Life Tilt Revisited
Thursday, March 29, 2007
***Warning: Rant with abusive language ahead! You've been warned.***
I awoke this morning after a peaceful slumber, got dressed and headed out to the truck to drive to work. While retrieving my morning paper, I noticed a crunchy sound under my feet. Hmm, wonder what that is? When I got back to my truck, I noticed there was alot of black, crunchy stuff under my feet and it finally dawned on me:
Some low-life, bottom-feeding, mother-fucking cock-sucker broke out the window of my truck and stole everything inside during the night while I was asleep.
It took a few minutes to sink in and I walked around my wife's Tahoe, sitting beside mine in the drive way and sure enough, they broke out a window in her truck as well and stole everything inside it also. I simply cannot fathom what is going through these fuckers' minds when they do something like this. I am so mad right now, I feel like Mike Tyson would be in trouble if he got in my way.
We have been broken into before (cars once and house a couple of times) and the feeling that comes over you is almost unexplainable. It feels like such a violation of everything that is mine and it completely turns my stomach. Of course, we call the local chapter of the Keystone Kops here in OKC and they say that with the rain moving in, they probably wouldn't be able to get any finger prints off the vehicles anyway. Tape a trashbag over the window and go on to work. Thanks guys, I appreciate all the support.
I have often wondered what would happen if I were to hear this going on and wake up during the night. Would I sneak up on them and beat the shit out of them? Probably. Would I call the cops? Nah, I would let the wife do that while I was sneaking out the back door of the house. Would I shoot them? Definitely a possibility, especially if they were armed. I honestly think I would chase them down and beat the ever-loving shit out of them before I ever called the police.
It really isn't the amount of stuff or the value of the stuff that was taken, it's the god damn principle. That, and now I'm running low on cigarettes this morning because of these fuckers. They stole my bowling bag out of the truck. Three bowling balls at around $200 each. Two pairs of shoes at around $150 each. The bag itself is about $150. And, finally, nearly all of my patches from over the years were in the bag. Again, it's not the money, I will get my equipment replaced, what I want to know is this:
What the fuck is some ass-hat going to do with my bowling bag, full of shit that fits me and me alone?
He's going to hock it at some god damn pawn shop for his next bag of blow or whatever the fuck he needs the money so bad for, that would cause him to stoop to the lowest form of human existence. A fucking thief! If you are reading this and you are a thief, I have a little bit of inspiration for you:
Get a fucking job like the rest of us, you fucking low-life cock-sucker!
They also stole my CD cases that were in the truck. The cases were full of, how shall I say, a nice, eclectic mix of music that me and ONLY me would appreciate. I can assure you that after listening to the first one or two CD's, these fuckers tossed both of those out in a trash can. Thanks again fellahs, you don't know how much I fucking appreciate it. It's only taken me 15 years or so to collect all 500 of those CD's.
So, now the game starts with the fucking insurance company. They will want reciepts or exact titles of CD's or pictures of the bowling balls. I'm seriously considering just blowing that completely off and getting my window fixed by myself. I can assure you that if I talk to them today, we will NOT be getting a favorable response from them either.
I stopped on the way home yesterday and bought a fresh carton of cigarettes too. Of course, it hadn't even been opened and of course, these cock-suckers took that also. $35 is nothing, I will replace them tonight on my way home, but again, the thought of somebody in MY truck, picking through MY shit, just fucking infuriates me.
Sorry for the rant, but I am as pissed off today as I have been in a long fucking time. I hope everybody else has a decent week.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:30 PM,
,
Sorry GC
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
I got this twice last night and you know the outcome of the hands was NOT in my favor.
I was playing .25/.50 NL CAP on Full Tilt and hadn't been at the table two orbits when I looked down to see K-K in the small blind. Hmmmm, me likey. EP raises it to 1.00 and the button re-raises to 2.25. I limped along, hoping the EP player would, as well, and he obliged. The CAP was 15.00 and I was really wanting to get it capped three ways.
The flop came out K-9-2 rainbow and show tunes immediately start going off in my head. I checked and the EP player leads out a weakish $2 bet. LP uses up alot of his time and flat calls. Rather than slow-play it like a better cash game player probably would have done, I shoved it all-in, hoping to appear desperate. The EP player insta-calls and the LP finally lays his hand down after thinking about it for quite a while. Set over set and my Kings hold up and I'm off to a nice start.
---Cue first Sorry GC---
On the button with A-A and I raise the limpers to 1.25. The big blind calls and one of the early position limpers calls as well and the flop is J-8-3 rainbow. The big blind checks and EP insta-shoves, which makes me dread the set, but I quickly rule that out as I think he would have raised before me with any pair. I call, the big blind folds and EP flips up A-J s00ted in hearts. Runner heart, runner heart and I lose half a buy-in. Sorry GC was his comment in the chat box. I offer no sort of reply other than the stream of expletives flying out the side of my mouth and swirling around in my head. I immediately crack open another beer.
I hang around, win a few small pots, lose a few small pots and finally stack another player when Presto turns into a set in an un-raised pot. I'm feeling a bit better now and the ass-hat that got stacked has rebought, so I am paying even more attention than normal. I might mention that my Rangers were on TV here last night for the first time all year and I was a bit distracted. It was a spring training game, so I wasn't nearly as distracted as I will be once the season starts.
---Cue second Sorry GC---
I pick up K-K one off the button and re-raise an EP raiser who insta-pushes when it folds back around to him. If he has Aces here, I lose half a buy-in, no two ways around it. I call and he flips up 8-8. Now, I immediately have a sickening feeling flood over me as I can almost see the 8 hitting the board, but Full Tilt is kind enough to spare me........until the fawking river, which is one of his two outs. Sorry GC.
