CardRunners

Tonight I'm going on another ride along with one of my best friends in East San Jose. Last time I did this, I had a blast. He works the graveyard shift so I'll head down there around 9pm and stay with him until 4 or 5am. The thing that excites me most, and is most alluring about a profession in law enforcement, is the unknown. You never know what you are going to encounter on any given night. It can be the most boring of nights, or we can get in a high speed chase. I'm really hoping for the latter. Last time we mostly dealt with gang members and one DUI accident. I'm really excited to see what tonight brings.

Christmas was awesome. I got to catch up with a lot of my family, had great food, and received a bunch of great and useful presents. My sister got me a car cover, which I thought was creative and is much needed. I got a lot of clothes, some dvds, gift cards, money, etc. As I normally do, I stuck with electronics and got my parents a blu ray player.

Poker continues to go well. I'm calling it a weekend since this morning was somewhat swingy and I kinda feel like shit. I put in 743 hands and won 5 buyins for a nice 33ptbb/100. Unless I tilt in the few remaining december days, I will have no had a losing month in 08. Considering I barely played in 2007, I'm really happy with these results.

Here are my favorite hands from today. Villian had been 3 betting me like crazy and wrecklessly cbetting. (I really hate how stars doesn't flip the hands up when we get it AI. I nearly tilted when I bricked and was shocked when I scooped the pot). It felt REALLY good to stack this guy twice.

www.pokerhand.org/

www.pokerhand.org/

Monday I'm going to sleep (after the ride along), meet up with a good friend for lunch, meet up with another good friend for dinner, then leave Tuesday morning for South Lake Tahoe. Life's good.

-Spud

Vegas was a great time as always.  We got up early Saturday morning, roasted, then drove. I slept 3 of the 4 hours, so I had a great trip.  We arrived at MGM around noon, met up with some of my buddy's UofA friends in their room, did more partaking in tribal ritualistic events and headed to Wolfgang Puck's to eat. After lunch I aspired to start a poker session, but instead found myself asleep in the room until 5. Go figure.

So after my nap I headed down to the poker room, where there was no wait. I played a couple hours of 1/2 and won about $100. Only real significant hand was after raising 3 straight hands I picked up 99 utg and again raised to $10. Got 2 callers including this older gentleman who was playing bizzare. Flop came K high rainbow and I led out. MP caller folded and older guy calls. Turn is a 9. I fire out again, a bit smallish, he insta announces "I'm allin" and I snap call. I'm not sure what he mucked, I think a K.  I began to get bored and was just socializing, so I decided to leave and go meet Heis at Tao where he had already started dinner. I showed up late, ate dinner, then we headed over to the nightclub.  We had a few bottles of ketel and got pretty loaded. After this a bunch of us played blackjack until 6am.  I think I won $300 or so. After 2 hours of sleep, we woke up, went and again prepped for del taco, then order del taco and drove back.  Great quick trip.

So now I'm about to leave the office and drive north to San Francisco for awhile. (thanks to the member that recommended the valentine one radar detector, I'm ordering one today). I'm way excited to take some time off work and relax back home. I'll probably have a bunch of time to put in some hands online, which I intend to do.  It appears I'm no longer swinging, especially down, and have had a few successful days in a row.  Actually, I just climbed out of the red this month and am up a few buyins. I'll take it and hopefully build up more.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season spent with loved ones and friends. Until next time...

-Spud

I'm in town this week and I couldn't be happier about it. 2008 saw me travel about 3.5-4 weeks per 5 and it just wore on me. I gladly welcome the time spent home and am completely savoring it. At this point in my life, not traveling consists of merely being in the pacific time zone, or perhaps, cali or nevada. Sadly, and for reasons unknown, I can't convince my internal clock that I'm in pst and I continue to fall asleep before 10 and wake up before 5 or 6am.

