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Whoopee!

OK, I'll quit whining...for now

*** FLOP *** [Ac Qc Kc]
Seat 4: bastinptc showed [Td Js Tc Jc] and won ($0.43) with a Royal Flush

Loose, looser, loser

Playing NL at Poker Academy this last week has felt like playing Omaha, flopping the straight but losing to a better draw, or even having the second best flopped straight. I wasn’t playing anything too fancy, nor out of position, but I was playing 30%, That might have something to do with it… so I thought I’d head over to Stars to play some real Omaha, where 30% is considered tight.

Table 'Ceplecha' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Topi51 ($0.96 in chips)
Seat 2: CallMeLucid ($2.95 in chips)
Seat 3: kckcmartin ($3.31 in chips)
Seat 4: imike85 ($2.96 in chips)
Seat 5: bastinptc ($3.62 in chips)
Seat 6: mck777 ($1 in chips)
CallMeLucid: posts small blind $0.01
kckcmartin: posts big blind $0.02
mck777: posts small & big blinds $0.03
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bastinptc [As 9d Qh Ad]
imike85: calls $0.02
bastinptc: calls $0.02
mck777: checks
Topi51: calls $0.02
CallMeLucid: raises $0.13 to $0.15

I’m not double-suited here, but hell, Aces in the hole? I’m calling.

kckcmartin: folds
imike85: calls $0.13
bastinptc: calls $0.13
mck777: folds
Topi51: calls $0.13
*** FLOP *** [Ts 6s 9c]
CallMeLucid: bets $0.65

What? A set of tens? I’m reading it as Ks or even the other two As in the hole.

imike85: folds
bastinptc: calls $0.65
Topi51: folds
*** TURN *** [Ts 6s 9c] [5d]
CallMeLucid: bets $1.90

Well, I’m about to find out.

bastinptc: raises $0.92 to $2.82 and is all-in
CallMeLucid: calls $0.25 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($0.67) returned to bastinptc
*** RIVER *** [Ts 6s 9c 5d] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
CallMeLucid: shows [6h 6d 9s 9h] (three of a kind, Nines)
bastinptc: mucks hand
CallMeLucid collected $5.95 from pot

I’m so new to this game that I’m not sure what to think. As usual, I tend to hold my own for a while, and then I get blind-sided. Gotta stop that. Yes, I know that an unimproved pair of Aces is not a strong hand, yet give him credit for a set or straight with that raise from the SBI suppose for him it would be a matter of hitting the flop hard or getting out, and guess what? ? Two sets?! Holy crap! The bottom line, I suppose, is to pay attention to the betting and not the board.

The good news, at least partially, is that I reloaded and recouped half of my losses in the next twenty hands. I complimented Lucid on a good game and called it a night.

I have a notion...

...to photograph all of the projects that have gone undone on the farm. This is a trip to the dump.

Eeenie Meenie Minie Mole

We have a pretty severe mole problem. In the past we've done battle with exploding gopher and vole populations. This year it's moles. The number of mounds in our yard is embarrassing. These piles of dirt become perfect little seed beds for weeds. I've initiated the annihilation.

Running Bad

Two pair with a flush draw to a flopped straight.
Set of 9s on the flop to a set of Aces on the turn.
Boat on turn to straight flush on the river.
And, of course, playing too many hands in between
thinking that I gotta get lucky sometime.

Time to take another look

I had a meeting with a young gallery director in Portland yesterday. An impressive young man who graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at the same time we lived there. His name rang a bell so I thought I’d connect with him to see what he was doing. It turns out he is doing a lot, has his fingers in many pots and has a very nice space to show art. I took him some duck eggs and garlic and left my portfolio at home.

Although we evidently knew some of the same people in Chicago, for he found my old email address in his database, we could not figure out who they were. The inquiry was further complicated by the fact that I have had little contact with the “art world” for the last five years. Names escape me. My dear wife and I had operated a small gallery for a couple years, I had done some guest critiques at SAIC and even taught a class there one semester. I drew almost a complete blank, and those names I could recall went nowhere.

I felt old, and worried that I might be coming across as a little senile. Names were on the tip of my tongue — names, once the pressure was off, I remembered once back in the car driving home, a little too late. I should have done a little homework before going. But then again, I am of the camp that if I don’t see a person with whom I have a short relationship with for another six months, I am under little obligation to remember his or her name. I said as much, and he agreed.

Now that we are not farming, there is no real need for a self-imposed isolation. While still “tied to the land” to some degree, we are able to get away for periods of time and day trips to the city. The young man told me of a great collaborative spirit that makes the Portland art scene happen in ways that were absent in Chicago. I imagine that he is the impetus behind much of it. I wish I had half of his energy and perhaps lived a bit closer.

Although I did not bring anything for him to see, we eventually did get around to discussing my art, or rather, my thoughts about art. I told him how I liken myself to Marcel Duchamp, who removed himself from the art world in order to concentrate on the game of chess. In my case, it was the land and farming, and now, poker that has captured my attention (and to some degree, my imagination). I used to be a rather prolific and prodigious art maker. Now I am content to concentrate on a mere few projects that sometimes take years to fully realize. At this point in the conversation I pulled my ponytail forward and said that my hair, too, was being grown out for a project.

I think he appreciated what I was conveying, for as we were wrapping it up (he was in the middle of installing a show), he asked if I would send him some of my video work. He is establishing a video exchange with a Berlin gallery, and even looking to establish an annex there next year. I told him I would. I have five years of work that only a couple people have seen, and maybe it’s time.