The Devastator: A poker blog and other musings...

Trip Report 1/21 - 1/22... Happy Birthday!

2012-01-26T15:08:00.003-05:00

It was Kelly's birthday this week, so I'd like to wish my dear girlfriend the best and that her family, friends, and I are very happy to have her around. I don't know where I'd be without her and am extremely grateful to be her boyfriend. She is my rock and my best friend. With her on my side, I feel like I can take on the world. Love ya babe...

Ok, enough mushy stuff. I ran pretty bad this weekend, stuck $500. I won $400 in two dshort sessions on Saturday, but then ran terribad on Sunday.

Big pots (that I lost):

I raise from the blinds with QQ. 7 callers, flop is 753. I cap the flop get 6 callers, bad player is all in for 30. Turn is a 3. I bet turn get 4 callers. River puts up a straight and I check. I win the side pot, all in player turns over Q3 for a two outer. Yuck.

I have A5s and call a raise from the sb. 7 handed... flop is q55 rainbow. Flop is capped with 6 callers, turn is a 6. 4 bets on the turn. I lose to 65. Ugh.

I raise with AA, get three callers. Flop is 752 two spades. I get checkraised by this douchebag. He's fairly young, loud, brash, has a gigantic piece of shit watch, long silver/gold chains, a raised collar, and quite stout (hopefully, death is imminent). He raises the flop, wild Asian in the sb cold calls, I 3 bet, douchebag and Asian calls. Turn is a J, no flush, I bet and douche raises me. Asian kid folds, I call. River is a K. I check, he bets while immediately tipping the dealer a dollar. I call, he turns over KJ. WHY, POKER GODS, WHY!!!??? I would've gladly paid another $100 to have KK in this spot.

And so after running badly in some other spots like KK vs JJ, KK vs 99, and AK vs AQ, that's pretty much where my money went.

Then on Sunday, something odd happened. A player whom I've known for a long time, Mac, approached me upon leaving. Knowing that I was having a rough day, he leaned over and said "I hope you get it all back, I know you've been running bad...". Now this struck me as incredibly odd. As far as I've known him, Mac NEVER has a kind word to say to anyone! For him to recognize that I was http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifetting my butt kicked and wish me well, shocked the hell outta me. I felt blessed. Jeebus, I always thought he hated me. I was totally blown away... I thanked him and wished him a safe trip home. Mac wished me good luck!!!? Haha, how about that!?

Oh and here's one of my favorite Sherlock moments... I just love Moriarty (portrayed by Andrew Scott).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeEVuPiqE24

At 5:51, I love it when Moriarty says, "I will burn the heart out of you..." Classic!

In Stitches...

2012-01-20T13:30:00.004-05:00

Just a quick update: I had a decent weekend where I won $600 across two sessions. I managed to make it back home early Sunday evening since I made plans for a Gears of War 3 campaign party with Robyn, Allie, and Mikey over the MLK weekend.

As far as the GoW3 campaign, I had a great time. We were able to network two Xbox 360's for 4 player local coop. It took a little bit of time to set it up at first, but once we got it going, it was fun. It's always better to have friends with you on your quest to save the world. Unfortunately, we only completed up to act II. We'll have to give it another go...

In other news, I got my first stitches! Yep, cut my finger in the kitchen trying to split some frozen hors d'oeuvres with a butter knife. A lesson in potential vs kinetic energy was observed, and blood was shed. The tetanus shot I received afterwards has been the real pain. I've felt like I've been carrying a 15 pound weight on my arm.

And kitties got stitches too! We had them fixed yesterday. Well, Taj received stitches. Of course, Steve is perfectly fine, but poor Taj has that archaic Elizabethan collar on. She's sooo miserable. She can barely drink, can't eat, and seems so distraught with it on. I'll be looking to pick up a better alternative after work today. Oh, my little bat kat!!

Caught last episode of Sherlock season 2 last night, titled "The Reichenbach Fall". Wow, I can't remember the last film or show that perplexed me as much. It's easily my new favorite show. The creators have just announced season 3! Yay!

I'll be heading down to AC tonight. Catch you at Borgata!

Trip Report 1/7 -1/8

2012-01-12T09:27:00.002-05:00

Ok, this Time Warner Cable/MSG dispute is REALLY PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF! The Rangers are having their best season since frickin 1994 and I CAN'T WATCH THEM!!!???

OMG OMG OMG WTF WTF WTF! As soon as I can rid myself of Time Warner I'm switching to Verizon Fios.

It pains me to think of anything so distressful. WHY!? I HATE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE RIGHT NOW. ARRRRGGHHH!!

Ok, I'm fine. So this recent weekend wasn't a very successful trip. I won ~$350 on Saturday then lost $500 on Sunday. The latter session saw me turn two flushes that lost to 4 outers on the river. Then another hand I flopped trips with A8 but lost to T8 on the river. Ugh. I also went 2-8 with AK and 0/1 KK.

Sasha had come down for his first trip in months. Between him, Rob, and this girl Julia (whom we played with at the Taj years ago), we played a few hands of Chinese poker on my iPhone which sparked something in me.

After much discussion with Sasha, I've decided to pull the trigger on learning iOS app development. I paid for some online instruction over the summer (it can be taken at any time) and just bought my first Mac yesterday. I've had some ideas kicking around in my head that I think would make for some interesting apps and now that I've actually invested some money into this venture, breaking even is a GREAT motivator :)

Anyway, my buzz list:

-STILL finishing up FFXIII (mostly grinding)
-reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
-eating hot dogs

New Year, Still Here...

2012-01-03T13:18:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posts... I mentioned before, the holidays have a slowdown effect on me where I barely do anything.

Tomorrow will be my long awaited return to AC (3 weeks!). Sasha will most likely be accompanying me. He hasn't come in months so it should be fun.

For Xmas, I was really excited to try cooking a goose after my friend Gerhard tempted me with the idea over the last two years. I was able to snag a fresh goose from our newly opened Fairway Market in Douglaston (Wow, their meat and deli selection is amazing. USDA PRIME!).

I followed Gerhard's instructions and roasted the goose in the oven. Unfortunately, the breast came out dry. The dark meat was fine, but the breast had the texture of dry roast beef. At 3 hours and 15 minutes in, the temperature had already hit 185. It was a 12 lb goose, so I wasn't expecting it to be ready so soon. It was a fresh goose (never frozen) and the fact that I let it get to room temperature were big reasons for the unexpected cooking time. Oh well. At least it LOOKED good.

