Inane ramblings because I have nothing better to do

Definitely too much time on my hands. Reading at a greater pace than even I used to. Buying books at an unprecedented rate, Thanks to ABE and EBay. Playing a lot more poker than normal and now that I’ve returned to writing the dreck that fills this blog I’m pushing out as much crap as an overfed goose. If you aren’t sure how much that is go take a walk around one of those small ponds where the lazy ass birds have set up year round residency rather than migrate. Then go throw away your shoes. If you don’t have one of those handy then think of this; a county park in this area had to close down its lake to swimming a few years ago because of the bacteria count in the lake due to the goose population. Now that’s a lot of shit, almost as much as I shovel. Maybe I should hook up the nurses at the rehab hospital I spent some time in with a flock of geese. That should make them, the nurses, happy.

No book review today. Reading Clavell’s Tai Pan which I had first read in my college years. My copy had fallen apart and so hadn’t read it in many moons but found a copy sitting on the shelves of a used bookstore I was checking out last week. Not a great copy but for two bucks who can complain. Besides, I wanted to stay on the good side of the proprietor so figured buying something would help that. The store deals in used paperbacks and while I deal mainly in hardcover these days there are some books that never made it past paperback stage that I collect and wanted him to keep an eye out for me if any came in. Have another store I want to check out soon but don’t know when I’ll get there.

Not a good morning on Friday. Doctor visit and a funeral. Funeral was for my uncle even though I find it strange to call him that. First, he was only a few years older than I. Second, he was related through marriage being wed to my father’s youngest sister who grew up with a group of us cousins who we never really viewed as an aunt either. She was always Pat as opposed to Aunt Pat and he became just Bill. Bill has had lung problems for a couple of years and last year was finally put on the list for a transplant and was called to the hospital in the middle of the night last Dec. Everything seemed to go well and the doctors were optimistic that he would be out of the hospital soon. After the usual time he was moved from ICU to a regular room. That’s when the roller coaster started. As they were getting him ready to leave he caught an infection and then spent the next few weeks in and out of ICU. Doctors still thought they would get him through it but earlier this week he finally succumbed. The last thing he said was that he was tired. Guess he just couldn’t fight any more. What is ironic is that I heard the doctors said the transplant had been good and the lungs were in good shape. It was the infection that finally got him. Even more ironic was that the day after he passed there was a big article in the Philadelphia paper on a push by local hospitals to take steps to try and cut down on infections as they were causing too many problems and deaths. I just want to say again to his family that I’m sorry for your loss. He was much too young.

Could not stay for the memorial service as I had an appointment with the podiatrist also this morning. Might have canceled but it took me two weeks to get the appt. and another month and a half to get the name of the podiatrist to make it. Needed the visit because I have a wound on the bottom of my toe that just won’t heal. Being diabetic that’s a bad sign. Problem was a strange peculiarity of my health insurance, provided by Aetna. While it’s an HMO and I have a primary I can usually find a specialist that I like provided they are willing to take the HMO. For some strange reason this does not apply to podiatrists. It seems they link a podiatrist to the primary and you are required to see that podiatrist. Ran in to this same situation when I went for out patient rehab after the stroke. (What was that you said about the government health plan restricting choices if it passes?) Why they have these restrictions on certain specialties I have no idea. Be that as it may I had run in to some problems with the podiatrist assigned to my primary a few years back and he did not inspire a whole lot of confidence in me thanks to that situation. Other members of my family had found a podiatrist they liked whom my primary had recommended to them but when I checked him out his office rates were not something I could afford without insurance, especially in my current situation. A couple of my aunts had a podiatrist that they liked and seemed to have reasonable rates but getting his name was a struggle in itself. I don’t have a lot of contact with my aunts so I asked my mother to find out who this doctor was as she speaks with her sisters on a regular basis and I speak with her. However every time I would ask my mother if she got the name it was “I forgot to ask”. After a few weeks her memory improved and I finally got the name and then it was another week and a half before I could get an appt. Popular doctor.

