Same company, new job, new building

Same company, new job, new building

A couple weeks ago, I interviewed for a new internal job with my company. I got the job, but it’ll require me to commute with traffic both to and from work. I became increasingly concerned about this since every time I mentioned that I was moving to this new building, the conversation was always similar:

“Yeah, I’m moving down to the Dallas building.”
“Oh really? Where are you coming from?”
“North Plano.”
“Oh. Ah. EEEEEeeeewwwwwwww… That’s rough man [you should just kill yourself and be done with it].”

It was like I’d just punched the other person in the face, their portentous*, vicarious pain was off the charts. Yesterday I left at 4:30, which is about when rush hour starts getting nasty, and I was home in about 20 minutes. Today, I left my apartment at 7:45 and I was at work by 8:00. I’m pretty sure that’s a shorter drive than I was making to the old building, against traffic. I’m not getting too excited yet because this is a short workweek in the middle of vacation season, so traffic could just be unusually light.

One big perk to my new assignment is that I have a “one-man cube”. At my old building, one-man cubes were difficult tough to come by. The unwritten rule is that you have to be an E03 (read: “E-three”) or higher to get a one-man. E01 (new hire) and E02 (that’s me!) employees share a two-man cube. Obviously, the major driver for this “rule” is a lack of space in my old building. If they had the space, I’m sure everyone would at least have a one-man cube and maybe even a prestigious “high wall” appropriation, but because space is short, they’ve created these rules where the new people get to have cube-mates. The other day, I joked that they were going to have to start assigning co-ops and interns to bathroom stalls if the space problem isn’t dealt with. Anyway, there’s plenty of space in my new building, so I have a very spacious one-man cube.

* I wanted to use “portenful”, but dictionary.com says that ain’t a word, which is odd because I’m pretty sure Romeo screams out “I am portentful!” in Romeo & Juliet and “Shakespeare” repeats the word several times in Shakespeare in Love. Actually, I just checked Drew’s Script-O-Rama and neither movie script has the word “portentful” in it. Am I just imagining that I heard that word? I can totally see Joseph Fiennes saying it! I was kind of hoping it was one of those words that Shakespeare just made up, but that maybe it hadn’t survived to modern English. If that were true, maybe I would’ve looked smart or something. Now? Now, I just look like a doofus who’s written more about how he can’t remember stuff than about the topic of his post. Of course, that’s not even entirely true since I’ve clearly written more in the body of this post than in this asterisk (Is this an asterisk, footnote, aside? I have no idea). What’s my problem?

$55 tournament recap

$55 tournament recap

There’s really not a whole lot to report, but I’ll try to put up a recap some time tomorrow. There were 36 people and I finished 6th, just after the bubble burst. I was very happy with my play and I made some very good reads tonight.

Here’s my long, rambling recap:

This tournament seemed to be less about particular hands and more about surviving and taking advantage of situations. That being said, there were a few significant hands:

This time, we started with 6K chips, the first level of blinds was 25/50 and we played 20-minute levels. As it turns out, the 6K starting point would be significant.

First hand of the tourney, I picked up KTo in late position. There were two or three limpers in front of me, so I limped right along. The pot was 275, and I think five of us saw the flop of KT5 rainbow. I felt very good about this flop since the only hand that really scared me was a set of fives. The BB bet out 100 (pretty small bet that made me think he was drawing or had a weak King and wanted to know where he stood), two people called and I bumped it to 500. The BB and one other player called, and I had position for the rest of the hand. The pot was now about 1875 and the turn was a Queen, but I was only moderately concerned. At this point, I’m thinking I’m against a King and some kind of draw. The Queen did fill a draw, but it would’ve been to a gutshot straight and I know both players in the hand well enough to know they probably wouldn’t try to draw to a gutshot against me (they’d know their implied odds were low and that they’re not seeing a cheap river card). Both opponents checked to me and I bet out 800 (in retrospect, this bet was a little small, but I was mildly concerned that KQ may’ve just outdrawn me and I wanted to leave myself some options if someone came over the top for a big raise) and only the BB called. Now, I put the BB on either KJ or QJ as both hands would explain the betting so far. Many opponents will make a little bet out of position on the flop with flush and open-ended straight draws, but they will also make that little bet with something like top-pair, medium kicker. Also, if he had QJ or KJ, I could see him calling my raise on the flop, so he could re-evaluate after the turn. Both hands would also explain a call on the turn since he would have a pair and an open-ended straight draw. The pot is now 3475 and the river was a 9, making the board KT5Q9. The two cards I did NOT want to see were a Nine or an Ace. The BB checked and I quickly checked behind and said something like, “Let’s see it.” He showed QJ and his straight took it down.*

