Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis
I woke up in the middle of choking to death again; though to be accurate, it was towards the end of the process--woke up right away in a white hot panic with black spots of permanent unconsciousness swooping in across both sides of my vision.
Calm yourself, was the first important step. My lungs were soaked, steeped in the things that belonged only in my stomach, and locked up tight. My air passage was blocked and burning with bile and hydrochloric acid. No, I don't have asthma. I have a drinking problem.
Spoiler
Though, now that I think about it, is that inhaler thing any good? Maybe I'll try a hit sometime, just to see.
This was last Friday, just a few hours after I'd quit my office job of twelve years to take a shot at playing poker for a living out West in Nevada. This will not be my first shot at gambling for a living; although I have only tried something like this once before, many years ago.
Around the turn of the century I quit college most of the way through my senior year and I moved out to Las Vegas for 8 years. My experiences were somewhat of interest: rampant drunkenness, a stolen lab animal, solid card counting, North Korean meth, time spent with Mormons, advantage slot grinding, a cowardly pass on an FBI Most Wanted bounty, facing contempt of court charges, and dressing up as Albus Dumbledore. You can find that in my BBV thread.
[U][url]https://forumserver.twoplustwo.c...[/U][/URL] .
That thread held up pretty well in BBV, which is not nothing.
Starting meditative relaxation can be problematic when you're dying from choking on your own puke. I sat up straight, blind from the black splotches that had slapped away the weak light of the kitchen stove. I dropped my shoulders, relaxed my chest and upper arms, and then, projecting calm with all my might, I tried my throat. I pictured my lungs and throat opening up just a tiny passage, for just a little air to go by--something to get me started. And they did, untethering just the smallest little rivulet of air, and it made the most terrifying sound as it went through. It always does.
Whatever you've heard from actors pretending to gasp after being choked, the reality is worse. At least no one was with me this time. When that's been the case, the other person has invariably freaked the **** out when they've heard my gasping and choking routine, which only adds the burden of myself having to reassure them through nodding and non-frantic gestures, so that they won't call 911, as I hate the idea of calling the cops.
April 13th of this year was 14 months without me having a drink. During that long stretch I had honestly forgotten why I'd quit. That's right, I had completely purged from my recall the years of nighttime memories of myself almost choking to death, this happening once or twice every couple of weeks on average. Now, the terrifying night wakeups didn't happen even once during the 14 dry months. But 3 weeks back into drinking--oh yeah--there was that thing, wasn't there?.
Now, there was something else I'd forgotten about. And that's the Double Tap. The Double Tap happens when I don't force my drunk and tired and traumatized self to remain awake for a good two or three hours after a choking incident. If I fall back asleep before then, I wake up choking to death all over again. And sure enough, that happened last Friday, and I had to save myself again.
So on Saturday I jumped back on the waggy, and Cinco de Mayo is now my new anniversary date, and that's really enough about drinking. I'm not here to write about that business. I should have been done with it; and now I am.
My flight leaves for Reno in a few hours, and I'll be out there for the next 3 weeks scouting out the live poker games in the city. If I like it, that's where I'm moving to.
Day off today, and I've decided to start catching up on 30 years of unwatched television, now that I have the tools to do it.
I haven't had cable or satellite or broadcast TV since the early 1990s. At an estimated average of $50 per month not spent, I've saved around $18000...which I spent on booze, mostly.
However, while I've sat unsteadily up on my cheapskate high horse, I've missed—if not The Golden Age, then at least—a golden age of television.
So far I've finished or caught up with three shows
Happy belated new year everyone. That's good value with the gummies, as mentioned before amazing how cheap it has become in the US. That'll glue you to the sofa, unfortunately you will prolly not remember half of it 😀
Anyways here are my picks from the list.
Babylon 5. Timeless classic. Season 5 falls off a little bit, but a must-watch for every Sci-Fi interested person anyways.
Parks & Recreation. It's basically Nick Offerman's brilliant play of the main character that makes it what it is. Mind you there is a lot of episodes I have not seen. But this is not a must watch through anyway, just episode by episode for the funs.
