I missed this the first time around...

The Daily Show's preview of the World Cup:

The six fingered man.

THEOSU: Hello, my name is Jason Hoagland. You killed my poker: prepare to die!!!
Bill Frist: Stop saying that!
THEOSU: HELLO! MY NAME IS JASON HOAGLAND. YOU KILLED MY POKER. PREPARE TO DIE!
Bill Frist: No!
[THEOSU disarms Frist, and slices his cheek]
THEOSU: Now! Offer me horse racing.
Bill Frist: Yes.
[THEOSU slices the other cheek]
THEOSU: Fantasy sports too. Promise me that.
Bill Frist: All that I have and more. Please...
THEOSU: Offer me everything I ask for.
Bill Frist: Anything you want.
[THEOSU stabs Frist in the chest]
THEOSU: I want my poker back, you son of a bitch.


edit: In case any of the Republican Gestapo somehow happens across this, I'm not actually threatening Sen. Frist. I am merely taking lines from the "Princess Bride" and altering them as I see fit for comedic purposes. Thanks.

owie

well, owie #1 was my poker day yesterday. I played very well and had nothing at all to show for it.

Here's owie #2: Scrotum injury ends Chinese teenager's season

two things

First:

People suck: http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/rare-woodpecker-sends-town-running-for/20060924114809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

The chain saws started in February, when the federal Fish and Wildlife Service put Boiling Spring Lakes on notice that rapid development threatened to squeeze out the woodpecker.

The agency issued a map marking 15 active woodpecker “clusters,” and announced it was working on a new one that could potentially designate whole neighborhoods of this town in southeastern North Carolina as protected habitat, subject to more-stringent building restrictions.

Hoping to beat the mapmakers, landowners swarmed City Hall to apply for lot-clearing permits. Treeless land, after all, would not need to be set aside for woodpeckers. Since February, the city has issued 368 logging permits, a vast majority without accompanying building permits.

Second (This is pretty much only of note and interest to my former Hawken classmates. If you are not one, you probably won't get this at all):

I was passive aggressively performing violence on somebody today (that is to say, I was contemplating all the ways in which I would perform violence on that person if I was not also attempting to avoid any sort of confrontation). One of the violences I was going to perform on the guy was to drop a Fedikovich Elbow on him. That is all.

Colombia has good television...

Who doesn't want to watch a show entitled "Without (Breasts) There's No Paradise"?

just a boring update

Poker, very briefly: 82nd of almost 1300 entrants in the WCOOP event #1 - razz. I was doing very well, then I drew really bad and couldn't hold on to my chips. Since then, I have run horribly again. It's a combination of several things: a) can't make hands b) can't draw well c) if i make hands, they can't hold and d) making strong, second best hands. It's been pretty miserable.

As for other things. I'm still watching TV, though I'm beginning to hope that I don't see any political spots. Even the Democratic ones are annoying me. Although I have to admit that I'm getting a sick kick out of the fact that we (might as well stop fronting) are using Bush to help get our guys elected.

Our crib was delivered yesterday, and we've already got it decked out. Unfortunately, the sides of it are too big to put the kickass Ohio State mobile on it, so I'm going to have to figure something out, because I demand that thing to be on the crib. Saturday we're going to paint the room. We're goign to do it three colors, a medium blue on the bottom, a blue stripe in the middle and a very very light blue on top. Debbie would like to put molding in the room, but meh. I don't really.

That's about it. Not a whole lot of excitement. Yet. That'll start in five weeks.

Warning: Political Rant Imminent

If you do not happen to share a system of political beliefs with me, you might not enjoy the following post.

So I've been watching a bit of the TV lately. This is probably a shock, I know. As I've been watching the TV, I've been completely unable to avoid the politcal ads in the midterm elections coming up. As always, Ohio is an important swing state, as a key Senate seat is up for grabs, and the gubernatorial eletion is important.

