Not a good weekend sleep wise. Not a good weekend to make money playing poker either. It started on Friday night/Saturday morning. I stayed up too late goofing off on Friday night which wouldn't have been so bad but I also woke up pretty early on Saturday. Ok, no biggie, I'll just take a nap in the afternoon or sleep in Sunday Morning. Fat chance of that. Ran some errands during the day and went to play poker at Derby Lane Saturday night. I would have been better off not playing probably.
Early in the tourney we were playing short handed. Neither the small or big blind were there yet. Everyone folded to me and I just called for 50. Gal on button raises to 200. Since there is no one in the blinds, she might have a hand or she might be stealing. Probably she has something. I am sitting on A-4 of spades. Flop comes A-9-4. Bingo, top and bottom pair. I check and she bets 200. I raise to 500 and she calls. Ok she probably has an ace, maybe AK or AQ. Turn is another 4, big bingo. Made my boat. I sneakily check again and she bets 1000. Was thinking of raising but I just call. River is a 3. I debate checking to her again but want to get more out of her so I bet another 1000 which puts about 2/3 of my chips into the pot. She calls and I confidently turn over A-4 and say "Fours full." Imagine my shock when she flips over AA for Aces full of fours.
I was lucky not to lose my entire stack but that was only because she was afraid I had 44 for quad fours. Unfortunately I didn't damn. But my goose was basically cooked and soon after I lost with 10-10 to KQ off suit and that was the tournament or as Hootie Johnson (former head of the Masters golf tournament) that was the toonamint.
Soon after that I was playing straight $2 limit holdem. I hate $2 limit holdem for the most part but the poker room was giving away $500 every half hour to the best holdem hand. Needless to say I didn't come close. We did have fun though as my wife joined me soon after I got to a table then a couple of friends of ours came to the table a bit later. There was a lot of bantering back and forth and as pots were stolen, rivers were ugly or saviors, and suckouts went around the table. I got down about $70 but made it all back up before we left. Unfortunately our daughter has now failed history from 2 years ago as one of our friends teaches at my daughter's high school and my wife took two good sized pots away from her. She nailed me on two pots as well as she rivered me twice with horrible draws. Still a splendid time was had by all.
Sunday was Superbowl sunday. I was rooting for the Saints only because I dislike Peyton Manning (intensely) and thought it would be nice for the Saints to finally win something. Otherwise I have no use for the Saints as they are one of the division rivals of my Bucs. Not only did the Saints win but it was a very profitable SB for me on the betting front. I took a number of different prop bets hitting one for first player to score (Pierre Garcon at 10-1) and also a freebie for $25 from the site I bet with for first player to make a first down (Dallas Clark). I also won taking the Saints getting 5 points and betting the under. I lost only one bet (outside of the other props for first TD I took) and made a very sweet profit for the day. The commercials were also better than last year which isn't saying much and I didn't have to see a Manning in every other commercial. I even like their Oreo commercial against the Trumps, that was pretty funny. No commercials really stood out to me but most were not lame like last year. I do think Bud Light lost a lot of their commercial magic. They had been pretty dependable for good SB commercials but not this year. Any thoughts on the SB or the commercials?
Well that's enough on last weekend. I will update Valentine's Day weekend later today I hope.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
The difference between rights and privileges
Been thinking about this for a while but could not figure out how I wanted to say this. Say you lived in Chicago. You have never had a drivers license. Hell they got the El etc and you probably didn't need it. But you decide you want one now. So you read your book, you go to a driving school just to make sure you understand the rules of the road. You take the written test and ace it and then go out on your driving test. You pass it with flying colors. Someone at the DMV then tells you that you can't have a license because a few of your fellow citizens are afraid of you when you drive that 1965 Chrysler New Yorker tankmobile on the highway as you might flip out and crush their little Prius or Civic with your 4 ton steel monster.