So I get in the chair, slide off the boots and wait for the doctor when in marches an army. Seems I’m there on guinea pig day. In addition to the doc are 3 budding doctors, med school students in podiatry on the verge of graduation. So the doctor is asking them questions and letting them do the routine work while he supervises. All 4 of them were very personable and the doctor seems pretty knowledgeable. He inquires about my stroke and how it affected me and after I answer him he asks the students how they could have guessed my answer before I gave it. When they couldn’t answer he said to study my feet, that it was apparent that I was placing more pressure on my right so that it had to be my left side affected. Hell, even I didn’t realize I was still favoring my left leg when I walked. This is what is leading to my problem. When I damaged my toe most of it healed except for this one small spot. Since that spot is where you put the most pressure on your toe when you walk, and I’m putting more pressure there than I should anyway, I’m not giving it a chance to heal. He has a student do a bit of trimming around the spot, looks at it and says it looks well taken care of, no sign of infection but unless I can get off it, it ain’t gonna heal. So I ask him about a walking cast, an idea that came to me about two weeks ago and he says good idea. Also asked a couple other questions and found he agreed with what I was doing except I was using the wrong type of bandage. I was using a non stick telfa which I had been told to use when I had screwed up my toe in a similar fashion years ago. Good for that purpose he said but with this small little spot it was no good because the non stick bandage keeps in moisture which won’t allow it to heal and promotes infection. Who knew? Plain gauze from now on. As he was called away for a minute one of the students made a remark about my knowledge of certain medical facts and procedures. I tell her that when you are the genetic train wreck I am you kind of pick it up as you go through life and they all laugh. Doctor comes back, gives me some scripts including one for the walking cast and some x-rays and says come back I two weeks. I say ok and wish the students good luck in their future practices. If they keep their “bedside” manner the way it is now the patients they see will consider themselves lucky as long as the have the knowledge necessary which they did seem to have, at least as far as the routine care went. Only problem materialized when I got home. Tried reading the script for the cast to see if I could price them online before hitting a pharmacy or medical supply house and discovered what they say about doctor’s penmanship is true. At least this doctor’s. And I have plenty of practice trying to read my own chicken scratch. Well, we’ll figure something out.

OK, enough about my problems. We’ll let you go for now. Thanks for the listen.

Not quite another trip to Krondor

Title of this post is because, while the name of the book is Krondor: The Betrayal very little of it takes place in the city of Krondor. Most of it is situated in the outlands of the Western Kingdom. Betrayal is the first book of the Legacy sub series of Riftwar. The second book I talked about in the previous post and I enjoyed it so I figured to get the other books in the set. While Squire James is also one of the main characters in this book he shares more of the spotlight in this one with a much larger cast of characters. There is his friend, and fellow squire, Locklear, A Dark Elf chieftain Gorath, Owyn, a younger son of lesser nobility studying to be a magician, Pug, the pre-eminent magician of his time and the character who seems to have started the whole over arcing cycle and Patrus, a highly entertaining old coot and lesser magician.

The book starts with the coming of Gorath, a moredhel or dark elf, to a town on the Northern Borders of the Western Kingdom from the icy lands north of the mountains where most of his race has been forced due to the coming of humans. Needless to say the moredhel aren’t really fond of humans and due to a war or two between them, or at least where they were on opposite sides, most humans aren’t exactly willing to clasp them to their bosoms. That being said Gorath has decided to make common cause with the humans to save his people from what he considers a bigger danger and so comes out of the North bearing a warning for the Prince of Krondor. He comes across Squire Locklear of the Royal Court, who has been banished to the godforsaken locality to serve the local noble because of some dalliance with the wrong woman. Locklear decides that getting Gorath to the prince is worth risking his wrath at leaving the exile decreed for him. And off we go on another adventure in the Kingdom of the Isles. BTW, although there is a Kingdom of the Isles with a king and other nobles to go with it, it seems, at least in these books, that most of the fighting is done by the Western half of the kingdom and its ruling prince. The Eastern half seems to sit on its ass a lot. The book covers the various travels and travails of the squires, magicians and Gorath in one set of groups or another as they combat the danger that the moredhel saw threatening his folk and the humans. As in Assassins the adventure, and story, are fairly straightforward though Feist throws in a few twists and turns you might not see coming.

