I go through phases with musical groups, but every now and again I'll find - or in this case, rediscover - a new band. This time it's Umphrey's McGee. They've been around for about 10 years, but they're just beginning to hit their stride. They've always been known for their technical mastery, yet they've now grown into their musical chops to really begin to inject feeling into the music, as well as allow themselves the freedom to let the music take them wherever it may go.
Here's Wizard Burrial Ground, which is an impressive thing to watch live. One thing helping them along big time is Lighting Designer Jeff Waful. MOST impressive.
For some reason this doesn't seem to be embedding as I'd expected. So here's the link to the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uKcJL4rjM8
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Move the "check" checkbox Full Tilt!
Twice in the last 5 days, I had this happen, thanks to a bad design by Full Tilt and incredibly bad (or good, depending on your POV) timing from my opponent.
It's the river, I'm next to act, and I simply want to check behind -- I hover my house over the "check" checkbox, and am about to click it to enable it. Just as I'm pressing the mouse button down, I mean the exact, the very same instant, my opponent goes All In. In the blink of an eye, the "call" button appears in the very spot where the "check" checkbox was1 I then inadvertently end up calling an all-in bet, and loosing over one buy in each time.
I sent the issue in as a bug report to FT, calling it a design bug, because really that's exactly what it is: due to a poor design, users will at times, under the right circumstance, mistakenly click "call." The action for "check" and the action for "call" should never be in the exact same spot.
Now, at the stakes I dick around at online it's no big deal - after having this happen twice, I'm down the equivalent of a standard preflop raise in the live games I play. However, money's money, and I'd rather not give ten bucks to some idiot because fulltilt made a bad design choice. I'm sure if I was playing for larger sums this would have severely pissed me off. As it stands now, my only recourse is to never use the "check" checkbox.
Submit this as a bug to Full Tilt! http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/submitabug.php
It's the river, I'm next to act, and I simply want to check behind -- I hover my house over the "check" checkbox, and am about to click it to enable it. Just as I'm pressing the mouse button down, I mean the exact, the very same instant, my opponent goes All In. In the blink of an eye, the "call" button appears in the very spot where the "check" checkbox was1 I then inadvertently end up calling an all-in bet, and loosing over one buy in each time.
I sent the issue in as a bug report to FT, calling it a design bug, because really that's exactly what it is: due to a poor design, users will at times, under the right circumstance, mistakenly click "call." The action for "check" and the action for "call" should never be in the exact same spot.
Now, at the stakes I dick around at online it's no big deal - after having this happen twice, I'm down the equivalent of a standard preflop raise in the live games I play. However, money's money, and I'd rather not give ten bucks to some idiot because fulltilt made a bad design choice. I'm sure if I was playing for larger sums this would have severely pissed me off. As it stands now, my only recourse is to never use the "check" checkbox.
Submit this as a bug to Full Tilt! http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/submitabug.php
Thursday, August 20, 2009
online card rack
Been playing 30-60 minutes/day online the past couple weeks. Just for fun. Eases the casino-itch a bit. Here are some highlights from a session last night I played at the laundromat (thank you for free VERY fast WiFi!):
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"Thanks for the set-up FT!"
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"Why open-limping OTB with AA at a passive table is a bad move:"
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"Thanks for the set-up FT!"
First hand at a new 0.02/0.05 table - I watched the guy who's now UTG go all-in preflop 3 times in a row at this point.
I get dealt AA, and watch him open push $0.96, then button smooth-calls. I make a small-raise to $2.25; button pushes, I insta-call.
Awesome!!
I get dealt AA, and watch him open push $0.96, then button smooth-calls. I make a small-raise to $2.25; button pushes, I insta-call.
Awesome!!
-----------------------------------
"Why open-limping OTB with AA at a passive table is a bad move:"
Flop got checked around, I bet / called a raise on the turn, I check/called the push on the river:
-----------------------------
"How to crack a set of Kings"
I called a min-raise from the BB with J8 soooted. Loose call, of course, but I won't lay down 2 suited cards from the BB to a min-raise.
