Wednesday, December 30, 2009
2009 - Living with the cobwebs
Maybe I'll turn this into a food blog. nah. I ain't that good.
I did manage to put together Christmas dinner for my family along with my brother's, sister's and most of the wife's immediate family. It was a great day that lasted from 8AM to 1AM. I brined the turkey again this year and it turned out succulent and tasty. No leftovers this year.
Yesterday I put together a pretty freaking awesome lasagna, which I may turn into a post in the next couple of days. I am the comfort food king.
I hope anyone who still reads this has a great new year, the wife and I are planning a paradigm shift in our eating, shopping, and spending habits. I am laying out a budget which will pay off a significant amount of debt this year while shedding some weight and teaching our children healthier eating habits. Wish us luck.
I don't have any poker related goals anymore. I just want to have fun and play more live this year. I've decided that online poker is like flipping coins no matter the style I try playing. Anywho, I'm rambling; you kids take care out there.
-23skidoo
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Trip report NYC
I woke up about 4:15am on Thursday morning and made the hour long drive to the airport. Since I've made the trip so many times I have the timing town pretty good. I made it to security with plenty of time and put my bags through. My luggage got pulled, and I remembered the hard drive I put in my roller, DOH. The security woman removed the drive and I put my toiletry bag back into the front pocket in my bag, and she barked at me "I have to run that back through!" in a gruff voice. I said, "well this bag went through already too". "REMOVE THE ZIPLOCK FROM THE BAG SIR" she bellowed, I just smiled and took it out. I went back to the xray thingy and picked up my bag and hard drive and apparently dropped the ziplock without putting it back in my back....ugh.
Thursday morning there was some snafu with air traffic control, so we sat on the tarmac for 30-45 minutes until we took off. I managed to sleep through most of the flight which was a major score. I usually can't sleep on the plane being 6'4" and
My work day was typically batshit crazy as I had about 3 days of projects to finish in 1 1/2. I managed to plow through and finished up around 6:30. Over the course of the day my buddy bailed on me for dinner so I sent out a last minute plea to Jamie and MattyEbbs to see if I could find a dinner companion or better yet a poker game.(unfotunately Jordan was busy filling the pockets of the Nawlins locals). Ebbs replied with an invite to the relocated Wall Street poker game and I weighed my options as the day went on.
After work, I convinced myself that I would find my hotel and some food and get a decent night's sleep. After making my way to Tribeca I discovered it a little more subdued than other areas I've stayed in. Somewhat quiet and uncrowded. When I got to my room I discovered my toiletry issue and I turned right back around to find some food and a bodega.
I walked around for 20 minutes contemplating food options and had a fairly funny conversation with my wife on the phone as I did it. I settled on a place called Edwards and drank a half carafe of wine with my roasted chicken. It was tastily followed up with a healthy snort of Macallan 12. It was this point that I decided I would not be able to avoid poker.
Getting to the game was easy enough, just a short train ride and I was 2 blocks away. I was ushered to the converted apartment and immediately recognized Jaime's table. I'm glad it's getting good use now that he's become domesticated. The game was 1/2 nlhe and I set about getting a feel for the table. I was already getting a little tired and I quickly determined I'd be playing against an aggressive table. I clammed up, but my hand to my chin and avoided eye contact as necessary. Given my familiarity with the players (or lack of) and general uncomfortable feeling being at a new table, playing tight was absolutely the best way to go. At least at first.
Being nearly 5 days later I don't recall too many specific hands. The players were: the mad Hungarian to my right who played through 5-10 hands and busted, to his right was the Russian aggro, a normal looking dude who didn't really make much of an impression, the dealer, the owner of the apartment who loved overbetting crappy boards, the young TAG, the irish nut-peddler, and Matty ebbs who was replaced by the annoyingly smarmy know it all to my left.