For New Year's, Kelly and I had a nice time at home with the kittens. I picked up a bottle of 2002 Dom Perignon for us to try. Here is a review of it from The Wine Advocate:

"The 2002 Dom Perignon is at first intensely floral, with perfumed jasmine that dominates the bouquet. With time in the glass the wine gains richness as the flavors turn decidedly riper and almost tropical. Ripe apricots, passion fruit and peaches emerge from this flashy, opulent Dom Perignon. The wine's volume makes it approachable today, but readers in search of more complexity will want to cellar this for at least a few years to allow for some of the baby fat to drop off. Geoffroy describes the vintage as very ripe and adds that some of the Chardonnay showed the ill-effects of the hot growing season in it the somewhat burned, dehydrated fruit that came in that year. This bottle was disgorged in July, 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2032 "

Here's my review: Nice bottle. Tastes like ginger ale and wine.

I'm still dragging myself through the end game of Final Fantasy XIII. As I cheat and follow through the numerous online guides available on route to becoming a practically invincible god, I love learning about the historical/literature references that inspire the names of some characters. Take for example, the names of the super bosses, The Undying (info courtesy of Wikipedia):

Bituitus - king of Arverni, a tribe of the Gauls, fought against the Romans

Geiseric - 5th Century Vandal King, instrumental to the fall of the Western Roman Empire

Mithridates - king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia (now Turkey) from about 120 BC to 63 BC

Syphax - king of the ancient Algerian tribe Masaesyli of western Numidia during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC

Numidia - a Roman province

Zenobia - 3rd century Arab queen who revolted against the Romans

Attacus - derivation of Spartacus

Vercingetorix - leader of Gauls and opponent of Julius Caesar

Wladislaus - Polish King from the 12th century

Trip Report - December

2011-12-21T15:28:00.004-05:00

Yay! Oh Xmas lamp, oh Xmas lamp! How lovely are thy power cables...

So my last two weekends in AC were ho hum, ok. I'm up $750 for the two trips combined, which is better than losing. I played long 12 hour sessions on Saturday, followed by 4-5 hour sessions on Sunday. The weeks were eerily similar. I found myself card dead most of the time (for 7-8 hours), and big hands simply weren't holding up. Then all of a sudden, I become a flush machine and/or nuts incarnate.

For example, last week I flopped a straight flush. I check raised the turn and got two callers. Bet the river and got paid off. Then recently I flopped top set, turned quads. Winning is fun...

I was able to snag one of the newly renovated rooms at Borgata. I must say that I really like them. They FINALLY replaced the ugly old TV's with shiny new 40" flat screens. It feels like they replaced the mattresses and pillow sets too. Throw in some new curtains, carpeting, and sofa and me likey a lot. I had heard that they also have free wifi, but I wasn't able to catch a strong enough signal to verify.

With Xmas and New Year's taking up the next two weekends, I won't be back in AC til the first weekend of 2012 which is fine with me. I've been exhausted as of late and could use the days off.

Lots of things on my to do list this week:

- 1 more Xmas shopping errand

- Wrap presents

- Buy goose for Xmas dinner

- Cook goose for Xmas dinner

- Go to Ikea

- See Sherlock Holmes 2

- Finish Final Fantasy XIII

"Tis The Season To Be Jahrry..."

2011-12-09T11:01:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been really lazy as of late... Pretty typical of me around this time of year. Right after Thanksgiving, I get really, really... what's the word? Immobile? Yeah, that sounds like the right word. I think it's all about the closing of the year. I tend to really mail it in during the final stretch...

My last poker session before Thanksgiving didn't go so well. I was stuck -$525 for the weekend. After taking two straight weekends off for the holiday (first time since May), I feel recharged. I'm heading down to AC tonight. I'm still feeling lazy and a bit reluctant to drive down there, but I know I'll feel ready to go come tomorrow.

So turkey day came and went. Teddy, Jesse, and Sasha came over to my mom's house. It was fun, but since Teddy had to work the next day, their stay was rather short. I spent the rest of the holiday weekend kitten-sitting Steve and Taj, consisting of napping and playing lots of FFXIII. Steve is an unabashedly playful cuddler while Taj is more shy and discerning with her social time. Watching their growth and development has become one of my favorite things to do. Life is good.

Despite suffering recent back to back losses to the Leafs and Lightning, the Rangers are having a good season so far. Callahan is not disappointing as captain, Brad Richards is proving to be a difference maker, and Gaborik is skating well. I like the infusion of Hagelin and Mitchell for some added speed and creation of a new line. Let's hope they stay healthy since I think this could be the year they make a deep run in the playoffs.

And what about those ugly, ugly, UGLY Jets? They're so hard to watch. The offense struggles to the point that it's masochistic. SO painful. I'm not fooled one bit. Even if they do somehow make the playoffs, I'm expecting a first round exit. It's a shame really because the AFC is so wide open.

Xmas is almost here. I've got most of my shopping done. Here's a treat I got for myself:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16868993002&Tpk=g155

This is so awesome. Now I can take my PS3 or XBox with me to AC so I can catch up all on the games that I've fallen sorely behind. Super dope.

So far, I think Boardwalk Empire has trumped the Walking Dead. It's fun wondering what each of the characters will do next since they're all so volatile. But I guess that's what Prohibition will do to you. Unfortunately, I have to wait til mid February for TWD to return. I've enjoyed this second season so far, but I feel the pace has suffered due to the plot build ups. Less drama, more zombies! ARGHHH!

The big news: I'll be officially moving in with Kelly by the end of the month. I'll have a big financial burden lifted with Rob and Allie taking over my apartment while I share expenses with Kelly. I'm excited to be moving in, but not so excited to be moving out. Not so excited because I'll likely be taking up most of my holiday vacation time moving all my stuff around that week. I hate physical labor!

Eddie Stix...

2011-11-15T09:49:00.002-05:00

WARNING - ZERO POKER CONTENT!

While I was growing up, my parents owned a newspaper/candy store. Next door, was a luncheonette owned by a man who went by the name of Eddie Stix. His real name was Enrico Martiri. I think it was a nick name from his army days.

