How You Doin'

Well, we were matched up with the Hawaiian shirt wearing team. They have a very large roster but sometimes get confused about who is supposed to show up. They were worried they might have to forfeit but scraped together a full 10...actually, 11. Apparently it was guys they were short.

We started slow. I was batting third. Top half I came up with Becky 2 on first and 1 out. I was a bit discombobulated and unprepared to bat. He gave me a great pitch to hit and I went up the middle with it. When I am hitting well I hit a lot of grounders because I can more or less place it where I want it and when I am "on" that means a double since I can place it between fielders.

In this case I whacked it off the poor pitcher's ankle, it ricocheted off the second ankle, and right to the shortstop who forced Becky at second. A foot to the left or right and it is a great piece of hitting since they had NOBODY in the center portion of the field. I might have tripled it was that wide open. Instead it was a horrible piece of hitting that put us in a quick 2 out hole. Fortunately, our big sticks came through and we punched a couple runs across.

Bottom half of the inning I had just one chance, a high hopper that I charged and, in a rarity, pegged a perfect throw. Oddly, when I am stationary and make the fundamentally correct throwing motions I seem to have accuracy issues. But when I am running pretty much full speed and throwing across my body while leaping in the air, the throw is extremely accurate. So backwards. I suck.

Anyhow, next at-bat I was leading off. I wanted to hit...but he gave me nothing. 4 straight balls and I walked. I am pretty much a free-swinger so I VERY seldom walk...I am also a junk ball hitter, so seeing 3 pitches in an at-bat is even unusual. I always believe I can take about any pitch and hit it wherever I want. I am wrong...but I believe that. So walking...not so fond of.

Still, I was on 2nd. Jules grounded to third...and he barely looked at me so I took third. Then Steve grounded to third...and having seen his arm, I thought I could score since I could get home before he could throw to first and she could relay it home. Yes, I took advantage of their weak arms. I will justify myself by saying my run only made the score 6-1 and in softball...well, a 5 run lead is not super safe. Good thing I did because otherwise we would not have scored that inning. It was good, aggressive, and most importantly, smart base running and scored a run that otherwise would not have.

Moved to the outfield, had no chances out there.

Next at-bat we had bases loaded, 1 out. I got under it a bit and drove a fly to deep left-center. It got over her head but for a few seconds it looked like she might catch it so our runners held. As a result, 2 scored but we had people just on first and second. I was said...I like the 2 base hits. I am greedy...

Moved over to first base for an inning. Jules is getting so much better...she caught a tough over her head pop early in the game, and now she cleanly handled a sharply hit grounder and got it to me in time to nip a fairly quick runner. Her throw was low but to my left so I was able to stretch and snag it. Under the circumstances, she made a very nice play. Proud of her on that one. Steve made a nice throw so I got 2 chances and handled them both.

My final at bat we were well ahead, something like 15-1. So I did not bother trying to get a hit...I just wanted to do something I seldom do and unleash my swing. 19 times out of 20 I hit it to right field. I can place it so well just by adjusting the length and speed of my swing. This time I decided to pull the ball for the first time in about 4 years. Pull is right...the first pitch landed in right field. Of the field behind us. I pulled that so far left it cleared 2 fences. The second pitch was a ball, but the third one was in my happy zone...letter high, just inside the center of the plate. I hammered it down the line. It landed on the warning track about 2 feet inside the line and I rolled into 3rd with a triple. Felt good to actually give a real swing for a change.

Anyhow, I was watching from the bench for the final inning. We gave up a 3 spot but were never really in danger and won 15-4.

Kind of nice to be on the right end of a game like that. Had been 0-3 coming in. Everybody was hitting well and playing solid defense. And it was pretty fun. Of course, not stretching or warming up by jogging before hand means I think I pulled something...my left leg is feeling it. But it was totally worth it!

If I were to teach a class part 1: Pre-flop

To begin with, I would go over how to determine hand values:



1) How strong are my cards?

A) strictly hand strength

I. Top ten hands

You can play these hands from any position. I.E., even with a raise, re-raise, and re-re raise in front of you you will play Pocket Rockets. The Cowboys...well, that depends on the players in front of you but they would be tough to lay down.

So pocket 10s through Aces, A/K suited, A/k off, K/Q, A/Q suited suited is a pretty good foundation. With these you do not need to be too advanced about thinking about what type of hands your opponents have/play.



II. Middle Position

Hands you can add from middle position. Here you add hands like middle pairs (down to say...7s), Ace/x suited where x=10 or higher, off suit hands with both cards paint



III. Late Position

Widen the range of hands you play from late position. Mix in your suited connectors, stuff like that. If facing a weak raise and you have a couple callers you can play literally any 2 cards. For example, Under the gun makes a minimum raise, 2 people call, small blind folds and you have the dreaded 2/7 off. Do you call? Let's say for ease of numbers the blinds are 100/200. The pot has 1500 in it. You need to call 200 to win that 1500 but of course you would get your 200 back so you are getting 1700/200 or 8.5-1 on your chips. That should be an easy call. If you hit the flop hard...2 pair or trips...you keep going. If not, get out. Small investment, big payoff. If you are the bluffing sort you can make a stab at the pot even if you miss, though generally against a large number of callers that is ill-advised. Sure, you will lose your 400 chips most of the time. But as long as you get out cheaply and then maximize the value when you DO hit the flop it is a winning proposition in the long run.



IV. Why position matters

If you are playing 8 handed and open with an Ace/rag, what are the odds someone behind you will pick up a stronger hand; say, A/10 or better, or else a big pocket pair? Let's say they merely call your raise with an A/Q, a not uncommon occurrence. The flop comes A/10/2 and you have an A/4. Barring running cards that pair the board make a straight or a 4 hitting you cannot run down the A/Q as their kicker will give them the pot. Thus you are likely to lose a large number of chips with your weak Ace. It is even possible to have the board provide your kicker. However, if you are in late position and nobody has shown strength your Ace is more likely to be the best hand at the moment.

You can also afford to play hands from late position you cannot play early. Say you pick up Pocket 3s. You are almost guaranteed to have 3 over cards to your pair on the board when the flop comes and the only way you will gain chips off this hand is to hit a set (have a third trey hit the board). As a result, since you will only hit a set 1 in about 9 tries you want to see the flop cheap. If you enter the pot from early position you will probably have to fold if someone raises. However, from late position you can often see a flop cheaply which is the only way you can realistically play this hand unless you plan to bluff with it.

Third, if you are in late position and people have folded or limped to you, showing weakness, you can often raise with any two cards and potentially take down the pot right there. Making the same raise from early position is vastly more dangerous as you are far more likely to have someone wake up behind you with a big hand when there are 6 or 7 hands that haven't shown their strength than if you have just 1 or 2 hands left to get through.



B) Comparative hand strengths
Under the gun raises to 3 times the blind, 2 people call, and you are in the big blind with A/6. Should you call?
The first thing we established was starting hands. So you put your opponent on a range of hands. Here is where knowing your opponents comes into play. For arguments sake we will say you know the UTG raiser is a fairly tight player who pretty much only plays the top 10 hands, the first caller is a somewhat loose player who will play any Ace, any paint, any pair, and any suited connectors, and the third player is also a bit loose.

4 of the hands the open raiser might hold contain an Ace: Pocket Aces, A/Ks, A/Qs, A/K. To be honest, I have never seen anyone that tight in real life, you can pretty much figure in local type games they will have A/10 or better.

The other two are even less likely to hold an Ace as their range of hands is much broader. Let's be mean to ourselves, though, and say the open raiser exposed his cards and has A/K. You KNOW you are a 3-1 underdog to him. Would you call, KNOWING you are behind?

Surprisingly...yes, you should. Let's keep our 1/200 blind structure. He raised to 600, 2 players called, so you need to call 600 to make 2400, not counting the blinds. You are getting 4-1 on your chips and are only a 3-1 underdog. Now, take the same situation where you are the raiser with your A/6. You limp in for 200, everyone folds to the big blind who shows A/K and raises to 600 ...now you need to call 600 to make 1400 (your 200, his 600, your 600) or 2.33-1 and you are a 3-1 underdog...you fold. Same cards, different positions, different potential return on investment. Which leads us to

C) Position

Assuming 8 handed game, early position will be the first 2-3 people, depending on their aggression; middle position, again 2 - 3 people and late position 2 - 3 people. Note that late position pre-flop is, except for the dealer button, early position after the flop. For example, if you are the big blind, you are late position pre-flop because you are last to act. After the flop, however, only the small blind will ever act BEFORE you. So you have become early position.

The primary reason this matters is for information. Let's assume you pick up a mediocre hand, say...pocket 9s. High enough to have under cards on the flop but still likely to see a flop where at least one over card hits the board. If you are in early position you face a risky proposition; if you limp someone is likely to raise it which will give you a tough decision; are they sensing weakness in you and making a move or do they have a monster? If it is just 2 high cards...say, A/J...you are "in a race" where it is so close to 50/50% to win or lose that you can play it. But if they have a higher pair...say, Jacks...you are now crushed, a 4-1 underdog, and likely to lose a large percentage of your stack. If you are in middle position you already have a sense of the strength of hands of the first 6 people and are more likely to know whether you should play the hand or not. If you are in late position it becomes an easy decision; if there is light action you can play them cheap and hope for a favorable flop, if there is heavy action you can fold. In late position, judging by who folded, limped, called, or raised you should be able to put people on a range of hands and thus can decide whether to play your mediocre hand or not.

2) How do my cards compare to those of my opponents?

A) put opponents on a range
It is a great feeling to be able to tell your opponent what cards he held while those cards are face down. It is also very difficult. Usually you don't need to know the exact cards they have...just a range of hands they might play to see if you should continue in the hand or not. Example: You have pocket 10s and raise from late position. The big blind calls, everyone else folds. The flop comes Kd/Qd/2c. You raise and he re raises. Do you fold, call, re-raise, or move all in?

