Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

We've been playing again, with not a lot to show so far, except for a final table (i.e. mincash) in the 2-7 Triple Draw yesterday, which was not quite enough to save the session, though it brought it a little closer to break-even.

This changed today - we shipped the $1.10 8-game!

We only got $33.92 for this feat, but hey - it's something. It won't turn this month around, but it was enough to book a profit for the session, at least. Besides, the $1.10 game is mostly intended for practice and to see where I may stand compared to the field of players, so I can eventually make a decision whether it would make sense to give the higher stakes tournaments a try some time in the future. Profits are secondary at this point.

Apart from a mincash, this has been my first success at 8-game this year, so definitely a reason to celebrate.

Here are two hands that turned it around:

Wow! Nice runouts!
And called all the way down, too

Congrats on the bink!

Is there a bink cocktail for such celebrations?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Is there a bink cocktail for such celebrations?

Not really, but a good cocktail doesn't need any special occasions. I'll probably just have some beers tonight, though.

Today, I had time for a longer session that usual, which means that I could even add another PLO tournament and reg early. What can I say... the perfect winning streak in this game had to end some time. Flopped mid set vs top set.

Just about nothing worked out in the 2-7 Triple Draw, while we could at least get some mincashes in Badugi and 8-game. We were just one place away from making a ladder in the 8-game too, which has a pretty big first step. The Badugi was also close to laddering, but I took a risk trying to chase a decent bounty. Probably a worthwhile one.

Not a good session profit-wise, but I can already notice a change for the better. Got yet another busy weekend ahead of me now, but it will be only one more week until I can put my current job to an honorable end.

I'll leave you with a cool little Triple Draw hand from the 8-game. Got dealt the best possible hand in California lowball, and improved it to the best possible hand in Kansas City lowball on the first draw - which is good, because that is what we're actually playing.

Got called down all the way too... by someone who didn't quite seem to understand what was going on.

PokerStars, $0.98 + $0.12 - Triple Draw 2-7 Limit (8-Game) - 80/160 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 2,840 (18 bb)
MP: 4,020 (25 bb)
CO (Hero): 12,480 (78 bb)
BU: 2,650 (17 bb)
SB: 6,554 (41 bb)
BB: 3,575 (22 bb)

Deal: (240) Hero is CO with 3♣ 4♠ 2♥ 5♥ A♥
UTG calls 160, 1 fold, Hero raises to 320, 3 players fold, UTG calls 160

Draw One: (880) 3♣ 4♠ 2♥ 5♥ 7♦ (2 players)
UTG draws 1, CO (Hero) draws Ah
UTG checks, Hero bets 160, UTG calls 160

Draw Two: (1,200) 3♣ 4♠ 2♥ 5♥ 7♦ (2 players)
UTG draws 2, CO (Hero) stands pat
UTG checks, Hero bets 320, UTG calls 320

Draw Three: (1,840) 3♣ 4♠ 2♥ 5♥ 7♦ (2 players)
UTG draws 1, CO (Hero) stands pat
UTG checks, Hero bets 320, UTG calls 320

Total pot: 2,480

Showdown:
CO (Hero) shows 3♣ 4♠ 2♥ 5♥ 7♦ (7-5-4-3-2)
UTG mucks T♥ T♦ 8♥ 8♣ 4♣ (two pair, Tens and Eights)
CO (Hero) wins 2,480

Hmmm, I wonder if he was playing the same game you were

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Hmmm, I wonder if he was playing the same game you were
If he had chosen any random game from 8-game, at least he would have had a 12.5% chance of being correct.

I have yet to hear about a mixed games variant that includes Five Card Draw, though. If there is one, I'd love to check it out.

Originally posted by Harrier88
I have yet to hear about a mixed games variant that includes Five Card Draw, though. If there is one, I'd love to check it out.

There are none that I know of.
Full-Tilt once had an 11-Game, but I can no longer remember what the other 3 were.
SwC adds Badeucy, Badacey and Badugi.

