A cooler or a poor selection of wine?

I posted a note last night after a bottle of the grape and decided to take it easy and sit at a table for a little poke. The table was very loose and I was card dead. for most of the session. I was a little off my game, because I was drunk! I played super tight as not to appear drunk to the players. I generally don't play intoxicated or when I am very tired. This will sound very stupid, but understand my mindset at the time I opened the table. Anyway, this restaurant we went to is a tough ticket to get, and the parking is equally as tough. As we come driving up in preparation for the valet, the only non-valet spot for the eatery opens up. Viola' in we go, door front and a $5 spot to the good. Well hell, with luck like that, who wouldn't go and play some poker, drunk or not. So it, was the parking that lead my drunk ass to the table. Pathetic! So there I sit, it's 1:00am, I have a bottle of Francis' Claret and a 19" screen spewing colored squares and making the same noise I heard when I rode my bike with cards in the spokes. In the SB I see 2 cards with the same numbers. Hell, even I know that is pretty good! Well the UTG guy makes a standard 4x raise, and it is folded to me. I really can't comprehend the action, but something tells me to call. Well the rest is poker history...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1472468

After playing the hand, 2 things were painfully obvious. The first is I should not play poker drunk and feeling invincible because I got a good parking space and the second, I had no more chips.

I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently I had been sipping on a bottle of Opus One?

WHAT!

I am writing this blog three quarter's drunk (anymore and i couldn't type) on Mark West 2005 Pinot Noir and busting it to Beck, Dean Martin, Frank, Biggie Smalls, Clapton and Slim Shaddy. Tonight was a celebratory dinner at a premium steakhouse, Flemming's. Finally sold the home and decided to spend some profit. It's nice because it's the three amigo's, my wife and child and of course the ConvictKeeper. After dropping a cool $250.00 on a few steaks and soup, I decided to get something off my chest. I would like to be playing poker right now, however I do not posses the mental facilities required to play, because I am intoxicated from the grape. However, that will not keep me from venting something that I feel very strongly about. So without further ado, here goes.

I must begin this rant by stating I am not a inmate lover at all. Hey, as far as I am concerned, they did the crime, so go on and do the time. However I am a strong advocate of fairness, convict or not. So here we go...

The other day I participated in an investigation into the alleged wrong doing of a Correctional Officer. It will be determined that the officer did nothing unethical or against policy. I always get dragged into the things because I am generally the highest ranking supervisor on grounds when the shit hits the fan. The price one pays for fame. Anyway, this issue occurred on December 1, 2006. The incident is common enough. An inmate gets her ass beat and we have to investigate the crime. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "yada, yada, yada". Whatever!

Anyway, a piece of trash lifer (murderer) makes a complaint that our guard saw the whole crime and did nothing about. Here goes the investigation. Well we will see after awhile if anything happened, in the meantime, I get a call for an interview in September of '07. WTF, am I suppose to remember what happen 10 months ago?

Well as luck has it, we buikd a case based on confidential information. Mind you, this "confidential" information is obtained from people who have spent a life telling lies, but that's another story. The "suspect" has her day in court and is found Not Guilty. As it turns out, the confidential information is unreliable (go figure) and the Lieutenant who adjudicated the case found her Not Guilty! This occurred in January of '07.

Fast forward to September of '07. Each inmate phone call is recorded and placed on a computer hard drive. This is done to help stop the infiltration of drugs and the trafficking of these drugs on a daily basis. Anyway, in one of these recorded calls, the inmate accused of committing the battery, is discovered. The suspect is heard admitting to the battery.

Excuse me, I had to take a break to bust open a bottle of 2004 Francis Coppola Claret (a black label Cabernet Sauvignon) and que up Dean Martins "Ain't That A Kick In The Head". This has got to be the deepest red Cabernet have ever seen. A great taste, smooth and dark, robust and "oaky" with a dusty hint of berry. Now on to Snoop Dogg's and Dr. Dre's "G-thing". Yea!

Anyway back to the issue, The institution has been caught violating several of the inmate's rights. So WTF happens? The toss the convict in the "hole" on a trumped up charge and violate a truckload of civil rights in the process. I am now officially steaming. I have to toss another sip back. The CONVICTKEEPER recommends the 2004 Francis Copplola 2004 Black Label Claret.

Listen up! We owe it to the citizen's of the great state of California to uphold the laws and statutes sit forth in the state and federal Constitution. However, we can not go on and shit on the rights afforded to every person, albeit convict or not. We can not bend the rules to try and cover up our mistakes. We blew it here. We did not do our jobs investigating this incident. As we say in the joint, "Hey, shit happens". We feel we can lock an inmate up after 10 months because she is now considered a threat.. WTF, she did nothing in the 10 months as we kept her ass on the mainline, now because someone may get in trouble for not doing their job, we beat the inmate like a rented mule and toss her in the hole? It just ain't right. We are so FN corrupt it is sad.

