Another Saturday Night in AC

Man, I'm glad I finished up the last trip report already. This trip was another trip that you had to be there to believe.

We didn't end up getting down to Atlantic City until later in the evening... somewhere around 7 PM. Pauly was still working, but he figured he'd get done much earlier that night since they were just finshing up yesterday's event. They weren't going to start a new event that day because the main event was starting on Sunday.

While we were waiting, we grabbed his brother Derek and grabbed dinner at Noodles of the World again. Their spicy beef noodle soup is always too good for me to resist, and I got the same thing yet again. While Al picked up the tab and was waiting for the bill, I ran out again and tried my luck to see if I could hit another big score on the slots. Not this time. It seems it can only happen once per trip, and since Pauly never left, it was still the same trip for him. Oh well.

After dinner, we went up to check on Pauly. The event had just finished, and some young punk had just taken it down. (Man, I wish I was some young punk. lol) We waited for Pauly to finish up and grabbed the guys for some recreation outside of the Borgata.

Since Pauly's spent the last 10 days in the Borgata, we headed over to Harrah's to the Eden lounge for a little boozing. We probably should've found a bar that had nothing to do with a casino, but it was close and we don't know of any good bars in the area. We wandered in, and Pauly starts wandering towards the back of the bar to one of the quiet little tables there. I convinced him that the floor show was more than worth the slight trade-off of noise. We found a table in the back of the main area with a decent view of the dance floor... and the floor show that always ensues.

We sit down and get the same waitress as last week. She's slow, but she remembered us and our drinks... she gets orders from Pauly and Derek. She seemed to be trying to be a little quicker, and I think our tip from last weekend helped. We settled in for the show.

I pointed out the porno dancing freak to the guys, and we didn't have to wait long before he started "performing". I'm hoping that since Pauly's a much better writer than I am, he can do it more justice on his blog. We watched him for quite a while... Pauly bet me $20 that I wouldn't go dance with him. Under normal circumstances, it would've been a no-brainer but I knew he had his camera. There's no way I was letting him get a photo of me with the freak to post for only $20... I could never live with the reminder (or run for public office) with that floating around.

The first band was good... turned out to be friends of ours. We weren't expecting it, but it was a nice surprise. The second band that came on had 3 chick singers that had these cutesy little choreographed moves. Kinda lame, but we were having a good time drinking.

During their first set, this group of guys sits down at the table next to us. Older guys, with the oldest being in his 60's (by my guesstimation) and the youngest being late 30's/early 40's (also guesstimation). As they were making their way to the table, the oldest guy was dancing to the music as Al was passing. The guy starts dancing with Al, which of course makes us all laugh.

They settle in and start drinking. At some point, they start talking to me. Nice guys actually, all cousins. They get me up to dance a few times over the next hour or so and start buying me drinks. At some point, the middle cousin goes wandering and the youngest goes off to find him. The old guy wanders up to the bar (presumably to get a drink) and comes back with a woman in tow. She was in her 50's, not bad looking but looking her age, in a sweater and black pants. I thought that my new friend had just found a love interest at the bar. He introduced me to her and his youngest cousin when he came back.

It seems that her purpose wasn't "love", per se. After a conversation amongst the guys, the youngest cousin leans over to me and says that he can't believe that his cousin actually picked up a hooker. I said "Really? She's a hooker?" and almost fell out of my chair laughing! We'd had a conversation earlier about hookers and how I couldn't spot them. I'd asked Pauly and Derek to teach me how to pick 'em out... seems that they knew right off. I definitely need lessons...

I also learned that AC hookers seem to get paid well. After seeing the HBO special about the AC hookers, I thought they were the cheap kind. Nope, not here it seems. The cousin was also amazed that she wanted $300. I was laughing too hard to ask for what, but I should've asked "for posterity". Too late now.

Pauly and Derek were tired by this time, so we headed out. We dropped them off at the Borgata and started home. I needed to put gas in the truck and a little bit of food for the ride, so we stopped at the gas station/McDonalds right on the way out of AC. We made it there easily enough and got gas. Time for food...

Warning for anyone in AC around 3 in the morning looking for food... this McDonalds is NOT the way to go. Slow as hell, lines wrapped around the place... and if you haven't been raped, beaten, and your car stolen and/or hit, you've done well. Al ended up having to run inside since the drive-thru line was so long. It was easy to see afterwards why the smart people opted to use the drive-thru. It took Al forever inside, while I waited out in the car. I had the doors securely locked and something heavy within close range of my hands just in case... When the car with most of the passenger side bashed in got within inches of my bumper as it parked next to me, I prayed that Al would come out soon. Luckily, he came out right afterward and I met him with the car at the door so he wouldn't get mugged on the way through.

