Hiatus

This blog will be on a brief hiatus. After tonight's cash session, it has become apparent to me that I need to focus on improving my game, not talking about it. I lost several buyins, again, and it stings quite a bit.

I will post baby updates, of course, but I am going to lay low on poker content until I have a better grasp of where my leaks are coming from.

Soon They Shall Emerge and Destroy Tokyo

My wife's most recent e-mail update about the little ones!

Hi All!

Jay and I are pleased to tell you that the twins are growing and thriving! Our ultrasound showed Faith weighing in at 4lbs, 14 oz., and Jonathan at 5lbs, 11oz.! Apparently in twin world we are having little giants! In fact, Jonathan was in the 90+ percentile!

They are both growing very well, have lots of fluid around them, and their heart rates are great. Unfortunately, Jonathan is now head up (breech) and may or may not turn around. If he remains in the breech position, there is a 100% chance that I will have a c-section.

They also did an internal ultrasound which revealed I am slightly dialated. I will go back next Tuesday for another internal ultrasound to see if there is any change. At which point they may give me the steroid beta-methazone (not sure about spelling) to increase the twins lung maturity.

Everything looked good on the non-stress test, and I will have another one next Tuesday as well.

Physically, I am doing pretty well. Lost two pounds this week which the doctor's say is due to the babies sucking up all the nutrients that I feed them! My blood pressure was 102/62, and I have minimal swelling. My abdomen is measuring 46 weeks! I have gained 37 lbs.

Typically, the doctor's do not intervine in twin pregnancies (via induction or scheduled c-section) until 39 weeks when they know the lungs are mature. But because the twins are so large, they don't think they would follow that guideline for me. They may want to do a double (two seperate sacks) amniocentisis at some point to determine lung maturity, but at the same time they may not -- it's risky and to be avoided if possible.

Today I am exactly 32 weeks. If I go into labor at 34 weeks or after, they will not try to stop labor. But it is always possible I could go 36 (my goal!) or more.

I am to take it easy and really restrict my lifting to about 10-15lbs. Good thing Monty only weighs 11.5! If I have more than 3 braxton-hicks contractions in an hour, or 3 an hour for several hours, then I will need to go to the hospital to be monitored. Needless to say, I am going to finish packing my hospital bag!

I think we are pretty much ready for the twins....car seats are in, cribs are ready, diapers and wipes are ready....it is getting much more real now. Exciting but scarey at the same time.

Please continue to pray for Faith and Jonathan. The best thing for them would be for them to stay inside for at least 3 more weeks-I really don't want to have them in the NICU at all.

New Feature

Since I don't often have time to write articulate thoughts in this here blog, I have decided the cut and paste button can be my friend. I've been playing poker, after all, so why not let you see some of the things I have been doing? That way I provide content, and maybe some folks can comment.

I make no illusions that these are wholly indicative of my day. The first took place during my wife's baby shower, and the last two took place Saturday night (yay insomnia). All in all a very good day, almost a ful buy-in to the good. I had a bad night last Tuesday, and I have erased the two buy-in loss from set farmers and bad play. And yes, this time they are all winners and probably play themselves, but that won't always be the case.

So here they are.



Seat 2: Gydyon (204)
Seat 3: ohcowboy12go (157)
Seat 4: Dhanamjaya (250)
Seat 5: juicyjc (156)
Seat 6: alexmdm (52)
Seat 7: gmbenz5885 (80)
Seat 8: Jared Jon (96)
Seat 9: jhazen (142)
jhazen posts the small blind of 1
Gydyon posts the big blind of 2
gmbenz5885 posts 2
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Kh Kd]
ohcowboy12go calls 2
Dhanamjaya folds
WiredTwos sits down
juicyjc calls 2
WiredTwos adds 200
alexmdm calls 2
gmbenz5885 checks
Jared Jon folds
jhazen calls 1
Gydyon raises to 14
ohcowboy12go folds
juicyjc folds
alexmdm folds
gmbenz5885 folds
jhazen calls 12
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3h Qc]
jhazen checks
Gydyon bets 30
jhazen has 15 seconds left to act
jhazen raises to 128, and is all in
Gydyon calls 98
jhazen shows [9h 9s]
Gydyon shows [Kh Kd]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3h Qc] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3h Qc 2s] [6c]
jhazen shows two pair, Queens and Nines
Gydyon shows two pair, Kings and Queens
Gydyon wins the pot with two pair, Kings and Queens
jhazen is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Board: [Qs 3h Qc 2s 6c]



Seat 1: billydeee (900 in chips)
Seat 2: sidelineskid (4090 in chips)
Seat 3: Gydyon (2255 in chips)
Seat 4: cardman61 (315 in chips)
Seat 6: beast5454 (1370 in chips)
Seat 9: scrubbyz (1570 in chips)
Gydyon: posts small blind 15
cardman61: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [5c 5d]
beast5454: folds
scrubbyz: raises 60 to 90
billydeee: calls 90
sidelineskid: folds
Gydyon: calls 75
cardman61: raises 225 to 315 and is all-in
scrubbyz: calls 225
billydeee: calls 225
Gydyon: calls 225
*** FLOP *** [5h 3s 5s]
Gydyon: checks
scrubbyz: bets 1255 and is all-in
billydeee: folds
Gydyon: calls 1255
*** TURN *** [5h 3s 5s] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [5h 3s 5s Tc] [7s]
beast5454 said, "wtf"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Gydyon: shows [5c 5d] (four of a kind, Fives)
scrubbyz: shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Eights and Fives)
Gydyon collected 2510 from side pot
cardman61: shows [Qs Kd] (a pair of Fives)
Gydyon collected 1260 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3770 Main pot 1260. Side pot 2510. | Rake 0



