PokerStars: 5 Card Draw

My buddy Rick and I wind up at a 5 card draw table together on PokerStars. I had been playing at that table for around a half hour when I see his avatar pop up. I am already doing fairly well at this table... I am dealt 3 Kings on the original deal and decide to slow play them. I just limp in and hope someone raises...

This is a Pot Limit table...Rick raises the size of the pot and I think for a minute and call. I can't remember how many he discarded, but I was fairly positive I was going to take his money regardless. It was really nice when the 4th King was dealt to me on the draw. I'm known to throw in a bluff every once in a while, otherwise I'd never get my large bets paid off. I was fairly confident that I could get Rick to bet if I checked. He bet and I raised the size of the pot...he thought for a little while and called. He mucked his cards and I never knew what he called me with, but whatever it was... I really appreciated it. He has a bazillion dollars in his account so I only made a small dent.

(Rick got me back though when he sucked out a 9 on the river to give him a boat to my nut flush.)

Poker is all about making the right moves at the right time. Both instances I feel like I made the best play possible against him. Rick is a fairly strong player and we like to bitch to each other about hands we played and lost...as well as hands we played perfectly and won an ass-load on. We didn't have to e-mail or call each other this time though....because I was his victim as he was mine prior.

I have been neglecting World of Warcraft lately and really need to get back to levelling my Night Elf Rogue. Back to nerddom for a little while.

Poker - Overplaying AA, KK, QQ, JJ

I have made quite bit of loot lately online by calling small raises more often than I used to with suited connectors. While, I'd much rather have pockets aces, the connectors always seem to bring in more cash when they hit.

I have been playing a lot more cash games as of late. I have also been taking full advantage of the people that either slow-play their large pockets pairs pre-flop or only raise a minimum amount with them. I love holding 7-8 suited or 10-J suited against pocket Aces or Kings. I can easily lay them down if nothing hits...or I can extract a large amount from the person holding the large pair if I hit.

Here is an exaple of a hand I played last night that netted me a nice profit. 6-player Cash game table on Pokerstars. I'm sitting in the big blind position and am dealt 10-J suited (Clubs.) One of my tablemates doubles the blind and another player calls. It's one bet to me to play and I call. 3 players go to the flop... 10(h)-J(s)-4(c). I flop top two pair. The original raiser bets some obscure amount and I'm fairly sure he has Aces or Kings and will have problems laying his hand down. The other player folds. Raising may indicate my hand strength, so I just call. Turn is the 6(c) which now adds a flush draw to my hand. He bets big on the turn and I decide it's time to make him pay... I raise all-in for the rest of my money. He instantly calls and shows his Q's (yeah...my read was slightly off.) The river was the Ace(c) and my two pair turns into a flush and I take all of the poor guy's cash.

My play as of late has been nearly flawless. I have almost paid for my trip to Vegas next month with my cash game play.

I finished at the final table of a small buy-in tournament the other night also. I made a bonehead play preflop with A8 and got caught by AK. Ended up 7th out of 180 players, but I played well and made some good reads along the way.

Golden Palace Casino can lick my balls!

About 2 months ago I made a $25 deposit into Golden Palace Casino's new Tournament Blackjack site. I have since turned this $25 into quite a bit more.

I am taking a vacation to Las Vegas at the end of January and wanted to go ahead and cash out just enough to go ahead and pay for my plane ticket. Depositing the funds was simple, but withdrawing the funds is a bitch. I have never withdrawn from them before, thus when I went to make a withdrawal I received a message that I needed to fax them a picture ID and my social security card. Lots of sites do this for security purposes and I had no problem whatsoever with that. I called them today to explain my situation to them and to see if they needed me to send them my account info as well with my SS card and picture ID. They have added several more layers of security and now require that I fax them the front and back of the card that I made the deposit with along with 2 bills with my mailing address on it. All I want for them to do is to add the funds to the original card that deposited with. Most of my bills are still in my great-grandmother's name and they are having issues with the info being legitimate. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It is apparently going to take an act of congress to get the money that is rightfully mine. Most places will at least deposit the original amount back to your card and then offer to send you a check for the remainder.

"Boo!" to Golden Palace I say! "Booooooooooooooooooo!"

Thanksgiving at Jennings's's's

THURSDAY

Turkey... Barbecue... Football... then back home

World of Warcraft (Priest almost to level 58 )... Family Guy on DVD... Sleep


FRIDAY

DSI going through lotsa changes (according to DSIComedyTheater.com Forums)... work... testing out new video production camera... Ted's Mash-Up CD getting me through day

Borat has Raisins in his Toast

I went to see Borat with Jennings, Katie, and Becky last night. The movie was really good. We proceeded to Waffle House after the movie. This was the first time I had Waffle House in almost a year. You know how I know Scott Jennings is gay... he knows all the words to a Dido song.

