Nope, didn't score any additional Dead tickets or Phish tickets to anything.
But part of my music wish list has been satisfied: KBM for Kreutzmann, Burbridge and Murawski are now booked for Mountain Jam. That now puts two members of the current Dead line-up on the mountain (Billy K and Warren Haynes) and one member of Max Creek on the mountain (Scott Murawski). I'm crossing my fingers that Max Creek will be added to this years festivities.
Disappointed I'm going to miss Eh-Vegas but I and BFF Kim will be attending a Max Creek show here at Troy's Revolution Hall in two short weeks. One month later its the Dead, a month after that Springsteen and a few weeks after that Mountain Jam. Dave Matthews just announced a couple shows at SPAC (Phish did not) in June.
Kim looked into condo rental for Mountain Jam, but supposedly already sold out and taking deposits for 2010. I suggested renting an RV with nephew Zack and Sierra. I cant rage for 72 hours with no sleep and enjoy the music, especially when its rained every year. Sleeping on what amounts to Hunter Mountains version of the Lhotse Face loses its charm when there are no Sherpa's to do the hauling. I could sleep in my SUV away from the mayhem. Seriously considering getting VIP tickets so I can take in the music from a nice covered perch and actually really write about the whole weekend.
No one wants to read bad beat stories but the past week of poker(beginning with last Monday) has been a cluster fuck and I've blown thru a good $150 or so on pokerstars. This was after finishing 2nd in one of those $2.20 90 person sngs (I had a first and second in my first two attempts at them) last Sunday night. . I have made deep runs in $8.80/$5.50 90 person sngs and the $22 deep stack, only to get bamboozled at the end just short of the money. Maybe Ive played the AA hands wrong by just not shoving all in but I'm trying to extract value from my hands and at the lower limits I constantly get run down by someone chasing their flush, gutshot etc without the odds to do so. Example, I flopped to pair with 57os on board of A57. bet the pot and some donk with Ace high only calls me all the way down to the river where they are rewarded with a better two pair. I know its tricky playing those kinds of hands. But its redonkulous to call off your stack with just top pair. Poker is not fun when you are card dead and get your big hands cracked when Pokerstars RNG throws you a bone. I looked over one SNG I played and I think i only hit the 5 card flop 5 times over the whole tourney till i busted out. I was catching no pieces of anything.
Today started a new week and I did manage to win a $5.50 DoN which is my first cash since last Sunday in anything.
I made an awesome marinated Flank steak, roasted yukon gold potatoes and marinated asparagus for dinner last Sunday during the Daytona 500 which fed me for a few days. I was disappointed at the rain delay/cancellation. Next time start the race like at 11 AM or noon. The West coast is used to getting up early for football!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
I Am Yoda?
I found this on Gadzooks64 blog. What kind of a Sci-fi character are you. Always thought i was a little more Trinity from the Matrix. Whats funny is when i first got sober and was embracing the concept of a higher power, i thought he looked like Yoda.
A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.
Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.
Yoda is a is a character in the Star Wars universe. (part of the blurb, i assume everyone knows that)PokerStars SCOOP
It's no secret that my preferred site to play online is Pokerstars. I haven't played on Full Tilt since October and I don't see myself redepositing anytime soon there. I do have a small bankroll on Bodog which i use for the Bodonkey and for playing the ponies, and a bit on Poker.com and Bugsys Club but i rarely if ever play those two sites.
Fresh off their 25th billion hand promotion, PokerStars announced its first ever SCOOP- The Spring Cup of Online Poker. This is not replacing the WCOOP at all which is still their penultimate series.
The reason PokerStars in my opinion reigns supreme is they have a price point for everyone in each of the events scheduled. There is something for everyone low limit grinder to medium to high. I kind of fall somewhere between low and medium, so I'm as happy as a clam.
The schedule subject to a few tweaks can be found over on 2+2 and satellites begin this week.
Click here for the link to the thread/schedule.
And as an aside, Snake5970 chopped the Thursday 11 AM tourney at Foxwoods for a cool 2300+ with none other then his brother Silo. They started at the same table and both were card dead, got split up and met back up at the second to final table. Their friend/coworker Doggan freerolled a slot tourney and won it for $1k plus he and his wife had about another 4-5k in slot winnings. Between the 4 of them they brought back almost 10k to help stimulate the Upstate NY economy.
I'm thinking of heading to Turning Stone for the $350 buy-in in a few weeks on Friday March 6th to be exact.
The WSOP-E coverage last nite (4 hours of great poker) featured some really good play and hands. Scott Montgomery took an ugly beat and handled it with class. His composure really impresses me. Brandon Adams and Peter Neff both wound up getting some bad breaks and both had that shell shocked deer in headlights oh what could have been look on their faces. I felt bad for them. And of course Negreanu impresses with me with his hand reading/people reading skills. Even though I know the outcome, I enjoy watching the interactions and hands visually.
Time for 24 and to pay attention in the 90 man $5.50 SNG Im in since its down to three tables. I finished 2nd in a $2.20 90 man yesterday after playing some really good poker early in other tourneys, only to blow chip stacks with I cant believe that moron just hit that flush again itis. Curiousity is expensive!!!
Fawking donkey just called my 4x bb raise with q9os and cracked my aces. once again a deep run only to get bamboozled.
Fresh off their 25th billion hand promotion, PokerStars announced its first ever SCOOP- The Spring Cup of Online Poker. This is not replacing the WCOOP at all which is still their penultimate series.
The reason PokerStars in my opinion reigns supreme is they have a price point for everyone in each of the events scheduled. There is something for everyone low limit grinder to medium to high. I kind of fall somewhere between low and medium, so I'm as happy as a clam.
The schedule subject to a few tweaks can be found over on 2+2 and satellites begin this week.
Click here for the link to the thread/schedule.
And as an aside, Snake5970 chopped the Thursday 11 AM tourney at Foxwoods for a cool 2300+ with none other then his brother Silo. They started at the same table and both were card dead, got split up and met back up at the second to final table. Their friend/coworker Doggan freerolled a slot tourney and won it for $1k plus he and his wife had about another 4-5k in slot winnings. Between the 4 of them they brought back almost 10k to help stimulate the Upstate NY economy.