Eddie was a heavy set, older man, probably around my dad's age. Outside of his shop, he wore a wool-like fedora hat and a poofy jacket that made him look even bigger. Thick framed plastic glasses adorned his fairly big nose and he had a noticeable gap between his teeth. Some thin wiry grey hair nested upon his nearly bald head. He walked with a gimpy leg that was injured in, I think, Vietnam. It was constantly under wraps. He suffered from some other ailments that he took medication for.

Eddie's luncheonette only served four things: hot dogs, White Rock soda, coffee, and the occasional danish or donut. And the place wasn't pretty. The entrance was an old metal door with smudgy glass, and the handle had one of those latches you press down with your thumb to open. Upon walking in, there was a long, beat up counter with some ratty stools. In the back were two tables with old rickety chairs that squeaked and rattled when you sat in them, giving you the impression they were going to break at any moment. Across from them sat a small TV with a VCR. There was a pay phone in the back that was for Eddie's personal use as much as anything else. For some reason, I always enjoyed watching Eddie yell and berate people on the phone :) There was no air conditioning, just a few ceiling fans during the summer and the place was a meat locker in the winter. The air was filled with the smell of cooked onions and sauerkraut. How could such a place stay open?

Eddie was also a bookie and that's how he was able to make ends meet. He would come into our store every morning around 7 am to buy the Daily Racing Form, the Daily News and NY Post. Even as a young kid, I felt the satisfaction of commerce exchange when I would go in to buy a hotdog and a soda. Buying the soda of course was ridiculous when we had some in our shop, but my parents never objected to it.

Starting when I was about 6 or 7 years old, one of my favorite things to do on a weekly and/or daily basis was to sneek into Eddie's shop, usually around closing time. I would quietly open the latch to his door, creep along the long counter, and while Eddie was either sound asleep at one of the back tables with his bad leg propped up or watching a movie on his tv, I would leap out with a giant stomp and scream "GOTCHA!!!". Eddie would literally leap out of his chair then bite his tongue so not to say anything vulgar while I laughed maniacally, spinning on the floor.

I have a lot of fond memories of him. He was at the very least, a mentor to me. He always tried to steer me in the right direction and would give me those corny stories about doing the right thing. He always encouraged me to be one of the "good guys".

I credit Eddie for my love of horror movies and weird sci-fi stuff. After our stores would close for the night, I would ask my parents if I could stay with him in his shop to watch a movie. In hindsight, I can't believe my parents consented. But I guess they trusted Eddie like I did. He introduced me to the old Twilight Zone episodes, Halloween-like slashers, and the bad Tromaville flicks. We loved the Creepshow movies. Jeebus, I don't think I was older than 8 years old at the time.
I spent countless Saturday nights hanging out with Eddie in his shop watching whatever freak flick he picked up from the video store across the street.

Eddie was also very generous. He gave me some old baseball cards and some really old coins. One of them was an 1849 half cent which I thought was really neat. He also gave me some cool Voltron knockoffs that I treasured as a kid.

Every now and then, I think about all the fun times I had with him. I knew when the latest scary movie would come out, Eddie would go rent it right away and I couldn't wait to go watch it with him. He'd make some weird food and we'd scarf it down while we watched some terrible show like Air Wolf. He'd play Go Fish with me since it was the only game I wanted to play. My favorite night was when Eddie got a shiny new rolling gate to protect the front of his shop. He bought some spray paint to write his own name in big letters before the neighborhood kids could put their graffiti on it. He wrote "Eddie Stix" in giant, cursive letters. At the time, I thought it was pure genius and laughed hysterically as he did it.

But even as a kid, I always felt sorry for Eddie. It was very clear to me that Eddie and I had very different lives. I knew that he was a lonely man. He was separated from his wife long ago and never remarried, no kids. His only local relative was his father, who was well into his 90's (he lived to be a centenarian). Eddie had a nephew who was an actor. His name was Tom Silardi. Eddie would make a big deal when he was in town. But when I first met him, I saw how he treated Eddie and never liked him. It was something about how he asked Eddie for a hot dog in a disrespectful way... Jerk.

Unfortunately, as I grew into an egotistical, bratty teenager, I distanced myself from him (as I did everyone else...). I rarely stopped in his shop and our movie nights were long behind us. I was too busy being a jerk, hanging out with my friends, and not having a care in the world. Other than the formal greeting as passersby, I rarely spoke with him.

So it came as a terrible wake up call when I heard of his passing. At his wake, I had realized how terribly I neglected him over the years. How could I neglect someone that was so influential and kind to me? I had heard that Eddie was sick, but I had no idea how ill he was. I deeply regretted not being able to tell him how great a friend he was and what he meant to a bratty little Korean kid.

And so, I got to thinking about him over the weekend in a discussion with someone from my old neighborhood who knew him. Eddie once told my parents that if he ever had a son, that he'd want him to turn out like me. I didn't take it as a compliment, it only made me sadder to think that he didn't have a family of his own.

I miss ya, Eddie. Thanks.

Trip Report 10/29 - 10/30 + 11/5

2011-11-08T10:03:00.002-05:00

I'm combining two Borgata trips in one here. So Saturday and Sunday (11/29 - 10/30) most of my big pairs cracked and somehow I eeked out a $300 profit. Can't remember much from that session. Although I did log in my notes that I was 2/6 with KK and 1/3 with AA and something like 1/7 with QQ. Hey Variance, why don't you go the f^*k home!

This most recent weekend was my best in a while. I was up almost 50 big bets by the end of Saturday night. I decided to skip Sunday to avoid any congestion the NYC marathon might have caused. Here's a hand that had me steaming because I misplayed it...

Two limpers, tight player OTB raises, I'm in the sb with AcJs, Phil calls in the bb, limpers call. Flop hits As 4d Qs. We check to the button who bets, I check raise, Phil calls, button calls. 4s on the turn. I fired again, Phil calls, button folds.

I wasn't too happy with Phil's call, so I figured he had a flush but why didn't he raise me? But I figured I wasn't in too bad of a shape. I had a redraw to a flush with any spade, another A or 4 gives me a full house.

The river brought something like a non spade 8. I checked worried that Phil slow played his flush to disguise his hand. He led out and I called just in case he had a hand like AT or worse. But did you see it? Did you see the mistake I made?