What would happen in this instance? Do you think the person denied a license would be able to sue and have just cause? He isn't guaranteed a license now is he? There is no right to drive listed in the Bill of Rights, no amendment was passed to the Constitution. We are told time and again that driving is a privilege and not a right and yet to be denied a license on such grounds is unthinkable and a lawsuit resulting from it would be granted pretty quickly I am willing to bet.
All this is a lead in to my thoughts on a right we are supposedly granted by the Constitution, the Right to Bear Arms. Read it sometime. It's number 2 on the Bill of Rights which leads me to believe the Founding Fathers thought pretty highly of it. And yet, try and buy a handgun in Chicago or New York City and see how hard that is. Try to get a Concealed Carry Permit and not to have your permit revoked in Philadelphia (see how pissy they are too that because of reciprocity, Pensylvanians are getting concealed weapons permits from here in Florida and they can't revoke those unless the holder actually breaks a law) when your home is broken into. Apparently your gun "scares" some people so badly that they want to do what they can to ban you from even having a handgun. Some areas of the country pass restrictions on how many bullets your clip can hold or try to make every bullet be microencoded and trackable from the people who sell it to you. Which would make the cost of bullets very expensive. Or they refuse to issue a concealed weapons permit to you but won't tell you why.
What I'm trying to tell you is there are a lot of people out there who want you to believe that they know what's best for you. They want you to rely on someone else to help you when your life is threatened but they certainly don't guarantee someone will be there to help you in your hour of need. They tell you women especially that your body is your own to do with as you like but won't let you carry a concealed weapon to protect that body. And let's face it ladies, we may all be equal but in 95 cases out of 100, a man will outphysical a women in a confrontation. Cuz thankfully we aren't all built the same and as Pepe LePeu says "Vive la difference" We live in a free land supposedly but it's not as free as you think. You can't let them take away what you are guaranteed in the Constitution "for your own good" Keep that in mind boys and girls as its a dangerous world we live in. Remember the Boy Scout motto and Be Prepared.
On a lighter note, I mentioned I would talk about Valentine's Day in my last post, I believe. It is a tradition in the Cavemann household for Mrs Cave and I to play in the Valentine's Day couples poker tourney at the local dog track/poker room. We have played in all but one since they inaugurated the thing and about 6-7 years ago and have hit the money twice before. Though the Mrs has not had great luck in playing, I have done pretty well. It's a time limited tourney so everyone left at the end of 3 hours of play is in the running. Each couple (if both people are still left in the tourney) totals their chips and the top 5 out of 50 couple make the money. It's a fun tourney and like I said, we have had some success.
This year unlike other years, the entire tourney was No Limit Holdem. Other years it was either all Limit Holdem or Limit for the first half and then No Limit the rest of the way. I started out pretty well, didn't get much hands but make the most of them to be a little over my starting stack. Early on I was playing an A-10 in late position from seat 10 against the two blinds. The woman in the small blind in seat 4 I didn't recognize but I had played against the guy next to her in the big blind before. Older Asian dude who played loose aggressive. Flop came 3-9-10 the lady in the small blind who I had tabbed as pretty aggressive earlier checks and the guy bets out for 500. Blinds were only 50-100 and there was only 400 in the pot at this time. I put him on a pure steal or maybe a pair of 3s or 9s. I didn't want to screw around with him and have him suck out a second pair so I raised him to 1500. All folds and I pick up some chips. Then the cards were dead for a while. The lady in seat 4 hit some hands mostly against the Asian guy and played very aggressively, me and the guy next to me kept it pretty tight and dumped most of our hands. Everyone was having a good time except the Asian guy who was pretty short stacked by then and the chatter was pretty light around the table.
