Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

You Hold'em players think four cards in Omaha take some time getting used to? And you think seven cards in Stud are just plain crazy?

Imagine you're playing one OFC table and one OFC 2-7 table, and making Fantasyland in both of them at the same time.

The result: Twenty-eight cards to handle at once within a limited time frame! That's more than half a deck. With two different rule sets, no less.

This is not recommended at all, I already found out through experience that OFC is not a good game for multitabling in general, whether in combination with other games or not.

The only reason why I found myself in this situation once tonight was that I was sitting at an OFC 2-7 table, and noticed as I was looking over the lobby that a notorious "non-player" was back, who likes to sit at empty tables but always backs down when challenged to play, apparently waiting for easy prey instead.

I often like to play "lobby sheriff" when I spot him and sit down at his tables, getting him to admit his inferiority by making him leave without playing a single hand, and teaching him a lesson about clogging up tables when he's not willing to play. It's what I did this time as well, in the middle of my OFC 2-7 game - but to my surprise, he finally found the guts to play me after more than a year of complete avoidance... I was not expecting that.

He only lasted for a couple of hands before chickening out again, but it did briefly put me into this situation, and it wasn't pretty. I'm quite sure that I played both of these hands in a very sub-optimal way, but I had to avoid a forced foul by running out of time.

It was still a successful session in the end - the OFC one, that is. My "regular" games at Stars are going quite poorly right now. I should do another update about this soon.

A Ship is Coming - Day 15

We have loads of sub-steps today. It all starts with this flat bar and a couple of columns on it.

We are then going to add a few windows...

...and a couple of bars on top to stabilize it.

More small pieces...

Filling it up...

and adding a bit more of it on top.

We are then finally going to top it off with some smooth pieces and add decorations in the front.

Looks very cool, but what do we do with it?

Simple, we are just going to attach it to those slanted pieces we prepared a few days earlier. Our cabin now has a proper back wall.

Also, check out those lovely arches over the windows, which were another addition today.

Not only that, but we also added a couple of doors in the front, even though we are not quite done there yet.

Apart from that, only a few minor pieces were added, but today's step was a big one. Current progress:

I have neglected the Cocoa of the Week series for a bit, though I haven't given up on it yet. In fact, the chocolate for my next version has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks now already.

We are going to be making some cocoa again, but this time, it won't be part of this series. It will be for our Christmas market challenge in the Troll Challenges blog.

We shall be making Lumumba, and I've picked some basic dark chocolate from Milka for it.

You know the process by now, and I haven't taken any pictures anyway. Let's skip to the good part, we will just use 45 ml of rum...

Fill it up with our cocoa...

And top it off with some whipped cream, because we are cool.

Simple and good.

I used to put rum in cocoa a lot — but all I have on hand now is overproof, which is a bit problematic. If you try to add a small amount to keep the alcohol content reasonable, the flavour is diminished.

Just out of curiosity, do you know of any drinks that use apple juice? Especially spiced apple juice. Mrs Vorpal had a gathering here yesterday, and one of the offered beverages was spiced apple juice. Primarily cinnamon, but there may have been nutmeg also. I don't have a large stock of different liquors, but none of the ones I thought of sounded good.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Just out of curiosity, do you know of any drinks that use apple juice?

No, sorry. Anything involving apples is on my "don't even touch" list, together with ketchup.

I've looked up some recipes, and they sounded a little forced too, so it seems like apple juice is not considered a common ingredient at all.

Wrong Game...

In Open Face Chinese Poker, looking at loads of trips in Fantasyland is usually a very welcome sight. Among other things, having at least three trips guarantees that you will be able to use trips as your top hand, which not only pays out the wazoo, but also allows you to repeat Fantasyland, which in itself is a huge advantage. Much of OFC strategy boils down to finding ways to get to Fantasyland (or stay in there, if possible), because this is where the money is made in the long run.

In the 2-7 version, however... it's not always so good. Trips on top are still great, but the middle hand is a lowball hand, and it needs to be T-low or better in order to qualify - otherwise, your entire hand is fouled, no matter how good the rest is.

Chances are, you won't be able to use all those trips, because you need those cards for your lowball hand. Here's one I got today:

Looks great... but we need both the 8's and 9's to make our T-low in the middle... We can use the remaining pairs to make a full house with our perfectly usable trip Kings, and use the other one to make a pair on top, but it is still quite a waste.

If only we could have made a flush or straight that wouldn't use our Kings and still allows for a qualifying low... but alas, the only possible flush involves both one of the Kings as well as the 2♣: which is needed for the lowball hand.

