What can you say about a guy named Nate? He loves sexual accomplishments, most notably solo. He loves making ridiculous comments. He loves the friendly penis tap. He also loves going all out when it comes to athletics. He claims to have pinched testes numerous times during high school football. He sets screens that lead to bodies flying out of bounds in the Gus Macker, leading to near ejections. And he sacrifices his body diving for balls playing first base in softball. Which can lead to game saving theatrics...along with bodily harm. Tuesday night saw the kid make an incredible diving catch, and a slick, quick snap throw to double off someone at second for a double play. And then a failed attempt to stand. Followed by a barely successful laying down experience. Hat laying over here, glove laying over there. The euphoria of the amazing play had been replaced by the agony of a body in pain. The whimpering quad had become the screaming quad. Hobbling back to the bench, the adulation of the squad was in stark contrast to the jolting ache of his leg.
Was it worth it?
Sugar 12, Voodoo Misfits 8. For a gamer like him, of course it was....
Next week, when the yelps of "Duuuuude, my quad!" begin, it'll be questionable. But the guy is someone you want on your team, by your side, in your corner, in every alleyway of life. Of that, there is no doubt...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Beautiful Struggle
First hand, $1500 Minnesota State Poker Championships at Canterbury. 15,000 in starting chips, blinds are 50/100. One guy limps in, solid woman raises to 350. And I look down at KK. Bang. I make it 1050. Limper folds, woman hems and haws about it being too early to go crazy and ends up calling.
The flop comes down 9 7 4 with two hearts. Seems pretty safe. She checks, I bet 1200, she makes it 3200. I reluctantly call. Turn is an offsuit 8. She bets 5000 and I'm sick. The first fricking hand and I'm in a mess already. I thought for quite a while... it was just way to unlikely for her to be getting aggressive with something like JJ or 1010. I ended up folding and she was nice and showed me 99. I did a mental back pat and took a breath. The bullet whizzed by my ear, but I dodged it. I still had almost 11,000 in chips. Time to buckle down...
I got my stack back to 15,000 over the next hour or so, bit by bit. The Uh Oh moment of the first hand was behind me and things were starting to click. I had most of the table figured out, unfortunately our table broke and I got moved to a new one. 138 people started, first place was $65k.
In the first level at the new table, I witnessed three pre-flop clashes and each time the underdog came from behind to win. JJ beat KK, 79 beat QQ and AJ beat JJ. It seemed like it was going to be one of those tables.... and maybe that's what motivated me to do something that I very rarely do....
It was the 3rd level, blinds were 100/200, 25 ante. I had won a few small pots, but nothing noteworthy. It got folded to me in the cutoff (one in front of the button) and I made it 600 with K6 offuit, looking to pick up the blinds. The small blind called, and the big blind raised it 1000 more, a total of 1600. It was an oddly sized raise, but still it seems like an easy fold. Something didn't smell right though, and I had one of those "fuck it" moments, and decided to raise 2500 more to 4100. I expected him to call, which he did, now it was just a matter of him missing the flop. It came down 10 9 2 with two diamonds. If he had something like AJ or AQ, which I was guessing, there was just no way he could call a bet. He checked, I fired 4000 and had that feeling coarsing through me that you get in poker when you have a lot of your chips in the middle holding absolutely nothing. Things are beating and racing faster than you are used to, and you're calling on all your sense to play it cool. Fortunatley I didn't have to act too long as he folded fairly quickly. I can count the number of times on one hand that I have 4-bet before the flop as a bluff in my life. I'm very happy that I was able to do it in the second biggest tourney I've ever played is a sign. There are so many times when that play FEELS right, but I just don't have what it takes to pull the trigger. I did that time, and it paid off. I had about 21k in chips at that point and was feeling good.
It didn't last too long though. I got a little too frisky out of the small blind with AJ, check raising a pre flop raiser on a flop of Q55 with two diamonds, shutting down after getting called and having to fold to a bet on the river. I had lost momentum a bit when, with the blinds 200/400/50, the dude I had bluffed with the K6 limped in from early position, everyone folded to me in the small blind and I called with 78. The big blind checked and I got the flop I was looking for when it came 10 8 7. I checked, dude bet 1600, I made it 4000, he moved in and I called for 7000 or so. He had limped in with QQ and trapped himself. The turn and river came K 9 and I was back in business.
