Well I'm taking my time

I'm just movin on.
You'll forget about me after I've been gone.

Old fogies like me might remember those lyrics come from the song Long Time by Boston.  I've always liked the song quite a bit, especially when they play it with the instrumental lead in (title on that is Foreplay) together.  And as the song said, I'm taking a little time today and tomorrow for myself.  Call it my birthday present to myself. 

Yes Tuesday I passed another milestone and celebrated the 52nd anniversary of my birth.  Every birthday seems to make me more reflective.  Hell I have a lot more years behind me now than I have in front of me probably.  And I'd be lying if I didn't say I had regrets.  I gots plenty of those.  When I was 25, I figured I'd know the answers by this time.  Instead, I have more questions now than I had then.  Whatever answers I've come up with don't really seem to matter.  I hope I can be around for awhile and impart a little wisdom to my children as they get older.  I really missed having that with my parents, that's probably one of my biggest regrets.   But hell, I could spend my days off moping about what I didn't do or trying to do better in the future.  After all time marches on.  And it keeps on marching whether we want it to or not.  That 9 year old in the picture is now 27, the 8 year old is 25 and the 3 year old is almost 19.  I wonder if they'll look at me for answers to things they don't know.  I wonder if they sometimes think I'm as full of shit as I sometimes know I am. 

I had a good birthday though.  My oldest son and his girlfriend gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  I turned that into a copy of this

I spent a couple of hours today reading it and remembering back to 2005-06 when I was reading the Tao of Poker religiously and for updates at the WSOP. 

My other son and his girlfriend gave me an Amazon gift card.  I haven't decided what to get with that but I'm leaning in this direction

because what's the sense in being a watch whore if you're not gonna do your best to live up to the name.  But maybe I'll go for something else.  Unfortunately my reader doesn't have a kindle app, though I'm checking on whether I can get one. 

I got one other gift.  A $950 bill from my mechanic.  My old Ford Contour decided to blow out a power steering hose.  Power steering fluid leaked all over the ground and it felt like driving a truck.  Unfortunately the geniuses at Ford located the power steering hoses at the bottom of the engine and you have to take apart half the engine to get to them.  6 and a half hour job in a garage.  Between that and the vacuum leaks I had, I put $1000 down and got 50 back in change. 

So I haven't done much today.  I was thinking about hitting the gun range and getting in a little recoil therapy today but decided I wanted to nap and wash some clothes instead.  Going out to dinner tonight with the PQ and the daughter.  Tomorrow I am thinking of visiting the Hard Rock in the morning and getting in some Omaha 8OB fun.  If it goes well I'll probably be there for a good while.  If it doesn't I'll probably come back home and then hit the range to take it out on some targets.  Either way it beats the hell out of working all day on a Friday. 

Last weekend I got out ot Derby Lane for the 6pm tourney.  I played very tight but really aggressively when I did get in a hand.  It helped that I caught some cards when I did get into a hand.  I folded for the first 2 circuits or so before raising in mid position with a suited 4-2.  Guy on my right is the only caller.  Flop is KQJ and I make an almost pot sized bet.  Turn is a 5 putting a 2 spades plus that straight draw on the board.  Guy checks to me again and I bet 1500 which is about pot sized.  He looks at me, thinks a while, starts talking to himself about moving all in then finally folds.  I don't bluff a lot and I was really happy to get away with that one.

I limped in the big blind with A4 suited a bit later.  Flopped the flush draw and then the turn gave me a gutshot straight as well.  I also figured an Ace might win for me too so I called the flop and turn bets, almost reraised the turn but didn't.  River bricked so I ended up dumping it and losing some chips back.  The next hand I entered I raised with 99 on the button.  Got one caller in the big blind.  Flop was 225 and I really hoped he hadn't called with 7-2.  I bet out 2/3 of the pot and he called.  Turn was a 9.  Can you say bingo?  He checked and I checked behind.  I really thought that would make him push in on the river but the river was a brick and he checked again.  I bet a bit more than half his stack again figuring he might go all in on me.  He at least made me happy by calling but I was really angling for to get his stack, maybe I should have bet more on the river.  I flipped over my boat a bit angrily as I didn't play that as well as I should have.  He had 88 and was surprised to see my nines. 

I got to the break in great shape at about 13K in chips (started with 6K) but after that things went downhill and quickly.  I got 99 again in late position and raised it.  The button is on the shortstack and pushes all in.  It  was only 1500 more than my raise and I hoped at worst it was 50/50 but he turned up the dreaded KK.  I was unable to Rob him and gave up some chips.  Gave up more when my AK lost to A9 and before I knew it I was down to 6K again.  There had already been some weird things at the table including the guy I bluffed getting it all in with KK and losing to 73 when the guy rivered a straight.  I was in late position and had been biding my time for a bit when I got 10-5 suited and raised almost 4x the big blind.  Everyone folded except for the big blind.  We saw a flop of QQ5.  I just looked at him and figured if he has a queen or a big pair I'm packing it up anyway so I pushed all in with my 5s.  He called pretty quickly and I just murmured "uh oh" to the red sox fan on my left.  I figured him for a pocket pair then when I was hoping he had something like AJ.  He did flip over a pocket pair but he shocked me by flipping over 22.  He had a little less in chips than I did so he put his whole tourney in on those deuces.  He bricked the turn and river and it was good bye.  I was shocked I was still in after that hand.  When he called I was sure I was going home.  22?  Really?  I guess he read me with AK or something and figured he was ahead.  He trusted his read.  Much to his detriment.  I'm sure he was shocked to see my 10-5.  

I don't remember too much after that but for some reason my raises got a fair amount of respect even after showing down 10-5 and I was able to avoid trouble like when the guy next to me turned a straight with 3-4 when I had paired my ace.  I kept building my stack a little at a time and made it to over 25K when we got down to 1 table.  25K at my table was a pretty good sized stack but at the other table that combined with mine 4 of 5 people had more.  Since we were only paying 5 places I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I knocked one shorty out when my AK held over his AQ.  2 others went pretty quickly as well.  Blinds and antes were going up pretty quickly and we just started trading chips back and forth.  I was in 4th place but I could easily slip to 6th in a hand or 2.  I dragged a few pots with well timed aggression but I wasn't getting anything much to work with.  Finally the shortest stack gets knocked out and we're in the money.  There's 3 really big stacks, another guy with a stack like mine and there's me.  But I'm feeling pretty good and I know with a break or 2 I can double up and get into this.   I'm in the big blind and get 99.  Ok time to go to war.  Big stack 2 to my left limps and the big stack in the small blind just calls.  So I push all in.  Guy on my left goes all in as well.  Guy on my right starts thinking and finally folds AJ face up.  He really wanted to call me but the other guy pushed him off.  Guy on my left flips over A8 and I put down my 9s.  I like my chances, one of the aces is gone, he is basically drawing to 2 outs and I've got 2 outs as well.  Flop is JJ8 and the guy to my right is losing it.  I breath a sigh of relief until another 8 falls on the turn.  My 2 outer does not hit the river and I'm out in 5th.  So I hit the money at least.  It felt like like kissing a relative.