The answer is "it depends".

If you are playing someone "tight" they have a narrow range of hands at this point; they are representing a hand that can beat either the King or Queen or they have a draw. That means they have Pocket Aces, they have the King or Queen (or both), 2 diamonds, or something like J/10.
If you are playing someone a bit looser then you can add any pocket pair, hands like A/10, A/J where they are praying for that miracle straight, or even something like A/rag where the Ace is a diamond and they want the runner runner for a flush.

Against the tight player you fold. Against some loose players you call, against others you re-raise, maybe even all-in if you put them on a bluff or a weak hand. It just depends on what range of hands you believe they will A) call you pre-flop and then B) re-raise you with. How do you figure that out?

I. What types of hands have they played?
Even when not involved in a hand, watch every hand. Your goal is to see as many hands shown as possible. If you watch a guy play 20 hands, 10 he does not show and the other 10 are only shown at a showdown, he wins 9 of those...you can assume he is a tight player and seldom has anything but a monster when he plays. In the example above you would fold.

Conversely, if you see him show everything from pocket Aces to a pair of deuces you can assume he is much, much looser and now you either call or re-raise. Whenever possible, reconstruct the hand to see when he likes to call, when he likes to raise or re-raise, and what it takes to get him to fold.

II. How do they play them? I.E. top pair, set, draw...do they raise or call?



3) Raising, calling, or folding
Should you raise, call, or fold? A lot of people tend to just call. This can work if you know when to get out of hands but it really limits your options. If you just call your opponent controls the size of the bet, when there is a bet, and thus will win a lot of pots that he shouldn't. If you just raise you risk running into someone who is slow-playing the nuts. In short, you need to mix up your play.

A) Standard raise theory

A good standard raise is 3 times the blind. If the blinds are 25/50, you are first to act, you typically want to raise to 150. Many people adjust this a bit. For example, 2 people limp in, then you raise, some people add 1 blind per person who has entered it so in this case you would raise to 250.

B) When to limp, when to raise, when to fold

It depends on the types of players seated at the table with you. If you are in with action oriented players who like to see a lot of flops cheaply you can limp with a lot of hands you would typically fold. Conversely, if they only ever enter for a raise then you should raise more, call less. Here is an example of why.

You limp in, the opponent raises strong, you look at your 3s and release your hand. The next time you limp in he is likely to raise no matter what cards you have. Conversely, if you are the one who raises, your opponent folds, the next time he limps you do not even need to look at your cards, just raise.

C) Few folds are bad folds but sometimes you have to play back; defending your blind
Sometimes you need to defend your blind. Pay attention to the table. If someone raises every time you are in the blinds it does not mean he has a hand. He might sense weakness in you and be trying to steal your blinds. If you see someone doing this, "play back" at them. The next time they raise, come over the top and re-raise them. If you do not have the courage for that, at least pay to see the flop and if there is anything to work with, take a stab at that. If you do not, they will raise your flop every time no matter what cards they have.



4) Basic odds
Sometimes you think you are behind and need to decide whether to call or not. All you need are basic math skills and a general sense of how much is in the pot.
"The Rule of 2" allows you to quickly figure your percentage chance of hitting a needed card. Say you have an 8/10 and the flop comes A/J/9. At the moment you have nothing but a straight draw. Someone you put on an Ace raises. Should you call? The first thing you do is count your outs. In this case there are 8: if any 7 or Queen falls, you figure to hit your straight and that figures to be the best hand. 8x2 = 16 so you have roughly a 16% chance to hit your card. If this is a flop your actual percentage chance is 34.24% so you are close enough. You will win about 32% of the time, or roughly a third, so if you are getting 2-1 or better on your chips then you can call. If you are getting less then you should fold.

However, don't forget "counterfeited odds". Example:
I had K/10 diamonds, the villain had pocket Jacks. The flop came K/J/2, 2 diamonds. In theory I have 9 outs to make a flush; however, the Jack on the board is a diamond leaving me 8 outs. But not so fast; if another King or deuce falls, he makes a boat. I have the king but the 2 is his, so now I have 7 outs. Regardless of what falls on the turn, if it is not a diamond it takes away one more out since it will also give him a full house and thus a higher hand so you can say that 2 of my theoretical 8 outs are "counterfeited" and in truth I have just 6 outs. Now I need to get 8-1 on my chips to make the call.




That will get you started. More next time, mostly on flop, turn and river play, though some of that was covered here.

How You Doin'?

Fresh off last week's obliteration, we took the field against another team that looked pretty good. How good? They are the first team I have seen using a lady pitcher...and I could see why.

We were home and I sat out the first two innings. I was glad to...the wind was playing with the ball making outfield an adventure and there was no infield action to speak of. We gave up 4 and 2 runs. Meanwhile, bottom of the first, Eric flew out to deep right, Becky popped out, I singled, took third on a bobbled ball in the outfield, and scored our first run of the night.

My first action at short was nice. Two soft grounders that I charged pretty hard and made bullet throws to get the runners.

The bottom part of our line-up got rolling and we scored 7 runs in the third to take an 8-6 lead. But we would not be able to hold it.

By the time I caught a short fly we had given up a couple. Then there was a play I SHOULD have made an in the past would have...little flare over the pitchers mound. I thought JJ had a bead on it, got a late start, called him off so we would not collide....and had it bounce off the end of my glove. Tough chance but one that, when I was a REAL athlete, I would have made. Oh, well, did make one other catch that inning.

My next time up I got under it a bit and flew out to the warning track. That was interesting...I normally don't have that kind of power any more. It was also a mistake on my part. They were shading my beloved right-center alley and I went to left-center. Oh, well, it was an excellent pitch and I gave it a ride.

Next time up I went back to right and got it over their heads, ending up with a triple. My final time up I weakly singled.

It was a fun game but ultimately we could not come back and lost something like 18-13. Most importantly it was a fun team to play against and we had a great time. Overall I thought I played really well. Must be less of a perfectionist that I have been because I did not really give a lot of thought to the misplayed pop-up.

Normally that would be all but Phil needed help on his men's' league team. As a general rule I try to avoid back to back games as I am not in shape to play 2-1/2 hours...but since I sat out 4 of 6 innings I was okay with it.

Initially they had me in the outfield but then their normal center fielder showed up so they moved me to catcher. Yuck...I hate that.

We gave up a couple runs in the first and then scored a couple. In the second they looked to have a good rally going. With one out they had runners on 1st and 2nd when a guy made a pretty routine fly to left...which the normally reliable Phil just...dropped. Very atypical. Since their runners were waiting to tag, a fortuitous bounce meant the guy on third did not advance as our other outfielder pounced on it and rocketed the ball back in...and he caught the runner off second. So as we tagged that guy out, the guy on third broke for home. A quick relay, slightly offline, and I blocked the plate and tagged him out. Close play but we got him. And he got me. Tore my knee up pretty good.

And, as so often happens in baseball, the guy who makes the defensive play then comes up to bat. I went right into my right-center power alley, over their guys head, and walked into third with a triple. I scored, so I felt pretty good about that.

My next time up we had runners at the corners, one out. This time they were playing deep so I tried to under swing and just pop it over the second baseman's head but I topped it and grounded to him. Fortunately I got to the base quick enough to avoid being doubled up and we scored one but I knew it was a poor swing.

My next trip up (not much defensive action as a catcher...) I got caught up in watching them and swung from my heels, flying out to the warning track in right center. Hmm. I have not had home run power in 15 years and not had warning track power in 10. What is up with that?

Anyway, they started to mount a comeback. They had scored a couple runs, had a guy on first, no outs, and one of their better hitters was up. He was fooled by a pitch and hit a little pop about 8 feet up the first base line. I knew I could not catch it but did not want it to go foul because I did not want him to get another shot at it. I came out of the crouch pretty fast and jumped on it about 6" fair. They thought it was foul so they weren't moving. I started running towards the guy standing on first planning to tag him and step on the bag when it occurred to me I actually don't know the rule...if I tag him but he is on the base, even though it was a force...would he be out? So I threw it to second, they stepped on the bag, back to first...meanwhile, the batter was standing there arguing with the ump that it was foul.

It was a stupid argument. My footprints were plainly visible where I had jumped to a stop to keep the ball from going foul, and I was a good 6" inside the base paths.

Well, that double play killed their rally and we ran away with the game. I did manage to double my next time up so on the night I went 2-4, scored twice, drove in 1, and made a couple pretty spectacular plays.

It was nice because I was a bit intimidated going in...I have only ever played one other men's' league GAME and that was as a pick-up player last year. I just usually don't like them as much because that is where you find softball guy...drunk, obnoxious, taking it as seriously as a Major League Baseball game even though he is pot-bellied, probably drunk, and less talent than a single a short season guy...

So I had lots of fun, played really well and look forward to next week, because they asked me back...

On money games

I have often been asked why I prefer to play "free" poker...the Starving Crazed Weasels league is no money involved, the various other leagues I have played in have all been free...there have been I think 3 exceptions:

1) a charity tournament for a cause I believed in. Flat entry fee.
2) a couple small "cash games" we ran as freeze out tournaments; 10.oo each.
3) one larger tournament for 22 dollar entry were allegedly the bulk of the money went to a charity...in retrospect I have my doubts.

On the rare, rare occasions I play in those tournaments I ensure that, whether for a cause or not, the fee is one that obeys one simple, basic rule; nobody gets hurt.

In other words, if we have 10 dollar entry fee, nobody is going to miss their rent or have a hard time eating.

Furthermore, I typically do everything I can to finish where I win no more than I put in. This, believe it or not, usually works; for example, I once paid 10 bucks each for the Goose and I and 6 bucks for snacks; I "won" 21 dollars... that is pretty close to even. The most recent one I played in like that, I paid 11 dollars (1 dollar to a high hand fund) to enter and 6 bucks for Cheetos and Doritos. I "won" 18 bucks...

