my stack when my AKs was called down to the river by another large stack that called my pre-flop bet with J-10 and caught a 10 on the flop....he check called me on the flop and turn, with both of us checking on the river when I didn't improve and didn't want to risk anymore chips. His pair takes the pot and I'm down to about 15k in chips...putting my in 4th place out of 6 players. I take another hit about 3 hands later when my all-in on QQ gets cracked by a short stack with A4s when he calls my bet and catches an A on the turn to win the pot and double up....I'm in last place for a few hands, but double up and then am able to slide into 4th place and win $55 and the ticket to the Blogger finals on July 1. Looking forward to the shot at the big prizes they have up for grabs.

Sunday - was able to get some $5/10 action in on Sunday while Jen and the girls went to church. Ended up pocketing about $140 from the players and also proceeded to get at least one players chat privledges revoked. Won't go into any details, but the guys was a complete a$$ after getting rivered by a couple of players.....and this after he busted at least one other guy doing the same thing with a very marginal hand. He went on a tiraid that finally had me emailing CS on the site and complaining. They responded that he had been taken care of, so that was a positive for the day.

Finshed the weekend with a great dinner with Mike and Leah coming over. Was great to catch up with them, talk some Magic and poker, along with work issues, moving, etc. The girls loved having the company and Leah was gracious enough to run around in the yard with them for a bit. All in all a great weekend.

Back to another week at work now...I may be getting a trip to Europe here in the next week or so...will keep you all posted.

ttfn.

End of a long week

2006-04-28T16:04:00.000-04:00

winding down the day here at work, grooving to some tunes on the trusty iPod and generally waiting for the clock to hit 4:30 so I can bolt out of here.

Looking forward to the big tourney tomorrow...playing in a live tourney with the largest buy-in that I've ever played in tomrrow. Looks like about 22 players in the tourney, so a decent shot at winning some cash and rebuilding some of the recent damage to my bankroll. Will let everyone know how it goes later in the weekend...

Not much else to speak of...hopefully we'll have the sign in the front yard by the end of next week to sell the house. Still looking, but we didn't want to miss the boat on getting the house on the market in the prime time. If we sell and don't have a place, we'll probably rent a place until we can find a house...or just live in the van down by the river....lol.

Hoping to play some poker later this evening...probably something small and quick just to brush up on playng NL for tomorrow. May hit the limit tables as well if I have time and try and get a quick session in....who knows.

btw, today is Jessica Alba's birthday (at least according to the gang over at Barstool Sports)....Happy Birthday Jessica....

Upcoming poker play

2006-04-26T14:10:00.000-04:00

well...I've switched off of UB again. Dropped the $800 I deposited at the beginning of the month in a series of lost buy-ins at the $5/10 tables. Swiftest quick in the junk happened on the following hand with my final $200 on the table...

me - A-J suited (hearts)
SB - xx
BB - xx
donkey - X X

so, donkey calls the BB UTG...couple of players fold out to me in late position with the suited big slick. I raise to $10 and get the SB, BB and donkey to call me. Flop comes down K, Q, 6 with 2 clubs. All check to me and I toss a bet in the pot. SB and BB both fold and donkey smooth calls...so I'm thinking I may be in trouble, but I have the straight draw and a strong Ace, so we're off to the turn. 7 of clubs hits and he checks to me....at this point I either bet to try and bluff out the pot or put him on a hand and he's waiting for a reraise....His play was generally timid, so I didn't put him on a re-raise...and if he does here, I fold the hand and walk away...I bet and he smooth calls again. WTF? A fourth club hits the river and know I'm pretty much dead here with my A high. He checks and I check behind him, not wanting to risk the re-raise against any random club he has in his hand. He flips over 4-4 with the four of clubs and rakes the pot. Now...WTF is he in this hand to the river for? He's dead on the flop to any number of hands I could have held...over pair...AK, AQ, etc. then he calls down to the river and takes down a nice pot with a crummy pair of fours. Amazing.

So...needless to say I've run crying from UB yet again to try and build my stack on another site. I'm up about $400 so far playing 6-handed $5/10...which is a bit of a change for me, as I've usually shied away from the shorthanded games, reasoning that I can see more hands outside of the blinds each round...but I'm finding that the good hands stand up a bit better against 5 players rather then 9 players...the short-handed sessions have been good to me so far. matter of fact I was up about $350 in one session before loosing a good chunk with AA against 66 when we both flopped a set and he rivered quads to take down a pot that we capped on the turn and river...not upset about that pot, as I had him dominated 6 ways from Sunday until the poker gods give him the one outer on the river. I then proceeded to drop another $150 in successive hands (QQ looses to A7 when he hits an A on the turn) and then AQ versus AK when we both flop an A and I loose to a close kicker battle.

