***** Hand History for Game (?) *****
$400 NL Texas Hold’em - Sunday, April 30, 19:27:33 ET 2006
Table Table 106316 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: pokerude ( $455.20 )
Seat 3: bdo13 ( $767.23 )
Seat 5: plyncards111 ( $364.50 )
Seat 6: nagnines ( $433.40 )
Seat 2: Hero ( $407 )
Seat 4: pokerv101 ( $264.86 )
plyncards111 posts small blind [ $2 ].
nagnines posts big blind [ $4 ].

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
RAISE pokerude, $16
CALL Hero , $16
RAISE bdo13, $28
FOLD pokerv101
CALL plyncards111, $26
RAISE nagnines, $196
ALL-IN pokerude [ $439.20 ]
FOLD Hero
CALL bdo13, $427.20
FOLD plyncards111
ALL-IN nagnines [ $233.40 ]

Flop: (Pot: $1387.8)
[ ]

Turn: (Pot: $1387.8)
[ ]

River: (Pot: $1387.8)
[ ]
nagnines shows [ ] two pairs kings and eights .
pokerude shows [ ] two pairs aces and eights .
bdo13 shows [ ] two pairs kings and eights .
pokerude wins $43.60 from side pot #1 with two pairs aces and eights .
pokerude wins $1341.20 from the main pot with two pairs aces and eights .

I ran into this hand this morning. While this is a difficult situation to be in, the proper play would be to fold to the big reraise. You gotta figure that AQ is a common starting hand, your opponent hit a higher set, or was holding 89/Q9. While it’s possible that your opponent may be holding AA, AK, or KJ/K10/J10, usually you’re beat in this situation. For me to take it to the next level, I need to be that much more disciplined, especially in these types of difficult situations.

***** Hand History for Game (?) *****
$400 NL Texas Hold’em - Wednesday, April 26
Table Table
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: TPBoT ( $958.10 )
Seat 5: Hero ( $467.70 )
Seat 1: move_all ( $464.93 )
Seat 6: SoerenS ( $473.80 )
Seat 2: WhyNotBluff1 ( $529.40 )
Seat 3: JWL76 ( $157.70 )
JWL76 posts small blind [ $2 ].
TPBoT posts big blind [ $4 ].

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
CALL Hero , $4
RAISE SoerenS, $20
FOLD move_all
FOLD WhyNotBluff1
FOLD JWL76
FOLD TPBoT
CALL Hero , $16

Flop: (Pot: $46)
[ ]
CHECK Hero
BET SoerenS, $40
RAISE Hero , $110
ALL-IN SoerenS [ $413.80 ]
ALL-IN Hero [ $337.70 ]

Turn: (Pot: $947.5)
[ ]

River: (Pot: $947.5)
[ ]
Hero shows [ ] three of a kind tens .
SoerenS shows [ ] three of a kind jacks .
SoerenS wins $6.10 from side pot #1 with three of a kind jacks .
SoerenS wins $938.40 from the main pot with three of a kind jacks .
Game #4097287829 starts.

A year ago, I blogged about wanting a Tablet PC convertible notebook computer (the timing then just wasn’t right). Because I had decided to invest in mutual funds, nest egg, and other investment opportunities, I had to put it off. Until now. Last Thursday, I won an eBay auction for an open-box (like new) Fujitsu Lifebook T4020 Tablet PC for $1,195 (brand new normally goes for around $1,600).

I’ve had my Fujitsu Lifebook P2120 for about three years now and it’s been the most reliable computer I’ve ever owned (can’t recall ever seeing a BSOD)–despite the slower hardware that usually comes with increased portability. Still works like new. I’ll probably sell it on eBay (can fetch $600-$700 for it despite this model’s been out 4.5 years already; I bought it for $899 new in mid-2003).

I hope that this this new addition will help my overall organization, notetaking/brainstorming, and add some much needed spunk to my studying. I’ve also added a new link on the right.

1. The Detroit Pistons will win the NBA title.

2. Kobe Bryant will be named MVP. (Runner-up: Steve Nash)

3. The Orlando Magic will be the most improved team next year.

4. I will come home a big winner after tonight’s big game.

Here’s a tip for anyone playing cash games online:  When you’re playing, have in front of you (or hold in your hand) the amount that you bought in for–in cash–to help reinforce good plays.  Tell yourself that a bad play will cost you this amount that you’re holding in your hand.

I recently learned that it’s typical in American culture to spend 2-3 months salary on an engagement ring. No disrespect to those already married or are considering it, but I find it difficult to comprehend this, since it would make more sense to get a cubic zirconia instead and invest the money saved (e.g., down payment on a home, retirement funds, or even for car payments).  Of course, you’d want to discuss this with your girlfriend before you actually propose to her and hopefully, she’s got some good financial sense to see it the same way.  The idea of having to spend a whole lot just to ‘prove’ one’s love to another is no different in my opinion than the dowry system in some cultures where the bride needs to pay groom’s family (sometimes the groom has to pay the bride’s family).