In other words, I stay as close to "even" as possible. I would be lying if I did not admit that, overall, taking into account JUST the entries I have paid, I am "ahead" about 40 bucks. Not something I am proud of...then again, nothing I am ashamed of.

One of the critiques of gambling is the greed factor. I have unadulterated proof that I am not greedy...I have deliberately finished in a lower place at least twice, just to not win as much money. And it is not lack of talent...with 1 exception where I finished "on the bubble" I have been "in the money" every time.

With that said, I have been asked why I won't play Ring games and why I not only say I prefer free poker, I back it up by seldom winning the max possible in the cash tournaments, but am still willing to play them.

And finally I found a way to phrase it...courtesy of multi-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Chris Ferguson:

LH: Do you ever play in cash games?
CF: Not really. I like tournaments because they change over time and the strategy that you use to be successful also changes. Early in a tournament, the players have very big stacks in comparison to the blinds. You cannot risk everything without a monster hand. Later on in the tournament, players tend to tighten up a little bit as it gets closer to the money. You have to be able to take advantage of that. As the blinds go up, the stacks become relatively smaller, and you are not playing big-stack poker anymore. At this point, you can push people around a little more. Once you make the money, you are in another stage. This added dimension makes tournament poker interesting to me. I don't really enjoy live-action poker, mostly because I feel like I am taking money from other people. It doesn't seem fair to me. But once they put up their money in a tournament, someone is going to get it, so it might as well be me

I like almost everything he has to say except the last sentence...I really could not care less about the money. What it does do is feed the competitive beast within me.

I used to be insanely competitive. A psychologist would probably call it a compulsion. I just needed to have a winner and loser. These days I have grown up and matured a lot. I am not that way any longer. I can relax and enjoy playing on horrible basketball teams, for example, and not really care about losing games. For anyone who knows me and knows the drive to not just play but compete, and not just compete but WIN that I used to have...that is a nearly unbelievable statement.

Poker feeds the remnant. At least, tournament poker does. In a ring game, there can be many winners and losers. In a tournament, only one person can walk away the winner. Oh, many people can "cash" in those played for money...but only 1 gets the title.

And being able to rely primarily on my own abilities to win or lose...that I still love to do. I prefer the free tournaments and play those about 98% of the time...but when I am willing to play for small stakes...5 or 10 bucks...that is why I will play tournaments.

The Home Game

Had 9 people show up, we went all at one table.

To my left, Kevin
to his left Roman
to his left Kenneth
to his left Drew
to his left Nick
to his left Nathan
to his left Jose
to his left, my right, Ryan

I have played with Roman and Kenneth a lot and know their games pretty well. I have played with Nick I think 3 times, Nathan and Ryan twice apiece, and the other three never. That means my strategy should be play very few hands until I get a feel for them, and play those hands strongly. Watch the game closely, get a feel for who plays what and how they play it.

So I promptly pick up some semblance of a hand, get involved in a 4 way pot, and lose about 800 chips to Ryan. He took the others for a lot more. To my credit, I was ahead until the river, but that gave him the straight and I got out of the way.

A few hands later I picked up pocket Queens. I raised them, Jose called. Flop was perfect for me, all low cards. I raised, he called. Hmm... turn another rag. I raised, he called. River put a potential straight on the board if he called with something goofy like A/4...I raised, he folded.

Pocket 10s, I raised, everyone folded. A/8, if they are going to be passive, I am going to raise...everyone folded.

Perfect, I have the image I want...which has been helped by my holding forth as we went along on how I never bother to bluff because I always get caught. So now I have shown a couple good hands and not shown a couple but I seem to always have cards when I am in the pot.

Meanwhile I am watching the others. Jose had a full boat early that took a bunch of chips from Drew who had 2 pair. Drew is pretty loose anyway. Nathan is bluffing left and right but never having to show. Kevin is a tight/passive player and bleeding chips like mad. Calling station is the correct term.

Kenneth and Roman are both building chip stacks. Ryan is bleeding.

And I am playing too many hands...limp/calling with 5/7o, stuff like that because I know if I catch a hand I can put the hurt on some of the guys. And that would prove costly.

Roman raised. I know Roman's game so I put him on something like a strong Ace, maybe 2 face cards, possibly a pocket pair. Nathan called, I had 6/7 hearts and decided to take a flyer. Flop was good...3/6/9 2 clubs. I have a little something on Roman and instantly narrowed his range of hands to 2 overcards. He checked. Nathan went all-in for 1900. I put him on a bluff. I went into the tank. And started talking.

"I hit part of that. I think I am ahead of you." I count out the chips...it is over 50% ov my stack. I count the pot...1900 exactly. His all in means I am getting 2-1, I have him on a bluff, and I have a pair...a WEAK pair, to be sure, with a mousy kicker...and no real draw. Maybe a backdoor gut shot, but that is so unlikely I don't include it in my thoughts. There are several things to consider:

1) If I am wrong about Nathan and he has an overpair I am drawing thin...5 outs, about 20%...a 4-1 dog
2) If he has 2 overs (that are not counterfeited by Roman) I am instead a 3-1 favorite
3) Roman is yet to act behind me. And there are 2 scenarios there:
A) He has what I think he has, 2 big cards, and will either fold (preferred) or just call
B) He has an overpair and will re-raise to drive me out. This is unlikely as I am pretty sure of my read, but he is also a very capable player who can and will slow-play to suck people in. If he re-raises I am priced in to calling and could be done...but I am not going to call because I will think I have too much ground to make up. I respect his game more than enough to think a lay down becomes appropriate. Furthermore, he is now giving off signs that he may, indeed call.

So if I call Nathan and Roman calls or folds, I will most likely be crippled no matter what. Even if Nathan is on a pure bluff, with just a pair of 6s and 7 kicker I am a distinct dog to 2 players. If I call Nathan and am right I am a favorite to double up. If I call him and am wrong about his holdings...I am a dog and likely to A) short-stack myself and B) give a lot more chips to someone who enjoys bluffing. That is a hard type of player for me. I don't want to do that.

Ultimately, against my better judgment, I folded, mostly out of fear of Roman. Then...he folded. I was sure he was going to call or I would have.

And yes, Nathan later told me I was dead on...he was on a stone cold bluff. But it was a great bluff because I went in with a weak hand and it was such a large percentage of my stack.

Well, that got me into playing my correct game for a while. I built my stack back up to about 6K, then went on a little run. First, I checked into a hand from the big blind with a garbage q/8. Flop was King high...but I paired my 8. I checked, Nick checked, Jose raised. I put him on a bluff and called. Nick called. Turn was an Ace. Nick checked, Jose raised...I thought about it, decided he did not, in fact, have either the King or Ace and called. Nick folded. River was a blank, I considered raising but then came to my senses...if he re-raised or went all-in, I would fold, this way I could see if my 8s were good relatively cheaply. They were and I took down about 4K.

A couple hands later I jacked it up with pocket 10s. Kevin called. Flop came K/Q/rag, 2 diamonds. I did not like that much. I raised anyway...and he reraised. Now, normally, I lay it down right there. But this...this did not "feel" right. Nothing I could put my finger on.My first thought was he was on a flush draw and I should re-raise. That was my immediate thought. But I had not seen him pull that move all night. He might have just the King or Queen... So I called. I raised the turn (a blank) and he just called. Interesting. River was another blank, I checked, he raised...but he raised only 500, leaving himself 600. That was curious...there was plenty in the pot by now, I had raised I think 600 pre-flop, 600 on the flop, he reraised me to 1000 (I was not enforcing the proper betting rules because of all the new players...a mistake on my part), and the turn was another 600...so at least 4800 in the pot. He is raising but not going all-in. My instincts said to re-raise him all in. But I hesitated. I knew I was not folding at this point. Did he have the King or Queen? Or, in light of the flop, did he have a busted flush draw? I called. He turned up...pocket 9s. I picked up a nice pot. And a bad habit.

Raised A/K. Ryan called.

Because a few turns later I played a King/2 Hearts because Kevin and Jose were in the pot and I wanted to be in as many pots as possible with them. What I forgot was Kenneth was also in the pot.

He is not above bluffing but he is a good, good player who does something weird...he plays GOOD cards. And he had raised this pot. I should have folded. I didn't. Flop was pretty ragged. I hit my deuce. Kenneth raised. Jose folded. The correct response here? Fold. I am behind. Way behind. This is Kenneth, not one of the 4 bluffers. So of course I called...and the turn was a Jack. He went to raise, miscounted his chips, and went all in thinking it was 2300 (he had been raising 1800 so the all-in would be correct). However, he ACTUALLY had 3500...a much more significant raise. And I again responded not to him but to the guys who had been raising/bluffing with nothing. I called. And he flipped up pocket jacks...he had a set. I announced I was drawing dead. River was a small heart...and someone pointed out I had flushed him.

Oops. I played that hand HORRIBLY. I had nothing, really. And did not even see the flush possibility. And instead I put him out and picked up another huge pot.

So then I started getting into too many hands. Problem is...Nathan, Kevin, Drew and Jose had all been eliminated. We were down to the following:

Me
Roman solid, tight player, not too tricky, pretty much ABC poker
Nick: solid, tight player, not tricky at all.
Ryan: solid player usually, somewhat tricky, the most likely of any of us to bluff.

In other words, it was time to adjust my game; if they raised and I had little or nothing, fold. If they limped, I could raise with any 2 cards.

Instead I got super tight.

As a result, by the time Ryan went out Nick, Roman and I were about even in chips.

We traded the lead a few times. Worst case was where Roman raised, the flop came K/J/rag, I had an open ended straight draw and gave Roman a lot of chips when he turned out to be playing the K/J.

Anyway, we traded a few more times. I got down to 6500. Nick folded. I had pocket 6s so went all in, actually figuring Roman would fold. He called...with pocket 8s. I flopped an open ender...4/5/7. But never got more help and finished in third.