So while I was jubliant at one minute being up $350, I was struggling to stay up $100 in about 4 hands. I bounced back up to +$150 before walking away from the table. Hopefully I can get some play in later this week, but we're pretty busy getting ready to put the house on the market, so that takes precident.

ttfn.

Hard to blog about the downswings

2006-04-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

Nothing to report....I reloaded on UB on April 8 and 8 days later the cash is gone. Four straight loosing sessions loaded with suckouts, bad beats and poor play on my part had me wondering what the hell I was doing. I took a few days off to reflect about how I played and here is what I have come up with...

- avoid tables with calling stations: While some may like these players at the table, they tend to ruin the way I play limit. Calling stations won't fold to a bluff if they catch any part of the flop. Not sure how many times I lost hands with cards like AQ on a A-9-7 flop to get called down with 7-5 os and see a 7 or 5 hit the river.

- Avoid tables with maniacs: Why you may ask...I tend to have terrible timing when it comes to going up against maniacs lately....my KK runs into the table maniac that wakes up with 22 and flops the set, end result, I loose $40-50, as I have no way to put him on a hand.

- Keep playing or give up and go home. There is no in-between when playing poker. While I am blessed to be able to do this as a hobby, and have been fortunate to make some money over the last year in doing so (unlike my previous 3 hobbies...shooting pool, throwing darts and playing Magic:the Gathering), I've actually been able to self-support this hobby from the comfort of my home. As long as I still have money online, then I'm good. I haven't had to risk household money for over a year and that a GOOD THING!!!. And my first year of car payments have been made due to poker, so that's TWO GOOD THINGS.

So...what does an $800 loss represent at this point. My bankroll still has about $1K sitting in it, so I'm nowhere near broke at this point. I'm still hoping to build enough cash to justify a trip to Vegas for a WSOP event this summer, but it's looking pretty slim at this point unless I focus on winning an online qualifier rather than grinding out the cash at the limit tables.

With tha being said....I loaded up on UB last night and played about 30 min of $5/10 with Alan rooting me on and walked away with a tidy $90 profit. The table was 'normal' in that it was a full table of 10 good players that respected raises, didn't call bets with 9-2os and basically played solid poker.

My kind of table....

My bluffs were more successful. Positional raises were respected and my solid hands heald up. My only 'huge mistake' hand was a pre-flop raise with KK from mid-position that saw the button and BB call. Flop comes down 6-6-7 and I end up loosing a nice pot to the button that called my raise with 67os. Otherwise, everything worked out well and I walked away with a solid profit.

Which brings me to a question....if anyone cares to answer....what is a suitable amount at a ring game to walk away with? When I play $5/10, I try to make 10 BB ($100) before I think about walking away from the table. Again, table selection and how the cards are falling has a huge impact...but in general, at what point in making a profit at a table should a player start to think about walking away.....10 BB, 20 BB, more....any thoughts?

Lunch is over....back to work....ttfn.

Bad and Ugly

2006-04-12T10:40:00.000-04:00

Ugh....so much for a successful return to UB....after hitting my first session on a positive note the other day, yesterday was a nightmare. Dropped two buy-ins at the $5/10 tables ($400) in two seperate sessions last night.

First session was a typical one....I hit a couple of small hands early, then made a couple of ill-timed bluffs at pots that cost me a bit of money. From there, it was a steady diest of 7-3os and J-2os and other unplayable cards. The hands I did get, (AK, KK, etc) either didn't get any callers, or one caller and a quick fold to my bets post-flop for some small wins. Big losses occured as follows...

AA looses to a flopped flush, when I hit the set on thr flop, but the loose SB calls with 56 suited and hits the flop.

A-10 looses to a loose player that calls down the pot with third pair with 10-9os on a board of K-7-9-2-J.

So anyway, $200 goes out the window....now I'm down about $75 for the 2 sessions on UB. I come back later in the evening after the kids are in bed and try my luck again. I play about 150 hands at a very loose table (5-6 players routinely calling pre-flop raises) and my big hands get run all over. I go from $200 to $50 then back to $220 when the following happens over the course of 7 hands....

AA crushed when loose BB calls pre-flop raise with 73os to see K-Q-7, calls my bets to the river where he sees another 7 for trips and a nice pot, as we go to war at the river.

