New Mexico Report



We played 2 towns in New Mexico this week, well, 3 if you count where were are now in Alberquerque. The more interesting town was Alto where the theater is set up in the middle of nowhere on a mountain. Literally nothing around, but this beautiful venue. The altitude got the better of some people and the theater provides oxygen on both sides of the stage for the dancers. Sadly, none for us in the pit. I was fine, but the wind players suffered a bit.




I got this nice pic outside after soundcheck while listening to the Yankee game on my XM. If you don't have one and travel, GET ONE. It's really refreshing to listen to John Sterling at 4pm in the middle of nowhere.

Finally back!

Well after some drama this week with not getting any internet in the hotels for some reason, and then when I did, not being able to log on to blogger.com, the Reno Report is finally here! Read on...

So the plan was to play for 30 hours over the 3 days. 'Twas a lofty goal, this is true, especially coupled with the fact that I would be doing 5 shows over the weekend, which is pretty typical. (Friday night, double Saturday, double Sunday) I started out playing as soon as I showered at the hotel. Only able to play a couple hours, I booked a small win before going over to soundcheck. The first big pot I played though would set the tone for the weekend.

I limped on the button with Js8s, I played alot of hands like these because this card room was paying big bonuses for straight flushes with both cards in your hand. We took the flop 7 ways and the it came AsQs4d. It was bet by the big blind, called 3x, and the cutoff raised. Knowing that no one goes away anymore in limit games no matter how many bets are put in, I 3 bet it with the 2nd nut draw. It got called by the BB, called 3x then capped by the cutoff. We all called. The 7c missed me on the turn and it was checked to the cutoff who bet, and I merely called, hoping for everyone to call too. Only the BB did and the 6s came on the river. Miraculously, they both checked to me now, and they both called my bet. I was good.

It was during this time also that I got the best symbolic representation of Reno I could ask for. In one pot was a chip, literally falling apart, that the house had Scotch taped together. The metal insert was still intact, but the rest of it was cracked. I laughed at the coincidence and pocketed the chip as a souvenir.

I came back after the show and played until about 5am, leaving the day up $119. The next morning I played again for a couple of hours before my matinee, but the real fun was inbetween shows. Harrah's was across the street from the venue and I ran over to play for an hour or so before my evening show. It was 3/6 with a full kill with some pretty bad play at the table. I sat down with $140 and the first hand I played was in the BB with 5h7c. Flop was 678 rainbow, and I check raised a MP bet and everyone called. The turn missed me yet again, but I lead this time out of position. 4 people called and I bet the 4h on the river and got a crying call from A8. I won another couple of big pots and in 1 hour 15min, I netted $186 from this game. Up $300 in a few hours or so, I played again that night at our hotel and made another win and decided to head upstairs to get some sleep and play in the tournament at 10AM.

I signed up for the tournament at 9:30 and got some breakfast over at Mel's Diner. Yum. I came back and found out the game was a 12 handed single table tournament. Weird. Starting stack was 1500 chips, 25/50, doubling every 15 min, and capped after an hour at 200/400. I figured if I could double up 2x early, I'd have an easy shot at winning it. I was able to pick up 2 black AA at 100/200 and eliminate 2 shortstacks of 700 and 900 in one hand. Eventually it was down to 4 handed, and I called an all in from the button with AT, he had QJ. I survived that and was now the chipleader 3 handed with about 7400 chips. Now I made a serious blunder which I would not have done if I knew the complete rules of the tournament. They call the tournament OVER at 1 hour. The blinds don't stop at 200/400, the whole thing stops and they do a chip count for 1st and 2nd place.

Thinking that no one wanted to go broke on the bubble, I raised to 1400 on the button with T7d. The SB who I've seen limp with AQ then call all ins, moved in on me. I wasn't sure how much he had, so I asked the dealer to bring in the 2 1400's. He didnt' do anything, so I pushed the 2 stacks towards the center and he snapped at me, saying that if I wanted to be a dealer, I could fill out an application. I told him that I needed a count to figure this out and again he did nothing but ask if I was calling. I guess people there don't think about whether their tournament life is on the line and just randomly call without thinking things through. I OF COURSE wasn't going to call, turns out he had more chips than I thought, but I had to act like I was going to think about it, or this might happen a few more times and ruin my image. I eventually folded, and came in 2nd. Had I not have blown that 1400, things might have turned out differently. I took the $40 profit and put it on the Yankee over (10) for that day. The Yanks won 7-1. Yay/boo!