I again held my composure pretty well, other than the verbal assault I was giving him there in the bedroom. I folded a few more hands and finally logged off, calling it a tough night and chalking it up to good old variance. I finished the night up by a few dollars, but it could have been so much better. I continue to battle with the tilt-demons on a regular basis, but I do think I am improving in that area. I haven't broken a mouse in months and although my language monitor would declare that I am losing my mind, my play has stayed solid and focused and that is where the improvement lies. I have also gotten completely over abusing people in the chat box, so, I got that going for me, as well.
That will have to do for today, I'm off to the bowling alley after another 700 series. If you missed it, I am now three for my last four rolling a 700. You can see last week's scores HERE. Have a good week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:29 PM,
,
High?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
The following is a PAID review of HighOnPoker.
HighOnPoker, huh? Well, I, for one, would have to agree that this author certainly seems high most of the time. All it takes is one short trip through his infamous "You Decide" posts to determine that, at least for this author. It's almost comical, in that every single time he puts out one of these posts, and that is quite often, by the way, he receives a substantial amount of feedback. Some proclaim him to be a mad genius and some, like me, just proclaim him to be....yup, you guessed it.....high! In nearly every single post, I, myself, would haved "decided" to fold the trash hand pre-flop and in nearly every single case, he has "decided" to go to war with j-4 s00ted. Good stuff, here, I tell you.
Jordan, the author of HighOnPoker, and the self-proclaimed Devil's Advocate of Poker Bloggers, would have a hard time convincing any legitimate poker player that he could raise or fold his way out of a paper bag. Having witnessed some of his donkery first hand while playing on-line, it's no wonder to this author that he has played his way through the funds that he had stashed at the on-line poker sites. With the increasing difficulties of moving money around from site to site on-line, it is no wonder he has proclaimed himself to be a "Live" player now. The reason, you ask? Because he busted out on-line and has no way to re-fund his accounts. That would be my guess.
The site itself seems to have taken on a strong sense of Satanic symbolism, as well. I mean, what's with all the fire and brimstone red everywhere? The DEVIL'S Advocate of Poker Players? And finally, the clear reference to Satan with the picture of the 6-6-6 on his header. I am no goody two shoes myself, but good lord man, are you trying to bring the wrath of God down on yourself?
Overall, I don't think it is a complete waste of time to stop by and visit HighOnPoker, quite the opposite actually. If you want to get some very clear insight into the minds of the low-limit donkeys that you face on a nightly basis, while playing on-line poker, stop by there and read his "You Decide" posts. You will soon realize that the ass-hat sitting across from you at a $10 SNG is playing just like the Devil's Advocate of Poker Bloggers describes in nearly every one of his posts.
HighOnPoker? Mih, not so much.
Just plain high? Most definitely.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 5:49 PM,
,
Poker Source Online
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
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--
Check out My Other Blog for last night's scores and feel free to join me at the Mookie tonight on Full Tilt.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 2:54 PM,
,
Struggling
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
With an increased work load recently, along with an abundance of personal activities both work and pleasure-related, I have had very little time for poker. Very little time for poker not only makes me a cranky SOB, it also leads to very little in the way of postings on this here blog. I think I have been doing good lately to get maybe three posts up a week and to be honest with you, those are mostly tripe.
Blogging is indeed hard work, as evidenced by the sudden void of afternoon reading material available to me via Google reader. I don't know if it is the simple fact that as spring time draws nearer, we all get a little busier or if the recent struggles with our Nazi leadership have really had that much of an effect on our wonderful little hobby. I, for one, simply do not have the time that I once had to play on a regular basis. I'm still playing, but with a relaxed schedule for sure, compared to just six months ago.
I've been sneaking along in some low limit cash games and throwing in the occasional SNG when I have the time, but overall, I would say that my playing time has decreased somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% at least. When I don't play, I don't have much to write about here, that's for sure. I have never had an overabundance of amusing stories and my writing ability mimics that of a 3rd grade english student, but damnit, I still want to write.
I've sat down at the computer four or five times in the last two weeks, intent on pounding out something interesting, entertaining or at least readable and each time, have failed miserably. I get a few paragraphs into a post and stop to re-read what I have written and all of the sudden, I decide that it is garbage and it is gone. I simply cannot seem to come up with anything semi-intelligent to talk about and rather than waste space and bore both of my readers to death, I have simply skipped a few days in each of the last few weeks.
I just checked the old Google Reader again:
Your reading list has no unread items.
Damnit, it seems to have hit everybody at precisely the same time. Suffice it to say, I know exactly what that worthless feeling is and I don't have a clue what to do about it.
I guess I will just go to the bowling alley tonight and take it out on the pins.
Until next time, I'll go bowling.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:13 PM,
,
Very LITTLE Poker Content
Friday, March 16, 2007
After reading Pauly's post on Wednesday about balance, I realized that I have been pondering this post for a while. I've been thinking about writing about my personal struggles with balance again and his post has inspired this post, so here goes nothing.
As Pauly said, finding the right balance between the things that are important to you as a person is one of the most, if not THE most important, things a person can do. Reaching a place in your life where you are comfortable in your own skin, with all your surroundings and with every single person in your life is alot easier to say than it is to do. With that in mind, I want to discuss where I am right now in my life with everything, starting with order of importance.