JJ crushed in my BB when the button raises, I call along with 2 others to see a flop of 7-J-2. I check my set and call the BB bet. Blank hits turn and the war begins....I check, MP checks, BB bets, I raise, MP calls, BB re-raises, I cap, MP folds and BB calls. An A spikes the river and my set looses to the BB AA and the spiked two outer. Needless to say we capped the post-river betting as well.

KQ suited looses on a three way pot that sees a flop of A-K-9, turn Q and river 6....winning hand had J-10 os and other player had AQ....so my turned two pair ended up the worst hand of the three and cost me my last $60 of the session. I admit I was on mini-tilt at this point after getting run down on the last few hands....never guessed I was that far behind on this hand though.

Sigh....so I have about $400 left on UB now and I know I won't play tonight, so hopefully I can get back in a groove later in the week and recoup the losses. Hopefully this was just 'one of those nights' and not the start of another UB meltdown like in January....at least I know not to try and move up in stakes right now....I may try and play some tourneys or no-limit to get ready for the big tourney at the end of the month....will see what mood strikes me later in the week.

ttfn.

I'm a disgrace to bloggers everywhere

2006-04-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

Here I sit with my head POUNDNG at work on a Monday morning and I can't even say that it has anything to do with shots of SoCo, beer or anything else. Didn't drink anything over the weekend....

my blogger card should be revoked...

Anyway, on to poker news. Pulled my cash out of Paradise after finishing my bonus from PokerSourceOnline.com. They have confirmed that my chipset is on the way, and I made $100 from Paradise in deposit bonus, as well as profiting about $1100 at the $5/10 tables. Since I had no more bonus to work off, I figured I'd pull the money out and put it to use on another site and some additional bonus cash.

So...I'm back on UltimateBet....they were running another 20% reload bonus over the weekend, so $800 goes onto UB for the max $200 bonus (giving me over $900 in bonus cash to work off) and I'm off and running.

Had a few minutes yesterday morning to sit and play $5/10, hit my first hand for top pair and won a nice pot...then waited for solid hands....had AA cracked by a turned straight....I was on the button (hadn't played a hand except for that first hand) and raised an unopened pot from the button with the bullets. BB called and we see a flop of 6-7-4 rainbow. He bets 5 and I should have re-raised, but I just called, figuring he had hit a small pair out of the BB....turn comes a 5 for a 4 card straight on the board and I'm now worried about my AA....he checks, I bet, he raises and I know I'm in trouble. I call and then call his lead bet after the river to see his 9-3 of clubs for a turned straight to crack my AA. I have no idea if he would have called a re-raise on his initial bet on the flop...if he does, then I'm out even more money on the hand. Donkeys will be donkeys I guess. This hand eats the profit from the first hand.

So I sit and wait for some more cards. I hit a nice pot from the button again on the next cycle of the table with JJ....call a raise from mid-position and the same BB comes along for the ride. flop comes 10-6-J with 2 diamonds and I'm thinking on how to maximize my hand at this point. BB checks, MP bets $5, I call and the BB calls....so far, so good. Turn brings a blank, with the same betting sequence. River brings a glorious 10d, completing the flush draw and giving me the nut full-house...the only thing that can beat me is the Quads at this point. BB checks, MP bets, I raise, BB reraises, MP calls, I cap and they both call. BB shows 6-10os for a flopped 2 pair, rivered full-house, MP shows a Q high flush (raising from MP with Q3 suited????), and I take down a very nice pot with my top boat....wheeeee.

I look at a couple of flops in the next round of hands....seeing nothing with small pairs or suited connectors on the flop and bailing. Last hand (UTG) I see A6 of hearts and and decide to limp into the pot. 2 others do the same and we see a flop of J-2-7 with 2 hearts, so it looks like I'm commited to seeing this pot to the end....catch the third heart on the turn and bust the BB that had AJos and called my re-raise twice (on the turn and river) when he led into the pot. His loss, my gain. Wrapped up the session +135 or so, plus a miniscule $0.85 in bonus cash for about 30 hands played.

I wish UB had not revised their bonus pay-out last year....they used to give 1 bonus point per max-raked hand at every level, so it was reasonably easy to clear bonus cash of the site (each bonus point equal to a dime of bonus cash)....so 1000 hands of raked play was pretty much $100 in bonus cash. Last summer they adjusted to 0.5 points per hand, doubling the number of hands you have to play to get the same bonus amount off the site. I currently have over $900 in bonus cash waiting to clear, but will need to play roughly 18,000 hands to clear it off the site. For me, that is a years worth of play. Was nice to clear the $100 on Paradise in about two weeks of casual play, as opposed to the months it will take to clear on UB. But I guess that is why they keep offering reloads on UB every other week....keeps people playing on the site.