I played for another hour or so, and lost $10 in the 3/6 game, my only losing session all weekend. The goal was to make $600 in 30 hours and I was ready to fall way short of this goal. Harrah's during dinner went awfully bad as soon as I sat down. Case in point:

BB with Th6d. 5 ways, flop comes A66 with rainbow. I check call a button bet as do 3 others. Turn is a 4, I check raise the button now, and the cutoff 3 bets it. Uh oh! What's going on here? Button calls, I just call backing down, but hoping they're overplaying AK, AQ. I check the J on the river and think how sick it would be if she limped with AA. I call, and she tables the AA. Ouch, nicely played ma'am. Down $65 or so early on, I clawed back and eventualy won 2 pots making it a kill pot. I got K4 and won one with turning 2 pair, getting called by 3rd pair, sweet! Next hand i get 23o and flop a 3. People check to me on the button fearing that I might win every hand. We check the turn, and I river another 3. They check to me and I say that I can't win unless I bet, which suckers in one guy. When it was all said and done I was up $96 for that hour and closer to my money goal, but way behind my hours that I wanted.

I had to make $106 that night to make my goal a reality, and things started up quickly again. Long story short, in the 3 days, we did 5 shows, totaling 15 hours of work. I played 17.5 hours of poker, and slept for 9.5 hours in 3 days. I might have been the only person to leave Reno ahead, leaving a $683 winner only playing 3/6. Definitly a good weekend indeed. This weekend we'll be in Alberquerque (I think it's a left turn if we get lost). I think I remember reading in Cardplayer last year that there's casinos nearby. The best part of this story is that I'll be home in 10 days! I had a terrible dream last night though that they sent the wrong color drums to my house, and I was in a terrible state of distess. Yeah yeah, I'm a tough guy.

*Update* I left my lucky broken chip in El Paso, TX on the nightstand. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Fresno, Poker, Baseball, and Airport Gambling

We flew from Spokane WA to Fresno CA on Monday and our Reed II player Ira and I had begun a series of heads up matches. The guidelines were the following:

Best 2 of 3 in NL Hold em and Pot Limit Omaha for $20 a series. The last night in the hotel, I absolutly destroyed him in both games (haha) and won $40. Jeff, one of my roomates is now hooked on poker and wanted to play a $5 3 person tourney with us. I won that too, up $50 for the night.

We continued playing these matches on the airport floor waiting for our flight and it was pretty much over right away. I took him for another $40 and gave him the chance to win some back in PL Omaha, arguably his best game. The last hand had me having KK23 with 2 clubs on a board of A34 with 2 clubs. We jammed the pot and Ira had flopped the nuts with the wheel (doh!!). I missed twice and it was over, ending only $60 ahead. Oh well, that's enough to buy some Quizznos till the end of tour.

We flew in and our trusty bus driver who knows I like the poker, told me of a card room, Club One Casino, right down the street. I was tired on Monday night, so I didn't go, instead opting to watch 24. I DID however, go down and play on Tuesday morning around 1130. The plan was to stay until 5, but I pretty much got my ass kicked and was down $200. I went back inbetween sound check and my show and played 2/4, got in an argument with the dealer over 2 stupid things. I don't want to go into it, I was livid at the time. Suffice to say, the dealer should just keep his mouth shut and move the game along. Insulting players is in no way acceptable and should not be tolerated. I also will not tip dealers who act like this, and this instigated mini arugument #3. Anyway, I made back $32 playing 2/4 and had to go to my show. Afterwards, I played 3/6 again and made back $102, leaving myself down $66 for the day.



A perfect way to start the day before a show

Today a bunch of us went to the Fresno Grizzlies game, the SF Giants AAA team. They were playing the AAA Dodgers team, the Las Vegas 51's. I've never been to a minor league game before and it was awesome. We got seats right behind home plate for $13, drank beer, ate hot dogs and snowcones and everything. The weather was beautiful, it really was a perfect day. They even ended up winning 3-2 with some nice play and good pitching. For pictures of today's game and event go to my picture page. Oh yeah, Parker is the mascot for the Grizzlies and Annie had the best line of the day spoken really softly. "I swear Parker is really Mr. Met, but they found out he touched a kid, and sent him down here."

After the game, I went back to Club One and started off running really well right off the bat, up $141 without blinking. After losing several rough pots, I was up only $30 when I decided enough was enough, cutting the deficit to $36 loss for the 2 days. Tomorrow we drive to Redding, CA and then onto Reno for the weekend. The sick thing is that my taxes are due to direct deposit the day we pull in on Friday. I plan on logging 30 hours at the table this weekend, so blogging might be infrequent. I'll tell y'all how I do!

Spoklahoma

That was on a shirt I saw in town here in Spokane, WA. Apparently it's the nickname for the town, weird huh?