The end result was okay because my opponent didn't have anything good either, but it felt like it could have been so much more:

I got a similar hand later, which was even less favorable.

This time, a flush was possible because the only lowball cards we needed for it were either paired up or even part of trips. The idea was to put the remaining two Kings on top, which makes sense when taking royalties (i.e. the value points of your hand, which are automatically paid out) into account. A full house involving the Kings would have earned two points more than a flush, but the best possible pair on top would have been 66 (note that TT was unusable because one of them is needed for the low hand), which earns seven points less than KK on top.

The flush plus KK combo was therefore worth five points more than KKK22 plus 66, but we still ended up losing here.

OFC 2-7 did not go very well at all tonight. I made some money back at the hi only version, which tends to have worse traffic on this site. Still no "regular" poker, except for the HORSE race with Prim, which was a complete brick for me too.

It was an exhausting and slightly demoralizing week in general, both in poker and everything else. Luckily, I should have the worst behind me now, and I am looking forward to a much needed Christmas break. Until then, there are still a couple of very important off-the-felt issues to deal with, starting tomorrow. I don't expect to get much going at poker anymore this year, which is one of the reasons why I'm dabbling in OFC again at the moment.

A Ship is Coming - Day 16

Today, we are going to start construction on a part of the ship that has been neglected so far - the bow.

Check out the new barrel behind the mast. I wonder what would be inside? I could think of a few things...

Apart from that, there are more sub-steps, starting with this flap:

We add a few more pieces on the side...

More on top...

And finally, we will even add a map on the other side, as well as some doors.

The finished thing will be added to our cabin. Look, we now have functioning doors and four complete walls.

The map shall be kept inside the captain's cabin, away from the eyes of the unworthy. Just between us, I think he is keeping some top secret 6+ Hold'em ranges on the other side...

Other than that, only a few minor pieces yet again. Our current ship:

A Ship is Coming - Day 17

We start with more sub-steps. It's the glory of old Lego that you have to assemble all that stuff yourself out of many small parts, later sets often simply made one new big piece instead and that's it.

You add on top...

...keep adding more, until the whole thing tips over...

...and then keep adding still more.

The finished part will be attached right in the front of our bow.

We had some more work there, looks like we're finally getting somewhere in that part of the ship.

We also add those arches over our new doors, so we have a proper wall there at last. I think it will still take a while until we can top it off with a roof, but at least we have some slight protection from the cold December winds until then.

Our ship right now:

Looks pretty cool now!

A Ship is Coming - Day 18

A more minor update today. We add a few more pieces to the bow.

Also a few to the cabin. Check out those axes on the side, which were added today. Looks like we mean business. ♠_evil:

Current progress:

Starting to look ship-shape

Poker Break

There is a ton of stuff going on for me beyond the felt. Loads to do, many decisions to make, very little sleep... and yet I still ended up repeatedly dragging myself to some of the most chaotic and unfocused sessions I've had, just because I felt like I had to. That's just nuts.

Enough of that. I will play a few final tournaments and SNGs this weekend (possibly including Friday evening). Before and after that, there shall be no poker at all until after Christmas, and it's probably a good idea to take it slow until the new year then too.

I will try to wrap everything else up before that, "recharge my batteries", and then hopefully be able to rest during my holiday break that I so sorely need, even though there may be a lot of decisions to make during that time. I hope I can get most of it out of the way.

In time for the new year, I should be back to playing - with purpose! None of that half-baked stuff from the last few days and weeks. Maybe I will have some better grinding conditions next year too - I'll do my best.

A Ship is Coming - Day 19

Poker is on a break, but work in the Lego shipyard continues. We have sub-steps yet again, starting with those four simple corner pieces.

We put some stuff on top to hold them together...

Then add another mast.

Finally, a little stairway of sorts.

It goes right to our cabin, so our crew can go on top of it when it eventually gets a proper roof.

More pieces added to the bow too.

And as another major step, we're adding our first ropes, which are rolled up in that brown box thing. As it turns out, the rope would eventually have an anchor attached to it, but since this set was pre-owned, it is already there. It would be pretty pointless to remove it just for the sake of consistency, so we'll just leave it where it is.

Our current ship:

A Ship is Coming - Day 20

I told you our Advent pirate crew means business - we now set up this rack with two badass sabers.

It will go around that mast, where we installed the chain that holds the anchor the other day.

We will also keep building on that bow...

