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Rocked at River Rock: GroovyT's Poker Babble

GroovyT's Poker Babble

November 19, 2008

Hey guys.

Well, where did I leave off? I can't remember and don't feel like reading back, but I'm sure I was just off a huge win or huge loss or huge donation or something, as has been the case for the past two months. Since my big upswing on Pinnacle in September, I have pretty much been breaking even over the past 2 months, perhaps slightly down. This is really, really annoying, especially since I've been on 3 separate trips throughout that time (Niagara, Regina, and now BC).

On a good note, Regina was super. I seem to run quite well in the cash games there all the time, and as a result (along with working the local regulars) I scraped together almost $15k in the $1000 cap $5/10 game in just three medium length sessions. I went deep in the $1,050 main event tournament just to have 99 beat up by J5 for a pot that would have put me more than double average. I busted shortly after to finish on what would have been the true bubble if not for the field deciding to pay out $1000 to 3 extra spots. That seems to be a pretty common trend in Regina tourneys and the big stacks never seem to mind which is cool.

My buddy Chris Bercier ended up taking the tournament down for almost $50k which was awesome (plus I had 10% of him which makes it even better!). Congrats Berc! Well deserved win from a very down-to-earth, respectful, and solid player.

I think I mentioned in my last entry about my interest in becoming an Air Traffic Controller possibly. Well, once again, that has gone by the wayside as I came to reality about some things. I think we are valuing the flexibility poker affords my family too much. Especially with another baby on the way, this is so valuable. I was hoping if I could get into something else that I'd still have a decent amount of time to pursue my poker, but that is just so unrealistic once I started thinking about it. With the intense year of ATC training (without any guarantee of actually getting in), a new baby, and all sorts of other stuff we'd have no life and no flexibility to do any of the things we enjoy. I love poker and the lifestyle when it's going well, I just gotta suck it up when it's going badly.

Which brings us to right now. First off, I'd like to mention an experience I had on the flight out to BC. I sat in the middle seat of the 1st row of a Westjet flight, right next to an older lady (age 78 I later found out) named Loraine. She was born and raised her whole life in Winnipeg, and just 2 years ago decided to move out to Vancouver to be closer to two of her three kids. She said she wished she had of made the move 7 years ago when her husband died and couldn't talk enough about how much she loved Vancouver (though she did not bash her lifelong hometown of Winnipeg).

We talked back and forth for at least 80% of the 3 or so hour flight. Her stories and wit were incredible. She seemed so interested and caring about everything I said, and though she had no idea about poker, her questions were very intelligent and her assumptions of the pros and cons of such a lifestyle were usually bang on.

At one point we didn't speak for a few minutes while I went back to my book and she watched some TV. Then out of nowhere she asked "Are you religious?". And being a little surprised by the question (just out of the blue like that), I stumbled around what I wanted to say but the jist was "not in the typical sense, I just like to hope there is something more for us and if we lead a "good" life it will be granted, but that I struggle with the notion of blind faith and the concepts of many religions don't sit well with me". She just nodded and I found myself a little disappointed that I felt she was judging me negatively for the first time in our conversations over something as stupid as religion.

After a minute or so, I asked her the exact question back to see what she had to say, "Are you religious?". She didn't say anything for about 20 seconds, I wasn't even sure if she heard me. Then she said "I've seen a lot of bad things in this world, some intentional, most not. All of it pointless and I don't see it fitting into any sort of plan. I spent my whole life believing in God and was raised with those principles. It has helped me grow old. I don't know what the real answers are, but I think as long as you believe in something, anything, anyone, you'll be ok. If you leave this world and have made it a better place than when you started, you'll be ok. Fill your life with love and you'll be ok Travis."

When the flight landed, I walked her to baggage, met one of her daughters (who laughed and said it must have been one LOOOONG flight with her Mom), hugged Lorainne and told her it was one of the most enjoyable conversations I've ever had (and I meant it). Wherever you are Lorainne, may whatever God there may be bless you. You are an incredible and beautiful lady.

Now, in a perfect world, I'd leave the airport after that great experience on the plane, go to River Rock filled with good Karma and clean up. Well, ummmm, that didn't quite happen. I jumped on a $10/25 table around 10pm, and to make a long story short, I got worked like I never have before. My Niagara experience just continued right into River Rock, but even worse. Every single big pot I got turned or rivered. I hit the nuts on the flop (be it top set, straight, whatever) at least six times and lost (most of which I folded before showdown, but am pretty sure I was beat everytime). I dropped every penny I made in Regina including the horse bonus from Bercier. I completely busted before I even checked into my hotel room (I had to leave my luggage at the front desk since I didn't have a key and Zenni was in a tourney when I got there).

Between borrowing a little cash to save a trip to a bank, and getting a little cash from someone who owed me out here, I have slightly under $10k to work with now. I played some $5/10 last night and saw the game is much, much softer but the stacks are still close to what they were at $10/25. Much more profitable game (though running so shitty in the $10/25 sort of skewed my impression of it). Anyway, I scraped together a tiny profit last night (not even quite paying for the tournament I played and got screwed out of). I would have made more if not for the world's worse fold of KK to an underboard against a tilting player. I don't know what I was thinking. Hard to not get a little gunshy after getting worked over in so many hands recently.

So anyway, after dumping a little more trying to qualify for Bahamas PCA, I'm significantly down on this trip and it's feeling like a long road to recovery, but I'll see what I can do.

One good blip of news is we discovered the leaking in our basement is NOT the foundation, but a simple puncture hole from a nail in the sump pump pipe which was caused by the carpenter who put in the new bedroom/office in our basement (most likely when nailing back in the baseboards). I'm hoping Handyman Connection's insurance will cover all damage and repairs necessary. But even if they don't the repairs will be under $1000 probably, plus some new carpeting. That's better than $30k of foundation repair.

So, that's that. Not much else to say. Back to the grind. Got a good sleep for once, and am planning on pulling about a long session today and try to recoup some of the disaster I got myself into here. Sigh....I gotta admit I miss the days of marathon sessions and enjoying every second of it. But, right now I just gotta focus on making good plays and hopefully things turn around. My play so far has been mediocre at best, though it's tough to evaluate properly when I'm just dealing with crappy setups at every turn.

The $2,700 main event is tomorrow. I'll try to update again later in the trip. Take it easy guys. Peace.

Entry Tags:

Nov 20, 08 16:14:33

If you do decide to try and become an ATC, I wish you all the best of luck. It's a very interesting and challenging occupation. I'm almost done with my training now, and start to work in February. I dream of someday working in the US, although I realize that's very unlikely..

ATC