I'm hosting poker night at my place this evening. Lots of first time players. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
40 thoughts on “January 16th 2014: Poker Night”
I saw The Princess Bride at Southdale last night and it was, as Count Tyrone Rugen would say, marvelous. A lot of parents were there with younger children telling them about seeing it when they were kids.
I loved exploiting new poker players at my place in Minnesota. They always knew they were going to be exploited, though, so they wouldn't play for money.
The problem with "a lot" of new players is one of them is bound to get super lucky. I was good when exploiting one or two novices. When the table is full of them, and nobody ever folds, my game goes to hell.
Beginners luck is nothing more than SSS and dumb plays. We're playing for small peanuts anyway. If I end up donating ten American saw bucks to someone then what the hell.
In college we hosted Thursday night poker for 3.5 years. By the end of the run we were up to 100+ dollar swings in an evening. That was a bit nuts for broke college kids.
I have a hard time gambling hand-by-hand. An entry fee for one pot keeps me within my bounds. I had a minor gambling problem as a teenager, blowing all my money to friends many times playing poker.
Why did I never reap these benefits?
We need a WGOM poker night
That would be fun.
Via skype and an on line gaming site?
Dear Beau (and others?):
I recently started watching ST: DS9. I'm hoping to hit high points (especially including notable story arcs), rather than go through the entire series. I've watched the first 9 episodes, so have a good base laid down. Suggestions for going forward?
DK is your expert here, since I'm only through five seasons. But the Season 3 through Season 5 story arc requires watching of almost every episode. I think one reason you don't see DS9 in syndication is that it's hard to just watch individual episodes out of context. There's so much build-up.
I will say I felt the first 15 episodes were tough to get through. It gets decidedly better near the end of season one and takes off, especially in season three.
The first 9 seemed to lack some direction. Lots of technobabble (naturally), and some pretty awful acting at times.
I've always thought the DS9 1st season is better than the 1st season of TNG, but it's not especially good, or focused on many of the long-term plots of the later seasons. After what you've watched, I'd watch "Vortex", "Battle Lines" (not a particularly good one, but something important happens in it...), "Progress", "Duet", and "In the Hands of the Prophets". From the 2nd season, I'd say hit the first three, "Cardassians", "Necessary Evil", "The Alternate", "Whispers", "Blood Oath", "The Maquis", "The Wire", "Crossover", "The Collaborator", and "The Jem'Hadar". I might've missed some in there that have other building block details but I think those are the highlights.
After that, like Beau said, the main arcs really pick up throughout the subsequent seasons. There are always standalone episodes along the way, some of varying quality (I usually recommend skipping most Ferengi episodes, although some people love them; you can tell which ones they are by the dumb puns in their titles) but the "problem", so to speak, is that many of the standalones, even the bad ones, often have details around the edges that contribute to the longer arcs. So if you skip a lot of them you might come back in a place without a total understanding of where the larger stories have been.
The acting certainly can take some adjusting to. As a sci-fi spinoff that started in first-run syndication, we're not talking HBO/prestige level quality across the board, although there are a couple who I'd say were pretty good from the start (Colm Meaney and Rene Auberjonois) and most of the weaker ones get better over the course of the series. Plus, some of the most important recurring actors (i.e. Marc Alaimo, Andrew J. Robinson) were very good too. Avery Brooks, I've heard, is an acquired taste for many viewers. He was mostly a stage actor (of a different stripe of theater than, say, Patrick Stewart) and he is very much playing to the back of the theater for a lot of the show, especially early on. If you can get used to him, though, I think he does some great work.
DS9 writers soon learned that it was missing one of the key characters that TNG had -- the Enterprise, ie: a ship that could travel. They eventually took care of that.
We always referred to them as the "Jem Har Har"
what Rhu said about the necessity of a ship.
Some stage actors have a very hard time adjusting. The first time I had lines on a film set, the sound guy jumped out of his seat. He came up to me and said, "The mike gets it all, man. Don't worry about the back row."
Nice to see so many Indians represented as Major League is my favorite baseball movie.
I need to start monitoring bookmarking sites for work-related content, in particular Digg, Reddit and Stumpleupon. Does anybody know of a program that could monitor all three sites and report on keyword matches from them? I really don't want to spend hours and hours digging through irrelevant content on bookmarking sites to find a few usable nuggets of information.
R. I. P. Russell Johnson, a.k.a. "The Professor" from Gilligan's Island, at age 89.
You mean This Island Earth, right?
Easily my favorite Gilligander (Ginger/Mary Ann split the vote)
I met him at an MST3K convention, where he had a very good sense of humor about some of the dumber things he'd done in his career. He had the audience rolling and was still an excellent showman, despite not really being active for some time at that point.
I got word that my dad had died of a heart attack when I was at work in Arden Hills, a long time ago.