I made the 2 hour trip home in about an hour and a half. Traffic was cooperating nicely, and we made it home at 5 AM.

It's always an adventure in AC.

Round 2

Since it's already Saturday and we're talking about heading down to AC again, I thought I should probably finish up last weekend. :-)

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Ok, we get to Harrah's. Walk in, and there's the "universe puked" carpet. Why do Atlantic City casinos feel the need to find the ugliest carpets possible to grace every square inch of their floors? Sometimes, they pick two or three ugly patterns and mix it up... like one isn't enough? I thought I was going to lose my NoW Spicy Beef Noodle soup. Luckily, I have a strong stomach though.

We walk in and ask for directions to the Eden lounge from one of Harrah's drink girls. She tells us to walk along the wall to the left and we'd find it. We start walking, and walking, and walking. We finally find this place... and realize that we were a very short walk through some slot machines to the front door. At least we know we have a quick escape.

Actually, we hear Eden before we get there. There's loud music and as we get close, we see a bunch of people on the dance floor. Al tries to find Phil while I sit down at a table to the right of the stage and order drinks. There were a few parties of girls dancing around, but I noticed that the gaggles of 21-year-olds seemed to be the exception, not the norm as it is in most of these places.

The small group of girls clear from the dance floor, and that's when I notice them. Three people dancing... and little would I know at that point that they would be the staple of this evening's amusements. They were not young.... they had at least 10-15 years on me, and I'd passed out of my 20's a couple of years ago. Old enough to know better, but didn't. It's not that dancing has to stop when you hit 25 - I love to dance. It's when you try to dance like this.... the guy must've thought porn movies were the best places to get pointers on how to dance, since he'd grind against any women he could get within 5 feet of and make the ass-slapping motions (among others) while grinding away. As the night went on, I almost made Al go out and check on the guy because I swore that he had to be having epileptic seizures at times. The women were no better, though a little more tame. We had to laugh at one of the ladies since her pants were slung low on her hips and her thong was showing... what made it even more amusing were the black pantyhose she was wearing that covered 'em up and made everyone stare to figure out what was wrong with her skin. That's how it started.

Tony and Crystal arrived and settled in, ordering drinks. Then the band came on - the band before Phil's. This was the defining point of the evening. The band was playing all kinds of late 90's crap music - music that Tony had played while in his band years ago and it was crap then. Tony made the comment that the band sounded like they were playing at a wedding... and the jokes started about the bridesmaids and Aunt Sarah making an ass out of herself. We were joined by Phil's girlfriend Melinda, Helixx and Beck during the spectacle. I swear, I've never laughed so hard in my life.

Things went from bad to worse when "Bubba" started dancing. He was a big guy - a few inches over 6 ft. - with a beer belly that would've had people asking if a woman if she was pregnant with twins if she'd had it. The sleeveless blue shirt he was wearing covered it, sort of. It was covered when he pulled the shirt down and stood there. As soon as he moved, the thing rolled up like a window blind in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. When the band started playing "Sweet Home Alabama" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", ol' Bubba just couldn't help himself. We were treated all kinds of belly-jiggling, fist-pumping dancing. Luckily, it was the end of the set and the band was done for the night.

House music comes on... and the stripper wanna-be starts dancing. At that moment in time, she was the sexiest woman on the dance floor. Of course, she was the only person on the dance floor at all but... she just knew that everyone was looking at her. I'm sure she thought because they all wanted her. It was more like a train wreck - what you see scares you and makes you sick to your stomach but you just can't look away.

Phil's band Vibe Tribe starts playing, and it's the same cast of characters - minus Bubba. We've now picked up an old lady that just loves Vibe Tribe's singer. To the credit of the band, they did pull in several groups of younger chicks. Some were cute... others needed to find true friends because any true friends wouldn't have let those people walk out of the house in those outfits. One in particular - a slightly larger chick in a satin tank top and sequined belt. The outfit itself wasn't bad... It was the chick's lack of mammary support that was the problem. As soon as she started bouncing around to the music, so did they. I swear I had to duck a couple of times because I was afraid I was going to get a black eye... and I wasn't even on the dance floor! There were so many amusements, but not enough space in my memory to remember them all.

