Paul Ryburn's Journal

I stayed home and played PokerStars again last night, and suffered my first “bad beat” – I lost a hand I was pretty sure I had won.

I sat down at one of their virtual poker tables not long after I came home from work, and during the first round I observed the other players. One guy was raising almost every hand before the flop. At the level I play, it’s typical for players to see the flop (i.e. not fold their first two cards) about 20% of the time. This guy was not only seeing the flop but raising more than 50% of the time. This is what’s known as a “maniac,” someone who will raise aggressively even with mediocre hands.

Maniacs scare novice poker players, because they force you to shove a lot of money into the pot if you want any chance of winning hands. They can be very frustrating. Once you get a little experience, however, you realize they’re great people to have at the table – just wait until you get a good hand and then call them and clean them out.

So I got dealt a suited AJ and the maniac raised pre-flop. “Now it’s time to roll up my sleeves and go to work,” I thought, and happily called.

The flop was garbage – let’s say 295, three different suits so no threat of a flush on the board. Maniac bet. I only had Ace high at this point. Against a conservative player, I’d get out, but I was reasonably sure the maniac was trying to scare me out of the pot. I called.

The turn came, and I was delighted to see a Jack. So the board was 295J, and I had a pair of Jacks. Maniac bet again. I snickered as I called. “Now I’ve got him!” I thought.

The river was a 10. So I still had top pair. He bet again. I thought to myself, “If he were a more conservative player, I’d worry he paired up two of the low cards on the flop, and he’s staying in with two pair. However, he’s demonstrated that he’s willing to stay in with almost nothing. I think that, at best, he also has a pair of Jacks. But in that case he still loses, because I’ve got the Ace kicker.” So I raised, and he re-raised. “Wow, he’s really trying to get me out of this pot,” I thought. I called him.

To my horror he turned over JJ. He had what’s known as a “set,” three of a kind where two of them are hidden. Sets are almost impossible to defend against because you never see them coming. And you especially don’t expect to see them from a player who routinely calls and raises all the way with bad cards. But even maniacs hit a lucky hand now and then.

It’s all part of learning the game… sometimes you lose hands you expect to win. A few hands later, the maniac went all the way holding a 78 with face cards on the board, and someone cleaned him out, just as I expected would happen. Shame that it wasn’t me. Needless to say, I never made it out for celebratory 25 cent Wednesday beer at the Rooster.

Going to experiment more with my poker style tonight. The good thing about online poker is, the other players can’t see what else I’m doing. So I think I’ll keep the random number generator at random.org open, and consult it to determine how many times the big blind to bet/raise when I get a premium hand, when I get a low pocket pair, when I get suited connectors like the 8 and 9 of diamonds. If I don’t make the same bet every time under the same circumstances, I’ll be much harder for my opponents to figure out.

Not much news today, but what I’ve got will go up in the next post in a few minutes.

Here’s a link to an article some of my female readers may be interested in… the San Diego Examiner reports about a designer who can take an old T-shirt – one you love but don’t wear anymore, but you don’t want to throw it away – and turn it into a one-of-a-kind tube top.  You can visit her website here.

For those of you who know Sharp Dressed Bum, good news… he’s been picked up on outstanding warrants and is currently a guest of the city as he awaits trial. He’s been identified as a repeat offender, which is going to make it harder for him to operate on the streets of Downtown in the future.

SDB is a very aggressive panhandler who has been down here for as long as I’ve lived Downtown. He’s called “Sharp Dressed Bum” because he tends to dress in neat, clean business casual type attire when he panhandles. He often looks like he’s on his way to work, or to a nice club. It’s his way of getting passersby to drop their guard so he can ask for money. When told no, he’ll often follow people down the street, cussing them and threatening them, sometimes even with physical gestures. He has an apartment south of the FedExForum, so he’s not homeless, although he’ll claim to be if he thinks it will help generate panhandling revenue.

Kudos to the Center City Commission’s safety patrol, and to MPD, on a fine job. MPD has really been stepping it up in recent weeks. Lately I’ve seen a police car parked near the Elvis statue on Beale more often than not. That block has been prime ground for parking scams for as long as I can remember. Glad the cops are paying more attention to it.

Stay tuned for details on an Elvis-themed pub crawl Saturday, August 8, where people dress up as Elvis and move from bar to bar in a group. It will be kind of similar to the “Stumbling Santa” event that happens in December. More details to come. The list of participating bars is being worked out this week.

The Memphis Flyer’s Best of Memphis ballot is now online. You can vote for the best of everything in the city through August 10. Access the ballot through the Flyer’s home page.

There’s a powerboat regatta called the Memphis International Riverfront Regatta this weekend on the Mississippi River.  Tens of thousands of people are expected to come Downtown and watch.  Note that Riverside will be closed from Union to Carolina starting tomorrow.

