For Three!

Some Streams Have No Delta

Lately I have grown to feel quite uprooted as the foundations of my future have been shaken by the possible end of online poker in the United States and the recourse to follow that is likely to entail friends looking for new jobs and hometowns to be abandoned for dreams of golder pavement in lieu of the aspirations that manifested themselves in a hopeful Emory undergrad years ago when the pastures were greener and the sky seemed out of reach but I guess illusions are what create and destroy life in the first place

Wise Words from Jon Benjamin

"Cursing is a sign of ignorance. There is no place for cursing in a civilized society. Unless you know how to do it right, which I obviously do. It's called creative use of words. It's like poetry; Robert Frost stopping by the woods on a snowing fucking evening that kind of shit. But it's my poetry. It's the everyday man's poetry cause we can't find good metaphors like the woods or the snow or the horse or that kind of stuff."

A Closer Look

Even though I am in third, I am obviously putting forth the most effort.

Early Developments

[and they're off]

POY team progress:

Bagging them up early: 4340
The Moon is up and shinning: 3255
Gamblegambel this: 1730
Carefully concatenated: 1322
Don't cry for me Wolf: 464

Perspective Enlightenment

A staircase can only have one top step.

Still Can't Believe This Hand Just Happened

Was starting to think an afternoon of lag play wasn't working out until I managed to induce the following:

Seat 1: Trischi1512 ($3,008.20)

Seat 4: gamblegambel ($4,135)

Trischi1512 posts the small blind of $5
rivergeorge posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gamblegambel [5d 6d]
balugawhale folds
gamblegambel raises to $35
tbthanx folds
Trischi1512 raises to $115
rivergeorge folds
gamblegambel calls $80
*** FLOP *** [8d 7h 4s]
Trischi1512 bets $200
gamblegambel raises to $800
Trischi1512 calls $600
*** TURN *** [8d 7h 4s] [Kh]
Trischi1512 checks
gamblegambel bets $600

{here is where I wet my pants}

Trischi1512 raises to $2,093.20, and is all in
gamblegambel calls $1,493.20

pretty rare you see an all in pot on turn for over 600 big blinds with one party drawing dead

Trischi1512 shows [Js Jd]
gamblegambel shows [5d 6d]
*** RIVER *** [8d 7h 4s Kh] [3h]
Trischi1512 shows a pair of Jacks
gamblegambel shows a straight, Eight high
gamblegambel wins the pot ($6,023.40) with a straight, Eight high
Trischi1512 is sitting out

Tired of Digging Out of This Hole

Escaping a Chinese finger trap, recalling a particular tune, pursuing the perfect woman, overcoming writers block, and the road to maximizing profits in poker. [yes, i realize this is a sentence fragment but it's for literary emphasis] Seems like the harder one tries to accomplish such the less likely success is to ensue. Time and time again I find myself in this self destructive cycle of trying, failing, trying harder, failing worse, trying even harder, and then failing even worse until I spiral out of control into bottomless pit of panic. Hopefully the self realization of this needless process can result in mastering the art of moderation instead of senseless self deprecation.

Writing My Own Playbook

oxygen237: posts small blind $5
LabRatMike: posts big blind $10
lucky168222: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KKBigDawwg69 [3d 3c]
Reddog133: folds
Pipedream17: folds
jcamby33: folds
trump236: folds
I_h8_p0ker: raises $20 to $30
KKBigDawwg69: raises $60 to $90
oxygen237: folds
LabRatMike: folds
Pipedream17 is sitting out
I_h8_p0ker: calls $60
*** FLOP *** [Th Qc Td]
I_h8_p0ker: checks
KKBigDawwg69: checks
*** TURN *** [Th Qc Td] [Qs]
I_h8_p0ker: bets $20
KKBigDawwg69: raises $35 to $55
I_h8_p0ker: raises $35 to $90
KKBigDawwg69: calls $35
*** RIVER *** [Th Qc Td Qs] [As]
I_h8_p0ker: checks
KKBigDawwg69: bets $221
I_h8_p0ker: folds
KKBigDawwg69 collected $593 from pot

CoaieMari: posts small blind $5
Dzsenaj: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KKBigDawwg69 [Tc Td]
F.Savage: folds
platane13: folds
KKBigDawwg69: raises $20 to $30
ADZ124: calls $30
CoaieMari: folds
Dzsenaj: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s Jh 8c]
KKBigDawwg69: bets $40
ADZ124: raises $100 to $140
KKBigDawwg69: raises $130 to $270
ADZ124: folds
KKBigDawwg69 collected $482 from pot
KKBigDawwg69: doesn't show hand

cts687: posts small blind $5
Lucky Grapes: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KKBigDawwg69 [Ts 8s]
Paul Skanski: folds
PokerJello: folds
bigegypt: raises $30 to $40
KKBigDawwg69: raises $70 to $110
cts687: folds
Lucky Grapes: folds
bigegypt: calls $70
*** FLOP *** [7s 5d 8h]
bigegypt: checks
KKBigDawwg69: checks
*** TURN *** [7s 5d 8h] [2h]
bigegypt: bets $130
KKBigDawwg69: calls $130
*** RIVER *** [7s 5d 8h 2h] [4s]
bigegypt: bets $330
KKBigDawwg69: calls $330
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bigegypt: shows [Jh Ah] (high card Ace)
KKBigDawwg69: shows [Ts 8s] (a pair of Eights)
KKBigDawwg69 collected $1152 from pot

He’ll Smite You with Metaphor Fists!

Before my flight to LA whist in the Hartford airport I found myself browsing through the local bookstore and spontaneously decided to pick up a short read for my six hour flight. Ironically, while waiting in line to purchase Franz Kafka's Metamorphasis a scholarly gentleman in front of me was purchasing John Vorhaus' Killer Poker and for that split second the world was in harmony.

Wise Words from Jon Benjamin

"I use baby detergent because it's a little bit cheaper, but then i was thinking why do babies need different detergent? Can't they use the same one as everyone else; it's not like they'll die."

Super Cool Friends = The Good Life

Good Ideas Generate Good Ideas

One night whist dining at a local chain restaurant somehow the table discussion turned into a debate of whether or not if the over-sized plastic drinking cup were tossed into the air (at least 6 feet high) it could land and settle atop one of its ends (falling onto a hard substance i.e asphalt/concrete). To no avail, when we left someone stole one of the cups and a 20 dollar bet giving 10:1 odds was carried out in the adjacent parking lot and yours truly came out victorious for this proved to be quite the difficult task.

*Would love to hear any of y'alls' {is that right?} interesting prop bet experiences/stories in comments or whatnot [caution: such will result in a possible tale theft for a poker screenplay in progress]

A Needed Reminder

If it was easy everyone would do it.

Coincidence? I Don't Think So

GambleGambel defines a poker session as a strategical term where the goal of the engagement that follows is not to surrender chips needlessly, but to dispense affliction on an opponent and to timely stand up from the table to elude any unnecessary siphoning. Wikipedia defines hit-and-run as a tactical doctrine where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy's defense and/or retaliation.