The Senate fight has begun to get a bit dirty. Republican incumbant Mike DeWine has run attack ads on challenger Sherrod Brown alleging he's weak on terror (wtf? that's never a line the Republicans take), using digitally enhanced images of the smoldering Trade Centers. The RNC has run ads attacking Brown, using what sounds like a ukelele in the background with the wonderful ditty "Sherrod Brown let us down." The most recent one describes how Sherrod Brown let us down by voting against using tax dollars to shore up our borders, and how he's not trying to throw out illegal immigrants or something.

At this point, I'd like to remind my loyal readers... I live in OHIO. The heart of it all. I haven't come across too many people in this state who told me of their harrowing journey across Lake Erie on a homemade raft. Nor have I read many stories of people jammed behind a false wall of a semi trailer travelling from Windsor to Toledo. Good call, Brown. Use tax dollars on something that would help Ohioans. Like education.

At least the 'Sherrod Brown let us down' bit is original. Every other Republican run ad has been about taxes. Yeah, I know, also very unusual. Lowering the taxes creates more jobs! That's true, to a point. Lowering taxes creates low-mid paying jobs, not the high end jobs that Ohio needs. That might be solved by, I dunno, not having college tuition increase 10% a year? Maybe?

Well, there has been one other original ad. Gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell has been benefitted by one of those "independent" advocacy groups. I use the quotation marks because the group has been created by his stooges. Anyway, this group has been attacking his opponent, Ted Strickland, nonstop. Mostly on things like taxes, but one of his ads was saying he's out of touch with Ohio values because he's not against abortions and voted against an amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Rant within a rant coming: Who the fuck cares? Marriage should be between two people who love each other and who wish to spend the rest of their lives in a union. I don't care what the Bible has to say on the subject, the Bible is 1) awfully wrong anyway and 2) was written by people that didn't know better. If two men want to marry each other, how does that make my marriage less important? It doesn't - and if you say it does, you should examine your marriage. And don't give me this 'it's unnatural' crap. How much stuff do you do every day that's unnatural? Watch TV? Drive a car? Use the microwave?

Anyway, if Ken Blackwell wins I might just have to look into finding another state. The current governor has been easily the worst this state has seen in my lifetime, and I doubt it's much of a stretch to say he's been the worst in Ohio history. And I have a feeling that Blackwell will make him seem like Abe Lincoln in comparison.

Sigh. This has been a pretty weak rant. It was conceived brilliantly but fizzled out meekly, I'm afraid. Oh well.

wheeeee

I've been playing a lot of cash games lately. 5/10 limit, 2/4 NL. The 2/4 NL hasn't gone so good, since I can't dodge the rivers.

Here's a fun hand though:


Full Tilt Poker Game #997557549: Table El Camino (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:16:20 ET - 2006/09/13
Seat 1: Danek ($557.30)
Seat 2: ZDizzy ($267)
Seat 3: KPR16 ($338.20)
Seat 4: THEOSU ($382)
Seat 5: Kahlil Trinity ($384)
Seat 6: LEADBOOTS ($422.30), is sitting out
KPR16 posts the small blind of $2
THEOSU posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to THEOSU [Ks Kh]
Kahlil Trinity folds
Danek folds
ZDizzy calls $4
KPR16 calls $2
THEOSU raises to $15
ZDizzy calls $11
KPR16 calls $11
*** FLOP *** [3h Ts 8h]
KPR16 checks
THEOSU bets $25
ZDizzy folds
KPR16 calls $25
*** TURN *** [3h Ts 8h] [4d]
KPR16 checks
THEOSU bets $48
KPR16 raises to $298.20, and is all in
THEOSU calls $250.20
KPR16 shows [9d Jh]
THEOSU shows [Ks Kh]
*** RIVER *** [3h Ts 8h 4d] [7d]
KPR16 shows a straight, Jack high
THEOSU shows a pair of Kings
KPR16 wins the pot ($688.40) with a straight, Jack high