Flop goes check/check. Turn I under-bet the pot /call a min-raise. Flop I bet / call a push:
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Quick
Grandpa passed away overnight. Amazing how fast he went. Monday I was on the phone with him, ready to book a flight the following week to visit, and when I told him flights were $950 he said "I'm not THAT sick - check later dates." Tuesday afternoon he was put in the hospital, in a lot of pain and difficulty breathing. He was heavily sedated, and comfortable. Wednesday afternoon my mom arrived and reported he was still heavily sedated, and was going to ask the doctor today to keep him less sedated so he could at least talk and visit. 4am local time, he passed away.
Cancer's a bitch. 48 hours after telling me he's not that sick, he's dead. I'm still in shock I think. Heading to Florida tomorrow for the funeral and to be with family.
*sigh*
Cancer's a bitch. 48 hours after telling me he's not that sick, he's dead. I'm still in shock I think. Heading to Florida tomorrow for the funeral and to be with family.
*sigh*
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Vegas mini-report + life stuff
No extended Vegas trip report yet - had a lot going on, a lot on my mind since Vegas.
Finishing up school for the quarter, and been doing some soul-searching, trying to decide whether chemical dependency counseling really is the road I want to walk down. Haven't decided, but have decided to continue with classes through at least summer quarter.
Grandpa's been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year now. Did radiation, then a brief round of chemo which he stopped due to unbearable side effects. Things have been a roller coaster: 2 awesome weeks, followed by 3 horrible ones, 3 good days then 2 bad then 5 good then 6 bad....etc.... had what we thought was a routine procedure scheduled for this week (fluid build-up in the abdomen, which is very typical in pancreatic cancer, which was going to be removed either via drugs or otherwise), but once he hit the hospital he had great difficulty breathing, and since he's been kept overnight he's been heavily sedated and unaware of his surroundings. Talk about a bad beat...
I had been planning a trip next week to visit; unfortunately I may be going there earlier to say goodbye.
------------
Had a great time in Vegas. Venetian is a wonderful place to stay - awesome rooms, nice pools, great food - we didn't leave the Venetian/Palazzo complex for the first 36 hours of the trip.
KA was one of the most awe-inspiring, breathtaking shows I've ever experienced. Simply amazing. Even setting aside the story and the performances, just the technical feat that is the Ka stage and theatre is just -- well, stunning. I'd recommend it to anyone at anytime. I'd go see it again; hell if the tickets were cheaper I'd have stayed for the 2nd show. Unreal, and marvelous.
As far as poker -- had fun playing. I ended the trip down due to a guy making a great call and my draw not making it. It was my last day, my last short session, and check-raised all in on the turn with an OESD + flush draw, the guy tanked for what seemed like 5 minutes before calling with bottom-two pair. I honestly didn't think he was as strong as that even, but he made the call and won the pot, kudos to him.
Rest of the play was totally uneventful -- the place was swarming with poker players, the Venetian poker room was even packed at 3am Saturday night/Sunday morning when I went down. Unreal. The late night action was super-loose and quite passive. I chipped up a bit each night, never any huge hands or big scores.
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Been playing online micro-stakes the past week or so ($0.02/$0.05), playing super-loose and making a ton of VERY loose calls with middle and sometimes only bottom-pair. I was the Calling Station at the table, though these were often against players who had been showing a penchant for over-bluffing. I also got some big pots (for the stakes) that allowed me to gambool a bit more than was likely prudent. My FT account took about a $6 hit over the past 7 days, much of which happened 2 nights ago.
Had some really, really sick beats too. Big-time coolers, too - like the blind-vs-blind hand where I flop top 2 and opponent flops a set, I flop a set with AA and get run down by a flush draw with Qs7s... oh, well. If I'm not in Florida I'll be headed to Tulalip for a live-session this Friday; I sometimes feel like I'm easily bluffed, and so don't mind taking a small hit online by getting the "calling-station syndrome" out of my system.
Finishing up school for the quarter, and been doing some soul-searching, trying to decide whether chemical dependency counseling really is the road I want to walk down. Haven't decided, but have decided to continue with classes through at least summer quarter.
Grandpa's been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year now. Did radiation, then a brief round of chemo which he stopped due to unbearable side effects. Things have been a roller coaster: 2 awesome weeks, followed by 3 horrible ones, 3 good days then 2 bad then 5 good then 6 bad....etc.... had what we thought was a routine procedure scheduled for this week (fluid build-up in the abdomen, which is very typical in pancreatic cancer, which was going to be removed either via drugs or otherwise), but once he hit the hospital he had great difficulty breathing, and since he's been kept overnight he's been heavily sedated and unaware of his surroundings. Talk about a bad beat...
