tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67121292024-03-07T20:05:59.108-05:00Cheap ThrillsI'm JD and this my poker blog.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1158644537733571422006-09-19T01:41:00.000-04:002006-09-19T01:42:17.753-04:00The Time Has ComeWell, we are safely arrived in Santa Monica, and have been here exactly two weeks since yesterday. Moving was kinda tough -- driving a moving truck over the Rockies was particularly scary -- but we're here, and hopefully this willl be our last cross-country move. I will be consulting for my former company for the next several months, then . . . who knows. I'm tempted to write about how fun it is being back in California, how big L.A. seems compared to anywhere I've ever lived before, how psyched I am to get back into surfing . . . but none of that has anything to do with poker.<br /><br />So I feel the time has come for me to announce that this blog is on indefinite hiatus. My poker playing had been on hiatus for a while now, partly due to the financial stress of our move, but also partly because poker is just not as big a part of my life as it was in the first two years of this blog.<br /><br />I'm certainly not giving up poker. I love the game and plan to play regularly for the rest of my life. I'll just no longer be posting about it on a frequent basis.<br /><br />Nor am I going to take down this blog. For one thing, I still get a kick out of going through the archives and reading my more naive 2004 self. But I also think I'll be posting here now and then -- B and I still plan to visit Las Vegas regularly, especially now that we're so much closer to it, and sooner or later we'll be hitting the Commerce Casino and the other L.A. card rooms. I always felt my trip reports were my best posts, so I'll still write a few of those a year. Maybe with the wonders of RSS, some of you might actually read them.<br /><br />The poker blogosphere is a wonderful thing -- I'm happy to have been a small part of it, and grateful to the founding bloggers who commented and encouraged me in my first nervous weeks. While I won't be posting much, I'll remain an avid reader, so keep the quality posts coming!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1156770826686982742006-08-28T09:12:00.000-04:002006-08-28T09:13:46.710-04:00Loadin' Up the WagonAs I type up this post, the laptop is one of the few things in our apartment that is not in a box. We go get the rental moving truck tomorrow, spend the day loading it up, and then <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2006/07/california-here-we-come.html">we leave for Santa Monica</a> on Wednesday. We will arrive on Saturday, get all moved in Sunday, and then we plan to spend Labor Day at the beach!<br /><br />Our last few weeks in Minneapolis have been really hectic. Two weekends ago I was in Indianapolis for work (GenCon), then last weekend I was in Montreal for a friend's wedding, then this last week at work was exhausting, as I tried to get several projects at work finished, squeeze in a couple fantasy football drafts, attend a very nice farewell barbeque, and box up everything we own.<br /><br />So poker has been on the back burner. <br /><br />But as Mrs. Cheap Thrills and I keep reminding ourselves, we're hoping that this will be our last big, cross-country move. We're gonna settle down to be fun-loving Californians, complete with regular visits to Vegas and those crazy L.A. card rooms. <br /><br />OK, back to the boxes . . .Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1154898579361566232006-08-06T17:09:00.000-04:002006-08-06T17:09:39.506-04:00Texas Hold'em Gumball MachineSaw this in the window of a candy store at the Mall of America today:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/pokergumball.jpg" title="" border="0"><br /><br />I love that is says "Let It Ride" at the base.<br /><br />Mrs. Cheap Thrills found us an apartment in Santa Monica this weekend. We head out on August 29th. . . .Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1154227000947391902006-07-29T22:36:00.000-04:002006-07-29T22:36:41.126-04:00The Perfect Poker GiftWe've all seen the poker-related junk that retailers have been hawking for the past 2 years. The most recent example to really make me take notice is a store at the Rosedale Mall called the World Poker Store (it's like a subliminal rhyme). It's filled with poker tables, poker chip sets, poker books and CDs, poker clothing, etc. And it's always empty. It almost makes me feel guilty -- like maybe, as someone who loves poker, I should be supporting my local poker-related businesses. But I already have a <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2004/04/my-poker-table-is-finished.html">poker table</a>, three poker chip sets, plenty of decks of cards (including Kem cards), a poker gremlin, a <a href="http://www.pokerheads.net/products/13/scotty-nguyen">Scotty Nguyen bobblehead</a>, Tommy Angelo's <a href="http://www.imrunningbad.com/home.htm">CD of poker songs</a>, and a rather large library of poker books. What else could I possibly need?<br /><br />I mention this because recently my buddy Campbool got married, and one of his good friends gave him the perfect poker gift: a stake. <br /><br />Just a little background here: Campbool actually met his bride-to-be at the poker night we used to host back in Providence. Yes, I can proudly say that they met over <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2004/04/my-poker-table-is-finished.html">my poker table</a>. And at the wedding they even had a few poker-y touches, such as decks of cards and chocolate poker chips in the out-of-town gift bags. For their honeymoon, they went to Vegas, and at Campbool's bachelor party, they sure as hell played some poker. <br /><br />Campbool being in New England and me being in Minneapolis, I missed the bachelor party, but I heard about. Campbool's good friend Sue (he is actually male, yes it is kinda like the Johnny Cash song) has been very into online poker for the last several years -- he makes more from online poker than I do from my regular job (although that's not saying all that much, heh heh). Anyway, for a wedding present Sue gave Campbool $400, with some stipulations. Campbool was only allowed to use the money to buy into a live WSOP satellite in Vegas, or to play $10/$20 limit Hold'em. If he won anything, he had to use the first $100 winning to buy his new wife a gift. Beyond $100, Campbool had to split his winnings with Sue. <br /><br />So cool.