August 28, 2003 Archives

Helaine and I continue to play, and we continue to be down $43. However, over the past three days I have done two things which have proved very successful.

First, I'm playing in very low stakes games. These are normally $5 No Limit Texas Hold'em tournaments (plus $.50 for the house) with 9 or 18 players. The low stakes tends to attract people just getting their feet wet. You can win up to $36 if you place first in an 18 player tourney

So, is it a bit of an unfair fight? Sure.

Any card player can get lucky or hot, which is what keeps poor players coming back. But, you can't depend on luck. Over time, the cards do even out.

Second, I've become very, very aggressive. I hardly play any hands early on, waiting for the top few draws to see the flop. As soon as I know I have something very good, I go all in. Most players fold immediately.

Will I bet KK and end up facing someone with AA... or someone who makes a ridiculous runner? Yes. But, by and large, this strategy (which cuts down on pot size by eliminating the last few bets) produces many more winning hands. More importantly, players fishing for a hand get scared off.

As I said, it's been very good, as I've won money in 4 of the last 6 tournaments I've been in.

I do know my limitations. This strategy might not work at all in $10 tournaments. Certainly, in higher stakes games there will be a more educated class of player, and I might be seen for the 'poker bully' I'm being.

It's also possible I'm on a hot streak and don't see it. In that case, this strategy will fail rapidly.

I'm pretty happy with the response my NE Blackout satellite picture 'expose' brought. This is a very tiny website... miniscule... but somehow, under certain conditions, I am the number one citation on MSN Search for people looking for the blackout satellite images.

We're only talking about a few hundred hits. To me, that's a big deal.

Earlier today, I got a nice note from a woman who wanted to print my page, but can't because it's white type on a gray background (I will look for a plug in to enable a 'print' page). I sent her the text, she replied thanking me, and added:

When I looked at her return address, I realized she works at the home office of the same, small company I work for! As it turns out, she had no clue I worked for them. The address on this website is a personal, not corporate address. This was just dumb Internet luck.

So, again, how weird is this?

Helaine and I took the trash to the curb a few minutes ago. The town doesn't pick-up recyclables every week, and we don't bring them to the curb every time we can, but the scene outside is not to be believed. There are three trash cans, a recycling bin full of bottles six grocery bags full of the New Haven Register and New York Times and assorted cardboard tied with string.

There is more outside our house than used to sit outside the apartment building I grew up in!

To me, what makes this ridiculous is what we recycle; glass and mostly paper. What do they think, this stuff grows on trees? Uhh... forget that.

Trees are an easily renewable resource and glass comes from sand. As far as I know, there's no shortage of sand in the offing. Here is Connecticut at least, the percentage of forested land is higher now than it's ever been. Aren't there things to be recycled which would make more sense?

I get my hair cut at work. I know. That's one of the most decadent priveleges my job affords me. In the last 15 years my hair has been cut outside of this building once; on the morning of my daughter's bat mitzvah,

Today, I was sitting in the men's dressing room with Francine (Queen of Hair) giving me a little trim.

By the way, if given half the opportunity, Francine would work on my hair for hours at a time, until each individual folicle was where it belonged. But, even when I rush her, she's unreal.

So, Francine is clipping away and the door is open to the hallway. I tend to look at the mirror and call out to people who are passing by. A tall figure walks by, stops, and sticks his head in.

Jesse Jackson.

So, what do you do when you're sitting, with a 'bib' on, trying to keep hair off your clothes with a woman spraying water on your hair? Is there anything clever to be said at all?

The Reverend Jackson and I do not see eye-to-eye on all issues... in fact, maybe not on most issues. However, I must admit he is a charming man... very approachable and seemingly without pretense (in our short meeting). There is no doubt, he is one of the most recognizable, revered, and reviled, people alive today.

I am astounded by the number of people at the station who say they've met him before. He is a person who makes loads of one-on-one contacts. That's a major strength.

He is tall and a little rumpled in his dress. He was accompanied by, though not surrounded by, a group of tall and large black men.

I'm sure he needs bodyguard protection, he is a controversial figure with a lot of enemies. But his 'protectors' were not at all menacing or threatening or even overly cautious here in the television station. But, they were big. I'd feel safer.

I wonder if he'll remember meeting me? I will remember meeting him.