Family - I love my family very much. There is not a better wife on the planet, in my humble opinion, and, as I've said here many, many times, she allows me to be me at all times and that is truly a blessing. My daughters are both a handful at times, but I wouldn't trade either one of them for anything in the world. My oldest daughter will be turning 18 at the end of this year and to see the amount of growth she has gone through in the past two years or so is enough to make an old man proud. She hasn't always had the best of times since my divorce from her mother and I am extremely proud to see how she has handled it and that she has turned out as strong and independent as she has become. The divorce was hard on all three of us, for sure, but moreso on her than either my ex-wife or me. My youngest daughter, aside from the occasional attitude of a pre-teen is a great kid. She is artistic, bright and attractive, of which, I only take partial credit for some of the brightness. The artistic and attractive genes were definitely from my wife's side of the family. She is growing up fast in a world that forces kids to grow up much faster than when I was a kid and, so far at least, she is handling it about as well as could be expected. I also have my Mom, my Mother-In-Law and my Grandmother around and they are all very supportive of anything I decide to do. My Mother-In-Law has become perhaps my second best friend in the world, right behind my wife, because of the amount of time the three of us have spent together. It is truly a grand thing to be such good friends with your wife's Mom and I highly recommend it, if possible, to every married man out there.
My Mom and I have grown much closer since my Father passed away, a little over four years ago now. We always had a close relationship, but being and only child and having to step up and deal with issues that I never dreamed of dealing with, in order to help my Mom out, drew us even closer. We don't get to spend near enough time together since she lives almost two hours away, but the time that we do share together is much more important and much more special now than it ever was in the past.
So, where I am at with my family is indeed a very good spot. I try my best to handle my responsibilities and my girls try their best to let me do just that. There is no pressure from them and like I said, they accept me for who I am and don't expect me to miraculously change into something or someone that I am not or cannot be. GCox25 is not always the easiest person in the world to live with, but he is faithful, loyal, honest and hardworking and if you can overlook the faults, I am really not a bad guy.
Work - I have also chronicled my work life here a few times, but will do it once more today. While I do not always feel appreciated for the work that I do, I still like my job very much. I am basically sitting alone now, albeit in a makeshift office outside on the patio, but I am allowed to do my job without the thumb of a supervisor pressing down over me at all times. I got a new boss at work almost a year ago and things have become much more bearable for me since that change. He seems to value my work and allows me to handle my business without micro-managing everything I do on a daily basis. I still think that I could be paid more for the work that I do, but that is another rant for another day. The fact that I live in Oklahoma, where the cost of living is as low as it is, allows me not to focus so much on my pay, compared to other parts of the country, because I am sure that people in California or New York make 6 figures doing the job that I do. Thankfully, I don't have to make 6 figures to live a nice, comfortable life here in my home state.
Life - I have alot of hobbies that I enjoy very much and am allowed to pursue, by my family, to just about any extent I care to. Back when my wife and I were struggling a bit financially, she still always came up with the money every week for me to go to the bowling alley for league. It was more of a frivolous expense, but she knew how much I enjoyed it and sent me packing off every Tuesday night, with check in hand and money in pocket, to enjoy a night out with the guys.
Karaoke started out as a hobby, as well, albeit a hobby that we all enjoyed greatly. We started off slowly, adding a disc here and a disc there and now, 12 years later, we have as nice a system as there is in the state, complete with over 21,000 songs. We still love to sing as much today as we ever did and although we don't do as many shows as in the past, we still get just as big a kick out of singing that last song of the night now as we ever did.
When my wife and I first went down to our little lake for a visit, I don't think either of us ever dreamed that we would actually buy a place down there. We instantly fell in love with the whole area and met a ton of very good friends almost immediately, but at the time, we didn't have the money or the time for a lake place. Now, almost 10 years later, I couldn't imagine us NOT having the lake place. It definitely made things tight for a while, monetarily, but every single time I get down there on a Friday evening after work and I sit down on that patio with cold beer in hand and listen to nature, I am reminded just how much that place is worth to me. TripJax and SteelerJosh got a feel for that last summer while we were sitting in the front yard. I mentioned that THIS is what I love about being down here and they both looked at me with a quizzical expression. No noise, no urban pollution, no sirens whaling in the background, just nature and the occasional boat going across the lake. That peace cannot be found in the city and I would not trade it for all the money in the world. Every single time I am down there, it makes me appreciate it even more.
Combine that peace with the amount of fun we have on the water and it makes for a fun-filled weekend. We bought a set of jet-ski's three years ago and it was BY FAR the best purchase we have made, since buying the trailer at the lake. I was not much of a boat person and we did have a boat for a while, but, since we got the jet-ski's I am a full-fledged lake person and we take every opportunity, when the weather and time permits, to take the ski's out and play on the water. I have made alot more good friends because of this and it is just another in the long list of expensive hobbies that I now have.
Poker - You will notice that poker is pertty far down this list and there are a multitude of reasons for that. First off, I have never had the bankroll to play at the higher limits or to really supplement my income. I've made some nice scores and withdrawn enough money from time to time to pay for vacations and other things around the house, but I have never withdrawn any money just to pay bills or to make a payment. I've never made enough money at this game, on-line, to do that and I don't foresee that in the future either.
I still love the game just as much as I ever did, but things have changed significantly for me in the past year. With the passage of the UEIGA and the shutdown of Neteller, I have been extremely protective of my little bankroll. I am not a huge risk-taker to begin with, but now, even moreso, I am staying strictly within my bankroll when I play and not taking the risks that I would have taken with my money just 6 short months ago.
