The Randomness of Hoff

Freaky Friday

2009-06-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.

We've had some freaky weather out here in San Diego, lightning, hail, rain, and then the CEO of the company shows up. And we've got more freaky weather on the way. So to celebrate what has turned into an odd week, I give you 9 minutes of odd entertainment. SFW, but freaky. Thanks to Jalopnik for the video.

Spider from Qoob TV on Vimeo.

Random Stuff

2009-05-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.

Brain MC and his lovely wife Stacie are currently enjoying their time in San Diego. They hooked up with Smokkee and Elf for some chip-slinging at the Oceans 11 Casino over the weekend, and Brian nearly doubled up over a few enjoyable hours. Then the two of them met DAPGF and I for dinner and drinks at a San Diego Old Town institution, Casa Guadalajara. The food was awesome, and it was nice getting to meet some more invisible internet friends. And now the blogosphere has independent confirmation that my web-nonymous girlfriend, DAPGF, really does exist!

So a policewoman pulls over a suspected drunk driver. She asks the driver to step out of the vehicle, and then informs him that anything he says can and will be used against him. The driver looks at the policewoman, and says "breasts."

And on the subject of breasts...

Ewwwwwwww.

Due to stoopy work obligations, I was unable to hit the gym last night. So, the last five songs on Hair Nation while I drove home from work yesterday:

Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
Britney Fox - Girl School
Winger - Seventeen
Warrant - Uncle Tom's Cabin

Not sure I'm going to make it onto the felt tonight, but I'm sure gonna try. See ya out there, peeps!

Amazingly, none of the usual suspects officially reside in New York

2009-05-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.

Pauly. Daddy. Alcanthang. Bacon Bikini Mary. These were the first suspects I thought of when I came across this:

Wouldn't you come up with that exact same list of suspects? Props to Jalopnik for finding this gem in the interwebs.

Catching up on things...

2009-05-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.

A couple of weeks ago, me and a group of degenerates participated in the Beer Belly Olympics. As you might have surmised, beer was involved. Lots of beer. All different kinds of beer, from Coors Light and Corona to Blue Moon to Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard to my personal favorite, Blackened Voodoo Lager. But it wasn't just beer. We had Bombay. Crown. Goose. Patron. But the drinks weren't the events. Oh, they were events, but the competition events consisted of: basketball free throw contest where it was timed and you had to shag your own ball; bowling; golf; billiards; washers (a demented sort of ring toss thing); horseshoes; darts; and a finale of a massive Hold 'Em tournament. We rented a heavily fortified mountaintop compound in the mountains northeast of San Diego, and lived it up large. I was last place in basketball (hadn't shot hoops in probably 20 years), 2nd to last in horseshoes, 3rd from last in golf, midpack in darts, billiards, and washers, 2nd place in bowling, and I freaking won the poker tourney! And our heavily fortified compound was only locatable by GPS navigation, straight up the mountains. It had a pool table, bbq, 3 or 4 balconies, 2 horseshoe pits, a baby grand piano, and a 60 inch plasma with Dish Network. It. Was. Awesome. We are definitely going to make this a regular event.

And after quite a hiatus, I jumped back into a couple of SNGs on Tilt tonight...specifically a $6.5o 18 player and an $8.70 18 player peep sex token SNG. I was running solidly 3-6 in both SNGs for most of the night. In one, I decided to follow the lemurs and complete my SB 96off. Who doesn't love floppin' da nuts?On another one I decided to slowplay my AQ in the BB, and just checked my option. I think it worked out, don't you? Ahh, but where would I be without a wicked suckout? We're on the bubble for the token SNG, and I'm in 3rd or 4th place. I get dealt spade Big Slick, and UTG I pop a 4x raise. The button decides to call. Flop comes down K-high with 2 spades. I bet the pot, and the butthole shoves. having TPTK and the nut flush draw, I feel confident and call all-in. I actually laughed out loud when I saw his Q9s, thinking I had his punk ass dominated. Except for one circumstance.In addition to the spade draw that he had, he also had floped a gutshot straight draw, which filled on the turn. I screamed at the computer for a spade or a queen, but no such luck. But I was still in the other SNG. After running 3 handed for quite some time, I got dealt ATs UTG (and button), and led out 5x, which was about half my stack. BSB in the BB shoved on me, putting me all in. He flips over AJoff, which made me think that I had a slim chance. Unfortunately, we each flopped our kicker, and I went out in 3rd. Still, I was up $7 or so for the evening, so I'll take it.

Last 5 songs at the gym:

Poison - Valley of Lost Souls
Chevelle - I Get It
Ratt - Nobody Rides for Free
Nickelback - Animals
Foo Fighters - The Pretender

See ya out there!

So, are you married?

2009-04-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

That I get asked that question indicates that I'm of an age (or at least the appearance of that age), where I should be married. I am not...yet. Things are going well with DAPGF, and we have talked of moving in that direction. We both agree that we need to stablize careers and pay down some debt, but all talk seems to point in that direction.

Anyway, I mention this because of something that happened in the sauna room at the gym yesterday. I'm sitting in the 180 degree air, broiling myself with 3 other random people, when a rather attractive single mother (dare I say, MILF?) enters and sits down next to me. We start talking and it turns out that she has a 14 year old daughter. I never did get her age, but if she had a 14 year old daughter, my guess is that she had the baby when she was 15 or so. She looked that good. Realistically, she was probably 33 to 36, but she looked in her late 20s, and I told her so. Well of course that earned me brownie flirting points, and she kept chatting. Eventually the question came up of whether I had kids (only if you count my 85 pound Doberman) and whether I was married. She seemed disappointed when I told her I was living in sin with DAPGF. Shortly thereafter, I left the sauna. Not because I felt uncomfortable, but because I was starting to feel cooked.

While driving home from the gym, I was listening to Blue Collar Comedy on Sirius, when a clip from (I believe) John Heffron came on. In it he bemoaned the fact that it's only when he's in a relationship that the women really seem to flock to him. That women seem to be able to smell a relationship on a guy, and it seems to be an aphrodisiac. And he wants to start a company that sells a cologne for men called "Taken" that smells like you've spooned someone in the last 24 hours. Funny, definitely, but it got me thinking. I like to flirt, but I never go beyond just the flirting. Sometimes it's tempting, but I've never done that. I've had the most "interest" whenever I've been in a relationship, and I think I know why. Confidence. When you're single, you're flirting because you are trying to potentially get somewhere with this person (not necessarily in their pants, but more often than not...). When you're in a relationship, you can flirt without worrying about the outcome because you know you've got someone to go home to. Maybe women can smell "relationship" (or spooning) on a man, but I think the confidence factor gives off the vibe that seems to work. If you're really good, you can pull off that vibe even if you're not in a relationship. One of my best friends married a girl he met in college, right after he graduated. It wasn't a good marriage, and they divorced after 2 years. He moved to Huntington Beach and got a bachelor pad close to the beach. Women flocked to him, including an ex-porn star (I met her, thought I recognized her, but never did get her screen name. It was 12 or 13 years ago, tho), and he had all the action he could handle. He rarely got into relationships that lasted more than a couple of months, and often was seeing 2 or 3 at a time. And I believe it was the air of confidence that he gave off. He was in good shape, reasonably good looking, great job, good money, nice car, and he would get right in girls' faces and tell them that they should not date him, because he was an asshole. His words. I think the combination of his confidence, the challenge, and the weird need for women to try and change their men into what they want them to be just worked and sent a massive stream of hotties to his door. And the trend continued when he moved to Minneapolis, then back to San Diego, and finally to Providence, RI, where he ultimately met his wonderful wife. He's been married now for 6 years, has 1 kid with another on the way, and has settled down to a nice family life. But he even told his wife that she shouldn't date him, because he was still an asshole.

So there's my thought for the week. I'm hoping to get back on the felt in the next week or so, so that I can continue to give you a play by play of the bad beats and lemurs that inhabit my world. See ya out there!

Carpocalypse - Will GM Go Bankrupt?

2009-04-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy, peeps. Long time no post. After running strong in February, March I just fell into the tank. So I basically took the last half of March and the first half of April off. By next week, though, I should be back on the felt, flinging chips like the tarded lemur I am. For now, though, a little non-poker content.

GM's new CEO, Fritz Henderson is implying that bankruptcy is more and more likely for GM. Part of any reorganization or further government bailouts will be a massive restructuring of the company. Right now, GM's North American brands include: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. According to Fritz, Buick, Caddy, Chevy, and GMC are their core divisions, with Pontiac as a niche player. The other brands would obviously join such storied automotive names like Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Packard, Studebaker, AMC, et al in the graveyard of history. Since the purpose of this is to make GM leaner and meaner, let's look at the vehicles in the doomed divisions, and see if there's anything worth saving.

Saturn: Of the current lineup, nothing cries out to be saved. That being said, the 2011 Opel Insignia (GM's European division) would replace the current Saturn Aura. That vehicle could serve as an updated Chevy Malibu.

