| taking the perks |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|11:37 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | poker | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sore | ] |
I sometimes think I should get up early enough to catch the 7:30 bus to the casino rather than the 11:00. But really, one of the perks of trying to play poker for significant income is that you shouldn't have to wake up at 6am to go to work. :) |
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| GNE |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|10:35 am] |
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Given the soggy state of the site, and the fact that the DSL line is still not entirely stable, I think my current plan is to daytrip GNE on Saturday, rather than camping the entire weekend. Not ideal, but it will serve. |
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| begging the question |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|09:43 am] |
The question of the C.I.A.’s candor with the Congressional oversight committees has been hotly disputed since Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of failing to disclose in a 2002 briefing that it had used waterboarding against a terrorism suspect. Ms. Pelosi said the agency routinely misled Congress, though she later said she intended to fault the Bush administration rather than career intelligence officials.
Since then, Republicans have called Ms. Pelosi’s complaint an unwarranted attack on the integrity of counterterrorism officers and have demanded an investigation.
I think the point is to figure out whether our counterterrorism efforts of the past eight years have, in fact, had any integrity to them. |
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| the arithmetic of jackpots |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|09:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | poker | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  giddy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dazed and Confused-Led Zeppelin-Mothership (Remastered) | ] |
As a general rule, at the level of poker I'm playing at, I'm very mildly in favor of jackpots. It's zero-sum, and keeps poorer players in hands that they shouldn't be in, so it ends up being a plus for me. Hitting it didn't hurt either. :)
As I mentioned in the comments earlier, the possibility of hitting the jackpot actually affected the play of the hand I won it in. Here's what happened:
I was in a $1/$2 NL game with $200 on the button with AK of spades. There were 2 limpers in front of me, I raised it to
$10, everybody called ($46 in the pot).
Flop was Qs Js 8d. The blinds checked, next player bet $25, I called, everyone else folded. ($96 in the pot.)
Turn was the 3s. My opponent bets $50. I call. ($196 in the pot.)
The point is that here I would normally have raised him all in, for two reasons: first, if he has trips or two pair, I want him to pay to get there. Second, if a spade comes on the river, it might kill all the action. The problem here is that if I raise him all in and he folds, I lose any chance at the jackpot.
The jackpot normally comes in somewhere between $1500 and $2000. There was a big guaranteed tourney that was going to suck out a bunch of players, so this was going to be at the lower end. For our purposes, let's call it $1600. (It actually was $1574.) My chances of spiking the Ts on the river is a bit better than 1 in 46. I say a bit better because there are some implications. The folks who folded certainly didn't have the T9 of spades, and probably didn't have 98 or Tx of spades, or they would have hung around. Similarly, the remaining opponent doesn't have those holdings, or he would have been afraid to bet. So guessing my actual chances are about 1 in 45, the E.V. from the jackpot is going to be about $35, with very high variance. :)
If my opponent has 2 pair or a set, the chance of the board pairing is 10/44. Another 7/44 times a spade will come that kills the action. For what it's worth, what I actually think is going on, given my opponent, is that he's representing an A high flush. So basically a quarter of the time a scare card will come, and I'll only be behind some variable amount of the time when it does (he might be on a bluff, or now have three pair - I'll certainly call any bet he makes.) My guess is that a scare card will on par, cost me $25. The other thing to consider is that if I put him all in now, he can't bluff the river, which he might well do. (I'd seen him make fire three bullets often enough that I was a certainly not in a believing mood.)
So I guesstimated that a check was about $25 worse than a raise all-in. So on par, that meant playing for the jackpot was right, I did so, the T of spades came in, and my opponent put me all in for another $115 on a total bluff.
You can see if I was playing in even a $2/$5, raising all-in on the turn would have been a better play, I guess sort of depending on how likely I valued the chance of my opponent being on the big bluff. |
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| I'm back |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|07:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | giddy | ] |
My broadband connection problems appear to be resolved, but I suspect it will take a day or so for things to settle down. |
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| maintaining my rep as the luckiest guy in the world |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|06:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | giddy | ] |
Last night, I won the jackpot on the 6-10pm shift in the poker room at Mohegan Sun with a royal flush.