Raisins in my Toast and Grill Operator are the best Waflle House songs ever!!!

Another weird-ass dream (which I hope doesn't come true)

It was senior school picture day at my old high school. DSI had agreed to perform to keep people waiting in line to have their photo made. I did a scene with Joe Jones and I apparently said something that offended him. I saw a tear roll down his cheek and I approached him to apologize. He was extremely angry with me, but instead of hitting me or confronting me in any way, he proceeded to run to the Burlington Square Mall. He continued to run away from me inside of the mall. I finally caught up with him and as he was about to speak to me I woke up in a heated sweat. It seemed so real though.

What was the purpose of this dream? Maybe Joe Jones has something important to tell me. I'll ask him this weekend.

I miss poker with my PPA tour bretheren

Here is an e-mail I received from a friend of mine who I taught poker strategy to many moons ago. It was indeed nice to hear from him.

I agree entirely with him about the crap that is going on at PokerStars right now. Most of the psychotic play on Stars can be attributed to all of the players migrating from other online poker sites that have been shut down due to the new law.

Here's the e-mail:

Tommy,

I don't know about you, but I've gotten back into playing on Stars this weekafter having been out of it for about three months, and I honestly believethe game has gotten worse. I've probably played about 200 hands, I'mtalking playable hands, and the following happens:A) Can't hit a flop, or even get three to a straight or flush.B) Been playing my monster hands strong by raising pre-flop a good amountand get called by inferior hands for them to win at the end and cripple me.C) Half the hands I have had have been six-high.D) Those on draws won't lay down (especially the gutshot going into theriver) while I have my set.E) And finally, playing the $1, $2, and $3 tournaments at night arebasically freeroll. You can also include the $5 and even the $10 games.I'm lucky to make it out of the second blind level.Bottom line, I can't cash based on stupidity.What all I'm getting at is......Poker Taverns could get another look at me after a nine-month layoff......assoon as I land a job to make some gas money.You might want to check me out this weekend. I plan on playing a tournamentor two during the afternoon.One other thing......do you object to Sunday afternoon tournaments online??I'm leaning more towards that day that does not conflict with Hitt's homegames.That also reminds me. I really would like to see you come back to Hitt's place to play. We need the players like you that keep the place entertained. Give Hitt a call or e-mail him one. He's supposed to start his first event a week from this Sunday(11/19). Later, dude!!!!

Something is about to change?!?!?

This is going to seem really weird...
Around 90% the "legitimate" dreams that I have come true.

The dreams I have had for the past 10 or so years that could possibly happen...the ones that involve me and other "real" people from my life...they come to form in real life.

I had a dream a few nights ago that something major in my life is about to change for the better. It's odd, because it wasn't clear in my dream what that major thing was.

According to my dream, look for something major to be announced here on this blog in the next month or so.

I am only 59% Bitch. Oh, Thank God

You are 59% Bitch!

Wow! You really are becoming a real Bitch! Has anyone ever told you that? I think you need to calm it down! Before you can't turn back from being a big Bitch! Being Cruel isn't that fun!

How much of a B*tch Are you?
Create MySpace Quizzes

Tyra Banks wants to scrog me, w00t!!!

Well...she did until I used the word, "scrog."

Here's proof:

What type of person do you attract? Your Result: You attract models! Congrats, something about you makes those model-quality people flock to you. This is good for obvious reasons - they look great, just having them nearby attracts other models, and it opens doors for you - like exclusive clubs and whatnot. If you are seeking pure physical beauty, you are all set. If you are seeking someone that is not cynical and slightly bitter about humans in general, someone focused on the human condition and intellect, then you are out of luck - but who cares, you attract models!
You attract artsy people!
You attract geeks!
You attract unstable people!
You attract Yuppies!
You attract rednecks!
What type of person do you attract? Quizzes for MySpace

My lack of an accent

I can give myself just about any accent I feel like giving myself, but my Southern accent stands out a little more than anything else.

According to a test I took, I do not have an accent.

Here are the test results:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Tennis & Trivia

Brian Reder and I won our first round doubles match on Monday night, but were then beaten to a pulp by the top team in the tournament on Wednesday night. This marks another year with a different doubles partner in the tennis tournament. Brian and I played really well together though. It didn't help theat we were playing against a team comprised of one of Burlington's best players and a guy who was a former teaching pro. Oh well, the Mebane tennis gang hit La Cocina afterwards and I forgot all about the loss.