Last night I played on PokerStars for about an hour before I headed to trivia… sat down with a stack of $100 and got up with a stack of $116.25. Sixteen bucks an hour is not bad. Every day I analyze the previous night’s poker game for things I could have done better. I see lots of ways to improve. Tonight I have no plans, so I think I’ll stay home and play a long session. If I do really well, I’ll celebrate by going out to the Rooster for their 25 cent beer night.

Congrats to the Rapscallions on a first-place trivia victory last night… we won a tiebreaker to earn a $50 gift certificate, bringing our stash for the next party to $160. Gotta e-mail the team about that today. More news to come – some things I can’t look up and link until I get home. I’ll try to take a break from poker at some point tonight to do a post.

It looks like I was a little premature reporting that MATA had launched a new bus service among the major north-south and east-west thoroughfares in Downtown and Midtown, called Parkway Express. The service, to have ETA updates via website or text message, is only a proposal at this point. When they get the website up, I’ll link to it, and maybe we can start an e-mail and phone campaign in support of it.

I’ve been told that Sriracha sauce, which I recommended to flavor Bloody Marys, is available at Kroger and Schnucks in the ethnic food section. You don’t have to go to an international market to find it.

Award-winning Downtown restaurant Circa by John Bragg now has a presence on Facebook. You can search for “Circa Memphis” and become a fan.

I got news this morning that sxc.hu, probably my favorite free stock photo website, has been bought out by iStockPhoto. They say they’re keeping SXC free. I hope so. Any time I see corporate America (or corporate wherever) get involved, I get worried they’ll screw things up. If you’re a web developer and you need any royalty-free images, you may want to grab them while the site is still there.

Couple of things coming up at the Power House gallery this week: A panel discussion on Articulating Race and Power through Public Spaces on Thursday, a panel discussion featuring D’Army Bailey, Ernestine Jenkins, Richard Alexander Lou, Lee Millar, Wanda Rushing, and John Weeden. It will be a discussion of how art, space, and place can either break down or reinforce racial/cultural divides.

Then on Friday, they’ll have the finale in their Midnight Matinee series. Tsotsi will be the movie, and doors open at 11:15 PM. Here’s the synopsis: “Tsotsi is the street name of a young Johannesburg delinquent who has taken to a life of crime in order to support himself. One evening, Tsotsi shoots a woman while stealing her car, and only later discovers that her infant son is in the back seat. As Tsotsi finally looks back at his own childhood, he tries to take care of the infant on his own.”

Friday is, of course, South Main Trolley Tour as well, so if you want to see the movie, you could come early for Trolley Tour which is from 6 to 9, then either grab dinner at a good restaurant nearby (Harry’s Detour, Safari, Onix, the Blue Monkey) or hang out at a local bar for a couple of hours (Earnestine & Hazel’s, Calhoun’s) to pass the time. Plenty to do in South Main. During the trolley tour hours, MPACT Memphis will show off their new space at 506 S. Main with live music, the MPACTini, and food. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Playing an hour of PokerStars, then off to trivia.  With nasty Turbo Dog as the Fire Sale, I’m in no hurry to get to the bar.

Just got back from a trip to Walgreens.  If you’re a fan of cashews, you might want to stop by a Walgreens this week – they have cans of Planters whole cashews for half off.  Normally they’re almost 8 bucks, but this week you can get them for under 4.

I saw this deal at the Whitehaven Walgreens, but I assume it’s chain-wide, at least in the Memphis area.

In college I started playing poker, often staying up until 3 AM in the dorm playing all kinds of weird variations of 7-card stud. About 5 years ago I played Texas Hold’em for the first time and immediately got into it. At first I played at friendly games held in people’s apartments and condos Downtown. Then I started playing Buzztime poker at Sleep Out Louie’s, and later Calhoun’s. Earlier this year I created a paid account with PokerStars and started playing for real money online. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m pretty good and can usually walk away from the table with a profit. I stayed home last night, determined not to go to Pint Nite until I made $20. By 8:15 I had my $20 and off to the Saucer I went. I kinda like the idea of poker paying my bar tabs.

It’s been a culture shock, being a poker player working for an organization that sanctions the card game bridge. They are two entirely different worlds.

When you play bridge, you fill out a “convention card.” This spells out how you play common situations in bridge – your overall strategy. Stuff like, “if my partner bids 4 notrump, when I raise him in response, I’m not actually bidding, I’m telling him how many aces I have, and here’s how I tell him.”

Guess who gets to see your convention card? Your opponents. Can you imagine something like that in poker? Imagine if I wrote down, “Pre-flop, I raise 3 times the big blind when I have a pocket pair. If the flop indicates a flush or open-ended straight possibility, I raise 2/3 of the pot to scare speculators away.” And then show that to my opponents? In poker, I might as well just start passing out the contents of my wallet to the other people at the table.  In bridge, though, that’s considered part of the ethics and fairness of the game.

