Circumstances stripped me of hanging out with my wife and mom on this Mother's Day. After working all day (and now waiting to work later tonight), I've decided to purposefully tilt myself and bring you along for the stupid ride. What am I doing? I'm going to play no fewer than four tournaments at a time for the rest of the night. Why? Well, why does a dog lick himself?
7:47pm--49 minutes into $40K Guaranteed event. Card dead enough to watch 60 minutes and eat a ham and pineapple pizza. Want to play a $15K guaranteed on another site, but am, get this, ten cents short of the buy-in. So, I'm playing pineapple to make up the buy-in. And, I'm losing. If I don't hit a pot in the next ten minutes, I'm going to feel even worse about myself. Need to find two more tournies to get in.
7:55pm--The $40K Guaranteed actually has a 75K prizepool. I've had a pathetic game. More than half the field is gone and I have barely more than my starting stack. On the bright side, I'm signed up for the $100 PLO8 event. That should help the tilt a little. Also looks like I'll be a running a $33 NLHE event.
8:06pm-- On in the background: The West Wing. Obviously I've missed about four years of changes. In other news, my seven year old dog has stopped eating her food. She refused to eat aything but processed cheese and pizza crust. I'm accomodating her by not eating anything but the above. Three tournaments going now. Looking for a fourth to fill up the screen.
8:17pm-- Pineapple on pizza reminds me of my first trip to Hawaii. Oh, and being out in the $40K reminds me of...well, just about every tournament experience in recent memory. Now, I only have two tournaments running. Buy-in count... $252.
8:21pm-- Looks like my only option now is a $11 buy-in $20K guarantee. God, how I loathe these events. But I'm in. Which is better than being out. Which is what I figure to be a lot tonight. Buy-in count... $263. (Note: The river heart that makes your nut flush versus quads is a perfect start to the experiment).
8:30pm--With the $40K behind us, I'm one event short. Erp, make that two events. Ran kings into aces on an all undercard board. Bye-bye $11 event. Back down to two tournaments.
8:35pm-- Sickness ensues. Suffice it to say, I'm no longer in the PLO8 event. Flopped full, got my money in, got outdrawn. I remind myself now that this is why I did this in the first place. Get really, really tilted and then remind myself that it is all just a game. For those keeping score, I'm now only in one event. So much for four at a time.
8:41pm--The tournament list on the two available sites is painfully empty at the moment. Looks like I'll fill back up at 9pm. Then, we'll add a $100 NLHE event and a $24 bracelet race to bring the buy-in cout to $396.
8:40pm--Since I have nothing to do but fold in the $33 event, I took a trip to the kitchen. Would you believe there are only two beers in there? And here in South Cacklacky, I can't go to the store and buy more. I makes me think I just shouldn't drink any. I also wonder if Jimmy Smits is thinking, "Damn, I coulda been a good President." That also gets me thinking about the political people. It's four or eight years in a job followed by...well, what do I do now? In other news, I'm not playing in any tournaments right now. Because I'm a dumb ass, that's why.
8:58pm--So, my ego told me to delete this hour-long experiment and just play the 9pm events without this stupid blogging. I told my ego to go fug itself. I also decided my ego will allow me to tell you that I'm going to watch Desperate Housewives.
9:06pm--Note to everyone. If I'm in the big blind in a no-limit hold'em tournament, I will always call a min-raise. Always. Well, not always. But if we're in the first few levels...always. Like they say, 60% of the time, it works every time.
9:10pm--Watched Rounders again today. Still doesn't get old. Still have a hard time watching the moot court scene for some reason. Also watched (ego, cover your ears) Fever Pitch. It sort of made me think about the common thread among poker players with non-playing wives, vis a vis passion for something that is seemingly meaningless in the grand scheme of things while trying to maintain an adult relationship. Also, just entered a $22 NLHE event to bring to buy-in count up to $418.