I think part of my problem was I got into my "invincible" mode...sometimes I look at the table and don't worry about playing some bad hands because I know I can rebuild my chip stack. But then when the fish are gaffed I become the fish because I don't adjust my play style. With Nick and Roman I could have gotten down to heads up just by stealing the blinds a few times...they were both playing super tight. But I got involved in hands where they had cards a couple times and ended up getting short-stacked. In other words, I was outplayed. And I went from chip lead to out in third.

Not that I cared...I like them both, had a great time, and had made some pretty spectacular calls, 1 each against Jose, Kevin and Ryan. So although I played poorly in the final 3 I played really well on the way there with the noticeable exception of the hand with Kenneth.

How You Doin' 2008

Had our first "season" game. I started at short which I always like. We were at bat first.

Eric was up first. He has home run power, good speed, and is a very solid hitter. We would need it as we were against an "A" level team, one of the 2 teams that is probably to win the league. Sadly, he topped it and tapped back to the pitcher. Not an auspicious beginning. Emy would get us going, though. She is one of the best female hitters I have ever seen. She has excellent power, good directional control. Well, normally. This time she tapped out to 2nd. Next up was me. Anxious to get something going, I swung at a pitch I probably shouldn't have. Fortunately, it found a hole on the right side and I was aboard. Up came Becky, our left handed hitter. She lives down the right field line. Except this time she grounded out to short. Ouch.

Their first 2 hitters singled, their 3rd guy put it out. We were down 3-0 just like that.

Every now and again, the stars aline and I remember what it was like when I had talent. A couple batters later it happened. With a runner on first, a girl hit a line shot. I was moving before she swung based on her foot position and the pitch location. Sure enough she hit a rising liner over second off to my left. Step, step, leap...I did not even look at the ball, I needed every inch I could get and snow-coned it at the top of my leap. Thing is...it felt natural. I KNEW I was going to get it. But it was spectacular...even the other team oohed and ahed a bit. So I felt good about that. I did NOT feel good about the 4 spot we gave up...

Our next 3 hitters went down in order. 1. 2. 3. That included Steve and Kyle. Before the game I would have thought we would score 4 - 6 runs in our first 7 hitters. Instead we had 1 hit. Ouch.

I was on the bench the next 2 innings during which time we gave up 7 and 3 runs. We finally broke through for 1 when JJ singled, Sarah singled, and Kyle scored on a fielders choice. With runners on first and second, 2 out, I came up. First pitch was inside. It bounced almost at my feet and I was deeeeeep in the batters box, back from the plate. It was called a strike. Next pitch was closer to the plate and called a ball. I fouled off another inside pitch. Then he gave me a meatball...numbers high, outside half of the plate. A classic "mistake" pitch, right in my wheelhouse. And I came out of my shoes swinging at it. I had the happy feet swing.

And grounded to 2nd.

Best pitch I have seen all season. That was the one I could put out of the park if ever there is one and I weakly grounded to second? I suck.

Anyhow, bottom half of the inning I had one chance where with a runner on first they hit a hot grounder. Nick fielded it cleanly. His throw looked strange, I thought it might hit the runner but dragged my foot across the bag as I stretched and made the out.

And that was game. They 10 runned us after 4.

Starving Crazed Weasels April 2008

11 players tonight. We broke down to tables of 5 and 6.

I was with the 5. Tom my left was Kenneth, to my right Tracy, to her right Phillip and to his right Rick.

First hand I checked in the big blind with 2/3. Flop came A/2/3. I bet, got 2 callers. Turn put a 3rd club on the board. I bet, they both called. River put a 4th club on the board. I checked, Phillip bet, Tracy called, I folded. Phillip had the 5 high flush, Tracy the Ace high flush. That set the tone for my night.

I won a couple small pots when I raised pre-flop and every one folded but for the most part I was bleeding. Tracy was hitting hard, meanwhile, including a pretty funny hand.

Rick brought up the time he beat my flopped full house with quad 2s. While we were discussing that hand the flop had a deuce. Turn had another deuce. At the showdown Tracy hat pocket deuces, giving her quads.

The other table was playing somewhat fast as by the end of the first blind level they were down 2 players. Rick was under 1000 at our table, I had a shade over 2400. Tracy had the lead, then Kenneth, Phillip was about with me.

Soon in the next level they busted out a third player so we collapsed to one table. I ended up not playing a hand in the entire blind level.

With blinds of 1/200 I was under 2000. I needed to hit a hand...and I think I played one, maybe 2 hands when I checked in the big blind. I was bleeding like mad but just picking up garbage hand after hand. I was short stack...but Kevin gave up all his chips in 2 hands and disappeared. Phillip came back from the dead a couple times. Pete had a HUGE chip lead, Robin had a lot, Tracy had a lot...I was looking for an all in hand.

Blinds went up to 2/400. I kept bleeding, fold, fold, fold, fold through the blinds, fold...it got all the way down to where I had 300 chips left before I saw something to play and it was nothing to write home about, K/6 suited under the gun. I went all-in for less than the blinds. Pete called, Robin called, Tracy folded, Kenneth checked. I had a K/6 suited. Flop came 6 high. I liked it...until Kenneth bet strong...and Robin called. Turn put a pair of 3s on the board. He bet...Robin called. I figured I was done. River was a King. Kenneth bet...Robin folded. I flipped mine up and he mucked, later saying he had I think Jacks. I now had 1100...less than 3 times the blinds.

Next hand Pete raised to to 1200 under the gun. Robin called. Tracy called. Kenneth folded from the small blind. I looked at an A/6. I figured one of them had to have an Ace so I was at best dominated, at worst way behind to a pair. But if I was "just" dominated I was getting 3-1. So I announced I believed I was dominated but pot odds demanded a call. I went all in. If I won I would have 4700...my high point for the night and the first time since the first hand I would have even as much as I started with.

The flop was gorgeous...A/A/9. I had flopped trips. Of course, if I was dominated...I was still in trouble. As it turns out, I WAS dominated...by Kenneth, who had folded an A/7 pre-flop. Pete bet the flop, everyone folded and it was his pocket 7s against my trip Aces. They held up and i was in business.

Next hand I picked up A/9, raised it, stole the blinds.

Back into fold mode.

Then Pete gave up most of his chips in about 2 hands including one bizarre hand. I had J/9o, thought about raising it but everyone had called and Pete was behind me. I weakly completed from the small blind and he checked. Flop came 3/4/q. I thought about betting to try and steal it, but checked. He went all-in. I knew he did not want a call, but I thought he had something like paired the trey or 4. I thought about calling...but Tracy called. Okay, I am beat, I folded. She flipped up the Queen as expected...and Pete flipped up a 2/6. Oops. No 5 arrived and he was left with 500.

Soon he was gone, then Tracy behind him and it was down to Ken and I heads up. I had taken down a couple nice pots from Tracy and was about 2.5-1 chip short. Kenneth had the lead and was playing super well.

He mentioned that 1 double up where we both caught at the same time and it could change. The next hand after I picked up A/J. He raised to 3K, I called. Flop came A/10/A, 2 spades. He bet, I went all-in, he called. He had K/Q Spades...he was on the flush draw. But I turned the Jack and he was drawing dead. I was now the chip lead.

But his lead had been so huge he still had like 9K left...he was not exactly in trouble and he is at least as good as I am. So this was a long way from over.

A few hands later I picked up Pocket Aces. We had been limping a lot so I did, he checked. Flop came 2/3/6. He looked at his chips and I started turning internal cartwheels. "You didn't catch any part of that" I said. He bet 2400. I went all-in. He called. He flipped up K/2. I flipped up my Aces. He said, "I thought you were just betting me not having anything."

Turn was a blank. River...well, he hit trip deuces to retake a slight chip lead.

Back and forth. he won a few hands, I won a few. We started occasional bets pre-flop. I picked up Kings with blinds at 500/1000, raised to 3K, he called, flop was Jack high, I raised, he folded.

A few other raises by me where he folded and a few he folded from the small blind gave me a slight lead.

Finally I picked up A/J again. He raised, I hemmed and hawed...I was actually debating re-raising but it came across as me having a marginal hand, apparently. Flop came J/rag/rag. He raised, I went all-in, he called...he had I think J/7 but never got help and I had come back from 300 chips to take the win.

Sadly, most of the tournament was not too much fun for me from the standpoint of...for almost 3 blind levels I looked for an all-in hand but did not play a single hand. I was folding to nothing. It was boring. On the bright side, it was a fun group, a fun game because of the joking around, so it was all right. And the huge comeback...I actually think Kenneth deserved the win tonight because he consistently played well. I had the 3 hand stretch where I got lucky, then with some chips to play with hit a few hands and he caught cards at the wrong times. Be that as it may...I will take it. I played an extremely patient game and it paid off.

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Our last game and I goofed up the time. I felt horrible. Fortunately, Jess brought her Dad so we had 5: Kyle F, John, me for guys and Jess and Ashley for girls.

Now, all season I have been making the same mistake. Short-handed, I elect to conserve energy...so I go half-speed the entire time. As a result, I rebound very well because I am a smart rebounder, but otherwise I am useless. This game I decided to run full speed until I ran out of gas at which point I would just run out of gas.

I started strong. On our first 6 or 7 possessions I was 2 for 2 with my little drive into the lane, pull-up jumper. I was rebounding well and passing well. Unfortunately, our opponents, the Platypi, were shooting the lights out as well.

This trend would continue. Kyle was on fire, so was Ashley, John had several nice drives and Jess hit a few shots. We were all scoring and scoring well. And it was a close game, about 35-31 with under 2 minutes to go in the first half. They hit a mini-run to take a 44-37 lead at the half.

Now, early this season we had a couple games where we barely scored 40 all game. It was a team effort. I had a huge impact as I kept doing my little drive/stop & pop or distributed the ball. I have always believed I was better than average at pinpointing the open players and this game did nothing to make me rethink that. Again and again I got people wide open looks. Far and away the best game I have played in a while...and it was done while I was feeling sick.

