Tampa Bay Airport

Empty airports feel apocalyptic. Still lit up like it's midday, with countless flashing monitors. Regular announcements plugging the new free WiFi and reminding travelers of smoking regulations. But not a soul. It's fairly creepy, but more than that it's kinda depressing. I'm not entirely sure if being overly tired magnifies or diminishes these impressions. Just, you know, overall, I feel weird. Gonna be a long day.

Live Poker

So I've played six sessions so far in my return to live cash game poker. Not sure how far I want to pursue it. The upside is the games are a ton softer. And that's kind of it. The downsides are many and varied. Which would seem to make it an easy choice, except the upside is kinda major.

Sadly, the games aren't quite as soft as it first seemed. I guess I got kinda lucky my first couple tables, both in terms of opponents and in terms of the cards falling the right way. There's only been a 2/5 or higher game running about half the time I've been there (they've only run 5/10+ when Brad Booth is there, I guess he's the designated game starter at those stakes). So a lot of the 2/5 regs play 1/2. I wouldn't say there's anybody scary there, but there are a fair number of decent players. Even still, the games are definitely cuddle bear soft compared to similar stakes online.

The two biggest reasons I'm not entirely convinced that I should dedicate myself to working on my live game are variance and convenience. Convenience is kind of obvious. You really can't beat online poker for that. It's only about a ten minute walk for me to the poker room, so that's not really an issue. But it's just a much bigger commitment to take on a live session, and you can't just take a break and watch your son trying to learn how to crawl (for example). Plus, there's a fair number of unlikeable people at the tables.

As for variance, overall it should a bit easier to overcome because my edge is bigger, but the problem of course is that over any given session (or even series of sessions) the sample size is so small that a few bad breaks are tough to overcome. I was reminded of this in a bad way today when I had what must surely be my worst ever session, luck-wise, of live poker. I was all-in seven times as a significant favorite and was sucked out on every single time. Accordingly, my profit for the previous six sessions was wiped out. I was proud of myself for not tilting too much, and it certainly doesn't affect my belief in my ability to make a go at live poker. I definitely think there's a living to be made there. But it does make me wonder if I really want to pursue it, cause sessions like this are just so ridiculous. We'll see, I guess.

Here's four of the seven hands, recapped briefly:

#1. Effective stacks 200BB. I'm in the BB on a straddle hand with QQ. It limps around to SB who goes all-in. Effective stacks are $400. Against this particular opponent, it's a snap call. He has 99 and there's a nine in the window.

#2. Effective stacks 150BB. I open 7c6c OTB, a few callers. Flop is 8c5h2c. Multiway action on the flop, I get all-in with one caller. Guy has 43o. He pairs the 3 on the turn, I don't improve.

#3. Effective stacks 175BB. Get all-in on the flop with AdTd on a Th7d6d board. Villain has KdQd. Flush doesn't arrive, he rivers a K.

#4. Effective stacks 125BB. I have T8, flop is 976. Get all-in versus 85. T on the turn. At least I chopped it, but I still said 'fuck me' when the ten binked.

Preview Review V (with quotes)

The feature was Hot Tub Time Machine. Boo. Here's your preview review:

Death At A Funeral. Why can't Chris Rock make a funny movie. He's a funny guy. Why can't he pick a script to save his life? It's a mystery. Sample quote from this abysmal looking trailer: "She may be in Grade 12, but that ass is in grad school". US (Upside Score). 2. Only that high cause I'm still giving Tracy Morgan the benefit of the doubt for his fine television work. SS (Secret Score). 4. I mean, I guess there'll be twists. Whatever.

MacGruber. I actually find the SNL skits funny, but they specifically work cause of how brief they are. Extending it to feature length does not sound promising. Still, I think it should be good for some laughs, although the trailer wasn't too promising. Sample quote: "I just took an upper decker in the upstairs bathroom. That's when you do a number two in the water tank instead of the bowl. You look nice." US. 4. Probably too generous a score. SS. 2. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing MacGruber almost ruins the day, before (almost accidentally) saving it.

Get Him To The Greek. The return of Aldous Snow, from the imo very underrated Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Along with Jonah Hill from the same film (although it doesn't seem that he plays the same character). Also the same director. With just that info I'd be pretty pumped, but the trailer was actually a little flat. Fairly predictable gags. Sample quote: (in reference to a character inserting something in his rectum), "if he wants you to put the candy in the jar, you put the candy in the jar". US. 4. I think it might be better than that, but it wasn't in the trailer. SS. 6. It's not a whodunit anyway, and they didn't give too much away past the set up.

