Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Worst Golf Round Ever

My co-workers and I decided to get together for our Boxing Day get together. It happened late due to my Disneyland visit. We partook of some beer and played some golf.

We opted to play Pebble Beach at Dave&Busters and we manged to lose 3 golf balls.

How bad do you have to be to lose 3 golf balls playing on a golf simulator where every ball hits the screen in front of you?

Friday, December 18, 2009

Strange Day

No Poker Content:

Work today has such a weird vibe. Company is shutting down until January 4th for the holidays and to make the books look better. When I come back instead of being in office I will be working on a customer site for at least six months so it sort of feels like the last day on the job as well.

I had just figured out a week ago that I was good in new job when I got to visit companies biggest customer with only an hours advance warning. I spent a little time researching design that I had not seen before and figured out who to contact in Ottawa if I had questions and drove to customer. After few minutes in lab it was pretty obvious customer had neglected to supply clock and that was root cause and I was out the door by noon. Customer happy, bosses happy, Bayne happy as no issues with blogger weekend.

Next Year I will basically be returning to my job of previous 9 years just at a more successful company. The other plus side is I already know 2 of my co-workers.

I will be somewhat off net as we embark on Disneyland Christmas Vacation, there really are no religious overtones to that, possibly followed by skiing in Tahoe.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Blogger Weekend Sunday

Sunday I managed to wake up before kickoff and headed to LaGasse's Stadium. I managed to get 2 morning parlays bet and found Luxury Suite #3 arranged by CJ and Al. If I ever hit at a start up again my basement man cave will be based on that suite. Watching Drizz and CJ wagering on 1st downs and punts via the Pallazo supplied blackberries was degeneracy at it's finest.

The wife paying off the purple prop bet was priceless. Vikings and Packers fans interacting is a funny sight, I think a lot of the camraderie is based on they are all too bundled up at games to really hurt anyone if a fight broke out and it carries over to warm environs.

Being a Bucs fan I have already given up on the season so my game focus was not good but the late Cowboys v Chargers game was entertaining.

LJ then took me out to dinner at B & B Ristorante as a reward for hooking her up with a room. After grilling the waiter over how everything was prepared a fine dinner began. I was allowed to choose the wine and found a good $13 dollar bottle for only a small mark-up. Food and Wine was good but it's possible we were a little annoying as the people at the adjacent table did request to be moved halfway through their meal.

We returned to LaGasse's to watch the 2nd half of the Eagle's Giants shootout. At this point most of bloggers opted to head toward Ip while I stayed behind as I was already in my hotel and had early flight (and worked Monday).

A final session of craps was required and as we walked by the Venetian craps table it was noted that they had no $10 tables but did have two empty $15 tables. Negotiations were begun to change the table to $10 or we would walk, I can now see some advantages of traveling with an only child (henceforth OC) used to getting her way as it would not have occurred to me to ask.

A few minutes later the pit boss placed the 2nd call upstairs and a $10 table was opened.

There were some good shooters and a lot of energy as OC was cheering for each shooter based on shirt worn and over time rest of table joined in. There were some tense moments as OC would rathole Green chips in her olive oil stained ghetto purse but then not have enough chips on table for a later come bet or odds. I would drop chips from my rail to keep the game flowing as ratholed chips were retrieved but then OC would get peeved that I would not give her $100 bill for her 4 $25 chips so she could buy in for 'more money' and improve comps.

The craps dealer and I also tried to convince OC that place bets were better in some circumstance than come bets as a)you get paid 1st time the number hits and b)if you have all the numbers covered a place bet pays better than a come bet not fully backed. There is also the psychological aspect that after you get all the points you just don't want to see a 7 on a come out roll.

The young asian dude to my left was shortstacking craps and saw some advantages to the place bets approach (but he was sticking to the 6/8).

At some point Asian dude did ask: "Are you two together?"
My answer: "Just for gambling"
OC's delayed answer: "Are you fawking kidding me? You don't think I can do better than him?" there were about 3 other questions until she got to "plus he's married and I like his wife and 13 yo daughter"

We played a while longer and then decided we would cash out 'after 1 more shooter', 1 more was repeated 3 times until we got to 'absolutely 1 more shooter' and then it was but I am rolling in 2 so around to you. After I rolled I colored up as the shooters at other end of table who had been hot were gone. I cashed out and came back to table to hear '1 more shooter' a few times. I walked away and picked up a 'Know when to say When' pamplet and drew laughs from stick and dealer as well as Asian guy but angry gestures. I waited a few more shooters and gave up saying goddbye and heading to my room for 4 hours of sleep before flight.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Another Blogger Weekend Complete

Being on the job 2 months AND promising to take the demon child to Disneyland for Christmas can lead to an abbreviated blogger weekend due to a lack of vacation time.

I arrived in Las Vegas at 8:00 pm, checked into Pallazo and then met up with LJ, Recess and Schaubs at the Venetian Poker Room. After distributing keys, the girlie ones headed to the room to primp for MGM while LJ and I headed to Casino Royale and Caesars for craps.

I arrived a little late to MGM and led by Iggy and the South Carolina bloggers a $1/$2 game had ~$5k on table. At this point I decided to head to the bar to value drink the 32 oz Stellas. With the 1st one being $9 and subsequent being $6 I had to have a few to get average cost down.

Biggest surprise was waffles was already at the bar, Marshall of course normally arrives after midnight but either the divorce or the drink brought out the waffles we all know from blog and chatbox rather than meek /quiet Marshall. Lots of fun was had by all as Pauly (I think) started idea of chipping into to get waffles a hooker to celebrate his divorce, which led to a lot of speculation amongst the male bloggers about how waffles could improve his game.

I did ask the female bloggers near the bar if they hated waffles (as he insisted)? Heather, Texas April and Betty Underground all denied hatred. Discretion does force me not to reveal who amongst them did express complete indifference. I also learned that there are more craps degens amongst bloggers than just myself.

Saturday marked the blogger tournament which April did a great job setting up.

Also mad props to CJ, Otis and G-Rob for setting up the 3 man team last longer challenge!
And a special thanks to Pokerstars for the added $2k prize money. I would also be remiss if I did not thanks Schaubs for forming team roach with Gnome and myself then bailing to form a Canadian team (really??? have you seen fuel play in tournies?) forcing Mark and I to bring Recess into Team Roach.

Our hostess was seated to my immediate right at the start of the tournament but exited somewhat early to a blogger that shockingly liked to limp call with KJo out of position. In the levels before the 1st break I got dealt QQ 4 times and survived, I probably folded a good hand once and managed to collect a nice pot to get above starting stack when I managed to have flopped quads hold up.

I folded a lot between breaks but luckily time passed quickly as Smokkee and Blinders traded nittyness barbs and Pauly and Iggy traded barbs on a wide variety of subjects. Heather was keeping close track of last longer and at 4 table point she that we were down to 2 complete teams.

My table finally broke to get to 3 handed and I found myself with position on eventual champion Astin. I have to believe the complete fear of me cracking his AA with some suited connectors kept him a small stack not willing to make a move until I busted. I was relatively shortstacked but had outlasted Maude to aid Team Roach when I jammed Ts9s from ep. Unfortunately 7 handed there is still a chance someone will pick up a monster and JoeSpeaker was sitting on the jackAce, despite 2 spades and a backdoor straight hitting flop I was unable to improve and my chips finished 3rd with out me. Fortunately Mark and Alan ran deep to secure the team last longer, my wife was so impressed with the fine trophy that she will let it sit on dining room table until she romves the Santa themed stuff.




Recess has a better phone/picture on his blog.

Sunday and part II of the awesome work of UpforPoker crew to follow ......


Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Longest Day

Being 2 months on job means I do get to go to WPBT. But I have already allocated all my vacation time earned to take wife and kid to Disneyland for Christmas. It's brutal to know that the festivities have been ongoing all week for some tards. Hurts a little more that so many others arrive a day ahead of me but at least I can console myself with knowledge that waffles will arrive later than me.

I could probably pull off sneaking out early tomorrow as I am either doing very well or very poorly at new job. My employee number is US001 and I was brought in to help land more California business and get company into bigger accounts. I cannot say that I am good at estimating effort a project will take or writing statement of work describing accurately what a customer wants. I definitely have lost patience with one potential customer who I believe will be a bigger pain in the ass than doing design projects for him will be worth.

On the other hand I was very good at doing high speed board design and interviewed well at a Dow 30 company, worst case I start working on a 6 month contract January 4 but may start sooner.

Being a guaranteed profit center rather than overhead for 6 months certainly adds to the job security. I may have to ask CEO if I can fly out tonight.


