the WU reborn

tech-monger

that's right baby, way back in the day, the mind was being used to abuse rules and gain advantage over opponents.  now that i've switched mostly to poker that's all changed....wait a minute, i guess not...

anyway, it's one of my only two contributions to the game of magic, and somehow someone remembered at wotc.  after the intro, scroll down to the titled "white lightning".  props to ryan for sending me the link.  here it is! 

frisbee & poker

i have photos to post but have been too lazy.

last weekend i missed AP and rachel's texas wedding celebration.  they were married earlier in milwaukee.  congrats to them again, and i'll see you in milwaukee in october.

my $8 frisbee has been the next best thing since sliced bread.  i've had a chance to throw it around with loong, gerald, and most recently, my mandarin tutor, maya.  good times were had by all.

tourneys last week were for crap.  wednesday i busted out in 40 minutes when my 8d9d that flopped 6d7d8c went up vs QsQc and didn't hit one of my 20 outs in 2 cards.  saturday i busted out in 29th, (paid down to 15th).  i was short stacked with 14k (ave stack 25k).  blinds 500 1500 with 200 ante.  utg big stack raises to 5k.  i look down to see 5d5c.  i move all in, and he sheepishly calls with AdJc.  flop bricked, but he turned a J and that was it.

online is another story.  i have been a freaking wrecking ball.  it's easy when people do stuff like this guy.  i'll leave you with a hand i call "when bluffs go wrong, v1h1.  i am lucky duck:

Table Cabana - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:19:07 ET - 2005/07/27

Seat 1: dimedude ($69.50)

Seat 2: HRoark ($89)

Seat 3: lucky duck ($219.10)

Seat 4: bwemss6 ($80)

Seat 5: raliman ($93.60)

Seat 6: 3am ($144.90)

Seat 7: colofan ($53.10)

Seat 8: 310degenerate ($52.65)

Seat 9: jackuiowa ($36.90)

dimedude posts the small blind of $0.50

HRoark posts the big blind of $1

The button is in seat #9

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to lucky duck [Qh Qc]

lucky duck raises to $3

bwemss6 folds

raliman folds

3am calls $3

colofan calls $3

310degenerate folds

jackuiowa folds

jackuiowa: i thought you were going to turn over aces

dimedude folds

HRoark calls $2

*** FLOP *** [2h 5d 3h]

HRoark checks

lucky duck bets $12

3am calls $12

colofan folds

HRoark folds

*** TURN *** [2h 5d 3h] [9d]

lucky duck has 15 seconds left to act

lucky duck bets $25

3am raises to $75

lucky duck has 15 seconds left to act

lucky duck raises to $204.10, and is all in

3am calls $54.90, and is all in

lucky duck shows [Qh Qc]

3am shows [Td Qd]

Uncalled bet of $74.20 returned to lucky duck

*** RIVER *** [2h 5d 3h 9d] [Ks]

lucky duck shows a pair of Queens

3am shows King Queen high

lucky duck wins the pot ($293.30) with a pair of Queens

lucky duck: jesus

3am is sitting out

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $296.30 | Rake $3

Board: [2h 5d 3h 9d Ks]

Seat 3: lucky duck showed [Qh Qc] and won ($293.30) with a pair of Queens

Seat 6: 3am showed [Td Qd] and lost with King Queen high

computer for sale

i have a pc (p4 comparable) with monitor for sale for $200 USD.  it is located in milwaukee.

let me know if you or anyone you know is interested.

thanks!

cherries

a big bowl of yellow ones

i ate them

all

nice weather

it's been about 70-75 all weekend, and today the weather isn't stopping.  i've made it a point to get out at least once a day to enjoy it while it lasts.

yesterday i cooked for my aunt, uncle, cousins oliver, and his two kids serena and devan.  i decided on italian:

bruschetta

linguini ala carbonara

johnsonville italian sausages

sauteed escarole

blueberry crisp

the kids helped with the cooking, and seemed to enjoy it a lot.  after dinner, we had a dip in the pool and a soak in uncle john's hot tub. 

tyan and chyi just celebrated their 30th birthday in paris.  congrats to you both!

i'm playing a tourney on wednesday, and one on saturday.

come visit, and then i'll have something interesting to blog about.