...and we shall add some weapons to the other mast too. Some sabers and some muskets.

Still plenty to do on that cabin.

New ship:

All I Want For Christmas...

...is a better job. And that is what the last remaining week before the holidays will be all about for me. I will work the dreaded late shifts again - the main reason for me seeking new employment - from Monday to Wednesday, while having another interview on Monday morning and a trial work shift on Wednesday morning. That's two out of three days where I will be kept busy from morning to night, Tuesday will just be the standard 2 to 10 PM snafu.

After that... I don't think I even need to mention how much I am looking forward to my Christmas break.

In the "ideal" event of me getting accepted for both positions I'm applying to, I will have a not too easy decision on my hands. One job pays considerably more than what I currently make, the other one pays less, but at unbeatable work hours, and it is also part time, which would allow loads of time for poker and other projects. The important thing, though, is that I will get any of them, and as soon as possible.

The good thing is that I'm all done with my Christmas shopping now, and everything is already there too... except for a couple of presents I've ordered for myself. This means that I can fully focus on what's ahead of me. It's another "final sprint", and I wish I really could make a sprint through it.

Poker? I don't think so. Maybe tomorrow. I think we are more or less done for 2022, though.

A Ship is Coming - Day 21

Many sub-steps today yet again, starting with this oddly shaped piece:

First, we will add some blocks to it...

...then, we prepare another little contraption, made of those pieces:

We add it to what we had before...

...secure it in place with a few extra pieces...

...and finally, we'll even add a figurehead of sorts in the front.

The finished thing will go right to the bow of our ship.

Some extra pieces are still getting added to the cabin too, which now looks more and more complete, except for the missing roof, of course.

Current progress:

A Ship is Coming - Day 22

Today's sub-steps begin with this simple yellow bar.

We are going to add some little pieces again, one by one.

The finished thing will be added to the back of our cabin, along with some other pieces.

The little hook in the back is a consideration by Lego for the playability of this set. Put it up, and you can open up the back of the cabin, so it is possible to play with those figurines inside.

Put it down instead to make sure that the back wall will stay in place, so the ship looks like it's supposed to look like from the outside, and it can be moved without having everything fall apart.

We add a few pieces to the bow too, so the anchor that we recently added will now have a proper place.

Current ship:

No poker this weekend. The "Battle for 2023" shall start tomorrow, with all of those important appointments that I mentioned before, all within a very short time. It is constantly on my mind, and I found it hard to relax.

What further complicates things is that my car seems to be getting a sporadic error again where it won't properly accelerate anymore, and only restarting will fix it. That's easy enough to do at a red traffic light or a railway crossing, not so much on a country road or the famous Autobahn, both of which are part of my commute. It only happens occasionally, so I won't encounter it at all if I'm lucky, but it adds to my worries, and there isn't really time to get it fixed before Wednesday with my busy schedule.

Arriving a bit late to work wouldn't be a huge issue, but it would be prudent to allow for a few minutes more on my way to my interview and trial shift, to compensate for any complications that may arise on the road.

Then, there is also Primrose's minor sickness, which put our planned meetup on Thursday into question, though it seems like she recovered nicely so far and that we will likely be able to go ahead with it without getting me sick over the holidays.

2022 was a very successful year for me on many fronts, but also an exhausting one. I can't wait to put it in the books.

Back from my first interview. I've been wrong before, but I think it went all right at best. That other job where I'll be showing up on Wednesday should be a better bet.

At least I have some time for the advent calendar now before going back to work in a few minutes.

A Ship is Coming - Day 23

A bunch of sub-steps starting with these gray flaps, which are secured with a little 1 x 8 bar at the bottom.

We turn it around and add a slightly longer 2 x 10 piece on top.

Then we keep adding stuff to make these steps:

It is finished. And it will be added on top of our cabin, so we will finally have a proper roof there now.

Like the back wall, the roof can be opened up for maximum playability.

A few more pieces get added to the bow too, we should be pretty much done there now.

Current ship:

So far, the car was cooperating...

Carry on, just two more days to go for me before the break. Our ship may need a few days more...

A Ship is Coming - Day 24

It is time! We will finally start constructing the masts. We need these pieces for it:

They go together like this, with the platform in the middle:

They will be inserted right where we put those stumps before.

Another piece will go to the front of the bow.

Apart from that, a few more sub-steps:

A steering wheel. We're getting ready now...

We also installed those lights, which I believe are supposed to be torches.

Our ship is starting to get quite impressive now.