A little later on I pick up AA middle position. I decided to risk it everyone had folded to this point and just call. I was hoping the aggressive lady in the big blind would raise me. Unfortunately the aggressive lady just called along with 2 others. Not what I wanted with AA. Flop wasn't bad with Q-8-2. Checked to me and I make an almost pot sized raise. Seat 4 calls of course but everyone else folds. Next card is a J. I don't put her on 9-10 for the straight but QJ is a possibility. She checks and I bet 2/3 of the pot which she calls again. Not sure what to put her on but definitely a queen, hopefully not something like QJ or Q8 suited. Next card is a low blank. She thinks and then checks. Wasn't sure if I was ahead or behind but felt if I bet and she raises all in I'm screwed so I just check. She showed a queen and I breathed a sigh of relief when my AA held up. This I think set me up later to win a very big pot. Got AA again in early position and this time I made a normal raise. It gets folded around to seat 6 who thinks for a minute and pushes all in. I think he put me on middle pair or AK or AQ and even if I have JJ or QQ he is not much of a dog. Boy was he surprised when I called and flipped over AA to his AK. Took him out and almost doubled up.
By now I had a nice chipstack going. Played carefully but made a few moves to steal some pots and keep my stack up. People are getting knocked out by my wife is hanging in even though she is short stacked. She saves herself a couple of times with all in bets. Later on I get KK and raise. Get reraised all in by a guy with half my stack then two short stacks push in. I call and am ahead of 6-7 (reraising me with this?? ) KQ for the shortest stack and JJ for the other short stack. Unfortunately the one short stack gets a J but the 6-7 does not make his flush and so even though she almost quadruples up, I still get more chips from Mr 6-7 than I lose to her and two more people are gone.
Not long after our table breaks. We are down to 3 tables now. And the new table is not good to me. Lousy hand after lousy hand and people are making some crazy moves since time is running out. The short stack gal from my table who quadrupled up is hitting all kinds of stuff and passes me in chips. I am getting worried about not making the money the way the chips are flying around. Finally last hand comes around and 4-5 people get all in. A guy makes a sick straight with 8-5 and takes a massive amount of chips. He ends up with the biggest stack at my table and his wife was still in so they have a lot of chips. They end up finishing first. A guy at a different table had a monster stack and would have finished first but for that last hand. His wife was knocked out though so they got second on his chips alone. The short stacked gal ends up finishing third even without her husband as he was knocked out. Luckily Mrs Cave had enough chips to get us up to fourth so it turned out to be a good Valentines Day.
Enough of my life from a month ago. Next post will be more up to date I promise.
What would happen in this instance? Do you think the person denied a license would be able to sue and have just cause? He isn't guaranteed a license now is he? There is no right to drive listed in the Bill of Rights, no amendment was passed to the Constitution. We are told time and again that driving is a privilege and not a right and yet to be denied a license on such grounds is unthinkable and a lawsuit resulting from it would be granted pretty quickly I am willing to bet.
All this is a lead in to my thoughts on a right we are supposedly granted by the Constitution, the Right to Bear Arms. Read it sometime. It's number 2 on the Bill of Rights which leads me to believe the Founding Fathers thought pretty highly of it. And yet, try and buy a handgun in Chicago or New York City and see how hard that is. Try to get a Concealed Carry Permit and not to have your permit revoked in Philadelphia (see how pissy they are too that because of reciprocity, Pensylvanians are getting concealed weapons permits from here in Florida and they can't revoke those unless the holder actually breaks a law) when your home is broken into. Apparently your gun "scares" some people so badly that they want to do what they can to ban you from even having a handgun. Some areas of the country pass restrictions on how many bullets your clip can hold or try to make every bullet be microencoded and trackable from the people who sell it to you. Which would make the cost of bullets very expensive. Or they refuse to issue a concealed weapons permit to you but won't tell you why.
What I'm trying to tell you is there are a lot of people out there who want you to believe that they know what's best for you. They want you to rely on someone else to help you when your life is threatened but they certainly don't guarantee someone will be there to help you in your hour of need. They tell you women especially that your body is your own to do with as you like but won't let you carry a concealed weapon to protect that body. And let's face it ladies, we may all be equal but in 95 cases out of 100, a man will outphysical a women in a confrontation. Cuz thankfully we aren't all built the same and as Pepe LePeu says "Vive la difference" We live in a free land supposedly but it's not as free as you think. You can't let them take away what you are guaranteed in the Constitution "for your own good" Keep that in mind boys and girls as its a dangerous world we live in. Remember the Boy Scout motto and Be Prepared.