One wonders if Betrayal originally started out to be the beginning of a new sub series. It stands on its own even more than Assassins does as there is no previous story to refer back to the way Assassins sometimes does other than general references to the cycle as a whole and there is no lead in to future stories as there is at the end of Assassins. It makes a good start if one would like to start any of Feist’s books as it has a satisfactory conclusion and one wouldn’t know it was part of a series if one didn’t know any better.

All in all another good book by Feist and enough to have me looking for other books in the Riftwar Cycle as I have already ordered the third book of this subset, Krondor: Tear of the Gods. Right now I have my eye on the Serpent War saga, a set of 4 books set in Riftwar universe. Really would like to read the original Riftwar saga but still searching for a fairly good copy of the first novel, Magician. Seems that either there aren’t a whole lot of them around or people don’t wish to part with them.

Beginning to think that the stroke was a bigger problem than I thought it would be. Having not done much reading for over a year just because of the sheer difficulty of it with an arm that wouldn’t grip a book properly and having a lot of time on my hands owing to being without gainful employment because of it, I am back to reading with a vengeance. I always was a big reader but my forays to the bookstore occurred a couple times a year at which times I would load up on a hundred or so dollars worth of books, mainly paperbacks with the occasional hardback. When I started collecting I usually saved my money for purchasing early books, hardcover, of those authors I enjoyed and was collecting, some of which were not cheap, and spending my time doing a lot of rereading of books I had. Now, with time on my hands and the discovery of a few new authors I enjoy, my book collection is again expanding rapidly. For example Mr. Feist has published approximately 30 novels in the Riftwar cycle. I have 2 at present which means another 28 books, give or take, will be heading for my shelves depending on various factors. Not to mention there are still some books by those authors I am already collecting that I still do not have. Some, such as Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight and Dragonquest I may never own due to scarcity and cost, though I do have a signed copy of White Dragon. Others though are within my means, or were not too long ago, if I can just find the right copy. Be that as it may I seem to be buying books at a far greater pace than ever before and if I’m not careful I may soon be buried in them.

Hokay, enough for now. I hope my humble opinion was of some use to someone somewhere. I try not to go too far about the plot or scenes in the book as so not to spoil anything for the potential reader. If I should ever go too far just slap me. Thanks for the listen.

A trip to Krondor

Finished another book the other day, Krondor: The Assassins, a fantasy novel by Raymond Feist. Actually I finished 3 books but the other two were rereads. I picked up this book years ago on the bargain shelf when I couldn’t find anything else worth reading and it looked like something I might be interested in. However it took a number of false starts before I finally got into it. The dust jacket isn’t exactly designed to catch your eye as it is just a field of red with the title on it. Actually there is a background of two crossed swords but they don’t exactly jump out at you. Could have been one reason it subconsciously prejudiced me, dull looking dj, dull book. Finally decided to give it another go and I found I enjoyed it.

Assassins is the second book of Feist’s Riftwar Legacy series, itself a sub series of his Riftwar novels. Actually Riftwar is a series of three books but it was the beginning of the whole shebang which amounts to about 20 or so novels in a bunch of sub series all taking place with the same background. In addition the Riftwar Legacy books are based on a computer game which in turn was based on the original series. I hate starting a series in the middle but considering the problems I had starting this book I wasn’t rushing out to buy the first one so I guess I had to live with it. Wasn’t too bad as the story can stand on its own. There is some back story to it in the first book, indeed in all the previous books dealing with Riftwar, but except for references here and there in the story and a bit of a lead in to the rest of the series at the end you can read this on its own though you probably won’t. This is actually a good thing because, while three books have been published, five books seem to have been planned but due to some kind of dispute between Mr. Feist and the game company the last two might never be published. I hate when I get left hanging.


