Sleep With the Fishes, Dine on the Whales

So day two, I knew I had some work to do.  I don't remember too much of it early.  I know Michael Brawley, the gregarious Beau Rivage dealer was at my table, and being active.  We never really played any hands together and he got busted after what looked like some bad luck.  The rest of the table seemed an improvement from the night before and after an early hit to my stack I grinded it up. Later I got on a table with an Internet kid and the player in the 1k who I think gave me the compliment about not tilting after that big hand.  I'm sure ya'll remember that from a couple of posts ago (ha).  I got shortish with some active players chipping away at me and then me and that gentleman got in a hand together. With KQ or KJ, I flopped I think a flush draw with a gut shot and two overs.  I'm sure I'll be criticized for this but I didn't get it all in there.  With the stack sizes and the read of strength I got  I felt he was calling any shove so I lost my fold equ

Lots of people, surprisingly and flatteringly, have asked when i was going to wrap up the IP series... I haven't even gotten to the Main Event.  I'm going to do so today.  One quick sidenote, that I  meant to include before, when I was at the table with Captain Tom and Kathy Liebert, shortly after I called her down with Queen high, and then she got bad beated (I believe) she remarked to him, "Remember when we used to be good at poker." Nice little self-deprecation there (once upon a time I'd confuse the words self-deprecation with self-defecation which is an entirely different sentiment but anyway...).  Obviously, she was joking and I'm confident she knows she still has "it" but Captain Tom wasn't on the same wavelength, he informed her he was still pretty good and started rattling off some scores in the past year.  Okay, after an aborted nap I went to down to see Gene play.  Somehow the donk chipped away at him and then prevailed.  I felt

Way overdue on my follow up... unfortunately, I just got time for a short post (which turned into a long off topic rant)  been tied up with other stuff since the IP tournaments.  I'll explain later.  Now, I'm just going to bitch.  Hope I don't sound like a 99%er (cause I only agree minimally with a small portion of their complaints... like 1% of them).  Anyway, todays rant is about rampant coporate greed and conning you by citing the environment or charity everyday and most people not even seeing it--three complaints: 1.  Starbucks doesn't issue receipts, locally.  Used to be they'd ask but the last few times now you have to ask.  Other stores are following their lead.  Yes, they are saving minimally a small portion of printing costs but it adds up with all their franchises.  They'll tell you they are saving trees.  Why this is bullshit.  Ever worked for minimum wage?  I have and of my co-workers probably 1 out of 4 would or did steal if they could get away

Did it seemed like I just upped and disappeared?  Well, I did.  At a very late moment we made a family decision to go to Disney World.  Found a cheap trip through the mouse and instead of waiting a year or two for another time, made the most of the last week of my wife's maternity leave.  Sorry, I left this blog dangling in the wind (so too GCP) but despite my intentions to update things during my two year old's naps I discovered two year olds don't take naps at Disney World. But I'm back...  Surprised by the number of hits I've gotten in my absence so I must reward those of you who have been checking in. Anyway, with my memory a little less clear let's get back to the 1k.  They move to a table with Chris Tyrba , (who's on fire this year), bracelet winner Captain Tom Franklin and on my left maybe the best women's player ever, bracelet winner  Kathy Liebert .  I love her outspokenness on twitter and I respect her chip on the shoulder and her game.  Sh

Okay... It's coming I promise.  Blogtacular posts await.  Just have to play catch up on all the family time I missed.  So, we'll get started a little bit today and come back to wrap it up in a post or two later. Let's get the niceties out of the way, I have a very special wife who thought I was just going to Biloxi for a night or two last week only for me to return late Monday night.  My heavier pockets eased all the stress of the trip and for the first time she got to enjoy sweating me on the Internet in a poker tournament but I still need to fill up on some quality time with my two young uns.  Leaving her with a newborn and son who's in and out of his terrible twos is quite a bit different than life was a couple of years ago when I'd take off for a tournament with no worries.  Big thanks to my in-laws for helping out. Yes...  I had a hell of a run at the IP which I need to encapsulate.  I hate posting after wins because it feels self-indulgent and bragging bu

Short and to the point... Me?  Doubt it. I just wanted to give a shout out to Gene D.  I know the 13k score was nice for him, but he really wanted first.  Sucks about tournament poker usually exactly one guy is thrilled with the outcome.  Second and third always have a touch of bittersweet to them.  I know Gene well and he usually takes his eliminations hard.  I hope in this one he realizes how well he must have played to have survived an almost 500 person field and finish third.  Looking forward to reading his blog and seeing some hands and what he was going through mentality during the days. Personally, the close but no cigar side of variance has been rearing it's ugly head.  I haven't been able to get anything going... though I did win a $50 voucher to the mega satellite in one of my near misses recently lol.  Should be back at the IP soon.  Might rendezvous with Ross L. Fortunately, for you short and sweet-ers I'm a little too tired to write too much more.  I had