The Losers. The beginning of the MacGruber trailer was very similar in tone to the trailer for The Losers. Then you are relieved to realize that it's a farce. Sadly, The Losers is for real. This looks terrible, and (like Chris Rock) I'm really wondering why Idris Elba can't land in a halfway-decent movie. I guess American Gangster was not bad, but other then that. Here's some sample quotes: "The losers know too much, kill them". "Even the best get betrayed". "You want your life back, you're going to have steal it". "I've got a business proposition for you. It's a suicide mission". US. 1. SS. 4. Maybe it gave away more, I was too disinterested to follow the narrative.

Oh Yeah. Poker.

Originally this blog (generally speaking) was supposed to be mainly a poker blog, but that's fallen by the wayside lately. There's just something about playing 8 hours, 24-tabling, that makes blogging about it a less than attractive proposition. Short-stacking is less interesting anyway, especially as after a 15k hand day it's kinda hard to remember that tricky spot at 7:30 this morning. Further, I work on strategy with my staker, and I have signed a confidentiality agreement with him. So even if I really wanted to get into what the CO's stats would have to be for me to pop 98s from the BB (which I don't), it would probably be a breach of that agreement.

However, if there's one thing that will get a guy motivated to blog about poker, it's a downswing. And I'm on a doozy right now, a real head-scratcher. You'd think you'd get used to that, but you never really do. You do get used to the swings in general, but for some reason I just can't prepare myself for the epic downer that comes around once in a while. Right now I've had about a dozen consecutive losing sessions, and a couple of them were quite big. I've talked to enough poker players that I understand these things just happen, rationally I understand it, but intuitively, on a base level, it still just makes no sense to me. It just doesn't feel right that I can, for a couple months, grind out a slow and steady, (very) small profit. Then suddenly just have the bottom fall out.

I'm about 99% certain it's totally variance, not my play. With SSing, especially, it's easier to be confident of that. My stats haven't changed, and my ranges haven't changed. Just suddenly when I shove with 99 it's TT, with AJ it's AQ. And even more consistently, if I've got AA and the flop's paired and a maniac with a huge range is calling me down? He's got trips. When you're running good, he's paired the other flop card (or has some other totally non-sensical hand).

Actually, I should clarify that 99% thing tho. I DO think my play has worsened the downswing, if only to a small degree. I haven't had any major tilt, but I've definitely been frustrated and I know there's no way that doesn't creep into my play a bit. What I'm 99% sure of is that worse play didn't start the downswing, and worse play is not the major cause of the downswing continuing.

So. Anyway. After this horrid run I'm down about $5k in the actual games for my SSing experience. But I've earned about $50k in vpp's (based on prorating them versus the value of SuperNova Elite; if I don't make SNE they're worth about 30% less). So even in the midst of an epic downswing, the numbers still work for me. Plus, being staked, I'm only impacted by the losses in the games in that I'm not seeing profit from that part of it. I don't have to personally make up the losses, ever. So it's a reasonable income with absolutely zero risk. Which is part of why I won't quit doing it of my own volition.

I may be forced to, tho. Stars is apparently announcing in mid-April what changes they will make to minimum buy-ins. It's possible that could mean the end of SSing as we know it. I'm hearing conflicting things from 'connected' people. My gut feeling is that it will still be possible, but perhaps with a smaller player pool. Nothing we can do but wait and see.

Regardless, as long as my staker wants to put me in the games, I'll keep doing it (for the no-risk financial reasons mentioned before). But I am going to start fitting in a little 100bb poker. I'm starting to really have a craving for slow action, having solid reads on the whole table, knowing game flow, being confident that you have a significant edge in the game. Obviously a lot of the things that got me sucked into poker in the first place are missing when SSing. Don't get me wrong, I still love the game 20bb's deep. And 24 tables at a time. I burn out on 'having' to play, and it's less fun when getting crushed, but overall I still enjoy it. I'd just like a bit more of 'normal' poker. Partly so that if the SS era does fully end I won't be quite as rusty and I'll have a better sense of what I should play next. But also partly just for fun. So I'm gonna start mixing in a couple short sessions a week of live play, and maybe a few sessions playing somewhere in the 4-8 table range on a site other than Stars. Probably start at the 25c game and try to build it up, with no pressure at all. Looking forward to that.