The band finishes up and we head out. Beck decides to crash with us instead of staying up all night playing cards. Then again, the countless number of beers might have had something to do with it. On the way back to the hotel, Beck and I decide we need to eat. Al declines and we head out to the diner in Absecon without him.

Breakfast is good. Especially after hours of drinking. It seems that all kinds of people like that diner... the "pimps" included. One in a lavendar suit, the other in a pink seersucker suit. Wow... if I thought I could've gotten a picture without getting my ass shot, I would've gone for it. I would've had the guys pose with me in the middle! By this time, it was 5 in the morning, and we needed sleep.

After a short nap, we're up at 11 and get out of the hotel by noon. Al was afraid I'd lose my newly-won money, so he suggests we head home instead of hanging out for the day. Since I'd only had a few hours of sleep, it actually sounded good. We dropped Beck off at the Philly airport on the way through, and I crashed as soon as I got home.

It was a good trip... we'll probably head out in a few hours to go back to AC today. It's a different trip, and Pauly's still there. Maybe I can convince the gods of luck to grace me with another nice little slot win. Plus, we're going to try to catch up with The Blonde and a few others while we're there. Wish me luck!

BTW - Helixx sent me to his MixDepot page to download a few house mixes he's got posted. Cool stuff! We'd been laughing about music in Eden and he was amazed at some of the crap I have on my iPod and the diversity of the music. I've added his stuff to my iPod, plus some mixes from a few of the other guys. This is great stuff for playing poker...

A weekend to remember... or if you're lucky, to forget

This was actually started a few days ago. Life keeps getting in the way. :-)

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We headed down to the Borgata on Saturday. The original plans were to make it down on Friday night, but I was oncall for work and I had some stuff going on. I ended up finishing my work earlier than I thought. Instead of going home afterward and getting a good night's sleep, I began my weekend with a night out with Danielle. As usual, the beer flowed and we had a good night. It included a stop at our all-night diner for eggs and bacon. (Nothing is better after a night of drinking than breakfast at 1:30 in the morning.)

Saturday morning came way too quickly, but I got up decently early. Once we grabbed showers and pack a bag, we head out to AC. The drive was fairly uneventful, except for a few idiots who don't know how to get out of the left lane. Typical for any highway driving though. We arrived by 1:30 PM and head straight to the Borgata.

We were feeling pretty lucky because there didn't seem to be any traffic snarls anywhere... until we got to the Borgata. It seemed that everyone is too good to park their own cars, so the line for valet parking is looped all the way around and out onto the highway. After getting cut off by 3 or 4 people who felt that waiting in line was beneath them, I was able to get into the lane for the parking garage and find a spot. We ended up on the 4th floor, but we didn't have to park very far out at all.

The Borgata was busy, but it usually is on a Saturday. After a quick trip to the bathroom, we made our way up to the ballroom where they're holding the tourneys. Pauly was hanging out at the media table, and I gave him a huge hug. We met the other media guys and said hi to a couple of people we knew who were playing. After surveying the place, we headed downstairs to see who was playing in the poker room and how long it would be to get a chair.

The poker room was mobbed. I know it's usually busy on any given Saturday, but this was ridiculous. Most of the wait lists had at least 70-80 people on them. With several of the tables in use for event #1, it left very little for the cash game players. At that point, I knew I wasn't playing here at any time during the weekend. We ended up joining Landow in going over to Wild Wild West/Bally's.

The poker room in Wild Wild West was only running single table tourneys. With the high juice (over 30%) and silly blind structures, it was something else I wasn't interested in. Al had gone wandering and came back with Beck in tow. We decided to head over to Bally's poker room where we could get into a nice, relaxing ring game... and play the worst poker of our lives. :-) Luckily, there was much drinking involved. It made the poker seem more natural.

I actually expected Al to get thrown out of the poker room. Those that know Al know that he's usually an extremely nice person. He's very friendly and talkative. The drugged-out donkey on the other end of the table rubbed him the wrong way. Not just a little either. Towards the end, he stood up and made a few choice comments that I was positive would make sure he was escorted from the room. Luckily, Landow decided it was time to go home to take care of the dog... and he dropped us back off at Borgata.

