Nuts?

I've made it my "thing" on all the NLHE freerolls I enter to exclaim in the chatbox whenever a four of a kind is shown:

That's a lotta Xs!

(or replace the exclamation mark with three periods...) For example "That's a lotta threes".

Why? A phrase is stuck in my head ever since I saw a movie from, by and starring Steve Oedekerk; Kung Pow: Enter the Fist:

That's a lotta nuts!

¡Maldito rio!

So I went to my third live tournament full of hope. I brought my green felt table cloth, as last time, and also a toolbox with chips and decks for possible cashgames.

There were 43 entrants, five tables. The No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament starts and at the very first hand (I think, it might've been the first hand I participated in) I'm dealt QK and limp along. The flop comes TJA. Wham-zoom, an ace high straight. Some betting and raising, the turn comes and everybody folds after my betting. Nice to start off on plus.

Man, it's hard to keep a pokerface. And if you might've given something away, to counteract it with a double or triple fake. But I think I handle it well when I look at my cards and see American Airlines, pocket rockets, Alcoholics Anonymous, bullets, AA staring back at me. I raise a bit and (only) one other player calls. Flop, bet. The opponent (whom I have met at two other live tournaments and played against in one, where I folded K9o to his all-in) goes all-in. Hamina hamina hoo, I call! He has more chips than me so this is it. The cards are turned over and he has nothing, no made hand, so he is beat, beat, beat at the moment. He comments that he didn't expect a call but I understand him, this early in the tournament you'll have to play wild and maybe bluff to get anywhere (or out).

But...

The turn comes and gosh, he has a straight draw. If a six comes on the river, he'll have it and win.

Guess what comes at the river?

6

So I'm out at 42nd place of 43. Curseword genitalia intercourse feces.

When two tables are freed up (by the way, The Tournament Director is excellent for tournaments, the two guys running the tournament could manage 43 players including themselves, timekeeping, table balancing, prize money easily without hassle) I start up a cashgame, 6/12 Limit and we are about eight who play for a while. I lose a bit there too, but not because of bad play, just ups and downs. Next time I'll bring change, so you can cash out more easily.

All at the final table get a t-shirt, the three first get a cap (promotional material from a sponsor), the six first get paid.

I pack up my felt, chips, cards and sorrows and walk silently into the night. It was fun but next time, ooh, next time...

Bite me

I was at the dentist this morning, for the first time in, oh, fourteen years.

The reason I've never been to the dentist as an adult is that I've never had any problems with my teeth (toothache, teeth falling out, bleeding gum etc) and that it costs money - not covered by Sweden's health service as everything else. Strange in a way, if I get a hole in my head or a tumor I just pay a small patient fee and get it fixed but when it's specifically the teeth, you pay dearly.

But now I'd discovered a cavity in one tooth that I can feel with my tongue and food gets stuck in it, so I made a dentist appointment to have it checked out.

Oh my. There are three or four other fillings that have to be made, plus that big cavity that will probably require a root canal. A few appointments are made for January to have it done. Afterwards, on advice from the dentist, I get a pack of fluoride tablets to suck after meals and will use my electric toothbrush more (it's actually better than a manual toothbrush, it doesn't irritate the gum as much, I believed the opposite).

Well well. "Having a root canal". I think that's a (male?) rite of passage, along other things you have to have done such as:

• Partaking in a high stakes poker game
  
• Get howling drunk on a weekday
  
• Drive a vehicle really fast
  
• Blow shit up
  
• Get stitches
  
• Change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. (From Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love")
  

Reco'nize!

About a week ago, I discovered that Iggy, a fellow Blogspotter, a notorious pokerblogger, had mentioned my little blog among (thirtyfour) other blogs. Now I see that he has put the link (among a hundred others) in his listing on the right. So, at least someone has found me. The statistics over daily pageviews sometimes soars into the double digits, wow!

Pokerwize, not much. Been in a few NLHE freerolls, best placement 198th of 6000. Or out early. In the no-limit freerolls, it's like in limit poker; you can only afford one mistake at most, or one mistake for every two successes. Things have to happen early, either you go out early on a gamble (riverred or kickered) or you build a stack so you can survive at least a few blinds waiting. It's no fun having $10.000 in chips when the tournament leader has $100.000. But! Things can change fast. The other day I was down to $800 in chips late in the tournament and a few played hands later I was up to $18.000. (Then down again, then out).

I'll probably maybe tentatively enter in a live tournament next Sunday, if there are seats left. I'll know during the week if I'll have other commitments and obligations. The last time was fun, even if I didn't win anything.

If you're running a poker tournament, definitely check the (Windows) software The Tournament Director out.

Boo!

Raked big yellow maple leaves at mom's house, a really autumny halloweeny look.

