Ireland - baabaabaabaa

A pause traveling between Dingle and Kenmare - now that I remembered something.

We drive out to Brandon Point. Tiny, tiny road for like 10 miles. Small town with three buildings, two pubs and a breakwater/boat launch area three miles from the point.


Even tinier road past that leading to the point, right on the Atlantic. We see sheep all up and down the mountainside - because obviously no horse or cattle can get up and down the terrain.

We get there - windy and breathtaking. Jenn takes photos, I walk around with BabyGirlHeff in one of those Hangover-style Baby Bjorns. We're about done, and Jenn says something about wanting to see a flock of sheep being driven down the middle of the road while we're in country.

And sure enough, on cue, as we get ready to leave - there's a flock of sheep changing pastures, coming up the road.



There's video of this that's just priceless...

witty and roto FB...

Well, decided to jump into BamBam's tournament while waiting on my roto draft and try my luck - and that was kind of ghey. Only two hands worth looking at...

eight-handed at 20/40, I've got the starting 1500 stack.
veryjosie openlimps UTG+1, Yor66 calls, I raise to 275 from the button with AKo, all fold around, Yor66 jams 700 total, I snapcall.

Yor66 managed to call down in position with AJ on a KJx flop vs. Lightning36 and lose 1/3rd of his stack, then dribbled the rest down in three orbits, so I wasn't giving him much credit - I actually overraised to induce a jam. Sure enough, he shoves KQo, but there's the three-outer Queen on the flop.

Not the best endorsement for Pokerwit, natch.

So three hands later, I open UTG+2 for 120 with 44 and a 800-chip stack, veryjosie jams 1250 from the button - and I would normally snap fold, but hey, I have a roto draft in 20 minutes, it's a blogger tourney, maybe she's light (riiiight!) - so I tank call pretty light myself, see AQs (probably the bottom of her jamming range) and lose the flip to finish 29/31.

So yeah, I guess that's better than finishing second after 2-3 hours of play, if you look on the bright side.

In draft news I'm in the same league I was in last year - where I finished second loser, 9/10.

I'm horribly bad at roto football - while I can pretty much guarantee a podium finish in roto baseball no matter how I draft, I can't build a football team to save my life, and I have an irrational hate/fear of every running back in the NFL. Every year I don't really prep at all and immediately puke looking at my squad as soon as the draft is over - fifth pick in a twelve-team league, by the way.

Andre Johnson
Miles Austin
Matt Schaub
Jonathan Stewart
Vernon Davis
Jerome Harrison
Marion Barber
Thomas Jones
Derrick Mason
Terrell Owens
Legegu Naanee
Kyle Orton
Tashard Choice
Dallas D/ST
Rob Bironas

Hello second division. You can build a strong roto baseball team out of B-level talent and waiver pickups over a six-month season, but not a football team... :-(

Play Spewday and the VeryJosie this week - I have a very special sheep post coming soon.

Ireland, County Clare and Dingle

enough silly stuff about Ireland for now. Where did we actually go?

Cliffs of Moher/ The Burren - this was the first day after our missed connection, so I was sosotired and sleep deprived I barely remember it after landing in Shannon - but it was notable that 1) it was clear and sunny on the cliffs and 2) the wild landscape was such a headtrip - you hear about different countries and their unique topography, but to actually see it was another matter all together. Dopey Colgan Air cost us a night staying in County Claire over in Doolin...

Cliffs of Moher

The Burren

Dingle Peninsula - we made our way down, over the ferry from Killimer to Tarbert, and through Tralee to the B&B we were staying at for a couple of days. Freaking awesome view of the Atlantic Ocean from here

Yeah, ocean's just close enough to touch, great elevation.

The mountains are so close, looking back from the beach here.

After sleeping like nine billion hours, we traveled around, over to Brandon Point for a closeup view of the ocean.

Brandon Point from afar and closeup...

and then through Conor Pass to get to Dingle.

barely 3000ft. up, but yeah, that's a small road.

and then around the Dingle Peninsula

pretty much as far west as you can get and still be in Ireland..

and back to Dingle for a meal and some traditional music to wind up the day.

Dingle's a nice little town, just touristy enough without being annoying.

The next day, we took another pass across the peninsula through to Inch Beach

This road really wasn't on a map. "just turn left at the corner and go... lol"

before heading off the Dingle Peninsula to Killarney, Kenmare, and the Iveragh Peninsula.

We started the trip off on a high point. Jenn and I both enjoyed the trip around the Dingle Peninsula: it was our favorite area of Ireland, and we really could have used an extra day there. Just a nice, scenic, relaxed region - we joked if our jobs allowed it and we still got paid, we'd pick up and move in a heartbeat.

More to come...

well, xerox time

So it's the second time I've been heads up in this AIPS series in 2010 and lost. Pfft.


