The Weekly Journals of DavidRoss

Vacation

Well I’m back from my vacation, if you can really have a vacation when you’re not working in the first place. My family has been going to Ocean Park Maine every year in August since I was born. I missed a few years when I moved to Toronto and was first married, but since my daughter was born in 1987 we’ve gone every year again. We rent a cottage on the beach, and my brother and sister share another one. My mother came for a few days too. This is the first time there without my dad, who died in January. It was a little strange to think he was body surfing with us last year at this time.

The cottage was rented last December and for the first time we rented for two weeks. Of course at that time I had no idea I would be out of work and we’d always wanted to stay 2 weeks. It’s 11 hours of driving for us, and 1 week passes so quickly. Money is a little tight these days so I thought I would try and see if I could play poker in the evenings to defray some of the costs. Unfortunately, when I called the rental agent I was told there was no telephone in the cottage so it was going to be difficult to get an internet connection. When I mentioned it to one of my more technical friends he suggested using my cell phone as a modem. I did some investigating and it seemed to be feasible as long as there was 1X service where I was going. According to the web site Portland Maine has 1X service, and that’s only 10 miles from where we were going so I decided to take a chance. I still had some concerns about the signal. Quite often in these cottages, cell phones wouldn’t work due to interference. Although it has been much better in recent years. I spent $100 cdn, to buy the kit that included the cable and the software necessary to use my cell phone as a modem, and another $100 for unlimited data transfer for the month and no roaming charges from the US. I tried to borrow a laptop, but ended up renting one for $150. So I was $350 in the hole before leaving.

We break up the trip by staying at my Sister in laws house in Montreal on the way there and on the way home, so on Friday we drove to Montreal and spent the night. They have a beautiful home with a pool, and I quickly set up my lap top to try it out. It worked perfectly. It was heaven. I was outside by the pool with a cold beer playing poker. And I won a little bit too. I discovered the only shortcoming of my plan. The phone is poorly designed. The connection is on the bottom of the phone, and while it is being used it won’t fit in the charger, so my connection time is limited to the life of the battery, around 2 hours and 20 minutes I discovered.

On Saturday we continued on to Maine and I kept checking my phone to see if the 1X symbol would appear. As we exited the highway it did. I unpacked the car in record time and hooked everything up to give it a test run and it worked great. I played every night for as long as the battery would last and had a lot of success the first week, winning around $800. The second week was a different story however as I lost for 5 consecutive nights. Small losses, but losses nonetheless. Finally I put 2 nice wins together on the last 2 nights and ended up $1,100 up for the 2 week vacation. Certainly covered the $350 investment.

Each year we are there I rush over to Borders to check out the poker books. Much better selection than I get here at home. Last year I bought, Theory of Poker, Tournament Poker, the Psychology of Poker and Feeney’s book which I have mentioned before as my favorite. This summer I bought 3 more. I got The Amarillo slim bio, which I just loved. I also bought “Telling Lies and getting Paid” a collection of 14 gambling stories. It was entertaining, and the last story is the authors experience at 3 consecutive WSOP finals, and that was worth the price of the book. Finally I bought Phil Hellmuth’s book. The Jury is still out on this one, since I’m reading the hold’em sections again, but my losing streak coincided with reading this one. He recommends play so much more aggressive than I usually am it took me right out of my comfort zone. I think it might be a little like the great ball players who make lousy coaches. They can’t figure out why everyone can’t play like them.

Yesterday was my first full day back and I had a horrible afternoon at Party. I lost over $250 which is my biggest loss ever there. I hope it was just bad cards but I’m not entirely sure. I sense a couple of problems with my game lately. I don’t know if the 2 hour limitation had something to do with it, but I think I’m playing more hands in the wrong places, and I think I’m playing over-aggressive. I seem to be getting out kicked a lot, and not winning many big pots. Maybe just a short term variation but I need to watch it.

I returned to Paradise last night. After my tough afternoon I decided to try something new. I played 2 5/10 games at paradise, and 2 3/6 games at Party. I did this for about 2 hours, then took a break to put kids to bed. When I came back I played 1 5/10 game at paradise and 3 3/6 games at Party. I ended up winning $650 at paradise, but losing another $100 at Party. I played much tighter at Paradise (The game dictated that more than any preference of mine) and I’m sure that had something to do with it. I think I will try that again tonight. The 4 games is quite a challenge, no watching TV while that’s going on.

It’s good to be home. Still no job prospects, so I’ll be grinding it out for a little while longer. Cya at the tables.

Week 18

Back to the grind after 2 weeks of part time playing. I’ve had two requests for my resume this week, so maybe something will develop on the job front, but I’m running so well right now I hope not.

I’ve been on a roll almost since I started at Party, and it seems to be continuing. In 3 days I’m up $2,000 again. Clearly I’m getting good cards, but even more than that I feel like I’m in “the zone” every time I play. My hand reading has been excellent, making good laydowns and putting in raises at the right time. I’ve played at Paradise the last 3 nights in addition to Party. The first night I played 2 5/10 tables (Paradise) and 2 3/6 tables (Party). The 2nd night I only played 1 5/10 and 3 3/6 tables because the other 5/10 games looked dreadful. Last night Paradise crashed and I only played there for about ½ an hour. I’m not sure how much 5/10 I want to play. I’ve gotten real comfortable with 3 games, and 4 is pushing me a little. We’ll see how it goes. I also want to avoid short term fluctuations as much as possible. We’ll see how the paradise bankroll goes.

I want to start a list of my favorite user names online. I’ve always loved my 2+2 buddy Stu Pidasso as a name, and there’s a guy who goes by just Stupid. I like seeing “Stupid shows…”. But so far I think my favorite is Chipwrecked. Very clever.

