CitiField and Yankee Stadium highlights

I came across a neat comparison of these two new stadiums the other day. 

 

CitiField harkens back to Ebbets Field and the old days of New York National League baseball

Yankee Stadium harkens back to the history of the Yankees. 

 

CitiField has the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, a tribute to a breakthrough player in the history of the game.

Yankee Stadium has the great hall, with tributes to the greats in Yankees history.

 

CitiField has the modern ballpark traits with lots of quirks (short backstop, overhang in RF, outfield wall dimensions)

Yankee Stadium resembles its historic predecessor

 

CitiField has tons of dining options including Shake Shack, BBQ, Taqueria, Catch o' the Day along with all the traditional ballpark fare

Yankee Stadium has plenty of options including a Martini Bar, sushi, sit-down restaurants and all the traditional ballpark fare.

 

CitiField has a wiffle ball field for the kids, plus a couple of batting practice cages where everyone can take a cut.

Yankee Stadium has batting practice too...right on the field...for the opposing team!!!

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!!!

AIPS Stud Recap

Here's a quick summary of the interesting hands from AIPS tonight.

...

That's it. There were none. I overplayed buried QQ early like a mook, ran into 2 pair. Got back above average and never won a pot again. Had no hands, no flush draws, no reasonable straight hands, and a table full of aggros that are primed for the picking - if you can get something to pick them with.

Utter waste of time and effort. Stud is a thinking man's game and I never had the cards or the situations to think.

Turning Stone Highlights and Lowlights

Look at me, banging out three blog posts today.  Huzzah!

 

Five of us from our homegame piled in for the ride out to Turning Stone on Saturday AM for the 11AM $70 + $15 + $5 +$2 donkament.  That's $70 for the prize pool, $15 for the house, $5 for the dealers and $2 for the Indian tribe and/or New York State.  I <3 NY Indeed.  :-/  We threw in a simple $5 last longer bet just for shits n giggles. 

 

My seat assignment: Table 7, Seat 2.  Seven-Deuce.  Not off to a good start here. 

 

5k chips to start.  Blinds up every 20 minutes.  25/50 to start...400/800/100 to start hour 3 so get going quickly. 

 

It's apparent right off the bat that Seat 3 is going to splash around quite a bit early on.  He tables a Q6o bluff early in the festivities.  This sets the stage for the first hand of note.  At 50/100 with just about all my starting stack left, in the SB I have JJ.  There are four limpers.  I'd raise this 100% of the time from late position, but with a bunch of limpers plus this crazy guy to my left in the BB, I could get stuck here.  Plus, it's early.  So I just limp in.  Sure enough, the crazy guy pops it up to 800.  It folds around to me.  My decision is reraise or fold.  I'm trying to figure out if he was setting the table up with his Q6 play earlier, or if he's just trying to steal from the limpers here.  Well I hate JJ and I hate being first to act and it's only 2% of my stack gone here (1% given the SB that I'm in for) so I toss it.  He tables T5o.  Nice bet, sir.  Well at least I know that he's willing to run bluffs more than once. 

 

From there I built the stack up to appx 8000 chips.  Stole a couple of times.  Flopped pretty good a couple of times.  Just generally chose my spots well.  I crafted a TAG image (emphasis on the "T") and it helped.  One interesting hand against the aforementioned villain-to-the-left.  It's 100/200 and it folds to me in the SB where I find KQh.  Villain says he's going to raise (he kept talking all.  day.  long. ) and so I bump it to 450.  He makes it 1000 and I call.  Flop is Q-high and I check, hoping to induce a bet.  He checks behind.  Hmmm.  Turn completes a straight draw.  Check-check.  River is a K and completes more straights plus a flush.  Check-check again and he insta-tables KT.  I flip over the KQ, much to his chagrin. 

 

I kept getting A-x hands in EP where "x" was tempting but not awe-inspiring.  Threw away AQ, AT, AJ from EP.  I did make a play - based primarily off my image - with A8s from UTG+3 as I recall.  C-bet the flop that missed me and took one down.  The biggest problem was that the villain above and the guy to his left amassed megastacks.  Both were splashing around and both were card racks (88>KK>AQ, rivered flushes, etc.). 

 

The hand that hurt follows.  Perhaps that A8s hand above clouded my judgment.  At the 300/600/75 level, I raised to 2000 from UTG+1 w/ AQs.  I'm hoping to win this without any conflict.  Alas, MP calls and cutoff shoves for 3200 total.  I call as does MP.  Flop is J-high.  Turn is a rag and River is a J.  It checks to the river.  MP flips over 88 and CO strikes gold with AJ.  Standard.  Now I'm down near 4k chips as we head to the break*.