Also, if this site http://www.horsepoker.net/10-game-poker.php is authoritative, I am wrong about Full-Tilt -- it was 10-Game and included NL 2-7 Single Draw and Badugi
The site seems to contain pre-black friday material, but it has a fairly comprehensive list of mixed games.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Also, if this site http://www.horsepoker.net/10-game-poker.php is authoritative, I am wrong about Full-Tilt -- it was 10-Game and included NL 2-7 Single Draw and Badugi

I would have loved to try that one, even though I expect that the NL 2-7 SD part might have given me a few headaches.

I like the 11-game on SwC too, but I'm most excited for their version of "Lowball Mix", which I have yet to play. Hopefully I can get my hands on a few BitCoins some time and give that site a more serious try, but right now, I'm already glad when I hav time for a few poker sessions at all.

August has been over for a while. It doesn't come as a surprise, but it has been a losing month.

Here are the updated charts to reflect this.

Work is coming to an end, but things have still been a little hectic over here. Among other things, I had to fight for some pay I believe I'm still owed, which has cost me a lot of extra effort too, but let's not get too much into this. I think I have made a pretty compelling case by now, all I can do at this point is wait and see.

While the heat waves of the summer months have certainly taken their toll on me on and off the felt, it is clear that I need more than just some nice chilly autumnal weather to get back on track, as enjoyable as it was this week. A little break will be in order soon - but not from poker. Quite the opposite.

Just one more busy weekend, then it will all be over.

Into every garden, a little rain must fall.

Let's go in September!

Overall, looking quite respectable!

It is over. I have returned from my final visit at the town hall, and we have dealt with all final formalities (including that missing pay thing I briefly mentioned before. I was correct, it's all cleared up). With that, my vacation begins, effectively marking the end of my short term employment.

Weekends will finally be weekends again. No more coming home at 11:30 PM. Following that, no more dinner at midnight. No more annoying commutes, no more chatty colleagues, no more nonsensical work instructions, no more sensationalist Facebook posts to respond to, no more silly-looking uniforms to wear, no more patrols in old beat-up cars, no more hour-long conversations with "concerned" citizens. And speaking of which, no more citizen's concerns that inevitably always end up boiling down to this:

For the time being, at least. As much as I'm looking forward to a well-deserved break, I realize that this is no time to become complacent and that I need to keep looking for the next spots to get ahead. But for now, I'm just glad that I managed to get through that job without going completely insane - I had my serious doubts several times.

There's some sports practice scheduled for tonight, but apart from that, I made sure to avoid any more appointments this week. I could seriously use some "me time" for a week or so, including some quality time away from the screen.

Apart from that, poker will obviously continue! ♠_drink: I look forward to resume the old poker grind, which became impossible when I had to switch to late shifts in the last few months. Now we're back at full force, and on most weeks, every day except Monday and Wednesday should be a grinding day.

It's good to be back. ♠_love:

And hey, we even got a bottle of local sparkling wine.

Generally, I'm not a big fan of sparkling wine. I'll drink it, but usually only on Christmas, New Year's Eve, and some special occasions like weddings or other festivities where I'm invited. But it's certainly an appreciated gift, and I even know some cocktail recipes involving it, maybe I can get to them soon...

Btw, it was a good idea to search through the pockets of my uniform's jacket one more time after returning it. Among other things, they contained a personal notepad, which included a shopping list for my last visit to the liquor store...

Congratulations on your new-found freedom!

On sparkling wine:
When I was a kid, we always got the bootlegger to get us Mateus.
It was a sparkling rosé. It tasted kinda like grape pop, but it had alcohol in it (I presume it still does ) and the girls liked it.

it gets worse. There were two fortified "wines" called "Apple Jack" and "Cherry Jack". They came in 1/2 gallon bottles (no litres in Canada then)
One July 1st holiday (it was "Dominion Day" back then -- now it is "Canada Day") 3 of my friends and I went down to the log booms to go fishing.
We had two bottles -- one of each flavour. We didn't want both of them down on the booms, so we put the bottle of Apple Jack between two railway ties and put a rock on top so nobody would see it.

