Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
In the one time we went to the races, she picked several winners. It paid for our dinner, but that's about it.

Not something one wants to make a career of.

Well, it could slowly add up over time, a little like poker winnings.

I have been wrong before, like in our playoff match last year, where I expected after the first quarter that we would be losing by about a touchdown or two, but somehow we managed to shift the momentum and finished with a very close win - which is why we are now playing in the national leagues again.

There's actually a pretty nice video about that game from our opponent's point of view online:

For this season's three games, I was spot on after less than one quarter. In our first game, I predicted that it would be extremely close with both teams having about a 50-50 chance to win, and that the difference would be less than a touchdown. In the second game, I predicted that we would be performing rather poorly but still comfortably win, and now in our third game, I predicted that both teams would keep answering each other's touchdowns for a while, but that we would eventually fail to catch up and have to settle for a slight loss.

Being right in the middle of it helps to detect the overall sentiments of the players of both teams and slight shifts in the flow of the game. I probably couldn't do it from the stands.

Maybe I could at least post some of my pre-match predictions here for the following games, to see if I'll be right those times? It will involve a lot more guessing than the predictions I make after the start of the match, of course.

Five Card Draw is still going poorly, btw. Trips are still running into better trips, full houses and even quads in one instance. We are about to hit a new post-winter low mark, but all we can do is keep grinding. Right now, it's really mostly due to bad luck, I believe.

Also, I tried the new blender today. I took several pictures, but those will have to wait until tomorrow.

All right, so I have a new blender to introduce. Here it is:

...and here it is unboxed:

We got the motor base, the blades, and two single-serving containers.

The containers even come with a lid, so you could drink out of them right away after mixing, if you so choose. I doubt I'll ever use it, but I guess it's nice.

I decided to test it with one of those orange smoothies that I made the other day, to see how different they are.

Here are the ingredients inside that single-serving cup which doubles as the mixing container:

You would then put the blades unit on top of it like so:

Then you plug in the motor base, put the container with the blades unit upside down on top of it, and it will simply start blending as soon as you push down. It had already blended a bit in this picture, because I didn't realize it would start right away.

Once I pushed down properly, the device really got going:

I put it off the motor base again after blending - and was slightly worried to see the mixture still stuck at the top...

Even after removing the blade unit, it was still there... but I guess that's a good thing.

This is how it looked from the top:

I then poured it into a glass. As you can see, it had a pretty thick consistency - but that's how it's supposed to be, I believe.

After giving it a stir, it looked a lot smoother.

And this is how the whole glass looked like. As you can see, no flakes of ice stuck anywhere, it's all a big slushy mass. Some may prefer the other version, but I liked this one very much.

I need to try it with that caramel frappucino some time. But so far, I'm pretty happy with it.

...but how good is it at simply crushing ice? Let's try it...

I actually removed one of those ice cubes before blending because it slightly passed the max height - but as you can see, that blender pulverized all those ice cubes into snow:

...literal snow:

Now that we reached that point, I wanted to see if I could turn it into snowcones by using some of that syrup that I normally use to make soda. Originally, I just wanted to pour it over the ice, but I couldn't get the ice to soak up the syrup like it should.

So I simply tried blending it again after putting the syrup into that blender too, together with the ice. I used some sugar free Pepsi Max syrup.

It took several attempts, but this ended up being my best one:

Not too bad, but it could still use some work. Maybe I should make/get some proper snowcones syrup for it.

I achieved this result by putting about 100 ml of crushed ice instead of ice cubes into the blender, together with 1-1.5 teaspoons of the syrup.

I retried it later with lemon soda syrup (a little like bitter lemon), and found the result quite enjoyable. It needs to be consumed quickly, though, as it began melting soon.

We have a superb blender. When we got it, there was a metal blender jar and a plastic one.
Trying to crush ice in the plastic one wrecked it.

Caramel Frappuccino - re-revisited

I've made it once, I've made it twice... now I wanted to remake it yet another time, with my new blender.

Those "single serving" cups still had plenty of room for two 200 ml glasses worth of frappuccino. Ingredients are:

1 shot of espresso
110 ml whole milk
70 ml caramel syrup
140 ml crushed ice

I used some ice cubes here, but they also work:

Blend...

Serve...

Enjoy...

Good stuff, and once again, no lumps of ice floating in your drink. The consistency wasn't quite as thick as with the orange smoothie, but still had some ice cream like bits for your spoon/straw combo.

I also used that blender for some mussgo instant protein shakes today, which came out great. All in all, I'm very happy with this device so far.

