Good Night and Good Luck

I told my mother my goal for only drinking 45 beers next month and she got noticeably upset. I guess I can cut it down to 15 no problem. I need to stretch right. Even though I am a strong proponent of moderation, sometimes I don't know how to quantify it.

PLO has been a madhouse as always. Winning and losing about 20k every hour I play. Here was a fun one:

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to gamblegambel [ 4c Ts Ac Th ] BLOCKERS
Y.achting49er folds
s.prediton folds
t.ibster24 folds
B.OOP BOOP NEB raises [$150.00 USD]
gamblegambel calls [$125.00 USD]
M.ags and Frags calls [$100.00 USD] This is not the guy to flat AAxx here
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ad, Kc, Qs ]
gamblegambel checks
M.ags and Frags checks
B.OOP BOOP NEB bets [$150.00 USD]
gamblegambel calls [$150.00 USD]
M.ags and Frags raises [$900.00 USD]
B.OOP BOOP NEB folds
gamblegambel calls [$750.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8h ]
gamblegambel checks
M.ags and Frags bets [$1200.00 USD] No AAxx and very unlikely TJxx
gamblegambel raises [$6060.00 USD]
M.ags and Frags folds
gamblegambel wins $4857.00 USD from main pot

There's Always Something

I think you almost have to have an addictive personality to really excel at poker. The past two months have been pretty kind to me on and off the felt. My only Achilles Heel in this life upswing is that I am not curbing my drinking. I personally function better with hard set goals, so for the month of April I am going to limit myself to the health class equivalent of 45 drinks. Hopefully people like mostly sober Joel too...

P.S. This is going to be hard, because it takes about 6 drinks for me to start getting buzzed these days.

Things

So I managed to talk my way out of the 100 fine this evening. It was rather absurd. One guy had claimed that he saw me put a rock to block the door open and watched me throw it to the side afterwards and he went and picked it up and brought it to the meeting as evidence. Apparently that wasn't proof enough to counter my defense.

I have been playing a ton of poker lately. I get in the zone sometimes where I just play for 6 or 7 hours and forget to eat. PLO is my new favorite game. If things keep at half this pace I could easily get PTR high stakes omaha player of the year.

I have been doing a lot of socializing and drinking lately. I would guess that over the past two months I averaged going out with friends five nights a week and probably averaged 29 drinks a week (I would like this number to go down a smidgen).

Living out my twenties and finding the love of a good woman are in a tight race for my number one priority.

500k Hands

I am finally a zombie on PTR and now have a strange hunger for brains.

A Pretty Big Pot

Seat 1: gamblegambel ( $10778.00 USD )
Seat 2: d.ingepling ( $4385.00 USD )
Seat 3: J.osh Arieh ( $11504.50 USD )
Seat 4: E. Tyme ( $8099.00 USD )
Seat 5: Y.achting49er ( $2584.50 USD )
Seat 6: V.ikingQuest321 ( $8890.00 USD )
Y.achting49er posts small blind [$25.00 USD].
V.ikingQuest321 posts big blind [$50.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to gamblegambel [ Ts 7s 8h 5d ]
gamblegambel raises [$100.00 USD]
d.ingepling calls [$100.00 USD]
J.osh Arieh folds
E. Tyme raises [$535.00 USD]
Y.achting49er folds
V.ikingQuest321 calls [$485.00 USD]
gamblegambel raises [$2225.00 USD]
d.ingepling folds
E. Tyme calls [$1790.00 USD]
V.ikingQuest321 calls [$1790.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Td, 6s ]
V.ikingQuest321 bets [$6555.00 USD]
gamblegambel raises [$8443.00 USD]
E. Tyme calls [$5764.00 USD]
gamblegambel shows [Ts, 7s 8h 5d ] (58%)
E. Tyme shows [8s, 5h 6d Ad ] (8%)
V.ikingQuest321 shows [Kc, Jh Kh 8c ] (34%)
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
gamblegambel wins $26044.00 USD from main pot

.................... . . ........... . .. . . . . . ..... . . . ..... . . . ........ . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . ..... . . .. ....... . . ........ . . . .............. ............... . . . .. .... . . ... ....... .. .. .. . . . . ... . . . . . .. . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . .... .... . . . . ... .. . . .. . . . .. . ......... . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . ... . . . . . ........ .. . . . . . ...... . .. .. .. .. . . . . . . .... . . . .... . ... ..... . . . ........ . . . . . ..... .. . . ....... . . . . ... . . ... ....... . ... ....... . . . . . .......... . . . ..... . .. .... . ....... . .... ....... .. ..... . . ... . . . .... . . . ...... . . . . . .. ...... . .. . . ........ . . ........ . . . . . ...... . . . ...... . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . .. . ........ . . .... . . ...... . . .. ....... . . . . . ............ . . . .... . ... ............. . . . .. . ... .. ........... . .. . . ........ . ........ . . .. . ............... . . . ..... .. .......... . . . .... . . ..... . ... ...... . . ....... .. . .. . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . ...... ... ...... .. .. ...... . . . ....................... . . . . . .. ........ . .... . .... .. . .. .. ....... . .. . . ........... . .. . . ........... .. .. .. . ........ . ....... . . . .............. . ............ . . ... . ..... . . ........ . . ......... . .. . . . .. .... . ........ . .. .. ..... . . .. . . . . .... ..