So, after the first hand, I was down to about 4500 chips. The good news was that we started with 6K chips, so I had some room to operate and try to get back in it. Unfortunately, the next few hands I played didn’t help me too much. Twice, I flopped the nut flush draw (once with a gutshot straight-flush draw), I flopped an open-ended straight draw, top pair and a few of other good hands, but I didn’t win any of them. I found myself down to about 3750 near the end of the first level. I was also realizing that I had a calling station to my left, which was going to make it difficult for me to make many moves using position. He liked to cold-call raises and he liked to min-raise regardless of his position (he min-raised several times out of the blinds with mediocre hands). The up-side was that I felt I had a good read on him, so I thought I could outplay him after the flop.

I was hanging in there, picking up the occasional small pot when I picked up 44 in early-middle position. The blinds were 100/200 and I limped because the table hadn’t been raising a lot, but there had been a lot of calling, so I thought I might encourage several limpers behind me to increase my potential set value. My plan back-fired when the guy to my left min-raised it to 400. I wasn’t too thrilled about the raise, but at least it was a min-raise, so I could see a relatively cheap flop. Everyone else folded, so I was heads-up with 44 out of position against the min-raiser. The flop came down KJx with two clubs. I checked and he checked. Initially, I checked just because I hated that flop and I didn’t want to go putting chips into a pot against a calling station when I knew he’d call with all kinds of hands (gut-shot, flush draw, any pair, etc.). Basically, the chances of my bet causing him to fold were extremely low (in fact, he would be correct to call any bet with many of his drawing hands, although he couldn’t necessarily know that) and I was prepared to give up on the hand if he bet… but he didn’t, which made me think I was ahead. Before this hand, he had always bet and raised with hands like top-pair, but he’d called with call kinds of draws. I figured my 44 was good, so I was hoping to see a safe card on the turn. The turn was another King and a club, making the board KKJx with three clubs. I considered this a very good card since I knew he would’ve bet with top pair on the flop and I figured it very unlikely that he had two clubs in his hand. Sure enough, he did the ol’, “Let me check and see if I have a club in my hand” routine, which told me he wasn’t suited and did not have two clubs. I decided to bet out. I figured if he folded, that was a good result since there could be a lot of scary cards to hit the river, but I figured if he called, I was still ahead and could re-evaluate the river. Sure enough, he called (I bet about 500, which was close to half the pot). When he called, I put him on AQ with one club. That hand would explain all the betting in the hand and I’d seen him call bets with nothing more than a gutshot several times already. The river was a non-club blank, but I decided I couldn’t bet for value because even a crazy calling station isn’t going to call bets on the turn and river with air. I decided to check and call a reasonable bet if he took a shot at it. He checked behind and showed AQ (no club), so I took the pot. Not only did I get a few chips in this hand, but my confidence level increased significantly. I guess to more experienced players, putting this guy on AQ would’ve been no big deal, but it seemed like a very good read to me. Also, my read on the BB in the first hand had given me some confidence.

The rest of the night was pretty straightforward, short-stack poker. I made some moves, got lucky, (mostly) got unlucky and found myself at the final table. Once we hit the final table, my cards dried up. I eventually lost count, but I had Q2, Q3 and J2 something like seven or eight times before I busted. I got lucky to outdraw 88 with A6o (straight on the river), AJ with KQ, and I busted with KT vs. AJ.

This tournament was more about psychology than technique. I was short-stacked early and seemed to be missing every draw, but I kept telling myself that I had plenty of room to work and I just had to keep my head. I don’t think I made a bad decision for a significant number of chips, and I made some difficult (but good) laydowns and crucial times. I also made some very good moves to keep afloat, and I was reading hands very, very well. There were also a few hands that, had they gone my way, would’ve given me a legitimate shot at winning the tourney (specifically, I lost an all-in against a shorter-stack with AK vs. AQ, and at the final table, it seemed like the short-stack always doubled-up regardless of how big a dog he was).

So, I bought in for $55 and won $70. I also got some points in our “TOC” race, so I’m currently at number 11, and the top 10 get a seat to the TOC. Basically, if I make another final table in the next two events, I should get a seat at the TOC.