back on track

pokerwise, july has started out pretty cold for me.  it all started when i tried to put a move on a kid who was incapable of laying down his aces on the flop.  that session got me a bit bummed because if i can't ever make big bluffs in the biggest game in town, my poker game and skills can't grow.  at least, that's what i thought initially.

after a bit of reflection, i realized that it was my fault that i had incorrectly read this guy, even though he had an enormous pile of chips.  the semi-bluff raise i made was 33 to a 245 board.  i had raised preflop, and he had cold called.  on the flop he bet out, and i raised him huge.  he called, and eventually we got all the money in, with his AA holding up.  against a great player, i could get a fold, but not realizing that was my mistake.

in any case, the last few sessions have been in the black, which puts me on the road to a very healthy recovery.  july is shaping up nicely.

i managed to finally hook up with my cousin wei-loong over the weekend.  we had dimsum, threw a frisbee around, and hung out with his girlfriend and her friends for cocktails.  it was a nice change of pace, and i hope to do that again soon.

i started mandarin lessons last week with my craigslist tutor, maya.  she's from beijing, and she's very patient.  that's a good thing, because i feel like i don't learn very quickly, although she's quick to contradict me there.  i've had three lessons so far; we meet twice a week for two hours each time.  i even went and bought index cards to make flash cards for myself.

cards cards cards...speaking of which, the 2005 world series of poker is going on right now, with the winner taking home a cool 7.5 million dollars.  i'm sad i can't play this year, but with the move, i decided to stay put.  i hope to be in vegas for the six weeks of the series next year though, and if i can do ok in some of the earlier events or side games, i'll give it a shot.

tonight i went to see land of the dead with oliver and oneal.  it was what i expected, and thankfully the characters didn't talk much, because the dialogue that was there was poor.  lots of good guts and guns though.

camping in the sticks

new photos in the july camping album!

last week wednesday, oliver, oneal and i went camping up near kamloops, about 4 hours from vancouver.  this isn't your trailer camping, or your large public KOA style camping, we're talking about freakin roughing it.  no running water, no crappers, and no other people.  we were technically heading for a camping area, but it's not a campground, per se.

thankfully, oliver's got all the gear and more.  he packed his jeep full as hell: tents, tarps, table, grill, stove, lantern, pellet gun, fishing crap, 2 boats, sleeping bags, and 2 big tubs of food and drink that he had gone shopping for a few days before.

we arrived near the campsite without too much trouble, and then we got onto a dirt road.  this stretched for several kilometers, after which we ran into "the gigantic mud bog."  here is a clip of oliver and his truck kicking that mud bog's ass.  pretty hot.

we got all set up, and proceeded to loaf for the next 4 days.  we did a good bit of:

-eating corned beef hash and eggs and bacon and weiners and steak and chicken and cookies and not a lot of vegetables.  this proved to be a valuable strategy as i am new to...

-shitting in the woods.  there are several strategies including the "prop your ass on a shovel like you are sitting" gambit, the "one cheek on a rock" gambit, and the ever popular "drop trou, squat, and pray for the best" gambit.  i found it pays to bring deep woods off while getting one's dump on to discourage would be mosquitos from dining on one's posterior.

-shooting a pellet gun at cans and plastic bottles.  on the last night, the guys made a raft with water bottles and light sticks inside.  then one pulled it around behind the rowboat (in the damned rain) while the other shot at it.  that's dedication.  me, i sat by the fire.

-sleeping.  me, for the most part in the truck.  the pad on the ground wasn't doing it for me after the first night.

-dragging deadfall out of the woods, chainsawing it into logs, splitting them with an axe, and burning the living crap out of them.

-sitting around said burning wood, talking about life, girls, and 80's music and movies.

-stinking.  no bathing.  my first shower yielded enough dirt to bury a small child.  the lake was a bit chilly, and the smoke from the fire lent us a lot of cover from mosquitos and camoflaged any B.O.  ok well, most of it.

the ride home sucked.  there was a lot of traffic because of the long weekend (no not the fourth, freaking canada day). 

upon arriving home, i fell in love for the first time with my bathroom.  each separate item within was like christmas morning: sweet, lovely toilet, glorious shower, soap and a razor, oh my!

all in all, it was a great experience.  my gut is recovering, now that i've eaten as much baby bok choy as i could cram into the trunk of my car.  i'm looking forward to going again, although perhaps not for quite as long, and perhaps also a site a bit closer, like squamish.