Factoid

I know it is most likely 99% hogwash, but my win rate the past few months has been ten times higher when I play with some candles lit nearby.

Wise Words from Churchill

"Any man who is under 30 and is not a liberal has no heart; and any man who is over 30 and is not a conservative has no brains."

Checking It Twice

I check PTR a couple times a day. I believe I am supposed to be top hat, but it doesn't seem to be updating the past few days for my page.

Funny story, I went out last weekend to this bar with a good friend of mine. We had a good amount to drink and the dance floor was getting pretty wild. There were these two girls who were dancing with each other right up front and some dude was all up in their face filming it with his phone and encouraging them to kiss etc. It had an obnoxiously bright light and everything. I approached and told him he was out of line and he shrugged me off. In my drunken state I went ahead and grabbed the phone out of his hand and tossed it across the bar. It was sorta hero epic.

P.S. He was black and I am lucky I suffered no bodily harm, he was super pissed.

Making the List

Gamblegambel is currently 47 on the list of most winning online players according to table ratings all time; pretty cool. I have been playing about 10 hours a week of poker and 40 hours a week of Starcraft. Some thoughts why great Starcraft players make great poker players:

You Have to Stay Aggressive: There is a big advantage to being the first person to attack. It gives you more ways to win and lets you dictate the game flow. Those who are passive/turtles usually fail.

It's all about countering: Almost every play out there is exploitable. You need to know how to counter it properly and do the recon necessary to make a good guess what your opponent is doing. Information is king.

It takes a fire in your belly: You have to love it, dream about it, always want to play. As soon as you finish a game you have to want to play another. It takes a pretty sick competitive spirit to be wildly successful.

Replays, Research, History: All the best players look back to see why things did or didn't work. Sometimes you have to really review plays to know what makes them successful and what you can tweak to make it better.

Pattern Recognition: People tend to be creatures of habit. Once you really immerse yourself in the game you will develop a sixth sense for what is about to happen next and be able to predict plays before they happen and have the trap set waiting.

Bound by Positivity

I used the rubber band that my asparagus came in to hold my money clip together, so now it says produce on my roll.

Good Reads by Me

It seems like whenever I see a car doing something reckless on the road I notice it is all dinged up or missing a taillight.

Some Stuff

I am loving Starcraft II.

It seems like everyone on Match.com is a Christian and everyone on OKcupid is an atheist.

I had my first outing with my "little" brother last Sunday and we went on a hike and saw a play at his church (I was the only white guy of the 200 person audience). It went really well.

I watch a good amount of poker and play a little.

Gambling on the golf course is the sweet to the salty of playing games on my computer at home.

My nearly all colts fantasy team has left me with a 2-4 record and somehow my rag tag assembly is a favorite to win on the bye week by yahoo's projected points.

I have blisters on both my thumbs from hitting 160 balls with my driver today. Two balls went over the back fence at the driving range, but I'm not sure how far they went. I'd guess 263. Shouldn't the net be further back?

The kickball team I am on hasn't lost a game [besides one forfeit] and will likely go to the playoffs in a few weeks.

The Decatur beer festival is always in my top 10 favorite days of the year.

Friday Lights Night

OK; I had some drinks and did some stuff.

12:52

I have been playing a lot of Starcraft II lately.

I recently signed up for this dating website and I was getting lots of responses and I was emailing back and forth with several ladies, but I had left out my profession. I went ahead and fixed it so my profile says I am a professional poker player and I haven't heard back from a lady since. I am pretty much convinced it is one of the worst jobs ever for meeting women.

I am getting pretty good at Starcarft II.

Hilarious HH

Seat 3: ElMastermind ($906.50)
Seat 5: gamblegambel ($2,335)
Seat 6: 7coronas ($3,704.50)
ElMastermind posts the small blind of $25
gamblegambel posts the big blind of $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gamblegambel [7s Qc 8s Ac]
7coronas calls $50
DONKEY_K1NG folds
ElMastermind raises to $200
gamblegambel raises to $350
7coronas folds
ElMastermind folds
Uncalled bet of $150 returned to gamblegambel
gamblegambel mucks
gamblegambel wins the pot ($450)

Op Ed

OK...

D.C. was great.

Our founding fathers knew what there were doing.

A.C. was gamblicious.

I spazzed out on day 2 with Ks4s on 3c7s9s for 60bb (lost to As3s).

N.Y.C. was fab

Fun city and even funner friends.

During the trip my computer died, which is a close second to one of the things I despise most in this world behind moving. It has been a pain in my rump to get windows up and running as I like it to play the poker cards.

The company of top notch friends is priceless.

My high water mark for the year continues to rise with each new day.

My dating life is pretty bland. I feel like I need to be more charming. How is charm even acquired? I feel like my energy is constantly directed at [nearly] unobtainable love. I am slow to let go of the past.

My dog is better than your dog.

Fantasy football is kinda fun.

I flew home first class (it was my first time). I tried to evaluate the worth:

Getting on and off the plane first: $11
The free lunch/dessert: $18
Hot towel: $1
The two mixed drinks: $16
The legroom/comfy chair: $65

Overall extra value over economy on 2 hour flight: ~$111

I believe it was around $230 dollars more for a one way flight home bought 5 days beforehand. Not the best value in the pampering store, but worth it once in a while if you have money to burn.

Goodnight,
Gamblegambel

Week

The survival trip to the outer banks was a bit of a bust. We rented this bare bones cabin on this island that is a national forest. The beach was empty and quite pretty, but our crabbing and surf fishing efforts were rather fruitless. We never caught anything worth eating and went three days with just bananas and rice. The last day before we left we rented a boat, made mojitos, drank beer, and had a blast cruising around the sound with good friends.


I am now in DC staying with boomboom. It is nice to be back in a real city. I played the wcoop 500+30 thing this Sunday. Real interesting scratch off ticket that lasted 6 hours before I lost a coin flip. In a few days we will be driving up to Borgata for the WPT event; should be a nice change of pace. I am a bit homesick and look forward to eventually getting home and working on my golf game and the game of love. Hopefully there will be time for a visit to the lovely nyc before this trip draws to a close.

Love It

Whenever my friend SFisch hears of another person's devastating bad beat he lets out a laugh just like this...

Change of Plans

I recently decided to devote my life to proving that the law of conservation of energy is wrong, but I ultimately realized that once I figured out how to create and destroy energy there would be dire consequences, so I decided not to.