eureka!

killing some time in the city yesterday i decided to look in some used book stores. upstairs in the game section i found gold. for just $12 i found a first edition "book of tells: the body language of poker". it's in mint condition; no dog earred corners, no marks, nothing, nada. the dust jacket is wrapped in plastic, like it was going to be in a library or something. it was like i discovered a little nugget. can't wait to read it.

movie musings

first thing. lauren bacall was a beautiful woman.

second. a quote.
will graham: you had ... disadvantages.
hannibal lecter: what disadvantages?
will graham: you're insane.

i saw "the passion of the crist" last night. it was a powerful movie. my co-workers thought it strange that i would be interested in watching it. i can see the controversy the movie is stirring up. i don't think it's the movie itself, but rather the power of the media and the lack of critical thought. too many people will walk away from that movie and think "that's the way it was. "the jews" were a bunch of blood thirsty people who killed the son of god." they won't walk away and think "how would i have felt if someone showed up claiming to be the son of god, told me my religion was wrong and my religious leaders were telling me that he was a heretic?" one thing i couldn't understand was why any parent would bring their children to this movie. what child has the patience to read sub-titles for an hour and a half?

it was a very good day

any session where you are averaging 21.6 bb/hour is a good session and last night was just one of those sessions. it was one of those sessions where everything was going right: i wasn't starting with bad hands (although poker tracker says i saw 33% of the flop), my hands held up, and my opponents were calling with crap. i was sad to leave the game but i had set a deadline and stuck to it.

a couple of hands:
hand 1: "scary, scary, who's your daddy?" here's a hand that had a scary board until the river. i guess mr. 4s thought i was bluffing. and to think i was scared that he might have a straight.
TankSJ: 5 5

Pre-flop:
0s folds. 1s folds. 2s folds. 3s folds. 4s raises to $2. 5s folds. TankSJ calls. 7s folds. 8s calls. 9s folds.

Flop (board: 5 6 7):
8s checks. 4s bets $1. TankSJ raises to $2. 8s folds. 4s calls.

Turn (board: 5 6 7 8):
4s checks. TankSJ bets $2. 4s calls.

River (board: 5 6 7 8 5):
4s checks. TankSJ bets $2. 4s calls.

Showdown:
TankSJ shows 5 5: four fives.
4s mucks cards. ( A Q.)

hand 2: "how i cracked aces" ok. i hate it when the shoe is on the other foot, but i was defending my blind and had a pretty good flop. this was my biggest pot of the night.
TankSJ: A 2

Pre-flop:
7s folds. 8s calls. 9s folds. 0s raises to $2. 1s folds. 2s folds. 3s folds. 4s folds. 5s folds. TankSJ calls. 8s calls.

Flop (board: 8 8 3):
TankSJ checks. 8s checks. 0s bets $1. TankSJ calls. 8s calls.

Turn (board: 8 8 3 2):
TankSJ bets $2. 8s calls. 0s raises to $4. TankSJ calls. 8s calls.

River (board: 8 8 3 2 2):
TankSJ checks. 8s bets $2. 0s raises to $4. TankSJ re-raises to $6. 8s goes all-in for $5. 0s calls.

Showdown:
TankSJ shows A 2.
2 8 8s 2 2: full house, deuces full of eights.
8s shows 7 7: two pair, eights and sevens.
0s mucks cards. ( A A.)

I couldn't wite a better script

sometimes things just work out. usually they don't, at least when it comes to poker.

last night i was getting ready to leave the table. since i had already paid the blinds i was just waiting to finish my orbit before leaving. this was my last hand:

TankSJ: K A

Pre-flop:
     TankSJ raises to $2. 7s folds. 8s folds. 9s folds. 0S folds. 1s folds. 2s calls. 3s folds. 4s calls. 5s calls.

Flop ( T Q J):
     4s bets $1. 5s calls. TankSJ calls. 2s raises to $2. 4s calls. 5s calls. TankSJ calls.

Turn ( T Q J 2):
     4s checks. 5s checks. TankSJ checks. 2s checks.

River ( T Q J 2 6):
     4s checks. 5s checks. TankSJ bets $2. 2s calls. 4s calls. 5s folds.

