It's a win!

It took just shy of 2 hours to finely take one of these 180 man SnG's down. I was pretty damn happy about it too. I've been on the wrong side of some awful beats, and it's amazing I stay sane. Regardless, this one felt great. I feel like i played well, but there were some pretty terrible players as well.

Firstly, I had a guy on my right for the first hour go absolutely nuts with King high multiple times. I mean, calling all-ins with KQs like it was a pair of aces...snap calls. There was one hand where I deliberated in UTG whether to even play KQ of clubs, finally electing to just fold and wait, sure enough two players fold after me and this guy ships for just over than 7x bb, and my man to my right snap calls w/ KQ of spades...and at this point it wasn't like he was short or anything, he probably called off about 3/4's of his stack. Of course he ended up winning that one with a flush. Later I saw him call a late position pusher with K5s. At that point he was way over the chip lead or close to it, and he finally lost that one to an A6. By the end of the first hour he was out though, and I didn't get much of anything from him.

That's not to say that I didn't get lucky. But, I had some spots where I was pretty cold decked. They're the worst. Hands like this: It's right around the 5th level or so in the tournament, blinds are 75/150, and I've climbed my way up to about 2300. I'm in the BB with AJs, so now I have 2150 behind. Folds around to the sb who jams for 600...how can you fold? Then i'm up against KK. That's a perfect example of what happens, but the trick is to remain patient, and to actually have the chips to let those not hurt you. I was able to do that today.

What might have been the most frustrating part of playing this tournament, was my decision to simultaneously play a 5.50 triple draw sng. That thing lasted FOREVER...but, yeah....i took that one down too!

I can tell that I am out of my funk at the triple draw tables. It was a really brutal month of February, but with this win, and the small winning sessions at the ring games, March is shaping up to be a very profitable month.

I Love you Mo :)

Almost

It was a rough month of February. And after all of that whining about the bad beats i've taken in SnG's, I came out ahead and it made up for the beating I took on the triple draw tables. Hopefully March won't be so painful. Unfortunately, today, the first day of the month I took a nasty couple of beats that just don't happen that often. Yesterday, I had two ties in some big pots where I had the best hand way early in the drawing rounds, and after my opponents draw 2 both times, they hit my exact hand. The first was with a #5 and the second with #1. Then, tonight it happens one more time with a wheel. It's painful to have to split up even the blinds and limpers small change.

Since I was running so bad at the TD tables, I decided to play some other other games, and still didn't do well at all. In the Razz and Stud High games I played pretty poorly and a little too long. Since I don't play those games that often, I am extremely rusty, and way out of experience. But, I played a nice session of NLH that was extremely profitable. It was a 6 max table and I had pretty good reads on my opponents, well, one in particular. I would've been dusted off about mid-way through the session when I got trapped in a huge all-in hand. It went something like this. I am in the bb with JJ. Button raises 3-4x, which was pretty standard for him to do fairly light. I re-raise to 11x and he smooth calls. I then put him on a range of two big cards, most likely a suited ace - AK -> AT/A9, KQs, and possibly some smaller pairs up to TT. The flop came T high with 2 spades. I bet out 2/3rds the pot, and he min-raises me. I for some reason did not put him on a set maybe because I thought the raise would be higher, and the first thing that came to my mind was the suited ace which I put him on to begin the hand. So I pushed, and he called, the turn came my third J and the river was a blank, the pot was pushed to me and I look and sure enough he had QQ. I get trapped with JJ all the time and if I'm in his position, I push harder pre-flop. But I got outplayed regardless, and was lucky to double up.

At that point I had a nice size stack and considered calling it a night. But, after a couple of hands that had me going up and down like a yo-yo, I decided to stay since I liked my reads on everyone else, especially the player immediately to my left. In one hand early before the big JJ hand he got me to lay down AA on a KK9 flop. It was an awful laydown, but I was actually quite content with it in the end, and didn't really tilt about it at all. I just figured the way I played it afforded me the ability to get it in at a better time. Sure enough, that time came later in the session when we both had the biggest stacks at the table. I am utg+1 w/ KhJh and make a standard 3x/bb raise, my opponent than makes it 6x more to go, and since he had been crushing me with these re-raises over and over again, I decided to stand up to his what seemed like bullying, and at least call and see a flop. Plus, I was getting about 2-1 on the call. The flop brought out the beautiful Qd Th 9d. Bingo! I decide to see if I can get a nice bet out of him, and maybe check raise him or slow play the nut-straight. He bets out 2/3rds the pot, and I check-raise him making it 3x more. Then he goes and min. raises me, I move all in for just a bit less than he has in front of himm and he calls, the turn bricks, and the river hits an A. The pot moves to my seat and I look to see his AQo. I can't understand how he can't lay this down. We were so deep, that I am pretty sure I could do it, or at the very least slow down.

Anyway, the session of NLH inspired me to play better despite my obvious wins. I got pretty lucky on both hands, and played bad when I had good hands, if that makes any sense...

I made silver star on Pokerstars, so that's pretty cool. I can't decide if I want to use it for anything or not. I might go for the bonus $$, since I think it's fairly easy to clear, plus since the month was so awful, it can't really hurt.

Running Bad Is No Fun

Triple draw is a tough game. I've spent the last week or so just getting completely crushed. It hasn't been like this in a while, and I kind of had an inkling that I might be due for some good old fashioned variance. It's frustrating wading through starting hands like 2KJ96 over and over again and then finally getting something decent like 257QK. I'll play it straight up, not trying to get tricky, but just trying to get value, or essentially raising and re-raising pre-draw 1. Then I brick-brick, maybe get lucky to get to the second draw and hit a wheel card, which will usually result in drawing 1 against a pat hand which is usually beatable only to pair or brick the last draw. This also can result in the huge tilt factor that I have prided myself in not hitting. Occasionally it rears its ugly head and I try to calm myself. My other favorite draw/hand, while I'm ranting, is when I pat a marginal hand like a J/T/9 and even and 87 type hand and get drawn out on continuously.

What is making matters even worse at this point is that the games have gotten extremely good. The play is super loose and there have been a number of tables going with lots of players that I haven't seen before. They're the kind that LOVE to limp into pots, and occasionally pat a starting hand like 97654 all the way down, which can do wonders to your self-control and confidence. I still haven't figured out what to do in a situation where you have 257xx in the sb and there are 2-3 limpers. I've played it both ways profitably AND unsuccessfully, for big pots won and loss and vis-a-versa.

I have actually shown a small profit in the few SnG's that I have played this month, despite taking awful bad beats along the way. This has kept my confidence high, and the bankroll growing, just not at the rate that it was last month. So be it though. The important thing is that I have still been having fun playing and I guess I am trying to learn a bit at the same time. One thing is for sure, the hours I have logged this month have surpassed last month, so that may have something to do with the results as well.

I won the SSPC February event on Saturday. I almost didn't get to play it, but it was great that I could since Mo felt like I deserved a break/stress-reliever. There was a total of 20 players this month so the double points will help me hopefully get to the TOC again this year. I need all I can get because I foresee not playing in a number of tourneys in the months ahead since we have our child on the way.

Moving along to more exciting news, we had our first doctors appointment since Mo was allowed to do her bed rest at home instead of the hospital. Everything went very well. The baby passed all of his physical tests which include breathing (practicing of course) for 30 seconds straight, moving his fingers/toes, etc. We are still taking it one day at a time, but we are really hoping that Mo can get on some kind of modified bed rest so that she might be able to log some hours working from home. Even if she can't though, we are trying to stay positive and are getting exciting for this little guys arrival.

Finally, I have acquired a few new music releases from this year, and all of which have been really great, these include albums by Vampire Weekend, American Music Club, Beck (Odelay Deluxe Edition), moe., Sam Amidon, Jazz Liberatorz (the first hip-hop/rap album I've bought in a long time that was not something from my youth), and The Soundtrack from the movie "Juno".

Of Course...

