Budapest Hold'em Update

I found a different casino, with 2.50/5 dollar blinds, pot limit. I stopped in to check it out, and the friendly folks there talked me into sitting down and giving it a try.

For an initial investment of 250 US (50,000 HUF), I managed to leave with 400 US (79,990) HUF. It would have been more, but I threw a few thousand extra in toward the end to not generate ill will with the regulars.

Nice people. They could best be described as loose-weak. They asked me to come back, and I just may find the time. Their attitude seems to be that they just want to win pots, and don't really keep score about their money position. (Paging Mike Caro???). Well, if that makes 'em feel like high rollers, bless their hearts.

I was friendly and chatty with all of them, and kept things lively. Took down a big pot early when I got the nut flush on the turn and let the one agressive player do the raising. Took down a bunch of small pots after that, and only saw one river that I didn't win, I believe.

I owe this to my social group, I firmly believe, for the practice I've gotten there. Just about any of the decent players in my group could have done the same with the cards I was dealt, and maybe even pumped up the winning pots better.

Back to work....

Saturday Update Budapest

Hours Worked
Tuesday -zero. Got to hotel at 5 PM, decent meal and a stroll.
Wed - 10
Thur - 12
Fri - 8 till 8, but I needed about 4 hours to to take care of a family concern that involved a trip to the consulate and then to a DHL office. It is resolved, I think.
Sat - Started at 8 AM. I expect we'll go till 8 PM if I know my boss.
Sun - I'm presuming we'll work no more than 8 hours. Its Sunday after all, right?

Misc
Took a nice stroll up the hill through the medieval city on the hill to the ultra-modern mall (Mammoth) by Moskow Square. Wanted to see star wars in Hungarian, but had to settle for Kung Fu Hustle (Shuffle?) with Hungarian subtitles. It was just as enjoyable without understanding a single word.

Been eating lunch at the same place every day, a mom and pop greasyz spoon called Roma. They prettz much treat me like family there, and the food is good and quick. Itás the high point of my day.

Update from Budapest

No news here. Working my arse off, as expected. 10 hours Thurs, 12 Friday, and Im assuming we'll work the weekend as well. Maybe Ill find time for a nice spa and massage, but I doubt it. Foods good, as is the weather.

Playing lots of DD (Annie Duke endorsed)simulation. Also endorsed by FNJ!

As Medieval Pete says, the trick is to play more hands to get a feel for the game. This does the job at the right price, and if you start winning often at the 10 player hard level, try the 250 player satellite. I haven't gotten higher than 50th after several tries.

And be honest with the simulated money you spend on tournaments. Don't play the simulated WSOP until you've earned the starting cash!

Budapest Casino Info

I stopped in a casino yesterday while fighting jet lag, and asked a few questions, just like I did at Niagara Falls.

The place I visited had NLHE as follows:

Blinds: 2000/4000 HUF (about 10/20 USD at this time)
Rake: 2%
Min Buy in: 50,000 HUF (about 250, which would allow you to sit through 8 blinds if you didn't wager prior to that time)

I did the math on the house cut, and I can promise you that these guys have an extra money-making angle. It might be hookers and pimps, it might be house players at the table, it might be expensive drinks, but they are NOT making enough to justify the table without a little extra twist in there. I wouldn't play here, and don't recommend that you do either, even if you're that good.

Hello Cruel World

Getting ready to go on a plane to GMT +1 (six hours ahead) for a very gruelling two weeks of business. This will be where I earn my keep, putting up with jerks for very long hours in very tight, not very well climatized spaces. It'll be a bummer, but I can think of plenty worse.

So, I hope to find some poker adventures there, but it may just be me and the Annie Duke simulator. (Insert your own joke here.) If nothing else, I'm come back that much more dangerous, won't I now.

Best regards, Pallios!

8 & 7 Player tourneys - June 12, 2005

Too tired to comment on play. Wasn't involved in any big suck-outs tonight, although I know that a certain young man with headphones wanted to put me on tilt via disrespecting his elders. Nice try, sonny boy.

There was some weird vibe with 8 and 5s tonight. Eventually an 8/5 boat came for DS, among other pivotal hands for the evening.

Second game, three remaining are "J", "DS" and me in that order. For something like 6 small blinds in a row I couldn't even find the cards to call the Big (J), so he kept getting a free ride as the big. On the other side of Spooky, J and DS kept splitting pot after pot after pot.

In the second game I roller-coastered tremendously.

