HI guys, 2009 brought on another down trend for me poker wise. I played less, wrote even lesser, and lost more. I’ve become a strictly for-recreation player and I don’t see that trend changing with the ever growing needs of family-hood. No complaints there.
Maybe I’ll turn this into a food blog. nah. I ain’t that good.
I did manage to put together Christmas dinner for my family along with my brother’s, sister’s and most of the wife’s immediate family. It was a great day that lasted from 8AM to 1AM. I brined the turkey again this year and it turned out succulent and tasty. No leftovers this year.
Yesterday I put together a pretty freaking awesome lasagna, which I may turn into a post in the next couple of days. I am the comfort food king.
I hope anyone who still reads this has a great new year, the wife and I are planning a paradigm shift in our eating, shopping, and spending habits. I am laying out a budget which will pay off a significant amount of debt this year while shedding some weight and teaching our children healthier eating habits. Wish us luck.
I don’t have any poker related goals anymore. I just want to have fun and play more live this year. I’ve decided that online poker is like flipping coins no matter the style I try playing. Anywho, I’m rambling; you kids take care out there.
-23skidoo
Like many companies in the US, mine has enacted cost cutting measures across the globe. One of the offshoots of that endeavor is a reduction in travel. I haven’t been up to the city in a couple of months so I intended to meet up with some old friends; as it turns out I liberated some new acquaintances of their money.
I woke up about 4:15am on Thursday morning and made the hour long drive to the airport. Since I’ve made the trip so many times I have the timing town pretty good. I made it to security with plenty of time and put my bags through. My luggage got pulled, and I remembered the hard drive I put in my roller, DOH. The security woman removed the drive and I put my toiletry bag back into the front pocket in my bag, and she barked at me “I have to run that back through!” in a gruff voice. I said, “well this bag went through already too”. “REMOVE THE ZIPLOCK FROM THE BAG SIR” she bellowed, I just smiled and took it out. I went back to the xray thingy and picked up my bag and hard drive and apparently dropped the ziplock without putting it back in my back….ugh.
Thursday morning there was some snafu with air traffic control, so we sat on the tarmac for 30-45 minutes until we took off. I managed to sleep through most of the flight which was a major score. I usually can’t sleep on the plane being 6’4″ and 225235, but I got an empty middle seat which I happily shared with my row mate.
My work day was typically batshit crazy as I had about 3 days of projects to finish in 1 1/2. I managed to plow through and finished up around 6:30. Over the course of the day my buddy bailed on me for dinner so I sent out a last minute plea to Jamie and MattyEbbs to see if I could find a dinner companion or better yet a poker game.(unfotunately Jordan was busy filling the pockets of the Nawlins locals). Ebbs replied with an invite to the relocated Wall Street poker game and I weighed my options as the day went on.
After work, I convinced myself that I would find my hotel and some food and get a decent night’s sleep. After making my way to Tribeca I discovered it a little more subdued than other areas I’ve stayed in. Somewhat quiet and uncrowded. When I got to my room I discovered my toiletry issue and I turned right back around to find some food and a bodega.
I walked around for 20 minutes contemplating food options and had a fairly funny conversation with my wife on the phone as I did it. I settled on a place called Edwards and drank a half carafe of wine with my roasted chicken. It was tastily followed up with a healthy snort of Macallan 12. It was this point that I decided I would not be able to avoid poker.
Getting to the game was easy enough, just a short train ride and I was 2 blocks away. I was ushered to the converted apartment and immediately recognized Jaime’s table. I’m glad it’s getting good use now that he’s become domesticated. The game was 1/2 nlhe and I set about getting a feel for the table. I was already getting a little tired and I quickly determined I’d be playing against an aggressive table. I clammed up, but my hand to my chin and avoided eye contact as necessary. Given my familiarity with the players (or lack of) and general uncomfortable feeling being at a new table, playing tight was absolutely the best way to go. At least at first.
Being nearly 5 days later I don’t recall too many specific hands. The players were: the mad Hungarian to my right who played through 5-10 hands and busted, to his right was the Russian aggro, a normal looking dude who didn’t really make much of an impression, the dealer, the owner of the apartment who loved overbetting crappy boards, the young TAG, the irish nut-peddler, and Matty ebbs who was replaced by the annoyingly smarmy know it all to my left.