I had been planning a trip next week to visit; unfortunately I may be going there earlier to say goodbye.
------------
Had a great time in Vegas. Venetian is a wonderful place to stay - awesome rooms, nice pools, great food - we didn't leave the Venetian/Palazzo complex for the first 36 hours of the trip.
KA was one of the most awe-inspiring, breathtaking shows I've ever experienced. Simply amazing. Even setting aside the story and the performances, just the technical feat that is the Ka stage and theatre is just -- well, stunning. I'd recommend it to anyone at anytime. I'd go see it again; hell if the tickets were cheaper I'd have stayed for the 2nd show. Unreal, and marvelous.
As far as poker -- had fun playing. I ended the trip down due to a guy making a great call and my draw not making it. It was my last day, my last short session, and check-raised all in on the turn with an OESD + flush draw, the guy tanked for what seemed like 5 minutes before calling with bottom-two pair. I honestly didn't think he was as strong as that even, but he made the call and won the pot, kudos to him.
Rest of the play was totally uneventful -- the place was swarming with poker players, the Venetian poker room was even packed at 3am Saturday night/Sunday morning when I went down. Unreal. The late night action was super-loose and quite passive. I chipped up a bit each night, never any huge hands or big scores.
------------
Been playing online micro-stakes the past week or so ($0.02/$0.05), playing super-loose and making a ton of VERY loose calls with middle and sometimes only bottom-pair. I was the Calling Station at the table, though these were often against players who had been showing a penchant for over-bluffing. I also got some big pots (for the stakes) that allowed me to gambool a bit more than was likely prudent. My FT account took about a $6 hit over the past 7 days, much of which happened 2 nights ago.
Had some really, really sick beats too. Big-time coolers, too - like the blind-vs-blind hand where I flop top 2 and opponent flops a set, I flop a set with AA and get run down by a flush draw with Qs7s... oh, well. If I'm not in Florida I'll be headed to Tulalip for a live-session this Friday; I sometimes feel like I'm easily bluffed, and so don't mind taking a small hit online by getting the "calling-station syndrome" out of my system.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
VEGAS THURSDAY!!
That's right, it's time to get back to Vegas! Just checked the weather report, and it's gonna be gorgeous Thurs-Sat, with temps in the mid-80's. Talk about perfect vacation weather!
I'm excited -- I've been going through major life-stress, with a crap-ton of schoolwork to do, a close relative in the declining stages of a fight with cancer, deciding what I really want to do with my future, and having my workload nearly doubled with no increase in hours or pay. I can't get awa soon enough! Thank god I don't drink anymore, because if I did I'm certain I would have looked forward to a 3-day blackout, and who knows where I would come to. I do think, though, I'll be looking to gambool it up a bit more than last time, though this could be partly from watching too much durrrr on HSP and PAD cash game...
I'm hoping to play some longer sessions this time around -- since we'll be staying at Venetian, I think I'll be playing a bit more, as we'll be spending less time traveling from the south-end of the strip to the central part, plus between the Venetian and Palazo it's likely we won't be wandering out of that complex for too much of the time.
At this point I wish we had booked through Sunday. But, I do have to get back and study for my finals. And we don't leave until 8:30pm Saturday, so we almost have 3 full days there.
Vegas!! Woo-hoo-hoo!!!
I'm excited -- I've been going through major life-stress, with a crap-ton of schoolwork to do, a close relative in the declining stages of a fight with cancer, deciding what I really want to do with my future, and having my workload nearly doubled with no increase in hours or pay. I can't get awa soon enough! Thank god I don't drink anymore, because if I did I'm certain I would have looked forward to a 3-day blackout, and who knows where I would come to. I do think, though, I'll be looking to gambool it up a bit more than last time, though this could be partly from watching too much durrrr on HSP and PAD cash game...
I'm hoping to play some longer sessions this time around -- since we'll be staying at Venetian, I think I'll be playing a bit more, as we'll be spending less time traveling from the south-end of the strip to the central part, plus between the Venetian and Palazo it's likely we won't be wandering out of that complex for too much of the time.