*Later, this same opponent lost a pile of chips when another player hit his open-ended straight draw on the river. What was interesting was how upset this guy was that the other dude had outdrawn him. The betting was very similar to the betting in our first hand, but he didn’t seem to think it was such a great play now that he was the one losing chips. After the hand, the guy to my right said, “Ouch. That was a big pot.” I replied, “Yeah, but that’s exactly how he got most of his chips, so I guess it goes both ways.” Oh, and there was one big difference in the two hands: I didn’t put any more chips in the pot after he’d outdrawn me, but he put quite a few chips in the pot when he paid off a value bet on the river.

I am a Benevolent Leader (?)

I am a Benevolent Leader (?)

I think this thing may be giving me too much credit in the “benevolence” department, but I guess that’s not really for me to decide. It is what it is:

One too many mimosas?

One too many mimosas?

I may’ve driven to work behind Drinky McDrunkerson this morning. The driver in front of me couldn’t seem to keep between the lines despite the unusually wide lanes here (everything is bigger in Texas!). He would center it up, then expertly glide his way over to the rumble strip, then ease back into the roadway. This went on for about 15 minutes before he swayed across the centerline, into the right lane and just decided to stay there for a while. He was kind enough to get off at my exit, then stop a “Yield to ramp” sign, although we were the ramp and there was no other traffic. To his credit, he did have out-of-state tags, but I’m pretty sure it’s customary to drive between the lines in most other states.

I also had the pleasure of driving behind an “over-braker” for a while. These are my favorite. They swoop in from another lane, barely sneaking in between me and the car ahead of me. Then, once they’ve filled that little gap, they hit the brakes because, uh oh!, they’re too close to the car in front of them. Once they’ve made a little space for themselves, they realize that, “Wait a second… the only reason I’m in this spot is that I cut that dude off because he was following by exactly a car length! What if someone else cuts me off? I better fill that gap in front of me!” So, they speed up until, uh oh!, they’re too close to the car in front of them. Rinse, repeat.

New basketball season begins 1-0

New basketball season begins 1-0

Well, the summer basketball league has begun again and most of the usual team is intact.  The previous season’s PPG leader isn’t playing, but we picked up another guy who has some Juco experience.  We started out playing pretty poorly and found ourselves down by 13 early in the second half.  Things started to turn when we finally began clamping down on defense and getting some stops.  We got some turnovers, began executing on offense and starting slowly closing the gap.  Down the stretch, we ran some good set plays, hit some big shots and tied it up to send the game to overtime.  In the two-minute overtime, we outscored them 2-1, all on freethrows.  I felt like we were definitely the superior team for about the last 15 minutes of the game.  It felt good to get the win.

The highlights for me were few.  I only had six points, all on 3-pointers.  The first was in the first half, and it was a nice, high shot over a very tall defender.  The second was pretty critical as it was late in the second half, when we were still down by six.  A player in the left corner passed me the ball and I began to dribble to the top of the key when they double-teamed me.  One defender was a little behind me (on my left) and the other was coming up on my right from the freethrow line.  I dribbled the ball to my right hand, crossed it over behind my back (away from the approaching defender on my right, as he was coming in very low for the steal) to my left hand, pulled up and drained the 3-pointer to bring us within 3.

Anyway, we’re off to a good start, but next week we play the team that beat us by one in the championship game.  It’s gonna’ be a tough game.

