Degrees

It’s cold here. But we’ve been over this before. So, never mind that the pipes are frozen in the barns and water has to be hauled to the birds, first from the pond, until that completely froze, and now from the house. The heat lamps are as close to the water buckets as I dare in case the birds splash water high enough for a mini-explosion. The shards…

Other folks have no water at all, and won’t for days to come. I suspect I will be replacing spigots in the not-too-distant future. It’s not that I am ungrateful for my warm house, but I say we blame the Canadians. Or better yet, the Russians. Like this one:

PokerStars Pot-Limit Omaha, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) ($12.14)
UTG ($1.69)
MP ($6.35)
Button ($6.70)
SB ($4.17)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, A, J, A

UTG calls $0.05, MP calls $0.05, Button calls $0.05, SB calls $0.03, Hero bets $0.30, UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, Button calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($1) 8, Q, 5 (3 players)

Hero bets $0.95, UTG raises to $1.39 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls $0.44

Turn: ($3.78) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($3.78) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3.78 | Rake: $0.15

Results:

Hero had Q, A, J, A (one pair, Aces).

UTG had 8, 7, 2, 5 (two pair, eights and sevens).

Outcome: UTG won $3.63

It’s not like I’ve been running cold. Quite the opposite, increasing my roll by one-fourth in the last week, and doubling how much I started with after the last cash-out. Then there was yesterday and today. The draws stopped coming in. Two outers. Sure, sure. Too hot, as in that hubris thing? No, no, I assure you it is just variance. And I’m down just one and a half buy-ins. A buddy of mine who haunts the same rooms as I, and whom I know is a good player, lost most of his roll last month. So, the theme continues. There but for…

“How’s the back?”

“Getting better,” she said. “I have more flexibility than I did.” She was in a car accident months ago, a drunk driver. He broke her back, this young woman at the pet store. “That’ll be $103.98.”

“My lord!” It always takes my breath. More than a third of my roll. I get no response, and realize something: “I’m sorry every time I come in here I complain about the prices. I know you don’t can’t do anything about it.”

“That’s okay. I think they’re insanely high too.” I feel better.

I like this young woman, and as I leave, want to leave on a positive note. “Feel better.”

“Others have it worse.”

“Yes they do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t express how you feel about your ordeal.”

She says, “I have a six year old niece with leukemia.”

That night I get a call from an old friend. We haven’t spoken in years. He says he’s scheduled for an angioplasty the following day. Seems he had a heart attack last May that went misdiagnosed for six months as asthma. Doesn’t make sense, given his family history. I would be demanding an EKG. But there you go.

The conversation eventually gets around to me. Now what?




Addendum: No water this morning. Space heaters have been put in the pump house.