I'm thinking of heading to Turning Stone for the $350 buy-in in a few weeks on Friday March 6th to be exact.
The WSOP-E coverage last nite (4 hours of great poker) featured some really good play and hands. Scott Montgomery took an ugly beat and handled it with class. His composure really impresses me. Brandon Adams and Peter Neff both wound up getting some bad breaks and both had that shell shocked deer in headlights oh what could have been look on their faces. I felt bad for them. And of course Negreanu impresses with me with his hand reading/people reading skills. Even though I know the outcome, I enjoy watching the interactions and hands visually.
Time for 24 and to pay attention in the 90 man $5.50 SNG Im in since its down to three tables. I finished 2nd in a $2.20 90 man yesterday after playing some really good poker early in other tourneys, only to blow chip stacks with I cant believe that moron just hit that flush again itis. Curiousity is expensive!!!
Fawking donkey just called my 4x bb raise with q9os and cracked my aces. once again a deep run only to get bamboozled.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Blogiversary (almost 4 years)
Wow I just looked at my archives and have been doing this for almost 4 years now. February 20th 2005 was my first post. I only posted 10 times during that year and had no idea what blogger tourneys even were. I belonged to a lot of poker forums and posted frequently on the message boards of those forums and played alot of poker on sites like Poker Host, Titan, CD Poker, Royal Vegas, Bet365, Interpoker etc. I was a freeroll junkie and built a small investment up to almost 4k spread out over a ton of sites. I still have money held hostage on Microgaming sites that I won and cant get off because of UIGEA. I also lost about $150 of money on JetSet when they went belly up. Fortunately I had never deposited on JetSet and it was all freeroll winnings from forum events I had played and then used some of those winnings to play the small dollar buy-ins. I used to love the JetSet Headhunter tourneys.
Anyway, I've noticed like most of us poker content is fewer and far between in my posts. I know for a fact I am not glued to my computer 7 days a week like I used to be back in 2005/2006. I still play alot of poker but I usually now take 2-3 and sometimes 4 days a week off from playing. I haven't played live since New Year's Eve but should be back in the live swing in a bit. Ive had deep runs in a bunch of the Pokerstars $11 buy-ins but no big scores. Typical situation I flip with QQ and get called by a bigger stacks AK and they pair their overcard and I go out 40th or so instead of vaulting up to being a top ten stack and final table bound. One of these days I will win my flips late stage and take one of these bad buys down. It doesn't make a difference if I win $18.93 for 44th place or $33.46 for finishing in 18th place by fold fold folding and playing like a nit. Id rather bust out or be in position to finish in the top three where all the money lies.
The feral cat we've been feeding, will come over to me if hes out of his box when I come over to bring it water and food. I have been able to scratch its head and pet him. And he purrs and rubs against me. But he can still be very skittish. The other day it got sick on frozen milk it had been eating and threw up when i was there (it threw up the milk crystals it must have been licking) . the poor little thing fell over on his side and I thought he was having a seizure or was dying on me but he righted himself and came back over and wanted the water I had brought him. I dumped all the milk. The elderly owner of the porch where he resides leaves him milk as she has nothing else to give him and thinks its a good thing. She was even pouring milk into the water and I'd find a frozen concoction of milk water which sent me over the edge. I'd call up Joan and say "Joan, I'm gonna kill Jean shes gonna kill the cat with the milk. Jean, came out today when i was working with the cat and I told her she doesnt have to leave him anything, Joan and I and our mail lady are feeding him kibble and fresh water. He is not the prettiest of cats. Hes almost cross eyed, hes got a really round head and a lumpy body and kind of walks funny. Hes the cat version of either a puff-a-lump or an oompa loompa from Willie Wonka. But mail girl will take him if I can get it more socialized. So far Im the only one who has been able to pet it. Just call me the cat whisperer. (I also can do great things with plants)
And Happy Birthday to Snake5970. It's his 46th and he headed to Foxwoods with his brother today for a couple of nights, as a former co-worker of his and current co-worker of Rich (his brother) had some comped nites. We went to Carrabbas last Friday nite for the football bet I won. I gave him a cool card that had a poker theme I found at Target (a green felt cover with a spade royal flush on the front) and a Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hit CD so he can get ready for the show. He only has like 6 CD's total in his collection and is definitely not a music person like moi.
Carrabba's was excellent. I'm a fan of the family style portions at Buca de Beppo but Carrabba's was really really good. We ordered the Bruschetta as an appetizer which we didn't need and that was probably the weakest part of the meal and it was good. I wound up ordering the Steak Marsala with garlic mashed and Caesar salad with the anchovies. Ray wound up getting three appetizers for his dinner. The steamed mussels, the fried calamari and the appetizer sized shrimp scampi. When all the food came out we started cracking up because our table was covered with platters. We pretty much split everything. then for dessert we ordered the sampler of 6 of their desserts which comes served in little rectangular shot glasses: there was a cannoli mousse, a tiramisu, a Kahlua espresso mousse, a zabaglione and a strawberry lemon mousse cake and another one i cant remember. By the time dessert came Snake was only able to have a few spoonfuls and i don't think he tasted them all. i laughed at him and said "remember the saying your eyes are bigger then your tummy?"
We had a marathon TV movie watching session planned for after dinner. First we watched the new reality series Jockey's on Animal Planet. Snake is a major horse racing guy and he wanted to check it out. One of the horse's he has a % of should be making its debut in the next few weeks probably at Gulfstream in Florida, then we watched the 4th episode of the 1st season of SNL featuring Candace Bergen as the host.. (we had watched the first three episodes back in January). Esther Phillips was the musical guest and she had a weird style to her singing. There was one skit where Bergen is playing a journalist over in the Middle East and refers to John Belushi who is playing some sort of Arab diplomat as a raghead which kind of shocked me but then I remembered this was 1975 and not the PC era we now live in. And of course the weekend update featuring Chevy Chase had lots of clips referring to President Gerald Ford as a klutz. Its kind of cool going back and watching the old SNL's and there's only about 33 more years to go!!