Phil called two bets cold on the flop. The only hand that makes sense is a flush draw. And yes, of course he slowplayed it... and I called the river like a monkey. He had 9s6s. Argh...

Thinking about playing one of the Borgata tourneys since I have off this Friday. Not sure yet, but it would be a good opportunity considering that I haven't played a buy-in tourney in a very long time.

Trip Report 10/21 - 10/23 No More Fridays...

2011-10-28T13:50:00.006-04:00

Whoa, got crushed Friday night in one of the worst sessions ever. I got whacked for about $1500 over the course of 6 hours. Not good. Only two really ugly pots that I can recall: I lost with AK vs. A2, and then JJ to 33. Other than that, I just couldn't hit anything. Luckily, I made over half of that back on Saturday and Sunday.

Here's an interesting statistic: I only have 2 winning sessions on Friday night (out of 10 sessions). On Saturdays, I'm winning almost 90% of my sessions, and on Sunday I'm perfect. So what is up with Friday?

Well, for starters, I work on Fridays and that means by the time I get down to play, I'm pretty tired. Perhaps I'm too tired and it affects my play and I'm too stubborn to admit it. I know that I can still beat the game half asleep, but I know that I can't possibly be at my best.

Secondly, a couple of times the games would suddenly break on me when I so happened to be on the losing end of things. Not much I can do there.

Sometimes the games went shorthanded (like recently) and I end up waiting to move into the main game. The variance can get a little bumpy there.

And having a losing session on Friday really puts the pressure on. Also, if I had a bad session on Friday, you can bet that I went to bed really late that night/Saturday morning, messing me up for the day.

So there you have it. No more Fridays. I'm just going to go down there, get a good nights rest and not have to worry about the stability of the games.

This marks the first time that I've had back to back losing weeks since I've started this AC venture. I'm not three-peating.

Trip Report 10/14 - 10/16 Got Dem Poker Blues...

2011-10-20T09:24:00.004-04:00

Ran pretty bad this weekend. I flopped a set of AA twice and lost, one of them was for a $500 pot. To make things worse, I've had two sessions where I felt I didn't play as well as I should have.

I made a bad river call against Rob when I flopped top pair, top kicker and he had a set of QQ. I pushed a short stack all in with middle pair when I was fairly certain he had top pair. I was more annoyed by the fact that I wasn't paying attention to his stack size. I was running bad and didn't think I was making optimal decisions.

So I took a break to get some food and clear my head. I came back and won most of what I had lost. I was only stuck ~$200 which felt like a victory to me. Oh, well.

Our kittens, Steve and Taj, continue to amaze me. They are so cute. We can watch them play all day...

Went to see Kelly's sister, Allie, perform a couple of songs last night and I was really impressed. She only played two songs and even though they were covers, she was able to express herself and make the songs her own. I recalled how writing songs and playing music were therapeutic experiences for me. It was a way for me to vent and probably still is. I was really happy for her. I hope she keeps it up.

Trip Report 10/8 - 10/9 New Papa!

2011-10-12T09:23:00.003-04:00

I'm the proud papa of two kittens! Yes thank you, thank you. No, need for the cigar...
We've named them Steve (after the first lucky guy to be named Steve) and Taj (after the first lucky casino that's named Taj Mahal). They're so disgustingly cute, I want to eat them. Not really. Well, maybe just a nibble.

They're only about 6-7 weeks old, a little underweight, and some ear mites and GI parasites aside, they seem to be healthy. It still hasn't hit me that we have these two crazy cute critters living with us.

Had a decent trip and won ~35 big bets. The highlight of my trip was getting to play with Cissy Bottoms. I had no idea that she was one of the old school Las Vegas grinders. I had played with her before and knew she played well. But I didn't know that she was featured in a poker instructional video w/ David Sklansky. We talked about online poker, some poker legends like Johnny Moss, Vegas, food, and then mostly about cats. I was sorry to hear that she's had some recent personal struggles with her family, but I was happy to hear that she'll be visiting our game more often.

I missed some of the HORSE mixed games that started up during the summer, so I was happy to hear a mixed game got off at levels I can afford. I played a few hands of $5/10 BORTE (Badugi, Omaha 8, Razz, Triple Draw, and Stud 8) while waiting to get in the $10/20. I really wanted to play some more, but I felt guilty having fun in AC when I'm supposed to be "working". I haven't played in any mixed games in a long time, and I'd love to get some practice in but I feel that my edge (however small) is probably still greater in limit hold'em or at least that's what I feel the most comfortable playing.

My first two razz hands: I'm dealt 2,3,4. An ace completes, I pop him. 9 on 4th, 7 on 5th, 8 on 6th, and 4 on the river. I folded to his board A674.

Next hand, I get A,2,3. I pop another guy. 3 on 4th then a 3 on 5th. Done.

I'm hoping to get an early start tomorrow since I haven't been playing on Fridays at all. See you at the Borgata!

Trip Report 9/30 - 10/2 I Miss PokerStars...

2011-10-03T10:48:00.003-04:00

I won 3 out of 4 sessions this recent trip. The one losing session was a doosey, but I managed to eek out a decent profit for the trip. I don't feel like there were any noteworthy hands to report. Maybe I've become so desensitized to every hand where I'm rarely surprised by the outcome. I've played well over a million hands online over the last few years. Oh wait, I did hit a straight flush. Whoopie!

I've been going down to the Borgata every weekend since the middle of May and have logged 300+ hours. With a generous estimate of 40 hands per hour, that's ~12,000 hands. I've played that many in a week when I could multitable 20 games on Stars. It's mindnumbing. The convenience of grinding in my underwear? Priceless...

Don't get me wrong, I still love the Borgata. It's been the finest poker experience of my life. The poker director, Stan, and his staff provide the best comp service out there. If it weren't for them, I would be in the parking lot sleeping in my car! So it makes me laugh when I hear other players at the Borgata complaining about what I consider to be petty. Sure, there are things the staff can do to improve the service (especially floor management), but overall the Borgata has gone above and beyond my expectations. Free rooms, bonus comps, free tournaments, free valet... I hope many of these players remember this when the new Revel opens.

Tilting...

2011-09-30T10:33:00.002-04:00

Blah... Fighting another sinus infection. Went to the doctor yesterday and sat in the waiting room for 3 hours after taking the day off from work. I think I can count on getting these at least twice a year now.

