Seems you need a drink...

BTW, at risk of Cougar calling me ignorant again, I always thought that softball was the female version of baseball. Can you clarify this for me?

in a way, yes it is but most towns don't offer recreational baseball leagues so they have softball leagues so that more people can play and do well. It is played with a softball (for those of you that don't know, its much bigger than a baseball so easier to hit, harder to hit really far) Its played with a lob pitch rule where the ball has to go at least 6 feet off the ground but no more than 12 feet i believe. They put a pad behind the plate so if the ball lands on the plate or a pad, its a strike. If the pitch misses or its too high or too low, its a ball. the count starts with 1 strike, 1 ball, and 1 foul ball where hitting more than 2 foul balls when you have 2 strikes is considered an out.

Also, teams are played with the minimum 8 players or with the maximum 10. Therefore, you can play with an extra defensive man which normally means a 4th outfielder. So while its easier to actually hit the ball, its a bit harder to get a hit with the extra person out there. Still, people normally bat well and hit around .500. Games are high scoring with a mercy rule of 12 runs after the 5th inning.

Its pretty much a fun league that you can take competitively but don't have to. And its more fun if its easier to hit the ball and such so I guess that's why they use a softball and lob pitching.

Brian? Did you go on holiday??

nah, just haven't been in the mood to post much which includes updates to this journal. I've been lurking still.

i'm grinding out a living again, starting from scratch.

i hate b2b. that is all.

Things have been a bit rough on the poker front. I thought I had b2b figured out but then i lose half a stack to a guy chasing a gutshot and then it causes me to tilt away almost another stack with a low wrap and flush draw against a bet and a raiser, causing me to get all in against a bigger wrap and flush draw and top set. I almost sucked out but I was so pissed, i actually threw stuff around and hit things and such which I never did before.

I decide I need to take a break from poker. Unfortunately, I have nothing to do so I decide to play doyle's low pot limit omaha since i can't lose too much there and they suck. They end up having a plo50 table going and I make a stupid bluff into a guy that rivers quads to lose 50 which I should have saved. I decide I need to stop so i play to my blinds but on a plo20 table i win an 4 way all in (double stack against one) and make it all back and end it even. Fine, I take that and stop. But I still need to take a day off so that was today.

I had the problem that there was a NLHE tourney at my friends house last night I said I would go to. I took the afternoon to calm down and decide I'll play that and i'll take a break. It was a really good structure for people that know what they are doing too. First round is 2 hours, 25/50 blinds and 5k in starting chips. Next 3 rounds, the blinds don't increase much but are still 1 hour long. Also, rebuys are allowed until the end of the 2nd round (2 max), or 3 hours. Its 20 buy in and rebuys and pretty much completely top heavy. 4th-2nd place got 10, 20 and 60 and first got 170. I figure i do well and if not, not cost me much.

Here's a report

I had decided that knowing the types of players i would face, to try to limp with some speculative hands since I could win a lot off these guys. 9 total players.

First hand, I get 89s in mp and almost everyone limps. I flop top pair on blank board and bet pot when checked to me. One caller. turn is blank, i pot bet, he folds, good start.

I go card dead for a while but because of the blinds, I still have more than my starting stack. Many passive players and semi calling stations. I get a few pp and limp/call raises and miss all sets and get nothing. During this time, I actually saw one guy call a pot bet on the river with 8 high, busted flush draw because he didn't think the other person had anything. Called with 8 high?! I didn't get anything out of this guy and he rebought once too.

Then came the hand that almost ended my tourney. I have about 6k and i'm in mp. I call a small raise with blinds 50/100 with ATo from a guy UTG whos been buying a lot of pots and doesn't have strong hands. I'm not sure I have the best hand but with position, I'll see a flop. Flop comes . I have . Pot is about 600. He bets 200. He doesn't have much but if i raise, it looks so suspicious right now so I just call. Turn is a . he bets 200 again. I raise to 600, which is maybe on the small side but I wanted to make it look like i was trying to milk him with the flush. He pines and thinks and calls reluctantly. He's not acting, he has shit. River is putting a four card straight on the board too. he checks to me. pot is 2400. I bet 1200. He thinks and calls and asks if i have the flush or straight and flips up pocket 4's for rivered trips. He called with all that with 4th pair and gutshot to river trips and still call a bet on that dangerous board. I was pissed. A bit on me but still, his play pissed me off.

This brought up my tilt from before and I get AJ on the very next hand, raise preflop and everyone folds. Luckily because if anyone called, I was on the brink of overplaying it completely.

I go card dead for 20 minutes so I get to calm down. I get K9s in bb. I see a flop 4 ways to see KT2 with 2 of my suit. I check, the same guy from before bets the pot, folds to me, i push for 3k total. He calls with K2s that he limped in mp with. Turn is a J picking up more outs. River is a T splitting the pot.

