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.

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...

WSOP sweat, hello!

yeah, guess we're all going to have to do a virtual sweat Friday night..


Lucko be going deep for a nice five or six-figure cash...

PokerNews or teh twitters will probably be the best way to keep track...

EDIT: damn, that was quick :-(

yes, I still can mook.

almost four tables for the Mookie Wednesday - which was a wonderful turnout, woot!

my night was eh... I get up to 6K by doing nothing all that interesting (save one spot) - then get down to two tables and run..

-TT into AK, don't hold, boo...,
-get flatted in a couple of spots where the flop just is all over villain's range and have to check/fold...,
-and finally shove AQ for 8BB from the button - into a standard UTG openlimp, then tank/minthreeball over my shove with (surprisesurprise) AA to bounce 15 of 35.

actually, the twin highlight of the night was the douche-off between JOELPOKERGOD and VBPro7 at my opening table. While they sniped at each other I got this move in...

Dealer: You have been dealt [Ad Tc]
Dealer: HighOnPoker folds
Dealer: hoyazo folds
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD raises to 150
Dealer: dawnsummers folds
Dealer: VBPro7 folds
Dealer: lightning36 folds
Dealer: heffmike calls 100
Dealer: The flop is [7c 8d 9d]
Dealer: heffmike checks
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD bets 300
Dealer: heffmike has 15 seconds left to act
Dealer: heffmike calls 300
Dealer: The turn is [5d]
Dealer: heffmike checks
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD checks
Dealer: The river is [5h]
Dealer: heffmike bets 600
JOELPOKERGOD: WTF
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD has 15 seconds left to act
JOELPOKERGOD: grr
heffmike: just slow roll it again dude. like you always do
JOELPOKERGOD: i have 10's
Dealer: JOELPOKERGOD folds
Dealer: Uncalled bet of 600 returned to heffmike
Dealer: heffmike mucks
Dealer: heffmike wins the pot (925)

JOELPOKERGOD: thanks for reminding me
heffmike: lol, right
JOELPOKERGOD: im gonna slow roll ur azz any chance i get
JOELPOKERGOD: i did
heffmike: I'm sure you will
JOELPOKERGOD: i had 10-10 guess u bluffed me
heffmike: I guess i did.
JOELPOKERGOD: u think an 9 is good
JOELPOKERGOD: fken amature
heffmike: sir, you have a lot of nerve. but that's ok.

which led to this....

Full Tilt Poker Game #15650103973: The Mookie (113621035), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:36:15 ET - 2009/10/28
Seat 1: VBPro7 (6,724)
Seat 2: lightning36 (3,185)
Seat 4: heffmike (3,790)
Seat 5: HighOnPoker (3,630)
Seat 7: hoyazo (2,775)
Seat 8: JOELPOKERGOD (2,606)
Seat 9: dawnsummers (2,825)
JOELPOKERGOD posts the small blind of 30
dawnsummers posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to heffmike [Jd Ts]
VBPro7 calls 60
lightning36 folds
heffmike folds
HighOnPoker folds
hoyazo folds
JOELPOKERGOD raises to 240
dawnsummers folds
VBPro7 calls 180
*** FLOP *** [Qs 5h 6c]
JOELPOKERGOD bets 420
VBPro7 calls 420
*** TURN *** [Qs 5h 6c] [3h]
JOELPOKERGOD has 15 seconds left to act
JOELPOKERGOD bets 1,946, and is all in
VBPro7: GG JOEL
VBPro7: should i slow roll you
VBPro7 has 15 seconds left to act
VBPro7: you punk
VBPro7 has requested TIME
VBPro7: 66 good?
VBPro7 calls 1,946
JOELPOKERGOD shows [Qh Ad]
VBPro7 shows [6h 6d]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 5h 6c 3h] [2d]
JOELPOKERGOD shows a pair of Queens
VBPro7 shows three of a kind, Sixes
VBPro7 wins the pot (5,272) with three of a kind, Sixes
JOELPOKERGOD stands up
VBPro7 stands up
lightning36 stands up
heffmike stands up
HighOnPoker stands up
hoyazo stands up
dawnsummers stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,272 | Rake 0
Board: [Qs 5h 6c 3h 2d]
Seat 1: VBPro7 showed [6h 6d] and won (5,272) with three of a kind, Sixes
Seat 2: lightning36 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: heffmike didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: HighOnPoker didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: hoyazo (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: JOELPOKERGOD (small blind) showed [Qh Ad] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 9: dawnsummers (big blind) folded before the Flop

The babygirl is amazingly good. She boggles my mind every day.

pop poop pop.