 

* One of the guys from the homegame, let's call him Loose Passive, somehow has 1300 chips still in front of him at the start of the 15 minute break.  So he heads out for the restroom.  And from there, he's interested in finding where the gift shop is.  So he heads off to find it.  And he begins to realize what time it is.  So he heads back for the poker room.  Only he cannot find it.  Yes, kids, he got lost inside Turning Stone**.  While he was away, he got blinded off.  Now it's not like he was going to do anything with that stack anyways, but you've got to at least be there to breathe your last breath. 

 

** I've been to a couple Atlantic City casinos.  I've been to Pala near San Diego.  I've been to Cherokee in Tulsa.  I've been to Mandalay and Venetian in Vegas.  I've been to a couple overseas as well.  Save for Pala - which didn't have a poker room - none of them are as small as Turning Stone.  The poker room is right in the middle of the entire gaming area.  Suffice it to say I will never fully understand how or why he got lost for 10+ minutes of action. 

 

Back from break, I'm in MP and I toss two straight A-rag hands in the muck.  Now the blinds are 400/800/100 so I can't wait forever here.  Then, in UTG+1, I find Ac3c and ship it in.  Player two to my left calls, asks if I have a pair, and now I know he has AK.  It folds around.  And doesn't the donk in me flop a 3 to take it down. 

 

I'm alive.  By this point, I've won the last longer bet, but it's the farthest thing from my mind.  I need to get chips and get deep into this beyotch. 

 

Two hands later, the guy w/ AK from above shoves from UTG.  It folds around to me in the SB and I have KJo.  I've got him well-covered and make the call.  Once again, I'm up against AJ.  Christ.  Can't escape that fucking hand.  Knocks me down to around 3500 again. 

 

Table change.  I slide over to my new seat, throw away a couple hands, then look down at 22.  I think about it but fold it.  When that flop comes down 4d 2h 6h, I'm livid at myself.  Question for the loyal readers (reader?) - shove there with ducks and only 5BB left? 

 

Well next hand with only 2800 chips, UTG limps in and I shove with JJ.  UTG is not very pleased with me, but WTF am I supposed to do with 3BBs?  I get one caller and am hoping it's Ax.  Instead it's QQ.  To make matters worse, two players feel the need to inform me they folded a jack.  The miracle doesn't happen and I'm out 56th. 

 

I feel that I played too tight at times, but my decent hands were mostly in EP.  I feel that I played too loose with that AQ hand from EP, but with the blinds rocketing upward, I had to get some action at some point.  Overall I thought I played patient but aggressive poker - limping a little but not way too much.  With the two aggro-guys with mega-stacks to my left, I was hoping to stumble into a monster and milk some of those chips over my way.  Never happened. 

 

The self-proclaimed best player in our game was first out.  He saw a free flop w/ Qd9d, called a bet on the turn, then on the river the flush got there, as did a straight or two.  He checks.  Two villains remaining.  First one bets 1000 chips, second one calls that.  Neighbor comes over-the-top all in.  First player folds, other insta-calls with the nut flush.  Two questions:

a) I'm more than happy to check-call this down or lead out and see if someone raises back.  If you're raised, you have to believe you're beaten and you can throw it away - he would've had 3500 chips left.

b) WTF is the guy with the nut flush doing calling the first bet there and not trying to value bet it?  Maybe the neighbor had an uber-tell.  Hmmmmm.  I asked the neighbor what he would've done if the nut flush raised in front of him there, and he said he still would've gone broke.  Wow.  File that one away for the next time I have the nuts. 

Misclick

Haven't we all done this...clicked call when we wanted to fold or clicked check when we wanted to bet?

 

Well I've never done this in a 500k pot, for obvious reasons.  But Negreanu has!

 

His directs are an interesting thread.  Long weekend of partying in Toronto.  A flight to Vegas followed up with a whole day of online poker.  Geez, you think he might get a little delirious as the day and night went on? 

 

Questionable decision making.  Yeah, he can afford to piss away a buy-in like this in a snap of a finger, but if you're going to commit this kind of time to a tourney, shouldn't you at least be reasonably prepared - physically and mentally? 

Spitzer

It's too bad he had to go poon-hunting, because Spitzer was one of the few tough enough and smart enough to identify and disrupt all the financial system bullshit that was going on for years.  Those greedy fuckers hated him for it, but he was right. 

How Politics and the Stock Market Interact

Simple primer: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017299.php

 

Just so we're clear, here's a helpful guide to the rules of market watching, as they relate to partisan politics:

When the market went down on Bush's watch before the 2008 elections, this was Bill Clinton's fault.