ZDizzy: brutal
KPR16: that's probably a fold for KK
KPR16: so unlucky one was me
THEOSU: riiiiight
KPR16: what did you think you were beating at that
point?
THEOSU: J9, for one
KPR16: im sure that's what you thought i had
THEOSU: look let's agree that you suck and we'll go
on
KPR16: im a pro dude
KPR16: what are you talking about
THEOSU: wow. i guess they're just handing out that
title now
THEOSU: zomg i'm a pro
KPR16: i make money off people who cant fold KK
usually
THEOSU: no. you make money because you river
sevens
KPR16: i make money because people think im a
fish
KPR16: granted NL isnt my game of choice
THEOSU: if it looks like a duck and quacks like a
duck...
KPR16: if it looks like a set and acts like a set or
two pair,,, better call all in for your whole stack with
KK, one pair
THEOSU: ah, yet it didn't look like a set or act like a
set
THEOSU: ergo, i did call all in
KPR16: you're good htats why
KPR16: you saw right through my elaborate bluff
THEOSU: no, i'm bad
KPR16: and booooomo'
THEOSU: i don't hold
KPR16: now i have your money ty
THEOSU: for now
THEOSU: i have confidence you won't hold it
THEOSU: call it a hunch


Lamentably he did hold it, because he stood quickly. He moved to 10/20 limit and invited me to join. Unfortuantely, he sat at a table with no open seats, speweed a few hundred and stood up.

This was just a few hands into the session, but I had the table open for a bit and he appeared to be tilting rather badly. Hence my (rather quick) call.

Why are Nike Commercials so awesome?

Seriously. They're friggin sweet. Jogo Bonito during the world cup, the incredible Vick/TO video game from a couple years ago, the streetball dribbly ones (no idea how else to explain it) that got spoofed in Scary Movie 2. Here's the latest, and you'll see what I mean...

best news story of the week

This story is awesome.


Click the link. You won't be sorry.

ahhhh, cash game fun

So in the past week or two, I've been getting back into the limit cash game swing of things. I had gotten away from it for a while, but have made a conscious effort to play them more often. Since the tournaments and SnGs I play are almost exclusively NLHE, playing limit for cash often keeps the game fresh.

This evening I was against an awful player heads up, and he kept hitting. I went on a bit of tilt, then stopped going on tilt, then still couldn't hit. I went down somewhere between "too much" and "holy shit! that's way way too much", but managed to get it all back and stand up to the good.

This is a fun hand. I am pretty sure my play is good the whole way, but I'm not sure. Maybe some of my readers can edumacate me.


ottoman6272 posts the small blind of $2.50
THEOSU posts the big blind of $5
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to THEOSU [3c 9c]
suzy1965 calls $5
kooog65 calls $5
GOINGTOWIN2 folds
AA_1889 calls $5
ottoman6272 raises to $10
THEOSU calls $5
suzy1965 calls $5
kooog65 calls $5
AA_1889 calls $5
*** FLOP *** [3s Qd 4c]
ottoman6272 bets $5
THEOSU calls $5
suzy1965 calls $5
kooog65 raises to $10
AA_1889 folds
ottoman6272 calls $5
THEOSU calls $5
suzy1965 calls $5
*** TURN *** [3s Qd 4c] [6c]
ottoman6272 checks
THEOSU checks
suzy1965 checks
kooog65 bets $10
ottoman6272 calls $10
THEOSU calls $10
suzy1965 folds
*** RIVER *** [3s Qd 4c 6c] [Kc]
ottoman6272 bets $10
THEOSU raises to $20
kooog65 calls $20
ottoman6272 calls $10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
THEOSU shows [3c 9c] (a flush, King high)
kooog65 mucks
ottoman6272 mucks
THEOSU wins the pot ($177) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $180 Rake $3
Board: [3s Qd 4c 6c Kc]
Seat 1: suzy1965 folded on the Turn
Seat 2: kooog65 mucked [Qc Ts] - a pair of Queens
Seat 3: GOINGTOWIN2 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: AA_1889 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: ottoman6272 (small blind) mucked [Jh Kd] - a pair of Kings
Seat 6: THEOSU (big blind) showed [3c 9c] and won ($177) with a flush, King high

Ok. So a lot has happened since the last real update I've given. I'll only write the story of what's gone on since last weekend.