<br /><br />The way their honeymoon plans worked out, a WSOP satellite wasn't really an option, so Campbool looked for a $10/$20 game. This was a fairly big deal for him, since he'd only played live casino poker a few times before (one of those occasions was <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2005/10/from-mirage-to-canterbury.html">$3/$6 at the Mirage last October with me</a>). <br /><br />So how did it turn out? Well, Campbool stayed at the Bellagio, and it ended up being a lot harder to find a $10/$20 game (or an $8/$16 game, as the Bellagio spreads), than it would have been to find a lower-stakes game. So he headed over the my favorite poker room in Vegas, the one at the Mirage. He actually sat down with $560 rather than just $400, cause like me he likes to have more than 25 big bets in a live game.<br /><br />And then he went up $350! Freaking cool. He said that many of the people at his table were there for the WSOP -- having won satellites online, or come to Vegas that weekend specifically to play in a $1500 event or just to watch -- and we speculated that the WSOP is a good weekend for cash-game poker, just cause you have a lower proportion of regular grinders and a higher propertion of poker-playing tourists, whatever their skill level.<br /><br />Campbool of course did not sustain the insane win rate he set the first day, and ended the honeymoon up $170 after some serious swings. To my mind, that he rose out those swings for a win, having fun the whole time at stakes he wasn't used to, is the coolest part of the whole thing. As per Sue's terms, Campbool's lovely bride went shopping with the first hundred, $100, and Campbool now owes Sue $35. <br /><br />The $170 is great, but I gotta think the experience is more valuable. Now Campbool's got the confidence of having won at a higher limit than he might have ever played at otherwise. That's what all the guys in Vegas do, right? Well, at least the impression that I get is that between a lot of the regulars it is "Dude, you're smart but broke, here's some cash, go make me and you some money and then remember that you owe me a favor." Well, Sue gave a gift instead, and I can't think of a better one for a poker player. <br /><br />OK, so now everyone knows what to get me this Christmas, right? :-)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1154221248680666762006-07-29T21:00:00.000-04:002006-07-29T21:00:48.780-04:00The Dread of Running ShortWhen I play online, I always sit down with 23 big bets. There's no tipping or drinks to buy, and more cash is just a couple clicks away. But live play is different. <br /><br />When Mrs. Cheap Thrills and I go the Canterbury, she usually plays $2/$4 and sits down with $100 -- that's 25 big bets. I usually play $3/$6 and sit down with $200 -- that's 33 big bets, and she's made fun of me for it in the past, but the truth is I like to have even more on hand. Leave it to Tommy Angelo to <a href="http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles/enough_is_not_enough.htm">explain this feeling</a> better than I ever could.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1153271801101675822006-07-18T21:16:00.000-04:002006-07-18T21:18:19.856-04:00California Here We ComeSo the big news that I alluded to in my <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2006/07/stasis.html">last post</a> is that we are moving to Los Angeles at the end of August. Mrs. Cheap Thrills has been offered a really great job in Santa Monica, and she's gonna fly out there in a couple weeks to find us a place to live. <br /><br />I know many people have mixed feelings about L.A., and yeah, traffic and smog are not fun, but B and I are incredibly thrilled to be moving back to California. A quick recap of our moving around the country:<br /><br />-B's from NYC, I'm from Philly. We met in college in upstate NY.<br />-In summer 1997, one year outta college, B gets a good job in San Diego and we move out there for 3 very fun years.<br />-In summer 2000, we move back east to Providence, RI, so that B can get her PhD.<br />-In summer 2005, B graduates and gets a job in Minneapolis, so we move again.<br /><br />And here I am following her again. What can I say, she's worth it. <br /><br />We are kinda bummed to be leaving Minneapolis so soon. We never really thought we'd be here permanently, but we thought it'd be 2 or 3 years at least. And Minneapolis is really fantastic city (with a helluva poker room). I can honestly say that I could live here for the rest of my life and be quite happy, and I can't say that about a lot of cities. I also would've liked to stay at my current job a while longer. Working on board games is fun.<br /><br />But moving back to California is basically a dream come true. We didn't realize just how much we loved the ocean, the sun, the palm trees, and California's unique culture until we left San Diego. I can't wait to surf again.<br /><br />And we will be less than a 4-hour drive to Vegas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />For the next few weeks, however, poker is going on to the back burner. We've got all the financial headaches of a cross-country move, coupled with my impending unemployment. I'm pretty much scared money right now. It feels a lot like last summer!<br /><br />Oh well, I'll still be able to watch High Stakes Poker, read about the WSOP, and all that. And as soon as I'm bringing home a steady paycheck again, B and I are gonna make that drive across the desert to celebrate. <br /><br />Plus, in my <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2006/07/stasis.html">last post</a> I talked about how my game was in a rut. Well, there's no cure for stasis like a really huge change, right?Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1152982132311106062006-07-15T12:48:00.000-04:002006-07-15T13:30:06.486-04:00StasisI'm on a temporary break from poker, both online and live. It's a rough time of year to do this, because all the WSOP coverage on the Internet makes me want to play. A lot. <br /><br />But the truth is that I have been treading water for about 6 months. No incredibly bad losing streak, no variance kicking me in the junk I've just been playing mediocre, break-even poker for a long while now. I hate to use the term break-even, because losing players always say they're breaking even, but my online bankroll really has been fluctuating around the same point, plus or minus about $100, for most of this year. If stasis = death in poker, I am not a healthy man.<br /><br />A lot of this is a function of my job. When I started this blog in April 2004, I was a freelance book editor working from home. But then we moved to Minneapolis and I got a "real" job. And as I've said before, this 8-hours-a-day stuff is rough!<br /><br />When I play nowadays I tend to alternate between two approaches to online poker. The first is playing for fun, where I play tournaments (and am actually doing better than I used to at those) or play very loose-aggressive in cash games, and if I drop a buy-in I tell myself it was worth the fun. The second is when I decide to play for a night or two in serious mode, where I grind myself back to even. I rarely chase bonuses anymore. That doesn't really bother me, but the really bad thing is that I haven't challenged myself, I haven't set goals or tried higher limits (I'm still putzing around at $2/$4 online), and I haven't been studying my game. <br /><br />So I tried to tell myself, OK self, you don't have the time to be as devoted to online poker as you once were. But you love the Canterbury. You should concentrate on improving your live game. <br /><br />But then I had several losing sessions at $4/$8. This all culminated 2 weeks ago when, on July 3rd, Mrs. Cheap Thrills and I headed to the Canterbury for a day of races, followed by poker and fireworks. I stepped down to $3/$6 hoping it would boost my confidence. And then I dropped $200. This puts me squarely in the red at the Canterbury. Ugh, ugh, ugh.<br /><br />We couldn't hit a single race all day, which probably put me on minor tilt. And I drank my share of beer, which didn't help. And I played kinda like a maniac. But the thing is, I used to be able to drink beer, play kinda loose, and yet never really worry that $3/$6 was -EV for me. <br /><br />So I've decided that I have lost a certain something, poker-wise. <br /><br />I want to get it back. And the silver lining to all this is that I am confident I will get it back. But right now, and for at least the next 6 weeks or so, there is something that's going to get in the way of poker. That'll be the subject of my next post.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1152578502931750872006-07-10T20:41:00.000-04:002006-07-10T20:41:42.950-04:00Pressure Poker<a href="http://doubleas.blogspot.com/">Doubleas's</a> book,<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419634461/sr=8-1/qid=1151933247/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2679571-2329410?redirect=true&ie=UTF8&affiliateID=A001557"> <i>Pressure Poker</i></a>, arrived today. I probably don't need to tell anyone who reads this here blog that doubleas knows his stuff, but there are a couple other reasons I'm psyched about this book.<br /><br />First, it's been a while since I seriously read a poker strategy book, so this should do me good. Second, I've got a fairly large library of poker books, but I wonder how much of the advice in them (aside from the basics) is still relevant online, post-boom. Just reading the TOC, this book feels "current."<br /><br />Hope to be back with a more detailed review soon.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1151462999216158862006-06-27T22:38:00.000-04:002006-06-28T21:32:45.643-04:00HSP QotWCheap Thrills used to boast a little feature called the <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2005/03/vvpqotw-wpt-grand-prix-de-paris.html">Vince Van Patten Quote of the Week</a>. I no longer have the mental fortitude to carefully dissect two hours of VVP's musings, looking for the tiny gem among all the fool's gold. But I was watching High Stakes Poker tonight and Sammy Farha had one line that was so good I knew I had to blog it. So I present you with the High Stakes Poker Quote of the Week.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">With Jx suited, Sammy threatens to bet blind preflop - but pulls his chips back at the last second. Jennifer Harman jokingly calls him a chicken. Flopping a flush draw, he jokes back, then makes a (5k? 10k?) bet into a $20,000 pot. Then he tops it off with:<blockquote>Don't ever call me chicken. Never ever. You know why? Because I'm drinking.</blockquote>I am going to steal this line next time I am drunk at a home game (if I can remember it). Also, I want to see a heads-up battle between Farha and Scotty Nguyen :-)<br /></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1151213779945376622006-06-25T01:36:00.000-04:002006-06-25T01:36:20.076-04:00High Stakes Poker - Best Ep yetOK, just gotta say that I watched this week's (the 3rd of the second season?) episode of High Stakes Poker, and it was the best ep I've seen so far. (It aired Monday the 19th but I had DVRed it.) Without giving too much away to anyone who hasn't seen it, it had:<br /><br />-Some of the funniest commentary from Gabe Kaplan yet, and he didn't even have Phill Hellmuth to work with. (No offense to Norm Chad, but I wish Gabe was still involved with the World Series. I watched him host a couple of the World Series back when the film quality was awful, and he did a fine job.) <br />-Daniel Negreanu talking like a gansta.<br />-Lots of fun trash talk between Negreanu and Mike Matusow.