So instead of getting my fourth banana, I let someone else get their third. Getting crowded on top of the leaderboards...

A pretty loaded final table with PokerGeekMN and edwardm111. I must be really off my game, because while I'm usually comfortable shorthanded and make some decent reads, they just pwned me far too often in small pots - and I ended up playing dopey longball to change things up. (lot of jamming preflop/on flop)

I let edward setmine for a 1/4 of his stack preflop with 77 and double through me to piss away half of a pretty substantial stack during the final table, and I never got the momentum back. Got to heads up down 4-1 in chips and actually grinded back up to just down 2-1 until I got QT in vs. QJ on a QJ8 flop.

At least I actually didn't bust myself in hour one for once... More Ireland stuff coming soon.

poker time, the more things change...

Ok, so I decide to play a $44 PLO8 tourney, finish 2/40 for +$300 or so. Scandis run so good, he took out everyone starting five-handed - and being down 4-1 in chips, I'll take second and deal with it.

I also play the 32k... take some beats, make it to the bubble with an average stack... then have some noob donk who's -30%ROI on MTTs with like one cash over $200 hose me badly here... Nice play all the way around sir, you call off on the flop ahead of T9 and nothing else.

Freaking three outers (yeah, I know his pair outs are good, but most of the time, they're not, let's be honest.)

Full Tilt Poker Game #23418575248: $32,000 Guarantee (180806926), Table 95 - 800/1600 Ante 200 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:42:21 ET - 2010/08/27
Seat 1: WASSUPBRA (32,547)
Seat 2: mmmooi (40,031), is sitting out
Seat 3: Mycology (73,110)
Seat 4: heffmike (37,143)
Seat 5: Sergeth (33,258)
Seat 6: Edcjy (43,467)
Seat 7: billapop (120,021)
Seat 8: constanzo (36,850)
Seat 9: berserker46 (27,453)
WASSUPBRA antes 200
mmmooi antes 200
Mycology antes 200
heffmike antes 200
Sergeth antes 200
Edcjy antes 200
billapop antes 200
constanzo antes 200
berserker46 antes 200
Edcjy posts the small blind of 800
billapop posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heffmike [6d 6h]
constanzo folds
berserker46 folds
WASSUPBRA folds
mmmooi folds
Mycology folds
heffmike raises to 6,225
Sergeth folds
Edcjy calls 5,425
billapop folds
*** FLOP *** [Js 8d 3c]
Edcjy bets 3,200
heffmike raises to 30,718, and is all in
Edcjy calls 27,518
heffmike shows [6d 6h]
Edcjy shows [Th Qh]
*** TURN *** [Js 8d 3c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Js 8d 3c 9c] [4h]
heffmike shows a pair of Sixes
Edcjy shows a straight, Queen high
Edcjy wins the pot (77,286) with a straight, Queen high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 77,286 | Rake 0
Board: [Js 8d 3c 9c 4h]
Seat 1: WASSUPBRA folded before the Flop
Seat 2: mmmooi folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Mycology folded before the Flop
Seat 4: heffmike showed [6d 6h] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 5: Sergeth (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Edcjy (small blind) showed [Th Qh] and won (77,286) with a straight, Queen high
Seat 7: billapop (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: constanzo folded before the Flop
Seat 9: berserker46 folded before the Flop

Ireland - the beer report....

Ok, so what's the most obvious, cliched bit about the Irish?

actual sign in Dun Laoghaire prohibiting drinking in public. Nice hat.

That they're drunk all the time. Well, with baby in tow, we didn't exactly go out and get sloshed at night - our drinking was more of the stop and have a pint 2 or 3 different places during the day while driving around. So, I did very little whiskey drinking and more beer drinking.

Guinness - yeah, it's the gold standard over there. To be honest, I didn't taste that much of a difference over a proper draft poured in the states - Sure it's better, but it's not ambrosia compared to our swill. What is different is that everyone pours it properly, with the right temperature, head, and time to pour - almost two minutes - no one half-asses the pint, it's good every time.

We did the tourist tour of the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin - which is tucked way in the middle of a huge, sketchy industrial area in the middle of the city - and to be honest, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Sure, there's a lot of BS about Arthur Guinness being a paragon, genius, and savior of the Irish, instead of just a big-time brewer - but there's a lot of historical bits and nuggets in the tour, and the Gravity Bar, where you get your comped pint and a 360 view of the city, is worth the stop all by itself.

SE view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar at Guinness Storehouse.

One thing I was able to taste there was a couple of bottles of Foreign Extra Stout, which isn't distributed in the U.S. 7.5% ABV and very tasty, much different than the standard draft. I only brought one bottle back, though... :-(

Beamish -
Pretty good actually, a nice option for a stout if you're tired of getting Guinness all the time. While I've had Guinness and Murphy's, I haven't bothered to notice Beamish before. I'm sure beer aficionados can split the difference between the two, but in reality, they both are dry stouts with similar characteristics. Since it's brewed in Cork, Ireland's second-largest city, I'm sure this is a regional preference as much as anything else.