Then it was a choice between Zack & Miri make a Porno or Pineapple Express. Since our 420 friendly poker playing Olympian was making headlines we opted for Pineapple Express. Anyone who has ever ripped bong hits will get a laugh out of this movie. And Snake and i both agreed that Michael Phelps was no stranger to using a bong. I know i graduated to a bong from a joint and pipe when I used to partake (our bong in college was called Beast after one of my college friends stated man that is a Beast of Burden after the Stones song). As i said to Snake, who cares that he was smoking weed, I'd smoke some too if i spent every day of my life from the age of 7 swimming mindless laps & staring at the bottom of or lane line in a pool. Swimming may be one of the greatest exercises but its boring (Ive only swum a minuscule smidgen of the mileage Phelps has and I can attest swimming is boring but hypoxia can be kind of cool). Heck he's a young man who has to make his own choices and they may not always be the wisest or smartest choices as viewed by mainstream America but hes gotta walk his own path and find his own way. He cant have a coach or mom or US swimming dictating his every waking moment. Oh and btw lest we forget, Phelps isn't the first Olympic Gold Medal winning swimmer caught smoking pot. Anyone remember Gary Hall Jr who just retired after failing to qualify for Beijing? He was suspended by Fina for Marijuana use back in 1988 in between his 1986 and 2000 Olympic appearances.
Anyway, I've noticed like most of us poker content is fewer and far between in my posts. I know for a fact I am not glued to my computer 7 days a week like I used to be back in 2005/2006. I still play alot of poker but I usually now take 2-3 and sometimes 4 days a week off from playing. I haven't played live since New Year's Eve but should be back in the live swing in a bit. Ive had deep runs in a bunch of the Pokerstars $11 buy-ins but no big scores. Typical situation I flip with QQ and get called by a bigger stacks AK and they pair their overcard and I go out 40th or so instead of vaulting up to being a top ten stack and final table bound. One of these days I will win my flips late stage and take one of these bad buys down. It doesn't make a difference if I win $18.93 for 44th place or $33.46 for finishing in 18th place by fold fold folding and playing like a nit. Id rather bust out or be in position to finish in the top three where all the money lies.
The feral cat we've been feeding, will come over to me if hes out of his box when I come over to bring it water and food. I have been able to scratch its head and pet him. And he purrs and rubs against me. But he can still be very skittish. The other day it got sick on frozen milk it had been eating and threw up when i was there (it threw up the milk crystals it must have been licking) . the poor little thing fell over on his side and I thought he was having a seizure or was dying on me but he righted himself and came back over and wanted the water I had brought him. I dumped all the milk. The elderly owner of the porch where he resides leaves him milk as she has nothing else to give him and thinks its a good thing. She was even pouring milk into the water and I'd find a frozen concoction of milk water which sent me over the edge. I'd call up Joan and say "Joan, I'm gonna kill Jean shes gonna kill the cat with the milk. Jean, came out today when i was working with the cat and I told her she doesnt have to leave him anything, Joan and I and our mail lady are feeding him kibble and fresh water. He is not the prettiest of cats. Hes almost cross eyed, hes got a really round head and a lumpy body and kind of walks funny. Hes the cat version of either a puff-a-lump or an oompa loompa from Willie Wonka. But mail girl will take him if I can get it more socialized. So far Im the only one who has been able to pet it. Just call me the cat whisperer. (I also can do great things with plants)
And Happy Birthday to Snake5970. It's his 46th and he headed to Foxwoods with his brother today for a couple of nights, as a former co-worker of his and current co-worker of Rich (his brother) had some comped nites. We went to Carrabbas last Friday nite for the football bet I won. I gave him a cool card that had a poker theme I found at Target (a green felt cover with a spade royal flush on the front) and a Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hit CD so he can get ready for the show. He only has like 6 CD's total in his collection and is definitely not a music person like moi.
Carrabba's was excellent. I'm a fan of the family style portions at Buca de Beppo but Carrabba's was really really good. We ordered the Bruschetta as an appetizer which we didn't need and that was probably the weakest part of the meal and it was good. I wound up ordering the Steak Marsala with garlic mashed and Caesar salad with the anchovies. Ray wound up getting three appetizers for his dinner. The steamed mussels, the fried calamari and the appetizer sized shrimp scampi. When all the food came out we started cracking up because our table was covered with platters. We pretty much split everything. then for dessert we ordered the sampler of 6 of their desserts which comes served in little rectangular shot glasses: there was a cannoli mousse, a tiramisu, a Kahlua espresso mousse, a zabaglione and a strawberry lemon mousse cake and another one i cant remember. By the time dessert came Snake was only able to have a few spoonfuls and i don't think he tasted them all. i laughed at him and said "remember the saying your eyes are bigger then your tummy?"
We had a marathon TV movie watching session planned for after dinner. First we watched the new reality series Jockey's on Animal Planet. Snake is a major horse racing guy and he wanted to check it out. One of the horse's he has a % of should be making its debut in the next few weeks probably at Gulfstream in Florida, then we watched the 4th episode of the 1st season of SNL featuring Candace Bergen as the host.. (we had watched the first three episodes back in January). Esther Phillips was the musical guest and she had a weird style to her singing. There was one skit where Bergen is playing a journalist over in the Middle East and refers to John Belushi who is playing some sort of Arab diplomat as a raghead which kind of shocked me but then I remembered this was 1975 and not the PC era we now live in. And of course the weekend update featuring Chevy Chase had lots of clips referring to President Gerald Ford as a klutz. Its kind of cool going back and watching the old SNL's and there's only about 33 more years to go!!
