No red on the monitor + weekend duty = Time to post.
Up to this point, the first step in getting home in the morning has been to take a right out of the parking lot from work. This morning it was with great joy that I looked right, cursed the poverty and squalor of our former neighborhood, and turned left towards home.
When I was younger, there were a few years when our family lived in a wonderful (and quite large) old house. It’s hindsight that allows me to use the word wonderful, as back then I couldn’t have cared less and wasn’t necessarily expected to. However, once we left that house for ostensibly greener pastures, there were quite a few years where my mother went on and on about how much she missed our old house. The kid that I was wanted to wrap her head in duct tape (minus the death-inducing consequences of such an action, of course), but taking that left turn away from rental hell brought the realization that the man I am now finally understands the depth of her disappointment. It never ceases to humble me when I realize (for the umpteenth time) that no matter what I think I understand today, next week or next month or next year will bring a new clarity that reinforces the fact that I’m never nearly as smart as I think I am.
It should only take a few hours before I forget and continue traveling down the usual path of wild pontification, thus bringing things back on their more usual track.
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Sitting in the new house amidst the scattering of boxes and unfinished improvement work that must be done, our bodies and minds wracked with the exhaustion brought on by the exertions of the last few months, we kicked back watched Dave Chappelle’s Bloc Party. Not sure why the reviews were so tepid, I found the thing highly entertaining. And when the Fugees came out at the end?
Jeans, meet cream. Just awesome. Watch it if you haven’t yet. (I’m still mourning the fact that there won’t be a Season 3, even though I must admit it he quit at the right time)
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Since Vegas there has actually been some poker, as well. My roll took a larger than normal hit a couple of weeks ago at the 7-Stud tables on both Full Tilt and Stars. Disappointing, yes, but the games were SO FUCKING GOOD. I’ve always read about players in situations where they may be losing but stay seated anyway because of the quality of the table, and this was exactly where I found myself. Capped pre-flop most hands, no one folding, etc., it was just fantastic. All except the losing part, that is. People raising before the river with one out, and hitting. Multiple times. It was certainly a crappy way to get back into the swing of things, especially since these tables were a step up from the usual. Not a step up in quality play (I was surprised to find it was actually worse in this instance), just in stakes. Methinks the extended poker break I’ve been on over the last few months was one of the best things that could have happened. Even though I was getting killed by the world’s thinnest draws, tilt was nearly non-existent for once. I look forward to tackling those tables again.
And now, for those of you with infinitely more poker knowledge and experience than I, I give you the following:
After arriving home from work a couple of days ago, I found myself wanting to play poker for a bit instead of sleep. At the same time, I felt I was too sleepy to play for actual money, and lo, there was an email about the Moneymaker Freeroll on Stars in my Inbox. Sure, why not. I’ll bust and then go to bed. 3.5 hours later there are less than 100 people left, with the top 50 getting into the Round 2 freeroll. The far and away chip leader is directly to my right, playing like an ass and possessing card rack qualities to which I can only aspire. I am 37th out of 56 and have just under 8 BB’s. I’m in the big blind and get A7o. Folds around, and here comes the min raise. I push since a) I know I’m ahead, and b) the guy just folded to someone else who re-min-raised his original min-raise on the previous hand. Of course, he calls with K2o, sacrifices a kitten to the cardrack demons that live to torture pure hearted individuals like myself, catches, and IGHN 5 places away from my seat into Round 2.
The first thing I said to myself was, “Right play, wrong result.” However, I’ve been thinking over the last couple of days that this line of thought may not be correct. Should I have tried to just hang on into the seat given my placing? I’m certainly not unhappy with my overall performance given the fact that I waded deep through a field of 10,000, but I would like to know if my move was idiotic, or rather, the degree to which it was idiotic because the more I think about it the more I’m convinced it was the height of stupidity.
(One of these days I’ll actually get the time to sit and read my Harrington books that I bought so long ago)
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