Strippers, City Stickers and Tilt

She had pajama pants on, little musical instruments I think, and they hung low on here hips letting the thong straps crawl up above her hip bones. The V of the straps ticked left and tocked right as she ambled about. Her hair was dark brown, but the strands coming off the top of her head were frosted a slutty blond. It took nearly a block for me to notice she was carrying a little kid, maybe 1 year old. What the fuck did I care? I was just enjoying the show.

Turns out she was headed my way too. We both needed city stickers and were going to spend a couple hours of our afternoon standing outside the Jefferson Park City Clerk's building. The stripper's sister was about ten people ahead of me. There was another kid with them too, about six or seven maybe. I felt kinda guilty for assuming she was a stripper. Maybe she was just a young, slutty cop's girlfriend. It's a cop and firefighter neighborhood after all. But then I noticed she looked almost exactly like Rachel Duguid, who discovered her unfortunate allergy to latex sophmore year of high school when she woke up after one long saturday night with a mouth rash.

It didn't help that her name is pronounced Do-good either.

The frosty blond was going to be a stripper whether she liked it or not. She'd have Rachel to thank for that.

It was about 1:40 when I got in line, sun directly overhead, the Cubs already down a run. I slipped on my headphones and settled in for a long wait, eyeballing the stripper and her sister.

The iPod was in tune with my mood. A little Smashing PUmpkins (finest Chicago rock band ever), some Van the Man (a little Irish in honor of Hizzoner). As the sun beat down and the Mexican ice cream cart guys circled the line like vultures, the Dead's Death Don't Have No Mercy caught the angst perfectly.

Soon enough, the stripper and her sister got boring to me. One of the clerk's workers caught my eye. A little broad in the hips, but she was wearing those loose goucho pants that cling to every hint of curve and crevice on a girl. There were few secrets between us, though we never spoke. When Let's Get it On popped up, it was a powerful moment between us, though she never knew it.

.....

Yeah, I could probably sound creepier at this point, though it would be something of an accomplishment.

....

Somewhere along the line there was a point to this post, but I've lost it, so I'll just leave it with my City Clerk play list and eyefucking girls barely aware of your existence. You know, the usual.

The rest of the day has been pretty dull. Got an air conditioner and installed it, just in time for the outbreak of summer. I've got to be up at 6 tomorrow, so I'm just playing a $20 180-man (busted out of the first on a river two-outer. Who calls two 3/4-pot bets with 88 on a board of AA74?). Ate lots of pasta today and hopefully will have a good three miles tomorrow. I better. No gaps in the training schedule from here on out.

....

I did want to write a little about last night. Had a nice short session at the $50 tables and finished up $30, despite getting stacked early and needing to grind my way out of a hole. If limit taught me anything, it's how to grind at a table.

There was a good fish at the table who kept sucking out, until I resucked with a turn ace to get back a good chunk of my stack. He and I were jawing in the chatbox nearly the whole time. Trying to be funny, but it was pretty serious.

Then later had a solid run in a 180, cashed for $42 placing 17th. Once again though I was jawing with a couple people at the tables and even an observer. It was pretty obnoxious to tell the truth and it led to me making a $100 heads up challenge to anyone who wanted some. One guy said he'd bring it, but then backed out when I sat at the table, so I got stuck playing an actual $100 heads up sng.

Frankly, I was getting owned. The guy took 1,000 chips off me early when I called a river bet with a medium ace, and from there I was dog-paddling. He got impatient though and pushed a couple times trying to knock me out and I fortunately had hands both times. I'd finally gotten a 2:1 chip lead on him when I raised Qc2c in the BB after he limped on the button. The flop was a 762 two hearts and a club. I bet and he min raised. It felt like the heart draw so I called hoping for some improvement. He had about the pot behind if I called, so I could stop and go him if I caught a card. Turn was a 9c, and I jammed. He called with AhKh and, well....



I won, but it was a ridiculously stupid thing to do. I went to bed pissed at myself for losing it again in the chat box. It's all well and good if we're railing someone at a final table, but this is just nonsense.

It's no good for my table image, because people are looking to make moves on me to bust me. It's no good for keeping fish at the table, because who wants to get berated while they lose? It's no good for me because all that anger leaves behind a residue, like bitter salt on your upper lip after sweating all afternoon.

