I didn't eat a cookie this afternoon. That's quite an accomplishment. You see, I'm getting quite fat which is an impediment to playing decent volleyball this summer. Granted, it's a recreational league, but I'd still like to play decently. It's also an impediment to living a healthy life which isn't horrible, but some recent bloodwork shows that my blood pressure and cholesterol are a little high. Plus my weight, which at 200 lbs. might be a wee bit high for a 5'7" man. That weight puts me in the highest risk category for our health insurance, as bad as a smoker. Ouch.
So back to the cookie. There are free cookies every afternoon at work - you can see why I'm fat. I actually got up from my chair and headed upstairs to get one, but stopped myself and instead had some yummy, refreshing water.
I'm planning on getting my bicycle tuned up, since it hasn't been used in (hmm, how old is Ben? Almost 7?) almost 7 years. I live near the Prairie Path which also runs very close to work, so I have a safe 7-mile ride to work. I intend to ride to work a couple times a week along with some volleyball and basketball, so you see that it's actually possible for me to get into shape. We'll see. Everyone should feel free to give me a hard time if I have a cheeseburger in my mouth or if I'm still obese in August.
- schneid
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Min-raise
I haven't decided what I think about the min-bet or min-raise. This is when someone makes the smallest bet or raise allowed. With the min bet, it's almost always a poor player who is trying to make a "pre-emptive" bet, to prevent someone else from betting, and it often works at the low limits. The usual scenario is that there are a bunch of limpers, someone min-bets the flop, then someone else bets the size of the pot and everyone folds. Occasionally this is also a skilled player who doesn't really like his hand, like top pair bad kicker. It's actually a decent play. God knows that I've paid off this hand enough times. The good player probably figures that if his opponent doesn't raise the flop and turn, they must have a worse hand than top pair, bad kicker. Inevitably they make a bigger bet on the river and win. The action goes flop-small bet, turn-small bet, river - 1/2 pot or pot-sized bet. When this bet is 1/2 pot size, they often get paid off by a player with middle pair. And it's smart that they don't create a big pot during the flop and turn when they really don't have much of a hand.
The other scenario is a min-raise. This is scarier. The min-raise is always a bluff or a monster hand. Period. OK, it might rarely be a semibluff, but that's a bluff anyway. You often see a min-raise when you've raised preflop, and make a continuation bet on a ragged flop, and that one is almost always a bluff. If you've got a draw, it's an easy call since you have good odds; but when you have completely missed, even though you know the guy is bluffing, you can't call. Unless you have a lot more guts than I do, which is true of many no-limit players. When you do have a good hand, and you re-raise the min-raise, they almost always fold or go all-in. The folders are almost always bluffing and the all-iners almost always have a monster, so your course of action is pretty easy, unless you have great pot odds to continue.
Tonight was a good night. I played .10/.25 no-limit with $25 max stacks on 5 tables, and almost doubled my original buy-in. I hit more than my fair share of draws and flopped some nice hands. I bailed (or was bluffed out) on a couple of mediocre hands when my opponent made a big bet on the river. I was dealt AA on one hand, there were already 3 limpers so I made a big raise and there were 4 callers! The pot was already about $7, the flop was all rags, I bet the pot and took it down. When I stacked other players, it was almost always when I had the nuts or damn near, and they went all-in.
I had a guy ask "it took you that long to call" when he raised big preflop, I called with AQ, the flop was A33, and he went all-in about the size of the pot. I thought about it for a minute, because I really thought he had AK; however, I decided he was capable of making this play with a lot of aces. Turned out he also had AQ and we split. I was getting 2:1 so I think it was a decent call. This guy gifted me his stack at least once; this was when I raised preflop and he reraised; the flop came a beautiful AQT, giving me a set; yes, he could've had a straight which I considered but which was pretty unlikely. He bet about the size of the pot and I just called. I really wanted the board to pair and would have been really disgusted if a K or J fell on the turn. The turn was a sweet T, giving me quad tens. He goes all-in about the size of the pot and I called. There is no better feeling than when your opponent goes all-in and you have the nuts. Turns out that he had AK. He whined less than the usual player. But he was beat by so many hands...including AQ, KJ, AA, QQ, or any ten. Another player, Freudian Knot (I love that name), told the guy "You should've known he had a good hand" (referring to me). He said something like "He called your preflop raise and called on the flop, you should've known he had something, and you know how mschneid plays". That was somewhat flattering so I asked "How DOES mschneid play?" and he replied "tight". I assume this guy uses tracking software or takes good notes. He was right, I play pretty tight, and he plays the same. I don't bother with tracking software; I tried it for awhile and it's nice, but there's no way I can play 5 tables and also use the monitoring software - it's hard enough just to keep up with 5 tables. I could maybe manage 3 tables absolute max while using the software, and it's just more profitable to play 5 tables without it.