We're playing the Opera House here and it's a special time as our conducter and my roomate Kasey is playing his hometown. The crowds have been great and I get the feeling when we play this venue that we're doing something special. Not sure what it is, but it's just a feeling I can't describe. It's also real nice to sit down in one place, this being a stop for 4 days.

I was told about a place called the Northern Quest Casino from a guy in Tacoma when I played cards there on Monday. I went there yesterday and got in around 1pm. The only game going was a 3/6 game so I bought in for $150 and sat down. I didn't really catch any big preflop hands, in fact my best pocket pair all day was 66. I never ran into trouble though and I cruised through a 4 1/4 hour session, crushing the game up $405, easily my biggest win at this level.

I came back to do the show and afterwards 4 of us (Jeff, Shaun, Ira, and myself) went back. I was able to jump right into a game again while the other guys waited on a list. One of my first hands sitting down I called a preflop raise from the woman to my right with QJh. 6 of us took a flop of AT4 rainbow. She did her standard continuation bet and I called as did 2 others. I spiked a K on the turn and she bet again, I raised, fold fold, then she 3 bet me. I of course capped it and she called. The river blanked out, and she almost bet. She however check/called me probably having AA or KK, can't think of anything else she's 3 bet then check/call. I then had AA run into quad J's for a beating.

Then my table broke up and I joined another table, sitting directly to Ira's right. I ended up getting AA again and winning a pot against a cap preflop, 3 bets on the flop, 2 bets on the turn, then a check fold on the river. Bizarre to say the least. When my game broke up around 3:15am we left and I took home another $132. While waiting for the cab, I got bored and went into the pit. I shot craps and played one spin of roulette, netting another $16.

This morning I went to Guitar Center, the same store where I got my drumset in Oregon last week. I was in the market for a new Snare Drum so I tested them all out, and eventually picked out this DW All-Maple Collector's Edition. It's oh so beautiful with it's Natural Wood Finish. To those who aren't familiar with this kind of thing, DW is one of the best drum manufacturers in the world. I also picked up a hard case for the drum as well, as I'll be mailing it home in the next couple of days. When I get there, I'll basically have a brand new drumset waiting for me, and the casinos of North America to thank!

Even more passive than me in the previous post

This just happened in a .50/1 NL game on FCP.

PRE-FLOP
Jezze J-man calls $1, Hampe04 folds, Sacred7 folds, matti_z calls $1, MLCardwell folds, Arulez folds, Venia folds, seanfrey folds, gregg316 checks.

FLOP [board cards 10H,3H,8D ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man bets $2, matti_z calls $2, gregg316 bets $7, Jezze J-man calls $5, matti_z bets $10 and is all-in, gregg316 bets $20, Jezze J-man calls $20.

TURN [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H ]
gregg316 bets $15, Jezze J-man calls $15.

RIVER [board cards 10H,3H,8D,6H,JH ]
gregg316 checks, Jezze J-man checks.

SHOWDOWN
gregg316 shows [ 3S,10S ]
Jezze J-man mucks cards [ KS,KD ]
matti_z mucks cards [ AD,AS ]
gregg316 wins $60, gregg316 wins $37.50.

Poker and Drums!

As per Will's request, I will now post the losing sessions over the past 2 days that I've had. My first real downswing in a while really. Eugene, OR has a poker club right next to the theater actually. To keep it legal, they charge a membership fee, along the same lines of a greens fee for golf. I got a "day pass" for $5. Usually it's $25 a month or $100 for a year. $5 seems a little steep considering it's one night, but what else could they really charge? $3? Probably not.

The game was 1/2 NL Hold'Em, the game of choice these days it seems with most people. The buy in was $40-$200, and I sat down with the maximum. I didn't really do any action at all. I worked my stack up to about $230 and then the cold deck sat in. My read on the table was that pretty weak starting hands were being played and raises represented what the hand was basically. For example, a raise to $15+ was usually AA KK QQ JJ AK, a raise to $8-$10 was usually 99 88 77 66 AJ AT A9 and so on. The game was action packed though with lots of players seeing flops and gambling more and playing poker less. I just needed a hand when the following hand came up.