I was a big stack after Medieval P went all in on me. I did the math, couldn't put him on a big pair or even a decent drawing hand, and took the offer. He did not suck out.

After P went out, the maniac on my right kept raising everything. Between not catching any of the escalated pre-flops, and then losing a few key pots, I was back to subsistence farming as the small stack. I think DS offered me an all-in pre-flop (or was it post-flop) where I also decided to take him up on it, and my end held again. All of a sudden, I was the big stack, after having been the shorty.

Then J thought I was full of crap on a J-5-5 rainbow flop when I kept betting into him. I wasn't; he tried to bluff the pot after the river card with an all-in with nothing in particular. He had stated an hour earlier a desire to get done and get to bed. He got second prize and a wish granted.

Good game guys. This was a solid bunch of players!

For the record, DS took the first tourney. I failed to notice who got second. First and bubble is a pretty good evening, eh DS?

31 Player Tourney - June 10

On the positive side, I wasn't in the first five out. There were probably about 16 players still at the tables when my short-stacked 66 didn't hold to AQ (flopped x-A-j, and just for an extra kick in the nuts, the queen paired on the turn, and my six failed to show).

Ever have one of those nights where even the hands you fold don't even mesh with the board? I caught two boards during the first blind for tiny money, and then I couldn't catch a board to save my life. Bummer dude. I guess I got two hours of decent play in for the price of admission, so that's cool.

Well, that's my poker for the month, I'm afraid. Got some travel comin' up. There's a casino there in theory, but I'll be in a badass town, so even if I win, I'd still end up getting my ass kicked 100 yards down the street.

Got some copags and a dealer button from Nevada Jack at a good price. Lookin' forward to some home game action with those cards!

Home Game June 8th

I managed to scare up 3 other players last night. We had an NLHE tourney and then played dealer's choice. Stakes were zero, so I just wasn't able to gather the discipline necessary to do well. With literally nothing to lose, I was taking some crazy chances, and chasing hands I had no business playing. I went out early in both.

Omaha is neat though. I can see why people like it. We couldn't agree as a group on how low-hands work, so I'll research the issue. It's clear in my mind, but another player had it clear in their mind a different way....

Onion Story - Darfur solves its own problems....

I'd also heard somebody else (Daily Show) recently mention the Darfur Genocide in passing. The media at large has never heard of it.

http://www.theonion.com/opinion/index.php?issue=4123

Yes, the media does suck, doesn't it? That's why I enjoy the Daily show so much.

Cardplayer.com is cool

In addition to WSOP update stuff, there's two neat features:

1) Poker Analyst will track how much money you've lost on poker in your whole life.
2) The poker odds calculator is pretty cool.

Remember the hand I mentioned this past Friday at Preacher's? Here is the calculated odds, and I was indeed the favorite going in before I got sucked out by a straight flush:

JJ= 42%
AK os = 34.4%
67h = 23.7%

Other handy odds to know:

QQ v KK 81.2% for bigger pair
AKsuited v JJ = 54.2% for Jacks
AK os v JJ = 56.5% for Jacks
45 suited v AA = 78.4% for Aces
109 suited v AA=77.2% for Aces
QJ suited v AA =80.3 for Aces
KQ suited v AA = 82.3 for Aces (two aces less to complete the straight)
And so on and so fourth. Compare up to five hands all the way up to the turn.

Movie Recommendation: Primer

If you enjoyed 'Memento', and watched it more than once, and if you enjoyed 'Jacob's Ladder' from the early 90's and watched it more than once, you should run out and get a copy of 'Primer', a very low budget Sundance movie that revolves around a couple of engineers who stumble across a method of time travel. It's a movie that you should plan to watch it least twice before everything starts to make sense.

Granville Chamber of Commerce Part 2

On my way to the Indian Mound mall in Heath, I realized I had forgotten to mention possibly the most important, yet least well know tourist attraction in this area. I didn't even discover it until my second year here.

There is a 10,000 (ten thousand!) year old series of piled earth mounds that are huge in scope, and barely survived if somebody hadn't thought to lease them to a golf course, into which they are integrated (or vice versa I suppose). They are probably one of the more interesting pieces of archeology and pre-written history on the North American continent, if I dare to make such an assertion.

If you come out this way, give the Indian Mounds a look! Your mind will be boggled!

Preacher's 6/3/05 - Victory is Mine

Too tired to write it up but will try. Got in some chainsaw therapy immediately followed by the drive to Preachers, munching Wendy's for the trip.

