Lexington Isn't Our Town

After a crappy show I always think of the movie "Singles", where one scene they're all sitting around talking about how they're gonna rock Portland. And then the next time you see them they're like, "Okay so Portland's not our town". Don't they say something about being big in Belgium or something? Anyway, it's funny, and I can relate. Not to say tonight was a crappy show. That's unnecessarily disparaging. "Crappy" and "sparsely attended" are clearly not the same thing, and with that clarification I can more openly consider tonight's gig. And it was actually pretty good. We played decent. Not for very long, there was a sentiment from some in the band that we would have liked to play longer. We definitely could have, there was no time limit put on us, just when it's a light crowd it kind of feels like in everybody's best interest to keep it a bit shorter.

And yeah, it was really light. We had no guarantee, just a percentage of the door. And I didn't even go looking for the promoter to see about getting paid. I just assumed it was nothing (not that there was nobody, wasn't like THAT bad, but we got a percentage after a certain amount came in and I was pretty sure it didn't clear that amount). Don't remember the last time we didn't get paid, probably ten years or something. I don't remember EVER not even asking about getting paid. So that's a first. I guess it should maybe be depressing or something. But it's Monday night in where-the-fuck. We are a long ways away from where we have a decent fanbase, and we haven't been to this town in about four years. I think I just understand the way these things work too much to be bummed about it. At the same time, it does underscore the internal band debate that has been raging for years. Should we tour the whole country, or just stick to the regions where we already do well? There's a bazillion pros and cons to both, I'll save 'em for another blog.

After the gig I spent about 15 minutes in the hotel gym. Fairly pathetic. I did do a longish jog today through a real nice Kentucky park that was positively brimming with activity. Probably about 12k total. I went to the gym right after that but just found myself with no energy at all, so decided to come back later. Turns out I didn't have much energy later either. Getting in shape takes it out of you, if it was ever there in the first place. Still glad I went and did what I did. It's funny, tho. My trainer gave me this program for working out on the road. When I follow it, I have good work outs. If I don't have it with me, if I just go down to the gym intending to do basically the same workout but don't actual have it written down, I have terrible workouts. I'm not sure what exactly that tells me about myself, but I have a sense that the conclusions, should I eventually arrive at them, will be surprising.

Starting A Blog

Now I have another thing to neglect on the internet.

Nah, I do hope to be more faithful to this blog than I am to my facebook page (that particular bond remains non-existent). And to update more frequently than I return personal emails. I'm absolutely terrible on those, and other, internet fronts. I have no real reason to think I'll be better here, but it's spring, as good a time as any to be hopeful.

So my first blog entry comes early Monday morning, March 30. Around 3am EST. In Lexington, KY. We got into town around 7pm Sunday night, just in time to see "Last Chance Harvey" at the cheap theater next to the hotel. The tickets were a buck fifty, which is probably about what it was worth. I went with Trevor, Tyler, and Reba, and I don't think they thought it was terrible. I kinda did. Emma Thomson and Dustin Hoffman made a perfectly dreadful couple. One part of my brain tried to sell their unsuitability as being in keeping with the plot or theme or whatever. But most of my brain just didn't give a shit. I still think it was worth the ticket price, just cause I do love the movies. If a movie is not actively off-putting/unsettling (and sometimes even if it is) I'm still generally content to sit through it (in the theater, movies are much worse on television).

Afterwards I played about 3 hours of poker, got in about 2800 hands and booked a decent winner despite playing fairly mediocre. Been working fairly hard at judging sessions by my level of play, not whether I actually win or lose, so I guess this session was a failure. But, you know, on the other hand, even if I was playing my "C" game, it's probably fairly close to what my "A" game was a couple months ago. So that's kinda good, no?

Here you have a key hand, in terms of how to make money playing poorly. I call way too much from the blinds. I've been trying to work on it, but in spots like these I'm so easily tempted. Villain is nitty preflop, and stubborn post-flop, so if I hit huge I'm stacking him. But I just don't think I can make money in this spot long run, mainly because my semi-bluffs are not very often going to work and being OOP c/c'ing draws is no good (won't be able to get paid off when I hit). When he min-raises I obviously know I'm going to be getting it in bad, I'm just praying it's not AKh. Although turns out I woulda been fine.

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HAND 1

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$1/$2 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details





Hero (SB): $205.75 (102.9 bb)

BB: $117.65 (58.8 bb)

CO: $204.40 (102.2 bb)

BTN: $143.55 (71.8 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with 7 6

CO raises to $7, BTN folds, Hero calls $6, BB folds



Flop: ($16) T 4 3 (2 players)

Hero checks, CO bets $10, Hero raises to $32, CO raises to $54, Hero raises to $198.75 and is all-in, CO calls $143.40 and is all-in



Turn: ($410.80) 5 (2 players, 2 are all-in)

River: ($410.80) 9 (2 players, 2 are all-in)



Results: $410.80 pot ($2.00 rake)

Hero showed 7 6 (a straight flush, Three to Seven) and won $408.80 ($204.40 net)

CO showed T T (a flush, Ten high) and lost (-$204.40 net)