Murphy's - decidedly different stout from Guinness and Beamish. lighter, less head, supposedly sweeter.. and I really didn't care for it in comparison with the other stouts.

In the non-stout category...

Smithwick's - Since Jenn isn't a big fan of stouts - she likes Harp, but it wasn't on tap in everwhere we stopped - she ended up having this ale more often than not. Solid, very similar to our pale ales. We were in Kilkenny and wanted to do a tour of the original brewery, since it's on an old Franciscan Abbey site - but they weren't open before we had to leave.. :-(

Of course, by now everything's owned by a multinational conglomerate - Diageo, Heineken, whatever - speaking of which...

Budwieser Ice Cold - LOLOLOL. This was advertised all over the place in Dublin, on buses, and in bars. Gee, what is it? As near as I can tell, standard Budweiser at 1 C, poured out of special taps to keep it ice cold. Gotta love marketing.

Not a Bud Ice Cold.

To come, all sorts of driving fun. and a look at where we actually went in Ireland...

Ireland - traveling with babygirlheff

was a lot smoother than I thought it would be.

Beehive huts on the Dingle Peninsula.

She's a really social baby who loves everybody - everywhere we went she just smiled at everyone and made friends galore. The only time she really got ornery was when we took her along on a guided tour of anything - that was her cue to use her voice and try to talk to the OPW guides.

Of course, it was nice when she snoozed in the car too.


In other news, finally hit the tables for the first time in a couple of weeks tonight. My usual play-bad, go oh-fer in SnGs with a couple of bubbles - then I get most of it back in 50NL Rush before I play this hand and realize I'm off my game.

I open two kings UTG+1 to $1.50 with $101 behind.
UTG+2 with $80 behind repops to $5.50.
Hijack jams for $35.

I tank fold like a bitch because usually one of these muppets has aces here and I didn't feel like playing a 375BB pot by the time all the stacks went in.

UTG+2 calls with QQ, Hijack's AQo (WTF?) does not get there, board runs clean for KK.

Yeah, I still suck.

return to the states...

(just an iPhone photo for now, appetizer for more pix soon...)

Hey, so we're back now. Traveling across oceans can be such a slog.

Ireland was teh nutz, though.

By popular demand (ok, just @jjok on Twitter) I'll probably put up a few posts/pix from the trip over the next few days to break up the inevitable "I play bad and still make minimal mobney away" posts I pollute this blog with.

It only took the wife a few minutes in Newark airport to wish she was back there. I can't say I blame her.

BBT redux.

interrupting the Ireland trip for this post and my comment below... I'm sure I'm late to the thread, but it really motivated me for some reason - back to my Guinness/Jameson travels now..

http://hammerplayer.blogspot.com/2010/08/bbt-can-it-be.html

Typical passive aggressive BS from Hoy, even when he has a legitimate point.

Because you never call a spade a spade and really say what you mean, you lump jjok in with NYRambler and Adam27x. Wonderful. Nice backpedal once everyone pointed out his wife's surgery.

How about just spelling out who you think is selling weak sauce instead of making people guess and create a huge comment thread. If I remember right, only jjok won a ToC seat via an Invitational: Rambler and Adam won theirs in the open cash tourneys. So who are you really disappointed with?

Why did people bitch about the invitational format so much? Because there were a lot of players that had regularly played BBT events that were snubbed, and some people that had basically checked out of blogger events that got in, and that didn't seem fair or equitable.

Tournament poker is about everyone starting square and getting a fair shot at the win, not a popularity contest to get that shot to begin with.

The main problem is this - FTP can't make you play for pay or put any prerequisites on the payout - like they did when I won an ME seat in '06 and was bought in directly - all they can do it credit an account 10K and hope you use it at the Rio.

Whether you made it an Invitational or a cash series wouldn't alter the chances of someone just taking the $T - because there's nothing FTP can do about it outside of just not giving away the prizes, period.

Oh, and Loretta wins the thread with actual valid points - as in, have an average blogger, instead of a serious amateur/pro, try to move 10K from FTP to Vegas in a month with no extra spending money - not just the actual withdrawal, but the tax implications and logistical issues. No surprise that the 10K gets pocketed more than not.

You don't think FTP realizes all of this and accepts it as an risk/cost of doing business and marketing? Please.

Finally...

Yeah, it's actually nice here. Time change is tough.

uh, yeah, this isn't very green...

my morning view



So, uh, yeah, screw Colgan Air and codesharing. At least they didn't kill us, merely had a dippy mechanical delay from DC that caused a missed connection and an overnight stay in Edison, NJ's finest Holiday Inn.