Today, I found out that my debit card info was compromised (for the second time!). Yay, no ATM for the weekend. Well, if I go broke this weekend the most I can lose will be what's in my pocket :) Thanks Shitty-Bank.

I am hooked on Final Fantasy XIII. I'm on chapter 4, and I've realized that my video game stamina isn't what it used to be. I remember I used to play into the wee hours of the morning. Now I have to take a break after just an hour of playing! Oh, how have the mighty fallen!?

Now let me address this Full Tilt Poker situation: Where the hell is my money!!!? I didn't have a lot on there, but enough that I'd like it back. FTP had its license revoked and were accused of a Ponzi scheme by the DOJ. Do I think Howard Lederer and company were looking to scam everyone? No, I think they were guilty of bad accounting and paid themselves a little too early and often and got caught with their pants down. They *thought* they had an endless flow of money and it all came crashing down. I don't plan on seeing any of my money for a long time... They pressed their luck. These guys were given the ability to make money at a card game, then make millions on exploiting the game at global level, and now find themselves in debt for millions more in a civil and possibly criminal case? Bunch of fuck ups...

Trip Report 8/23 -8/24

2011-09-26T10:19:00.002-04:00

Made it down to Borgata on Friday night. My allergies were acting up pretty bad, so I decided to get a good nights sleep and go for a long session on Saturday.

The Borgata was packed. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting much of a turnout after Labor day and the Borg Poker Open. The club lines were wrapped around the floor. We had 4 tables of $10/20 going.

Played about 8 hours and won $52. Yay, go me. Had some dinner and came back for a few hours, won $605. Yay. Nothing too interesting to report. 1 more win and I should be fully recovered from the whooping I took over Labor Day weekend.

Came home early Sunday in time to watch the Giants game, and then pulled my hair out with the Jets vs Raiders.

And what a debacle that was... The Jets offensive line was way overmatched in the second half. The Jets defense couldn't put any pressure on Jason Campbell nor could they stop McFadden.

Hockey season is right around the corner...

Yup.

2011-09-22T15:22:00.003-04:00

I took a break from AC this weekend to go to Kelly's sister's 30th birthday party so no poker talk to speak of but here are some other musings:

This party reminded me of how much I really dislike yuppies. They're pretty boring and soulless. You know, those peeps that frequently meet after work for drinks at [insert Irish-sounding bar name here], get sweaty drunk and laugh about that "funny time Mike squeezed Jen's boob at the office in front of that guy who came from accounting after the meeting with a client that spilled their martini all over his pants in front of the water cooler while watching college football." HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Not funny to you? I guess you had to be there. Exactly.

They spend their money on Movado and Rolex watches because they can't think of anything imaginative to wear on their wrist. Let's buy this because it's a Rolex, and voila! Instant cred. Sorry, if this applies to anyone, but those watches are pretty hideous.

Also, when you start talking about home decorating and what you did to redo your bathroom... Oh, good grief...

I apologize for being a snob. Not really.

Oh, wait. Hipsters did you think you'd escape my wrath? Hey, I'm all for humanism and individual expression, but places like Bedford Avenue have become a zoo. Williamsburg is now home to human peacocks. They're all trying to outdo each other. It's sheer comedy. They've become such a running joke that I don't even consider hipsters eccentric, they're just at the other end of the spectrum of stupid.

I've been on a video game bender as of late. I just picked up Gears of War 3, Madden and NHL 12. I've finally started (and close to being hooked) on Final Fantasy XIII after having finished Final Fantasy IV Interlude.

My Jets are 2-0, but they're not without their shortcomings. The defense looked shaky in the first game against Romo, which I'll give them a pass for because it was the first game of the year and the Cowboys have a three-headed monster with Bryant, Austin, and Witten. But the offense has been erratic at best, and the running game is a big concern. If the offense can't maintain sustained drives and get touchdowns, it will surely tire our defense out. Hopefully, we can get it done against a Raider team we should beat.

Just finished reading my second John Locke novel, "Lethal Experiment". I enjoyed it knowing that there were very few redeeming qualities. Locke's protagonist, Donovan Creed is an assassin with "morals", morals that are pretty selfish and only make sense in his own head. For example, he's paid to kill a woman named Monica Childers via lethal injection. It's a job to him, so no problem right? He later learns that she was saved and sold to a wealthy terrorist who brutally raped her til she died. He then sets out to kill this guy for what he did to her! Um, Donovan, you're the one who agreed to put her into this predicament and didn't even care that he, himself, shoved her in a van (kidnapping), violently throttled her (assault), then stabbed her with a lethal shot (murder). He later kills his best friend and partner for a kidnapping that he didn't approve. So why do I like these books? Because I'm a guy and I like covert assassinations, crude humor about sex and stupidity, and moral dilemmas.

Ok, so there's a LOT of TV to watch this fall. I've never felt this overwhelmed. There's the 2nd season of Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead. Top Chef starts anew and I think the NBC sitcoms are up. It's Always Sunny in Philly and Archer are back, too.

Back to work on Friday (AC). I've got some work to do...

Trip Report 9/2 - 9/5 Laboring...

2011-09-12T11:24:00.003-04:00

I had an ugly Labor Day weekend pokerwise. They were some of my worst live sessions ever. I dropped 90+ big bets over 5 sessions. I never lost more than a rack so they weren't terrible losses, but they certainly added up. Here's how bad I ran: I was dealt AK 12 times and never won a pot with it. I never hit a flush. I hit 4 straights and 2 of them were losers. Baaaaaaaad. Just bad...

Compared to my online experiences, dropping 100+ big bets was not uncommon. Actually, I was pretty numb to it. Running bad comes with the territory. But it seemed far more traumatizing live because this was over a much longer period of time. I could lose 100+ big bets on Stars in about an hour, while this losing streak was over 20+ hours.

Anyhoo, the $75k freeroll was just as woeful. I played two hands through 7 levels and had my QQ cracked by A2. Ugh.

But luckily, I had a nice session this past Saturday where I won just under 40 big bets back. I picked up AA, KK, AK, 99, QQ, and TT and they all won in the same push! Sick!

Comin' On Like A Hurricane...