Business was good for a while, I won a lot of small pots to get up near 30,000 in chips, which was above the average stack. With the blinds 400/800/100, a cute Asian girl made a big raise to 3800 from early position and it was folded down to me in the big blind with 99. A little history here, the girl was on my left at the first table, and on the first level, with the blinds at 50/100, she had raised to 2300 on one hand, which is beyond questionable any way you slice it. She ended up showing down 99 that hand and beating someone else's AK. So put her on a big hand, but not a huge hand and decided to call 3000 more. The flop came down J32. I checked, she checked behind, and I knew my hand was good. The turn was a 7, I bet 4000 and she deliberated for a while before calling. In my mind, I had my fingers crossed for no A, K or Q on the river. Well, the dealer put the old A of spades out there, I puked and checked, and checked behind and showed down AQ to win the pot. Ugh. She put 7800 in chips in when she had the worst hand and 0 when she had the best hand. Calling on the turn with just Ace high is just really passive poker, but it worked out for her.... ah well.
Sadly for me, I didn't handle that river as well as I should have. The very next hand it was folded around to me in the small blind with 69 offsuit. Instead of just folding and moving on, I called and saw a flop with the big blind of J65 with two diamonds. I bet 1100 and he called. This guy had played maybe one hand since moving to the table a half hour ago. Which gives me no excuse for what happened next. The turn was a 5. I checked, he bet 2000. Ignoring the voices in my head that said fold, I called. The river was a 3rd 5 for a final board of J6555. I checked, he pretty quickly bet 5000, and even though the voices were screaming at me by now to fold, begging and pleading with me, I talked myself into him missing his draw and saw a 5000 chip go into the pot. He turned over 8 5 for quads and I just shook my head disgustedly and mucked my hand. Somehow I managed to lose 8500 in chips with 6 9 offsuit, after losing 7800 in chips the hand before. Yuck.
I was bumming pretty hardcore at the next break soon after, having seen my chip stack go from 29,000 to less than 13,000 in the span of two hands. That's the tough part about the game. You get in a rhythm and build your stack slowly but surely, and it only takes one bad card and one poorly played hand and suddenly you're underwater. The blinds were moving to 600/1200/200 and I had to get busy. I moved in three times, with KQ offsuit, QJ of clubs and AJ offsuit over the level and picked up the pot each time. I couldn't win any pots out of the blinds though and was still toiling around 12,000 when the next level I shipped it in with A9 offsuit and ran into AK. Goodbye.
So I ended up like 55th, which is lame, but I get to tack on another experience in a big tourney, opened up my game a bit and only played two hands really poorly. All in all I can't be too disappointed. I got away from the kings the first hand, going out that way would be a complete disaster. It's been a great year for me playing live so far, I still don't think I'm far away from a big score. Almost time to start playing the WSOP qualifiers for hopefully the 2nd go at it in Vegas this summer. Can't wait for the next one....
Next entry : Sugar softball.
The flop comes down 9 7 4 with two hearts. Seems pretty safe. She checks, I bet 1200, she makes it 3200. I reluctantly call. Turn is an offsuit 8. She bets 5000 and I'm sick. The first fricking hand and I'm in a mess already. I thought for quite a while... it was just way to unlikely for her to be getting aggressive with something like JJ or 1010. I ended up folding and she was nice and showed me 99. I did a mental back pat and took a breath. The bullet whizzed by my ear, but I dodged it. I still had almost 11,000 in chips. Time to buckle down...
I got my stack back to 15,000 over the next hour or so, bit by bit. The Uh Oh moment of the first hand was behind me and things were starting to click. I had most of the table figured out, unfortunately our table broke and I got moved to a new one. 138 people started, first place was $65k.
In the first level at the new table, I witnessed three pre-flop clashes and each time the underdog came from behind to win. JJ beat KK, 79 beat QQ and AJ beat JJ. It seemed like it was going to be one of those tables.... and maybe that's what motivated me to do something that I very rarely do....