In the meantime, here's some observations after now having SS'ed for five months:

- it's much, much harder than people think. at least 24-tabling. maintaining focus is a big part of the challenge, but there are also plenty of genuinely tough spots, and therefore plenty of opportunities to develop leaks. while there are less decisions to make than in deep stack poker, there is also less room for error. 'great' win rates are, relatively, small, which means a couple leaks can sink you pretty quick;
- you can learn a lot SSing that can be brought back to deep stack poker. i have a much better sense of what kind of hands certain 'stat types' have in their ranges than i used to, just cause i've seen so many showdowns. i've also learned there is more fold equity than i ever thought (in almost any spot), and that people spaz out in completely nonsensical ways more than i thought. pretty much always in the forums now, when people are discussing ranges, i feel like they're not giving 'air' enough credit. even the passive players go crazy every once in a while.

I actually had a bunch more, but it's late and this is long. So maybe later? Peace out.

Transatlanticism

I don't think the wife and I have a 'song', per se. Of course, it's more than possible that we do, and I've forgotten it. Like how the husbands do in sitcoms. Maybe it's Faith Hill's "This Kiss", or something similarly uninspired.

While I don't think it has official status in our marriage, I can't hear this Death Cab for Cutie song without thinking of Rachel. In the early days we had only had a few dates before I was on the road for like three months, so we basically got to know each other through phone calls and emails. I listened to the album a ton that fall, while we were having our long-distance courtship. The title song is a masterpiece. It's gotta be the most understated yet satisfying slow build in the history of recorded music (and yes, I know I'm prone to hyperbole). And when the "I need you so much closer"s finally give way to the "so come on"s, well, you gotta be dead to not be moved.

The song was a big influence on me. I quasi-pinched the "come on"s with the "hold on"s we put at the end of "Not Long For This World" on the "Smart Kid" CD. But the greater impact was emotional. I was floored by it so many times. Listening to it late at night in the dark on head phones, like a heart sick teenager. It was a bit painful, but a good pain. Cause it was hard being apart but it was exciting to be in love.

And I think about that now, when I hear the song. How great it is to be in love. You know, with somebody great.

The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how...
The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go.
Oh no.

Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no.

I need you so much closer...

So come on, come on...

Better Her Than Me

The wife has to go get a root canal. Her face is all swelled up (she has Henry style cheeks on one side) and she's in much pain, so she got the emergency dentist appointment and they put her on to the root canal specialist (who gets like $1400 for an hour job -- MBN). Damage will be done Monday.

As much as I'd be willing to take on the pain for her if I could, it really is probably better this way. I mean, this is the woman who gave birth to our (massive) son without so much as an aspirin. Without so much as a hospital bed. And then she giggled holding Henry while they did things I won't mention involving a needle and thread. A little toothache? I mean, come on. Me, on the other hand, should I have a pending root canal? You will not hear the end of it. Yep. Sorry, Hon. This is for the best.

Henry At The Olympics

The photo is from the Canada-Slovakia women's hockey game. You can see the blue on the right there is part of the press area. It's basically like three sections worth of what are normally prime seats (the 'club' seats, at Canucks games). I'm used to the press being relegated to the highest nether regions of the building, and the good seats being only for paying customers. It's good to be Olympic press, I guess.

Henry didn't get to go to the closing ceremony last night. I don't blame him if he feels ripped off. Katy didn't just get us great seats, she got us great seats in this section where there was amazing catering for the 'Olympic Family'. Man, I like the way those people roll. Is there like a college course you can take to be an IOC member? So we ate and drank too much and had an awesome time, perfect finish to an amazing two weeks. Not sure how the ceremony came off on TV, but in the room it was almost perfect (some of those musical choices down the stretch were head-scratchers, but I was still high off the Neil Young so I could abide).

And our neighborhood was rocking into the wee hours, but nobody smashed anything, and by dawn most people went home. It was strange to walk around today with Hamilton back open to car traffic, and no more traffic cops at every intersection, and no super long line for the SkyTrain. Kinda sad, but I'm also feeling pretty ready to resume normal life...