The problems we all have now with the laws that have been passed, combined with my inability to post or comment on blogs from work, have led to a problem blogging, as well. I still want to blog every single day and I want to read and comment on blogs every single day too, but having to post in email format and copy/paste when I get home has bogged things down significantly for me. It is a chore and not one that I am going to haul off and quit any time soon, but nonetheless, a chore to post every day and to come up with something interesting or entertaining that somebody else will enjoy reading. The anti-gambling laws have had a part in this bogged down feeling as well, as my ability to play poker and post to this blog kind of go hand in hand. The less I play, the less I have to write about, so, there you go. Like I said, I do not plan on quitting any time soon, I enjoy the friendships I have made because of this blog a great deal. In fact, I value those friendships, nearly as much as my real-world friends. Many of them cannot understand the invisibile internet friend thing, but my wife can see it in my eyes, every time on instant messaging or whenever I read a comment on this blog. She also saw it in person last year in Okie-Vegas and she fully understands that it is important to me.
--
Now, the question becomes, how do we find the balance, if it is missing, and make our lives more enjoyable?
First, read the quote that I highlighted in my last post from Pauly. Don't say I coulda, I woulda, I shoulda.....get off your ass and do it.
Life is short, folks and to live in misery and not do the things you really want to do is silly. Stop, smell the roses, join the World Poker Tour, buy a place at the lake to get away from it all. Like the NIKE ad says, Just do it!
I think the trap that most of us fall into, myself included, is to wallow in self-pity when things go wrong. AND, they always go wrong. They will continue to go wrong, until we die. Get used to it, deal with it and turn the other cheek. Instead of moping around bitching about the cost of gas or the last bad beat you took on the river (AGAIN, myself included) get out there and live life. The thing that we all need to do is take notice and realize that most of us have it pretty damn good, I know I do and to take that for granted is stupid, IMO. Enjoy the things in your life that are good, focus on the positives and get over the things that don't go your way. Life is too short to mope around and be unhappy all the time.
--
This was not a PAID advertisement and the views expressed by this author may or may not be directly related to the amount of alcohol still in his system from the previous night's endeavors. Take it for what it is worth.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:55 PM,
,
What The Near Future Holds
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tonight is the Mookie tourney on Full Tilt. Be there or be square.
--
"Instead of saying, "I wish I had more time to do......" Stop what you are doing and do it." - Dr. Pauly - Tao Of Poker
The above quote came from Dr. Pauly in his post this morning on Balance. I have posted here many times about my battle with finding a balance between family and poker, but Pauly's post this morning took things to a new level.
Balance, not just in your poker life, but overall in your entire life. Professional, family and poker are just the tip of the iceberg. Obviously, finding that balance is a very personal thing for most of us, as we are all very different individuals, but I implore you to go give his post a read today, you will not come away from it without learning something about yourself, I promise. Nice hand, Pauly, well played.
--
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:42:37 PM): dude...this is tarded...208 entrants...
--
"Instead of saying, "I wish I had more time to do......" Stop what you are doing and do it." - Dr. Pauly - Tao Of Poker
The above quote came from Dr. Pauly in his post this morning on Balance. I have posted here many times about my battle with finding a balance between family and poker, but Pauly's post this morning took things to a new level.
Balance, not just in your poker life, but overall in your entire life. Professional, family and poker are just the tip of the iceberg. Obviously, finding that balance is a very personal thing for most of us, as we are all very different individuals, but I implore you to go give his post a read today, you will not come away from it without learning something about yourself, I promise. Nice hand, Pauly, well played.
--
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:42:37 PM): dude...this is tarded...208 entrants...
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:43:18 PM): all-in 1st hand for me...
Gary Cox (3/13/2007 8:43:32 PM): it's limit HORSE
TripJax (3/13/2007 8:43:46 PM): FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK
I know Tripjax posted this in his blog this morning and most of you have already seen it, but I had to copy and paste it here because it is so damn funny. As we awaited the start of the Al's freeroll on Full Tilt last night, the above was the IM chat just before it got under way.
I lasted a good while, 49th out of a grand total of 224, I think, so I managed to make some more points and maybe hang on to my lead for the time being. 7 events and I have made it into the points every single time, not that that is any great feat, mind you. Especially last night, good gawd was there some donktastic play. I had the antes folded around to me four different times in Razz and two of those times, I had a Queen up. Some of the play was just plain unimaginable. Still, a damn good time and always good to donk it up with fellow bloggers, even if half the field was retarded, er, unfamiliar with what game we were actually playing.
--
I am heading into the busiest time of the year for me and my family, by far. The impending spring and summer seasons are just around the corner and I am very much looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to get out of the city as often as possible. Of course, with the warmer weather comes a lot of work for me, as well. My job continues to become more and more time-consuming and busy by the day and it is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. My spring cleaning and maintenance work at the lake trailer is just around the corner as well. I will have to be tuning up mowers, golf carts and jet ski's in the very near future, getting everything ready for the summer months.
We pretty much let the place go all winter, as most times we are down there are for simply an overnight stay following a karaoke show at the bar. I don't do any work outside down there during the winter months, so spring time leaves me with a season's worth of leaves in the yard and mowing and weed-eating, as well. The jet-ski's will have to be towed to the city for a professional tune-up because, while I can change oil and charge batteries on mowers and golf carts, I have absolutely no idea how to tune up an engine. I can hardly wait for that bill from the House of Kawasaki.
I also have quite a bit of outside work to be done at our house in the city. The usual scalping of the yard will also be accompanied by reseeding several dead spots and a fun-filled weekend cleaning out my gutters. We had a new roof put on last year and the fawking installers took off my screens over my gutters and did not feel the need to replace them. I just noticed that about a week ago when I saw what appeared to be a 747 take off from one of the corner nests in my gutters.
