Update and The Poker King

Well, time sure does fly when you're having fun. Since our last occasion to check in with one another, I have been quite the busy bee. I completed my last big research project in my grad class, leaving just one small assignment due tomorrow. I'm almost done with it so I think I'm in good shape there. I've also taken a math exam, which I will get the grade tonight. And I've actually gotten back on the train in my online lit class. I believe I can't get caught up this week on that class. Fortunately, the teacher doesn't have due dates for the assignments as long as they are done by the end of the semester. So, with a little reading and writing in that class, I'll be in good shape for these last 2 weeks of class. With one paper and one final left, I'm definitely seeing the end as near.

On a related note, I begin what are called clinical studies in the fall at 2 schools. Basically, all prospective teachers are required to spend 35 hours in a junior high and 35 hours in a high school in preparation for a teaching career and before beginning student teaching. I received my assigned schools in the mail last week. I'm getting excited as this next step is definitely going to let me get a better grasp on the whole teaching experience. Apparently, one of the things I'll need to do is assist some of the students who are having difficulty. We'll see how that goes.

NOTE: The rest of this blog entry will be very poker specific. As a disclaimer, if you aren't interested in poker, you may find this boring or difficult to understand.

As I mentioned towards the end of my last entry, I entered a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament that weekend. In fact, I participate in a "poker league", where a season consists of 9 tournaments. You receive "points" based on how high you finish and how many people you knock out of each tournament. At the end of the season, the person with the most points is the champion of the league. In addition, the winner of each of the 9 tournaments and the one person with the most points who did not win a tourney all get free entry into a tournament with a prize pool collected during the season from everyone's entry fees.

This is my 2nd season in the league. Last year, I did ok, I won one tournament, cashed in 2 or 3 others. I finished in the top 10, which I was pretty happy with since I played very poorly in my first couple of tourneys. So far this year, we've had 2 tourneys headed into this most recent one. I finished very poorly in the first one, 23rd out of 30. Too much bluffing at bad times. In the second one, I did better, finishing in the money, 3rd out of 20. This moved me up from 23rd in the standings to 7th. I had been playing a lot of online tourneys of roughly the same number of people to try and prepare myself better for the league. Unfortunately, with school, I had very few chances to play headed into our 3rd tourney.

There were only 18 players in tourney 3, although the buy-in had been boosted a little bit, making for a nice prize pool. I sat at a table that had very few of the best players, I was please with my draw. I had volunteered to deal, which really took away from my concentration a bit, not sure if I will do that again. So, I didn't play very many hands in the early going. One notable hand, with the blinds at 50/100, one of my very good friends raised to 500 in late position. On the button, I re-raised to 1300 with pocket Jacks. He thought long and hard and finally laid down, telling me later he had AQ. Unfortunately for him, he would bust shortly thereafter, having received AQ 3 times and not winning with any of them.

Shortly after, I picked up pocket Kings (no spades) in late position. There were 2 limpers in ahead of me and I raised to 600. I had one caller. The flop came down Jack high with two spades. Limper checked to me and I bet out 800 into a pot of about 1500. He calls. I was definitely worried about the flush draw at this point. Turn is a spade. Uh-oh. He checks again and I fire another 1200 into the pot. He goes into the tank and ultimately lays down. He tells me later he had the Ace of spades and would have been playing for the draw. With this pot, I move into chip leader position at the table heading into our first break.

One of the biggest hands of the night came a short while later. The hand folded around to me in the small blind, where I look down and see AK of diamonds. With blinds at 100/200, I raise to 800. The guy in the big blind has just slightly less chips than me, we were #1 & #2 at the table. He calls me. The flop comes down QJT rainbow - BINGO, Ace has broadway!!!! I am first to act and trying to figure out how I want to play it. While I'm thinking about it, the other guy in the pot pushes all in out of turn. While he could have been trying to trick me, I think he just made an honest mistake. I insta-call and he turns over QT, for 2 pair. I dodge another Q or T and now have a massive chipstack. I don't really have any other memorable hands until we get to the final table, 9 players.

