But, I had the Nuts one card ago...

Holy crap. CJ over at Up For Poker just announced when the next Live Blogger Tournament is taking place. Saturday June 4^th, in Fabulous Las Vegas at the Aladdin. I’m so there! Who cares if my 5 year wedding anniversary is a scant 6 days later? I can work this out. I can fly out on the 3^rd, and leave on the 5^th! I can do this! Can’t I? We’ll have to see what the wifey says, but I’m fairly certain that as long as I can make it back in time to go on whatever Vacation she has planned for our Anniversary, I can go. Two Vegas trips in one summer? I’m not sure my Liver can hold up. It sure would be nice to at least TRY.

So, I’m walking around work today, and I happen to peer into this guy’s office. He has one of those foldout putting greens laid out on his floor, and he’s putting into it from across the room while having an obviously very important meeting on his speakerphone. I want this guy’s job, and I suck at Golf.

I’ve not played much poker recently, which is a goddamn shame. I just haven’t had the couple hours to set aside to play. The last time I played I got 4^th in a sit n go, then decided to fire up the $25 No Limit Table. I was only playing about 10 minutes when I catch QJo in my small blind. About 5 limpers and I complete. Flop is 8 9 10 Rainbow. Sooo lovely. I check to try and induce some bets and slowplay. Dude 2 to my left bets out $3. I just smooth call along with 2 others. Turn is an 8, flashing lights and stop signs and every other warning sign you can think of begin going off in my head. I check and the guy 2 to my left pushes all in, he has me covered. Everyone folds around to me and I call. The River is a blank. He flips up 89o for the Turned Full House. FUCK! I’m not sure there was much more I could do about this, but damned if it wasn’t frustrating as all hell.

I’ve been seriously considering going back to Limit play. It seems like so much more of a grind, but my success in the past has been pretty good. I still have yet to understand why so many of the fish play Limit, when it’s all No-Limit on TV. At least I can’t lose my whole buy-in in one hand. I still feel most at home in the Sit n Gos. I seem to do really well in those, even if my results are a bit streaky.

I still haven’t cracked open Super System 2. I suck. What can I say? I am really considering moving my roll to Full Tilt to try and clear that 100% bonus they’ve got going on. I also do not have an Empire Poker account yet, I’ve been seriously thinking of playing over there, but I want to get a Rakeback deal going. Anyone got any idea how to accomplish that? I just feel like I’m throwing away so much money not having one of these deals going on Party.

Not much else going on, I’ve bought a bunch of CDs this week. Including Kreator’s new one: Enemy of God. What a fantastic record, a throwback to 80s thrash metal. Makes me feel young again. My birthday is next Thursday, I’ll be 28 years old. My wife was going to fly me out to Vegas as a surprise, but she isn’t able to go due to her new job. So instead, she is planning a Vegas style party at our house. I’ll be having a poker tournament and lots of booze. Which would pretty much be what I would be doing in Vegas anyway, so no loss right? Besides, now I’ve got 2 trips planned to the city of Sin this year, so I’ll live.

Make sure you guys go check out Iggy’s reposting of the probably the best Trip Report I’ve ever read. I seriously had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at that story. It’s long but well worth your time. I don’t really have much else to say. I’ve noticed a lot of Bloggers going through some downtimes lately. A lot of people getting fed up with the grind, or losing their whole roll in some cases. I hope everything turns around so that all can be right with the world again. I wish I could be all profound with my writing like most of these people are, but I can’t. So I wish them luck so they’ll continue to write. Check them all out on the right over there. Talk to you all soon.

Life sucks...

Many apologies for not posting at all in the last 7 days. Life has taken a turn for the worse, and I'm still reeling.

Last Friday, I went out for a few beers, and afterwards, some Steak n Shake goodness. While I was munching on my buger, I had a sudden wave of dizziness, which often means I am about to catch one hell of a cold. Sure enough, the next day, I wake up with a 100 degree fever and I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way I've coughed up several vital organs. Every year I get like this at least once, coughing up a lung and feeling pretty much like shit for at least 2 weeks. Unfortunately this is my SECOND bout with this hell this year, so I finally relented and went to the doctor. Sure enough, like it's some sort of shock, I have Bronchitis, which can develop into pneumonia if I'm not careful. So I'm taking care of myself properly now.

