Days off are nice

I've been trying to enforce a strict two days a week off policy, but it's been tough. I suppose it's a positive sign that I'm having trouble taking enough days off....In general I'm trying to not play on Thursdays (like today) and have had no trouble taking off Sundays. Today I had some errands to run and am enjoying now generally sitting on my couch with plans to do nothing productive for the next 8 hours other than set up my new iPhone (my account just became eligible for an upgrade, meaning I got 200 dollars off the phone...I'd been waiting for this for 4 months).

And now some poker results. Tuesday was a very long day, which saw me log about 13 hours of live play in two separate casinos. I first went to play at Bay 101 early in the day and had to play 30 minutes of 8/16 before I got a 20/40 seat. The only thing of note to happen was this hand, where I made trip 5s on the turn and actually folded it. If I had the hand to do over again, I think I'd grit my teeth and call down, but you just don't see players at that level raise the turn with anything I had beat. My logic was that I was gonna have to put 3 big bets into the pot to try to recover half of a 14 big bet pot. Didn't seem logical to me.

I finished 8/16 up $154 for once (I'm actually a lifetime loser at 8/16, over less than 20 hours of play) and moved up to 20/40. I played for about 5 hours and booked a $1725 dollar win, then decided to bail early and hit up Artichoke Joe's later that night after taking Tyson to obedience class. I didn't post any hands from the session, but did observe the following monstrosity.

Ed, a younger Asian player who is solidly good (he has leaks, but wins in the game for sure...In this same session I watched him check behind on the river with A4s on a board of A35-6-7 just because a 3rd diamond fell on the river. He had open raised the hand in a blind steal situation and I'm sitting there willing him to value bet like pocket Jacks....then he checks behind with a straight and I just shake my head in awe) raises and some players call, including Gordan the prop, who had already limped in UTG. The flop comes down 992 and Ed of course does his thing and bets. Two players, call, including Gordan. The turn brings a third 9, for a board of 992-9 with two diamonds and two black cards. Ed bets again, and again Gordan calls, although this time after a few seconds of thought. The river brings the case 9 and Ed is just shocked in disbelief. He now has King-high with quad nines on board. Gordan checks and Ed just checks in amazement to see Gordan roll K3 of diamonds for a chop. Ed proceeds to walk for the rest of the dealer's down, paying 6 dollars in lobby fees, coming back 30 minutes later still visibly shaking his head. While he was gone I ran over the table for like 2 racks, so I guess I couldn't complain.

Aside: A prop is a player employed by the casino to play in the games to ensure that they are full. In theory if the lists get long props are "picked up", but this seldom happens at Bay 101. They are usually decent, but conservative and tight players. Seeing a prop play a hand this horribly (calling a bet on the turn with a king high flush draw with Trips on board) is pretty astonishing.

So I eventually leave and do the obedience class thing, then head to Artichoke Joe's where I am immediately seated in the 15/30 game. I logged 120 hours in this 15/30 game and am still a small lifetime loser (basically about 200 dollars). I played many of these hours before I was "ready" for mid-stakes and the last few times I've played I have found the game to be very soft and very profitable. I played for about 5 hours, running through down 700 to book a profit of 200 bucks. Two fish left the game, so I decided to treat myself to some 6/12 and bud light, which was a disaster, watching me lose almost 200 dollars in about the time it took me to finish my bud light. I put my name back on the 15/30 list, lost another 100 bucks, then got called back into the game, won my 300 back and left 30 minutes later. All in all, you can never complain about a two K day :)

In other news, the iPhone I purchased today is going to have a drastic effect on my life at the tables. I'll actually be able to post hands right after they happen, and will in general be a happier person I think. The cost is substantial (something like 40 dollars more a month than my old phone), but I think it's going to be well worth it.