Seinfeld. How can you not have watched that as a Murican?
and ofc Twin Peaks. Same question as before. Season 1 is some of the best at least my sore eyes ever saw on a rectangular screen. Season 2 is a little bit too much David Lynch, if you know what I mean, and everybody admitted that later. But still has brilliance. Season 3 is brilliant in its own right, prolly best to be viewed as a homage to Season 1 +2.
Since that makes four, which is a terrible number and others added suggestions I'll have one, which is (IMO) a completely overlooked and undervalued piece of art.
Flash Forward. Sci-Fi series based on a novel. Was unfortunately cancelled after one season. Most likely because the first couple episodes are more like building up and not that beautiful in their own right, so peeps lost interest. Also maybe a little bit too odd for the mainstream.
Some of the titles in your list I have watched a little bit but didn't find particularly thrilling, but like at least half of them I have not watched either...
Spoiler
Thanks again, guys! Most of these have been added to the list. This should keep me in sweet couch potatohood well into the late 2020s.
I'll need to fund all those hours that I'll be sitting on my ass, soaking up the best of American culture, so it's off to the casino...
I'm working on a couple of leaks related to preflop 3-betting. Firstly, I haven't been doing it enough. My excuse was that $1/$2 players limp mostly, instead of open/raising pre. And they do limp a lot. Some players will only open/raise between 3% and 10% of hands. When that is the case, I should be 3-betting with only my premium hands.
That's what I've been doing. But I was wrong about that; only a minority of $1/$2 players fall into that category. Many more will open/raise around 15% to 25% of hands, and then limp the 10% to 30% of hands below that.
These players allow me to have a wider 3-betting range, assuming that I've done my due diligence, and properly identified the player as being in that second category.
Most $1/$2 players do not play 3-bet pots well, especially out of position. Knowing this, I've been flat calling opens way too much in position and not putting these openers into that 3-bet crucible, while also allowing the pot to go multiway when it shouldn't.
Anyways, I put in a few extra 3-bets today, and I will endeavor to do the same tomorrow.
My second leak is that I've been folding too often to 3-bets, especially in position. This has been based on a faulty assumption that 3-bets from $1/$2 players are mostly QQ+ and AK+. Once again, that's only the case for some $1/$2 players. I need to do my observational work and identify players who have a looser 3-betting range—there are plenty of them—and I need to call their 3-bets more in position.
I actually cold-called a 3-bet on the button today; first time I've done that in a dog's age. That's not something I'm going to do often, but I think it was the right play in that particular spot.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 6 hours
+$98.00
MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
+$137.75
2024 Running Poker Total: 17 hours, +22.00
2024 Running Slot Total: 15 hours, +$924.66
2024 Grand Total: 32 hours, +$946.66
Many more will open/raise around 15% to 25% of hands, and then limp the 10% to 30% of hands below that.
These players allow me to have a wider 3-betting range, assuming that I've done my due diligence, and properly identified the player as being in that second category.
This is a great thing to work on, imo, because it can be used at higher levels when you move up. These players don't completely disappear until much higher levels.
This is a great thing to work on, imo, because it can be used at higher levels when you move up. These players don't completely disappear until much higher levels.
That's right, Amanjyaku. Proper 3-betting is fundamental poker at any level. I'm going to spend some more time getting better at it.
"Pink Horizon? Pink Horizon? Does anyone want a Pink Horizon?"
INGREDIENTS
1 oz Watermelon Reàl
1 oz Finest Call Single Pressed Lemon Juice
1.5 oz Blanco Tequila
0.75 oz Aperol
2 basil leaves
GARNISH
Lime and Tajin rim
"Jack on the rocks? Jack on the rocks? Would anyone like a Jack on the Rocks?"
"Corona. I've got a Corona here for anyone who wants it."
Last year, when I was drinking (in moderation) at the table at MGM Springfield, I would wait for what felt like hours for a cocktail waitress to come around and take my order. Now that I've stopped, they're walking around loudly pushing the free drinks other players have ordered and abandoned.