Saab: Signs point to it becoming a stand alone company, so it is outside of the mix.

Pontiac: As with Saturn, most of the vehicles are crap. The only bright spot is the G8, a rear wheel drive sport sedan with a version of the Corvette V8 as an option. That basic vehicle is sold as the Chevy Impala in the Middle East. The current Impala is a soft, blobby front wheel drive sedan. Replace it with the G8.

Hummer: From a PR perspective, Hummer is in the toilet. That being said, the H2 and H3 vehicles could certainly fit with GMC's "professional grade" mantra. Since they're both based on existing GMC platforms (H2 on the Yukon platform and the H3 on the Canyon minitruck platform), it could be a decent bit of synergy.

So that leaves us with Buick, Caddy, Chevy, and GMC. On my car blog, I lay out comprehensive lineups for each remaining division, as well as those for Ford and Chrysler. Check them out.

I was ahead when the money got in...

2009-03-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you know you're running crappy when that's the best thing you can say. First 2 SNGs were blanks. I was generally playing ok, but I did make a couple of bad decisions and so it goes. So I jump into a final 6.50 27 player SNG on Tilt. I'm generally running good, top 7 or so for nearly the entire tournament. We get down to the bubble, and I've got about 8BB in 4th, with the top 5 paying. I get dealt K2off in the BB. Naturally, that's a hand I would never consider playing in these circumstances, but 2 other limpers allow me to check my option. Flop comes down K25 with 2 spades (I have none). I want to try and take it down now, so I bet the pot, figuring that nobody else would come along. Unfortunately, UTG does come along. The turn is an ace, so I shove, hoping that anyone playing Ax didn't just hit two pair. UTG calls, and he flips over the Q9 of spades. Please no more spades, please no more spades, please no more spades. Aaaannnndd the river!
Yes! The ever popular river button! And the aptly named death card drops, and Hoff is once again a bubble boy. Back in February, I was running pretty good. Not so much now. Oh well. Das poker.

Last five songs at the gym this morning:

Godsmack - Releasing the Demons
Pantera - Walk
Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnite
Death Angel - Seemingly Endless Time
Dokken - Tooth and Nail

See ya out there!

Did you ever have one of those nights...

2009-02-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'd already played in two 18 player SNGs on Tilt, and done crappy in both. Combination of not getting good cards, getting good cards and crappy flops, and overplaying both situations. But while I was in the 18 players, the 90 player that I first signed up for finally kick started. And it was great. I got cards. I flopped sets, turned flushes, rivered boats, it was going great. Right before the break, I was sitting at 4 of 47 remaining, and blinds were somewhere around 500/1000. 1st place had somewhere around T27000, and I had around T19000. I was UTG and got dealt a couple of rags. I folded, and the whole table folded. As soon as the chips were swept to the BB, I got moved and literally dropped into the break with 4 min remaining. OK, I kinda got screwed out of a minute of the break, but not a major deal. But when we started up, the wheels fell off. The antes kicked in, and I went pretty card dead. T6off. Snowman Taterlegs. 25off. At one point I found T9off and followed 2 limpers, only to have BB pop a 3x raise. I was bleeding chips like a hemophiliac. A couple of times I woke up to real hands that actually held up. Once, I got AJd, flopped TPTK, and wound up doubling up when I rivered the flush. Very next hand, I got QQ on the button, raised it up 4x, and got one caller. Ace on the flop, and he shoves. 2 hands later, my AToff flops TPTK that I'm betting hard, until the J falls on the river. I bet out, and sure enough the lemur who'd been feeding the chip stack with nothing more than 2 overs (he was nice enough to show his KJoff, the jackoff) gets paid off on the river. Finally, we're down to 11 left, the top 9 pay, I've barely got 2 BB, and I wake up to s00ted Big Slick. Big Stack Bully in the SB calls with his K6 off, flops trips, and IGH steaming and out of the money. Das poker.

Last five songs to shuffle up in Media Player:

Slayer - War Ensemble
Erykah Badu - Sometimes
Fighting Gravity - Land of Ska
Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 - Mas Que Nada
The Blues Brothers - Gimme Some Lovin'

See ya out there.

Creepiest. Thing. Evar. (Non-poker content, slightly NSFW)

2009-02-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

Ok. I'm extremely straight, and secure in my masculinity. Still, sometimes you come across something you really didn't wish that you'd seen. The problem with working out at a gym is that inevitably you'll come across the ever-present "naked dude." If you're going to change out of your sweaty workout clothes, shower, and get into clean street clothes, you'll have to be nekkid at some point. Generally, it's not a major issue. Guys all know this...keep your eyes pointed straight ahead and odds are you'll never see more than some guy's pecs or moobs, which you'll see at the beach anyway. Not a big deal. Sunday morning, though, I was needing to pour bleach into my eyes to try and erase what I saw. I'd finished my workout (last five songs - Five Finger Death Punch - The Bleeding, Megadeth - Holy Wars, Atreyu - Becoming the Bull, Pantera - Fucking Hostile, Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down) and had just finished changing out of my workout clothes so that I could go home. I walked around the corner of the lockers, and standing there with his back to me was Naked Guy. Oh, but this wasn't any old Naked Guy. Nope. This one was special, and with the acknowledgement that my eyes never got below waist level, that should definitely say something. This guy had seemingly manscaped all the hair off of his back, except for one bit. You know the hot girls that you find on the porno websites, with the little wedge pie or landing strip pubes? This guy left a little triangle patch of back hair just above and pointing to his ass crack! First of all, who would think of this? Second, who was the brave soul who was drafted to perform said manscaping? A fucking little landing strip pointing at his asscrack!?!? Definitely not the way I really needed to start the day.

Success is where you find it...

2009-02-19T20:43:00.001-08:00

Played in a 90 on FT tonight, and it was one of those nights where it seemed like everything was working. 59off in the BB. 5 limp and I check. Flop comes down 595, and I double through the lemur who limped with cowboys. I call a raise with snowmen on the button, and the flop comes down all rags. EP raiser checks, and I bet. He calls. Turn is another brick, check, bet, call. River brings an 8, check, bet, raise, reraise, shove, I call, and double up through another lemur playing rockets. It was that kind of night, until the final table, where JJ was not OK. I'm in first place, and get JJ in MP. It folds to me, so I open for a 4x raise and get one caller. Flop comes down T-high, and the caller, who was one of the shorter stacks, shoved. Having a pair of overs, I called, figuring this guy for either AK or TPTK. I figured if he had QQ - AA, he would've reraised me PF, so I figured he was just making a move. Oops. He had a set of tens, and doubled through me. I fought my way back into first, and then third place doubled through 2nd place, to be way ahead of me. So we get down to five handed, and blinds are at 1500-3000. UTG, who is in first opens for 12000, and I wake up to JJ in the SB. I call, and see a flop of AJx, with two spades. I lead out with a pot bet, not wanting to make it easy for someone to chase the frush. UTG reraises and I shove. He calls, and flips over the spade Big Slick, for TPTK and 4 to the nut frush. The turn is a brick, but the river brings him his flushie, and IGH in 5th, with a $70 payout on a $12 buy-in. I was hoping for more, but positive money is positive money.

Last five songs heard at the gym tonight:

Pantera - Mouth for War
Joe Satriani - Summer Song
Cinderella - Somebody Save Me
Queensryche - Breaking the Silence
Quiet Riot - Slick Black Cadillac

What can I say? Hair metal is an awesome soundtrack for picking up heavy shit and putting it back down. See ya out there, peeps!

Still breathing, barely

2009-02-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not sure what it's like in your part of the world, but here in San Diego, we've got a wicked cold going around. This has honestly been the worst cold I think I've ever had. 102 degree fever, that all-over body ache, sore joints, and I could barely muster the energy to sleep. You know it's bad when the fact that your throat-tearing cough is finally producing phlegm is seen as a good thing. My doctor actually put me on Vicodin just so I could sleep through the night. Crazy stuff. And it's kept me off the felt. Which, based on this little gem, is probably a good thing.

PLO/8. 9 player, I'm sitting comfortably in 2nd. I raise preflop, and UTG, who had limped and had me covered, comes along. I flop the Royal draw, so there's no way I'm leaving, but UTG got enough to justify staying in, regardless of what I bet. I wasn't completely doomed until the river, but sure enough the river boat sinks my turned nut flush, and IGH in 5th. Big pile of meh. Still, the b/r is positive for 2009, so I'll keep grinding. Stay dry and stay healthy. See ya out there.

Epic Want (non-poker edition)

2009-01-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

So, are you bored during the doldrums of winter? Snowed in? Have a spare $200k that you are afraid to put into a bank somewhere? Try this.