For the most part I played straight forward, I would occasionally float a pot and made only one 'move' toward the end of the night. I made a standard raise to $12 with 77 UTG +3. Young tag raises to $25 in late position and I briefly consider raising but call with no other players in the pot. He bet another $25 on the Q-Hi flop and I put him on nothing better than TT. I based my play on my perception that he would get away from another high on the turn and he had not shown down much at all. When the K hit the turn, I decided I would check raise regardless and go with it. He bet another $50 which I felt was very weak so I raised $150 on top. He did give it a good amount of thought and I feared I made a bad read, however he folded face down and I flashed the sevens. It went quick, but he said thank you. I guess he was worse off than I thought. I racked up shortly after that (+365 tyvm), I had been up nearly 20 hours at that point and I needed to get back to the hotel before I passed out and got rolled. I recall having trouble counting the chips and getting a good idea of what amount was in the pot already. My tired mind even miscounted my cash out chips so I was certainly glad to be ahead at the end.
I'll leave my travel tale of success at that. I'm out of practice writing and this stupid little post took me 2 days to finish. Hopefully I can motivate to write some more soon.
Have a pleasant turkey day and those of you with kids give em' one more good squeeze just because, sometimes they need it.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Double secret probation.
Without further justification and explanation, here is 23skidoo's guide to bankroll mismanagement:
- Get the itch to play poker. This usually coincides with a trip out of town, the wife is out, or you have consumed several adult beverages and you are bored.
- Drop $100-$150 on to the poker account.
- If you are lucky, you will find some of your invisible internet friends to rail or play with in a low stakes SNG or a blogger tournament. This path will usually scratch the poker itch and fill the need for some sort of interaction.
- #3 is the exception to the rule.
- In most scenarios you will vow to play good* and start with a one table low stakes sng.
- Register for a $6 SNG and keep the lobby open at the $11- $22 level just in case**.
- 5 minutes later the $6 SNG is down to 5 players and you are cruising to a win. This is when you go ahead and register for the $11 SNG with your expected winnnings. This move is always +EV
- Now that you've got 2 tables going, its a good time to check your email and google reader so you don't play too many hands.
- After timing out once at the $11 SNG and accidently clicking call on the all in in the $6 SNG. Go ahead and close your email and refocus.
- Bubble the $6 and curse yourself, now you REALLY need to win the $11. Your best shot is to play hyper aggressive and make people fold.
- Curse when you are snap called by QQ holding JTsooted.
- Now that you've lost 1/2 to 1/4 of your initial deposit, you need to win a $14 superturbo to break even.
- When you lose that, use the rest of your $ on a SNG and win it.
- After this, go on a massive run until about 4AM when you fall asleep at the laptop up about $400.
- Wait a few days and log back on to be surprised that you actually have cash left. Go through your hand history to see some of the stupid beats you put on some people playing $2/$4 PLO8.
- Try to remember playing $2/$4 PLO8.
- Vow to use your newfound winnings for good, and play sparingly for the next 6-8 weeks building your bankroll to the $1k range.
- Repeat steps 1-14, but this time you start playing $100-$200 SNG's and lose 4 in a row.
- Put the rest of your cash on a $2/$4 NLHE table and blow it on a flush draw.
- Suspend yourself from FT and wait till next month.
There you have it folks, 23skidoo's guide to bankroll mismanagement, enjoy!
*This is an assumption that you actually know how to play properly.
**You have to go ahead and prepare yourself that you will get 2 outted for all your chips on the bubble.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Hello Mookie my old friend.
Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday’s at 22:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday Wrapup
I Love You Man
23skidoo's one word review: PUKE
The wife and I tried to watch it last weekend, I fell asleep both times. Paul Rudd is going to have to earn his way back to my safe list after this one.
