Posted by Dr Fro 11:37 PM
I just got back from playing a Dealer's Choice game with my coworkers + 1 neighbor-of-coworker. I won $35, which had me feeling a bit chipper until I came home to a house with the alarm going off. I never figured out if someone tried to break in or if a critter set off the motion detector. Either way, I am the only one here right now. It's 11:39, and there isn't a chance in hell that I will be going to bed after the wind-up that alarm put me through. So, I think my only option is to pour myself a very stiff drink or two and make a nice long post. I apologize if I stop making sense towards the end of the post, but that would be the booze's fault, not mine.

I was somewhat destined to stay up late and drink tonight. I had one of those weekends where the alcohol consumption was enough to put you beyond hangover. You know when you wake up and don't feel bad because you actually still feel drunk. Somewhere 3 hours north of Austin the alcohol content level started to drop off and I got really sweaty. So even if it wasn't for the near-burglary incident, I would be faced with the dilemna tonight of going to bed with those horrible sweaty Sunday night dream-infested toss-n-turnin sleaps or drinking large volumes and postponing that sleep by 24 hours. The choice is now obvious.

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What a weekend. It started out with a fast 10-mile run around Town Lake in Austin. This was the advance payment to my body for the harm that I intended to cause it later that day. The day ended with a UT victory in hand and drinking 12-yr malt whisky with my wife in the lobby of the new Austin Hilton watching poker on TV. Now how many guys have a wife that will a) drive 4 hrs to a football game b) drink some single malt afterwards and c) watch poker on TV with you on a Saturday night? I am pretty sure that my wife is the greatest wife in the history of wives.

The game tonight was same as usual - mainly 50c-$1 NL & PL Holdem, but a bit of O/8 mixed in + a few hands of stud and draw. The outsider was Scott, who was the host's neighbor. My top two stories of the night that are blog-worthy both come from Scott.

Story #1
Scott walks in and makes a comment that he is coming to donate and basically implies that he does not know how to play poker. I fell for it. But, before the first hand was dealt, I watched him riffle 2 stacks of 5 chips in his hand w/o a thought. Shuffling chips does not mean you are a good player. It does, however, mean that you have spent some time at a poker table. So, even before the first hand was dealt, I knew he was no stranger to the game. Lesson: Don't form opinions about players based on what they say about themselves. Form opinions on them based on what they actually do. Since I decided he had more game than the typical "tourist", I generally folded to his big raises. Had he never played with his chips, he may have gotten a couple more calls from me.

Story #2
We got tied up in a hand where I have already forgotten all the particulars. What I remember is that I had 14 outs on the turn. He bet the pot and I called. Now, I know HOW to play NL, but I KNOW how to play PL. Remember that I really cut my teeth at the Vic in London, which only deals PL poker. I don't even have to think some decisions through - they have become instinctive. The basic math in PL goes like this...On the turn there are 46 unknown cards. To call a pot sized bet gives 2:1 pot odds (and better implied odds). So 2:1 on 46 cards means you need 16 outs to automatically call. You are getting pot odds. Of course implied odds is what is most relevant and it is safe to say that 15 and 14 outs are still sufficient to give you reason to call. My rule of thumb in pot limit is an automatic call with 12 outs and only a thoughtfully considered call with less than that. Since 14 is > 12, I called. When I hit one of my outs and won, Scott was nay the happy camper. I was going to play it off as the lucky catch on the river, but the most experienced player at the table not involved in the hand pointed out that I had more outs than the one that hit me (the out was a 4 to make trips...Scot missed the flush draw and the overcard). Scott then understood and go pretty quite for about an hour.

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I suck at O/8. I can't win a freakin penny at it. I have read at least 20 books on Holdem, but the extent of my Omaha knowledge is that one article on Steve Badger's website about having the nuts or a draw to the nuts plus Rolf's PL O/8 posts on pokerpages.com. So, I basically am still employing Holdem strategy to Omaha and give away a lot of money at that game. Methinks I should improve on this.