First game was an early outer. I was low stacked and chose to go all in on a pair of Jacks. I was up against Big Slick Off Suitand 6/7 suited. Bill came up with a straight flush 7 high hearts, so I guess if I had to lose to a hand, let it be a straight flush. Bill eventually won.

Second game I was low-stack among five remaining players, and I was able to double up with an all-in on Big Slick. For still being low-ish, I was able to bully an awful lot of pots, however trivial they were. I chose my all-in moments correctly, although I know I sucked out or rivered at least twice if not more in my all-in battles. Final hand of the evening, I was offered an all-in, and looked at my hand 6-6 and accepted. The all-in I was facing? 6-2 os. What are the odds of a suck-out there?

Good fun. I'm so tired. Good night.

HomeOwner #2 - The Buckeye Chainsaw Massacre

Even though the Smarmy Salesman at Sears tried to talk me out of it, I wound up with an electric chainsaw, with three horsies. (And I didn't buy it at Sears, even though I generally trust sears, but didn't want to give this condescending jerk a commission. I'm a first time homeowner with questions, but I'm not a 10 year old child, okay?) It's light enough for easy pruning, but I've actually taken out a monster tree this morning. Quite therapeutic, really.

Sorry tree - you seemed to be responsible for the ant infestation, and the lack of sunlight on the west side of the house. When I took you down, your insides were half rotted out, which really gives some weight to the whole ant theory.

Speaking of therapy, my allergies and asthma seem to be 80% better since the hernia repair. I'll drop a note to my immunologist to see if there could be a connection, or if it's psychosomatic.

Propellerhead - Vonage VOIP Service #2

After so many years of dealing with MS Outlook, it looks like I'll really get some good mileage out of Outlook Contacts.

Vonage has a free download called Click-2-Call. At first glance it appears almso useless compared with simply dialing the number. However, the sneaky bastards have added a nice extra toolbar to my Contacts menu.

Whenever I look at a contact that has phone numbers, I've got a button that represents Vonage, with icons that represent Cell, Phone and Business Lines. When I click any of those buttons, a popup appears, and with a second mouse click the dialing procedure starts. It rings my VOIP phone once it's figured out it's not getting a busy signal.

Whoo-hoo! This is much better than speed dial!

HomeOwner #1 - Are moles/groundhogs really so bad?

Our neighbors can't even see our lawn, and we're not lawn-obsessed. It's pretty obvious we've got burrowing mammals in our lawn, and I don't know if I should be concerned at all. I don't think they can do structural damage to the septic tank or the building, can they?

Anybody got $0.02 to contribute?

Granville Chamber of Commerce

If you're coming to my place to play and haven't seen this neck of the woods, here's a few sightseeing recommendations in no particular order. Drop me a line for more detail. If I have a moment, I'll find links, but I gotta lot to do.

Longaberger Basket Building

Granville Golf Course

View from the 18th of Granville Golf Course

Denison Campus

Downtown Granville

Buckeye Lake

Converted Bike Path through 4 or 5 towns and villages (formerly railroad track, mostly flat)

Propellerhead - Webmail Rants

For the past few days, I was wondering how I was getting so many General Motors pop-ups in my web browser, and then I realized that I was typing "GM" into IE, and even though it's usually smart enough to put me into Gmail, IE somehow decided I was a loyal GM customer and put me there instead.

When did Yahoo Mail become Microsoft's Whore? There's an ultra-annoying pop-up involving a runner who represents MS Net Meeting or some such service whenever I try to access my yahoo mail.

Yahoo still does pretty good at screening out crap though. I haven't propogated my GMail address enough for this to be an issue, but I've had my yahoo mail since I was a newbie, so you can imagine how much spam I'm treated to at this account.

Propellerhead - Vonage VOIP Service

My cell phone doesn't work at the new digs, so I just signed up for a VOIP business line, and I premiered it today. So far the review is very positive.

It sends you an e-mail when you miss a call and get a voice mail. The sound quality is very comparable to a standard land line. International Rates are twofold better than Sprint's International Plan, but not free unless your international counterpart has the same service. US Service is unlimited all the time.

Any questions, Geeky Brethren? If you're thinking of signing up based on my recommendation, please drop me a line as I can get free stuff for being a corporate shill.

Drop me a line if you hate what you see....

This blog is meant to be anonymous to outsiders, with occasional in-jokes and references for people I know.

If you see something that you feel betrays your anonymity, please drop me a line and I'll get it off the web in a jiffy.

FNJ