Things Are Coming Together

I have to make this quick…

A client has me doing research so I can make pitches to publications to write an article about one of his clients. I am re-tooling a bit, the hours and days spent bending the learning curve hopefully leading to more work, but more importantly, making it so that I know what the hell I’m talking about when editors start asking questions. This is where the degree in philosophy comes in handy: there is little I read, aside from math, that I can’t conceptualize in order to get the gist. As Walter Brennan (“The Real McCoys” and “The Guns of Will Sonnet”) used to say, “No brag, just fact.”

I wrapped up late last night, and in that I still had a good coffee buzz going, I went to Stars for a few hands. What a beautiful 10NL table! It soon became apparent to me that all three players to my right were crazed calling stations, doing battle with each other more often than not. Almost immediately I picked up Kings from mid position and already one of the dupes (New name for donks, fish, etc. See yesterday’s post.) had raise 3 X BB with one of the other dupes calling. I made it $1.70 to go and the initial raiser called. The flop came with a Q, she bet and I put her all in. She had Q9o. I doubled up.

One down, two to go. The rest of the table was pretty innocuous, except for one player across from me who seemed to be playing only big cards. He was getting his fair share as well, and I determined that I would pretty much stay out of his way.

There was a lot of limping at this table, and when there was a raise, one or both of my dupes were sure to call. They were having the variance time of their lives. I had 33 on the button and limped. A 3 on the flop. The dupe immediately to my right bet, and in that he was now relatively short, I put him all in for 4 more dollars. He called and set up on the turn. I was a bit irked but maintained, for I knew, given another chance, I would get it back. And in fact, pocket Jacks did the trick. Bye-bye.

Two down.

Number three was a little more difficult. He had a bit more game than the other two, and one really didn’t know what he was holding at any given time, limping with Aces and Kings, hitting two pair with K4o, etc. I was pretty much card dead when he was working, but it was fun to watch him spar with another player who seemed to have a bone to pick. The problem was that the bone picker was so passive that even though he often raised preflop, after going in the tank for the maximum time allowed, Dupe #4 rarely stayed around for the turn, so I turned my attention to him. Man, semi-bluffing with bottom pair and a draw is a lot of fun when the other player folds.

When I first logged in this table showed a 36% players in a hand stat and had one seat open. Within a short while, four players were waiting for a seat. I had lucked out, to be sure. Yet, as players left, the expected rocks, bombs and sharks took their places. As long as I had position on Dupe #3, I wasn’t going to leave just yet. However, I found another room that looked juicy, was first in line to sit, looked up the player’s skill levels, sat down and made some money.
Just a little, but it was getting late and I had a lot of writing to do before I went fishing on Monday. I was up one buy-in for the night, again. And even though I was up the same amount 100 hands before, I could live with the results.

One final note: Playing at this level, as pitiful as it may seem, has been a good change. Now with 17 buy-ins, I am more comfortable with the inevitable variance. Granted, it’s going to take me a bit longer to get where I want to be, yet the worry is gone. Well, almost, but I’ll take it. The same can be said for the writing gigs. After the less-than-auspicious run at farming, it’s nice to have a horizon of financial latitude again.