Poker tourney cash

I finally managed to win a little money in a poker tournament.

I was disappointed with my results at Friday's tournament with our weekly group. I would be remiss to not mention my first bustout (it was a rebuy tourney) to Marc with my KK vs his 99 where, of course, he rivered a 9. Anyway, I finished 7th out of 10.

On Saturday night, I found some cool tournaments on PokerStars. There are $12 sit-n-gos for 180 players. The only ones that ever fill are turbos, which I'm not crazy about. It's amazing how fast these go - 2/3 of the players are eliminated in under an hour. It pays 18 places, but you don't get much unless you are top 5. I won a 9 player $16 sit-n-go for $67.50 but didn't cash in the 180-player.

On Sunday night, I played in 6 simultaneous 180-player sit-n-gos. They fill up every 10 minutes or so. I at least doubled my stack in four of them. And finally, in one of them, I made it to the final 3. The overwhelming chip leader surprisingly offered to make a deal. He suggested a very good deal and we agreed. I was third in chips with about 26,000, and the other players had about 54,000 and 190,000. My cut was $350, which was almost second place money.

It was nice to get a decent cash and I'm going to start playing these regularly. The level of the players is awful. When it gets down to about 30 players, the skill level is pretty good. But there isn't much room to maneuver because the antes kick in and the stacks aren't very big, so you pretty much need to push all-in or fold. And then you need to get lucky.

I also played in an insane 0.50/$1 cash game on Saturday night. A guy kept making and calling raises with crap and making huge hands. Here's the first hand he showed down, and lost:

UTG limps, UTG+1 raises to $16 all-in (huge overbet), Maniac calls on BB, UTG calls all-in.

UTG: JJ
UTG+1: AQo
Maniac: 8d3s ???

The board came 6s As 6c 8h 2s and AQo wins with two pair. But the Maniac called a huge $14 to win a $18.50 pot with 83 offsuit! Shortly after, the Maniac triples up.

UTG limps for $1, UTG+2 limps, SB raises to $6, BB (Maniac) raises to $22 all-in, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls all-in, SB calls all-in. The hands?

UTG+2: AcAs
SB: QdQc
Maniac: 43cc

Flop: 3h 2c Tc
Turn: 9c !
River: 2s

And Maniac triples up with his flush. The following hand occurred immediately after that one:

HJ-1 limps, HJ raises to $4, SB (Maniac) calls, BB calls, HJ-1 calls.

Flop: 6c 2d 2h

HJ bets $10, Maniac calls, everyone else folds.

Turn: 9c

HJ bets $21, Maniac raises to $49 all-in, HJ calls.

River: Qc

The HJ had TT. Maniac flopped a boat with 6h2s!

In two hands, the Maniac now has 6x his starting stack.

Now everyone is gunning for the Maniac, calling raises with very little, and hoping to double up. I finally get a decent hand and get into a pot with him.

me: AKo
Maniac: ?

Maniac raises to $5 UTG, CO calls, I call on SB. I wanted to reraise, but I didn't want the CO to think I was trying to isolate the maniac and reraise me.

Flop: 8d Qd Ac

I check to give the Maniac some rope, Maniac bets $10, CO goes all-in for $13, I raise to $25, Maniac calls.

Turn: 9d

I hate that card. I check, Maniac bets $20, I call.

River: 6c

I check, Maniac bets $25, I call.

Maniac shows down 5d3d for a flush! I lost $70 in that pot. I started playing badly, calling raises with bad hands to try to snap off the maniac, but it never happened. Fortunately, I managed to get all-in with someone else with QQ vs TT on a 922 flop to recover my loss and actually finish the table with a slight gain. The Maniac started with $39 and worked it up over $200.

-schneid

Blog Slacker

Sorry that I've been slacking badly on my blog. I need to catch up on Dark Lord Day (April), our Disney trip (April/May), geocaching (June?), my sprained ankle, cub scout stuff including family camp (June), my upcoming trip to my childhood summer camp, Camp Edwards, etc. Now that I'm off World of Warcrack, I might be able to get those blogged.