It was the 3rd level, blinds were 100/200, 25 ante. I had won a few small pots, but nothing noteworthy. It got folded to me in the cutoff (one in front of the button) and I made it 600 with K6 offuit, looking to pick up the blinds. The small blind called, and the big blind raised it 1000 more, a total of 1600. It was an oddly sized raise, but still it seems like an easy fold. Something didn't smell right though, and I had one of those "fuck it" moments, and decided to raise 2500 more to 4100. I expected him to call, which he did, now it was just a matter of him missing the flop. It came down 10 9 2 with two diamonds. If he had something like AJ or AQ, which I was guessing, there was just no way he could call a bet. He checked, I fired 4000 and had that feeling coarsing through me that you get in poker when you have a lot of your chips in the middle holding absolutely nothing. Things are beating and racing faster than you are used to, and you're calling on all your sense to play it cool. Fortunatley I didn't have to act too long as he folded fairly quickly. I can count the number of times on one hand that I have 4-bet before the flop as a bluff in my life. I'm very happy that I was able to do it in the second biggest tourney I've ever played is a sign. There are so many times when that play FEELS right, but I just don't have what it takes to pull the trigger. I did that time, and it paid off. I had about 21k in chips at that point and was feeling good.
It didn't last too long though. I got a little too frisky out of the small blind with AJ, check raising a pre flop raiser on a flop of Q55 with two diamonds, shutting down after getting called and having to fold to a bet on the river. I had lost momentum a bit when, with the blinds 200/400/50, the dude I had bluffed with the K6 limped in from early position, everyone folded to me in the small blind and I called with 78. The big blind checked and I got the flop I was looking for when it came 10 8 7. I checked, dude bet 1600, I made it 4000, he moved in and I called for 7000 or so. He had limped in with QQ and trapped himself. The turn and river came K 9 and I was back in business.
Business was good for a while, I won a lot of small pots to get up near 30,000 in chips, which was above the average stack. With the blinds 400/800/100, a cute Asian girl made a big raise to 3800 from early position and it was folded down to me in the big blind with 99. A little history here, the girl was on my left at the first table, and on the first level, with the blinds at 50/100, she had raised to 2300 on one hand, which is beyond questionable any way you slice it. She ended up showing down 99 that hand and beating someone else's AK. So put her on a big hand, but not a huge hand and decided to call 3000 more. The flop came down J32. I checked, she checked behind, and I knew my hand was good. The turn was a 7, I bet 4000 and she deliberated for a while before calling. In my mind, I had my fingers crossed for no A, K or Q on the river. Well, the dealer put the old A of spades out there, I puked and checked, and checked behind and showed down AQ to win the pot. Ugh. She put 7800 in chips in when she had the worst hand and 0 when she had the best hand. Calling on the turn with just Ace high is just really passive poker, but it worked out for her.... ah well.
Sadly for me, I didn't handle that river as well as I should have. The very next hand it was folded around to me in the small blind with 69 offsuit. Instead of just folding and moving on, I called and saw a flop with the big blind of J65 with two diamonds. I bet 1100 and he called. This guy had played maybe one hand since moving to the table a half hour ago. Which gives me no excuse for what happened next. The turn was a 5. I checked, he bet 2000. Ignoring the voices in my head that said fold, I called. The river was a 3rd 5 for a final board of J6555. I checked, he pretty quickly bet 5000, and even though the voices were screaming at me by now to fold, begging and pleading with me, I talked myself into him missing his draw and saw a 5000 chip go into the pot. He turned over 8 5 for quads and I just shook my head disgustedly and mucked my hand. Somehow I managed to lose 8500 in chips with 6 9 offsuit, after losing 7800 in chips the hand before. Yuck.
I was bumming pretty hardcore at the next break soon after, having seen my chip stack go from 29,000 to less than 13,000 in the span of two hands. That's the tough part about the game. You get in a rhythm and build your stack slowly but surely, and it only takes one bad card and one poorly played hand and suddenly you're underwater. The blinds were moving to 600/1200/200 and I had to get busy. I moved in three times, with KQ offsuit, QJ of clubs and AJ offsuit over the level and picked up the pot each time. I couldn't win any pots out of the blinds though and was still toiling around 12,000 when the next level I shipped it in with A9 offsuit and ran into AK. Goodbye.
So I ended up like 55th, which is lame, but I get to tack on another experience in a big tourney, opened up my game a bit and only played two hands really poorly. All in all I can't be too disappointed. I got away from the kings the first hand, going out that way would be a complete disaster. It's been a great year for me playing live so far, I still don't think I'm far away from a big score. Almost time to start playing the WSOP qualifiers for hopefully the 2nd go at it in Vegas this summer. Can't wait for the next one....
Next entry : Sugar softball.
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