I've been shopping around for a convertible. I bought a Miata when we moved back to Austin from Japan, traded it in for a Solara when we moved to San Jose, downgraded to a Taurus for a couple of years, and am finally ready to return to toplessness.
I have evaluated the VW Eos, the Saab 9-3, the BMW 1 and 3 series, and the Volvo C70. I had been leaning towards a new BMW 328i, but I test drove an Audi A4 3.0 tonight, and that changed the landscape dramatically. That is one FUN car to drive. I enjoyed most of the other cards, but the Audi actually gave me butterflies. So that's what I'm looking at now.
I also did some reflection tonight about the used vs. new decision. There are some sweet deals on used A4's. e.g. I saw a 2004 for under 16K. A new one (2008) will cost me about 3 times that. I was prepared to splurge, especially with my extra $$$ from my Vegas trip, but I think I can find some better things to do with $32K...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Introducing Nuance Mobile Care
For those who are curious about what I have been working on for the past year, we officially launched the product today. Here is an article about it.
Happy 100th post, by the way!
Happy 100th post, by the way!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Summer - Halfway over already?
Wow, time flies. It's hard to believe summer is already over. Very depressing to hear back to school ads starting up.
The kids are having a great summer... they have been making great progress in their swimming lessons, and have a couple of "quiet weeks" before their production of Pinocchio, and then Kayleigh heads off to Camp Newman.
We had a "date day" today -- Monique and Kayleigh went to check out the new American Girl movie, and Will and I went to Nickel City, an arcade that charges $2 admission, but most of the games are free or under 50 cents to play. I was hoping they would have Gauntlet, because I thought Will would get a kick out of that game, but no luck, unfortunately.
Tonight we are going to Alexander's Steakhouse to celebrate my win in Vegas and our friend Rik's birthday. Last time we were there, we spent almost $800 on dinner for 2... I hope we can do better than that this time!
I have started shopping for a convertible. Right now, I'm leaning towards a 2009 BMW 328i. If I get this one, we will most likely take their "European Delivery" option, which offers a 7% discount on the car if you pick it up in Germany. Basically, a free trip. We would probably do this in December, taking a couple of weeks to visit Italy and maybe France. I'm also considering a Saab 9-3 and a Volvo C-70, but I'm 75% sure at this point that I will end up in the Bimmer.
Poker-wise, not too much exciting has been going on. I did come in 3rd in the 9PM $77 6-man last week for a $2200 score, but I'm really looking forward to the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) and FTOPS (Full tilt Online Poker Series) events coming up in the next couple of months. These are the events that really allow "break-out" level prize pools. I also have a seat in the $2K buyin event at the Bay 101 in August, but it is on Kayleigh's birthday, so I will probably try to sell the seat or exchange it to play in a different event.
Hope everyone out there is doing well. I'll try to post more often.
The kids are having a great summer... they have been making great progress in their swimming lessons, and have a couple of "quiet weeks" before their production of Pinocchio, and then Kayleigh heads off to Camp Newman.
We had a "date day" today -- Monique and Kayleigh went to check out the new American Girl movie, and Will and I went to Nickel City, an arcade that charges $2 admission, but most of the games are free or under 50 cents to play. I was hoping they would have Gauntlet, because I thought Will would get a kick out of that game, but no luck, unfortunately.
Tonight we are going to Alexander's Steakhouse to celebrate my win in Vegas and our friend Rik's birthday. Last time we were there, we spent almost $800 on dinner for 2... I hope we can do better than that this time!
I have started shopping for a convertible. Right now, I'm leaning towards a 2009 BMW 328i. If I get this one, we will most likely take their "European Delivery" option, which offers a 7% discount on the car if you pick it up in Germany. Basically, a free trip. We would probably do this in December, taking a couple of weeks to visit Italy and maybe France. I'm also considering a Saab 9-3 and a Volvo C-70, but I'm 75% sure at this point that I will end up in the Bimmer.
Poker-wise, not too much exciting has been going on. I did come in 3rd in the 9PM $77 6-man last week for a $2200 score, but I'm really looking forward to the WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) and FTOPS (Full tilt Online Poker Series) events coming up in the next couple of months. These are the events that really allow "break-out" level prize pools. I also have a seat in the $2K buyin event at the Bay 101 in August, but it is on Kayleigh's birthday, so I will probably try to sell the seat or exchange it to play in a different event.