Showdown:
     TankSJ shows K A.
          TankSJ has A K Q J T: straight, ace high.
2s mucks cards. ( 8 A )
4s mucks cards. ( J K )

i probably should have three bet it on the flop seeing how there's a high chance i'll split if there's an ace or king or a flush or boat if another diamond or spade falls or the board pairs up. i had every intention of check-raising the turn. i put the 2s on top pair or figured he would try to make a position bet.

god i love this game

what a bargain

there is something about $1 stores. i know the quality is bad. i know the food stuff is probably near or past its pull date, but everything is so gosh darn cheap that i can't resist.

saturday T and i were up in sf japantown ("my people town" as i like to call it) and had some time to kill. it's amazing what they can offer for only $1. the best find was a "spice funnel" that will be perfect for filling my little flask.

we had dinner at a restaurant called "tampopo". now if you're going to call yourself "tampopo," you better be one damn good ramen restaurant. probably one of the best bowls of noodles i've found in the city, but still not quite sure if they filled those shoes. at least they weren't skimpy on the charsiu.

for those of you who read poker blogs, you should definitely check out pokerworks.com. linda g provides the unique perspective from the person "in the box". last time i was in lv i had a chance to meet her although i didn't get to play in a game she dealt. when i got back i emailed her to thank her and got a reply this morning. hopefully i'll get to play in a game with her the next time i'm in lv in march.

159 days

dance lessons

those of you who have been reading the blogs will know that i am engaged. as our wedding day grows near, T and i are trying to learn a dance so we will wow our guests with our grace and elegance when it's time for our first dance. last night we went to dance lessons at the local ywca. let me just say that it was more of a learning experience than i could have imagined; little did we know, but we were stepping into a little known sub-culture that we didn't know existed.

it didn't really help that i had been in las vegas less than 24 hours before and had slept only 3 hours that morning, but the whole experience was a little on the surreal side. T and i arrived at 7:15 for the beginner's class. at first there were only a few people in the gymnasium but slowly people started filing in. it had the akwardness of a middle school dance but with middle-aged people. T and i were by far the youngest people there. the average age must have been mid 40's and most of the women seemed to be first-generation chinese. as more and more people came (there was an intermediate class at 8:15), it became clear that we had stumbled upon a serious singles scene for waltz-loving people.

on one hand the dance lessons were humbling and frustrating. i felt like i was driving stick shift for the first time in a volkswagon on the freeway as ferraris whized by me on all sides; i'm concentrating so hard on everything i need to remember (beat, count, elbow up, look down at your feet without appearing to stare at her breasts, etc.) while couples are blowing by me. once the intermediate lessons started there was a remedial lesson offered off in another room. if i ever needed an ego boost, that was it. sure i was struggling, but at least i had a clue. the three other men in there were clueless. i mean, it's one thing to get something wrong and know what that you're doing it wrong, but these guys had no idea what they were doing wrong or why.

meanwhile back in the gynasium a full on dance was going on. people were there and dressed to see and be seen. i think there was some serious scoping going on. i have a feeling more than a couple of eyes wandered over T while we were there. with exhaustion setting in, T and i fled the ywca. are we going back next week?

sin city (a novella)

just a little over twelve hours ago i was in the bellagio poker room playing 4/8 hold 'em. after about eight hours of play i walked away just $20 lighter. even though it was a "losing session" i felt pretty good about my play. in my mind i was actually up hundreds of dollars in the lay-downs i made that would have had me drawing slim to dead. considering all the perriers and waters i drank, not to mention the funny moments and good conversations, it was a $20 ($2.50/hour) well spent.

going back to the bellagio meant going back to face my demons. the first (and only) time i played the bellagio was an "educational experience" (read, i lost all my money). lucky for me i had someone sitting next to me who was willing to tell me what i was doing wrong and how badly i was playing. at the time it may have seemed that he was ridiculing me cruelly, but really he was doing me a favor. reading books will only get you so far.

the trip to vegas, or "vee-jas" as DM liked to say, was a last minute decision. my best man DM and groomsman AW had planned a trip to do a little "field research" on the upcoming bachelor party. with a few vacations days to burn, the urge to hit a poker room and wanting to make sure those two didn't plan anything too crazy, i decided to fly out and meet up with them.

vegas is, well, vegas. it had been almost a year and a half since i was there last. except for the new wynn casino being built and new construction at caesars, the strip looked the same. something in me definitely changes when i step off the plane. first of all i feel like i need to tip everyone for the services they do for me. also my throat immediately gets dry and i start looking to get my hand on bottles of water wherever i go.

