A non-aerobic exercise in futility

Monday, December 27, 2004

Finally in the money

Finally made my breakthrough today. Despite getting no cards to play in the bubble stage, I finished 16th out of 285 in a $10+1 limit hold-em tournament. It's not a huge money prize ($34.20) but it's a massive confidence boost. Suddenly those top 20% finishes aren't such a monkey on my back, but an assurance that maybe... just MAYBE... I have a clue what I'm doing in a tournament setting. If I could've just gotten one premium pair in the last 90 minutes, I could've had a chance at the final table. Maybe next time. There IS a limit Omaha $10+1 tournament at 5:15 tonight... hmm. Or maybe I'll just relax and play some stud 8/b.

posted by Matt 1:39 PM

Sunday, December 26, 2004

And now for something completely different

Sometime in 2003 during my fits of drunken insomnia, I discovered the joys of international cricket. Look, when it's 5am and your days and nights are totally screwed up due to having no job and drinking copious amounts of rum, you find all kinds of things to amuse yourself. I ended up reading all about the 2003 World Cup and even listening to some of the matches while following the text commentary on http://www.cricinfo.com in the middle of the night. I've attempted to learn more about the game, even bought EA Sports Cricket 2004 for my PC... and I'm just fascinated by it. The entire concept that a Test can be played for five days and end in a draw... delightful. For some reason I decided to become a Sri Lanka fan, due mainly to the controversy around Muttiah Muralitharan. I personally think he's getting shafted by being labeled a chucker, but that's just me. Also their ODI shirt really rules.

In the brief period of time I've been following cricket, I've also fallen in love with Bangladesh. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for underdogs. You can't be a bigger underdog than being a dirt-poor country that's flooded into oblivion every single year. This weekend, they won their first home ODI match, vs India. Bangladesh vs. any other Test-playing nation is like the 16-vs-1 game in the NCAA basketball tournament. They're just such massive underdogs that play with heart and guts but can't quite pull it together. This weekend, they managed to play a solid game and actually out-played India in every facet of the game. They'll play again late tonight in an attempt to win the 3-match series.

You've got to love the underdogs.

posted by Matt 9:51 PM

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Holiday poker updates

I've had the itch to play some more multi-table tournaments lately. Yesterday I continued my magnificent trend of finishing in the top 20% of the field, but out of the money (90th of 530+) in a $3 limit hold-em tournament. The big blow was me burning over 3500 chips with my K-K vs A-A from the guy on my right. Ugh.

As I type this, I'm playing a $1 Stud 8/b tournament to get a little more experience. Things are going okay so far, and I'll update again once I'm done.

Well, I'm out in 62nd out of 395. Ordinarily I'd be upset with missing the money again, but I made a push to get a big stack instead of just trying to limp into the "money"... 32nd place paid only $1.97, and I was pushing for a big stack to play for the 1st place prize of over $98. I lost a lot of chips pushing A-2-3 for lows, and A-hi flushes for hi. If I'd hit even one or two of the hands I pushed, I'd have been in great shape for some real money. That's what happens when you play to win.

posted by Matt 1:06 PM

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Not the start I was hoping for

Tonight was a trial run for my "serious" phase of my beginning poker career. It didn't go well.

After work I headed to the local Hard Rock for some thrilling $2 Omaha. Didn't catch a lot of hands early, and I threw away some money chasing draws at a loose-passive table (lots of callers, not much raising). This was followed by a period of having absolutely nothing to play.

The only thing worse than having nothing to play? Having lots of good low hands to play.

As my chip count dwindled (I only sat down with $60), I finally started getting some hands with nut-low possibilities. A-A-3-3 single-suited was only good for 1/4 the pot when it shared the nut low. The next hand was A-2-4-10 with the A-10 suited. The flop was a wonderful A-3-8 giving me the nut low right away. The turn was a K, and the river...

... a 4. Yes, the fourth low card was a wheel card. I was all-in at this point, and sure enough someone showed A-2-5-x for what would've quartered me anyway, and now took the entire low half. That was it for me on the night, but I'll be back next week. After all, payday is coming.

posted by Matt 8:01 PM

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Let's try this again!

Well, here we go. Another year has come and gone, and ye olde blogge fell into neglect and dis-use. This is really and truly a shame, as a good bit has happened.

The eHarmony experiment came to an end. There was some e-mail and phone contact with a few lovely ladies as well as one actual date that, while amiable, ended with nothing else in the cards. This led to the decision that I'm through with dating! How exciting! This should give me more time to focus on...

... poker! I took a five night trip to Las Vegas in August and drank a lot of rum and played a lot of cards. The trip was ultimately unsuccessful but a ton of fun. Expect to see the full story on here in a few days.

I had a job change in October this year, and I'm now working in a call center for General Motors. It pays almost $2/hour more than the bank, so that's worked out pretty well.

The plan for 2005 is ambitious.

1) Start blogging regularly. If my boy 3zy can do it, there's no reason I can't.
2) Do the diet thing again. It worked pretty well last year.
3) Invest the tax return into online poker and start getting serious. Lots and lots of $1/2 tables and $10 SNGs, as well as trips to the local Seminole/Hard Rock casino.

So that's where we stand at this, the threshold of a new year. This has been the State of the Blog address.

posted by Matt 8:47 PM