The good news is that I didn't see any lags or hick-ups on UB yesterday. Seems like they have their server problems solved from last month. As long as they continue to perform smoothly, then I'll be happy to play there again and work off some of that bonus cash.

Not sure how much more I'll play this week....more work on the house tonight, and then Jen works Tues-Thurs-Fri-Sat, with my class sandwiched in on Wed evening, then off to Toledo for Easter on Sunday....busy, busy week.

So...enough for now...ttfn.

PS...been about an hour since I stared this post (had some meetings to attend)...thankfully the Excedrin have quieted the dude with the jackhammer in my head, so life is good.

Good Morning from Monterrey Mexico

2006-04-05T08:33:00.000-04:00

Wish I had a camera phone to take some pics of the surroundings....very nice down here. A little more hot and humid than I'm used, considering I was scraping frost off my car yesterday morning on the way to the airport.

Anyway....had a very nice session on Paradise this morning to polish off my Poker Source Online freebies...one brand new chip set should be on its way to my house very soon. Picked up about $420 playing this morning when I woke up at 5am Mexico time (6am for those back home)...since I can't get connected to work to check emails, and can't call the help desk for some reason (I can call home on the international cell phone, but can't call work...weird). So I played some poker instead. Good thing, as the +$400 this morning off set the -$300 from last night. Should know better than to play poker after a few beers...actually I didn't play badly last night, just kept getting run down by gutshots and weak flush draws on by solid hands, then running bluffs into made hands....makes for a bad session.

Like I said, made up for it this morning by catching some solid hands and having them hold up. Also sat to the left of the table bully and big stack...he was multi-tabeling from Kansas at $5/10 and I helped relieve him of some of his money. He seemed to think he was some kind of poker god or something, especially late in the session when I cracked some kind of hand of his with a A6s when I ran down the flush on the river.....he berated me for chasing....now, when I get to see a cheap flop from the BB with a suited A, catch two to the flush on the flop...hell yes I'm going to hang around for min-bets to try and catch the nut flush.....his mistake was not raising when he should with his top pair and then trying to raise me out of the pot on the river when I catch the nut flush.

Funny thing was, he turned around the next hand and did the same thing to another guy with Q-10 suited, on a raised flop and cracked AA from some poor sap when he ran down the river for the flush....so, not sure who this guy thinks he is....but then he started blabbing when I was leaving the table about my time to work comment....apparently he must be working the later shifts at McDonald's in Topeka.

Well...time to hit the shower and get some grub before we start the day.

ttfn.

Paradise tightening up a bit

2006-04-03T08:48:00.000-04:00

Interesting weekend of poker. Didn't get to play as much as I would have liked, but then with Jen, three kids and a house almost ready for the market, I'm surprised I was able to play at all. Spent most of the weekend making up for the $200 loss last week, which I was able to do with some much more difficult sessions on Paradise than what I had started out with two weeks ago. The first sessions on Paradise felt like playing at an ATM machine...I mean 11 pretty easy positive sessions in a row and clearing about $1400 in the process is nothing to sneeze at.

Then I lose a buy in last week for no good reason. The table was very loose, pre-flop raises were not really respected and I wasn't hitting. Should have walked after loosing the first $100 and chalked it up for a cold deck. But I tried to fight through it and ended up with a mini-tilt and lost the whole thing. It happens.

Played 4 sessions ove rthe course of the weekend...first three went well, picking up about $230 in the process. However the tables were much different than previous sessions. I was struggling to hit hands, big hands either didn't hold up or just picked up he blinds. suited connectors didn't connect and so forth. The exact opposite of the first two weeks on Paradise, when everything hit. But anyway, I made back the $200 I lost and was up for the start of April by about $70.