Lately whenever I gamble I feel like a 100/100 and everything else in my life feels like a max of 20/100. It is barely March and this is almost already my best year ever. I really like driving after having five or six beers. My condo building is suing me $100 for propping open the door. Cardigans are my new favorite article of clothing. Life is funny.

"No One Is Donating" -Moon

gamblegambel posts the small blind of $25
R.andomInfluence posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gamblegambel [9s 6c Kd 6d]
gamblegambel raises to $100
R.andomInfluence calls $50
*** FLOP *** [7c Ah 9d]
R.andomInfluence checks
gamblegambel bets $131
R.andomInfluence calls $131
*** TURN *** [7c Ah 9d] [Ks]
R.andomInfluence checks
gamblegambel bets $341
R.andomInfluence calls $341
*** RIVER *** [7c Ah 9d Ks] [9h]
R.andomInfluence checks
gamblegambel bets $908
R.andomInfluence calls $908
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gamblegambel shows [9s 6c Kd 6d] a full house, Nines full of Kings
R.andomInfluence mucks
gamblegambel wins the pot ($2,959.50) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
Seat 5: R.andomInfluence (big blind) mucked [Jc 6h 5d Td] - a pair of Nines

Bullets

• I finally got my windows up and running
• February was one of my best months on the tables
  
• I finally got a reservation for booth one at my new favorite restaurant
• There is a reasonable chance I will be taking a year or two off from poker to work on a documentary full time in the near future
• This is my final week of being 26
  

HH

gamblegambel posts the small blind of $25
ba.b.ayaro posts the big blind of $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gamblegambel [3c 9c 2s Qs]
Ran.d.o.mInfluence folds
S.i.r.ens folds
T.he.G.orn folds
gamblegambel raises to $150
b.a.b.ayaro calls $100
*** FLOP *** [6h Ks 8c]
gamblegambel has 15 seconds left to act
gamblegambel bets $204
bab.a.y.aro raises to $408
gamblegambel calls $204
*** TURN *** [6h Ks 8c] [Th]
gamblegambel has 15 seconds left to act
gamblegambel has requested TIME
gamblegambel bets $794
bab.a.y.a.ro calls $794
*** RIVER *** [6h Ks 8c Th] [2h]
gamblegambel bets $648, and is capped
ba.b.a.yaro folds
gamblegambel wins the pot ($2,701)

I have been on edge lately. Sometimes I get swallowed by these overwhelming negative emotions that seem to be unfathered. It isn't very hard for me to do a 180, but it usually has to be some sort of external force. To almost an unhealthy fashion I really do appreciate the little things. I love stretching my calf muscles. I love memorizing random numbers. I love falsely assuming something is a Freudian slip. I get pretty jealous when my friends do better than me in poker. It is absurdly relative. I can feel happy for them up until they make one dollar more than me. I would have sat 200/400 PLO today, but I was restricted from playing that high. I emailed them to let me play, but they wanted me to fax them ID so I gave up. I think my dog would be an excellent gambler if given the opportunity. For every 7 monkeys I get off my back, 8 more get on. I might be heading in the wrong direction. I used a pumice stone to scrub a stamp from a bar off of the back of my hand and it looked as if I had gotten a third degree burn on my skin when I was finished. I don't think I am a masochist. For every 8 wounds I get, 7 don't leave a scar.

Owning Mahowny

HH

gamblegambel posts the small blind of $25
B.i.g Tu.n.a JKo posts the big blind of $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gamblegambel [7h Tc 9s Jh]
Vol.od.y51..2345 calls $50
G.ho.s.tRideIt folds
Vive.k Ra.j.k.umar folds
Rooki.e.K.rash folds
gamblegambel raises to $200
Bi.g T.u.na JKo folds
Vo.l.od..y512345 calls $150
*** FLOP *** [3c As Kd]
gamblegambel has 15 seconds left to act
gamblegambel bets $294
Vo.l.o.dy512345 raises to $588
gamblegambel raises to $1,797, and is all in
Volo.d.y.5.12345 folds
gamblegambel mucks
gamblegambel wins the pot ($1,623)

Serious relationships are usually enjoyable.
Fine dinning is typically delightful.
Family holidays can be special.
Beach picnics tend to be splendid.
Alcohol is great.
Music keeps the world turning.
Sex can be nice.
All that being said,
Gambling is the best thing in the world.