Tales from the Table

Keep asking and Please be Nice About It

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:50:17 GMT

I was playing some Omaha8 on Fulltilt this morning and I would like to say that it was going well but it was a parade of missed redraws, counterfeits and underfulls but this isn't about bad beats but about table manners. I had one guy that was calling and raise with just about any 4 cards and had the luck of hitting a bunch of hands and a few with me. I busted out and bought in for another buy-in and was still not running to well when the guy at the table called me a moron and asked why I didn't buy in for more. What is the logic in that? I thought I was playing all of the right hands and not letting the bad beats effect my play and if he looked at the hand history he could see that I was playing quality hands. His play was completely transparent and I almost always knew where I stood against him I just needed more time to hit some better hands but alas my daughter was tearing the house apart and needed my attention. If he thought that I was a fish why wouldn't he say "Nice try sorry I sucked out on you." or "Better luck next time" I usually only keep the chat on so I can have confirmation on how much of a bonehead some of my fellow players are. Rule number one of playing with fishy types don't tap on the aquarium and piss them off if they are making you money. Just encourage them to keep trying istead of making them feel stupid and having them leave table or even worst, start playing better.

Another Day a New Game

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:14:28 GMT

It's three days after the elections and we are all still standing, a bit more to the left, but still standing. I don't think that any group hugs and hand holding Kumbahya singing sessions are about to come about, but I think that this has to be better for the country and the world at large in some small way. I don't expect, even though I would love to see a flurry of subpoenas and high level officials and war mongering profiteers in leg irons working the chain gangs picking up garbage on the side of our nations highways. We all have our dreams and one never knows. The one thing that I would like to put out to the new leaders of Congress is that you are now the keepers of the faith that the other guys blew in a big bad way. This isn't time for retribution like it was in the 90's (thanks Newt) it's time to bring respect and credibility to something that more then likely has be lacking in D.C. since well, forever.

On a better note, I have been working off my reload bonus on FullTilt, not that I have had much time with work and taking care of my daughter but I have been doing most of it playing O8 and enjoying it more than Hold'em these days. I have been holding my own and I like the challenge of 4 cards two hands and a bunch of redraws. Even though when you are running bad in this game you tend to curse the poker gods more often then not but sometimes you scoop the pot with a hand you think is only a one way winner and it makes up for all of the other counterfeited hands and crazy suck outs. Most of the play at my level is loose/passive so you can play a bunch of hands cheap and make some post flop moves that trap someone with second best one way or the other. I have to admit that I was a total donkey when I first started O8 and I was more than likely someone's money maker, but I now have a better understanding of the game and I like the type of action that it gives. The next time I go up to Foxwoods I am thinking of playing it live instead of my usual Hold'em game and see how it goes.

Good Night and Good Luck!!!

A Brand New Day

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:42:37 GMT

A new day has dawned in America. I still think there is a whole hell of bunch of things to accomplish and so much of the the constitution that has been trample on in the last six years that I don't envy the task ahead of the Democrats. I approached the elections this year with more anger then I have in the past and it only angered me more the way the administration played politics with the war and trying desperately to label democratic's as weak in unpatriotic cowards. I hope beyond hope that Congress can find a way to meet in the middle and give all of us Americans a change to live happier, safe and most importantly more optimistic lives. I also hope that this election returns some credibility for the USA in the eyes of other nations around the world that view us as a reflection of this president and maybe will understand that we are not our president and when push comes to shove the people can rise above the rhetoric and do what is in the best interest of people and restore balance and accountability when it is called for.

I don't want to sound like a tree hugging hippie form the sixties but to quote one of the great poets to come out of that time, "All I am saying is give peace a chance". Americans both regular citizens and politicians need to participate in a collective group hug and agree to disagree, extend an olive branch to set an example that if we can do it at home we can do it abroad. In these most uncertain and unstable times we need to be advocates of peace and trust in order to be less hated and that will do more to ensure our security domestically as well as in foreign lands.

Am I Clever or What?