On the way over, we decided that food was a necessity. I love the food at Noodles of the World (NoW). Yummy! We (Me, Al, Beck) took turns standing in line during the hour and a half to get in there, and -EV joined us as we approached the front. Of course, we all looked on in envy at the "black label" line - the special "high roller" line that was always shorter and took much less time to get through. By sheer force of will, I was able to keep from wandering off and playing slots. I hadn't lost anything so far, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Dinner was great, and Al graciously picked up the tab. While the guys waited for the check, I excused myself to go have a cigarette. (Of course, I figured that while I was out of sight of the guys, I could play a little slots and not get razzed for it.) I lit up and sat down at one of the quarter machines. As I'm putting in my $20, I look down and find a "black label" Borgata card. Score! I figured that even if I lost this $20, the shorter line at NoW would be worth it. (I'm not above pretending to be someone else to get special treatment.) I settle in and start hitting the button. I had gone for 4 "pulls" and gotten nothing. On the 5th pull, I get a double-bar in the first column and a 10x symbol in the second. Thinking that this was going to be another cruel slot-machine tease, I ash my cigarette and get ready to pull again. As I look back up, the machine starts making noise. I thought I'd gotten another random bar for 150 credits or so - which is still a nice little win. Nope, another 10x symbol. My jaw dropped and I almost lost my cigarette out of my hand. Of course, everyone starts looking over at me....

While waiting for the floor staff to bring back my money, I look up and see the guys walking out of the restaurant. I'm waving and yelling to try to get their attention (I sure as heck wasn't leaving my machine) but no luck. A nice Borgata server walking by offered to let him know I was trying to get their attention, and Al headed over shortly after. After collecting my winnings, we headed up to see Pauly and took off for Harrah's.

Harrah's will have to wait for another post. I've gone on too long with this... The freak show is yet to come.

Something to pass the morning...

If you like mindless time-consuming games like the penguin game....

tennis ball toss

Unfortunately, I'm actually busy this morning so I only got to 47. I'll give it another shot later.

In poker news, I found a huge fish in Stud8 last night. Me. Damn, I suck. Actually, I think I was just playing at a level higher than my online bankroll can handle. And playing while sitting at the bar drinking a beer is a bad idea too. My hands should (and probably will) be slapped...

I'm not being rude, I promise

I was playing on Full Tilt tonight when I had a couple of bloggers stop by to say hi. They were trying to get onto the Razz table I was playing on, but nobody was going anywhere fast. Surprisingly, there were 2 full tables of .25/.50 limit Razz when I left the table and when I checked back later, a third was on it's way to filling too.

That's not where I'm going with this though. First, someone across the table said hi... then never told me who it was. Then TripJax and Jordan chimed in to let me know they were lurking too. :-) I would've loved to play Razz with them, but I couldn't get anyone already on the table to go away. Plus, once they were watching, every great starting hand I had (like 234) went south quickly (QK on 4th and 5th streets). I gave up and watched TripJax and the mystery person play an sng (which TripJax won - nice) while playing a little low limit NLHE.

I found a nice comfy table and sat down. There's a player next to me with the name meangene11. Of course, we all love MeanGene, but is it THE Mean Gene? I was about to ask when he starts talking to someone else he knew on the table. After a minute or two, I realize it isn't the right one. Last night, there was a joemomma - which is the name of Lewey's friend that we always play poker with. Not the right one either.

I don't want people to think I'm rude if I don't say hi when I sit down, but unless I can figure out from your username (i.e. TripJax) if it's you, I usually wait a couple of minutes to try to get a clue. (Yes, I'll admit I'm usually clueless.) Of course, if you want to say hi to me first, it's always welcome. I mean, Al made sure that nobody was going to miss me. I mean, he gave me MrsCantHang.... Not many people miss that.

Actually, that's fine with me. I love when people say hi. Just don't get upset if I don't say hi to you first.

While this is still fresh in my mind...

When I was playing ring games today, one of the guys at the table was asking me about the tournaments on Full Tilt Poker - what the play was like, etc. It had been a while since I'd played any tourney on Full Tilt, including the sit 'n gos. While talking to him, I started looking at the tourney list. There was a $10+1 tourney starting in under 2 minutes, so I decided to join. My second hand was pocket As - which I didn't get much of anything for - and then went pretty card dead. I played almost an hour and went out about the middle of the field.

When I busted out, I happened to look at the tourney list again and noticed a $1 tourney starting in a couple of minutes. Since I know I need to brush up on my tourney play, I decided to take a shot at that one. I mean, it was only $1, right?