I have a week and a half of vacation scheduled in May for my annual softball pilgrimage to Kansas. I am looking forward to this, like I do every year, as it is a great time with friends, family and AWAY from work. The softball isnt nearly as important as it once was to us, but we still like to get out there and swing the bats. Last year's win was certainly a bonus, as our average age has crept up to 41 now and most of the teams in the tournament are much younger than us.
I plan on four day weekends around all of the holidays this summer, in order to spend even more time at the lake and out on the water. July 4 poses a problem this year, since it is on a Wednesday, but I still might take that Thursday and Friday off, as well, and just hang out down there through the weekend.
The weekend of July 20th is Okie-Vegas and I am again looking forward to this very much. I have received inquiries from a number of different people and if you forced me to guess, I would say attendance would probably be triple what it was last year. Of course, last year it was only 6 bloggers, so 18 is not a huge stretch. Will Rogers World Airport is the destination in Oklahoma City and if you are interested or have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment here or shoot me an email. I have big plans in the works, but I have to know who is going to show up in order to make them all happen.
Between all of that, real life work and karaoke shows on nearly every other weekend, GCox-ville will be hopping all summer long. I am excited about the warmer weather that is just around the corner and I am looking forward to spending alot of time with my family during the coming months as well.
I hope everybody has a great hump day and an even better rest of the week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
I lasted a good while, 49th out of a grand total of 224, I think, so I managed to make some more points and maybe hang on to my lead for the time being. 7 events and I have made it into the points every single time, not that that is any great feat, mind you. Especially last night, good gawd was there some donktastic play. I had the antes folded around to me four different times in Razz and two of those times, I had a Queen up. Some of the play was just plain unimaginable. Still, a damn good time and always good to donk it up with fellow bloggers, even if half the field was retarded, er, unfamiliar with what game we were actually playing.
--
I am heading into the busiest time of the year for me and my family, by far. The impending spring and summer seasons are just around the corner and I am very much looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to get out of the city as often as possible. Of course, with the warmer weather comes a lot of work for me, as well. My job continues to become more and more time-consuming and busy by the day and it is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. My spring cleaning and maintenance work at the lake trailer is just around the corner as well. I will have to be tuning up mowers, golf carts and jet ski's in the very near future, getting everything ready for the summer months.
We pretty much let the place go all winter, as most times we are down there are for simply an overnight stay following a karaoke show at the bar. I don't do any work outside down there during the winter months, so spring time leaves me with a season's worth of leaves in the yard and mowing and weed-eating, as well. The jet-ski's will have to be towed to the city for a professional tune-up because, while I can change oil and charge batteries on mowers and golf carts, I have absolutely no idea how to tune up an engine. I can hardly wait for that bill from the House of Kawasaki.
I also have quite a bit of outside work to be done at our house in the city. The usual scalping of the yard will also be accompanied by reseeding several dead spots and a fun-filled weekend cleaning out my gutters. We had a new roof put on last year and the fawking installers took off my screens over my gutters and did not feel the need to replace them. I just noticed that about a week ago when I saw what appeared to be a 747 take off from one of the corner nests in my gutters.
I have a week and a half of vacation scheduled in May for my annual softball pilgrimage to Kansas. I am looking forward to this, like I do every year, as it is a great time with friends, family and AWAY from work. The softball isnt nearly as important as it once was to us, but we still like to get out there and swing the bats. Last year's win was certainly a bonus, as our average age has crept up to 41 now and most of the teams in the tournament are much younger than us.
I plan on four day weekends around all of the holidays this summer, in order to spend even more time at the lake and out on the water. July 4 poses a problem this year, since it is on a Wednesday, but I still might take that Thursday and Friday off, as well, and just hang out down there through the weekend.
The weekend of July 20th is Okie-Vegas and I am again looking forward to this very much. I have received inquiries from a number of different people and if you forced me to guess, I would say attendance would probably be triple what it was last year. Of course, last year it was only 6 bloggers, so 18 is not a huge stretch. Will Rogers World Airport is the destination in Oklahoma City and if you are interested or have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment here or shoot me an email. I have big plans in the works, but I have to know who is going to show up in order to make them all happen.
Between all of that, real life work and karaoke shows on nearly every other weekend, GCox-ville will be hopping all summer long. I am excited about the warmer weather that is just around the corner and I am looking forward to spending alot of time with my family during the coming months as well.
I hope everybody has a great hump day and an even better rest of the week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:07 PM,
,
No Cold Deck and No Heater
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
First things first, Daylight Savings Time rules!
I know what you're saying out there, it is whipping my ass right now too, but we will get used to it. I absolutely hate driving to work in the dark, in fact, I hate that my first hour and a half at work is in the dark, but, I know better things lie in store. For instance, I know that soon, I will be able to mow the yard when I get home from work, rather than having to wait until the weekend to do it. Second, I know that when I am heading to the lake for the weekend, I will still have two hours or so of sunlight when I get down there on Friday evenings. There are just way too many good sides of DST for me to complain about the first couple of days. While it is continuing to kick me in the junk, like it is many of you right now, it will be well worth it in the long run. Daylight Savings Time is +EV in my books.
--
Live poker action last night in El Reno.
I played in my first live tournament in quite a while last night. I got out to the Lodge early, around 6:00 pm to have a few beers with my buddy Josh. I hadn't seen him since his birthday a month ago and quite frankly, he was entirely too drunk to remember much about that night. We shot the shit until everybody arrived and we got the tournament started around 7:15.