Details and thoughts later when my internet connection comes back up. |
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| Onto the next |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|03:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | giddy | ] |
This year's Pennsic reading is going to be The Tain. Heaven help my pronunciation. As usual, I'll start on the middle Friday, at 18:00, rain or shine, and continue through the final Friday, perhaps doing a bit more at the 21st century party. |
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| Done |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|09:10 am] |
Saturday saw our last performance of Henry V. We got as far as the Crispin's Day speech, and then the rain became too much to continue - the musicians' music started melting, they were worrying for their instruments, and the ground behind the flats was getting dicey.
It's too bad, because I think in some senses we were turning in our best performance yet. We had last minute replacements for Boy, Katherine, MacMorris, and Orleans, but they generally did quite well, and the rest of the cast seemed to mesh together even better than they did at the event show. In particular, I though Eletarius had managed to expand the range of feeling, cognition, and motivations for Henry in ways that I thought fit in with the structure of our presentation.
The Buttery back yard turns out to be a fairly nice performance space. It can seat 30 comfortably, and the space is enclosed enough that it is easy to be heard. I am told that our show has inspired other people to consider using the space - I would not be surprised if there are I Sebastiani shows there in the future. I know I'd put on a show there again.
All in all, I'm glad I decided to go forward with the project; the play came out pretty much the way I saw it in my mind - better for the additions the actors brought to it. I think I got some insights into staging Elizabethan theater, and once it has settled in a bit, I am going to write it up and submit it to TI, I think. |
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| Anonimity |
[Jun. 25th, 2009|11:32 pm] |
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So I ended up playing a match on pokerstars against someone named "DavePham". From the way he played, and of course from the level we were playing at, I am fairly sure it was not the famous one (at least in poker circles). It did keep me wondering for a bit, which I presume choosing that handle was designed to do. |
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| I think there may be a data fight looming |
[Jun. 25th, 2009|03:59 pm] |
The airport security expediter Clear has filed for bankruptcy.
The thing is, they have this several hundred thousand person database chock full of security information. I wonder what happens if someone offers to buy it? |
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| Henry V reprise |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|04:07 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
The Carolingian Mummers will be staging a reprise performance of Henry V at the Buttery Birthday party this Saturday, starting at 3pm. You can find directions here.
So if you missed the first performance, or want to see it again, you should come by on Saturday, and in the bargain, end up at a great party to boot. |
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| nice tapas place |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|11:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
You can drop me randomly pretty much inside the Greater Boston area, and it is very likely I will know exactly where I am. The two big exceptions to this are the South End and Roxbury. Yes, I'll sort of figure it out by noticing the Hancock Tower orientation with respect to the Prudential Center, but that won't mean I know what's around where I am.
I did a bit to fix that tonight by going to a tapas place in the South End called Estragon on a recommendation from Davey's friend Rhys, who lives pretty much in the center of the historic South End area. In a nutshell, I recommend it - it's slightly cheaper than Tapeo, and a bit more down-to-earth, with ingredients that are more plebian than patrician.
I got off the T at South Station (Broadway would have been a better choice, and Andrew wouldn't have been a bad one), made my way to Harrison Street, and walked down to East Brookline, where I in fact met Davey for dinner, though not Rhys. I briefly thought I had the directions wrong, and the place was at East Berkeley, but the layout of the South End reinforced the directions - once I passed a Waltham, Malden, and East Canton streets, I understood that there was in fact going to be an East Brookline. Another example of naming conventions being useful tools.
The place was a converted warehouse space, with a dominating bar along the inside wall that nonetheless felt spacious and roomy in spite of the pipes running along the ceiling. The wait staff were quite competent, both knowledgeable and around at exactly when we needed them, without the ever-cloying "is everything all right?" question every 15 minutes.
Round 1:
Boquerone con marchego y Tomate. Very nice imported white anchovies. My favorite of the night.
Albondigas de Bacalao. These cod fritters were a bit of a disappointment. Nothing particularly wrong with them, but they seemed a bit eh. I guess I'm always hoping for the nice salt cod offerings at Atasca.
Panceta. A perfectly cooked piece of pork belly, with a nice garlic sauce.
Round 2:
Espincas a la Catalana. Apparently, spinich was meant to be sauteed in olive oil, and served with pine nuts and raisins. Who knew?
Pincho Moruno. Lamb skewers with a homemade cumin mustard that didn't burn out my mouth. (Most mustard does, these days.)