Because my gaming license still is pending approval, I didn't go to Preque Isle Downs this week.  It's probably dumping snow out there and miserable. It's getting "colder" in sb and we've even had slight rain. This poor weather used to be reason for concern in my civic, as I truly treated that thing like shit. The wipers just pushed rain and dirt around; the defrost took a few hours; I was near resorting to sticking my head out the window. But then my M3 arrived, complete with rain sensing wipes and defrost that works.

The dealership drove the car from LA to SB yesterday so finalllllly I parted with my college car, shed one or two tears, reminised about all the moments with it, and drove the new ride home. I'm setting the over/under on my first speeding ticket at one month. In fact, it could easily be 2 weeks and still be very fair, as I'm probably making three long drives.

Friday I'm most likely heading down to LA for my good friend Peter's birthday dinner and drinks. I think we're heading to Jones on Santa Monica after dinner. I'll probably spend the night in LA then drive to Vegas Saturday morning. My good friend/coworker Craig and his boys are meeting out there to go to the bowl game for their college, UofA. After the game I think we're getting a table at Tao, partying, then heading back Sunday. It's been about a month since I've been out to LV and I have the itch. Besides, the next trade show is March 1 and I definitely can't wait that long.

Next week I'm driving up to SF for Christmas. Christmas eve is spent with Dad's side of the family, Christmas day with Mom's. I love this time of the year, as business slows down a bit, and you get to spend time with family and friends.  Like Thanksgiving Christmas falls perfectly on a Thursday, turning the week into a 4 day weekend. Much needed.

NYE 09 I've decided on South Lake Tahoe to snowboard, gamble, party. Gold rented a sweet cabin for 3 nights.  I haven't partied for new years in tahoe for a couple years now, but have always had an absolute blast. So I'm def looking forward to this.  That'll close up another wild year filled with tons of work, tons of travel, tons of memories, ups, downs, and everything in between.

I'll probably do some sort of year end recap just so I can actually visualize the year in words, see what I accomplished and also attempt to plan out a bunch of goals for 09. That's it for now...

-Spud

Poker sucked this weekend. But buying a car made it better. I played impatient and extremely poor poker and dropped a bunch of buyins playing outside of my bankroll.  As always, the result is me being pissed for 5 minutes and then finding something else to do.

I went to the Santa Barbara BMW dealership and looked at cars. I told the guy what I was looking for, price range, etc and he showed me my dream car the audi A5 (I think audi and bmw share a dealership in SB). I asked him if I was poorly communicating because this in no way fits what I told him I was looking for, nor was it anywhere close to what I wanted to spend. They didn't have a great selection, but I did test drive a A4 that I really liked. He sat me down, we went over pricing, I got him excited, then I left.  A4's don't give me that same feeling I have when I'm driving a M3, maybe it's the hundred fewer hp.

Sunday I test drove a M3 that was for sale in Ventura by a private party. It was silver, didn't have navigation, but everything else was awesome. I left with a happy feeling, knowing I perhaps had found the car. But I had scheduled another M3 test drive down in LA, more specifically Cerritos, at a dealership down there.  It was black on black (which I realllly wanted), had navigation system, SMG, and was fully loaded. I loved it, so I bought it. They're doing some minor work this week, like smog checking, detailing, etc, so I still have to go back sometime and pick it up. I'm extremely excited as I've been driving a honda civic for 7 years and am slightly upgrading. The best part is they bought back my beater, so I don't have to waste time trying to clean it, fix it, or sell it. I'm just trading it + money.

'm just enjoying my time in Santa Barbara.  Our company dinner is Friday night. I have a few parties to go to this weekend, and I'm tentatively leaving for Erie, PA on Sunday or Monday for work next week. I'll upload some pics later to liven the blog up a bit. Run good....

-Spud

Wednesday I showed up to the casino only to be greeted by someone from the Pennsylvannia Gaming Commission who informed me that because my application has not yet been received and approved that I can't work at the site the secured areas. So I was escorted out, called my boss who told me to hop on a plane.  So I took a flight out of Cleveland to O'Hare and finally LAX, to arrive in SB late Wednesday night. I'm not going to get into any detail what so ever, but F United. Anyone who travels regularly, or hardly ever should just avoid this pos company. Trust me.

