Before I get to the main theme of this blog post, I want to cover a few things that I’ve noticed on TV.
1. The DUI crack down commercials with the guys driving cars full of booze… None of those guys were drinking, they were simply dumping alcohol into the cars in a cocktail/swimming pool/car hybrid. “Sir have you been drinking tonight?” “No, I’ve been dumping it into the cab of my truck!”
2. We get it, MACs are cool and for young people and PCs are old, crappy, have viruses and tons of problems. Explain to me then why do most of my clients have only PCs and why the one client that has a mixture of both has more problems with MACs then PCs?
3. I’m over Mike Vick with the Eagles. He did some horrendous stuff, he did his time, I believe he should have the chance to earn a living. Now some of you might say, “If I did those same things, was fired from my job, did my time, no way would they let me back…” Correct, but you aren’t a professional athlete. You don’t have the type of talents and skills and Mike Vick does. If you were one of the 50 best accountants in the world and you fought and killed a bunch of dogs, did your time and came back, and there was some verifiable way to prove you were one of the 50 best accountants. I don’t think you’d have a problem getting a job.
The NFL is entertainment, it’s why Robert Downey Jr has had 9 chances, it’s why Artie Lange is on the most popular Radio Show in the country and making $75 thousand a show doing stand up. When you are that good at a profession that entertains millions and generates billions in revenue, you’re going to get a second chance, and probably a third… Is it fair? No, but life isn’t fair my friend.
4. LeGarrette Blount should be suspended for the rest of the season for punching Byron Hout after the Oregon and Boise State football game. HOWEVER, there should be more of an investigation into what Hout said to LeGarrette prior to the sucker punch. Blount was heading off the field not even paying attention to Hout when Hout, waived his hand in front of Blount, tapped on his shoulder and then obviously taunted him.
This does not excuse Blount for what he did, never should a sucker punch like that happen. However, after the contest, after the score has been settled and no more play is to happen, players should celebrate sportsmanship, there should be no more taunting, there should be no more pushing and shoving and showmanship. You cherish your victory, you congratulate your opponent on a game well played, and you walk off the field. You do not seek out someone’s attention and taunt them. What Hout said should be made public and he should receive some sort of public punishment much like Blount.
I went to Atlantic City this weekend, and I love AC. I love playing poker. To me, poker is not a game of luck, it’s more skill. Yes there is a certain amount of luck, but you can control how much of that affects you but dictating your play and by managing expectations. I like to think I’m a pretty good poker player. I’ve played in a number of tournaments around here and more often than not I am in the money. I’ve won 2-3 large tournaments around here, and when smaller games of less than 15 gather and I play, more often than not I’m in the money. In fact over the last month, I played three free 90 person sit-n-go tournaments on FullTilt Poker and I placed in all three. I played three small tournaments at a friends place, I won two and finished second in one. In a cash game with some other friends. Out of the $120 worth of cash put in the pot, $7o of it was won by me.
Needless to say it takes a bit more than luck to have those kind of stats. Also in the last few times I’ve been to AC, I’ve won more than I lost playing poker. In AC my game is 2/4 limit. Why? Because the first time I went to AC to play poker I played 1/2 no limit and lost my shirt. Ever since then I’ve played limit to minimize damage per hand and I’ve left up each and every time.
I played mostly before the poker boom happened, before poker rooms expanded and people who won a few hands online decided they were pros. I know I’m not a pro, but I at least have some sort of track record. I don’t expect anyone in AC to show me respect because I won a few games in Lancaster County.
Last night I sat at 2/4 limit with $300 just after midnight at the Casino. I began playing, putting my money in a few hands to see how people reacted to me. I saw three showdowns, lost one to a guy who said to me, “That was ugly, no reason for me to be in that hand, you played it perfectly, I’m embarrassed.”
I was up and down, a couple loose players and some bad cards. More often than not I was getting in a hand and folding to someone over betting a middle pair on the flop. It’s been a while since playing in AC I had to get my barrings back. After shuffling through a bunch of new players I was starting to make some money back, was around $250 and able to play 1 of 3 hands and making money on half of those. That’s when it happened, a guy I’d been taking chips from all night moved next to me, the end of the table filled with new players, we played like this for a while, a small pot here or there just to stay at $250. Finally the new players got tired of losing and left, then a guy who was taking pots like me got tired of trading chips with me, and he left and finally our table folded and we were replaced.
