If you haven't already seen, good ol' Party Poker is offering a 25% reload bonus this month, up to $150, valid until June 8th, bonus code BONUSJUN. One thing to note is that they're slightly savvying up, and have added to their terms the little nugget that if you withdraw from your Party account during the bonus period and then redeposit for the bonus, bzzt, nope, no bonus soup for you.
Played in an limit Omaha Full Tilt bracelet race last night, finishing 4th. Doh. Fairly frustrating, as we were all pretty equal when it got down to six players, but I went completely card dead at the absolute worst time, got eaten up by blinds, and finally had to push with a less than spectacular hand. I was pretty amused the whole time at the potential irony of winning a seat to one of the WSOP events the day after we got back from Vegas but nay, it was not to be.
Got mugged at the 15/30 tables. Not the start I was looking to, after getting the gambling fires good and stoked in Vegas. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever completely make peace with the fickle nature of poker. Ended the evening losing a $800+ pot when I flopped the nut flush, capped action all the way to the river, at which point the raising monkey UTG fills his boat, catching running 2s to go with his Q2o. I (heart) poker.
I'm feeling sort of stuck these days. In an odd, largely good way, but stuck nonetheless.
Despite degenerate evidence to the contrary, I've never been a big risk taker. My thirty years on the planet have been pretty damn orderly, as far as school, then immediately to college, then immediately to grad school, then basically immediately (minus a year) into a decent paying corporate gig. That was the plan, by and large, with the idea that I'd work for awhile, save lots of money, then take some time off to give the writing thing a serious shot.
Mission accomplished. Except, umm, I'm still stuck at this craptacular day job. I also acquired a mortgage and a wife that I didn't necessarily plan on possessing at this stage of the game. All of which are good things, just slightly unexpected.
Which leaves me wondering just what the hell I should do. I can't take much more of the day job. I can laugh at most of the ridiculous stuff, but at the end of the day it's the larger mindset that wears me down, as far as treating the general monkey worker population here like crap, knowing that they're largely trapped behind the zoo walls, given the fact that aren't a plethora of other editorial-type gigs that people with liberal arts degrees can land in this town.
The smart, logical thing to do is to look for another job, which I've been doing. While my MFA and mad poker skillz aren't exactly wowing potential employers, more than likely I'll eventually be able to find a Web editor and technical writer gig somewhere. And that'll be fine, likely a slight paycut, but basically any employer other than my current one would be a step up, as far as general happiness and mindset at work.
Except there's a slight, tiny rub. If I do that, I'm settling for the safe and logical, once again. And there's nothing wrong with that. Really. But more and more I find myself itching to take a shot.
In a backwards way, going to Vegas was sort of a catalyst. Not because of all the gambling and the poker and what-not, but more the general collection of souls on all ends of the spectrum, taking their own shots. The broken and busted rubbing shoulders with the Gucci soled. People tossing their last chip in, the doomed results already written in the slumped curvature of their spines. Reading Homeboy on the plane back, completely fucking blown away by the raw energy and life someone pumped into desperate, printed words.
This isn't going where you think it is. I'm not even really talking about poker. The biggest thing I regret is not giving the writing thing a shot after grad school. I got half of the equation right, as far as knowing myself well enough to realize that I wouldn't get much done trying to juggle a job and writing. I flubbed the other half, though, as far as the timing, as the perfect time to give it a shot was right after grad school, when I had nothing else distracting me. But that's pretty easily rectified, with a little hard work.
So here's the new deal I just cut with myself. Work my ass off for the next three months, as far as assorted business stuff, work stuff, poker stuff, the whole nine yards. All profits get earmarked and squirreled away into a special fund. Quit my job, cash in my vacation time, and add it to whatever I've saved. Pay money from that fund into our joint checking account, at the same rate of pay as my current job produces. Write my ass off until the money runs out.