One thing about my play at the short-handed no limit cash games (6 players) of late is that I’ll be up 2.5 times the buy-in amount early on, but somehow i’d lose most if not all of it due to failed bluff attempts or making bad calls.  This has happened three or four times since Thursday.I need to go back to limiting myself to an hour and a half per weekday (max) and three hours on weekends (max).   And also learn to play a lot tighter after winning big hands.  If I can do the above, I’ll be in good shape.  After some of the crazy %@#T I pulled this past week, I’m lucky to still be up overall for April.  But hey, I did learn a lot about playing certain hands in different situations and gained more experience playing short-handed (before, I only played full ring games).  Mentally, I’ve told myself to not dwell on what happened on Wednesday (played out of my bankroll) and am just focusing on what happens from here on out.
Also, OmniX, myself, and friends will be playing in a relatively high stakes cash game (live) next weekend.  I feel I have an edge because I play almost exclusively cash games whereas most of the players are mostly tournament players.  Plus, the stakes that we’ll be playing at is half of what I’m used to playing.  Experience and instincts go a long way.

For whatever stupid reason, I decided to play out of my bankroll again by jumping to 2,000 NL.  While it’s not the end of the world, I pretty much wiped out my winnings from this past weekend.

I will NEVER play out of my bankroll again.

I will NEVER play out of my bankroll again.

I will NEVER play out of my bankroll again.

(repeat infinity times).

Alas, I just finished doing my taxes online.  I was going to choose the cheapest tax preparation option, but later realized that because I received dividends from my mutual funds, I couldn’t use the 1040EZ form.  I had to upgrade to the premium option (about 20 bucks more) in order to enter 1099-DIV info and deductions.  I was a bit surprised that I didn’t get a tax break from my donations yet I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I’m due to get around 170 dollars back for my piano class tuition payments.  (I guess that also means that I lost out on 170 bucks last year by going cheap…)

So I actually made about $150 extra by upgrading to the more expensive premium option.  Sweet!

***** Hand History for Game (?) *****
$400 NL Texas Hold’em - Friday, April 07, 21:42:09 ET 2006
Table Table 96530 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: CheckLaise ( $561.40 )
Seat 3: takeit68 ( $605.55 )
Seat 5: BAMABOB51 ( $215.91 )
Seat 2: Hero ( $399.50 )
Seat 6: zok519 ( $374.50 )
BAMABOB51 posts small blind [ $2 ].
zok519 posts big blind [ $4 ].

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
RAISE CheckLaise, $15
CALL Hero , $15
FOLD takeit68
FOLD BAMABOB51
FOLD zok519

Flop: (Pot: $36)
[ ]
BET CheckLaise, $24
RAISE Hero , $63
RAISE CheckLaise, $128
CALL Hero , $89

Turn: (Pot: $340)
[ ]
CHECK CheckLaise
CHECK Hero

River: (Pot: $340)
[ ]
ALL-IN CheckLaise [ $394.40 ]
ALL-IN Hero [ $232.50 ]
CheckLaise shows [ ] a pair of threes .
Hero shows [ ] two pairs eights and threes .
CheckLaise wins $161.90 from side pot #1 with a pair of threes .
Hero wins $803 from the main pot with two pairs eights and threes .

Something’s been bugging me lately, though I’m not exactly sure what it is.  Maybe I got it from watching this news clip on TV a few days ago about a new class at Harvard on “Happiness”.  One student interviewed said that before taking the class, she was preparing for a career in law.  However, after taking the course, she realized she wants to do clinical psychology because helping others is important to her and plus she’s good at it.  

As for my situation, I believe I’m just going with the motions and one of my principal fears is that one day I’ll wake up and realize I just wasted a good chunk of my life on something that I really don’t care about.  I don’t like the idea of having to BS my application essays and interviews (hopefully, my poker face will carry over…) or fulfilling other people’s expectations of me (let’s face it, for most of us, other people’s expectations often become one’s own).  It’s like living a big lie.  

So what’s important to me, then?  Is it power/prestige/authority?  Probably not.   No, because I know that with more power and prestige, a lot of phony people will try to befriend you.  You might even get more date prospects….The end result is that either you’ll fool yourself into believing that it’s because people genuinely like you for who you are (which is why they act the way they do), or become cynical/distrustful of others.  You’ll start overanalyzing people’s behavior–trying to figure out their true intentions.  You might be right  99 times out of 100, but maybe that one time you struck out on, may have been a potential true comrade/friend/etc.  Sometimes you wish that your read on people is incorrect, but when you start sensing that it’s pretty accurate, it can be quite disconcerting.  

 

 

Word has it that ‘Nique’s been voted to the Hall of Fame (he got robbed last year…).  More impressive than his scoring ability (9th all-time scorer in NBA history) and highlight-reels was that when he tomahawk-dunked on your noggin, he wouldn’t taunt or stare you down afterwards.  I’m not joking when I say that when it becomes official (that he’s in the Hall of Fame), it’ll will go down as one of the most significant events of my life. 

And in other news:  Go George Mason!!!