Actual Poker Content!
Monday, September 21, 2009
First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.
Well peeps, wazzup? I am still toiling away in the land of the unemployed, and it does suck. If you hear anyone talking about how the recession is over and the economy is turning around, ask yourself why Congress is talking about extending unemployment benefits. Trust me, the job market (at least here in So Cal) really sucks sweaty goat balls. Or Waffles' balls. Either way, it's not good (no offense, Sir Waffles).
But enough of that, because I can make a living playing poker, dammit! I freaking won an SNG! Yeah, it was a lowly $2.25 27 player, but you gotta start somewhere. Besides, after the cold-decking I've been taking on the felt, any kind of boost to the B/R is a good thing. Basically, I played pretty solid ABC poker, with some bluffs where I wound up with some good reads on a weak table. Generally, I got good cards and managed to not donk off my consistently decent stack on the 8-2s. The hand that took us from 3 handed to heads up was particularly nice. 3 handed, AT s00ted is definitely playable, and the BB decided to shove for his remaining chips with KJoff...a not unreasonable play. Flop came down Q99 with two diamonds. I got a little worried when a K dropped on the turn, but the river
brought a lovely 5 carat diamond, and we are now heads up. Of the 40,500 chips in play, I've got about 34,000 of them. I'm in the BB, and I look down and see rockets, for probably the 5th or 6th time of the tourney. I'm just praying for my opponent to decide to shove into me. And when he wakes up to a s00ted King, he does just that. As the flop comes down, I'm just hoping to avoid the frush.
As it turns out, I didn't need to worry much. I flopped a set and rivered a boat, taking down the tourney and adding some much needed moolah to the B/R. Small stakes I know, but again, you gotta start somewhere. See ya out there, peeps!
Posted byiamhoff at 6:57 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: Full Tilt, Poker, Tournament, work
Hiatus on hiatus
Sunday, September 06, 2009
First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.
So, here's the scoop. I was laid off 3 years ago, when the real estate development industry here in San Diego went in the tank. After a frantic 6 month stretch of looking for a job, I found a consulting gig. It paid pretty good money, but not what I had been making. After almost exactly 2 and a half years, I got laid off from that job. My former boss (partially due to medical issues) told me that the CEO had dropped him down to approximately 10 hrs per week, and then only on projects the CEO wanted him to work on. We've been speculating whether they wanted to close down our division in the San Diego office, and it seems as though they may be on the way.
So I've been looking for work since the end of June, and as bad as it was in 2006, it is waaaay worse this go 'round. The Sunday Jobs section of the SD Union Newspaper used to make up an entire section, probably 7-8 solid pages of listings. This past Sunday, it consisted of 2 and a half pages, simply within the Classifieds section. To surf through the major internet job boards (Indeed, Craigslist, Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Jobing, and a couple of industry-specific ones I check out) would take a solid 3 to 4 hours back in 2006. Now, I'm amazed if it takes an entire hour...that's how few jobs there are out there. I would love to cross-train out of the urban planning industry (an industry that is for the most part dead here in California), but I don't have the time to go without a salary for that long, and most entry level jobs (or even mid-level) jobs don't come nearly close enough to allowing me to pay the mortgage, and take care of DAPGF and our dogs. Selling is unfortunately not an option, because we are so far upside down that it's unlikely a bank would agree to a short sale. So I'm hunting. Basically, I've extended to a roughly 100 mile radius around San Diego, which takes me up to LA, OC, and the IE, a distance that I could commute if necessary, or rent a room during the week if that were the case. It sucks, but it's what I'm stuck with. Any of you readers who might actually be left, and you have a job, count your blessings. Even if it does suck. Trust me.
And to continue the cold decking of life, I jumped back onto P/Stars to see if things had improved for me. In short, nope. I'm playing a $6.50 45 player, and I'd been running decently until I got moved to the table with the tournament big stack. When the blinds are $600/$1200 with a $75 ante, even trying to limp once or twice can be a hit to the stack. I tried p/f raising with decent hands (hell, we're 5 handed on the table, so KQ s00ted and Snowmen are playable cards) twice, and got reraised both times by the big stack bully. So we're down to the final table bubble, and I'm down to 2 BB. UTG, I look down and see A9 off. With my BB coming up next hand, that's a shove situation if ever there was one. The only caller is BSB in the BB, and he calls me with 48 off. And of course you can guess what happened.
Yep. He flops an 8, and decides to river a four for good measure. IGH as the final table bubble boy. Yeah, I'm running great!
Not sure what else is going to be happening, and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to keep enough of a B/R going to keep playing, but stay in touch. I'm down, but not out!
Posted byiamhoff at 8:46 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: Bad Beat, Non-poker content, Poker, PokerStars, work
Hiatus
Friday, August 07, 2009
Assuming I still have any readers, you may have noticed that it's been 2 months since I've posted anything. Two reasons for that. First, I've been running way cold at the tables. Not sure why...I've made some stupid plays, but generally I've just been getting cold-decked no matter where I play or what game it is. Second, work has been a shit experience, resembling my 2006. As such, as I explore what my options are, I'll be putting The Randomness on hiatus. I will be back, hopefully sooner than later, but I'm not sure exactly when. Stay tuned...