For the most part I played straight forward, I would occasionally float a pot and made only one ‘move’ toward the end of the night. I made a standard raise to $12 with 77 UTG +3. Young tag raises to $25 in late position and I briefly consider raising but call with no other players in the pot. He bet another $25 on the Q-Hi flop and I put him on nothing better than TT. I based my play on my perception that he would get away from another high on the turn and he had not shown down much at all. When the K hit the turn, I decided I would check raise regardless and go with it. He bet another $50 which I felt was very weak so I raised $150 on top. He did give it a good amount of thought and I feared I made a bad read, however he folded face down and I flashed the sevens. It went quick, but he said thank you. I guess he was worse off than I thought. I racked up shortly after that (+365 tyvm), I had been up nearly 20 hours at that point and I needed to get back to the hotel before I passed out and got rolled. I recall having trouble counting the chips and getting a good idea of what amount was in the pot already. My tired mind even miscounted my cash out chips so I was certainly glad to be ahead at the end.
I’ll leave my travel tale of success at that. I’m out of practice writing and this stupid little post took me 2 days to finish. Hopefully I can motivate to write some more soon.
Have a pleasant turkey day and those of you with kids give em’ one more good squeeze just because, sometimes they need it.
So shortly after that last post I pulled a traditional skidoo move and blasted through the bankroll I built up since August.
Without further justification and explanation, here is 23skidoo’s guide to bankroll mismanagement:
- Get the itch to play poker. This usually coincides with a trip out of town, the wife is out, or you have consumed several adult beverages and you are bored.
- Drop $100-$150 on to the poker account.
- If you are lucky, you will find some of your invisible internet friends to rail or play with in a low stakes SNG or a blogger tournament. This path will usually scratch the poker itch and fill the need for some sort of interaction.
- #3 is the exception to the rule.
- In most scenarios you will vow to play good* and start with a one table low stakes sng.
- Register for a $6 SNG and keep the lobby open at the $11- $22 level just in case**.
- 5 minutes later the $6 SNG is down to 5 players and you are cruising to a win. This is when you go ahead and register for the $11 SNG with your expected winnnings. This move is always +EV
- Now that you’ve got 2 tables going, its a good time to check your email and google reader so you don’t play too many hands.
- After timing out once at the $11 SNG and accidently clicking call on the all in in the $6 SNG. Go ahead and close your email and refocus.
- Bubble the $6 and curse yourself, now you REALLY need to win the $11. Your best shot is to play hyper aggressive and make people fold.
- Curse when you are snap called by QQ holding JTsooted.
- Now that you’ve lost 1/2 to 1/4 of your initial deposit, you need to win a $14 superturbo to break even.
- When you lose that, use the rest of your $ on a SNG and win it.
- After this, go on a massive run until about 4AM when you fall asleep at the laptop up about $400.
- Wait a few days and log back on to be surprised that you actually have cash left. Go through your hand history to see some of the stupid beats you put on some people playing $2/$4 PLO8.
- Try to remember playing $2/$4 PLO8.
- Vow to use your newfound winnings for good, and play sparingly for the next 6-8 weeks building your bankroll to the $1k range.
- Repeat steps 1-14, but this time you start playing $100-$200 SNG’s and lose 4 in a row.
- Put the rest of your cash on a $2/$4 NLHE table and blow it on a flush draw.
- Suspend yourself from FT and wait till next month.
There you have it folks, 23skidoo’s guide to bankroll mismanagement, enjoy!
*This is an assumption that you actually know how to play properly.
**You have to go ahead and prepare yourself that you will get 2 outted for all your chips on the bubble.
I’ve had some ideas floating around my head, and I’m just going to spit em out rather than keeping the stew on and losing the flavor.
I Love You Man
23skidoo’s one word review: PUKE
The wife and I tried to watch it last weekend, I fell asleep both times. Paul Rudd is going to have to earn his way back to my safe list after this one.
I think my wife summed it up the best. We paused the movie about 3/4 of the way through and went out to the back porch to smoke. We chatted about the movie and some other stuff. About an hour later I say something to the effect of how do you feel about turning crap off and ‘hitting the sack’. She retorts ‘I couldn’t care less, I’m fine not giving any more of my life to it’. Apropos
I am a fat bastard
I had a physical 2 weeks ago and I was a bit put off when I saw the scale. 234 is a pretty big number. I’m a big guy so it’s a little bit easier to hide the fat, but jeez, I really let go. I know there are some bloggers out there doing some half assed prop bet which involves a weigh-in in Vegas. I’m cool with everything but the Vegas part. Vegas in mid December just is not on my radar. I have joined Daily Burn at the suggestion of Riggs and started logging my intake. After a week I recognized that I take in more than I burn, easy-peasy. The second week I began watching what I eat and lopping down the portions. I also tried spacing my food out through the day. I’ve dropped to 229, but I’m pretty sure that’s mostly water weight. Next week I’m going to ramp up the exercise. This will be hard as most of my days are full. That’s the crux of exercise, you have to make time and make it a priority and I haven’t quite figured out how to motivate myself to do it.