Then it was a choice between Zack & Miri make a Porno or Pineapple Express. Since our 420 friendly poker playing Olympian was making headlines we opted for Pineapple Express. Anyone who has ever ripped bong hits will get a laugh out of this movie. And Snake and i both agreed that Michael Phelps was no stranger to using a bong. I know i graduated to a bong from a joint and pipe when I used to partake (our bong in college was called Beast after one of my college friends stated man that is a Beast of Burden after the Stones song). As i said to Snake, who cares that he was smoking weed, I'd smoke some too if i spent every day of my life from the age of 7 swimming mindless laps & staring at the bottom of or lane line in a pool. Swimming may be one of the greatest exercises but its boring (Ive only swum a minuscule smidgen of the mileage Phelps has and I can attest swimming is boring but hypoxia can be kind of cool). Heck he's a young man who has to make his own choices and they may not always be the wisest or smartest choices as viewed by mainstream America but hes gotta walk his own path and find his own way. He cant have a coach or mom or US swimming dictating his every waking moment. Oh and btw lest we forget, Phelps isn't the first Olympic Gold Medal winning swimmer caught smoking pot. Anyone remember Gary Hall Jr who just retired after failing to qualify for Beijing? He was suspended by Fina for Marijuana use back in 1988 in between his 1986 and 2000 Olympic appearances.
Monday, February 02, 2009
BIG BOSS MAN aka Bruce tickets
Sometime last week I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I had just retired for the evening with the latest issue of Rolling Stone in hand. The boss, aka Bruce Springsteen was on the cover looking pretty hot for a soon to be 60 year old (must be the soul patch). I of course knew he was to play the Superbowl and intended to watch his show. Hell its reunion time with Phish, the Dead, Fleetwood Mac, and the Boss all heading out on the road this spring. In the back of mind I thought about actually acquiring tickets to see him when they went on sale
I may identify myself as a dead head and I love the jam band scene but I also have a vein of Bruce running thru my bones. I can probably sing every lyric to Blinded by the Light, Rosalita, Thunder Road etc. When I attended the University of Vermont from fall 1978 to the Spring of 1980, I was actually tossed out of Rasputin's (a favorite Burlington watering hole at the time aka Pukins) with my sorority little sister (who worked there btw) for dueting Born to Run at the top of our lungs at closing hour. (Must of been the line.. tramps like us........) I have only seen him once in Denver, at McNichols arena and i believe it was the fall of 1980. Myself and a bunch of girls i was living with as boarders in a sorority that wasn't my own, hopped the bus to Denver and saw the show. By far I can say it was the best show I ever saw until I saw U2's Elevation tour. Did I mention we missed the last bus back to Boulder and there we were stranded until some dudes in a VW bug picked us up and drove us the 30 miles to Boulder. that put 7 of us in a VW bug. 3 in front seat and 3 seated in back with one person laying across the laps of the other three.
I was doing about 4 things at once yesterday during the superbowl: quietly watching the progress of some of the big names in the Sunday Pokerstars majors, trying to watch the superbowl, as well as Season 7 of the WPT now on MSG here in Albany and ESPN coverage of the WSOP-Europe as well as jumping up every 5 minutes to a text message from Snake5970 about some bonehead player incurring a penalty mostly ranting at the Cardinals.
Then Bruce came on and like a preacher at a Church revival he had the entire stadium and those of us watching at home on our feet and dancing to the scripture of the E Street Band. That was one joyful noise;
At 8:12 PM I received a text from Snake: BRUCE!!!!!
i texted him back with: What a showman, I've only seen him once
then this text from me... He's playing Albany........(hint hint hint, read my mind Snake)
We exchanged a few more texts and by this time I'm saying to myself we should have just watched the game together because i was feeling like a Mexican jumping bean, running from computer to wherever i had last placed the cell phone then back to the TV etc.
that sent Snake5970 to the the Times Union Center calendar of events and shortly later he called me.
I basically said this to Snake: "Get me a ticket, they go on sale tomorrow at 10Am And I'm working. I was even willing to give him my ticketmaster log in info with info all loaded to buy tickets but he had established one when he got tickets for the now cancelled Fleetwood Mac, Albany show.
Today I was greeted by this good news via email, a RAY of sunshine in the bleak news of no PHISH tickets and only one set of Grateful Dead tickets. Snake had scored us floor spots (no seats ) for the TU center. That of course immediately sent me over to LJ's blog because she follows Bruce much like I followed the Dead. She was the first person I thought of after my ticket acquisition and sure enough the greatest boyfriend (aka Lucko) scored his gal tickets when she had failed or should I say TicketBastard failed her.
And today, I also got an email that there are still a few higher priced tickets available thru Grateful Dead ticket sales for some select dates. I'm pondering picking up a few tickets for NJ now.
I am now also totally hooked on Man vs Food on Travel Channel and caught a marathon showing last week. Snake5970 turned me on to the show and then confessed he took notes on places he wants to go to some time in the future. I only laughed because I've done the same thing. I'm a big fan of tripleD on food network (that's Diner's Drive-In's and Dives) as well as the Paradises on Travel channel. I also visit Roadfood.com daily for their restaurant of the day. did I mention I'm a big fan of food porn and food porn and just love food blogs with pictures. Apparently there are thousands of us out their with the same fetish. Retirement nirvana would be to take an RV on a tour of casinos and roadside eateries.
I may identify myself as a dead head and I love the jam band scene but I also have a vein of Bruce running thru my bones. I can probably sing every lyric to Blinded by the Light, Rosalita, Thunder Road etc. When I attended the University of Vermont from fall 1978 to the Spring of 1980, I was actually tossed out of Rasputin's (a favorite Burlington watering hole at the time aka Pukins) with my sorority little sister (who worked there btw) for dueting Born to Run at the top of our lungs at closing hour. (Must of been the line.. tramps like us........) I have only seen him once in Denver, at McNichols arena and i believe it was the fall of 1980. Myself and a bunch of girls i was living with as boarders in a sorority that wasn't my own, hopped the bus to Denver and saw the show. By far I can say it was the best show I ever saw until I saw U2's Elevation tour. Did I mention we missed the last bus back to Boulder and there we were stranded until some dudes in a VW bug picked us up and drove us the 30 miles to Boulder. that put 7 of us in a VW bug. 3 in front seat and 3 seated in back with one person laying across the laps of the other three.
I was doing about 4 things at once yesterday during the superbowl: quietly watching the progress of some of the big names in the Sunday Pokerstars majors, trying to watch the superbowl, as well as Season 7 of the WPT now on MSG here in Albany and ESPN coverage of the WSOP-Europe as well as jumping up every 5 minutes to a text message from Snake5970 about some bonehead player incurring a penalty mostly ranting at the Cardinals.