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:51:09 GMT

"If you are too clever you miss the point entirely" Tibetan saying

I think this can sometimes sum up my whole experience of playing poker. When you think to hard about a situation or experience you sometimes miss the point of the whole exercise. What is the true point of playing poker and why do I like it? Is it just to make money or to challenge myself? Why have I done anything in this life anyway? Well maybe that last question is a bit much for this entry but it is worth asking anyway or am I being to clever?

I took up karate because I wanted to get in shape and do something more than push iron around with no purpose in it then just to gain muscle. As I began to do more with karate I began to realize that the goal of getting my first black belt was not the only reason that I kept showing up to class it was because it gave me a certain balance that I could not find elsewhere. I didn't think about it at the time it just happened and became a part of me without me even taking notice. I have yet to find that in my poker playing.

I think to take my poker to the next level I need to attach some other purpose behind why I play. As I start to play I enjoy the challenge of a new game and do well until I think to much about what it is that I am doing. The first sit'n go that I played I won and I don't know how I did it at the time. I played with my gut and didn't try to hard and all of the pieces fell together. After that I had a run of thinking I had it figured out and proceeded to lose everything that I had won that night. I began to be to clever. I have since played them and experienced a +EV since. It wasn't until I attached a personal goal to playing these games that I started to achieve success with them. In the next couple of days I am going to decide what my true goals in playing poker are and try to get back to the simple joy of playing and not to work to hard at it.

It's A Crime

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:13:15 GMT

Online poker is officially under siege and will become a crime 270 days after signing and it's a crime that this government doesn't realize there are many other important issues at hand rather then if I win or lose money at a hand of poker from the privacy of my home. The WTO has a hearing on the issue in December of this year that the US is in a trade treaty dispute and the island of Antigua is leading the charge. Hopefully some large countries i.e. the United Kingdom will get behind this issues as well. Once the election season is over and the WTO issue resolved this may all become moot and chalked up to election year pandering. Why can't they just regulate and tax it and make us all happy?

Here and Now

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:23:49 GMT

Is poker a metaphor for life? Some days I think so and I have been thinking about this as I analyze my game more. I think that I am a solid player and as long as I pick the game that is right for me I can turn a profit. Everyone these days have been playing hold’em and that is what got me to the tables at first but I have found that it is not my best game and stud and stud hi/lo8 is turning a better profit for me. I guess even though I seemed to have jumped in the poker craze I still have to go against the grain and do what is right for me. I think there maybe more interest in the stud games with the WSOP 50K HORSE tourney and the fact that pokerstars is offering HORSE as a ring game. Since then I have noticed more traffic at the stud tables.

I have learned to get my ego out of the situation when I am playing. I no longer gun for anyone in particular when I’m playing. I try to take every situation or hand as they come. I try to do this in life as well. Not to get all Zen on you I try not to think about things that I can’t control. The past is gone and the future hasn’t happened the present is the only thing. I only have control over my reactions to the current situation. I try to think when I am playing poker that I am taking in all of the action and what is being done at the table and react to it as it happens. I may raise or fold because of what a player does at that moment based on past action but not because he did something to make me go on tilt, but because it is the right thing to do at that particular moment. I am not saying that you have to play every hand in a vacuum because you will become a loser very fast if you do that. Winning or losing a hand should not effect why you are staying in the next hand or not. Once the chips are in the pot they are no longer yours and once the hand is over you can’t play it again no matter how hard you try.

Have you ever noticed that when you make a mistake you mind is not on the task at hand? You are thinking about the kids, your girlfriend or what you are going to make for dinner. Focusing on the game and the people that are right there for you to react to is essential to winning. Leave the problems and distraction somewhere else, zero in and be in the moment.

Good Night and Good Luck!

Out of the frying pan and into the fire

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 13:25:39 GMT

First entry and what can I say, yet another place to blog and I am just one of a million or so who thinks he will stand out from the rest. Like that is going to happen!!! I will be happy if a couple you hang around for my ranting and hopefully astute observation on what it is to be a person in this world. What might be important to you may not be to me but what is important to me seem complete inane to you. Isn’t that just the American way now isn’t it?

I don’t know what I will be writing about just yet but with elections coming up and the current climate in the world I get on a bandwagon or two or it may be total crap. I am not going to put a label on it just yet and just explore my voice as a writer.

Thanks for visiting and Good Night and Good Luck.