Barking at the Moon

I think the world of WOW is read to really go main stream considering what I saw last night. I saw a commercial for the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, on ESPN. I guess I didn’t realize the target audience for the WOW would be watching highlights from the weekends football games. So if the people at Blizzard are convinced that spending large sums of money during a NFL recap show to pimp there product, then I must be doing the right thing by playing.



Ozzy fits right in with his eloquent speech truly inspiring me to want to run to the store and purchase the latest expansion. Who wouldn’t be driven by the clear and concise dialog the flows from his mouth…like music to my ears. Maybe the should have used Bark at the Moon as back ground music.

My Inner Geek

Knowing your geekish tendencies is important in the grand scheme of things. I have no problem with the fact I played Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid…hell, just the other day my son pulled out my container of various die and asked “Dad…what’s this?” I answered, “Why that is a 20-sided die.” I have a whole crap load of the various utensils of destruction needed to play the game…I still have my copy of the Monster Manual, Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters’ Guide, Monster Manual 2 and even the Deities and Demigods book. You never know, maybe I’ll want to get the stuff out and play again. I am content with my inner geek.

So you ask why I would bring up D&D? I guess because I’ve been playing WOW and actually enjoy playing. I guess it should be a surprise that I like the game and even though I can’t seem to keep the monsters off of waffles as well as I should, it is a fun little game. And if you break it down, it only cost about 2 cents and hour to play. 90% of the online poker world should think about that because they would lose less money if they paid money to play a game where that can’t win anything back.

I played for a few hours…like 15 hours over the weekend. I have 2 characters going and mailed some silver pieces to my 2nd character, An Orc Warlock, so that he could afford some other things. My Undead Warrior is doing well and is up to 20th level. I have found that some of these quests need multiple players to get them done without fear of death so maybe I can convince a few people to give it a try.

As far as poker goes, I played in a Bodog free roll the other day. I don’t count that as playing because I didn’t put any money up. Anyway, the play was horrific, even for a free roll and I lost interest after about 2/3 of the field was gone. I had a workable stack and I think the structure there is pretty good but I didn’t like the software at all. There seemed to be stalls and hiccups and I wasn’t always sure where I was at during a hand. I’m sure I could get use to it but while I’m on hiatus, there is no need.

Is There a Return in the Future

Well it has been ten days since I started my hiatus. I spend the long evenings looking at the screen of my laptop…I look and wonder what it would be like to slip my toe back into the waters of online poker. Is it the draw of the game…Is it the draw of the competition…Is it addiction…Am I just a loser that has nothing better to do with my time? I am a lurker. I watch friends play to fill up the empty space left by my exodus from online poker.

Actually, I’ve been playing WOW and having a blast. I hooked up with waffles the other night and watch him kill things in one shot that would take me much longer to kill. I guess being a 70th level Undead Rogue has its advantages. Anyway, I have leveled up pretty good, 16th level, but I’m running out of time on my free trial. I guess I’ll have to run to the store and buy it so I can waste more time until my hiatus is over. Hell, the cost of the game is much less then my monthly juice/rake so it is all good.

I played live last Friday. I wasn’t going to play because I was short of funds but I made a deal to trade some Pay Pal money for the buy-in and went on my way. It was a $35 buy-in with $5 going to the house for food and drinks and $10 going to a bounty. We had three full tables of various skill levels with the typical calling stations and agro lagtards. My first table had a nemesis sitting two to my left. He thinks A4 is a great hand to call two raises with and over plays junk all the time. There was also my old boss, worldpoker05 on full tilt, who is very tight and a number of players that I’ve played enough to have good basic reads of them.

First couple of orbits I played tight until I found AK in latish position. I raised 3x to 150 and was called my nemesis. The flop was QT3 with two spades and I fired a continuation bet of 200 into the pot of 375 and he called. He could have either the straight draw or a flush draw as well as either or pairing the Q and T. I he is a good enough player to fold a whiffed pot so I know he has a piece of it. The turn brings me an off suit J giving me the straight. I thought a bit and tossed out 250 into the pot of 775. I was trying to feign weakness but he just called. At this point, I hope he has two pair and because I know he will call an overbet for value. The river is a 7 and I tank a bit. This is a bounty tourney so I want his bounty chip but will he call a shove or even a small bet. I shove hoping he thinks I missed the flush draw and he folds. He later said he folded T9. To bad an 8 didn’t hit the river.