OK, thats it for now. I know I had more that I wanted to put down, but I’m blanking right now. Time for a little walk….
You kids be careful out there!
My kid is a good sport.
My son, god bless him, has been graced with superior physical gifts. These I attribute more to his mother’s side of the family than to mine. Yes, they grow ‘em big on my side of the family, but it takes a good mixture of physical prowess, desire, and cognitive ability to be a better than average athlete. Those of you who saw me nearly lose a leg trying to jet ski know that is not one of my gifts. I am a big boy, but clumsier than all get out.
My son is big for his age. He is 5’1″ and 115.5 lbs as of this morning. He is also 10 years old.
When they boy was born, our first, my pride and ego swelled. A boy….oh the places you will go. Like 90% of all dads out there I immediately began crafting his future. I saw him a mix between Roger Clemons and Bill Gates. (hey I AM a geek after all) Not too lofty of goals eh?
As soon as he was able to figure out that whole hand and finger deal, I put a ball in his hand. By 4 he was playing T-ball with the YMCA. The boy has lived and breathed baseball since. The great part of this is he actually LOVES it. He watches games with the old man, he knows stats and he is ravenous to learn baseball history. All of his school book reports have revolved around sports. He has a fantastic positive attitude, and is a good teammate.
Baseball has come pretty easy for him until the last 2 years or so. I attribute this to the rapidity of his growth. He has a tough time doing things QUICKLY, but he always does it right. So, this season he has had some trouble making a travel team. His previous team was ~20min away from us, and a little out of our network of friends. My suspicion is the team’s coach had someone else in mind for my son’s position (1st). Regardless, we found ourselves trying out for some other teams and we haven’t found a spot for him for a variety of reasons. I’m still waiting on the last team to give me a call this weekend.
This post started in a different direction, but I’m going to keep going and see if I get where I need to be.
Flashback to June, baseball has finished and we decide to let P play football in the fall. He had been asking for awhile and I finally gave in. I warned him that the practices would be intense compared to baseball, and he would most likely be put on the line for his size.
He was undaunted, and true to his word he has yet to complain about the heat, the aches, the tedium of learning a new sport, or playing less than glamorous positions in the trenches. And dammit if the kid isn’t good.
The coaches have so far gushed over his ability to pick up his positions and made him the teams snapper from game 1. I watched the team play a scrimmage against 6th graders on Wednesday and they held their own.
I’ve gone through the seasons as my son has played and I’ve tried to keep as much levity in tact as I can. In fact I’m not misguided enough to think he has a better than average chance to be a collegiate or professional athlete. I do think I have the duty as a parent and father to allow him every opportunity though. I plan on being as supportive as I can until I’m told to stop. There’s only one person who can tell me that, he holds the cards.
I read a few articles in the past few days that have made me stew over the subject of children in sports. I remember reading the tale of Jericho Scott last summer and the subsequent hand wringing involved in the possibility that a child could be blackballed for being ‘too good’. In my mind it was further proof of the dumbing down of American society. It ties into every thing that is wrong with today and our ‘everyone has to win’ outlook.
I appreciated Craig Fehrman’s followup on Deadspin on Tuesday. His angle makes a lot more sense. The attributes the heightened anxiety and idea of unfairness that is derived form some parent’s expectations of ( or deluded view of) their child’s talent.
It is exactly these expectations that I do not want to foist on my child. It has to be his drive, his determination, and his ability to see him through to where he wants to go. I’m here for guidance, understanding, and support. (and a big fat house to retire into. 
Read Bob Cook’s ‘Your kid is not going pro’ if you liked this, or even if you didn’t.
Take it easy out there kids, have a good weekend.
The Regular Guys were talking about this speech this morning. Somehow I missed it when it was previously aired.
This woman is a congressman, and holds a masters in public speaking.
Congratulations America! Welcome to the idiocracy.