... But this is really stupid of the government, I think.
Mrs. Whodat calls me and lets me know our Economic Stimulus Check arrived in the mail. Sweet! It was only scheduled to get here in May, but because we filed electronically and took some normal deduction we would have to wait until "around July 4th" to receive the funds.
So all is forgiven until Mrs. Whodat opens the envelope and discovers there isn't a check in there. Instead, what we got was a letter informing us that, (these are my words and not the IRS' words at all, but you get the gist of it, I'm sure) 'this isn't the actual check you were expecting but a letter telling you that it's in the mail, and here's how we calcualted everything and blah, blah blah'. Look, I dont care how you killed the cow. Just bring me the steak already.
Now, I love and appreciate bureaucracy as much as anyone because it has such redeeming societal qualities that everyone should embrace (I hope your sarcasm level is set to high right now). But do you really want to stimulate the economy? Here's a novel idea that may work. Stop sending stupid letters that say you are getting a check and actually send the check. There. You just made a 50% savings on your postage expenditures because of me. Multiply that by the millions of these things you sent out and invest that into tax incentives for small businesses.
I know, I know. It's too simplistic of an idea to implement but it would work. If the IRS is reading this and likes the idea I hope they pay me for my genius. I'll be waiting by the mailbox for that check too.
June 30, 2008
When It Rains It Pours
What a start to our summer. Went to the lake with friends last Sunday and had an awesome time. Monday Mrs. whodat's AC went out in her vehicle (anyone believe in omens?). So there goes a nice chunk of change right before our vacation. Wait,if I remember correctly didn't something like this happen last year too?
Two days later we had some nasty little pop-up storms - you know, the kind that just pop up out of nowhere - hit us pretty hard and we get this lightning damage courtesy of Mother Nature (pictured below). Joy of joys :0)
This oak tree stands at least 35 feet tall and provides a good amount of shade from the afternoon sun. There was debris scattered all over the back deck and in the backyard approximately 50 feet away from the tree.
I have some sheet rock damage in the dining room from the concussive force of the strike and have lost my desktop computer, a garage door opener, our TV we bought last year, DVD player, a sweet Keurig coffee machine, and some damamge to some outlets in the house. We're still finding little things every day.
The funny thing is my computer is on the same surge protector as my scanner, paper shredder, and monitor and they are fine. Same thing with the TV and DVD; they're hooked into the same protector as the stereo and CD player, which they work fine.
Here's a close up of part of the bottom of the tree. This strip is 10 inches wide and runs from the ground to about the 10 foot mark. Here's hoping the insurance company truly is a "good neighbor".
Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand..
Two days later we had some nasty little pop-up storms - you know, the kind that just pop up out of nowhere - hit us pretty hard and we get this lightning damage courtesy of Mother Nature (pictured below). Joy of joys :0)
This oak tree stands at least 35 feet tall and provides a good amount of shade from the afternoon sun. There was debris scattered all over the back deck and in the backyard approximately 50 feet away from the tree.
I have some sheet rock damage in the dining room from the concussive force of the strike and have lost my desktop computer, a garage door opener, our TV we bought last year, DVD player, a sweet Keurig coffee machine, and some damamge to some outlets in the house. We're still finding little things every day.
The funny thing is my computer is on the same surge protector as my scanner, paper shredder, and monitor and they are fine. Same thing with the TV and DVD; they're hooked into the same protector as the stereo and CD player, which they work fine.
Here's a close up of part of the bottom of the tree. This strip is 10 inches wide and runs from the ground to about the 10 foot mark. Here's hoping the insurance company truly is a "good neighbor".
Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand..
June 21, 2008
Sweat Session
Um, no, I didn't work out although I need to start again. I had a sweat session with LaffyTaffy22 from Poker Dynasty and it went really well. I think he hit on some key areas where my game has improved already since I really haven't played No Limit (NL) in a while. Most of these things may be small but when you're rusty and your confidence is shaky it's good to hear them coming from a really good player.
Within a few hands we changed tables to target some bigger fish which I've been trying to do more frequently as table selecction (and seat selection for that matter) is extremely important nowadays.
My blind stealing attempt percentage has improved. The theory that if your opponent isn't going to 3 bet you when you're stealing means you can use any two cards for it and shut down when he plays back really paid off.
I've never really been a big fan of check raising flops in NL since I tend to c-bet almost every single pot I open raise but Laffy found a few spots to do this and it boosted my stack a bit. We also talked about ramping up my aggression in post-flop spots where I would normally shut down. Another important thing that came up was to not let myself get in marginal situations to reduce some of the variance that happens in this beautiful game. Oh, and I "obviously need to run better" as shown in the hand below. This guy was a huge calling station with stats of 57/8/.5
Here's the Poker Stove analysis on the turn:
Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
44 games 0.032 secs 1,375 games/sec
Board: Qc 5s 3c Th
Dead:
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 81.818% 81.82% 00.00% 36 0.00 { 5c5d }
Hand 1: 18.182% 18.18% 00.00% 8 0.00 { Tc6c }
Clearly the only time I'm folding here is if my internet connection disconnects me :)
LaffyTaffy, thanks again for helping out a lowly donk like myself and I hope we can do something like this in the future. Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand.