Debbie and I met my parents in Sugarcreek, OH to go buy a crib, which is their present to us. After rooting around in a few stores, we came back to the store where we got quite a lot of stuff in our house from. The crib we chose looks really awesome, and my parents went all out and got all of the conversion stuff for it, too. So a big thank you to my parents for this gift - it's quite incredible.

As always, when we go to Sugarcreek, we ate well. I had roast beef twice (well, the second meal was swiss steak, but that's essentially roast beef.) And the drive wasn't that bad, even though it rained pretty heavily on the way home.

Sunday was a bit more troubling. Unfortunately, Debbie got into her first accident ever. She was turning into our development, and some guy rear ended her. Despite losing his headlight, he sped off, so at the very least he didn't have insurance. She was quite shaken up by it, then angry, then kind of a mixture of pissed off and frustrated.

The week was pretty mundane. Nothing terribly exciting, although Debbie is ready to not be pregnant any more. No real news outside of poker.

The poker has taken a drastic turn for the better. I made a conscious decision a few weeks ago to play a lot more at Bugsy's to get back on form. I have always had a great deal of success at Bugsy's - maybe my game is really well suited for it. Their blind structure is good, although it gets very quick at a certain point, and as a player you have to make a change in your play. As the site is small, the tournaments are as well, so the focus can be on playing intelligently and not having to worry about getting through 1000 or more people. This reduces variance, although obviously a big score is unusual.

During the week I made a couple of nice scores. I won the late night 50 for a small payday on the weekend, then during the week I finished 2nd in one of the 10 o clock $30 tournies. I had a sizable lead heads up, but was really hurt when A9 lost to KK after he called my 3bet push on the AJ9 flop.

Despite enduring a series of beats Friday and early on Saturday, I managed to make a couple of very good scores. I finished 9th in the $30 on Friday at Bugsy's, then won a small field Round 2 late last night. The big score on Saturday, however, came in the $20k gtd lottery on Full Tilt. After losing a flip about 50 out of the money, I managed to short stack ninja my way into the money. At that point, I went on a sick rush (I hit a 6 outer!) and went from about 60% average to the chip lead within 10 minutes. I held on to the lead for a while, then with about 3 tables left I went quite cold and couldn't hold on to the chip lead. I came into the final table 5th of 9.

At the final table, I won a flip, then made a tough fold of tens when I was against aces. The hadn went UTG limp, Button push, I call with TT from the SB, BB folds, UTG minraises. I folded, and UTG had aces. If he'd played it normally and not cutely, I probably go broke. I eliminated a player with two pair, lost a flip, won a flip, won another flip (3-0 against the player who had the aces. For someone who had AA against JJ and AA against TT at the final table alone, he sure was whiny about his luck) and took a 7-1 chip lead heads up. Unfortunately, the happy side of the deck went the other way, as I got him back in it with K9 vs his KQ, then his JJ held vs my AT, I made a move against a monster, then A4 lost to K9 to end it. It was a very good run, it just didn't come home. Honestly, I don't think I played my best poker this tournament. I don't think I played badly, I just wasn't playing awesomely. The deck just went my way.

Today, I won the $20k gtd on Bugsy's. Whereas last night I was hit hard by the deck despite not being at the top of my game, today I was destroyed by the deck while being at the top of my game. Let me tell you - that's a great combination. I was getting dealt big hands, making bigger hands and getting action. I still managed to lose a couple coinflips, but I did win with a dominated hand. Basically, I ran real, real well. That's nice.

So I'm pretty happy. It's been a damn good week. I'm done for the night, because I am pretty tired, but I hope to continue my rush during this week coming up. Hopefully I'll be able to make a real big score in one of the majors in the near future. That would be great.

Man, does running real hot feel great after experiencing 7 months of not running real hot...

I really suck at posting, don't I?

I have much to tell you since my last update. I will get to it eventually.

I'm starting to get agitated at the attack ads on the telly. It's worth noting that the attack ads are coming exclusively from the right.

As I said, I'll eventually make a real post. But not now.