Here comes that train......

Guilty pleasures are sometimes the best kind. A couple of months back the wife and I are watching TV and Jersey Shore comes on. She flips to it cuz nothing was on and next thing I know we're watching these complete morons whose only claim to fame is that they are so enthralled with themselves they can't see how silly their lives really are. The guys are totally into partying and getting laid, the girls are into partying and getting laid. None of them works or seems to do anything productive with their life except they do try to keep the economy going by consuming every drink in sight. And we keep watching the damned show!! It was like a train wreck. You see the tractor trailer stuck on the tracks. You can't do anything to move it or stop the train and you can't stop watching cuz you know it's gonna be a site to see. And these are the people who get tv shows. Oh if I only had known. I too would have had 18 kids or 6 wives or something. Maybe both. Now that would be a show wouldn't it?


What is it with Americans today that we want to watch shows with the most outlandish, most abnormal people around. I know normal is boring and all but come on. 18 kids and counting. 3 different shows about little people. Kate (no Jon anymore) plus 8. etc. Is this what we're coming to? If so count me out. I got a lot better things to do than watch that. Like live my own life. Personally I think this goes back 25 years or so to Robin Leach and his Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I never understood why that was popular. Why do I want to watch someone with more money than sense show me this house that's worth more than I will make in my lifetime? I have nothing in common with them. And when I do hit the lottery, I'll use my own ideas on how to spend money, I don't need to see some fancy place in California to figure out what I want.


And from there we now have Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, and the like who's only claim to fame is that they like to party and spend money. Which leads me back to Jersey Shore as these people are just as talent less as the Kardashians, the Hiltons et al without their inheritances. But they sure can act the part. And we stupid Americans all want to watch. Otherwise there would be no need for the People magazines, all the papparazzi, and the looney tunes we see on tv today. And I am as guilty as anyone if I am going to watch Jersey Shore, train wreck that it is. Should I quit? I probably should. My brain is going bad enough as it is without the impetus of Jersey Shore.


Saturday night the wife and I visited Derby Lane again. She wanted to play in the 8 pm tourney and I just wanted to play some Omaha. Got a seat immediately at the Omaha table. And I found out why. Nothing went right for me. Most hands were just crap and the good ones all seemed to flop horribly. I could not make a hand. The best thing I did was avoid playing most of them. It kept me going but didn't get me anything. I was down about $100 before it finally turned. I was hoping it would before the table broke. I was sitting under the gun and open up AA79. Not a great hand for Hi/Lo but they were at least double suited as it was A7 of clubs and A9 of hearts. We were playing 4-8 with a half kill. To explain to the uninitiated, 4-8 means the blinds are $2 and $4 and the bets are $4 preflop and post flop and $8 after the turn and river. The half kill changes the betting level to $6 and $12 after any hand where someone wins an unsplit pot worth more than $60. If you win the hand you have to post the half kill for $6 in the next hand. Kind of an extra blind. Doesn't affect your betting position or anything, just you have to play if you win a moderately big hand by yourself.


Anyway this hand is on a half kill hand and some guy across the table is straddling for $12 before any action occurs. By the time the betting gets to me, it's raised to $18. I thought about raising to $24 and capping the betting but didn't want to advertise a big hand in that situation, especially without a low draw. Anyway the flop is perfect for me, 27J all hearts. Flopped the nut flush. Of course in Omaha, that usually doesn't mean too much as it all can change in the turn of a card. I bet and get 5 callers. Turn is great, the 9 of spades which means we still don't have a valid low and my flush is looking better and better. I bet for $12 and get 2 callers. I am wondering what they are holding, hoping one is drawing to a low and the other has a worse flush than me. I am hoping nobody is sitting with JJ in their hand hoping to pair up. River kills me I think as the 7 of clubs hits pairing the board. I bet out anyway and get one caller. I flip over my flush but then see I'm holding the 7-9 for a full house as well. Other guy mucks, think he had the King high flush, and I scoop the entire pot for about $140 which put me back to even. After that I hit a few more hands though nothing too big and when the table breaks I'm up about 60 bucks. Beats the hell out of being down a hundred.


I then played a little 1-1 no limit. Unremarkable except I managed to flop a gorgeous set on the flop and got flushed on the turn. Lady to my right was a good tight player but a couple of players across the table were complete maniacs who played second or third pair like they had the nuts. Maniac raises to $5 preflop and 4 people call including me and the lady to my right. Flop was 8-5-2 with 2 diamonds. Loved the flop, didn't like the diamonds all that much. Of course the maniac leads out for $4. Both the lady and myself call as well as maniac #2 next to the original bettor. I thought about raising post flop but felt anyone with 2 diamonds will call or reraise all in where as if I wait till the turn and a diamond doesn't hit, I can push them off their draw.

Of course the turn is the Jack of diamonds. Maniac 1 bets another 4 bucks and maniac 2 folds. Now I KNOW he doesn't have the flush but probably has a jack. So I'm all set to reraise him good because I know he'll also call a reraise with almost any pair. Unfortunately the lady to my right had other plans. She reraises him to $10. This puts me in a quandary. I feel pretty sure pretty sure she has either a flush or AJ with possibly the Ace of diamonds for the flush redraw. The more I think about it the more I see this as a valid possibility especially since she called a raise with this. But I still see the flush as at least a 50% possibility as well. So I'm stuck. I want to take down the maniac but I got a decent player to my right in this who might have me beat. So I call and the maniac calls too.

The river is a black king. No help unfortunately. I'm wondering how I'm going to play if the lady bets into me. The maniac checks and the lady checks too. I'm now wondering if she's waiting to check raise me or was she surprised I called her raise. I think about pushing in but figure even a low flush will call me so I chicken out and check too. Maniac has an 8, lady shows a queen -3 of diamonds for the flush and I show my 55. I talked to the lady afterward and she was afraid I had the higher flush which was why she didn't push the river. So I didn't lose a ton but it hurt all the same. That's about all that happened for me and when my wife got knocked out of the tourney I picked up to go.

The wife was disappointed she could never get anything going in the tourney and wanted to play in the midnight tourney but didn't have the cash. So I fronted her into the tourney even though I was getting pretty tired. I still had some extra cash from Omaha so I was ok with it. I went back to play 1-1 at a different table since my last seat had been given up. I took an early hit when my AK lost to AJ but kept it together and managed to make a small profit. Had to drink some coffee to keep myself together as I really felt fatigued. The wife went all the way to the final table but got knocked out a little before the money. She was much happier with the way she played however and I was fairly satisfied with how I played as well.

This all happened last weekend as I started this on Sunday and it's now the following Saturday. Sorry about that, busy week with work and such. Really busy. And unlike most of you, I actually had to work on Friday. If the stock market is open, so are we. It was a short day at least since the market closed at 1pm. One guy was recently let go and another left to take a new job so we are a little shorthanded as well. Monday thru Wednesday were very busy but Friday was very quiet. Needed that as I over-indulged a bit on Thanksgiving with the vino. No poker this weekend as both the girl is home and the money went for Xmas shopping this week. The wife was out the door at 4:30am Friday morning with her sisters. She got some good deals but not as good as last year she said.

Well let's post this disjointed ramble. Tomorrow I'll try to write something more coherent. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I did. Stay lucky you nuts.