- schneid
The other scenario is a min-raise. This is scarier. The min-raise is always a bluff or a monster hand. Period. OK, it might rarely be a semibluff, but that's a bluff anyway. You often see a min-raise when you've raised preflop, and make a continuation bet on a ragged flop, and that one is almost always a bluff. If you've got a draw, it's an easy call since you have good odds; but when you have completely missed, even though you know the guy is bluffing, you can't call. Unless you have a lot more guts than I do, which is true of many no-limit players. When you do have a good hand, and you re-raise the min-raise, they almost always fold or go all-in. The folders are almost always bluffing and the all-iners almost always have a monster, so your course of action is pretty easy, unless you have great pot odds to continue.
Tonight was a good night. I played .10/.25 no-limit with $25 max stacks on 5 tables, and almost doubled my original buy-in. I hit more than my fair share of draws and flopped some nice hands. I bailed (or was bluffed out) on a couple of mediocre hands when my opponent made a big bet on the river. I was dealt AA on one hand, there were already 3 limpers so I made a big raise and there were 4 callers! The pot was already about $7, the flop was all rags, I bet the pot and took it down. When I stacked other players, it was almost always when I had the nuts or damn near, and they went all-in.
I had a guy ask "it took you that long to call" when he raised big preflop, I called with AQ, the flop was A33, and he went all-in about the size of the pot. I thought about it for a minute, because I really thought he had AK; however, I decided he was capable of making this play with a lot of aces. Turned out he also had AQ and we split. I was getting 2:1 so I think it was a decent call. This guy gifted me his stack at least once; this was when I raised preflop and he reraised; the flop came a beautiful AQT, giving me a set; yes, he could've had a straight which I considered but which was pretty unlikely. He bet about the size of the pot and I just called. I really wanted the board to pair and would have been really disgusted if a K or J fell on the turn. The turn was a sweet T, giving me quad tens. He goes all-in about the size of the pot and I called. There is no better feeling than when your opponent goes all-in and you have the nuts. Turns out that he had AK. He whined less than the usual player. But he was beat by so many hands...including AQ, KJ, AA, QQ, or any ten. Another player, Freudian Knot (I love that name), told the guy "You should've known he had a good hand" (referring to me). He said something like "He called your preflop raise and called on the flop, you should've known he had something, and you know how mschneid plays". That was somewhat flattering so I asked "How DOES mschneid play?" and he replied "tight". I assume this guy uses tracking software or takes good notes. He was right, I play pretty tight, and he plays the same. I don't bother with tracking software; I tried it for awhile and it's nice, but there's no way I can play 5 tables and also use the monitoring software - it's hard enough just to keep up with 5 tables. I could maybe manage 3 tables absolute max while using the software, and it's just more profitable to play 5 tables without it.
- schneid
Crazy Summer
It's going to be a crazy summer. My dad and his wife were just in town for a cousin's bat mitzvah. Those events lasted all weekend. Here's our crazy schedule for this summer:
The kids also have a lot of activities scheduled all summer long which should keep them happy. As for the long car trip, we'll make frequent stops, try to stop at Children's Museums or something fun, and swim in the pool at the hotel at night.
- schneid
- Memorial Day - bat mitzvah weekend
- June - Key Largo for a week's vacation with the kids (flying to Miami, it was really cheap)
- July - we're going to drive to Boston with the kids (yes, we are insane) to visit my sister, and we will also visit my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Terry in Virginia and possibly our friends Bob and Aili in New Jersey. It will take 2 days to drive out, we'll spend Monday-Friday on the east coast, and it will take 2 days to drive back. Whew! (Did I mention that our longest drive so far is 5 hours? Did I mention that we're insane? Can you say "DVD player"?)
- August - I'm going to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison for a day with Westy and maybe some other friends.
- Labor Day - driving to Minneapolis for another Bar Mitzvah.
- September - driving to Bloomington, IL for my cousin Jason's wedding
- Thanksgiving - fly to North Carolina to visit my dad and his wife
The kids also have a lot of activities scheduled all summer long which should keep them happy. As for the long car trip, we'll make frequent stops, try to stop at Children's Museums or something fun, and swim in the pool at the hotel at night.
- schneid
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