So, what have I learned in the first few days of daddyness?

-It's hard to make a crying baby happy when you aren't the one feeding her.
-You become overly fascinated and analytical about baby shit while changing diapers.
-Geez, they're really small and fragile.

Anyhow, so far so good. She seems A-OK for a newborn - I have no frame of reference, as it's the first baby I've been around, but the wife assures me she's on point.

I have dabbled in occasional PLO8 SnGs when I've got a moment and I'm watching the sleeping baby - just something to keep the mind engaged instead of watching TV or surfing Google Reader or something like that. Nothing of note to report. It's probably smarter to play a low-level cash game if I'm going to donk around, but really, I'm not doing anything that involves a huge chunk of bankroll or mental energy at the moment.

OMG, Ivey mucks a winner! - Big freaking deal. We all botch stuff sometimes. Just because he's great doesn't mean he's can't fuck up. I'm sure he finds it hilarious after the fact.

Perhaps I'll visit the Mookie tonite. We'll see. At least I have my own railbird now, lol.

oh hai there. welcome.

So yeah, that took freaking forever... Water breaks Wednesday, spend all day Thursday trying to make it happen, end up bagging up the chips and coming back for Day 2 on Friday - which again takes most of the day before finally happening around primetime... A little hairy in spots, but otherwise everyone made it out healthy and safe...

And so BabyGirlHeff arrives:

So yeah, it's time.

Jenn's water breaks Wednesday evening. Either she goes into labor like now, or we have to head into the birthing center at oh-dark-thirty Thursday morning and nudge things along.

But, there are more important things!

Does she get to watch Glee? (sure thing, what a deliciously wacky, stupid, entertaining show - although I didn't realize it was evolving into a crazy hookup show...)

Do I get to play the Mookie? (why not? wtf else can I do now? not like I can't just pickup and leave $11 behind if we have to leave on the bubble, lol. - yeah, and usual, I get coolered like crazy - run up a big stack to 14K, then river a nut flush into a runner runner boat, shove 53 into 63 for a chop on a 33x board, call a 7BB shove from the blinds with 55 and lose to 66 on a AKQxx board, finally run QQ into K8, which runner runner straights me to finish in 7th - so much for going out on a high note... bleh)

Am I really ready? (fuck no, but w/e. babygirlheff ain't waiting for me to figure it out. I'll wing just like I do at the tables, I guess - that usually seems to work... :-))

I'm already catching breaks. My mom went to the ER yesterday with a suspected heart attack - luckily it was diagnosed as simply stress-related and she should be fine for the near-term.

So let the run goot continue. Will update with the details when it all plays out...

how I spent my summer pt, 2

When I'm not stacking off with KKxx on a AKTr board in Skillz PLO - because I have the third nutz, I don't care if iaatg has a better hand, I'm sucking out - oh wait, I'm not, oh well....


BabygirlHeff's room before... peeling off the same shitty panelling that was in the basement - ty, previous owners, for gluing and nailing in this horrid stuff....


BabygirlHeff's room after.

I painted the base coat for the walls, but no, I'm not a real artist - friend of the family painted the Winnie the Pooh mural. We can call in favors pretty well here at the Jenn and Heff house.

Oh, and damn straight there's an Eeyore there... Donkeys rule, obv.


No, I couldn't convince anyone to put a table or deck of cards in the mural, that would have been too much....

how I spent my summer pt. 1

basement when we bought the house, with all sort of garishness...


basement with newly mudded/painted walls, new laminate floor, new outlets/switches, no pool table, no Brady Bunch paneling, no carpet.... - just waiting on molding to complete the floor..


