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I went to the Fashion Mall today to buy a pendant. As the cashier was bagging it up, she said "if you could just give me your zip code".
"No".
Look of bemusement from cashier. "But I need your zip code to process the sale".
"I'm paying cash. I like to remain anonymous. I don't give out that kind of information, I'm afraid".
Needless to say, a way was found to "process" the sale without me handing over my "zip code".
Apparently the boss of this small chain takes the details of the codes to see where his buyers live. He uses that to decide where to open up new stores in the chain. Well, fine, but don't try and make it an obligatory part of the purchase. Just ask, and explain why.
I also walked into the Apple store. Now, I'm not an Apple fan, but I have to admit that even I was tempted by some of the laptops. And as for the monitors, well, wow. One 30 inch LCD ($2500) was so many pixels wide and high that it defied comprehension (2360 x 1600?). And the add-ons for the Ipods were, it has to be admitted, undeniably cool.
After a daytime leech of another $150, I wondered whether I threw away $32 on a couple of hands. This was an example of "running scared". In one case I picked up 55 in MP2, and I raised first in. The button called and the big blind defended. Flop came KJx two diamonds. Check from the blind and I bet. Both call. Turn brought an 8 (not a diamond). Check from the blind. I check, button checks. River brings a rag. Check, check, check and my 5s hold up. So, clearly I should have bet the turn. But, well, it's hard to believe that you are ahead here.
A similar situation occurred when I got a pair of nines, although this time the board went QJxx and I was a raiser in the small blind. I bet the flop and wimped the turn. Once again, my nines held up. These plays (the checks on the turn) were definitely a result of the cards running bad for a week and me seeing demons everywhere. If I had been running good I would have thrown out bets on the turn and forced either a couple of folds or calls that gained me extra big bets.
Mind you, I'm not sure that even if I had been running good that I would have done with a pair of fives.
I went back later in the evening and, well, once again it was deeply unpleasant to play late at night. I won $33, but I really couldn't bear the game. This is a fundamental problem with my live play. If I can't stand playing with drunks, I'm giving up a large amount of expected earn. On the other hand, I could feel that I was in emotionally dangerous territory. After I got KK under the gun and check-called my way to victory (it was checked round on the river), the drunk woman on the button said: "you had kings? You should stop playing so scared". At this point I just said "pardon?" and gave her the stare of death. Even through a beer-addled haze, I think that she realized that she had gone too far. And, indeed, she had. I stood up, picked up a couple of racks, and left. "Are you leaving because of me?" she said, in her southern white trash drawl. "I can play somewhere else", I said, and departed, but not before telling the supervisor that I would have played considerably longer if it hadn't been for the mouthy woman in seat one.
Now, this is not the performance of a poker player determined to maximize his profits. It's the performance of a poker player who let his emotions get the better of him.
The solution, obviously, is to play in higher stakes games at that time of night. You might get the occasional drunk, but they get cleaned out fairly fast. When you get a number of them, the game slows and everything just becomes, well, a nightmare from Bosch.
On a brighter note, I took some more pics. Here they are.
( More Vegas pics )
"No".
Look of bemusement from cashier. "But I need your zip code to process the sale".
"I'm paying cash. I like to remain anonymous. I don't give out that kind of information, I'm afraid".
Needless to say, a way was found to "process" the sale without me handing over my "zip code".
Apparently the boss of this small chain takes the details of the codes to see where his buyers live. He uses that to decide where to open up new stores in the chain. Well, fine, but don't try and make it an obligatory part of the purchase. Just ask, and explain why.
I also walked into the Apple store. Now, I'm not an Apple fan, but I have to admit that even I was tempted by some of the laptops. And as for the monitors, well, wow. One 30 inch LCD ($2500) was so many pixels wide and high that it defied comprehension (2360 x 1600?). And the add-ons for the Ipods were, it has to be admitted, undeniably cool.
After a daytime leech of another $150, I wondered whether I threw away $32 on a couple of hands. This was an example of "running scared". In one case I picked up 55 in MP2, and I raised first in. The button called and the big blind defended. Flop came KJx two diamonds. Check from the blind and I bet. Both call. Turn brought an 8 (not a diamond). Check from the blind. I check, button checks. River brings a rag. Check, check, check and my 5s hold up. So, clearly I should have bet the turn. But, well, it's hard to believe that you are ahead here.
A similar situation occurred when I got a pair of nines, although this time the board went QJxx and I was a raiser in the small blind. I bet the flop and wimped the turn. Once again, my nines held up. These plays (the checks on the turn) were definitely a result of the cards running bad for a week and me seeing demons everywhere. If I had been running good I would have thrown out bets on the turn and forced either a couple of folds or calls that gained me extra big bets.
Mind you, I'm not sure that even if I had been running good that I would have done with a pair of fives.
I went back later in the evening and, well, once again it was deeply unpleasant to play late at night. I won $33, but I really couldn't bear the game. This is a fundamental problem with my live play. If I can't stand playing with drunks, I'm giving up a large amount of expected earn. On the other hand, I could feel that I was in emotionally dangerous territory. After I got KK under the gun and check-called my way to victory (it was checked round on the river), the drunk woman on the button said: "you had kings? You should stop playing so scared". At this point I just said "pardon?" and gave her the stare of death. Even through a beer-addled haze, I think that she realized that she had gone too far. And, indeed, she had. I stood up, picked up a couple of racks, and left. "Are you leaving because of me?" she said, in her southern white trash drawl. "I can play somewhere else", I said, and departed, but not before telling the supervisor that I would have played considerably longer if it hadn't been for the mouthy woman in seat one.
Now, this is not the performance of a poker player determined to maximize his profits. It's the performance of a poker player who let his emotions get the better of him.
The solution, obviously, is to play in higher stakes games at that time of night. You might get the occasional drunk, but they get cleaned out fairly fast. When you get a number of them, the game slows and everything just becomes, well, a nightmare from Bosch.
On a brighter note, I took some more pics. Here they are.
( More Vegas pics )