4K in chips and 15 minute levels allowed for some play early on, but my table was not ideal. Of the 15 players there, I knew all but one of them and of those 15, I would guess that 4 of the top 5 were seated at my table and perhaps the very best of the 15 immediately to my left. Not happy about the seating situation.
First orbit, I raise with A-J s00ted on the button and steal the blinds. Very next hand, I raise with A-K and get looked up by the big blind. My continuation bet after a ragged flop takes down a small pot.
Fold, fold, fold.
I call a small raise in position with 6-6 from a very solid player and flop a set on a board of A-6-2. This would be my first mistake of the evening, as well. I min-raised his continuation bet and he called. A Queen came on the turn and he checked and I bet about 1/2 the pot. He called and the river was a 2 completeing my full house. I had my opponent on the Ace for sure, but did not think he would pay me off and fired another 1/2 pot bet, which he quickly called. He had A-Q and I could have made sooooo much more on this hand. Lemurs 1, GCox25 0.
I limped in with J-10 s00ted and fold to a raise from the big blind.
I lay down J-7 off-suit UTG and would have flopped Quads. Nice, that couldn't happen when I was in the big blind? There were not a ton of raised pots early, so I saw a few cheap flops that I didn't write down. This was the only flop I wrote down when I wasn't involved in the hand.
I raise in EP with A-K s00ted and only the big blind, to my immediate right calls. The flop is again 7-7-7 and she checks. I bet about half the pot and she hem-haws around and finally calls. The turn is a Q and she checks again. I quickly add up the pot size and bet the entire pot amount and she finally folds, but not before making me promise to show. She lays down 5-5 and I show her my A-K. I believe that was steam coming out of her ears.
Not an orbit later, mistake number two of the night. I am in the big blind with 5-5 and she completes from the small blind. The flop is x-x-5. Bingo, Johnny! She leads out a small bet and I raise it up, hoping she will think my larger bet will appear as I am trying to buy the pot. She calls and checks the blank on the turn. This time, I out-think myself and, rather than firing a big bullet to appear like I want her out of the pot, I slowed down and bet half the pot. She looks at me and says "no pot bet this time? You must have the goods" and she folded. Damnit, another big bet might have induced a push. I showed her my set and she claimed to have the case 5. Lemurs 2, GCox25 0.
I am steadily chipping up, but I have wasted two good opportunities to win very big hands. I found that I was struggling with bet sizes and with the demoninations of the chips. With 4K in starting chips, we had 6 denominations of chips and keeping track of what they were worth and pot size was wearing me out. I haven't played enough live lately and I did a very poor job with this.
My chip-riffling, on the other hand, was outstanding and several of the guys that I have played with before noticed it right off the bat. They had a question for me though. They all know that I am right-handed, but noticed that I only riffled chips with my left hand. The reason is obvious, especially for people that play alot on-line......the mouse is always in my right hand when I am playing on-line, so I practice with my left hand.
Anyway, we finally combine to the final table with 9 players left and I continue my folding ritual for what seems like an hour. Long enough, in fact, that my M has snuck down into the single digits. The blinds are at 300-600 and I have around 4500 chips. Mistake number 3. I look down at 10-10 in EP and raise it up to 1800. Everybody insta-mucks around to the big blind, who just happens to be the one guy at this table that I have never played with. He looks up at me and finally calls and we see a horrid flop of Q-J-3. He checks and I pick up chips and say 2000 before even thinking what that will leave me behind. Nice bet moron, you just committed yourself to this pot and the board has two cards over your hand.
He moves all-in, of course, and I have to call with just 700 or so behind. He has Q-9 s00ted and I can't hit a two-outer and IGHN. Lemurs 3, GCox25 0.
Overall, I thought I played decent and didn't get out of control too much, however, there were many mistakes made that were a clear indication of rust on my live game.
-My reads on the other players' strength and weakness was poor. I missed out on much bigger pots twice because my bet sizes were not consistent and they were strong enough to pay me off had I bet the correct amounts.
-Part of that problem was that I had a huge problem with chip denominations and pot sizes. Clearly, it is not as easy to be the size of the pot without that POT BET button over on the right hand side of the screen.
-The final mistake of the night was kind of a combination of the first two, mis-betting and pot-committing myself on a board that had me dominated. I clearly could have check-folded after that flop and still had ammunition, but when I fired the continuation bet (without thinking the amount through completely) I hung myself out to dry.
It was still cool to sit around a poker table with quite a few folks I have played with before. There was some clear indications that several players have gotten much better in the year and a half since I played with them. There were also clear indications that most of them pay no attention to facial expressions or hand gestures, as there was alot of strength on display if one was paying attention. Of course, I missed it twice myself, so, perhaps the scoreboard should read:
Solid players - 3
GCox25, the drunken lemur - 0.
--
I'm skipping the bowling alley to play in the Riverchasers freeroll.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:34 PM,
,
I am back, sort of...
Monday, March 12, 2007
I am back to my regular grind, after a week of combined family and work tilt, I plan on getting back to some semblance of regularity this week. Other than having to work all day on Saturday, run karaoke at the lake on Saturday night and then come back to the city and work all day Sunday, my week should be back to normal.
I have some exciting news, I get to go play in a live tournament tonight for the first time in quite a while. I played in a bit of a freeroll tournament about a month ago, but, other than that, the blogger gathering in December is the last time I have played live and I am extremely excited about mixing it up tonight.
It is a small buy-in ($40) tournament with probably 10-15 players, so it is not that big a deal, but I am ready to feel those chips in my hand at a real table again. Also, I am playing with mostly mediocre players that very seldom give anybody credit for a hand, so, assuming I don't experience a cold deck, I should be able to get paid off when I do hit a flop hard. I have played with most of the folks that will be there on a number of occasions, in fact, these folks are who I originally started playing with on a regular basis back before I ever played a hand on-line.