2011-08-29T18:43:00.007-04:00

Where were we? I'm not gonna lie, I've been too lazy to blog lately. So much has happened since my last post. Where do I begin? My vacation, lots of poker, an earthquake, a hurricane... Ok, let's try to recall what's happened chronologically.

First off my vacation: Kelly and I headed down to... where else? To the Borgata of course! Actually, this time we stayed at the Water Club, making it our first time there. I have to admit, the place is pretty swanky. The decor pretty much consists of high ceilings, fake bamboo everywhere, swimming pools, and more fancy shmancy marble. It felt like the Borgata's big brother.

The room was really, really nice. It certainly felt like an "upgrade" from the Borgata. The flat screen tv was an ample ~40", wall mounted display, with HD channels and external surround sound speakers. I was able to hook up my tablet to the hdmi inputs on it so we could watch a few movies. Me likey. The bed was also a plus since it came with a bunch of throw pillows. I had the best sleep in AC ever. Throw in a sexy chaise (that we never used, properly...) and a few bathrobes and I was sold. Haha. Unfortunately, the fridge was stuffed with bottles that were protected by an electronic sensor, so we weren't able to bring any refrigerated goodies but we made the best of it anyway. Overall, I was impressed.

Poker? I had only played a few hours in two quick, painless sessions. I won +$850. I don't even think I showed down a loser on the river. It was supposed to be easy, I was on vacation!

We had tickets to see Russell Brand's stand up on Sunday night at Borgata. I kept my expectations low because I never thought of him as much of a comedian. A comedic actor for sure, but did Russell Brand have much insight on anything aside from addiction recovery? I couldn't have been more wrong. He impressed me with his humorous thoughts on the idiosyncrasies of his experiences. He touched upon his times with the US Marine Corps, the MTV awards, Twitter, and of course, sex. He did a good job of balancing his anecdotes and jokes with his unusual spontaneity and charm. In particular, I liked how he was able to handle (and embarrass) a drunken heckler from the audience. In front of a mostly NY/NJ crowd, that isn't easy. Good show!

The following day, we walked the boardwalk and visited the Ripley's museum. We caught "Horrible Bosses" that night. It felt like a long episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" thanks to Charlie, which wasn't a bad thing.

Tuesday came, and so did the $15k freeroll. I busted when I flopped trips and lost to a straight. Ugh, now 0/3 on the free money. Then headed home to really relax.

I always feel guilty about how much there is to do in NY, but rarely get around to doing anything. So Kelly and I paid a visit to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. They had a great exhibit on Jim Henson and the Muppets where I learned that Jim was a sick puppy. He must've smoked a lot of doobies. He was pretty deranged. Damn hippie...

Then it was back to AC. This time with Sasha, Teddy, and Jesse in tow. I must've played 20+ hours of poker this time around, and found myself stuck -$300. I ran pretty bad for a while, and at one point hadn't won a pot in 4 hours. Ugh-ly. But I was happy to only be stuck the 3 bills. What a funny game.

Somewhere in between, an earthquake hit. I didn't notice it.

Then Irene hit. I think I barely noticed it.

Next up, the $75k freeroll tourney on Sept. 6. I only like to win the big ones anyway. Wish me luck!

Trip Report 8/5 - 8/6 A Weekend In AC With My Mom...

2011-08-08T15:41:00.003-04:00

I've been meaning to take my mom for a weekend getaway and/or a mini vacation for a long time. I haven't been on a trip with her in probably 20 years. It's been hard to plan anything with our conflicting work schedules. So with all of the comps I've earned at the Borgata and my mom having the weekend off, I figured why not? I knew she'd love the Borgata, especially the buffet.

From the moment we arrived on Friday night, my mom was amazed by the sights at Borgata. The marble floors, glass sculptures, and plethora of slot machines... I could tell she was impressed. She didn't remember Atlantic City looking like this. She made a big wow when she saw our room. Then it was off to the buffet.

My mom loves buffets. Who doesn't? While we were eating, she mentioned "Only good gamblers and old people get everything for free" which made me cringe a little bit. I didn't want my mom to know that I get any sort of compensation from the casino, because that would imply that I've been "gambling" here.

You see, my mom and I have clashed for years over this whole poker thing. She doesn't know the difference between a slot machine and a flush draw. Or the fact that when you play poker, you play against other people and NOT the house. So over the years, we've fought over my "gambling" problem. Of course, she also does not know that I've been able to pay for a few semesters of college and my last 3 years of rent with poker winnings. So in a nutshell, my mom dies not approve of my poker habits.

So after dinner, my mom turned in early (we had an early day planned) and I headed towards the poker room (What gambling problem? Haha). There were two main games which I found odd. When there's 4 tables, there's 1 main game, but now there were only two main games with no list? Whatever. I sat down and played for about 4 hours and got up around 3am since I had to get up early the next day. I won $60.

Saturday came, we had breakfast at the buffet (it never gets old), then I had to set up my mom's new phone service (big ups to Page Plus Cellular!). Then we headed out to the boardwalk. We had plans to go to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. It's about $17.50 per ticket and I thought it would be a fun thing for my mom to see since it's pretty much a full-on visual experience (with not a lot of explaining to do).

The museum was fun and had some interesting exhibits (it could've used some more air conditioning). It was a bit a cheesy at times (a NJ devil, really?), but we had a good time. I recommend it as something fun to do in AC besides gambling/eating.

After a quick lunch at the pier shops, we returned to the Borgata. I wanted my mom to have some fun at gambling so I figured we could stop and play some penny slots to kill some time. To which my mom replied, "No, 5 cent". So I finally found a nickel slot in the non smoking area. :)

My mom won $5.10 and quit. Boy, that was fun.

Off to Fornelletto at Borg for dinner... 9pm came and my mom was pooped so we went back to our room. That's when she started to get on my nerves about how I know AC so well and that I'm always busy because I'm in AC. Bla bla bla, I didn't want to argue with her so I left to go play poker (this is much funnier in hindsight).

I played for 3 hours and whacked the guppies for +$1222. I had a rush of AQ, AQ, AA, then AQ in consecutive hands and they all won. Took down a capped pot with AK twice then turned a set with QQ. I called it an early night and shot the shit with Sasha and Adam for a bit then turned in.

Sunday came and after breakfast, we headed home. Next week, vacation in AC! Yay!

Trip Report 7/29 - 7/31 Hit and Run...

