Grind, grind, grind

Why the hell do I play poker these days? I’m sure I could find some more productive activity for my time, like sticking burning splinters under my fingernails or being nice to Josie. Worst thing is I’m not even losing. Playing a couple hours a day of low stakes NL ring these days, usually .10//.20. Should probably throw in some tourney just to keep in practice as I get a bit loosey goosey in tourneys when I play long stretches of ring. Be that as it may I’m doing ok at the tables right now but it’s getting to be a real grind. Never have I seen such tight tables at these stakes. Admittedly that’s contributing to my winnings but it’s like trying to build a snowman one flake at a time. In addition it’s not really been giving me any blog fodder. Even given my deathless prose it’s kind of hard to make something interesting out of raising A-J off 3x’s and everyone folds 20 times. Even when I do get action it rarely goes beyond the flop. Today I’ve played 52 of 185 hands so far, 12 of which went to showdown, 6 of which I won. I have 33 other wins and am up 2 buy ins. That’s only because since I started writing this I doubled up against the big stack when we both flopped flushes with me holding the nut. The other 51 hands, 38 of which were wins had me up a whole half a buy in before that. Today the deck even smacked me as I’ve pulled K-K 4 times and A-A twice, the first time I’ve seen aces in my hand in almost a week. No action. None, nada, zilch. Twice I had them in the BB and not even a frikkin limper. And today I’m up big compared to the last few days. Usually it’s 4 hours of play and maybe up a buy in. Last night I wound up a whole 2 bucks, stuck in the same $4 range most of the night, up a few, down a few. Basically what I’m saying here is this is starting to feel like work except work had a guaranteed payoff and only half the frustration.

Probably play the Mookie tomorrow. At least that usually gives me material for here. Right now my mind is stagnating and I have no idea what to write about. Yea, I know, I’m pushing out a lot of words but mostly just a bunch of blather. Reading a lot and think about doing some book reviews but most of the stuff I’m reading is older stuff so not sure how of how much interest it will be. Especially since I have what, about 5-6 readers? Not like I’m Josie sucking up to (or bullying) everyone for links. Have a couple new books on pre-order but not sure when they will be in. One has been pushed back twice already. Summer movie season upon us but never was a big movie goer, usually wait until the video hits so nothing timely is going to come from there. Even Vegas is looking less likely this summer unless the Feds get off their duff and give me a quick resolution to my disability app. but that is unlikely. You know how fast the government is.

I see Josie has the first featured post on the Poker from the Rail site. Hell, she’s been crowing about it since before it happened. So much so that they probably heard her on the West Coast. Only thing is she says she got the spot without sucking up or other various techniques. C’mon Josie, no fibbing here. You’ll never get to heaven that way and considering that I’ve already got a waterfront lot and a reserved seat on the express elevator to the other place I sure don’t need to be spending eternity with you in the vicinity. ‘Fess up and maybe it will be forgiven. After all, the guys doing the selecting are guys. We know they can’t resist. I will sat they did make a good pick for their first selection as she does seem to have a large readership and gathers quite a bit of commentary on her blog. Hell, even I read it though mainly because she offers such opportunity for abuse. Face it Josie, you play poker, you comment here, you live in Boston, you crave abuse. Do you also golf? And by the way, that selection comment was not a nice one; it was based strictly on practicality. Don’t want you getting your hopes up.

Guess that’s enough for tonight. See you at the Mookie. Thanks for the listen.

Some poker played, some to be played

Decided to play the PFTR game on Monday after all. Sorry I did. Didn’t really last long. Won a small pot or two early then got my table switched. Not long after that I went out when Lucko lived up to his name. He raised 3 times out of an early position. I was sitting with Q-Q in middle position and reraised 3 times his bet plus a scoch. Everyone folded and Lucko shoved, I called. He has A-K and rivers a K and I’m gone. I can never figure out why people are willing to shove A-K in this situation though it is commonly done. We were both about the same stack size with 65 BBs left, give or take so basically it’s putting your tourney at risk while it’s still fairly early. Yes, I know A-K is considered a premium hand but it still isn’t a made hand and if you have already raised and been reraised fairly strong I would be figuring a race at best with a good possibility of domination. Not to say I would fold in this situation but not sure I would risk the whole 9 yards here when there is still a decent stack in front of me. This also isn’t an indictment of this play in this instance; it’s a question I’ve been asking on some of my poker forums for quite awhile because it is a play I see quite often. I’ve yet to get a satisfactory answer to it. In fact listening to Rounders Radio one night (sorry Buddy) while playing their This Show Bites games on Reefer they did a show where a number of pros were remarking that they considered A-K on of the most overplayed hands in tourneys. As you might suspect, I’m beginning to agree with them though I’ve always thought it was either A-J or K-Q. Anyone willing to chime in on the subject I’m still looking for answers.

Some live poker this weekend. No, no casino trip, foot is still too screwed up for that but got a text asking if I was interested in playing at the Manor. As if he had to ask. Only thing that keeps me from a game there is a family function or a weekend with my daughter. While it’s probably better I stay off the foot it’s only a walk across the street so no great stress on the foot. I’m there. Been about two months since the last game which is a shorter time frame than the last period between games. Our host is a fanatic about the game with cards and chips worthy of a casino. Unfortunately his wife does not share this passion so his playing time is limited. Last game he said he did want to try and get the game on a monthly basis, give or take a week, so maybe he’s working on it. Only have heard one or two guys committed so far besides myself so have no real idea as to who will show. If I’m unlucky maybe Riggs might be there. He usually does get an invite though it’s been quite awhile since I’ve seen him at the Manor. .

Well, time to sack, need my rest. Early start tomorrow. Weather been so nice I gotta put on my walking cast and try and finish the berry trellis that’s been languishing since I screwed up the foot. Damn raspberries are throwing out runners all over the place so that even though only 3-4 canes survived the initial planting I may be glad of it to keep from being overrun in a couple years. Thanks for the listen.