Not really sure what I'm going to do, but it's going to take more discipline and more control. Anger is useless at a card table. I have to stop bringing it out or I'm going to lose a hell of a lot more than $100.

Leaving Las Cardplayer

So, finally decided to kick the Cardplayer habit. Fourth day in a row I tried to log on and 10 minutes later finally got to the limit forum--only to find there was nothing worth reading. Sweet.

I'm not going to rant about their poorly designed and timed upgrade, but it's a joke what they've done. The content sucks and I'm disappointed so few good players ever ended up there. Are the plus1ers the only good non-2+2ers on the net?

Anyway, as a farewell, I posted this. I'm copying here because it's not bad and I want to remember it.

Nine most important things I’ve learned from CP

1. Odds are odds I remember once seeing someone say they wouldn’t take 12:1 on a gutshot because “chasing gutshots is wrong.” No, it really isn’t. Poker is just gambling on future events. You know the odds of those events happening, roughly. If you can read hands and board texture, you can further narrow the range of possibly future events, and reckon more precisely the odds of it happening. If you’re getting those odds, call. If not, fold. Simple game.

2. Raise! People are terrified of raising it seems. I don’t really know why. Maybe they don’t want people to think they’re a donk for bumping it with Q10o on the button. Maybe they see monsters under the bed. Guess what? The other guy is more afraid than you are. Push them, pressure them, make them fear you. Everyone gets the same cards. If you just limp and call along, you might win your share of pots, but you’ll lose the pots you should lose. Good players, the best players, win the pots they shouldn’t and they thicken up the ones they should.

3. Implied odds Implied odds are a baseline in limit. In nl, they’re a justification. If you call the bb getting 4:1 with 44 and think you need a set, you’re taking a bet that you’ll net another five sb when you flop a set to cover your 9:1 implied odds. Do not play implied odds hands for too many raises. Your profits will be thin and your SD high.

4. Draws have equity You’ve flopped the nut flush draw and there is a bet and two calls ahead? Raise! Jam chips into the middle. If a guy accidentally turns over aces, laugh while you raise. He’s not that far ahead of you, and it’ll be good fun when you crack his aces.

5. Play tight, but when you play a hand, attack. Aggression pays, sometimes in ways that you’re only barely aware of. I’m usually a pretty tight pf player. 23/17/2.8 at 3/6-6max. Yet, I’m almost always thought of as a near maniac. I raise all kinds of crap in position. If I try to steal the blinds, get one caller and the BB leads at me, I raise without looking at the flop. This is my hand, not his. If he three-bets and I’d like a free card (I’ve got a draw or at least an out or two), I’ll cap it. Usually, I’ll get a nice free card on the turn if I want it. When I hit and show down and they see how far behind I was when I capped, believe me, they won’t notice the solid values I’m starting with. Attack attack attack. You cannot take a hand off in limit. The edges are too small. You’ve got to win every chip you can.

6. Respect your opponents I, probably as much as anyone, struggle with this. There’s no way not to think someone who plays 42o for three-bets is not brain damaged. No way. But respect their retardation. Don’t steam into the chatbox like I do. Bad beats are part of the game. Understand that they are giving money away. Remain in control and you’ll take that money. Lose control and your stack will be gone before you know it. You are at the table to make money. Other people are there for other reasons. Respect those reasons and show respect for them. Then take their money.

7. Bankroll management I’m a nit with money. If I lost all my money online tomorrow, I could not reload. Someone would be posting a thread asking why I’m playing the .01/.02 on UB. I started out playing 1/2 on Party with a $200 roll. Somehow, I didn’t go busto. Since then though, I live within my BR. I’ve run that $200 into probably about $8,000 in winnings, never playing higher than 3/6. There’s plenty of money to be made at small stakes. Play within you means and you might even manage to not go broke.

8. Post hands No offense, but you guys are horrible about posting hands. You post brags where you turn a boat and river quads or you post these “look at this donkey” threads. They’re fun and all, but if you want to play poker well, you’re going to have to examine your game more and more closely. I usually replay in PT every hand I vpip on during a session. If there’s a bet I’m not sure of, I’ll post it (not here obviously). If there’s a situation I’m not sure or, or I see three options on, I’ll post it. Learn from each other. There are nearly infinite situations in this game. The more situations you’ve thought about before you sit at a table, the better decisions you’ll make at the table. Respond to hands, just to check your thinking. If someone says you’re wrong, figure out why they’re saying so. This game is so marginal, if you’re not improving, you’re falling behind.