Seat 1: karl422 (1700 in chips)
Seat 2: statsman33 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: JLGob (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: Lega (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: UnluckyPlyr (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Gydyon (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Mongonian (1920 in chips)
Seat 8: RyGmoney (1360 in chips)
Seat 9: IDAHORAMS (1480 in chips)
Seat 10: allen393 (1040 in chips)
IDAHORAMS: posts small blind 10
allen393: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Th Td]
karl422: calls 20
statsman33: folds
JLGob: raises 40 to 60
Lega: folds
UnluckyPlyr: folds
Gydyon: calls 60
Mongonian: folds
RyGmoney: calls 60
IDAHORAMS: calls 50
allen393: calls 40
karl422: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [4h Ts 9d]
IDAHORAMS: checks
allen393: bets 140
karl422: calls 140
JLGob: raises 360 to 500
Gydyon: raises 940 to 1440 and is all-in
RyGmoney: folds
IDAHORAMS: folds
allen393: folds
karl422: folds
JLGob: calls 940 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4h Ts 9d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Ts 9d 2d] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JLGob: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
Gydyon: shows [Th Td] (a full house, Tens full of Deuces)
Gydyon collected 3520 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3520 | Rake 0

Multiple Poker Personality Disorder

/1

We're approaching a year on this humble poker blog, and I am unfortunately noticing that I seem to be blogging about the same leaks and issues in my game.

What's that they say about the definition of insanity?

Had a lot of fun at the game Friday night despite losing tons. There's more where the tons came from, but I can't sustain this loss rate in the long term. My post-babies poker break may be perfectly timed after all.

/2

I can't miss. I sat down for an hour and made a full buy-in. At .50/1 NL no less. Heck, if I had not lost to a set with Aces, I would have made much more!

And even when I miss, I still make money. Saturday I played for two hours, and despite totally overplaying a hand for my whole stack against a donkey who was dying to give his money away, I still made half a buy-in. Thank you, guy who tilted his whole stack in two hands.


/1

It's a matter of priorities. I spend a lot of time with my wife and our unborm twins and with family these days gearing up for fatherhood. That's awesome time, but when I get out into a different circle, I relish and enjoy the differeing social contact. I spend my time chatting and laughing and being social, instead of focusing on position, avoiding limping with bad hands, and reading faces and betting patterns.

The result is playing too many hands, playing out of position, and putting too much money in the pot when weak. It also is exploitable through bluffs at me when I am not certain of where I stand.

/2

I have some rigorous guidelines, because as it's been said it's like wiffle ball out there and much of the play is automatic.

I don't limp, with the occasional exception of suited connectors or small pairs. If I stay at a table long enough that people could pick up on that trend and exploit it, I stop doing it and raise with these hands if I decide to play them.

I play my position, but also demonstrate some patience to wait for good cards. I continuation bet strong, especially in position, and I fold if I am raised and I don't think a reraise will get them off the hand.

No set, no bet is not weak poker if you also mix up your play with other holdings.

/1

Sometimes as I fold I lament "what are those set odds again" as I muck my small pair out of position after calling a preflop raise on an Ace-high board. Other time I get caught overplaying Jacks because I am stuck or I am misreading my opponent.

Don't even ask why I'm playing those four cards in Omaha. Got a great nut low working in a non-split pot game though.....

/2

It will take a while because I can't do it as often as others, but playing is fun and I am not currently facing a mountain of variance. As I gain confidence, however, I will start playing a more aggressive style. As it is however, it's easy to play in position and cherry-pick.






Yes, those are both me right now. Personality 1 is my live game, 2 my online game. Why they are not the same is something I am struggling with.

Honestly, I think I may exude some tells in a live cash setting I don't throw off online (obviously) or in live tournaments. Of course, in tournaments, I have on an IPod, I am very rigid in my movements, and I know the structure and resulting strategy shifts intimately and have a system in place to ride the swings of tournament play. I've become adept at riding a short stack patiently until it's time to start moving.

I just can't get myself to hunker down that way when it's the same price every hand and I am enjoying myself with friends. Plus I like to straddle.

I have maybe three live games left. Next time I am going to set some overly strict rules for myself and see if it has an effect:

1. Polite chat, but no yammering on.
2. Do not look at my cards until action comes to me (I never violate this in a tourney, EVER, but I do in cash with people I know).
3. No limping under any circumstances. No exceptions.
4. Don't watch the flop, watch the opponent.
5. Continuation bet when checked to in position and when head's up. Otherwise watch the players before deciding.
6. Remember that percentages, pot size, pot odds and implied odds are relatively easy to calculate on the fly, and DO IT.
7. Play less Omaha and more Hold'Em.
8. Decide if this is a social outlet or a learning experience, and play that way.

Time to dust, I guess

Wow. I have been bad at updating lately. I will do a quick update now and try to add some thoughts on the weekend.

1. Kids are doing great and growing. About 6 weeks to go.
2. Kris is managing the pain well. I am proud of her. She's doing everything an expectant mom should be doing -- not overworking, eating well, avoiding stress. She doesn't even ice cream binge!
3. I am doing fine. My cold went away, but a week later I got some sort of bronchitis-type crud that's just now dissapating.
4. I've been playing very little poker. I lost at my local game two Fridays ago by playing tired (I should read my rules again), and won online pretty consistently. I love those middle stakes NLHE games on FTP.
5. Probably going to play some more this weekend, if I finish the nursery up. Have a couple more small things to do in there.
6. Work is kind of frantic, as I am being pulled in a couple of different directions. Managing it OK though.


That's all for now. I will try to take notes when I play so I can make some interesting posts. Enough of this "once a week or less" crap ;), although this may become a parenting blog before too long haha.