Nine responses to The Maudie Quiz so far. Two of the items which have received majority votes have been dot on correct. There's one item no-one has gotten correct as of yet. Remember to take note of how you voted so you can compare your results on Thursday.
As of this writing, it's 3 days 16 hours and 17 minutes until wheels up for Vegas. My excitement reached a giddy crest late last week and has leveled at a smooth calm - the kind of calm I imagine one views from the air observing a tsunami make it's way from deep in the ocean towards shore. Very little can be discerned from the surface, but underneath it is building to a swell that transforms to a monstrous crest as it nears landfall.
I imagine my crest will reach shore sometime around wheels down in Vegas and right up until I meet the first of you in Vegas. I've been looking at the Excalibur web-site to burn it's image into my brain. It's not a normal hotel. Der. It's big. Really big. Then again, everything is big in Vegas and nothing is normal there. HO-kay.
If my online play of late is any indication, I will need to be very careful - it's been rather rocky. A note, though, to those of you who want to cuss out, or actually do cuss out that all-in maniac when you are heads up against them at the end of a SnG. Saturday eve I turned into that all-in maniac - and it was out of necessity.
Shortly after we got heads up I experienced a little episode that scared the shit out of me, to be blunt, and so I was madly trying to just dump my chips and shut it down - must be a sign I'm truly hooked on this game, though, because I just couldn't walk away from the table and let the poor guy play against an empty seat.
Anyway, I couldn't seem to lose - I kept pushing and kept winning for quite a few hands. Finally, the tide turned and after a few more hands the guy won - then proceeded to call me a "stupid bitch" in the chat box. I didn't have the time to tell him I was taking myself to the hospital, the dip.
Not to worry, though. What I was experiencing disappeared as quickly as it came on, so I didn't even get out of the garage. I did a little symptom sleuthing online and my symptom was right in line with what is called an Ophthalmic Migraine.
Never have had anything like that happen to me before so I was, understandably, shaken up. I have reached the age (jeez how I hate that phrase) where things like strokes and such become more of a cause for concern. But I had no pain or discomfort. Just the basic symptoms and - yes - I will have a chat with my doctor about it.
So keep in mind that the maniac next to you may just have another reason for being so maniacal when you next encounter him!
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I want to give a shout-out to April at "this is Not a Poker Blog" — glad to have another female in our midst and she just placed 4th in a recent free-roll. Congratulations. Check her out.
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And thank you Hank for another excellent theory piece. I credit it (and Poker Tracker) for allowing me to repair most of the damage done to my bankroll at the killer blogger table last Friday night - got back almost all 3 buy ins in one session at the .50/1 tables on Saturday.
Hank's piece enabled me to quantify an aspect of my play for which I previously didn't have the words. When I have been at my best - in the zone, shall we say, I've noted that it feels as though I'm playing intuitively rather than mechanically. Taking note of hole cards and pot odds takes a back seat to the read I have on a player. When I have successfully nailed a read on a player, I can almost play any two cards and out play him.
This is not something that happens often, though. At least not often enough. But when it does, it elevates the game from mundane grinding to something more intricate and akin to a dance. There's a rhythm that develops and I use that rhythm with my opposition.
It's almost as though a connection has been established through the electrons and across the physical distance. That blinking icon is a thinking icon. The rhythm of the dance - in this case more of an Apache then a Tango. Raise. Raise. Raise. Fold. Bet. Call. Re-raise. All-in.
I think that's one reason why I like heads up play as much as I do. A pas de deux. At that point in a tourney, the cards can almost become meaningless. You are dancing eye to eye, choreographing on the fly, and if you gain the lead, you control your partner and dance them right out of all their chips.
Anyway, thanks Hank, I'm a very long way from being an expert player, but I'm glad to know I'm on the right track.