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Remember my bitching about the all-in abuse by an opponent on Party Poker?
They responded, and I was very happy about their response. Read this:

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From: info@partypoker.com
To: phreaux
Subject: RE:Hand History from PartyPoker.com [#1684215]
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 00:50:22 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Craig,

We appreciate you taking the time to report situations of alleged Disconnect Protection abuse at PartyPoker.com

Starting with the hand that you sent to us, we performed an investigation that would allow us to examine thoroughly the account in question; ýGriffDaddy2k ý

We have looked into the players records and collected all previous hands in which this player used the protection. Our goal was to look for a pattern where the player usually disconnects in key moments.

Some of the parameters we use when investigating possible protection abuse:

The playerýs cards at the time of disconnection.
The playerýs previous action (whether he was betting / raising) and also the actions of the other players at the time of disconnection.
The benefit obtained by a player disconnecting
The timing of disconnection
A players pattern of disconnections
Previous allegations made by other players and/or the system

Using the information listed above we have investigated the history of the player thoroughly and have found that not only was the hand you reported suspicious but this player had two other suspicious disconnects in the past. Based on this information we have taken away the disconnect protection privilege for this player.In the event he is disconnected in the future his hand will be folded. We have sent an email to the player informing him of the investigation.

We thank you for taking the time to report your suspicions. Keeping the games honest is our highest priority. If you need any clarifications or have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Kindest regards,

Francis Hamilton,
Investigations Team,
alerts@partypoker.com
www.partypoker .com


--Original Message--
From: phreaux
Date: 2004-09-24 11:50
To: info@partypoker.com
Subject: FW: Hand History from PartyPoker.com[#1684215]

I believe that GriffDaddy2k abused his disconnect protection. Could you
please investigate? If he is a repeat offender, I think he should get the
boot. If you have no previous complaints, could you pls put him on a watch
list?

See hand history below:



Hello phreaux,
You have recently requested your transcript of the game number 969947241.


***** Hand History for Game 969947241 *****
0/0 TexasHTGameTable (NL) - Mon Sep 20 22:10:17 EDT 2004
Table Flying Without Wings (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: vincent101 ( $91.10)
Seat 2: tybrooke ( $123.60)
Seat 3: BILLIEOCEAN ( $87.30)
Seat 4: Howdyhoo ( $99.55)
Seat 5: D34D_M0N3Y ( $358.63)
Seat 6: FU_PAY_ME ( $176.70)
Seat 7: ctide ( $182.35)
Seat 8: phreaux ( $96)
Seat 9: B0NECrusher ( $100)
Seat 10: GriffDaddy2k ( $195.55)
tybrooke posts small blind (1)
BILLIEOCEAN posts big blind (2)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to phreaux [ Tc, 9d ]
Howdyhoo folds.
D34D_M0N3Y folds.
FU_PAY_ME folds.
ctide folds.
phreaux calls (2)
GriffDaddy2k raises (6) to 6
vincent101 calls (6)
tybrooke folds.
BILLIEOCEAN folds.
phreaux calls (4)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 8s, 3c, 6s ]
phreaux bets (2)
GriffDaddy2k raises (15) to 15
vincent101 folds.
phreaux calls (13)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 7s ]
phreaux bets (2)
GriffDaddy2k calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ As ]
phreaux bets (73)
phreaux is all-In.
GriffDaddy2k could not respond in time.(disconnected)
GriffDaddy2k Disconnect Protection enabled.
Creating main pot with $52.25 with players GriffDaddy2k
Creating Side Pot 1 with $73 with phreaux
** Summary **
Main Pot: $52.25 Side Pot 1: $73 Rake: $2.75
Board: [ 8s 3c 6s 7s As ]
vincent101 balance $85.10, lost $6 (folded)
tybrooke balance $122.60, lost $1 (folded)
BILLIEOCEAN balance $85.30, lost $2 (folded)
Howdyhoo balance $99.55, didn't bet (folded)
D34D_M0N3Y balance $358.63, didn't bet (folded)
FU_PAY_ME balance $176.70, didn't bet (folded)
ctide balance $182.35, didn't bet (folded)
phreaux balance $73, bet $96, collected $73, lost -$23 [ Tc 9d ] [ a
straight, six to ten -- Tc,9d,8s,7s,6s ]
B0NECrusher balance $100, sits out
GriffDaddy2k balance $224.80, bet $23, collected $52.25, net +$29.25 [ Ts Th
] [ a flush, ace high -- As,Ts,8s,7s,6s ]

==========================================================




Well, that makes me feel a little bit better. I am now going to send a note to Party Poker asking if they will reward me the pot that I rightfully won. Notice that Jesus said on RGP that Paradise not only gave him the pot, but also the call money (he must have won the hand.) I think that in this hand, Hero would have folded, and maybe PP.com will give me the pot. Maybe not, but I am going to ask.


