Too little, too late.

Clem : [talking to fire extinguisher] Hey, You're talking to me all wrong here. It's the wrong tone. You better watch it, or I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron. Hey, does your mother sew? BOOM. Get her to sew that.

"Joe Dirt"

Been having some good reading lately, which makes up for some shit times at the tables. I finally finished "Live from New York...", the book about Saturday Night Live. Some books claim to be "warts and all", but man does this book deliver on that. The first 100 pages or so are mainly about how much drugs they did in their offices all week. I did like reading about how a few of the early cast members (Belushi and Ackroyd I think were the main ones) who bought this little bar and ran it as a private club, where you could find the absolute best of comedic talent there, along with Chevy Chase (ok, they didn't say that last part, I just added that in.) I am about half way through "Tao of Poker" from Uwannabet, and found a little interesting piece of trivia - I can not remember the source but some study showed that a fireman is more likely to die on the job in his tenth year than in his first year, because after that amount of experience he tends to loose a little of his fear of the fire and thinks he has learned all about it. Here's another thought, how come the only female firemen you see are strippers?

I have to mention a fantastic post by Double A's titled "Stupid plays at the tables." I wish I was as good at selecting tables as him - well, come to think of it I have sat down with people capable of similar plays in the last few days but it just hasn';t worked out for me.

At Absolute Poker again last night, one hand ended it for me. I think it was at the $1/$2 table, I am dealt AJo and raise pre-flop. Only the button calls, and the flop is ten high. I bet, he calls. The turn is a 4, I bet and he calls. The river is another low card, giving an outside straight draw. I have Ace high and there are no pairs on the board - should I have bet here? I decided not to and checked. The button called (damn, should have bet) and showed 24o. Now I reconsider, and no I should not have bet - if he was willing to stay in that long with 24o another $2 would not have made a difference. A few hand later, I am dealt AQs and the same thing happens, raise pre flop, call from the same guy. To cut through the details, the board showed a pair of jacks, at the showdown he peels off 44. That was it for me, I could not play another hand. I was down $15 I think and that was it.

I have posted in the last few times about my trouble finding the bonus points in Absolute to clear the bonuses. Despite everyone telling me you can see them in cashier under the menus, I still found it impossible. I sent two emails to their support team and the first was ignored, the second was given the old cut and paste job explaining what a rake was. No shit, after the beating I had taken over the last week I have had enough and decided to withdraw my (depleted) bank roll from their site and whore it elsewhere (probably pacific with JW's bonus code, gotta keep them bloggers in business!). So the withdrawal goes smooth, then it shows an account balance screen telling me my account has $0, $2000 in play money and 24 bonus points. Yes, AFTER I withdrew all my money it decided to tell me my bonus points. I tried to get back to that screen but to no avail. That's it anyway, I have removed Absolute Poker from my computer, never to be seen again. I mean I am not rubishing it for other people - the play is pretty juicy if/when you can find a game, but it just doesn't seem to be working at the moment. It's not you Absolute Poker, it's me.

I had another shot at the Aloha $100 free roll, which is seems less crazy tonight than usual. I am able to double up early on when my 99 becomes a set then a boat which I was of course happy with. A few hands later I get dealt JT and I limp in to see a wonderful 789 rainbow. I bet about 1/4 my stack (which was about average for the table), get two callers. Turn is a 3, I bet again for one caller. River is another rag giving me the nuts - Do I throw in the final $700 hoping he calls or try to induce a bluff? I decide to go with the second option and bet $255 (I thought I would throw in the extra five to make it look random-ish). He called, which I guess was a good result but I was hoping for more - should I have pushed? Anyways, this puts me into second out of the 200 people left (340 odd starters). What happens from here? I go from second out of 200 to 19th out of 38 in about an hour while seeing two flops. Two bloody flops, and they were big blinds where I could limp. I see Pauly posted his 69 hands of doom, I reckon I could beat him. How many bloody fours are in this deck? I had 54o, 24o, 84o, J4o, K4s (Yes! Limped with that baby!), it was just pathetic. Eventually, I was dealt K4s again, and saw a flop of AKx. The only other caller bets and I go to fold but press the wrong button and call. Shit. The turn though is another King and I am left with little choice now, I have to push all in. He calls and shows KQ to have me outkicked. I bow out in 37th, after winning two hands. Two bloody hands in over 100 minutes I suppose. Lucky it was a free roll.

I haven't added to my blog roll on the side there for a while, so I thought it was time to get some more over there. Man, it sure would be a lot quicker if I just copied Iggy's, he won't notice. But for now, I will add Al Can't Hang, whom I assume most of you already read anyway. His exchanges with other bloggers, both at Party and in real life, are always great reads, especially since you get three or four sides of the same story with these guys. Also worth a read it It Ain't Gambling, and I cam empathic with the post about when it is time to leave the table. I have a really bad time saying things like "I'll just get over $40 then leave" or "Just this last orbit then it's bed" and it has cost me lately.

That will have to do for now, hopefully when I come back I will be back into the winners circle with some limit games at Pacific. Like I have said before, I am not experienced in limit games, but maybe I should get more practice in as there seems to be a more steady winning rate available if I can keep the discipline up.