Don't use Dr. Move in Dallas

I'm moving my office from the physical Oak Lawn address into my spare room at home, since I spend so much time on the road with this client I've had for the last 2 years. To make life simpler (ha!), I called "Dr. Move" to make the move. I only have a small office, and really, with proper padding, it could be moved in a pickup truck. But, because of their pricing structure, I needed to pay for their 20' truck in order to get the free packing services they offer. I discussed this with the Dr. Move sales person, and laughed over the ridiculousness of the situation, having to pay for the bigger truck.

Today, Dr. Move showed up (btw, if you're wondering why I keep saying Dr. Move, it's so Google will pick this blog entry up so people get warned appropriately) an hour late, with no packing materials. The mover in charge called to the dispatch center, and the woman I had spoken to was not there. They decided they'd need to come back tomorrow, with materials, and they'd need to charge me more for the wasted trip. Uh... I don't think so.

I argued a bit with whoever was in the Dr. Move sales office this morning, and finally just canceled it. They were jerking me around. So, what happened after that? Ten minutes later, the original sales woman called me to yell at me over the misunderstanding. Very classy. After yelling for 3 minutes, with me unable to get a word in edgewise, she said "there's no point in talking about this, you've made up your mind." I told her if we were going to talk about it, it would be a 2 way street, with me actually getting to say something, but yes, she's correct: Dr. Move is not doing my move, they're out.

So, if you're doing a move in Dallas, do yourself a favor ... do NOT call Dr. Move.

General Chaos

Sounds like a superhero name, doesn't it? It just describes my home right now. Moving things around and trying to get better network coverage.

To continue the chaos theme of the trip, Robyn reports that her bags were MIA when she got home to KC. Bummer. I guess they showed up around 8:30p, but what a hassle.

Oh, and I pinged Jack Effel about the BBQ joint I couldn't remember. He's talking about this one. I'll check it out this week.

More Poker Stories from the Road

Now that I've got a little more time, I'll fill you in on a few more poker-related stories from the trip.

Satellites
The night before the 3rd tourney, Robyn and I each played 2 $75 buy-in satellites into the $560 events. We each lost our first one, and each won our second one. Robyn won hers outright, whereas I chopped mine 50/50 with the 2nd place player. When we got to heads up, there were 10,000 chips on the table. I had 5050, he had 4950. So, chopping seemed like the right thing to do.

With 4 of us left, there was a key hand that made it so I only had 1/2 the chips, and it typifies some of the crazy play we saw while we were there. I'm table chip leader, with a little over 1/3 of the chips in play. The blinds are not yet outrageous, and the UTG player raises 3x the BB. The button folds, and the small blind calls. I have A9s, and I decide to put some pressure on, so I move all in. The UTG player pretty quickly says "well, I think I have to call here", so he's all in. The small blind thinks for a little while and says "I guess I'll gamble at this late hour. I call" before turning over 67s. It turns out UTG had AQo. The small blind made a straight, and I paired my 9, knocking out the UTG player and leaving me a little short. Thankfully, mister 67 continued to play in that style, and it didn't take long for the other guy and me to pick him apart. But, if he hadn't called there, I would have taken out UTG and been too healthy to honor the chop request. (I'm confident in my heads up play. I would have played it out.)

Management and BBQ
The management of this tourney was excellent. The structure was chosen by Harrah's Atlantic City Poker Room Manager, John Arthur. It was very player friendly, giving plenty of time to maneuver. I watched John make several decisions, and wasn't disappointed with any of them. He also ended up comping our rooms for 4 nights after chatting with him over the difference between the "poker rate" and the rate Robyn and I were each quoted for rooms, so for that, we are grateful.

Overall Director of Poker Operations for Harrah's, Jack Effel, was in attendance as well. Jack was very friendly and handled all kinds of situations with a very cool head. He was always nice, and never leveled blame at a dealer for something gone wrong at a table.

It turns out Jack is from Dallas, having moved away from here 10 years ago. He recommended the world's best BBQ restaurant to me, and I promised to bring him some to the main WSOP in July, but after a Google search, it looks like they're no longer in business.

Brush with Greatness
On our 4th day in town, Robyn and I were both pretty deep into our bankrolls, and we were looking for a non-gambling-related distraction. My vote was to find some internet access so I could shop for Christmas presents (amazon.com, of course), and she opted for some nearby brick-and-mortar shopping. She went to the concierge desk to get information on shopping, and was waiting in line behind a man that was taking a while. Ever the friendly smartass, she says to his turned back "Are you hogging the concierge?" The man turns around, smiles, and says "yes I am."

