Archive for "Poker"
Crazy Weekend
Posted on January 16, 2005 by Ching under Life, Poker.
The last two days have been pretty eventful. And fun. After two weeks of work-school-work-school and then the crazy storm crisis, I think I deserve to let loose a little.
Diane let us out early on Friday after our last exam in IB. It was quite a relief to finally be done with my pre-session class. Almost five hours of class after being at work for at least eight hours is pretty stressful. And then there was that one day when I had to work from 8 am to 5 pm, class right after until almost ten and then I had to go back to work for a 12 am to 8 am stint. I felt like crying. Plus, having had to work last Saturday and Sunday (because of the storm crisis) made things even worse. I didn’t get a day off until yesterday. Working twelve days straight can make anyone go postal. I was :this: close. Ask Brian. I was totally bitchy.
So on Friday night, Brian and I decided to eat at Felipe’s to celebrate my brief freedom from school. It’s brief because the regular semester classes start on Monday so I’ll be busy again. After dinner we went to his parents’ house nearby because he had to use the restroom. You can’t play poker on an upset stomach! LOL!
The APL headquarters is pretty intimidating. It was our first time there and my first time playing with more than 100 people. They had 20-25 tables set up. I believe there were about 180 players that night, invitees and wild cards alike. I was on the invite list this time. Brian has been holding that above my head for the last two weeks and now he can’t because this time I got invited and he didn’t!
Becca and I ended up outlasting everyone. We both made it to the final table together, which was really cool. In my quest to the top, I ended up knocking out Becca. I was totally “river rat-ing” it all night. I got lucky so many times and had so many close calls, I couldn’t believe I got as far as I did. Of course, as you all know, I only placed second so I didn’t end up winning the trip to Vegas. But that was still a really impressive finish. I bet I made mad points that night.
The next day, I was supposed to work out at 9 am but missed step class because I wanted to eat breakfast. I did hi/low and PHAT, worked out on the ellypticals and treadmills with Sarah and then played racquetball with Brian. We would’ve played five games but he beat me two out of three games and the bet was that we would quit if he won. Quite a bit of whining ensued before I finally relented.
“But you promised. You have to keep your word.”
“Yes,” I said meekly, in that pouty puppy-dog way that only I can do. “But that’s because I thought I would win.”
Boo hoo.. Waa waa waa..
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Elektra and napping. I’m so glad that we watched a matinee. I wouldn’t have paid eight bucks to see that movie. It was a total disappointment.
When we came home, we set our alarm for 9:30 pm so that we could get up and be at the Dill’s for the ten o’clock money game. I was so out of it and so disoriented that when the alarm went I thought it was the next day already and we had missed poker! And you know, I can’t miss poker!
The first session was $10 buy-in. Brian and I both lost. Second session was $5 buy-in. There were ten players. Second place got $10 and first place won $40. Brian took first so we actually made $10 so far. Brian was playing in that questionable Gus Hansen style of play that he does it was aggravating me so I quit paying attention and started taking pictures with Corey’s phone. I took pictures of the “loveseat orgy” that ensued because everyone else was bored. I mean, Brian drug heads up for a long, long time. And you know even if you combine all of our attention spans, it wouldn’t equal that of a fly’s. That’s what the pictures that you saw on here were from the wee hours of the morning.
After second session, the ten of us decide we should all go to breakfast at IHOP. Brian and I made ten bucks, so we figured – sure, why not? On the way there Jason commented that we would be there just around the time the freaks start coming out of the woodwork.
I was like, “No. The freaks don’t show up until about three-ish.”
“Well, it’s two o’clock now and by the time we get our food, the freaks will have arrived.”
“I guess you are right,” I reply. “But what are you worried about? We have a whole posse tonight.” Usually it’s just Brian, Jason and I so we are always outnumbered. That night there were ten of us.
It was pretty crazy. People were throwing half-and-half at one another. Jason Dill chugged a whole carafe of maple syrup. We were so loud that we could be heard all the way to Sam’s Club. I don’t know what Jason was worried about. WE WERE THE FREAKS THAT NIGHT! Thankfully, despite all the shenanigans, the waitstaff was patient with us and we didn’t get kicked out. It would suck to be kicked out of our favorite after-poker hangout.
Anyway, it must’ve been all the sugar from the syrup because after eating we all decided that we wanted to play another $5 session. So we all drive back to the Dill’s, setup the poker table and the chairs that we had already put away and start another game. I won the third session. Go me!
Jason came home with us afterwards to play Need for Speed Underground 2 on PS2 with Brian. They always end up playing until the wee hours of the morning so I ended up going to bed by myself. When I woke up the next morning, I asked Brian what time Jason left and he goes, “He’s still here.” He ended up sleeping on the lazy boy in the office – the poor guy. But then we couldn’t exactly invite him into bed with us. LOL!
