I hope my shaver breaks
The title is awfully misleading, but that’s the fun of having a blog and picking titles. I actually love my electric shaver. It’s a Braun Activator 8585 my mom bought for me for my birthday like four years ago. (Thanks, Mom!) But lately, I’ve been wondering what advancements in shaving technology has come along in the last four years. Since the shaver is like $100 new, I can’t imagine dropping a Franklin on a shaver when mine works fine. Therefore, I hope my shaver breaks, so I will be forced to buy a new one. That’s all.
Frustration
Don’t know why, but I’m particularly frustrated today. Maybe it was due to the fact that I decided to play the Bellagio $500 today at 2pm, and it didn’t start until almost 2:30pm. Maybe it was due to the fact that the floor person didn’t have an answer the easy question “what time is dinner break?” Maybe it was due to the fact that even though the players were horrible, I busted before whenever the dinner break was supposed to be.
After stealing a bunch of pots and finally getting caught bluffing the river with eight high, I found pocket kings and raised. A player that couldn’t keep his hands out of the cookie jar reraised me from the SB, as I knew he would, and I moved in on him. He insta-called me with AJ as he pot-committed himself and of course hit an ace. I can handle these hands in isolation, but pile a bunch on top of another and it can get… what’s the word? Oh yeah, frustrating. It seems like every tournament I play since winning my WSOP $1500 seat last week has ended with me taking a beat for a lot of chips. It’s very trying.
Underlying it all is still the bummer that is Shronk’s passing. I actually chose playing at the Bellagio over Caesars today so I could see some of the people that were close to Shronk and offer my condolences. While I did get to talk with BJ Nemeth and Full Tilt Heather, I didn’t see Joe Sebok or Gavin Smith or Ali Nejad, three people who I definitely wanted to console.
I guess I should be hitting the hay soon and taking another stab at it tomorrow. Planning to play the last small buyin event at Caesars tomorrow, if I’m feeling up to it when I wake up. Barring that, I’ll probably just play online and get a nice dinner with my girlfriend. Here’s to a less frustrating weekend.
An escalator can never break; it can only become stairs.
Escalators in America are starting to piss me off. I take that back, they’ve been pissing me off for awhile now and I have just kept my mouth shut. I take that back, I haven’t kept my mouth shut, but I’ve never blogged about it. Now is the time.
See, Japan ruined me. I went to Japan about five or ten years ago and was super impressed that where ever you went, the Japanese people always stood to the right side of an escalator and walked on the left. They were such respectful people that my group and I were having a blast standing on the left and watch these nice Japanese people walk up behind us and not even ask for us to move. We were kids, what do you want from us?
Coming back to the ol’ US of A, I’ve noticed how ignorant people are when on the escalator. People will, all alone, spread out and put both arms out on each rail of the escalator to stop people from walking by. The real culprits are the couples that take to opposite sides of the escalator so they can see each other as they carry on talking about how cool the slot machine was that they just played.
I still think that if I loudly walk up or down the escalator until I am right behind them that they will hear me or notice my presence, realize how selfish they are being, and move out of the way of someone that is in a bigger hurry then they are. True, this does happen sometimes, but most of the time Americans are oblivious human beings that don’t realize that there is a world going on around them. Dare I say, “Pardon me,” as they’ll move aside but be muttering under their breath about how such a rude asshole wanted them to move so they could continue on their way.
The airports have their moving sidewalks with constantly blaring warnings: “While on the moving sidewalk, please stand to the right, allowing those that wish to walk to do so on the left.” Why can’t this be a government-mandated law that has to be played at all escalators in the U.S.? Hi, I’m Rob Perelman, and this is my platform. Vote for me for President?
8 Reasons why poker at the Venetian is better than Caesars
1. Venetian gets bigger tournament fields, due to everything I’m about to list.
2. Venetian will help facilitate a chop in a tournament; Caesars will not.
3. Venetian has food service 24/7, where Caesars is hit and miss.
4. Venetian has special “poker room parking” if you can score a parking pass.
5. Venetian has a $4 max rake for their cash games, while Caesars has a $5 max rake.
6. Venetian typically has a better structure than Caesars.
7. Venetian cocktail waitresses serve big Fiji waters.
8. Venetian gives you a $10 food voucher with your tournament buyin.
Remembering Justin Shronk
Just found out late last night that my friend, as well as the rest of the poker community’s friend, Justin Shronk died. I’ve had a lot of deaths in my family, so death isn’t anything new to me, but this is the first time I’ve had a friend and not a family member die. Shronk and I weren’t super close, but the guy did live in my house for a few weeks at one point, and it was always a good time when I’d run into him. He will definitely be missed by a lot of people. To bring a smile to your face, though, I dug up this clip of him and I doing “We Are The World” at karaoke with a host of other friends. Always good to remember the good times, right?