I can probably buy myself 2-3 months, assuming my poker game doesn't suddenly implode. Which should be more than enough time to finish the short story collection moldering on my hard drive, plus a novel. Then back to the grind, finding a job somewhere, being respectable again, all that good stuff.
That's the current plan, at least. We'll see how long it lasts.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Monday, June 06, 2005
Uber Vegas
Okay, first things first, I suck.
Really.
I knew my degenerate time would be a bit limited this go around, but I badly understimated just how much time would be sucked up in the performance of husbandly duties. Staying at the Stratosphere was likely not the best choice, either, making it hard to sneak out for some free time here and there, given distances involved.
While I did get to play a goodly bit of poker with helixx and ankhorahil at MGM early on Friday, I only got in a few orbits at Excalibur. I did, however, get to personally witness CJ whip out quad 7s when dropping the hammer, which sent some poor lady scrambling for the exit, steam emanating from her ears.
Saturday was more of the same, as plans to hit up the after party evaporated into a touristy haze of white tigers and lions, sharks, and Blue Men.
So yeah. I suck. I barely had time to meet anyone, and when I did, it was pretty much limited to Hey, yo, nice to meet you. It wasn't out of shyness or lack of desire or any damn thing like that. I was just honestly and truly occupied the whole damn time, and not willing to abandon the better half or convince her that she should forget about the stuff she wanted to do her first time in Vegas, so that she could instead come with me to meet a bunch of poker folks.
That said, I had a really good time. It sounds sort of hokey, but my wife and I have a really good time, and it was her first time in Vegas, and in the grand scheme of things I'm glad I manage to swallow my degenerate pride and make sure she had fun. I also think I likely managed to build up enough credits to make the trip solo in the future, assuming there's another gathering of blogger souls, at which point I can truly partake in the festivities.
But yeah. Vegas.
We got in around 6 on Thursday, checked in, surveyed the landscape. I was a bit surprised as far as the Strat. Definitely not nicey-nice but it wasn't bad, especially considering that we ended up paying something like $20/night with the package deal we got. We grabbed some food and my wife expressed the desire to play slots for the first time. We sat down and plunked some money in penny slots. I was playing some Sea Monkeys game, not really paying attention, and suddenly the machine was blowing up, spinning on its on, blaring the theme song from The Monkees. And it kept going, and going, and going. My wife is finally like "What the hell is it doing? Make it shut up." At which point I realized that I'd just won $300, when it finally stopped. Sweet. The wife finished up $70 or so, at which point we quickly fled.
Walked around a bit, down to the Wynn. Pretty nice, all in all, but Jebus that's a tiny, cramped poker room. Hung out there for awhile, played a little blackjack, played some more slots, called it a night.
Friday we checked out the Rio, getting there right before Event #2 started. Pretty crazy, all in all, and I was definitely kicking myself for not just buying in, as it's hard to walk around, watching, when you're thinking "Damnit, I could be dead money, sitting at the table, just like all these other muppets." At which point my wife casually says to me, "Why didn't you just sign up for this and play?"
(To rewind a bit, the main reason I didn't just buy in was because we have a working agreement that I'm free to gamble as much as I want, at whatever limit, as long as I don't start talking specifics with her. She trusts me, but if I start talking hard numbers, she'll get nervous and want me put it in a savings account or something respectable like that. I didn't see any way around that, as far as plunking down $1,500 to play, as my reasoning would have been "Wifey, I just plunked down $1,500 to play in a poker tournament, but it's okay, as I'm still ahead (insert dollar amount) for the year." So I didn't buy in, which likely saved me $1,500, but, you know.)
So I explain to her just how much it was to buy in, to which she responds, "Yeah, I know." I then, for the sake of clarification, ask her if she is, indeed, saying it would have been okay for me to do that. To which she casually responds "Sure, you've done really well, you should have done it. I kept expecting you to ask me if it was okay."
Doh. Note to self: give wife more credit sometimes.