Celebrated the birthday at dad's house. One of the gifts I got was an Alessi frame (my sister usually gives me designed Alessi items of the blue plastic variety, which is nice) with a picture of niece Julia in it. The picture was taken today and she was wearing the romper suit with UNCLE'S FAVORITE printed on it that I gave her yesterday. It's an on demand world, so you have to act fast in this digital age! Thank goodness for digital cameras and color printers.

I took pictures with my digital camera and I also recorded some wimpering and hiccuping.

Chip rebuy

I travelled south by train, bus, feet and car to meet up with family to quietly celebrate my birthday. In the town where I switched from train to bus I had a few hours to kill so I wandered around "shopping". Didn't find much, but in a game store (board games, roleplaying games, card games) I found two full shelves with poker equipment. I have already bought five hundred-packs of the cheapest kind - thin interlocking 2-gram plastic chips with the distribution 50 white, 25 blue, 25 red - so I wasn't really looking for more chips, but they had some cheap (a little less than half price of really real casino-style clay chips) thick and heavy plastic chips of the brand "Marion Heavy Diamond Chips" in a transparent plastic rack so I bought a hundred. Could use them for heads-up games and (not unimportant) practicing chip tricks.

Was picked up by my mother and we went to my sister's house where I met my niece Julia for the first time. Nearly two weeks old now. Her father had e-mailed some pictures but they don't really convey the size. Babies are unbelievably tiny!

Rag River Kicker

Sooo, I was in another live tournament today.

There were more players in this one, 32, some of which I recognized from my first one.

I don't think I played badly, I simply got almost no playable cards. I was eaten by the blinds and cold calls. I only played one or two hands to a showdown (which I lost to better kicker), otherwise it was just fold pre- or post-flop since my hand had nothing, no made hand, no draws. Just one of those days I guess. Out at 21st place. Like many other of the outfrozen ones, I hung around and watched the final table. Ah, so there's where all the good cards, lucky draws and fantastic rivers went!

Went home, saw Sopranos where Tony Blundetto loses a (draw?) poker hand going up with three Jacks against a Full House. Madonn'! That poker is everywhere. Didn't watch WPT because it's on late and like Tony B. I have to get up early for work.

It's been a while

That took some time... I've been slugging away at the daily Expekt NLHE $1000 freerolls but they're too crowded. Around six thousand players and only 130 paid, each time. They used to have a lower maximum, three tousand. It's a matter of waiting out the all-in-every-time maniacs and slapping them silly with an AA or KK when they for the eighth time in a row bully the blinds.

But today I finally ended up "in the money" again. 113th place out of 6337 entrants, earning me $1 after nearly three hours of play. Wow! One dollar, for free! This I'll take to a Sit'n'Go table later.

And I'm going to another live tournament this Sunday. I won't have to worry if I go down to the felt (as the lingo is for being short of chips) since I'll be bringing it. The felt. Haha. You can laugh now.

The uncle from M.A.N.

My sister had a little girl today, named Julia, so I'm now officially an uncle. Later I'll be a godfather and in a few years time probably Santa Claus too.

Mustek DV5000 review

I've used my Mustek DV5000 multi-function digital camera for a while now and I must say I'm really liking it. Not loving it, but it's really neatykeen.

Pros:
The size: It's truly pocket sized and fits in the palm of your hand. About the size of a pack of cigarettes, only thicker.
Its versatility: It's a video camera, a still camera, a voice recorder and an MP3 player.
The simplicity: I was up and running without reading the manual in a matter of seconds after inserting the batteries. There are nine buttons out of which seven or eight really matter and you'll mostly be using at most four of them. The icons onscreen are intuitive but may take some quick leafing through the manual to make sure what they really mean.
Night Shot and flash: For poor light, you can turn on Night Shot which enhances the picture (both in video and still mode). The flash seems powerful but doesn't reach far. Good for a small to medium room perhaps.

Cons:
Simplicity: There are no advanced functions, for example locking the light or white balance or manually selecting shutter speed. It's all continually adapting.
Screen: The screen only folds straight out, it's not tiltable, that's a feature on the followup DV5500, but this DV5000 is good enough (and better/more functions than the DV4000). The screen is also so small you can't really tell from the preview if it's blurry or not.
Artefacts: There are artefacts sometimes (white, green or red pixels that shouldn't be there) when shooting objects with much detail or when using the digital zoom.
Settings: The settings don't seem to stay until the next session. Each time I have to deselect Info to not get the date stamped onto the picture in still mode. Or Night Shot.

But hey, it's very good value for money. An Instamatic or Super-8 or Walkman all-in-one for the ... (wait for it) ... digital age! Good enough for "amateur" use, versatile and small enough for the "I wish I had a camera with me" moments.