Friday, December 04, 2009

16th Anniversary Today

All the overs long ago collected their wagers on how long this would last. I think the key to my marriage is wife is very tolerant of my faults and as long as I don't cross over into Chris Brown or Tiger Woods territory she will probably remain very tolerant.

Wife did inform me of latest Tiger offer for Elin to stick around this morning, I did not quite get idea of making it a business transaction but maybe Tiger's sponsors did.

I made mistake of sharing Chris Rock line that "A man is as faithful as his options".

Wife did jump right into "What are you saying?" had to respond quickly that Tiger is probably tempted with offers on a pretty regular basis where I am mainly turning down professionals during Vegas trips.

I don't believe I blew it for my participation is the Pokerstars added WPBT team challenge so will see everyone in Vegas next week.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

Got to follow a fire truck and a police SUV into the apartment parking lot last night.

Wife did not think it was funny when I asked her if she had burned dinner.

There was no fire but there was a car parked outside kid's window with a dude unconscious from CO exposure. Don't know if he was bummed about the whorehouse closing downstairs or the holidays. Hooking a hose from tailpipe in an apartment parking lot when people are coming home from work seems like a cry for help more than a well thought out attempt. They took him away in ambulance but ambulance did not use lights, don't know what that means.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Somebody has to do it

No poker content.

Latest project at work is designing part of a sperm sorting system.

I think when I get around to updating my resume this will have to be prominently displayed.

Non Disclosure Agreements prevent me from going into too much detail. When project was 1st explained the lone woman on project was the one that said "Somebody has to do it"

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Poker Table Ratings analysis



PokerTableRatings has now added PLO! "Bell Curve" above shows where I rank in terms of aggression vs. the general population. I think this clearly confirms they have not collected enough information for data to be meaningful.




On this one I am the lonely little red dot on the left.

Obviously data is not that meaningful yet because they have only been tracking since mid to late last month. I think my aggression is a little low because I have been fortunate in finding tables where there is one player trying to run over the table and I call flop and turn with monsters and rarely am afforded the opportunity to raise on river since I am calling all ins.

My PTR report card has issued a grade of F for pre-flop aggression and F for flop aggression, I do improve to a D for turn aggression. I may have to repeat.


Sunday, November 08, 2009

Weekend Football Wrap-up

Georgia Tech won a game when trailing by 3 in overtime Tech went for it on 4th and 1 from the 6.

Coach Paul Johnson was asked after the game about going for it in that spot where a loss put the U of Miami in driver's seat for ACC Championship:

"The easy thing to do is kick it, because it puts the onus on the kids, if the kicker misses it you can blame the kicker"

At the time Georgia Tech was 0 for 4 on 4th down attempts against Wake but 9 of 13 the rest of season.

Tech needs to sign him up to a long term contract with big buyout payment clauses before one of the deep pocketed school's decides maybe that option offense can work in BCS.

Tampa Bay chose this weekend to start it's Ring of Fame and induct LeRoy Selmon as 1st member. Since he was 1st Buc and only Hall of Famer it seems like a fine choice.
Wearing the creamsicles and re-enacting 'The Bay of Pigs' game may have been too much dwelling on the "Buc traditions".


Friday, November 06, 2009

Waffles decided not to visit

Last night 5 police cars rolled into my apartment complex with arrest and search warrants for my downstairs neighbor and one other apartment. Asian gentleman below frequently had 2 Asian women in apartment, other apartment also had 2 younger Asian women residents. None of the women have been seen much around the complex but they do seem to have men visit them for approximately an hour most nights. Downstairs neighbor always has blinds closed and sheets behind preventing visibility inside apartment. Apparently they were planning to move out/on Saturday so police visited before address change.

Waffles let me know if my neighbors are not welcome he won't be visiting.

I was up $600 playing $1/$2 PLO as I was having one of those nights where not only was I holding nut hands on flop or turn I was holding redraws that were coming on river and players making bad chases would bet the "scare" card into my new nut hand. I don't think there was a single occurrence of holding nut against nut and having redraw river. Unfortunately I decided to leave 2 great tables while my wife was talking to one of the policemen in the doorway who was visiting many neighbors asking what had been observed about neighbor.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

PLO question

Is there a video somewhere advocating raising any 4 cards pre-flop, then potting any flop that hits?

Three straight nights I have been at table with someone who raised >50% of time pre and limped an additional 30%. Player then potted flop > 50% when flop seen.

Last night favorite hand was I held AK99 ds and called preflop raise. raiser had KQJ3 with 1 suit that did not happen to be live against me.

Flop was K99 and I somehow felt compelled to call pot bets on flop, turn and river.
There may have been a flush draw on flop but neither of us was drawing to that.
I was just a little sad not to be able to raise river as villain was all in.

In non-poker related news I have learned that when a 15 year old daughter asks that you change her alarm clock to 7:00 am, 6:59 am is not an acceptable time for the alarm to go off.



Wednesday, November 04, 2009

My Baby is 15

Demon Child turned 15 today. In California this means 6 months until she can get her learner's permit. I was dreading prospect of being one my daughter gets to practice driving with, we do not have lanes lined with tires and pillows in Bay Area that I have found yet.

Got daughter her own computer for birthday, it is sick how cheap a pute is. Got the lojack on it and facial recognition to boot on it so hopefully we can find it if stolen. Something has been stolen from her every year that she has been in school down here. I would like someone to get caught once.

Been sticking to PLO cash lately. Last night I was told in chat:
"You are really quite annoying" right before he got up from table..

Blind v Blind he had AA79 I had 79TJ on 568 rainbow flop we got all in on flop and I hit redraw.

Previously I had AKKQ on K33 flop, intial raiser potted, he called, I called. Turn Q action was check, bet pot, call fold. I had to raise his pot river bet after river 7. Not my fault that he called flop bet with QQ and no 3.

I am amazed at how much fishier 6-max PLO is now vs. full ring PLO two years ago.



Saturday, October 31, 2009

Fall Back

During Phillies pinch hitter in 6th inning, Tim McCarver said, "Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight so you won't turn on the game too late tomorrow". Did he play before batting helmets were developed?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pathetic



The new job and the demon child's entering high school are kicking my ass as far as limiting my ability to find time to play poker. My humiliation at earning so few more dollars than Recess in rakeback is alarming.

My poker outlet had been reduced to listening to waffles stories about how some tard beat his marginal hand with an even worse starting hand in PLO8 tournaments so I decided to see for myself how tarded the play had become.

Just after the 1st break with blinds at 60/120 and the 3 of us having 3k-6k stacks this beauty happened. Action was UTG raised, I reraised from button, BB called and UTG shoved.



I loved that spot I am 53% to win the high and there is only 1 live 2 to prevent me from chopping the low if one comes. But some people play A2 like it is the nuts so what can you do?

I played a solid PLO8 game mainly getting paid on AA2 or AA3 hands all in pre-flop against shorties or quartering people who insisted on playing low only hands strong until


with 25 left and 18 paying I had a top 6 chip stack and a connection problem.

When I reconnected I was 17th with 19 left but found a way to roach all the way to 6th while not looking at much for hands.

But big recent news is my wife's driving suspension was lifted. Her license expired so we still have to go to DMV to take care of that but her radius of motion has expanded.


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

An Early Happy Holidays from Citibank

19 years ago I signed up for the 'AT&T Universal Card' which was a Master Card as well as a phone card because I thought it would be good for my work travel. I probably have not used it as a phone card in 15 years due to having a cell phone but I have probably only been late on at most 3 payments in the 19 years. Yesterday I got a letter from Citibank letting me know that the interest was being changed to Prime + 26.74% effective Nov 30, but if I want I can choose not to accept.

I of course called Citibank today to find out WTF was this about because it seemed really strange since my last bill had a few hundred dollar credit from me paying wrong credit card earlier in month. Since I have learned 'market conditions' have forced this change which really means we are trying to screw the customers as hard as we can before some new government regulations take effect I would like to call on my readers to take the following steps:

1) Cancel any Citibank cards that are not carrying a balance.
2) Open new credit elsewhere and do a balance transfer to pay off Citibank cardsand then cancel.
3) Anyone that is holding a mortgage that is dramatically underwater should walk away from the mortgage.
4) Write to your Congressman and let them know that Citibank is not 'too big to fail' instead they are 'too greedy not to fail' from this consumer mis-step.