Jamon con Melon. On the theory that everything goes better with bacon, this is melon slices wrapped with serrano ham. Very tasty.
We finished off with a cheese plate that was quite nice - I particularly liked the blue cheese, which was the hard crumbly version. I also had some very nice cortado, which I quite liked.
I definitely want to go back and try the paella sometime, but this was a tapas night, and that would have been a meal in itself. |
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| historical oddity |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|04:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
I got to read the plaque for the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown, MA. yesterday, and noticed that it referred to James I as the king of France. This got me to doing a little looking around, and I discovered the English monarchy claimed that until after the French Revolution, when George III dropped the claim upon the creation of the United Kingdom of England and Ireland.
Interestingly, the followers of the Jacobite pretenders to the English throne haven't renounced the claim, and refer to the current pretender (right now, Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern) as the king of France.
Fascinating. |
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| Poor Alex Rodriguez |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|09:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
... he had a few moments of thinking he was going to be the hero of last night's Yankess-Red Sox game. Instead, the Red Sox went 8-0 vs. the Bronx Bombers when they finally wore out C.C. Sabathia and got to the bullpen in the eigth inning, and then sealed the deal in the ninth with a nifty grab on the run, spin and throw to first by the short stop Nick Green, reminiscent of Nomar's spin and throws. |
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| book meme |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|10:40 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | silly | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dazed and Confused-Led Zeppelin-Mothership (Remastered) | ] |
List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you: list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it.
1. Silverlock
2. The Selfish Gene
3. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
4. Lord Of The Rings
5. The Language Instinct
6. A History Of The Art Of War In The Middle Ages
7. The Art Of Computer Programming
8. Glory Road
9. Killer Angels
10. The Strategikon
11. The Foundation Trilogy
12. Cordelia's Honor
13. Remaking Eden
14. The Iliad
15. Njal's Saga |
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| self-referential half-victory |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|12:28 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | silly | ] |
So I made my saving throw against entering a flame war, but failed my saving throw against bragging about making my saving throw against entering a flame war.
Ah well, maybe next time I'll do better. |
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| OK, now that's impressive |
[Jun. 8th, 2009|11:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | impressed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | stakeout-Freezepop-Fancy Ultra•Fresh | ] |
Apparently, if she's to be believed (and it turns out I do), the Norwegian poker player Annette Obrestad won a low stakes 180-person online tournament while only peeking at her cards once.
She's also won the WSOP Europe main event once, but won't be eligible to play in the WSOP in Nevada until 2010 because she isn't 21 yet. |
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| Shakespeare as Commedia dell'arte |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|10:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | silly | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Como Poden-Vince Conaway-L’Inverno Italiano | ] |
From a discusssion in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jducoeur's journal, I bring you "What if the characters in Henry V were in I Sebastiani, the Greatest Commedia troupe in the Entire World?"
Henry V as Eratzio
Catherine as Isabella
Fluellen as Doctorre Gratiano
Canterbury as Pantalone
Pistol as Spivento
Boy as Pedrolino
The Dauphin as Brighella
and
Michael Williams as Arlechinno |
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| The director's moment |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|05:17 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | surprised | ] |
| [ | music |
| | outer space-Freezepop-Fancy Ultra•Fresh | ] |
Suffice it to say that what turns the director on is going to be a bit different from what grabs the audience. By the time a show goes up, the director has seen each scene dozens of times, and the show in toto at least five or six, and so the things the audience notice on first viewing are old hat for the director.
But there are moments of quiet satisfaction, when everything just seems to click, and a sweet realization that the actors have done things well will show on the director's face. I first noticed this phenomenon when Kathryn was directing The Tempest: there was something about Prospero's last scene with Ariel that just gave her immense satisfaction. I think I have an idea of what it was, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that what got me about that scene was entirely different from what floated her boat.
My moment in this production comes between Act III.2, and Act III.3. The Constable of France has the last line in III.2, walks off stage left, switches his cloak and hat, and comes back in as Bedford for the second line of III.3. There is simply no time at all for any sort of transition, and yet, when Christovau walked back on, I found the idea that he was now an English noble, instead of a French commander, totally believable.
Walk off. Walk on. Everything's different. What's not to like about that? |
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