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.
Damn, BullyEyelash! That's a steal at $140. I would pay 3x that if I knew about the signature. Well played.
Finally dragged a pot.
$1100+, three way all in.
Straight flush. Medium pot +$300 high hand bonus. Easy game.
Couple nice ones, go!
the gay looks terrifying 😀
nice pot, i know those chips well, we've possibly played against each other
if you played with anyone wearing a blazer before that was probably me
Thanks golddog! I left ahead of the incoming snowstorm, +$1020 for the day.
nice pot, i know those chips well, we've possibly played against each other
if you played with anyone wearing a blazer before that was probably me
The blazer with no tie is as good as the Hawaiian shirt in terms of cover for the professional gambler. Text me when you're back on this side of the country and we'll do a meetup game.
Spoiler
but throws an epic party.
Realized I forgot to ask for details on the two big ones. Any good stories, or just big hands v big hands?
Realized I forgot to ask for details on the two big ones. Any good stories, or just big hands v big hands?
One hour into the session. I've been card dead and my image is lockdown OMC nit, especially after the dealer exposed my A6o that I open mucked on the BTN. Even in position I don't like crappy Axo, but I also don't want the table to know that.
I pick up K♣T♣ UTG, which is the bottom of my range in that spot, but I think I might be able to steal a pot with my nitcake image. Instead, I get 3 calls from MP, HJ, and BTN.
Pot ($43) - 4 ways. Stacks $370 effective.
Flop A♥Q♣J♣
Gin! Royal flush pays $500 plus a $300 high hand bonus. I bet $20. MP raises to $50, HJ folds, BTN calls. I call.
Sure, there's a case for me to 3-bet here, but I believe that I'm going to chase at least one player out with that. I block all the best draws because I have all the best draws, along with the nuts. If I wait and check/shove the turn instead, I might have both of them pot-committed when I put the hammer down. And how many set combos are out there? AA and QQ are most likely being 3-bet preflop. JJ could be either flatted or 3-bet. I have the big set combos, which should be scary to the other players; another reason for me not to 3-bet.
Pot ($193) - 3 ways
Turn 8♦
I check. MP bets $110, BTN calls. I shove for $320 effective. MP calls, BTN calls.
Pot ($1140) - 3 ways, all-in effective
Once the action is finished, I beg the dealer to not pair the board. River is harmless to me: 7♥ or something.
MP shows A♦Q♥ for flopped two pair. BTN shows A♠J♦ for flopped two pair. I think they both put me on AK lol.
Second hand:
EP limps. MP limps. I raise to $15 with 6♥4♥ from the BTN trying again to take advantage of my tight image. EP calls, MP folds.
Pot ($33) - heads up. Stacks $235 effective
Flop: 3♥7♥9♠
Bad flop for my range; good flop for my hand. Decent flop for EP's limp/call range. EP checks, I bet $15. EP calls.
Pot ($63) - heads up
Turn: 5♥
Gin! Straight ass flush. EP donks $25. I don't think that this is particularly strong. If he has a flush, why not donk bigger, or checkraise? I think he wants to see where he's at, and I don't want him to know that, and if he has A♥Xo, I want him to get there on the river. I call.
Pot ($113) - heads up
River: T♠
EP bets $50. I raise to $150, thinking that a shove would be an overplay, whereas this would leave him with a few chips if really has something to make a crying call with, which I doubt. In retrospect, I might have considered minclicking to $100, though that looks awfully strong as well, when done on the river. Villain folds, I show my high hand and collect an additional $300 for it from the promo.
I'm very happy to see you booking a big win. Keep it up!
One hour into the session. I've been card dead and my image is lockdown OMC nit, especially after the dealer exposed my A6o that I open mucked on the BTN. Even in position I don't like crappy Axo, but I also don't want the table to know that.
I pick up K♣T♣ UTG, which is the bottom of my range in that spot, but I think I might be able to steal a pot with my nitcake image. Instead, I get 3 calls from MP, HJ, and BTN.
Pot ($43) - 4 ways. Stacks $370 effective.
Flop A♥Q♣J♣
Gin! Royal flush pays $500 plus a
I think you really need to 3bet that flop. If someone raises you here in a 4-way pot, they are very rarely bluffing. So blow up that pot before the turn kills your action and they check behind with two pair, JJ or A♣5♣ or something.
The A♣ would have been nice, though.
Thanks BullyEyelash! It was a needed boost. To clarify: the straight flush hand yielded a medium/large pot, and the broadway hand yielded a very large pot.
I'm very happy to see you booking a big win. Keep it up!
I think you really need to 3bet that flop. If someone raises you here in a 4-way pot, they are very rarely bluffing. So blow up that pot before the turn kills your action and they check behind with two pair, JJ or A♣5♣ or something.
The A♣ would have been nice, though.
Thanks Sheep!
I don't hate the 3-bet on the flop. i think it's the standard play. I deviated from it for the reasons given and it worked out, but I can't be results oriented.
It's wild that the case ace would have given both Villains a boat and me a royal.
My sleep cycle is in tatters again: two hours here, three hours there, all throughout the day and night. I'm unable to sleep for more than 3 hours at a stretch. I bought melatonin again, but it stopped working fairly quickly.
The solution probably lies in getting out of my apartment during the day—as l did yesterday—and doing things, so I'm not napping.
Today's plan for wakefulness is a slot run at MGM, then a visit to my parents' to watch the Super Bowl, as they have no couch and a slightly uncomfortable chair that I can't fall asleep in, although I'll have to dissuade my mom from insisting that I take her chair.
Mom had me bring a comfy chair from the living room, and we briefly reenacted the Friends couch moving episode.
Pivot!
I'm going to have to move the chair back after the game. Another reason to be glad I'm not drinking.
Damn. After that halftime show I find that I'm not a Kendrick Lamar fan.
To each their own.
The backing music is basic dogshite, and it sounds like he's rapping around a half dozen marbles in his mouth.
The one time I've played live NLHE cash (I'm a mixed games guy) in the past 10 years, I flopped the same straight flush with the same hole cards. Good for $777 high hand bonus at Seminole Hard Rock in FL at the time.
The one time I've played live NLHE cash (I'm a mixed games guy) in the past 10 years, I flopped the same straight flush with the same hole cards. Good for $777 high hand bonus at Seminole Hard Rock in FL at the time.
That's a good payout! On Valentine's Day, MGM Springfield will pay $1000 for any heart straight flush, but I won't be holding my breath. Any straight flush is hard to make in hold 'em. My last one before this was around a year ago.
The Lamar show has drawn a hard political line amongst the extremely online crowd. I would like to be allowed to resonate or not resonate with someone's art without having to declare any political intentions, but that's apparently too much to ask.
In the interest of not hosting a shitshow, I'm going to move on. Next hand.
Someone's 3 month Alcoholics Anonymous coin on an Ultimate X machine. Monday morning after the Super Bowl.
Yesterday I put in a 6 hour poker session and broke even, and I also worked the slots for 4 hours and made a hundo.
The encouraging thing is that I put in a 10 hour day for the first time in recent memory. Then I went home, exhausted from my battle with my unhinged sleep cycle, and I fell asleep at 8pm. I couldn't help it. Now it's 2AM and I'm up.
While I'm up, I'm going to put on HBO's Rome series from 20 years ago. I'm almost finished with it. I would recommend it to any Roman history fans. It gives an excellent treatment of the death of the Republic from Julius Caesar to Octavian/Augustus, loosely following Shakespeare's Julius Caesar format, but with many more details than the old play.
The series is not devoted to being historically accurate—it's meant to be entertaining, and it succeeds—but it gets most of the battles and intrigues and double crosses correct, and it gives a realistic and fascinating portrayal of Roman and Alexandrian life around that time.