Going into the final table, I am about 3rd or 4th in chips. Top 4 finishers are getting paid. We have a few short stacks, several of whom get knocked out pretty quickly. I don't play any hands for a very long time, the cards are quite dead and I'm trying to be patient. In fact, by the time we get down to 6 players, I'm still about 4th but the top 3 are way ahead. The rest of us are pretty close. #6 gets knocked out and we are down to 5. The next person out doesn't win any money, the rest do, the dreaded "bubble" position. We played for probably around an hour and a half in this position. At one point, I became the person with the least chips, the "short stack". One of the big stacks raises and I push all in with pocket 9's. He calls and shows AQ. My nines hold up and I am out of short stack position and in pretty good shape.

Next notable hand - I'm in the small blind with K4 of clubs. The flop comes down with a King in it and 2 clubs. I bet out, she calls. Turn is a blank, we both check. The river is a club, giving the flush. I check, she bets, and I push all in. She calls, I win and we are off the bubble, in the money. I stayed out of trouble for a little while and then finally a big hand happens and we are down to 2. When we get heads up, the chip leader has about a 3 1/2 to 1 chip lead on me, leaving me as a pretty big underdog. However, I like to think I'm pretty good at heads up play and think I can win it.

I scrapped around for a while and got short a few times but eventually battled back to make it about even. I look down at ATs. At this point, we both have about 7 big blinds in chips. So I push all in. He thinks for a little bit and calls. He turns over K9, a kind of loose call. My AT holds up and I now have every chip on the table except 1. In fact, other guy has so few chips, he's automatically all in. He doubles up on the first hand, hitting a 3 outer on the river. Second hand, I have him dominated and he hits his off card, doubling up again. He's now up to 4000, but I still have 36,000. He's automatically all in again and rivers me to double up to 8000. I really don't want this to keep going! I'll be damned if he didn't double up again to 16,000. At this point, he doesn't automatically have to go all in. One more double up and we've got a match again. He decides to go all in and I call with K6o. My cards hold up and I finally win!

It was a battle but I finally won out. I was pretty happy with my play, especially once we got heads up. I earned a seat into the freeroll at the end of the year and also took over first place in the league standings. Woohooo!

Until next time.

Ace

Random Musings and a Limerick

Thought I'd provide a quick update on things.

After tonight, I have 5 weeks in the books in my eight week semester. Thanks to the wonders and teachings of my stats class, I think that puts me about 62.5% of the way done with the semester. But, truth be told, one of my classes essentially ends a week early so I've got to be damn near 65% or so - woooohoooo! I have a big project due Tuesday and should be able to keep up from there.

A few observations: I never used crib notes before to skip reading but that has turned out to be essential for my lit class. I have been able to skip a couple readings and still keep up by using the crib notes (or sparknotes, as they are known online). Feels a little weird and I'm a little guilted about it but I suspect I'll get over it :-)

Our home has been taken over by Harry Potter mania. The better half checked out the movie last weekend and is getting the book tomorrow. A town nearby gets nuts and decorates their entire downtown like the town where the books are set. People are in costume and it all leads up to the opening of the doors to the bookstore at midnight where people get the newly released book. It's really kinda like a Star Trek convention or something similar, not that I've ever been to either actually. Anywho, if I wake up with a lightning bolt on my forehead, babe, you'll know what happened.

Musical notes - the better half is journeying to see Rocco DeLuca this weekend. I'm looking fwd to hearing about it.

I'm really digging Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's. Very catchy little ditty, although I suspect I may not quite be in their target demo.

Smashing Pumpkins - holy smokes! great new CD, I will review it here shortly. Good to have them back (at least those who most likely played their own instruments).

Possibly the worst song I've ever heard - The Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors. Man this song sucks. Heard it a couple times on XM and just couldn't take it any more.

Other - big poker tourney this weekend, my first social event since weekend before 4th of July. Looking forward to a good performance, I'm high in the standings in this poker league on the strength of a 3rd place finish in our last event.

And I've signed up for a triathlon, takes place in a couple weeks. Someone who participated previously said it's very easy as far as triathlons go so I'm hoping it will be good. I've done a pretty mediocre job of staying on top of the running since class has started so this will keep me motivated.

OK, enough of my nonsense. Bring on the limerick!!!!

Said Miss Farrow, on one of her larks,

'Sex is more fun in bed than in parks.

You feel more at ease;

Your butt doesn't freeze

And passers-by don't make remarks.'

Until next time.