Anyhow, a guy early for his next game offered to sub for us. I would have preferred not but the consensus was yes. So we let him in. And our passing promptly declined. Kyle was still red-hot, as was Ashley. I think I took something like 3 shots in the second half. One was early and I heard one of the refs and Platypi talking about how I was playing. But I stopped getting the ball. Made me sad.

Oh, well.

Kyle & Ashley largely carried us with timely contributions from John and Jess, the new guy scored a few. I blocked a couple shots. But they just could not miss from the 3 point line. By the end of the night we had 82 points, our highest output ever. But they had 95 and we still lost by a lot.

It was a lot of fun. I was a little disappointed to finish it on the bench but hey...I played well, had fun, and we finished strong. Good times.

How You Doin'

1 pitch tournament. I almost did not go. But they were going to be short-handed so I went. 1 pitch tournaments or tough because you HAVE to hit whatever is heaved towards you. If it is a good pitch, great. But if it is bounding along the ground...still your one shot at it. Fortunately, I am a trash ball hitter. Unfortunately, I was having vision issues.

We were up first and it was not a good pitch to hit but I connected very well. Too well. Flew out to deep left center. Much deeper than I usually hit it as I like the Wee Willie Keeler "Hit 'em where they ain't" philosophy better than the hit it far type.

Defensively our team was on it for the first 5 innings. Ther was only one play I didn't make...a girl grounded softly to my right. I picked it clean but had to double clutch because the pitcher was in my throwing lane. With the double clutch my throw ended up being a step late and she beat it. Otherwise I made every play I should.

My other at bats were pretty good; took a chest high outside pitch to right for a clean double, singled back up the middle the other two times.

We had a big lead but gave it all back in the last 2 innings. going from 7-2 lead to a 9-8 loss.

It was fun but I felt horrible so we got a couple more guys and I went home. Good times.

When asked why he said, "Couldn't find a porcupine"

Conflict is pretty much inevitable. It is part of the human condition. And there are many reasonable responses. Some people prefer to withdraw, give the situation some time. Some people like to engage in quiet, reasoned debate or negotiations. Some people like to throw hedgehogs.

I guess for my part I blame the "victim". How are you going to pick up welts and puncture marks from being struck with a hurled hedgehog? Check that...getting struck with a hurled hedgehog OF dooooooooommm!

I mean, I could understand it if you were struck with a porcupine projectile but a whirling hedgehog? I tell you, after filing that complaint he must of felt pretty wimpy.

And for the record, if you get in an argument with me, I don't fling hedgehogs or porcupines...no siree bob, if you argue with me, you better get ready for the elevated elephant because that is how I settle debates.

Poker Home Game

7 people; I had Nick to my left, JJ to my right, John to his right, then Emily, then Ryan, and then Roman...so Roman 2 slots to my left, John 2 slots to my right...



I set the tone early. About the second hand I had medium pockets, raised pre-flop. Emily called. Pretty passive for her recent style. I put her on a decent Ace. Flop was great for me, only 1 over, an 8...I was not scared by that, I raised. She hesitantly called. Turn was another blank, I raised, she folded. I just threw out a possible, "Good fold, your Ace-Jack was no good." Shocked, she said, "How did you know?"



I didn't. I just knew a range of hands she might have had and picked one and got lucky. After I called a couple other hands I got in the heads of the people who didn't know me. When I can do that I like it because it establishes me as someone who has a good sense of what and how other people play...so it can intimidate them into laying down winning hands or not bluffing much.

Of course, then I went nuts and played rather poorly. I was playing too many hands. That has a tendency to sharply affect your chip stack and sure enough I was up and down a great deal. At one point I was chip lead but I bled them away playing too many hands.

Got down pretty low and was in the big blind with a not terrible 8d, 10H. Someone min-raised, I was getting 6-1 and decided to see what happened. Flop came 5/7/8, 2 spades. I had been short-stacked for a while and had seen a couple of expressions. They did not like the flop. I got a bit crazy and sent in the chips. Folded to John who said, "You hit the straight already?" and went into the tank for a long time.

When he said that I figured he didn't have the straight himself...if he did he would have called. He did not mention the flush draw but that was a definite possibility. However, the odds were not right for a flush draw as I had massively overbet the pot. I actually thought he had either 2 pair or medium pair, good kicker type thing, maybe top pair but I thought that was less likely. I was wrong...he had 8/Q but there is simply no way you can call 3/4 of your chips to someone who raised all-in on that flop. I could make the bet with my 8/10...but sure could not have called it! So aggression paid off, I took a nice pot and was in pretty good shape after I almost doubled up off Ryan a few hands later.

But Roman was hitting like a mother. He was taking down pots left and right. By the time we got to heads up I needed to double up about 6 times just to take the lead. I did double up a couple times. But when I picked up the Speed Limit I raised, he re-raised so fast I put him on a strong pair...maybe Jacks or better? It was obviously nothing he would lay down. A good player would have either folded or just called. I went all-in and he insta-called...with his 10s. He flopped a set and it was over.

Overall I played okay...my reads were awesome, I just played too many hands. But I had fun so I am fine with that. I like to play with a group like that and love to play a lot of hands. Overall, great evening and kind of re inspired my love of poker.

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Wow. Only myself and 4 girls showed up. Our opponents were even sadder...2 guys, 2 girls. Both guys were taller, faster, stronger, and better shooters than me...



I matched up with a kid about 6'6". Fortunately he was not real aggressive because had he posted up I would have had a tough time. Well...maybe. At least twice he tried to post me up. I don't have fast hands anymore...but I have smart hands. The first time I poked the ball away and when he reset he was outside his comfort zone, the second time I forced him into a bad shot.

Defensively Jess was playing awesome. I concentrated on boxing him out and she alertly was swooping in to grab the ball. I was not getting as many rebounds as I normally do but she, the shortest person on the floor but a good 4", was picking off every loose ball. Unfortunately, we were struggling to score at the other end. Once more we did not identify our advantages and get the ball to them.

I set about 10 screens and not one was used so I quit. Finally I decided to lurk on the blocks and see if I could get a few offensive rebounds. Got one when both their guys were right there. Went up strong and got swatted. Ball bounced right back to me. Ball fake, went up...and the other guy blocked it. Snatched the ball back, put it up...and got blocked a third time. Got it back, ball fake, spun and faded away...and hit the shot. Three shots blocked on one possession. When I was young and talented I would not get 3 shots blocked in a year. Oh how the mighty have fallen...

But they were just too fast and tall for us. One girl kept getting left open and nailed about 6 treys, their shorter guy hit a lot of threes and had a lot of fast-breaks...meanwhile, we could not out the ball in the bucket. By the end it was a blow-out, 62-38. We played almost 45 minutes and scored all of 38 points. I think I took 5 shots...something wrong with that picture. Oh, well, it was fun.

How You Doin'?

Had our first softball tournament of the year, a "marathon tournament" where you play 2 games in one day. Yeah, I know...when I was growing up we would play 4 or 5 hours in a row. Makes me feel old. So did my performance...I missed the first game while doing taxes but showed up for the second game.

JJ put me at shortstop. I came up in the top half of the first with runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 out. Despite having only swung a bat I think twice all year, I was able to do what I do...I went the other way into the gap in right, pulling in at second with a clean double and driving in our first run. I died on second, no big deal.

They promptly dropped a four spot on us. Not a huge surprise...the girl they had playing catcher is good enough to play short for us. So their worst girl is at least equal to our best girl...and their guys were all equal to or better than our guys. I had but one chance, fielded it cleanly and got them at first. Felt good about that, particularly since I was not wearing my glasses so was having a hard time picking the ball up off the bat.

Next time up I went the opposite way again but this time I got under it and flew out to right. One of our guys advanced from 2nd to third...then went crazy and tried to score. On a flyout. Did not make it. And not only did it kill the inning...we did not score again in the game.

Defensively it was a mixed bag. I was fielding the grounders well but my throws...well, Nick saved my bacon on about 4 throws. My arm is too dead to make that thrown anymore. Had one spectacular play going back to my right over the third baseman's head, caught it, and in one motion off my back heel threw a strike to home. I thought I got the runner but I guess the throw was late.

After they "mercied" us we played one more inning. This time I pulled to left and singled, then was out on a fielders choice. Defensively...well, I fell asleep. Almost literally. I was thinking about a conversation between innings and when a sharp grounder was hit to me I avoided it.

After that mess I was embarrassed...next batter popped it behind third. I took off with the ping of the bat. Laid out. Had the ball in the glove. Landed hard. Ball popped out...I dropped it. I suck. But I still paid the penalty because I drove my arm into the ground with all that 260 pounds of me. Stupid. Should have made the catch, I just dropped it, but in the process I pretty near blasted my arm to pieces.

Second game was better. I made every play except one errant throw where I did not have time to get the runner but tried anyway. He could not advance so no harm. Offensively...well, first time up I singled to right. Next time up they shifted, I tried to pull it and flew out. Third time up I doubled. Fourth time, tie game, no outs, 2 runners on...this is where I should shine. He gave me the perfect pitch....chest high, outside corner. I got happy feet, over swung...and popped out to shallow right. Some clutch hitting. I suck.

We ended up scoring 3 that inning but it should have been 5 or 6. My bad. It mattered because they threw up a deuce in the bottom half of the inning and had a chance to tie or win. We held on for the 6-5 win. Fun game.

Just from last year to this I can feel and notice the decline in my skills. My throws are worse, my swing terrible. Could be a long year.

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We had 8 players including 5 guys, 3 girls. We also had a double-header. Good times.
Kyle and I decided to run in and out for each other so he started and I was going to come in after about 6 minutes. It was a back and forth game as each team would build a 5 - 6 point lead, the other would go on a little run. Close game all the way. I was rebounding well, got fouled and badly missed the first free throw. Next one was money. Missed an easy put-back lay in. And when I say missed...well, I actually forgot how to shoot. Literally. Like, how to grip the ball, what motion to make...it was ugly. Then I did it again. On the bright side...I was getting easy looks off strong positioning and excellent rebounding. On the dark side...I could not shoot to save my life.

