And Then The Sharks Came

http://www.memoriesofwar.com/veterans/rosenstiel.asphttp://www.memoriesofwar.com/veterans/rosenstiel.asp

Read this touching story if you want to learn something about fear, courage, and survival.  Also just some perspective on life. 

Catching up on the Weekend

Pretty uneventful weekend, dealt Friday night at Legion, knocked out on the final table bubble (10th place).  Could not win a race.....10/10 (me) vs. A/Q, then all-in BB with Q/3....board was 4/5/6/7/x and was knocked out by 8/10...same player who took most of my chips with AQ.  At least I got $22 back for dealing.

Was wildly optimistic after getting my 5th royal flush online earlier in the day.  Just goes to show you that cards can turn on you.

Drove to Portland Sunday for an afternoon with daughter & grandkids.  Nice to see them, but a lot of driving for a few hours visit.  Stopped at Trader Joe's, my favorite grocery store, to shop for some gluten-free products.  After reading an article in Prevention magazine decided that gluten may be part of my problem since I had nearly all of the symptoms they listed.  If nothing else, see myself losing some weight by giving up virtually all the foods I love.

Only 2 weeks till Vegas.  Countdown begins.

Problem you haven't had since the '90's

Sunglasses at the Poker Table

You Had One Job, Part 2

Source: littlewhitelion.com via Nicole on Pinterest

One of funniest Carson shows ever

So, here is "Lonesome George" Gobel, coming in at the very end of the show, following Dean Martin and Bob Hope.  He literally steals the show with his low key humor.  The line:  "Did you ever feel that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?" was one of the wittiest ever, and perfect for the situation he was in.  Gotta love it, and miss those times.  I would trade every late night host since Carson for one year of Johnny.

Super Bad Beat

This is the first time I have ever had a super bad beat, or even been at the table with one.  Too bad I was not playing at a major casino.

Below is the peril of raising, ramming and jamming with the under-full.    The only reason I did not cap on the river because I thought he might have quads!!!

Badass of the Week- Amazing History

http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=84324331289


This is some amazing reading.  Who knew?

Writing Inspiration

Source: 9gag.com via The on Pinterest

You Had One Job

Source: themetapicture.com via Annabelle on Pinterest

Untitled

Check out this link about abandoned casinos.  Where do I come up with all of this?

http://weburbanist.com/2013/04/14/all-bets-are-off-10-crapped-out-abandoned-casinos/

Legion bubble & why Omaha H/L makes you a better holdem player

I played very well at the Legion on Friday night....until the final table when lapses in judgement ended with me bubbling on the money in 7th place.  I dealt table 2, so will have some tip rebate money coming to me.  The hand that did me in was re-raising a player with about 1/2 my chips (I was probably 2nd or 3rd leader) with AJ suited.  Had done serious damage at the other table with that hand, knocking players out twice.  Really did not think it through...he had KK and could not find an ace.  Had I folded, another player with 9/9 would have called, eliminating him with a 9 on the river.  As it was, the winner of that hand notched me out of the money.  I also ran A/10 button raise into a shove from 10/10 and overcall with A/K.  Got away from my drawimg dead hand, but cost me a third of my chips.  Final hand shove with K/10 suited, two callers, one has AK so king on river no good.

Now, to the Omaha game.  Omaha is all about the texture of the flop, and selecting good starting hands.  The best starting hands (AA23 double suited), can be destroyed by a bad flop (think 9/10/J in  another suit).  The key, really, is in choosing when to chase after seeing the flop and always thinking "what would hitting my hand do for another player", or, "what kind of hand would be happy with this flop?".  Those are questions that we need to ask ourselves on the holdem table.  After playing Omaha for a while, the texture just sort of jumps out at you.  Have not played for a long time, but recently signed up for free play on pokerstars and now enjoying my daily Omaha fix.

Another thought about Omaha and Holdem is that in Omaha you can be fairly sure that if the board pairs, or the third suited card hits the river, and there is a lot of action, you can safely (and cheaply) fold your two pair, straights, and sometimes even small sets (though most of the time you are at least calling).  If the full house or quads are possible, they are probably there.  And the flush?  Ya sure you betcha.  It is usually safe to fold second or third nut flushes depending on the action.