- schneid

World of Warcrack

In college, I spent a lot of time playing MUDs - Multi-user dimensions, which were a precursor to the massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) of today, like World of Warcraft. I eventually became a programmer for some of those MUDs, including the famous HERO MUD. After college, I stopped playing.

Shortly after Ben was born, I borrowed Might and Magic 5 or 6 from a friend. That game is a single player game and isn't even very good, and I played it in all my spare time for a month. I believe Suzette's exact words were "It's us or the game". I gave it back and made my friend promise not to let me borrow it.

A week ago, Suzette gave me a subscription to World of Warcraft for Father's Day.

I am proud to say without any uncertainty and beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I must stop playing this game right now. It's so thoroughly addicting and the hugest time suck. While playing, you check the time and think 30 minutes have gone by, and it's been 3 hours. And I'm not even playing with a group of people, just soloing.

There's a reason they refer to it as World of Warcrack. It's highly addictive. Just like giving samples to kiddies, they give a 10-day free trial, knowing you will get hooked. And I am.

Fortunately, I used the 10-day free trial instead of the subscription, knowing what might happen. I'm going to Target to trade it in for something less addictive like heroin. :) There's a reason that we have never owned an Xbox or other gaming system. Hmm, I wonder if they have those at Target?

- schneid

This was supposed to be the Summer of George!

I haven't blogged in awhile because there's nothing to blog. I sprained my ankle badly on May 9. Plyaing basketball, I made a good cut (unusual for me), got the pass, went up for the shot...and came down hard on someone's foot. I saw the doctor, spent a week on crutches, then hobbled around for a week, but the pain was so bad, I went to see a specialist. He gave me an aircast (the boot) and told me to wear it for 2-3 weeks.

It's a bummer because I was getting back into the groove of running regularly and had lost a few pounds before the injury. I had our bicycles tuned up and was planning on riding to work. We live near the Prairie Path and I can safely ride to work, and it's about 7 miles which is a great short ride. And the summer volleyball season is starting.

This was supposed to be the Summer of George! Do you remember that Seinfeld episode? George discovers that he has a 3 month severance package from the Yankees. He decides to take the summer off, and declares it the "Summer of George". But he gets injured, and the doctor says "Mr. Costanza, your legs have sustained extensive trauma. Apparently your body was in a state of advanced atrophy, due to a period of extreme inactivity. But with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, I think there's a good chance you may, one day, walk again." Unmoved by the news, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer go out for coffee and leave him. He shouts at them as they walk away, "This was supposed to be the Summer of George!"

I plan to wear the boot for a few more days, then start rehabilitating my ankle. I hope to ride my bike pretty soon and play volleyball by the end of June. I had planned to seriously get into shape this summer and drop a lot of weight. Unfortunately, the injury has interfered with the Summer of George but I'll have almost two months left when I'm ready to go.

- schneid

Here comes Dark Lord Day!

I'm psyched for Dark Lord Day. And also Disney World. :) Suzette took her last quiz a week early, so she is done with her class and earned an A. Friday night, Bob is in town with his family and we are all meeting at Tim's house. Saturday is Dark Lord Day. Last year was the first time I attended Dark Lord Day, and it was awesome. I'm bringing some cool beer to share and trade, and I'll get my ration of Dark Lord. Then on Sunday, we're going to Disney World for a week.

I love vacation!

- schneid

Russian Imperial Stout

This is my favorite beer style and I'm assembling a lineup of the best RIS for a tasting with friends. I plan to have about 8 people at the tasting and will have about 12 beers. That might not sound like much, but a Russian Imperial Stout has double to triple the alcohol of your typical beer. We will be sharing 22 oz bombers of each, or two 12 ouncers in some cases.

I've been making beer trades to get the rare ones. For example, a RIS called Sexual Chocolate has only been bottled once, and there were only 500 bottles. Dark Lord may be rare, but they made 5000+ bottles last year. Surly Darkness has only been bottled once and there were only 480 bottles.

Here's the complete lineup. Some of these are not Russian Imperial Stouts, but they are all thick, black, and yummy.