I love those! They are really good. I had the lactose-free, sugar-free version, I think.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
I love those! They are really good. I had the lactose-free, sugar-free version, I think.

You had the same version I made - but from my old blender, of course, which doesn't crush ice.

The caramel syrup actually is sugar free, though.

Sugar free caramel syrup?
I've heard of such a thing.

I'll have to get some for Mrs Vorpal

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Sugar free caramel syrup?
I've heard of such a thing.

Yes, it's the one from Monin.

I also have some chocolate syrup from them, though that one contains sugar. So far, I haven't yet found any use for it.

I looked up a recipe for sugar-free caramel syrup, but it contains allulose.
Allulose is itself a sugar, but it "is absorbed by the body but not metabolised so it is practically calorie free"

I haven't found a place where one could buy it yet.

Had a day off today, since it's the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is an official holiday in my state. I had some nice Jägerschnitzel in town for lunch, the weather was great - it was a beautiful day. Until I decided to play poker, that is...

First off, I decided to try some NL Five Card Draw cash, even though I wasn't very good at it in the past. I fully expected to lose, it was all about gaining some experience. I did end up losing a few bucks, as expected, but what surprised me about the game was that it didn't seem as aggressive as I remember it being. Most of the time, players were just trading small-ish pots. I guess the real profit in this format comes from being on the right side of cooler spots, not unlike PL Badugi.

The real disappointment was 8-Game, however. I originally just wanted to play that $7.50 MTT, but we were one player short of the minimum amount of players, so that one was cancelled. I instead chose to play the $5.50 Mini Octopus. Oh boy... 2h 45m of late reg, and I had a very good stack throughout most of it, but without getting any bounties. Every time someone got short enough, I didn't quite get the right cards, and then someone else took them out instead.

When late reg was over, I was going through a longer card dead stretch, and my concentration was waning a little too, since I also had to grab something to eat and all. Then we entered the NL Hold'em stage, and I was finally in a spot where I could collect some bounties:

PokerStars, $4.90 + $0.60 - Hold'em No Limit (8-Game) - 500/1,000 - 5 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 70,165 (70 bb)
CO: 39,720 (40 bb)
BU: 4,139 (4 bb)
SB: 14,367 (14 bb)
BB (Hero): 26,378 (26 bb)

Pre-Flop: (1,500) Hero is BB with K♣ A♦
2 players fold, BTN raises to 4,139 (all-in), SB 3-bets to 14,367 (all-in), Hero calls 13,367

SB shows Q♦ J♥
BU shows A♠ 3♠

Flop: (32,873) 4♠ T♠ J♠ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (32,873) 6♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (32,873) 9♠ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: 32,873

Showdown:
SB shows Q♦ J♥ (a pair of Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 33%, Flop: 3%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

BU shows A♠ 3♠ (a flush, Ace high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 24%, Flop: 97%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

BB (Hero) shows K♣ A♦ (high card, Ace)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 43%, Flop: <1%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

SB wins 20,456
BU wins 12,417

Yeah, not even the side pot against that guy fishing for bounties with QJos, that was pretty annoying.

I had a chance to get back a few hands later, when I picked up the dreaded JJ:

PokerStars, $4.90 + $0.60 - Hold'em No Limit (8-Game) - 500/1,000 - 5 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG (Hero): 12,011 (12 bb)
CO: 114,605 (115 bb)
BU: 10,917 (11 bb)
SB: 10,836 (11 bb)
BB: 18,236 (18 bb)

Pre-Flop: (1,500) Hero is UTG with J♣ J♠
Hero raises to 2,000, 2 players fold, SB 3-bets to 10,836 (all-in), 1 fold, Hero calls 8,836

SB shows 9♠ A♠

Flop: (22,672) A♣ 8♦ A♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (22,672) 9♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (22,672) 9♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: 22,672

Showdown:
SB shows 9♠ A♠ (a full house, Aces full of Nines)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 31%, Flop: 93%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

UTG (Hero) shows J♣ J♠ (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 69%, Flop: 7%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

SB wins 22,672

That was just plain trolling... Maybe it's time we start a petition to remove Hold'em from the 8-Game lineup - and every cash and tournament lobby anywhere, while we're at it.

Naturally, I didn't come back from that - and those 3+ hours of grinding were for naught. It was extremely frustrating, after having such a good lead early on. What's worse, I already started a Badugi MTT at around the end of late reg, where I was the chipleader by that point - and ended up donking my chips away because I was so tilted from this. The fact that I noticed what was going on made it even more frustrating. I was pretty upset, mostly at myself, both for losing so much to tilt and for wasting so much of my free day with poker, only to brick in the end.