Poker Songs

One of the chapters in my poker book is:  Songs to listen to on your Ipod while playing poker.  In thinking about this, I have several:

1.  Pokerface, Lady Gaga
2.  The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
3.  Lilly, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, Bob Dylan
4.  Las Vegas Turnaround, Hall & Oates




There are more, which I will add to this post later, just wanted to get started.  I could not find Dylan performing Lilly....or Joan Baez (the best cover in my humble opinion}, so here is another cover if you are not familiar with this song.

Teddy Roosevelt Quote

Hosed

Dontcha just hate it when you get hosed late in a tournament.  This was an intriguing online tourney that paid only one place, but it was for a live TV event paying $300,000.  Wow.  With a starting field of 1561 players, my hopes were pretty low.  After 3 1/2 hours still in it with about $65000 in chips.....notice chip leader at 373 K.  Definitely time to gamble with huge blinds and antes.  I had about 9 big blinds.   Anyway, shoved with A/Q and called by A/3 unsuited.  He hit his 3 and I was gone.

The 13 Reasons for Raising

• Build the pot
• Force out opponents
• Steal the Blinds
• Semi-Bluff or Bluff
• Get information (How good is my hand?)
• Improve betting position
• Isolate a Maniac
• Get a FREE card on the next betting round
• Force out a bluffer on the river
• Buy more outs
• Protect your hand
• Create or change your image
• As a psychological weapon 

How to Lose $400

Losing session last night.  Here is a brief recap:

1.  Raised straddler with K/Q.  He calls (naturally). Flop is K/5/5.  He has 5/2 offsuit.  $80 loss.

2.  Raised with J/J.  One caller (Thuy).  Flop is A/x/x.  I bet $20, she calls.  Check/Check, she has pocket Queens.  $50 loss.

3.  Loose raiser, I call with A/J.  Flop is A/x/x.  He has A/A.  I lose $80.

4.  Playing A/Q of diamonds, player goes all in for $20 on flop of J/10/7 all diamonds.  Frost calls with J/7 offsuit.  I raise $20, he calls.  Turn is a 7.  $60 loss.

While this is "only" $270 of my loss, you get the idea.  Consistently running into either bigger hands, draws that came in, or draws of mine that didn't.  In the meantime, quads hit a couple of times, king high straight flush, etc. by the other players.

There is no worse game than the loose aggressive one played late night at the Moose.  People will call raises with jack shit and raise with garbage.  Add to that 7 people on every flop and it is disaster.

O.K. So Here is More

I have not been playing much live poker for the past two weeks, so really nothing to report.  My family reunion in San Diego was awesome, so great to see all the relatives.  We stayed at the (Lawrence) Welk Resort in Escondido.  Very nice condos with several pools, tennis, golf, etc.  Mostly I just used the hot tub.  Our return flight on Monday was uneventful until we got to Sacramento.  They announced that the flight was overbooked and were looking for a volunteer to be bumped.  The initial offer was a later flight to Las Vegas, overnight accomodations with a connection to Portland the next morning.  But wait, there's more.  Also reimbursement for your ticket ($119.80 in my case) plus a $300 travel voucher good for a year.  You may ask, why I did not jump all over that like shrimp at a buffet?  Simple, I had the keys to my son-in-law's car in my pocket.  I was to get to PDX first, take the Max train where the car was parked, then pick the crew up at the airport later that night.  Darn.  Then, they offered a flight to Phoenix with a connection to PDX getting in at 12:40 that night.  Still a problem for me, but Helene was game, so off she went.  Planning to use the tickets to go to Vegas sometime or she will use to visit her sister in NY.  Life is good.

Played last night for several hours, winning $150 in the cash game.  Playing squeaky tight had aces three times, kings once, and queens twice, winning every pot.....small due to my large preflop raises, but would rather win a small pot with them than lose a big one.

Played a.m. Moose today, finished in 5th place:  pocket 10's taken down by A/9 who called my re-raise all-in.    

River Booty Call

"The river just gave me a booty call.  Apparently it is not done screwing me."