Ironically, at one point Kyle and I were on the court at the same time. I had the ball out top, flipped it to him on the left wing and cut to the basket. He passed back slightly behind me, I caught the ball in traffic and avoided 2 defenders to put in the toughest shot I took all game and it went in pretty as you please. Easy shots I can't make, but give me a difficulty 8.5 and I am all over it...

My next shot was a desperation 3 against the buzzer at the end of the first half. Airball. I suppose I could say it was time and a hand in the face...but the truth is, the ball was not in shooting position. It was as if I shot-putted it. I was embarrassed. But we were tied at the half.

Second half was more of the same. With 32 seconds left we had built a 5 point lead. They got the ball up court in 4 seconds, got a wide open trey and drained it. We got the ball in to Kyle. I was pretty happy with that. He is our best foul shooter. He was dribbling up court...and got picked clean. I have not seen that happen to him in years. So inside of about 10 seconds they had tied the game. We had last shot, though. With time expiring Kyle got hammered in the lane. I was pretty happy knowing he would hit at least one of the two and probably both...except they called nothing. Overtime.

In OT we built a small lead, they came back, but we pulled it out by 4 to break our losing streak at 9. Woo-hoo!

Game 2 we did not do so good on our substitutions, but we would not need to. We were clearly the better team and were scoring almost at will. They struggled from the field early and we built a 15 point lead. This was uncharted territory for us. They got it back to about 8, we built it to about 17.

I was worthless on offense, though defensively I was doing well on the boards.

Then, with Kyle, Nick and I on the bench they went on a huge run, got back within 6. Suddenly we could not find the rim and they could not miss. It was looking ugly. We built it back to 8, they got it to 6, we got a couple stops, and then with the 6 point lead and the ball Nick found Christina who hit the tough lay-up to give us the 8 point lead and they basically threw in the towel. Boo-yeah, 2 games won!

It feels good to win again. it feels bad to have suddenly gone from one of the better players on the team to clearly the worst. Very discouraging. I am getting more out of shape, having a harder time finding the hoop...might be time to pack it in. We will see what the next couple games bring.

Starving Crazed Weasels League

What with Kevin & Cassie having a kid, then Kenneth & Stanica getting jealous so following their lead, we had not played in a while. Finally got it going again.

Started with Emily to my left, Kevin to her left, Cassie to his left, Josh to her left, Mark to his left, and Kenneth to my right. Not where I wanted to be...

Emily normally plays a solid game but when she is at the table I am at she becomes more aggressive because she is, by her own admission, "super competitive" with me. That means she makes out of character plays around me. That is tough for me because so much of my game relies on reading people as far as what is in character or out of character. When someone plays their own game I usually have a fair idea if I am ahead or behind. But when they play out of character it throws me off.

Kenneth is also tough for me for two reasons; first, I sometimes do the over-competitive thing with him and make dumb plays, second because he switches his game every time we play. One time he will be a rock, another he will be wild and all over the place. Sometimes he plays a conservative game, other times he pushes hard, verging on the maniac. He has a couple twitches which pretty much let me know how his hand strength is, but the nature of his game means I play fewer hands until I know how he is playing since he often will make non-standard raises at strange times. Also, he is a good player, so having him on my right is not where I want him...

Anyhow, on the way out there I wasn't "feeling" it and told Emily I would probably be the first player out. Early on I played pretty non-descript. Won a couple small pots, got out of a couple, then Mark mentioned he had, bizarrely enough, a late-night job interview. So we knew he wasn't going to play long and I stayed in a couple pots knowing he would be playing looser than normal. And got rivered. Twice. Now I was short-stack. Not in trouble...yet...about 1200 chips, blinds just 50-100. After that, Mark had to leave so we just pulled his chips.

By the time they went to 100-200 I had about 1600. Picked up Queens, a couple limpers, I went all-in hoping to just pick up the limps and blinds. Kevin went into the tank from the big blind. I put him on something like a medium pair, maybe a medium Ace. If he had the Rockets or Cowboys he would have beat me into the pot, if he had Big Slick he would have called pretty quick. Thus I put him on a more troubling call since, while it would not even remove him from the chip lead, it would still be 20 - 25% of his stack. Medium pair, maybe medium ace sounded about right.

Even there, I really did not want a call. If he just folded I would be over 2K with no risk. If he called, even if I was a 3-1 favorite over a lower pair, I would be at risk. Well, he did call...and flipped up the J/9. On the one hand I am happy...no overs so it takes 2 cards minimum to beat me. However, he can win in a lot of ways. He can pair them both or trip one, he can hit a straight, he can hit a flush. And sure enough, the flop brought a 9. But he got no more help, I survived and was out of danger with over 3500 chips. Picked up a couple more pots.

Then Kenneth got taken to the cleaners when he had the Cowboys but Kevin flopped 2 pair. He ended up having only 125 chips left and a couple hands later in a multi-way pot he got in with about 5-1 on his money, or as good as he was going to get, and I got lucky, hit a queen and mercy-killed him. For small risk I actually added about 15% to my stack since it was nearly a family pot.

Now Emily and Cassie were short stacked. Emily went all in, Cassie thought it over for a bit and then called, everyone else folded. I looked down at a 6/8 off suit. Now, normally I am just going to toss this away. But I did a quick bit of math. I was getting a little better than 3-1. I had cards that were unlikely to be dominated. I put neither of them on a pair, I thought Emily probably had something like a strong Ace and Cassie maybe a couple face cards, maybe anywhere from a strong Ace to a dry ace...so a wide range, yes, but most of the hands I could hit my 6 or 8 and possibly take TWO players out. At this point it would be about 20% of my stack...but winning would about double it. I called.

Emily was weaker than I thought...Q/3 hearts, and Cassie had K/Qo. So I was wrong about Em's strength but right about being behind but not dominated. Emily was the dominated one and Cassie had a big lead. Her lead got bigger when the flop gave us an A/J/rag. The turn was a blank. But the river was an 8 and I took them both out. I also gave myself a good deal of breathing room as now I was threatening the chip lead. But was it the right call?

That is something I need to work on. Statistically, was it correct to call there? Why risk my chips to take out people who probably have me beat? I was figuring I would PROBABLY lose...and I suspect if I crunch the numbers I was probably slightly worse than a 3-1 dog so in retrospect, probably I should have folded. Sure, this time it worked out...but in the long run it was a bad call.

Anyhow, now we were down to Kevin (big stack), Josh and I. Kev and I traded the big stack a couple times, then started one of those runs. I got Josh all-in. I had 2 pair, Aces and...Queens? He hit runner runner on me to nail a flush and doubled up. I got him all-in. He rivered me and doubled up.Now he and Kevin were the big stacks.

I came back, hit a few hands, he hit a few, Kevin took a couple beatings, I doubled him up, he lost a couple big hands and Josh put him away.

I think Kevin kept track and it was 8 times I doubled Josh up. I could not put him away. River. River. river. I rivered him once or twice as well so it was not all one way. But it happened so often it had become a running joke even before Kevin went out. Finally I rivered him one last time and had the win.

For the night I played fairly well most of the time. There was one case where I knew I was beat early on but paid 2 200 chip bets hoping for the 2 outer to hit and knowing I shouldn't. But on the river I let the 500 bet chase me and was upset with myself. I was chasing the bad math opportunity for 2 reasons; 1, I planned a bluff on the river and 2) I had not seen any sort of hand in a long time so when I got pockets, even though they were only 7s, I held them when the board only brought one over. This was poor play for many reasons:

1) 2 people called my pre-flop raise. They needed SOMETHING to call my first raise of the night.
2) Yes, there was only 1 over on the board, a Queen...but TWO people showed interest. I actually even put Kenneth on the queen. So knowing I was behind I still was chasing the miracle 2-outer. If I could reasonably pull off a bluff that might be okay but with 2 callers there is too little chance of the bluff working. Besides that, when he expresses interest in a hand Kenneth is almost impossible to bluff.
3) I was chasing because I did not want to lay down a hand I had raised pre-flop and on the flop. But that is a poor reason.

A couple hands where Cassie raised and I figured her to have me beat combined with this to put me on the short stack. So this play caused me problems.

But I countered that with shrewd short stack play. I waited...and waited...I was able to check into a hand from the big blind. I hit bottom pair, went all in, everyone folded so I picked up a few chips. It was a well-timed move because it was believable and I was pretty sure from the disinterest nobody else had hit anything.

And when Josh kept beating me on the river, that fact remained...he had to come from behind. I was ahead time after time so I was getting my chips in good.

So yeah, I played well enough to win and am happy with how I played. Much more importantly...I had fun.

Texas Hold 'Em

Had not played for...well...a LONG time so decided to do so. Small crowd...11 people. I got sat next to Terry. Forgot how much I dislike sitting at the same table as him.

Was almost completely card-dead. So I was mostly just folding and watching. Danny has not changed his game, neither has Terry. Todd bluffs less but more effectively, the new guy bluffs and gambles...he likes to stay in on runner-runner flush draws, will bet if everyone checks, etc. Bill was playing a cautious game. I just wanted cards so I could snap off the new guy's bluff. He has blatant betting tells; if he is bluffing he eyes the pot, mentally counts it out and then bets that amount. If he has a strong hand he overbets the pot. Took me 3 hands to figure that out. Paid off, too.

From the big blind checked it with pocket 4s. Sadly, after over 20 minutes that was the BEST hand I had seen. Part of my theory of poker is to bluff successfully, people have to believe you catch hands at least occasionally. I was not raising the 4s because if I did and someone re-raised I was folding. Flop was ragged, 10 high. I bet. New guy and Terry both called. Turn was a 10. I bet...and he reraised a significant amount. Terry called, I folded. At the showdown Terry had the 10...he claimed he had it as well but Terry's kicker was better. He did not show so...maybe.