AW and DM pick me up at the airport and we head to the alladin to check in. they had both got there the day before so they had one less night of sleep and were a few drinks ahead of me. we walk around the strip for AW's benefit (he was a vegas virgin) and then meet my cousin for dinner. after a bad italian meal we head to the ghost bar at the top of the palms to see the lights of the city. the view is amaizing. we have a few drinks and then jump in a cab over to mandalay bay. AW and my cousin hit a club while DM and i head over to the luxor to play poker.

the luxor will always have a place in my heart as the first place i player poker in vegas and the place where i had my first and, to date, only bad beat. cliff note® version: 7-stud, my quad fours meet mr. straight flush, i "win" a little over $1000. the games are always friendly and a little less crowded, although even the luxor is not immune to the popularity of poker thanks to the wpt- there are more games going then i remember and they are all playng hold'em.

DM and i sit down at a "$1/$2" table. I get a little thrown off because it seems to me to be a $2/$2 table with $1/$2 blinds. at one point i ask the dealer and she explains that although you could technically bet $1 on the flop, no one ever does. i move over to a $2/$4 game to make a spot for AW. nothing very exciting to report (that i can remember). towards the end of the night i move back to the $1/$2 game to be with AW and DM. i enjoy a little rush and i walk away from the table just a buck under breaking even.

we catch a cab back to the alladin (DM is too exhausted to walk). i'm totally amped while my companions are barely awake. of course, i wasn't up the night before doing "research" like they had been so i am not nearly as sleep deprived. at first i leave them with the intention of playing a few more hours but then realize that if i stay out until 7 am i'll probably be tired when the other two are just about waking up and we'll be completely out of synch. so what's more important, playing poker or spending time with my buddies? luckily i have not sunk to that level of gambling addiction so it's an easy call. so i go check out the $19 million cvs pharmacy on the strip- a cabbie earlier had told us the land itself was probably $18 million, and pick up some water and unisom so i'll fall asleep.

tuesday starts out a little slow. once we all get our acts in gear it's already 11:00. we head over the craps pit for a free lesson. after the lesson they open a $2 table for us to test out our new found knowledge. we have some prettty cold rolls and lose our money quickly. welcome to vegas. by this point we're all starving like marvin so we go in search of food. AW wants to experience the las vegas ambiance and eat at the outdoor cafe at paris but my stomach can't take the 30 minute wait. i take charge and head over to the barbary coast. unlike AW i prefer cheap and immediate with a dingy feel over expensive and 30 minutes with a parisian flair. DM is fascinated by the preponderance of prime rib- he sees signs of it everywhere and wonders what's so good about it. to satisfy his curiosity i order the prime rib, eight ounces of meat with six ounces of fat and a little dish of horseradish. yum yum.

after lunch we go to the gamblers general store for some cut cards and a chip case for my dad. AW wants to see circus circus so we head over there. i had never been there before either and decided i wasn't missing anything. since we can't sit in the rotating bar with the view of the trapeze act we head to the bellagio for a little poker.

at this point i don't really want to play poker because DM has lost more than he should so if we do play he'll just have to sit and watch. but AW wants to play. DM is cool and offers to drop us off at the bellagio poker room and then head back to the alladin to collect AW's stuff so we can get more playing time in. DM insists and i resolve to myself to play until AW leaves and then hang out with DM and talk poker strategy over a couple (or more) drinks.

at first we get split up but before long a seat opens up at AW's table so i head over there. unbeknownst to me, AW has decided to adopt the table image of complete neophyte mixed with a little bob stupak. it drives me nuts, nay pisses me off, and i'm pretty sure i'm not alone. it seemed to be working for him because he was dragging it in but it was also slowing up the game. the dealer was constantly having to remind AW to post; one of the dealers went so far as to start posting for him. for the first hour i sat down i couldn't get a hand. nothing. nada. zilch. i literally had less than a half dozen pairs, none over tens and deuces twice. but i resisted temptation to play the crappy hands that others around me we playing. to salt the wounds a little bit, AW over in the 1s was winning with questionable starting hands (always after long deliberation). finally my patience was rewarded with a hand that pulled it in. following brunson's advice i played the next hand with 34 and end up taking another pot with two pair. in less than ten hands i'm back up and then some.