<br />-Mike Matusow committing a breach of poker etiquette, Antonion Esfandiari calling him on it, and Mike actually apologizing. The pros argue about these things too.<br /><br />This is the best poker show on TV, and this was the coolest ep so far.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1151122600303473312006-06-24T00:16:00.000-04:002006-06-24T00:18:11.373-04:00He Looks into Your Soul!OK, I'm in a $20 + $2 tournament on Full Tilt. This chat occured on the 3rd freaking hand and just cracked me up:<br /><br />Dealer: thedoubleupkid raises to 165<br />Dealer: snbrdsummit folds<br />Dealer: sbpats36 raises to 665<br />Dealer: Lucky37556 folds<br />Dealer: ajc9725 folds<br />Dealer: thedoubleupkid has 15 seconds left to act<br />thedoubleupkid: 10 10 good<br />Dealer: thedoubleupkid folds<br />Dealer: Uncalled bet of 500 returned to sbpats36<br />Dealer: sbpats36 mucks<br />Dealer: sbpats36 wins the pot (405)<br />Dealer: Hand #737906247<br />sbpats36: who had TT?<br />thedoubleupkid: u<br />sbpats36: ok<br />thedoubleupkid: 9's maybe<br /><br />I know, posting ridiculous chat is so 2004. What can I say, I'm old school :-)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1150948457112975152006-06-21T23:54:00.000-04:002006-06-21T23:54:17.643-04:00Fun PlayersI've been playing many more multi-table tournaments lately than I usually do. I'm not doing particularly well in them, but I'm enjoying them much more than I ever have. I was going to devote a post to this phenomenon, and I still might, but I got sidetracked by a funny quote I just read. I've been reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345475496/sr=8-1/qid=1150947899/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2679571-2329410?%5Fencoding=UTF8">Deadman's Poker</a> and<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345475518/sr=8-2/qid=1150947899/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-2679571-2329410?%5Fencoding=UTF8"> Deadman's Bluff</a>, two fictional mystery novels set in the world of high-stakes poker (I became aware of these books via fellow bloggers). <br /><br />Anyway, in the second one, Deadman's Bluff, an Amarillo Slim-like character says (when asked about the chip leader in the "World Poker Showdown"): <blockquote>Being the chip leader doesn't mean much. . . . Neither does playing in a tournament. People who play in tournaments for a living are what gamblers call fun players. When they're not playing, they're singing in the church choir or playing volleyball at the YMCA.</blockquote>This just struck me funny, cause it captures a feeling I've sometimes expressed in this here blog (no offense to anyone who sings in a church choir or plays volleyball regularly). Shit, I'm definitely a "fun player," but something about cash game poker lets me feel like a badass for a while. Tourneys ain't got that. But I've been having fun with them.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1150004417773741142006-06-11T01:40:00.000-04:002006-06-11T06:57:57.436-04:00High Stakes Poker Season 2You know how if you're multitabling, the flop you want on one table always appears on another? Well tonight the flops I wanted were coming up on High Stakes Poker. A bit frustrating but kinda neat. What a good show.<br /><br />My only compaint is that those cameras covered in blankets behind the players look like some kinda bad 60s sci-fi robot monsters.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1149913724147465582006-06-10T00:28:00.000-04:002006-06-10T11:10:01.580-04:00Victorious B IIOkay, so I haven't blogged in forever. I believe there is a club I can join.<br /><br />But this week I have news. I have often referred to B as the tournament guru of the Cheap Thrills household. And yet, the other night when she snagged first place in a $5 Stud-8 tournmanent, she tells me that it is her first multi-table tournament win. The short-hand phrase for what I was thinking is WTF!? B's won a ton more sit-n-gos than I've ever played. She says that yes she has won multi-table sit-n-gos, and free bar tourneys (see the <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2005/08/victorious-b.html">previous Victorious B post</a>), but she has never won an <span style="font-style: italic;">online</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">multi-table</span> tournament. I think she may be splitting hairs but that won't stop me from saying,<br /><br />Congratulations B!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/bwin.jpg" title="" border="0" /><br /><br />Oh, yeah, B plays with my account (Cottonmouth) on Full Tilt. You've been warned.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1147227001094131872006-05-09T22:10:00.000-04:002006-05-10T15:11:21.496-04:00Opening Day at the CanterburySo Mrs. Cheap Thrills was out of town this weekend. Usually when left to my own devices I drink too much beer and/or play too much online poker. This weekend was a little different. <br /><br />My birthday was last week, and I got an iPod. Yes, I am a few years late in realizing that these things are pretty darn cool. However, I found myself spending a lot of time organizing the hell of out of my collection of 5000+ songs, and when the weekend rolled around I was determined to get away from the computer and out of the house. <br /><br />So Saturday I went down to the Canterbury for the opening day of racing season. It was also Kentucky Derby day. I figured the poker room would be packed, but I was wrong. I arrived at 1:30 and there was open seating for $3/$6 and $4/$8. But it was too nice outside, so I went out and watched the races. Placed about $20 in bets that went nowhere: I enjoy the ponies but boy does it feel -EV to bet 'em. Oh well. I had a very nice time just sitting in the sun, listening to music, and sipping a beer. (Miller Lite -- I realize I'm as heavy as I've ever been -- I blame my first Minnesota winter -- so I'm on a diet). Definitely gotta get down to the track a lot this summer. Mrs. Cheap Thrills had taken the camera with her on her trip, or else I would've snapped some photos. <br /><br />By 3:30 the grandstand was in the shade, and it was getting just a bit unpleasantly windy. Plus I thought the poker room might fill up aftere the Kentucky Derby ran at 5pm. So I placed $10 on my Kentucky Derby pick (#17, Lawyer Ron). <br /><br />To my suprise there was still open seating for $4/$8. I sat down and won my first hand with a set of 2s. <br /><br />I kinda wanted to listen to my iPod as I played, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. For one thing I was worried I'd miss some part of the action, but mostly I just felt like it would be rude. Maybe as I get used to wearing the headphones they'll feel less conspicous. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the session did not go all that well, and I lost $140. Not so bad for $4/$8, but certainly not good. I can't even complain about the cards -- I got my share of good hands, but I also misplayed several. Notably I made a couple "good laydowns" that in retrospect I think were mistakes. I think I still have a lot more hesitation in tossing the chips out there at $4/$8 that I do at $3/$6, which annoys me because rationally I'm not that worried about the extra money. But irrationally I guess $4/$8 still bothers the cheapass in me. Gotta work on that. <br /><br />The other factor is that my live game suffers when I haven't played in a while. But Mrs. Cheap Thrills and I are set to head back down in 2 weeks for the first Friday night race session, which I'm sure will be followed by poker. So hopefully I'll get my mojo back soon enough.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1146599820034316692006-05-02T15:50:00.000-04:002006-05-02T23:28:43.723-04:00Low-Limit Badugi in Vegas!I may have to stay at Treasure Island next time I'm in Vegas. <a href="http://www.treasureisland.com/pages/action_poker.asp">Check it out</a>:<blockquote>Take a seat at any of TIs eight live action tables 24 hours a day. While testing your skills on the felt you can enjoy the sports action on the seven widescreen televisions.<br /><br />The poker room has eight (8) Holdem size tables with live games offering:<br />... BADUGI: $3 & $6 Limit (Badugi is a four-card triple-draw low-ball game requiring four different suits and the Ace is the lowest card the best hand is 4, 3, 2, Ace with four different suits)<br /><br />FEATURE GAME:<br />The feature game of the TI Poker Room is the TANGERINE MIXER - $3 & $6 Limit (rotate through the games of Holdem, Omaha High, and Crazy Pineapple)</blockquote>Heck, I am just as excited about the mixed game as I am about the Badugi! Great to see another casino bucking the all-hold'em-all-the-time trend. Now if they'd just throw Stud-8 into that mixed game . . .<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Update</span> (later that evening . . . ): Upon a reread of my own post, I realize that TI's one-line summary of Badugi is pretty funny -- "Oh yeah, I totally understand the game now." ;-)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1143925997726249822006-04-01T16:13:00.000-05:002006-04-01T16:14:59.313-05:00High Stakes Poker on GSNSo way back in <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2004/10/i-want-to-see-ring-games-on-tv.html">October 2004</a> I posted that I wanted to see ring games on TV. Then back in <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2005/10/televised-cash-games-on-game-show.html">October 2005</a> I first heard about "High Stakes Poker" on the Game Show Network, but at the time I hadn't seen it yet. Now that it's on I can finally say -- loving it! <br /><br />When B and I first moved out to Minneapolis in July, we tried life without cable for a couple months. But then football season started and we broke down and not only got cable, but also a DVR. That thing is awesome. I don't watch all that much non-football TV, but just knowing that the few shows I watch -- Lost, Veronica Mars, My Name Is Earl, the WPT -- will be there on DVR whenever I want, and that I don't need to worry about taping them or taping over them, etc., is great. <br /><br />And one of the shows I've been DVRing is High Stakes Poker. My initial impressions were:<br /><br />1) The coolest part about the show is not the commentary from Gabe Kaplan and his co-host, nor even the actual action at the table, but rather the banter between the players. The players all know each other much better than say, the players at the average WPT final table, so there is much more joking around and ribbing one another. Great stuff. <br /><br />2) The best way to watch High Stakes Poker is while you are playing online poker! You don't need to watch so much as listen to the banter. I kinda like to pretend that I'm at the casino and the High Stakes Poker players are at the high stakes table next to mine. Yes, this makes me a big cheesy fanboy :-)<br /><br />But the show has really picked up recently, with the new episodes where Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari have joined the game. Phil Hellmuth has been hilarious. I will refer you to Mean Gene's <a href="http://meangenepoker.blogspot.com/2006/03/comedy-stylings-of-phil-hellmuth.html">post on Phil's antics</a> for details. You can ponder all day whether Phil's behavior is good for bad for poker, or real or faked, but I cannot deny that Phil is just plain fun to watch. Like Mean Gene, I laughed out loud when he "instacalled" Barry Greenstein. Also, Phil has given Gabe Kaplan a great source for material and his one-liners have been much funnier than in previous eps. <br /><br />Then there's Antonio Esfandiari. Evidently he's never played at such high limits before, and after one bad beat he said [paraphrasing] "I can honestly say that's the biggest pot I've ever lost." Awesome stuff. <br /><br />Anyway, great show. B is out of town this weekend for a conference, and I've got a few eps on DVR, so it's gonna be an online poker evening. <br /><br />-------------------------<br /><br />Oh yeah -- it's this blog's birthday! I foolishly made the first post to Cheap Thrills on April 1, 2004.