In the interest of full-disclosure I must mention I have a sell order in for all my Citibank shares, more than doubling money was nice but I can't be involved with this business any longer.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Cash Out Tournies

I am always sucked in by the 'new thing' whether it is 'Crazy Four Poker' or 'Mississippi Stud' in the Casino or a new gadget to improve my golf swing so of course I had to play a $10+$1 cashout tourney this afternoon even though it was 6 max and I am not aggro enough for 6 Max.

I was unsure whether thapproach to these tournies should be treat it like KO and cash out a bounty when you did eliminate someone or treat it like a Stars Final Table pays.

At the bubble $6422 of the original $7325 cashout pool remained, so belief is getting to Final Table is paramount but NOT as a roach.

I must now question why did I enter????

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

My Wife is such a Yankee

Yesterday my wife met one of our newer neighbors in the apartment complex business office. He was printing out ticket to Vegas and she helped him find the replacement printer cartridges for the printer. He said "Thank you ma'am" and introduced himself as Scott. She was with the demon child at time but wife was a little tilted when she got home because she took it to mean she was old.
Since she was also convinced he was other 49er in apartment complex she thought he was old enough not to call her ma'am.

Since I am not too bright I pointed out he was probably closer to demon child's age than her age. A quick search for Scott and picture confimation revealed he does have one TD and is a rookie so more than a decade closer to demon child's age. Being correct did not help wife's mood but where I grew up use of 'ma'am' is just being polite.

I should end my poker hiatus tonight by entering Mookie.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Profiling is Wrong (part 2)

I would like to wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

Unfortunately my new company has shown an ugly side. I am only employee of my new company working today because I am also only American. CEO asked me on Friday if Columbus Day was just a government Holiday and I was stupid enough to say 'yes' because kid did not have day off school (California probably does not approve of Columbus Day due to the exploitation of indigenous people). CEO said "we are not the government". When I got to work today I remembered Hammerhead had Columbus Day off. It was only job I ever had that had Columbus Day off but now I am feeling as exploted as a defensive player from this weekend's Florida State vs. Georgia Tech game.

Friday, October 09, 2009

What a sham!!!

I suppose I should be happy that Rugby was added to the Olympics for the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Olympics as well. I am pissed. Gawd damn backs don't even get their hair messed up while the pack is doing the dirty work in the scrums,rucks, mauls and lineouts fighting for possession of the ball. Now the Olympic Gold is being awarded to 7 a side Rugby.

5 of the 6 backs can get a gold but only 2 of the 9 forwards.

WTF

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Poker Training

FTC disclaimer:
I currently receive free poker training.

All that is required to receive this training is to go to www.trulyfreepokertraining.com and earn 750 FTPs for a week at stoxpoker or 3k for a month at stox or 5500 points for a month at cardrunners. Points don't get deducted you merely need to hit threshold in a month.

With a little training you might learn it is a bad move to try to make Buddy fold an overpair even when the top card on flop trips up in the Mookie!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Federal Trade Commission

The FTC has issued new guidelines, the one most likely to impact me is:

"The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service."

Future product reviews where payments are received will include a comment where LJ types 'whore'

For those rare cases where LJ is just pissed at me and no products were endorsed I will add a 2nd comment to confirm that no products were actually reviewed in blog post.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Writers Block

Activities since last post:

1) Wife had a birthday.

2) New CEO is visiting local office.

3) I did learn a lot about what new job requirements are, I could perform last job in my sleep, now I must hone some new skills.

4) I introduced "The Wife" (not my wife) to my local poker tourney. It was bad tourney night in that normal tournament director was late so host ran tourney (and not as smoothly), I had to bust Mrs Chako when she jammed my BB and the tool that annoys me more than any other tourney regular crippled me in a coinflip where 2 of the Aces were out. It was good in that I got a good 1st table and I won a little in the cash game.

5) Georgia Tech won and showed a passing attack, but I missed watching game, DVR did not record and I forgot to even check score until late Sunday night.

6) I finally may have put together a 4-0 fantasy football weekend but will have to wait to fade AP.

This month is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, my little sister has been cancer free for 5 years, luckily she caught her cancer early. We will make sure demon child gets checked often. Everyone else with breats should get checked too.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Weekends Matter

This was my 1st real weekend in a while as weekends really do not matter when on sabbatical, staycation, or the dole.

The Chako's invited demon child, wife and I over on Friday. Demon Child is currently taking a tech literacy course and current unit of study is on 'internet predators'. After assuring daughter that I had met them in person before and showing her family picture on facebook she decided to trust my judgment and ordered me NOT to mention her predator question. This will have to just be another post I hope daughter does not read. Food was good, company was good and MrsChako managed to get permission from my wife for me to go to Vegas in December.

Saturday I played tiny bit of poker in order to get another take 2 day but have not been feeling the poker play last week or so. Hung out poolside with some of the neighbors at night for a near record 2nd sociable night in a row and then had late night (for them) IM conversations with 2 of my cousins that I have never IMed before.

Sunday means watching NFL's red zone channel (Greatest Channel ever, I love that Scott Hanson felt need to apologize for being in High-Def when they showed Seahawk's jerseys). At this point Chiefs, Rams and Bucs would have to be leading contenders for 1st pick in April. Redskins, Raiders and Lions also look quite bad but they have already beaten a member of the trio of suckitude.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Sunday Football Report

Sunday the wife sat down to watch football with me around 11 am. Fifteen minutes into it she was asking "OMG how can you follow the game switching the channels like that?". I pointed out that the remote was next to her. NFL network's red zone channel rules. Rather than having to watch the atrocity that was Raiders vs. Chiefs I got to see my fantasy football teams take a beating during the morning games and my Bucs take a beating in afternoon all for only $5 month since I can't get Sunday Ticket (stupid tree next to deck).

Sunday poker continued it's normal pattern, grind a small profit for a while in PLO then get checkraised on turn for stack when I am holding nut straight, top set and 3rd flush draw only to see opponent has 3 chop outs (as well as useless top 2 pair) and straight flush gutter that of course hits.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

NFL TV schedule

Missed 1st week of NLF season due to flight to Ottawa last Sunday.

Tomorrow my local affiliates have:
10:00 am Raiders at KC
1:00 pm Seattle at San Francisco

Not that I want my neighbor to know but this is not an optimum selection to me.

After a long hard week at work I would rather not have to spend Sunday in sports bar.

FML

Friday, September 18, 2009

1st time publishing in Firefox

OMG did Tech e dominated on line of scrimmage last night!
That is all.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

End of an Era

Easiest promotion ever:





I was reading company Corporate computer use policy:

"You must not use computer equipment, under any circumstances, to engage in online gaming. Even sites accessible without a download are prohibited. "

I finally have to learn how the other half lives.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009



Hat tip to MiamiDon for sending the video above. I could almost smell the fear in the message.

I will have to set dvr for game Thursday, this working and west coast living has it's downside. Demon child went right to heart of matter last night when I told family about job: "You are going to have to talk on job, bwahahaha" . I talk more than Waffles, but not a lot more during previous workdays unless I was leading a specification or design review.

I did confirm I am 1st U.S. citizen at job, may have to learn to appreciate hockey. Luckily now that games are broadcast in Hi-Def it is watchable on TV

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Brian Westbrook is smarter than Hines Ward

But Villanova vs UGa told you that already. I had Westbrook on a fantasy football roster when he slid down at 2 rather than scoring which iced a game for the Eagles and for my fantasy opponent. Hines not so bright in waning seconds of regulation but coin flip bailed Ward out of sleepless night in overtime.

Georgia Tech started their game against Clemson like it was going to be a woodshed game. But realistically they had 3 big plays and not much execution until the last 2 drives.

I interviewed with a company 3 times in July, they did keep me informed that they had not made a decision and there was lots of vacationing in August. Do Canadians get European levels of vacation? I met local business manager and CEO for breakfast, ended up with a flight to Ottawa to meet co-workers early next week. I will still be based in Santa Clara and most of my work will be on West Coast plus Arizona. I did not check to see if I ever have to go to Nevada but it would seem to be part of territory.