It was Phil Gordon, in early so he could give a seminar before the main event. He was very friendly and accepted her stunned gushing praise for his books very graciously. I had just bought his Little Blue Book the day before (while we were out at lunch), and she asked if he'd sign it for me if we bumped into him again. He agreed. Unfortunately, we never saw him again. I assume he spent his time at the Borgata where the real cash games are, and we (finally!) left before his seminar. At least Robyn got to chat with one of our mutual heros. I pretty much missed the whole thing.

Stranded in AC

So... it's been a while since I last posted. Here's the deal. Just as I was gathering up my crap for check out yesterday morning (Thursday), Delta called and left an automated message that there was an update to my flight. I called them back to discover that my flight out had been canceled due to mechanical failure, and the next available flight out was 8AM the next day (today), going through Orlando. Robyn's flight was rescheduled for 7AM, going through Atlanta. I'm not sure why I didn't get the Atlanta flight, since that would be easier, but whatever.

So, we extended our rooms for a night. A little later, Delta leaves me an automated message again, saying my Philadelphia to Dallas flight had an updated flight time. Huh? When I called them, I discovered that I was somehow associated to both the Atlantic City flight and this random Philly flight – but not actually ticketed on either one. I had them cancel the Philly flight and ticket me for Orlando, then I asked them to check to see if Robyn was ticketed; she was not, and they fixed that.

Last night around 6:30-ish, Delta called again but I missed the call. I didn't call them until around 10pm, after we heard from Robyn's husband that Delta had called her house with an update. They had canceled our flights again, this time due to weather. I'm not sure how they cancel a 7 or 8 am flight at 10pm on account of weather, but they did (more on this in a second).

The new plans were for me to leave Atlantic City at 2:30 on Friday, but Robyn wasn't able to get out until Saturday morning at 7. Pretty ridiculous. Anyway, I had them change my flight to Saturday at 7 so Robyn isn't stranded alone. Oh, and I discovered that Robyn's flight wasn't ticketed, despite the customer service agent she spoke to saying it was. So, we fixed that. We extended our rooms for one more night. Sadly, the $39 poker player rate no longer applies; we're getting the $109 poker player rate. Oh well.

Now ... the weather. When I woke up this morning and looked outside, I realized why they canceled the flights. I mean, if a pilot tried to take off in this kind of weather, there would be trouble. He'd be blinded by the sun! It's fucking gorgeous outside. Assholes. It's pretty clear they were just trying to clear the flight to make room for higher-ranked Medallion members.

So, I've learned two things on this trip. 1) Delta will lie to you to strand you somewhere, and 2) If you want things handed at least somewhat correctly, go through the Medallion customer service line (which is what I called each time), not the general line (which is what Robyn called each time).

No Luck This Time

Wow. I'm a little stunned. I was playing great poker and had the biggest stack at the table, when the following happened.

The blinds are 100/200 with 25 ante, and I'm in the big blind with KK. There's a middle position raise to 650. The shortest stack at the table goes all in for 375 more. The small blind just calls. I want to take it down and go heads up against the short stack who is likely a weak ace, so I push all in for around 12K.

The initial raiser goes into the tank for 4 minutes or so. He has about 3100 in chips left. I should also mention that there's a tournament director standing by ready to break down our table to send us elsewhere. Finally the initial raiser says something like "I got aces cracked just before a table break yesterday, so I'll lay these down." (I later found out he held QQ.)
Now the small blind goes into the tank for a little while, counts and recounts his chips. It turns out he has about 11K. During his deliberations, he says "I have a pocket pair, which makes this hard." Eventually, he makes the all-in call.

We all turn them up. All-in short stack has JJ. All-in small blind has 33. Yes, 33. I have KK. You guessed it, dear readers, the river brought a 3, and I'm now down to exactly 1000 chips as I move to the new table, neck sore from all the bewildered head shaking over this guy's call.
I folded 4 hands in a row before picking up AJ and moving all in. I'm called by 88. The flop brought me an A, but the river brought him an 8, so I'm done.

Robyn is still in, and severely short stacked. Hopefully she'll bounce back and win the 48K prize pool.

Me, I'm off the to the craps table.

Ugh

Well, I made it to level 3, at least. My cards were just choppy, and fell such that I won small pots but lost big ones. I don’t really feel like I made many big mistakes, the cards just weren’t with me.