Late in the game. You play tight aggressive as usual. Pick up few hands then get short <10 bb's. Run JJ vs. KK pre-flop (other player is also shortstacked). You are now down to <4 bb's. Of course you pick up a few hands and climb back to still <10 bb's. The blinds climb and it is bubble time. Time to get aggressive, there's no cash for 4th place. Of course you get it all in behind this time and run K7 into QQ from the second smallest stack, of course he calls...then the huge stack that hasn't played badly all tourney, but hasn't really played that well either calls with 98o. Flop delights you with K 3 7 rainbow. "Sweet" you are thinking as you also remember all of those times you've been on the QQ end and wanted to reach through the computer screen and strangle the guy with K7....but hey, what goes around comes around right? Then the turn brings an offsuit J....you feel that pit in your stomach and your mind quickly wanders..."i'm home free" you think as the T of hearts plops down on the board. Of course the computer lags behind for about 2 seconds while it tries to figure out, as do you if you in fact won the pot as you ~should have...then it's pushed to Mr. Big Stack with 98o who was probably playing the odds, and you realize that, sure enough, he just hit runner, runner straight to take you both out. You quickly check the hand history and realize that you were the shortest stack, so even though both of you were all in, and you had the second best hand, you still get nothing. And so it is, before you can even close the hand history window the tourney is already over in one heads-up hand where Mr. Big Stack of course picks up a small pair and wins his race against QT....OF COURSE

SnG's Tilt Me, But So Does Life Sometimes

Not only am I not playing very well in SnG's right now, but they are frustrating me really bad. I remember a while back having absolutely no success in them. I really have not played very many this month so my sample size is extremely small. I can say that I've gotten all of the money in when I am ahead 80% of the time. The other 20% have been "cooler" hands, for example; I get short and have ~10 bb's and pick up AKs in EP. I jam and get called in MP and LP, we flip and I'm up against another AK and QQ. GG me. And then there is the good old moron playing transparent poker. In my stats I have a section for notes on the particular game that I played....here's what I wrote in my second to last SnG where I went out 8th place: such bs…maniac plays three to my left, I limp w/ 66 utg+1, 1 more limps, and maniac jams big stack…I knew he would do it and decided if he did I would call, he flips KT, flop QQ4, turn A, River J, IGHMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the other hand, the TD tables have been OK, but not as profitable as last month. I am running into variance mostly, but I really believe I could be making a bit more if I could stop playing SnG's (or at least get better at them), therefore making it less likely for me to tilt. I noticed in the few games I played last month at 2/4, I was a marginal winner. I would love to step up to that limit, but I need to probably double my 'roll before I really feel comfortable. I don't mind taking shots though as those games generally aren't any tougher, since basically the same players are playing them. The few other players that are regularly playing seem to be your average 1/2 player just with a larger bankroll. Plus, the rake at the 1/2 games is pretty bad.

Mo has had some complications with the pregnancy which has been pretty stressful for the last two weeks. After finding out that she may have gestational diabetes, we were told that the baby is under weight and she has low amniotic fluid, all of which have contributed to her being on 24 hour bed rest at the hospital. There was a chance that the baby would be born at 29 weeks (obviously very premature), but that did not happen. The doctors really want to get to 34 weeks, but we are just taking it one day at a time. It's hard not being at the hospital with her at night. But, I think I'm better off going home at night and getting a decent nights sleep rather than on the pathetic excuse for a pull out bed that is in her hospital room.

@#$% !!!!

I don't like to post bad beats, and i don't think I really ever have done it on here, but this hand left me shaking my head...

PokerStars Game #15091765658: Tournament #76484677, $15+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2008/02/05 - 23:46:40 (ET)
Table '76484677 1' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1:(4605 in chips)
Seat 5: (4013 in chips)
Seat 8: jamfreek (4882 in chips)
Seat 1: posts the ante 25
Seat 5: posts the ante 25
jamfreek: posts the ante 25
jamfreek: posts small blind 200
Seat 1: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jamfreek [Qh 4h]
Seat 5: folds
jamfreek: raises 800 to 1200
Seat 1: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [7h 2h Ac]
jamfreek: checks -> I usually made a cont. bet here, but I had played previous hands where I had the best hand and checked, and was able to increase my stack because I had made so many cont. bets with nothing and got caught. I thought this player was paying attention...but who knows, I probably should've bet here.
Seat 1: checks
*** TURN *** [7h 2h Ac] [Jd]
jamfreek: bets 1600 -> Now I do it and bet about 2/3 of the pot, but since I get called I am guessing it's too late. Problem here is that I have left myself 1/4 of the pot behind and jamming is really my only option since I feel like I have no other play <--probably wrong
Seat 1: calls 1600
*** RIVER *** [7h 2h Ac Jd] [2d]
jamfreek: bets 2000
Seat 1: calls 1780 and is all-in --> Snap call btw/
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jamfreek: shows [Qh 4h] (a pair of Deuces)
Seat 1: shows [4s Kc] (a pair of Deuces - Ace+King kicker) <-- Did I just get owned?
Seat 1 collected 9235 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9235 | Rake 0
Board [7h 2h Ac Jd 2d]
Seat 1: (big blind) showed [4s Kc] and won (9235) with a pair of Deuces
Seat 5: (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: jamfreek (small blind) showed [Qh 4h] and lost with a pair of Deuces

January Update

At least I have been able to keep up with my new years resolution for 1 whole month. It's pretty easy when you are winning though. I just got back from Vegas for our annual convention. I had my best trip playing poker ever. I finally cashed in a tourney, actually I chopped it evenly between two other guys after playing the same tourney the night before and busting short of the cash. I played pretty good and only made one bad laydown that I can remember. It was actually a great little tournament with 3000 in starting chips, a $65 buy-in with an option to re-buy if you were busted out of the tourney in the first hour, and no antes. Also, I played basically one session of 1/3 NL that yielded a $500 profit. I played a quick 30 minutes before the tournament and although I can't remember how much I won, it really wasn't much. I even played two sessions of blackjack and won a grand total of $200. It's been about two years since i've played any table games in Vegas so I couldn't be happier about that really.

Right now I am waiting for a seat to open up in a TD game, but all that is available is a 5/10 game and while there are 2 tables of 2/4 going, there are 2 people on the each waiting list. Besides, I would much rather play 1/2. If there was anything that I could say I have learned about my online play this month it would be that I need to really figure out my SnG strategies and re-learn to play them. It might be my switch to turbos, who knows, but I did not do very well this month.

New Years Resolution

A while back an online friend of mine, Snadly, sent me a sweet program for tracking my poker results. I have tried for years to do a better job of keeping better stats. At one point I was writing them down free-hand in a nice hard back journal. This became too cumbersome, and although at the time I had about the same bankroll (online), I got way too frustrated to keep up with it. I would have a good night and be very meticulous about the numbers. Then, I would have an awful run and either forget to do it, or I would just wait to have a good night and make up for it. Then I almost went broke that fateful night that I played a WSOP double shootout on 'stars, and went on to play way over my bankroll and that was it for my record keeping. Then, later that year, as I built the 'roll back up I used Snad's excel spreadsheet, and really liked it, but I procrastinated, or just forgot after a while. So now I'm going to try and turn over a new leaf. I had such a great year online, that I want to make sure to keep as perfect stats as I can, so that I can really see where I stand at the end of the year. So far, so good.

At this point, my "ring game" stats are showing a nice profit for the first half of the month. I am pretty much sucking in the SnG's having only 1 win, and 1 second place out of 9 NLH tourneys. In between I did place second in a micro TD SnG, but then played a HORSE SnG and donked out in 5th place when my top two pair was no match for a flopped board lock for low and hi in the O8/b portion.

I transferred some funds to my buddy Chris to get him back into playing and hopefully talking about poker again. He had a sick run playing blackjack a couple weeks ago when we made a trip to AC. I of course stuck to poker only, playing a deep stack tourney for $120, and some limit and NL hold'em cash games. In the tourney I had a run of crappy cards, a few steals here and there, and then this hand: UTG opens for 1600 w/ blinds at 200/400 w/ antes around 50-75 and I am in MP w/ AKdd. I elected to call the raise, but with my stack at ~16000, the proper play was probably to move in. It folded around and we saw a flop of 7QT rainbow. UTG, whose stack is about twice mine, bets 6000. I fold. From then on it was jam/fold pretty much until I moved in w/ KQ for 5x bb and got called by one of the largest stacks at the table who tabled J8o. The flop was good for me, but the turn/river gave him a runner/runner/straight (he actually caught the inside straight) to take me out. I then proceeded to play some 1/2 NL at possibly one of the easiest tables i've ever played, and only one about $30-40. Regardless, I had a really fun time.