9. Do something besides poker This is probably about me as much as you. I used to play poker 7 days a week. I was “freelancing” and had plenty of time on my hands though. Before I knew it, it was all I could talk about, and those bad beats turned into day-ruining events. It was too consuming. It’s a fun hobby. It’s awesome the amount of money that can be made, but none of us are going to be sitting in Bobby’s Room any time soon. Take a walk, read a book, go out to dinner. Do something besides this. It’ll make you better at this in the long run.

Good luck guys.

Endurance

Bad run this afternoon. I drank a cup of coffee and half a bottle of Sprite all day. Had a banana for lunch and a twix for a snack. Then sat on my ass for an hour after work before stretching and running. Poor preperation. And I paid for it after about 20 steps when I realized I had almost no fuel in the tank and I needed to pee, so none of that fluid was in me.

Some how I muddled through at about 12:30 per mile. Two miles. Consistent pace at least. Oh well. One bad run doesn't mean much, and for the first time in a week I'll have two days off in a row, then run Saturday morning with the group. My legs need a rest, but they're clearly much much stronger. A month ago I couldn't run five minutes straight. Now, it's 25.

I've been thinking a lot about endurance this week.

I'm just exhausted from Indy. Gambled out. There wasn't a single game, from the rebuy to screw your neighbor, that I didn't play like blood was on the line. Everyone was the same I think. It was an all star game and no one wanted to look soft. What a fucking blast. And once the money started moving, it was just sick. I'm fairly certain that I won $200 on Saturday just betting flops and playing screw your neighbor. Thank god I don't live near those guys. I'd be broke in a week. Or retired.

The weekend also got me in a great mindset for poker. I feel like I'm thinking about the game well again. I guess having Wonka on your left for five hours will force you to play well I guess.

But then there's the question of endurance. I can play limit games for about six hours before I start making bad decisions. No limit, I can play about an hour and a half. (This is online of course. Live is a different story.) Kinda sucks because I'm into this game and trying to get as many hands in as I can, but you can't play with a bad mindset or it's all gone. And I am very mistake prone at NL when I get tired.

So I'm just pecking along, trying to get hands under my belt, build a base. It would be foolish to dive in without preparation. More than ever, after Indy, I feel incredibly good at this game. Won about $70 last night in my first stab at the $50 game on FT. Tons more six-max NL tables than the last time I was there. 20,000 players on last night. I expect this weekend will be a lot of fun. But too fast, too far, too soon is nothing but a disaster waiting to happen.

Meanwhile, I'm just going to be exhausted, let my mind and my body recover, and think back again on the rush of jamming for $377 vs a guy who had me covered. I knew I had him. I was right. What a fucking rush.

Now that's a good weekend

What a terrific couple of days, even without air conditioning.

First off, for some reason, I'm just happy I kept the apartment reasonably cool during two 90-ish, humid days. I love this place more and more, and that little trick just makes it better. I'm still getting some a/c as soon as I can though.

Yesterday was the start of my no limit cash experiment. Limit has just grown stale for me. I'm falling into the trap of mechanical play, and after talking with wonka about some hands, I realize my mind is not focused on the situation, just on the five or six rote lines I've picked up.

Besides, if this guy can win at .25 6-max, I have to think a trained monkey could.

Fortunately, I didn't run into any trained monkeys at the Stars tables.

I'd reread Doyle's NL chapter again, totally prepared to completely disregard it and play a tight, equity, value-based game. Instead, I found tables loaded with passive, fit-or-fold types who would call preflop whether it was 1 bb or 5, but then immediately imagine the worst when I continuation-bet the flop.

So I picked up small pot after small pot, and then felt free to gamble when a big pot developed.

So far I'm winning 24 ptbb/100. Totally unsustainable, but even so, I've been stacked or at least gotten all the other guys chips in, four times and lost. So I've done quite a few things right I think.

I lost one big pot that I think encapsulates why I'm liking NL.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with :ks :ac
2 folds, CO raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.25, SB calls, BB folds, CO calls.


Flop: :4d :7h :qh ($7, 3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $1, Hero calls, SB calls.


Turn: :kc ($10, 3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $1, Hero raises to $14, SB calls all-in $13.45, CO calls all-in $4.75.
Uncalled bets: $0.55 returned to Hero.


