Look up, look up, look waaaay up

Had a killer night tonight -must be those "Killer Poker" books I read 2 years ago finally paying off.

I got up almost 5 buyins within 2 hours at 400NL and had to stop obviously because my brain still can't handle quick wins without going into ultra spew mode. Took a few hours off, watched the Saints kill the Falcons, and jumped back online for some more action. At this point it was about midnight and for some reason the 400NL games were dryer than my grandmothers bush so I started looking up at the 600NL and 1000NL games. Low and behold there were a sea of fish there, with only a few good players. I thought hell, I'm already up a good amount today, lets give this a shot.

This is my first time ever playing anything higher than 400NL, so I cautiously loaded up 4 tables. 1 table of 5/10 and 3 of 3/6. My hands were actually shaking as I made any bets and raises. It was the first time in a long ass time that I actually was 100% focussed on what I was doing at the poker table. However, I was definitely playing a little scared. One hand in particular I played like a total fishstick:

Seat 3: gaynlespride ( $1,006.71 USD )
Seat 6: tokenblak ( $1,198.50 USD )
Seat 2: Umka7 ( $197.36 USD )
Seat 1: happymonday ( $1,122.03 USD )
tokenblak posts small blind [$5 USD].
happymonday posts big blind [$10 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ Jh Jc ]
gaynlespride folds.
tokenblak raises [$30 USD]
happymonday calls [$25 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7c, 3c, 5h ]
araujo122 has joined the table.
tokenblak bets [$50 USD]
happymonday raises [$130 USD]
tokenblak calls [$80 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
tokenblak checks.
happymonday checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
tokenblak checks.
happymonday bets [$165 USD]
tokenblak folds.

Weak all around. While I stand by my river check / fold, I definitely should have re-raised the flop and gotten it all in if need be. I had been playing fairly aggressively at this table since it was very passive and I know the player in the BB is a regular and probably would have stacked off light vs me since I had been so aggressive. But of course, as soon as he raises the flop I freeze up and go into pussy mode.

The reason I think the river is a check / fold is that I think he has to put me on at least top pair / overpair since I called his reraise on the flop, but didn't bet ever once the flush / straight came. If he wasn't drawing on the flop then his hand probably has some showdown value and won't bet the river so small since he should be somewhat concerned with what I was calling with on the flop. Of course he could be 3 levels above me knowing I have an overpair and his pair of 7s are no good so he makes a small bet hoping I'll fold. Since scenario 2 extremely unlikely with no history between him and I, I fold.

Anyways, I sat at 5/10 for about an hour, not really getting much done, eventually ending up down like $50 or something. But my other 3 tables - the 3/6 ones - were pretty profitable and I ended up a buyin after 2 hours of play. Nothing spectacular but definitely nice to get my feet wet. I think a mix of 400NL t0 1000NL can be profitable with my skill level in the long run as long as I'm not tilted and table select wisely.

In other news, I went 3-2 this week in football. I think I'll try to keep the number of games down to 2 or 3 since I generally am not overly confident with any more than that. Sofar this week I have the over in the Patriots / Jets game at 51. I know the Pats are good for at least 40 here and they could easily cover the over on their own given the history. I'm not sure about the spread though. Currently its sitting at Pats -24 which is pretty ridiculous. I mean they've only beaten 2 teams this year by more than 24. The last time we saw a 24 point spread it was vs the Eagles which went down to the last possession. I dunno, its so hard to bet on these ridiculously high spreads because they have never existed before. I mean before this season I hated betting on 14 point favorites just out of principle. Now its 24 points. I think I'll just sit back and enjoy the game this week.

How about that Pats game this week though against the Stillers? Domination. Number 1 defense my ass. At this point the Pats are like pocket aces. They are going to win most hands no matter what they are up against. Sure there is a chance they could lose, but there is no reason to think they won't go 19-0. So sick.

What I don't understand is the apparent country wide hatred for them. People are comparing them to the Yankees. WTF is up with that? I hate the Yankees because they ruin the balance of the game by just overpaying for every talented player. The Pats have the same payroll and the same limitations as every other NFL team. They just play the game better than the rest. And watching them play is a thing of god damn beauty. How can you not love watching a team call passing plays 80% of the time? I mean who the fuck likes to watch a running team. New England is revolutionizing the game this season. In 10 years a strong running game will be an afterthought. There is really no defense for what the Pats do, as long as Brady is completing 70%+ of his passes. The reason the rest of the league doesn't do it is because they don't have the talent. That, and football dinosaur "purists" still run a lot of teams and refuse to give up on running the ball.

Anyways, enough of my armchair quarterback analysis. I'll just say that if you want to be entertained each week by watching football, make sure not to miss the Pats play.