Then I was able to play last night with all three kids sleeping. What a disaster. Here I am thinking that I'll finally be able to concentrate on the game and get a nice session going and I sit down at a table of maniacs....Multi-way pots capped pre-flop, $150+ pots were the norm, and a couple of players that would try to buy pots at the first hint of a scary flop or hesitation by an opponent. Anyway, long story short, I was struggling to stay close to even for most of the session...I think I was up $40 at one point, but then lost it when my KK ran into a set of 3s. That was the hand the put me on the mini-tilt....four players see a flop that had been 3-bet pre-flop. 6-7-J rainbow...I check-raise on the flop, hoping to ditch some players and get to heads up...which I'm successful at doing. 10 on the turn, as 10-J had been getting played alot, and I was worried I had just walked into two pair. Remaining player checks and I bet into the pot, he calls and the river hits a 3. He bets, I raise, he-re-raises and I call....shows the set of threes and I cringe that he chased that down. Of course, KK was cracked about 8 times last night, so just chalk me up as one of the 8....amazing that he would chase that down. But that was the type of table I was at last night. 2-3 players that would call down any pot they were in, regardless of their cards. No way to bluff at pots (which cost me a chunk of change to figure out, as bluffing is a pretty big part of my game). So, in the end I loose my buy in when my last $40 goes into a pot with QQ and I get called down by A3os that hit a 3 on the flop and spikes an A on the river for 2 pair.

I have to get better about changing gears at these types of tables, as I know how to beat them. Biggest thing is to stop bluffing at pots without a solid hand, as some of these players think nothing of calling a 2-3 BB raise with third pair, almost like they know what you have in your hand....it's pretty scary to watch happen.

Speaking of, I'm seeing more and more internet sites offering up ways to cheat by getting players to download small software programs that will allow you to see their hole cards. I'm wondering if it is possible and if I've hit one of them by signing up through some of the shill sites to get better bonuses and free stuff. Might be time to run the anti-apyware stuff at home and see if anything is lurking on the computer...or maybe do a dump and re-install.

I'm probably just being paraniod, but I will start to make a list of players on Paradise that have been playing way too loose and keep an eye out for them. I had become way to reliant on PokerTracker on UB that would keep track of players for me. Since Paradise won't allow me to utilize the software live (have to email hand histories), I'll have to be more dilligent of my note taking.

Lots to do today....need to pack tonight for the Mexico trip and also hoping to play in Iggy's Blogger tourney on Pokerstars tonight at 9. I need to start focusing on tourney play soon if I have any hope of playing in and doing well in a WSOP event, or even Bishop's big event at the end of the month. Jen's working, so that will had a layer of complexity to the evening. at least I found my passport last night, so that's all set.

Not sure how much I'll be able to play or post over the balance of the week from Mexico...I'll have the laptop, but unsure about the connections and such from Mexico, not to mention that I'll hopefully have more to do in the evenings than sit in the hotel room. Hoping to find something for Jen and the kids on this trip, as I have no idea when I might make it back to Mexico.

Something to make Monday more bearable here at work

ttfn.

Back in the saddle

2006-03-31T08:17:00.000-05:00

Was able to play a short session on Paradise last night....about 30 minutes is all I was able to get in between feeding Alan and taking care of the girls while Jen was at work.

If I had been smart, I would have left the table after the first 15 hands, as I was up $250, but decided to play another 40 hands or so and ended up walking with $140 instead...still not a bad night, but lost a good chunk of my profit on two hands.

first loss saw me in EP with AA, open the pot with a raise that get 3 callers (including the BB). Flop comes down 4-4-9 and I figure I'm in pretty good shape. I open the betting and get called around. Q hits the turn and I get check raised by the BB...at this point I put him on Qx...maybe AQs or KQ to call the pre-flop raise. Blank on the river and he check raises me again...I have to call and he shows 34s for a flopped set and takes down a nice pot by cracking my AA. sigh.

About 10 minutes later I have to step away from the computer, so I miss the blinds...I come back in late position and opt to pay both blinds to get back on the table. Find 58os for my money and get to see a cheap flop....which hits 5-Q-8 with two hearts. I raise the mid-position open and three of us see the turn, which was a 2 I believe (non-heart). Mid-position opens, I raise, BB calls, mid-position re-raises, I cap, BB calls and mid-position calls. River brings a 9 of hearts, completing the flush draw....BB opens (?!?!?!), mid position goes all in with remaining $19 (raise), I call and BB calls....shows the 4-10 of hearts for a 10 high flush draw....late position shows KK and I show my two pair that got chased down to the river. Now I ask you....how do you call 4 big bets after the turn with nothing more than a 10 high flush draw? If he had the nut-flush draw, or a straight-flush draw, maybe, but nothing more than a 10 high flush....crazy. Non-the less he took down a $200 pot for his chase to the river.

At this point I there were numerous comments about my loose call of 58os, so I figured I was good to get some action on any good cards I was dealt. The next four hands went something like this....

JJ - raise to open the pot, folded around to me, pick up the blinds
AQos - ditto
A10s - ditto
KK - get the BB to call....flop comes 6-6-9 and he check-folds to me.