As I mentioned in my earlier review of Parker here is another author whose strong suit is characters and he has a raft of them. Only time I’ve seen such a large list of characters sharing the stage has been in shared universe type books where different authors set their own characters amid those of other authors. Here one man is responsible for them all. The main protagonist of Assassins is Squire James, aka Jimmy the Hand, a thief who has risen to Court rank somewhere in previous books. It is set mainly in the city of Krondor, the capital city of the Western half of the Kingdom of the Isles, which in turn is set on the world of Midkemia. Being a fantasy there are magicians, royalty, mercenaries, elves, trolls, thieves, assassins and so on and so forth all over the place. Assassins, as the name says, deals mainly with the fact that someone, or something, is wiping out a good portion of certain classes of citizens in the city of Krondor. The prince of the city, having a number of other problems on his hands, needs to find out who is responsible and why and puts the problem in the capable hands of Squire James, who once roamed the disreputable highways of the city’s underworld as the young thief Jimmy the Hand. This is a mixed blessing for while James knows his way around and still has the abilities and contacts from his former way of life; he also has a death mark upon him from the Thief’s Guild for breaking faith with them when he joined the royal Court. Of course the Guild has some problems of its own as they are one of the groups the killers are picking off. Complicating matters on the other side of the scale, the prince, in addition to the problems in his city, has some visiting nobility from another kingdom who seem bent on pursuing dangerous pastimes. So the story follows James as he winds his way through the sewers and over the rooftops of Krondor as he tries to solve the mystery of the whys and wherefores of the city’s killings and the adventures of his friend William who has just become a member of the Prince’s guard and is given the mission of protecting the visiting nobility, no small task.

Feist writes a straightforward, easy to read story. While his world may have as many different races and religions as Tolkein’s he doesn’t carry the development of the mythos to the extremes Tolkein did. You don’t need all the appendices and concordances to get all the nuances in his stories. While reading his books in some kind of order would probably give a bit more understanding he does explain enough in the stories themselves to get you by with what you need to know without going into excessive back story. I found myself reading the novel in about 2 days which might translate to 3-5 days for the average Joe given that I am a fairly fast reader who doesn’t need to worry about getting up for work in the morning. I mention that because Feist knows how to keep your attention so that you really don’t wish to put the book down even at the end of a chapter and so I went a bit later in to the night than I really wished to. So if you are in to fantasy novels I can recommend Raymond Feist’s Krondor The Assassins though you might want to start with Krondor The Betrayal, the first book in the sub series. As I enjoyed Assassins I went and found me copies of the other two books in the series and am in the middle of the first one now. The third one I ordered but it seems the store had sold their copy so had to do some searching for another one. These are first editions of the hardcovers as I am a bit of a collector of authors I enjoy. Paperback copies are readily available online.

If my opinion of the book helps I’m glad to have been of service. Thanks for the listen.

PS

While I didn't get my threefer at last night's BL game I did get 5th which put a few more points on the scoreboard.

On a roll

Made a quick recovery it seems. League buy-in game Monday night after a long weekend of poker and wasn’t quite up to playing but as I won the first match of the month I didn’t want to handicap myself by missing the game. Have my sights set on winning the league this month and no sense trying to do it with one hand behind my back. Too many good players to give them a handicap. This game was at UB, an interface I don’t feel I’m fighting all the time so down I sat.

