Double Trouble with Prim and Harrier - Poker, Sports, Cooking, Gardening, Mixed Drinks and more

Got Poker?

After Primrose found her way back to the tables yesterday, I got inspired to play a SNG session myself. It wasn't all that successful, with only a 2nd place in a Five Card Draw SNG - one which looked like another certain bubble, but one of my bigger stacked opponents got out somehow while I was doing other stuff online for a few seconds and didn't look at the table. I'll take it...

Courchevel had two bubbles instead, and the last one in particular was pretty annoying, which happened relatively late at night. I essentially committed ICM suicide there, I should have paid more attention. I guess I wasn't focused enough anymore.

Speaking of which, we had a nice "Blooper of the Day" when I told Prim on Discord that Courchevel was not going well at that point, and she congratulated me on it, because she didn't quite read the "not" part. The poor puppy was pretty tired as well, she also cranked up the sports in the last few days.

So we played a few games so far, but we haven't really figured out any bigger plans. To be honest, those SNGs will realistically only ever be gap fillers, I believe. And this is fine, but if gaps are all that you have, those fillers will not amount to much at all. It's like eating turkey stuffing without the turkey. Well, then again, some people like to do it...

Times have changed, of course, and I think we can forget about any sick MTT grinds with four figure profits and three figure ROIs in a good year. Once again, this is fine. One of the reasons for this is that I now have a proper job, which I didn't have during some of my most successful MTT grinding days. I could make a longer post about all of the reasons why those are not the best times for poker anymore, but I don't think it would be very productive. Instead, I would like to focus on what can be done to make poker work in 2024.

Here's the deal: I personally don't like playing MTTs in the afternoon, but most of the evening tournaments that I am interested in would take too long on a normal work day. I could play Badugi on weekends, but that wouldn't amount to much either. There are some higher buy-in tournaments available at slightly earlier times, but I don't feel ready for them. With not much time for big grinds, however, they could be just the ticket. 8-Game, for example, has a few interesting options, and there is also a weekly Stud8 on Saturday evenings. But how do you practice for them, with few other MTTs available, and almost no SNG traffic whatsoever?

The answer, I believe, could be satellites. There is a daily 8-Game called The Octopus, which also has a mini version and satellites for both, running at a time in the evening that could work for me, even on normal weekdays. They might be a little tedious to play, but for getting some practice and getting back into mixed games MTTs, they could serve their purpose. I can add some SNGs on the side, because they are supposed to be side games anyway, and maybe, eventually, I could have some success stories after a long and bumpy road. Who knows, maybe I would eventually even feel comfortable with the slightly higher buy-ins.

I will give it a try: 8-Game satties in the evening, some filler SNGs on the side, and Badugi and weekly Stud8 and 8-Game tourneys - also with satellites - on the weekend. It's a bit of a long shot, and I need to mentally prepare myself for longer dry spells, but with a bit of luck, this could be the way to make poker work in those days. At least it's the best I can think of right now.

No problems this week. I was able to perform a few extra reps in my final sets on each day to make up for choosing the lowest column. Theoretically, I would now be at the halfway point of the workout, but I expect that I will have to re-do at least one week before I will be able to do the full 100 push-ups.

In Week 4, I am supposed to follow the same column as last week, so my program will be:

Monday
12, 14, 11, 10 and 16+ reps

Wednesday
14, 16, 12, 12 and 18+ reps

Friday
16, 18, 13, 13 and 20+ reps

At the end of this and every following week, I am also supposed to do another test to determine my next schedules. Next weekend, I will need to do at least 31 consecutive pushups in order to move on, otherwise I will have to re-do the week. Maybe going for the "sissy column" will come back to bite me at that point, but that wouldn't be a big issue either, I would simply do the week over again, possibly following a tougher column this time, and have another go.

The Mystery Bounty remains still a mystery ..

Decided to play a quick little satty session on 888 today. Played a 20ct and a 15ct satty for the 1 $ Mystery Bounty MTT (no idea what that is) and another 10 ct satty for a 1 $ ticket.