Posted byiamhoff at 1:07 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Freaky Friday
Friday, June 05, 2009
First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.
We've had some freaky weather out here in San Diego, lightning, hail, rain, and then the CEO of the company shows up. And we've got more freaky weather on the way. So to celebrate what has turned into an odd week, I give you 9 minutes of odd entertainment. SFW, but freaky. Thanks to Jalopnik for the video.
Posted byiamhoff at 9:25 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: movie, Non-poker content, weather, work
Random Stuff
Thursday, May 28, 2009
First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.
Brain MC and his lovely wife Stacie are currently enjoying their time in San Diego. They hooked up with Smokkee and Elf for some chip-slinging at the Oceans 11 Casino over the weekend, and Brian nearly doubled up over a few enjoyable hours. Then the two of them met DAPGF and I for dinner and drinks at a San Diego Old Town institution, Casa Guadalajara. The food was awesome, and it was nice getting to meet some more invisible internet friends. And now the blogosphere has independent confirmation that my web-nonymous girlfriend, DAPGF, really does exist!
So a policewoman pulls over a suspected drunk driver. She asks the driver to step out of the vehicle, and then informs him that anything he says can and will be used against him. The driver looks at the policewoman, and says "breasts."
And on the subject of breasts...
Ewwwwwwww.
Due to stoopy work obligations, I was unable to hit the gym last night. So, the last five songs on Hair Nation while I drove home from work yesterday:
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
Britney Fox - Girl School
Winger - Seventeen
Warrant - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Not sure I'm going to make it onto the felt tonight, but I'm sure gonna try. See ya out there, peeps!
Posted byiamhoff at 10:16 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: breasts, food, funny, GF, joke, music, Non-poker content, San Diego, work
Amazingly, none of the usual suspects officially reside in New York
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wouldn't you come up with that exact same list of suspects? Props to Jalopnik for finding this gem in the interwebs.Posted byiamhoff at 11:58 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: bacon, cars, food, Non-poker content
Catching up on things...
Monday, May 11, 2009
First of all, today's post is brought to you by Super Slots Casino. If you're looking for lots of slots action, check out SuperSlot.
A couple of weeks ago, me and a group of degenerates 
participated in the Beer Belly Olympics. As you might have surmised, beer was involved. Lots of beer. All different kinds of beer, from Coors Light and Corona to Blue Moon to Stone's Oaked Arrogant Bastard to my personal favorite, Blackened Voodoo Lager. 
But it wasn't just beer. We had Bombay. Crown. Goose. Patron. But the drinks weren't the events. Oh, they were events, but the competition events consisted of: basketball free throw contest where it was timed and you had to shag your own ball; bowling; golf; billiards; washers (a demented sort of ring toss thing); horseshoes; darts;
and a finale of a massive Hold 'Em tournament. We rented a heavily fortified mountaintop compound in the mountains northeast of San Diego, and lived it up large. I was last place in basketball (hadn't shot hoops in probably 20 years), 2nd to last in horseshoes, 3rd from last in golf, midpack in darts, billiards, and washers, 2nd place in bowling, and I freaking won the poker tourney! And our heavily fortified compound was only locatable by GPS navigation, straight up the mountains. It had a pool table, bbq, 
3 or 4 balconies, 2 horseshoe pits, a baby grand piano, and a 60 inch plasma with Dish Network. It. Was. Awesome. We are definitely going to make this a regular event.
And after quite a hiatus, I jumped back into a couple of SNGs on Tilt tonight...specifically a $6.5o 18 player and an $8.70 18 player peep sex token SNG. I was running solidly 3-6 in both SNGs for most of the night. In one, I decided to follow the lemurs and complete my SB 96off. Who doesn't love floppin' da nuts?
On another one I decided to slowplay my AQ in the BB, and just checked my option. I think it worked out, don't you?
Ahh, but where would I be without a wicked suckout? We're on the bubble for the token SNG, and I'm in 3rd or 4th place. I get dealt spade Big Slick, and UTG I pop a 4x raise. The button decides to call. Flop comes down K-high with 2 spades. I bet the pot, and the butthole shoves. having TPTK and the nut flush draw, I feel confident and call all-in. I actually laughed out loud when I saw his Q9s, thinking I had his punk ass dominated. Except for one circumstance.
In addition to the spade draw that he had, he also had floped a gutshot straight draw, which filled on the turn. I screamed at the computer for a spade or a queen, but no such luck. But I was still in the other SNG. After running 3 handed for quite some time, I got dealt ATs UTG (and button), and led out 5x, which was about half my stack. BSB in the BB shoved on me, putting me all in. He flips over AJoff, which made me think that I had a slim chance. Unfortunately, we each flopped our kicker, and I went out in 3rd. Still, I was up $7 or so for the evening, so I'll take it.
Last 5 songs at the gym:
Poison - Valley of Lost Souls
Chevelle - I Get It
Ratt - Nobody Rides for Free
Nickelback - Animals
Foo Fighters - The Pretender
See ya out there!
Posted byiamhoff at 8:20 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: Bad Beat, BBO2, beer, Full Tilt, golf, music, Non-poker content, Poker, Tournament