We walked out to the far end of the boom -- maybe about 300m from shore, and found a huge cedar log to sit on while we fished. And drank. We caught a few dogfish and a "rock cod" (I've no idea what it's really called). When the Cherry Jack was all gone, we decided to head back.

Have you ever tried to walk 300m across floating logs after having consumed enough fortified wine that just standing up was tough?
Nobody drowned, but I don't remember the fish making it to shore.

On the way back we stopped to retrieve the Apple Jack from between the railway ties.
When we lifted up the rock, we discovered that we had broken the bottle with that very rock.
The wine was all there but there was no way we could pick up the bottle without losing most -- if not all -- of the contents.

What to do?
Fortunately (or not) there was some reeds in the ditch at the side of the railway track, so the 4 of us lay on our faces on the railroad tracks, and drank the Apple Jack using the reeds as straws.

Strangely, I don't remember much of the rest of the day. NARF[1]

Btw, it was a good idea to search through the pockets of my uniform's jacket one more time after returning it. Among other things, they contained a personal notepad, which included a shopping list for my last visit to the liquor store...

Always a good idea to go through the pockets...

[1] NARF in this case refers to Normal Alcohol-Related Forgetfulness

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Have you ever tried to walk 300m across floating logs after having consumed enough fortified wine that just standing up was tough?

Can't say I did, and I had to look up what exactly "log booms" are. And those two fortified wines definitely wouldn't have been for me, but it's a cool story nonetheless.

Poker will resume tonight. My plans remain unchanged, we will be grinding the Badugi, 8-game and 2-7 Triple Draw (if available). Five Card Draw is still on hiatus for the time being.

There's an 8-game WCOOP event today, but I won't be playing it. During a downswing like this, it's simply not justifiable to throw that much money at one tournament. I may or may not play any of the other mixed games WCOOP events, but I have no concrete plans at the moment.

I did play one more session on Thursday. Results-wise, it was a little bit better already. Pretty deep run in the 8-game, I believe I finished 11th for $5.55 - nice return on my $1.10 investment, and collected $3.50 in bounties in the Badugi, without ITM.

Badugi should have been a lot better, because I managed to get a good stack early on, but I learned a lot from it. Most importantly, I was chasing too much. Implied odds are an important part of my strategy in this game, but that doesn't mean that I should be chasing for the sake of chasing. If we are just hoping to get lucky, we might as well play slots. There MUST be a good reason behind our calls.

This is also very important in the later stages of the 8-game, where many games involve quite a few betting rounds, and one imprudent chase can end up costing you a lot more than you imagined when you first entered the pot. The solution is simple: Pick a few promising hands, and play them hard, with confidence. If they don't make it, so be it. But this hopeful but thoughtless chasing needs to stop. This would also be an important factor in the late stages of Five Card Draw, where stacks are usually surprisingly shallow.

I got a bit sloppy with this during my few uncoordinated sessions last month. Now that we're back to the grind, it's time to get more disciplined again.

Well, it was a bumpy first ride tonight. Still wasn't all that concentrated either. Turns out that even with work out of the way, there are other things that can poison your mind.

Had to take another 2nd bullet in the Badugi, after getting out with a good A237 vs a perfect A234. Based on my opponent's betting pattern, I already had a feeling that he was holding the nuts, but that's not enough of a reason to lay down such a good hand which should be ahead in many similar situations. Collected $2 in bounties with the 2nd bullet, but nothing else.

8-game was promising, but I couldn't quite make it. I believe it was a dry spell during a late FLO8 part that was my neckbreaker this time around. The exit followed soon after in the Razz.

In 2-7 Triple Draw, however, we barely made it past the bubble, and even made another ladder because two players ended up busting at once. $20.01 for a fifth place were enough for some marginal profits in this session.

So despite all, not a terrible start. Let's hope that things will go a little bit more smoothly from now on, though.

Glad to hear somebody did well.
WCOOP 8-Game started well, but once again razz failed me terribly.
6-low on 4th street and paired or high cards after that a couple of times.
Chased a flush then straight in stud too and missed.

Whew...

This happened on the stone cold bubble. I had my opponent covered, but not by much.