Props to Jalopnik for giving me a dose of happy during the lunch break. Cue music: Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

Small Victories

2009-01-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

Well, after several midrange losses (4th of 9, 6th of 18), I finally found some money. Simple $11+1 9 player, and I finished 2nd. I had a pretty good balance of tight and aggressive, and found that after 3 or 4 folds in a row, I could pop a preflop bluff raise and take it down. I got sucked out a couple of times, including this one during 4 handed play:

Dealt to iamhoff [Ad 6s]
iamhoff calls 600
HotPanda folds
westside115 folds
KYLE49ers checks
*** FLOP *** [Td 9d 2d]
KYLE49ers checks
iamhoff bets 600
KYLE49ers raises to 1,200
iamhoff calls 600
*** TURN *** [Td 9d 2d] [Qc]
KYLE49ers bets 1,895, and is all in
iamhoff calls 1,895
KYLE49ers shows [6h 3d]
iamhoff shows [Ad 6s]
*** RIVER *** [Td 9d 2d Qc] [3s]
KYLE49ers shows a pair of Threes
iamhoff shows Ace Queen high
KYLE49ers wins the pot (7,690) with a pair of Threes

Yes, I shouldn't have limped, but A6 is not bad 4 handed and I'd been active the prior 3 hands, which is why I was in first place. But it happens. I made up for it with this hand:

Dealt to iamhoff [Ac 2h]
HotPanda folds
westside115 folds
KYLE49ers raises to 2,000
iamhoff calls 1,125, and is all in
KYLE49ers shows [As 9s]
iamhoff shows [Ac 2h]
Uncalled bet of 475 returned to KYLE49ers
*** FLOP *** [Qd Ah 2c]
*** TURN *** [Qd Ah 2c] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Qd Ah 2c 2s] [Ts]
KYLE49ers shows two pair, Aces and Twos
iamhoff shows a full house, Twos full of Aces
iamhoff wins the pot (3,050) with a full house, Twos full of Aces

The poker gods taketh, and then they giveth back (occasionally). And anytime they give back to my bankroll, it's a good day.

Last 5 songs at the gym:

Keep Away - Godsmack
Crashed - Daughtry
Chinese Democracy - Guns N Roses (it's actually a pretty decent album, who knew)
Judas Kiss - Metallica (Death Magnetic is fucking awesome!)
The Pretender - Foo Fighters

See ya out there, peeps!

Nice to see some things never change...

2009-01-14T19:25:00.000-08:00

Wassup! This past few months has been very frustrating and non-conducive to poker (among other things). Back in November, the best doggie anywhere (a sample of which can be found here), Ginger, lost her battle with cancer (I HATE that fucking disease!). She's now in doggie heaven chasing bunnehs and kittehs, but life at Casa de Hoff has been way depressing. So depressing that DAPGF couldn't wait until past the holidays and got us a Dobie puppeh in early December, just before I signed up for the PokerStars WBCOOP tournament. Unfortunately, the puppy was a little older and had some serious behavioral problems (mainly aggression, towards both dogs and people). So the weekend of the tournament, I had to drive DAPGF back to the breeder in Paso Robles to return the dog. So we are once again without doggie. We do get the pick of the breeder's next litter, which should be born in March, but it still requires waiting.

So now that things are somewhat stable for the time being, I'm trying to get back into the groove. My morning dog walk and dog feed time is officially allocated to going running in the morning. Officially. Unofficially, I've been fighting off a cold and have been spending most of my time touching the snooze button. Meh. Hopefully I can find the motivation and get back on a track of dropping some of the weight I've gained over the past year. (Check out the progress here). Also in the vein of New Years Resolutions, I'm trying to be more timely in managing my bills, and to not fuck around as much at work. And most importantly, PLAY MORE POKER AND POST MORE BLOGGING STUFF!!

So here we are posting, and I'll talk about 2009 and how poker is treating me thus far. The first SNG I played was a 27 player, $2.25 on Tilt. I freaking won it, doubling my bankroll right there. A few days later, I followed that up with a couple of $6.50s that went nowhere (10th/45, 46th/90, 6th/9). And then tonight I jumped into a $12 18 player SNG. I was playing solid, and I ran in 1st or 2nd most of the way through it. We get to 4 handed, and I'm comfortably in 2nd. Then 4th place busted out, which allowed 3rd place to jump past me to 2nd place. Then came the bad hand. I'm UTG and get KQs...a pretty solid hand 3 handed. So I pop a raise. Big Stack Bully was in the BB, and came over the top. I figured him for a bully move, so I called. Unfortunately when the cards flipped, he had AK, including the s00ted Ace to my KQ. End result, A on the flop and IGH in 3rd. Still, it was a decent cash. I decided to press my luck and try one more...a $12 9 player. I'm running pretty solid through this one also, and we get to the bubble. I'm in 3rd, in the BB, and I find AJs. Fold, fold, and big stack bully in the SB comes over the top, as he's done all night. So I figure I've got a better than decent chance, even if he's got a real hand...strong, s00ted ace, nut flush draw, broadway draw, royal draw, plus, BSB is probably full of crap. And...
Yep. Q5off. I'm feeling pretty damn good until the flop of 2Q5, and Hoff is teh bubble boy. Still, the bankroll is positive for 2009, so I'll hold on to that little bit of goodness. DAPGF is teaching 3 nights this quarter, so I'm actually going to have some opportunities to jump on the felt. Maybe I'll bump into some of you. See ya out there!

It's time to get back in the groove

2008-12-09T10:14:00.001-08:00

Way too long without posting. Way too long without playing. I will have updates as to what's been going on in the life of Hoff soon, but I am finally getting my life back into a steadier pattern which will allow much more regular opportunities to play and blog. And to kick off my early New Year's Resolution, I must confess the following:

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 773926

That's right! It's back! The PokerStars WBCOOP! One of the most fun freerolls out there, and I'm registered. See ya there!

Where does the time go?

2008-10-27T07:43:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure when it got so hard to post. The new assignments at work keep me busy, and DAPGF seems to always have something to do when we get home. Not that there's anything wrong with that (wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean), but it does cut into the pokah and bloggah time. And the golf time, and the sleep time, and so on down the list.

So. I've actually had a bit of success recently at the tables, and doubled my bankroll. I've just been working on leaks in my game, trying not to get too loose later in the tournaments, and I have been getting lucky. Dumb calling station opponents certainly help. This was the first hand in a PLO/8 SNG that I wound up winning.

Dealt to iamhoff [9d 8h]
tikibars626: folds
Poker Own U: folds
Noid$614: folds
Bassinyou: calls 20
totem333: folds
12 oz m0use: folds
iamhoff: calls 20
WuTank: calls 10
d0r1t0s: checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 7s 4h]
WuTank: checks
d0r1t0s: checks
Bassinyou: checks
iamhoff: bets 40
WuTank: folds
d0r1t0s: folds
Bassinyou: calls 40
*** TURN *** [8d 7s 4h] [Td]
Bassinyou: bets 40
iamhoff: calls 40
*** RIVER *** [8d 7s 4h Td] [9c]
Bassinyou: bets 60
iamhoff: raises 140 to 200
Bassinyou: calls 140
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iamhoff: shows [9d 8h] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
Bassinyou: mucks hand
iamhoff collected 640 from pot

With blinds at only 10/20, 640 is a pretty nice pot to drag. And for the record, PLO is very much a "limp and see the flop" game. My opponent limped with Q9 off, so at the flop he had two overs (which is pretty much worthless in PLO), at the turn he had a gutshot, and at the river picked up 2nd pair, 3rd kicker. I guess he either thought I was bluffing, or figured that my river reraise was still small enough that it wasn't too much of a dent in his stack.

This one, the cards just fell my way.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Kh Qh]
d0r1t0s: folds
Poker Own U: folds
Noid$614: folds
Bassinyou: raises 450 to 600
12 oz m0use: folds
iamhoff: calls 525
WuTank: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kc 8s 8h]
iamhoff: bets 450
Bassinyou: raises 215 to 665 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 215
*** TURN *** [Kc 8s 8h] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 8s 8h 4c] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iamhoff: shows [Kh Qh] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
Bassinyou: shows [Td As] (a pair of Eights)
iamhoff collected 2680 from pot

And that's pretty much how that one went.

Here's a case where Presto really was gold:
That was an 18 player NLHE SNG, and I managed to win that one, too. It's not been all perfect, because despite the updates, online poker is still rigged, as evidenced by this:
and this:
As much as I love s00ted cards, T3 is not a hand I would normally play. I will, however, check my BB option, and did so. 57 s00ted is a hand that I'll limp if the pot is opened, but I would never open-limp with it. So imagine my chagrin after shoving on the river, to find a feather plucking str8 flush staring up at me from the next seat over.

Oh well, so it goes. The important thing is that I've actually made some progress on my b/r. Maybe I can actually build on that. See ya out there, peeps.