On a lighter note, I mentioned I would talk about Valentine's Day in my last post, I believe. It is a tradition in the Cavemann household for Mrs Cave and I to play in the Valentine's Day couples poker tourney at the local dog track/poker room. We have played in all but one since they inaugurated the thing and about 6-7 years ago and have hit the money twice before. Though the Mrs has not had great luck in playing, I have done pretty well. It's a time limited tourney so everyone left at the end of 3 hours of play is in the running. Each couple (if both people are still left in the tourney) totals their chips and the top 5 out of 50 couple make the money. It's a fun tourney and like I said, we have had some success.
This year unlike other years, the entire tourney was No Limit Holdem. Other years it was either all Limit Holdem or Limit for the first half and then No Limit the rest of the way. I started out pretty well, didn't get much hands but make the most of them to be a little over my starting stack. Early on I was playing an A-10 in late position from seat 10 against the two blinds. The woman in the small blind in seat 4 I didn't recognize but I had played against the guy next to her in the big blind before. Older Asian dude who played loose aggressive. Flop came 3-9-10 the lady in the small blind who I had tabbed as pretty aggressive earlier checks and the guy bets out for 500. Blinds were only 50-100 and there was only 400 in the pot at this time. I put him on a pure steal or maybe a pair of 3s or 9s. I didn't want to screw around with him and have him suck out a second pair so I raised him to 1500. All folds and I pick up some chips. Then the cards were dead for a while. The lady in seat 4 hit some hands mostly against the Asian guy and played very aggressively, me and the guy next to me kept it pretty tight and dumped most of our hands. Everyone was having a good time except the Asian guy who was pretty short stacked by then and the chatter was pretty light around the table.
A little later on I pick up AA middle position. I decided to risk it everyone had folded to this point and just call. I was hoping the aggressive lady in the big blind would raise me. Unfortunately the aggressive lady just called along with 2 others. Not what I wanted with AA. Flop wasn't bad with Q-8-2. Checked to me and I make an almost pot sized raise. Seat 4 calls of course but everyone else folds. Next card is a J. I don't put her on 9-10 for the straight but QJ is a possibility. She checks and I bet 2/3 of the pot which she calls again. Not sure what to put her on but definitely a queen, hopefully not something like QJ or Q8 suited. Next card is a low blank. She thinks and then checks. Wasn't sure if I was ahead or behind but felt if I bet and she raises all in I'm screwed so I just check. She showed a queen and I breathed a sigh of relief when my AA held up. This I think set me up later to win a very big pot. Got AA again in early position and this time I made a normal raise. It gets folded around to seat 6 who thinks for a minute and pushes all in. I think he put me on middle pair or AK or AQ and even if I have JJ or QQ he is not much of a dog. Boy was he surprised when I called and flipped over AA to his AK. Took him out and almost doubled up.
By now I had a nice chipstack going. Played carefully but made a few moves to steal some pots and keep my stack up. People are getting knocked out by my wife is hanging in even though she is short stacked. She saves herself a couple of times with all in bets. Later on I get KK and raise. Get reraised all in by a guy with half my stack then two short stacks push in. I call and am ahead of 6-7 (reraising me with this?? ) KQ for the shortest stack and JJ for the other short stack. Unfortunately the one short stack gets a J but the 6-7 does not make his flush and so even though she almost quadruples up, I still get more chips from Mr 6-7 than I lose to her and two more people are gone.