Ace

Something in the water - parenting tips

So I received news recently that one couple that my family is close with is expecting their first child - congrats to the Ps! Undoubtedly, this will be a dramatically life changing event, teaching much of patience, selflessness and even more about unconditional love than you've ever fathomed. I am aware of at least 5 other couples who are also expecting, some their first, others #2, etc. I suppose that is to be expected in the age demographic I tread in but damn, you all have been getting freaky! Anyhow, as a public service, I'd like to offer some parental advice. I believe that these tips can be applied to first time or repeat offenders.

My tips are best presented through the use of a true story of the better half and I.

Our first child was born 42 minutes after parental admission to the hospital. All the literature warned that the first generally takes the longest to deliver. In our case, boy were they right!

Our second was due and we knew we were getting close to D-day. The arrangement was for my mom to watch the first while we went to the hospital for delivery of the second. Our friend Danielle was our emergency backup as my mom lives about 2 1/2 hours away. Overnight, we received signs indicating that the time was near. We called mom at about 6:30 in the morning. She would get ready and head on up as soon as possible. We called the doctor and were given specific instructions: When the contractions are 5 minutes or less apart and last 60 seconds, head to the hospital. Sounds simple enough.

Tip 1: Question everything! This 5 minutes apart business above seems like sage advice. Perhaps we should not have taken it as such a black and white edict.

So, while we wait, we pop on the movie Love Actually and hang out, the pre-birth bliss settling over our idealic suburban homestead. Oh, except for every time there was a contraction, when there was a lot of grunting, screaming and writhing. The contractions are getting closer but still around 8 or 9 minutes apart. Mom is still at least an hour and a half away. Time to call in the cavalry, Danielle to the rescue.

Tip 2: Be conservative when enacting your emergency plan. If you think you should set the emergency plan in motion, you probably should have called a good half hour or so ago.

Danielle is about 20 minutes away from our house when the call is made. We should still have plenty of time. While we await her arrival, we start packing up our 2 week old vehicle bought in anticipation of the familial expansion. All of the clothes for mom and baby are safely packed away along with all the other things needed at the hospital. And, just in case, I put a towel down over the seat where expecting mom would be sitting.

Tip 3: Whether you think you need it or not, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put the towel down over mom's seat.

Well, lookie there, in those 20 minutes, contractions went from being 8 minutes apart to about 4, wow, the wonder of nature at work. Guess we better hustle to the hospital, luckily the contractions aren't a minute long, so we should be OK, right? There was a lot of pain in those contractions so I drove as fast as humanly possible. The hospital is about 30 or 35 minutes from the house.

I was going as fast as I could and ticking people off left and right. One woman actually drove slowly on purpose to prevent me from moving ahead. We should have just pulled her over and had the baby in her car! Anyhow, as we are approaching the hospital, we're getting VERY close to baby time. This next tip is perhaps the most important.

Tip 4: When driving to the hospital with a baby seconds away from popping out, do NOT under any circumstances ask the expecting mother for directions. I can't stress this enough.

It appears that under pressure I may have lost a bit of my wits but luckily was able to remember exactly which way to go. We are now about 4 or 5 blocks from the hospital and I am told that the baby's head is free of it's 9 month home. While I am not sure if this is true or not, I'm not going to stop to find out. Hit the gas!!!

We are now in the turn lane to the hospital and the impatient little brat makes a full descent from the tummy region. Whoa!!!!!!!!!! No crying, (from baby that is, mom is pretty close to crying, if not in full tears), which is kind of scary. I whip the vehicle into the ER ambulance drop off area and jump out of the car. The following discussion ensues:

Me: "My wife just had a baby!"
EMT type dudes: "How far apart are the contractions?"
Me: "No, she just had the baby!"
EMT type dudes: (all hell breaks loose)

At this point, the heavens open and doctors, nurses, EMTs and other very medical looking people start streaming towards our vehicle from every possible region of the hospital. Our OB/GYN and her posse come from one direction, the ER folks from another and everything is in capable hands. The umbilical cord was literally cut in the front seat of our vehicle. While the better half is certainly still in pain and feeling weak, all would ultimately be OK. Not only that, but she gained a reputation around the hospital as "Car mom", as she discovered from the maintenance dude who came in to fix the TV in her hospital room a day later. I personally prefer her self-christened nickname of "the human water slide".