Ups and Downs in the Land of Poker

2008-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well peeps, we gots some good times and some bad times. A random sampling:

Here is one of many PokerStars patented river beat downs. Admittedly I shouldn't have played it quite the way I did, but I was ahead when the chips got all in. Unfortunately, the big blind villain hit the river button and tripped up his queens to crack my flopped two pair.
As I said, I shouldn't have been in the hand, but so it goes. I made up for it later. With the blinds at 600/1200, the pots get big quickly. I was able to take advantage of someone who raised with either AQ or QQ-TT and didn't like the K on the flop.

Dealt to iamhoff [As 8s]
littlee3812: folds
bigstackfats: folds
krupnugz: raises 2400 to 3600
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 3600
soarer1: folds
Riches2Rages: folds
chauncy: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kc 2h]
krupnugz: checks
iamhoff: checks
*** TURN *** [3s Kc 2h] [2s]
krupnugz: checks
iamhoff: bets 1200
krupnugz: folds
Uncalled bet (1200) returned to iamhoff
iamhoff collected 9600 from pot
iamhoff: doesn't show hand

If you don't take a swing at some of these passive tables, you probably won't win. Granted I was sitting on 4 to a flush and my bet represented a possible set of ducks, but it wasn't too likely I would've continued that hand if he'd bet. So it goes. Ultimately, I took 6th in the SNG, so all was relatively well.

Another recent tourney was the $40k guarantee rebuy madness on PStars. I was really pleased with my play during this tourney, although I did get quite lucky with some quality suckouts, such as hands like this:

Dealt to iamhoff [3d 7d]
bigstackfats: folds
armdplumber: raises 100 to 150
littlee3812: folds
xtigger44x: folds
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 150
marbeau: calls 150
Zwarte Gat: calls 125
Moxie77: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [Qd 8d 6d]
Zwarte Gat: bets 600
Moxie77: folds
armdplumber: folds
iamhoff: raises 430 to 1030 and is all-in
marbeau: calls 530 and is all-in
Zwarte Gat: calls 430
*** TURN *** [Qd 8d 6d] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Qd 8d 6d 7c] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Zwarte Gat: shows [7s Ad] (a pair of Sevens)
iamhoff: shows [3d 7d] (a flush, Queen high)
iamhoff collected 1000 from side pot
marbeau: shows [Js Qs] (a pair of Queens)
iamhoff collected 2340 from main pot

Like Daniel Negranu, I loves me some s000ted cards, especially ones that can connect. Another hand was this one.

Dealt to iamhoff [3d As]
iamhoff: calls 150
packpower04: folds
bigstackfats: folds
armdplumber: raises 150 to 300
littlee3812: folds
xtigger44x: folds
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [Ad Ks 3c]
iamhoff: checks
armdplumber: bets 300
iamhoff: raises 300 to 600
armdplumber: calls 300
*** TURN *** [Ad Ks 3c] [5h]
iamhoff: bets 450
armdplumber: folds
Uncalled bet (450) returned to iamhoff
iamhoff collected 2025 from pot

The table had shown a propensity to limp, so a hand that I might normally fold, like A3off, became a live hand. A min-raise preflop made me think that someone with a medium pocket pair wanted to make a play. An ace or a high pair would've generated a larger raise, so I figured my A3 had a decent shot. And a flop of AK3 rainbow hit my hand perfectly. The correct amount of aggression and I take down another 13BB. One that didn't quite go my way was this one.

Dealt to iamhoff [9h Th]
bigstackfats: calls 400
armdplumber: folds
xtigger44x: folds
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 400
packpower04: folds
Riches2Rages: checks
*** FLOP *** [7d 3s 9c]
Riches2Rages: bets 800
bigstackfats: calls 705 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 800
*** TURN *** [7d 3s 9c] [Qd]
Riches2Rages: checks
iamhoff: checks
*** RIVER *** [7d 3s 9c Qd] [Kc]
Riches2Rages: checks
iamhoff: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Riches2Rages: shows [Ts 3h] (a pair of Threes)
iamhoff: shows [9h Th] (a pair of Nines)
iamhoff collected 190 from side pot
bigstackfats: shows [Js Td] (a straight, Nine to King)
bigstackfats collected 3690 from main pot

Sometimes I like to limp on the button with ATC...could be aces, could be the hammer, could be 9Ts000ted. You never know. Flop comes down giving me TPMK (Top Pair, Meh Kicker). BB bets enough to put UTG all-in. UTG calls, as do I. BB picked up bottom pair, meh kicker and tried to steal on a rag flop. UTG called only with a gutshot. So all the money got in and I was ahead. I survived the turn, but that damn river button hit and filled UTGs str8. I took the side pot, but lost about half of my stack. But for some silly reason, the gods decided to make it up to me. Short stacked, I took an uns00ted Dead Man's Hand and shoved.

Dealt to iamhoff [Ac 8s]
xtigger44x: raises 2620 to 3020 and is all-in
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 695 and is all-in
packpower04: folds
Riches2Rages: folds
bigstackfats: folds
armdplumber: folds
Uncalled bet (2325) returned to xtigger44x
*** FLOP *** [5d 7s 6c]
*** TURN *** [5d 7s 6c] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [5d 7s 6c Ad] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xtigger44x: shows [Kh Qd] (high card Ace)
iamhoff: shows [Ac 8s] (a straight, Four to Eight)
iamhoff collected 2165 from pot

Boom! Back in business! Followed up a few hands later by this gem.

Dealt to iamhoff [3h 3c]
iamhoff: calls 400
packpower04: folds
Riches2Rages: folds
bigstackfats: folds
armdplumber: folds
xtigger44x: calls 200
OutOfTheRed: checks
*** FLOP *** [3d Td 9c]
xtigger44x: bets 1475 and is all-in
OutOfTheRed: folds
iamhoff: calls 1475
*** TURN *** [3d Td 9c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [3d Td 9c 9d] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xtigger44x: shows [7s Ts] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
iamhoff: shows [3h 3c] (a full house, Threes full of Nines)
iamhoff collected 4325 from pot

Who doesn't love boating up? And then there were aces. Five times out of 6 opportunities I had rockets hold up. This hand also happened to actually be a fairly large pot.

Dealt to iamhoff [As Ad]
littlee3812: folds
packpower04: raises 1070 to 1670 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 1670
soarer1: folds
cream14: calls 480 and is all-in
krupnugz: folds
bigstackfats: folds
skippy3481: calls 1070
*** FLOP *** [2h 3c Tc]
skippy3481: checks
iamhoff: bets 1200
skippy3481: calls 565 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (635) returned to iamhoff
*** TURN *** [2h 3c Tc] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3c Tc 5c] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
skippy3481: shows [Kc Qh] (high card King)
iamhoff: shows [As Ad] (a pair of Aces)
iamhoff collected 1130 from side pot-2
packpower04: shows [Qd Kd] (high card King)
skippy3481 is sitting out
iamhoff collected 3570 from side pot-1
cream14: shows [9s 9d] (a pair of Nines)
iamhoff collected 2620 from main pot

Unfortunately, my run wasn't meant to last. After having aces finally get cracked, and then 3 hands in a row of s00ted paint whiffing flops, I found myself down to less than a blind, in the SB. So I went for it.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [6c Ks]
Riches2Rages: folds
littlee3812: folds
bigstackfats: folds
OutOfTheRed: raises 2155 to 4155 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 700 and is all-in
soarer1: folds
Uncalled bet (2155) returned to OutOfTheRed
*** FLOP *** [9d 4c 6d]
*** TURN *** [9d 4c 6d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [9d 4c 6d Td] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OutOfTheRed: shows [Kh Kc] (a pair of Kings)
OutOfTheRed collected 600 from side pot
iamhoff: shows [6c Ks] (a pair of Sixes)
OutOfTheRed collected 5700 from main pot

And IGH. Out of 3300 runners, I went out in 347th, which was ITM. I had only rebought once (for the initial double up) and did the add-on, so even though my prize wasn't huge, it covered my buy-in. All in all, not bad. I wish I could say the same for other tourneys, though. Rockets failed me at hand 17 here.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Ad Ah]
Ernest Evans: folds
ranman402: folds
BJW1000: raises 45 to 75
wairarapa2: calls 75
hsoinc: folds
iamhoff: raises 225 to 300
linobill: folds
sirrich111: calls 285
TheNuts1169: folds
BJW1000: calls 225
wairarapa2: calls 225
*** FLOP *** [Ks 7h 4c]
sirrich111: checks
BJW1000: checks
wairarapa2: bets 600
iamhoff: raises 600 to 1200
sirrich111: calls 1200
BJW1000: folds
wairarapa2: calls 600
*** TURN *** [Ks 7h 4c] [4s]
sirrich111: checks
wairarapa2: checks
iamhoff: bets 1360 and is all-in
sirrich111: raises 130 to 1490 and is all-in
wairarapa2: calls 1215 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (130) returned to sirrich111
*** RIVER *** [Ks 7h 4c 4s] [Ts]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sirrich111: shows [7s 7d] (a full house, Sevens full of Fours)
iamhoff: shows [Ad Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
sirrich111 collected 290 from side pot
wairarapa2: shows [Kc Qc] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
sirrich111 collected 8475 from main pot

So it's been a bunch of ups and downs. What else is new? Hopefully this week I'm going to get some live poker in at Pechanga. That is the one advantage of this assignment of mine...every time I go to the client's location, I pass right by Pechanga Casino....should be fun. See ya out there, peeps!