I see guys checking monsters on the flop all the time at 3/6. It seems so obvious to me, but it does seem to work against the average 3/6 player. Maybe I need to try it. When I see a gut raise 3 limpers from the SB, then check a flop of Qs 6c 3d, my internal voice screams QQ. Then someone bets, gets raised and calls him down all the way. Maybe I need to try some of these “obvious” moves myself.

Flopping a monster part 1. Playing 5/10 the other night against my buddy Looba. Looba limped in EP along with one other (I think, I don’t have the hand history). I raised with KK from MP and I think I got 1 or 2 callers. Flop came K6x two of one suit. Looba bet and I raised. We lost everyone else and he 3 bet me and I 4 bet. Turn was another 6. Looba bet into me again and no longer worried about a flush I raised him again. He 3 bet and I capped it again. I even typed ‘you lose’ to him to taunt him a little. River completed the flush and he bet again. Ha ha, I raised him again and he 3 bet. I can’t remember if I just called or capped one more time, but 66 finally entered my consciousness, and of course that’s what he had. I never did dig out of that hole.

Flopping a monster part 2. Playing 3/6 this time I limped UTG with 33. One poster checks, MP calls, co and button call, and the BB calls. Flop comes 4s 4d 3s. I decide slowplaying this is safe and I check. Poster bets, MP calls and everyone else folds. I smooth call hoping someone catches up. Turn is a Ts completing the flush. I check, Poster bets and MP raises. Yes. I just call the 2, reasoning it will keep the poster in for 1 more bet and I can still get the raise in on the river. River is the Jc. Poster bets again, MP raises again and I 3 bet. They both call. Poster had 99 (Don’t ask me?), and MP had the nut flush. Very nice pot.

A good read. Played this hand against an aggressive regular in the 3/6 games. I limped 2 off the button with Qc Jh. Aggressive Lady raises from the button. I’m the only caller. Flop is 9d 9s Tc. Decision time. I can bet out or check raise or check/call. I think a lot of people play this wrong. Betting or raising here is only there is some chance your opponent will laydown. I see people semi-bluffing heads up all the time and I know when I’m the guy on the button with AK, I’m not folding anything, making the bluff a bad play. I don’t think she’s folding here either so I go the check/call route. She does bet. Turn is the 8s. I check, she bets and I raise. She calls. River is an As. I am pretty sure she has an A in her hand and I know she can’t let this go so I check again and sure enough she bets. I raise again and she calls. She had A8. I actually put her on a bigger Ace. Somehow this never works when you’re running bad, she would have mede the flush then.

Now I’m going to jump on my soapbox. I’m so sick of seeing people type “nice catch” after a suck out and then continuing to berate the player until they leave the table, taking money with them that would have been re-distributed eventually. I’ve seen it so often in the last week. I’ve even caught myself getting on the offender myself afterwards which probably isn’t right either.

The week has finished well. I ended up ahead $980 at Paradise and $1,830 at Party for a win of $2,810. The games have been good at both sites and I’m making some big hands. I’ve had a high number of KK vs AA hands this week. 5 times and I lost every one of them. Just one of those things I guess.

I had another guy tell me off today for my poor play chasing him down with a runner runner flush. Instead of just playing dumb I gave it right back at him. I need to follow my own advice and just shut up. I had to laugh when I checked the hand history though. He had called the flop (872 rainbow), on a gutshot with 54, and I had too with A9s. The 6h turned making his straight but giving me the 4 flush. He also check-raised the turn trapping me for the 2nd bet. I made my flush on the river and got another raise in and he went off his nut.

One of the things I love about this game is how the more you learn, the more you discover how much more there is to learn. I’m constantly improving my understanding of this game and why playing hands out of position is such a bad idea. I had two KQ hands back to back that illustrated it to me.

Hand 1. I open raise KQo from 3 off the button. Only the BB calls. Flop comes 822, two spades. He checks, I bet and he calls. Turn is a 5s. Check, bet and call. River is a Jh. He checks again. I check too and he wins with A4o no spade. A bet might have won it for me here but that’s not the point of this. I lost 2 ½ BB’s on this hand.

The very next hand I get KQ again. I open raise again and both blinds call. Flop this time is KT5 rainbow. Checked to me and I bet and I get 1 caller. Turn is a J, Check bet call. River another Jack, Check Bet Call. He has AT and I win 4 BB’s.

The ability to get or save that last bet has to be worth a lot. So much so that I think I would rather have KQ in LP than AT in EP.

My final word of the week. I wish I could get Paradise’s software and Customer support together with all the bad players at Party. I never had a bit of trouble with a cashout from Paradise and they courier the checks to you for free. Party charges me $25 for a courier and as I discovered just before my vacation, they still don’t get the cashout processed in a week. I requested a cashout for 2500 the Sunday before my vacation. Courier is to take 2-4 business days. When I hadn’t received it by Thursday I called them and was told they had no idea where it was but I could get the Fed-Ex tracking number the next day. I was planning on leaving early Friday morning for Montreal so I didn’t really want to wait around, but I was counting on that money. When Friday arrived I called again and was told they didn’t knoe where the check was, but it hadn’t gone to Fed-ex yet. I went off my nut a little after she told me 5 times “Mr. David, I will get accounting to check and call you back”. I told her to cancel the courier and just mail it. When I checked my account from Maine, I saw that instead of canceling it they had cashed out another 2,500. Only one check was waiting for me when I got home and I started to go nuts again, but the 2nd one arrived on Thursday, but they had still deducted the $25 for courier even though they mailed the check. I’m still fighting over that one.

I should get a full week of play in this week for the first time in 4 weeks.