2007 was also a good year for fantasy football. I ended up winning my inaugural season in my "high-stakes" league. I started the year off 1-4, and went on to win every single game after week 5. A timely trade for Portis/R.Wayne for Addai/Reg. Williams and a sweet pickup in Bobby Engram, got me there. The only problem for 2008 is I have no RB to keep in a 1 keeper league. I do have B. Edwards, A. Johnson, and R. Wayne to pick from so i don't feel that bad, plus I get the cash and the bragging rights!

Current Playlist: Grateful Dead 10/19/73 SetII Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam>Morning Dew, Sugar Magnolia, Eyes Of The World

Best Of 2007, better late than never....

Here's my list. This year was a tough one. The second annual "Best of..." Holiday mix cd was hard one to put together. Some people thought this wasn't the best year for music, but I loved a lot of what came out this year, so here we go:

10. Keller Williams - Dream
9. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
8. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
7. Iron & Wine - The Shepherds Dog
6. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
5. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Raising Sand
4. Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Dr. Dog - We All Belong


1. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

2007 Music Review

Every year, I buy a ton of cd's and downloads. This year was no exception. I started to keep a journal of everything that I purchased, noting 2007 releases, and any notes about the music in general. I love to give the gift of song to my family and friends, and hopefully they appreciate the music at least and possibly find a golden nugget they'd never heard of before getting a little snippet from me. It's the gift that keeps on giving, an obvious cliche'.

My Morning Jacket: Tennessee Fire, At Dawn, Chocolate & Cheese (EP), Early Recordings Chapter 1 - The Sandworm Cometh, Early Recordings Chapter 2 - Learning
After falling in love with the band and playing "Z", "Okonokos", and "It Still Moves" non-stop, I had to check out the earlier releases to see what I missed. Of these 5 albums, "At Dawn" was my favorite, with "Early Recordings Chapter 2 - Learning" coming in a close second. At Dawn I noted was much more acoustic tinged and laid back but with a great mix of songs, all of which have become classics. "ER Chp.2" was closely behind, but only because the recordings were not mixed as well. Great versions of Bermuda Highway, and I Will Be There When You Die, as well as neat covers, esspecially Erykah Badu's "Tyrone", which always seems to stay near the top of my top 25 songs most played playlist on the old 60 gig Ipod.

Zero 7: Simple Things
I waited way too long to get this album. Possibly one of my favorite songs of all time "In The Waiting Line", and just a great chill mix of songs that you can listen to from start to finish and not get bored, although I would assume that some people might need to be in the right frame of mind for this more "downbeat" music. I love it though!

The Beatles - Love
After listening to an NPR interview with the producer of this album, I had to check it out, plus I was going to be seeing the Cirque Du Soleil show in Vegas weeks later, which comes close to rivaling "O"....at least the music is better in my opinion.

Allison Krauss And Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways
A 2006 release that I had not gotten, classic AK collection of bluegrass, that was not as good as previous releases, but still enjoyable.

moe.: The Conch
A great start to the 2007 year of music. I was waiting patiently for this release because their last offering was quite innovative and excellent. The first song "Blue Jeans Pizza", knocks your socks off, and goes to show that this band can be so unique. The rest of the album had a few songs that I had heard played live, but the 4th track "Tailspin" has some great George Bush samples.

Walk The Line: Soundtrack
I bought this cd for Mo because I thought she really liked the movie (I thought it was good too!), and she was diggin on some Cash so I felt it would be a decent introduction to a quite extensive library of works.

Built To Spill: You In Reverse
If I had bought this cd in 2006, it would've possibly made it into my "Best Of 2006" Mix CD. I noted that it had a "progressive, indie-prog-rock, jam" flair, although at first listen I felt it was more Wilco'ish. After further listens, I don't really hear that as much anymore.

The Slip: Aliveelectric, Eisenhower
Occasionally, I would listen to Rhapsody and tune into the "jamband" channel while playing poker, and I heard an intense instrumental song from this band. Eisenhower easily should've been in the top 5 for best albums of 2006, and it should've been in my mix cd as well. The whole album is wonderful. Best songs include: Children of December, Airplane/Primitive, Even Rats, If One of Us Should Fall, Suffocation Keep, just get the album already!

Assembly of Dust: Recollection
I noted that this 2007 release from a band that describes their music as "hick-funk", sounded more like old school Strangefolk. Obvious great lyrics from Reid Genauer, I noted in my journal that there was "nothing spectacular, but enjoyable from start to finish", and while that might sum it up, this band really grew on me, and it may have been from getting a chance to see them in action at this years All Good Festival.

Arcade Fire: The Funeral, Neon Bible
Sometimes my Dad will surprise me and bring something to the plate that is completely off my radar. I had heard about this band, and shrugged them off. I'll admit, it's taken me pretty much all year to figure these folks out. I noted that they really sound like David Byrne meets Bowie. Neon Bible came out and I borrowed it from Dad, and it was almost infectious, but I was still not there. I guess I get it by now, but they are seriously the kings of indie rock these days.

Keller Williams: Dream, 12
Continuing with his tradition of one word album titles, Dream might be KW's most impressive album to date, as well as his most cohesive. Great collaborations, and although almost all of the songs I had heard multiple times, the guest musicians give the album a freshness that I had not heard since maybe "Laugh". I think it's the fact that he NEVER plays with anyone other then himself (no pun intended) why this is so. This year's concert of the year is tied between The WMD's (Keller's "side" project) and any number of performances from this years All Good. Later Santa would bring KW's "greatest hits" collection in 12. While I have every album, as a collector, I hate to not have the one "best of" album, even though I can just make a playlist. When Mo and I heard that he would be putting this album out, we had many talks about what he would choose to be the "top" cuts. We hit a few, but missed the majority. The bonus track "Freshies" was fantastic to see played live, and I was eager to hear his studio version.

The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America
Another album that would've made it to the best of 2006 cd if only I had remembered to give it more of a listen and a purchase before the end of the year. They try not to sound like the E Street Band in my opinion but don't do that great a job of it...this is not bad, and the songwriting is pretty good.

Dr. Dog: We All Belong
Every once in a while a band comes along that just works for you. When I first gave this album a listen, I jotted down in my notebook "good old-fashioned pop songs", and "heavy Beatles influence - great from start to finish", while I focused on the song Alaska as the favorite. Later I would analyze every single song on this album, and I really think it was one of the top 5 if not 3 of the year.

West Indian Girl: West Indian Girl
After finding out that we were to see this band at the All Good Festival, I had to check em' out, and was quite impressed. Unfortunately, Mo and I were unable to attend the show as we had to leave the campsite early. I still like the album as it is really chilled out, electronica-meets-rock-meets jam, or something along those lines.

STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9): Artifact
I remember hearing about this band when they first came on the scene when the techno-jams of the Disco Biscuits were just starting to surface. I later would see a neat couple of songs on concert-tv that really had me boppin' along. Unfortunately, I was not as impressed with their album as I was with their live show that they brought to the All Good Festival, with an amazing light show.

Zero 7 - Simple Things
I put off buying this album for way too long. Waiting Line may be one of my top 5 desert island songs. This album is just stunning, and is worthy of just about anyone's music collection.

Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Kick Your Ass
While this album title is kind of humorous, the tunes are far from it. I had heard of these guys for a long time, but never brought myself to purchase. Once I had heard the song "Mr. Tough", I had to break down and buy it in April of 2007.

Page McConnell - Page McConnell
While I still believe this maybe the phishiest of all of the boys releases (other than Trey of course), although the one member that really impresses me since the break up has to be Mike. I was still eager to hear what he has been doing all of this time, and the album is pretty impressive. While it still has that "Vida Blue" charm, I can hear something pretty unique going on here.