Arrrrr Matey!

2008-09-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'd like to report a crime, and other assorted thoughts

2008-09-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

So me and a group of degenerate friends (hell, they're all degenerates...that's why they're my friends!) went out to Viejas Casino to get some live poker on last night. And it just wasn't. my. night. It was insane how pathetic my evening was. The 1/2 and 1/3 NL games had heavy lists, so we signed up for 3/6 limit kill. My cards were generally junk...J-2 off, 4-7 s00ted, 9-T off 3 hands in a row, T-3 off, etc. And you know how when you fold rags like 7-3 and the flop comes down 3-7-3? Yeah, that wasn't even happening. I was just getting nowhere near the flops. One hand I admit that I should've gotten away from was about an hour in. I got dealt A-T spades in MP, and joined 2 other limpers. Both blinds were calling stations and came along. The flop came down K-J-x with two spades. So I've got a draw to Broadway, the nut flush draw, and a backdoor Royal draw. A round of betting and the turn brings an ace. Betting gets capped, and I could've gotten away from an obviously made straight, but TP and all my draws kept me in. River was a ten, giving me two pair. This is where I totally should've gotten away from it, but I couldn't. Fortunately the betting didn't get capped, and I lost to someone who was playing Q-T. Beyond that, I think my play was fairly solid. I just was getting unlucky. I lost set over set, I was outkicked on sets twice (my J-T vs J-Q and K-6 s00ted vs. A-6), had K-K cracked by the SB calling station's 2 pair with 9-5 off, and so on. Still, it was good to get out and play some live pokah.

I had to get the taste of last night out of my mouth, so while watching football (DAPGF was out to a movie with friends) I jumped into an 18 player SNG on Stars. Unlike last night, things did go my way. One series of 6 hands saw me get AA, AK, QQ, and AK again. All held up for decent pots. We got down to HU, with my having about a 9:1 chip advantage. And then the wheels started to fall off.

Seat 6: iamhoff (22868 in chips)
Seat 9: duncin mac (4132 in chips)
iamhoff: posts the ante 50
duncin mac: posts the ante 50
duncin mac: posts small blind 300
iamhoff: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Qd Qs]
duncin mac: raises 1200 to 1800
iamhoff: raises 3000 to 4800
duncin mac: calls 2282 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (718) returned to iamhoff
*** FLOP *** [4h 2h 9s]
*** TURN *** [4h 2h 9s] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [4h 2h 9s 3c] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iamhoff: shows [Qd Qs] (a pair of Queens)
duncin mac: shows [Jd Ad] (a pair of Aces)
duncin mac collected 8264 from pot

Yep. Rivered an ace. But I'm still in the chip lead. And then the very next hand.

Seat 6: iamhoff (18736 in chips)
Seat 9: duncin mac (8264 in chips)
iamhoff: posts the ante 50
duncin mac: posts the ante 50
iamhoff: posts small blind 300
duncin mac: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [8d Kd]
iamhoff: calls 300
duncin mac: raises 1200 to 1800
iamhoff: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [6d 5s 2s]
duncin mac: bets 1200
iamhoff: calls 1200
*** TURN *** [6d 5s 2s] [Kc]
duncin mac: bets 5214 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 5214
*** RIVER *** [6d 5s 2s Kc] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
duncin mac: shows [9s 9h] (three of a kind, Nines)
iamhoff: shows [8d Kd] (a pair of Kings)
duncin mac collected 16528 from pot

Again, the river cracks my hand, and now I'm down about 3 to 1 in chips. But I wasn't going to be denied. I picked up some blinds and minor pots, and then this gem of a hand hit.

Seat 6: iamhoff (13322 in chips)
Seat 9: duncin mac (13678 in chips)
iamhoff: posts the ante 50
duncin mac: posts the ante 50
iamhoff: posts small blind 400
duncin mac: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [As 8s]
iamhoff: calls 400
duncin mac: checks
*** FLOP *** [4s 2h 5s]
duncin mac: bets 800
iamhoff: calls 800
*** TURN *** [4s 2h 5s] [9s]
duncin mac: bets 12028 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 11672 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (356) returned to duncin mac
*** RIVER *** [4s 2h 5s 9s] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
duncin mac: shows [4c 3s] (a pair of Fours)
iamhoff: shows [As 8s] (a flush, Ace high)
iamhoff collected 26644 from pot

Two hands later I closed it out, and victory was mine. Didn't quite win back enough to cover last night's losses, but the victory nonetheless felt good.

Ran some errands in the Jeep on Saturday, so I got to listen to some Sirius Hair Nation (don't have satellite in the BMW yet). Last five songs to come up on Hair Nation:

Britny Fox - Girl School
Great White - Lady Red Light
Dokken - Breaking the Chains
Ratt - You Think You're Tough
Queensryche - Eyes of a Stranger

While I was out running errands, I came across the Car of the Week. Due to the fact that we were actually in traffic, and the fact that Lamborghini's are somewhat speedy vehicles, even the older ones, I was only able to get one good shot of it.

You will be forgiven if you can't tell what this is. For the record, it is this. Lamborghini 400GT. Probably my favorite Lambo. Hell, I like 'em all, but this one just looks so sweet. In particular the gray metallic paint, Hallibrand wire wheels, and the original black and gold license plates. It looked absolutely pristine, and the V-12's exhaust wail raised the hair on the back of my arms...it may as well have been an opera, it sounded so incredible. I wish I'd been able to get more pictures, but as I stated, the combo of traffic plus speedy target was difficult to overcome. So here's a couple of photos off of the interwebs.

Absolutely effin' gorgeous, and with that the Lamborghini 400GT is our Car of the Week.

It is spider season here in San Diego. When I walk the doggie, she doesn't do nice things like staying on sidewalks and such. Nope, she walks along bushes, fences, and such, looking for bunnies, raccoons, possums and such. So I have to watch out for these:
I have no idea what type of spider this is, but this is the second one that I've seen that is this big. For the record, the body of this thing is almost as long as my thumb. I must say, it is somewhat unnerving to be walking along in the dark and come face to face with one of these.

Picked up Death Magnetic by Metallica. Absolutely awesome! Who the hell cares about St. Anger? This album stylistically seems to fit between ...And Justice For All and The Black Album, with some tones of Load. The tunes are great, the music is great, the lyrics are deep and dark. About the only problems I've noticed are related to Rick Rubin's production. There are some areas where the guitars are overdriven to the point of speaker distortion, regardless of volume. Distortion is fine, to a certain extent, but not to the point where it screws up the rest of the music. The other problem relates to drum production. The drum production on AJFA (think "One") is nice and deep, and the drum production on TBA ("Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters") and Load is tightened up but still full and deep. On Death Magnetic, the kick drum seems clipped, as though the lowest registers below 100 hz were zeroed out during the final mix and production. Some bands and songs sound ok that way, as though the instruments were tuned specifically for that range (think the drumming on Great White's Psycho City, specifically "Step on You"), but it sounds like the playing was meant to include it and it was clipped out during production. It's nothing major and it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the disc, but as both a Metallica fan and someone who is into the sonic experience of the music (metal, some modern country like Gretchen Wilson or Rascal Flatts, jazz fusion like The Rippingtons or Marc Antoine, acid/house like Zero7 and Massive Attack), I like my music to sound good pure. Existential, I know, but so it goes. Regardless of that, I give Death Magnetic a 4.5 out of 5 thrown goats. \m/

And while finishing up this post, the Chargers gave another one away in the last minutes, with some help from Ed Hochuli and the other stupid zebras. The Chargers didn't deserve to win until near the end, and Ed blew a play dead that would've been a fumble recovery by the Bolts. Instead it simply made it easier for the Broncos to score a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of the game. And then the Chargers who can't seem to stop the passing game gave up a go ahead 2 point conversion!?! What in the holy hell is this about?!? But the Bolts tried, and almost got half way down the field to try to set up a game winning field goal, but they just couldn't pull it off and lost their second game in a row, in the final seconds. It isn't looking good for the boys in blue.

So long, peeps, and I'll see ya out there.

Actual Poker Content! Plus Bonus Non Poker Content!

