…in case you haven’t seen it…

Here’s a pic of my bike.

…at least I know I can always pedal the melancholy away… (forced half grin)

Oh, other changes I eluded to in the last post? I’m still persuing my degree. Finished a couple more classes. C++ and Technical Writing. I have two classes left. General Chemistry and Calculus II. Then I’ll have my BSAST. Pretty cool. Don’t know when I’m going to take the CalcII, but it will be this year. My Chemistry class starts next week.

Still haven’t fixed my truck transmission. I like riding the bike too much. I am aware of my laziness and if I fix the truck, I likely will drive the truck. Still haven’t sold it either. Hmmmm. Spent a little money fixing up my Jeep. It is still not running either, but it is closer than it was. It’s been a three year project (so far).

I got into HAM radio at the start of the year. I took and passed my Technician class exam in January, then the General class exam in February. With the code requirements removed, I am now a General Class HAM radio operator. Got a cheap handheld, a Yaesu FT-60R. Works pretty good.

Haven’t played much poker. I have noticed that the less I play, the worse I play when I do play.

Other than that, check out my new blog over at back2dabike to see what I’ve been up to.

http://back2dabike.wordpress.com

Mahalo.

…another poker night…

…so, I sat down for a tournament game last night at a new place.  It was a tournament with an extremely wallet friendly $10 buy in.  It should have been an easy table to win at.  I'd played with a couple of them before and kinda knew what to expect from them.  Everyone (except me) was drinking and having a good time.  Nearly every hand was a limp-in for everybody, and there were LOTS of checks until the river.

I was the first one out.

What happened?  Well, I was throwing away a lot of hands that most of the other guys would have stayed with… like 10 and 8 offsuit, or 4 and K offsuit…  and while they were busy taking turns raking in small pots with hands like a pair of tens, I sat out and watched.

Then I got a hand worth raising a little pre-flop.  AJ diamonds.  So, on a big blind of 30, I raised it to 60 (and I was the big blind).  Everyone called.  I didn't hit the flop, and the guy to my right checked.  I led out like it didn't matter if I didn't hit the flop with a bet of 60.  Everyone called.  The turn didn't help, but I couldn't check or I'd give away what I was in on.  I wanted to represent a pocket pair that hit the flop or turn, so I raised up my bet to 150.  Finally a couple people folded.  Two stayed in.  After the river (which also didn't help me), I led out with 200.  One caller.  I had Ace High, but was bluffing.  I figured the guy who stayed had a big hand and would re-raise to see where I really stood, or fold.  He just called, and his 10 and 6 hole cards netted him a two pair.  He was in the hand for over 80% of his chips with a two pair that he caught on the river.

So, after that I took two more smaller hits, lost a pair of Aces to a full house and I can't even remember the last one.  I was all in blind on my last hand as the big blind with 3 callers and lost.

…(whistles): "it was a crazy game of poker, and I lost it all"… O.A.R.

And I pretty much don't like poker anymore… atleast for a day or two… I'm pouting…

Lesson: cheap games are not serious games.

… and for those wondering, yes – I made it through another night without drinking…

6 weeks and counting…

…poker : R140934ZMAY06

…so poker really sucked tonight.  4 cards to an open-ended straight flush draw on the board, the guy to my left is betting weak with checking and calling.  Any of 9 other spades would have a flush, and two of those would give the straight flush.  I'd been leading with $200 bets, so I upped my bet after the river to $500.  He raised to $1000.  I knew I didn't have it, so he must have caught it – so I folded.  Bastard had pocket 10's.  The river was a freaking 10!  He bet $1000 on trip 10's!

So, I didn't have it anyway – but what the hell?  Did he have a read on me?  Maybe he didn't realize all the outs there were.  Maybe he didn't realize what hands he was potentially playing against.

I felt better when I watched him lose a lot of stupid hands the rest of the night.

Well, the most important thing is that I made it through another night without drinking…