So my loose call generated no action what-so-ever and I basically pick up about $40 in blinds with some solid hands. I go card dead for the next two rounds until hitting a set of 4s on a ragged flop and busting QQ and AKs with them for a nice $80 pot. Waited for the blinds to come around and walked away with the profit. Halfway done in clearing my bonus on paradise and then my new chipset from Pokersourceonline.com will be on the way....how cool is that.

In other news, getting a huge grin from reading the posts regarding the blogging group that got to play out at the Playboy mansion in LA last weekend. Opportunity of a lifetime and I'm enjoying living through these guys and what they were able to do. Congrats to them all....check out Tao of Poker and Al Can't Hang among others to see the pics and hear their stories.

Nothing much else going on...still working on the house, hoping to have it on the market by Easter, so lots to do between now and then. Will keep everyone posted.

ttfn.

Not poker related...but...

2006-03-30T13:13:00.000-05:00

Ok...I don't usually post links and such, but I had to respond to this nut job...

http://husbandonstrike.com and http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1780687

OK, so here's the scoop...this guy has a 2 yr old son and a 3 month old daughter and is upset that the kids are sleeping in the bedroom with he and his wife. He has taken to living on the roof of the house to protest the situation, with his main argument being a 'lack of intimacy' with the kids in the room....also that 'he was there before the kids, so he should come first'.

Now...aside from the lunacy of this whole topic...here is my response as the father of 3 young kids.

Get over yourself...by having kids you have lowered youself on the pecking order of the house for roughly 18 years. You do not come first anymore. The welfare of the kids come first. The 3 month old is most likely nursing, requiring your wife to get up 2-4 times a night to feed the baby. Much easier for her to get up, take a step or two, grab the baby and feed her as opposed to going to a different room....not to mention the racket a baby can make at 3am if they're hungry and not getting the attention they deserve (believe me...Alan had Jen and I up 4 times last night...even though I just roll over, it still makes for a bad nights sleep.

Count yourself fortunate to have 2 happy and healthy kids, as well as a wife willing to give them the love and care that they need, cause you're sure not doing your part by living on the roof.

I could go on, but I have to get back to work.

ttfn

Quick update - No poker news

2006-03-29T08:55:00.000-05:00

been working on getting all the little projects done around the house before getting it on the market here in the next week or two...Jen's hoping to have a sign in the yard by Easter. Fixing sink drains (ugh...hair clogs) and touching up paint jobs are all just gearing me up for tackling the disaster that the garage has become since my back surgery 2 years ago. Hoping to get some general cleaning/garbage collection done between now and Friday, then focus on a huge reorg and downsizing over the weekend if the weather cooperates and I can put stuff in the driveway to help with the reorg.

Hopefully get some time in for poker tomorrow...haven't played since loosing the buy-in on Sat, so I'm hoping to get the girls in bed and then Alan and I can hang out together and play some poker until Jen comes home from work.

Have my first CQA course tonight up in New Albany. 8 weeks of prep classes to get ready for my certification exam in June. Looking forward to the classes, as I've always enjoyed the learning aspect of school and classes, just the exams and papers that I dread.

ttfn.

The streak ends

2006-03-27T09:53:00.000-05:00

11 straight positive sessions at $5/10 came to an end when I lost a buy-in on Sat evening on Paradise on a very loose and wild table. Had one guy at the table that only knew two comments..."FU" and "Dummy"...he pretty much berated anyone that beat him with the "FU" and then called them a "dummy' if they called him to the river and he beat them. There were three of us at the table that started berating him back, and I played way to aggressively at him in trying to bust him, as I saw him show some very marginal hands, especially when he three-bet pre-flop into my AA with Q3os and caught a Q on the flop...he led the betting to the river when I popped him for a check raise, which he called with top pair and my pocket rockets crushed him. I know it's risky playing AA like that, but the board was scattered and I really didn't think he could beat me....of course, if he catches a 3 then I'm toast, but it was worth it to see what he was playing, as he was able to win numerous pots against other players by raising and reraising and bullying them out of pots. Was fun to see the table turn on him and we collectively busted him...but I was out about$100 in the process, then proceeded to loose the rest in two hands....pocket 9's flop a set but get caught by 6-2 suited chasing down a flush draw and catching on the river....then my AKos flops an A, turn a K and loose to a flopped set of 2s. Nothing I could really do about either hand, but they pretty much delpeted the rest of my buy in for the evening. I am almost half-way to clearing my bonus on Paradise, but have cleared about $1200 at the tables over the course of the last 10 days...so I'm quickly becoming a convert to the Paradise $5/10 games.