Grabbed a few chips early on and was doing fairly well when I made a stupid mistake. Somehow I hit the call button instead of the fold when preflop raise was made and I was holding 6-7. Kind of ironic considering my previous statement about the interface although I think this was more due to my touchpad than that. Anyway the flop came Q-x-6 and the raiser checked so I threw out a tester of about 1/3 the pot and was called. Turn brought a 7 and another check and another bet, a bit stronger this time and a check raise. Should have known better and dumped the hand, especially as this guy had my number the previous night, but kind of hard to turn loose of two pair so I called. Either I was slightly ahead to an A-Q or way behind to a set and the bet wasn’t big enough to cause me to turn loose. The river a blank and he bets and I call and he was sitting on a set of queens. So I make a dumb mistake that is compounded by actually getting a hand and still get smoked for not quite half my chips. It’s still early however and I still have more than the starting stack. After that though I went in to a stall, card wise. Deadly as the table turned aggressive and I was getting a run of 8-2 or 9-4s. Blinds started to hurt as I couldn’t even risk defending. Fold followed fold. Every so often I’d throw out a raise and steal some chips but that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Went on like that until it folds to me in the SB and I’m sitting with K-4 suited so I figure against the BB it’s time to raise. I do, he calls. UH-oh, not good, need a flop. It don’t help, A-x-5, rainbow. I throw out a c-bet anyway and he raises. Guy has had my number for two days now. About ready to fold and then I figure what the hell. Those bets have hurt my dwindling stack even more and maybe this guy is thinking c-bet and trying to push me off. WTF, all in. Now he is chip leader with about twice my stack but a call can hurt him as the two others are on his heels and there aren’t a lot of chips in play due to a small field. He thinks for a bit and mucks showing Aces up. Aces up? He folded aces up? I didn’t think any one folded aces up at this level. Have to keep my eye on this guy in future games. Anyway I breathed a sigh of relief and it was like the damn had broken. I started to finally catch some cards. This allowed me to win a few pots showing good cards which, in addition to rising blinds, allowed a bit more stealing until we got down to 3 and I was decent position chip wise. A good read on catching someone with his hand in the cookie jar doubled me up and gave me a massive lead. All downhill after that and I score back to back wins in the buy in league. Was just trying to get some points to keep my lead but I can’t complain about winning. Gives me some more cash on UB and a pretty good sized BL lead. It’s early yet however and still a number of games to go so I can’t rest on my laurels yet. I might however be able to skip the games on those sites where I have no funds, think there are 2 of them. Of course I can try and cash a freeroll league game on those sites to give me something to play with. Or I can go for the threefor since the next game is on AP tonight. If I can grab some points there I’ll be in pretty good shape. If I win the war is over, call in the boats and piss on the admiral. I’m gunning for the win.


Despite my big poker weekend I am slightly depressed. Been reading all the blog posts about Mastodon weekend and sounds like another great time has passed me by. One of these days I’m going to be able to get to these things. Glad you folks had a great time.

Thanks for the listen.

It was a long weekend

Ok, hurdle 2 down, home game done. Turned out to be a decent night though it didn’t start that way. Was down a buck in the first 90 minutes. I rarely go down that much the whole night unless I get coolered a time or two. After all it’s only a quarter/half game. This time it was mainly bleeding though I did payout a few bucks I shouldn’t have. Twice I had the nuts on the flop only to have a guy catch up on the turn and both times I knew he had. Not just knew it in the sense that I figured it by the call and the card that hit but literally knew it because he telegraphed it when it did hit. Tells aren’t my strong suit but a blind man could have seen these. On one he literally jumped when it hit the board.

Took a time out to slip in a political commentary. Usually avoid such, mainly because they do no good any more. Not going to enlighten anyone, they already know every thing, so why bother. This time however after listening to all the bullshit about healthcare lately my ire was sent over the top by an email I received from a good friend, passing on some ridiculous bit of propaganda, supposedly based on something from a FOX News commentator and full of half truths and distortions, I just had to vent. My friend, whom I love like a brother even if we don’t quite see eye to eye on our political views, has the habit, as do a lot of folks, of passing on email that fits his preconceived notions without checking to see if they are factual or not. Most times I don’t worry about it, maybe send back a link debugging the myth if it is such or maybe a chuckle if what he sent was true and I enjoyed it but this one, on top of the other crap just made me have to vent. So I did. Now back to poker.