Umphrey's McGee - The Bottom Half, Live At The Murat
Leftovers from last years fantastic "Safety In Numbers". I really hope that they can muster up the balls to put "Alex's House" on an upcoming studio release, because I would love to hear how a completely produced cut of this song would go. Live it works wonders, and even on this release, the choppiness gives it a neat aspect. I really could've done without Divisions, but I am pleased with the "geekiness" that the band knows it's phreaks take part in. And, with that, releasing their double cd "Live At The Murat", with it's collection of two nights may have driven some fans battty, but they picked some choice cuts. Luckily for me and all the rest of the geeks, if you pre-ordered it, you got a free download of one of my favorite live cuts "Partyin' Peeps", which I guess just did not fit on the cd.

ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) - Roses And Clover
I was so happy this band put out another great album this year. Why this band is not more popular I just don't understand?

Greyboy Allstars - What Happened To Television
This was one of the albums that I was most anticipating this year. It is solid from start to finish, with classic old-school hooks, and some different stuff mixed in which is why they are one of my favorite "jazz" bands out there...I mean if you could call them jazz, I can't think of anything better!

A Tribe Called Quest - Peoples Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Funk And Rhythm
Somehow I misplaced this cd and I was jonesin to go back and re-discover this. I can still remember when i was about 13, buying this tape at Kemp Mill Records and nearly playing it out of whack. This probably my favorite rap album of all time.

De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate, Three Feet High And Rising
Ditto, these two albums...classics, nuff said...

Ween - Quebec
I had never bought this album, and loved seeing them live.

Herbie Hancock - Village Life
I somehow scored a copy of this digitally, and I believe it is out of print. The story behind this album is that it came out to absolutely no acclaim. While the album is only 4 tracks and is completely improvised, it absolutely ethereal. The only players being Hancock and Foday Musa Soso, with Hancock on a detunable Yamaha DX-1 synthesizer and drum machine and Soso on what allmusic.com calls a zither-like kora, vocalizing a bit and playing a talking drum. This is mesmorizing stuff....for the quiet times.

Black Sheep - A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing
Another favorite rap album of mine. Brings back the days of high school football in good old Springbrook's locker room.

The Bad Plus - Prog
This three-piece's version of Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule the World" is almost better than the original. I love how this band does their jazz versions of rock songs, usually at least on an album, but this album they let loose on a bunch of great songs, one of the best releases of 2007.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky, Summerteeth
Easily got the most play of any album that came out in 2007. I may have listened to this straight through 5 times in a row before setting it aside for a day. I could pick any song and riff about how great it is and how well if fits into the album. All I can say is the new guitarist Nels Cline, fits right in and hopefully will be there to stay. Every once in a while an album comes along that has lyrics that fit into your life so well, you would think that you wrote the songs. That's this album for me, and is why I believe it was the best of 2007. I later got Summerteeth, just because I didn't have it, I mean, I have alll the rest, why not this one?

Bright Eyes - Cassadega
Conor Oberst may be this generations Bob Dylan, it might be a stretch, but he has some incredible lyrics. I have to go back into this guys catalog, because I hear that this album may not even be close to his best stuff.

The Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
Pass The Bong, not the Mic if you ask me. While the album gets a little stale after a while, I had a great 20 mile bike ride listening to this.

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
Another album that I was eagerly anticipating for the first half of 2007. This guy is a beast. He writes incredible lyrics and beautiful acoustic songs that are sometimes poppy and other times just straight folk, all in all another great album from an incredible musician.

Flight Of The Conchords - The Distant Future (EP)
When their full length release comes out in 2008, you can bet I will be listening that day. One of my favorite shows to watch all year. They are like a Tenacious D mixed with Stephen Lynch, with some ridiculous dry humor.

Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday
I guess you could say I got into some folk and singer/songwriters this year. This guy is all of that.

Trey Anastasio - The Horseshoe Curve
When Trey went out on his own, the first time, about 6 years ago, I thought I could never see Phish again, if this is what I have in it's place. This release is absolutely NOTHING like any of his previous releases which is a VERY good thing. Not that those were bad, but this is the real deal here, this is what I think of when I hear Trey outside of Phish. I love lyrics and all, but I never feel like I need to hear anyone singing when I listen to this cd. Good job Trey, not kick the habit and lets get back to the real drug in your life...music.

The Bridge - The Bridge
I didn't think I really liked this local band that much, but after seeing them a couple of times, they grew on me. I believe this was their first release, and it's actually a perfect introduction to them. I like that.

VHS or BETA - Bring On The Comets
Since I had worn out my copy of Eisenhower from The Slip, I was searching for something similar, and stumbled on these guys. At first I didn't really get it, but that was me being naive, and is why it took me this long to find them. If I had to categorize them it would be electronic-rock. But, it's probably more indie than anything. The songs are short and sweet, and after a few listens to the album as a whole, it gets a little repetitive, but there are some excellent individual songs on this album. I found that they even sound a bit new-wavey or even 80's-ish. But in a good way, besides, the songs are short and to the point and overall enjoyable.

Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - Live At Radio City Music Hall
While not as good as "Luther College", this release focused more on Dave's solo stuff I felt. I wrote in my journal...fine, same stuff, but still good. I could've used more of Tim Reynolds without his slide, but that is what you can find on Luther College. Their version of Old Dirt Hill, is fantastic.

Robert Plant And Allison Krauss - Raising Sand
Simply beautiful! How do these two make this work? One of the best of 2007. Listen to this one with some good earphones to really get what's going on here. OUTSTANDING!

Phish - 10/21/95: Pershing Auditorium, Lincoln, NE, Vegas 96
If there was one song that I could listen to over and over again, without it getting old, it would be this version of Reba from 10/21/95. I could go on and on about how great this song is. That being said, when Live Phish decided to release a soundboard of this show, I was ecstatic. This is by far my favorite phish recording ever. Thank YOU KEVIN SHAPIRO!!! When Mo, told me that she would be giving me Vegas 96 for a anniversary gift, I was unbelievably excited. Just look at what Phish has given the phans this year. The limited edition box set also came with a "Road To Vegas" cd that featured excellent versions of SOAM and TWEEZER from shows leading up to the Vegas run.

Radiohead - In Rainbows
Highly anticipated from the east to the west. And, giving the thing away, it's unbelievable that anyone wouldn't pay 10 bucks for this. Easily one of the top 3 albums of 2007, and more than 1/2 of the world didn't pay .01 for it. I have heard that if you play each track in between each track of OK Computer that it's like a sonic Wizard Of Oz/Dark Side Of The Moon, but I still haven't tried it.

Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
What a story! And, what an album! Almost country, almost bluegrass, almost rock, but all good. One of the best of 2007 easily.

Christmas With The Rat Pack
I needed more Xmas music for the holidays, how can you go wrong with the Rat Pack?

White Stripes - Icky Thump
I waited so long before getting this album. It took me a little while to "get" what was going on with Jack White, but I got it. This album may be a bit different than his previous releases, but I like it more and more everytime I play it.

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The year of folk and singer/songwriter remember? Well, thats what I thought this would be, but its not entirely. Eclectic seems the right word, and heavy as well. This album paired with Elvis Perkins may leave your head in a fog, which isn't bad, but beware...

Iron And Wine - The Shepherds Dog
Not your typical Sam Beam here, nope, we've got Calexico as well, and that put it as a must hear/buy cd for me. This was very surprising for me, considering that I really didn't like Iron & Wine at first. This is another best of 2007, probably top 5.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
I had heard such great things about these guys, and they don't dissapoint. North American Scum is one of the best songs of the year, the album isn't entirely my cup of tea, but it works here and there.

Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Why oh why does this happen? I wait until 10 days before the end of the year to buy one of the greatest albums put out all 2007. This would've filled my top 25 most played playlist on my Ipod and taken the place of MMJ (who I can never get enough of).

Okkervil River - The Stage Names
This was another one as above that I waited too long to get. I still haven't absorbed the whole album, but it has potential. It may be top 10 from what I hear so far, but there was just way too much stuff this year for me.

Dreamscape

Last night as I waited for Mo to get home from her Grandmothers birthday party that I unfortunately could not attend, I saw the tail end of a 1984 science fiction movie called "Dreamscape". It was a movie that I had seen countless times when I was younger. The story is basically about an idea that you can control your dreams and enter other peoples dreams, in the end altering their existence. The story goes on that a group of assasins plots to assasinate the President of the US because he is having nightmares and they tell him that they can fix them. So I watched the last 40 minutes and remembered how much I loved it when I was growing up, although I don't exactly know why.