River: :9h ($42.65, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $27.25, Sidepot 1: $15.4)



Results:
Final pot: $42.65

Lately, this kind of beat is putting me on serious tilt in limit. Here, I made it pretty damn close to unprofitable for the fish on my left (and he was a huge fish) to call. I control the gamble, and I've grown pretty damn good at judging the quality of a bet. Still quite a ways to go, but it's a far cry from when I first tried NL cash games a year-and-a-half ago.

Then, there are calls like this.
Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
cbal84: $42.75
CO: $30.85
Button: $25.95
SB: $25.65
BB: $74.05


Pre-flop: (5 players) cbal84 is UTG with :7s :7h
cbal84 raises to $1, 2 folds, SB calls, BB calls.


Flop: :jh :3h :kh ($3, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, cbal84 bets $2, SB calls, BB calls.


Turn: :tc ($9, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, cbal84 checks.


River: :7c ($9, 3 players)
SB bets $2, BB raises to $17.5, cbal84 calls, SB folds.


Results:
Final pot: $46
BB showed Jd 3d
cbal84 showed 7s 7h


It took me about 40 seconds to gather my thoughts and make the call. Finally, I just thought the BB was too big a donkey to fold a set against. It doesn't bust me to call, and maybe it's easy, but it's a moment I'm not used to in cash games.

I loved it.

I'm gonna stay at the .25 for at least this week, and then move up to .50.

So that was Saturday. And it was more of the same Sunday afternoon.

After breakfast with my family and poker in the afternoon, I just felt gassed. I was due to run 20 minutes today. I haven't run 20 consecutive minutes in a year and a half. A month ago, I could barely run three.

Finally, around 7:30, disgusted with my own chickenshittedness, I dragged my ass off the couch, put on my shoes and was out the door.

I walked up the beach, stretching out my legs and back. Families were still out, a few folks were painting their sections of the benches along the walk (every year folks can paint sections of long concrete benches in Loyola Park. Kinda neat to see new stuff on my runs).

My five minute walk done, I start running. Immediately, my legs feel like crap. The air is still thick and hot, my lungs are burning, and I'm wishing i were home. Can't do it though. Can't quit. I keep putting one leg in front of the other. I get through the park, cut up to Sheridan and then north to Jarvis. Still running. Still haven't stopped.

Turn around at Jarvis. 10 more minutes. Move, keep moving. Back down past the park, staying on Sheridan. My legs are looser now, by tired. Breathing is heavy, but not labored. I'm sweating a ton. Still going though. Past Leona's. Five minutes more. Past the coffee shop, past the African store, One minute more as I pass the White Hen a block north of Columbia. I hit Columbia with 30 seconds and run it out.

I could have gone further.

What a fucking feeling to go as far as you've gone, and feel something left in the tank.

I rewarded myself by walking to the end of the block and jumping in the lake, cool and sweet now as the sun went down, and then walked back to my place, dripping with lake water and sweat.

What a great weekend.

WSEX---Play higher

At poboy's recommendation, I've been messing around at WSEX and I think there are tremendous benefits. The 100% rakeback essentially provides between 1 and 2.5/100 to your winrate--paid weekly (the breakdown is 2.5/100 at 2/4, 1.7/100 at 3/6 and 1/100 at 5/10). Do the math for your own game here.

What's really exciting about this isn't guaranteed money. Most rakeback is a nice bump at the end of the month, unless you're a 4-tabling pro working 120+hours a week. But even at moderate play levels, 100% rakeback adds so much to your bottom line that it can redefine the limits you can play.

Say you're winning 2.5/100 at 2/4 with a SD of 16, and let's say you're confident that your wr has resolved to a fair degree. But, like me, you've recently had to pull most of your bankroll out to cover some expenses, and you've only got $900 left online. Back to 1/2, right?

Not so fast.

By adding 2.5/100 to your win rate with rakeback, you can radically alter the math behind bankroll requirements. A 5/100 winner at 2/4 only needs a bankroll of 136 BB to play 2/4 with a .5% risk of ruin. That's less than $600. If you feel like gamboooling up and taking a 3% ror, you only need 90 BB. Think about the implications here.

Even if you're playing 3/6, with a WR of around 2.2/100 and an SD of 16/100, you can keep your BR under 150 BB. Less than $900 to play 3/6.

Eventually, up around 5/10 or 10/20, the RB isn't going to be that big a deal relative to game quality because the RB as a percentage of WR is going to diminish. I'd say you need to be at least a 1/100 winner at 5/10 to make the play worthwhile, but through 5/10, this is bankroll-building heaven for winning players.

The most delightful thing is that even the fish, who will go broke no matter what, are propped up because each week they get the same 1-2.5/100 back into their accounts too.

So far, the games are reasonably tight, but the players are laggy and erratic. Tons of people, especially euros, love to limp-reraise or make strange plays like limp on the button behind an open-limp, but then three-bet when the BB raises. You'll see some strange plays, but if you've got some brass and don't get weak-tight, good players will find plenty of opportunity to profit.

They also only spread 5-max, instead of 6-, along with their full games. Full games are frequently shorthanded though, and if, like me, you don't mind mixing full and short, it's got plenty of good tables.

Traffic is low, but steady at between 900 and 1,300 people. We can only hope it grows though. I'm making it home, at least for the short term.

Hung juror

So I had the pleasure of performing my civic duty these last two days by serving on a jury and quickly convicting someone of a crime he surely committed.

I actually didn't mind getting called. It's kind of a hassell to haul myself from the far north side down to 26th and Cal (Chicagoese for ghetto jail), but whatever. I didn't figure I'd get picked. Given that I've sat in hundreds of courtrooms, know cops and lawyers, am related, have been convicted of a crime and am also capable of critical thought, I didn't figure I would be a good prospect.

The case itself was boring as shit. The guy, with a partner, did a smash and grab in a Home Depot parking lot. The store manager was eating lunch in his car and saw the guy do it. The cops pulled him over three blocks and five minutes later, and found the tools in the backseat of his car. He should have just put a sign in his window announcing "Thief here." It took us all of ten minutes to convict him. Four of those minutes were spent picking a foreman.

What was amazing though was that through this entire two day deal, everyone was bitching about the time it was taking out of our lives, the hassel, blah blah. Then we convict the guy, and people want to sit around for another 10 minutes hashing it out. As if the absence of DNA might point to his innocence. He had the motherfucking tools in his backseat. Then after we've delivered the verdict, the judge comes back to thank us before we're dismissed and everyone has 20 questions. It was at least another hour before we're finally out the door. The after-conviction shit lasted longer than the defense's entire case.

I realized afterwards, these people felt guilty.

We were all going home for the weekend to various things. Donald Gatewood was going to spend 6-28 years behind bars (this was his 6th offense).

It was a bit of a train wreck for folks I think, and they wanted to linger, not go home and explain it. It was odd.

Why am I rambling about my boring ass two days? Well for one thing, I had plenty of time to digest Cappellietti's Omaha book. Look out omaha donks.

But for another, I realized sitting while we chatted with the judge, that I had no remorse at all about what happened. One guy, Mike, black guy in his late 20s, worked a delivery job and lived on the south side, was really kinda busted up about it. The defendent was black, both the public defenders were black, and Mike said when the judge said guilty all three looked straight at him.

I couldn't have felt less guilty. Which is odd for me. There was a time I would have looked for reasons not to convict. Would have wanted to know about his history, his background. Why did he do it?

Whatever.

Guy jammed in all his money with rags and got busted. I could care less. Next.

It's disturbing how poker slithers into all these corners in my head.

Running good....oh I get it. Lame.

Welcome to bad pun-ville, population: me.

I figure to spend nice long summer playing cards and training for the half-marathon. Might as well keep a place for any random thoughts that may come through.

The big problem right now is this horrible run I've hit. Two weeks ago, I had about $3200 spread over three sites. One $1,200 car repair bill, a bad run at $3/$6 short and a horrible attempt at learning PLO8 by starting at the $50 game while on some kind of hideous perma-tilt and I think I have a total of $1300 in action. And that's including my WSEX payout of today.

So it's time to rebuild.

In truth, that's fine. For once, I've got a nice paying job, my expenses are under control and I don't need the money. Those of you who know me may not realize that I needed the money back in November and December. And relying on 2/4 and some $24 tournaments for enough income to cover the games is not a comfortable place to be.

So, time to grind again. Time to give a little bit less of a crap about poker. And especially it's teach my body how to run 13 miles in two hours. And maybe in between learn me how to catch some fish on a fly.

Should be a fun summer.