Hope everyone out there is doing well. I'll try to post more often.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
main event day 2
got no callers for my first shove, second shove with aj of diamonds, got called in bb by 99. flop was t87 with two diamonds, but the board bricked out.
it was a blast playing and i will definitely be back.
it was a blast playing and i will definitely be back.
main event day 2
forgot to mention that my table broke and i am now immediately to the left of alan cunningham.
main event day 2
uh oh.... i dropped down to 25k, built back up to 46k, and on the last hand before break, picked up ak of diamonds on the button. mp raises to 2900. i decide to reraise to 9000. mp goes all in for a total of about 34k. 25k more to call into a pot of 21k is pretty easy, especially since i have chips left if i lose. unfortunately he has aces. one diamond comes on the flop, and a k on the turn, but no miracle river, and i am very crippled. i have an m jus above 4 , so i get to play shovebot poker for a bit. send me your goodluck vibes!
main event day 2
39300 at 2nd break. on the vry first hand, i got all in vs a 12k shortstack with aq. i wasin great shape vs his kq until k came on the flop. so that took me under 60k.. i lost a couple of small pots, when this occurred: i went to call a 2500 bet on the river, but instead of a blue (500) and 2 yellows (1000), i accidentally put out 2 reds (5000) and a blue. i lost the showdown obviously. so i still have plenty of chips but lost a bit of ammo. pretty disgusted with myself for he slipup, but that happens...
there were no bustouts this round. the short stacks are the same, except that alex built back up to a very big stack, sparked by his suckout against m on the first hand. gary benson is getting pretty short now too.
i am having some luck stealing blinds cheaply from early position. one of the two guys on my left have called nearly all of my late position raises, but my early raises have been getting a ton of respect. i am going to see if i can calibrate a good frequency to execute that move.
thanks everyone for the support. next updaate around 7 pm.
there were no bustouts this round. the short stacks are the same, except that alex built back up to a very big stack, sparked by his suckout against m on the first hand. gary benson is getting pretty short now too.
i am having some luck stealing blinds cheaply from early position. one of the two guys on my left have called nearly all of my late position raises, but my early raises have been getting a ton of respect. i am going to see if i can calibrate a good frequency to execute that move.
thanks everyone for the support. next updaate around 7 pm.
main event day 2
71500 at first break. I won the first two pots of the day, then lost three reraised pots in a row and was down under 40k. then i picked up aces on the button, reraied an mp player, who called. flop was akk. i bet 1/3 pot, and he called. turn was a small card making a three flush, and he checked. i bet again and he checkraised all in. oops. :) so that hand got me to 70k.
peter jepsen busted quickly, the victim of a brutal two outer when his kk got beat by tt. alex is now shortstacked; he lost most of his chips to brett in a set over set hand. hani also busted. scott and the 8 seat are still in with short stacks.
next update around 430....
peter jepsen busted quickly, the victim of a brutal two outer when his kk got beat by tt. alex is now shortstacked; he lost most of his chips to brett in a set over set hand. hani also busted. scott and the 8 seat are still in with short stacks.
next update around 430....
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Day 2 Table Draw
Here is my table draw for Wednesday. Gary Benson is an Australian WSOP bracelet winner and the best known player at the table, ; Peter Jepsen is a Full Tilt-sponsored player. Alex is a two-plus-two'er who also FT'd a NLHE shootout earlier in the year. Brett has a WSOP FT under his belt as well. All in all, it's probably a slightly below average draw, but I'm not sure. It's nice that there are no monster stacks, and 3 smaller stacks to pick on, but I would definitely prefer that the bulk of the chips be in the hands of the less-proven players...
Peter Jepsen 33,550 B26 01
Alex Triner 70,900 B26 02
Scott Jones 11,400 B26 03
Gary Benson 18,650 B26 04
Tom Rose 53,675 B26 05
Brett Richey 87,975 B26 06
Hani Awad 11,600 B26 07
Jason Baer 11,300 B26 08
Michael Migdol 56,050 B26 09
I am flying back to Vegas Tuesday night and planning on a quiet restful evening to make sure I'm at my best on Wednesday.
Peter Jepsen 33,550 B26 01
Alex Triner 70,900 B26 02
Scott Jones 11,400 B26 03
Gary Benson 18,650 B26 04
Tom Rose 53,675 B26 05
Brett Richey 87,975 B26 06
Hani Awad 11,600 B26 07
Jason Baer 11,300 B26 08
Michael Migdol 56,050 B26 09
I am flying back to Vegas Tuesday night and planning on a quiet restful evening to make sure I'm at my best on Wednesday.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Day 1 Summary
While I'm certainly happy to be at 56K at the end of day 1, I'm definitely aware of the luck factor in achieving it. First of all, I got hit by the deck, both in terms of cards dealt and flops hit. I had aces 5 times yesterday (but none of them won me a decent pot). I hit some good top pair-top-kicker flops, and also several strong drawing flops, including two open-ended-straight-flush-draws. I also had a good table draw, with no tier 1 (or event tier 2, that I am aware of) pros. Donkey on my left gave me all his chips like he was supposed to, and most of the table was clearly looking to "survive the day", enabling me to steal frequently late in the day.