20ct satty: busto - (don´t remember the hand)
15 ct satty: qualification for 1 $ Mystery Bounty!
10 ct satty: 1 $ tournament ticket won (for the tournament of my choice)

So, as I had won the place in this "Mystery Bounty" tournament, I decided to play it! Was really curious what kind of MTT that is - the bounties should be a surprise or something? The tournament started and at the beginning it´s going normal, like a normal MTT, at a certain timepoint, though, those "mystery bounties" are activated. Anyways, unfortunately that remains for me still a mystery, because early on I suffered a suckout with KK, while KK < JJ. Had 5 BB left and decided to jam with AQo. Four hearts came on the board, I had the Q of hearts, but that was not enough. Villain with KTo, had the K of hearts and that meant for me: busto!

So, the Mystery Bounty remains still a mystery for me, but as I have this 1 $ ticket now, I may try that tourney again next Saturday (more than 2 hours late reg!!! That´s definitely something for Saturdays!!!) At the moment I can´t tell how fun that tournament is, will try out. I really wonder, what that "mystery bounty" could be. Will find out some time!

Fun hand

This hand happened in the 15 ct satty for the Mystery Bounty. Even though got pretty unlucky in the target tournament, here, I was definitely the luck box of the day:

Nice going for Prim in those satties today. I didn't play myself, and I probably won't tomorrow either. Maybe I can start putting my plan into action on Tuesday.

Other than that, our workouts will obviously continue, also the gardening for Prim, and maybe we can get a few more things sorted out, though I already took care of most things last week. I am still waiting for infos from the local dojo about upcoming karate courses, I was supposed to receive an email about this in mid-January, so maybe we will get one in the course of next week. I also sincerely hope that my car will be fixed by the end of the week, and so does everyone who has to travel the same road as me, I imagine. At least the ones who are stuck behind me.

Oh, and we didn't roll a new surprise menu for next week, did we? I plan to do my grocery shopping directly after work tomorrow again, so I can't take any motto for this week into account, but maybe we can still find a way if we get an easy one. Or maybe we will just postpone it this time.

I hope Prim you have already done your homework and preparation for gardening. Start is coming. I sorted today all my things. 128 different kind of veggies and fruits. Waiting for the last 17 and the I must look for some flowers for the bees. Good luck with your garden.

SHE made me do it ...!!!!

Yes, Don, indeed, I have done my homework, the garden-plan is final and ready, some plants are already germinating, and yesterday, SHE made me plant the salads:

She needs the salads for her healthy diet, she said!

Originally posted by Primrose6789
SHE made me do it ...!!!!

I'm not sure if I would want to let her anywhere near your plants...

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by Primrose6789
SHE made me do it ...!!!!

I'm not sure if I would want to let her anywhere near your plants...

Wendy is okay, but I do not let HIM anywhere near my plants:

...but he can help carrying the soil.

Better late than never. Prim and I gave the wheel another spin to determine what kind of dish we should make this week, and the result is...

I didn't really plan to post daily updates about this, but today's workout came with some problems. Remember when I said that I usually assign myself the lowest number of reps whenever I get unsure whether I'm still on the correct count? Well, in today's second set, I believe I may have even counted backwards at one point... I still stuck to my rule of going with the low amount, and as a result, I may have done considerably more pushups in that set than what I was supposed to do.

Naturally, this causes problems further down the workout, and when I got to my final set of 16 or more reps, I certainly got more than a little shaky. I already told myself before that as long as I give it a good try and at least get close to that 16th rep, I may turn a blind eye to it and continue next Wednesday as planned. In the end, I barely made my 16th rep, I was pretty much already standing up halfway through the last one. Normally, I wouldn't even count such shaky reps, but this time, I let it slide - I was glad to be able to do it at all.

I wonder how things will turn out in the next few days, especially next Wednesday, after such a clumsy workout today.

Some poker today, but it was a very negative experience. I late regged that $0.55 8-Game satellite almost an hour late, which was most likely a mistake, couldn't win a single pot before my exit. Two SNGs, both of them bricked, and I even tried a Badugi, which also failed to cash.