$50 re-cap from tourney on June 3

$50 re-cap from tourney on June 3

  • 1st hand is AKo, I raise, get one caller. Flop is rags, I bet he calls. He bets turn, I fold.
  • 64o, limp in late position. Flop is K6x. All check to me, I bet, get one caller. Turn is blank, goes check check (I put my opponent on a stronger 6 than mine at this point). River is 4. He bets 3/4 pot, I call and win with two pair.
  • AQo in SB. Two limpers, I raise to 5x BB, only button calls. Flop is K-high, I c-bet, he calls. Turn is a T, I check, he bets, I fold, he shows T8o (nothing on the flop… no draws or anything else). Button was a very, very loose calling station.
  • TT UTG+1. UTG (loose calling station) calls, I raise to 4x BB, everyone folds to UTG who calls. Flop is King-high. UTG checks, I c-bet, he folds after much “thought”.
  • I’m in SB with 95o, there are two limpers. Flop is T65 with two spades. I bet 1/3 the pot, two people call. Turn is 9 (not great, not awful). I bet 2/3 pot, BB min-raises me, everyone else folds, I call. River is a blank, we both check, he takes the hand with T6o for a bigger two pair.
  • I’m BB with ATo. Everyone folds to SB who completes. Normally, I raise to try to win this right now (this same hand comes up later), but against a calling station, I’d rather see a flop. I check. Flop is three rags, we both check. Turn is a King. SB bets out for 1/2 pot. By now, I have a good read and a few tells on him. I watch his bet, watch his mannerisms, listen to him for a second and raise to 3.5x his bet. He thinks for a long time and folds AQo face up. Normally, I don’t bet against a calling station like this, but I knew he was bluffing and I’d seen him make laydowns when he had absolutely nothing on the turn.
  • Nothing happens for a while and I get moved to another table.
  • I fold about five hands and then get Q2s in BB. Everyone folds to SB who completes. I raise to 3x BB, he calls. Flop is JT6 rainbow. He checks, I c-bet 1/2 pot, he raises to a about 2.5x my bet. I “think” for a minute and fold. He shows 66 for a flopped set. Against this player, this play will win the pot (either pre- or post-flop) about 75% of the time.
  • I get moved back to my original table. First hand, I get TT in MP1. I raise to 3x BB, both blinds call (this is for about 20% or so of my chips). Flop is A3x. Blinds check, I c-bet 1/2 pot, SB calls, BB raises to 2.5x my bet, I fold, SB folds. BB shows 33 for a flopped set (I have to assume was playing for implied odds against the calling station loose guy because I didn’t have enough chips for him to try to hit a set. SB showed A7o for a pair of Aces on the flop. I’m officially short-stacked.
  • Next time I’m UTG (about 10 hands later), I get AA and move in for about 5x the BB. Everyone folds and I take the blinds. Sometimes, I’d get cute here and min-raise or limp, but with a couple guys still to act who I knew would call with Axs, two broadway (especially if suited) or any pair, I like the all-in.
  • A couple orbits later, I get Q6s in the BB. Calling station limps, everyone else folds, I check my option. flop is J29 with two of my suit. I move in, he folds. I would’ve made the flush and doubled-up if he called. Oh well.
  • Next time I’m in BB, my M is about 5, and I have T8s. After much ado, calling station min-raises, everyone folds to me. I make a big mistake and call. He obviously has a very big hand here (I put him on AA, KK, QQ) and I simply didn’t have enough chips to call even a min-raise here. I knew if I hit the flop hard, I’d double up for sure, but I still shouldn’t have called. Flop was AJx all hearts, he puts me all in out of turn and I fold.
  • Next orbit, I’m in SB with 57o. Two players (calling station and button) limp, I complete (getting 7:1 even though I’m very short on chips) and BB moves in. Everyone else folds, I count it down and realize I’m getting 2.5:1 to call. I figured I had to call if I had two live cards. I decided that before I put my chips in, I should try to get a read on BB. He’d been playing VERY tight since I sat down and I knew he wasn’t just making a move. He had a hand and I had to figure out how strong he was. I decided that if I took a read that he had a bigger pocket pair than my 7, I’d fold. I looked at him and immediately knew he was very strong. I decided to keep my few chips and see if I could get them in before the next BB. I folded 57o face-up and he showed QQ. This is NOT normally a laydown I will make. The only reason I completed the SB instead of moving in was that I knew I’d get called by at least the calling station and I just didn’t like my hand that much. I was getting 7:1 before BB’s raise, but only 2.5:1 after BB’s raise and I put him on an overpair. I like the fold, but I know a lot of players would really hate it. It wasn’t an easy laydown.
  • Next hand, I get 67o on the button, UTG limps, I move in (for less than 2x BB), BB calls and limper (calling station) calls. I miss the board, BB pairs Jacks on the river, I’m out.

All that took almost 3 hours and 8 levels of play. I was shocked at how much time had gone by. It just wasn’t my night. I also played a $40 buy-in tourney the next day, but I forgot to re-cap it. 

 

Fun with screaming!