2011-08-04T15:22:00.003-04:00

I played 14 hours from Friday night into Saturday afternoon in an attempt to get unstuck. I finally took Sasha's advice to get some rest so that I could play later while there were a few tables on Saturday night. I got up around 3pm stuck -$195.

I took what was about a 2 hour nap, showered, and stromboli'd myself down to the poker room. Yes, "stromboli'd" is exactly what you think it is: shoving stromboli into your mouth as fast as you can so you can hurry into your poker game. :)

I played for about another 4 hours and turned a profit +$563. After a trip to the noodle bar, I was delirious and turned in early.

I was itching to get home early Sunday but jumped into a juicy game around 4pm. I caught a nice rush of cards and won another $340. Already annoyed that it was past 6pm, I headed home. What a blur...

I almost forgot to mention that during my long session Fri/Sat I had the pleasure of playing with a gentleman named Ken. Ken is a rather large man, morbidly obese to be blunt. He rides a scooter around the Borgata gambling it up at all levels. I saw him playing $2/4 and $1/2NL. Ken likes to say completely random, non sequitur statements in a rapid fire manner, most of which I found rather amusing. In 14 hours, I don't think he stopped... Here's a few of his musings:

Do you remember Mr. Ed?

What do you like on your pancakes?

Have you ever had potato and eggs?

Who was that "Vida Loca" guy? Did you know he was gay? Did you know that I'm gay? I'm a bisexual actually. A switch hitter...

Steve, did you have an aunt named Matilda?

I have fromunda cheese... Cheese fromunda my balls!

Trip Report 7/22 - 7/23 Black Labeled!

2011-07-27T10:35:00.002-04:00

Finally got my black card at Borgata! So naturally when I need to hit the lobby, the red label line is shorter. And again, when Kelly and I hit the buffet, the red line is shorter there too. Damn this infernal caste system! Well, at least I get free parking...

After two card dead sessions on a juicy Saturday I was stuck -$700. Yuck. I lost a big pot with AA to J5. I folded for a few hours til the game became short. I played heads up with some kid and took about $250 off of him til the table finally broke.

Sunday came, and I bounced out of the freeroll tourney shortly after the break. I shoved for 9200 UTG with KT, blinds were 800/1600. The big blind decides to call for 3/4 of his stack with Q7 suited, I lose.

Had a nice win on Sunday to bring myself close to even. Here's my hand of the weekend:

I open with KsQs from mid position. Two guys cold call, then a pretty solid online player 3 bets. I opt to just call and not cap out out of position. We see a flop 4 handed. The flop is Ts4s5s. Bingo! I lead, one guy folds, next guy raises, the online kid 3 bets, I cap, they both call. The turn is a red ace. I put the kid on AA with a spade so this just gave the kid a monster draw. I lead the turn, the other caller folds, and I get raised again. I elect to just call and hope for a safe card on the river. I 3 bet the river when the lovely 3c hits. Yay, money!

Trip Report 7/15 - 7/17 Up and Down...

2011-07-21T11:11:00.003-04:00

Headed down to AC early, straight after work Friday night and arrived at the Borgata right around 7. After checking in, I headed down to the poker room and was quickly seated.

I can't remember much from this session other than that I was pretty card dead for about 11 hours. I couldn't hit a draw for my life. By 7am I was stuck a little over -$1k. Same old story huh?

I slept maybe 2 hours before getting ready for Saturday afternoon. I hit the tables around 1pm. I was stuck -$200 right off the bat. Before I left to the main table, I was up +$500. By the time 8pm rolled around, I was up $1540: a personal best since I started coming down in mid-May.

I was 6 for 6 with pocket nines. With three of them I hit full houses. I was undefeated with KK and AK won two capped pots for me. Pretty much ran like god for 3 hours.

After having dinner with Rob, he was kind enough to offer me a stay in his room. I was feeling a little light headed from only two hours of sleep the night before, so I decided to take a nap. That didn't work, after BS-ing with Rob most of the night, I woke up and it was Sunday afternoon. Back to work...

In a rather uneventful session, I won +$145. I would've been up a bit more but I was dealt AK suited, KK, and JJ in my last hour and lost all three pots. Then I had to rush home. I'm glad I left when I did. I ran into a bit of traffic and it took me over 4 hours to get home! Jeebus! WTF!?

Anyhoo, the 2nd $15k freeroll is this weekend. I'm definitely excited for that. But I'll be even happier to see Kelly since she's been gone all week. She's vacationing with her family in Virginia. I'm uber excited that she'll be coming with me on this gamblin' trip...

Trip Report 7/8 - 7/10 Quick Hits...

2011-07-15T20:23:00.008-04:00

Quick post, pretty busy at the moment... I had two small winning sessions during this trip. Won $287 on Friday then $240 on Saturday. Both were relatively short sessions. Played the $15k freeroll on Sunday, lost with JJ to QT after getting through half the field. Sasha ninja'd his short stack all the way through to the final table and chopped for $1k. Nice!

Not much else to report. It was fun to play a tourney. I'll be playing in another $15k freeroll next weekend. Wish me luck...

Trip Report 7/1 - 7/4 Taking Lumps

2011-07-08T08:47:00.003-04:00

I suffered my first losing trip to AC and boy was it a doosie. I went against what I said I'd do and played Friday night. I've been hesitant to play on Friday because the game has been breaking rather early. Anyhoo, I went down to the poker room anyway. Game broke at 230am, I was stuck $260.

Saturday came and I was excited. I got a chance to run through two must move games and scored my biggest win so far. Whacked it for $1009.

We had dinner reservations at Sea Blue and had a delightful meal. Kelly got a wonderful piece of grilled octopus and I was able to indulge in some beef bone marrow. They threw in some fresh naan and some tasty hummus and I was happy. As an entree, I ordered the lamb chops which were perfectly cooked but not sure if three lamb chops were worth $48. Kelly went with the monkfish saddle (whatever that is). I was impressed by the pretty eclectic menu and service. We'll definitely go back again.

Then Sunday came. At one point I had a 3 in my hand 8 times in a row. I had KK twice and AA once. I think QQ went down in flames 4 or 5 times. AK and AQ were pretty futile. And I missed about every draw imaginable. No really bad beats to speak of, I just never really had anything. Simply card dead. I played a second session into the wee hours of Monday morning. More of the same...