Not long after our table breaks. We are down to 3 tables now. And the new table is not good to me. Lousy hand after lousy hand and people are making some crazy moves since time is running out. The short stack gal from my table who quadrupled up is hitting all kinds of stuff and passes me in chips. I am getting worried about not making the money the way the chips are flying around. Finally last hand comes around and 4-5 people get all in. A guy makes a sick straight with 8-5 and takes a massive amount of chips. He ends up with the biggest stack at my table and his wife was still in so they have a lot of chips. They end up finishing first. A guy at a different table had a monster stack and would have finished first but for that last hand. His wife was knocked out though so they got second on his chips alone. The short stacked gal ends up finishing third even without her husband as he was knocked out. Luckily Mrs Cave had enough chips to get us up to fourth so it turned out to be a good Valentines Day.
Enough of my life from a month ago. Next post will be more up to date I promise.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Where Have You Gone Joe Dimaggio?
After realizing last night that movies like "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" are almost unknown by a large segment of the population, especially that segment that drives much of the advertising and spending dollars in this country, it is a good bet a much larger part does not recognize the origin of this post title. Then again I doubt anyone will be reading this and it amuses me so that's what counts. I just wanted to say, I have been gone for quite a while but now I am back.
I have been gone from blogging for quite awhile now, I know when I started to blog a bit I didn't realize how much work it really was to create and post a new blog on a regular fashion. After reading so much more blogs I think I am a little better prepared to write more now. I hope. A lot has happened since my last blog. The economy, led by the reckless policies of the Fed, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and some major Wall St players (AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, The entity formerly known as Lehman Bros, Citigroup, et al) has completely tanked and is now just a shadow of what it was. And that wasn't so great either because as Financial Genius Bill Fleckenstein kept saying, the economy was built for the last 8 years on the housing ATM and sooner or later that was gonna run out of cash. But the players I listed certainly didn't help matters with their foolish and utterly dangerous policies. Also the "Great" Alan I can't see any bubble Greenspan let this happen and in fact aided and abetted it. Just like his follower Ben Bernanke did as well.
What else has happened? For starters, a black man was elected President. Hope and Change y'all. After a year in office, many of the people who voted for him are still hoping for some change. The only change I see is the record deficits of the previous temp employee in that office are but a pale imitation of the ones now upon us. That and the fact he keeps trying to foist off a completely insane health care "reform" bill on the populace. Anything being opposed this loudly by this many people cannot be good. Also all of the back room deals being cut to get dissenting Dems on board cannot mean this bill is what they claim it is. Lets not even go to the supposed savings this bill will (not) produce. And the fact that it only covers HALF of the people not currently insured makes it a complete boondoggle that will cause much more grief than it cures. Of course they don't tell you anything about that.
A Republican was elected senator from Massachusetts. I thought I had seen the last of those in my lifetime when Edward Brooke (the first elected black senator btw) was defeated in 1978. Goes to show you how much of a backlash there seems to be going on against Washington. That will probably change between now and election day 2010 not to mention 2012 but it is refreshing to see none the less. Though I am a card carrying member of the Republican Party, I am coming to see more and more that the elected nimrods of both parties are much to blame for the mess our economy is currently in. I am favoring voting against every incumbent in the next election, throw them all out, and let a new set of thieves take their place. The current ones are so entrenched that all of the lobbyists have their private numbers. I am tired of seeing quasi governmental agencies like Fanny and Freddie putting money in their pockets and then watching the Congresspeople we elect to protect our interests rolling over to help Fannie and Freddie steal. Not to mention the big investment banks. Much of the blame for the current credit and housing fiasco should be laid right at the feet of Congress. Both Pres Clinton and Bush tried to rein in mortgage financing but the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee both ignored them. Why? See how much Barney Frank et al got from the people they are supposed to be overseeing. Wanna see a hoot? Watch the YouTube video from 2003 of the Federal Regulators testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee. The head regulator (Schultz maybe? I can't remember) is castigated and basically called a liar when he told the Committee of the shenanigans going on at Fannie and Freddie. Of course the Repubs are almost as much to blame. After all they were in charge of Congress back when these hearings took place. As much as the Dems went after the regulators, the Repubs did nothing to stop them nor to overhaul the bad lending going on as they should have. So throw them all out. I want fiscal conservatives in charge who don't want to spend more money, not people who want to create more programs and entitlements for their constituents.