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1142923010854297882006-03-21T01:36:00.000-05:002006-03-21T13:29:46.643-05:00PredatorDang, this past week or so I'm not playing much and I'm not playing well. I'm sure one of these two things will turn around soon and I'll post about the anomaly ;-) <br /><br />Til then, go read some pure gold from Felicia:<br /><br /><a href="http://felicialee.blogspot.com/2006/03/learn-to-think-like-fish.html">Learning to Think Like a Fish</a><br /><br /><a href="http://felicialee.blogspot.com/2006/03/learn-to-act-like-loser.html">Learn to Act Like a Loser</a><br /><br />Some highlights to live by: <p><blockquote>I realize that poker is not chess, it is poker, and that I rarely have even as much as 5% of an advantage over the worst player at the table, because of the luck factor. <br /><br />If you are truly angry and upset, you are the one with the problem, not the fish. . . . Be a man. Just buck up and smile. <br /><br />Why would you want anyone to know you are good? Why would you want your opponents to play better against you?<br /><br />I can tell huge lies at the table, if it means that I keep the fish happy, smiling and throwing their chips around. I never want the game to go silent, or get tight.</blockquote>Love that second line. Felicia is one of the few bloggers I read who unflinchingly discusses the nature of real, cash-game, casino poker. You're not participating in a glamorous contest, you're not competing with fellow gents from the country club to see who's best at the game. Your are not a beautiful poker-playing snowflake :-) No, you are (or at least you should be trying) to sit down with players who are worse than you, preferably much worse, and take their money. <br /><br />Usually when I try to explain this basic truth, folks think I'm kidding or just talking tough. Maybe I not as articulate as I want to be? I guess the next time someone tells me they don't like playing against fish, I will just have to send them the above links.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1142234053897773632006-03-13T02:14:00.000-05:002006-03-13T10:20:29.173-05:00Loving Full Tilt, Hating March, and Drinking Too MuchBit of a rambling post today, please bear with me. There is Actual Poker Content toward the end.<br /><br />Without getting off on too much of a tangent or sounding too much like Tom Cruise, I will say that I am ambivalent about psychoanalysis. One the one hand, I think a lot of it is BS, on the other hand, it seems to help some people. I mention this because I think I have a mild form of season affective disorder, but I really hate that term. First, I don't like giving a clinical name to the basic human frailty of being bummed out by lack of sunlight. Second, I think it is more a personality trait than a disorder. Finally, I hate the damn cutesy acronym. But everyone knows what I mean by "seasonal affective disorder," so there it is.<br /><br />Anyhooo, every winter I go through a few bouts of depression. They usually happen in January or February, and I thought I'd escaped relatively unscathed this year. But looking at <a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2006/03/killer-instinct.html">my post from last week</a> I can see that it was starting. I'd been getting pretty down about some aspects of my job the week before that. Then this week I just felt totally drained, and it's been overcast and muddy lately. My bad mood culminated this Saturday morning with a fight with Mrs. Cheap Thrills that was all my fault. The fight made me more depressed, then I added alcohol to the equation, and my Sunday has been exactly like the one Johnny Cash sings about in "Sunday Morning Coming Down."<br /><br />I mention all this not because I want to bare my soul -- on the contrary, I am embarassed about the whole thing, and in general I have always intended this to be a poker blog and not a diary. I mention it because in my Saturday night stupor I played some interesting poker. <br /><br />I think I posted once, way back in late 2004, that for a while I had a big sticky note at the top of my monitor that said "No Drinking + Poker," by which I meant no playing online poker while drunk. At the home games and the casino I have no problem playing reasonably well while under the influence, but in front of the computer my attention just wanders. I started playing online in April 2003, and for the whole first year or so I had a cycle where I'd grind out a few hundred playing at .50/$1, playing for an hour or so every night, then once every month or so I would come home from an evening of drinking and being merry, and foolishly decide to play some poker. Often I'd step it up in limits, and usually I would lose a good portion of the bankroll I'd built up. So after a while I developed the "No Drinking + Online Poker" rule.<br /><br />But the rule always struck me as overly strict. After all, poker and booze go so well together! ;-) There must be some way to enjoy a bit of online poker after an evening at the bars or wherever, without being a total idiot about it. So I started allowing myself to play microlimits -- but it was too hard to resist the urge to step it up and play for "real" money. And then it hit me: tournaments. They have a built-in loss limit.<br /><br />I've blogged before that I don't generally care for tournament poker. Mainly, tournament chips just don't seem like real money to me, so tournament poker doesn't feel like real poker. I just don't get the same feeling of excitement about each hand. Also, I don't generally like the idea of playing for a long time just to get to a final table with other better-than-average players, when I can sit down at countless cash games where I know I have an edge. And I hate busting out!