2008-09-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Why I live in San Diego: Saturday morning, approximately 10 a.m. I'm in the Pacific Ocean near Blacks Beach, waiting for the next wave. I duck under a wave, surface, and as I'm clearing water off my face I hear the unmistakable wail of a high performance car engine. I glance at the Coast Highway bridge that heads southbound from Del Mar up to Torrey Pines Golf Course. Traveling across the bridge is a procession of three Lamborghinis (looked like Gallardos), two Ferraris (a 360 Modena and an F430), an Aston Martin (probably a DB9), and an older Lotus Esprit. Absolutely beautiful, and they all obliged for the people on the beach by revving the engines so that we could hear the wailing. Total car porn, and I was lucky I was in chest-deep water, so as to hide the monster woodie I was now sporting.

Played a 9 player SNG on FT tonight. Had one sequence of hands that was absolutely sick. The first hand was this:
Pretty standard fare. All-in preflop, QQ vs TT. The only really unusual thing here is that my bitches held up. Who knew? That's one I knocked out.

The second hand was kind of funn-ay. After the last hand, I was the big stack. So when it folded around to me in the cutoff, I look down and find AT s000ted. So I pop a 4x raise. The BB shoved on me. I figured him for a tilt-steal, after watching me take out a player just the hand before, plus a call only cost me another 1000 out of my 5k stack. So I called and groaned when BB flipped over rockets. "C'mon, let's see some diamonds!" And here's how the flop looked:
Sick! Flopping the nuts and just knowing how my table mates must be both hating me and fearing me. A second player knocked out by yours truly.

The third hand was even crazier. A leak in my game is I sometimes loosen up too much when I get a big stack, and play hands I really have no business playing. So I look down and find K5 s000ted. Before the deal I thought about just mucking whatever cards I got, because I figured after those last two hands people would either fold to me or come at me with guns blazing. But UTG and UTG+1 both limped, so I felt completely compelled to join the lemurs and limp. The button decides to make Baby Jebus cry and min-raises. There was no SB because I knocked him out, but all limpers called. The flop came down 3 6 5. I figure there's no way it hit anybody, and it checks around to me. I fire out a 3/4 pot-sized raise with my 2nd pair 2nd kicker. Button raises me 3x my bet. Something about it smells like unpaired paint, so I reraise to put him all in. He calls and here's what happened:
I was right! And my simple pair of 5s would've held up, but the dealer saw fit to make sure I was covered by giving me 2 pair. And the third player is gone.

Sadly, though, I didn't win. HU with the lead, I ran KJ into KQ, and then AQ into AK. End result, second place. Some cash is better than nothing, I suppose.

Last 5 songs heard at the gym on the mp3 player:

Babylon A.D. - Hammer Swings Down
Scorpions - Big City Nights (off of World Wide Live, of course)
High Voltage - AC/DC
High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night) - Def Leppard
Blackened - Metallica

Have I mentioned how much I love my gym? Who doesn't love a gym that is the closest "big" gym to a college campus. Oddly enough, not many college dudes come by, some, but not many. The co-eds on the other hand, sweet jumping Jesus they are freaking hot! Crazy stuff.

DAPGF is teaching, dog is sleeping, You Can't Stop Rock and Roll by Twisted Sister just finished and Eat the Rich by Krokus just shuffled on, and I've got a Captain & Coke sitting on the desk. Life ain't too bad, right now. Guess I'll test my luck and find a SNG to jump into. Good luck out there, peeps!

And some things never change...

2008-08-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, still busy at the new work assignment, and still busy trying to keep the new commuter box running and hopefully get it smogged and registered. So last weekend, it up and dies in the middle of traffic. I've got 3/4 of a tank of gas, it's cranking over but not catching, WTF? Fortunately two guys pulled up behind me and ran interference so that we could push it out of the fast lane of traffic. While waiting for AAA to come pick me up, I start wondering what the problem could be. Fuel pump or fuel filter, perhaps? Half hour later at the mechanic, we have a winner! The fuel pump! Of course the one thing that is practically completely unrelated to any of the other issues (ABS/traction control, Airbag Control Module, Emissions Control system) that are still unresolved. Nope, just another $550 to fix an eminently "normal" wear and tear item on an 11 year old car. Just a big fat pile of meh. And to top it all off, the weekend before I'd gotten the car band-aided together by the mechanic in Chula Vista that I bought it from, and went to the smog shop. They checked it out (2nd time, mind you), and determined that the Secondary Air Pump (a potentially $400 to $800 repair, depending on who you talk to) wasn't showing up as "ready" on the smog computer. That mechanic gave me the number for the California Bureau of Automotive Repair Smog Referee (swear to God, that's the official title of them). Apparently, they can officially bypass a non-critical sensor (which this supposedly is) and take the smog readings that way. The only problem is that the State of California doesn't currently have a budget in place. And with a judge staying The Governator's executive order cutting the pay of state employees, they've done the next best thing and furloughed nonessential employees. And what do you know about that...it includes my featherplucking smog referees! So I can't even schedule an appointment with them until the Legislature and the Governator agree on a budget. Which is really frustrating because the car seems to run fine (with the new fuel pump, natch), and gets between 26 and 30 mpg on my trip up to Riverside, depending on how much I put my foot into it. At this rate, it may wind up being easier to just fix the air pump and be done with it. We shall see...

At least this past Saturday was enjoyable. Went out to Cal State San Marcos for the 12th Annual Stone Brewing Invitational Beer Festival. Outrageously good time. Excellent beer, great food, scaldingly hot girls, what's not to love? And no, DAPGF wasn't there, hence the enjoyment of the visually appealing female attendees. Relax, nothing untoward happened...it was just that certain aspects of the scenery were exceptionally enjoyable to view. In the interests of not being labeled a stalker, I didn't take any pics of the scenery. However, here are a few random shots of the event:

Made it to the gym tonight. Another casualty of all this work and car drama is I've barely gotten to the gym 5 or 6 times since the beginning of July. And as a result of that, I've packed on 10 pounds that I'd so recently gotten rid of! Damn you job! And damn you car! And damn you smog referees! I also haven't even been to the driving range in like 3 or 4 months. Maybe the bad habits in my swing will have been forgotten and I can relearn how to play properly! Who knows? In any respect, I'd recharged and reloaded the MP3 player, and really came across a broad mix of stuff to listen to while picking up heavy shit and putting it back down. The last five songs I heard at the gym tonight:

Disturbed - A Welcome Burden
Prince - Let's Go Crazy
The Alarm - The Road
REO Speedwagon - Riding The Storm Out
Toad the Wet Sprocket - So Alive

I used to listen to a bunch of the classic rock and alternative stuff when I rode the train, so I shuffled some of it into the mix for something different.

Poker. I managed to play in several SNGs and a couple of MTTs on Stars tonight. Boy did I get my ass handed to me. The brain just wasn't in it, and I made several stupid moves. That being said, this hand is pretty indicative of how my night went:

Dealt to iamhoff [5s Ac]
ZXBOOGYMAN: folds
w.t. spartan: raises 400 to 600
iamhoff: calls 420 and is all-in
vetstud: folds
berserk37: folds
fioreB: folds
Brueske1: folds
red99971: folds
Uncalled bet (180) returned to w.t. spartan
*** FLOP *** [8h 3d 8d]
*** TURN *** [8h 3d 8d] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3d 8d 2h] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
w.t. spartan: shows [Ah 3s] (a full house, Eights full of Threes)
iamhoff: shows [5s Ac] (three of a kind, Eights)
w.t. spartan collected 1140 from pot

Hell, I was in one of the $4.40 180s and wound up with these stats:

You finished in 82nd place (eliminated at hand #19750068756).

33 hands played and saw flop:
- 0 times out of 4 while in small blind (0%)
- 1 times out of 4 while in big blind (25%)
- 7 times out of 25 in other positions (28%)
- a total of 8 times out of 33 (24%)

Pots won at showdown - 0 out of 1 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

24% is at the high end of average for percentage of flops seen, but I don't think it was outrageous, and I wasn't playing pure pot odds and calling with a 92off just because there were 6 limpers in front of me. It was simply a baaaad night on the tables.

Car issues notwithstanding, I seem to be getting a handle on the work thing, so hopefully I can get back into a steady blogging routine (hell, Twitter is saving my ass in that respect), and find my groove on the felt. See ya out there! If you can't make it, then you should really check out the best online poker games on the net. You can play all your favourite games at this top casino online. They have the best odds, and everything from slots and bingo to plenty of information about roulette and blackjack strategy.