What part of turbo don’t people seem to understand? Normally I don’t play turbo. While I play quickly I don’t like to be rushed and I’m much more comfortable with longer levels. I’m not an action junkie so I don’t need the rush but these things are popular so I guess a lot of folks are. Sites must love them as they clear tables quicker. Anyway somehow I got persuaded to play the mini-FTOPS on Tilt for a buck with the 5 minute blinds. You would think people would kind of move along but most of them just mosey along as if there was all the time in the world. So why play turbo if you are going to play at snail’s pace? Just another reason I don’t like turbos. Just got knocked out. Won $6 so it wasn’t a bad ROI although that 9 grand first would have a lot nicer. Considering it was a drop down to an all in situation, double up and play some more the whole time I was in it I guess I can’t complain. Still in the OFC which started while the mini FTOPS was underway.

Started the OFC fast then rode the rollercoaster for a couple hours. Made the money but not a whole lot. Wound up in the 3rd level of the cash but again I couldn’t get much traction after the first couple of levels. The weak aces killed me. People just won’t let them go but they are afraid to bet them also. They kill me in these low limit buy ins. I bleed chips betting second pairs when everyone checks around.

Finished up a long weekend of poker with the first game of GFN’s forum wars. As I stated earlier I made the team as a result of the staff vote so didn’t want to fall flat on my face here. Wanted a decent showing if for no other reason than to prove they didn’t make a mistake in thinking I was good enough to help the team. This month’s games are played on Power Poker and boy was it an experience. Again I got off to a hot start which should have been hotter. Third or fourth hand I turned the nuts and check raised my opponent. I then value bet the river when it showed a blank and got called. If I had known he was holding second nuts I would have shoved. Could have used the extra chips. Added a few chips here and there and was chip leader early on. Disaster hit in the form of a bad card when my K-K ran in to A-K and the A hit the turn. Left me very short just as the tourney took a crazy turn. The blind structure of this tourney was ridiculous. Once past the third level it became a lottery. One guy remarked he was in the top 5 and had only 17 BBs. Not a good time to be a short stack. For me it became a game of wait for the moment and shove and then cross your fingers. Somehow I crawled out of the hole and got myself back up to the chip leaders by doing a good Greg Raymer imitation winning almost every race that came down the pike. The few I lost weren’t major so I stayed among the leaders and when I got lucky by sucking out of a dominated position I hit the final table in good position. Looked good for the forum I was playing for as we had 3 runners at the final and when we got down to the last 4 it was two from our forum and two from another. To cut it short the other forum went 1-2. I wound up 4th. Tried to get tricky with small pockets and made a misread and wound up donking most of my stack to a slightly higher pocket pair. Was left with a couple hundred chips with humongous blinds but actually doubled up 4 straight times before finally meeting my fate. As a capper to a long weekend of poker it was a rush. Congratulations to the members of the Suited Pockets forum for the 1-2 finish. Good game.

Can’t say I like that 4th place finish but guess I can’t complain too loudly either considering that this game took me entirely out of my comfort zone. I prefer to grind my way through a tourney rather than go for the quick kill. With this structure though that wasn’t happening. I found myself shoving hands that I would normally take my time with. The 8-8 was my friend yesterday. I shoved that combo at least 7 times yesterday counting all the tourneys and it came through every time. Add in the fact I was very short at level 3 and I guess I’ll have to live with the 4th and plan to do better in the next 3 tourneys. It’s gonna get interesting.

Well I never thought the day would come when I would say these words but after a long weekend of the game I am finally pokered out. It was hectic to say the least and I have to recover quickly as there is another buy in league game tonight. Normally I might pass on the game to catch a breath but right now I have a lead to protect. Guess I’ll relax with a book for awhile. Thanks for the listen.

