The Bat Cave

I’m not sure where I’m going to play tonight. My initial plan was just to head straight to Fortune and be in a game by 4 PM, but a) I was behind schedule and b) Palace had ten on the list for 15/30 as I started heading north on I-5.

I’m currently at Palace playing 4/8, but I’m going to take off and head to Fortune if the 15 game hasn’t started by the time I’m done writing my blog opener.

As I mentioned previously, I did not plan to play poker Monday through Wednesday but something strange happened on Tuesday. My plan was to watch three movies at the theater, starting with Teen Titans Go! To The Movies at 11:30 AM. I’ll post my thoughts on the film in the future, but what happened after the movie was kind of alarming.

Before I stood up to leave, I started to feel dizzy. That didn’t seem too abnormal, but it lingered and when I tried walking out of the theater, the sensation stayed with me and I felt like my body wanted to topple over.

I sat in the theater lobby for several minutes waiting for things to clear up and they just didn’t. Okay. I wasn’t watching anymore movies and I was starting to feel concerned. I googled ‘vertigo’ and started reading up on what I thought I might be experiencing.

I didn’t feel comfortable driving – even across the street to Palace – so I walked to the casino where I could at least be in view of people that knew. I informed one of the dealer’s about what was going on and then I did something stupid and helped them start an 8/16 game.

It fizzled quickly and soon I was playing 6-handed poker while experiencing a new, disturbing physical sensation.

It went well. I played fine, but I was getting good starters in a short game and I won zero pots. After 49 minutes, I lost every hand I played and was -$365. Uh. What the hell am I doing? I didn’t plan to play poker and I was just killing time, so I picked up and felt like I was okay to drive home.

I did feel a bit nauseous, so I ended up taking a nap for a few hours and everything has been fine since then. But still, pretty weird and slightly concerning. Vertigo? Dehydration? Heat exhaustion? I don’t know. I can’t say I’m super worried just yet, but if it happens again I will definitely go see a doctor.

Anyways, my various medical ailments aside, I thought it was worth mentioning my brutal mini-session.

That makes me -$963 over my last 2.5 hours of 8/16. I’m guessing that has to be up there with the worst consecutive 2.5 hours of 8/16 I’ve ever had.

Some other interesting notes before I publish:

-Jose Ramirez, of the Cleveland Indians, is tied for the AL lead in homeruns and stolen bases. He’s looking like a virtual lock for a 40/40 season, something that hasn’t happened outside of The Steroid Era.

-Felix Hernandez is pitching for his tournament life tonight and it’s not a secret. He knows it. Jerry DiPoto knows it. We know it. What a shit ton of pressure for someone that has really struggled this year.

I feel for Felix. The fans are turning on him like he didn’t carry the franchise basically on his own for the past decade. He’s struggling bad and it sucks and something has to be done in the midst of a playoff race, but let’s not forget what The King has meant to our team.

-Speaking of playoff races, we bought flight tickets to New York City for the AL Wild Card Game. It’s a bold move: the Mariners are now tied with the Athletics for the second Wild Card spot and the schedule is about to get brutal: 20 of the next 29 are against the Astros, A’s, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers, all postseason caliber squads. But I have faith and I refuse to miss it if we make it.

Let’s go, M’s!

5:21 PM: Welp. I’ve given 15/30 an hour to start (40 more minutes than I planned to) and it doesn’t look close. The names are there but they are all playing 8/16 and no one seems particularly concerned with starting it. I’m out.

And there is NFL on TV. My God. It’s early August. There are 11 teams in the playoff picture in the National League.

Stop the madness.

5:40 PM: Ugh. Every part of my being doesn’t want to have to drive to Renton to play poker but I need to get in some red chip games. Officially driving to Fortune… I’ll be back in action in ~45 minutes.

6:37 PM: Back in action, sitting in 8/16 @ Fortune. I am fifth up for 20/40. I did kind of want to play 1/3 NL as my warmup, especially after spotting The Riddler in a game, but this 8/16 is short and looks promising. I’ll stay here for now.