I played just a bit over the weekend and my results were mostly up and down. I bounced up then down, then back up and finally, back down and ended the weekend pretty much even. I wouldn't say my play is any better or any worse than usual lately, but my feel for a table has been excellent. The biggest hands I lost all weekend were to a two-outer and a four-outer, so I am getting my money in correctly as a big favorite in most instances, but just a bit unlucky not to show better profits.
I also played in Al's Riverchasers even last Thursday and, although I didn't make it to the final table, I still felt like I played well. I got all my money in against Q-9 s00ted with A-J s00ted and lost that race to put me out in 16th, I think. I am still on top of the leaderboard, but The Good Reverend is right on my heels after another nice run to the final table. Nice going, Al.
I'm off to play live tonight and I plan on taking a few notes for tomorrow's post, so expect a write-up tomorrow.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:06 PM,
,
Blah, Blah, Blah
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Tournament#: 13185800
Name: Riverchasers.com Tour Event #5
When: Thursday, March 8th 9pm ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
password: riverchasers5 (notice password change)
--
Wow, have I been a bad blogger this week.
Admittedly, I have a lot on my plate with the funeral and all that is going on around here, but that is really no excuse. The facts are that I have started, deleted and re-started several posts this week and have found them sorely lacking of any real content. Thus you get today's donkerific drivel.
I played in the Mookie last night and was fairly distracted the entire first hour. My daughter has chosen this week to "act out" at school and it wasn't until 9:15 that the wife and I were able to sit her down and steer her back in the right direction. Unfortunately, that took a solid 45 minutes and we were past the break before I was able to give the game all my attention.
If I remember correctly, I was pretty short-stacked at all three of the last tables, including the final table. That's right, I folded and push-monkeyed my way to another final table. I even had a chance with 6 left and all my chips in the middle in a good spot, I just couldn't dodge some of his outs. I will take A-J s00ted in that position against Q-9 s00ted every day of the week. I just got unlucky and finished one off of the bubble and two spots from the money in 6th place. A respectable showing, and considering how little I have played in the last two weeks, I will take it.
I plan on playing in Al's RiverChasers event tonight on Full Tilt, time permitting. I have to find a suit, dress shirt and a tie without food stains on it for tomorrow and I also have to get all my karaoke stuff ready to load for tomorrow night.
I am working on a post, with pictures, of all of my karaoke equipment that should really be exciting, perhaps a bit like paint drying. I might have to put that on the other blog though. We'll see. Have a good rest of the week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:32 PM,
,
Real Life
Monday, March 05, 2007
As it is wont to do, real life jumped up and bit our family right in the ass this weekend.
My wife's grandmother passed away Sunday morning. It was not a shocker, we had seen it coming for some time, as she had been in and out of skilled nursing and emergency rooms and was not going to ever get out of the nursing home. It is still always a bit of a shock to the system, no matter how prepared you think you are for the inevitable.
My wife and mother-in-law had driven out to Arizona a bit over a year ago and helped her pack up all of her worldly possessions and move back home to Oklahoma after the passing of her husband. She was 86, a bit sickly and was not going to be able to stay by herself, so far from what relatives she had left.
To say she was a persnickety old gal would be a bit of an understatement, in fact, she would flat out tell you to your face just what a pain in the ass she could be. She had lived life for 80-something years and her ways were set, for sure. They found her a little duplex, just down the street from our house and once she got all of her things moved in, things seemed to be going along nicely. But, she started getting sick almost right away and soon, tough decisions had to be made. Decisions that daughters and grand-daughters shouldn't have to make, but that they nonetheless made, because they had to.
After a trip to the hospital and a move into a skilled nursing wing at a local nursing home the doctors finally gave them the news. She was too sick and too fragile to ever get out of the nursing home again and live by herself. This news was not received well by Grandmother and it forced some very difficult decisions on my girls. They made their decisions and did what the doctors told them had to be done, no matter if they or Grandmother liked it.
It was a difficult 6 months or so to say the least. Difficult for my mother-in-law, difficult for my wife and difficult for the entire family. We went to the nursing home on a cold Christmas day and picked her up and brought her over to our house for Christmas dinner. It was the last time she got out. She seemed as alert and as difficult as ever that day, but she went downhill pretty fast after that.
Recently, she fell and broke her hip at the nursing home and then on Sunday, we got the call that we had been dreading. No matter how prepared you think you are, no matter how inevitable the circumstances are, you simply cannot take that kind of news without a degree of sadness flooding over you. I know, I've been there. While I didn't know my wife's Grandmother as well as I would have liked, I couldn't help but think back to getting those phone calls when my Grandparents passed away. Combine that with my wife's obvious sadness and it made for a very somber Sunday around our house.
By typing this into my blog, I simply want my girls to know that I am proud of the way they have handled the situation from start to finish and to know that I am there for them, no matter what they need. I love you both and I know, deep down inside, that Grandmother is in a much better place now. You both did your very best for her, which is more than could be said for others involved and more than could be said for how she treated the two of you. You are two of the strongest women I know and I am proud to be a part of your family.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:15 PM,
,
Okie Vegas Plans
Thursday, March 01, 2007
The plans for the gathering in Oklahoma are in the works. We have settled on a date, so if anybody is interested in attending, the dates are:
July 16th - July 22nd
I, of course, fawked those up a couple of posts ago, but my Motorcycle Mama (who, by the way, is riding in from the Great White North just for Okie-Vegas with her husband) friend from up north kindly reminded me that those were not the original dates I had suggested. These are the original dates and are now FIRM.