A Political Interlude

Time Out for a political moment. Usually avoid these, which is strange as I was a Poly Sci major, but was listening to the news and hear where the GOP thinks the health care bill is too big and expensive and says they should start all over. Yea, sure, right. Where have they been for the past year? Maybe if they had seriously worked on getting a proper bill written from the beginning instead of spreading misinformation, trying to scare people and just generally being obstructionist something decent might be ready to go instead of this abomination that is out there. Actually I don’t think the Republicans seriously want to start over anyway. They are just anticipating on making big gains in the off year elections and figure if they can delay they will be able to kill any bill next year.

FYI for all you people who might read this who have bought into the scare tactics. Not being able to choose your own doctor? Most can’t do that anyway. Hell, that went out the window as soon as HMOs became widespread so what’s the difference between the government or an insurance company restricting your choices? Socialism and government run medicine? Does that mean you are willing to give up your Medicare benefits or VA care for those eligible for those in the name of capitalism? Get healthcare at work? What happens if/when you become unemployed? Or maybe if your employer decides he can’t afford the cost any more? How many of you know that not only does your employer have to pay the insurance premium but he also pays a broker to deal with the insurance companies for him and that his commission his based on the amount paid to the insurance companies? Not a lot of incentive to keep the insurance costs down now is there? Sure the big companies have the wherewithal to keep an eye on their broker and to switch if they feel he isn’t doing his job properly but how about the smaller ones? The ones who don’t know if that 10% increase they are being told is necessary is a hard or soft increase, one that can be negotiated down. Many small companies rely on their broker and in many cases their broker might be a friend or just someone they have grown comfortable with and they aren’t really ready to go shopping around for a new broker. Considering that small companies are the most likely to pass increases on through to their workers and, as we are constantly being told, small companies are the ones that employ the majority of workers in this country where is this going to leave a lot of people in the near future if something isn’t done about the current situation?

That’s all I’m going to say about the situation for the moment except for this reminder since there seems to be a lot of short memories out there. The current administration is under fire for not solving a lot of problems especially the economic situation. It’s like everyone expected Obama to take the Oath, bend over, pull a magic wand out of his ass and make everything better. The previous admin had 8 years to screw the situation up with all the dismantling of the regulations that kept companies from doing the things they did to cause this situation. This admin has been in office slightly over a year. They may not have turned things around just yet, don’t even know if the will, but they have stopped the hemorrhaging. Are we so ready to tear off the bandages and give power back to the group that caused this situation in the first place? I’m not enamored of this admin as of right now but I’m at least willing to give it some time. Problem is we’ve become a country of instant gratification and if something doesn’t work in 5 minutes were ready to jump to something else.

That’s all I have to say about the situation for now. Thanks for the listen

More poker

Sitting here waiting for the OFC at Tilt to start wishing I had gone to G-Vegas. Would love to meet a number of people who I’ve enjoyed knowing through their posts and their support of mine. Would also love to find a shuflleboard table and renew my honor, and get my money back from the Black Widow since she was going to be there. Course it could be I might contribute to her bankroll. She’s good. Since a small medical matter and a prior commitment on Sunday made it impractical to make the trip I decided what better way to spend the weekend than playing poker.
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Started last night with the game for the buy in league at Poker Analysis. Was only a $3 buy in, most of the league games are either $3 or $5 but we got about 50 runners plus the added to put the first place payout around $55. I like these games. You get a good mix of very good players, good players who think they are better than they are because they are extremely lucky and donks. Basically the same mix you get at your live buy ins in AC so it’s good practice. In fact the leagues, actually the board itself, was originally designed as a place to not only chat about poker but to help improve your game. Their freeroll games, unlike a lot of sites, required a time period between joining the board and playing the games plus a decent contribution to the boards themselves. You also had to remain somewhat active on the boards to continue to play. Needless to say a number of people have, and are still trying to improve their game while others just roll along in blissful ignorance. To make a long story short, I won. Actually I steamrollered through most of the game. Both the cards and my game were on. That’s a tough combo to beat. The early game was a grind, mainly collecting blinds and the occasional limper. In fact that’s how most of the game went except for the times I caught a hand and someone in front decided to go all in. The boards were kind and I wish it had been a sniper game with the number of takeouts I had. I was big chip leader by the time the final table hit and I had double the chips of the other three when we got down to the final four. Heads up was a real bitch because it was against one of the better league players and he had a nose for the trap. I had gone from aggressive to trapping mode trying to sucker him in as he can get aggressive at times but he seemed to smell every one but the last when he actually made a hand also. Well played David, especially as I had you out chipped by a wide margin. So I match my win from last month but this time I get to sit atop the leader board. Won the first game lat month but forgot to register my table name for the sight so while I got the money I received no league points. Silly me.