Friday, September 04, 2009

I have the best friends

An email received today:

Dear good friend,

Good day, how are you today? I am writing to inform you that I have
paid the fee for your Cheque Draft. And I went to the bank to confirm
if the Cheque has expired or getting near to expire and Mr.Ahmed Zafa
the Director of Financial Trust Bank told me that before the cheque
will get to your hand that it will expire. So I told him to cash the $1,500,000.00 USD UNITED STATES DOLLARS to
cash payment to avoid loosing this Funds. However, all the necessary
arrangement of delivering the $1,500,000.00 USD UNITED STATES DOLLARS
in cash was made with GLOBAL TRUST COURIER COMPANY here in Cotonou
Benin Republic
,

It is so nice that my friend managed to cash a check payable to me before it expired.
As I was typing this blog post I received a 2nd email it contained above text plus:

Mr.Ahmed Zafa the Director of Financial Trust Bank Cotonou has to
package the sum of $1,500,000.00 USD in cash for me. Then he also
agreed to help me to register the Consignment with GLOBAL TRUST
COURIER COMPANY. Infact I thank God very much for all the movement I
made, every thing goes normally. As for our agreement with the Global Trust Courier Company they
promised that your consignment will leave this Country on Monday next
week, But the Director of the GLOBAL TRUST COURIER COMPANY said that
they need your contacts information’s to able them meet up with you
immediately the Diplomat Agent arrived to your Country. Please write a
letter of application to the given address below.


ATTN: Mr.Terry Cool
TEl: 00229 98540624
EMAIL :( removed)
Please, Send them your contacts information to able them locate you
immediately they arrived in your country withYour BOX .This is what they need from you.


1. YOUR FULL NAME
2. YOUR HOME ADDRESS.
3. YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.
4. YOUR CURRENT OFFICE TELEPHONE.
5. A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE

Please make sure you send this needed information to theDirector General of Global Trust Courier Company Mr.Terry Cool with
the address given to you Note. The Global Trust courier company doesn’t know the contents of
the Box. I registered it as a BOX of an Africa cloth. They don't know
it contents money. This is to avoid them delaying with the BOX. Don’t
let them know that is money that is in that Box, Again do let them to
find out the box contain cash for i simply register it as an African
Cloth ok.


I am waiting for your urgent response.

You can even call theDirector of Global Trust Courier company with this line: 00229 98540624 ( email removed )
Thanks and Remain Blessed.


Alhaji Barka

This explains so much. After 1st email I was concerned that bank had cashed my check for someone else. (I like Fuel misplace $1.5M all the time). 2nd email clarified a lot of things as I can now get my money back.

Still I am left wondering.

1) Was sending 2 emails intentional or was this a bad cut and paste on 1st attempt?

2) How many people really fall for this each year?

3) Would Waffles break even if he responded to 100 of these emails?

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Feeling old

Demon child started high school. She decided to take German because one of the neighbors encouraged it and is one of the German teachers at DC's school and would be willing to help. This weekend she had a homework assignment to translate several sentences.

She was really struggling with 1 word in 4th sentence so I looked up "isst" and learned it meant "eat". Daughter was suspicous of how I could be so sure until she quickly manuevered to see screen and saw I was on "secret web-site". She immediately wanted url and I acting under wife's instructions refused to provide. Teacher had instructed not to use web as there were sites that would translate whole paragraphs. (Yes secret web site will). Daughter went on full blown monkey tilt that I did not provide resource to help with her education.

I went with "wife told me not to reveal, but if she says it is okay when she gets back I will share" defense. In interim daughter did revisit 4 times for final 2 sentences for me to look up words in "secret web site". "Attraktiv" would have to confirm that daughter goes to site too easily.

Tomorrow we go old school and get daughter a German to English book at Borders. Wife did not approve reveal of site. I give daughter 2 weeks until she finds site.

Friday I got 2 phone calls from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Due to the death of Ted Kennedy they are at 59 which is not filibuster proof and they wanted me to contribute $500 to the cause of next years Senate elections.

My 1st response was "Shouldn't you have the common decency to let Senator Kennedy be buried before invoking his name for fundraising?"

I ignored most of prepared script from phone drone the asked.

"I was employed during entire Bush administration and have been unemployed pretty much entire Obama administration so what benefit do I get from more Democratic control?"

After a few more minutes of partisan droning I agreed to donate 5% of my next paycheck and hung up.

10 minutes later she called back, apparently when entering my 'pledge' in the computer system she encountered an error and needed to know exact dollar amount.

I replied "5% of $0 is $0 you stupid cunt if you call back before I get a job I will donate to the Republicans".

My 1st time voting was in the 1980 Massachusetts primary and I registered as a Democrat to vote against Ted because I thought it was wrong for him to challenge the incumbent President of his own party. But it still strikes me as completely tacky to use the death of the remaining Kennedy brother as a fund raising tool.

RIP Ted

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Ready for some Football?


Hat tip to John Saunders on ESPN's Sports Reporters for informing me that dedicated dog owning Eagle's Fans can buy the Michael Vick dog jersey.
Demon child starts High School in morning, suddenly I feel old, she is anxious about change. I realized when I took her to orientation that this is only 3rd different school she has enrolled at.
I managed to go to 4 elementary schools, 2 Jr. Highs and 2 High Schools. My goal was not to moved the daughter around as much as my parents moved me. I made a lot of acquaintances but after each move was less likely to develop any close friendships.
Job search is still going slowly but it seems like there are more jobs being advertised.
Nothing much happening on online poker front as I really haven't felt like I was in good mindset, may settle for Silver on FullTilt this month.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Today's Comments

No poker:

I am watching NBC's Today Show as I wait to depart for flight, todays stories and my take.

1) Paula Abdul turned down 30% raise because she wanted 500% raise. I feel her pain in this economy.

2) Snakes, balding, nudity: Which causes you most anxiety? I have to go with snakes and that's just a matter of whether they are poisonous or not.

3) Guide dogs very cool.

Last night wife went on tilt. She saw 2 guys show up in apartment complex (our rent is in $2k range/month). Get out of car, one goes to Asian chicas apartment in adjacent building, other one goes to asian chicas apartment downstairs. Hour later one of the guys is just hanging around on sidewalk, other guy eventually joins him and they leave. A little later another car shows up/ repeat.

Hopefully while I am out of town wife won't get in trouble with someone's pimp.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

12th inning, score is 2-2

and the Ray's announcers are still whining about a play from the 8th inning.

Worst part is they acknowledged in the 9th that the umpires made the correct call after it was clarified that it was not a judgment call on where runners were when ball was declared dead. The local ground rules for Rays called for runners position to be set by where they were when ball left 1st player to fields hand. Ball got lodged in an equipment bag in RAYS bullpen and was declared dead.

12th inning Kevin Kennedy is still whining about the "controversial call" and the rule has to be changed.

Being in Bay area I still hear about the "tuck rule", that has not changed, we'll see if Rays make changes to their ground rules but if you have an open bullpen shit happens.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

A new record

Today the vaunted Aggression Through Calling that Sunday's on PokerStars brings hit levels that I had not previously encountered.

I exited Turbo Takedown when A8s on CO called my MP raise and rivered flush.

I exited O8 sat with KQJT ds in BB, CO raised 3459 pre, 4 bet me KT6 rainbow flop, 4 bet 3 on turn and proceeded to catch river 3s after 4th bet on turn put me all in.

I played 3 step 2s to WCOOP,

bvb QQ lost to T7, he called off half his chips pre, other half on 996 flop.

Open jammed JJ UTG for 6 BBs, Q6s called from button and rivered Q.

Open Jammed AQs from UTG, CO called 5 BBs with KQo and flopped K.

If someone sees me playing on pokerstars in August remind me of the stupidity please!

Dear bayne_s,
You have requested to partake in PokerStars Responsible Gaming
Self-Exclusion. Your exclusion period will start once you exit all
tables.
Your ability to make deposits and participate in any PokerStars
gaming activity has now been closed for 7 days. You will be able to
regain access after 2009/08/02 23:51 ET.

I have the 1st week under control.

My previous annoyance self exclusion period record was 24 hours.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Not ready to be a 'Poker Pro'

Got a little frustrated late in the evening when on a 2/4 capped PLO table someone called off half a cap pre with QJ88 against my AAQJ ds and was rewarded with a 558 flop (where I had flush draw). If I stick half my stack or cap in pre rest has to go in on almost any flop and that one did not look bad.

When player who hit his QJ88 ran before his next BB I responded by buying in for $300 at $3/$6 because if I spewed it I would still finish the day up. I slowly spewed while trying to get a read on the table and had a lot of flop whiffs when these two hands came up.



http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/multihands.php/id/7901

I hated the turn 8 on the 1st hand. But was happy to get flush draw and gutty draw on flop.

Loved and hated the turn 6 on 2nd hand. Player 4 was a Swede so he has gamble that his top set is good even when he is holding 2 of his redraw cards as well. Adrenaline rush from flopped straight holding postponed my going to sleep a good hour.

I could have bet the flop for a small pot but I hate getting freerolled and I had no redraw. Turn gave me a nut flush redraw so at that point we can see if I am against another flopped straight.

