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

I didn't mean to post about this at all, I should have been in bed about an hour ago, but tonight's game, which just came to a conclusion, was just too exciting.

This was the end result in the Badugi - a 2nd place finish with ZERO bounties. I always like to say that the only bounty you need is the final one, and I was mighty close to taking that one down too. But just look at the chip graph, particularly the part at the end, easily identified by the horizontal blue line:

This heads-up battle had everything. Successful snows and all-in bluffs, coolers when they mattered, and when I did get a good chip lead, I found a great spot to set my opponent up and put him all-in with me in a favorable position... but he hit on the last draw and got back into the lead.

Unlike the heads-up phase in last night's Stud Hi-Lo, where I felt like I definitely made mistakes, this one felt like a really well played game for the most part, where I even found some spots to win big pots despite the cards not coming my way, based on clever discards and opponent reads. I have the impression that my lack of skill in this area in Five Card Draw is one of the main reasons why I have only enjoyed sporadic success in there so far.

It doesn't matter. Good game, good returns, but I missed the big score by a hair. Now let's get a few hours of sleep, I still have a pretty packed schedule until the weekend.

I'm starting to sense a theme here...

At least we got some bounties this time, though the overall returns are not that much greater than yesterday's, due to a smaller overall prize pool.

Once again, not many reasons for regrets in the heads-up battle, I believe. Like last night, I entered as the shorter stack, and eventually managed to establish a lead over my opponent.

In this deciding hand, I just passed him ever so slightly, and I am holding a high Badugi. Our opponent was pushing hard, and based on my read, I expected him to do so with just about any Badugi, maybe some good three card hands too, though I would have expected him to fold most of them to a 4-bet. Did you know, however, that the average pat Badugi is just a good Queen? I figured that we should have a good chance after all, even though it clearly seemed like a "way ahead / way behind" situation, of which you can get plenty in this game.

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Badugi Pot Limit - 1,200/2,400 - 2 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

SB (Hero): 106,304 (44 bb)
BB: 103,696 (43 bb)

Deal: (3,600) Hero is SB with 4♦ A♥ T♣ J♠
Hero raises to 4,800, BB 3-bets to 14,400, Hero 4-bets to 28,800, BB 5-bets to 86,400, Hero 6-bets to 106,304 (all-in), BB calls 17,296 (all-in)

Draw One: (210,000) 4♦ A♥ T♣ J♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)
BB draws 1, SB (Hero) stands pat

Draw Two: (207,392) (2 players, 2 all-in)
BB stands pat, SB (Hero) stands pat

Draw Three: (207,392) (2 players, 2 all-in)
BB stands pat, SB (Hero) stands pat

Total pot: 207,392

Showdown:
SB (Hero) shows 4♦ A♥ T♣ J♠ (a Badugi: J,T,4,A)
BB shows 5♦ 3♥ A♣ 8♠ (a Badugi: 8,5,3,A)
BB wins 207,392

Knowing his hand now, I can put our equity at 62% at the moment when we were going all-in, so once again, we put our chips in good. When my opponent stood pat on the second draw, however, I was pretty sure that I was beaten. There wasn't much to gain by re-drawing, though - at least I saw the chances of improving to a winning hand (for which we would have to discard two cards, not much point in keeping the T) lower than the chance of winning with what we had. Almost needless to say, we didn't recover from this hand.

GG, not sure if I am going to play tomorrow evening, there is even a slight chance that I will take a break until the weekend, but maybe I will be able to squeeze in a few tourneys after all. As long as we keep entering those heads-up phases - now for the third night in a row - I won't complain about failing to finish 1st.

Oh, and we just passed $500 in MTT profits for the year.

There is more to being a shark than just getting some deep tournament runs... and yes, poker has been on a break tonight. Instead, I went to my swimming course in the evening and attempted to go for the obscure "Shark Badge", an apparently largely forgotten badge of the German Swimming Federation.