Finally won a hand from the big blind with A/10 when an Ace flopped. I bet it to the river against Danny and Terry. Normally with 2 callers I would be nervous but I have a great read on Danny and Terry is an eternal optimist. I put him on a low Ace. Sure enough, Danny had 2 nice connectors with long-shot draws and Terry had an A/6. So I was up about 25%.

Now I had chips and they had seen me play a hand. Picked up pocket 7s from the button. 2 limpers, I raised 3x the blinds. New guy took my 300 raise and added 750 more. Folded to me, Todd behind me. A quick calculation told me I was getting about 3-1. I had his hand narrowed to a good pair or a strong Ace and, based on a conversation he had just had where he expounded his Big Slick theory I actually weighted it pretty heavily towards the Slick. I had a decent read on him so decided to play the raise despite the poor actual odds figuring my implied odds were through the roof and, if he did not hit, I was going to semi-bluff him out of the pot...though I would figure I had the better hand.

Sadly, the flop was horrible for me mostly because it had a King. The only reason that bothered me was I figured him for the Big Slick so figured he had just left me 2 outs as the hands I put him on pre-flop that I was beating were now limited to a strong Ace. I briefly debated a raise but instead elected to check. He bet it strong enough that I believed he had it since it fit his profile of a strong hand. I folded, he showed...pocket jacks. So he had me beat beginning to end. But I was still okay with my play. When you are hitting nothing and get a chance to play a low-medium pair heads up with a bluffer for 3-1 chips...well, I will take that chance. Ironically, against nobody else at that table would I have called his initial re-raise. Sigh.

Back to card dead. Picked up a few chips here and there and at the break I was exactly where I started...3000. But the smoking had started and Terry was getting on my nerves. I thought about turning in my chips but elected to just wait and put them all in. I could justify the all-in because with blinds of 200/400 I had an M of 5. After I went through the blinds once without getting to play. 2400. Then Terry pulled one of his annoying things. I decided I was going all in next hand regardless. I was not even going to look at my cards. I was not having fun, the smoke was getting to me...it was time to go. But then I thought better of it and looked at my cards. A/J suited. Smurf. Who is behind me? Todd, Bill, bluffer. Terry had limped, Danny had folded. Send in the chips. I smiled internally to see the disgusted flip Terry did. I knew he would be folding.

Todd called pretty fast which did not worry me. He is pretty loose and will call with goofy hands...low suited connectors, that sort of thing. Of course, there was every possibility he woke up with a real hand but those are the chances you take when you go all-in with a mediocre hand like Ajax. Bill got out of the way and bluffer went into the tank. Finally he folded since Todd had called so it was heads up. Todd had deuces. Straight race.

Bluffer had folded one of my Aces but it was a weak Ace. Flop brought 2 7s and an 8. Turn was a Queen. I was down to 11 outs...thankfully, none of them hit. I would have been chip lead if it had and I was ready to leave. So yeah, I got beat by a pair of deuces...but hey, sometimes that happens.

Oddly, I feel like until I chose to go on tilt I played really, really well. I had solid reads on everyone. I got out of Terry's way when I checked in the big blind with j/5 and the flop came K/J/K. I put him on a King because of how he checked. Bluffer gave him a bunch of chips on that hand. But it was typical of the day that I knew when I was beat and got away from hands, made nice size bets when I was ahead and added to my stack...I just did not have enough fun to try and make my pile bigger.

On the other hand, my results were brutal. 8th out of 11th in a pretty weak field.

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Over the course of my life I have grown accustomed to winning, particularly at basketball. To be sure, the last couple of seasons of co-ed have had very limited success..probably dropping me to like a 95% win ratio for my life. But they have been fun. Except the last game.

I have lost a few games over the years. I have even lost a few by quite a few points. But there is one thing I had never really experienced before this last game and that was pure domination and humiliation.

The game started horrifically. By the time I came into the game we were down something like 20-4...and it wasn't that close! We were not getting good looks, we were passing terribly, our defense was porous.

For whatever reason the starters elected to go with a zone. I personally hate playing zone. I find it much more difficult to play correctly that man and so it proved yesterday. They were shredding the zone. They got so many easy, wide open looks from wherever they wanted that, just to make it somewhat of a challenge, they backed out to the NBA 3 line. That is...when we got back on defense. They were also playing a zone. The ball would go to the top. Weakside would be wide open...so we could pass strong side into the teeth of the defense. 3 - 4 seconds later their 3-1 or 4-1 fast break would be adding a bucket. I was keeping score at one point and it was so bad that at one point as they crossed mid-court on "just" a 2 on 1 fast break...where both the 2 were closer to the goal than the defender...I was already putting their points on the board. The ref laughed and said I should wait for them to actually make the shot...but we both knew.

Kyle and I had a couple things going and we broke the zone a couple times, he got me pretty easy looks. I made a couple, then missed one. But he reinjured his ankle and that little success went away. Somehow we managed to score 16 points in the first half. I don't think I have ever been on a team that scored just 2/3 of a point per minute in gym-league level basketball...that was horrific. We were down something like 30 at the half. And again...it wasn't that close.

Offensively I never did really contribute. I did not drive to penetrate the zone, settled for 3s which I was not hitting, and just basically was a non-factor. Not strictly true...I drove a few times but I was looking to pass because I was not hitting my shot. And I did have 6 or 8 assists if we were to keep stats. I also did a pretty good job on the defensive boards but my defense itself sucked.

Really there was only one player on the team who played well. That was Kyle C. He had the best game I have seen him play in quite a while. He was a force on offense. Of course, that term is relative...at one point he scored for about the 4th time in 5 trips and as we ran back down the floor, one of the other team said something like, "Man, he is just killing us" to which I replied, looking at an 76-39 score board, "Yeah, if you are not careful we might keep within 40".

Which we did. Mostly because they started goofing around, trying spectacular passes, stuff like that. But if they wanted they could have scored 100 and we would have been lucky to score 40.

I have been beaten on the scoreboard before, but being beaten down...that is a new experience. Did not like it much. Okay, hated it. Something has to change, there.

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We started the game slow, having a hard time even getting shots off. So I elected to take a hand in the scoring. I started with a drive trying to break down their zone. I took a pretty good bump so threw up a shot. They gave me continuation and I sunk both free throws. It was our first 2 points of the game...and we were down something like 9-2. The next possession I got the ball left of the free throw circle outside the 3 line, drove to the lower foul circle and dropped that one in. This time I got clobbered on the shot but no call. Oh well, 4 quick points. Next possession I established post position but we went the other way with the ball. That was fine...they were playing a zone and when the center defender moved to defend Christina's shot that gave me good rebounding position which I used to grab the offensive board and score. A couple possessions later I drove the left side again for the pull-up jumper. By the time I went out of the game the first time we had 8 points...and were down 19-8. We struggled to score all game long. I only took 5 more shots the rest of the game, 2 of them off offensive rebounds. I ended with 14 points for the day. So offensively I had a nice game. Defensively we were average, giving up 65. We give up between 62 and 66 points almost every game. We struggled to score again, only dropping in 46.

Somehow we have to get that figured out. This team was playing a 2-3 zone. To me, that is perfect to get post position against. Have one person in the high post, have the 2 low post players set cross-screens for each other and wheel your shooters to the corners. Now you have flooded the zone and they can either defend your post or your shooter...not both. But we did not have people setting the backscreens so that was never established. Nor did we pinpoint what was working and go to it. All day I was able to penetrate the zone almost at will. This was particularly available from the foul line extended left outside the three line. It gave them a bad angle to defend. From there I was able to creat good looks for JC, Christina and Ashley. For some reason after the first 15 minutes or so nobody passed the ball to me in that position.

And that gets to the heart of the problem. We are a talented team...but not a good team. I have a good post-up game that should do a number on most teams we have played this year. I think twice in 8 games I have gotten an entry pass when I had position. I can break down the defense with penetration but never get the ball in a good place to do that. Which is fine IF we are scoring in other ways.

Both Ashley and Christina have the height and moves to be forces in the post game. We seldom get them the ball in those positions. Kyle C is a very, very capable rebounder and good hustle guy. But we don't help him with box-outs so he and I have to both box-out AND get the rebound. He has more height, strength, and agility than i do...but I have slightly better positioning and box-out skills. We do okay on the boards but if we are not both in there then the boards turn into a disaster zone.

JC is a good hustle guy with a decent mid-range shot but we seldom get him the ball when he is open.

I set a lot of screens...but they seldom get used or if they do it is only to move around the perimeter instead of breaking towards the basket.

We could score a LOT of points by posting up Ashley, Christina, and myself or by penetrate and kick moves. We do neither. We regularly ignore the hot scorer and fail to run again plays that got us easy looks the prior time. That has to change if we are going to become the sum of our parts. If we ever do we will win a lot of games. If we don't...well, we will spend a lot more time looking up from the wrong end of a 20 point blow-out. Teamwork beats talent. We have the talent...just not the teamwork.

XBOX 360 Day 1

I had been pondering the purchase of a new gaming system for quite some time. I still have and occasionally play ye olde N64 but it is definitely last-gen technology. I have played a few games on the PSP3 over at my brothers house and understand the appeal...the graphics just abuse the N64, for example...but it is not for me. The Playstation has a particular graphics theory that...well...I understand they are superior but I just don't like them. I actually prefer the inferior N64 graphics. I admit the graphics are inferior in capability...but I prefer the look. Well, with that in mind then obviously upgrading to the PSP was out.

A couple people at work have the Nintendo Wii and they LOVE it. I have always had a certain affinity for the Nintendo so when I heard Nintendo was releasing their next-gen system I was interested. And the games look interesting. And the people who own the system absolutely love it. D & S, they talk about it almost every day...what they bowled on it last night or what golf course they played, how they shot...they love it.

I, however, have a video game theory. When I want physical exercise, I go get it. I play softball in the spring, summer and fall, basketball during the fall and winter, run a bit, work out at the gym...but I don't want to exercise when playing a video game. I explained my video game philosophy to a friend.

