By Nicholas on 5/30/2006 1:16 AM

I don't know what happened to one of my childhood best friends. I think about all of them fairly frequently, but we've all lost touch that only time can create. I wonder where they are today after all is said and done. Most of us didn't share the same path, Sports, Academics, Arts or just general apathy to anyting conventional tore us all apart. Where has all of this time gone? I wonder if they think of me in the still dark and think that things might have been different if... Just like I do. I wonder if they disappeared from my view because of circumstance or desire. At one point I was the KING of tag on the playground; sort of a mafia-inspired godfather of the game. I held court every recess and no game of Tag went unsanctioned without my firm hand governing it. ALL of the kids would ask me if they could play and I would sort them into the appropriate game based on their ability to compete. Can't let them into the main game unless they could hang. They would just be swallowed up by the quick and speed merchants....

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By Nicholas on 5/27/2006 9:26 PM

"Oh don’t talk of love the shadows purr Murmuring me away from you Don’t talk of worlds that never were The end is all that’s ever true" - The Cure, Burn A couple of months back after the Florida No-Limit game, I was walking back to my hotel with my friend and co-worker Pete. We chatted about cards and got on the subject of big All-in bets pre-flop. I told him that I wasn't afraid to lay down pocket Aces to a player pre-flop if they pushed a stack that would put me even close to all-in. He chuckled at my remark saying, "Ya, sure you would." However, I wasn't joking in the slightest, I meant every single word of it. I'm not the kind of player to put my entire stack at risk for the better part of a coin flip, and that's exactly what a push that scares everyone out of the pot does the vast majority of the time. First of all, you need to understand the basic statistics. I have pocket Aces vs any two cards in the deck, not including another pair of pocket Aces which we'll tie and chop the vast majority of the time. That gives me an 84.9% edge in the hand from the start, so 15.1% of the time I'll lose or tie and chop. You won't find a better play anywhere in the world with those pocket Aces, so the proper play is to call....

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By Nicholas on 5/25/2006 8:54 AM

Good trip to Vegas! Made some nice money in the 15/30 on Friday night, but then ran card dead all day Saturday and donated a bit back. The Friday game featured a guy with a bottomless wallet who lost his first $300 buy-in before he'd been seated for a full 12 minutes. He called EVERYTHING, and rarely had anything remotely resembling a hand. The Human ATM hung around and dropped no less than $3,000 on the table before leaving around 9:00. "Shit, now we don't have a game!" lol We played on and I made a couple of scores to build up my stack slow and steady; just the way that I like it. I had locked in a winning session and was about to pack it in for the night, when the Human ATM sat back down in our game. "Damn, now I can't afford to leave..." That guy didn't care, and bless him for that. He dropped another $1000 before he left and I followed suit shortly thereafter. That's 8 racks of chip contempt $300 at a time, wrapped in a package and tied with a bow on top. I haven't seen a blatant display like that in a...

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By Nicholas on 5/19/2006 1:47 PM

Vegas. I land around 9:30 pm on Tuesday. I always wonder why people launch out of their seats as soon as the plane stops at the gate. "Gotta go! Gotta be ready! Gotta get out of this plane or I'll die!" Then they just stand there waiting... "Still gotta go!" Waiting, waiting, waiting... I just close my eyes and catch a couple a few last Z's. When I open them a couple of minutes later. "SHIT! STILL GOTTA GO!!!" Apparently, they aren't making much progress. When it's all said and done I finally crawl out of my seat and start moving with purpose and fleet of foot. I pass a lot of the people that were standing in the cabin when we parked. They look in a panic to get, wherever. I don't care, I'm heading to the Luxor. Probably a completely shit poker room, but I need some action tonight and even their shitty action will suffice. Expecially since I can drink and play. Sure enough, the poker room is terrible. I guess that is overly harsh since it isn't really their fault that there aren't enough people interested in...

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By Nicholas on 5/16/2006 1:21 PM

So here's the story this week, thus far. Saturday, I decided to kill time and play low-limit just to feel the felt. I haven't been playing much Middle limit lately since it involves an hour and a half commute each way to Bay 101 and I haven't had any meetings in the South Bay to justify the trip. Besides that, I've been working on a couple of leaks in my game. Many thanks goes out to Bob Ciaffone and Jim Brier; I'm only 25% of the way through their advanced book Middle Limit Holem Poker and it's already been an eye opener in a couple of key areas. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So, I made the trip to Cache Creek and played for 7 hours in the 4/8 Kill game. The game was pretty average and I must have plugged the leaks nicely, because when I racked up at the end of the night it took me 13 minutes from start to finish. Cashed in 11 racks for a $1,000 win. That's $142.86 an hour or 17.8 Big Bets per hour, how's that for a crumby 4/8? Yesterday, I took my car in for a quick service check since the ABS lights...

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By Nicholas on 5/13/2006 3:50 PM

"If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker." - Mike McDermot from the movie Rounders Limit dosn't dictate player strength. That is such a common misconception that I hear players discussing that I almost can't believe my ears each time that it's uttered. The only thing that can be discerned by the limit that a game is played at is that each player could meet the minimum buy-in requirements. The game is played exactly the same, regardless of the chip denomination. Here is the truth of this matter. In a typical card room or casino game, there will be a huge variety of players at the tables. Your primary job when you sit down at a table full of unknown faces, is to determine who the weaker players are. You don't have to be the best player in the town, the room, or even at your table; but you can't be the worst player at the table. You can't be the person whose stack is just waiting to get chopped up among the rest of the table. You can't be the gal that plays...

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By Nicholas on 5/12/2006 4:16 PM

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams ... glitter in the dark near Tanhauser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost ... in time, like tears ... in rain. Time ... to die." - Roy, from the movie Blade Runner

By Nicholas on 5/7/2006 12:57 AM

I’ve seen more pathetically bad poker in the past 30 days than I ever hope to see for the remainder of my lifetime. I usually play Middle Limit, but I’ve been playing low limit, to work out a leak. It’s also a much shorter commute for me than my normal game at Bay 101; and sometimes I just need the action. I’ve grown so disgusted playing in these low stakes games by the complete lack of even the most fundamental understanding of the game that I’ve decided to write this treatise and attempt to surgically remove people’s head’s buried deep within their asses. Even with these tactics, you’ll still be a long way from being an expert poker player, but at least you won’t embarrass yourself and the rest of the human race. The following is based on my combined 8 years of playing and studying the game of Poker with deep religious conviction simply because I can not stand to lose. Fasten your seatbelts. Pay Attention! This is the primary fault of players at the table, at any level. The good news for you, is...

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