Shortly after that hand I was moved to the TV table. We watched the Blackhawks game in between hands. Anyway, It didn’t take me long to realize that most of the players like to limp and see flops so I opened up my range a bit and began to make raises. I won the blinds with T8, A7, A5 and 53 before someone re-raised me. I actually had a hand with AQ but folded after a couple minutes of thinking. That didn’t stop me though. I raised with Ax and bet at a Kxx board and took it down. I also came over the top of limpers a few times and enjoyed watching them slam their cards in the muck as I pulled the chips in to my stack. Before I knew it, I had 13K while the next biggest stack had maybe 3200. By this point the blinds started to mean something and I continued to put pressure on the players. I asked players there chip counts and raised half there stack over and over again. Nobody played back at me…until a shorty pushed after I,,,limped…with AQ suited. I knew he would have to push with the blinds coming and wanted him to commit his chips. His A7 was no match. As we got ready to move to the final table I made one call that was very questionable…well it was actually dumb. A shorty pushed for less then the SB and I called from the SB position. The big blind pushed over the top. To 2025. I was getting about 1.6 to one to call while holding 56 suited. I was looking at busting two players for about 10% of my chips stack. Really I was playing against the raiser and I figured him to have a big ace so I was close to the right odds minus the shorty. I made the call and was happy to see that the raiser had pocket 2s. The shorty had me dominated with his 75 but the flop came and gave me a 6 to take the lead. I was gold until the river when a 2 hit and gave the stack to the raiser. I guess it was the wrong play but it almost worked.

At the final table I was an average stack…maybe a bit above. Anyway, it was tight as the blinds were getting huge. In one hand, my nemesis limped from early position and it folded to me in the BB. I checked blind and we saw a flop of 544. I announced ”I guess I should look at my cards” and checked. He made a pot size bet and I came over the top for all of my chips. He tanked a bit and folded JJ face up. So as a good sport I turned over my 82 off suit. He went on major tilt and bled chips for the next 30 minutes. I got a couple of high 5s but I knew I would have to tighten up. And that killed my game.

I was never able to get much going and players folded to my raises because they knew I had something when I raised. The real problem was the short stacks and idiots trading chips back and forth. We didn’t lose anyone for an hour and fight though I might, I could gain any traction. I finally pushed on the bubble and got called by the big stack. Yes I missed the cash and a chance to replenish my online bankroll a bit.

The bluff was a huge thing in may ways. It hurt me a bit tonight but all of those players will remember it. I can use that when I have a hand…and I will.

Ethics...What Do I Do?!

So what do I do.

I was asked to coach the 14U travel team for YYBS, the governing board for baseball and softball in my town. This is the same group that gave me the chance to run the 12U travel team last year before handing it to a friend of the program for this season. Anyway, the current 14U coach was the only person to put there name into the hat and the board decided they don’t want her running the team next season. So I know become a friend of the program.

When I was first contacted about this opportunity I was excited to have a chance at running a team again. But after reflecting I realize that the reason Softball E. is playing someplace else this year is for the same reason the asked me to coach, in a sense. You see, there is a protocol that should be followed. You need to put in an application and have the board vote on who will run the team. They informed me that I didn’t have to apply and only had to meet with the executive portion of the board to be approved. Now if you remember back a year ago I was running the 12U team bur was circumvented from coaching this year by the coach of the 10U team who went to the board and said none of the girls who moved up would play for anybody but her.

So, what is going to stop this from happening again? I don’t want constraints placed on me and how I am going to coach these children. The whole reason they want to replace the existing manager is because a board members daughter didn’t get to play as much as he would like. Hell, his daughter was one of the players who kept SE from moving up. When he called me about the position, he complained about his daughter only playing right field and pitching. In truth, his daughter isn’t that good and the only reason she pitched and made the team was because he was a board member. It sounds like sour grapes but it is a fact. I’m not willing to compromise my integrity by have daughters of the program make the team even if the are not good enough. Every child is given a chance to play but playing on a travel team should be earned…not given because your father is a board member.

Now it is time to make the decision and I think I have to turn it down. I don’t like people circumventing the system. The system was put into play to avoid these situations and it is being ignored. If they had asked me a month ago to but my name in the hat I may have done it because then I could have filled out an application and gone through the proper steps but now I have to say no.

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I’d like to say congratulations to surf on chopping 1st place in a live tourney down in Tunica. He was on an epic journey with tripjax to the famed Okie-vegas event and met up with DB for a mid trip poker frenzy. Way to go man.

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Tomorrow is my birthday and I will spend it like I have spent the last 20 or so birthdays. I will be at a softball tourney. The only difference is I wont be playing for a change. I will be turning 40 tomorrow and ready for the next 40.

As far as poker goes, I will start again next week after my WoW trial is over. I have come to the realization that I am not addicted to poker but addicted to action. I would have no problem switching time consuming endeavors to a game like this. Is there room in my life for a WoW blog?

Have a great weekend.