Ben Franklin didn't just fly kites to get shocked by lightning as way to get high, crack the liberty bell to upset Paul Revere, and become the ambassador to France because of a love of pastries, he was actually a pretty smart guy.  Actually, Gentleman Ben might not have done any of those things or had those reasons for doing it, but invariably somebody out there believes that he did and guess what if you try to explain why he's wrong, particularily on the internet, he'll only believe in his side all the more. Been enjoying a pyschology site that suggest that we are wired pretty strangely.  One thing I picked up was that when people believe in something stongly, sometimes evidence to the contrary only makes them believe all the more.  They'll doubt the source, doubt the data, and write off the critic rather then ammend their way of thinking.  As news sources have gotten narrower in their viewpoints it's become harder for a liberal to accept anything Fox says as acc

milk man Lots of things happening at once in my life: The biggest and most important is the birth of my second child.  Awesome.  I have a daughter now and she's a late night partier.  Yes, up all night, sleeps all day which hopefully won't be repeated in her college years.  My wife, who has become a vending machine, somehow seems to do 100 things in a day and not get any sleep.  She's up substantially more than me because, well, because my nipples don't work the same way hers do.  Interesting fact though, some men have been known to develop milk when the mother of a newborn is out of the picture.  Which answers the question from Meet the Parents "I have nipples too, Greg, can you milk me?"  Well, yes. Fortunately, my wife isn't out of the picture so I'm not becoming some sort of mutant man and lactating.  However, I do advise for future fathers to not mention being tired or wanting a nap if your wife is nursing away all night.  Granted there

You may be a racist if support this man! Couple of idiots in the news this past week, I hate it when people use bad logic, and dumb people just blindly follow it because they have similar political opinions and they look up to these people.  This week, to be fair and balanced, I'll go after a liberal and a conservative.  I'm sure liberals will come on here agreeing with the liberal and conservatives with the conservative and call me an enemy of both.  Maybe I am an enemy of both parties in a two party system that promises everything to their voters and delivers nothing.  It's almost comical to me... people blindly put faith in their parties... when both parties fail, catastrophically over a period of decades, to do what they campaign for.  I've said it before on here, but if I were some nebulous group of rich and powerful, the easist way to control a populace and retain power would be to give them two options... those options split on idealogoy, and mask themselve

I have one thing to discuss this week poker wise.  I've been counterfeited quite a bit recently and I think that should be my new nickname for the week Counterfeited Bill.  One of the hazards of being somewht good at poker is you figure out when you are beat, know you can't get a person off the hand with a bluff, know you don't have any implied odds to make the call, and make the correct fold... why? Because you'll rarely do the counterfeiting... so next week it's unlikely I'll call myself Counterfeiting Bill.  That means you'll give a disproportionate amount of body blows than you receive.  Course it also means you'll make more money than the suckers chasing hands when they shouldn't long run. This brings me to my topic this week, and what I think this is the area of discipline that is hardest in poker.  You get counterfeited all day.  Doesn't matter if you price them off the draw or you price them in to risk getting a little more money before

Recently wrapped up the Dead Money Poker Tournament satellite table #1 in NOLA.  Our table only had seven players after a couple of late drop-outs but we played it out with a little higher buy-in for the seat at the final table.  The aggressiveness of my wife's cousin, gave him a lot of chips early on, and I thought maybe an inside track to win the seat.  I also hit a few hands and connected on flops, that I've recently been missing, to chip up.  He's a player I don't like to mix it up with in some respects because, I can't ever seem to know where's he at, which is a credit to him.  We dueled in one big hand where I probably should have extracted more money if not for a fear of where he was.  Usually, he does the betting for you so I was going to let him inflate the pot.  I raised with J10 suited, from the button he said "I'll play with you, Bill."  Forwhatever reason, I thought that meant he had a big hand.  Trapping with AA or KK was possible b

Computers talking to each other.  Fun, stimulating conversation there.  The beginning of the end? Here's some links that interest me: Minority Report is here.  Predictive software on supercomputers are capable enough to predict riots, revolutions and civil upheavel.  How long til people have to spam the internet to run interference on the next spot of revolt? That's Levitation Holmes .  From the folks that brought you invisibility cloaks now comes flying carpets.  There is something called Casimir force and the science behind it is quite interesting if you like quantum physics and metamaterials that theorhetically could make levitation happen at a reasonable expense of energy. David Einhorn gives up the Mets .  You remember the poker playing donating to charity main event winnings hedge fund manager who was going to save the Mets, seems he's given up that pursuit.  Also, seems like the gild is off the lily in his day job too. This one goes to 11 .  Harry Shear

Then he bets a brick river card for less than half of my remaining stack and left me 1600 behind. Nice value bet, jive Turkey. The Internet kid and the donkey sneer at his play and whisper "Yeah, he's got the goods but you have to call at this point." Suddenly, as I relieve myself of additional chips, the fat Brit chick Adele starts singing in my head, "You could have had it all." I call. He shows 6-6-6. I dispiritedly throw away my hand. I grind a short stack until almost the dinner break. The guy next to me had been in my ear for three levels about my resilience in folding, basically teasing my patience as my ammunition marched away in blinds and antes... yeah I know I'm under 10 blinds again. The pimply faced Internet kid in my brain is throwing a fit.  He and a disapproving Dan Harrington are telling me just to throw the chips in.  Then the guy next to me seems to make it a chorus.  I'm thinking... Yeah, I know it's sucks for you that you

So I've played at the Beau and at Harrahs in the last week or so. Heard the action at the Beau has been fast and furious in the cash games. Wish I had time to sit down for a spell. Considering how I run there maybe not. While at the Beau, I had a long conversation with Reid G. He alerted me to a thread on 2+2 peppered with a lot of Gulf Coasters. Think we need to try and recruit Gabe Costner to be a blogger. He gets people reading and talking that's for sure. I spent several hours reading every post in that thing, compelling stuff. Back to the Beau, I thought their Sunday tournament would have a huge turnout and actually got there an hour early so I wouldn't have to wait in line. Mistake. I didn't take into account just how many people would be sitting it out to play the heads up tournament later in the day. The tournament on the whole was very strange, I picked up some decent hands in late position frequently in level one and basically bricked every time. But it w