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I sent an email to Party Poker about a bit of software that I found (and that I advertise here via Google). My email:

--Original Message--From: phreaux
Date: 2004-09-24 11:48
To: info@partypoker.com
Subject: is this legal?[#1684196]

I would love to use this software, but not if it is against your rules: http://www.partyinspector.com/

OK, so this is their response:


From: info@partypoker.com
To: phreaux@hotmail.com
Subject: Reply [#1684196]Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 00:41:09 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Craig,
Thank you for contacting us.

With regards to your query, we do not encourage our players to use third party softwares for playing at our site. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Department at any time. We are here 24/7 to assist you via email. Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

DilipPoker Customer Care

--------------------------------

I find the wording of the response very interesting. You know that their lawyers drafted a standard response here. Why do they "not encourage" versus "not allow"? I think that it is partially due to the impossibility to enforce such a rule. I think that they are afraid of a "victim" of such software could have an expectation of enforcibility if the encouragement were elevated to strict prohibition.


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Did anybody see Johnny Chan's outfit on TV this weekend? WOW. That is ugly. We accounting majors at UT used to have a standard joke. If a person described a girl as hot, one person would chirp in with "UT hot? or just Business School Hot?" Well, when I say ugly, the appropriate chime-in is "Regular ugly clothes? Or Poker player ugly clothes?" The answer is a resounding - EVEN FREAKING POKER PLAYER CLOTHES UGLY.


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On the drive home from Austin today I saw a great left-leaning bumper sticker on a car. Driving through Waco, I saw a great right-leaning bumper stick. I have spent a good portion of today reflecting on both of them. I wrote a post on both of them in my head but decided (at least temporarily) to not post them. The reason is this:

A few times in my life I have used the opportunity of a forum where I have people's attention to express my political beliefs. I naively assumed that people enjoy discussing politics, including politics that differ from their own. I was wrong. I have consistently found that a majority of our society f***ing freak out if you express an opinion contrary to their own. I got some serious hate mail once, including one from a friend that no longer speaks to me.

So rather than express my political beliefs here, I will express my lament that we live in a society that has no desire to discuss contemporary issues. We tune into stations that reinforce our core beliefs and shout insults at dissenters. We have a bipartisan system that encourages running to the farthest possible corner and shouting at the top of our lungs that the enemy is not only wrong but evil. This polarization energizes the unintelligent. It turns the intelligent sector into skeptics that quickly realize that any investment in paying attention is probably futile. This sucks.

I don't dream of a world where people share my politcal beliefs. I do dream of an America that truly discusses issues.

The fact that I downed a bottle of scotch and managed to not actually express my opinion on those bumper stickers is the greatest show of tongue-biting since OJ refrained from saying "Damn right I killed the Bi**h!"


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The Docta ate at Rudy's BBQ today. That is some great Q.

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Jane and I saw Garden State a few nights ago. We heard the soundtrack at the Scholes' house tonight. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it. It will be nominated for many awards, but probably only has a decent shot at original screenplay.

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Morris has some sick streak going on like 7 of 12 Lake Charles tournaments placing in the money with 6 of the 7 being either 1st place or chopping the prize money. That is unreal. Well done.
=========================================================

My hand stopped shaking. Finally.

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Kim owes us a fantastically hilarious post on a poker game a couple weeks ago. "All Red..."

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Tired.

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We hit 10,000 hits on our counter. My mom was definitely wrong.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


OK, I shook the heeby-jeebies and can finally crawly into bed after the scare of Hamburgerlar coming into my house and sniffing Jane's panties. I think the half-empty bottle of scotch of partially responsible for that. That, and the fact that the BoogieMan hasn't run through the hallway with his pants down around his ankles surounded by guardian dogs that shoot bees out of their eyes. I can confidently settle into our bed (Jane is out of town tonight). Good night. I apologize for an a**load of likely mispellings and other mistakes.

fro




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