Within a few hands we changed tables to target some bigger fish which I've been trying to do more frequently as table selecction (and seat selection for that matter) is extremely important nowadays.
My blind stealing attempt percentage has improved. The theory that if your opponent isn't going to 3 bet you when you're stealing means you can use any two cards for it and shut down when he plays back really paid off.
I've never really been a big fan of check raising flops in NL since I tend to c-bet almost every single pot I open raise but Laffy found a few spots to do this and it boosted my stack a bit. We also talked about ramping up my aggression in post-flop spots where I would normally shut down. Another important thing that came up was to not let myself get in marginal situations to reduce some of the variance that happens in this beautiful game. Oh, and I "obviously need to run better" as shown in the hand below. This guy was a huge calling station with stats of 57/8/.5
Here's the Poker Stove analysis on the turn:
Text results appended to pokerstove.txt
44 games 0.032 secs 1,375 games/sec
Board: Qc 5s 3c Th
Dead:
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 81.818% 81.82% 00.00% 36 0.00 { 5c5d }
Hand 1: 18.182% 18.18% 00.00% 8 0.00 { Tc6c }
Clearly the only time I'm folding here is if my internet connection disconnects me :)
LaffyTaffy, thanks again for helping out a lowly donk like myself and I hope we can do something like this in the future. Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand.
June 12, 2008
Rack 'Em Up!
Well, it's that time of the year again. The Birmingham APA City Championships are this weekend and my team - Quit Talkin' Start Chalkin' - made it again. We start play on Saturday morning and if we're fortunate enough we'll play 3 more matches Sunday and go to the APA National Team Championship in Las Vegas for chance at the $25,000 prize . Over 85 teams will compete this year and if I'm not mistaken 5 go to Vegas (could be 4, not entirely certain). Hopefully we're one of those teams. I'll try to take some phots and write something about this tournament after it's all done. Here's a vid to get you in the mood from Johnny Lang. You'll see a photo of Minnesota Fats in here at the 1:44 mark and again at the 3:19 mark. Also, the Duchess of Doom is pictured at the 2:15 mark.
Why Limit?
I was going to respond to Flamm in the comment section but thought it would be better in a post.
There are a few reasons why I'm going with Limit right now.
It's easier to play when I'm at work. My connection isn't stable the whole time and I'd hate to have 50 BBs invested in a hand and have the connection drop. I don't play at work all the time but right now business is really slow and I can get in a couple hours of play easily.
Most of my mistakes are post-flop and those mistakes lead to losing stacks (100 Big Blinds) in NL. By playing Limit I'm controlling the amount I lose when I make mistakes. I'm also keeping my bankroll alive as I've been on a bad swing for a while. I want to get this back up to a comfortable level.
I've done a few session reviews on 2+2 in the Micro Stakes Limit section and it's a really good way to improve one's game. These session reviews are something I think would work very well in the Mini Masterminds at Poker Dynasty. You get to see what works and what doesn't against different types of villains, and there are a lot more hands that go past a pre-flop raise and a c-bet.
There are a few reasons why I'm going with Limit right now.
It's easier to play when I'm at work. My connection isn't stable the whole time and I'd hate to have 50 BBs invested in a hand and have the connection drop. I don't play at work all the time but right now business is really slow and I can get in a couple hours of play easily.
Most of my mistakes are post-flop and those mistakes lead to losing stacks (100 Big Blinds) in NL. By playing Limit I'm controlling the amount I lose when I make mistakes. I'm also keeping my bankroll alive as I've been on a bad swing for a while. I want to get this back up to a comfortable level.
I've done a few session reviews on 2+2 in the Micro Stakes Limit section and it's a really good way to improve one's game. These session reviews are something I think would work very well in the Mini Masterminds at Poker Dynasty. You get to see what works and what doesn't against different types of villains, and there are a lot more hands that go past a pre-flop raise and a c-bet.
I'm also re-reading Small Stakes Hold Em by Ed Miller. It seems at the levels I am grinding the opponents play too many hands are really straight forward in their playing style. Not many villains know how to value bet strong drawing hands/combo draws and I think I have an advantage there.
Oh, here's the larger scale picture of the macro from the previous post too. Almost for got to add this. Good luck on the felt and may the good cards hit your hand
June 7, 2008
It's Been A While
So glad to see people care enough to wonder why I haven't posted anything in looonng time (Flamm). Thanks to anyone out there who still drops by. Poker-wise, I've decided to play Limit Hold 'Em to make Iron Man at Full Tilt for their mid year bonus. Free money really intrigues me and if they're giving it away I might as well grab it.
Phot0-wise I'm loving my Canon Powershot S3 IS and the Raynox DCR-250 Macro lens! Here's some I took a few minutes ago while out on the deck. I'll show the macro first and follow up with a post showing you the full picture. The shot below is, as I usually do here, full framed and un-cropped. Make some guesses as to what you think it is, and you'll have bragging rights for a while.
Phot0-wise I'm loving my Canon Powershot S3 IS and the Raynox DCR-250 Macro lens! Here's some I took a few minutes ago while out on the deck. I'll show the macro first and follow up with a post showing you the full picture. The shot below is, as I usually do here, full framed and un-cropped. Make some guesses as to what you think it is, and you'll have bragging rights for a while.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)