Then Bruce came on and like a preacher at a Church revival he had the entire stadium and those of us watching at home on our feet and dancing to the scripture of the E Street Band. That was one joyful noise;
At 8:12 PM I received a text from Snake: BRUCE!!!!!
i texted him back with: What a showman, I've only seen him once
then this text from me... He's playing Albany........(hint hint hint, read my mind Snake)
We exchanged a few more texts and by this time I'm saying to myself we should have just watched the game together because i was feeling like a Mexican jumping bean, running from computer to wherever i had last placed the cell phone then back to the TV etc.
that sent Snake5970 to the the Times Union Center calendar of events and shortly later he called me.
I basically said this to Snake: "Get me a ticket, they go on sale tomorrow at 10Am And I'm working. I was even willing to give him my ticketmaster log in info with info all loaded to buy tickets but he had established one when he got tickets for the now cancelled Fleetwood Mac, Albany show.
Today I was greeted by this good news via email, a RAY of sunshine in the bleak news of no PHISH tickets and only one set of Grateful Dead tickets. Snake had scored us floor spots (no seats ) for the TU center. That of course immediately sent me over to LJ's blog because she follows Bruce much like I followed the Dead. She was the first person I thought of after my ticket acquisition and sure enough the greatest boyfriend (aka Lucko) scored his gal tickets when she had failed or should I say TicketBastard failed her.
And today, I also got an email that there are still a few higher priced tickets available thru Grateful Dead ticket sales for some select dates. I'm pondering picking up a few tickets for NJ now.
I am now also totally hooked on Man vs Food on Travel Channel and caught a marathon showing last week. Snake5970 turned me on to the show and then confessed he took notes on places he wants to go to some time in the future. I only laughed because I've done the same thing. I'm a big fan of tripleD on food network (that's Diner's Drive-In's and Dives) as well as the Paradises on Travel channel. I also visit Roadfood.com daily for their restaurant of the day. did I mention I'm a big fan of food porn and food porn and just love food blogs with pictures. Apparently there are thousands of us out their with the same fetish. Retirement nirvana would be to take an RV on a tour of casinos and roadside eateries.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
SHIP IT!!
My day started with me trying to land PHISH tickets for Mansfield, Mass, now known as the Comcast Center, but I will always know it as Great Woods. Just like the Albany Times Union Center will always be the KNICK to me. I was looking to score as many tickets as I could. Had I only scored one ticket it was going to be shipped to Dr Pauly. Like Otis, I'm not a hardcore PHiSh pfan. I'm more of an old school Dead Head and Creeker (for Max Creek) and kind of got more into Dave Matthews Band then PHISH. I never saw Phish live but did see Saturday Coventry via simulcast with California Rob and Toni, his wife and baby Lauren when they came back east to visit family and friends. Originally Rob had thought about heading up to Coventry for the finale but opted not to. Rob had gone on to become a die-hard Phish fan after his move to California and the Grateful Dead scene fizzled with the death of Jerry Garcia.
After getting shut out by Ticket Bastard of all dead shows other then my mail ordered Albany tickets which were thru Grateful Dead ticket sales (the tried and true method for us hardcore dead heads). I was hopeful I would have better luck with Live Nation. Alas it was not to be, After being parked in the waiting room for three hours, I pulled up another browser only to find that Mansfield was sold-out. Yeah, the concert ticket version of being cold decked was my lot. As, I said to BFF Kim, I can see three days of great music at Mountain Jam V for the same price as paying a broker to see one Dead show at MSG, Worcester or Hartford. Plus Max Creek will be playing local in March at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY and I do love me my Creek. Come to think of it, I have a great idea for Scott if you happen to read this blog post that since one part of KBM is playing Mountain Jam V already (Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers), Max Creek should also have a gig there!!!
Anyway this is a poker blog and you can read about music over on Coventry, so go check out Dr Pauly's post titled: Denied Phish Tickets.... Again (Sub Title: Live Nation Blows Camel Balls).
My first tourney of the day the 3:15 PM 10k guarantee $11 buy-in saw me going no where fast. I eventually decided to just open raise every hand with ATC just to see if i could eventually hit a flop to know avail. Prior to the second break I texted Snake who was deep in the early tourney with the same buy-in and structure that I was all in with ATC next hand as I was hungry and needed to go get dinner. True to my word, I shoved all into someone's preflop raise, with the all powerful T2c the first hand after the second break, got the call and busted out against AT.
I ran out for Chinese Food as I had decided to play the 6:15 PM $22 deep stacker and Snake5970 was deep in his tourney with a ton of chips and I wanted to watch him play. He managed a deep run finishing 43rd of 5364 in the 2 PM 30k guarantee. After the first break of my deep stack, in late position, I look down to KK in a multi way limped pot. I bumped it to $200 with blinds at 25/50 got two callers and one fold and ran into a set of threes (the original limper) who was the table chip leader. Busto
Now I wasn't the most focused player that i know I can be. And I was trying to make things happen and I was forcing things so I decided to give it one more go. Rather then play a DON I looked over the multi-table MTT listings and saw a couple of new things: an $8.80 deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 3k chips and a $2.20 kind of deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 2k in chips. Now since i had already blown $33 in buyins and given back a bit of my SNG grinding money I opted to drop down in buyin and play the $2.20 buy-in. And a few hours later I had taken it down. Cross another pokerstars to do for 2009 thing off my list. Win not just a SNG but a Multi-table SNG. Ive never won a 180 man, 90 man or even a 45 man on stars before. I know Ive final tabled them and cashed but I dont think I ever took one down. If I had I would have screen captured it. I actually dont play them all that much.
I guess I was inspired by cash game great and now he can claim live MTT ballah Steve "thorladen" Weinstein's Borgata Winter Poker Open win (after a few near misses of final tables at WPT events). Steve is the stepson (and I believe current or former bridge partner of). of a running friend of mine who I havent seen in a few years since he lives down in Kingston and I don't run competitively anymore. Steve if you read this say hello to Fred for me from Lori. And Congrats on your big score. From what I've read on pocket fives and other boards it was a well deserved win and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. A few years ago Steve was one of the backers in the August TLB prop bet that involved a group of players taking on Gigabet. For an old profile of Steve click here.