I went +$60 in my one hour of 4/8 @ Palace and was the recipient of what felt like a record amount of passive criticism from my white chip table mates:

“He’s raising A7 offsuit?”

“Three bets with KJ offsuit?”

I did have one cool hand where I 3-bet a dude that was raising way too many hands (hence 3-betting KJ) with AJo and triple barreled for value with ace high. He called me with A3 high and I looked at Blackjack, sitting at the table, and said, “not a bluff.”

6:48 PM: Time to talk about the elephant in the room: things have not gone well for me at Fortune in 2018. I have played seven “sessions” and I have booked a win exactly zero times. I’m -$5256 overall during those plays. That’s a “win rate” of -$260/hour!

To be fair, it’s only 20 hours total. That amounts to about two full sessions. I am -$4361 in the 11 hours of 20/40 I’ve played here this year. So I’ve undeniably been smacked around the last two times I’ve sat in that game.

So yeah, definitely looking to turn that around tonight. And if not, at least show the fortitude to power through and play the number of hours I plan to. FanBoy says it is criminal to leave before 3 AM and also claims the 20/40 games have been off the chain lately.

So that’s my plan. Play my best until I’m ready to go home around 3 AM.

6:59 PM: The Joker is at the Mariners-Blue Jays game tonight and if you’re not familiar with this seemingly non-rivalry I can assure you that there is nothing more annoying, as a Mariners die hard, than watching the Blue Jays play at Safeco Field. I don’t know if they all come from Canada or if they already live in the Seattle area, but Jays fans come out in droves for games in Seattle. It is no exaggeration to say that they outnumber Mariners fans like 5 to 1.

It’s embarrassing. It’s disgusting. It’s absolutely true.

Two or three years ago, it prompted Felix Hernandez to yell, “this is my house!” after shutting the Jays down.

Anyways, Joker is aware of this issue and is well prepared for the situation. Here’s a look at the sign he prepared for tonight’s game:

7:25 PM: Strange hand during my 8/16 warmup: under the gun limps, I raise KQ of spades, some others call.

It’s like six of us to K42 with two clubs and one diamond. I bet and only the button and utg limper call.

Turn is the 9 of diamonds. I bet and they both call again.

River pairs the deuce and brings in the diamonds and now utg donks. Pretty comical. I’m presumably only losing to suited A2 hands and 4x hands that went running diamonds – the king on the flop was a diamond.. I call and the button overcalls. Okay…

…under the gun tables 32 offsuit, so we quietly thank the gods he exists, and then the button tables Q8 of diamonds. Wow. This game might be okay.

7:46 PM: Chatter at my table, re: Felix Hernandez:

“Goddamn Felix.”

“They should just cut him or DFA him.”

“Coughed up the lead already.”

“I just don’t get it. Why do they keep marching him out there?”

So annoying.

First off, Seager had a double play ball there.

Secondly, why is he throwing 0-2 pitches over the middle?! Goddammit!

7:58 PM: Meanwhile, over at Cheney Stadium:

July 31st was The Man’s birthday and a bunch of Palace folk headed to the Tacoma Rainiers game tonight to celebrate. I did receive an invite to this shindig but while being a professional poker does allow me to take whatever days off I want, I do have to make money at some point in time and well, the last few months have been rough. I basically already took five of the last six days off, so an impromptu trip to a minor league baseball game on a Thursday night seemed like bad time management.

Anyways, that’s Radio Mike and The Man in the play-by-play booth at Cheney pretending to be on the air. I know they aren’t because I have begged Mike to let me get on there with my overwhelmingly extensive baseball knowledge and he won’t budge. I’ve taught him everything he knows about poker, so you’d think it’s the least he could do. Alas, I guess I have to win a bracelet before that happens. Shoot, I had to make a WSOP final table before the guy even gave me a follow on Twitter!

8:29 PM: Starting a third 20/40 game now. Solid warmup: +$541 in just under two hours of 8/16.

As predicted, Joker makes the Root Sports broadcast:

8:49 PM: Good start to 20/40… I guess. Someone opens, I 3-bet 99, button cold calls.

Flop is JTT and I decide to check and overcall.