I didn’t officially get the memo, but I’m pretty sure it’s National bring your kids to Chick-Fil-A and let them do whatever they please Day.  My frequent lunch stop is a Chick-Fil-A just down the street from my office.  Generally, the kids and parents congregate near the play area, which is conveniently located on the opposite end of the restaurant from where I sit.  The manager has explained to me that he tried to segregate the place to keep the kiddies from aggravating everyone else (yes, I know the manager guy and no, I don’t care how much of a loser I am).  Today, all the parents must’ve gotten together, given their kids copious amounts of caffeine and decided that the tables near the play area were off limits.  It all began innocently enough, but by the time I finished eating, there were about 4,200 kids sitting within three feet of me, and each of them was screaming, crying, jumping, banging, kicking or just generally being annoying.  Curiously, I could only count about three parents among the crowd, and all of them seemed more interested in just sitting there than keeping their kids away from my table.  Not surprisingly, it was very difficult to read my book, eat, and not want to smash a butterfly.   

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Women’s College Softball will be big

I’m not kidding. I just turned on ESPN, which is currently showing College Softball, and immediately thought, “What are all these pretty girls doing on TV? Oh look, they’re playing softball! … … … Softball isn’t such a bad sport. Did she just make a diving catch?! … … … She’s cute.” They even do a bio for each player.

Reasons it will be big:

  • There are pretty girls
  • The pretty girls look very, very serious, which escalates the unintentional comedy factor and sometimes makes them even prettier
  • It’s on during the off-season for football and basketball
  • The sport gets significant TV time (because of the previous point)
  • This seems like the kind of pseudo-cult thing that twenty-something and college guys love
  • The game is slow enough that viewers can actually get to know each player
  • It’s a lot like baseball, but not handicapped by the things that make women’s basketball so unwatchable

I’m going to open a Women’s College Softball merchandising company now. It would really help if someone made a mocumentary-type movie about Women’s College Softball (a la Dodgeball)… I’ll start working on that, too.

EDIT: There are even girls who get a running start before they swing, like Happy Gilmore hitting a golf ball! How did I miss this for so long?

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My 2006 Final Four experience: Making a run

For the first time since 2000, we coasted through the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. We had home court advantage in Jacksonville and neither South Alabama nor UW-Milwaukee gave us much of a game. Regardless of how we did from the Sweet 16 on out, I think Gator Nation collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief. We finally made it out of the first weekend and we would get to see at least one decent basketball game during the tournament.

Through that next week, I was pretty nervous about the upcoming Georgetown game. Everyone knew they were a good team and they would match up well against the Gators. Their guards were solid, their front-court was big and agile, and their offense was exactly the kind of offense that could take us out of our game plan. The Princeton style offense that Georgetown runs uses the same ideas that Izzo had used to defeat us in years past–slow the game down, take your time on every possession and don’t let the Gators get out and run.

The day of our Sweet 16 game, I recruited a friend of mine, gave him a Gators hat and aggravated him for four straight hours by continuously babbling about great the Gators are. “Man, we’re really fun to watch. I’m telling you, we can really move the ball!” Gator basketball just isn’t the same without other Gators cheering around me. My buddy isn’t a Gator, but I made him an honorary Gator for the evening and he was a good sport about it all. The game went right down to the wire and we finally sealed it when Corey Brewer made a crazy circus shot while falling to the floor as he was fouled. I immediately knew that, should we go on to the Final Four, this would be the requisite game-saving shot that each team needs to go the distance.

That night, we also watched the Villanova game. Seeing them play made me very nervous. This was the team who’d bounced us in 2005 and they were very physical, athletic and their guards could flat shoot. I wondered whether our team could hang with them. They basically just bullied Boston College for 40 minutes and I knew they’d try the same thing against us. The referees were letting them play, and I knew that, historically, we didn’t do well against very physical teams. The reason that Kentucky beat us so many times from 2000 to 2004 was that they just played harder than we did, pushed us around and got into our heads. Villanova would try to do the same thing.

That Sunday, I watched the game from my couch. This time, I couldn’t recruit any other Gators–honorary or otherwise–to join in. This was the most important Gator basketball game in almost six years and I was watching it in an empty living room; it was depressing and exhilarating at the same time. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I’d already started looking at plane tickets to Florida in case we won. It didn’t take me long to realize that we were going to run over Villanova. I almost couldn’t even believe what I was seeing: our team was right in their faces, contesting every shot, and matching their physicality stride for stride. Our guards totally shut them down from behind the arc. This game was a coaching masterpiece for Billy Donovan–all he had were mismatches all night, and yet he found a way to stop them from scoring and ran a coherent, effective offense against their swarming guards. All of a sudden, we were going to the Final Four!