When the market went down on Bush's watch between November 2008 and January 2009, this was Barack Obama's fault.

When the market went down during Obama's first seven weeks in office, this was definitely Barack Obama's fault.

And when the market rallies on Obama's watch during the second week in March, George W. Bush deserves at least some of the credit.

And when the Dow is back at 14,000 in a few years, Obama will have generated none of that. 

 

 

Sometimes I wish I were conservative-minded so I could just check all logic at the door and carry on inside a fantasy land.

Will the real Peter Eastgate...

Lookie here, the World Champion seated three to my right. ;)

AIPS PLO

Man what a complete waste of time.  And I cashed. 

One hand of note in the first hour - with KQJT, the flop came QTT, I led out for like 2/3 pot and got two callers.  Wonderful.  Turn is a K giving me a slightly better boat.  This was only limped preflop so I'm not the least bit afraid of a bigger boat than mine.  I pot it, a guy thinks and then flips over...the flush draw...on a paired board.  ye Gods.  This got me going. 

Had it over 7k chips and up to, I think, 5th overall.   Then I slowly died off.  I had no intentions of limping past the bubble - I really wanted to build a stack and get deep in this event - but I could not find a playable situation to save my life.  Either someone raised in front of me or I was dealt shit.  Usually both.  A couple of idiots were SOOO obviously raising light and I was just waiting, dying to trap them.  Never happened. 

Went out when I potted it UTG w/ QQ45 double-suited.  I was about to get crippled by the blinds anyway.  I ran into KKxx and a flopped set of 9s.  Good night. 

Part of it is the game itself.  PLO is freaking nuts.  Part of it is the field.  It's a hard enough game to play against people who know what they're doing, but when you're playing against people who chase with allsortsashit, watch out.  Waaayyy too much variance for my liking. 

I go to bed now.

Home Game: Brunson FTW!!

Eight entrants in Friday's homegame. I'm in it for the POY race - I can make more $ in an hour or two at a weak PLO table (glad I rediscovered that thought) - so I'm here to try and get the W.

I draw a pretty good seat. To my right is a loose/passive player who literally is in pajama pants and said that he was going to turn in for the night but at the last minute decided to come. I know exactly what he's going to do and I'm going to stay out of his way. To my left is a loose/passive calling-station. Nos 2, 3, and 4 to my left are probably the three best players here (present company excluded?) and I like being in front of them and getting to dictate the action with some strong raises.

One problem - I didn't get all that much to play. In the first rotation, I pick up AA in the big blind. Five limpers and it comes to me.

Now, I had three thoughts headed into this night.
a) Wait for a safe turn. Too many times last month I flopped a strong hand, bet out, and scared everyone away. I'd like to try to lure others in with the second best hand against a monster. Also, too many times I build a pot on the flop with a good hand and get called or raised by a better hand. Tonight - I want to feel things out a little longer.
b) Play a big hand "loudly". This is to capitalize on my image. I want to pick up a monster - a set, for example - and talk about it like a monster. I'm quiet in this game, and that's known, and I think I'll set up future opportunities to steal some things.
c) Play a big hand "tricky". I want to slow-play a big hand in an awkward situation, trying to elicit some oohs and aahs when it gets showed down.

Back to the hand, the AA is my opportunity to play it tricky. A big raise with 5 limpers screams AA, KK or AK and I'll probably take down just the blinds. So I check my option. Flop is K-high, rainbow and probably as good as I can hope for. I lead out to see where things stand, and the one caller is a player who would call w/ a K in his hand or a decent draw...raise with anything better than a pair...and fold with squat. I know how he plays, so when he calls and all others fold, I know exactly where I stand. He calls on the turn as well and when the spade draw gets there, it goes check-check and I take down a pot.

And that's about it for the first three hours. Seriously, I might have gotten over 10k chips (we have 7k per player) and never got far below 7k if at all. I tried running one bluff and got it picked off - probably got away as cheaply as I could. Luckboxed one hand where I held 85(BB) on an 8-high flop, then turned and rivered 5s to get a boat which was well ahead of Q8 (or something like it).

Basically, I treaded water as we got down to four remaining.

It was time to kick it up a notch, but as it got to four-handed, the opportunity never arose. When the LAG who had 1/2 the chips in play crashed and burned in 4th, it was now time. The guy four to my left was still around, with a stack like mine, and another good player who started two to my right - now one to my right - was the chip leader with probably 2/3 of the chips in play.

