Archive for "Poker"
Poker Cruise Party-Slash-Orientation Thing
Posted on September 22, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
We had dealer practice yesterday, but we didn’t really get to practice much. It turned out to be more of an informational session because we got started late and ran into the poker cruise party-slash-orientation thing. We will need to set up another time to practice dealing. In the meantime, Brian and I both have to learn how to deal seven card stud, Omaha, Omaha hi/lo, and razz. We’ll keep you all posted on our progress.
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I May Just Kill Myself this Weekend
Posted on September 20, 2008 by Ching under Life, Movies, Poker.
I was back on the workout wagon and then off again. The last couple of weeks, I haven’t been able to work out during the week because of various things coming up. Sometimes we’ve got other, more pressing, things going on after work. Other times I bring my workout gear to work with the full intention of working out after work, but am unable to change into my workout clothes because I’m super busy or I get stuck on an escalation or question. I hate going to the workout classes late because everyone is already doing the warm up or the exercise or whatever while you’re walking in there and then you still have to put your equipment together (if there’s any left, we routinely run out of weights in muscle pump because people lift tonnage), be it step, barbell, free weights, bands etc. By the time you’re warmed up and ready to go, the class is halfway or, worse yet, it’s over. Besides that, some workout classes are so popular that the room gets so crowded. Unless you’re there to stake claim to your spot, there’s really not any room for you (core class is like this).
Even though I’ve consistently missed my weekday workouts the past couple of weeks, I’ve gone religiously the past couple of weekends. I did my two workout classes on Saturday, and even lived through two workout classes on Sunday. However, consistently making it to my weekday workouts has been my Moby Dick so to speak.
I know this is kind of a cop out because I promised myself a little while ago that I will go to the gym regardless of how late I am for the workout class. I had vowed just to get on the treadmill, and wait for the next class to begin instead of nixing my entire workout altogether. I haven’t delivered on that promise at all lately the last two weeks. So I guess I’m feeling some guilt over trying to rationalize missing my workouts. That might be the reason that I might just try to kill myself this weekend.
I have been sneezing non-stop. I have super congestion, and am blowing gross green snot out of my nose (not the usual clear stuff). I can seriously feel how much snot I have in my head because of my facial sensations. I have a sinus headache, sore throat, and a bit of a fever. Also, I noticed that I’ve developed an eye twitch (left side) the last couple of days. I don’t know if that’s because my sinus cavities are overloaded with snot or what, but I was thinking about it last night while playing poker. I thought, gosh I hope that my eye doesn’t start twitching in the middle of a hand or the other players might think I’m bluffing kind of like that bad guy in Casino Royale
But I digress… What I’m trying to say is that, I’m going to my usual Saturday workouts today despite how horrible I’m feeling right now. I think, in part, I’m trying to punish myself for not working out during the week. For reneging on my promise. For not being as dedicated as I should be. If I fail, then this could go very, very badly. If I succeed, however, I may just scare the bejeezus out of my sickness. Maybe I can get it to go away by showing it how tough I am? I am the boss of my body, and I say that I’m not going to sick right now. Take that, sickness! How about that, huh?
P.S. As part of my death wish, I’ve also only had less than five hours of sleep today. We didn’t get home from poker until midnight. We chowed down on some fried chicken as soon as we got home because we had the munchies. That probably wasn’t a very good idea, but I was thinking maybe I could add heart attack to my list of possible causes of death. Since we ate, we couldn’t go to bed right away so it was probably almost two in the morning by the time we were wound down enough to go to sleep. And, guess what. I’m up right now blogging. I’ve been up since six o’clock or so. I’ll let you know how I fare this weekend. Wish me luck.
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Second Time Making the Final Table Together
Posted on August 30, 2008 by Ching under Poker, Toys.
Brian and I both made the final table at Blue Collar last night. I took 5th, while Brian and Chris chopped 1st and 2nd. They walked out with almost $200 each.
Brian played really well last night. I played really well, too. I only had $17K in chips after the break compared to Brian’s over $99K. Considering that we both made the final table, that says a lot.
I made a couple of crucial mistakes, but overall I was pretty satisfied with the way I played. One of the mistakes I made was against Rou when we were at two tables. Brian thought it was a mistake because I would have knocked Rou out if I would have just called. I thought I played it right, though, given the information I had.
Blinds were $3K-$6K and I was under the gun with Ace Jack off suit. I raised to $24K total. Everyone folds except for Rou in the dealer position. He went all in over the top. I needed about $32K more to call. I would have had about $15K left if I would have called and lost.
I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to fold. He turned over King Queen off. I was obviously in the lead with Ace Jack, but it was still pretty much a race. We’re not supposed to rabbit hunt, but we rolled it anyway. The flop would have been 10-Queen-10. The turn would have been another 10, giving Rou a boat. But then, the river would have been an Ace, giving me a bigger boat. He would have been out of the game at that point if I would have just called. I just couldn’t pull the trigger.
Fast forward to the final table. I am under the gun again. This time I have Ace Jack of clubs. The extra 3% edge suited cards have always seem to give me more confidence in my hand. I wasn’t messing around this time so I went all in. Rou called me with King Queen off (again). It was just the two of us in the hand. We both missed the flop and my Ace held up.
The one bad play I feel I made, though, was with my straight. I had limped in with King 10 in the small blind. There were three players in the hand. I ended up catching an Ace-high straight so I raised. Big blind went all in after my raise. I needed $140K more to call. I ended up calling with three hearts on the board because I didn’t think he had it. I just couldn’t let my straight go without seeing what he had. Just my luck! He had the flush. I ended up with only $15K left after that hand.
My first mistake was limping in with my marginal King 10. I should’ve raised pre-flop and just picked up whatever was already in the middle. The 2 4 of hearts would never have been in that hand.