I'm starting to wonder why I even bother with the SNGs, which I called "gap fillers" recently. The grind was never really about them, they were a fine side game back when the traffic was a little better, but now? They certainly won't be worth it as a main game, that's for sure.

I have my doubts about that satellite plan, especially because there aren't that many good options outside the weekend anyway, but I think I will give it a chance. Still, maybe I should get back to the roots and stick with Badugi for a while. If I can't beat that, I won't beat any of the other games either. I may often not be able to play that tournament, but that's the way it is.

Bleak outlook for poker in general, I'd say. I hope I can at least get that crypto room working again, I kind of feel more at home in OFC now.

Some new intresting things for prim

Hey Don,
indeed! Already got "rote Gartenmelde" ("spanish Salad")- and bush bean seeds from that label! The cornichons and the gigantes caught my interest! But as I already have everything plannend, that could be something for next year!

Who wants a fire kiss?

I do! Here we have the first "Firekiss" pepper growing. It´s a dwarf chili and a spicy one. It will move into my office as soon as its big and strong enough.

Blooper of the Day

Not poker-related this time. I was making my "Surprise Menu" for the week, and I wanted to make some fries as a side dish, so I preheated the air fryer, opened it up, and intended to put the fries in as usual... and I saw this:

These strips of bacon been in there for two days. I made some bacon cheeseburgers that day, but apparently forgot about the bacon part. I just airfried it as usual, but then must have forgotten about it as I built my burgers - which were still good.

This is not the first time this has happened, but when it happened before, I at least realized it right after dinner. This time, it really must have been there for two days now. After removing some of the excess grease, though, it was still perfectly edible.

Here it is, two days old and airfried twice to absolute perfection. Well, not quite. But yes, it was still completely fine.

It would have been a poor fit for the dish I made, I think I am going to post this one tomorrow. Prim might post hers then too, her pictures should be ready, as far as I know.

Time for this week's surprise menu. "Middle Eastern" was our spin. I was looking for ideas, possibly some nicely seasoned meat dish, and then I spotted this little jar in the kitchen:

It contains some leftover spices in the style of "Jerusalem Mix", a Middle Eastern grill dish that served as the inspiration for my Israeli chicken burgers during the Burgers Around the World tour last year. I figured this would be a very good opportunity to use it up.

The ingredients for the full amount were: 2 tablespoons of sumac, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of turmeric, 2 teaspoons of cardamom, 2 teaspoons of curry powder, 2 teaspoons of black pepper, 2 teaspoons of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of paprika and 1 teaspoon of chili powder.

I planned to season some chicken strips with it, but it would still need some condiments or side dishes, or both. Pita bread is commonly used, but I always found it tough to use up a package, it always goes bad so quickly. Ideally, I would make it myself, but as you know, I'm not that advanced yet.

I could make a good tahini-based sauce, maybe. But having had a look at that expired tahini in the cupboard... I don't think this one should be consumed anymore. I once bought it to use it for some "fake chicken nuggets" which turned out to be terrible, this was back when Prim and I were still doing our weekly vegetarian days.

Even Primrose agreed when I showed her the jar, after previously castigating me for throwing out an opened tub of whipped cream that had expired long ago without having looked at it.

The leftovers of the Jerusalem Mix spices amounted to about a tablespoon, enough for about 400g of chicken strips.

That's all there's to it - I cooked it, and served some fries with it... the ones that were cooked in the air fryer where I found some bacon during yesterday's Blooper of the Day. That's not very kosher, is it? Not that it needs to be, but I made an effort to remove some of that bacon grease anyway, it doesn't belong with the fries.

And here it is, served "casual diner" style, with fries, tomatoes and onions. Good stuff.

Blooper of the Day

I guess this wasn't my week... another Blooper of the Day already? I originally thought it could be a "Troll of the Day", as we sometimes did it on our old blog. While I did get trolled hard, it was mostly a blooper... but read on, and you will find out.