Here are the requirements again:

- 50 meters of breaststroke swimming in under 1:00 minute
- 50 meters of front crawling in under 50 seconds
- 50 meters of back crawling in under 1:00 minute
- a head first dive from a height of 3 meters, or a front flip from a height of 1 meter
- dribbling a water polo ball for 25 meters

We started with the water polo ball, because it wasn't timed. My coach wasn't too impressed with my first go, where I was mostly pushing that ball ahead in a swimming style that must have resembled the doggy paddle. The way I was supposed to do it was to basically swim a normal front crawl (but with my head above water) while "maintaining control" of the ball, without even really touching it - the movements of the water should be enough to steer it in the direction you want if you are doing it right. My second attempt was much better.

Now for the meat of the challenge, the timed swimming. We first did the front crawling, which should be the most physically demanding part. 50 seconds for 50 meters is not too difficult, but today, I could only manage a weak 56 seconds. A six seconds gap at such a short distance is huge, I believe.

Note that when I did the DLRG Gold Badge together with Prim last year, I managed to get the same time for 50 meters of breaststroke swimming, not to mention that it was in a full 50m pool, while today's venue (shown below) had short 25m lanes, normally allowing for faster times.

What was the problem? Obviously, my crawl sucks, now that I failed to beat both an 800m and a 50m time previously set by me doing mostly (or entirely, in the latter case) breaststroke swimming. Basically, I'm flailing around too much - like a caffeinated squirrel, I suppose. I've been shown a better technique in the course, but I figured I had to go for a higher frequency on a short distance like that. It didn't work out.

Supposedly, my first 25m were okay, then I just completely choked, both in the opinion of my coach and in my own perception. Again, way too much flailing. With this failed attempt out of the way, and me gasping for air, there was not much point in going for the rest today, especially with a normal training session still being scheduled.

I have reached a point where I would be happy to admit that swimming simply isn't my kind of sport, but we are not completely done yet. While my course technically ends this week, I have been allowed to return once or twice next week to make up for a missed lesson. This will be my final chance, let's make at least one more fresh attempt with a better strategy. Odds are against me, but at one point, you simply have to shove, right?

Am I a shark or a fish in the pool? We will know by the end of next week, but right now, it looks like swimming will be something that won't be fondly remembered in the yearly review, and it is questionable whether it will play a role at all in next year's sporting endeavors.

[ ] 50 meters of breaststroke swimming in under 1:00 minute
[FAILED] 50 meters of front crawling in under 50 seconds (current best: 56 seconds)
[ ] 50 meters of back crawling in under 1:00 minute
[ ] a head first dive from a height of 3 meters, or a front flip from a height of 1 meter
[DONE] dribbling a water polo ball for 25 meters

Keep it up!
I don't float, so swimming is rather impossible for me.
I'm always impressed by people that can do it.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Keep it up!
I don't float, so swimming is rather impossible for me.
I'm always impressed by people that can do it.

I'm still debating to what degree I want to continue swimming in the future. I don't think it makes much sense for me to be too ambitious about it, but it may still be a good option for regenerative purposes.

My hometown's pool is within walking distance and it operates on a membership basis. As far as I know, fees are deducted yearly, and I probably would have already missed the deadline to cancel for next year, in case I wanted to quit. I haven't visited that place very often lately, my current course is taking place somewhere else.

But even though swimming is likely not my strong sport, I haven't given up on the badge yet. Primrose will visit very soon and wants to go swimming with me, so she may have some useful pointers. Also, we can practice the timed swims together, without the pressure.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Keep it up!
I don't float, so swimming is rather impossible for me.
I'm always impressed by people that can do it.

I´m with Vorpal! Keep it up! Be patient! ♠_smile:

As a convenience for the grindette, I made sure to take a photo of the belated birthday presents I gave her during yesterday's meetup.

She received a bottle of "Vicious Viper" hot sauce, some spicy Argentinian chimichurri seasoning for meat and marinades, three new chili seeds that will undoubtedly be featured on this blog next year, a hand-signed print of my birthday cartoon, and of course the two new Koopalings, completing her collection. I'm looking forward to a picture of all of them together.