Fast forward to this morning when I wake up recounting my own dream from last nights deep sleep. I am sitting at The Bellagio eating dinner at one of their really nice restaurants. I know it is at the very least a casino because in the background all I can hear are the bells and whistles of slot machines and the shuffling of chips. Also, I determine that I am at The Bellagio because sitting beside me at the table are Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu, who sit to the left and right of me respectfully, while across the table Patrick Antonius and Phil Ivey are talking over plates of lobster. Barry, Daniel, and I are talking poker, and specifically online pokers highest stakes games on Full-Tilt. Essentially Barry and Daniel tell me that although both Ivey and Patrick play in those games, Antonius in particular is a huge donkey! I agree with them both, telling them that calling off 3 million dollars on the flop of a pot-limit omaha game with only a flush draw can't be +ev.

Now I sit here trolling the pages of Cardplayer and realize that...holy crap...Chip Reese died last night!! While this was very saddening news to read, the only thought I had was, could Dreamscape be real? Who slipped into Chips dreams last night? Was it someone who he had put a bad beat on the night/day before? Someone who he owed money but could not pay? Regardless, it is definitely a bad-beat for poker. And while the poker community will mourn the loss, they will undoubtedly be left with quite a legacy of a gentleman in poker who some may say was the best in the world.

TOC Coming Up!

Richards TOC is coming up. The final results for the year were pretty interesting:

1. MALNER - 308

1. PALLADINO - 308

3. R NASH - 304

4. CAMPBELL - 279

5. RYAN - 261

6. JAMFREEK - 252

7. DANNY - 211

8. PRINDLE - 208

9. GEORGE - 181

10. CLARDY - 179

Out of 16 tourneys that I was able to play, I cashed in 7, and won a bunch of those (at least 2-3). So that obviously contributed to my 6th place finish. The TOC should be fun, since I think we will start with a little more chips so we should have a bit more play. We are still trying to come up with a good name for our poker club. Most of the names that I've come up with I think have a nice ring, but the tournament director thinks otherwise.

Here's an intriguing hand from a Pokerstars Triple Draw game I was just playing in.

PokerStars Game #13430940709: Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2007/11/24 - 00:22:52 (ET)
Table 'Hippokoon II' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: ($14.50 in chips)
Seat 2: ($13.10 in chips)
Seat 3: ($17.85 in chips)
Seat 4: ($18.65 in chips)
Seat 5: ($12.45 in chips)
Seat 6: jamfreek ($36.85 in chips)
Seat 1: posts small blind $0.25
Seat 2: posts big blind $0.50
Seat 5: posts big blind $0.50
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to jamfreek [4s 2s 7d 9c Kc]
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: calls $0.50
Seat 5: checks
jamfreek: raises $0.50 to $1
Seat 1: calls $0.75
Seat 2: calls $0.50
Seat 4: calls $0.50
Seat 5: calls $0.50

Lots of action, but a pretty loose game...standard raise from me

*** FIRST DRAW ***
Seat 1: discards 3 cards
Seat 2: discards 2 cards
Seat 4: discards 2 cards
Seat 5: discards 1 card
jamfreek: discards 2 cards [9c Kc]
Dealt to jamfreek [4s 2s 7d] [3s Kh]
Seat 1: checks
Seat 2: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: bets $0.50
jamfreek: raises $0.50 to $1 Raising for value and to try and get it heads up
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: calls $1
Seat 4: calls $1
Seat 5: calls $0.50

HMMM, again it's pretty loose so I figure I can hit any 5/6/8 for a win...

*** SECOND DRAW ***
Seat 2: discards 1 card
Seat 4: discards 1 card
Seat 5: stands pat CURIOUS
jamfreek: discards 1 card [Kh]
Dealt to jamfreek [4s 2s 7d 3s] [5s] GIN
Seat 2: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: bets $1
jamfreek: raises $1 to $2
Seat 2: calls $2
Seat 4: calls $2
Seat 5: calls $1

WOW! Sweet mulit-way pot and everyone is playing for a chop or drawing dead!

*** THIRD DRAW ***
Seat 2: stands pat OH MY
Seat 4: stands pat OH MY
Seat 5: stands pat OH MY
jamfreek: stands pat on [4s 2s 7d 3s 5s]
Seat 2: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
jamfreek: bets $1
Seat 2: calls $1
Seat 4: calls $1
Seat 5: calls $1 NOT SURE WHAT THESE LAST TWO CALLERS THOUGHT THEY WERE BEATING??
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jamfreek: shows [4s 2s 7d 3s 5s] (Lo: 7,5,4,3,2)
Seat 2: mucks hand
Seat 4: mucks hand
Seat 5: mucks hand
jamfreek collected $20.50 from pot
Seat 4: said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21 | Rake $0.50
Seat 1: (small blind) folded after the 1st Draw
Seat 2: (big blind) mucked [8h 3h 2d 4h 6h] This is the only hand that should be calling here
Seat 3: folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 4: mucked [4d 8s 5c 2h 7s]
Seat 5: mucked [7h 8c 6s 3d 4c]
Seat 6: jamfreek (button) showed [4s 2s 7d 3s 5s] and won ($20.50) with Lo: 7,5,4,3,2

That's about how it's been going for me in the TD games. You hardly ever see these kind of overcalls in the 1/2 games and i've never seen them in anything higher. Hopefully this kind of play will stick around, and maybe i'll get lucky in the TOC coming up.

The TOC

In two months we will have our Tournament of Champions for our little local poker club. For one year we have been playing two tournaments a month raking up points to get to the top 10 so that we can get a chance to win the big one. I have done pretty well and am in 6th place. It is a really great tournament structure that my buddy Richard has put together, but it is not without any normal problems. Things like guys who don't know automatic raise amounts, folding out of turn, etc. I still love the game and most of the players are friends, so its, well, friendly. Every tournament we give a little cash to the host for food, and there is always the perfect amount, and we give a little to a progressive jackpot. This past month one guy hit the jackpot for a second time when he hit quads on the river. Oh, and he's probably played about 6 of 20 tournaments thus far. He's a luckbox. Quads gets 25% of the jackpot, a straight flush gets 50%, and the royal gets 75%. At the end of the year, whatever money is leftover goes to the prizepool in the TOC.

Whenever I hit a dry spell playing online poker, I tend to cash out a chunk of my bankroll and play smaller and tighter. The past 3 months have been extremely profitable, so I can afford the opportunity to build back up. Thats the way it is in an action game like triple draw. I really wish I had the time to play more MTT's. Even though I get more tilted when I take a bad beat in tourneys, they don't hurt the bankroll as much as running bad in the TD game. What I need to do is set out one night a week where I play a tournament or two, and see how I do for a month. I feel like I have "lost it" a little, and really need to get back on my game.

This Sunday we are going to see Keller and the WMD's. I am really looking forward to this show. The last time we saw Keller with a band he didn't really play many of his own songs, and this should be interesting. I'll probably keep a setlist as usual.

Procrastination

I have disrespected this blog way too much lately. I have the time to post, I just shrug it off. So much has happened in the last month, so it's not like there isn't anything to talk about. How 'bout this? We're having a baby!! It's very early on, and so much can happen in these next few months, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will be ok. We are extremely excited about this. How can't you be, you know? Everything happens so quick. So far it looks like we will have a baby in April. People ask me if I want a boy/girl, I always say i'll take "c"-healthy. Really that's all I care about. Mo has been really tired the last few weeks, but I guess that goes with the territory. At least we don't have to paint the baby's room....we got that out of the way early, and painted it a color that is pretty neutral.