My stack is 4500 and I get AJ again in mp and raise to 500 (50/100). Same guy from other hands in bb calls. Flop is T97 2 clubs. He checks, I bet 500, he insta check raises me min. I don't think he has much and is testing the waters. He does this often with many hands and I don't think he has more than a pair or the oesd. I push for 3k more. He thinks and eventually calls with A8. Turn and river blank and I hold up with my jack high. This hand obviously in debate and who knows if its part tilt or revenge against this guy but I didn't think he had much and if he did, i felt I had a decent amount of outs, possibly 10 (3 A's, 3 J's, 4 8's). It was still in the rebuy period too so I coud rebuy. I'm a healthy stack again at about 9k.

I have T8s in bb and buttom min raises when folded to him. He's tricky but a good tourney player with a big stack. We know each other well. He's a bit unpredictable and could be doing that raise with anything. Flop is AJ7, 2 to my suit. I check, he bets pot, i call. turn is my flush. I check, he checks. He knows to respect me enough that i didn't want to lose him. River is a blank and i bet a little more than the pot. He calls with AA for top set. I could have made more by betting the turn but unless he has AA or AJ, he folds a lone Ace that he would pay off on the river if i check.

I get AQ utg and raise to 700 (100/200) and folds to the bb who has me covered. He reraises to 2k. I know he has a pocket pair and likely not AA-QQ. I have played with for a bit and I put him on 88-JJ or AK. However, I get a lot of respect from him at times so I decide its time to make a move. I push. He doesn't look happy. I know i'm in a coinflip at worse now. He figures out how much he has left if he calls which is about 2500. He calls. He has 99 and I flop and ace and now i'm second in chips.

Next UTG, I get AKo and raise to 700 again. Folds to SBwho is the AA guy. a bit laggy but can be scary good or too tricky for his own good. He calls. BB who is the 99 guy pushes for 1100 more. I call. SB calls. He knows how this works and we check it down unimproved. They both have AQ and I win a nice 3 way pot with AK unimproved. Wow. I'm now close to chip lead.

We get down to 5 handed and 2 shorties that are card dead and trying to make the money. I punish them by raising most playable hands and winning a decent amount of blinds from them. I get QQ and raise one of their raises and he folds. I get KK and raise another one of his raises, he goes all in and I call. He has AQ and we end up splitting with a board straight.

Me and the other big stack are staying out of each others way. The normal decent stack is a weak passive player (WPP)and if he's betting, he's got it and we fold, if not, he checks. easy. We are waiting for the shorties. One short loses with top pair turned against the weak passive players 2 pair that he flopped from bb. we are in the money although first is all that matters. I steal blinds for a bit more and the other shortie gets AT against the big stacks AA and we are down to 3.

The next 90 min is funny. We blinded the WPP out by me limping in from the sb when he's the bb and i check to him. if he checks behind, i bet the turn, he folds. Or i raise preflop and he just folds. Occasionally i raise on the button, the big stack calls in the bb and he's hitting better than me and wins many of these pots. However, i'm winning so much chips from the WPP that i'm still growing my stack even losing these pots. The big stack is growing his stack taking chips from me. Eventually I knock out the shortie with A8 vs his KT all in preflop.

Heads up, he's got a 3:2 chip lead. blinds are 300/600. Nothing really happens for about 40 min (30 min rounds now) as we basically trade blinds back and forth. Blinds are 400/800 and I get KT on button and raise to 2500. He calls. Flop is 55T. He checks, i bet 4k. He raises to 12k (65k on table total). I push. He checks his hand, gets angry and folds saying he misread his hand thinking he had K5. He had K6 and I have chip lead. If he had a 5, he was gonna win the hand as I was going with it.

He regains a small chip lead and blinds are 500/1000. Hes been raising a bunch of my limps so I limp with AQ. He raise to 4k. I push. He calls with QQ. Fuck. Flop comes K78, 2 clubs. Turn is Jc, I have Qc and so i have14 outs to win. River is a club and I win and he had about 6k left. I have almost 60k. I get terrible hands and he's up to 9 k. Eventually he pushes all in with K7 and I call with K9 and board of 66468 and I win with my 9 kicker. I win the tourney and break even for the day. hehe. Also, my friend takes a picture of the winner and puts it on his wall like binions.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a day. I never tilt and in one day, I tilt or nearly tilt 3 times and I break even. I should be up about 400 on the day but breaking even when tilting that much is a relief.

Not bad for a guy that doesn't play holdem anymore. I could have played better but considering I won and only got myself into one real coinflip and got lucky with AQ against QQ heads up, which i don't think anyone would have gotten away from, I didn't get my money in really badthrough the whole tourney. Even the 44 hand, i would have won except for his two outer on the river as i know i could have gotten him to fold. The AJ hand is debatable and maybe it was some tilt. I'm happy otherwise and a good friend of mine got second so we got almost all the money.