By the way, if you were wondering why there was just nothingness on the webcam this morning, that’s Jason’s fault. For some reason, he’s now decided to be camera-shy. I think he’s freaked out by Brian’s stalker.
Brian started getting these crazy text messages from this person who goes by the alias “Swimfan” and it’s actually started creeping Brian out. The messages imply that they’ve been watching him on the webcam. He’s gotten them at all hours: 10 pm, 2 am and even 4 am from that night that I worked 12 am to 8 am at work and he and Jason stayed up with me.
For the record, no one would want to stalk you Jason so just chill out, okay?
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My Second Place Finish
Posted on January 15, 2005 by Ching under Poker.
I placed second out of a hundred and eighty people at the APL headquarters tonight. I almost won a trip to Vegas. I totally rocked!
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Dinner at the Dill’s
Posted on January 4, 2005 by Ching under Life, Poker.
Dinner at the Dill’s was a lot of fun. It was informal and relaxed. Overall, I think everyone (Jason, Jay, Becca, Brian and I) had a good time. Except, Jason really needs to get himself a girlfriend because this wife-swapping thing doesn’t work on odd-numbered groups. I’m kidding!
There was no wife-swapping. The guys just played video games while Becca and I talked about her and Jay. It turns out we’ve got a lot more than just our love for poker in common. Her and Jay have been together about the same length of time that Brian and I have. Incidentally, they were married in August 2002 also. It was an outdoor, garden wedding just like ours. Becca seems really nice and easy to get along with and she says funny things like “FO-BE (instead of pronouncing PHOEBE the proper way) Cates,” “Calvin and HOBBIES,” and “You guys seem pretty cool SO FAR.” That last one was in reference to the challenges they’ve faced in finding other couples to befriend and hang out with.
I can relate because making new friends is not really my forte. I mean, I’m really easy going and it’s rare that I’ll meet someone that I truly don’t like. I pretty much fall in love with every single person I meet. I just adore people – which is why Brian thinks I’m a social junkie. The problem is other people don’t seem to like me. Perhaps there is something abrasive about my personality? Or I’m just embarrassing to be around? Who knows? If they don’t like me then so be it. I can amuse myself.
So anyway, the Dill’s are pretty cool. We munched on meat queso that Brian made. Tostitos Scoops are awesome for this! Jay cooked some chicken quesadillas. It was great. Afterwards they had some cookies and candy that Jay’s mom had sent to them. We played some Trivial Pursuit DVD (which, incidentally is 25% off right now at Amazon so it would make a great post-Christmas gift – hint, hint). You know how I am about trivia. I totally dug it. Jay won the first round and then I took the second round with “Los Del Rio” (the question was who sang Macarena?). I was so excited about winning that I jumped up and down and almost peed my pants. LOL!
Mark me down for two more new friends. Of course, until they decide that I’m too obnoxious to hang with.
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Small World
Posted on December 23, 2004 by Ching under Life, Poker.
Speaking of.. It really is a small world. We ran into Casey Abay tonight at IHOP. We went there for post-poker munchies after Heroes. He happens to be friends with this guy that knows Brian from T-Mobile who sat with Brian, Jason and I in our booth and talked our ears off about how wonderful Brian was for what seemed like an eternity. Ugh. I get it already!
Anyway, it was so weird! To hear this guy rave about Brian.. It was nuts. It was like he worshipped him. Must’ve been the pot (and when I say pot I’m not referring to coffee) because the guy was totally stoned out of his ass.
The funny thing is that Brian would always tell me stories about reps lining up and trying to compete to get into his team because he is so fuckin’ awesome. He would tell me how all the reps just admired him and thought highly of him and everyone wanted to be on his team. I’m like, “Whatever.” We’re all deluded in one way, shape or form. I never really fully believed him until now, when I witnessed this guy just praise Brian out the ass.
Don’t get me wrong, I know Brian is wonderful but I didn’t think he was THAT wonderful.
I had to ask if Brian put him up to it or paid him to say all those things – or something. But then when that wasn’t it, I had to wonder if Brian somehow buttfucked the fella without my knowledge because of all the compliments that he was giving Brian. At one point the dude actually goes everyone at T-Mobile sucked except for Brian and then he realized that Jason works at T-Mobile and he had to back-paddle really quick and say that Jason was cool too because he was the IT guy who worked behind the scenes and made sure that everything worked. But that’s really all he had to say about Jason. Brian was his main focus, his IDOL! He was like a child meeting his hero for the first time. It was very, very weird.
At one point, the dude actually goes “I WANTED TO BE YOU!” Brian is all embarrassed to shit about the adulation so he’s trying to keep this guy’s ranting and raving level. Jason and I gave each other a look which pretty much said, “If you only knew.”