I did an awesome job reading hands, however. Here are some samples:
- Call a button raise from BB w/ 65. Flop is K63 two-suited. I check-call the flop. Turn is an offsuit 8, check-check. River is T and makes a 3-flush, button bets big. Although this bet can be a wide variety of hands (including frequent bluffs), I folded, telling the button "I know you made your flush, nice river". He shows Q-high flush.
-Limp UTG with 88. Call raise from UTG+1. On J9x board, raiser c-bets and I call. On blank turn, I check, and he fires big again. He's shown capability of firing multiple bullets before. I interrogate him for a bit before folding, he shows a J.
-J8s in BB. SB starts the hand with 6K (blinds 200-400) and open-limps. Board is QJ4, two-suited. SB shoves. I think for a long time and call, confident that he has either a 4 or a flush draw, but no Q. He shows 98 flush draw, but hits.
-Limp JT in EP. Guy on my left raises like 5.5x BB. Folded back around to me. My first instinct is that he has TT, but I discount that possibility since I have a T in my hand. I fold, saying, "my hand no good against your 99, sir". He says, "you're close", and shows me TT.
Here's the hand that I lost a lot of chips in level 4 (150-300 with 25 antes). I start hand with 70K. One MP limper, cutoff makes a smallish 3.5x raise to 1500. I have 55 in the BB and call. 4750 in the pot. Limper calls. Flop is A32. I check, limper checks, and raiser bets 2200, and it feels like a c-bet. I think he has an A maybe 30% of the time in this situation? He has about 16K left in his stack. I raise to 8000, and he thinks a bit and calls. Turn is a middle card like a 8, and I put him all in. He install calls AK and I whiff the river. I think on this board, given his stack size, other lines such as check-call flop, donk any kind of scary turn might be better? On the other hand, I put him to a test if he has any pair below aces, and I have a full 6 outs (24% if the chips go in on the flop) if he has AK. Any comments?
Plan for day 2 is to quickly identify which players are playing to survive, and which ones are playing to win the tournament and play accordingly.
In case you're curious, here's what the payout timeline was like in last year's WSOP:
Last year, there were 6358 players, and 621 spots payed out. The bubble burst around 6:30PM on day 3. Survival to the end of day 3 ensured a payout of $39,445. At the end of day 4, 114 players were left, and payout reached $58,570. Day 5 narrowed down the field to 27 players, with a payout of $333K. And everyone who made it to the final table at the end of that day was assured a payday of $526K.
Lots of good things have to happen to make it that far, but I know I can do it! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I did an awesome job reading hands, however. Here are some samples:
- Call a button raise from BB w/ 65. Flop is K63 two-suited. I check-call the flop. Turn is an offsuit 8, check-check. River is T and makes a 3-flush, button bets big. Although this bet can be a wide variety of hands (including frequent bluffs), I folded, telling the button "I know you made your flush, nice river". He shows Q-high flush.
-Limp UTG with 88. Call raise from UTG+1. On J9x board, raiser c-bets and I call. On blank turn, I check, and he fires big again. He's shown capability of firing multiple bullets before. I interrogate him for a bit before folding, he shows a J.
-J8s in BB. SB starts the hand with 6K (blinds 200-400) and open-limps. Board is QJ4, two-suited. SB shoves. I think for a long time and call, confident that he has either a 4 or a flush draw, but no Q. He shows 98 flush draw, but hits.
-Limp JT in EP. Guy on my left raises like 5.5x BB. Folded back around to me. My first instinct is that he has TT, but I discount that possibility since I have a T in my hand. I fold, saying, "my hand no good against your 99, sir". He says, "you're close", and shows me TT.
Here's the hand that I lost a lot of chips in level 4 (150-300 with 25 antes). I start hand with 70K. One MP limper, cutoff makes a smallish 3.5x raise to 1500. I have 55 in the BB and call. 4750 in the pot. Limper calls. Flop is A32. I check, limper checks, and raiser bets 2200, and it feels like a c-bet. I think he has an A maybe 30% of the time in this situation? He has about 16K left in his stack. I raise to 8000, and he thinks a bit and calls. Turn is a middle card like a 8, and I put him all in. He install calls AK and I whiff the river. I think on this board, given his stack size, other lines such as check-call flop, donk any kind of scary turn might be better? On the other hand, I put him to a test if he has any pair below aces, and I have a full 6 outs (24% if the chips go in on the flop) if he has AK. Any comments?
Plan for day 2 is to quickly identify which players are playing to survive, and which ones are playing to win the tournament and play accordingly.