The game hadn’t even ended and I was already calling my friends in Gainesville and leaving voicemails everywhere: “Hey, let me know what y’all are doing for the Final Four. If you’re going to Indy, let me know and I’ll go ahead and book a ticket. If you’re staying in Gainesville, I’ll just fly out there. Just let me know so I can book something.” There was no way I�d be watching a Florida Final Four game by myself, I just wouldn�t let it happen. The next morning, they called back and we decided to rendezvous in Gainesville. I immediately booked a ticket and planned to stay in Gainesville through Monday night. At first, I was a little disappointed that we weren’t going to watch the game in Indy, but then I realized we were going back to the Final Four and I was going to watch it all right in the heart of Gator Nation. I didn’t know what it would be like watching the game in Indiana, but I knew what it was like watching the games in Gainesville back in 2000 and that was definitely where I wanted to be.

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New Orleans trip re-cap

So far, we haven’t done too much. We left Wednesday nigh after watching the Mav’s game in Dallas. We stopped off in Shreveport to get some sleep, then continued on to New Orleans early Thursday morning. We rolled in around 3:00 pm.

First thing we did was bring out the cards and chips for a quick $20 Sit ‘N Go. I had a pretty crummy run of luck and went out fourth of five. Then a few of us went upstairs to get a quick workout before we headed over to Harrah’s to play some satellites.

I decided that the $65 one-table satellites would be my best bet. The sat pays out a $500 tournament entry trip and $50 in cash (the vig. for the tourney). In my first one, I ended up playing with three of the guys I drove out with. That was pretty silly and we vowed never to do it again. There’s just no point in four of us battling it out for one seat against six other people. The main problem was that the four of us were probably the four best players at the table. We hadn’t been seated together intentionally, but we’d need to go out of our way to make sure we didn’t get seated together again.

Anyway, I busted fourth because I caught no cards. I had TT once, played in conservatively and got out as cheaply as I could when an opponent with KQ flopped top pair.

Next, we went to dinner at Besh Steakhouse and had a pretty good time. “Time” being the operative word because we were there for over two hours. Service was really, really slow and I’m pretty sure it’s because the hotel hasn’t been able to staff enough people since Katrina.

After dinner, a few of us decided to try another satellite. This time, only three of us were at the same table and one of the guys was directly on my left. I ended up getting heads up with one of my buddies and we chopped it down the middle. We basically had an even chip stack. If I hadn’t been heads-up with a friend, I probably wouldn’t have chopped.

So now we’re going to register for the $500 tourney and get some breakfast. I hope to do well in the tourney, but it’s going to be a crapshoot. We start with $1500 in chips with blinds at $25 and $25. There are 40-minute levels. I guess we’ll have to see how it goes. I’m in for $350 total.

$500+50 tourney re-cap

Well, the $500 didn’t go as well as I’d hoped it would. I played to the end of the fifth level, but just couldn’t get anything going. The structure was a bit fast, but nothing crazy. We started with 1500 in tournament chips and played 40-minute levels. The following is a list of all the “good” hands I got (I’m obviously stretching a little bit with some of these): 33, 44, 66, 99, JJ, JJ, QQ, AK, AK, AQ, AQ, ATs, KJs. That’s it. I had suited connectors–87s–once in the BB, but UTG+1 raised pre-flop and bet out on a flop that totally missed me, so I dumped it.

I figure I’ll just go through and describe what happened with all the hands I listed above. That should provide a pretty good summary of how the tourney went:

Early on, the guy to my right showed a pretty nasty bluff. UTG had made a decent raise pre-flop and this guy cold-called. Flop was JJ7, UTG bet out about 3/4 of the pot, guy to my right pushed. UTG thought for a long time and finally folded. Guy to my right showed 44 (obviously convinced that UTG had laid down AA or KK).

So, the guy to my right was pretty LAGgy. Blinds were 25/50 and he made a standard raise to 125 from UTG+1. I had JJ, so I re-raised to 400. Guy two to my left thought for a while before folding (after the hand, he said he had 99). Everyone folded back to UTG+1 who thought for a while and showed me AJ.

Fifteen or 20 minutes later, almost exactly the same thing happened, only I had QQ this time. Same result, but guy to my right didn’t show this time.

Some time in the 50/100 level, the guy to my right raised to 275 and I made it 700 to go with JJ. Guy two to my left called and everyone else folded (including the original raiser). Flop came all under cards and I moved in. Guy two to my left folded and said he had AK.