July has kinda been teh suck

2008-07-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

Pretty much an entire month spent searching for a decent beater car to commute in. All my spare time on teh interwebs was spent on Autotrader.com and Craigslist, and time that would've gone for such things as golf, gym, or buying groceries. Certainly there's been very little time on the digital felt. Finally I thought I'd found one, in a 1997 BMW 328i. Salvage title, but it was straight and ran smooth. It had its scars and problems, but it was loaded, only showed 81k on the odometer, and the airbags were still in it. And because of the salvage title, the price was phenomenally low. As it turns out, one of the critical things that needs fixing is preventing me from getting the car smogged and registered here in Cali. I've spent days visiting several garages and repair shops who admittedly work with the guy who sold me the car and have cut me good deals to do work on it. Finally, after spending 5 hours standing in the sun at a wrecking yard in Chula Vista on Tuesday (and not feeling the earthquake because I was too far south), the check engine light was out and (supposedly) the vacuum leak was fixed. It was the end of the day, so I couldn't get over to the guy who I was referred to for smog, and Wednesday I was up in Riverside County, and I'd already made an appointment to get the Jeep in for an oil change and brakes on Thursday. So Friday it would be. Except for when I left work Thursday afternoon, the damn check engine light was on again! I pulled over and lifted the hood. I did check and sure enough, the engine was there. But the light remains. So Friday morning (probably 8 hours from now, which is currently 12:23 a.m.) I'll go back to the yard in Chula Vista to see if they can band-aid my car together enough to pass smog. If they do and there's enough time in the day, I'm going straight to the smog shop to get it smogged. Once that's done, registration and plates are mine! Then I'll probably sell the damn thing. We shall see...

Thursday evening, for a change of pace, DAPGF went out for drinks with a friend, so Hoff had some time for the poker machine. I managed to play 3 sngs, the first of which was one of those "Super Turbos" that are on Full Tilt, in which I managed to place second. That was the end of my luck, because the next one, an 18 player SNG had this result:

Yeah, it's always fun to get your aces cracked. Aaaaaannnnd Hoff is sent to the rail. So SNG #3. Maybe this time will give me a shot.

Yeah, it's always fun to flip the carsd over and realize that you've got your opponent dominated. And then they catch a 2 outer on the turn to really screw you in the ass.

I'm tired and I'm going to bed. See ya out there!

Assorted Stuff

2008-07-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the new gig at work is keeping me teh busy. No more cushy train ride for me...now it's a 130 mile round trip drive in the gas pig Jeep! Boooo! No train service near the new client, so Hoff is SOL. I've spent the past week and nearly the entire weekend looking at older Accords, Camrys, Eclipses, Preludes, Integras, etc., hoping to find a not too expensive beater that will get me 25-30 mpg that I can drive the wheels off of. So far, no such luck. I know the cars I'm looking at are old and high mileage, but I've owned old and high mileage before...doesn't anybody know how to take care of their cars these days? This week will be more looking, and hopefully purchasing. The Jeep's fuel economy is bad enough, but this is absolutely going to destroy the mileage cap of my lease if I don't do something. Sigh. Anybody out there own a nice 5 speed mid-90s Honda Accord they want to part with? Shoot me an email at iamhoff at the gmail dot commie.

Poker. Due to the aforementioned automotive issues and job issues, it's been a while since I jumped onto the tables. So with DAPGF out with friends tonight and with it too late to call people about their crappy cars on Craigslist and Auto Trader, I decided to jump into some micro-limit ring on FT. Just a little .05/.10 to scratch the itch. I do a min buy-in of $4, and sit down at UTG+1. I thought about waiting until I hit the BB, but I wanted to play, so I posted my BB. And the first hand goes like this:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [9d 7h]
dredayp5 raises to $0.20
iamhoff calls $0.10
georgiarealtor folds
poeticinterlude folds
MagBoy TNT calls $0.20
chadd17 folds
mpingel1981 folds
conanav calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [7s 9c Qd]
conanav checks
dredayp5 bets $0.85
iamhoff raises to $3.10
MagBoy TNT calls $1.90, and is all in
conanav folds
dredayp5 raises to $14.65, and is all in
iamhoff calls $0.70, and is all in
dredayp5 shows [Jh Js]
iamhoff shows [9d 7h]
MagBoy TNT shows [Jd Qs]
Uncalled bet of $10.85 returned to dredayp5
*** TURN *** [7s 9c Qd] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [7s 9c Qd 4h] [Kc]
dredayp5 shows a pair of Jacks
iamhoff shows two pair, Nines and Sevens
iamhoff wins the side pot ($3.45) with two pair, Nines and Sevens
MagBoy TNT shows a pair of Queens
iamhoff wins the main pot ($5.90) with two pair, Nines and Sevens

Well hot-freaking-damn! That's the way to start a session. I only hung around for a few hands, saw a couple of flops that went nowhere, and ultimately subscribed to the Pauly rule of "hit it and quit it". And I left with my slightly better than double up inside of 3 minutes. Fun is where you find it, peeps.

Went and saw the movie Hancock on Friday. I wasn't sure what to expect given the deviation from Will Smith's usual good-guy 4th of July fare (see Independence Day, Men in Black, etc.), but I was surprisingly pleased. He's a great actor, and to see him playing what likely amounts to a superhero version of Alcanthang (in reality, we all know that Al is a hero unlike any other...SoCo Man!!!) was actually pretty damn funn-ay! And as a bonus, we got out of the flick just in time to drive up to the top of Mt. Soledad in La Jolla (just a short way from Casa de Hoff) where we had nearly a 360 degree view of San Diego, and the finales of 4 or 5 different fireworks shows. Good stuff.

As a slight change of pace, instead of the last 5 songs I heard at the gym this morning, let's go with the first 5 songs...which ones served to pump me up. I added a bunch of tracks to the mp3 player, so I manually created a playlist, started with one particular song, and shuffled the rest. I was not disappointed.

Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie
Pantera - Mouth For War
Testament - Electric Crown
The Vines - Ride

FWIW, the next 5 were equally motivating:

Megadeth - High Speed Dirt
Iron Maiden - Invaders
Iced Earth - Declaration Day
W.A.S.P. - Blind in Texas
Babylon A.D. - Hammer Swings Down

Only made it to the beach once over the weekend (looking at cars most of the time), and the waves kinda sucked. Still, I was at the beach enjoying the San Diego weather (and massively attractive scenery, and yes, that's one of the lifeguards!)

and lots of other people weren't. Life ain't too bad, I suppose. Stay classy, peeps!

Random Thoughts From a Busy Week and Weekend

2008-06-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Got no poker playing in last week. Z-E-R-O. So it was a good time for the bankroll. The main culprits? Work, Dad, and DAPGF.

Work is really in a weird state of flux. My assignment in Santa Ana came to an end on Friday. This is good for two reasons. One, I no longer have to go to Santa Ana. Two, I'm no longer bound by the inflexibility of the train. Three reasons why this is bad. One, I actually enjoyed riding on the train. I made some good friends, I could nap or read a book (or even, God forbid, work), and Amtrak serves liquor, including Arrogant Bastard Ale! Two, the work was super easy. And three, now I have to drive out to the Lake Elsinore area of Riverside County! At 14.5 mpg in my gas pig Jeep. I do get reimbursed for mileage, but the Jeep is a lease and I fully expect to rack up somewhere between $2500 and $5000 in mileage overcharges over the remaining 9 months of the lease. The reason I'm not sure what the mileage charge is going to be is my boss still hasn't told me definitively how much I'll be out there. We've known about this project and client for the past month, and I still have no idea what the schedule is. As of Friday around 10 a.m., I was scheduled to be up there by noon on Monday (I have a meeting with another client here in San Diego first). I got an email at 5:03 pm on Friday from my boss, saying "I think we are free on Monday. I'll call over the weekend to coordinate." What the hell does that mean? And then beyond that, I don't know if I'm there one day per week or five days per week. Last week my boss said that at least for the first month it would just be the two of us handling this project. Which implies that I'm there 5 days per week. So long story short, I spent a bunch of time closing out one project, prepping for the new project, and in an effort to minimize fuel and mileage costs, me and DAPGF spent a bunch of time over the weekend looking for a beater car (early 90s Honda Accord, etc.) that will get 25-30 mpg and I can drive the wheels off of. Of course I couldn't find something to make a deal on, so I get to keep wasting time looking for a commuter box. Meh. Dad is also in a state of flux. As most of you know, my mom passed away a little over a year ago from cancer. What that has meant for my Dad (among many obvious things) is that he has felt that the house that my family has lived in for the past 19 years was both too big and too expensive for a single retired person. So he's been trying to sell it for the past few months. And at the beginning of June he accepted an offer on it. So we then went thru the drama of figuring out what his plans were. Stay in San Diego? Move someplace else where there's mountain streams to fish in? He wants to do the fishing thing, and he wants to move someplace cheaper than California, San Diego in particular. The Carson Valley area of Nevada seems to be a leading choice. But there are still a few variables in the mix, so he decided to rent a place in San Diego for a year, to give him time to figure things out. So we had to find a place. Then came this past week. First we had to help him pack stuff up. Then we had to help him move his stuff (he did have movers for the big stuff). Then we had to help him unpack. And by "we" I mean me (and DAPGF). He's in a very nice condo, about 2 miles from the house, so we'll see what happens. Finally DAPGF. She was actually the least impactful in one way, but hugely impactful to my poker time in another. There was only one issue, but it was time critical. DAPGF teaches one night a week at a local technical college. That is a night that I typically play some poker. I went off to work on Tuesday, all set to go to the gym after work to pick up heavy shit and put it back down, and then play me some poker. And I get a call while I'm on the train from DAPGF. It seems she had her schedule mixed up, and the summer session didn't start for another 2 weeks. So she wasn't going to teach, so we were going to have dinner, and I wasn't going to get to play poker. Uber-meh. Quite the week. Hopefully I can get a work schedule locked up, and then figure out what to do for a car. Then I might actually find the time to jump on the digital tables and sling some chips around. We'll see. For a change of pace on Friday, I shuffled up some Southern Rock on the mp3 player. The last five songs to come up on my way home for the last time from Santa Ana: ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide Great White - Step On You .38 Special - Wild Eyed Southern Boys Eagles - In The City (Live) Jackson Browne - Running On Empty

Friday, DAPGF got us tickets to see Bonfire, an "early AC/DC tribute band" play at the House of Blues. As you might expect, there are several such bands named Bonfire, and this one is apparently out of LA. They actually freaking rocked! They totally looked and dressed the parts, but the best thing out of all of it was that the guy who was supposed to be Angus Young actually looked kind of like Gavin Smith! You be the judge:

Who knew?