I think my wife summed it up the best. We paused the movie about 3/4 of the way through and went out to the back porch to smoke. We chatted about the movie and some other stuff. About an hour later I say something to the effect of how do you feel about turning crap off and 'hitting the sack'. She retorts 'I couldn't care less, I'm fine not giving any more of my life to it'. Apropos
I am a fat bastard
I had a physical 2 weeks ago and I was a bit put off when I saw the scale. 234 is a pretty big number. I'm a big guy so it's a little bit easier to hide the fat, but jeez, I really let go. I know there are some bloggers out there doing some half assed prop bet which involves a weigh-in in Vegas. I'm cool with everything but the Vegas part. Vegas in mid December just is not on my radar. I have joined Daily Burn at the suggestion of Riggs and started logging my intake. After a week I recognized that I take in more than I burn, easy-peasy. The second week I began watching what I eat and lopping down the portions. I also tried spacing my food out through the day. I've dropped to 229, but I'm pretty sure that's mostly water weight. Next week I'm going to ramp up the exercise. This will be hard as most of my days are full. That's the crux of exercise, you have to make time and make it a priority and I haven't quite figured out how to motivate myself to do it.
OK, thats it for now. I know I had more that I wanted to put down, but I'm blanking right now. Time for a little walk....
You kids be careful out there!
Friday, August 21, 2009
My kid is a good sport.
My son, god bless him, has been graced with superior physical gifts. These I attribute more to his mother's side of the family than to mine. Yes, they grow 'em big on my side of the family, but it takes a good mixture of physical prowess, desire, and cognitive ability to be a better than average athlete. Those of you who saw me nearly lose a leg trying to jet ski know that is not one of my gifts. I am a big boy, but clumsier than all get out.
My son is big for his age. He is 5'1" and 115.5 lbs as of this morning. He is also 10 years old.
When they boy was born, our first, my pride and ego swelled. A boy....oh the places you will go. Like 90% of all dads out there I immediately began crafting his future. I saw him a mix between Roger Clemons and Bill Gates. (hey I AM a geek after all) Not too lofty of goals eh?
As soon as he was able to figure out that whole hand and finger deal, I put a ball in his hand. By 4 he was playing T-ball with the YMCA. The boy has lived and breathed baseball since. The great part of this is he actually LOVES it. He watches games with the old man, he knows stats and he is ravenous to learn baseball history. All of his school book reports have revolved around sports. He has a fantastic positive attitude, and is a good teammate.
Baseball has come pretty easy for him until the last 2 years or so. I attribute this to the rapidity of his growth. He has a tough time doing things QUICKLY, but he always does it right. So, this season he has had some trouble making a travel team. His previous team was ~20min away from us, and a little out of our network of friends. My suspicion is the team's coach had someone else in mind for my son's position (1st). Regardless, we found ourselves trying out for some other teams and we haven't found a spot for him for a variety of reasons. I'm still waiting on the last team to give me a call this weekend.
This post started in a different direction, but I'm going to keep going and see if I get where I need to be.
Flashback to June, baseball has finished and we decide to let P play football in the fall. He had been asking for awhile and I finally gave in. I warned him that the practices would be intense compared to baseball, and he would most likely be put on the line for his size.
He was undaunted, and true to his word he has yet to complain about the heat, the aches, the tedium of learning a new sport, or playing less than glamorous positions in the trenches. And dammit if the kid isn't good.
The coaches have so far gushed over his ability to pick up his positions and made him the teams snapper from game 1. I watched the team play a scrimmage against 6th graders on Wednesday and they held their own.
I've gone through the seasons as my son has played and I've tried to keep as much levity in tact as I can. In fact I'm not misguided enough to think he has a better than average chance to be a collegiate or professional athlete. I do think I have the duty as a parent and father to allow him every opportunity though. I plan on being as supportive as I can until I'm told to stop. There's only one person who can tell me that, he holds the cards.
I read a few articles in the past few days that have made me stew over the subject of children in sports. I remember reading the tale of Jericho Scott last summer and the subsequent hand wringing involved in the possibility that a child could be blackballed for being 'too good'. In my mind it was further proof of the dumbing down of American society. It ties into every thing that is wrong with today and our 'everyone has to win' outlook.