It was another great meetup, just what we needed after this very tough, often almost hectic month. Next week will still be crammed with sporting challenges, most of which will either have to be passed or failed that week, with no other chance to make an attempt at them until much later next year, if at all. After that, I expect both of our schedules to be lightening up considerably. Mine, at least - I haven't talked too much to Prim about that.

Advent season is just around the corner, of course, and I plan to visit my hometown's cute little Christmas market in a while. We have prepared some new advent calendars for the blog, I hope you guys are looking forward to them. With this and our big sporting challenges, I expect that there will be a lot of non-poker content here for a while, which I hope you don't mind. That being said, I plan to be back to playing almost daily starting today, and there should be even more time for poker one week later, so we won't ease up on this kind of content either, hopefully including some sick tournament runs among the Christmas treats.

Even yesterday, it wasn't all just fun and games for the Trolls, we also prepared for one of my upcoming challenges. I suppose that one is next...

Primrose and I went swimming yesterday. I may be feeling less than sanguine about this sport after my previous failures this year, including my most recent one this week, but Prim really wanted to go, and it was supposed to be her belated birthday meetup, after all. Now that we were there, I naturally wanted to at least practice a little for my current Shark Badge challenge. Maybe the grindette's positive attitude and helpful advice can reduce my pessimism about my chances to some degree.

One convenient thing about the place we visited was that it does include a proper diving pool, unlike my hometown's swimming facility or the one where I did my first Shark attempts last Wednesday. You may remember that one of the requirements for the badge are that I either do a front flip from a height of 1 meter, or a heads first dive off the 3 meter board. How about we simply knock that one point of the list already, now that we have access to some diving boards? Wouldn't it be a real shame if I somehow manage to beat the swimming part after all, only to fail because those basic starting blocks are not suitable enough for front flips?

Note that I only have to do one of those two dives. More advanced versions of this badge, which I will almost certainly never even attempt, would require me to do both. The one meter front flip seemed less unpleasant to me, so that's what I went for. There was actually some school class practicing in that pool at that moment, I had to talk to the teacher so she would give me a few seconds to do those dives - which of course meant that all those kids were watching my awkward front flip attempts now.

My first dive had me kind of landing on my back, and the pool attendant told me that I should better do that again, this time trying to pick up some more momentum. Next one was better, this time landing more on my rump. I was told that it was at least passable, but I wanted to do another "good one" at the end, though it ended up being more or less the same. The attendant told me something along the lines of "some marks lost on style, but it was fine", and signed my prepared document certifying that I passed that part.

The swimming part could at least be practiced today, and Primrose gave me some very helpful tips. We swam a few lanes next to each other, apparently much to the chagrin of some short-haired blond manatee who seemed to take an issue with the two of us taking up too much space in the pool, if I understood her correctly. Based on body mass alone, she seemed to take up more real estate than Prim and I combined, but whatever, we were about to leave anyway.

Prim strongly advised against doing a timed swim at this point, but I insisted, so I swam the 50 meters freestyle after all - in the process having to dodge another oncoming swimmer and eventually colliding with yet another big German U-boat... I'm not completely sure, but I don't think she was the person from before, though. I even made sure to pick a lane that didn't seem busy...

My time was 52 seconds, a dramatic improvement over Wednesday already, despite being diverted off my course once and having an outright collision briefly stopping me in my tracks. Not to mention that it was a 50m pool this time. With all these factors taken into consideration, I think I should have a real shot to beat the 50 seconds next week. Then, of course, there is still the breaststroke and back crawling part... but I'd say my odds have improved to about a coinflip.

Thank you very much for your great support once again, Primrose. And I hope that we are still welcome guests at that pool.