At this point I wish we had booked through Sunday. But, I do have to get back and study for my finals. And we don't leave until 8:30pm Saturday, so we almost have 3 full days there.
Vegas!! Woo-hoo-hoo!!!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Vegas in 2 weeks, Tulalip 2 weeks ago...
Rebecca and I booked another Vegas trip a few weeks back; we'll be there June 4-6. Gonna be hot as balls, but if we didn't go then we were looking at 7 weeks later, when it will be hotter than balls. I'll chose "hot as" over "hotter than" any day.
Staying at Venetian - pricier than I would opt for, but the chick is all about feeling like a queen on our little mini-vacation. I'm totally fine with it, and we did end up getting an OK deal. I also found other ways to save money over our last trip (mostly on transport to/from the airports), so we'll be spending less overall on this trip than last one. It'll also be nice staying in the same hotel where I'll likely want to play most of my poker (save for a little bit at MGM before or after we se Ka).
SO looking forward to getting away from work again. I'll still have one more day of school the next week, and a final exam to study for, but the little Thurs-Sat jaunt will be a nice mind-break before the final.
-----------------------------
Couple Saturday's back I played some $1/$3 in the afternoon while Rebecca shopped. Glad there's an outlet mall right by Tulalip :)
I was playing loose and gambly, knowing I only had a few hours to play and hoping to make a nice score, willing to put a couple buy-ins on the line against weak-passive players. Much more passive than night time games IMO.
Only hand I remember vividly was one where I called on the button with A7o vs a player I was sure I could play and represent and push them off a hand. After hitting a 7 on the flop I called a flop bet, checked behind on the turn, and folded to a $100 river bet. The board was innoccuous, but I could likely only beat a bluff (or 88+). I said to him "I think I'm supposed to call you here," and then asked him whether he wanted a call or if he was happy with the pot as it is, etc. There was something - the speed of his river bet, his tone of voice, the way he moved, etc - that screamed "BLUFF" to me.
I turned over my 7 and said "I want to call you with just this, but I have to fold," and mucked my hand. He tables AT for no pair, and takes down the $100-ish pot.
If only I could consistently follow my instincts... of course when you play once/month it's hard to have much faith in your instincts. Still, it's something of which I need to be aware.
(for those curious, I ended up one buy-in after about 3 hours...not bad for a Saturday afternoon)
Staying at Venetian - pricier than I would opt for, but the chick is all about feeling like a queen on our little mini-vacation. I'm totally fine with it, and we did end up getting an OK deal. I also found other ways to save money over our last trip (mostly on transport to/from the airports), so we'll be spending less overall on this trip than last one. It'll also be nice staying in the same hotel where I'll likely want to play most of my poker (save for a little bit at MGM before or after we se Ka).
SO looking forward to getting away from work again. I'll still have one more day of school the next week, and a final exam to study for, but the little Thurs-Sat jaunt will be a nice mind-break before the final.
-----------------------------
Couple Saturday's back I played some $1/$3 in the afternoon while Rebecca shopped. Glad there's an outlet mall right by Tulalip :)
I was playing loose and gambly, knowing I only had a few hours to play and hoping to make a nice score, willing to put a couple buy-ins on the line against weak-passive players. Much more passive than night time games IMO.
Only hand I remember vividly was one where I called on the button with A7o vs a player I was sure I could play and represent and push them off a hand. After hitting a 7 on the flop I called a flop bet, checked behind on the turn, and folded to a $100 river bet. The board was innoccuous, but I could likely only beat a bluff (or 88+). I said to him "I think I'm supposed to call you here," and then asked him whether he wanted a call or if he was happy with the pot as it is, etc. There was something - the speed of his river bet, his tone of voice, the way he moved, etc - that screamed "BLUFF" to me.
I turned over my 7 and said "I want to call you with just this, but I have to fold," and mucked my hand. He tables AT for no pair, and takes down the $100-ish pot.
If only I could consistently follow my instincts... of course when you play once/month it's hard to have much faith in your instincts. Still, it's something of which I need to be aware.
(for those curious, I ended up one buy-in after about 3 hours...not bad for a Saturday afternoon)
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