at this point AW has to leave for the airport but i've just started to catch cards and i'm still pissed at his play so i decide i'll see him of then and there and keep playing. by the time DM gets back i'm in fold mode again and the table is short handed so i decide now is as good a time as ever to take a dinner break. DM and i eat congee and gai lan at noodles, by far the best meal we've had the whole trip. sure, it's a lot more expensive than you would pay in any chinatown, but it's cleaner and the ambiance is good.

DM decides he's going to head back to los angeles that night so we part company in the parking lot. i decide to go shopping for a present for T and head back to the alladin.

it's funny to look back at my evolution as a person in vegas the. first time i was there all i wanted to do was gamble. the second or third time i was there i caught a show and had some nice dinners. now i don't mind just walking around and even shopping. don't get me wrong, i still like to gamble, but i know i will always be able to find a game. and with shopping, when i get back home i at least have something to show for all that money that i no longer have. besides, it was fun to walk into the lucky store and tell the woman, "i need something to wear tomorrow." with the shopping out of the way and AW and DM on their ways home, what else is there for me to do but head back to the bellagio?

when i sit down at the 2s at table 27 the guys to my left tell me that i'm like the fourth person to sit down in less than 30 minutes. when the 1s comes back to the table it's easy to see why. the guy to my right has decided that i really care about the crap hands he is playing and wants sympathy when he catches no piece of the flop. besides leaning away from the dealer to take up as much space as possible, he likes to show me as many hands as he can and i oblige him by acting interested; no sense in stopping the information he's giving me. the two guys to my left are much more pleasant company so i spend most of my time talking to them except when the 1s decides nudge me on the shoulder and show me once again how his J7 didn't improve with the flop.

the 3s, a southerner turned local, and i grind along for a while until one point where he catches aces that hold up and then i catch the rocket the next hand. an ace falls on the flop and i drive everyone out on the turn. someone asks to see the river and the dealer shows the last ace. a little while later the 1s and i four bet pre flop. big slick for me, qq for the 1s. luckily he only had two bets left after the flop so i don't lose too much when a kqx fall on the flop. to add insult to injury another k falls on the river. oh well.

i play until 3:00 am and decide to get some sleep before my flight at 10:00. looking back at the last time i played at the bellagio and this time it's great to see the difference and how far my game has come. i still have a lot of leaks to plug, but at least no one is going to sit there and berate my play.

the perils of being short-handed

maybe it wasn't a good idea to combine mojito night with tuesday night poker.

it's painful to watch sometimes but what can you do? guy is on tilt, making bad decisions. you've been there so you know what it's like, but then again when you were running bad no one pulled their punches with you.

the bad news is that we broke early because NC dropped a c-note and called it quits. the good news is that RL has one of those 5-in-1 combo game sets and i learned how to play craps. pretty fun. i think i get it well enough now that maybe i'll play when i'm in vegas. that's after i win the daily mirage $60 + $40 tourney. gotta think positive.

in the end our hero was up $50. not bad for a night's work.

172

ub was down last night. maybe it was a blessing in disguise. it's actually been five days since i played poker, online or otherwise. that might be the longest stretch i've gone in quite a while. but luckily tonight is poker night.

i went to the bank this morning to get my money for las vegas. DM and AW planned a trip and i decided that i would join them. not sure how my poker i'll get in, but it will be fun to hang out with just the boys in sin city. i'm hoping to get in at least one session to gauge where i'm at.