[ ] 50 meters of breaststroke swimming in under 1:00 minute
[FAILED] 50 meters of front crawling in under 50 seconds (current best: 52 seconds)
[ ] 50 meters of back crawling in under 1:00 minute
[DONE] a head first dive from a height of 3 meters, or a front flip from a height of 1 meter
[DONE] dribbling a water polo ball for 25 meters

A belated Birthday party ... :f_wink::f_ugly:

Yes, Harrier and I met up yesterday to celebrate my "new status" as "best ager" . We went swimming not only because I love this sports, but also to cheer up Harrier and give him more confidence and some tipps in swimming. After that we ate delicious food (Sushi) and then, of course it was time for our beloved Mario-games. :f_biggrin::f_wink:

Speaking of Mario-games, my Koopaling-collection is now complete!!

As Harrier gave me Roy and Iggy, I got all the Kooalings now! :f_love::f_love:

And Iggy Koopa brought me a hot sauce called "Vicious Viper", which I immedately tried out today for lunch. I had ordered some Tortilla about a week ago and as those tortillas were already mussgo, I could buy them for a very low price. So, it was time to use them up! Made hot salsa with "Vicious Viper" and guacomole (because the avocados were also mussgo!). This sauce is PERFECT! Not only that it has the perfect degree of HEAT but I very quickly recognized that "typical sweetness" of one of my favorite chilis. There´s only ONE chili with that perfect heat (300.0000-500.000 Scoville units) and THAT taste: Habenero!!! I looked at the list of ingredients and found that I was not wrong! "Vicious Viper" is made of Habeneros!!! Lovely!

And for what will be Roy and Iggy my mascots? We will find out .......

Ludwig is not amused ....

but we do not tolerate bad behavior, do we, Harrier? Yesterday, while playing Super Mario Bros Wii, Ludwig gave us a REALLY hard time! :facepalm::rage: He may be the smartest of the Koopalings, but his behavior was a pain in the bum bum! Phew, that was a really challenging boss fight, yesterday. So then: Mr. von Koopa needs some correction for his bad behavior. As he´s the oldest Koopaling, I think one week of babysitting the little ones (Larry and Lemmy) will do the job:

It is finally December, folks. Advent is here. The little Christmas market, where that picture was taken, was a bit of a disappointment, but that's okay. The mulled wine was good, and that's all that matters.

Also, while we are on the subject of drinks, I spotted a box of books to be given away on my way to the Christmas market. One of them caught my attention, so I decided to take it with me:

888 cocktails, longdrinks and other mixed drinks. This book is not in any way affiliated with 888poker, and neither is this Mr Von Wesendonk who wrote it, though you might think you may have encountered him at the tables there.

Not sure if there will be anything new to me, it is supposed to be the 25th edition of a book that was originally released in 1965, this edition being from 1991 instead. A bit historic, perhaps, but maybe we can find a few good things to recreate next year, or at least compare them to current versions. I briefly skimmed through the table of contents, looks like it even contains a section about "hair of the dog" drinks for the morning after.

Primrose was a real trooper this week, volunteering to upgrade to the part of our situps workout that was intended for me, despite not outright "qualifying" for it. I think she didn't quite make the final set, but we'll let it slide - I think we will be ready to take our shots at the 200 situps next week, possibly on Monday or Tuesday. If we can make it, that's another major fitness challenge in the bag, but if not, we can always try again, as often as we like.

The same can't be said about my swimming badge and karate belt exam, of course, which will end either in success or failure next week. Let's at least take down the belt, but maybe I can grab the badge too - I will give it my best shot.

Prim didn't play any poker yesterday, and maybe I shouldn't have either, even though I got surprisingly close to ITM, with those bad hands and my less than optimal mindset. I will have a lot of stats to prepare for the past month, and there are also the new advent calendars to unveil right here.

A lot of things to do, let's see if we can even get to all of it today. I think the advent calendars will be next, to celebrate the season.

The Troll Calendar 2024

Long time followers will surely remember that I liked to do advent calendars on my previous blogs, and this tradition will be continued on the new blog.