After I got home from La Cocina, I took a shower and headed down to Tyler's in Carrboro for Trivia Night. It was nice to have Lauren Frohne join Scott, Katy, and I.

We sucked a fat nut at just about every portion of Trivia Night last night. Oh shit...my lunch-mate is ready to go to lunch...

Must....consume....mass...quantities...

TB

The "It" Crew

Thanks, but no thanks. I have this really weird feeling of deja vu.

A post for my non-improv amigos - Night of the Living Improv

This is our CageMatch performance from DSI's Halloween "Spooktacular"<----(see what I did)

About eighty people have this on their blogs now, but I wanted to post it so my non-improv friends can enjoy. We decided that we should do shortform....and it worked out really well.



Part 1:


Part 2:

Chessnia

Good Lord...Trivia Night at Tyler's is rough! With no music round this week, I think I was only able to assist with one or two questions. The picture identification round was slightly easier this week, but I would have only been able to get about half of the celebs on my own.

Penny Pinching is going okay thus far. I could be doing better, but this is the first time I've been in a financial bind in several years. I have some cash that I have accumulated from playing tournament BlackJack online stored away. I am going to refer to the cash as being "in an overseas account" so it sounds cool. The funds are indeed held in an account overseas, but it is merely my player account with Golden Palace. I have yet to make a withdrawal from that account so I have to fax them a picture ID and Social Security Card. I have to make time at work today to do that...Fun Fun :(

I read a very intriguing post on the PokerTaverns.com message boards yesterday by Kim Hanisak, one of my friends who used to assist me with running poker tournaments in that league. The post was about respect for tournament directors. I ran tournaments in that league for almost a year and had fun doing so, but there were several occasions where players were less than respectful for no good reason. I volunteered my time because I love poker and I had developed awesome relationships through that channel. When someone wants to be an ass, it is very tough to not walk away then and there. Example: In the Tavern Finals at Goldie's, I was assisting a table with an issue and came back to find that my tablemates had folded my pocket cards. I was gone less than 2 minutes. What a bunch of douchebags. I don't know what was said to Kim, but I know exactly how she feels. Please folks, be nice to Tournament Directors, especially those that are there on a volunteer basis.


PT stepped in a huge puddle...it was funny!


That is all.

TB

I've been asked to write again

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft, our Features editor has asked me to write a column from a player's perspective about being part of the World of Warcraft community.

The piece ought to be fun to write, but I haven't written for the paper in about 2 years. It's going to seem weird being published again.



Let us change the subject entirely. I just got my student loan payments up to date. I am going to be a poor mofo for about a week and a half (at which time more bills will roll in and I'll be a poor mofo for 2 more weeks.)

I broke a string playing tennis the other night and have to have my racquet re-strung. It's a good thing because the strings had already lasted almost a year and I have a tennis tournament coming up next week and I needed my gear up to par. It is also bad thing because it costs money for the strings and for the stringing. I also went ahead and told the guys at the pro shop to put a new grip on for me. I also have to pay for the entry into the tourney. Holy Crap... expenses, expenses, expenses!

Maybe it's time to start my side business as a man-whore.

CageMatch Go Bye-Bye... Temporarily

CageMatch will be taking a break during the month of November to give us some time off. Ted busts his ass to produce this show and needs some time to recharge.

I think a lot of the people at the theater need some time to recharge. Some people play 2 or 3 shows a night and it takes a toll. In one month, everyone should come back refreshed and ready to go into "The Cage." Get creative, get crazy, get a team together, and sign up.

I want very much for the theater to succeed, but it's going to take an effort from everyone involved. Tell your friends about the theater... Tell your neighbors about the theater... Tell everyone about the theater! Get outside and promote the fuck out of the DSI Comedy Theater. Promote your own shows... Promote other shows... Just do it!

Night of the Living Improv a success!

Night of the Living Improv was a fun group to perform with. Even though we didn't win, this was the most fun I have had on stage in a while.

PT Scarborough put together an amazing cast of humans and zombies for this show.

You can check out the promo video here:

Welcome to my new Bloggy Blog!

At the request of several of my loyal fans, I have created a non-MySpace Blog.

Feel Free to check out my old blog at www.myspace.com/tommybarbour

Welcome to Sexual Moose Tracks!
Sexual Moose Tracks is a blog about the ever-changing life of Tommy Barbour.

I hope to update this blog at least 3 or 4 times a week. I will begin entering in stuff about my life
within the next 24 hours. Stay tuned.