Hit up the MGM later that day with helixx and ankhorahil, playing 2/4, which was, umm, interesting. I mentioned this way back when, but I'd actually never played a single hand of hold 'em live. Never. So I was a little bit nervous, just as far as not wanting to do something stupid and screw up the blinds, act out of turn, etc. We all sit down at the new table they opened, buy chips, all that good stuff. I was actually hoping for a trashy hand, just to muck it and watch the action.
I'm sitting in late position and look down to find 10 10. Four people limp in, so I just limp, and we have something like six to the flop. Which is 10 10 5. At which point I'm thinking "Hmm, this live stuff is so freaking rigged." I slowplayed as much as I could, getting a little action from a guy with 7 7. No spinning wheel or high hand jackpots at MGM but still, not bad, quad 10s the first hand out of the chute.
I ended up booking a nice little profit, despite not catching much in the way of cards. Grabbed some food, then made it over to the Excalibur for a brief stint at 4-8 at the same table with CJ, BadBlood, and some other bloggers whose names I didn't catch. Got absolutely no cards, folded a lot, then had to go collect the wife.
Not much to say about the blogger tournament at the Aladdin that hasn't been said, as far as the crapshootastic structure. I had a decent stack but managed to get myself commited with AJo on a semi-steal, called the all-in, and ran into AKs in the BB. That left me with a couple of BBs, so I felt compelled to push with K2s in the SB when it folded around to me. Hank called with K10o, no soup for me, and I was done, busting out 42nd or so.
I did, though, manage to pick up Joe Speaker's most excellent bounty, the book "Homeboy" by Seth Morgan. It's been a long time since I've read a Holy Shit book, one that I stay up until 3 in the morning reading, slightly amazed, shaking my head, but that one fits the bill. Anyone with a single degenerate bone in their body should track down that book and read it. Holy shit. Thank you, good sir, for such a veritable bounty.
The rest of Saturday was sort of a touristy blur, hitting up the observation deck and pool at the Strat, sharks at Mandalay Bay, Blue Man group at the Luxor, tigers and dolphins at the Mirage, silly Nascar stuff at the Sahara, and other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment.
Sunday we checked out, hit up the penny slots again, where we somehow defied the odds and scored again. While I'm not complaining, at all, there's definitely something amiss in the universe when penny slots come close to paying for your trip.
Got back home Sunday night and crashed.
Which brings us to today. With me sitting here at work again, bored out of my skull. More later.
Really.
I knew my degenerate time would be a bit limited this go around, but I badly understimated just how much time would be sucked up in the performance of husbandly duties. Staying at the Stratosphere was likely not the best choice, either, making it hard to sneak out for some free time here and there, given distances involved.
While I did get to play a goodly bit of poker with helixx and ankhorahil at MGM early on Friday, I only got in a few orbits at Excalibur. I did, however, get to personally witness CJ whip out quad 7s when dropping the hammer, which sent some poor lady scrambling for the exit, steam emanating from her ears.
Saturday was more of the same, as plans to hit up the after party evaporated into a touristy haze of white tigers and lions, sharks, and Blue Men.
So yeah. I suck. I barely had time to meet anyone, and when I did, it was pretty much limited to Hey, yo, nice to meet you. It wasn't out of shyness or lack of desire or any damn thing like that. I was just honestly and truly occupied the whole damn time, and not willing to abandon the better half or convince her that she should forget about the stuff she wanted to do her first time in Vegas, so that she could instead come with me to meet a bunch of poker folks.
That said, I had a really good time. It sounds sort of hokey, but my wife and I have a really good time, and it was her first time in Vegas, and in the grand scheme of things I'm glad I manage to swallow my degenerate pride and make sure she had fun. I also think I likely managed to build up enough credits to make the trip solo in the future, assuming there's another gathering of blogger souls, at which point I can truly partake in the festivities.
But yeah. Vegas.