Badugi wasn't quite done yet, I still had some few chips left - and somehow ended up making an almost miraculous return with them again. Bounties were almost completely missing, but a 4th place finish for $22.07 still resulted in a profitable day despite all that BS earlier. I could have done better, but after such a bad start, this is a more than satisfying finish.

Still, I can't say I had a great time tonight at the tables. I suppose the lesson is not to waste your precious free days on poker. It's something to be done for a few hours if you can give it your full attention, not something that takes up all day, even while preparing dinner and all. In general, life is just too short for almost three hours of late reg.

I'll be away tomorrow to visit my nephew in Mainz for his 4th birthday. Then, it's off to Stuttgart on Saturday for my next football game, where I was specifically asked to join the squad. We agreed that I would be playing "on demand" only for most games this season, but apparently I'm needed. More on that tomorrow, probably.

Originally posted by Harrier88
First off, I decided to try some NL Five Card Draw cash, even though I wasn't very good at it in the past. I fully expected to lose, it was all about gaining some experience. I did end up losing a few bucks, as expected, but what surprised me about the game was that it didn't seem as aggressive as I remember it being. Most of the time, players were just trading small-ish pots. I guess the real profit in this format comes from being on the right side of cooler spots, not unlike PL Badugi.

That comes and goes — some players are passive some days and aggro the next.
Sometimes they'll just come out and blast a pot-sized bet — and you need to be strong even if you think they're bluffing

I originally thought that I could look forward to a quiet, relaxing weekend this week... and it was indeed pretty relaxing to visit my brother today, whose son turned four years old. My football team has an away game tomorrow, and plenty of players available on my position, so I thought I could easily sit this one out. However, the weather tomorrow is supposed to be really hot, and possibly quite humid too, so the team needs all the help they can get - which includes me.

I planned to reduce my commitment to this sport a bit in my final season, but whenever I'm needed, I'll be there. So it's off to Stuttgart for me, we'll be facing the Scorpions.

The Scorpions are certainly no slouch, formerly having played in the highest national league - in fact, I believe they played there last year. Still, we trained well this week, and our performance in the last few games was promising. I think we can win this one. Either way, the brutal heat is sure to leave a heavy toll on players from both teams. I'll try to make sure to stay properly hydrated.

The game is supposed to start at around 5 PM CET, so keep an eye out for Stuttgart Scorpions vs Gießen Golden Dragons live streams around that time if you want to watch.

Stuttgart is quite a bit away, so it will most likely be well past midnight until I return home. Luckily, I'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep the following night, and I'll even work late shifts next week.

My pre-match prediction: Dragons win, 21-17.

Well, I picked the right winner in my prediction, but I was way off about the result. The Dragons won quite convincingly after all. I did not expect that, but I definitely need to give credit to my team mates, this was possibly the best performance I've seen from them in the three years I've been on the team. And that despite the brutal heat - brilliant job!

As for myself, I did not play after all. It's a little annoying, considering that I requested that I'm only taken along on those long trips if there are plans to give me some playing time, and I was specifically told that I'm needed this time. Oh well, it is what it is. At least it was a good game to watch.

More than that, the stadium was pretty impressive compared to the venues we're usually playing at. We were playing in the Gazi-Stadion, which is usually the home field of the Stuttgarter Kickers, a German soccer club that previously played on a national level, but now plays in the highest league of their state instead, which would be the fifth tier of leagues overall (three national leagues, then one tier of regional leagues, and then several leagues on state level and below). The stadium has an official capacity of 11,408 people, though our attendance was of course significantly short of that, only filling maybe a few hundred seats on the main stand.

Also, we were playing in our cool new white away jerseys for the first time. Unlike our regular home jerseys, we paid for them individually, so we can keep them after the season, and therefore after the end of my playing career. A match issue football shirt will make a fine addition to my wardrobe, and a nice souvenir for my active playing time.

There should be time for some poker today. Let's hope I'll do as well as the Dragons did yesterday.

Cool!
Nice win for the team...

from: Sonnet 19 by John Milton
They also serve who only stand and wait

Originally posted by Harrier88
There should be time for some poker today. Let's hope I'll do as well as the Dragons did yesterday.