UTG raises to $7 and I look down at ThTd. Usually my play in this situation is to reraise to about $22, but for some reason, I couldn't pull the trigger. I was scared for some reason which was reason number 1 to leave the game. There was a HUGE stack of about $800 to my left and I was worried about getting run over as he plays almost every pot. In the first of many bad moves, I only called the raise, and the mega stack to my left decides to raise it to $22. The blinds flat called the reraise, as did the original raiser and I did too. The flop came 942 with 2 hearts. They checked to me, and for some reason, (mistake #2) I decided to check also to see what the other player did. Unfortunatly, he checked behind and we saw the turn which was the Ah. SB checked, BB bets $4 into a $88 pot. It then went fold, and I called with the Ten of hearts. The original reraiser now folded! Wow, ok, can I play this game any more passive? The river was a 3c and the BB bet out $4 again and I was forced with a decision. There was $100 in the pot and I ran through the hands I could beat. I couldn't beat an Ace obviously, but I could beat any 9 or other pair. I don't believe he had a flush or a straight, and quite honestly, I was stumped by what he could have. I thought my best chance was to try and get him to fold to take the pot and I raised an odd amount, of $37 to make it $41 to go. He looked upset and started talking to himself to see if I had a flush, or a straight. He called after not a long time really and showed A4o. I tapped the felt and mucked my hand. Hmmmm, I played that hand so awfully, I probably deserved to lose some money.

After that, I couldn't get anything going and played "get even poker", which is awful to do. Sign #2 that I should have left. I eventually got my last $79 in the pot with the nut flush draw against top pair. I had two chances to hit it, but missed and that was that. Night #1 in the books.

I went back the next night for more punishment, but I thought honestly it was a game I could beat. I sat down with the maximum again and folded for quite a while. There was a player 2 seats to my right who was playing 80% of the pots and playing most of them for a raise. He honestly was not very skilled as he had 2 raise increments. $25 and $12. I took them for what they were worth strengthwise and after a $12 raise, I called with 45c. The button also called as did the BB and we took the flop 4 handed. The flop was 678 rainbow and I had flopped the low straight. The BB checked, and the raiser led out for $25. I raised it to $65. The button and BB folded and the original raiser moved me in. I called my last $86 and he showed top set of 8's. Not exactly the hand I wanted to call me. I'd rather him have TT or 99. The turn was a 4, and the river was...another 4. Ouch, quite a dagger to the heart. So that night was all of 55 minutes and -$400 for the 2 sessions.

Online though my sessions have been much better, practically evening things out for the week. I'm disappointed though at my overall results in the live game. You should always walk away when you know you can't beat the game. My timid play on the first night should've been enough for me.

On a much brighter note (pun maybe intended), I purchase a brand new drumset today! My first new piece of equipment in about 15 years. It's a Gretsch Renown Maple Kit, and the color is the beautiful Autumn Burst. This probably doesn't mean alot to anyone, but I'm excited nonetheless. It will be waiting at home for me when I get home May 8th. Speaking of coming home, we close in California on May 7th with a 3pm show. I have a redeye booked that has me flying out of LAX at 855 pm landing in Islip at 857 am. I then go right to Gateway for an 11 am rehearsal all day and all night. I love the work, but this day will certainly be crazy.

What was the point of this? Oh yeah, my NEW drums will be waiting for me at home as my current drums will be on a FEDEX delivery truck somewhere in California. This way I'll be able to do the shows at Gateway until my drums arrive home.

Another long one in the books. Starting today, we're up in Washington for a while where I'll be seeing Will and Erin on Monday. Can't wait, it'll be great to see them both.

All Night Drive To Oregon...

Well, the schedule said that we had a 2 day drive from Great Falls, MT to Eugene, OR with a stop in Kennewick, WA at the end of Day 1. Some of us decided that that kinda sucks, so we rented a car and drove right after the show, 859 miles, in 13 hours. Now we're already in Eugene, and have all of today and tomorrow off. Well, we have a show tomorrow, but you know what I mean.

Along the way though, we stopped a couple times to take pictures of the GORGEOUS scenery that is Oregon. I had no idea. Here are a couple of examples:





I have also put up more pictures over here as well. More pictures will be added as this is an easier way for me to share them with you all. Hope everybody is doing well, and I'll talk to you soon!

All I need now...is a car!



Apparently people had seen these before. So excuse my "fish out of water" syndrome, I just get excited by ridiculous things that are new to me.

Changed the look of the blog today. We had a 10 hour drive today and when we got to the hotel, I didn't really feel like doing much of anything. In northern Wyoming, this is exactly what there is to do. But that's all well and good, we drive to Montana tomorrow for a show tomorrow night. I'm trying to view this as "states I would probably never vountarily go to."

We lost 2 of our castmates yesterday. Zygo, who was our Will Parker, tore his ACL during the show on Wednesday night and was sent home today to recover. Jessica Barbick also was sent home due to a knee injury sustained over the course of many shows. She needs to have her knee scoped due to lack of cartilage in there. I wanted to drop them a line here in case they read this to know that we miss them, and we wish them a speedy recovery.

If all goes well, I should have a funny picture tomorrow. Wyoming lends itself to that....