Tao of Poker

Back at the Chicken Shack

"Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion." - Jack Kerouac

Breaks are good. Take a break. Go outside. Read a book. Do seventeen jumping jacks. Punk your neighbor. Get drunk at lunchtime and go back to work and crank call your ex-girlfriend. Just take some time away from the computer and the poker tables. It's summer, spend some time outdoors. Enjoy your summer vacations. I read that some of my favorite bloggers are on vacations, got back from vacations, or taking breaks (Iggy). That's great to hear and read. Poker is a mental grind sometimes. Brains are like sponges... and sponges can only hold so much water. Ring yourself out once in a while and dry off.

After taking two weeks off from online play, and aside from the Boy Genius home tournament, I've been poker free.

I stopped dreaming about poker. That's the best feeling about taking a few days off. My sleeping life was much less hectic. No more flops fluttering by. No more Party Poker buzzers going off reminding me it's my turn to act. Yeah, I tend to have odd dreams. When I first started playing Tetris on Gameboy, I would often dream about blocks falling and I was playing the game in my dream. My dream was the game. Very freaky and this was when I was a kid, way before I dropped my first hit of liquid sunshine and saw the Grateful Dead. When I was working on Wall Street, I used to have nightmares about work. In fact, most of my dreams occurred with a stock ticker at the bottom. I could be in a supermarket buying tater tots with Nelson Mandela and that fat chick rom The Facts of Life attempting to purchase my goods with an expired Blockbuster card... and there would be a stock ticker whooshing buy underneath my feet in the bottom of my field of vision in my dream. Yeah, very freaky.

Back in the Saddle

On Wednesday, I played in a $5 Multi on Party Poker for my first action in two weeks. I've only been playing online since February, and played in at least thirty-plus $5 multis and never once placed in the money. I watched BG do it recently. And last Sunday, my brother managed to make the money, after coming in 27th out of 1100+.

So how did I do? 47th out of 769. Not to shabby.

Level 2: With Q-10s in the big blind, I flopped a flush and won a decent sized pot. T1205

Level 6: My trouble hand #2: AQo. I called a raise preflop and flopped top two pair. A guy with KK moved all in and I took the pot with T2605. A few hands later, I walked into an idiot who beat my A10s with Q8o. Don't ask about the sordid details. An orbit later, I had 10-8o in the big blind. A few limpers and I flopped a nut straight. I was the table chip leader at T4833. A few hands later I took down AKo with my pocket 10-10s. T6000+ and looking great... until a table change. I hate table changes when I'm in the middle of a rush... it's like getting a phone call from your mother when you are in the middle of having sex.

Level 7: After getting chipped down a little I found the Hilton Sisters in the LB... heads up with AKo. The ladies held up and I was sitting nice with T10200+. a few hands later, I found my trouble hand AQo. I ended up catching runner-runner for a full boat to beat a guy who got his flush on the turn. T13800+. At the end of the second break, there were 140 players left and I was 8th in chips.

Level 9: Got chipped down a bit after no hands. Won a pot with KJs when I flopped two pair. AKo held up against 66. T13800+.

Level 11: AJs lost to QJ. That hurt. He called a huge raise on the flop with a J on the board. He caught a Q on the river. Lost 2/3 my stack. T5800+ and pissed off. The Hilton Sisters paid off for me once again and gave me a few more chips when the blinds where coming around fast. 74 players remaining, T14K was the average stack. I wasn't looking too hot, alas, I finally made the money.

Level 13: A-10 lost to J-5s when he caught runner-runner for a flush. Grrrrr. I was knocked out in 47th place. Made a whopping $18. In NYC, that gets you a stick of gum... a stale stick of gum.

OK, I was irked I didn't make the final table. However, I was satisfied with my play. I only made one or two bonehead mistakes and that's something I normally do in a large multi. The time away from the tables did me good. I felt fresh and not anxious. I played a lot more tighter than normal, which helped out. I felt very confident about returning to the waters of Party Poker. 47th out of 769 is important for me, because like I said, I never placed in a $5 multi before. I won two qualifiers to satellites to the WPT Championships, but never fared well in the multi's. I hope to do better this weekend.

Poker on the TV

I also caught up on several episodes on the WPT and Celebrity Poker Letdown. Some half-baked thoughts... that Sara Rue seemed like the better female player aside from that Gilmore Girl... Chandler Bong aka Matthew Perry (who the Poker Penguin said he's his dead ringer) made too many "touch the felt" comments... Hobbit boy was bounced early and took notes... on the Reno WPT episode that Eskimo guy looks more like someone I probably smoked hash with during a Phish show, than a dude I'd see at the table. He didn't look right in those shades. When will poker pros be getting endorsements for sunglass companies? By the end of 2005 I guess. The real poker is back on very soon. The World Series of Poker on ESPN... I am getting chills typing that. Bring it on!