After getting shut out by Ticket Bastard of all dead shows other then my mail ordered Albany tickets which were thru Grateful Dead ticket sales (the tried and true method for us hardcore dead heads). I was hopeful I would have better luck with Live Nation. Alas it was not to be, After being parked in the waiting room for three hours, I pulled up another browser only to find that Mansfield was sold-out. Yeah, the concert ticket version of being cold decked was my lot. As, I said to BFF Kim, I can see three days of great music at Mountain Jam V for the same price as paying a broker to see one Dead show at MSG, Worcester or Hartford. Plus Max Creek will be playing local in March at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY and I do love me my Creek. Come to think of it, I have a great idea for Scott if you happen to read this blog post that since one part of KBM is playing Mountain Jam V already (Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers), Max Creek should also have a gig there!!!
Anyway this is a poker blog and you can read about music over on Coventry, so go check out Dr Pauly's post titled: Denied Phish Tickets.... Again (Sub Title: Live Nation Blows Camel Balls).
My first tourney of the day the 3:15 PM 10k guarantee $11 buy-in saw me going no where fast. I eventually decided to just open raise every hand with ATC just to see if i could eventually hit a flop to know avail. Prior to the second break I texted Snake who was deep in the early tourney with the same buy-in and structure that I was all in with ATC next hand as I was hungry and needed to go get dinner. True to my word, I shoved all into someone's preflop raise, with the all powerful T2c the first hand after the second break, got the call and busted out against AT.
I ran out for Chinese Food as I had decided to play the 6:15 PM $22 deep stacker and Snake5970 was deep in his tourney with a ton of chips and I wanted to watch him play. He managed a deep run finishing 43rd of 5364 in the 2 PM 30k guarantee. After the first break of my deep stack, in late position, I look down to KK in a multi way limped pot. I bumped it to $200 with blinds at 25/50 got two callers and one fold and ran into a set of threes (the original limper) who was the table chip leader. Busto
Now I wasn't the most focused player that i know I can be. And I was trying to make things happen and I was forcing things so I decided to give it one more go. Rather then play a DON I looked over the multi-table MTT listings and saw a couple of new things: an $8.80 deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 3k chips and a $2.20 kind of deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 2k in chips. Now since i had already blown $33 in buyins and given back a bit of my SNG grinding money I opted to drop down in buyin and play the $2.20 buy-in. And a few hours later I had taken it down. Cross another pokerstars to do for 2009 thing off my list. Win not just a SNG but a Multi-table SNG. Ive never won a 180 man, 90 man or even a 45 man on stars before. I know Ive final tabled them and cashed but I dont think I ever took one down. If I had I would have screen captured it. I actually dont play them all that much.
I guess I was inspired by cash game great and now he can claim live MTT ballah Steve "thorladen" Weinstein's Borgata Winter Poker Open win (after a few near misses of final tables at WPT events). Steve is the stepson (and I believe current or former bridge partner of). of a running friend of mine who I havent seen in a few years since he lives down in Kingston and I don't run competitively anymore. Steve if you read this say hello to Fred for me from Lori. And Congrats on your big score. From what I've read on pocket fives and other boards it was a well deserved win and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. A few years ago Steve was one of the backers in the August TLB prop bet that involved a group of players taking on Gigabet. For an old profile of Steve click here.
Friday, January 30, 2009
DON's aka Pokerstars Double or Nothing SNG's
I'm not going to be the first person to blog about the DON's or the last.
This isn't going to be a DON strategy article. If you are interested click here for a 2+2 thread.
Yes they can be frustrating when everyone tries to wait each other out, the blinds get high and there are still 10 people left. I was at one table where no one busted and we were 50 minutes in. I think i ram jammed first out on that one.
They are a slow way to build a bankroll. If you only play DON's you will lose your feel for how a large field MTT plays and you will not get any real heads-up or shorthanded experience as you do in a standard SNG since 5 spots pay and you only have to outwit, outplay and outlast 5 other nits.
In the standard non-turbo DON NLHE $5.40 buy-in you win $10 for a net profit of $4.60. If you win one and lose one you lose money.
Here is my way of improving my profit in the DON's:
I play the $2.20 satellite to the Sunday $100k guarantee at 3:30PM Est. If i win a seat I unregister which puts T$11 into my account. I then use the T$ to buy into a $5.40 SNG. If I win that I get $10 cash in my account. In effect i have now only used $2.20 my original satellite entry fee) to win $10 for a profit of $7.80 vs the $4.60 I win if i used $5.40 of cash. Plus i still have T$5.60 left. if I win another $5.40 SNG for $10 its really all profit. So in actuality I have only used $2.20 to win $17.80 ($20 for winning two $5.40 DON's). If i buy in the normal way. I spend $10.80 (2x$5.40) and only win $20 for a net profit of $9.20. I've almost doubled my ROI on the DON's using this method.
Yes it can be a grind much like the cash games but by playing the satellite you are keeping your Mtt skills sharp and by playing the Don's you can slowly grind a bankroll without the swings of cash game play.
This isn't going to be a DON strategy article. If you are interested click here for a 2+2 thread.
Yes they can be frustrating when everyone tries to wait each other out, the blinds get high and there are still 10 people left. I was at one table where no one busted and we were 50 minutes in. I think i ram jammed first out on that one.
They are a slow way to build a bankroll. If you only play DON's you will lose your feel for how a large field MTT plays and you will not get any real heads-up or shorthanded experience as you do in a standard SNG since 5 spots pay and you only have to outwit, outplay and outlast 5 other nits.
In the standard non-turbo DON NLHE $5.40 buy-in you win $10 for a net profit of $4.60. If you win one and lose one you lose money.
Here is my way of improving my profit in the DON's:
I play the $2.20 satellite to the Sunday $100k guarantee at 3:30PM Est. If i win a seat I unregister which puts T$11 into my account. I then use the T$ to buy into a $5.40 SNG. If I win that I get $10 cash in my account. In effect i have now only used $2.20 my original satellite entry fee) to win $10 for a profit of $7.80 vs the $4.60 I win if i used $5.40 of cash. Plus i still have T$5.60 left. if I win another $5.40 SNG for $10 its really all profit. So in actuality I have only used $2.20 to win $17.80 ($20 for winning two $5.40 DON's). If i buy in the normal way. I spend $10.80 (2x$5.40) and only win $20 for a net profit of $9.20. I've almost doubled my ROI on the DON's using this method.