When he found that Brian had gotten fired, I thought he would cry. And then he’s like, “So what are you doing now? You’re probably working some place else where you are ten times more successful, right?” Brian told him that the termination of his employment just happened recently and he was still looking for a job. The guy is like, “They’re all assholes anyway.” And then he proceeded to tell us about he was screwed over by T-Mobile because this blonde supervisor with huge tits promised him that he would get a Monday to Friday schedule and he didn’t. He also said that he was told he was being hired on as a senior rep and then he was really just a regular rep. He’s like, “I wouldn’t have left my previous job that paid $22 an hour if I would’ve know I’d be answering phones!” Senior reps don’t make $22 an hour, mind you. So I’m not sure what he’s talking about.
He then went on to tell us how messed up it was that he had his masters degree and he was answering phones for T-Mobile. He must have brought up the master degree thing like a dozen times during the whole weird encounter. I guess he had greater ambitions than getting drunk and getting baked? Who would’ve thought?
This is what we get for spending almost three hours BS-ing at IHOP. Never again.
Next time we’re taking the food back to your house, Jason!
Brian commented that this is the weirdest night he’s ever had and he’s even sober! He added that he never had weird nights like these even when he was a stoner. It must be Jason then! The dude seems to be a magnet for weird-ass situations!
Speaking of Jason, I just realized that counting the time we spent at IHOP, we spent almost ten hours with the guy today. The sad part is that after we dropped Jason off at his place and we arrived home, the three of us proceeded to get on Yahoo! Messenger and chat. Very, very sad.
Anyway, the boring part where I narrate the evening’s events come next so feel free to stop here. You will get bored, I promise.
So you’re still reading, eh? Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
This is how the weird night began. We went to pick up Jason around six-ish at his place. Of course, we spend several minutes looking for his freakin’ wallet which he misplaced and turned out to be in the coat closet – of all places! We decide to go to Arby’s for dinner. It’s cheap. As soon as we get out of the car, Jason’s blackberry starts vibrating. It’s Jill (Jason Dill), Jason’s “boyfriend.” Jill’s like, “I’m at your place, where are you?” Jason tells Jill we’re fixing to enter Arby’s. It turns out that Jill had gone to grab some Arby’s to bring to Jason. How sweet! His boyfriend bought him dinner.
After BS-ing for a while at Arby’s the clock strikes seven and we agree it’s time to head to Heroes. On the way there I get a call from Nick questioning whether there is, in fact, poker at seven thirty. I flip out because I’m thinking that I could’ve been playing racquetball instead of going to Heroes this early if there’s not an early session. That’s the only reason I agreed to skip racquetball. This is what I get for believing a bunch of drunk guys!
We get confirmation from a couple of people that there is, in fact, a poker game at seven thirty and when we arrive we see the poker coordinator setting up tables. Some of them were already setup even. I don’t know what Nick was smoking but apparently it impaired his vision because he didn’t see all the poker paraphernalia when came in the door. There were a few people that came who I recognized from poker at Jason’s the night before. And then Jeff was there, too. He used to play with us at Fingers. He said he’s going to start playing our Tuesday night poker game at Jason’s so that should be fun! I like Jeff.
Incidentally, I found that Jeff and Jen went to school together. He goes, “I asked her out in eight grade and she turned me down.” I go, “Maybe she could tell the future?” And then laughed hysterically. And then I realized that wasn’t very funny. Ouch! There’s a line that divides witty and mean.. And I crossed it. I really shouldn’t have said that because I like Jeff. He’s likes to bet a little happy but he’s a really nice guy. As soon as I realized what I’d said, I told him I’m sorry and that I was only joking and then gave him a hug.
Bad, bad Ching! I hope he doesn’t hold it against me and still comes to play with us next week. I’m a really good person. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. It just happens sometimes. You know the phrase open mouth insert foot? (Or open foot insert mouth, as I say when I’m really, really spacey.) I am prone leaving my mouth open when it should really be shut. All sorts of things, other than just my foot, end up getting inserted. Okay, that didn’t come out right but we are moving on..
Mano, Jeff and I were the final three. Mano took third and I got second. I won an APL shirt for Brian. Go me! When we got home I actually asked Brian, “Isn’t it supposed to be the guy who wins the girl a teddy bear at the fair?” To which he replies, “Yes but we’ve already determined who the man is in our relationship.” LOL! I guess we kinda-sorta have. Add gender issues to all the other issues on my list.
We also found out that I qualified for the in-house tourney on January 26. All the people who finished in the top five positions did. I’ve already marked my calendar! I’m going to miss class especially for the event but it will be worth it. There’s no entry fee (you just gotta qualify first) and it’s a $300 prize pool. First place pays $150, $100 for second place and $50 for third.
