It has been one of those non-poker weeks. I haven’t even had a chance to avenge the $300 whoopin I took earlier in the week. Work has been rough this week– I’m launching my application, which means we have to move all the code over from the development server to the server that runs the public website. This is the bad part of programming… no creative thought, just meticulous grooming of code, making sure the semicolons are in the right place, etc.
Sample of annoying conversation with boss:
(I send out an email to the group, saying that the code is being moved over and is ready to launch. I have spent about 6 weeks coding this up, and it has passed testing and is ready to go. My boss approved it about 3 weeks ago)
boss: (comes up to my cube) “Can you bring up the app?”
me: (annoyed feeling building in stomach) “Sure”
boss: “Ok, see this color here? Can we make that blue? Can we add some more space here? Can we change this icon?”
me: (annoyed feeling threatening to destroy me) “Ahhh… we discussed this earlier… the customer really liked the color and icons the way they are… it’s going live soon…”
boss: “Yeah that’s true. Maybe you could do it as an enhancement, after everything’s all done.”
me: (trying not to smash monitor) “Sure. Just put in an enhancement request.”
Apparently I live in a Dilbert comic strip these days. My dream: a 1 year freeze out with the manager’s salaries on the table, we play until somebody takes all the cash. I picture myself strolling into work, pulling up a chair, and check raising until 5 pm. I’m not sure how one becomes a manager, but some soul-selling has got to be involved. Most of these people know nothing and do less.
Back to poker: I did play 3 3-player NL sit and gos last night… at home with the wife and a buddy. Things do not bode well for the all-blogger SNG for me– after I won the first tourney, my wife beat the pants off of me and took all of my chips in the next 2 games. Which is a bit sad, since she’s played poker maybe 20 times or so. But she is actually tough to play against, because she plays with a strange combination of bluffing and calling. She’ll always think I’m bluffing and call me down with stuff like King high, which forces me to bet if I have anything. And if she does have a hand, she won’t bet heavy, so I never really know if I should value bet or fold. To top it off, she has the worst poker face ever, but I can’t differentiate between the “I’m smiling because I’m bluffing” or “I’m smiling because I have a monster” face.
The first tourney went as it should… I stole pots and value bet my hands, and won our 3 player tourney pretty easily. But the second one didn’t quite work that way. She demolished my buddy’s stack (uhh that didn’t sound too good) when she caught the 4rth Ace (!!!) on the turn. 4 Aces in a 3-player game. On video poker that hand pays off 2 grand on some machines. She knocked me out on the next hand when I went all in with second pair, thinking she had nothing. She had the Queen for top pair, and I was out. The next game was a short one for me, as I went all in with AQ and she called with 55, and her pair held up.
This was one of the few times that losing hasn’t bothered me much. I was proud of her and the way she played, and also somewhat impressed.
Bankroll news: in addition to her tournament domination, the wife landed a job at the swank Beverly Hills Hotel, a big step up from her current place… which means I might actually be able to put enough money towards a real poker bankroll, and sit in the $15-30 every once in a while. We’ll see…
All this Christmas stuff has kept me off the tables. Hopefully I will get a chance to play over the weekend, as tonight is the department Christmas party, so there will be no poker. It’s 7:30 Pacific time, and I was debating hopping on the tables right now (8,000 players logged on!) for an hour before work, but the quality of the players has to be much better now, so I’ll wait. I wish someone could
(1) come up with a measure to quantify the looseness of a game (not “avg. pot size”)
(2) get an average number for each hour of the day
I think it’s possible that there are a lot of calling stations playing during the morning hours– retired people not taking the game too seriously, etc. Or perhaps some of the Eastern European players play looser on their Friday night, so now would be a good time to play.
Unfortunately I had to wipe out all the old comments to get the new comment tool (the old one kept dying), but hopefully this one will work better.
Good luck to everybody… Friday night is fish night!
Stay tuned… football picks to come…
Pic of the day:
Fiber optic full house?