Enough ranting for now. I didn't want this first post back to become a long discourse on what I want or don't want to happen, just a reintroduction of ME. I just want to say it's good to be back and I hope to become a much more diligent blogger like my heroes across the bloggerverse. I'll be back soon, thats a promise.
I have been gone from blogging for quite awhile now, I know when I started to blog a bit I didn't realize how much work it really was to create and post a new blog on a regular fashion. After reading so much more blogs I think I am a little better prepared to write more now. I hope. A lot has happened since my last blog. The economy, led by the reckless policies of the Fed, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and some major Wall St players (AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, The entity formerly known as Lehman Bros, Citigroup, et al) has completely tanked and is now just a shadow of what it was. And that wasn't so great either because as Financial Genius Bill Fleckenstein kept saying, the economy was built for the last 8 years on the housing ATM and sooner or later that was gonna run out of cash. But the players I listed certainly didn't help matters with their foolish and utterly dangerous policies. Also the "Great" Alan I can't see any bubble Greenspan let this happen and in fact aided and abetted it. Just like his follower Ben Bernanke did as well.
What else has happened? For starters, a black man was elected President. Hope and Change y'all. After a year in office, many of the people who voted for him are still hoping for some change. The only change I see is the record deficits of the previous temp employee in that office are but a pale imitation of the ones now upon us. That and the fact he keeps trying to foist off a completely insane health care "reform" bill on the populace. Anything being opposed this loudly by this many people cannot be good. Also all of the back room deals being cut to get dissenting Dems on board cannot mean this bill is what they claim it is. Lets not even go to the supposed savings this bill will (not) produce. And the fact that it only covers HALF of the people not currently insured makes it a complete boondoggle that will cause much more grief than it cures. Of course they don't tell you anything about that.
A Republican was elected senator from Massachusetts. I thought I had seen the last of those in my lifetime when Edward Brooke (the first elected black senator btw) was defeated in 1978. Goes to show you how much of a backlash there seems to be going on against Washington. That will probably change between now and election day 2010 not to mention 2012 but it is refreshing to see none the less. Though I am a card carrying member of the Republican Party, I am coming to see more and more that the elected nimrods of both parties are much to blame for the mess our economy is currently in. I am favoring voting against every incumbent in the next election, throw them all out, and let a new set of thieves take their place. The current ones are so entrenched that all of the lobbyists have their private numbers. I am tired of seeing quasi governmental agencies like Fanny and Freddie putting money in their pockets and then watching the Congresspeople we elect to protect our interests rolling over to help Fannie and Freddie steal. Not to mention the big investment banks. Much of the blame for the current credit and housing fiasco should be laid right at the feet of Congress. Both Pres Clinton and Bush tried to rein in mortgage financing but the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee both ignored them. Why? See how much Barney Frank et al got from the people they are supposed to be overseeing. Wanna see a hoot? Watch the YouTube video from 2003 of the Federal Regulators testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee. The head regulator (Schultz maybe? I can't remember) is castigated and basically called a liar when he told the Committee of the shenanigans going on at Fannie and Freddie. Of course the Repubs are almost as much to blame. After all they were in charge of Congress back when these hearings took place. As much as the Dems went after the regulators, the Repubs did nothing to stop them nor to overhaul the bad lending going on as they should have. So throw them all out. I want fiscal conservatives in charge who don't want to spend more money, not people who want to create more programs and entitlements for their constituents.
Enough ranting for now. I didn't want this first post back to become a long discourse on what I want or don't want to happen, just a reintroduction of ME. I just want to say it's good to be back and I hope to become a much more diligent blogger like my heroes across the bloggerverse. I'll be back soon, thats a promise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)