It could have been so simple - it was a normal Friday afternoon, and all I wanted to do was to finally head home after my work day and enjoy the well-deserved weekend. The parking situation at my workplace is not great, with just a row of spaces behind the warehouse section for us, and this time, many colleagues apparently wanted to avoid parking in the thick snow and instead opted to stop their car right at the entrance of the parking section. Not great, but I only needed to leave, so I ignored it.

So I got into my car, and guess what? The exit was blocked too, some delivery truck just arrived, ready to unload some goods. I got out, hoping to solve the situation with a quick talk, and the driver, who turned out to be pretty friendly, told me that he was not allowed to reverse because of the snow and the busy traffic with all those other delivery vehicles, so this was the only spot for him. Fair enough... but I still needed to get home somehow, and I couldn't even do some tricky reversing, as the entrance was blocked too, as I mentioned before. There was another truck next to him, with no driver inside. Maybe I could squeeze through if we removed that one.

I talked to the guy in charge of the vehicles, and he told me that this one wasn't supposed to leave until the evening, the driver was not there right now - but I could get the keys and park it on a customer parking space myself instead. Wow, I never drove one of those things before... but okay, how hard could it be? I needed to get home after all. I guess the car was a box van, it looked a little like this:

Americans are sometimes surprised when they come to Germany and find Mercedes trucks and taxis driving around, while they themselves consider it a big status symbol and would pay a load of money to get their hands on one. Anyway, I was ready to give it a try, except... where exactly is the key on this thing?

One of those keyless ignition systems... I only heard of them before, but never used one. Before entering the truck/van/whatever, I went back to that guy to ask if there was anything I needed to know about it, and while he explained to me how it works, that delivery truck that blocked the exit was leaving already. Okay, nevermind, I will just return that remote thing and drive home as usual. I already wasted 10-15 minutes on all of this, now it was finally time to get home... hey, where are my keys now?!

They were nowhere to be found!! Did I leave them in the car? Dropped them in the snow? Did I leave them in the office when I picked up that keyless remote? Did I put my own keys to the ones for the delivery trucks? Did we mix up our keys as we were discussing how it worked? If so, I would be screwed, because that guy already drove away by now.

I went through all the options, obsessively checked all the pockets of my work pants, which have six pockets in the front alone, all of which are in use for various tools and pieces of equipment. My keys were nowhere in sight. I was about to panic, and the container of that box van even had to take a frustrated punch from me - none of this would have happened if that piece of crap had not been in the way. I went back into the warehouse, hoping to find that vehicle guy again after all, and ran into my friendly Russian co-worker, the one who originally showed me the ropes when I was new.

Being more than a little agitated by that point, I told her the story, and we went through all possible options again. We were a bit at a loss. She then said "You don't have a jacket where you could have put it, do you?". I was about to say "No, I never wear one of..." as I was touching my sweater, now that she put that idea into my head... and yes, the keys were in the front pouch of that sweater all that time.

It happened before that I reached for a marker or a cutter knife and it turned out to be in the wrong pocket, but I don't think I ever put anything in that front pouch before. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I must have blindly picked the first pocket I found. I gave my colleague a pat on the shoulder and my heartfelt thanks - it would have been a while until I would have thought to check that pouch, I never consciously put anything there, after all. She told me that I could really use a weekend break now, and yes, that was the plan. Half an hour late, but better late than never.

So yes, what looked like a good old-fashioned Troll turned out to be a big blooper on my part in the end.

Surprise: It´s Turkish!

My surprise menu is from Turkey. As you guys know, I really try to eat mostly local seasonal food, which means in January, at -4°C, there is not exactly a huge choice of local veggies. Still got some frozen down or canned, but many veggies from my own farming are already used up. But then I found a simple Turkish recipe, which is "Turkish lentil soup". It´s made of lentils (of course), potatos (ordered from local farmer), carrots (run out of them), onions, garlic and some Oriental spices. Easy, not many ingredients, perfect. Just put the ingredients into the multi cooker and there it is: Turkish lentil soup.

Delicious, healthy and very filling!

I'm happy for you.
Or, sorry that happened...

ChatGPT has text generating competitors here on the forum haha