So we found all of this out about two days before we were to go on our mini-vacation to Florida. Man did we get a lucky couple of days. Ft. Lauderdale in the summer can be hit or miss when it comes to the weather. It's hurricane season so it can get pretty dicey. Luckily, we got a great 4 days. It was so relaxing. The first night we got in a little later than we thought we would, but we stayed at the Seminole Hard Rock casino in Hollywood. We got a ridiculous room that we thought was reserved only for the high-rollers. It is a truly gorgeous hotel, and they have a really neat pool too. Complete with water slides and a mini beach. Unfortunately, the gambling gods must really be trying to teach me a lesson when it comes to live poker. They are telling me exactly that if I want to have a profit, I need to learn to quit. The thing is, I played really great but got unlucky in a couple of spots. Since the change in FL legislature, they now offer $100 max buy-in NL games, with blinds from 1/2 - 2/5. I sat down with two bullets in my pocket and bought in to a table that only had a couple players with stacks over $300. After about 10 hands I had already doubled up, and my stack had reached about $350 - 400 when this ridiculous hand happens: I had 67o in the sb. About 5 people limp for $2, so I complete. Flop is 458 with two spades...GIN! I bet $10, guy in middle position raises about $15. It folds around back to me and I ask him to move his hands so I can see how much he has, which is around $90. I push out a huge stack of chips (didn't count it, but guessed it was around $100), and he goes in the tank. I'm thinking, PLEASE FREAKING CALL!! Sure enough he calls and shows pocket 9's. I'm like...WEEEEEE....I never call there, and i'm in a ridiculous position... I am 90% to win here...turn 6, river 7...rigged ass live poker shit, shit, shit. So he's all like damn, I'm so sorry...blah, blah, blah, so I say since he's so sorry why doesn't he just give me my chips back.

I should've known this might not be my night when that kind of thing happens, but I shrugged it off and chipped back up steadily.Then about 30 mins go by, and I get about $30 of it back, when this ding-dong sits down two to my left. He raises a lot and plays loose for a bunch of hands and I think, god I'd love to take this guys stack. So this time i'm in the sb again and he's under the gun and raises to $10, a bunch of callers and I look at A8 of spades, so I go ahead and give it a shot. Theres like 4 players or so in the hand and the flop is 245 with the 2/5 of spades. Here I don't know if I should've bet or not, but I was inclined to go all the way regardless, so I didn't really care what anyone did, I felt like I had the best of it. So I checked (mistake?), ding-dong bets $20, everyone folds and it's back to me...$60 in the pot, I have to call $20 (3-1 pot odds), except I think I actually might have the best of it like I said...if he has a set, so be it, I have 8 outs, if he has an overpair...well, I have 4 outs for the straight, and 8 outs for the flush, plus if I have a live Ace, that's another 3...if he has something like top pair then my 8 is live too, so that would be another 3 outs. Best case I have 18 outs twice, worst case I have 8 outs twice...so i'm either 60/40 winner, or 40/60 dog...there was also the chance that this guy had complete AIR and I could get him to fold, it was a pretty weak bet you know. So sure enough I check-raise him all-in and he thinks for like 5 seconds! and calls showing K5o!! The board bricks out, and I lose about $100 from my stack...the worst part, the guy goes..."EWWWW, that must hurt....awww, too bad for you...looks like a busted flush draw....ew so I say to him, as my stomach is turning in knots and I am trying not to show my beet red face, "As a matter of fact my friend, it actually feels great to know that I was ahead when you called...it makes me feel wonderful to know that I play better than you, so how does that feel?". So then I pretty much got up and left about 20 minutes later down about $80.

There are some tough games down there, and by tough, I mean juicy, but with that comes some ridiculous beats. Plus, the time rake there is god-awful. This is the first time I had ever played at a table with a timed rake, and at $6 a half-hour, you have to win some hands to show a profit. If I win those two hands I would've been up a good $500-$600 and most likely gotten up. But then again, who knows?

The good thing is that I am on a bit of a heater on 'Stars. I have almost hit my monetary goal for the year. And, the most of the profit has been mainly playing the 1/2 td games. Plus, I still have the WCOOP event #4 tourney in about 10 days.

WCOOP event #4, Vacation coming

So I won a seat to the triple draw tournament in the WCOOP. It was another one of those wild rides that i've talked about in tournament poker. Surprisingly, this is only my second satellite i've played for a direct buy-in. I plan on playing a couple more and maybe trying to get into one of the other events. The main event this year has a ridiculous guaranteed prize pool. I guess it's worth a shot.

Since we bought our house this year, our only REAL vacation will be next week when we spend 4 days in Ft. Lauderdale. The first night I will get to check out the new and improved FL poker scene, and donk around a bit at there $1/2 NL tables. They changed their laws down there so there can be big bet poker, but the max-buyin's are only $100. We'll see how that goes. I've heard mixed results. Regardless, hopefully we won't see any hurricanes and we'll get to spend some time in the sun and have some cocktails. You know, escaping reality!

All Good!

We left for our first music festival in 4 years at 1 pm. 10 hours later we would be sitting on top of a mountain listening to the Dark Star Orchestra give their rendition of October 29, 1977 Evans Field House - Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL. By the time we arrived to the center city of Masontown it was about 4pm and our stomachs turned in anxious butterflys. How was this weekend going to play out?

We sat for 2 hours, in line waiting to park at our campsite. Luckily the weather was holding up, in fact it was absolutely beautiful, and the sights were spectacular. By the time we arrived at our home for the next 3 days we couldn't wait to stretch our legs and set up camp. We were a little dumbfounded when we realized that we would be camping next to our cars, and basically right on top of everyone else. This was actually perfect because the thought of lugging all of our stuff up the mountain was ridiculous. With just a little bit of struggle we finally got our tent up and our air mattress filled. I made some quick notes on what to bring next time (ie. table, tiki-torches, glowsticks for the tent ties, etc). We ate our prepared kabobs of which we cooked on our mini-grill, and with full stomachs headed up to the Ropeadope stage for the beginning of Dark Star Orchestra. By the second set, we had had enough music for the night, and were actually quite chilly. We headed down to the tent for some much needed sleep, but not before making a quick stop at our weekend nemesis...the portapotty.

Friday was to begin with our neighbors blasting Phish and bong hits at 9am. These guys (and one girl) would turn out to be some hardcore partiers, esspecially early in the morning. We made some pancakes and waited to head over to the concert ground. They finally cleaned the portapotties by 2pm and we were ready. Our first show would be Mo's favs, The Pietasters. From what she could remember, we jotted down the setlist which looked like this:
Let's spend the night together
Biblical Sense
"new album song"
I got something better
Girl Take it Easy
Maggie May
Freakshow

There were a few others that she couldn't remember, but all in all it was a good show. Yonder Mountain String Band would be next up and we were quite excited. It was the weather that we were not getting excited about. As one of the opening bands were finishing their set, I could see the staff wrapping the lights with plastic bags...uh oh. The clouds were getting darker and darker, and swirling in. As YMSB came on we knew it wouldn't be long, luckily we were semi-prepared with one raincoat...lol. The setlist that I jotted down looked like this:
Hill Country Girl
Damned If The Right One Didn't Go Wrong
Night Out
Belle Parker
Rambler's Anthem
Kentucky Mandolin
Funtime
The Bolton Stretch
Angel >>>
Follow Me Down To The Riverside >>>
Angel >>>
Years With Rose
Ten
Encore
Holding

By the time "Ramblers Anthem" kicked in, one of my favs, the rain came tumbling down. I mean, it poured and the thunder and lightning just made things better. Mo left to the camp to get more supplies, and unfortunately missed "Holding" one her favs, and one song that we had been listening to while waiting in our car to get into the campsite the day before. The rain let up and the skys opened up to perfectly blue skys by the time the encore began and I could finally start to dry out.

We got to see some of the band Love Whip and also a bit of the Steel Pulse set. We sat through Wil Hoge waiting for what would turn out to be the show of the weekend: Keller and the Keels.