That session was one of the worst live downswings I've had in a long time, almost a -100 big bet downswing. It happens. There will be even worse ones so I have to shake it off and get ready for the next game. I remember having -200 big bet losses on Stars, so I know it's just the nature of the beast.

Anyhoo, I'm heading down to Delaware tonight to pick up a package at Robbie's then off to the Borgata. After cash games on Saturday, I'll be playing a freeroll at Borgata on Sunday. It'll be fun to get some tourney practice in.

"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"

2011-06-30T11:00:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I was listening to President Obama's press conference addressing the debt crisis. He stated that he had no intentions of taxing the middle and lower classes and pushed his agenda to tax the extremely wealthy and big corporations like the oil industry to help stabilize the economy.

His critics are quick to call him a socialist/communist. To paraphrase Bill O'Reilly (of all people!), go ask the people of Cuba and North Korea what socialism/communism are and they will tell you what it's like to live in a country where wealth/poverty have no meaning.

It's a civil duty to pay your taxes right? Well, why all the complaining? So instead of making a billion dollars, you only get to keep $600-800 million of it? This is the exact same criticism that FDR faced when he introduced the New Deal. How dare we look out for our fellow citizens? If our country should defend us in war, murder, terrorism etc, then why shouldn't our government protect its citizens from poverty, disease, strife, and ignorance?

However, I'm really afraid that Obama is up against a brick wall of Republicans that are only going to stick to their blockheaded political agendas. His idea of the GOP choosing between the "lesser evil" seems a bit unrealistic. That is, he hopes that his measures will pass through congress when the GOP recognizes that taxing the rich and erasing big ticket tax breaks is the logical choice over letting the US default on its debts. I'm not quite sure that it's such a political arm twister. I think the GOP would be content with letting the US economy fall apart just so that they can use it as a weapon against him in the next election... Then again, by some miracle he got the healthcare reform bill passed.

Which brings me to complain about this whole debt crisis anyway. I get annoyed that Obama's opponents are going to use the state of the economy as their sticking point against him. Well, last time I checked all of the banks that were handing out $0 down payment loans to people who couldn't hold down a job were under the BUSH Administration's watch which plunged us into this recession anyway. Our laissez faire, dog eat dog, capitalist-must-prevail-at-all-costs mentality is what led us to this problem. Oh yeah, and how about that $x-trillion surplus which Bush returned to people who didn't need it. We could really use that surplus now. Good job Bush, you're a fucking idiot.

A co-worker asked me, if I were super wealthy, would I change my stance? Of course not. I would be happy as shit to even be considered wealthy. Or even now, I could vote next year for a presidential candidate like former NM Governor, Gary Johnson, who supports online poker. That would probably help me financially, but I would still vote for Obama since I think he's still the best man for the job.

I'm just so sick of the Obama bashing. Sure, I'm a fan of his, but it's really disheartening and annoying to listen to people (like my co-workers) make unreasonable arguments. They're knocking him for a problem he didn't create. That's like knocking the new superintendent for a really old apartment building with bad pipes and they're expecting him to fix them in an unrealistic amount of time. And how can he fix the problem when our congressional leaders won't let him? Jeebus, I should just move to Canada.

Trip Report 6/24 - 6/26

2011-06-29T21:01:00.001-04:00

I'm writing this entry via my new toy, the Asus Transformer tablet+ keyboard. It's pretty neat. It's certainly not a necessary item, but I'm in love with it no less. It's basically an NVidia Tegra 2 dual core tablet with an optional keyboard dock that houses an additional battery. More importantly, it features Android 3.1 aka Honeycomb which just blows away my Viewsonic G Tab and Froyo. Perhaps it will encourage me to write more often... We'll see.

So I headed down to Borgata Friday night, braving the torrential downpour on the Garden State Parkway. It took me about 3.5 hours to get to the Borgata. Despite leaving earlier than usual, between the storms and the wait for a seat in the game, I didn't start playing until 11pm.

I got off to a pretty bad start. I flopped a set with 66 and lost to a guy who raised with 78 suited and the flop hit 69T. Ugh. Then I made one of the biggest mistakes you could make: I laid down a winner. I capped with KK prefllop and got two callers. The flop hit Ace high and I led out and got raised by the three bettor. The crazy guy in the big blind cold called. Ok, so I think we're beat here, right?

The turn is a rag, and we all check. Huh? I think we're good now. The river is another brick. The 3 bettor bets and then the big blind calls... Ok, I felt like when the BB called, he had a weak ace so I folded. Oh, god that's so awful! They had 77 and a pair of 5's! I definitely would've called the guy with 77, but the overcall weirded me out. Jeebus... It was just weird and it threw me off my read. The game broke shortly thereafter, around 2am. I was stuck $240. Yuck.

Saturday came, and so did Sasha. He caught the 630 am bus and I left him a room key at the front desk. After my Saturday brunch, I was quickly seated in the must move game around 1pm. Nothing really to report except that I won $200 and that I had a quick dinner with Sasha and Rob around 7pm.

Upon returning, I sat in the juicy must move game for a while but couldn't get much going. After finally moving to the main game, my stack was really dwindling. The game was getting more aggressive and I hadn't won a pot in over two hours. As the wee hours of the morning approached, the game dwindled down and became shorthanded. By 4am, I was playing three handed with this younger guy from Brooklyn, and this Indian guy who regularly plays $20/40. After playing a three handed death match for about an hour, I played heads up with the kid from Brooklyn for another hour and a half. Finished up for the night (day actually) +$185.

On Sunday, it was back to work, and I was on the verge of booking a nice win for the weekend when I'm dealt AA. The flop hit J93. Good flop for me. I raise it up and get two callers. So I say to myself, "don't put up a K". So naturally, a king hits the turn. It's checked to me and I bet. Neither of them raise me so I know the one guy has QQ. I do not want to see a Q or a T (for the straight) on the river. So of course a 10 hits the river and facing a bet, I folded. The guy turns over QQ. Ugh.

Near the end, after not winning a pot for another 3 hours, I get my revenge by whacking the same guy when I turned the nut straight against his set. 4 bets on the turn and he finally figured it out :) I won $240, negating my loss from the Friday. So far, I'm undefeated when the game doesn't break on me!

Ahhh... Borgata, until we meet again... Next Friday!!!