I write this because I live by a standard, a standard that can be explained in one motto, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything". Whatever, if it wasn't for the smooth sounds of Sinatra, "A Very Good Year", I'd be tossing back the Jack Daniels.

Different Opinions

It is early in the morning by my standards. I was just checking any reponses to a post I submitted to Cardrunners. I had a question regading the hand I posted here yesterday. I lost to a straight flush after flopping a set of 5's. It was a very bad call, but hey, that won't be the last.

I posted the hand for discussion to see if the hand was played correctly. Earlier in the week I posted another hand that was similar.

Here is the hand: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1445867 .

Everyone (15 posts) said I should have raised or shove the turn. I took that to heart and followed the communities opinion on the hand yesterday. Well I did get sucked out on by a straight flush. I posted that hand and the response was, not to have shoved the turn because I telegraphed my hand and would have allowed lesser hands to fold.

I guess when it get down to it, you play what you feel is correct. If I am still discussing that hand from yesterday, then it would be wise to take a day off.

Going back to work after 17 days off. Prison life is about to fire up again. I am looking forward to a change of pace, but I can assure you, I can not wait to retire!

UGH! Not another...

Man I am down on my luck. I can't win a race, out flopped and out kicked. I sent a joking e-mail to Poker Stars and they did a hand history review for 2 weeks and they even noticed how bad I am running. It takes great strength to continue after just getting clocked. I had a nice double up when my JJ filled up against AA, but other than that it's been a drag. I gambled on a very speculative hand (35s) from the SB but when the flop hit, BOOYA! or so i thought

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1450497 UGH!

Need strength to continue...

The past few sessions have been horrible. I took a break to shake of the bad karma, and I see it is still with me. poker, although fun, can be very frustrating. I have not won a race in any SNG's, and I seem to be getting run down. I lose a big pot with an all-in from a complete donkey who ADMITS he can only win from bluffs and over bets. I raise my AQ, he re-raises I put it in and he follows with a 690ff, and of course wins. He then laughs at me. UGH! And the 2 outers on the SNG's followed by the runner runner flushes and straights. It is very difficult to be optimistic during these long and difficult stretches. I guess I am being to "results orientated", but really.

Here is the latest example of my woes.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1445867

Enjoying a weekend without the poker

Sitting in the knotty pines of Jackson, Ca. I am enjoying a nice break from trying to improve my skills. For those who do not know where Jackson, CA. is, well image 70 minutes southwest of Lake Tahoe. The weather has been bad. the heat the is strangling the entire west coast as not forgotten Jackson. What is usually nice, is hot, 105 to be exact, so ugh. Jackson does have a real popular Indian casino, the Jackson Rancheria, but I have elected to sit about 10 minutes away and not participate. The Rancheria has No-Limit Hold'em tournament, but they are low buy-in and starting stacks of 1,500 chips. The structure sucks as you are at the 50/100 chip limit within 25 minutes. No play, all gamble. I am here vi sting the old man, so it is football and BBQ, not bad for a Labor Day weekend.

Back at it...

Well it has been awhile since my last post. I moved to a new house, and after 18 years it is strange. The prison grind has been just that, a grind. I am on 2 weeks vacation and i have been playing several small sessions a day. It seems I have been running good in the past few sessions, but I still don't feel confident in my abilities. I seem to not fully understand the game, and I surely don't understand the math. Not the easy math like pot odds and such, but the I am 18% to win and so on. I posted a "help me" on CR regarding sweating and such. I would love to be able to watch someone who likes the game as I do, however they have a winning method. Like I say, I won't hold my breath.

Another investigation that I got sucked into. The Department is a tough place for a second line supervisor. I am held responsible for everyones actions. So here I sit on my vacation and I have to stick a phone to my ear for an hour answering questions on an incident that happened in December 2006. Hell in my younger days I could remember, but now, c'mon. Anyway, I think I am good in the investigation. This nut inmate get the snot kicked out of her, and there is a she said, she said by the some other murderers and the whole thing blows up, My role? 'What did you do Lieutenant?" Oh, brother!

So I am really going to try and focus on my poker game. I would love for this to be my retirement job. Maybe someone will show an old man some love and throw me into the Pay It Forward program and make me a poke star, or at least a winning player. I will try and learn how to post PT stats and the such.

It seems like everyone has thrown down a poker challenge. The 100,000K challenge and the 100,000 hand challenge. I guess I will think of one, maybe if we can get a study team together. Stay tuned.