I didn't get much of anything early. I was at an EXTREMELY tight table, which I wasn't expecting from a $1 tourney. Usually, there's 2 or 3 all-ins in the first 5 hands in these things. Nope, after 2 or 3 orbits, there was only a difference of a couple hundred chips between the largest and smallest stacks at the table. I was able to pick up a couple of pots, but I'm still a bit behind. Big stack of the tourney is in the 25K range.

Then came the 2s. I hate playing pocket 2s. You have to hit your hand or you're toast. I see a flop, and it's glorious - 727, rainbow. Someone in front of me bets and I raise - we go all-in and the 67 doesn't get any help. I double up to 5K.

Next time I saw 2s, I wasn't so lucky. Flop comes 2QQ rainbow. As expected, QJ calls. I'm ahead until the river, when a J hits and I'm taken down. (Maybe they took lessons from Pauly and were pointing to that spot on the board, calling for the J.) I'm not crippled, but definitely down.

I get a few hands here and there, and I keep trying to build my stack. Then I get pocket 9s. Doesn't sound like it goes with the 2s stories, right? Nope, the 2s were a major part of it. A pair of 2s and a 4 on the flop, which get checked. The turn comes another 2. Now, since I raised pre-flop with my pocket pair, I was betting that my opponent didn't have the last 2. I push, and they call. Their AQ doesn't get any help, and I take down another 7K pot. Of course the jokes start flying about the power of 2s.

My playing in the last couple of weeks hasn't been good because I've been stressed and distracted. In this tournament, I seemed to have gotten my focus back. Of course, I wasn't playing any ring games at the time, so my attention was focused on the table. ...and some good cards at the right times helped too. I built up a pretty good stack and doubled up and a few opportune times.

Al, being the good guy he is, starts sweating me and cheering me on. I don't know if it was his encouragement or the fact that I didn't want him to see me make foolish mistakes, I continued to play well. When it got close to the bubble for the money (top 53 paid), he gave me advice on how to play and I made the money. Woo-hoo!

Of course, everyone immediately loosened up. I continued to play tight, and made some chips. I watched a lot of the field fall away. When it was down to about 25, I started watching the numbers. The money amounts were starting to pick up, and I know that a $1 tourney isn't going to pay all that much but I figured it might be worth my time if I could make pay a little more.

I picked my battles well, and all of the sudden, we were playing hand by hand for the final table. I'd never made a final table of any big tourney, and I was determined. The money doubled from 10th place to 9th. With a few choice blind steals and decent hands, I lasted until the final table. I wasn't the short stack.... there was one guy with 36K and another with 50K, but I only had about 65K while everyone else was close to or over 100K.

I want to say thanks to Fact Girl, Maigrey, and Shane Nickerson for stopping by to say hi and cheer me on. I needed the encouragement! (and a reminder of the shame of getting caught if I started playing badly) lol

I let the big stacks battle it out for the most part. In one hand, the short stack went out and one of the big stacks was crippled... in a hand that I would have dominated! I was in the small blind at the time. The short stack had built up a little bit, but he went all-in. The huge stack next to him also went all-in, and was called by another guy before it even got to me. Of course, I'm staring down at a beautiful hammer. In this situation, I had to put my better judgement aside and fold it. Worst thing I could've done...

With two 2s on the flop and a 7 on the river, my hammer boat I would have dominated the winning pair of 2s with an A kicker. My cheering section was there to witness the debacle. That'll teach me not to play the hammer again...

I held on as long as I could, but I went out in 5th place. My $1 turned into $42.83 and my best tournament finish ever - 5th out of 659. Of course, it kept me from mopping my kitchen floor, but it was well worth the time.

I need to start playing more of these cheap tourneys. I know I need the practice, and I need to start focusing more on my play instead of how much money I win or lose at the tables. With the tourneys, I put my money in and I can't take it out. I think that distracts me at the tables - sometimes I wonder if I don't make the right calls because I don't want to risk everything I've earned so far.

So, I've learned that I CAN play decent in a tourney. I just need to keep reminding myself that I can play pretty good if I focus. Maybe that's the hardest part of the game...


P.S. Felicia - I was playing Razz today and was getting frustrated with all the stud-quality hands I was getting. Instead of languishing around waiting for good hands, I switched over to stud 8 instead. The first pot I played, I scooped. I played pretty good and finished up a few bucks for my time. Thanks for getting me involved in these games. I love the change of pace!