I appreciated Craig Fehrman's followup on Deadspin on Tuesday. His angle makes a lot more sense. The attributes the heightened anxiety and idea of unfairness that is derived form some parent's expectations of ( or deluded view of) their child's talent.
It is exactly these expectations that I do not want to foist on my child. It has to be his drive, his determination, and his ability to see him through to where he wants to go. I'm here for guidance, understanding, and support. (and a big fat house to retire into. ;)
Read Bob Cook's 'Your kid is not going pro' if you liked this, or even if you didn't.
Take it easy out there kids, have a good weekend.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
idiocracy
This woman is a congressman, and holds a masters in public speaking.
Congratulations America! Welcome to the idiocracy.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
Bloggers marry up.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
You're daily dose of awesome, with all apologies to Julius Goat
Special thanks to Kissing Suzy Kolber
http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2009/06/joe-namath-autotune-post.html
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Calling all dads.
Because I don't care for wine, I reject the whole concept of spitting (as opposed to swallowing) (which…this isn't that kind of site, you sick pigs). It's like, "Yes, I want the rather humiliating experience of sipping tiny little birdie-sized helpings of wine and filtering it through my teeth and trying to find notes of oak and cherries and king scrotum in it, but I'm not at all interested in attaining the requisite level of drunkenness that would make this behavior seem less awkward."
http://www.dadgonemad.com/
I thought it was timely since Sunday is fathers day. Happy day to all you dads out there, go play some golf and let those women folk make you a steak.
cheers!
by the way, you can see my bookmarks at http://delicious.com/23skidoo
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Recruiting is Elementary..
By the way, I gave in and signed up on Twitter. You can follow me @iam23skidoo. Dunno if I'll adopt the platform or not, I'll probably end up updating it as much as this place...
cheers!
Friday, June 05, 2009
Checking in
It has been a long month since we've last heard from your hero. The wife and I have a fabu trip to Costa Rica two and a half weeks ago...geez that feels like months ago. We had an adventurous week full of canopy touring, river rafting, site seeing, and walking....LOTS of walking. Maybe one of these days I'll actually take the time to post some pics, but hey, who am I kidding?
Work proceeded to squarely kick me in the junk upon my return and I have had my head down since.
I managed to play in a few of the BBT4 events, but I just suck. I made a decent run at the Big Game, but got way too tight after I accumulated a nice stack from a turned nut flush draw and a pre-flop AK vs Hammer dual that held up.
Tonight I go to my first live Baseball game of the season. My son and his baseball team get to go onto the field before the game for some sort of fund raiser award.
Speaking of the Braves, I think what they did to Tom Glavine is just despicable. I've never held Schuerholtz in very high regard and now I think he is just trash. Tom is absolutely one of the best Braves of all time and to string him along then make up some BS about his ability is just plain false. Plain and simple the greedy fuckers didn't want to pay the 1 million roster bonus he earned by rehabbing and getting ready to pitch. So in short, the Braves upper management can bite me. They've shown they have no interest in how they look to the fans of their team.
That's all for now kids, back to work.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Around the horn
I've played a few BBT4 tourneys and I'm non-plussed, it's discouraging yet expected to see some of the same play I see in the $3 games. I get pissed sure, but I'm gonna keep it to myself (for the most part) since I feel pretty good in my play. Other than the fact that I'm tending to be weak/passive recently.
The thing is that nothing surprises me anymore. The moron hoping for his 1 to 4 outer will hit and that's fine.
God bless.
For some reason this is still 'fun' for me more because of the presence of a select few who I still chat with and the others, who I just laugh at.
I'll post once more before I'm out for a week or so, I have to lend yet another example of the fact that bloggers marry up.