Converted by a herd of feral cows
PokerStars Limit Triple Draw ($6.69+$0.81) t1000/t2000 - 4 players

BB: t13,820 (Hero)
UTG: t11,515
Button: t28,725
SB: t8,500

Dealing Hands: (t1,500) (4 players)
UTG raises to t2000, 2 folds, Hero calls t1000

First Draw: (t4,500) (2 players)
Hero discards 1, UTG discards 1,
||
Hero checks, UTG bets t1000, Hero calls t1000

Second Draw: (t6,500) (2 players)
Hero discards 1, UTG stands,
||
Hero checks, UTG bets t2000, Hero raises to t4000, UTG calls t2000

Third Draw: (t14,500) (2 players)
Hero stands, UTG stands,

Hero bets t2000, UTG raises to t4000, Hero raises to t6000, UTG calls t515 and is all-in

Hero showed , Lo: 7,6,4,3,2
UTG showed , Lo: 7,6,5,3,2
Hero won t23530

What really made me nervous was the timing of his moves, which really did suggest a huge hand. You know, that whole hesitating and feigning insecurity before calling or re-raising, and then snap-calling the final raise...

Finished 2nd in the end for $66.01. This recoups a lot of the August losses, and it even makes my 2-7 TD profits surpass my 5CD ones, just barely.

FInished 10th in the Badugi for $3.30 plus $3 in bounties, so another small profit. Really can't complain tonight, looks like we're slowly getting back on track.

Nice hand!
Nice Graph!

As some people may have read already, the Grindette was visiting again yesterday, and once again, we had a blast.

That greenish drink in the picture in Prim's post is called a "Sex in the Shower". For those who would like to have some themselves (wink, wink), here's a link to the recipe, though I found that the amounts listed there tend to be enough to fill two of my 120 ml champagne flutes. I haven't yet bothered to adjust it, though, because I figured that Sex in the Shower is best served for two.

This one calls for some butterscotch liqueur, and I have a bottle of that one at home, which I have so far only used for this one drink. As expected, it is extremely sweet, and smells and tastes more like something to be used in baking rather than mixing drinks.

Since the other ingredients consist of orange juice and different kinds of orange liqueurs, it comes as no surprise that the Sex in the Shower is very sweet too, almost candy-like. Not my number one choice, but I know that Prim tends to have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I was sure that this would be her kind of drink. And indeed, she mentioned that it may have become her new favorite.

Other drinks served included the tried-and-true Pink Squirrel and Punchin' Prim, as well as a Chocolate and Orange Martini (minus the optional chocolate rim - maybe I'll post a recipe once I can be bothered to do the rim too) and a classic Americano. For the Americano, just combine 30 ml of Campari with 30 ml of red vermouth and a splash (I used about 7-8 ml) of soda water in a lowball glass filled with ice cubes.

Late regging to start a session last night after all that may not have been the best decision. The Triple Draw didn't run, however, reducing my losses to a negligible $6.60. Let's get a bit more serious this weekend...

I checked, and it turned out that the last time I was able to spend an entire weekend at home without having to go to work was last March, unless we don't count Friday as part of the weekend, in which case I was able to spend Saturday and Sunday at home one time in the beginning of May. It feels really good to have some time now to get things in order, and that's what I should do. The apartment could do with a thorough cleaning, and even many folders on my PC are a bit chaotic. Cleaning up and reorganizing stuff is not usually very fun, but I believe it can be very rewarding once you're making progress.

So yes, that's what I plan to do, among other things. I may even be able to do some reading to improve on the poker grind a little, who knows...

Originally posted by Harrier88
Since the other ingredients consist of orange juice and different kinds of orange liqueurs, it comes as no surprise that the Sex in the Shower is very sweet too, almost candy-like.

Sex in the shower -- is that what is meant by "clean living"?

I'll look for that Butterscotch liqueur -- I've had another brand before, but Bols products are usually superb.
The one I had basically tasted like carmel syrup with alcohol added.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I'll look for that Butterscotch liqueur -- I've had another brand before, but Bols products are usually superb.

I like to use them too, they tend to be a good value. Fairly low range prices but still pretty good quality.