You must of course realize that this plight would NOT stop me from going to the Suffocation show this past Monday. You know you've married the right woman when you tell her that you're going to see a Death Metal show on Valentine's day, and all she does it shrug and say, "We'll celebrate when you're feeling better". I do love her quite a lot folks. The show btw, was fantastic, but WAY too long. There were something like 6 bands, all good, but man. The length of the show, combined with the 2 hour drive just wears your ass out.

Now on to my sad news. Monday morning when I came into work, I received a message that a woman I used to work with in my former position died the night before. She was 38, had 2 young children, and a husband. She died from pneumonia. I JUST saw her on Friday night when I stopped by work, and she didn't look so good. I remember telling her that she should go home and take care of herself. Sunday comes and she's dead. Dead. 38 years old. Unfuckingbelievable. I JUST saw her.

Life isn't fair folks, good people die every day. I went to the funeral today, I don't like funerals. I haven't been to one since I was in high school. But this was a special lady, I'm really gunna miss her. It's odd, standing there, in the middle of 100 people who all look like a deer in headlights. This was all so sudden, it can't be real can it? She's not really dead is she? Where is the woman who would stroll by my desk and sing Kenny Roger's "The Gambler" to me when she saw me reading Poker Books? Where is the lady who gave me a literal can of "Whoop Ass" to take up and put on my new desk in my new position? This is the same woman who tried to convince me that I should have children with my wife if for no other reason so I can bring someone new into the world with some good taste in music. Deb was a great person, a great friend, wife, mother, and sister. I'm really going to miss her.

Go home tonight and hug your wife, kids, dog, mom, whoever. Just realize that at any second it can all go away, and that you should cherish the time you have with them now.

I'm going to lie down now, I'm mentally and physically exhausted. Talk to you all soon.

What a week...

Crazy ass week this week, sorry for the lack of posts, but life happens.

Work has been flat out insane. I came to the realization the other day that I truly regret accepting this new position last fall. Ten times more work plus being on call for a 3% raise? Not a smart move on my part at all. I feel like I've pissed away a year of my life, since that's how long I have to wait before transferring to another position within the company. I'm sure I'll manage through it, but it still sucks.

So what do I do to cheer up? Go spend the money I won last weekend!! I bought all kinds of stuff, like:

Heaven Shall Burn - In Battle...
Dry Kill Logic - The Dead and Dreaming
Bury Your Dead - Cover Your Tracks

Napolean Dynamite widescreen DVD
Mr. 3000 Widescreen DVD
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle widescreen DVD

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself, especially in the music department. My god, all 3 of those albums are amazing. I was in a comedy mood when I ended up in the DVD section at Best Buy, as you can tell.

So Tuesday night, I finally got to play at a Blogger Table! I played with Maudie, Sean, CJ,, BG, and all sorts of others. Was a really damn good time, even if I did drop 2 buy-ins. I even gave Maudie one of those buy-ins when her set took out my TPTK. I had so much fun, I played again on Wednesday, although not with as many people this time around. I ended up losing again on that table, but it was only $5 or so.

My online results have been absolutely atrocious lately, if it hadn't been for the live game I had last night and the one on Superbowl Sunday, I'd be seriously depressed. I haven't climbed out of the hole I created for myself last Sunday just yet, but rest assured, I'm working on it. Last night was a nice $86 win at my live game. I think I'll hold onto my winnings from that one, as I may need it sooner than I want to replenish my online bankroll.

This weekend is going to be crazy with work, and Valentines Day coming up. My wife and I decided to do the whole Valentines Day thing on Sunday, which is awesome! Now I'm free on Monday night to drive up to Cleveland and see Suffocation and Behemoth play at the House of Blues! Woo Hoo!! That'll be a Love-fest for sure hah.

Not a whole lot else to say really, go send Iggy some positive vibes, as he seems to be going through a rough patch in his life. Hopefully my pager will stay quiet enough this weekend to actually let me get some Poker in. Talk to you all soon, and good luck out there!

Where to begin?