Friday, July 10, 2009

w00t Friday

Not that Friday's mean anything to the unemployed when school is out.

Demon child's BFF came over today, luckily they stayed near pool all day so I had no opportunity to embarass child. I was warned repeatedly of punishment that would come my way should I even think about embarassing. I did make cajun chicken fingers for lunch which BFF liked. The demon child not a big fan of spicy.

Had a call from a recruiter today, saddly response was 'We don't have any openings for people with your skill set right now'. She did also say they were told to take vacations in July if they could as they expected hiring to pick up in August/September.

But I forgot, Friday means payday:

Cleared my IronMan Bonus:

Player ID: bayne_s
Date and Time: 2009-07-10 15:41:27
Transfer Number: xxxxxxx
Amount: 600.00
Status: APPROVED

Full Tilt Poker has made you a payment. The funds are now available in your account.Thank you for playing at Full Tilt Poker.

And got rakeback:

This is an automated message sent from Full Tilt Poker.
Affiliate Username: PalsTransfer
Player ID: bayne_s
Date and Time: 2009-07-10 11:35:57
Transfer Number: xxxxxxx
Amount: 384.68
Status: APPROVED

This affiliate transfer has been approved. The funds transferred arenow available in your account.Thank you for partnering with Full Tilt Poker.

Best part is this time cleared bonus mainly playing PLO at a +2.5 BB/100 clip.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

A small disappointment

I received my latest unemployment check from California today.

Not going to lie.

I was really looking forward to getting an IOU.

Wife is a little annoyed with me over this. As I read the form I noticed "THE ATTACHED CHECK INCLUDES A FEDERAL STIMULUS PAYMENT." I guess California couldn't take federal dollars and send an IOU.

I am not too happy with FullTilt's latest software upgrade either, I am not having a lot of luck seeing last hands and was having connection issues today. Since I don't have a points bet with the Points Tard I will just take a walk.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

$5 Tournies Suck

Full Tilt Poker Game #13261278487: Early Double - A (98112171), Table 149 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:37:22 ET - 2009/07/07
Seat 1: sevenmarch (16,623)
Seat 2: anton268 (12,204)
Seat 3: bayne_s (12,630)
Seat 4: GR82BNCO (6,202)
Seat 6: Panache305 (4,767)
Seat 7: plmstone (5,655)
Seat 8: Airpika (20,944)
Seat 9: OttoRehagel (52,599)
sevenmarch antes 75
anton268 antes 75
bayne_s antes 75
GR82BNCO antes 75
Panache305 antes 75
plmstone antes 75
Airpika antes 75
OttoRehagel antes 75
anton268 posts the small blind of 300
bayne_s posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [9h 6c]
GR82BNCO calls 600
Panache305 has 15 seconds left to act
Panache305 folds
plmstone folds
Airpika folds
OttoRehagel folds
sevenmarch folds
anton268 calls 300
bayne_s checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 8h Ts]
anton268 checks
bayne_s bets 2,400
GR82BNCO has 15 seconds left to act
GR82BNCO folds
anton268 raises to 11,529, and is all in
speedracer136 sits down
speedracer136 adds 3,900
bayne_s calls 9,129
anton268 shows [9c Td]
bayne_s shows [9h 6c]
*** TURN *** [7c 8h Ts] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [7c 8h Ts 8d] [8c]
anton268 shows a full house, Eights full of Tens
bayne_s shows a straight, Ten high
anton268 wins the pot (25,458) with a full house, Eights full of Tens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 25,458 Rake 0
Board: [7c 8h Ts 8d 8c]
Seat 1: sevenmarch (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: anton268 (small blind) showed [9c Td] and won (25,458) with a full house, Eights full of Tens
Seat 3: bayne_s (big blind) showed [9h 6c] and lost with a straight, Ten high
Seat 4: GR82BNCO folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Panache305 folded before the Flop
Seat 7: plmstone folded before the Flop
Seat 8: Airpika folded before the Flop
Seat 9: OttoRehagel folded before the Flop

Full Tilt Poker Game #13259337327: Early Double - B (98112426), Table 38 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 16:52:49 ET - 2009/07/07
Seat 1: IGetMugger (2,460)
Seat 2: Shadow1999 (2,650)
Seat 3: Starskie86 (6,685)
Seat 4: KayToo (6,170)
Seat 5: Corona8309 (4,110)
Seat 6: BTOFDC (2,170)
Seat 7: PNJs_dad (1,245)
Seat 8: soxnationx45 (4,350)
Seat 9: bayne_s (1,280)
Corona8309 posts the small blind of 30
BTOFDC posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [Ac As]
PNJs_dad folds
soxnationx45 folds
bayne_s raises to 150
IGetMugger raises to 540
Shadow1999 folds
Starskie86 folds
KayToo folds
Corona8309 folds
BTOFDC folds
bayne_s calls 390
*** FLOP *** [7c 7d Td]
bayne_s checks
IGetMugger bets 780
bayne_s calls 740, and is all in
IGetMugger shows [Ah Qd]
bayne_s shows [Ac As]
Uncalled bet of 40 returned to IGetMugger
*** TURN *** [7c 7d Td] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [7c 7d Td 9d] [6d]
IGetMugger shows a flush, Queen high
bayne_s shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
IGetMugger wins the pot (2,650) with a flush, Queen high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,650 Rake 0
Board: [7c 7d Td 9d 6d]
Seat 1: IGetMugger showed [Ah Qd] and won (2,650) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 2: Shadow1999 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Starskie86 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: KayToo (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Corona8309 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: BTOFDC (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: PNJs_dad didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: soxnationx45 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: bayne_s showed [Ac As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens

It really didn't matter how I played hand in B. Anyone retarded enough to reraise AQo over an Early position raiser is not folding to a jam pre-flop. Top pair + oesd probably should always be calling jam in A. I will have to check to see if fulltilt has added worst beats in double prize manana.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

I do not have a Points Problem!

This post was complete bullshit.
As I go to sleep before posting I have cleared 8500 points.
I blame MPelley4, renoir7 and HMS_Broadsword for most of it, MPelley tilted the crap out of a 1/2 Cap PLO table playing any 4 cards 4 a pot raise with a pot c-bet every hand and laid quite a few beats. There was a method to his madness as I do believe he tightened up later in evening and got paid off exiting table with $800+ after his final buy in of $160. I can't tell you his exact net on evening as he was also at tables playing more calmly on other occasions. I also exited for $800+ on my initial $100 buy in.
I decided to play all 6 daily doubles after having every eurodonk who hjammed a gutshot on turn hit today in PLO. Managed the double cash in the early doubles, a double bust in 30-40 range in the Big doubles and missed out on a double cash in original double when another ambitous Aussie called off all his chips with a J9s from MP and cracked my JJ which I jammed UTG in A.
In B, I managed to pull a goat and a smokkee jamming A rag into a better Ace to not win.


Considering that these were stacks when Final Table started:
Seat 1: bayne_s (128,659)
Seat 2: brianw26 (86,400)
Seat 3: jbirdcudahy (291,648)
Seat 4: steveysee (385,540)
Seat 5: andinista (505,026)
Seat 6: gildabeansjp (287,783)
Seat 7: jellycz (71,317)
Seat 8: curtkaniff (275,210)
Seat 9: Strul (244,417)
and we were 3 handed before I ever got above 250k I should be happy with 2nd but jelly had fewer chips than me and won. I just never got much closer than 2.4:1 in chips heads up.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Another IronMan Bonus to clear

This time no prop bet with the points tard.
1) Enabling his strange points addiction when he does not get rakeback while humorous for me in the past makes me feel somehow complicit with evil FullTilt marketing.
2) It was not a challenge before.
3) No bet makes it easier not to play if running bad or playing bad.
4) I have more time for poker without silly job pressures.

Goal will be to achieve a lei surly 500 point a day pace. If I achieve the 12k points by the 24th I may push on to 15k for the chance for entry to cardrunners poker camp in South Beach.

The big news locally is California is going to be sending out IOUs for it's bills. Expectation is next envelope from unemployment office will contain IOU instead of check.

One problem is we have bloated retirement system for state employees. I am not sure anyone retired from state goverment should draw a pension greater than the Governor's salary, we have at least 10 retirees doing that. We also have 5115 retirees drawing more than $100k/year including at least 3000 teachers. I may have to figure out how to get certified as a teacher, it is an important job, school lets out in time for WSOP, and I could travel latter part of summer.