Guess I can run a Heff's Contracting Service if I ever get laid off or something...

a whirlwind month

Ok, so in the last month...
-I've gotten married to Jenn,
-flown to Mississippi to be a pallbearer at Jenn's sister's funeral,
-flown to Colorado to see mountains and Jenn's birth father, who she hadn't seen in over 30 years,
-flown to California for a honeymoon to taste many wines with Jenn in Sonoma Valley and see the Pacific Ocean...

Yes, it's as whirlwind as it sounds. I also have a few other major things working in the background, and it's all making me thankful, yet concerned.

It's never easy when someone your age passes on. I didn't know Jenn's sister Emily that well at all - only spent extended time with her once - but it's always tragic to see someone go at a young age, period.

What made it especially poignant for me... because Emily had battled substance abuse problems for many years, a lot of reflection centered around the potential of her youth, and her potential for recovery and rebound in the future - but skirted around the reality of her present day struggles. I kept thinking throughout the service, before, during and after I helped carry her coffin, -  "What will people say when you leave the room?"  - in both the literal and figurative sense.

I want good things to be said about me. Accomplishments noted. Positive influence in others' lives. A strong example to live by. People can remember what I actually did, not what I could have done, not "what if?"

 And so I'm trying to be a better, warmer, bigger person and let go of a lot of the steaming, grumpy Heff while trying to actually accomplish bigger picture things. In short, I want to lead a better life.

Which is only sort of working. After a wonderful honeymoon where I felt relaxed and mellow, and I think Jenn and I really gained a deeper understanding of each other - it only took me being back home 24 hours to become the grump again. I think we both have been under a lot of emotional stress, strain and extremes - and me, I get easily irritated and annoyed when poked with a stick, so to speak.

 I can't stand unfulfilled potential, goals and tasks not being accomplished because of a lack of effort, not ability - and I'm letting it drive me completely nuts. I'm just so frustrated over so many things, even though we're in a very wonderful spot overall. Family worries me - mine, hers, ours. I worry about Jenn, and hope she's dealing with this well, and that I'm actually being helpful. Arrgh. This too shall pass.......

Anyhow, in poker news, I'm keeping track of the WSOP Main Event with some interest after my inglorious six-hour run last year... A deep Scotty Nguyen run would be the most entertaining thing to happen, although it would mean all the donks would start blabbering in bad pidgin-asian speak for months... - I think I will try to seriously grow the bankroll, or at least try to satellite into a FTOPS or WCOOP event again next month.... I swear, the more I play recently, the more I wonder if anyone really knows what they are doing - I'm playing more limit, more HORSE and O/8, and I see horrible, horrible plays every table I sit down at and wonder where the money is still coming from for these donks to keep playing - probably from me, they are the smart ones and I actually am the dumb, sucking donkey, but who knows.

The older and supposedly wiser I get, the dumber I really think I am.
But I will keep trying - both in life - and in cards - to be better.
(AIPS, Mookie, all this week, maybe?)

Heff

Fourth of July, Cortez, Colorado

a pit stop on the way to Napa/Sonoma.... yeah, point and shoots don't do fireworks well..

love and marriage

"Today was a good day" - Ice Cube......

I'm a sap. It's good to marry the one you love.

Returning home...

Back in Virginia now - rest of the trip was fine - although my last couple of cash game sessions at the Mirage and Venetian were unmitigated disasters. Jenn ran well, naturally, while I was taking a bath. When you keep running two pair into a bigger rivered two pair, or sets into straights, bad things will happen.

Picasso at the Bellagio was very choice Monday... Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie were eating there at the same time in a group, so I took a brief moment to tell them how good their series of Hold 'Em books are - always good to give people feedback. 

Delmonico at the Venetian also an excellent restaurant for those dining in Vegas - we had excellent meals at both places. Never did get a chance to play at the Bellagio (room just too packed with overflow from WSOP players) so at least that's something to save for a future trip. 

Anyhow, back to real life for me - blog updates will be infrequent from here on out, unless I actually do something interesting from a poker standpoint. and I guess I'll need to get one of these photos, since Jenn never got into the Amazon Room to shoot a picture of me...