Put at another table, when cards were hot… and yes, cards matter. You can bet when you don’t have cards, but you can’t win very much. If you want to win, you sit and wait for premium hands and use betting patterns to beat your opponents. After sitting at the new table, I hit a cold run of cards. Basically just hemorrhaging blinds and getting impatient getting crap cards that all of a sudden low suited connectors and any unsuited connectors above a 7 start to look good. The chips start to bleed away. This is where my out of practice at AC comes into play. Had I gone more, I’d have been able to know to just calm down and wait for the cards to come so I can actually make some moves. I’m down about 100 or 120 and I barely have seen turn.
Finally, I get a decent set of cards, 10’s. I raise the blinds, get called by a few. Flop Hits an A 9 10. I flop a set. I bet again and get raised. I call the raise. next card is a 5. He bets, I raise, he raises, I max raise he calls. Final card is an A. He checks I bet, he calls. He has A9 for the Boat. I Have 10s and Aces. In no limit would this have happened, would I have lost $30 in chips for a guy with 2 pair when I could just bet $60 against his 2 pair and have him fold? Hard to say.
I play along for a while, recover most of my chips, we have 3 empty seats and 3 people walk in together and sit. They are all talking, all Asian and all of them know the dealer. In listening to the convo they all work together AT THIS CASINO!!!! Is this fair? Probably not.
All of a sudden the 3 that just sit down hit an amazing run of cards, all of them are just trading pot here pot there, one of them bets, the others fold. It’s obvious they are teaming up. They know when someone bets the others fold. None of them sat with more than $75 and all have doubled their chips. I make an observation, “wow you guys all sit and start winning out of no where… seems when you have the nuts, they have nothing all of a sudden.” Silence over the table, I basically just accused them of cheating. And all of a sudden, the winning stops. They aren’t raking pots anymore, and they are muttering to themselves about “now see who’s winning.”
I get back some of my chips and start watching players, there is a particularly annoying player who keeps yelling “Miss Deal” when her cards suck. It actually caused one guy to muck his cards early, very shady.
I notice she always throws a $5 for a $2 bet and makes her own change. Sometimes the deal sees sometimes not. Then I see it, $5 chip for a $2 bet, she makes her own change. Then the dealer sees the $5 chip, and throws $3 to her.
I shake my head, could it be she’s cheating? Hmmm. So I watch some more, and nothing happens for a bit. I’m still losing money. Finally I get another decent hand, AA. I bet heavy, raise and reraise every chance I get. Flop is Q 7 5. Nothing special for all the re-raises no body should have 2 pair, maybe a set but I have to push my aces. I bet, get raised, I reraise, and then get raised to the max. I call. Turn is a 2. I bet, get raised, then reraised and finally raise the max. Last card is a 10. I bet, I get 2 calls. Both players flip Q 10… Split pot, Aces cracked… WHAT THE HELL???
So now I’m fuming and ready to go, I’m drunk, I’m wired from caffeine from the 9 coffees and the 9 rum and cokes I’ve had. I start watching hands, I see the annoying girl throws $5 for a $4 call. She makes her own change. The dealer is looking at me. He then looks at the chips and goes to make her change. I then say, “Woah, she already grabbed her $1 chip.”
At this point she yells, “no no no I make change for $5 I have in stack.” I look at her and say, “no, you put your $5 for the $4 bet, you pulled your own $1 out and now he is giving you another $1 that you don’t need. You pulled it from his call, (pointing to a guy who has only $3 in front of him on the $4 call).” The dealer looks at me and looks at her, and says, “I didn’t see the change being made, I do it not.” He gives her the $1 chip. Then the bitch mutters, “Yeah yeah, you no know what you see, missed it, I work here.”
Two minutes later I left. I’d been cheated, the 3 people who sat an hour before that were now up to about $200 each off $75 buy in from $2/$4 limit. That’s hard to do without some funny business. The communication with the dealers, the pulling extra chips and making change. Poker has become a different game in the last few years, I’m gonna stick to my games around here, maybe play a tourney in AC where survival is key and not just throw chips in for the hell of it. But I will tell you one thing. I will NEVER, NEVER play poker at that casino again…
