Category: WWdN in Exile

Jason Kirk, a blogger with whom I sometimes play cards, wrote an introspective post where he mused,

"I get distracted by what I’ve somehow come to think I ought to be instead of who I already am. I let others’ ideas, and ideas fed to me by a part of myself that’s
dedicated to being counter-productive, get in my way. When I do that I
lose focus of what’s important in my life."

That struck a chord with me, because I could have written those words myself around the time I wrote the blogs that became Just a Geek. I’ve grown a lot since those days, and I’m happier and more secure than I’ve ever been (not counting a time when I was too immature to know better.) Why is it, do you think, that it feels like a luxury to get to this place, rather than a natural and inevitable part of this life?

Friday night, Anne was on the phone with one of her friends, and I heard her say, ". . . my husband."

I love that. I love it that I’m her husband, and I love it that tomorrow, I will celebrate six years of being married to my best friend in the whole universe.

Man, I’m really having a great time in the WWdN Friday tourneys at PokerStars. The average field is about 120 players, and each week we’ve seen some fantastic play, some lucky play, some donkey play, and even some plays that haven’t come from me. 🙂

The Donegal Invitational this week was the best one, yet, and I’m not just saying that because I finished 14th out of 127 players.

Okay, maybe I am. But the point is, it was a lot of fun, and my friend Alan (aka metsfan, aka penner42) from geekandproud.net beat out the blogfather himself to win the whole damn thing.

One of the best hands for me happened early on, when I got a pair of queens. I was the first player to act on the hand, so I made a raise that would discourage drawing hands, but encourage people with strong over cards (like ace-king, ace-jack, etc) or weaker pairs (like nines or tens) call me. A hand like queens is pretty strong before the flop, but it’s a very vulnerable hand if you’ve got to play it against a bunch of opponents, and it’s pretty much dead to aces or kings (duh).

A player who was in middle position called, and the button (the player who is the nominal dealer, and who can act last on every hand after the flop) also called. The flop was queen-something-ten. BINGO! This is a BEAUTIFUL flop for me, because there were no straights or flushes possible, and I would almost certainly get action from players with ace-queen, ace-ten, or a pair of tens. In fact, I was really hoping for someone to have a pair of tens, because I’d have a better set and almost certainly take all their chips.

I was the first player to act, and with a strong hand like this, I’d normally check. But I made what Dan Harrington calls a continuation bet which says, "Okay, I had a stong hand before the flop, and I still like it." This is a great bluffing tool for times when I raise with a pair of fives, get a caller, and an ace hits the flop. If I make a continuation bet, it’s very likely that a weaker ace (like ace-six, for example) or a pair better than mine (like jacks) will fold to my bet. I knew that I’d have to show this hand, and I wanted to set up for later that my continuation bets were real. Note that it would also be perfectly appropriate to check and raise with this hand, which would also announce to the table that you’re not afraid to check a strong hand, and possibly buy you free cards later on when you need them; it’s sort of up to player’s individual style, and the texture of the other players’ styles to make the best choice.

So I made my continuation bet of about 1/2 the pot. The first caller immediately raised me for half of his stack, and the button folded. I thought for a second about how to get all his chips: would it be best to just call, and put him all-in on the turn, or would it be better to force him to decide to play for all his chips now? Again, with an eye toward my image for later in the tournament, when I may have to put my chips at risk without the best hand, I decided to make him play for all his chips. I pushed all-in and he immediately called with a pair of tens. Ding!

Note that this hand illustrates the element of luck in poker: jsmitty399, who had the tens, was entirely correct to call my raise, and must have felt great when he made his set. If I were him, I would have gone broke on that hand, too, because from his perspective, pocket queens is "monsters under the bed." If he hadn’t made his set, he probably would have gotten away from the hand on my continuation bet. I don’t know what the button had, but my guess is small suited connectors (like 67 or 89) or a suited ace that missed the flop, and I doubt I would have gotten action from that hand either. Also, I could just as easily have had AQ and been way behind. Hell, if I had aces or kings I would have been way behind. So jsmitty399 got very unlucky at the same time I got very lucky. That doesn’t make us very good or very bad poker players . . . it just makes us poker players.

Here’s how I reported the action in my live blog:

I got queens UTG, so I raised it, got calls from LP and the button. The
flop came Q-x-T, I made a continuation bet, and LP raised me for half
his stack. I came back all-in, and he called me with TT. The button
folded, and I busted jsmitty399 with set-over-set. I’ve got 3525 now,
and I’m third in chips!