We got in around 6 on Thursday, checked in, surveyed the landscape. I was a bit surprised as far as the Strat. Definitely not nicey-nice but it wasn't bad, especially considering that we ended up paying something like $20/night with the package deal we got. We grabbed some food and my wife expressed the desire to play slots for the first time. We sat down and plunked some money in penny slots. I was playing some Sea Monkeys game, not really paying attention, and suddenly the machine was blowing up, spinning on its on, blaring the theme song from The Monkees. And it kept going, and going, and going. My wife is finally like "What the hell is it doing? Make it shut up." At which point I realized that I'd just won $300, when it finally stopped. Sweet. The wife finished up $70 or so, at which point we quickly fled.
Walked around a bit, down to the Wynn. Pretty nice, all in all, but Jebus that's a tiny, cramped poker room. Hung out there for awhile, played a little blackjack, played some more slots, called it a night.
Friday we checked out the Rio, getting there right before Event #2 started. Pretty crazy, all in all, and I was definitely kicking myself for not just buying in, as it's hard to walk around, watching, when you're thinking "Damnit, I could be dead money, sitting at the table, just like all these other muppets." At which point my wife casually says to me, "Why didn't you just sign up for this and play?"
(To rewind a bit, the main reason I didn't just buy in was because we have a working agreement that I'm free to gamble as much as I want, at whatever limit, as long as I don't start talking specifics with her. She trusts me, but if I start talking hard numbers, she'll get nervous and want me put it in a savings account or something respectable like that. I didn't see any way around that, as far as plunking down $1,500 to play, as my reasoning would have been "Wifey, I just plunked down $1,500 to play in a poker tournament, but it's okay, as I'm still ahead (insert dollar amount) for the year." So I didn't buy in, which likely saved me $1,500, but, you know.)
So I explain to her just how much it was to buy in, to which she responds, "Yeah, I know." I then, for the sake of clarification, ask her if she is, indeed, saying it would have been okay for me to do that. To which she casually responds "Sure, you've done really well, you should have done it. I kept expecting you to ask me if it was okay."
Doh. Note to self: give wife more credit sometimes.
Hit up the MGM later that day with helixx and ankhorahil, playing 2/4, which was, umm, interesting. I mentioned this way back when, but I'd actually never played a single hand of hold 'em live. Never. So I was a little bit nervous, just as far as not wanting to do something stupid and screw up the blinds, act out of turn, etc. We all sit down at the new table they opened, buy chips, all that good stuff. I was actually hoping for a trashy hand, just to muck it and watch the action.
I'm sitting in late position and look down to find 10 10. Four people limp in, so I just limp, and we have something like six to the flop. Which is 10 10 5. At which point I'm thinking "Hmm, this live stuff is so freaking rigged." I slowplayed as much as I could, getting a little action from a guy with 7 7. No spinning wheel or high hand jackpots at MGM but still, not bad, quad 10s the first hand out of the chute.
I ended up booking a nice little profit, despite not catching much in the way of cards. Grabbed some food, then made it over to the Excalibur for a brief stint at 4-8 at the same table with CJ, BadBlood, and some other bloggers whose names I didn't catch. Got absolutely no cards, folded a lot, then had to go collect the wife.
Not much to say about the blogger tournament at the Aladdin that hasn't been said, as far as the crapshootastic structure. I had a decent stack but managed to get myself commited with AJo on a semi-steal, called the all-in, and ran into AKs in the BB. That left me with a couple of BBs, so I felt compelled to push with K2s in the SB when it folded around to me. Hank called with K10o, no soup for me, and I was done, busting out 42nd or so.
I did, though, manage to pick up Joe Speaker's most excellent bounty, the book "Homeboy" by Seth Morgan. It's been a long time since I've read a Holy Shit book, one that I stay up until 3 in the morning reading, slightly amazed, shaking my head, but that one fits the bill. Anyone with a single degenerate bone in their body should track down that book and read it. Holy shit. Thank you, good sir, for such a veritable bounty.