I am okay with teachers getting paid while they are teaching, just don't quite understand how pension can be so large. Problem is structure is set up at 2.4-3% of salary for each year worked and eligibilty at age 50, with no cap on percentage. I could get job now, work 17 years and draw 50% of salary for live.

Seems like a good plan.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Comedy on a Saturday Night

Hero alered me to a table he was on. You don't see stack sizes like these every day on a $25 buy in table.



Link to whole session is here:
http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/multihands.php/id/7562

There is 1 spectacular $5k+ pot

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Got to be Proactive

Four years ago we flew east for a niece's wedding, a moment from the week that stuck with me is the in-laws opened a phone bill. They were probably last people in America that went for the cheapest basic service where you paid for local calls after using x minutes. They got hit with a few hundred dollar charge for local service since younger niece apparently averaged 50+ hours/week on phone (they also had AOL dialup).

Today demon daughter and her BFF were sending a flurry of text messages. Daughter was laughing as she could not keep up pace.

I quickly called Sprint and changed my calling plan to include unlimited texting. Sprint must be freaked about the I-Phone because they offered me $140 credit to extend contract on 2 phones that had reached end of agreement 2 years.

I still not have heard from company I interviewed with 2 1/2 weeks ago but I still had a better day than Michael Jackson. I doubt anyone will have a bigger gap between professional and personal success than the 'King of Pop'.



I was at 'Confetti' in north Atlanta during original airing of Motown 25, undoubtably originally for cheap Happy Hour. (Being a junior at a Tech school odds were better to leave campus). Dance floor suddenly froze about 3:44 into clip when we all wondered wtf did we just see when Michael moonwalked. Even though I was more of a fan of Rush, Styx, AC/DC and VanHalen had to recognize Michael was King of Music in 80s.

R.I.P.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Living Large comes to an end

The week in Vegas came to an end. Met up with lightning at Paris before visiting 2 of my favorite craps spots, Planet Hollywood and Casino Royale (took beatings) and the met up with wife and daughter for dinner as it seemed like I would earn points spending last night with them.

As we were walking away from dinner I made a comment about daughter giving me traditional kiss on the cheek for Father's Day in morning. Daughter had traditional "don't even think about it, not going to happen" response while wife had a look of panic and sent me off by myself as she had "souvenir shopping" to do.

I got to $10 craps table closest to poker room and discovered facing cafe rolling craps is a fine way to spend Saturday night in Las Vegas. Apparently XS (the pool side nightclub) is quite popular as 10:00 pm arrived and there was a parade of people walking by towards XS. I hung out with Steve, John and SteveO who were 3 20 somethings who grew up in Jersey and worked in Manhattan and may have decided to ditch the line and hang out at my end of craps table.

Being the old married guy I am I probably would not have noticed that quite a few attractive women were walking by nor would I have noticed the 3 ladies (and possibly 3 guys) playing at the adjacent table. They were a blonde in somewhat sheer red dress wearing a red thong, a brunette wearing a differently cut but same material dress with black thong and a blonde wearing a sheer black dress with black thong. I cannot remember on past vacation trips seeing woman dressed in this manner.

Between the sights and commentary of the Jersey boys I was barely paying attention to the dice as player at other end of table managed to hit at least 4 points and quite a few numbers. The dealers also had to nudge me a few times on my turn to get the dice thrown. During my turn a dude walked up to table, bought in for $5000 and started making dark side bets. He made $400 lay bets on the 4 and 10 which I quickly wiped out but he rallied with a single don't come bet.

Jersey boy John picked up the dice and after setting point of 10, quickly rolled a 5 (raised my place bet to $15), a 5 (raised my bet to $25), a 5 (raised my bet to $35), a 5 (raised my bet to $50), a 5 (raised my bet to $75), a 5 (raised my bet to $125), a 5 (raised my bet to $200).

Darkside better bet don't pass then don't come and decided to keep increasing his bets until he was left with the original $400 don't pass on the 10 and wiped out his $5k battling the trend.

At this point I decided to throw a $25 bet out for the shooter and only one of the Jersey Steves placed his own bet. The dudes were funny but they didn't bet worth a shit, only backed up odds at 1x, bet an occaisonal field and maybe bet a number but never put house money to use.

Jersey John pounded a lot of numbers but only got one more 9 before crapping out.

After dice passed I noticed the chicas at next table were gone and none of the Jersey boys had noticed the exit as the focus on the FIVE had taken over.

Table remained hot for a few more orbits but no one managed to just pound a number on future rolls.

The big fashion question remains when did sheer become the thing????

Overall the Palazzo was the hotel of choice but the casino ambiance and craps was better at Wynn. The O8 game at Wynn was also incredible as I think a minimum of 5 people saw every flop and 4 people saw the turn on a K94 all spade flop where I folded the bare A of spades on flop because after the 3-bet I did not believe I had fold equity to bluff.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Live PLO tournies

I played Venetian Big Stack PLO.

One of the 6000 Full Tilt Red letter pros was also at my table and had a monster stack by hitting flops and knocking people out.

The russian to my right was a bluffing/spewing machine.

Crasians don't fold AA on flop in tournies. Early (50/100 blinds) he could not fold AA34 on 689 flop. Against me he could not fold AA25 on T94 flop and my QJT9 went down in flames with turn 7 and river 4. God bless those willing to go broke with unimproved AA in PLO except when they suck out. We both had ~30k behind so I was more than willing to commit 1800 pre with ds QJT9.

1st impression Palazzo > Wynn.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Palazzo

I post this from my Palazzo Suite. It is 20 steps to the door from the desk. There are 3 TVs and the drapes have a remote control.

Wife and kid may never agree to stay at Rio again. (Harrahs was banished as option long ago).

Venetian O8 deep stack 1st hand I looked at cards one at a time as they were dealt.

9

9

9

Intellectual curiosity forced me to look at 4th despite knowing I was already folding. It was a 3.

I was at a great table where 4-6 people saw a limped pot pre and 3 players at table would bet low only hands and they would also draw to lows with 2 cards 9+ on flop.

Sadly I got abused with A46 on 235 flop when the admittedly better A234 starting hand rivered a boat to take me from 3/4 to 1/4 after we capped the flop and turn.

Rest of tourney was slow bleed where half of my hands were face, 9, and 2 cards between 3 and 6.

Wife and daughter are already poolside and seeing phantom later.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Tasing the elderly



My apologies in advance to ScottMc or JJOK if this is your mom.

I have seen this twice on the today show this morning. Matt Lauer seemed to take position that he does not know what alternative choice the offier was left with. Erin Burnett (guest hosting) and my wife were of opinion that she should never have been tased.

At times in my past I have worked briefly as a bouncer and know that restraining the belligerent without inflicting any injury is very difficult. Don't think the taser was right choice but don't know that he could have handcuffed her with no risk of injuring her or having her manage to move into traffic.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Live Poker Suckage Night

During rebuy period had QQ and stole blinds.
Had JJ, 3 callers and flop was AKQ rainbow.
Had J6o 4 straight hands, Q6o then J3.

When Rebuy priod ended I did Addon and rebuy to achieve same chip level that double rebuy + add brings for those that bust last hand.

Finally chipped up when KK > KTs.
Next hand limp called a button raise with 98s, flop is 765 rainbow, action is check, check bet, jam. I naturally call. Jammer shows his 8, I say nothing to the tournament director. Button calls ( he is shortest of us by 4k chips), he has KK. Turn K, river 7.

I raise AA UTG get rr by UTG + 1, everyone folds to me, I jam he has AA, we chop.

Moved to other table monster stack to immediate left, rest of table short. SB open shoves for 3.5 BB, I have A rag and call. He turns over KT and shouts "hold" although I have 16 if playing blackjack am under belief that I am ahead. I flop flush draw and gutter, he rivers T and berates me for making a bad call and getting what I deserved. I exit next hand with 2 pair against flush and 1.5 BB ATC call from SB.

I get on 101 N, car handles funny. In 1st break of night flat tire is on right side.

Scissors jacks suck. 3rd attempt car gets enough height to remove tire. Car rolls during removal attempt. Brake was set WTF. I am screwed tire is partially off, jack is at 45 degree angle.

30 minutes and $85 later tow truck brings real jack and spare is replaced.

Dr. C's wife has made a brilliant decision not to go along for live poker.

As I type this I notice 3 knuckles are scraped from my tire changing efforts.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Twitter

"Tweets are for birds, not for grown men." - Michael Wilbon, PTI, June 3, 2009

Truer words have not been spoken!

