Nothing Too Exciting

So I just attended a fun little thing called Viking Jam that is basically like a prep rally type thing for Western basketball. It was kinda cool despite the fact that I had two prizes thrown into the audience go right between my fingertips. I did, however, manage to snag a gold chocolate coin and a miniature snickers. YAY.

Not too much has been going on lately. I'm pwning school right now. I'm on a sick run akin to my latest poker hot streak. It might just be that my schedule really isn't all that hard this quarter, but I am taking 3 econ classes and have been dominating. I really feel like things are clicking right now and I am actually enjoying the college life. I intentionally decided to not get involved in too many things this year and not work so that I can enjoy a social life, which has been fun. It has even cut into my poker playing which is kinda neat as I haven't gotten into the rhythm of going home and playing poker every single day.

Speaking of poker, I haven't played too much as of late. Last weekend was Halloween, and, as my last blog touched on (I think), I had a little too much too drink. I was somehow able to fade the throw up which was nice, and the Top Ramen that I eventually made had to have been the top 5 best things I have ever eaten. Then on Saturday I went home and saw Zack and Miri make a porno with Derek and Pete, which actually surprised me. Darryl from the Office was awesome, and I expect him to get pretty popular really soon.

Sunday Derek and I went to the Hawks game. We went to Safeway the night before and got a pack of beef cubes. We then went home and marinated them in this really awesome/spicy sauce that Derek came up with. We then aggressively set our alarms for 6:30am, picked up a 24 pack of Coors Light and ice and actually made it down to the tailgating spot by 7:45.

We then got absolutely played by a couple of bums. We had drinken our fair share of beer when two bums approached us. One of them was from Australia (I could get into talking about what I thought this guy's life story was and how he made it to America, homeless, but I will save that for another day). Derek and I were playing Chinese (I was up a modest amount), and the guy asked if we wanted to see a magic trick. Of course we obliged. He then said that if he could pick out our card from a pile, we owed him a beer. I said okay, and he did his thing and picked out our card. I then reached for the cooler and got him a beer. He then apparently put the beer in his pocket while we weren't paying attention, and then he proceeded to tell us how he did the trick. When he was finished, and we were all laughing, he said, "alright, now you have to give me a beer". I was like, "I already gave you one", and he said, "no you didn't". Derek was drunk and said, "I'm pretty sure you didn't", and so I gave him another, lol. SOUL OWNED!

Anyways, the game sucked as usual. Koren Robinson scored a 90 yd. TD on the first offensive play from scrimmage, and we didn't score again. The season is over, and it's really really depressing. I'm not going to dwell on that.

Then Monday, I played some online, going deep in the 4pm $5r and the 5pm $6k Sniper. I bubbled the $6k then was down to 20 in the 5r. I was extremely in control, raising up front pretty light in situations because no one was 3-betting light. This made it extremely fun. Everyone else was potting their p/f raises, coming in for 4.2x+.

I then made a really silly mistake in a weird hand. There was a UTG station limper at 3k/6k, to me in the HJ with AKo. I made it 26k trying to price him out of the pot. Mucked back to him, and he called. I had him covered by 22k. The flop came 9c 4x 2c, and he leads min (6k). This is a f/d like 75% of the time and 33, 55-88 the rest of the time. To bet the pot would have been like 83k, and he had like 90ish behind, so I just went ahead and moved him in, assuming he'd fold a f/d and most other hands he could have. He thought for 3 FULL seconds and called with J8cc. I wasn't too happy, and he had me down to 4 outs when the Jh peeled on the turn, and I missed.

Looking back at the hand, I did get it in with like 50% equity, so it's not TOO bad, but a call on the flop probably would have been more warranted probably only because the table was so bad, and I could have made it into the top 3 with little resistance by continuing my game of abusing their blinds. Oh well, just kinda sucks.

Last night, I fired up all 8 tables that were running at $100NL and felt that the games were probably the best I have ever seen. I would have played longer but it was like 12:30, and Conan was about to come on.

I have been thinking about how I can get better at 6-max $100NL, and it really comes down to just getting a feel for each table and adjusting accordingly. I had at least 3 tables last night with at least 3-fish/stations at each according to poker-edge.com, and so I had to iso-raise probably the top 25% of the hands from the button, c/o behind their limps. This is extremely profitable, but is something that you simply can't do in more agro games.

Another thing that I have been struggling with is trying to avoid spewing in spots where I don't go with my read. This is an area that I can and should improve greatly in. So many situations come up where I will pay off huge river bets against players that are simply never making a move. I tell myself before I press call that I am beat, but my right index finger gets the best of me. I really feel that, when I am playing my best, I am paying attention and picking up on things that other people simply aren't, and acting accordingly, regardless of the strength of my hand.

Well I have to go study for a test tomorrow then I have a test on Friday, and then it's off to Florida for 5 days for Paul's wedding/mini-vacation. I am really really excited for it, and am contemplating trying to find some time to squeeze in a round of golf. We'll see if that happens.

God Bless,

JG