9:20--Three events runninig now. No stack movement to speak of. Just realized, I could use a shower. Bachelor life, especially that of a guy like me who has friends that are otherwise occupied, lends itself to poor hygiene. Last night, I spent several hours trying to find a running buddy. I ended up drinking Guinness by myself in a bar listening to a Texas-style blues band. That lasted for an hour before I gave up on being a loney and went to Ted's house to drink beer and fix his iPod. Then, I grabbed G-Rob him and took him to a poker game that didn't exist.
In other news, doubled up with jacks (oddly enough) in the Bracelet Race thanks to a guy calling a raise and re-raise with pocket nines in the small blind then jamming on an eight-high flop.
9:32pm--So, let's be honest. Somewhere along the way (say, in the last couple of months), I let my tournament skills get pretty dull. I'm trying to pinpoint where I went wrong. Part of it, I know, is that I started playing a little more loose-aggressive game and I don't know what I'm doing.
9:43--Win one lose one. Queens got beat by AQ in the $109 event. Tens doubled through eights in the $22 event. Still above average in the Bracelet Race. I've run pretty bad at those, however, so I have no expectation of doing at all well. Plus, I just noticed Change100 is in the event, as well. I'm doomed.
9:48--Just decided I'm going to run two more events tonight. Will do the $162 and the $19K Guarantee at at 10pm. That will bring the nightly buy-in to $606. Overall, I'm going to have to do well in one of these events to even break even. Makes me think I should look into something else to do tonight.
10:00pm--Now, we're in the final four events of the evening. Here's an action flop for you. QJ4 with three players in holding KQ, JJ, and 44. I held the KQ and made the laydown before it got ugly.
10:06pm--AK falls to JJ in the $22 event. Nicely however, KK holds up against TT in the $162.
10:14pm--Note to min-raisers. Read my earlier post. From the big blind, I will call with anything...always. And when I flop a set, you're not allowed to get pissy.
10:23pm--I didn't mention, I'm comfortably watching Grey's Anatomy. My ego allows this because every girl on the show is pretty hot. In fact, I've recently taken a shine to Kate Walsh. Note to self...chasing nut flush and hitting runner-runner two pair is only good if your opponent doesn't have a higher two pair.
10:31pm--Yeah, there's the tilt I was looking for. QQ vs. 99 all in pre-flop in the Bracelet Race. Hello, nine. Now I feel right again. EVerything was going too well there for a second.
10:32--And then it comes in bunches. I won't even speak of the thing that just happened in the $19K. Won't even speak of it.
10:46--So, here's where we stand. Still alive in $19K, comforted by my opponent's "Damn, sorry, man." That helped a lot. Have an avg stack in the $162. Still a long way to go in both. Damn, this house is quiet when no one is around. I mean, it's nice for a couple of days, but after a while, it reminds me how much I love the noise sometimes.
10:53: Ooooh, embrace the tilt. EMBRACE it. Feels so good. $162 work has been nearly erased. That's one hour of good endorphins followed by right the sharp, sharp pleasure of tilt. Bring it, bitch. Briiiiiing it.
10:59pm--Well, headed into the third hour of this experiment, I'm only going to be playing in the $162. I have an M of about 10. The end of Grey's Anatomy was a piece of work, to be sure. I've just discovered why I never ever do this kind of thing. It's about as boring as it comes. I'm just waiting for the blissful end.
11:03--2005 WSOP Main Event in reruns. I think ESPN does the best production job of any poker TV production team.
11:15pm--If I were actually a bachelor, I would live in squalor. I would be fat and disgusting. I would watch too much TV.
11:21-- Blinds are 200/400. I've got 4215. Getting ugly.
11:24-- This Greg Raymer vs. Aaron Kanter hand is one of the sickest televised hands I've seen. I was there when it happened. It made me sick then and it makes me sick now.
11:28--And that does it. With an M of 8 (probably a little early, I'll admit) I tried to steal from the button with 55. Ran into QQ in the SB. That'll do it.
How about this? If you promise not to tell me how bad this sucked, I promise to never, ever do it again. Deal?