Can't wait to hear the stories from Pauly and the gang from their weekend in Vegas and the tourney at the Playboy mansion. If I had known ahead of time, I might have been able to extend my stay in La to catch up with them last week, but probably better off that I didn't, as painting and moving furniture all weekend was MUCH more fun....

Not sure how much poker I'm going to get to play in the coming weeks, as we're getting very close to putting the house on the market, so lots of little projects that need to get done between now and then. I may be crawling under a sink tonight to clean out a trap that is clogged, as well as touching up some paint and such in some of the rooms of the house. Not to mention cleaningout the garage at some point in time, staining the last of the woodwork in the basement, etc, etc, etc. Hopefully wll have enough time to complete my bonus at Paradise in the next week or so.

Back to work now...have to finish my expense reports from last week....fun fun fun.

ttfn.

Day 3 in California...poker, time change, etc.

2006-03-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

Here's is where I spent the night last night...the Mission Inn is an absolutely beautiful hotel here in Riverside, CA. Two room suite with a small balcony overlooking the courtyard. I'm sitting at the desk with the windows open listening to the birds outside...if only the room had a coffee pot for a nice cup of coffee, I'd be all set in getting my day started.

Wish I had a camera to take some pics rather than snagging the photos from their web site...but they're enough to give you the picture of the place.

I finally feel that I'm good with the CA time change. Stayed up until about 10:30 CA time and woke up about 5:45 this morning. Was disappointed last night, as Catwoman was supposed to be on HBO, and nothing is finer than Halle Berry in a leather cat suit for a couple of hours, but the HBO that was on here in the hotel was showing something else, so not sure what happened there.

Anyway, took it easy last night after getting into Riverside after the hour plus drive up from Carlsbad, CA. Ordered some room service, talked to Jen about getting the current house on the market and getting ready to move. Looks like some painting and minor home repairs is in my immediate future when I get back to Columbus. Have to get some cleaning in the garage done as well so we can start putting boxes of packed stuff in there to prepare for the move. We have our eye on a house in Johnstown, so we're hoping to get a quick offer on our house and then move on the new one. We'll see how it goes.

Played some more on Paradise last night...cleared another $10 in bonus now (only 750 more raked hands to go to clear the remaining $80 and get my chipset from PSO). The bankroll rebuilding is going well, as I'm up about $800 since starting on Paradise on Sunday...not bad for 3 days of work. The tables are probably better than UB at this limit, which I never thought I would say...of course getting smacked by the deck is always a good thing....AA twice, KK twice, numerous Ax, either suited or with solid kickers....I did make one bad/good play on a large pot...Here is the hand history:

Table "Bikar" (real money) -- Seat 4 is the buttonSeat
1: WilySSC ($856.00 in chips)
Seat 2: oldtex1 ($427.00 in chips)
Seat 3: MVilla888 ($448.00 in chips)
Seat 4: betsi ($174.00 in chips)
Seat 6: Josephine ($217.00 in chips)
Seat 7: andy5683 ($151.00 in chips)
Seat 8: Shaqatak ($637.00 in chips)
Seat 10: ZOE 123 ($197.00 in chips)
Josephine: Post Small Blind ($2)
andy5683: Post Big Blind ($5)
Dealing...Dealt to MVilla888 [ Th ][ Qd ]
Shaqatak: Call ($5)
ZOE 123 : Fold
WilySSC : Fold
oldtex1 : Fold
MVilla888: Call ($5) - loose call, but had been running well and hitting flops, so no real harm here in limping...the remaining players in the hand had been playing tight.
betsi : Fold
Josephine: Fold
andy5683: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 8s 5h Jd ]
andy5683: Check
Shaqatak: Bet ($5) - big stack at the table...played a solid game...but would also bluff at weak flops
MVilla888: Call ($5) - have a gutshot straight and the Q over the board...worth seeing a card
andy5683: Fold
*** TURN *** : [ 8s 5h Jd ] [ Ac ]
Shaqatak: Bet ($10)
MVilla888: Raise ($20) - stupid raise here, but wanted to see where I was and the A would be a scare card to Jx
Shaqatak: Raise ($20) - ok...he's smelled my bluff or has a hand...I have outs (K and 9) here for my straight...pot is about $80 here, so it's a loose call, but I know I have outs in the hand.
MVilla888: Call ($10)
*** RIVER *** : [ 8s 5h Jd Ac ] [ Kc ]
Shaqatak: Bet ($10)
MVilla888: Raise ($20) - Shazam....hit the K for the nut straight...wheeeee
Shaqatak: Call ($10)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $124 Rake: $3
Board: [ 8s 5h Jd Ac Kc ]
WilySSC didn't bet (folded)
oldtex1 didn't bet (folded)
MVilla888 bet $60, collected $124, net +$64 (showed hand) [ Th Qd ] (a straight, ten to ace)betsi didn't bet (folded)
Josephine lost $2 (folded)
andy5683 lost $5 (folded)
Shaqatak lost $60 [ 8h Ah ] (two pair, aces and eights)
dethkilla didn't bet
ZOE 123 didn't bet (folded)