I don't anticipate a bunch of folks taking off the entire week, but if anybody is interested in coming in early, I will be taking the entire week off and will be available for anything and everything that could possibly happen. I have my peeps working on a banner for the event and I plan on posting it in the side bar somewhere for any and all to see.
If you are the slight bit interested in attending, let me know and I will work on hotel/motel rooms. We have a couple of decent hotels near our house and several other motels just down the road a bit. Let me know what you are interested in and I will oblige with some names and phone numbers for reservations. If there is enough interest, I will try to get them to block us some rooms and find out about a discounted price.
As was the case last year, I am planning on having the tournament at my house on saturday afternoon/evening with barbecue being the theme again. Barbecue is just too easy to pick up and there are several places nearby that will serve nicely for that. Also like last year, I will be running the shuttle service to and from the airport for pickups and departures so if you don't want to rent a car, you won't have to rent a car. My house is only about 15 minutes or so from the airport, so it's not that big a deal.
Below is a short list of folks that showed interest when I posted this the last time or that have contacted me since then about the get-together:
1.April (CA)
2.Joaquin
3.Iggy
4.Kat
5.TripJax
6.Jordan
7.Joanne
8.Falstaff
9.DNasty
10.Surflexus
11.Kipper
12.23Skiddoo
13.Mookie
14.MiamiDon
Of course, Maudie lives just a few miles down the road and I am hoping that SteelerJosh, DuggleBogey and TenMile can make it again this year, as well.
There are a ton of alternatives within a short driving distance for poker. There are five or six casinos, all within 30 minutes or so from the house, and all have fairly nice poker rooms. However, if we want to play any mixed games or anything besides HoldEm, we might want to think about spreading a game at my house rather than travelling to the casino, because I don't think there are too many variants being spread at the Oklahoma Casinos.
If enough people show up though, we could spread whatever we want at the house in a home game. That makes the drinking portion of the event much easier as well, since if we are at the house, nobody would have to drive very far and if they needed a driver back to their hotel/motel, I could arrange that.
So, make your plans early boys and girls and let me know when you will be arriving. I will be there with a cooler loaded down in the truck, full of the necessary supplies.
If anybody has any questions or suggestions, I am all ears and will try my best to get you an answer as soon as possible. If you want to be added to the list, let me know that, as well and I will make sure to add your name.
By the way, it is hotter than hell in Oklahoma in July, so shorts and t-shirts should be the only thing you need to bring, unless you are planning on riding a motorcycle in from Canada.
July 16th - July 22nd
I, of course, fawked those up a couple of posts ago, but my Motorcycle Mama (who, by the way, is riding in from the Great White North just for Okie-Vegas with her husband) friend from up north kindly reminded me that those were not the original dates I had suggested. These are the original dates and are now FIRM.
I don't anticipate a bunch of folks taking off the entire week, but if anybody is interested in coming in early, I will be taking the entire week off and will be available for anything and everything that could possibly happen. I have my peeps working on a banner for the event and I plan on posting it in the side bar somewhere for any and all to see.
If you are the slight bit interested in attending, let me know and I will work on hotel/motel rooms. We have a couple of decent hotels near our house and several other motels just down the road a bit. Let me know what you are interested in and I will oblige with some names and phone numbers for reservations. If there is enough interest, I will try to get them to block us some rooms and find out about a discounted price.
As was the case last year, I am planning on having the tournament at my house on saturday afternoon/evening with barbecue being the theme again. Barbecue is just too easy to pick up and there are several places nearby that will serve nicely for that. Also like last year, I will be running the shuttle service to and from the airport for pickups and departures so if you don't want to rent a car, you won't have to rent a car. My house is only about 15 minutes or so from the airport, so it's not that big a deal.
Below is a short list of folks that showed interest when I posted this the last time or that have contacted me since then about the get-together:
1.April (CA)
2.Joaquin
3.Iggy
4.Kat
5.TripJax
6.Jordan
7.Joanne
8.Falstaff
9.DNasty
10.Surflexus
11.Kipper
12.23Skiddoo
13.Mookie
14.MiamiDon
Of course, Maudie lives just a few miles down the road and I am hoping that SteelerJosh, DuggleBogey and TenMile can make it again this year, as well.
There are a ton of alternatives within a short driving distance for poker. There are five or six casinos, all within 30 minutes or so from the house, and all have fairly nice poker rooms. However, if we want to play any mixed games or anything besides HoldEm, we might want to think about spreading a game at my house rather than travelling to the casino, because I don't think there are too many variants being spread at the Oklahoma Casinos.
If enough people show up though, we could spread whatever we want at the house in a home game. That makes the drinking portion of the event much easier as well, since if we are at the house, nobody would have to drive very far and if they needed a driver back to their hotel/motel, I could arrange that.
So, make your plans early boys and girls and let me know when you will be arriving. I will be there with a cooler loaded down in the truck, full of the necessary supplies.
If anybody has any questions or suggestions, I am all ears and will try my best to get you an answer as soon as possible. If you want to be added to the list, let me know that, as well and I will make sure to add your name.
By the way, it is hotter than hell in Oklahoma in July, so shorts and t-shirts should be the only thing you need to bring, unless you are planning on riding a motorcycle in from Canada.
Apologies for the lack of links but blame it on my complete and utter lazy ass.
That's all I got for now, have a good rest of the week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
That's all I got for now, have a good rest of the week.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:05 PM,
,