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Life Tilt

Chad popped up in IM recently requesting that I teach him how to roach in a tournament. I was around 40 of 41 in $5k (36 paid) and finally took a bad beat to finish 11th. Sadly despite being able to consistently roach well into money and occaisonally win from a small stacked position I can't explain how I pick my spots. I of course tried to use occaison to pick Chad's brain on how to run deep for big money.

Sadly I learned people skillz.

Frustrated in my job search I again contacted a company I applied with 2 weeks ago. From job description it is a job I did 10 years ago but using communication standards I have designed equipment for recently. My cover letter (email) read:

"I applied before, you have not responded and sadly I am a perfect fit for the opening described. I used to do the same job for the competitor that always kicked your ass in sales

I am beginning to understand what led to you losing out competitively.

Thank you for considering me for HW Design position you have posted on web-site,

Bayne"

Monday, June 01, 2009

Seat 1: Leetoeleona (2,560), is sitting out
Seat 2: X_BOZZY_X (2,450), is sitting out
Seat 3: bayne_s (3,440)
Seat 4: Imnotafish (8,294)
Seat 5: baadman88 (2,460), is sitting out
Seat 6: effalumper (10,912)
Seat 7: EastonBill (2,515), is sitting out
Seat 8: cowboy1667 (11,956)
Seat 9: TooOld2Fold (383)
effalumper posts the small blind of 40
EastonBill posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [Qs Th Qc As]
cowboy1667 calls 80TooOld2
Fold calls 80Leetoeleona folds
X_BOZZY_X foldsbayne_s calls 80
Imnotafish raises to 520
he is from Finland and went to felt earlier with 599K 1 suit 3 hands previous
baadman88 folds
effalumper folds
EastonBill folds
cowboy1667 calls 440
TooOld2Fold folds
bayne_s raises to 2,280
Imnotafish raises to 7,560
cowboy1667 folds
bayne_s calls 1,160, and is all in
Imnotafish shows [2s 9d 6h 7s]
bayne_s shows [Qs Th Qc As]
Uncalled bet of 4,120 returned to Imnotafish
*** TURN *** [Qd Td 7c] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [Qd Td 7c 7d] [7h]
Imnotafish shows four of a kind, Sevens
bayne_s shows a full house, Queens full of SevensImnotafish wins the pot (7,600) with four of a kind, Sevens

13 hands later the incorrectly named Imnotafish exited MSOP.

I was not stalking but did not close window quickly.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Another Day, Another Suckout

BBT4 ended pretty much the way I ran in BBT2-BBT4.

Some donkey shoves A-rag and cracks KK when rag trips or some donkey shoves A-rag to crack my AK when his rag hits.

God bless the A-rag jizz in their pants shovers, until they are rewarded.

/end of waffles channeling.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Thursday Wisdom

Demon Child had her wisdom teeth removed today by Dr. Beech.

You show up in waiting room 30 minutes early, get the intial drugs to sedate in waiting room and hang out with the parents of the child currently undergoing removal. When done they have parents pull car to door near side exit "so it is a shorter walk" but I have to believe secondary reason is so no one waiting for procedure sees patient who has swollen cheeks upon exit.

He seems to be a minimalist when it comes to anesthesia as kid was alert and at her normal levels of ornery without being in any pain for 1st 7 hours (and counting) after removal. She is napping a lot today as she did not get that much sleep last night and is stuck drinking her calories today.

Overall I am quite pleased with Dr. Beech and would recommend.

In $5k PLO I exited flopping top set and 2nd flush draw. Got all in on flop but you can't make a flush draw fold and it got there.

Twodimes Math says:
http://twodimes.net/h/?z=6408642
pokenum -o ad 2d 2c 3c - kd td qh th -- tc 9d 7d
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing Tc 9d 7d
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
3c 2c Ad 2d 219 26.71 601 73.29 0 0.00 0.267
Kd Td Qh Th 601 73.29 219 26.71 0 0.00 0.733

EuroMath says "I have nut flush draw"
I do wonder if he also goes to felt on a club flush draw?

Most retarded part of the hand is A223 was UTG in PLO (high only) and limped than called BB pot raise.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Bluffing in PLO

The most common bluff in PLO is the "bare Ace" bluff.

I have a few suggested rules for it's implementation:
1) Do not try in games below $100 buy in.
2) Do not run bluff into Euro who seems to raise any double suited (this means most Euros).
3) You can't spell Canadian or Calling Station without the "Ca" do not bluff most canadians.
4) Never bluff an Aussie or Kiwi

FullTiltPoker Game #12362499917: Table Amulet (6 max) - $1/$2 - $80 Cap Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 2:28:01 ET - 2009/05/22
Seat 1: lq22 ($229.20)
Seat 2: ajmanscu ($364)
Seat 3: tendhar ($102.15)
Seat 4: princessmeow ($177.90)
Seat 5: bayne_s ($90.80)
Seat 6: GoldFinger008 ($279.20)
bayne_s posts the small blind of $1
GoldFinger008 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [Ad As Js 9s]
lq22 calls $2
ajmanscu folds
tendhar folds
princessmeow calls $2
bayne_s calls $1
GoldFinger008 raises to $6
lq22 calls $4
princessmeow calls $4
bayne_s calls $4

I could raise but GoldFinger never folds to reraise so I would be stuck playing OOP against 4 and I do have 3 spades.

*** FLOP *** [4c 6c 7c]
bayne_s checks
GoldFinger008 checks
lq22 checks
princessmeow checks
*** TURN *** [4c 6c 7c] [Kd]
bayne_s checks
GoldFinger008 bets $20
lq22 calls $20
princessmeow calls $20
bayne_s folds
*** RIVER *** [4c 6c 7c Kd] [Jh]
GoldFinger008 bets $54, and is capped
lq22 folds
princessmeow calls $54, and is capped
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GoldFinger008 shows [Ah Ac 4d 9h] a pair of Aces
princessmeow shows [8c 9c 5c 8h] a straight flush, Eight high
princessmeow wins the pot ($189) with a straight flush, Eight high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $192 Rake $3
Board: [4c 6c 7c Kd Jh]
Seat 1: lq22 folded on the River
Seat 2: ajmanscu didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: tendhar didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: princessmeow (button) showed [8c 9c 5c 8h] and won ($189) with a straight flush, Eight high
Seat 5: bayne_s (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: GoldFinger008 (big blind) showed [Ah Ac 4d 9h] and lost with a pair of Aces

5) Straight flushes never fold, and they don't even look like donkeys.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Bad RNG night

I hate when the RNG turns.

PokerStars Game #28440603174: Omaha Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/05/21 2:03:57 ET
Table 'Philomela IV' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Gekko22 ($36 in chips)
Seat 2: Raisor ($197 in chips)
Seat 3: vivir9 ($217.35 in chips)
Seat 4: bayne_s ($185.90 in chips)
Seat 6: agabi ($443.10 in chips)
Seat 7: the beast ($362.30 in chips)
Seat 9: AttyBubba ($509.25 in chips)
arpchi will be allowed to play after the button
agabi: posts small blind $1
the beast: posts big blind $2
fzoohtt: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [Th As Ah Td]
AttyBubba: folds
Gekko22: folds
Raisor: folds
vivir9: raises $5 to $7
bayne_s: raises $13 to $20
agabi: folds
the beast: folds
vivir9: raises $43 to $63
bayne_s: raises $122.90 to $185.90 and is all-in
vivir9: calls $122.90
*** FLOP *** [4d 5d Qs]
*** TURN *** [4d 5d Qs] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [4d 5d Qs Ks] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
vivir9: shows [Ad 9h 7d Ac] (a flush, Ace high)
bayne_s: mucks hand
vivir9 collected $371.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $374.80 Rake $3
Board [4d 5d Qs Ks Kd]
Seat 1: Gekko22 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Raisor folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: vivir9 showed [Ad 9h 7d Ac] and won ($371.80) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 4: bayne_s (button) mucked [Th As Ah Td]
Seat 6: agabi (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: the beast (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: AttyBubba folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I was doing okay in the Mookie until sellthekids started hitting A-rag like it owed him money.

Key of course to hitting Ace rag is to shove it or call it quickly because you really believe you are ahead. I have tried to adjust my game to believe but sadly I can not overcome the knowledge that face cards outrank napkins.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

PLO 6 Max on stars

Congrats to LJ for TOC seat win in skillz!

I hate that on stars cards don't show in cash when all in until river is dealt!!

I have been transitioning my PLO game from full ring to 6 max and it boggles my mind how many people will commit their stacks with hands that would be good in hold 'em but I would have never commited stack with in PLO last year.

The double suited donks are everywhere too.