It happened 3 times during my last session. I don't recall it happening more than once or twice in the last year.
It would be so easy to wave one of the waitresses over and adopt the orphaned drink. I'd practically be doing a good deed, and no one here knows that I'm on the wagon.
Not today, chimerical Judeo/Christian/Islamic avatar of evil. I resisted temptation, three times—the same number of times that Peter denied Jesus, and yet Peter still merited the title of the first Pope for whatever reason.
I would like to make 2024 a dry year. I stand to lose a bunch of weight, save a lot of money, and give my liver an extensive break from its overabundant workload.
I can do this. My main enemy to sobriety, believe it or not, is my love for meta and abstraction. It's a chink in my armor.
What do I mean here by meta and abstraction? It's leveling, basically. As poker players, we understand leveling. If your opponent is only thinking about his hand and not considering his range or the board texture or your range, he is thinking at the first level of poker, and you need only to think one level higher than that to outplay him.
The first level of returning to alcohol is wanting a drink. Simple enough. The second level of returning to alcohol is thinking about wanting a drink. Why do I want one? What can I do to resist? The third level then becomes congratulating oneself for resisting, and reviewing the history of the struggle, however brief it may be by that point, as if it were some sort of clip show. The fourth level is talking about ones thoughts on the struggle with someone else, or perhaps writing about it in a blog. The fifth level, for me, is thinking about what one is going to write in the blog regarding the struggle, which is where I was yesterday. The sixth level is writing about thinking about writing in the blog, which is what I am doing right now. You can see how this can go on.
All this abstracting has the effect of six people shouting at me about drinking in slightly different but equally annoying ways, and the only way to get them all to shut up is to give in and have a drink. In any case, it's not helpful.
I have tried an AA meeting, and it wasn't for me. People get up and talk about their drinking (level 4), and if I were to speak in public, I should like to think about what I wanted to say (level 5), and perhaps write about it in this blog (level 6).
This time around, I've been diverting the navel-gazing into thoughts of the positive effects of quitting: clear mind, good sleeping, diminishing waistline, no more instances of waking up coughing and sputtering from acid reflux, a better poker game, and so forth.
Also, I get to brag about it (level 4, I know) to my friend Will, who was my inveterate drinking buddy for 25 years before he quit a few years back. Will and I are not overtly competitive, but I do admire his long run without the booze, and I would like to emulate it.
Speaking of better poker games: I'm still going down several hundred in the first hour of my sessions. Yesterday, I ragequit after 90 minutes, but I came back to the tables and finished my session after I'd calmed down a bit. That's something I would not have done if I'd been drinking.
I did not claw back any of the money during the rest of the session, but I played well and I got in my hours, which are the two things I need to do more than anything else.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 5 hours
(-$271.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
+$108.73
2024 Running Poker Total: 22 hours, (-$249.00)
2024 Running Slot Total: 17 hours, +$1033.39
2024 Grand Total: 39 hours, +$784.39
"Pink Horizon? Pink Horizon? Does anyone want a Pink Horizon?"
INGREDIENTS
1 oz Watermelon Reàl
1 oz Finest Call Single Pressed Lemon Juice
1.5 oz Blanco Tequila
0.75 oz Aperol
2 basil leaves
GARNISH
Lime and Tajin rim
I know you're trying to shake off your bad habits, but a bit of watermelon sugar makes you feel you are levitating.
While I'm at it...
Good version of Friend of the Devil
Yesterday I stopped by Springfield for a quick slot run and a few hands of poker before heading down to Will's house in Norwich. Will, his wife and I went out for excellent Chinese food at Golden Palace, close to Mohegan Sun. I've never had anything but a good meal from that place.
Later on, I slept on Will's couch for a few hours, then I hit Mohegan Sun for an extensive slot run. Mohegan has a lot of Ultimate X video poker machines, in denominations up to $5. A single 10-handed play on that level runs for $250.
I did not find any really big plays—$50 was the highest—and the machines were somewhat more picked over than they were on my last visit. I ran slightly down for most of the early AM until I hit this...