Yes it can be a grind much like the cash games but by playing the satellite you are keeping your Mtt skills sharp and by playing the Don's you can slowly grind a bankroll without the swings of cash game play.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Adopt A Rescue Pet Charity Tourney 1/24/2009
DATE: January 24th 2009
TIME: 6:00 PM EST (18:00 hours)
WHERE: Full Tilt Poker listed under private tab
BUY-IN $5 and $5 ($5 to charity the other to the prize pool)
PASSWORD: savepets
Cyndy Violette is sponsoring the on-line tourney for a great cause, the no-kill animal shelter in Las Vegas Nevada. Here is your chance to Knock out a red pro!!
TIME: 6:00 PM EST (18:00 hours)
WHERE: Full Tilt Poker listed under private tab
BUY-IN $5 and $5 ($5 to charity the other to the prize pool)
PASSWORD: savepets
Cyndy Violette is sponsoring the on-line tourney for a great cause, the no-kill animal shelter in Las Vegas Nevada. Here is your chance to Knock out a red pro!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Scott Montgomery's WSOP Bust-out Hand
Snake5970 had previously mentioned this hand to me not so much because of the river beat that Montgomery took but because of Dennis Phillips action after the river card came. So last night while flipping between the Steelers/Ravens game, America's Best Dance Crew and watching former GNR drummer Steve Adler show up to Sober House higher then a kite on smack (heroin), Snake rang me up and told me to flip to ESPN as the hand was coming up again soon enough.
I can't remember seeing anyone mention this. Here is a link to Short-Stacked Shamus recap of the hand where he mentions how graceful Montgomery was on exit. His recap of the hand while watching the ESPN broadcast starts on paragraph 5.
Anyhow, Phillips had mentioned he had mucked the 6. So if you look closely after Montgomery stands up to exit the table, Phillips gets up and rifles thru the muck to pull out his cards to prove he really had mucked the 6 as if some kind of validation was needed. As I said to Snake, the lipstick cameras would have validated his action in case no one believed him. But what inquiring minds want to know is, was Phillip's talked to after doing that by the floor?. It is clearly against tournament rules to go rifling thru the muck. As Snake mentioned that would give you an advantage as to what cards players are ditching and everyone would be doing it. There is a short aerial of someone in a white shirt but no suit jacket talking to Phillips away from the table but its unclear if it was one of Phillips entourage or the floor.
I looked over the PokerNews reporting by F-Train and Change100 and saw nothing mentioned in their live blogging details. F-train usually doesn't miss a beat so I'm wondering if he, the lovely Change100, or Pauly remember if anything was said to Phillips.
For all you American Idol fans out there my Coventry, co-contributer, Change100 will be covering Season 8 of AI over on her personal blog Pot Committed. So BFF Kim, bookmark Change's site to get your AI jones fixed. Not only is Change100 a damn good tournament reporter but as a former insider in the entertainment industry she has an excellent perspective as both a fan and some one who's worked in the industry.
Snake and I were discussing that as of yet there has been no WSOP schedule announced. Last year the actual schedule of events was announced in December (the dates had been announced in October). I don't recall even seeing the date range announced. I'm taking a guess that perhaps they are pushing back the WSOP to late July/August as it was in 2006 perhaps? It's obvious that the November 9 experiment was a winner for ESPN but that there needs to be less of a break between the final table being determined and the actual play down to our winner.
I can't remember seeing anyone mention this. Here is a link to Short-Stacked Shamus recap of the hand where he mentions how graceful Montgomery was on exit. His recap of the hand while watching the ESPN broadcast starts on paragraph 5.
Anyhow, Phillips had mentioned he had mucked the 6. So if you look closely after Montgomery stands up to exit the table, Phillips gets up and rifles thru the muck to pull out his cards to prove he really had mucked the 6 as if some kind of validation was needed. As I said to Snake, the lipstick cameras would have validated his action in case no one believed him. But what inquiring minds want to know is, was Phillip's talked to after doing that by the floor?. It is clearly against tournament rules to go rifling thru the muck. As Snake mentioned that would give you an advantage as to what cards players are ditching and everyone would be doing it. There is a short aerial of someone in a white shirt but no suit jacket talking to Phillips away from the table but its unclear if it was one of Phillips entourage or the floor.
I looked over the PokerNews reporting by F-Train and Change100 and saw nothing mentioned in their live blogging details. F-train usually doesn't miss a beat so I'm wondering if he, the lovely Change100, or Pauly remember if anything was said to Phillips.
For all you American Idol fans out there my Coventry, co-contributer, Change100 will be covering Season 8 of AI over on her personal blog Pot Committed. So BFF Kim, bookmark Change's site to get your AI jones fixed. Not only is Change100 a damn good tournament reporter but as a former insider in the entertainment industry she has an excellent perspective as both a fan and some one who's worked in the industry.
Snake and I were discussing that as of yet there has been no WSOP schedule announced. Last year the actual schedule of events was announced in December (the dates had been announced in October). I don't recall even seeing the date range announced. I'm taking a guess that perhaps they are pushing back the WSOP to late July/August as it was in 2006 perhaps? It's obvious that the November 9 experiment was a winner for ESPN but that there needs to be less of a break between the final table being determined and the actual play down to our winner.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
I Bit the Bullet
After too many winblows issues with Outlook Express I migrated my web browser over to Firefox (which I had installed but didn't use favoring Internet Explorer) and my email client to Thunderbird. My email address remains the same. I was extremely pleased when all my emails and entire address book came over from OE.