Pretty ridiculous that I worked 1 day on the east coast, yet my body has adjusted to the time zone and I'm now tired way too early, and waking up long before I want to. I actually think my body just doesn't know where it is ever since I'm never "home" to settle.

Today I'm heading down to Orange County to meet with a police department about video surveillance. We have some very cool technology that essentially caters to the needs of the police department and transportation market, so I expect good things to come from this demo/meeting. After the meeting I'm testing a car in West LA. Unless for some reason A. I'm just not impressed with it (highly unlikely) or B. I find something wrong with it, I think I'll pull the trigger sometime shortly after the test drive since I'm going to be in town this weekend and next week. Given my schedule, I have to take advantage of the time I'm in town to get things done.

I've only put in about 350 hands so far this month, but have started off well.  Here are some of my bigger winners and losers to start the month. As always, any feedback is appreciated.

www.pokerhand.org/  Villian was being super aggro and super spewy. Against a standard opponent this is probably an awful call on the river, but factoring in game flow and image, I was pretty confident making this call.

www.pokerhand.org/  Another questionable call on the river. I felt like I was ahead on the flop and checked the turn for pot control. Villian seemed like he was making a play on me out of frustration since I had been raising and 3 betting him every hand without one show down.

www.pokerhand.org/  I posted this hand in the forums and everyone said I should fold this river. I put him on Kx solely and went with my gut. Standard play would be an easy fold though, as the board is obviously beyond terrible.

www.pokerhand.org/  Awful opponent.  Just wanted to get it in good, with outs and take care of him. Unfortunately he showed up with a great hand and I lost the race.

www.pokerhand.org/  Pretty good example of why to not play a big hand in an unraised pot. I'm not even sure I like my call.  In a raised pot I'll usually 3 bet for thin value with 2 pair here.

I'm now realyzing my 3 biggest hands were all hero calls. I'm not sure if this means I'm just making great reads, or if I'm just spewing too much. Hopefully I'll have some easier spots when i put in some more hands as these are all such marginal situations. I'm hoping I can build on my great November and possibly move up to 100nl by Decembers end, although with work and all of the holidays getting hands in is going to be tough so realistically my goal should be by the end of January.

Have a good weekend guys.

-Spud

I've been extremely busy the past 2 weeks and have had little motivation to update the blog.  I left off in Vegas and ended up having a great trip. I had some excellent dinners at Olives, Del Friscos, and Strip Steak to close the week, and partied it up at Lavo, Blush, and Tryst. Del Friscos had these words above the bar that will forever be engrained in my head, "Do Right, and Fear No Man."  Pretty damn inspirational. If any of you guys are looking to have the best meal in Vegas, look no further than Strip Steak at Mandalay Bay.  Get the rib cap steak and pretty much any of the sides, and send me a thank you note later. Easily the best I've had in Vegas.  Specfuckintacular.

Flew home from Vegas and had a relaxing weekend in SB, except for getting the shit kicked outta me at the tables. I dropped 5 buyins to some cardrack and was miserable. It finally rained in SB which was really nice. On monday I turned 27 years old. I still feel 21 so all is good.

Wednesday I drove up to San Francisco for thanksgiving.  I immediately met up with my shit faced friends at Circa in the marina. They had been drinking for 7hrs and I couldn't catch up.  So at 2am when we went to Mel's diner, I was completely sober and they were the complete opposite. I wish I could have recorded the late night meal, but it included a mini food fight, countless threats from the manager and then finally a bit of a brawl in the restaurant with the guys at the table next to us. Seeing this unfold through sober eyes was surreal.  The manager kicked us out for causing it and was so pissed/scared that he didn't charge us. Pretty fuckin embarrassing. But also hilarious.

Thursday/Thanksgiving was great as I got to spend it with a lot of my family and celebrate my Dad's birthday. I'm truly thankful for them, as well as all of my friends (including the dumbasses from wednesday night).  I spent the rest of the weekend shopping, getting random shit done, and on Saturday cooked my parents a gumbo.  I took pictures and might post an illustrated receipe.