On Saturday, we went and saw the movie, Wanted. Freaking awesome! Killer action sequences, lots of death and violence, and Angelina Jolie's naked ass! That's all you need to know. And with that, it's time for bed.

See you out there, peeps.

Hey! Real Poker Content! And Bonus Non-Poker Content!

2008-06-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

DAPGF went to Vegas without me! Something's wrong about that situation, if you ask me. Actually, she left on Thursday and went to some conference or something. So the next best thing (at least given gas prices here in San Diego...$4.79/gal?!?) was to fire up the poker machine and see what might happen. I dinked around in a couple of freerolls on Tilt...a $75 token frenzy I lasted to 48th but only the top 6 payed, and the daily Razz freeroll. I actually did ok on the Razz, but once the blinds got up to (I think) 400/800, I got dealt (A2)3. I completed the bring-in and got raised and reraised. Well, I'm not going to give up A23, so I called. Then I got a 7, another round of capped betting, and then a 9 plus the betting. I wound up doing no better than A2379, and bled off almost half of my stack. Very next hand I get (45)2. I just called the bring-in, but the betting still got capped. I caught an ace on 4th Street, so I led out. Again, betting got capped. Then I caught a 5. It paired my hole card, but I figured with A25 showing maybe I could scare somebody. Nope. Then I paired my Ace. My only hope is the river, but I bricked with a K, and dropped from 17th out of 1300 down to somewhere in the 1200s. 3 hands later I get dealt (A6)5 and reraised until I was all in. No luck, and I went out in something like 1251st.

While doing that, I caught a 10 FPP $500 tourney on Stars. I was actually doing rather well in that. 3300 runners, top 648 paid. I was doing so well that I actually caught the hammer in the BB, and rivered 2 pair to take down a small pot. Another hand was this one:

Dealt to iamhoff [9h Kd]
rolled up22: folds
yeltrah22: calls 150
TVDad: calls 150
bthomas59: folds
Prunejuice13: folds
webmoosh: folds
TL_TUCKER: folds
iamhoff: calls 75 (2 limpers ahead of me, I'll call a K9off from the SB)
Zoppo: checks
*** FLOP *** [9d 6s Ks] (Booooom!!)
iamhoff: bets 150 (just a min-bet to see where I am)
Zoppo: calls 150
yeltrah22: folds
TVDad: calls 150
*** TURN *** [9d 6s Ks] [3d]
iamhoff: bets 450 (pretend C-bet of just under half the pot, represent a weak K, which I sort of have)
Zoppo: folds
TVDad: calls 450
*** RIVER *** [9d 6s Ks 3d] [9c] (cha-ching!)
iamhoff: bets 750 (I was actually trying to bet enough to put him all in, but I had 3 tourneys going and the bet timers were beeping on all of them, fortunately he just decided to shove)
TVDad: raises 75 to 825 and is all-in
iamhoff: calls 75
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TVDad: shows [9s As] (three of a kind, Nines)
iamhoff: shows [9h Kd] (a full house, Nines full of Kings)
iamhoff collected 3600 from pot (ship it, beeyotch!)

Then I had to see if JJ really was OK. Turns out it was.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Jh Js]
midnightluv8 is connected
iamhoff: raises 1200 to 1600
rolled up22: folds
yeltrah22: folds
Ede2001: folds
bthomas59: folds
Prunejuice13: folds
webmoosh: folds
TL_TUCKER: folds
Uncalled bet (1200) returned to iamhoff
iamhoff collected 1200 from pot

Then the wheels started to fall off:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Tc Qd]
rolled up22: folds
yeltrah22: folds
Ede2001: folds
bthomas59: raises 355 to 755 and is all-in
Prunejuice13: folds
webmoosh: folds
TL_TUCKER: folds
iamhoff: calls 555 (from the SB, with my stack, how can I not call this)
midnightluv8: calls 355
*** FLOP *** [Qs Ts 4d] (Booom!!)
iamhoff: bets 1600 (2/3 of the pot to start the sidepot seemed sufficient)
midnightluv8: calls 1600
*** TURN *** [Qs Ts 4d] [5h]
iamhoff: bets 2400 (time to put him all in or make him fold)
midnightluv8: calls 1785 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (615) returned to iamhoff
*** RIVER *** [Qs Ts 4d 5h] [Kd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
iamhoff: shows [Tc Qd] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
midnightluv8: shows [9s Jc] (a straight, Nine to King) (and he chases his OESD and catches one of his outs on the river. Didn't I hear that online poker is rigged? I must have read it on the internet or something)
midnightluv8 collected 6770 from side pot
bthomas59: shows [9h 8h] (high card King)
midnightluv8 collected 2490 from main pot

Then I got sucked in by a really good slowplay:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to iamhoff [Qc As]
webmoosh: folds
TL_TUCKER: calls 600
iamhoff: calls 600 (the last two hands I watched him limp AJs and ATs, so I figured I'd limp along and see if I connected to the flop first, which was my first mistake)
midnightluv8: folds
rolled up22: folds
yeltrah22: calls 600
Ede2001: folds
5feet: folds
Prunejuice13: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah Kd 4h]
Prunejuice13: checks
TL_TUCKER: bets 600
iamhoff: calls 600 (Ok. On his last hand, when he hit the flop, he min-bet, so I put him on a medium ace, but not AK...even for him I'd expect more preflop)
yeltrah22: folds
Prunejuice13: folds
*** TURN *** [Ah Kd 4h] [Kc]
TL_TUCKER: bets 600
iamhoff: calls 600 (another min-bet, he must be on a weak ace and worried about his kicker, or he's on a draw to Broadway or hearts...didn't even give him credit for a K)
*** RIVER *** [Ah Kd 4h Kc] [8c]
TL_TUCKER: bets 3000
iamhoff: calls 3000 (Noooooo! He didn't have the K, dammit! Did he? Crying call time)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TL_TUCKER: shows [Kh Jd] (three of a kind, Kings)
iamhoff: mucks hand (and that's how you slowplay, or in my case, how you get greedy and try to suck up more chips than your hand is worth)

The very next hand I'm down to 2 and a half BBs and I'm UTG. I look down to see a s0000ted Tourist (A7), so I figure I may as well take my chances and shove. I got called by two runners. I flopped a 7 to keep me ahead of the dude playing A8off, but the other villain was playing Cowboys, and IGH in 777th, a little outside the money. Not the finish I was hoping for, but not a bad showing.

I went to the gym on Monday. My gym is located in the University Towne Centre area of La Jolla, an area very full of itself as evidenced by the "e" at the end of both Town and Center. So it's a bucks up area. It's also the closest major gym to UC San Diego. So I see the rich, cougar housewives and the sorority co-eds, with a typical ratio of 65 to 35, hot to not so much. Monday, though, I'm not sure what happened. Easily 95 percent scaldingly hot beautiful babies in there, sweating away. I'm not sure how I didn't drop the bench press bar on my neck or fall off the elliptical trainer. I really (no, really!) needed a cold shower when I got home. There's normally plenty of "Hotts", but it was like there was a convention in town or something.

Last 5 tunes to shuffle up at the gym:

Armored Saint - Can U Deliver
Testament - Electric Chair
Cinderella - Somebody Save Me
Disturbed - 10,000 Fists
Metallica - Frayed Ends of Sanity

Last 5 tunes to shuffle up on the train ride home today:

Aquabats - Super Rad!
Extreme - Do You Wanna Play?
Simple Plan - I'd Do Anything
Buck O' Nine - My Town
Sprung Monkey - Get 'Em Outta Here

Enjoy the weekend, peeps! It's hot here, so I'm at the beach! Bring on the waves!