I made a deep run in the Deepstack $11 Pokerstars tourney yesterday finishing 61st of 1238 and going out on an ugly Pokerstars beat. I 3-bet preflop with pocket JJ I was repopped and called as my opponents range was pretty wide and I figured him for good old AK. Sure enough he has AK, I flop a set but a turned Q gives him Broadway and I cant fill my boat. I worked for peanuts on that one. What sucked is I had more then double the average stack well into the money. Snake5970 checked in on my progress and typed "Geez, i know your well stacked but that is some pile of chips you have!" And a shout out to a local Pokerstars player Ripley1150 (something like that for the numbers) who told me in chat he or she reads my blog and was routing for me. Wish I had the stats of Beufford who is a Hudson Falls poker player (that's Snake and Silo's neck of the woods) who recently finished 2nd in that huge Sunday Million back in December for some sweet cheese and then followed it up with a solid showing in the Sunday warm-up about two weeks ago.
Waiting patiently to see if I will be rewarded with Dead tickets for the Times Union (formerly, the Knick and the Pepsi). The night before mail order began I couldn't sleep. I was the second one at the post office when it opened and the dude right behind me was doing the same thing for Hartford. We made sure we had our index cards, SASE's and correct mailing addresses with each other. I'm a little miffed at the prices of tickets in this economy and that may prevent me from doing more than a couple of shows.
A neighbor in the condo directly across from mine started leaving milk out for a feral cat. Cat's will drink milk but they cant live on milk alone and its a myth that they prefer milk, cat's are carnivores like us. Anyway, the cat took up residence without any shelter on her porch/deck. Her porch is covered by the upstairs condo deck. Another neighbor of mine (Bailey's kitty sitter, Joan; and I sit for her cat Blackie) constructed a cardboard box within a box shelter with some hay for it (I did the first solo box). Kitty has made it thru the bitter cold and took to shelter right away. The good news is I believe it may have been TNR'd (trapped, neutered, released) as a kitten. He/she is missing part of his left ear which usually is a signal to those who try to manage feral cats that the cat has already been captured and fixed . I figure the cat for about 9-10 months or so first noticing him late summer. The bad news is the neighbor leaving the milk out is in her eighties and has the early stages of Alzheimer's/dementia. After telling Joan it was okay for me to leave the first shelter she gave Joan the evil eye like what are you doing on my porch when Joan swapped out the newer better one (still not great but better then nothing). All she says when we tell her the cat won't leave because she feeds it and it needs shelter is "I leave it milk" because she has no short term memory and doesn't remember shit. My project when the weather improves is to move its shelter (hopefully a better one) and food source (Joan and I have been giving him real cat food) to the little wooded area behind my condo on a little hill out of harms way where he can do his thing. He doesn't run as far away from me as he used to but since hes never been socialized to humans he doesn't trust us. I've learned a bit doing some research on ferals, which is quite fascinating. But my message to pet owners who let their cats roam free. Spay and neuter your animals people. Be part of the solution to animal overpopulation and outdoor living cats (the shadow cats that you see everywhere) not a contributor to the problem. Practice TNR if you notice a cat taking up residence in your neighborhood who isnt someone's pet or a stray. There's lots to be learned from watching their behavior. Check out Alley Cat Allies for more info or Neighborhood Cats
I made a deep run in the Deepstack $11 Pokerstars tourney yesterday finishing 61st of 1238 and going out on an ugly Pokerstars beat. I 3-bet preflop with pocket JJ I was repopped and called as my opponents range was pretty wide and I figured him for good old AK. Sure enough he has AK, I flop a set but a turned Q gives him Broadway and I cant fill my boat. I worked for peanuts on that one. What sucked is I had more then double the average stack well into the money. Snake5970 checked in on my progress and typed "Geez, i know your well stacked but that is some pile of chips you have!" And a shout out to a local Pokerstars player Ripley1150 (something like that for the numbers) who told me in chat he or she reads my blog and was routing for me. Wish I had the stats of Beufford who is a Hudson Falls poker player (that's Snake and Silo's neck of the woods) who recently finished 2nd in that huge Sunday Million back in December for some sweet cheese and then followed it up with a solid showing in the Sunday warm-up about two weeks ago.
Waiting patiently to see if I will be rewarded with Dead tickets for the Times Union (formerly, the Knick and the Pepsi). The night before mail order began I couldn't sleep. I was the second one at the post office when it opened and the dude right behind me was doing the same thing for Hartford. We made sure we had our index cards, SASE's and correct mailing addresses with each other. I'm a little miffed at the prices of tickets in this economy and that may prevent me from doing more than a couple of shows.
A neighbor in the condo directly across from mine started leaving milk out for a feral cat. Cat's will drink milk but they cant live on milk alone and its a myth that they prefer milk, cat's are carnivores like us. Anyway, the cat took up residence without any shelter on her porch/deck. Her porch is covered by the upstairs condo deck. Another neighbor of mine (Bailey's kitty sitter, Joan; and I sit for her cat Blackie) constructed a cardboard box within a box shelter with some hay for it (I did the first solo box). Kitty has made it thru the bitter cold and took to shelter right away. The good news is I believe it may have been TNR'd (trapped, neutered, released) as a kitten. He/she is missing part of his left ear which usually is a signal to those who try to manage feral cats that the cat has already been captured and fixed . I figure the cat for about 9-10 months or so first noticing him late summer. The bad news is the neighbor leaving the milk out is in her eighties and has the early stages of Alzheimer's/dementia. After telling Joan it was okay for me to leave the first shelter she gave Joan the evil eye like what are you doing on my porch when Joan swapped out the newer better one (still not great but better then nothing). All she says when we tell her the cat won't leave because she feeds it and it needs shelter is "I leave it milk" because she has no short term memory and doesn't remember shit. My project when the weather improves is to move its shelter (hopefully a better one) and food source (Joan and I have been giving him real cat food) to the little wooded area behind my condo on a little hill out of harms way where he can do his thing. He doesn't run as far away from me as he used to but since hes never been socialized to humans he doesn't trust us. I've learned a bit doing some research on ferals, which is quite fascinating. But my message to pet owners who let their cats roam free. Spay and neuter your animals people. Be part of the solution to animal overpopulation and outdoor living cats (the shadow cats that you see everywhere) not a contributor to the problem. Practice TNR if you notice a cat taking up residence in your neighborhood who isnt someone's pet or a stray. There's lots to be learned from watching their behavior. Check out Alley Cat Allies for more info or Neighborhood Cats
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