Subterranean By Design...
---Hold em and the Super Bowl---
2004-02-01 - 11:16 p.m.
Well I woke up this Sunday with ambitions to get a little bit of work done and watching the Super Bowl. It turned out that I was taking my shower for the day after 6PM. Read on...
With Lia home for the weekend, I found myself with a boatload of spare time. Friday night, after seeing Michael Moore (comment thread still active), I decided to finally scratch the itch and play a little poker online. I deposited 80 bucks into an account at Party Poker and played a couple of tournaments. I lost the first couple, but on Saturday I won one and finished second in another. On Sunday I thought that I'd try my luck at another (6 bucks to play in the tournament, 25 dollar top prize, 9 opponents). Well I ventured into the "multi-table" section of the site, and notice that there is a six dollar tournament about to start with roughly 1300 people in it. Thinking that it would be fun, and lured by the $1300 top prize, I entered and began what was a long, grueling, and profitable endeavor.
It was funny...after a couple of hands I checked the stat page and about four people had already been eliminated from the tournament (it was no limit). So I played the normal conservative style and tried to stay alive. The top 80 finishers would win at least 10 bucks (net 4). Well the number remaining dwindled until it was under 1000. I was pleased. Then I got it down undy five hundy and I started to feel decent about my chances. I got a call from my brother, who was on his way home from Wilmington, and we talked about what was going on and I gave him the play by play on some of my hands.
More and more people dropped out of the tournament. 400, 300, 200, they were dropping like flies. By the time it got down to 90 I had a pretty comfortable stack in front of me and I was confident I would finish in the money. It got annoying, as people who had little left were pulling stall tactics to try and get into the top 80. 80, 70, 60... lots of calls from the brother. He got back home. He spent an hour at the bar. He went to his buddy's house to watch me ride things out. Well eventually I made it into the top ten, where the minimun prize was 106 dollars. All this from a six dollar entry fee! But I had been playing for roughly five and a half hours, and Lia had come over to watch the Super Bowl. She wasn't extremely pleased to see me playing poker online, but I assured her that this would not be a huge habit. I hope, myself, that I don't become a freak about all this.
It all ended for me when I had queen jack on the blind. The flop came A,Q,10, and I checked to the other guy. He bet and I called. On the turn came a 4, and he bet huge. Well I raised all in and he had pocket fours. An ace on the river and his full boat beat my two pair (only a king for the straight would have saved me). But the prize was roughly $340 for fifth place, and I was ready to be done so I could shower and get to watching the Super Bowl. I cashed out my account, up $325 from what I cashed in Friday night.
The tournament had a lot of high points. It was especially fun talking about it with Brian when I would go all in. On one brilliant move, I checked ace king after a king had flopped, only to have me raised all in. I called, and the sucker with king nine was toast. What a great move! Also, I had a couple of stroked of luck. With pocket 8's, I was raised all in by a guy with a significantly lower stack, and he had two pair on the turn. The river brought my third 8 and I escaped elimination. It was really exciting being at the final table. One lesson I did learn: Your girlfriend does not enjoy watching you play poker. I can't say I blame her. It's sort of like soccer; fun to play but boring as hell to watch (unless it's world cup / world series of poker).
Super Bowl happened for us at Gary's. It was a good crowd; Kevin, Gary, Nate, Mike, Andy, Lia, Mary, and Megan. Great game that was down to the wire, but the end seemed strangely familiar. History of where I watched Super Bowls (as far as I can remember)...
This year: Gary's
Last Year: Grillo's in Grand Haven.
Pats/Rams: The Beat in Hillsdale
Ravens/Giants: Highlands in Hillsdale with Ciofani and Pete "Creepy Pete" Geromel.
Rams/Titans: Galloway dorm with Ciofani, Scott Hill, and others (maybe Boddu was there?).
Broncos/Falcons: Benzing dorm in Hillsdale with Claus, Daggett, and a bunch of chicks (terrible place to watch the Super Bowl).
Packers/Broncos, Packers/Patriots, Steelers/Cowboys: My house. Being the son of the principal, the Super Bowl party was the best thing I could do as far as hosting a party was concerned.
49ers/Chargers: My house, and then the Knights of Columbus with my dad.
Bills/Cowboys: ??? for both.
Bills/Redskins: I remember watching the end of this game with my brother in his bedroom. We dragged the TV into his room from down the hall and watched it with the light off, in case our parents came home (can't remember where they were). I guess we were supposed to be sleeping.
Bills/Giants: Mim's house (grandma O'Toole). I remember the wide right kick, but not as much as my roommate, Andy, who is a Buffalo native.
49ers/Bengals: I remember remnants of this game from Nether and Gramps' house (Ribeckys).
Lia and I were discussing whether the Super Bowl was overdone or whether it was cool. I've decided that even though I don't get as pumped for it now as I used to, I think it's cool because it's this huge national event. The Super Bowl is almost as big an event as, say, the 4th of July. I believe that.
Song Currently on WinAmp: "More Today than Yesterday" by Spiral Staircase. Somebody covered this song on The Waterboy. The original is better, but the cover wasn't so bad. This song makes me feel really good inside, the same way that Petula Clark's "My Love" does. It amazes me how many people have very limited oldies knowledge. There is a lot of good stuff from the sixties and earlier. Thanks dad!
Two Steps Forward - Two Steps Back