Second session was a bust. I think we were all distracted by this one guy’s sidekick. She was this chick with ENORMOUS boobs and she would sit next to him as he played. I mean, they were huge! If you were there, you probably know who I’m talking about. They were so huge that Jason was totally enamored by them. He was so enamored that he actually got caught staring! Typical.
How I got knocked out of second session is a story that I have already told at least half a dozen times so I will spare you the gory details. I went all in on pocket As and I actually lost! I was robbed!
Okay, I take that back. I will tell you the story because it is messed up! Here’s the scenario. The blinds are $2000 and $4000 at this point. The guy to my right only has $1000 left so he goes all in with his last chip. I look at my cards and I find pocket As, so naturally I go all in with my last $8500. The small blind folds. The guy in the big blind position just happened to be the chip leader and it was only $4500 more for him to call and so he does. It was the smart thing to do, given that he was holding a pocket pair himself.
The flop comes 8 3 2, or something similarly crappy. We all reveal our cards at this point. The dude that was all in for $1000 had pocket 4s and it turns out chip leader had pocket 8s, of all the cards in the world! All I could hope for was another ace to trip me up. The turn and river card are both 4s, so the guy who had $1000 left now has $4000 because he caught runners to win the main pot. The side pot where all the rest of my chips were went to the guy with the pocket 8s who was already the chip leader, thus only adding to his already huge stack. And I was the only one who got screwed over by that hand. And to think I had the MONSTER pocket pair! It was so lame! I hate it when that happens but I guess my luck had to run out eventually.
Speaking of pocket pairs, we had three people with pocket pairs at Jason on Tuesday night as well. The guy with the highest pocket pair actually won so the hand actually played out pretty fair. The remarkable park, however, is that all three pocket pairs tripped up. They were pocket 7s, Js (my favorite) and Ks going against each other. The flop comes 4 10 K. The turn is a 7 and the river is a J. I’d never seen that before. It was really amazing. But of course, the guy with the set of Ks takes the pot, naturally. As it should be. As I should’ve on the hand that was my undoing. It was totally unlucky!
Last night was probably one of the most interesting evenings we’ve had in a long, long time. I must say, it was worth skipping racquetball over. I gotta work out tonight though because I didn’t yesterday. But it works out because poker at either Zach’s or Jason’s house (depending on whether we can get a hold of Zach or not) won’t start until ten thirty or well after. Anyway, I’ll let you all know where we end up so you can come play with us if you want. It’ll be super duper fun!
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Jen’s Initiation
Posted on December 22, 2004 by Ching under Poker.
Jen played poker for money for the first time tonight. As the beginner’s luck fairy would have it, she kicked ass. As of right now, she’s in the top three (in the money and chip leader at that) positions and my ass is at home blogging. I hope she wins because I want to get her hooked on poker just as I got her hooked on booze many, many years ago. Just kidding. I had nothing to do with her chronic alcoholism.
Of course, Jen is not even close to being drunk but Jason was almost desperately trying to convince me that she was. He’s like, “How’s she going to get home?” I’m like, “She’s fine. Trust me.” I think he wanted me to say “Oh yeah, good point. Let’s convince her to spend the night at your place.” He freakin’ has no couch.
This is a classic example of the male ploy: let’s take advantage of the drunk girl.
One problem: the girl is not quite drunk enough. Jen would need to consume a lot more alcohol for that plan to even have a chance of succeeding.
But then, it wouldn’t be so bad for the two of them to hook up. Jen and Ray are, after all, kinda-sorta on the outs.. Not quite sure where they stand at this point.. So by all intents and purposes, she is a free woman.
So anyway, Brian schnaggled his way out of racquetball tonight and, it turns out, he is trying to make another play at getting out of racquetball tomorrow night. Instead of playing just the late session at Heroes, we are now playing BOTH sessions. That just scooted racquetball right out of the picture. As you know, I’m a poker addict first and foremost, so if anything can get me to cancel racquetball that would be poker. It seems Brian has found my Achilles’ heel and he is totally using it against me. Or perhaps he has known my weakness all along and has finally decided to use it to his advantage.
At any rate, if anyone wants to play racquetball I’ve got a court reserved from 8p to 10p at the North YMCA which will not be used. It’s under Brubaker and Hoffman if anyone wants to use it. Enjoy!
I’ll be at Heroes. It’ll be my first time back in the APL circuit – a long awaited return that I’ve been looking forward to for months now. I’m still mad that Fingers shut down but I’m sure I’ll find a new favorite poker place. See you all around.
UPDATE: Okay, Jen just called. She won first place!! You go, girl! Awesome job for a first time! But then, now that you have been kissed by the beginner’s luck fairy, you may not be so lucky tomorrow. LOL! Â
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