We considered naming the baby after the vehicle she was born in but ultimately decided against it. When providing info later for the birth certificate, the hospital admin asked us approximately where on our trip was the baby born - I think the cert actually has an intersection name on it IIRC. My attempts to get an endorsement deal out of Honda have fallen on deaf ears. My letter stating it "was roomy enough to have a baby in" apparently wasn't a good tagline.

Tip 5: Leave plenty of time to get to the hospital. In fact, you might even want to go a little early.

All's well that end's well. But it was definitely a scary experience that makes me get a little antsy just talking about.

Until next time.

Ace

Fun reading

One of the great things about the Lit class I'm in right now is that it is forcing me to read (that is, something besides books and magazines about poker). The class is on British Literature, The Great Authors (could it sound any more pretentious). While I'm sure it's all considered very good, some I've enjoyed more than others. I think reading Canterbury Tales was roughly equivalent to digging my eyeball out with a fork. But I've really enjoyed reading Beowulf, The Tragic History of Dr. Faustus, Jane Eyre and some others.

I thought I would post one of the poems I really enjoyed here. The author is John Donne, who is definitely an interesting cat. He lived from 1571 - 1631. This one is called The Apparition and is taken from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Seventh Edition, The Major Authors.

The Apparition

When by thy scorn, O murderess, I am dead,

And that thou thinkst thee free

From all solicitation from me,

Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,

And thee, feigned vestal(1), in worse arms shall see;

Then thy sick taper will begin to wink(2),

And he whose thou art then, being tired before,

Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think

Thou callst for more,

And in false sleep will from thee shrink,

And then, poor aspen wretch(3), neglected thou

Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat (4)wilt lie

A verier ghost(5) than I;

What I will say, I will not tell thee now,

Lest that preserve thee; and since my love is spent,

I had rather thou shouldst painfully repent,

Than by my threatenings rest still innocent.

1) Virgin

2) Flicker

3) Aspen leaves flutter in the slightest breeze

4) Sweating in terror; quicksilver was a stock prescription for venereal disease and sweating was part of the cure.

5) truer

Sounds like someone's got some issues with his special lady friend eh?

One funny little story from my statistics class. During a recent session, our teacher was trying to show everyone how to perform certain formulae using our scientific calculators. Of course, everyone has a different kind of calculator so we spent 20 minutes going around the room with people trying to figure out how their's worked (this was clearly a brilliant use of time).

One of the girls in the class, who is an undergrad, probably a freshman or sophomore, is sitting on the opposite side of the room from me. She's struggling to figure out how to use hers and asks the girl next to her, who has no idea. She looks all the way across the room at me and says "You look like a wise man, can you help me?" WHAT??????? Wow, I really am that old, aren't I? Of course, I look like a total boob when I have no idea how to use the calculator. But, obviously this was just a ploy because she wanted me - it's difficult to be this sexy.

Things are crazy, turned in a paper last night, have a math test tonight and a big project due Tuesday that I've thankfully completed. I have a few other assignments to do this week as well, a mid-term to do this week and 2 more projects for my research class. 38% of the way done with the semester! Not happy that I will not be able to watch the Major League Baseball All-Star game.

Saturday was my oldest child's fifth birthday. Wow, I really am that old, aren't I? There were a couple times during the day where I am sure I have never been happier in my life. The big gift was a new bike (dubbed "fally bike" since it has no training wheels, this kid is brilliant!). I spent a good 45 minutes running up and down the street next to the bike as Kid 1 learned how to keep balance. I don't know the last time I've had as much fun, a very rewarding time - plus I got some good exercise! The other moment was during the bday party at the community pool. There was a gigantic water slide that wasn't very steep but was very high and dumped into an area of the pool that was about up to Kid 1's shoulders. I thought there was no way Kid 1 would go down this slide. There was a little hesitation but the monkey did it! After 2 trips down with dad in tow, I was told "Dad, I'm going to go down the slide one hundred times!" I don't think we quite hit triple digits, but many trips down the slide were made. Very proud of the courage of the little one. Lots of fun again, we moved the party to a neighbor's pool and kept at it til 10 pm. What a fun day, definitely worth all the stress and strain that sometimes comes with being a parent.

Until next time.

Ace