So I started off with a bang. Now it’s time for the OFC freeroll at Tilt. For some strange reason I registered under RPT instead of PA as I usually do for these things. Let’s see how I do. If I do well I’ll probably hear about it on the boards, especially as the staff voted me on the team for this months Forum Wars. Oh well, I registered for the OFC before they gave me that honor. Don’t even know why I used the RPT listing as I haven’t played one of their games in months. Not being able to shuffle does put a kink in games where I need to deal but I’m probably the only one registered under them and I always did like to be the odd ball.

After the OFC it’s off to a live game at palatial Snakster Manor. It’s a fun game though not now what it once was. I met Snakster, Ron, through playing RPT games and heard about the games he held at his house. At that time they were fairly filled and people wrangled for an invite. Somehow I got myself one. It’s a fun game; people are good and fairly serious players. Ron himself is a very good player and also a very good judge of bourbon. Another reason the game is so good is that you get some excellent bourbon or rye if that’s your tipple. Ron also has a chip fetish. The cards and chips for the game are top of the line or damned close to it but Ron will get himself a nice set of chips and grow bored with them after a while and go looking for something new. He will talk all night about chips if you get him started. A good man to consult though if you are looking to get a good set of chips. One problem with the game is it is erratic. He used to hold it around once a month, maybe 6 weeks. Now you never know when he might text, game on. Don’t think his wife is sympathetic to us poker players even though her father sits in for a couple hours at the start of the game. “Pops” is a great guy though when he’s in a hand one never knows whether he has bottom pair or the stone cold nuts. Unpredictable he is. The other problem is you never know who is going to show up anymore. Since seating is limited only so many invites go out and lately a number of people say yes and then never show and by that time it’s hard to get someone to fill the seat. By then most off the fish you might call to donate have found another pond to swim in. Ah well, he’s called a game for tonight and that satisfies an urge that has been building since I haven’t been able to get to AC. Gonna go play some cards, drink some bourbon and hopefully have a good enough night to cover the chiropractor’s visit and dinner from yesterday.

Interlude here. Not enough guts to fire a third bullet costs me. Flop open ended with a flush draw in the OFC. Fire on flop and turn but give up on river. Character was chasing a gutter ball and his crap was higher than mine.

Ok, back to the story. As if this isn’t enough poker Sunday is also filled with it. In the afternoon I’m in for the buy-in part of the OFC followed by the GFN’s Forum Wars game in the evening. Was voted on to the team by the staff of PA so hope to make a good showing. First game is a freeroll so don’t know what to expect. Will they play decently as they are representing something or will it be the old hell it’s a freeroll mentality? Guess we’ll find out.

Well, as I finish this, and my plate of Singapore noodles, it seems I also finish in the OFC a very lackluster 2500 and something, or thereabouts. My short stack shove with 9-9 met a pair of tens and the board did no help. Hopefully my luck is better tonight. Will bore you with those details later. Thanks for the ear.