I'm still in full-on recovery mode at this point after what was a CRAZY ass weekend in all aspects of my life. I think perhaps the smartest thing I've done in recent memory was to pre-emptively schedule a vacation day for today. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Is it cool to sort of pre-emptively schedule a vacation day on short notice?

Boss(Who lives right outside of Philly): Like what day, and for what?

Me: The insane Super Bowl party I am going to be attending, and Monday, because I'm not so sure I'll be able to stand up that morning.

Boss: Oh hell, I doubt I'll be here either, so yeah it's cool.

It's nice to have a Football fan for a boss, it's even nicer when HIS team is playing in the Big Game. Now, on to the weekend:

Friday was actually a fairly easy day at work, for which I was truly grateful. I slept a total of maybe 16 hours since the previous Thursday. So I was all too happy to surf all the great poker blogs I have linked up, and just basically take it easy. It's been wierd getting adjusted to my new position, but Friday definitely helped. I had lunch with a Team that I work with on a regular basis, and they're all very cool outside of work. We all hit it off so well, we ended up at Applebee's for Happy Hour. It was nuts, I felt like I had been transported to 6th grade, only there was beer there! A good time was had by all.

Saturday was my planned take it easy day. Which is a damn good thing, since I had a wicked hangover from the night before. I knew that the Poker/Superbowl party I had planned on Sunday was just going to kick my ass, so I was trying to get fully recovered. My wife and I went shopping and hit up Barnes & Noble. I got Super System 2, and a fiction novel about a poker player called Improbable, by Adam Fawer. Those crafty bastards at Barnes & Noble put it in the middle of a display where Super System 2 was, so I was forced to buy it. Forced I say! It's halfway decent so far, although most of the Poker Content so far has been far too "Hollywoodish" for me. But, it seems to present an interesting story. I haven't even cracked open Super System 2. I hope to do a review sometime in the near future.

Sunday, the big day, I woke up far too early, as I had gone to bed Saturday at like 11:30pm from just being exhausted. I got up and played some video games, and then decided to log on to Party Poker! I played a couple SitnGos, I took some insanely wicked beats all weekend in these things. In the 5 I played, I only came in 3rd in one. Ugg. I did however, do fairly well in the $25 NL games. I had even brought myself into the positive at one point, but was disgusted at the lack of money finishes in the SnG realm. I was just about to log off, but decided to check my buddy list to see if anyone was on. Turns out BadBlood was on and playing 2 NL $50 6 Max tables. I had said to myself that I was just going to watch him play for a bit. Of course I ended up sitting down. Did fairly well at first, then I lost over half my stack when my set of 8s ran into a set of Jacks. I was going to try and just get back to even and then log off, but then my Pocket Jacks ran into pocket 9s, which became a set on the Turn. Uggg, $50 down the drain, as if my bankroll wasn't short enough. That'll teach me to play above my means. It WAS cool playing with BadBlood though. We both expressed that there needs to be more Poker Bloggers into Metal.

Funny thing is, I was pretty upset at losing that money, but when I analyzed it later, I got all my money into the middle when I had the best hand. That's really all you can ask for in Poker. I'm actually fairly happy with my play, just not the results. After I logged off, I decided to download the FullTilt software. It looks pretty cool, just not nearly enough players. But that %100 bonus is almost too good to pass up. I am thinking of switching sites to try and clear the bonus there. We'll see how that goes.

The Poker/Superbowl party started at 1pm. I arrived shortly after, and no one was there except myself and the host. No biggie, I helped him get the MASSIVE Taco Bar set up, and the Keg tapped. We sat around and shot the shit about the game, and about Poker strategy. We got started around 2:30pm with 8 people. The format was cash game, $20 buy in, $.25/$.50 blinds, re-buy as many times as you like. And re-buy many many people did. I'd estimate that we had probably $400 total when all was said and done. I walked home with $164. For a cool $124 profit. Had some very big hands to help me walk away with all that cash. One guy, Phil, was just flat out running over the table, and started muscling people around with a rather ample stack of chips. I started calling him Punxsutawney Phil, like the groundhog in groundhog day, because he was just beating us over and over. So first big hand, I find A 10o on teh Button and raise it up to $2, only Phil calls. The Flop is 2 10 J rainbow. I figure I'm in pretty good shape here, so I bet out $2, Phil calls. The Turn is a K. Now I'm a bit afraid, there are a million hands he could have, but with as much as he's been pushing the whole table around, he could easily have just a pocket pair. I try and take the pot down right here and throw out a $10 bet. Phil smoothly calls, and now I'm quite afraid. The River is a blank, and I weakly check. The board reads 2 10 J K x. I weakly check, and Phil nochalantly pushes all-in. I go into the tank, I'm almost positive he doesn't have a Jack. I rule out AQ. But he could have any King, perhaps even K 10. Although, Phil has been pushing around, and has not gotten called one time on any of his all-ins. I say "fuck it" and call him, he flips over pocket sixes. I drag the $70 or so pot. I'm not so sure this was the right move, but I'm certainly glad it proved to be the right read on him.

Another big hand was when I hit a flush on the Turn and the other guy made Trip Aces. That pot ended up being around $90. We finished up soon after that. I don't remember much of the actual Super Bowl. It was a much better game than most of the country expected, which I am always grateful for. the Eagles' time management at the end of the game was TERRIBLE. I'm really not sure what happened there. A great effort was made by both teams, and I had a blast watching them. Hopefully, for Al's sake, Philly will make it back next year.

Stopping at a green light...

Has this ever been you while you're in the car? "The light is fucking GREEN!!" That was me today on my way home from a hellish on-call week at work. There I was stopped in the middle of the road, wondering why in the holy hell we are not moving when the light looks pretty fucking green to me. I look into the sideview mirror to my right, and notice that there is a gap coming up, and I can probably sneak into that lane and make the light to get on the freeway before it turns red. Of course, I hesitate, and I miss the light. This reminds me a lot of my poker game in it's current form.

Trying to learn the art of the No-Limit Cash Game has not been an easy task for me. Granted, I've not played too terribly many hands, but I'm down overall. I can never seem to push my advantages, and know how to get out of a hand when I am at a disadvantage. The main problem I am having, is playing too much like I would in a tournament. I get frustrated by people who play crap cards, suck out on me, then lose my money to someone else. I also hate doubling up on someone, and it doesn't force them to leave the table. I love the elimination aspect of tournaments.

The other night, I started out my session with 2 Black Kings, I ended up doubling through a guy with Pocket 10s. I then proceeded to get FAR too comfortable and pissed all of it away, including my intial buy-in. How is it I can be so patient when playing a SnG or Multi-Table-Tournament? I can't seem to hold onto any kind of real win in the cash games for more than a dozen hands. Perhaps I should switch to a style composed of hit-and-running different tables. I dunno, I think perhaps I am just whining. Again.

I was reading Pauly's blog today, and he gave some pretty good advice to those of us starting with new blogs. It occurred to me that I've never really explained my screenname. So I figured at least someone might care. So, here it goes:

Back in 1986, when I was the wee age of 9, my older brother worked at a Tape World in the Mall. I was really into music back then, mostly Rap. My brother brought home Metallica's Master of Puppets album on Vinyl one day. He handed it to me and said, "You've got to hear this." And hear it, I did. Kind of like Wesley Snipes, when he tells Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump: "You can't hear Jimmy". Well, I could by god fucking hear Metallica, and it was good. This started a long, and glorious love for Heavy Metal music. But I digress. Slayer's Reign in Blood album, which coincidentally, was released the same year, also made it's way into my hot little hands. There is a line in the song Raining Blood that goes: "Raining Blooooooood, from a lacerated sky...". I don't know why, but that line was ALWAYS stuck in my head, and I thought it made a good name. I used to name my D&D characters some variation of it, my BBS name for years was "laceratedsky". It's just kind of stuck with me. So I guess that's my...errr...story?

Anyhow, like I said. it's been a hellish week, and boy am I glad that I'm not on call for whole week! I haven't played poker since the home game on Saturday. So I'm looking forward to getting some hands in. The same bunch of guys are having a Poker tournament on Sunday at 1pm, then we'll be watching the Superbowl. I'm very much looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll be able to post more often as well, now that the pager is set to "off" mode. Good luck out there!