I applied lessons learned from  Harrington on Hold’Em (volumes one and two), Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky and Malmuth, and Winning Low Limit Hold’Em by Lee Jones in that hand. If you’re interested in improving your game, I suggest checking them out.

And, as always, I hope to see lots of WWdN:iX readers in future Friday games!

"Death is that state where one lives only in the memory of others,
which is why it is not an end. No goodbyes–just good memories."
    – Tasha Yar

I knew it was coming, but that didn’t blunt the sadness I felt when I learned yesterday that Michael Piller died. I didn’t know Michael very well — a consequence of my age when we worked together, and one of the very few lingering regrets I have about Star Trek — but I had (and have) tremendous respect for him, and I believe that he is more responsible than anyone else for Next Generation transforming itself into the amazing show it became in season four.

I last saw Michael at a Star Trek convention in Pasadena a couple of years ago. He was there to talk about Dead Zone, and I was there to read from my upcoming book, Dancing Barefoot. I had just finished watching the fourth season of TNG on DVD.

I felt the usual Prove To Everyone shame, but I walked over to him anyway. We spoke for a bit, and I finally said what I needed to say.

"I never understood how important you were to the show," I said, "until I watched it change under your leadership."

A group of kids dressed in Buffy costumes sped down the hallway, swarmed around us, and ran into the main hall, where one of their idols was about to speak.

"So I wanted to say ‘thank you’ now, because before, I was — well, I just didn’t know how."

He smiled and took my hand. "Thank you, Wil," he said.

"Good luck with Dead Zone," I said. "I hear it’s going to be fantastic."

He drew a deep breath. "We’ll see . . ." he said.

And that was it. We chatted for another minute or so, and went our separate ways.

I hardly knew Michael, but everyone who did loved him. As far as I can tell, he was
one of the very few genuinely good people who worked in the industry.

Goodbye, Michael, and thank you.

And now, your weekly reminder about the WWdN Friday game at PokerStars, which PokerGeek has dubbed "The biggest homegame in the world":

What: WWdN: Donegal Invitational
Where: PokerStars.
When: Friday, November 4th. 7:00 PM EST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 14391236
Buy-in: $10+1

It’s hard to find a starting time that can accomodate everyone who wants to play, but the 7:00 PM tourney a couple of weeks ago drew the largest field, so I’m trying that time again this week. I know that it’s not the best start time for West coasters, but if I set the start time much later than that, it blows it for almost all of the people East of us. In an effort to accomodate as many people as possible, I’m going to add a game for us on Thursdays, which I’ll call the WWdN West Coast Warm-up, unless someone can come up with a better name. It will run as long as there are people interested.

For more poker blogger shennanigans, I also endorse Saturdays With Dr. Pauly:

What: Saturdays with Dr. Pauly
Where: Poker Stars
When: Saturday November 5th at 1pm EST
Tournament Info: #14338880 (check under Private Tournament Tab)
Password: hiltons

Eligibility: Anyone with a Poker Stars account
Attire: Pants optional

Pauy’s tourney has some really cool bounties and bustout gifts, so if you’re going to play, check out the details at Tao of Poker.

If you play a lot of online poker against total strangers, the social element of the game is largely lost. That’s a real shame, because when I play with friends, I always have a good time, win or lose. That’s the goal of the WWdN tourneys, and I’m sure Dr. Pauly would agree. Check out last week’s live blog to get a sense of what I’m talking about:

6:39 PM – The tournament is shocked into silence as we learn that the blogfather has busted. GG, Iggy.

6:44 PM – I finally got to checkraise! w00t!

6:45 PM –
I’m sweating PokerGeek’s table, and — no shit — they had THE HAMMER
the same time we had THE HAMMER on my table. I think that’s a goocher.

7:13 PM – Bouncin’ around the room: Ferris and Riley were
playing really rough in the hallway behind me, with the barking and the
running around and the wrestling . . . I guess it was too much for
Ferris, because she just walked into the room and flopped down at my
feet. Her little dog head is resting on my foot now 🙂

8:05 PM – Spaceman
just made another set with pocket rockets, and busted penneriii.
Spaceman has 18100 now, and lept over patrickjst to take second place.
GRobman is still the man with 25089.

Penner42 said: three sets in one orbit? Must be nice.
Spaceman said: I’ll take what I can get, Alan 🙂
EVDevil03, who is clinging to life with 4785, dryly observed: I just want to get out of this table alive.

See? The biggest homegame in the world. 🙂

If anyone has suggestions or comments about the WWdN games, I would love to hear them. See you  tomorrow!