We've seen Larry Keel, Jenny Keel, and Keller "Keel", a couple times in the past, and we knew what they had in store for us. There set that night was probably the best we've seen. The setlist looked like this:

Crater In The Backyare
Faster Horses? (Larry Song?)
Mary Jane's Last Breakdown
Take Me Home, Country Road
Kidney in a Cooler
Mountain Song
Doobie In My Pocket? (new Keller song we had not heard)
New Horizons (w/ Jeff Austin of YMSB on Mandolin)
Local
Freeker By The Speaker
Breathe->
Another Brick In The Wall->
Breathe
Inside Out (Eve 6)
All Fall Down -> Culpeper Woodchuck
Loser (Beck) -> Loser (GD) (w/ Bob Weir)
Dupree's Diamond Blues (w/ Bob Weir)

The song of the night was definitely Doobie In My Pocket > New Horizons. "Doobie" is a classic Keller song, with all of his jovial lyrics and real life story telling. But, the New Horizons was especially hot, as an all-out glowstick war, a'la Phish's Harry Hood, took place. People were throwing them by the 10's and it made for some awesome visuals.

I don't remember much of the next set (Lotus), but I like them enough to warrant buying their latest cd. They play a nice mix of jazz/electronica that is just beautiful. Ratdog had me up and dancing and singing along. I have mixed feelings about Bob Weir though. I mean everyone loves Bobby, but at some points I feel a little like he is "phoning it in", so to speak. What made the set so great, in my humble opinion, was Steve Kimock who was filling in for the bands regular guitarist Mark Karan. Kimock is amazing, plain and simple. And, I think he carried the band. He makes noises that, if you closed your eyes, you would swear it was the ghost of Jerry coming through the amp. But, he doesn't just imitate Jerry, he makes his sound his own and expands on it exponentially. The set was pretty damn good though, and I wasn't complaining, although I was getting a little chilly and tired. Benevento/Russo Duo was up next and played a quick set that hit on all cylinders. But what I was really waiting for was the STS9 late-night set. A little after 2am, they hit the stage, and the fog that was setting in during "The Duo's" set, left a blanket that the lighting engineer really took advantage of. If only I could keep up with these youngsters, this may have been the MUST SEE set of the weekend. Alas, my eyes had become blurry, and I started to feel a little bad that Mo was back at the tent all alone. I did have to stay just to see those lights for a little while. The walk back to the camp was surreal. The fog was so thick that you could hardly see 4 ft. in front of you. And, the tweakers stumbling to and fro made me chuckle and remember the days that my buddies might have done the same thing...out of mind, in some kind of substance.

Saturday had us going back and forth to the concert area a couple of times. Our first stop was The Assembly of Dust's set, which, at 1pm, was the perfect setting for some down-home hick-funk. I've stated before how much I love Reid Genauer's lyrics. He played my favorite song "Speculator" and it was extremely fitting. We saw a little bit of Grace Potter's set...she is trying to be Janis Joplin sometimes, but I get it. She can pull it off, she's got a great voice and a nice little backing band to boot. We skipped Les Claypool. It seemed like everyone wanted to see him. I can take him or leave him. We wanted to save our energy for a long, late night. Michael Franti came on at 9pm, and he started his set out with a little video of his song "It's Time to Come Home". All of it set to George Bush's spliced in lyrics. Pretty funny actually. There set looked like this:
Time to go Home
Sometimes >
Hey Now Now
Taxi Radio
East to the West
Please Take Me Home
Sweet Little Lies
Stay Human
People in the Middle >
Red Red Wine
Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong
Rock the Nation
What I Got >
Theme from Sesame Street >
What I Got
Light Up Ya Lighter
I know I'm Not Alone
Yell Fire!
One Step Closer to You
Everybody Ona Move

One day I swear I am going to play a drinking game and do a shot everytime Michael Franti yells "How you Feelin?"! Moe.'s set was another highlight of the weekend. They played a very old skool set with many songs from their first, second and third albums. This was not dissapointing in the least bit. I've seen many reviews online where the moe.rons claimed it was one of the best ever. There setlist looked like this:
Rebubula >>>
32 Things
Spine of a Dog >>>
Rebubula >>>
Plane Crash
Skrunk
The Pit >>>
Rebubula >>>
Akimbo
Encore
Crab Eyes

Rebubula just kept rearin' it's pretty little head! What followed was the All Star Jam, but again...I guess I'm getting old. Oh well. As Kenny Liner's beat boxing kicked in, my walk "home" was in sync to the tunes. Good times.

By Sunday morning, it was pretty apparent that we were definitely not in it for the long haul. Mo and I were pretty much done. I made the statement "I think we've gotten this out of our system", and we made our way home. We couldn't wait to take showers and sleep in our beds. All worthwhile endeavors!

What a ride...

A couple notes on the last few tournaments i've played.

Firstly, I played in the monthly local game that my buddy Richard has at his "poker dungeon", and lost a race about an hour in that left me with less than 7 times the big blind. In his tourney set up, at this point it is usually crucial to just jam the hell out of the game to try and pick up blinds and get back to above 10 BB's. I luckily and unluckily had a ridiculous rush of cards, when it all started.

This is how it went. With a little less than the starting chips (10,000), I am in the BB with the blinds at 200/400. An early position player that I know well, opens for just over 4K and is all-in. It folds around to the button who is agonizing over his decision. I immediately think he has a semi decent Ace and is having trouble folding. He folds after much deliberation, and it comes around to me. I squeeze AK suited. I now have to figure things out. Firstly, I know the player who jammed will ship it with just about any "blackjack" hand. He plays that stuff frequently, although he could easily have a smallish pair. I think for about 20 secs. and figure I am either way ahead or flipping coins. My only problem is I may have one of my outs gone since the button basically gave away his hand. If I fold, I give him only 600 chips and really don't lose anything. But if I call and win i've got a nice size stack to start pushing people around a bit (bully chips). If I lose, I am down to 10 times the BB and feel like I can still get somewhere. I decide to gamble and say "I call". He turns over pocket nines and I immediately say to the button, "you folded an Ace didn't ya?". Of course he says he had AT. Even worse, the SB states that he had one of my Kings as well. So now I am down to 4 outs and some flush possibilities. I brick out and have to go to grinding.

Next hand of course the blinds go up because the guy on the button in the last hand had to take 5 minutes to fold AT, so we are at 300/600 and I am in the SB. It gets folded around and I look down at 67o. It's not a great hand, but I feel like I can just call and if the BB decides to get silly with my small stack I can still fold and be ok. He checks and we see a flop of J 4 5 rainbow. I go ahead and ship it in and he folds. "Cool", I say and rake in the extra 600 chips.

Next hand sees one middle position, semi-solid player limp in and I look down at QQ on the button. I smoothly, without saying a word shift my single column stack across the felt, signalling that I am all-in. The blinds fold and the limper deliberates. I try to act as though I am making a move, and don't want a call. I am thinking to myself that he must think this is bs going all-in two hands in a row. But, he folds. Whatever, there's another 1200 chips. That totals 1800 chips without a showdown.

Very next hand, folds around to me in the cut-off and I squeeze AQ of diamonds. With the exact same movements, I move my slightly larger column to the center without a word. The BB says, call rather quickly, but a little painfully. He shows AQo and we end up chopping. Fine, I think, theres another 500 chips (now at a total of 2300).

Finally the last hand comes down. This time it's folded around again and I look down at AQo. Here is where my decision to jam may have been a little off. This would be essentially 5 hands in a row that I would be either going all-in or calling an all-in. This time the player to my left wakes up with QQ and I am out and ship him almost 7K in chips. Looking back, it was definitely enough chips to make a raise with and maybe release, but it would've been hard.


The other night I played a $16 turbo SnG on Pokerstars. I have been playing a bunch of these and I actually really like them. It doesn't hurt that I have been doing pretty decent in them as well. But this one was pretty funny, and sums up the play and basically the title of this blog.

After exactly 31 hands of 82o, J4o, 23o, I was down to about 1000 in chips with the blinds at 100/200, and I have 6h8s utg. I decide this isn't my tourney and just decide to make an early exit. I push all-in and get called by the shorter stack who turns over AJo. I lose the hand and am down to 85 chips and am all-in on the next hand. I get AJo this time and end up winning against the sb who has J5o. Now I'm up to 170 and am in the sb the next hand. I have A2o and the pot is raised and I just go with it since I only have 70 more. I'm up against AT, the board bricks until the river comes the marvelous 2, and I now have 510 chips. Hey this isn't so bad sucking out for once (or so it seemed). I still had no aspirations of doing that well, but figured what the hell, the poker gods must be on my side for once. The next hand I must fold since the second short stack now goes all-in, and on the very next hand I push with K3 of hearts. The BB reluctantly makes the call for only 310 more and shows K2o. I hit a flush draw on the flop, a 3 on the turn and finish my draw with the heart on the river and am now up to 1120 chips. I fold the next hand and then the antes hit.

