Unclean, unclean!!!

I bought a new choke for my 12 ga Sat night, but I feel bad about it as it was purchased at Wally World. But $20 for a choke tube? Gawd, that devil on my shoulder strangled the angel on the other in the time it took for me to look at the price tag. I feel dirty, like I just read a bunch of Bukowski. My hands needed washing, but there was nowhere to do it. No matter, it's unlikely I would have found a wire brush and rough soap, which is what is required after patronizing Wally World or partaking of Bukowski's prose or poetry.
It all looked very innocent, but it was definitely a Mickey Rourke moment. The tube was cheap, but I feel cheaper. Oh, well. Hopefully I kill a Turkey next week.

They like me, they really like me...

...at work. I've been working crazy hours, and today the boss gave me a gift certificate to a local slightly upscale resturaunt as a token of the company's appreciation. She said I should take Jenny out, and that hopefully she doesn't hate the company for keeping me with such funky hours.

New favorite hand

It used to be 6 3 diamonds, because I flopped an open ended straight flush draw with it in a big blind special, and it hit on the turn. That was my first SF.

Now it’s T 7 diamonds. It was a 1BB call from the button, with pretty big blinds. I called because of position and my large stack, with the added bonus of if it hits, it’s an unlikely hand for folks to put me on. This time the SF hit on the flop. I slow played it some, checking behind everyone (2 others) at the flop, but I bet on the turn when it was checked to me again. I only fired out a minimum bet, but somebody’s spidey-sense must have been tingling, because I got no action. I showed it down anyhow, just ‘cause it was neat. Maybe I could create the impression that I catch cards even when I jump in with sub-premium hands?

Bar league poker last night

Last night was the extended format, larger stacks to start and slower blinds. We pull cards to determine our seating to start, and I got put in the shark tank. There were 7 at our table (incl. me) to start, and had fear of and/or healthy respect for at least 4 of them. It’s Konstantin, Dan, Erika, me, Loose Scary, Unknown (never seen him), then new-ish guy (let’s call him Mr. Pink). Scary is, well, scary to me, Unknown is a total wildcard, Mr. Pink has displayed solid, conservative play but I still don’t have enough experience playing him to make any good conclusions, and everyone else gets healthy respect with an occasional dash of fear.
Things were pretty tight for the first blind level or two, and I donked about 1/2 my stack off to Scary. He's the feared one, a bit of a random loose aggressive type, the kind I want on my RIGHT. Also the kind that I want in a cash game, as a TAgg (a style I try to stay close to) will dominate him over time. Anyhow, I'm dealing about 30 min after dropping those chips, and we’re on the bubble for the first break. Mr. Pink folds, Konstantin’s seat is empty as he’d busted a little while back with no replacement, Dan calls from 2 to my right, Erika (TAgg/TPass, it seems to me like she want to play TAgg but has difficulty pulling the trigger without BIG hands) folds, and I come in with K T off for a raise of 2.5BB . Mr. Pink (from UTG), who had already mucked, looked at me and asked “are you just going to keep stealing from the button ALL night?” I had come in for a standard raise (2.5-5 x BB) the last several times I had the button, but I actually had hands. Well, OK, not one time, I was just stealing then, but the cards were mostly being good to me. The Scary calls after a couple seconds of thinking, and Dan (a solid player, very TAgg) mucks his hand. I figured he would, since he only called. Anyhow, It’s just me and Scary, and I deal the flop, A A K rainbow. Scary thinks for about 30 seconds, much longer than when he called my raise, counting and playing with his chips the whole time, then checks. I’m thinking he was trying to look intimidating by playing with his chips (strong is weak), so bet out with 5x BB, a bit more than 2/3 the pot. He thinks some more, then moves all in. He’s got more chips than I do, so my tourney is at stake if I call. I’ve already committed a good number of chips, and with the all in move, mucked BB, and mucked BB call, my quick in-my-head-at-the-table calculation says that I’m getting at least 3 to 1 for my call. I wasn’t short stacked going in, but would be if I mucked then, especially with the blinds going up, but that was a minor consideration. My read and the number of outs I thought I had were more important to me. I didn’t put Scary on an A, but thought he might have a K with a better or maybe even an under pair. My kicker was OK, but not great, and I felt about 40% sure that my hand was better at that point. I figured since you’re rarely more than a 3 to 1 dog, I had pot odds to call. After 15-20 seconds, I closed my eyes and called the push. Scary says “Dammit, you have the ace”. I turned my cards up (showing I have a K for second pair), and he starts bitching, telling me how dumb I am for making that call with an A A K board. He flips his over, some mid/high suited connecter (bad read, but excellent for me) with runner/runner straight and flush possibilities, and keeps up a soft stream of “How could you do that? With that flop!?!?!?!!?!!” and “I can’t believe it” while I roll the last 2. The turn gives him an inside straight draw with no flush possibility, and the river brings nothing. I crippled Scary, and he’s steaming pretty hard. He bitches some more, but I’m happy. He donks his chips off within a couple of hands when play resumes at the next blind level.


Erika, who was to my right and is one of the really good players in this league, smacked him down a bit when he was bitching, saying “he had a good read, he made a good call”. It did little to quiet him, but it made me feel better about the call. Even though I had the best hand, my read wasn’t correct. I don’t know if the decision based on that was right. I think it was, given that I had pot odds (less important in a tourney), I didn’t think I was totally dominated (put him on K (high)x, didn’t put him on A x or KK, definitely not AA), and had an opportunity to knock someone (and a scary someone at that) out.

My favorite part of this little episode with Scary is that when he left, the director moved Josh in to his spot. He’s another one of the really good players that I respect and occasionally fear. C`est la vie.

BTW, I took 1st. It was a long one, almost 5 hours.

Vaccination lowers rates of retardation and learning disability

Using the same methodology as those who claim that vaccines cause autism, I can claim, without a doubt, that autism causing vaccines are effective at inducing that condition 0.31% of the time, but REDUCE the rate of mental retardation and learning disability by .28% and .83%, respectively. That's a net gain of people without cognitive impairment in any of the above categories of .8%!!! See this news report of the studies.
Yes, I am making fun of those idiots who worry about vaccinating their kids. They have no idea that herd immunity is what's keeping their children alive. Dumbfucks.