The rest of Saturday was sort of a touristy blur, hitting up the observation deck and pool at the Strat, sharks at Mandalay Bay, Blue Man group at the Luxor, tigers and dolphins at the Mirage, silly Nascar stuff at the Sahara, and other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment.
Sunday we checked out, hit up the penny slots again, where we somehow defied the odds and scored again. While I'm not complaining, at all, there's definitely something amiss in the universe when penny slots come close to paying for your trip.
Got back home Sunday night and crashed.
Which brings us to today. With me sitting here at work again, bored out of my skull. More later.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
When Time Stood Still
And there's someone at Bloglines HQ right now looking at traffic stats, thinking "Sweet merciful Jebus, stop hitting refresh hoovers-1-105.hoovers.com, you bored, not-getting-any-work-done bastard!"
I'll buy anyone who can re-start time a double SoCo in Vegas.
I'll buy anyone who can re-start time a double SoCo in Vegas.
Is It Thursday Yet? Is It Thursday Yet? Is It Thursday Yet? Is It Thursday Yet?
So, umm, yeah. I gots nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
I did manage to bang out a ton of work on a side project the last few days. It's kind of a weird deal, as it's all likely completely for naught, in its current form, but I'll likely be able to plug it into assorted ventures moving forward.
I'm not cool enough to have a real Vegas itinerary or anything like that. I'm also too recently married to have completely worked all of the kinks out of the husbandly duties/expectations system, having not quite yet reached the stage where I'm cut loose and only expected to show up at a prearranged meeting point, reeking of strippers, gin, and cigar smoke.
We're getting into town around 8:00 Thursday night, staying at the lovely Strat. We'll probably wander around and do the gawking thing and get some food, with minimal rambling and/or gambling.
I'm going to try to barter for Friday to be my designated degenerate gambler day. As far as the "serious" poker, I'll prolly stick to limit, likely 15/30, either at Bellagio or Wynn. Planning on getting that play in earlier in the day, then hitting Excalibur for the blogger mayhem later that night. I'll also wander over to the Rio to check on how all of you cool bloggers are doing in the $1,500 NL event, likely a few hours into it.
Saturday morning is the WPBT event at the Aladdin, which, given how I'm running in tournaments lately, might last all of 15 minutes for me. No other real plans for Saturday. I promised the wife a nice dinner one night, so it'll likely be Saturday night. Which means we'll likely make an appearance at the after party, but one on the brief side. Yeah, I know, I suck...
Then we arrive at Black Sunday, when we leave the fair city of Las Vegas and return to the boring, real world. Meh.
I did manage to bang out a ton of work on a side project the last few days. It's kind of a weird deal, as it's all likely completely for naught, in its current form, but I'll likely be able to plug it into assorted ventures moving forward.
I'm not cool enough to have a real Vegas itinerary or anything like that. I'm also too recently married to have completely worked all of the kinks out of the husbandly duties/expectations system, having not quite yet reached the stage where I'm cut loose and only expected to show up at a prearranged meeting point, reeking of strippers, gin, and cigar smoke.
We're getting into town around 8:00 Thursday night, staying at the lovely Strat. We'll probably wander around and do the gawking thing and get some food, with minimal rambling and/or gambling.
I'm going to try to barter for Friday to be my designated degenerate gambler day. As far as the "serious" poker, I'll prolly stick to limit, likely 15/30, either at Bellagio or Wynn. Planning on getting that play in earlier in the day, then hitting Excalibur for the blogger mayhem later that night. I'll also wander over to the Rio to check on how all of you cool bloggers are doing in the $1,500 NL event, likely a few hours into it.
Saturday morning is the WPBT event at the Aladdin, which, given how I'm running in tournaments lately, might last all of 15 minutes for me. No other real plans for Saturday. I promised the wife a nice dinner one night, so it'll likely be Saturday night. Which means we'll likely make an appearance at the after party, but one on the brief side. Yeah, I know, I suck...
Then we arrive at Black Sunday, when we leave the fair city of Las Vegas and return to the boring, real world. Meh.
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