Like the Cincinnati Kid...."sometimes you have to make the wrong move at the right time to win big"...or something like that.

Pre-flop, I'm behind 48% to 51%
Post Flop, I'm behind 36% to 63%
Turn, I'm behind 20% to 80%

Anyway, I caught some flack on the table after that play, as the guys with 2 pair was not happy that I chased down the straight draws on him. When I look at the stats from Cardplayer.com...looks like a terrible play on my part to chase the outs, but I didn't have him on two pair until he reraised me after the turn...at that point I either fold or call and see what the river brings. I got lucky. Told him I had outs and the pot was reasonable enough to chase and see the river...the raise was questionable on the turn with the A...but not terrible as it was common for players to chase with Ax on the table...just so happened that he hit his two pair with it and lost to the striaght on the river. Good for me, bad for him.

Anyway...time to hit the shower and get ready for the day here in CA...another vendor audit and then heading for the hotel near LAX for the next two nights...will be nice to sleep in the same bed for two nights this trip...I hate bouncing from hotel to hotel during a business trip...oh well.

ttfn

How sad is this

2006-03-20T13:14:00.000-05:00

I'm currently live blogging from the Vegas airport as I wait to catch a flight to LA. Should have planned better and left more time for the layover...only 45 minutes and plane just showed up, so I have to pack up and stand in line for Southwest. Almost played a slot machine, but resisted at the last minute.

more from LA later.

Made it to LA and drove down to southern LA without incident. Had a great evening with Ernie (our West Coast QA Director) with dinner and a small Italian place....lobster ravioli...mmmmm

Want to thank Iggy for setting up the tourney the other night...I was only in for about 30 minutes, as I had my flopped set of 4s cracked by a flopped set of Qs....oh well. I also lost a chance to double up early when my 99 hand flopped an open end stratight draw (6-7-8 rainbow)...faced a bet from the blind and I went all in to try and steal the pot...he had KK and I was behind, but had outs...which all came together when the 10 hit on the turn, only to be followed by the 9 on the river to put a 5 card straight on the board and a split pot....sigh. Anyway, I'm up about $500 since Sunday on Paradise....the $5/10 tables are just as juicy on Paradise as they were on UB, so I'm happy to work off the bonus on Paradise while Ub gets there act together.

Time to get to the gym and then ready for the day here in La....ttfn.

Blogger Tourney

2006-03-17T16:38:00.000-05:00

I am registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Freeroll
Win your share of $25,000 and a set
of Nevada Jacks poker chips.
Hosted By: Absolute Poker
Sponsored By: Poker Source Online
Registration Code: 66129238

not much to blog about

2006-03-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Haven't played any poker since the weekend...hopefully that will change tonight as Jen is working and I should be able to play some poker after the girls get to bed as long as Alan is content to hang with me while I play on UB. Will see how he is doing this evening.

Decided to pass on the house in Granville...nice house, but not one that Jen and I loved, so we decided to keep looking. Granville may be too much for us, so I think we're going to go back and look in the Johnstown area...good schools and nice community, so will fit us well.

Big weekend and week coming up...Jen working tonight and tomorrow, Dealing on Sat night, Jen working on Sunday then I head for CA on Monday for the week. Gotta get packed and all on Sunday, then hopefully play in the blogger tourney on Sunday evening. Doubt I'll get to make the Commerce or Bicycle on this trip, but we'll see what happens.

good luck in your tourney pools...I'm hoping to win the perfect pool prize and a cool 5 Million....wheee.

ttfn.

Quick update....just paid off my remaining student loan from college....15 years after graduation and my loan is paid off....HOORAY!!!! Before anyone asks, I had my loans delayed through grad school, and through a mistake at loan company, they added 5 extra years to the deferment, so I only started paying on the loans in 1998.

But HOORAY none the less.