Spoiler
Not the Big Score, but a nice score nonetheless.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 1 hour
(-$44.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 1 hour
+$32.25
MGM Mohegan Sun Slots: 6 hours
+$1479.00
2024 Running Poker Total: 23 hours, (-$293.00)
2024 Running Slot Total: 24 hours, +$2544.64
2024 Grand Total: 47 hours, +$2251.64
Nice
Who needs poker? 
No live poker Mohegan.
Thanks fidstar 👍
The slots won't last forever, but I've definitely enjoyed getting while the getting's good.
I was at Mohegan from 2AM-8AM. The poker room opens at 9AM, but by then I was tired and had a 90 minute drive ahead of me, so I passed.
I've been playing the advantage slots for more than a year now, and that's likely long enough to acknowledge that the variance seems to be pretty low and the win rate has been generous. However, I still run into losing sessions, and yesterday I had one of them.
Of all the slot games, the one called Treasure Box has given me the most trouble. The game's default negative EV state starts with 6 keys, which then count down to zero as the keys appear gradually and one at a time on the reels. At zero keys, the recurring jackpot triggers. After that payout, the game resets back to 6 keys and the cycle starts over again.
A free slot grinder's website pins the +EV state of Treasure Box at 4 or fewer keys. The other, pay website would not give me the info on Treasure Box unless I tossed in an additional $895 for their premium package, which I declined to do.
I have seen other slot games compared on both sites, and the pay site typically gives more conservative numbers than the free one, so I suspect that the free site +EV numbers might be overly ambitious. I have lost a substantial amount of money playing 4 keys on Treasure box—last year I was just one spin away from punting my $1500 daily cash roll on the machine when I finally hit the last key—and I lost money again yesterday on a 4 key play.
I've mostly broken even or won on the much rarer 3 and 2 key plays on the game, so I'm going to pass on 4 key plays going forward, and hopefully save some money, even though that will substantially cut down on the volume of plays I find on Treasure Box, as the game is heavily monitored and +EV plays are snapped up quickly by other grinders.
On the poker front, I sat down and quickly lost $200 for what seemed like the 10th session in a row. I was able to get back to even this time with the help of a $75 football promo payout, but I've been feeling like a driver who starts every Formula 1 race in the 26th spot. It's hard to win that way.
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 6.5 hours
+$6.00
MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
(-$159.75)
2024 Running Poker Total: 29.5 hours, (-$287.00)
2024 Running Slot Total: 26 hours, +$2384.89
2024 Grand Total: 55.5 hours, +$2097.89
On the poker front, I sat down and quickly lost $200 for what seemed like the 10th session in a row. I was able to get back to even this time with the help of a $75 football promo payout, but I've been feeling like a driver who starts every Formula 1 race in the 26th spot. It's hard to win that way.
This is particularly sucky since there are only 20 cars on a modern F1 grid…
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Suited, as a effin European I couldnt tell how many teams/cars are in the F1 these days either. I stopped watchin it long ago. I know they kinda alterated somewhere between 20 and 26 drivers back in the day. Not sure how Nascar or Murican equivalents are but F1 was always a questionable effort, kinda like boxing, it had some excitement, but lots of shady stuff happening. Usually when Ferrari was behind they changed the rules in the middle of the season and stuff like that, lots. They put on some good shows like the Vegas race or also Singapore and others but more bad than good...
Ha ha, me too.
Good stuff Sheep!
Well memed, Sheep!
I'll be the first to admit that—like Mr. Fire—I haven't kept up with my motorsports. I actually did 15 seconds worth of due diligence on my analogy, and the first search result showed 26 cars. It was on the Internet, so I trusted that information implicitly.
As far as Las Vegas goes, it appears that the locals hated the disruption and the traffic snarls from the F1 race, and I read that the F1 folks gouged every casino that had a good view of the track, threatening to put up obstructions to the view if they didn't pay an outrageous fee.
It's the gamblers who end up paying for those sorts of things with reduced promo payouts, higher room rates, and so forth.
And there are 9 more years left on the F1 contract in Las Vegas.