Robyn is still in ... Kick some ass, Robyn... I’ll be at the craps table.

Try, Try Again

Ok, now that I've slept off the few beers I needed to numb the pain of that late exit...

Today's game plan is the same as yesterdays: Patience. Wait for the right cards and/or the right moments, then be aggressive with them. It paid off well yesterday. Thinking back on it, there was only one pot that got to showdown where I lost, not knowing I'd lose it. All other pots were either taken down uncontested, someone being all-in (usually the other guy) with me having the best of it, or got to showdown with me holding a monster that got called anyway.

I made one key mistake in the late stages yesterday that I won't repeat. I had a stack that had fallen below average, just from the sheer cost of an orbit, and I was waiting patiently for a hand on which I could take a stand. Finally, I picked up ATs, but there was a raise ahead of me from the tournament chip leader. After he had acquired all his chips, he was playing fairly premium hands, so I thought maybe my AT wasn't good and I mucked it. He took it down post-flop and showed an ace, but did not show his kicker, so I don't know if my T was good or not, but it doesn't matter. At that point, I should have been willing to die in order to survive into the money. After all, going out then (in about 37th place) paid the same as going out in 30th.

One Down, No Pay

What a bummer to play for 12 hours and go out on the bubble. In today's $500+60 tourney, there were 297 players, meaning 27 people get paid. For the entire last level (blinds 1000/2000 with a 400 ante), I was card dead. I rarely saw a face card, and if I did, it was with a rag. So, it didn't take long to whittle away at what was a slightly above average stack. By the time I finally picked up a hand, I had no fold equity on the big blind, who drew out on me and sent me to the rail in 30th place. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Oh... Robyn went out very early, and decided to check out the boardwalk during the day. While she was over there, she stopped into Caesar's, who gave her $10 in slot play for some reason. She turned that into over $700. Sweet! That's tomorrow's buy-in for her.

Game Day #1

Last night wasn't very successful at the craps table, but I'm shaking it off ... heading to the poker table in 3 hours.

Robyn is into Feng Shui, positive energy, and all that. I'm not, but hey, it can't hurt. So, after she prepared her room, she came down to prepare mine. Now, when I head to the table, I'll have the right clothes, the right music, the right attitude -- all of which I brought with me -- AND my room will be working for me too, thanks to Robyn. Now I just need that little bit of luck also required to win any major tournament.

Once last night's final table got down to heads up, we watched it until its conclusion. The two players were roughly even in chips, but an early pair of pocket aces from the underdog really crippled the bigger stack. After that, it was a few hands of either all-in pre flop, or pre-flop folds from one or the other (not just the short stack.) It was a $300 buy-in tourney, with first place taking $64K. Drool.

Off to breakfast...

"Smoke Pot Daily"

This is the graffiti that greeted me as I entered a men's room stall in DFW airport. Stuff like this makes me curious. Who's the author? A drug dealer? An avid smoker who just wants company? (The equivalent of me telling people "you should try hold'em, it's great.")

Who does he think he'll reach with this message? People looking for a hobby? Weekend smokers that never thought about switching to daily? I can't picture the audience, so it seems like wasted market effort.

The other interesting thing is that it's pot driving the message. There are usually only two schools of thought on where pot fits in the drug spectrum; It's either a "gateway drug" to harder drugs like heroin, or it's in the same class as alcohol or cigarettes. Now, when was the last time someone said to you (verbally, or through graffiti) "drink alcohol daily"? (Ok, Phillip Morris probably has said "Smoke Cigarettes Daily", I'll give you that.) And, heroin addicts don't run around telling people "shoot smack every day", do they?

These are the sort of differences in people that fascinate me.

WSOPC

I'm sitting in DFW airport, waiting for my flight to Atlantic City for another WSOPC. The plan is to play in up to three $500 buy-in smaller events, and if I cash in any of those, stay longer to play in the $5000 main event. First place for the small events is cash [edit: and a ring]; First place for the main event is cash, a championship ring, and a seat at the Tournament of Champions at next year's WSOP.

The usual gang can't make this trip, but I'm not going alone. At the last WSOP in July, I played in a couple of the Orleans Open events. At those events, I met a woman from Kansas City named Robyn, who might just like poker more than I do. Since July, we've exchanged a few emails about our poker successes (and failures, of course), and her husband was gracious enough to let her attend this tourney with me so I don't have to spend 4 days in a casino alone. (Not sure the bankroll can sustain 4 days at the Craps table!)

So... more news as it happens...