I told my boss I was leaving and why, and jumped into my car.
I was speeding significantly on Route 10 north, and pulled over for gas, and then fell apart. I had my moment then, and then was strong through the rest of it.
ABC's ratings are awful. Outside of Modern Family, Scandal, and I cant think of any other ABC shows. So they ar going to go the NBC route and prop up their overall ratings by purchasing a NFL tv package.
Because Thursday football is quality football.
Been playing MVP Baseball '05 on my PS2. Here's the Twins' default lineup
Stewart LF
Mauer C
Hunter CF
Morneau 1B
Jones LFRF (Good catch, CH)
Ford DH
Cuddyer 3B
Rivas 2B
Bartlett SS
Santana SP
LEWWWWWWW!!!!! better be in that lineup
remind me tomorrow to post a new NCIS card or two...
Cuddy at third. D'oh!
And 0-fer-ThRivas at second. If I'm 2005 TR, Punto would be out at second and Rivas is DFA'd.
I recall a lot of talk from the club about Rivas showing more interest in playing cards in the clubhouse than baseball on the field, too. The story from the club was that he had the talent but not the desire, lack of work ethic, etc. Of course, they were simultaneously making their cases for sticking with him for so long and for finally getting rid of him.
Assuming Jacque is actually in right field by default, I think I'd have Stewart and Lew switch positions. In fact, given Jacque's terrible throwing, I think I'd move him to left, put Lew in right, and have Stewart DH.
That whole year I would often say to my wife, 'Jacque Jones - My Guy'.
It takes guts to lay claim to that throwing arm.
He really had a great arm -- ask the fans behind the infield.
I'm hosting poker night at my place this evening. Lots of first time players. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Play lowball games - that always throws the newbies. Another good trick is to consult some imaginary piece of paper (i.e. to see what's higher, a straight or a flush).
I played most of my poker in college, before poker became a thing. I did okay, mainly because I didn't drink much when I played and others did. I couldn't afford to do both.
Wow. Gophers beat Ohio State at home. They should have beaten Michigan and had a double-digit lead on MSU before losing in OT on the road. Of their four losses on the season, two were to Top 4 teams (MSU and Syracuse) away from home. Their other two losses weren't terrible. Michigan is 4-0 in the B1G and Arkansas just beat Kentucky.
I saw The Princess Bride at Southdale last night and it was, as Count Tyrone Rugen would say, marvelous. A lot of parents were there with younger children telling them about seeing it when they were kids.
I loved exploiting new poker players at my place in Minnesota. They always knew they were going to be exploited, though, so they wouldn't play for money.
The problem with "a lot" of new players is one of them is bound to get super lucky. I was good when exploiting one or two novices. When the table is full of them, and nobody ever folds, my game goes to hell.
Beginners luck is nothing more than SSS and dumb plays. We're playing for small peanuts anyway. If I end up donating ten American saw bucks to someone then what the hell.
In college we hosted Thursday night poker for 3.5 years. By the end of the run we were up to 100+ dollar swings in an evening. That was a bit nuts for broke college kids.
I have a hard time gambling hand-by-hand. An entry fee for one pot keeps me within my bounds. I had a minor gambling problem as a teenager, blowing all my money to friends many times playing poker.
Why did I never reap these benefits?
We need a WGOM poker night
That would be fun.
Via skype and an on line gaming site?
Dear Beau (and others?):
I recently started watching ST: DS9. I'm hoping to hit high points (especially including notable story arcs), rather than go through the entire series. I've watched the first 9 episodes, so have a good base laid down. Suggestions for going forward?
DK is your expert here, since I'm only through five seasons. But the Season 3 through Season 5 story arc requires watching of almost every episode. I think one reason you don't see DS9 in syndication is that it's hard to just watch individual episodes out of context. There's so much build-up.
I will say I felt the first 15 episodes were tough to get through. It gets decidedly better near the end of season one and takes off, especially in season three.
The first 9 seemed to lack some direction. Lots of technobabble (naturally), and some pretty awful acting at times.
I've always thought the DS9 1st season is better than the 1st season of TNG, but it's not especially good, or focused on many of the long-term plots of the later seasons. After what you've watched, I'd watch "Vortex", "Battle Lines" (not a particularly good one, but something important happens in it...), "Progress", "Duet", and "In the Hands of the Prophets". From the 2nd season, I'd say hit the first three, "Cardassians", "Necessary Evil", "The Alternate", "Whispers", "Blood Oath", "The Maquis", "The Wire", "Crossover", "The Collaborator", and "The Jem'Hadar". I might've missed some in there that have other building block details but I think those are the highlights.