POKERSTARS GAME #28401767261: OMAHA POT LIMIT ($2/$4) - 2009/05/20 0:34:48 ET
Table 'Ellicott' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: buzz ($234.75 in chips)
Seat 2: bayne_s ($194 in chips)
Seat 3: brooklyn pie ($387.60 in chips)
Seat 4: ryanbluf ($491.50 in chips)
Seat 5: andr3w321 ($559 in chips)
Seat 6: bigcoop23 ($629.60 in chips)
brooklyn pie: posts small blind $2
ryanbluf: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [Ah Jh 3d Kd]

I watched 1st 2 stinger Pwning PLO videos via trulyfreepokertraining.

andr3w321: folds
bigcoop23: raises $8 to $12
buzz: calls $12
bayne_s: calls $12
brooklyn pie: calls $10
ryanbluf: raises $60 to $72
bigcoop23: calls $60
buzz: calls $60
bayne_s: calls $60

crap $240 in the pot already don't want to call but with these odds

brooklyn pie: calls $60
*** FLOP *** [2s Qd 4d]
brooklyn pie: checks
ryanbluf: checks
bigcoop23: bets $357
buzz: folds
bayne_s: calls $122 and is all-in

I have note on bigcoop23 about non nut flushes and I have 11 outs against naked set

brooklyn pie: folds
ryanbluf: folds
Uncalled bet ($235) returned to bigcoop23
*** TURN *** [2s Qd 4d] [4h]
fawk
*** RIVER *** [2s Qd 4d 4h] [7h]
fawk
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bigcoop23: shows [6h Jd 5h 9d] (a pair of Fours)
bayne_s: shows [Ah Jh 3d Kd] (a pair of Fours - Ace kicker)
bayne_s collected $601 from pot

w00t

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $604 Rake $3
Board [2s Qd 4d 4h 7h]
Seat 1: buzz folded on the Flop
Seat 2: bayne_s (button) showed [Ah Jh 3d Kd] and won ($601) with a pair of Fours
Seat 3: brooklyn pie (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: ryanbluf (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: andr3w321 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: bigcoop23 showed [6h Jd 5h 9d] and lost with a pair of Fours

OMG table was tilted after this one

Saturday, May 16, 2009

PLO mini-FTOPS




Full Tilt Poker Game #12258028408: MiniFTOPS Event #23 (84244559), Table 55 - 80/160 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 17:49:43 ET - 2009/05/16
Seat 1: Lee Watkinson (19,314)
Seat 2: mozgoved82 (12,660)
Seat 3: SF_rigged (6,350)
Seat 4: GoldRivr (25,648)
Seat 5: bayne_s (21,944)
Seat 6: Tailduster (455), is sitting out
Seat 7: Doctor_45_Chris (11,804)
Seat 8: dreamland517 (16,576)
Seat 9: rascalguy (4,995)
rascalguy posts the small blind of 80
Lee Watkinson posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bayne_s [6s 5h 7s 4c]
mozgoved82 calls 160
SF_rigged folds
GoldRivr folds
bayne_s calls 160
Tailduster folds
Doctor_45_Chris calls 160
dreamland517 folds
rascalguy calls 80
Lee Watkinson checks
*** FLOP ***
[Ts 5c 4s]
rascalguy checks
Lee Watkinson has 15 seconds left to act
Lee Watkinson bets 800
mozgoved82 has 15 seconds left to act
mozgoved82 folds
bayne_s Has a decision to make

I could be ahead or Lee might have a wrap draw or Lee might have a TPTK + nut flush draw type hand. I have him covered and I like T-shirts.

Plus it is $10.

bayne_s raises to 1,600

Min raise is such a donkey move

Doctor_45_Chris folds
rascalguy folds
Lee Watkinson has 15 seconds left to act
Lee Watkinson raises to 5,600

I decide this means set so I will flip a coin for sport.

bayne_s raises to 17,600
Lee Watkinson raises to 19,154, and is all in
bayne_s calls 1,554
Lee Watkinson shows [3c Td Tc Qh]
bayne_s shows [6s 5h 7s 4c]
*** TURN ***
[Ts 5c 4s] [8s]
*** RIVER ***
[Ts 5c 4s 8s] [Kh]
Lee Watkinson shows three of a kind, Tens
bayne_s shows a flush, Ten high
bayne_s wins the pot (39,108) with a flush, Ten high
Lee Watkinson stands up

At bubble I busted with QJTT to big stack that had been punishing bubble.
I played hand slowly to scrape into cash
but his AQJ6 called my jam of 886 flop and of course rivered an Ace so I got a bottom cash.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

RIP Dragon Slayer

Good Game demon child.

Each Survivor season daughter chooses her pick to root for leaving me to select one of the others. DC chose Taj and I quickly narrowed field to JT or coach. Despite my southern roots I felt compelled to pick Coach due to the huge potential to tilt daughter.

Most of the show I would whisper 'dragon slayer" just to trigger an outburst, I have never tilted anyone (yes I mean anyone!) at a poker table to the extent I tilted daughter. Wife was at a neighbor's during 1st scream and rushed home to see if we were under attack.

When Stephen betrayed the Dragon Slayer a 5 minute gloat followed.

It is just sad our game ended one episode sooner than it had to.

The Mechanics of a Seat Sale

1.) Agree to deal terms.
2.) Person taking money sits out.
3.) Person taking seat raises to steal blinds until person taking money is all in with either blind.
4.) Win seat or go to step 2

That is all.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Good Fences make Good Neighbors

Unfortunately apartments only have exterior fence and safety fence around the pool area.

We have neighbor who claims to have Arizona house, a beach house in Huntington beach and a manor in England. If true she is quite bitter about living in an apartment now or is just by her nature unpleasant.

Yesterday while I was playing PLO8 min FTOPs my wife was using common area office and computer when neighbor entered to use 2nd computer along with her young son. The boy decided to turn the fan off and my wife asked if he could turn it back on as she was a little warm.

I am sure she asked pleasantly but does occaisonally have a whiny tone in her voice. The bitter mom reacted and said "you don't own this place, we want fan off", "never speak to my son like that again you are beneath us" and "your daughter is a little monster take care of her before speaking to someone else's child" and really got in wife's space. Apartment assistant manager had overheard confrontation and did pull wife aside and made sure she was okay and asked her to write a letter of complaint and coached her on points to highlight to send to apartment manager. Wife was still trembling and very visibly upset when she got to apartment.

Important note:
Bayne <----- oblivious engineer who rarely notices emotions.

I did put down computer and grabbed my shoes to confront this woman but wife insisted I do nothing.

I soon tilted out of mini-FTOPS and went to common area since I knew my wife had headed back there to print letter. On my way I did pass a little boy and a short woman but having never met the woman did not say anything. When I got to common area assitant manager spotted me first and alerted wife I had arrived. Wife told me she had just left so I asked if it was that "troll of a woman in gray top". They confirmed identity, wife told me again she was okay and requested again I do nothing so I came back to apartment. Wfie was relieved when she returned to find me in apartment.

Wife was supposed to have a metting with the apartment manager's boss (manager is in Hawaii) to talk about incident. Boss man had also left message for troll, identified himself and left number but had not mentioned exact purpose of call. Troll got pissed that he had called her phone went to office and was yelling. What we heard 2nd hand was "I pay rent you work for me", "never call me again" and "learn your place".

My wife's meeting was deemed no longer required everything said in letter was credible.

Troll was already planning to move out in June, there will be a party for residents when it happens as she has pissed off many of the other neighbors as well.
I

Monday, May 11, 2009

Ship the Pop Bets


FullTilt has a ton of promotions going along with FTOPS and mini-FTOPS so far I have managed to qualify for 8 of the $1k pirze fund freerolls. 4 of which are the Roach skill tournies.
I managed to roach to level 10 in 5 tournies by event 11 so all those who placed this bet which must have been at 1:5 odds can party like it's 1999.
I finally booked my June WSOP trip.
I will be in Las Vegas June14-21, targeted event is $2500 PLO. I was not quite sure how I was going to convimce the wife that going to Las Vegas while unemployed was a good idea but the Venetian sent me an email offer that included 2 Phantom of Opera Tix and 4 free nights. Today Wynn was kind enough to send an offer for 3 nights + some free slot play.
Wife has wanted to stay in both of these properties instead of the Harrah's properties she usually sees.
I have a Wynn card but play was restricted to some a couple of hours of Video poker on a 99.9% return Jacks or Better machine to qualify for brunch buffet and made $75 on that.
Times must be bad in Las Vegas.