   

Later - Heff

Sunday around Vegas....

So, besides getting the jersey signed Sunday (below), we did do the touristy things - drive to see Hoover Dam...



then over for the scenic drive in Red Rock Canyon....



and driving Go-Karts like silly people here (forgot to take photo, oops)
http://www.lvmgp.com/

So it was a pretty much a non-poker day. The desolation of the desert around Vegas, rocks and dust replacing grass, the amazing topography compared to the flat woodlands of the East Coast, the enginnering and technology necessary to even create a bearable city to live in amidst 100 degree heat every day - it's all incredible stuff.

Ok, poker content does follow. Skip if you're sick of it.

***********

After everything Sunday I did pull a late night session at the Mirage (first time there, can't say I liked it much) and the Venetian (which I'm rapidly starting to like as a room) where I bounced between -300 and +200 throughout the session only to end in the red again... :-(   Too many people spiking two pair after the flop when you're an 80% favorite to win will kill any positive momentum.

I really wasn't feeling up to playing. I'm still annoyed and disappointed over my showing in the Main Event. I was playing well until the AK vs. QQ hand - and then my game just went in the toilet. I should have been able to hunker down with over 30 BB, hang on until the dinner break, and then take the 90 minute break to refocus and get back to playing my normal game. Instead I made a moderate problem worse and busted myself out of the event like a rank, inexperienced amateur.... oh wait, that is who I am, I forgot.

I continued to play badly last night, and then I finally got out of the funk and started hitting my game. I'm still annoyed, but just over results. I played well last night, only made a few small mistakes, and was happy with my decision making for the first time in a while. I can take that. I'm still down for the trip, which sucks. But, I needed to get back to the tables and remind myself I'm not a horrible player, I was just playing horribly. There is a slight but important difference.

But, as Jenn says, it has been a wonderful experience. She's encouraging me to tryand satellite in next year, at least for a smaller, preliminary event, if not the Main Event again. We'll see. I need to get better.

Relatively speaking, in 2005 I tried a couple of times to get in the WSOP and never came remotely close.

In 2006 I'm a much better player, have grown the bankroll, won a few online tournaments, and just missed a seat in April before winning it last month. 

So the growth curve is promising, and if I learn from this trip, 2007 should be a better year.

***********

Alright, done now. Come on back.

To close the trip, it's dinner at Picasso at the Bellagio Monday night - maybe a session at their poker room, although I feel like I've got a black cloud over my head right now, so I may skip that.  Tuesday will be Delmonico at the Venetian before the redeye flight back to Virginia arriving Wednesday morning, and it's back to real life.

It's been a wonderful ride, sorry I couldn't do a little more with it. :-)

Back with closing thoughts when I get back to VA in a couple of days - Heff

                                

Jenn and Daniel

yep, she got the jersey signed Sunday. Negreanu is the anti-Phil Hellmuth.

Red Rock Canyon, Sunday

Heff

hey, someone had a good Saturday.

   While your hero was busy playing like a complete mope in the Main Event, Jenn was tearing things up in the Poker Expo next door. She...

    - played battleship poker at the Pokerstars booth  (playing someone heads up on a laptop back to back, just like Battleship the game) and beat someone, then drew for a prize and won a video iPod.

    - sat in a free turbo sit-and-go at Full Contact Poker's booth, where I found her after I donked out, and won heads up when her QTo beat AJ all in preflop with a TTxQx board, and picked up a Daniel Negreanu hockey jersey - which she will try to get autographed Sunday during the dinner break - the guys at FCP said he would be there while playing day 1C, and I'm sure we can get a woman winner a little special dispensation to ensure she gets an autograph. I made sure I took the obligatory winner's photo....



Anyhow - Sunday will involve a day trip outside Vegas and a lot of non-poker content until the evening, when we get the jersey signed. There may be go-karts involved later. Maybe we will play. We scheduled the return flight to NoVa on the Tuesday redeye, landing at Dulles early Wednesday morning, so we will try to enjoy the rest of our stay here.

Later - still bummed, but getting better - Heff