Flat tires & conspiracy theories about online poker

Last night on the way home I dashed into the store to pickup eggs, milk, bread etc. And when I came out my front tire was flat. This was 2 days after my RV blowout. I guess trends happen in life as well as cards. I was tired and didn't want to deal with it so I asked my wife to drive her car the two miles from our home and pick me up.

Today I took my RV down to the parking lot where I had left my car overnight. I left my RV there while I waited for the Automobile Club to come and change the tire on my car.


The tire was filled with dry rot and just gave way.

How does a rubber tire that is used almost every day and is never parked exposed to the sun develop "dry rot".

Ah, the mysteries of modern life and synthetics.

As a licensed driver for almost 40 years I know it is a good idea to buy two new tires and not just one. And common wisdom dictates having them put on the front. That way front tires are newly balanced and you are less likely to have a tire failure, affecting your steering and control.

Or so I thought. Costco refused to put the new ones on the front and claimed it is Michelin's policy (which is the only tire they sell) that if you buy 2 they must be put on the back.

When I questioned it, they even showed me a 3 minute video about how the average driver is more likely to lose control if they hydroplane the the rear two tires instead of the front two. So the implication is this is for my safety. I pointed out the video didn't say anything about tire failure or a blowout and loss of steering control.

What jumps into my suspious mind is "yea right". If you put the new tires on the front and they blow or fail causing loss of control the tire factory or store may be liable. I have had blowouts on the front and on the rear. I would much rather have one on the rear anytime. The car still goes straight and there is much less danger of losing control.

Once I slammed on the front brakes of my bike instead of my rear brakes. I'll never to do that again.


Regardless of my insistence, they told me they could only install them on the back. Two hours later I am driving home and find my car is pulling very badly to the left. Back I go to the store and tell them about this problem. Their solution is I could buy two more new tires for the front.

My solution is take the back ones and put them up front. They are unwilling to do that. The comprise solution is to switch the front right and the front left.

So what does this have to do with poker you might ask? Good question. As I was playing online I was ruminating over the store's insistence that Michelin was setting policy for my own good.

I believe large corporations are really only out for protecting themselves and their proft.

That got me thinking again about the claims of online poker sites claiming there is no way you can cheat on their systems.

I decided to see if I could open a new account on the online poker site I was playing on with another screen name and join the same table I was playing at. Well it worked.

I was successfully able to get on the same table with two different hands on two different computers on my home connection. I can certainly think of a few advantages that would give me. I considered that unethical and logged off after determing it could be done. I imagine somewhere in the agreement, that nobody reads anyway, it forbids me from doing that.

Could it even be illegal? Now there is any interesting question. Playing online poker for money in the United States is illegal. But nobody is enforcing it. Kind of like the 21st century prohibition act. So is it more illegal if I play two hands at once with two different identities on the same table?

It still doesn't explain why I lose more online then I do in live play at the casinos. But, I think I am going back to playing only tournaments online. There is no way you could get on the same table with yourself and even if you could I couldn't think of a real advantage in tournament that would offer you.

I know many players at the casino who will not play online because they think it is rigged. I don't think it is rigged. But, there are a number of ways to get an edge that I can't or don't want to do online. But, I believe there are people doing it and doing many other things to gain an edge that I couldn't even think of.

Comments?

Am I missing something here.......? Am I a conspiracy theorist or a 60's revolutionary that never grew up and fully joined the establishment?

3 A.M. Party Poker...

I should really go to bed. It is almost 4 A.M.

I joined a tournament and played 5 hours before midnight. I placed 26th out of 748. I felt good about my performance. Since midnight I have been trying to get up just a little at the 3/6 Hold-em o on-line so I can get to bed.

The cards are not good and I am waiting for a good hand. Meanwhile, I am watching my tournament win money, get blinded away. It is really amazing to think that people all over the world are playing me. Most of them at this table are up really late because they are on the west coast or South America. But, for a few on the east coast it is probably time for them to head to work.

Well, I finally won my first pot in over 2 hours. And it was on a stone cold bluff. AQd and K 4 6 rainbow came on my big blind after I had raised pre-flop. I bet out on the flop, turn and river. 3 people called on the flop, 2 called turn, and nobody called on the river. What a crazy game.

I finally realized today that I still play too loose on the small games, 2/4 & 3/6. I have got to stop that leak in my game.

When I play N/L tournaments I only play premium hands. When I play 8/16 & 20/40 Limit I play premium hands, but when I play lower limits, I tell myself there are so many bad players at this limit that I can outplay them. Well, maybe I do, but I get sucked out a lot and end up losing money time after time.

I just did it again. I tend to underestimate the players at the smaller games. That is becoming an expensive mistake. I just chased a guy all the way to the river, because I thought he was bluffing. He wasn't. Then the very next hand he wins a large pot by chasing 3 people to the river with J/2 off suit. It's a mad, mad, world out there.

Good night........

Back in the saddle again....

Well the skies have cleared and the clouds have gone awayfor awhile.


Last night after writing yesterday's blog on Party Poker I placed 16th in a 660 person N/L tournament. Then, just before I went to bed, I placed 3rd in a 220 person tournament for $700.

The "voices" in my head, that kept saying your are one of the worst and most unlucky players in the world have been silenced again for awhile.