In case you're curious, here's what the payout timeline was like in last year's WSOP:
Last year, there were 6358 players, and 621 spots payed out. The bubble burst around 6:30PM on day 3. Survival to the end of day 3 ensured a payout of $39,445. At the end of day 4, 114 players were left, and payout reached $58,570. Day 5 narrowed down the field to 27 players, with a payout of $333K. And everyone who made it to the final table at the end of that day was assured a payday of $526K.
Lots of good things have to happen to make it that far, but I know I can do it! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
main event
round 4 was great for me. i ran my stack up to 70000 chips and had the table begging for mercy...but in the last ten minutes, i made a move with 55 on an a23 board that cost me over 20k in chips, leaving me at around 48500. average is probably around 30, so i am still very healthy. i just need to be a little more careful. one more level to go for the night - we will be done around 1245 am.
main event
45500 at the 2nd break. I flopped top two pair with 97 and got paid off big by kk, and won a few other small pots to take the chip lead at the table. Also raised with q6suited, and semibluffed a short stack off of his hand on a j98 board that gave me a flush draw and a gut shot. we lost a couple of players in the last round, but i like my table presence. antes come into play next round, and i am really glad i have a stack with which i can play aggressively.
gonna go back to my room and see if room service will be faster than waiting for a restaurant....
gonna go back to my room and see if room service will be faster than waiting for a restaurant....
main event
22650 at the 2nd break, I was down to about 14 but won two big pots. In the first, I limped with a4 suited and flopped the nut flush draw on a q65 board. sb led out, I called, two others in the pot folded. turn was an offsuit 8, giving me a very bad gutshot draw to go with my flush draw. but sb only bet 1/30, so i called (after considering a raise). river was the 7, giving me the nut flush. sb checked and after some though i settled on only half pot for the river, which he thought before calling. maybe i left money on the table there by not betting more, but i dont think so. on the other hand, i i limped with t9, and caught a t92 flop. same guy from the other habd led out. i raised, he called. turn was an ugly 8, making a 3 straight and a 3 flush on the board. i chose to check behind. river was an uglier 7, and i checked behind again, winning the showdown against kt . again, may have left some money on the table....
main event
18575 at first break. I won a big pot early to get up to 24000 earlly, but gaveit back and more when I called down a guy who had been caught bluffing twice, but this time he had quads. i got dealt aces twice. the first time i took the blinds, the second time the bb called and the flop came kqx. i cbet and he called. j came on the turn, he checked and i decided to check. the river bricked and i called a half pot bet losing to kj. so i lost the abdolute minimum on that hand.
there is a woman celeb at my table, but i am not sure who she is. she looks like annie duke probably did in her early 20's.... i will try to find out who she is. another guy got queried about his average stack, which means he is well known as well, but not sure who he is.
there is a woman celeb at my table, but i am not sure who she is. she looks like annie duke probably did in her early 20's.... i will try to find out who she is. another guy got queried about his average stack, which means he is well known as well, but not sure who he is.
main event
i am in the blue section in the amazon room at table six. look for first update around 2pm. start sending positive vibes my way!
Friday, July 4, 2008
happy 4th of July
so i am blogging to you live from the voodoo lounge, 50 stories up at the top of the rio. from here we can see probably 100 different fireworks shows on the horizon. this is very very VERY cool. wish i had a camera with enough resolution to capture the effect....
venetian deepstack - out
anyone want to see me dorkin hard, check out pokerstars.tv website later today...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
venetian deepstack - out
blech, lost a big race with 77 against ace ten, went card dead for a bit before losing another race with 99 v kt. having dinner at one of mario batali's restaurants before checking out wayne brady's show over here. tomorrow i really do plan to take a day off from poker to res up for the big day on saturday. still taking stakers if anyone is interested in buying action...
venetian deepstack
i was going to take today off from poker, but i got a full night of sleep and woke up with a hunger to shake the losing streak. so i decided to play the venetian deepstack tourney today, which is $550 for 15000 chips, but only 40 minute levels. at the second break, i am doing pretty well. i have almost 40000 in chips, almost twice average. 270 players remain from the original 380. i made a huge laydown early with a ten high one card flush, but i think it was correct. next update around 6:45"
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
bad day yesterdat
well, the poker results for this trip have been disappointing to say the least. yesterday i played 2 satellite sng's to the bellagio 1k event. in the first, i was down to 4 players (2 got seats). i was tied for the biggest stack at the table, with 2 short stacks. i shove 15x bb preflop with kk, the othe big stack calls allin with 88 (very questionable in that satellite situation) and catches to knock me out. in the next one, i had kk cracked two more times. hopefully i will run better in the main event. by the way, i am playing day 1C which starts on saturday.
today i am giving the caesars megastack another try. hopegully i can improve on last weeks finish here.
today i am giving the caesars megastack another try. hopegully i can improve on last weeks finish here.
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