Prairie Land

I never really "got" Garrison Keillor. I've listened to his radio stuff; I've read his written stuff, but I just get the feeling that he is one of those peculiarly American liberal tastes. I thought that the best bit of Garrison Keillor was when The Simpsons did a piss-take of him, because their piss-take was exactly how I saw GK.

Notwithstanding all that, I'm prepared to give him another chance, because he has written Prairie Home Companion, the latest and quite possibly the last film from Robert Altman. To call Altman a hero of mine is something of an understatement. I think that he was one of the greatest American directors of the 20th century. Nashville and Short Cuts are unparalleled as a picture of American life. OK, he's had a few dogs, but there's more gold than junk, much more.

Many of the old favourites of Altman are in the film, including Lily Tomlin (who, I might add, gave one of her greatest performances in an episode of Homicide, Life On The Streets, in "The Hat"). More interesting, it appears that the insurers insisted that Paul Thomas Anderson be on stand-by to complete the film in case Altman pegged out on set. Anderson (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia) is the clear inheritor of the Altman mantle, so someone in the insurance biz knows their directors.

So, here's looking forward to its appearance over here.

+++++++++

Fuck me, the air conditioning has failed again. Not good when you have only had three hours' sleep (one of those bad insomniac nights when you just lie there for four hours and sleep will not come, despite the fact that you are tired). Oh well, we struggle on.

+++++++++

I downloaded and upsigned for Full Tilt yesterday. I like the software, although the nine-handed games are a bit of an irritant. Working off the $600 bonus in 120 days doesn't look that easy -- I'd certainly get a better deal just on the bonus dollars at Ultimate. However, there appears to be a bit of liquidity late at night (more than can be said for Ultimate) and software that doesn't irritate the shit out of me is always a bonus. Oh, and it integrates better with Pokertracker than Ultimate does.

There were the normal glitches during the sign-up. I couldn't enter the bonus code, so I e-mailed Full Tilt and the relevant affiliate. Full Tilt customer service e-mailed me back with the biggest load of tosh I have ever read. It said that I didn't need a bonus code for the $600 sign-up bonus and then went on to say that "We note that you have communicated from an e-mail address that does not match your Full Tilt Account".

That was impressive, since at that point I hadn't actually signed up for an account.

I e-mailed back, pointing out that all she had done was cut and paste into the e-mail the web site bonus info. She had then (I presumed) checked my e-mail address to see if it matched an active account and, when it came up as "no match", had assumed that I was e-mailing from a different e-mail account from the one where I maintained my Full Tilt account. Now, we all know what kind of a no-no multiple e-mail accountss are in the eyes of poker sites these days, so I e-mailed back, pointing out that I knew all about the match bonus, it was the bonus code for my affiliate and the rake received by the affiliate that concerned me.

Another e-mail a few hours later. "Oh, we don't actually deal with affiliates. I've sent your e-mail to the affiliate department".

This confirms my normal opinion of nearly all customer help desks; if I am unable to solve a problem, there is a less than 5% chance that the helpdesk will be able to solve it.

I thought that I had worked out what had happened, and an e-mail from the affiliate confirmed my suspicion. "Whoops, sorry for the confusion. I must update the web site. In fact if you clicked on the download from our website, then it is automatically tracked back, which is why you couldn't enter the bonus code".

I mean, you really would think that operations would make sure that at least the first steps of your relationship with them works smoothly, wouldn't you?

Since Full Tilt deducts all bonus dollars from rakeback anyway, it's unlikely that I'll generate more than a pot to piss in for three months or so. I'll report back on how much rake/bonus dollars I generate when three-tabling and two-tabling at various levels.

++++++++++++++++++

Interesting snippets that I meant to mention re Malcolm X. Michael Imperioli appears as a very young reporter, and, in the scene where Malcolm X is beginning his speaking career, aother man can be seen on his soapboax. "I recognize that man", I thought, and a quick check confirmed that it was indeed Al Sharpton. Ahh, Spike Lee, you wag.

+++++++++++

A Donktastic No Limit Hand

A hand to illustrate the kind of thing that I occasionally come up against at this level. I'm going to giveit a month, but if this carries on I shall have to move to the $100 buy in. I suspect that the jump up in quality will be dramatic, but I won't get any better playing against opponents like this:

A preamble: I've been playing lots of raises in late, takin gpots down pre-flop, on the flop, or once, with gritted teeth, with a bit of a lumpy bet on the turn (I suspect that I could have taken one other pot down against top pair bad kicker with an al-in on the river, but I bottled it. My read was right (K6 suited he had) but I have no idea whether he would have folded to my all-in bet (which was about the size of the pot). I suspect that he would have.

Anyway, back to this hand:


buddha74 is at seat 1 with 36.42
sth11 is at seat 2 with 5.00
baba112 is at seat 3 with 0.00
kaasco is at seat 4 with 41.80
betiula777 is at seat 5 with 66.50
MAGIK HATT is at seat 6 with 74.55
JstGrindin is at seat 7 with 55.00
Birks is at seat 8 with 60.15
-Monni- is at seat 9 with 67.70
Donktastic is at seat 10 with 11.95

sth11 posts the large blind 0.50
buddha74 posts the small blind 0.25
-Monni- posts all blind 0.75

Birks: J♣, 9♠

Pre-flop:

MAGIK HATT: Call 0.50
Birks: Raise 1.50
Donktastic: Call 1.50
buddha74: Call 1.50
MAGIK HATT: Call 1.50

I'm two off the the button, there's a poster and just one limper. I had reraised this guy's raise the previous hand and he folded pre-flop (go figure), so I'm looking to bring him in for this hand and to hit him on the flop. I think that my 1.50 raise will likely push out the player in seat 9, who I know is tight, while seat 10, something of an unknown quantity, does not have a big stack, which usually also indicates tight play.

Flop (Board: 4◊, 6◊, J♠):

Well, I've hit top pair. This is worth a continuation. I've found about 80% to 90% of the pot works best here. If I'm called, I'm normally in trouble

buddha74: Check
MAGIK HATT: Check
Birks: Bet 6.00
Donktastic: All in for 10.45

Oh. Well, the logical assumption here, since he did not reraise me preflop, is that he either has AJ, a set, or an overpair. I'm really inclined to go with the overpair here, although I don't know why I thought that. I guess that I thought he would flat call with the set. Of course, since he can only put me in for an extra $4 into a $25 pot, I can't fold anything apart from (maybe) 7-2 off. With top pair, a call is automatic.

buddha74: Fold
MAGIK HATT: Fold
Birks: Call 4.45

Turn (Board: 4◊, 6◊, J♠, 9♣):


River (Board: 4◊, 6◊, J♠, 9♣, K♡):


Showdown:

Birks shows: J♣, 9♠ (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
Donktastic shows: 4♠, A♠ (a pair of Fours)

Mainpot:
Birks wins the pot of 26.05 with two pair, Jacks and Nines

Well, if anyone can explain the man's thought processes here, I'd be fascinated to know what they were. Presumably he thought he had some kind of fold equity, which is worrying.