Back in poker action at Venetian
I haven’t posted in two weeks because, as it turns out, I did have pneumonia. Was in bed for a week and then followed it up with a trip to Arizona to visit family, so I haven’t had energy/time to post until now.
So yesterday was my first real poker in weeks, and my first entry into this month’s Deep Stack series at the Venetian. I was up in chips early thanks to A8 vs 88 on a 6AA87 board and some solid play. The rest of the tournament was pretty standard/boring, except for one interesting hand.
At 1k/2k w/300 ante, a guy limps from EP, and I have Ks Qs in MP. I was tempted to raise, but I didn’t have a read on this player’s limping range, and I had a loose image and would probably not get away with a raise. I elected to call, as did one other player and both blinds. The flop looked like gin to me, Kh 7s 4s. However, after the SB checked, the BB tanked and looked uncomfortable as he bet 16k into a 13k pot. The limper folded, and it was on me. The BB had 36k back, and I had about 60k in front of me, so I had him barely covered. His bet was very oddball, and I talked myself through it and figured out he had two pair and was scared of the flush draw. I was very confident in this read, but knowing this, I didn’t know what to do. The problem was I didn’t have any fold equity… I believed that if I pushed in, I was getting called nearly 100% of the time and I’d be racing for most of my tournament life.
After looking at the numbers, I think pushing in is actually the correct decision, but for different reasons than you might think. A lot of players just go with top pair and a flush draw, but again, I knew he wasn’t folding. At the time, I figured I was behind his range of two-pair hands, but it turns out I’m a 54% favorite against K4, a 51% favorite against 74, and a 45% underdog against K7. It seemed 74 was most likely since I had a king in my hand, which means I was a favorite against his hand and should get my money in, especially considering the price.
As it was, I didn’t want to get my entire stack in that deep in the tournament on a coin flip. I thought folding was too weak, and thought he might slow down if I just called and would get to the river for free. I called, and when the Jd hit the turn, he pushed in for his 36k and I ended up folding, not at all getting the right price. I go back and forth as to whether I played the hand great by not losing my whole stack, or whether I played it terrible by not getting all the chips in the middle with a coin flip.
When we hit the final 28 (27 paid), I was short stacked with around 10BB. It looked as I was about to cash when two big stacks got all in, the short stack having KJ on a JT6Q board and the bigger stack having AK, having made a horrible check-call peel on the flop with a gutshot when there was a flush draw on board. A miracle ace hit the river to chop the pot and keep the bubble going. Then there was a consensus to pay 28th place, which I loved, and we almost had that deal going, until one person deflected. There’s always one. Of course then I picked up AK and shoved over a raiser who had QQ. No ace, no king, and I was the bubble boy. No biggie really, and I actually found it comical considering the two previous situations.
Was going to play today, but woke up feeling sniffly, so I figured I’d take it easy and play a bit online. Should be back in Venetian action tomorrow.
Pneumonia?
So I think I might have Pneumonia. It all started on Saturday when I was playing the Dream Team Poker tournament. I had a little tickle in my throat, but then Joe Sebok shipped me 24k of his infected chips. It’s been downhill since then. Sunday during the tournament I was way out of it, and when I got home I started coming down with a fever. The fever has not left me since then, and I’m only able to keep it under control by constantly feeding myself Dayquil or acetaminophen. Speaking of feeding, I have not ate a single solid food since Sunday — no appetite, really. Going to see the doctor tomorrow as all of this is very much not normal. I had pneumonia once about ten years ago, and I think it’s back to pay me a little visit. Hopefully it won’t stay long.
I have been able to catch up on movies I haven’t seen, however, seeing a recommended “Dan In Real Life” as well as “Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” The first I found a bit boring, and the second I enjoyed but felt I’m a little too old for. I can’t help but enjoy Michael Cera, though, and can’t wait for the Arrested Development movie. I also rewatched Superman 3, which is almost the best and the worst Superman movie of the original three. I mean come on, Richard Pryor? Fractions of cents? Giant computers? Definitely re-watch that one if you get the chance. I also watched the new Nicholas Cage movie “Knowing” — I like sci-fi films so I was into it, but hated the ending. Oh, and I saw “K-Pax,” recommended by my grandmother. I think the fever hit me mid-movie as I kind of got lost in the plot, but I thought the first half was good. Believe it or not, I think I’m missing a movie or two. And there’s probably a couple more movies to come tonight before hitting the hay.