<br /><br />But I like to take my shots now and then. And since I don't let myself play online cash games when I've been drinking, I often play tournaments a bit tipsy. Last night I was downright sloshed. <br /><br />All my money these days is at Paradise and Full Tilt. I love that Full Tilt has Razz, and I love that they have H.O.R.S.E. tourneys. So I played in a 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo sit-n-go at Paradise, and took third. Then I played in a NL Hold'em tournament at Paradise and went out on my first hand. I have AKs and make a 4x big bet raise, a guy shoves all-in at me, I call, he has KK, I feel like an idiot but I think I'd do it again. Perhaps I have taken <a href="http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=15093&m_id=65576">this article</a> too much to heart. <br /><br />Then I popped over to Full Tilt for the "main event" of my all-nighter: a $10 H.O.R.S.E. tourney. I really love Stud and Razz, so I feel like I have more of an edge in these things than I do in hold'em events. However, I am an omatard. Omaha was a regular staple at my home game in Providence, and I was a consistent loser at it. So in the H.O.R.S.E. tourneys I just play super-tight in the Omaha rounds. B insists that I need to work on this. <br /><br />I ended up finishing 10th out of 111, for a whopping $12 profit. But the fun part was that Layne Flack was at my table for much of the tourney. Andy Bloch was also in the tournament, and while I was never at his table, I finished ahead of him :-)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/finished%2010th%20small.jpg" title="" border="0"><br /><br />I got out to an early lead and was the chip leader at one point. I have a screen shot of that but I'll spare you. I will, however, share a screen shot of virtual Layne Flack on my virtual left:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/layne%20and%20cottonmouth.jpg" title="" border="0"><br /><br />In the hand pictured, Layne hit a set of 4s on the turn. Doh!<br /><br />Drunk as I was, I found it incredibly amusing that I was seated next to Layne Flack who, before he got on the wagon, was known for playing even better drunk than he did sober. In the tourney he was very loose and aggressive and it worked well for him. I think I actually learned a bit. <br /><br />The painful thing was this tourney started at 3am, and I didn't get to bed until after 6. I can't be doing stuff like that to myself! Damn winter. <br /><br />OK, hope I didn't come off in this post as too much of a depressed drunken fish. I was that for much of this weekend, but usually I am not, I swear!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1141495477061485172006-03-04T13:04:00.000-05:002006-03-04T13:04:37.103-05:00The Killer InstinctSo I haven't played any poker for a week or so. Last weekend my family flew into town for a weekend visit, and B and I showed them around the currently frozen, but still fun, city of Minnefabulous. (It was their first time out here.) Then I had an extraordinarily busy week at work, which has left me a little drained and tired of looking at computer screens, so no online poker. <br /><br />I had planned to get down to the Canterbury today, but I'm just not feeling it. I know my poker-playing self well enough by now to know that I have to be completely in the right frame of mind in to play well. The way I recognize this frame of mind is that when I contemplate playing (either sitting down to play at the computer or heading down to the Canterbury), I am filled with anticipation, touched with a little bit of testosterone and/or adrenalin. Basically, I feel like I am ready to kick some ass. I'm psyched to play. Not screaming and bashing-my-locker-in psyched, but filled with confidence and contained energy. I have the killer instinct.<br /><br />I imagine that many good poker players have the killer instinct all or most of the time. I do not. I want to kick ass at poker a good portion of the time, but there are also plenty of days where I want to get out of competitive mode and do "normal" stuff like shooting the breeze with friends or family, staying home and veg-ing on the couch, getting out and enjoying nature, etc. Today is pretty much one of those days, even though part of me wants to head down to Canterbury tonight. <br /><br />I also imagine that many good poker players don't need to get as psyched up as I do just to take a few pots off of bad players. That is, maybe they don't really have the killer instinct all the time, but they're able to grind it out well enough that bringing their B or C game against certain types of players is pretty much always +EV. I think this is how many players approach the online game a lot of the time. But if I am not truly psyched to play, I will not focus well. I'll get impatient and I'll play crap hands. I'll get distracted by TV or (when playing online) the Internet. Or if I'm feeling lethargic, I'll play too tight and ABC-ish, hoping to just get good cards and not paying attention to my opponents. (I've made money playing just the cards, but it's not very much fun and it isn't improving my game.) Finally, without the killer instinct, it's harder for to stay off tilt. When I'm in the right frame of mind, losing a big pot just makes me more focused. But when I don't have the killer instinct, I become tempted to engage in self-pity (whining about luck) or slip into turtling or maniacal modes of play. <br /><br />So I don't want to sit in front of the computer today, and I'm not really in the right frame of mind to tackle the Canterbury. And yet I kinda want to play some poker. But what kind of poker should one play when lacking the killer instinct? Then it hit me: I miss my home game in New England. Playing with friends and having a blast whether you win or lose. Being competitive but also enjoying real comraderie. My buddy K and I had a bit of that when we'd player together at the Canterbury or in a free bar tourney, but (I don't think I've mentioned this) K moved back to his home town of Detroit a couple months ago :-( <br /><br />Well, I'm sure I'll get the killer instinct back soon enough. And if any of the UG or Providence home game crowd is reading this, play a few hands of Badugi for me!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1139778473195557012006-02-12T16:07:00.000-05:002006-02-12T16:07:53.250-05:00The Road to RecoveryI've seen those "them's quads, beetches!" posts, but I never thought it would happen to me. . . . <br /><br />Got this hand less than an hour after posting about my Canterbury loss. Thank you, poker gods. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/quadcropj.JPG" title="" border="0">Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1139772179181731062006-02-12T14:22:00.000-05:002006-02-12T14:33:15.350-05:00"Football Season's Over, Let Poker Season Begin" Post Marred by Painful LossI was all set to write up a big post that's been percolating in the backof mind for the past few weeks. See, I took the whole month of January off from poker, and the weekend after the Super Bowl was gonna be my triumphant return to the tables. I have this pet theory that lots of casual poker players will fill their weekends with poker now that football season's over, and that the weekend after the Super Bowl should be very +EV. (This theory is predicated on the shaky assumption that lots of people are like me.) Unfortunately, losing money at the tables tends to sap my will to blog. <br /><br />The weekend started off well: Friday night I won $160 playing $1/$2 Hold'em and 7-Stud at Paradise, plus another $40 from a $2 multi-table tournament (I was up til 6am . . . totally screwed up my circadian rythms). Unfortunately, my return to the Canterbury Saturday night did not go as well: Dropped $350 in my first go at $4/$8, so I am now in the red at the Canterbury for the first time since moving out here. Doh! The tough thing is that I don't think I went on tilt or strayed from my usual game. I thought my table was quite beatable, which is why I rebought halfway through the evening. So was the loss due to variance or does my usual game need serious work? Some of both, for sure, and the lack of sleep couldn't have helped, but my cards were pretty rough. Two pair losing to a set was the big theme for the night. Sigh.<br /><br />Oh well. I don't like to whine, but right now I am tired of tying to decide whether I am total fish or the poker gods just decided to kick me around for an evening. Gonna have to get myself centered before I take another shot.<br /><br />On the bright side, the tables I played at were perfectly pleasant, with none of the obnoxious behavior that was really starting to make the Canterbury less enjoyable for me back in December. B also had a small win at $3/$6, although she did run into one asshole. Some 20-year-old puke got upset when his AQ lost, and accused B of trying to see his hole cards. He actually said the words "you cheated," so she pretty much tore the guy a new one, telling him to protect his hand and watch what he accuses people of, and he ended up apologizing. (She's a lot more confrontational than I am.) On the way home she was still fuming, to the effect of "I kinda wish it was the old west and you could shoot a guy for saying something like that." But we both agreed that the worst behavior at the Canterbury is still nothing compared to Foxwoods.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1139367567823131822006-02-07T21:59:00.000-05:002006-02-07T21:59:27.853-05:00Go Read Tommy AngeloI've mentioned <a href="http://www.tommyangelo.com/">Tommy Angelo</a> a couple times before in this blog but I've never devoted a full-blown, "you must go and read this guy" post to him. Well, here it is. I read a lot of poker blogs and I hardly ever see this poker pro mentioned, yet on his website Tommy Angelo's got some of the funniest, most insightful poker writing I've read. He doesn't actually blog, nor, unfortunately, does he have an RSS feed, so I actually have to (gasp) remember to go and visit his site every month or so. Here's an excerpt from his <a href="http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles/folding.htm">latest article</a>, which is one of his best yet:<blockquote>By 1990 I was folding enough to support my food and rent habit. This freed up lots of time for lots more folding. Before long I got so good at folding that I could afford to get stupid at first one flavor of gambling then another and another. My tether line to solvency was always the folding. Anytime I was low on money, all I had to do was stop betting and stop eating and get back to the folding.</blockquote>If he's new to you, you can have the fun of reading through all his <a href="http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles.html">archived poker articles</a> and <a href="http://www.tommyangelo.com/tommyisms.html">Tommyisms</a>.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1138848526982628622006-02-01T21:48:00.000-05:002006-02-01T21:49:33.270-05:00Paradise Chips Arrived<a href="http://cheapthrillsjd.blogspot.com/2005/09/paradisesportsbook-chip-set-offer.html">Back in September</a> I posted about Paradise Poker/Sportsbook.com's bonus offer: Make a $10 bet every week of the regular NFL season, win a chipset. Mrs. Cheap Thrills and I both worked this offer (thank you honey for being such a degenerate football bettor), and last week our two 300-chip sets arrived. I don't think they're quite as nice as the Paradise chips I tried so many times to win via their Big Buck tourneys back in 04, but they're nicer than the standard metal-insert, plain-color, suits-on-the-edge chips they'll be replacing. <br /><br /><div align="center"><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/paradise%20chips2.jpg" title="" border="0"></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6712129.post-1138468724095701832006-01-28T12:18:00.000-05:002006-01-28T12:23:44.473-05:00Poker's Most WantedMrs. Cheap Thrills saw these mentioned on <a href="http://www.cardsquad.com/2006/01/19/chip-and-karina-jett-launch-pokers-most-wanted-cards/">Card Squad</a> a couple weeks ago and ordered me a deck. This is one of the nicer artifacts of the poker boom, and the decks' not-super-high production value only adds to their charm. <a href="http://www.pokersmostwanted.com/home.htm">http://www.pokersmostwanted.com/home.htm</a><br /><br /><div align="center"><img src="http://www.delatorr.net/images/pokersmostwantedsmall.jpg" title="" border="0"></div>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11934483700595657776noreply@blogger.com0