Tilt, Full and Complete

I had deposited a couple hundred dollars on a fringe site a couple of months ago, before the World Series. It had an outrageous bonus, and I was going to see if it was possible to get the bonus. Well it wasn’t, at least I couldn’t do it playing smaller stakes that might be approachable to most.

I had tried to cash out half a dozen times and call it a day, each time getting an error. Now this was the worst possible thing, not being able to get your funds out of a site. Maybe it used to happen, maybe it’s happened to some of you, but it had never happened to me. Since I’m an avoider and it wasn’t a ton of cash, I decided to just leave it there. Problem is that I would go back from time to time, donking around at low limits like $0.25/0.25 NLHE. There wasn’t a ton of traffic, so I was limited in the games I could jump into.

Well, for some reason late yesterday, I decided to fire it up and either lose the amount or win enough to make it worth my while to go through the trouble to get my money. I took a couple hundred to a $2/2 NLHE table, treaded water for an hour or so, then got 4s-5s. I limped with it along with a couple of players, then the guy on my left raised it to $15. I didn’t know anything about him (other than he was unremarkable to me, probably meaning he was solid), but I figured if my hand hit I could double up. So I called, and the flop came A-K-5 with one spade. I bet $40, and the raiser raised $40. I smooth called. I don’t know if any of you have had this destined feeling, but it is a fairly stupid mentality. It basically goes like this: you have some gut feeling with a hand, a marginal hand, then you get some encouragement that you take as being a sign that this is your time. A second spade hit, 9s we’ll say, so of course I shove. He takes five second to call and turns over A-K for top two pair, with another king hitting the river for his boat. I leave, go to another table with the final hundred (this time a $4/4 table, so I’m dramatically light). I pick up Ad-8d, raise and am called, 10-10-7-7 are on the board, so I shove and am called by A-K only for a king to hit the river and grab the end of my bankroll. And the end of my play at Hollywood Poker.

So, obviously in retrospect this all was fairly stupid. I put it out there because that’s what I do, put it out there warts and all. The broader questions are what casued this, especially the core reaction of treating this amount with indifference. That along with an arrogance toward the other players is a recipe for disaster. It could have been alot worse, but recurring stupidity is something I should try and cure.

I played the Mook last night but left quickly, my pocket 8′s on a board of 7-5-4 running into hacker’s big stack and pocket aces. Sweetie and I were watching Bones and Veronica Mars, which didn’t help my play at all. I then headed to razz and briefly a PLO H/L game, sucking out on a four-way all-in with double suited Q-Q-J-J on an all spade 10-high flop, a 4 hitting the turn to pair the board and a J bringing me a boat on the river. Can you even suck out in omaha? It should probably be played for $20/hand, everyone puts it in, the pot shoves to the winner, then all the cards are turned up so everyone can see what happened. I watched Matusow, Gus Hansen, and Dags a bit on FullTilt yesterday, and it was the same, Mike the Mouth shifting a chunk of his winnings to Dags as his winning hand evaporated time and again on the river.

I’m proud to have another story on Truckin’, this time it’s Root-Man and the Eleven Foot Rattler. I stumbled upon a photo of Root-Man when I stopped north of G-Vegas at a legendary joint which advertises the Best Hot Dogs Around. I’ve ridden by the convenience store (no gas) for fifteen years without stopping, always wandering about the hot dogs as well as doubting the claim. Well, the dogs were fine (chili and onions), but all the old photos and newspaper clippings of snakes and fish were the real gems. I’m glad I stopped, and I hope you enjoy the story. Three or four typos (sorry about that) and the story might not be great, but hopefully you’ll get something out of it.

Happy Anniversary for me and Sweetie, fifteen years ago this afternoon a recently graduated young lady from G-Vegas via Furman and Georgia Tech, fresh with her B.S. in Chemistry from Furman and Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech, walked down the aisle to become my bride. There was little reason for her to do it, as I’m sure she could have found much better. I’m no expert in marriage, but fundamentally I think there are two things important for me in our marriage. First, to keep God in the front of our marriage and relationship. This has been more of a challenge for me lately as I’ve struggled with our church and my own growth while Sweetie has flourished. The second is to put Sweetie before everything. I’m not doting or oppressive, but I firmly believe that you have to put your wife or husband before yourself and your children. I figure that the boys will eventually rarely give me the time of day, and my first job with them is to raise them to be respectful and capable young men. But hopefully Sweetie will let me lover her until I leave this world.

My quick two-bits regarding the San Antonio raid, including that of Richard Lee’s home (see PokerWorks article, Wicked Chops Poker thoughts, and the San Antonio article and television report). As much as Lee touted San Antonio during the World Series (wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with San Antonio, constantly talking it up), it mattered little to the SAPD and DA. Gambling and poker are such easy marks for local police to take on, much easier than busting a drug ring or a child pornography racket. The San Antonio undercover agents that entered Lee’s home didn’t have to worry about being shot, they just had to concern themselves with finding the keys to the luxury cars while grabbing the high-end computer equipment (whatever that is). As much as we’d like to justify it, betting and poker are illegal in many states. Can this change? Well, sure it can. Laws can be made, but again our voice seems to be non-existant when it comes to legalizing poker. Since it’s illegal, you have to tread forward at your own risk, especially if you’re hosting a serious game. That’s just the facts, plain and simple. Thanks for stopping by and take care. GL at the tables.   Code which hopefully will help me figure out Bloglines.