No calling stations left here, so I go on a shoving spree, albeit with a pretty good series of starting hands, and get back into it. Soon, with JQo in my hand, I check my option and see a J34 flop. I bet out, the other short-stack shoves and I call. He has nothing but a paired 3 and now it's heads up. With the steals and with this elimination, I probably have 1/3 to 2/5 of the chips in play. Still need some help.

Heads up, there's more stealing from me, little if any back at me, and after a dozen or so hands, we're about even. Then the deciding hand. I see a freebie with the Brunson (T2) and the flop is T82 with two diamonds. I bet it and my opponent shoves. I instacall and he's got the flush draw. Just need to fade a diamond...'til a 10 shows up on the turn. This gives me about 52k of the 56k chips in play, and I win w/ 10-high on the next hand.

I was patient, I was aggressive when I had to be, and I was lucky to not get unlucky in all that shoving or in the fewer times where I was up against a drawing hand.

Never really got to test the "wait for a safe turn" premise - perhaps next time.
Never really got to test the "play a big hand loudly" premise. I'm still intrigued by that one in this particular environment.

Running Good...Playing Good

OK, grammar junkies, I'm playing well.

Tis been a decent online week. I tripled up my buy-in at a low level 6 handed PLHE table the other night. My oh my I'd forgotten how good these games can get.
* Button-raised w/ A6o, flopped the A, turned the 6 and took a sizeable pot off the guy who couldn't release A4.
* Cutoff raised w/ KK. Button and both blinds called. Hmmm. Made 1/2 pot bet on Qc 2s 8s flop and just the button stuck around. I put him all-in on the 9h turn and he flips over JJ. wp, sir.
* My AA outlasted the same guy's KK soon thereafter.
* The next nice pot came from the SB w/ 77. Button limped, as did I. Flop 3s 3h Kh. I bet out 2/3 pot just to see if anyone has the K, with every intention to insta-fold if it's played back at me. I get a fold and a call. Turn is a 7 and I have the boat. Suh-weet. I check it and he checks behind. Seemingly harmless 8s on the river. I lead out and get raised. oohhh. I re-raise and he goes in the tank, finally calling with Kd Td.
* Won a couple smallish pots to get over 3x the original buy-in. The best part about the session was that I lost no sizeable pots. I released in situations where there was the scent of trouble, and just waited for the right situations to chip up through others and pick off foolish c-bets and the like.

I took 3rd in a SNG that night, doing nothing of note for the first 45 minutes, then doubling up through a guy who got sporty with 76s when I had KJo in the BB and <10BBs to go. Finally when it's four-handed and I have 6BBs, I open shove with the motherlode...6c 9h. I get called by Qd Kc and I donkishly flop a 9 to double up. From there I fold into the money and fade away in 3rd.

Put up a noble fight in a SNG last night, falling victim when it was 5-handed and I had 9BBs left. I called a min-raise from a character who had been playing all sortsashit all night. Me - I had 6c 7d and I'm hoping to pick this guy off. Flop is a dangerous Qh Qs Jc and it goes check-check. Turn is 6s and I'm a shovin, only to find AQ behind Door #2. Boof.

Picked off a $10 SNG thereafter, with a mook on each side of me. Kept waiting to trap them, then when they both vanished and it was heads-up, I pulled some shit out of my ass against a good player. He didn't deserve it...the mooks did.

Tonight, I got in an interesting chatwar with some mook. I called his preflop minraise and then check-shoved on the flop when he led out very weakly (something like 35% of the pot). This was screaming of a missed Ax or a middling pocket pair. The board was 3d Kc 5d and all I had was bottom pair/top kicker, but it was enough. After he mucked, I just said that "i had AJ beat." Well...I DID. But it set him off. He then did something no fool has ever done before...he tried to turn into an analyst. Even rewarded a guy for making a call of a shortstack's all-in when the caller had 22. Told him it was a "good call" because it was a "coin flip". Now that's the kind of insight you just don't get anywhere.

Anyway, made it to heads up after the mouth got bounced by a runner-runner flush. The villain here has been pretty LAGgy so I'm just waiting for the right spot. Second heads-up hand I have AdQd in the BB and he open shoves. Fuckyes. Instacall and he tables Qs 7s. Well doesn't the bastard flop the spade draw, turn a gutter...and then hit the 7 on the river to take me out.

Whatever. I'm playing well, making better decisions on when to be aggressive and when to wait. Plus I'm getting some more opportunities with good-but-not-stellar hands to do some stealing when it gets short. I'm waiting for hands where I can fall back on something and not just recklessly shoving.

I'll change gears for the second home game in a week tomorrow night and just pray I draw a better seat than last time.