Of course, calling the all in with a flush possibility on the board was an even bigger mistake. I think if I would have folded that hand, I would have finished higher and walked away with more than just the $24 I came home with. Oh, well.
The other nice thing about last night (besides Brian and I making the final table together for the second time) is that Michael (Caylor) came out to poker that night so I was finally able to give him the toys Brian and I had set aside to give away after cleaning our garage a couple of months ago. We had been lugging the stuff around in the trunk hoping that he would come to poker one day so we could give them to him.
We gave away Brian’s old Razor scooter that he used to roll around the T-Mobile call center in, pogo sticks, a table air hockey game, and a frisbee golf set. He has three young boys so we figured that they would get good use out of them.
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Unlucky at Poker but Lucky in Life
Posted on July 21, 2008 by Ching under Life, Poker, Reviews.
I was a bit downtrodden after getting knocked out of the $45 (plus one $20 rebuy) 11 PM poker tournament at the Sahara last night with three tables still going. I was severly short-stacked and was pretty much folding everything.
I was big blind with a third of my stack already folded. This guy looked at my stack and asked how much I had left. Fearlessly, I showed him what I’ve got left even though this is one of my pet peeves. He raised just enough to put me all in. Everyone else folds and action goes back to me. I look down at K-9 off suit. Normally, I would never even play these cards but given the situation I felt the correct choice was to call and put my tournament life on the line.
I figured that he was weak and was simply bullying me into surrendering my big blind. When I called he said, “You caught me.” I read him correctly. He had 3-6 off suit and was totally bluffing. I suppose he expected to be able to buy the pot uncontested. I’m thinking if I were a guy, he never would have made such a move on me. However, since I’m a girl he thought he could bully me.
What he failed to take into account was the fact that I was short-stacked and already had a third of my stack in the middle. Given the odds offered by the pot, I was committed to call with any two cards just about.
I was pleased that I made a good read. The flop was all junk, but I did manage to hit top pair. I hit the 9. The turn was blank and I was so close to doubling up. Unfortunately, the bully rivered a 5 for a straight. Just like that, I was knocked out of the tournament. I was a good sport and told him “Nice hand,” before I got up from my chair and left the event. You can’t beat lucky, no matter how foolish they might be.
Now, I had been enduring a “backless” phone for the last three days. I had lost the back cover of my phone somewhere between the Sahara and Mandalay Bay while we were on our way to the wedding yesterday. We were in a hurry and there were crows everywhere so I didn’t even realize when it came off. Anyway, as much as I hate having to spend another $300 on a new phone, Brian and I figured we would just hit the local T-Mobile store and look for any 2 MP phones they might have. They are more common now than when I first got my Wing so we were thinking we might be able to get one cheaply with another 2-year contract.
When we got there, there weren’t really any phones that were of interest. They didn’t have any other 2 MP touchscreens. The new phones don’t come out until fall, about September. The guy at the store said we might be able to save money by just ordering a new back cover for my Wing from HTC. It would be way cheaper than getting a new phone. The downside is that I would have to wait for them to ship it to me.
I guess he felt sorry for me because he pulled off the back cover from another phone and just gave it to me to put on my phone. So now my phone has a back cover again. And, I got to save my money. I totally didn’t expect this so I was truly dazzled. It’s not everyday that someone goes the extra mile and does something that they really don’t have to do. We asked him a couple of times if he was sure that this was okay and he told us not to worry about it. Wow! Is that lucky or what? It works out because I had originally planned to hold out and just keep using my crappy phone until the new phone models come out.
I love T-Mobile! Not only do they have the best rate plans, but they have good people too. I am going to be a loyal customer for life. Well, that and I’m contractually obligated. LOL.
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Brian Took Home Third and $100 Last Night
Posted on June 28, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
Brian, in an amazing display of poker prowess or just getting really, really lucky, made it to the final table again. He was very, very short-stacked. As in, he only had $40K left compared to all of the big stacks. He managed to survive getting knocked out and actually finished in third place, taking home $100 bucks. Now, we have money to go to the movies tonight. Anyway, I’m glad that Brian did my chips proud.
We got to poker late because DHL was acting crazy and making me freakishly paranoid about my package (contents of said package will be blogged about later). Anyway, we decided to go to poker at the last minute. We made it to poker without being short-chipped but not early enough to not have to sit at the same table. I hate being at the same table as Brian (unless it’s the final table, which we did achieve not too long ago) because inevitably one of us knocks the other out of the poker tournament.
Unfortunately for me last night, I was the victim of the spouse-on-spouse carnage. Brian knocked me out with the first 30 minutes of the tournament. We hadn’t even gone to $200-$400 yet.
So here’s the set up: Brian and I had one player, Kaye, in between us. Kaye was dealer this hand, and I was in the small-blind position. It comes to Brian and he raises to $1600. I should know better than to tangle with my own husband this early in the game, but I looked down at two lovely ladies. I re-raised to $3200, just to see where I stand. He re-raises and goes all in. My BS meter goes off the charts. There is no way he has my hand beat. Needless to say, I called his all in and he revealed pocket aces. Ugh. Bloody hell. He was off to a good start and had won a few hands already so he had my chip stacked covered. That was the end of the tournament for me. I was sidelined before 7:30 PM.
At least Brian was nice enough to loan me his Cowon A3. That thing really comes in handy. I watched Juno, which we’ve had for a while, I just haven’t had the time to watch it. Finished it before break and then I watched Ben Stiller’s The Heartbreak Kid after the break. I finished the second movie and Brian was still in the tourney, amazingly enough.
That’s the story of my poor showing at Friday night poker and Brian’s totally brilliant performance. Then again, he might just gotten really lucky all night.
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