Monday morning I have a flight at 830am from SFO to Erie, PA. I get miserable thinking about it. A. the weather looks like fuckin shit when I google "erie weather" and B. I'm not looking forward to the installation. I have no winter clothes and it's supposed to snow. I booked a room with a jacuzzi in the event I need to thaw out. I'll be there until Saturday.

Once I get back I'm putting the majority of my effort into car hunting. I've decided on buying a used M3 black/black and am finding out that this isn't the easiest thing to find. I don't really have the time to travel for a car, but I know that in the current economy and time of the year, I can probably find a decent deal. I had toyed with the idea of getting a bike, but since I like life, I'd rather just get a fast car.

Poker was going well before the 5 buyin clusterfuck. Now it's just been a continuous rollercoaster. I would love to one day get this simple concept down.  Play long sessions when I'm playing well, and play short sessions when I'm not. I continue to get this wrong and it just kills me. My mentality is simple and stupid; I'm currently up and content, so stop. Or, I'm currently down and need to keep playing until I'm up. Pretty ridiculous. I should probably pick up one of the few psychological poker books that people recommend, but I don't think it would work. Anyways, I have a long week ahead of me on the east coast and need to get some rest.

Hope everyone had a great November and has an even better December.

-Spud

The Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center starts today.  We spent the past two days setting up the booth and things look great. Technically my part, the engineering side, is done. Although I usually end up giving a few demos when our sales guys are busy.  The days are typically spent hanging out, schmoozing, and recovering from a severe hangover. So a pretty lax week in general.

I went to Naked Fish Saturday night and definitely wasn't disappointed.  The sushi was superb, especially the garlic tuna. The zero tiger roll was also delicious.  Last night we went to Sushi Samba at Palazzo. The meal was fantastic.  I went with Taylor and Ezra in Chicago and really enjoyed it, but a dish I got last night, their hot rock kobe beef was ridic. I still think I like japonais more, but this is definitely up there. I'm hoping we're done with sushi for the week.

4 friends from Santa Barbara are rolling in tonight to crash with us and party the next two nights. Usually we get a table at a nice club and have a wild time. Because of the various nutty stories I'm the lead character of during my last few tradeshows in Vegas, I've decided I'm only going to be drinking beer and "taking it easy." If you want to read about me getting kicked out of Scores, pissing off poker players/dealers, having a drinking compeition with corporate surveillance directors, getting lost, starting fights, blacking out, or anything other stupid story, refer to my past blogs. This week I intend to be a bit more mature and reasonable. I used to unintentionally drink like I'm still in college and I think that needs to change. Additionally I'm going on a month of successfully putting an end to another bad habit.

Poker continues to go very well. In fact, it's going too well and it's only a matter of time until this heater I'm on stops. It has to. I must say, something I vastly overlooked, table selection, I now recognize as critical. Rarely will I play someone Hu for the challenge and to prove I'm better than a tough opponent. I can quickly tell if someone I'm playing is a bad player, or overly aggressive, a rock, or solid.

I've also been limiting how long I play. I had a few people analyze my sessions and they pointed out that all of my long sessions were where I lost the most. Essentially I have a problem playing too long when I'm not playing/running well and playing too short when on my A game/running good. I've just decided that either way, I need to play short sessions.  I could be losing $$ in the long run to people who could potentially dump a bunch of buyins to me if I don't quit them, but I'm contend with a buyin or two profit a day and slowly grinding my way back up.

If anyone has any cool ideas about fun alternative stuff to do in Vegas, I'd love to hear it. A few ideas I had were helicopter tour (which I still haven't done), go shooting automatic guns, or simply relax and get a massage. Who knows if I'll even have time for anything though.  At some point Friday I'm flying back to SB to hopefully catch the North Carolina vs UCSB bball game at the Thunderdome.  I'm so excited. I've never seen a #1 college bball team play live and expect us to get beat by no less than 30. Go Gauchos? Till next time...

-Spuddy