T is sending in the final approval for the invitations today. no turning back now. not that there was much chance of that before.

la la

just got back from an excursion to the city of angels. had a great time. T and i went down to get fitted for our ao dai (the vietnamese wedding outfit). we bumped into my friend JG on the 5 in his little red mini cooper. what were the chances?

apparently a big part of vietnamese culture is haggling. all i know was that this was one of the times where i really didn't mind not know what was going on. after looking in 5 different fabric stores, T and her sister got down to business haggling for the price of the material and then with the tailor for the price of the tailoring. good thing they were there because i would have just buckled and probably paid twice as much.

we ate the most amazing vietnamese food when we were down there. i don't know why we can't get the same kind of food up in the bay area even though we have a big concentration of vietnamese people here. i'm already looking forward to heading back down to la to pick up our ao dai and eat more vietnamese food.

saturday night we had dinner in hollywood with T, her sister and a couple of my cousins at "ago" which is owned by robert de niro. we opted not to get the $2,600 bottle of wine. personally i think i would rather drink 52 bottles of $500 wine.

celebrity sightings: i spotted carla gugino from "karen sisco" at the next table at dinner. the next morning at brunch with my best man DM i saw sara sidle of "csi" fame. according to waiter at ago, the stars don't go out on saturday night, maybe too much attention. sara sidle was trying her best not to get noticed in a baseball cap and big sunglasses.

road rage

in general i think i would say i'm a pretty calm person. but when i have to sit on the freeway-cum-parking-lot for an hour on the way to work, i lose it. before i moved to the bay area i always used to shake my head in disbelief at stories of road rage, but now i think i understand. i did lose it momentarily when some guy on his cell phone decided he would just drift over into my lane. i guess he thought is was ok because he had turned on his blinker. as i whipped around him i say him flash me a thumbs up. i'm not sure if it was an acknowledgement of wrong doing or a sarcastic message for me, but i gave him a "hang up" hand motion followed by the bird just to be safe.

anyone know where i can buy an ak-47?

the day after

time for a little wednesday morning recap of tnp (tuesday night poker). all in all not a bad night. the problem playing with these guys is that since we're only five handed, if one guys busts out (especially if it's the host), it's the end of the night. so i was up most of the night but slipped up a little bit at the end. before i could work my way back up we called the game.

my favorite hand of the night was when i decided to check raise the pre-flop raiser with 57o. NC is probably the most aggressive player in our game. more often a winner than a loser, he raises a lot pre-flop and is willing to go all-in at any time. but this time i decided i would bump his $2 raise from the button (blinds are .25/.50) with another $2.50. flop was 6 8 8. he bets $5, I call. turn is a 9. he checks, i check. K falls on the river. he checks, i bet $5, he raises $10, i raise $15 and he mucks after a long think. god that was beautiful. maybe i should have only raised him another $10, he seemed pained to lay it down and he might have just called $10. oh well.

at the end of the night I was out $10, a small price for a night of entertainment.

do you ever ...

sit in a meeting and wonder, "how is it this person is still employed?" i do.

tonight is poker night. i live for poker night. it's not the winning or losing (although winning is much more enjoyable), it's just the gambling. tonight i'm going to buy in for $80 rather than the usual $20. i figure if i'm willing to lose $80 over the course of a night, why not just start out with that? i was inspired by super system. we'll see how it goes. i may just lose my money faster.

rant

<social commentary>
so what's the big deal about janet jackson's breast? i mean, instead of launching an investigation into flashing a little flesh, why not look into why millions of americans are obsessed about a game where people intentionally smash into each other. what's worse, a culture that appreciates the beauty of the human body, or one that rewards physical violence?
</ social commentary>

179 days,

i am a hacker

not the kind that breaks into companies or unleashes viruses, but the kind of person who know just enough to be dangerous without a full understanding about whats going on. i just updated my web site so that the intro page is a blog. now i don't have to edit an html file and upload every time i want to change the introduction. i've probably violated my blogger agreement somehow by hacking their code and fully expect a nasty email soon. let's see how long i can evade detection.

don't you hate it when ...

monday morning of course. last week i added a meeting to my calendar for a meeting on monday that someone had notified me about via email. i'm not sure why, but i put it down in my calendar as 8:15-9:00 am. so i got my ass up this morning and hauled it into work so i could be here on time. unfortunately the meeting isn't until 9:00. so i've been sitting here all by myself for over half an hour. sigh

last night i played in a little 9-person sit-n-go. i went out unceremoniously in 7th after my wired sevens got snapped off by mr. "but they were suited" big slick when the ace fell on the river. as i told T later, it's not the losing when you are ahead that gets me so much as losing to someone who has no clue that just salts the wound. i mean, thinking back i realize i should have shoved all-in on the flop, but i also have to realize that there's no way he would have laid it down. good, gutsy plays are lost on ignorant people. c'est la vie.