Monday morning already?

The weekends pass by way too fast. I will admit that I was a complete bum this weekend. With all the boxes lying around in my basement, you would think I'd get off my lazy butt and try to get rid of them post-haste. Nope. Not this weekend. My most ambitious action this weekend was moving all my music onto my new 100GB mobile hard drive and ripping all of my cds since I now had the room. I've only used about 14-15GB, so I have lots more room. Still plenty of room on the iPod too. I love adult toys... (yeah, let your mind run with that comment)

Since I was having such a lazy weekend, I figured it was a great time for poker. I played quite a bit this weekend. It made me notice a disconcerting trend in my play. I've seemed to get rid of a little of the bad luck... I was actually getting some cards to play. I've also noticed that I'd have 3 or 4 sessions where I'd build up my bankroll, one buy-in or two at a time. Then, I'd sit down and lose anything I'd built up in one session. Some of it is getting outdrawn. Other times, it's just bad reads on other players. It's something I definitely need to work on. One major hole is not being able to recognize when someone has a set with a small to mid pair. It gets me every time... especially when I have a big pocket pair and the flop comes out all low. Just one of the problems...

I've determined that I need to take a look at what starting hands I'm playing and the position I'm playing them in. I'm not sure if I'm being too tight in late position, or too loose in early position. I've limped in early position with small pocket pairs, ATo or even AJ. I don't like to have to act first with these hands, especially after I raise. Some, like AKo, I always raise no matter what the position - unless someone has raised a decent amount in front of me. I mean, do I really need to reraise when someone has already bet the amount I would have anyways? If they have a big-ish pocket pair, it works to my advantage. If I miss the flop, I fold cheaply. If I hit the flop, I have a chance to take down a good size pot.

Another thing... I'm sick of being teased by the poker gods with quads. Yup, teased. I'd fold something like 92o in mid-position, and watch as the rest of the 9s come out on the board. I'd watch as someone bets up the pot with a pair of 10s (high card on the board) and gets beat by someone with a pocket pair of Js when they go nuts on the river. I folded the necessary card for quads at least 3 or 4 times this weekend. I guess I just have to start playing more crap cards. Or become a CJ-style luckbox. If only he could give lessons in it... :-)

P.S. BTW - sorry to anyone who'd posted a comment here over the last I don't know how many days or weeks. It seems that somehow the "moderate comments" checkbox got checked, and I didn't know it. All the comments had backed up, but I've gone and released them all now. I swear, I'd never ignore people. I love my readers!

Am I missing some ritual?

The poker gods are angry with me. I think I've offended them in some way. Maybe it was the statement that I've been doing well lately and building up my bankroll. They've taken it as a sign of boasting and have determined that I need to be taken down a notch or two... or maybe I didn't sacrafice the required virgin. Whatever it is, I need to change things.

I'd been having sessions where I'd end up a little or down a little, sometimes as much as a buyin or two. More up than down, so I was feeling good about it. Over the last few days though, I can't do anything with the cards I'm dealt. The cards refuse to cooperate. The best starting hand I've gotten is pocket Qs. After many several hours on two tables, you would think I could do better than that. AK, AQ, KQ... flop would come up with a mid to high pair that didn't match mine or 3 of the same suit (of which I have none). Small to mid-pocket pairs and miss the flop every time. Someone comes out firing before it comes to me. Should I continue on? I try the occasional reraise, but in general, I can't see throwing away money on that.

Ok, enough of the whining. You get my point though. I see people playing crap and catching cards. Even mid pair is taking down pots... unless I'm in the hand. Best I can get with my hands is a mediocre pair, a gutshot draw or I miss it entirely. It's not that I'm passive in this whole thing. When I get a decent hand, I raise and use continuation bets to try to get people out of the hand. It works sometimes... more likely than not, they reraise. On occasion I'll call just to see what they have. It's been bad for the bankroll because they seem to have it every time. I mean, who calls a 4xBB raise with a K4o and catches a set of 4s on the flop? My opponents, that's who.

I've tried different times, different tables, different levels. Even different sites - PokerStars and Full Tilt. It's following me around. If anyone has an "in" with the poker gods, tell them I've been a good girl this year and all I asked Santa for this year was a nice long winning streak. It seems like Santa's forgotten this year... does the Easter Bunny ever bring anything besides eggs?