After that, like Beau said, the main arcs really pick up throughout the subsequent seasons. There are always standalone episodes along the way, some of varying quality (I usually recommend skipping most Ferengi episodes, although some people love them; you can tell which ones they are by the dumb puns in their titles) but the "problem", so to speak, is that many of the standalones, even the bad ones, often have details around the edges that contribute to the longer arcs. So if you skip a lot of them you might come back in a place without a total understanding of where the larger stories have been.
The acting certainly can take some adjusting to. As a sci-fi spinoff that started in first-run syndication, we're not talking HBO/prestige level quality across the board, although there are a couple who I'd say were pretty good from the start (Colm Meaney and Rene Auberjonois) and most of the weaker ones get better over the course of the series. Plus, some of the most important recurring actors (i.e. Marc Alaimo, Andrew J. Robinson) were very good too. Avery Brooks, I've heard, is an acquired taste for many viewers. He was mostly a stage actor (of a different stripe of theater than, say, Patrick Stewart) and he is very much playing to the back of the theater for a lot of the show, especially early on. If you can get used to him, though, I think he does some great work.
DS9 writers soon learned that it was missing one of the key characters that TNG had -- the Enterprise, ie: a ship that could travel. They eventually took care of that.
We always referred to them as the "Jem Har Har"
what Rhu said about the necessity of a ship.
Some stage actors have a very hard time adjusting. The first time I had lines on a film set, the sound guy jumped out of his seat. He came up to me and said, "The mike gets it all, man. Don't worry about the back row."
The greatest fictional baseball team ever assembled
Nice to see so many Indians represented as Major League is my favorite baseball movie.
I need to start monitoring bookmarking sites for work-related content, in particular Digg, Reddit and Stumpleupon. Does anybody know of a program that could monitor all three sites and report on keyword matches from them? I really don't want to spend hours and hours digging through irrelevant content on bookmarking sites to find a few usable nuggets of information.
R. I. P. Russell Johnson, a.k.a. "The Professor" from Gilligan's Island, at age 89.
You mean This Island Earth, right?
Easily my favorite Gilligander (Ginger/Mary Ann split the vote)
I met him at an MST3K convention, where he had a very good sense of humor about some of the dumber things he'd done in his career. He had the audience rolling and was still an excellent showman, despite not really being active for some time at that point.
Speaking of actors, here's a touching story
Wow.
I got word that my dad had died of a heart attack when I was at work in Arden Hills, a long time ago.
I told my boss I was leaving and why, and jumped into my car.
I was speeding significantly on Route 10 north, and pulled over for gas, and then fell apart. I had my moment then, and then was strong through the rest of it.
Well, crap, we lost Reuben Kinkaid as well.
I just heard that. Sad news indeed.
ABC's ratings are awful. Outside of Modern Family, Scandal, and I cant think of any other ABC shows. So they ar going to go the NBC route and prop up their overall ratings by purchasing a NFL tv package.
Because Thursday football is quality football.
Been playing MVP Baseball '05 on my PS2. Here's the Twins' default lineup
Stewart LF
Mauer C
Hunter CF
Morneau 1B
Jones
LFRF (Good catch, CH)Ford DH
Cuddyer 3B
Rivas 2B
Bartlett SS
Santana SP
LEWWWWWWW!!!!! better be in that lineup
remind me tomorrow to post a new NCIS card or two...
Cuddy at third. D'oh!
And 0-fer-ThRivas at second. If I'm 2005 TR, Punto would be out at second and Rivas is DFA'd.
I recall a lot of talk from the club about Rivas showing more interest in playing cards in the clubhouse than baseball on the field, too. The story from the club was that he had the talent but not the desire, lack of work ethic, etc. Of course, they were simultaneously making their cases for sticking with him for so long and for finally getting rid of him.
Assuming Jacque is actually in right field by default, I think I'd have Stewart and Lew switch positions. In fact, given Jacque's terrible throwing, I think I'd move him to left, put Lew in right, and have Stewart DH.
That whole year I would often say to my wife, 'Jacque Jones - My Guy'.
It takes guts to lay claim to that throwing arm.
He really had a great arm -- ask the fans behind the infield.
I'm hosting poker night at my place this evening. Lots of first time players. Should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Play lowball games - that always throws the newbies. Another good trick is to consult some imaginary piece of paper (i.e. to see what's higher, a straight or a flush).
I played most of my poker in college, before poker became a thing. I did okay, mainly because I didn't drink much when I played and others did. I couldn't afford to do both.
Before you let your kid play Little League get home owner's insurance.
Wow. Gophers beat Ohio State at home. They should have beaten Michigan and had a double-digit lead on MSU before losing in OT on the road. Of their four losses on the season, two were to Top 4 teams (MSU and Syracuse) away from home. Their other two losses weren't terrible. Michigan is 4-0 in the B1G and Arkansas just beat Kentucky.