Sometimes

When I got home last night I didn’t have any intention of playing poker. I was going to play WOW with waffles and have a great adventure. But on the way home I talked to Surf and he told me about a link to watch the final table of the WSOP so I fired up the laptop when I got home and got the link from SLB. So as I watch I fired up a $5 MTT and then signed up for a Horse MTT. Then Surf convinces me to play The Monkey on Stars so I go from not playing to being over loaded. So let us start with the first tourney.

I chipped up nice and had a better the double stack after the first 30 minutes of play. The best hand was catching an over flush vs. a guy who doubled me up nice. I made a few plays at pot but started to dwindle down a little when I find kings in the SB. UTG limps and all fold to me. I throw a 4x raise out there trying to take it down or get heads up but the BB calls as does UTG. The flop is 10 high but semi coordinated so I tank a bit on how to play this. I put UTG on AQ, AJ, KQ,KJ and maybe QJ. I figure the BB to hold a small pocket pair. I push to make myself look weak and to protect against a gut shot cuz these monkeys will call with gut shots. Anyway, the BB folds and UTG tanks. After using most of his time bank he call. What do you think he held? AQ or should I say the nuts? I’m ahead to 3 aces or running cards. So after a good start and a great opportunity to chip up I’m done when and A hits the river.

As for The Monkey tourney, I climbed the ladder slowly but made a bad play vs a short stack when he value bet me and I felt he was weak. It was a weak hand but just stronger than mine. Anyway, I chipped back up and on the final table bubble I get KJ on the button and raise it 3x and the SB calls. The flop is Axx and he bets out. Now I’ve made this play before with a weak ace so I re-raise him thinking he has to fold a weak ace to my pre-flop raise. He pushes his chips in and I have to call for value and he did have a weak ace. It was still better tan my hand but I’m not sure I could call there. So I end up on the Final table bubble.

On to Horse and what a game. I play patient solid poker and moved up us the game went along. A little before the bubble I called a raise in stud while holding a version of the stud hammer as in 772. 4th street pairs my 2 and 5th street gives me a boat and I bust the guy to move into the chip lead. On the bubble I lost a big chunk of chips when I had an OESD, flush draw and a draw to the low in stud h/l but it didn’t come in. If I win that hand I am way out in front but instead I have to fight to get to the money. I cashed and got my money in with the best hand but was out drawn.

After that I played some WOW and leveled up my new character so waffles and I can play tonight.

Also, this is the last weekend for softball for a while. There may be a fall league but we’re not sure yet.

Have a great day.

WoW, Poker, and Softball

Waffles convinced me to play some World of Warcraft the other day so I went to the website and started the download for the 3+ gig file. After about 3 hours I was ready to play. I knew where he had started so I created a similar character in hopes of meeting up with him. By the time I found him, three days later he was way to high a level and didn’t want to fight the monsters I could beat. We have talked since and we will probably start new characters at the same time and do it all over again.

I haven’t played much poker. A couple of SNGs here and there but no real effort has been spent at the tables. A little break from the game might be good but I know I would have played if not for WoW.

Softball is winding down with this weekend being that last tourney on the schedule. It sounds like there is only going to be a couple of teams in it so hopefully we’ll be done in time for Softball E. to play in an all-star game she was asked to attend. After the season we will sit down and evaluate the season and discuss what we are going to do next year. She has three or four choices so we will go over the pros and cons of each and create the plan of action. More than likely she will try out for four different teams and we will pick the one that is the best fit for her. She would like to stay with the same team as it moves up to the next level but right now I don’t think it is the best choice and here is why.

The coaches for her team have created a group that can beat weak teams but not good teams. They insist on using one of the pitchers(coaches daughter) against good teams because she throws strikes. Good team hit the ball all over the place on her and run up the score because everything they hit is hit hard. Another example of stupidity is taking a girl who had never played 3rd base and having her play there in a tourney game. At the same time they took the regular 3rd baseman and had her put her at 2nd base. So you have two girls playing positions that they are not use to playing. The sad part is that they teach the girls well with all the drills and stuff but they have no idea hoe to work a line-up. They took the girl who has lead off every game of the year and has stolen more bases than I can count and put her behind the slowest player on the team. So they took the biggest weapon they had and nullified it. They also have the two best hitters on the team batting 8th and 9th. Both of these girls have the ability to drive the ball through the outfield and each is hitting .500 or better. And finally, the thing that pisses me of is that they quit using my daughter as a pitcher cuz nobody could catch her and that she was had to be used at short stop. The thing they don’t understand is that a good pitcher makes your defense better.

So know that the rant is all but over I’ll put together a list of things that I think they need to improve on as managers so they can actually do their jobs correctly.