My wife graduates law school Friday and has been chosen as the speaker for her class. Hopefully she gives me the thumbs up to post the speech here. Stay tuned.
l8ter
Monday, April 13, 2009
Weekend wrapup.
The kids selected Summits out of our options, mostly I'm sure because they have a game room and can spend more than 20 minutes there getting morbidly bored. Summits happens to be my favorite bar + restaurant in the area. They offer 200+ draft beers and bottles to boot. Not to mention they actually have an edible menu, not this chain restauraunt crap.t You may have something similar in your area. Summits offers a beer club which rewards you with customized mugs at certain levels. The custom mugs also offer a few ounces of extra hoppy goodness.
I'm closing in on my next mug, which is more like a chalace, for hitting 250 draft beers. I figure when I surpass 250 I'll have to start going the bottle route more often on my way to 500 and the custom made German Stein. ahh, but I digress.
On Saturday, my father in law retaliated with my mother in law and had a surprise party of his own for her. The wife and I were far less involved for this one, we got there a little early to help set up. I got the bar ready and was the designated wine pusher for the evening. We did our thing for a couple hours and left somewhat early. It was nice to get home and pass out at a reasonable hour.
We did Easter mass on Sunday, and dammit if I didn't just now think of taking pictures...so slack. The girls were terribly cute in their spring dresses while the boy and I stuck to the khaki-oxford uniform.
Afterwords, the kids relaxed at home for a couple hours while I got some work done, then we headed off to the aunts house to stuff our faces and veg during the end of the Masters.
I must say I was a little sad for Mikelnuts, poor guy just can't get out of his own way. Just what the heck were our boys choking on there at the end? Frigging Argentinean hits a tree on 18 and still manages to win....pathetic. Call me racist, whatever. I've been called worse, its just disappointing to have what seems to be good players shit their pants at the end of 4 days...
Not a bad weekend, all in all. Started out with torrential downpours and ended with some of the most beautiful weather to date this year. I love spring in the south.
Have a good weekend folks, see you around.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Palookavillle
She finally called me back from her car just a mminute ago and let me know she was on the way to immediate care, and I let myself breathe again. I know its nothing, but it kind of pisses me off that I have to get reminded of how important she is to me, just being there for me.
That has nothing to do with the title of the post, and I'm struggling to find a reason for it. I think Ive come up with the fact that I feel like such a palooka sometimes, taking more than I give. I really got to work on that.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
On and off
This is not a goodbye post or anything dramatic like that. I'm not fishing for attention, just stating a truth that I've been trying to deny for several months. I've discovered what I really love about playing poker will never be accomplished by staring into the magic box for hours on end. Its a tool, but its not the goal.
The things I love about poker are (a) the camaraderie; for a healthy amount of time I thought I had that. I loved discussing hands and situations with my fellow bloggers, I followed progress, I participated. It was good. I have made fantastic connections with some of you that I will not let subside, but I like looking into a person's eyes and the fluid nature of a live game; (b) the nuance; I love the fact that the answer to nearly every poker situation is "it depends". Every situation is unique, every hand requires recall, thought, and intuition; (c) the money; I don't think its a secret that I love to see chips flying across the table. I love the sound, the feel, the sight of a person who has just won or lost a big pot.
You see where I'm going. On-line poker has turned into a video game for me, a time-waster, a place to flush my hard earned money down the virtual tubes. I cant take it anymore, and its false to pretend to think I can be a better player online, 'cause it's obvious to me that I don't care to make the moves to become one.
I love the game, I am a successful player when the cards, the people and the chips are in front of me. I really don't know why there's a difference. It just is, and I'm not ignoring it anymore. Most of you who still read this I'm sure you'll see me virtually or live again. I still won't be able to tear myself away from games like this:
..among others. You guys are just too much fun.
So if indeed you still read these pages, I appreciate it. I still read ~50 or so blogs on a regular basis.