Previously, I used Kinder Surprise eggs for those calendars, and did a "show and tell" of the trinkets inside. I felt like the editions got worse with every year, so I decided to go for something else this time. We will still have chocolates, but this time, they will be brought to us by Merci. This is the calendar I got:

People around the world may not be familiar with this German chocolate. The idea behind it is that the chocolates come in little bars with different fillings, usually in assorted sets of 20, with either four or eight different fillings per set. They are convenient as gifts or a way of saying "thanks", hence their name.

A special Christmas themed commercial for these chocolate has also been a mainstay on German television for many years, and it can even be a bit of a tear jerker for some people:

Anyway, we will open a new door every day, rate the chocolate that is inside, and maybe we will have a ranking by Christmas Eve. Simple. This edition will be called "Have Merci".

On my personal blog, I also previously did a calendar where I assembled a Lego set bit by bit, loosely connected to an advent song. This one will continue too. Two years ago, I did A Ship is Coming, where I built the Black Seas Barracuda pirate ship from 1989. Last year, I did I Saw Three Ships, and added the two corresponding imperial ships to make it three.

This year, our inspiration will be a traditional German advent song again, this one being "Maria durch ein Dornwald ging", translating to "Mary walked through a wood of thorns". The song dates back to at least the mid 19th century, but may possibly be older. The lyrics tell a metaphorical story of the Virgin Mary traversing a forest of dead thorns, representing death and infertility, while carrying her baby, which causes the previously dead thorns to bloom into roses again.

Inspired by this classic song about traveling through grim looking forests, we will build Lego set #6054, the Forestmen's Hideout, released in 1988 (my birth year, actually). As the name implies, it is supposed to be a little hideout for a band of forest dwelling medieval archers, clearly based on the legend of Robin Hood. The instructions have 23 steps, and we will do a new one every day throughout December, so we should be done one day before Christmas Eve.

As usual, I will not spoil yet what the finished set looks like, but feel free to look it up yourself, if you are curious. This edition of the calendar will be called "Through the Wood of Thorns".

That's what we have in store for advent this year. Chocolates and Lego nostalgia - what's not to like?

The Troll Calendar 2024
Day 01

Have Merci

Candles conjure up joy in all of our hearts.

The little phrase behind the door was already surprisingly hard to translate. The German verb implies making something appear by magic. Maybe there really is something enchanting about candles.

Today's chocolate flavor was "praline-cream". Not sure if you can even make sense of that name, but I remember this being one of the better chocolates from the standard assortment. Nice milky, nougaty flavor, I expect this one will rank highly.

Through the Wood of Thorns

Rather than coming with a special base plate, our set will be assembled on two green standard 6x12 Lego plates.

Our first piece is already a special one, allowing us to spread the two plates apart if we choose. Some foresight from the designers for better playability once this hideout is complete, I expect.

Our first step, however, is a modest one. These are all the pieces we get so far:

It is going to be a long trek through this wood of thorns... but don't you worry, we will make it in time for Christmas.

Rough first night of December at the tables. Stud Hi-Lo looked very promising, but was ruined a few places before the bubble by several atrocious runouts in what would have been very good spots. Badugi even had me take an early second bullet after none of my hands managed to hold, which also remained unsuccessful. Profit-wise, it was therefore about as bad as it can get with these two games.

That's how it goes sometimes, I hope we will be more lucky tomorrow, which should be the only day in a while on which I will be able to add Stud8 to the lineup. MTT stats have been collected for November and I aim to present them tomorrow, if I have collected all OFC stats by that time too.

Apart from that, we better make our extended weekend break count, because we should face one more crazy week, as I pointed out in previous posts. Another Shark badge attempt on Wednesday, with a possible (but not guaranteed) opportunity to re-do it on Friday, the karate yellow belt exam on Saturday, with two more final practice sessions before that, and in addition to all of that, Primrose and I try to do 200 consecutive situps at home, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.

It's also about time we did our Christmas shopping, isn't it? Let's see if we can even get to it yet, in a week that is so crammed with sporting challenges almost every day. The good news, however, is that we should finally be able to take things slow, once we are done with it - if things go according to plan.

