Sometimes it's slow

Today was so slow.  I was down $90 and then left up $113.  I can't give too much info because nothing really happened.  I lost to Sal in a pot where he had TPTK and I only had J kick.  I suspected so I made smallish bets to avoid getting raised big.  Got away cheaper than it could have been.

I flopped two sets.  Absolutely no action on the first set, a set of 4's.  The other was a set of 6's.  The board was 5s 6s 10c. There were about 5 people in the pot.  A donk bet $5 and someone called.  Then Joe made it $30.  I made it $80.  Fold. Fold. A slow fold from Joe.  Damn.  He had some chips behind, too.  

Six hours and didn't get AA once.  Uh.  I didn't really lose too many pots but didn't win any either.  Just glad to have an up day and a decent one at that.

I'm back, baby!

I'm recovered from the crazy day that was 'feces and spiders'.  I'm back onto the streak of winning sessions of poker.  I played for about 5 1/2 hours and nothing too crazy happened.  I'll give a rundown.  

I had 9c 5h from the BB.  Flop comes 678h.  Pretty nasty.  I got rewarded with the pot.  The turn was another 6.  Not good.  I bet small each time just in case.  He had the Ah and a pair.  

A hand early on I had Qh 10h.  The flop comes Ah Kh 9s.  I thought about it and decided I wasn't going anywhere on the flop.  I have a couple outs.  The turn was the Jc.  NICE.  I like this card here because it disguises the hand.  If a heart turns, it's obvious. I won this pot against two players.  The A rivered, too.

One donkament played his whole stack to the end with a flush draw and hit it on my two pair.  I talked a small amount of shit and he said to me that when I sucked out on him he didn't say anything.  I quickly shot back, "you should have." He was in for $600 and got up and busting the 3rd time.

I had JJ and made a standard raise.  The flop came 10 high.  Ron checked and I bet $20.  He called.  The turn was a blank and he shot out a nice bet of $25.  I still had him on A10.  The river was another rag and he checked.  I decided quickly I was good as there were no overs and I was extremely confident he had A10.  I bet out $50 on the river.  He called it.  The JJ held up and I heard him whisper to the guy next to him he had A10.  A dead on read is nice to have while I am in a hand.  A skill I need to work on.

Finally flopped a set of A's.  I had wanted to for the last month or so.  I finally did and got a nice pot of Old Jim.  

Back to the grind tomorrow.

Feces and Spiders

Yesterday I had one of the weirdest days of my life.  It was Monday August 26, 2008.  I got up around 8:30 AM to drive Annie to work.  

A little background.  On Saturday, I finished moving out of my apartment.  The storage unit was open for only a few hours on Sunday so the car had lots of things in it.  It was completely packed from Saturday night until Monday morning.  So we get to the car around 8:45 AM and there is a massive spider web in the passenger seat.  One of my guitars was in that seat.  The web was connected to the guitar case, the rear view mirror, and the passenger door.  It was a huge web but we could not find the spider at all.  

So I get Annie to work and while she leaves, I get out the car to remove the web and, hopefully, the spider.  I remove the web and find the spider curled up on the black part of the mirror.  It starts moving toward me.  It runs on its web toward the passenger door and rests on the edge of the door and the wind shield.  I find a piece of paper and smash it into the spider several times until the paper has a brownish liquid on it.  

Ahh.  It's dead.  So I proceed to the storage unit to unload the car.  After 30 minutes of moving, lifting, packing, repacking, and organizing, I get back to the car to remove the body.  I flick at it with a new piece of paper found on the ground of the parking lot.  I get the body loose and it falls toward me, still connected to its web.  For an instant, I feel that it is still alive and coming at me.  But it is not to be.  It just dangles lifelessly from its silk web.

I'm feeling a bit rattled and very sensitive to itches and feelings on my skin.  So how do you relax that feeling?  I thought the best idea was to get someone else into the car so they could make sure there were not more spiders hiding.  An oil change was necessary so I went directly to Jiffy Lube.  Now the oil is changed and I feel comfortable about being in the car.

Crisis averted.  Now onto more important things.  Building a shelf for the closet.  Home Depot will help.  I head to the location on N. Halsted.  I've always been a fan of Home Depot but this visit was different.  I head for the lumber section and get some attitude from an employee.  I ask him for help and he replies "With what?"  Like he is too good for me or something.  Super annoying.  So it turns out you have to to saw your own lumber because they have no room for a power saw.  Wow.  What the hell?  I spend the next 30 minutes cutting pieces of wood for the shelf.

So I finally get home and get started on the shelf.  A few minutes after starting, a maintenance man knocks on the door.  The question he asks is in some broken English.  Is your bathtub OK? I thought that it was fine because it was draining fine the night before.  Well, I had no clue what the hell I was talking about.  He came right in and took a look.  It was about 6 inches full of some green liquid.  No clue what it was but the same problem was happening next door.  The maintenance guy heads back over the apartment next door for the next hour or so.  He must have been banging and clanking and screwing and doing whatever else he thought was necessary to stop the problem.  

Well the problem did not go away.  It was the opposite, in fact.  The bathtub filled higher and higher and it came up from the drain and out of the backup drain.  But it's not just liquid.  I am disgusted to say that it was some solid, too.  The same was true for the toilet.  That's right.  It was coming right back up at us after we sent it down.  After coming close, the water receded.  It was a close call.  But it was not over.  After coming close and going down, and coming close again and going back down again, it was up for good and I mean overflowing out of the toilet and getting dangerously close in the tub.  I immediately grabbed a towel and put it under the door and closed the door to prevent it from coming out of the bathroom.  This was a nightmare situation.  

"That smell, Bob, is our shit."

After overflowing for about 10 minutes, it stopped.  But the water was still standing in the bathroom.  Another maintenance man came and started cleaning it up.  He had a hose with a pump that went right out the window and onto the roof!?  He got the toilet empty and most of the tub.  The rest of the tub was to be fixed with a shop vac.  The other, original maintenance man came back with that and they both starting vacuuming.  The back end of the shop vac starting leaking and spraying out onto our bed and the suitcases and clothes we had nearby.  I yell at them to stop.  I just shake my head.  Idiots.  Ten minutes later, half a bottle of 409 later, and a bunch of wet towels later, the bathroom is ok to use.  The last guy leaves, telling me that I can use it.  Oh man.  This was a 6 hour affair.  It was a long ass day and I didn't even get paid for it.

One day after recovering from that episode, I am ready to get back to the Up and Down.  Wednesday, I am back.

Huge Day

I had a huge day.  I got off the shnide that was my two consecutive losing sessions.  A new winning streak has begun.  I was in the SB and everyone folded to the button who raised.  I thought he was on a bit of a steal.  So I defended with 52s.  I checked dark and the flop was the 2h 6s 2c.  The button bet $100 into the 26 in the pot.  I moved all in and he insta-called with AA.  Ah. I was up to $650.  

Lots of other hands including KK twice, and A7 beat an A10.  Lost a decent sized pot with a J9s. Flop comes J94.  I bet out and this new guy was like, "I want to play with this guy. I think he's pretty good."  So he called.  The turn was a K.  I bet it again. He called again.  River is another K. Lame.  He bets of $50. I tank for a long while. I call. :(  He shows the K5.  Come on now. So it turns out that guy plays every hand.  A good day, though.

A new sort of streak

Two days losing in a row.  Poker is laughing in my face right now.  I cannot get anything going at all, ever.  I had 56h and the flop came J55.  Lost to Sol who had J5.  Sickening.  My first hand was KQd.  Flop comes 9d 10d Ks.  No help.  I just kept losing and playing kinda bad but after awhile I realized I am still playing well.  I just need to keep grinding.  I got some of my loss back today when my AQh flushed on the turn and when I flopped a set of 3's on an all diamond board.  The Italian folded Ks Kh.

...And Snapped

The streak ends at 16. The new number to beat. I had a rough day at the tables. I never got anything going. It all started to go down hill after I folded KK on the flop. Auburn later told me he had QQ. I really hurt and was never really able to recover. I had some other sick beats. I lost to quads. I had 56h. Flop came 9c 5c 5s. I called on the flop and turn and the river was checked. I lost to K5. It was just brutal all day. I'm going to have to edit when I remember more of what happened.

On the positive side, I turned a straight flush. I had J8h. The flop came 9h 10h Qc.  So I flopped a straight.  There were 9 people in the hand. It was checked around. The turn was the 7h. A bet from the SB and everyone folded but me. After 9 people were in the pot!! The river was a blank. He bet 17 and I made it 40. He called. I obviously was dying to get value. 

The dealer accidentally flipped one of Sol's cards while dealing.  It was the 8c.  I look at my hand, while sitting directly to the left of Sol.  I have 8h 8d.  I mucked after seeing the 8c.  The flop was Jh 8s 10d.  Like I said, this day was brutal.

Sweet 16

It's not really that sweet.  It just is.  16 in a row.  Pretty good stuff.  

Today I was with my brother and it was his first time playing cards in a casino.  It was meant to be a fun day just letting him get some experience while I tried to actually work.  It turned out to be good for everyone.  We were both up about $100 for a long while.  He flopped top set of Q's and rivered a boat.  He won a massive pot there.  I won a few pots with some marginal hands and one good hand with a set of 9's.  Then we both went card dead.  I think I was more dead than he was.  I folded for an hour straight.  

So Tom was up $47 to end the day.  He got up and while he was getting his chips exchanged and what not, I played one more orbit.  On my second to last hand I find the two red 9's.  I call a raise from the talkative guy who is semi-insane/maniacal.  The flops comes 3c 5c 9s.  Sickening.  He bets out $20 and I decide not to just sit on my set.  I bump it up to $60.  I did this for a couple reasons.  First, he was aware that I was about to get up.  I could have been messing around with my last hand, just trying to win a pot.  Second, he was a maniac who played all kinds of things.  Third, there was a draw on board that I wanted to crush.  So, I make the raise and he shoves the rest of his stack.  It's about $140 total.?  He had a pair and a flush draw.  I rivered a red 3 to fill up.  A good end to the day.

Almost had a stack

I was up early and often today.  It was my 15th winning session in a row.  Pretty sick but this game is also easy for me to crush.  I had a stack of about $550 after I rivered the nut flush.  I had As 4d on SB and limped.  The flop was Ks Js Qs.  Pretty sick.  I bet out ten and the guy next to me moved in for $40.  Two people call and so do I.  Turn is red and the river is the 5s.  Good hand there.  I bet the river and got called by the 10s.

I find 67d in late position and limp.  The BB is on his 3rd hand.  The flop comes 8910.  BB checks and a guy in early position bets.  I raise and get a call from the guy to my left.  Let's call him donkey.  The BB makes it $100.  First bettor folds.  I move in and donkey folds.  The BB calls. He's got the nuts.  That sucks.  I lost $200 on that hand.  I still left up.  Just not up up up.