"When I am playing a video game I want to be laying back in a bean bag chair, so relaxed it looks like I have no bones in my body...kind of a human jellyfish look...with nothing moving except my thumbs on the controller, maybe an occasional swipe at a chip or soda, and a bit of drool running out of my mouth..."

In other words, video games should require as little effort as possible. So the Wii was not an option.

At one point I had played the XBox 260 at my friend Alan's place, some boxing game. The graphics were sweet, the control easy to comprehend...I liked it. For years now he has tried to convince me to pick one up and I have always had a good reason not to...I did not have time when I was at University, I did not have time during the wedding planning, etc., and even if I had the time the cost was just prohibitive...I could usually afford either that or to go on dates, that sort of thing. I guess we all know what wins that equation :-)

Well, now that the Goose and I are settled into life together I have a bit more time and it is not as big a stretch financially since we date differently...more nights at home instead of on the town...so I finally pulled the trigger and picked up the 360.

After a great deal of research I decided between the Pro and the Elite. I knew the Arcade was a waste of money because to save games you need a certain amount of memory and to play some games it had to be more than the flash stick. But the 120GB of the Elite seemed like overkill since I don't really download much, I just buy the big 4 sports games, maybe a first person shooter, a racing game, and a fighting game and that is enough. So 20GB is plenty, and since we don't have the HDTV there was no point to buying the Elite for the cable or color...black, white, I don't really care.

Picked up one old XBOX game based on the Battletech universe and a used copy of MLB27K for a baseball game. Went to set the system up. It was pretty easy, just a couple cables and we were good to go...except there was no picture. Some sound, no picture. Tried the HD cable. Fuzzy picture bifurcated bizarrely. Tried different TV inputs. No luck. Getting frustrated. Reread the installation manual. Looked for and found the switch from HD to regular tv and was done with the setup...after having turned a 2 minute set-up into 10. Pretty funny.

Wanted to start with the Mechwarrior game since the graphics would be older and therefore inferior. Found out I missed part of my research because it is NOT, in fact, backwards compatible which I was convinced it was. Oh well. I only spent 3 bucks on the game so no big loss.

Fired up the baseball game. Unfortunately, I unwisely purchased it from Game Stop and it had no manual. The swing system is hardly intuitive. Actually, no part of the game is intuitive. There is no simple press A to swing, B to steal...no, you have lots to do.

First, you use the left joystick for the "Batter's Eye" where you try to guess where the pitch will be located. If you are pretty close to correct a little ball will appear and you will get bonuses to your player stats for that swing. Then, timed as closely as possible to the start of the pitcher's windup, you pull down on the right joystick. When you want to swing you THEORETICALLY release it...but if you want to influence a ground ball you pull down on it, to influence a fly you push it forward or to aim towards left or right field you twitch it left or right...uggh.

I thought I would be clever and play one of the best teams in the league against one of the worst so I selected the Red Sox and for my opponents I selected the Diamondbacks.

The top of the first was pretty smooth. I struck out the side on 12 pitches.

Bottom half...well, that is when I discovered why he had not swung once. Because I was BATTING, not pitching. That was me that struck out. Somehow I was the Diamondbacks instead of the Red Sox.

Pitching is interesting. The catcher suggests a pitch and location. But you don't put the target ball right on his glove...each pitch has a "break factor" that you have to factor in. So you move the baseball around. When you feel the controller vibrate you are where you want to be, so then you press the appropriate pitch button and the length of time you press it determines the speed and accuracy of the pitch. The longer you press it, the faster but less accurate the pitch.

Fielding is relatively intuitive...a blue circle shows you about where the ball will land if a fly or roll if a grounder, the computer picks the "best" guy to field it...more on that later'...and throwing to bases is easy, a button for each base.

My second time at bat I at least knew I was at bat so it went much better. I got a couple swings off. By the 5th inning I already had made contact...one foul ball. I walked once or twice but as often as not could not even figure out how to swing. I played 7 innings, was down about 9-0, and had 19 strikeouts. In 7 innings.Out of 21 chances.

So I was not liking it much. I made a couple changes to the settings to make the "Batter's Eye" less important so at least all I was doing was using the right joystick. I started a new game, Red Sox against the Cardinals.

My pitching was okay. I walked one guy but then I turned a slick 5-4-3 double play. I was liking the pitching and defensive controls. Bottom half of the inning, first batter, I went yard. My first hit was a good one, a home run. I got a couple more hits including a 2 run bomb. 2nd inning was more of the same, I gave up a walk and then, experimenting with pitching controls, managed to throw 3 consecutive wild pitches to score the run. I came back to get the next three guys. I scored another 3 spot in the bottom half. Maybe I adjusted the hitting to be too easy...

Nope. Next inning I could not connect. The control is still not intuitive to me. It was so bad that at least twice I swung and my guy crossed the plate...while the pitcher was in the windup. So there are some issues with the game, though I am sure they are mostly related to my videogame incompetence which is near legendary. I had similar problems pitching where I was trying to select a pitch and instead grooved them over the heart of the plate.

Well, I built a nice lead but then my defense fell apart. One play in particular stood out in my mind. There was a Texas Leaguer over the second basemans' head. The center fielder was just a little ways from the blue circle and I thought I could make the catch. However, he did not seem to be following my commands. Sure enough, the ball bounced about 2 on-screen inches from him without him attempting to catch it. And sat there. I finally figured out they thought the right fielder should have caught it...so I had run him AWAY from the ball. And the CPU did not switch it to the fielder closest to the ball so they got an inside the park home run on a ball that should have been caught and was never more than 2 or 3 on-screen inches from any fielder because I could not figure out how to switch to controlling the closest fielder. Good thing that wasn't frustrating...

I also could not figure out how to advance baserunners.

Overall it was a fun game, though. Ultimately I prevailed in the defensive struggle by the score of 17-14. I figured out some stuff on hitting, pitching and fielding, though none are anywhere near competent yet. And there are features that blow me away.

For example, I selected "light breeze" or something like that for weather...so you could see the wind blowing the fielder's shirts. That was fun...

Plan is to start a season knowing I will lose a LOT of games early on but will learn as I go, make a late-season run and hopefully sneak into the playoffs. Lots of Xboxing in the future...

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So we had the final game of our first season this weekend. We have had problems scoring all season so I decided I was going to come out shooting again. The last time I did that we built a 21-17 lead in the first 10 minutes before I came out. After I came out we only scored 27 points in the remaining 30-odd minutes of the game. It wasn't just my scoring...when I would penetrate the defense would collapse, giving me easy passes to open shooters. So I know I can still be effective. My game plan going in was to post up a lot, take a few drives from the foul line extended left for that pull up jumper that is all but unstoppable.

Got there, only 5 people showed up. Kyle F was in China, Ashley was not back from Seattle, JC was sick, Mason decided it was too physical and quit the team, John was sick...so we only had 5 people. Early on the pattern was set...if I dropped back on defense it killed their fast break. A couple possessions kind of illustrate it.

I posted up a few times and was able to draw the double team, kick to Kelly for the open shot, and move into prime rebounding position. She scored a few times, and twice I got the offensive board. The first time I scored pretty easily and we got back on defense, got set up. The second time I got the board, laid it up...and choked. I missed. It is not possible to get an easier shot. I just overlaid it, it came down on the far side of the basket, they got the rebound, quick outlet, we did not get back, and they scored.

That was the pattern. If I drove and kicked, if we made the basket all was well. If we missed we only were getting one person back...and other times none. So it made it unwise for me to go to the bucket even though I was able to penetrate at will and, while I was not shooting, I WAS creating open looks for my team.

That put me in a conundrum. I could provide offense OR defense...but not both. When I got back on defense against their fast break I was able to either create a turnover or at the least slow their break and give help time to arrive 1 in 3 times. Sure, 2 out of 3 times they still scored...but I created 3 or 4 turnovers, deflected a half dozen balls and they had to pull the ball back out a few times. So I was clearly a valuable asset on defense. Meanwhile, on offense Christina was just killing them. She was getting the ball on the blocks, making her move and scoring virtually at will. The few times she was stopped she was able to kick out to Kelly or to Jess for wide open mid-range jumpers. The offense was clicking just fine. I was basically standing at the top of the key or even closer to mid-court, an outlet if we needed to rotate the ball but really just in position to get back on defense.

On the one hand, it makes me happy that I am enough of a team player that it did not bother me that I surrendered my offense for the good of the team. However, there came a stretch in the second half where it mattered. We had a 7 point lead. Then they switched their defense, were double teaming Christina before she could even get the ball. We made a couple bad passes and suddenly they had a lead and we were struggling to score. But by now we are 40 minutes into the game, I have taken exactly 3 shots and am out of the offensive mind set. A couple of times I moved into the post which created open looks for the girls and they buried the shots. Still, by the end of the game we just fell short about 8 points.

Did I do the right thing? Looking back I think I did. Christina was in a groove. She was carrying the brunt of the scoring load, Kelly and Jess were chipping in just enough jumpers to keep the defense from completely concentrating on her and in that situation I was far more valuable dropping back to play defense. I think I had to play that game.

On a personal level I was a bit disappointed because I was looking forward to being a scorer again but that was not what we needed. At least, for most of the game it wasn't. It was only in the last 10 minutes or so that we ran out of steam offensively, otherwise we scored enough to win. For the game I played very well on defense, more or less controlled the defensive boards, and when I was in the offense did a good job of getting the ball where it needed to be. At some point next season I might play a little less defense and let someone else worry about it just to see what kind of impact I can have. For now, though, I have to be satisfied with helping keep us in the game with my defensive effort. Well, mine and Kyle C's. He was an animal on the boards as well, did a great job. Not to say the girls didn't...the other team played 4 guys, 1 girl for over half the game, we played 2 guys, 3 girls. They were taller, faster, and stronger...but we still gave them headaches all game long. Pretty proud of our effort in this one.