We are at 100/200/25 and I am now utg with A4d and I jam. Everyone folds. Wonderful! Now up to 1570. I fold the next 6 hands until I am down to 1120 and push all-in utg +1 with 83cc, the blinds have now gone up to 200/400/25 since everyone is playing slowly. Folds around. Now at 1870. 2 hands later I am in the BB w/ A6o and the utg shortstack player jams for 525 more, I have to call and he shows AT and wins. Back down to 895. Now in the sb I jam into a limper with J9o, he calls for only about 400 more with 44, I hit a 9 and am back up to 2200. A couple hands later I jam QJo and win blinds and antes, now at 2965 and am second in chips. I then call an all-in with A2 for 1000 or so chips and win when a 2 hits the flop and a A hits the turn (he showed T4o). Now at 4550 and chip leader with 5 left! Two hands later I make a standard raise w/ A9o and win the blinds and antes. Boom! 5550 now! I end up having to call an all-in in the bb for 350 more with 34o and lose. At this point the 3rd place player is now sitting out to my right and I just steal chips. We finally get to 3 handed after the guy sitting out failed to show up and was blinded off (he was at one time the chip leader with 9K in chips!). I chop a pot with A high against another small Ace. When we get to headsup after a funny hand where the 3rd place guy had 10 chips left after his ante and blind goes all-in with AA and I have J9 and flop a straight I have a demanding chip lead 4-1. I give away some with a call of an all-in with AT and he beats me with AK. But I end up taking it down when my J8o runs into 99, but I turn a J and we are a bit richer. I guess that's exactly what "Chip and a Chair" is all about, but for me it was one hell of a ride!

It's gonna be ALLL GOOOD in less than 2 weeks!

Here's my schedule for the All Good Festival:
Thursday Night - Dark Star Orchestra 9pm

Friday - The Pietasters - 5:20pm
Keller and The Keels - 9:15
Bob Weir and Ratdog - 11:30
Benevento - Russo Duo - 1:15am
STS9 - 2:00 am

Saturday - Assembly of Dust - 1:15pm
Perpetual Groove - 2:30
Grace Potter and The Nocturnals - 3:45
New Monsoon - 8:25
Michael Franti and Spearhead - 9:00
moe. - 11:15
The Slip - 1:15am
All Good Allstar Jam hosted by moe. - 2:00am

Sunday - Sam Bush - 1:15pm
West Indian Girl - 2:30
Leftover Salmon - 5:10

Should be a ridiculously fun weekend. I'm not sure if Mo is going to be up for that much music, but, I don't know if I am going to be able to handle it either. The last time we camped at a festival like this saw us leaving a little early because of the crazy people camping next to us that stayed up all night banging on their drums and talking about how Trey had some kind of machine installed in his guitar that made him play the solos so good. And, who could forget that they would refer to "good" bluegrass as "psychograss". I wonder if they knew that there was really a band that was actually called psychograss...hmmm.

Ok, here's what's been going on...

Things have been so crazy in life these days. It's been over a month since my last post and I would go through all of the crazy ups and downs, but it's better to start with a clean slate and just glance over the last month and a half.

1. We bought our first house and moved to Elkridge. Pictures to come.

2. I picked myself out of the hole I was in poker wise.

3. I got a bunch of new cds that are awesome.

4. I went to Atlantic City and couldn't scoop one pot in limit hold'em.

NEW HOUSE
A couple of years ago, before Mo and I got married, we looked into buying a house. At the time interest rates were excellent, but our income was not where we wanted it to be in order for us to get something that we really liked. So we decided to wait it out. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, interest rates went up, but luckily the housing market took a little bit of a dip. We were able to get a decent rate and found a beautiful townhouse in Elkridge, MD. We love it. It has a walk-out basement that is my little "dorm-room" as I like to call it. The second level is perfect for entertaining as the kitchen is very large and opens into the living room. We have painted a couple of rooms (bedroom/basement), and have plans to paint the dining room. I'll post pics soon!

POKER IS FUN WHEN YOU WIN
I had about two and a half months of straight losing poker. Triple draw is a game of BIG SWINGS and quite possibly more TILT than any other poker game there is. Luckily, since this is not the first bad run that I have had playing this game, I knew what was going on, and was able to emotionally handle it. Basically I dropped down to the lowest possible stakes and played a few more SNG's and was able to build back up to right around where I was before the drop. I am extremely happy about this, but it's a learning process. I so badly want to play in the TD 2-7 WSOP tournament, but my bankroll wouldn't be able to handle it, nor would my wife! Not that I blame her, I mean we haven't even paid our first months mortgage yet!

CD'S EVERYONE SHOULD OWN
I can't say enough about the new Wilco album: Sky Blue Sky. Sometimes a record will come out that just fits perfectly into your life. Lyrics and music that either lift your spirits or speak to you in ways that a psychiatrist or counselor or friend cannot. This one is it for me. Don't you just love when you can put on a cd and listen to every single song straight through without hitting the skip button?
I've also said plenty about Dr. Dog's: We All Belong. Buy it...'nuff said!

ATLANTIC CITY POKER IS RIGGED!
Well not really, but I am beginning to think that The Tropicana is the worst place for me to play limit poker. It just so happens that the times that I am able to go play in a casino, my funds are too short to play and No-Limit...ugghh if they only had 2-7 tables. I've run bad in casinos before, but this last trip really messed with my mind. Mo says I never win in casinos and that I should just stick to online. The thing is, I know I am playing perfectly, it's just variance, yadda yadda. But, after this many times playing in casinos (Vegas and AC) it's like it's time for me to hit it big. Of course, I was almost there this past Feb. in Vegas, but I got greedy and stupid. It's got to come around some time right?

The Latte Factor...

David Bach wrote about the Latte Factor in his best selling book about getting rich and how to make it happen. I know for sure that my "latte" is music. One of my new years resolutions was to keep track of my purchases better. I just have to face it, I spend a lot of money on cd's, mp3's from Itunes, Concert DVD's, and the like. It's only May and I have spent around $300 on music. Last year I took advantage of some of the local used CD stores, and sold some old stuff and bought some old stuff so I probably didn't spend that much. But, I would have no idea the exact amount if anyone asked...hence the resolution.

The thing is, I don't want to stop. It's my addiction...obsession...er' one of my obsessions. Anyway, there's just too much to talk about!

I should've bought The Slip's most recent release, "Eisenhower", before Christmas because it would've made my top albums of 2006 list. In fact, I think it was definitely the album that is the most underrated. The fact is, I had heard one song (Children of December), and procrastinated in buying the full album. They used to be much more of a "jamband" (I tend to hate that label), but they have done a 180 (or more of a 90) and gone to more of an indie rock feel. But, back when they were getting their jam-on they were more in line with The Disco Biscuits or STS9, etc. Their album "Aliveelectric" shows much of this off...long, drawn out, atmospheric, jams that enlightened the senses. This was all very good. I was not a huge fan of their sister album "Aliveacoustic". So, since I had tickets to see My Morning Jacket, and The Slip was opening for them, I had to wait it out and reserve judgement until after I had seen them live. The fact is, I was dissapointed. Looking back, I think I did it all wrong. This is a band that you have to know the songs from the album a little to really appreciate what they are doing on stage. So for the past couple of months, this album has taken over much of my Top 25 Most Played on my Ipod. The first 4-5 songs on the album are where it's at, but the whole thing just doesn't dissapoint.

Keller Williams came out with an excellent new album this year entitled "Dream". He's sticking with his one word titles, and this is another excellent album, chock-full of fantastic guest musicians. "Got No Feathers", so far is my favorite song on the album. KW is joined by John Scofield on guitar, and it is unlike anything he has done before.

I'll list my latest purchases soon, but those two have gotten the most "air-time" in my travels. Of course, I can't forget to pimp Dr. Dog, because that is my pick of the best album of the year. Or, at least the best "newcomer of the year".