Which is like 30 minutes from Newark. Off the Jersey Turnpike. Arriving at midnight midweek with nothing open and nothing to drink or eat but Papa John's pizza.

So that's a winner. At least 1) we got $120 in food/drink comps with nowhere to use them and 2) we're flying on Biz First Class tickets, so we can kill time at the airport today in the bunnyfoofoo lounge until we catch the next flight 24 hours later.

I imagine I will be quite tipsy by the time we board.

off the grid

and in Ireland for a few days. Will have a Guinness or Jameson while I'm there...

spewday, or why my top pair sucks.

So, in the uberSPEWDAY turbo, I double early with AK v JJ, then crying call NYRambler's 5BB jam with A7 in the big blind and lose to AT, then some tourney donk/backer clown :-) rejams 66 over my QTs open shove on the button and flops a 6. Nice to be busted by Timex. Dunzo way quick, 26/40.

In the main, I got some chips early, then ran into an interesting hand.

Full Tilt Poker Game #22814097617: Tuesday Spewday (174876304), Table 3 - 25/50 Ante 5 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:37:51 ET - 2010/08/03
Seat 1: dackjaniels2001 (4,408)
Seat 2: twoblackaces (6,374)
Seat 3: Laff2er (2,560), is sitting out
Seat 4: AugB10 (2,723)
Seat 5: PinkyStinky (4,112)
Seat 6: heffmike (3,884)
Seat 9: Foaming_Homer (2,939)
dackjaniels2001 antes 5
twoblackaces antes 5
Laff2er antes 5
AugB10 antes 5
PinkyStinky antes 5
heffmike antes 5
Foaming_Homer antes 5
heffmike posts the small blind of 25
Foaming_Homer posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heffmike [Td Kd]
dackjaniels2001 folds
twoblackaces folds
Laff2er folds
AugB10 raises to 150
PinkyStinky folds
heffmike raises to 450 (light resteal, I suck)
Foaming_Homer folds
AugB10 has 15 seconds left to act
AugB10 calls 300 (boo)
*** FLOP *** [8s Th 7s]
heffmike has 15 seconds left to act (well, I actually have something now, probably ahead, may as well commit myself)
heffmike bets 900
AugB10 has 15 seconds left to act
AugB10 raises to 2,268, and is all in
heffmike: I play so bad. (true like always)
heffmike calls 1,368
AugB10 shows [Jc Ac]
heffmike shows [Td Kd]
*** TURN *** [8s Th 7s] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [8s Th 7s Ah] [4c]
AugB10 shows a pair of Aces
heffmike shows a pair of Tens
AugB10 wins the pot (5,521) with a pair of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,521 | Rake 0
Board: [8s Th 7s Ah 4c]
Seat 1: dackjaniels2001 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: twoblackaces folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Laff2er folded before the Flop
Seat 4: AugB10 showed [Jc Ac] and won (5,521) with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: PinkyStinky (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: heffmike (small blind) showed [Td Kd] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 9: Foaming_Homer (big blind) folded before the Flop

By the numbers, I'm a 60/40 fav, so it's not atrocious - but I thought I might have walked into a set or overpair there - hell, even a big draw (QsJs) has me pretty hosed - regardless, I still have to stack off with practically my entire range anyway getting 3-1...

...and because of that, I'm not sure jamming AJ no spade is all that good a play, even with overs and a gutter, b/c you have like no fold equity and even my crying call hands are still ahead. Thoughts?

Anyhow, turn was an ace, I SPEW, and from there I never really get anything going again, I donk KTo again into AQ and spike to double up right before the first break, but then I finally I call a cutoff minraise in the BB with 76o getting like nine zillion to one, and check/jam a six-high flop for like 10BB - and get snapped off by K6o. Done 23/36.

It's a great tournament, though. The CardRunners guys play a different MTT game, and adjusting is a fun experience. Oh, and I see the hostess binked a cash, so good times there for LJ..

So after that clownishness, I just fired up another 90-man SnG and took it down for $600. No chop this time, yay me. At least I'm paying for Ireland a little bit at a time.

quick hitter...

* play spewday tonite..

* also play the once-monthly Very Josie tomorrow...

* he didn't post about it, just Twittered about it - but I did a supersecret silent rail of NYRambler as he binked second in a $5 rebuy for about 5K. That was fun, except for me dusting off $100 screwing around at Badugi while watching him...

* which is par for the course on Stars. I can't get anything going there. I run goot on Tilt to make up for it (chopped a 90man for $500 over the weekend) but I wish I had the time for a large field MTT, like an FTOPS or even the nightly $55s, to hit something big...

* which I won't do until I get back from Ireland around the 20th. So going off the online grid by this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some time and money when I get back to play a few tourneys or visit this live card rooms near me, Delaware Park and Charles Town.