Summer Vacation

What was once a three week trek to alaska by car, is now a weekend in Reno. Now, it seems that No Cal is on fire. It's likely that the planned hike down the north rim, will get rained out.

Last hand of poker revealed something amaizing- I held K & Q in hearts under the gun, so I opened and got four players. The flop was 4, 5, and 6, so I bet and had one caller. Picked up Q on the turn, and bet. Who's ahead?

The dude on the button!

He's drawing to 14 outs! I have the best hand, but only have 5 outs- two queens and three kings.

The river brings a 4, making him three 4's. But he had a 7 offsuit, and was drawing to a straight, and two pair. Any 4 was good, any 7 was good, any 3 was good, and any 8 was good. Poker sucks.

Saturday Night Tango

Yet another night of dreary ol' tango with the old folks. The usual tandas with the usual suspects and then a couple new ones. Some guest DJ from Hawaii played a long list a standard reliable orchestras and tandas. Twenty orchestras have done Mala Junta, so why pick "ah ha ha"?

And when are they every going to fix the A/C in that place?

Hard to say with was worse- the hot and sticky air, or the lack of hot and sticky tango.

a bad day at X beats a good day at Y...

YES!! and a fist pump.

First winning day and first winning week. Plus another first-agressively played aces, paid with a huge pot.

Poker was slow for about an hour of off suit cards, and I could do not much but call for long shots in late position and fold after the flop.

I hit poket rockets in the big blind, and raised, got reraised, and I capped. At the end the pot was over 100, and Mr. Chip Fort missed his flush draw. That's what poker is all about.

The fun hand was ace king off suit from big blind. Fortune smiled a flop of three nines. Some poor sod with eight five in clubs caught an eight on the river, and checked--Maybe he intended to check raise, maybe not, since we had capped the betting going in, and on the flop. When my free card was yet another nine, I bet, and was called. And I got the pot.

He argued, and called for the floor-man. His full house of nine full of eights was better than four nines and an ace kicker. He argued. He argued in another language. He argued again in English. He argued for a supervisor, and still his boat wasn't able to beat four nines and an ace. so he argued for a table change. He got what he wanted, finally.

The dude next to me comments- seems like the first time his full boat ever lost to quads.

No, I say, probably the first time his full house ever lost to anything.

Heckle and Jeckle

Ahh... if not for failure, how would I ever learn something useful?

Mr. Heckle and Mr. Jeckle did me a favor, taking all my chips. I took four second best hands all the way, and busted out. And I'm so happy about that.

See, the one fellow does all the talking, all the bluffing, running a verbal three ring circus. The second adds a comment or two along the way. But one of them alway has a best hand, so their pile of chips grows. When Mr. Babbling Brook gets all quiet, well, then you know he's got a monster, a made hand very vulnerable to being drawn out. I realized later, that I had six outs, and he had two, but neither of us improved and his pocket pair held up. So the next time his verbal roller coaster gets quiet, I know what he's holding.... don't I? And once the action starts up again, I know he's feeling good.

Starbucks

Slow day. Went for coffee, which turned out to be a mistake.

One poor soul was very, very sorry he took up conversation with the communist grad student political activist.

It's all a conspiracy. The government has conspired to raise oil prices and thereby, yes, thereby, solve the 'dilemma of the commons'.

Mr. Poor Soul looks to me for a little help, and I looked to see if my fingernails were clean.

Seems that those with the power are taking the resources from those without. Much the same way the common grounds become overgrazed by village, even as the individuals lands are carefully managed and undergrazed. The government is overgrazing the oil while many of the oil countries are wallowing in poverty.

Mr. Poor Soul has an insight. But, hey, he says, how can there be poverty at these prices?

Because the dollar is a fiat currency.

So there you have it.

At least I got a cup of coffee for my three fiat dollars.

No fold 'em

Frustrating night of No Fold 'em.

Got to watch twelve hands go the the lady in seat five. The very seat I left for seat two. Twleve pots for five straights, five flushes, and a set and a full house. Of course, thirty minutes later she was buying her third rack...

After four hours, I was exactly where I started from. If I had big cards, the flop was small. If I had a suit, the board had everything else. Never held a hand long enough to get close to a bad beat.

Poker

Ran by Hustler for a couple hours of $2 $4 Limit. Nearly empty at one in the morning, with only $3 $6 Limit available. I took a reluctant chair at 4, but was able to move to 6 after a bit. From there I took an hours worth of unplayable hands. Every Hand was offsuit. Even as dealer, I'd be facing a cold call with ten five off.

The first real hand was checking a suited Queen Six from blind, which went to the river against the dealer. And we chopped a medium pot over a pair of queens and equal kickers. And my buyin rack was still short four blinds.

Next hand I caught a straight on the turn, only to sink to a heart flush in the river. Now down thirty or so, and ready to cut my losses.

However, Queen Nine in hearts that flopped up top pair with the Queen and went on to have a backdoor flush. A lot of action from the table as the flop held two spades and a single heart. The turn and river went with hearts, which paid off very well.

A couple other good hands put me ahead and I left about 3 in the morning.

argentine tango

Johanna and I practice a little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t8OW0bZZ14