Turn is a queen, button bets, other guy folds and it seems silly to fold when picking up extra equity, but this spot is pretty gross. I call.

River is an 8. This board smacks his range pretty hard so it’s not super unlikely I’m beat here but I do think I have to lead here. I bet and he calls with… AA.

9:47 PM: Had about an hour of being card dead, occasional 3-bet of a late position open and losing. Then button opens, SB 3s, and I cap with 99.

Flop is 976 with two spades. SB donks, I raise, he raises, I cap. Button is still in there calling.

Turn is ace of clubs; I bet, they call.

River is the 3 of spades. Pretty gross. I’m pretty sure small blind is made so just have to fade the button here. I bet, button calls, SB folds QQ and I’m good.

Very next hand, it’s 3-bets to me and I have KK in the small blind. I cap. It’s three of us to the flop. Big blind calls the cap but the original opener makes a weird fold.

JT3 with two clubs on flop. I bet, BB calls, button raises, I call, and BB folds (another wtf moment). It’s pretty standard to 3-bet and keep my finger on the trigger here but I know the button knows my small blind capping range is nutted, so I just call down and he shows me AA.

10:00 PM: The Riddler comes up to my table when we are 5-handed and (audible to the whole table) asks: “how’s your game?”

How the hell am I supposed to answer that question? Just such a silly thing to ask when everyone can hear the conversation.

10:09 PM: New music tonight: Travis Scott, Mac Miller, H.E.R., YG, and Iggy Azalea… in that order of interest. Travis Scott is really next level, by far the best of the non-rapper/mumble rapper crowd.

Moved to one of the main games. Lots of history with basically everyone here. FanBoy and FanGirl both in it, a Palace reg… only one player I don’t recognize.

10:16 PM: FanBoy switches tables with one of the biggest nits at Fortune.

And on the day I buy my ticket to NYC for the Wild Card Game, the Mariners drop out of the second Wild Card spot for the first time since… May?

10:53 PM: Flipper is in the building. The Joker is in the building. Hopefully his presence doesn’t have the same affect on me as it did on the Mariners. FanBoy is out of the building.

10:59 PM: Joker’s stupid face already causing problems for me. I open AJ, only FanGirl defends her big blind and then check-calls me down on JJ5KT with AQ.

Wtf.

And then AA vs 66 heads up on T867T.

Dude’s not even in my game yet.

11:12 PM: Standard private exchange between Joker and Batman:

Right after I post that screenshot, I open AK from cutoff, the nit 3s from SB and I call.

Flop is K53. I put one raise in and she snap-raises. I call down and she shows me AA!

Comical!

12:03 AM: Poker just hates me. One limper, I raise AQ, BB defends, limper 3s, I call.

Flop is Q73. He bets, I raise, he calls.

Turn 6, he check-raises. So gross. I call down. He has KK.

12:28 AM: Pretty amazing. Joker opens button, I 3 with TT, he calls.

Flop is A73 with two hearts. I bet-call and lose to T8 of hearts on the river.

Few hands later, limper, Joker raises, I 3 KK, and it’s four of us to JT9. The limper donks, Joker calls, I raise, blind calls and the donker calls.

Turn is a blank and the donker donks again. Joker folds and I just call. So does the player in the blind.

River is another brick and they both check to me. I don’t see how I can’t bet here. How can I possibly be beat? I bet and say to Joker, “if I lose this hand I’m going to be pissed.” The blind calls and the other guy folds. I table and the player in the blind tables JT.

What a joke. No 3 AM for me. This game is shitty, I’m tired, and now I’m down over $700. Literally the moment Joker walked in the building I started bleeding out and losing with the top of my range every hand.

Ugh.

My goal for the night was to persevere. It seems like I didn’t do that, but I don’t think persevering after midnight, in a bad game, 40 minutes from home is the time and place. I’m disappointed, but there’s not really much you can do when all your biggest hands are losing.

-$808 in 20/40, which puts me at -$207 for the day and continues a brutal small sample size in 20/40 at Fortune this year.

Poker will be happening Friday and Saturday. I’m not sure where yet. I was leaning Fortune but man it’s been painful out here.