Prim - hang in there. Everyone else - enjoy the Troll calendar. Poker stats coming soon...

The Troll Calendar 2024
Day 02

Have Merci

The best remedy against coldness: Warm words.

Not all of the chocolates in our calendar are the standard bars. Today, we got one of those "Merci Petits", this one being a simple dark milk chocolate piece.

It seems pointless to even cut this tiny thing up, especially with no fillings, but let's have a look anyway:

Can't quite compete with yesterday's praline-cream chocolate, and the small size doesn't help, but you can't go wrong with some dark chocolate. For drinking chocolate, I often even prefer it.

Through the Wood of Thorns

We only add a few slanted pieces. So far, it is still hard to guess what the finished structure will look like.

A small step, and a small chocolate. Maybe it's a good idea to take it slow in advent. I know I won't, at least for now. But that's how it often goes at this time of the year. It will soon all be worth it.

Now that I think of it, best of luck with your Christmas shopping, everyone. That's another thing I still need to get to.

Through the wood of thorns?

THAT reminds me of somebody :f_wink::f_ugly::f_biggrin:

For those who don´t know the Mario-games: In Super Mario Bros Wii, before you get to Iggy Koopa, you really have to go through some "woods of thornes" :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:

Here´s the world of our nature loving "gardener" Iggy Koopa:

That leaves the question: Will he be our new gardening king 2025? And what will he plant? We will find out .....

Originally posted by Primrose6789
For those who don´t know the Mario-games: In Super Mario Bros Wii, before you get to Iggy Koopa, you really have to go through some "woods of thornes" :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:

I didn't remember those stages too well, but now that I see the video - yes, we did face some thorns in that forest, and plenty of other nasty things. I think I even may have referenced that song when we first made it there.

I wonder if we will be able to complete that game this year. Probably not, but I expect it should only take us about three or four more meetups, possibly even two if we make rapid progress. This game can actually feel quite stressful... but it's nice to see all of your "Koopa-mascots" in action for once. Mostly knowing them as your plushies, I almost forgot that they are supposed to be villains...

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by Primrose6789
For those who don´t know the Mario-games: In Super Mario Bros Wii, before you get to Iggy Koopa, you really have to go through some "woods of thornes" :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:

I didn't remember those stages too well, but now that I see the video - yes, we did face some thorns in that forest, and plenty of other nasty things. I think I even may have referenced that song when we first made it there.

I wonder if we will be able to complete that game this year. Probably not, but I expect it should only take us about three or four more meetups, possibly even two if we make rapid progress. This game can actually feel quite stressful... but it's nice to see all of your "Koopa-mascots" in action for once. Mostly knowing them as your plushies, I almost forgot that they are supposed to be villains...

Hahahaha! Mind you, Harrier! They may look adorable, especially as plushies, and some of them are even extremely soft and cuddly as plushies, but nevertheless, they are indeed Villains. I even reminded you once, when we encountered Morton Koopa jr.: "Be careful, he´s NOT the soft and cuddly plushie here!!!"

And after having finished off all the Koopalings, Kamek will be next ..........

I wish I had some cool tournament results to post, but last night's session was even quicker to run into game-ending coolers. This time, I didn't even rebuy, and instead worked on my stats and graphs. They are all ready now, I should be able to post them later today.

The Troll Calendar 2024
Day 03

Have Merci

While you are searching for the big things, see the small things.

Another bite-sized chocolate today, these kinds seem to be called "Merci Together". I typically don't bother with chocolates of this size at the store, more packaging than anything. Still a nice addition to our calendar.

Today's filling is "nougat crunch". Can you possibly go wrong?

No, it was very good. In fact, I think it beats the "praline cream" bar from Day 01.

Let's have a ranking already:

Through the Wood of Thorns

More slanted pieces, and a tiny 1x1. And still little clue about the final structure.

Ah, and before we forget, here are our Merry Men, who will inhabit this hideout:

Iggy Koopa!! Mario and Luigi are coming for you, buddy! :f_wink::mdr::f_ugly: