Memo: Party

'I Hate My Job' is finally pulling its weight. I received my first check today from advertising on this blog and all I had to do was put a really obscure link in a nearly 2 year old post. I may not be able to play cards there, but Party Poker is still paying the bills.

Ring Ring

So I got a phone call this afternoon from Jeremy at ESPN. He proceeded to ask me about 15 relatively stock questions (how to say my name, where I was born, what college I went to etc). I don't think I'll get much TV time this Tuesday evening, but it seems quite likely they will show some hands I played in the upcoming weeks.

I Hate My Job #50

(click to enlarge)

A Rose by Any Other Name

It was high school and my AP physics teacher was trying to teach a bunch of red necks about potential and kinetic energy. After she had spent about 20 minutes going over all the formulas and confusing most of the kids I, per usual, made a smart ass comment, "so everything equals everything is what you're getting at." It a rather simple concept at its core really. Pretty much any formula with an E in it equals any other formula with an E in it. As one might expect energy can neither be created nor destroyed, just represented in a different form. It really reminds me of the diet fads over the past few decades. In the 90's everyone came up with the brilliant concept that if you don't eat fats you won't get fat; genius at the surface, but nothing more than semantics at its core. So why not try avoiding all carbs and gorging on every thing else; seems like the next logical step. Ultimately such specious reasoning will leave all those who gorge on everything but X (be it fats, or carbs, or elephant tongue) fat as a blimp. Just as in physics it's all the same thing. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. The solution isn't in how one distributes and markets it, but in moderation and balance and healthy lifestyles. Lately I've spent quite a few nights dwelling on our nations energy crisis, particularly as exemplified in the auto industry. People crying out we have to stop consuming gasoline and go ethanol or forget the corn and go electric or solar or explore the Andes for magic beans. I can't help but see a car as a car. No matter how you market it or distribute the energy it is going to take the same force to push it up a hill (sure engineering gets more efficient with time, but that is expected regardless of fuel). The last thing we need is another SnackWells or Atkins fixing our energy crisis. People just need to wise up and learn find joy in moderation and go ride a train or buy a bike or take a walk. Who knows, people might even lose a few pounds while they're at it.

HH

B Bu.ddy is back in form...

Ku.tHoereID: posts small blind $2
blu.educk23: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to KKBigDawwg69 [8c 8d]
KKBigDawwg69: raises $8 to $12
kroon.ike: calls $12
Fool.Raiser: folds
B B.uddy: raises $40 to $52
Ku.tHoereID: folds
blue.duck23: folds
KKBigDawwg69: calls $40
kro.onike: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 2s 9c]
KKBigDawwg69: checks
B Bud.dy: bets $62
KKBigDawwg69: calls $62
*** TURN *** [3c 2s 9c] [Ad]
KKBigDawwg69: checks
B Bu.ddy: bets $115
KKBigDawwg69: calls $115
*** RIVER *** [3c 2s 9c Ad] [2c]
KKBigDawwg69: checks
B Bu.ddy: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KKBigDawwg69: shows [8c 8d] (two pair, Eights and Deuces)
B Bu.ddy: mucks hand
KKBigDawwg69 collected $473 from pot
B Buddy doesn't show [Jd, 5d ]

HH

Since mostly playing on shorter stacks the past year I've been distancing myself from the skill of making big folds. Not sure if I made the right play in the following, yet at the time I was happy to throw them in the muck:

Seat 2: w.obbly_au ( $5050.00 USD )
Seat 9: KKBigDawwg69 ( $4893.00 USD )
KKBigDawwg69 posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
wobb.ly_au posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to KKBigDawwg69 [ 7c 7s ]
KKBigDawwg69 raises [$75.00 USD]
wobb.ly_au raises [$350.00 USD]
KKBigDawwg69 calls [$300.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, Kc, Ah ]
wobb.ly_au checks
KKBigDawwg69 checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
wobb.ly_au checks
KKBigDawwg69 bets [$550.00 USD]
wo.bbly_au calls [$550.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
wob.bly_au checks
KKBigDawwg69 bets [$1600.00 USD]
wobbl.y_au raises [$4100.00 USD]
KKBigDawwg69 folds
w.obbly_au wins $5099.00 USD from main pot

A Study on Dice Control

As some of you may already know I did a little research in Vegas on how to beat craps and fared pretty well for the summer on the tables. Beginners luck? Maybe... I went ahead an purchased a pair of dice at the gift shop from the actual tables to do some further research back home.

Thesis: Properly aligned dice thrown with minimal interference can lower the likelihood that a seven will be rolled, thus giving the player an advantage on the house in the game of craps.

[I understand a thorough study of this nature could take quite some time so this will be done in many parts.]

Experiment (1) : Dice were aligned with the 3's forming a V formation with 8's and 6's on all showing opposed faces on the dice. They were then repeatedly thrown approximately 5 feet on a rug against a wall 247 times resulting in the following data:

2: 8 (3.24%)
3: 16 (6.48%)
4: 31 (12.55%)
5: 32 (12.96%)
6: 34 (13.77%)
7: 36 (14.57%)
8: 36 (14.57%)
9: 20 (8.10%)
10: 16 (6.48%)
11: 12 (4.86%)
12: 6 (2.43)

Findings thus far: Although sample size is still tiny, the number seven was only rolled 14.57% of the time, which is significantly below the expected 16.67%. As well, 6 and 8 combined were rolled above the expected 13.89%.

Conclusion: If these number continue after several more intensive studies of this nature, I will be making some very significant wagers on the craps tables.

Five Game I've Been Playing a Lot Lately

1. Battletoads - The difficultly level in this game is through the roof, but the whimsical game play keeps bringing me back. Can't get past level 6.

2. Poker - Something has to pay the bills.

3. Starcraft - My recon and countering is getting really sharp, but my micromanagement still needs a ton of work. This classic really just makes you better at every other game imaginable.

4. Tetris - Just broke my new high score tonight - 350060 (the million point game is on my bucket list)

5. Little League Baseball Championship Series - If I have an above average pitcher you will rarely see my opponent score in the first 5 innings and if I play with New York I must be around a 20:1 favorite against just about anyone out there.

Super Fun Conclusion

Thanks for playing everyone!

The correct answer was 560, which means the winner is danjew2 (15 pts off). Honorable mention to Brad who was 20 pts off.

Avg guess: 659
Number of said guesses over correct answer: 17
Number of said guesses under correct answer: 5

Conclusion: Too bad blogging wasn't on the SAT verbal section or I might have gotten a full ride to Harvard. I guess I failed to mention how infrequently I read books and that I don't have the attention span to read a 7 paragraph article on the importance of African drumming for late 18th century residents of Chad. I would do a part two for the math section, but too many people know I got an 800.

Cheers,
gamblegambel

TV Debut

I made my first ESPN appearance on the the poker table this evening. Although not in the particular hand shown, I got a decent amount of camera time. I also got a split second close up in the second video at the end of the episode:

Super Fun Game Time

Game: Guess what I scored on the SAT verbal section in high school (0-800).

Rules: One guess per lifetime to be left in the comments of this post. Deadline of 96 hours from the time stamp below. Closest to the correct answer wins (going over allowed).

Prize: A carrot from my garden (or if that doesn't float your boat I have grape tomatoes and fresh basil).

Life

For a while I didn't really know why I had stopped blogging for nearly two weeks. I had spent over a week up in Chicago revamping my long distance relationship, which was quite pleasant. We drove back down to Atlanta together and spent our last few days enjoying each others company before she went back home yesterday. My vegetable garden is doing swell. I have already harvested a dozen delicious grape tomatoes and my carrots are ready for the picking. Some part of me was really looking forward to some solitude accompanied by poker and Starcraft, but I feel pretty numb to the world as of late. It is showing in my exercise habits, poker focus, gaming practices, and social endeavours. My window exists so that light can enter my apartment. My iPhone exists so that it can transmit data. I exist because I am not dead yet.

HH

gamblegambel posts small blind [$25.00].
River_Vlad posts big blind [$50.00].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to gamblegambel [ 8d Qs ]
Merlin88 folds
TheTaker folds
ryanwelch raises [$100.00]
ComeToButthead folds
gamblegambel raises [$265.00]
River_Vlad folds
ryanwelch calls [$190.00]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, 9c, As ]
gamblegambel bets [$212.00]
ryanwelch raises [$565.00]
gamblegambel calls [$353.00]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
gamblegambel checks
ryanwelch checks
** Dealing River ** [ 6d ]
gamblegambel bets [$645.00]
ryanwelch folds
gamblegambel wins $1757.00 from main pot

Graph

Super Fun Conclusions

Thanks for playing everyone.

The correct answer was 433 hours, which means the winner is: Jason, who was 12 hours off. Honorable mentions to blueflare at 17 hours off and pimaster at 20 hours off. Because who the hell is this rando Jason?

Avg 3 and 4 digit guess: 614
Number of said guesses over correct answer: 15
Number of said guesses under correct answer:5

Conclusions: Despite being quite honest in my blog and there being a published record of nearly every hand I play on the Internet, I am even lazier than most of you think I am.