Everyone folded to me on the button with ATs. I raised to 300. Both blinds called and the flop came down KTx. The SB checked, the BB checked and I bet half the pot. Only the BB called. The turn was a Jack, the BB bet around 1/3 the pot and I called. The river was a blank, the BB bet 1/2 the pot and I folded.

Later in the same level, the guy to my right limped UTG+1. I limped behind him with AQo (I respected his UTG limp a lot more than his UTG raises). Two or three other called and the flop came down all low cards. I check-folded. Not long after that hand, we got moved to a different table in a different room. We kept most of our players, though.

At our new table, the first hand I got was 99. I raised it from middle position and took the blinds.

Later, the guy to my right limped UTG, I limped behind with 33 (again, I respected his UTG limps and suspected the rest of the table did too). Several others also limped. When it got to the BB, he moved in for a pretty big overbet. He’d bee doing this sort of thing all day (moving in on limpers, check-raising all-in, limp-re-raising all-in, etc.) and he usually bet a lot more than he should’ve. This time, as soon as he moved in, I thought, “He has junk, but I can’t call with 33.” Fortunately for me, UTG moved in over the top of the BB and the rest of us folded. BB showed K5o, and UTG showed 99. UTG busted the BB with a set of nines.

Next time I took the BB, I had KJs. The player in the CO made it 450 to go, the button called and I called. The flop came down King-high and I checked it, hoping to check-raise all-in. Unfortunately, both the CO and the button checked behind me. The turn was a blank and I thought for a few seconds before moving in. I took it down and had about 2200 chips.

A bit later (with the blinds at 75/150 and my stack around 1800), I had AQo in early-middle position. UTG raised it to 450 and I realized I’d either have to move in or fold. I took a while studying UTG and decided he was pretty strong (I put him on 99+, AQ+). I laid down my AQ because there were still several people to act behind me and I knew UTG would call if I moved in. I didn’t want to race if I could avoid it. As it turned out, the button woke up with AK and moved in; UTG called with TT, but lost when a King hit the board. I felt that I made a good read and made the right laydown given the circumstances.

A couple orbits later, I got AK in the SB. Of course, everyone folded to me and I raised it to 600. The BB folded showing trash.

A bit later, I got moved to a new table. We were just starting the 100/200 level. I folded my first hand, then got 44 in the BB. Several people limped around and I just checked my option. If I’d known more about the table, I probably would’ve moved in here. My problem was I didn’t know how strong the limpers were and I had no idea if any of them was trapping. On balance, I thought it would be risky to push into a possible trap and I liked that several people limped so that my implied odds were very high if I hit a set. I checked, the flop came high cards and I check-folded.

Two hands later, I was on the button with 66. The CO moved in for about half my chips (I think I had 1700 left at this point) and I moved in over the top to isolate him. I figured my 66 was good and I was probably racing, but I figured it was also possible that he could have a smaller pair, or a very weak Ace. Even if I was racing, I was getting a good overlay as a 10% favorite and I was only risking half my chips. Anyway, the guy turned over A7s. He flopped a flush draw and turned an Ace to double-up and leave me with about 900 chips.

Two hands later, I had QJ in late-middle position. Everyone folded to me and I moved in. The BB called with A8 and I doubled-up when I rivered a straight. I was now back up to around 1800 in chips.

Next time I was UTG+1, I picked up AKo. I made a raise to 600 and the player two seats to my right began counting down his chips. He eventually moved in and had me covered. When it got back to me, I called and he turned over QQ. His QQ held up and I was out.

Psychologically, I felt very prepared for this tournament. I wasn’t the least bit nervous or intimidated by any of my opponents. Some of the people playing were really awful poker players. I felt I played well considering I was card dead for two hours. I didn’t take many flops because I just never had cards that liked flops. I only had suited connectors once, and they totally whiffed. Most of the time, I was getting junk (Qx, Kx, Jx, unsuited two-gappers, etc.) and I had very few spots to make any moves. I also couldn’t win a race, and everyone knows those are key to going deep in a tournament. My best hand all day (post flop) was a straight, which won me very few chips. My second best hand was top pair, second kicker. I never flopped a flush draw or a straight draw, never made two-pair or trips and generally just missed every flop.

Overall, it was a great experience and I feel like I played well. I was reading people very well, but my read usually told me they were strong, so I saved chips, but rarely made chips because of my reads. I ended up busting about 230 of 606 after about four hours of play.