First of all, there wasn't as much poker as I originally planned. I decided to get busy and do some of the work at home that had been piling up for a while. This mostly involved re-organizing stuff in my terribly cluttered kitchen, which also got a decent cleaning while we're at it. Also, I cut my hair.

So I didn't have time for the $7.50 8-Game - assuming it ran this time, and instead decided to reg quite late for the Mini Octopus. It had been running for well over an hour by that time, but I figured that with late reg being this extremely long, an hour wouldn't matter too much, and it's just $5.50 anyway. What I didn't realize was that it's Sunday, so the tournament is a Weekend Special and now costs $11.

Just gotta cash it then, right? Except I lost close to half my stack on a Stud8 hand early on, and then made an ICM call with 55 in the Hold'em part which ran into KK. That's $11 wasted in record time... poker went well recently, but I cannot allow myself to get that careless!

Badugi came to the rescue, with a 7th place finish that yielded $13.11 including bounties. It doesn't cover the wasted $11 after taking the buy-in into account, but it does help mitigate the damage a lot. Still, this was supposed to be a winning day, not a damage control day.

As for Five Card Draw... I guess the solution is to just fold trips?

I did win the third game at least, where I got almost blinded out but then picked up two pat hands in a row which both got paid off. And trips even held in my winning hand at the end. So 5CD was about break-even today.

The good news is that Badugi is really cruising right now, with 6 out of 9 games this month ending up on the final table. I'm working late shifts next week, so I will try to late reg the Badugi MTTs when I get home. Hopefully, the trend will continue.

Originally posted by Harrier88
As for Five Card Draw... I guess the solution is to just fold trips?

That wouldn't be the first choice — but there's a time and a place for everything.
Of those 3 examples, only the 3rd one would be a fold — and that only for stack preservation.
At least for me — trips are the meat-and-potatoes hands. The flushes and straights are gravy. The pairs and two pairs are the bread-and-butter.
So really hard to fold the trips, especially since a lot of players play things like aces-up very strongly

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Of those 3 examples, only the 3rd one would be a fold — and that only for stack preservation.

Predraw, I assume?

I wouldn't fold there at that stage, especially with trips as high as those. As you said, many players play good two pairs and worse trips strongly too, so there are plenty worse hands that would raise.

I continued to play late regged Badugi MTTs after work. Got a second tier cash on Monday for a profit of about a dollar, then got a mincash on Tuesday for a loss of about a dollar. Tonight bricked. Overall, though, we're still going quite strongly.

It should also be noted that I narrowly missed a nice $5 bounty and a good stack near the final table bubble on Monday, where I got outdrawn after getting the chips in good on the 2nd draw. Moreover, I hit a nice 6-Badugi on Tuesday and got outdrawn by a perfect 4 on the same draw - yes, it happens to me too.

Tonight, there just wasn't much I could do, I simply got outdrawn. I also played one Five Card Draw SNG, which finished 3rd. I may have been relatively card dead in the crucial late phase, but I think I identified one massive mistake on my part, not just tonight, but in general in 5CD: I'm not aggressive enough postdraw.

Sure, pot control can be important, but especially in the later stages, I think I really need to make the most out of the good hands I get, because let's face it - you won't get too many of them in most games. It is therefore important to make those hands count before you find yourself in a situation were you wish you had them. This can be easier said than done. Many 5CD hands are way ahead/way behind situations, and as always in poker (with the partial exception of OFC), it's only the relative strength of your hand that counts, not the absolute strength.

This should be the key, though: Identify value situations, and then go for it, don't just take the cheap showdowns all the time. Sure, I will be wrong some times, and this will results in some painful pots being lost, but I may be running a greater risk by trying to play it safe instead. Identifying those situations should be a skill that can be learned, it's all about experience and knowing the odds - so let's get to it. I have loads of catching up to do in 5CD.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Sure, pot control can be important, but especially in the later stages, I think I really need to make the most out of the good hands I get, because let's face it - you won't get too many of them in most games. It is therefore important to make those hands count before you find yourself in a situation were you wish you had them. This can be easier said than done. Many 5CD hands are way ahead/way behind situations, and as always in poker (with the partial exception of OFC), it's only the relative strength of your hand that counts, not the absolute strength.

This should be the key, though: Identify value situations, and then go for it, don't just take the cheap showdowns all the time. Sure, I will be wrong some times, and this will results in some painful pots being lost, but I may be running a greater risk by trying to play it safe instead. Identifying those situations should be a skill that can be learned, it's all about experience and knowing the odds - so let's get to it. I have loads of catching up to do in 5CD.

I want that on a T-Shirt!