I have no problem with getting a bad beat anymore. I have seen a lot of them. They don't even excite me anymore. Even if I am on the losing hand of stupid play. It is when I go seven or eight sessions losing, when I have played well, and have not gone on tilt that I get the "voices".

I know that short term variance can account for it. But, I have not yet embraced the concept that I can play very good poker, even my best poker and still lose 7 or more sessions in a row.

I get, and have experienced losing 7 or more hands in a row at a blackjack table. And I am sure if I played many sessions of BJ I could lose 7 sessions in a row. But, I want to argue that the dealer has the edge and so that makes sense.

There is no "edge" in poker, except knowledge & skill. Of course there is "luck", but that is distributed evenly over a long period of time or the laws of the universe are wrong. I know I am a greatly improved player then last year when I got serious about improving my game. And I read that the best at this game also having losing streaks.

Maybe, I am unrealisitic about the odds. Normally, I am playing 8 other players, so I have only about a 12.5% chance to win. If I am better then 1/2 the players at the table that means I will still only win less then 2/3 of the time. My win rate is really only 35-40% of the time, but it still has given me enough profit to overcome the "house rake" and show a little profit.

So what I am really "whining" about is, how come I can lose 7-8 sessions in a row, but never win that many in a row?

Is the universe skewed to make sure I lose, as my deepest darkest fears believe or am I missing something here.....?

Any thoughts?

Losing it in L.A.

A week ago about this time of the night, I packed my RV and left on a road trip that was going to cover 6 or 7 different casinos. The month of January was a great month of winnings and I was looking forward to the trend continuing.

I was in for a real surprise.

I drove about 10 miles from home and traffic slowed like there was an accident ahead.

I decided instead of driving longer I would just go to Sycuan here in San Diego and spend the night. Play a little tomorrow then drive on. I went to bed a little up that evening after a late night of playing N/L.

The next day I drove to Oceanside.

It is almost 1/2 way to L.A. from San Diego. I played the rest of that day until about 4 in the morning. I was up a little from the play there.
But, I wanted to get to L.A. before the morning commute traffic began.

By 5:30 a.m. I had parked at the Casino in Hawaiian Gardens and crawled into my sleeping bag.

2:oo p.m. saw me up and showered and ready to play.

Within a few hours I had lost two racks and decided to go back to R.V. and read awhile.

A few hours later back at the tables a series of bad beats cost me another two racks and I was "feeling an attitude". (Another way of saying starting to go on Tilt)
I knew I was so, I went back to the RV and had a fairly early turn-in.

The next morning after losing a rack, I walked to a bookstore about a mile away and read over a cup of coffee for a few hours. Then back to the RV for a nap.

Rested and ready I went in and decided to play in a bigger game. I bought in for $500 at a 15/30 holdem game and for the next 7 hours went from 500 to 200, then 200 to 500 for six cycles. I was happy not to lose anymore money, but frustrated I was down as much as I ever have been on a trip.

Maybe a change of location will help, I think. I relocate the RV over to the Bicyle club knowing I have done well there before. A day so of the same occurs. Lose a rack, take a break, lose a rack, another break.Lose a rack take a nap.

After a day of this I am ready to head toward home, but not yet ready to give up on my trip. Saturday afternoon finds me in horrible L.A. traffic driving to Corona to catch Interstate 15 to Pechanga Casino about 1/2 way home. L.A. is gray, and ugly, the other drivers appear mean and angry. Many people don't like to get behind an R,V so I have to slam on my brakes a number of times to avoid someone cutting in or changing lanes right in front of me. All my household goods shift and groan whenever that happens and I know the cupboards are going to be a mess.

But, Pechanga is one of my favorite poker rooms and Temecula is in a beautiful valley in Southern California wine country, so I am looking forward to getting out of L.A.

A few hours later I am seated in the beautiful Pechanga Poker room.

Different location, but same luck and results and I am down even more.
Saturday night is a dark night in the parking lot of the Pechana Casino.
If I was a drinker this would be a good reason for a major drunk. I am not, so to bed I go.



Superbowl Sunday, playing poker at a friendly table. What could be better? Playing and winning could be! For 8 hours I broke even at the 8/16 table before losing almost all the cash I had brought with me that I hadn't already lef in L.A.

Midnight Sunday finds me driving toward home, but I am not yet ready to give up. I have one more day before I have to be home. I head to the Sycuan Casino, 25 miles from my home.

12 hours of poker playing later I leave $60 up for the day. At least I am not a total loser.

Tuesday morning I don't even want to go in and play a little in the two extra hours I have between the time I woke up and when I need to be home.

So without even taking a shower, or having breakfast I decide to drive the 45 minutes home.

15 minutes later I am startled by the sound of an explosion, the RV shakes like I have been hit or struck something. Then the shaking stops. I realize I have blown a tire on the left rear. Because they are dual tires I am still driving. I pull carefully over and get out to look. The explosion of the tire was so dramatic that not only is there no tire left on the wheel, but a hole has been blown in the side of the RV.

Three hours later after the Auto Club changed the tire, I am home feeling like a person returning from a war, not seriously wounded but a little shell-shocked.


This was not the exciting poker trip I had looked forward to.

Two days later I am still trying to get out from under the grey skies that I have brought back from L.A.