Two Plus Two Older Archives - 60k in 60 days: Season 2

Fsuplayer and I are going to have a week-long challenge against each other, with the stakes being a round of golf at either Whistling Straits or TPC at Sawgrass. The object of said challenge is to force each of us to play as many hands as humanly possible in 7 days. However, since he is a current “student” (I use the term lightly [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] ) and I am a “professional” (again, lightly), it is hard to settle on the proper terms for the bet. We are both playing in the same games (10/20 6max), though I think at the moment fsuplayer is only playing 3 tables. The initial offer was to have an even money bet on me playing twice as many hands as fsuplayer, with hand scoring on the honor system. Does anyone have a better idea on how to structure this to ensure a safe and fun contest?

So I found out about my silent auction date. At this point in the story, you may want to prepare your index finger for pointing and take a deep inhale so you can save time pointing and laughing at me. And the winner is….MY HIGH SCHOOL SPEECH TEACHER. A married forty-something who I haven’t seen in four years valued my presence higher than any other goddamn female at that damn party? WTF? Someone has some ‘splainin’ to do. Anywho, I get to have dinner with her and her husband before flag football tonight. Should be rather interesting

To be honest, the whole thing makes sense in a weird sorta way. Both myself and the guy for which we had the fund raiser got along rather well with this particular teacher, and she allowed and encouraged outside-the-box thinking in the name of bringing entertainment to what was normally a boring class full of introverted floor-gazers who stuttered their way through a five-minute discourse on the history of stamp collecting. To this day, she still shows a video of my demonstrative speech to all of her speaking classes. This particular assignment allowed the speaker to choose from a vast array instructional topics, and the speaker also got to choose the intended audience, so naturally I chose to give a speech on how to play with play-dough to an audience of kindergartners. Long story short, the “Do’s and Do Not’s” section of the speech featured me eating play-doh and subsequently doing a backward somersault over the teacher’s desk and into a projector screen along with me jamming play-doh into my eyes and hair and running into walls and screaming at the top of my lungs….A+ work if I’ve ever seen it. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I started the Receptacle of Rage on Monday as a tool to calm me down while playing. Every time I raise my voice or utter a profanity while playing, $1 goes into the receptacle, which is going to go toward Radiohead tickets for my roommate and other close friends who are “spotting” me on this self-improvement exercise. Two days in, I am at $4 (One MF bomb, two F bombs, and one B missle). It’s definitely another step in the right direction…it’s hard to stay angry when my opponent hits a two-outer on me on the river and I blurt out “Oh ffffff….fiddlesticks.”

Day 28 tested my resolve on the statement I made last entry about flipping off the poker gods and punting black cats into mirrors. Three sessions into the day, I put up sessions of -$142.50, -$836, and -$105, at one point being $1500 in to the hole. I sat there and told the poker gods to go eff themselves one more time, and proceeded to finish the day with sessions of $968 and $1254.5 for a total of $1139. I ended early and decided to have a few Tanqueray Ten Martinis and watch Boondock Saints with the roomie. Although Tanqueray is my go-to gin, TQ10 is just as insanely good with a little M&R Dry, although I recommend going with the straight Tanqueray if you prefer a dirty martini.

Day 29 was pretty smooth sailing after the obligatory 30BB early downswing. Six sessions of 30 to 60 minutes. $589.50, $405, $297, -$408.50, $921.50, and -$201.50. Somehow, I got through the volatile Day 28 without a single deposit to the Receptacle of Rage, but the relatively tranquil Day 29 was chock-full of mini-outbursts. Assuming I stick with playing professionally, I think days off like Day 27 are going to be critical to my success, and will be utilized with much frequency. Even two days into the new streak and I can’t maintain full composure during turbulence. The one thing at the end of the streak which I can’t wait to see is how I handle these things once I stop having to worry about a finite goal at a finite time. I’m guessing and hoping that I will have pretty damn thick skin. Total for day 29: $1602.50.

Hands
Disjointed bluff attempt? – 4 handed, I am dealt 4d6d in the SB. The two reasons I am in the game limp from the CO and the Button. I complete, and BB (slightly too loose, reasonably aggressive, ok player) raises. Everyone calls. Flop comes 3s 2c 3h. I bet out and the BB raises, CO calls two cold and button folds. Turn is the 8c. I check, fearing the cold-caller, but BB bets out and the cold-caller folds. I decide I have a reasonable chance to pick this pot up and raise. He calls, and I bet out once more on the river when the Qh comes. I’ll be honest…I don’t think a reasonable player will buy this line…It looks like a desperate flail at a big pot, and it is a risk of a lot of chips to complete the bluff. I disliked it the second the hand was over. BTW…he called with A8s, though I think he would have called with any ace.

Mr LAG, meet the real Mr. LAG – UTG+1 (PFR of 27%...similar postflop aggression) raises my big blind. Folded to me with Ah 6c. I call. Flop comes 9s 4s 5d. I check, he bets, I raise, he 3bets, I call. Turn is the Ad. I check, he bets, I raise, he calls. River is the 3c. I bet, he calls. Standard vs. LAG?

What happened to Mr. LAG? I open-raise with KK from the CO. A loose, aggressive, and very tricky player with whom I’ve played quite a few hands calls two cold on the button, and the BB comes along as well. The flop comes T74 with 2 diamonds (I have the Kd). Checked to me, I bet, button calls, and BB folds. I check the turn when the 2c comes, hoping to checkraise, but tricky-boy checks as well. The river brings the Jc. I bet out, Button raises, and I call. I think this is one of the 10 worst hands I’ve played during the entire 60k….what do you think?

Day 28 – Goal: 2000 10/20 6m hands
Results – 1916 hands
+$1139

Day 29 – Goal: 2000 10/20 6m hands
Results: 1906 hands
-$1602.50

Cumulative results
Goal: 150000 hands (secret modified hand-scoring system)
Days 1-29: 119131 hands (extrapolated: 119131 hands)
Goal: $60000
Days 1-29: $35787.75 ($6787.75 ahead of pace, extrapolated: $74043.62)

*Note: All you people who plan on boycotting Empire are idiots. You don’t break up with a supermodel girlfriend just because she was fibbing when she told you she likes football. You people are presumably playing for profit, and some of you are professionals, and as such, should be making business decisions based solely on EV. You are, for all essential purposes, going on tilt because Empire had to correct a mistake that could have cost them millions of dollars. If you didn’t think “this is probably too good to be true,” you live in a diluted world. Get a grip and stay where you can make the most money. The games are still great, and they have a great rake rebate program. Stop letting your emotions affect your business decisions.

And, yes, I am an Empire affiliate, but does that make anything I say less true?