• Three Floyds Dark Lord
  
• Portsmouth Brewing Kate the Great
  
• Foothills Brewing Sexual Chocolate
  
• Deschutes The Abyss
  
• Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
  
• Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout
  
• Alesmith Speedway Stout
  
• Stone Imperial Russian Stout
  
• Smuttynose Imperial Stout
  
• Bell's Expedition Stout
  
• Great Lakes Blackout Stout
  
• America's Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Signature Imperial Stout

Don't have yet:

• Peche Mortel
  
• Surly Darkness
  
• Lost Abbey Older Viscosity
  
• Ten Fidy

The Ten Fidy is easy to get, just not around here. The Peche Mortel is harder to get, but not impossible. The Older Viscosity will be hard and the Darkness almost impossible.

Here are some that are easy to get, but might not make the cut:

• Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
  
• Southern Tier Choklat
  
• various Rogue stouts
  
• North Coast Old Rasputin
  
• Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout
  
• Victory Storm King Stout

- schneid

Fitness status 4/16

I played basketball on Monday. I hadn't been out in a couple of weeks and I played pretty well. I also played on Wednesday. It was really windy outside so shooting was horrible. I jammed my pinky and ring finger and played through it. It's sprained pretty good and swelled up today. Looks like I won't be playing for a few days. Tim and I are scheduled to run on Friday if it doesn't rain.

- schneid

Fitness update 4/11

Here's a little fitness update - maybe it will be easier if I do it weekly rather than daily.

I strained a ligament in my back on March 31, then over the weekend I actually threw a vertebra out of whack. The chiropractor really helped my ligament last week, and on Monday he fixed the vertebra in about 5 seconds. My back feels a lot better.

I lifted weights hard on Monday and Wednesday. I ran with Tim at lunchtime today. So, not a bad week. It felt good to get out there.

I plan to go back to my regular routine of basketball 1-2x per week, running 1-2x per week, and weights 1-2x per week. I hadn't been exercising nearly enough in February and March. I also wasn't lifting weights at all. I think that is critical so that I can keep everything in good enough condition to handle all this exercise.

I've been eating better than usual, having a salad for lunch a couple times this week and some reasonable dinners, and avoiding (somewhat) sweets.

I'll play basketball next week and see how it feels.

- schneid

Fitness status

On Sunday, I decided to start working out vigorously. I was over my cold and ready to get some exercise. On Monday, I played basketball at lunch and actually played decently. Then I made a sudden move and wrenched my back. Great, my plan for getting back into shape lasted 24 hours. On Wednesday, I saw a chiropractor. Fortunately, it's just a strained ligament and it feels better already, so I should be back in action in a couple of days. It's really frustrating because we had great weather for running this week. Maybe next week...

It's tough getting old!

- schneid

Poker Stars and Full Tilt

Last week, I started playing at Poker Stars and Full Tilt. I bought a prepaid Visa card and was able to get money into the accounts with it. I had been playing on UltimateBet ever since PartyPoker disallowed US players. The problem with UltimateBet is that there just aren't that many players, and not enough selection in tournaments and cash games.

I have learned one thing. The cash players on Poker Stars and Full Tilt are better. At the same levels (.25/.50 and .50/1 no-limit), the players are much more aggressive. There is rarely an unraised pot preflop. On Ultimatebet, I could limp in with small pairs and suited connectors all the time. That just doesn't happen on Stars. If you limp on Stars, I guarantee someone will raise and shut out the limpers.

As for the tournaments I've played, the skill level is about the same. My goal is to win satellites to play in the big Sunday tournaments. Stars has double shootout satellites for $11? with a good structure. I played in a shootout with about 60 players tonight. I made it to heads up at the first table and we played a long time. In fact, we were the last table out of 10 to finish. It was a close match and I had a good read on my opponent; unfortunately, I jammed A3 at the wrong time, when he had AK.

I can definitely win the first table in a shootout. There are usually 2-3 players who bust out pretty quickly, which is silly because the structure is so good. There is plenty of time and no need to be overly aggressive. Winning the final table is another matter. That will be tough and require a lot of luck too. I think I'm playing decently and learning from my mistakes. Hopefully I'll have some results to show for it soon.

- schneid