I'll try to be more read-worthy in the coming months posting more about the traveling that's going on and the hustle and bustle of everyday life that is a father of 3 in the 'burbs.
See ya around!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Weekend Wrapup
I had a long exhausting trip up to NYC Thursday and Friday, I layed low even though I did contemplate hitting up a new club for some poker. By the time 6:30 rolled around on Thursday I was sofa king tired I could barely complete a sentence.
I opted to plop myself down in my hotel's bar for food and basketball highlights. I could have easily retired around 9, however I befriended a young salesman from NC and proceeded to get good and lubricated. I finally hit the sack around 11 and managed to donk off some $ on Full Tilt. I'm such a monkey sometimes.
I worked tirelessly yet bleary eyed through Friday and caught my Flight out of LGA confident in my abilities to put out quality work while smelling like an oak Macallan cask.
I pulled in to my house around 10:00 where the wife was there entertaining 2 of her friends and an unfortunate boyfriend. Obviously we stayed up far too late and polished off what wine we had in the house.
Saturday, I bailed on my tennis match and took MasterP and one of his buddies to their baseball practice. While they practiced, I found the nearest coffee and proceeded to drown in it for the next hour. After practice I took the boys to Zaxby's and we downed copius amouts of chicken digits. I had somehow managed to miss Zaxby's up till that point and wasn't overly impressed, but it aint bad for fast food I suppose.
The mouse (middle girl, stay with me) had a softball game Saturday afternoon, which I had to miss. Keep in mind the mouse is 8 years old and just starting to appreciate softball. I was however regaled to the following story:
Mouse was playing third base at the time and the biggest girl on the opposing team (BFG) was up to bat. BFG crushed a line drive towards my daughter's left knee, and she just did not have the time to move. Mouse fell to a heap on the ground and my wife bolted in from left field to asses the damage. Mouse was bawling and heaving and clinging to my wife for a few minutes and someone else delivered some ice. My wife asked mouse if she wanted to have a seat on the bench to ice her knee and mouse just stopped, grabbed her dusty hat from the dirt, put it back on and assumed her position at 3rd base as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
The very next batter hit a drive down the third base line which the mouse speared, then stomped defiantly on third base for the third out. She gently tossed the ball toward the mound and marched off the field. Both she and the wife repeated the story to whoever would listen for the next 24hours, it was a good one.
The in-laws were having a surprise party for my father in law on Saturday night, and I was a key part of the obfuscation of the days activities. I had to pretend to go to work on a planned outage and my wife was going shopping with her mother. Therefore pa-in-law was called in for kid duty, which he actually loves.
As flimsy as the plan was, it worked and he was dutifully surprised. We partied with the old folks and had a generally good time. Given the proper amount of 18 year old Balvenie I'm a real charming mofo.
Sunday the wife had a tennis match and the boy had a baseball game, which they won easily. I seem to remember the boys being so much better pitchers when I was that age....anywho. I couldn't get home fast enough so I could assume the position on my lazy boy and pass out.
What Joy.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tinkering
I have no intention of torturing any of you with my mental regurgitation from days gone by. I do intend to transcribe the vast majority of my poetry here, but I will keep it hidden from view from now on out.
I'm warming up to this again, so bear with me, I'm gonna tinker some more so I'm happy with my 'new' home. Then I should be able to be comfortable enough to once again regale you with my BS.
Cheers!
Friday, March 13, 2009
101891024A
smashed against
a density unknown
like flashes from a camera
strobe and up-close
pardoned from treason
a reason
slighted by
an agency of fascinating people
looks on
observing behavior much unlike its' own
the creature stirrs with madness
unlike the possibilities
reaches unknown
an alien abduction from
his natural domain
sightless and bleary
unable to live in the midst
of the ungratefulness we serve
to the ones we owe so much
apparent to philosophers
unseen by you and me
we wave in disbelief
as the trail leads to
space
BK
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Coming soon...
This is me:
....beware