And the rest of the weekend…

After the $500+50 tourney, I went to watch some friends play the WSOP Texas Hold ’em Bonus table game. It was pretty entertaining. The house makes a killing on that game. After a few hours of that, we all went to the buffet to get dinner. One of us was still in the $500+50 and doing pretty well. After dinner, I decided to head back to the hotel to unwind. Playing tournament poker really takes a lot of energy for me.

Anyway, I hung out and watched basketball all night. A few of my friends went out to experience the New Orleans night-life and experience it they did. Aside from basketball, a lot of my entertainment for the evening was watching them act like idiots.

While all that was going on, my friend was busy making the final table of the $500+50. They wrapped it up around 1 am when they had 9 people remaining. The final table was scheduled for Saturday at 4:00 pm.

Saturday, we all woke up late and had a plan to go watch our friend at the final table. We all grabbed breakfast and tried to prep him for his day of making big money. Around 3:30, we all went to the theatre at Harrah’s. The final table was on a stage with a single video camera mounted above it to capture the action.

The final table began around 4:00 and our guy busted around 4:08. He had AJs and moved in on the turn when the board was 445A with two of his suit. Unfortunately, his opponent had A5 and he filled up on the river. He finished 9th and cashed for $5500.

After that, we went to get dinner on Bourbon street and then went back to the hotel to play a $1/2 NL cash game. The five of us all bought in for between $100 and $200. I ran my $100 up to over $180 before I caught some bad luck. I ran into trips and sets FIVE times in less than half an hour. This was only a five-handed game where we were self-dealing. I figure we probably played less than 20 hands in this time. Anyway, I went from $180+ down to $60 and then they decided to quit. I was pretty peeved because 1) I had been running so badly and 2) if I’d known we would up and quit after only an hour or so, I would’ve taken my $80 winnings and called it a night.

So, I went back to my room and the other guys decided to out on the town. I watched TV for a bit, then went to bed about 11:00. I didn’t wake up till 1:00 pm the next afternoon. Apparently, I missed out on quite a bit including one of the guys breaking his foot after he decided to run and jump down a flight of stairs. Sleeping seems much safer.

Sunday, the big winner decided to stake a couple of us to play satellites for him. First, all three of us bought into a 1-table $125 satellite that awarded $1100 to the winner. One of my friends sat directly to my left and knocked two guys out in the first few minutes. I hung in there for a while and eventually doubled my initial stack. I ended up busting after I made a solid read on a guy and moved in on him with A4s after he min-raised in EP with J9s (same suit as mine). He spiked a 9 on the flop and took most of my chips. The other guys didn’t make money either as they both took nasty beats to bust out. The guy who ended up winning the satellite was all-in at least three times with a dominated hands and he survived anyway. There’s a lot of luck involved with winning one of those satellites.

After the $125, I went to a $65 and did about the same. I didn’t play a hand for the first two levels (which is an eternity in a short-stacked satellite), but I got lucky to double-up then knock a guy out with AKs and AQs within a few hands. I ended up busting when I bluffed off my chips. I had KTo UTG and raised it up. The SB immediately said, “Not too much!”, which I’d heard him say earlier in a similar situation when he called with J9o. I said, “Not too much. One-fifty is just right.” He called and everyone else folded. The flop was 666 and he checked to me. I bet out about 60% of the pot and he moved in. I did the math and realized I had to call because I was getting 3:1 on my money and I figured I had 6 live outs. At first, I thought maybe he put a good read on me, but I think maybe he just went with a hunch that I didn’t have a pair. He had 33 and I didn’t improve. I don’t really like him check-raising there because he is almost guaranteed that he’ll have to fade the turn and river cards (if he’s not already behind). Anyway, I busted on that hand. Later, I realized I should’ve just kept my mouth shut when he said something to me. I think I gave away too much info by answering him pre-flop.

After that, we all went to get some dinner. During dinner a few of us decided to go back and play some blackjack and Bonus Texas Hold ’em. The guys each gave me $100 so I could try my luck with card-counting. They made it clear that they didn’t care if I lost it all, so I didn’t mind gambling their money. I played a $15 table with $300, which is a pretty short stake. The count only got moderately high once and I lost all my money within about two hands. My friend was sitting to my right and hit a blackjack on both of the hands while I got dealt a 12 and a 14 (both with my first card as a Ten). I think I can do well at card-counting with some practice.

After that, we all went back to the hotel and crashed. We got up at 7:00 Monday morning and started our trip home. We got back to Dallas about 6:30.