Bridge players enjoy playing against opponents who are better than they are. As a poker player, the last thing I want to see when I sit down at a table are good players. I keep a list of bad players I’ve previously encountered on PokerStars, and make it a point to search for them when I get online. If I find any of them and there’s an open seat at their table, I sit down.

After the hand is over, bridge players will often discuss the hand – this is the advantage of playing with more experienced players, so you can learn from them. On the other hand, in poker, the last thing I’d ever do is tell bad players what they did wrong – I want them to continue to play badly and fork over more of their money. “Dude, that was a sharp move, going all in with your unsuited J4 after AKK came down in the flop. Yeah, it didn’t work out this time, but hey, maybe next time Lady Luck will smile on you instead of me. Maybe you’ll get an even better hand to go all in with, like a suited J4 or maybe even a J5. Hey, I enjoy playing with you, let me add you to my buddy list so I can find you and play with you again.” That would be the only kind of hand analysis I’d offer an opponent.

If you get good at bridge, you get “masterpoints.” Accumulate lots of masterpoints and you become kind of a big deal in the bridge world. In poker, if you get good, you get “money.” To me, money is kind of a bigger deal than masterpoints.

Different strokes for different folks. They’re both great games, fun to play and fantastic mental exercise. Still, though, when I get home tonight and get in front of my laptop, I’ll be firing up PokerStars, not BridgeBase. Actually, it will be a short session, because tonight is trivia night. Hmmm and it’s also $5 34 oz. drink night at Kooky Canuck… perhaps there’s a maple flank steak and a Flying Moose in my future after trivia.

Please take a good look at the pic posted below… this is one of the best people I know.

This is Pete.  He’s a teacher for the Memphis City Schools.  He’s also a good friend and lousy pool player.  Today (Tuesday, July 28) is his birthday.  So if you see him out, buy him a beer, a shot, or something.  The way we Downtowners do it, your entire birthday week is fair game for free drinks, so if you don’t see Pete tonight, buy him one this weekend.

More pics from Friday night’s party:

Flip Cup 1

Flip Cup II

Me with the birthday girl

Ruchee and Chris

Flip Cup III

Never made it to Paula & Raiford’s after the white trash party last night… got a text from a friend of mine who was at the Silly Goose.  I thought, “I’ll have one beer there then hit Raiford’s.”  I ended up staying until the Goose closed at 3.  It was a good night – one of those “randomly run into people and talk with them” kind of nights.  I like those.  I need to start hanging out at the Goose more on weekend nights.

Ran into a guy who liked my recommendation for Vietnamese sriracha sauce to spice up Bloody Marys.  He said I should buy a bottle and put it on hot dogs – he said I’ll never use mustard on hot dogs again once I’ve tried sriracha.  Said it was good on pizza too.  I’ll have to drive to an international market one day in my lunch hour next week and check it out.

Then I ran into a guy who gave me an information pamphlet on MATA’s Parkway Express.  It’s a gridded bus system that runs from 6 pm to 1 AM (3 AM on weekends) along the following Downtown and Midtown streets:

• North-South:  Front, Second/Third, Danny Thomas, Cleveland, McLean, Cooper, and East Parkway
• East-West:  North Parkway/Auction, Poplar, Madison, Union, Peabody/Linden, Crump/Lamar, McLemore/Southern, and South Parkway.

The brochure says that the buses are tracked with GPS and you can determine ETA online or via text message.  If they are really able to make this work that will be a coup for MATA.  A big reason MATA’s reputation is in the toilet with the locals is that their schedules are unreliable; if they can get the buses where they’re supposed to be, and inform riders electronically of progress, that will sure help.

I also like the fact that they run until 3 on the weekends.  That has long been one of my big complaints with MATA on the weekends, that their service cuts off before the bars close.  If they have buses that prove to be reliable and safe running to Midtown and back until 3 AM closing time, sure, I’d consider riding out there to catch a show at the Hi-Tone, or to have a beer at the Midtown Monkey or Boscos.  I imagine this would also be good for Midtowners who see all the fun we have Downtown and want to join in without risking a DUI getting home.

The brochure says that the buses are low emissions hybrids, and stops have emergency call boxes and video surveillance.  Looks like MATA’s finally entering the 21st century.  Unfortunately the website on the brochure is typical MATA; it links to a page that says “this page is parked courtesy of BlueHost.com” and says nothing about bus service.  It does, however, contain links to dating services and info about Las Vegas.

Saw a flyer for an event called “Get Bubbly” at Quetzal, near Union and Marshall, Saturday, August 8.  2 for 1 martinis, $4 mimosas and champagne.  Event is from 5 to 10 PM, $6 cover, ladies free before 8.  Not sure what type of crowd they’re looking to attract, but the hours kind of remind me of the Peabody rooftop hours.

I joined a new social networking service this week – BrightKite.  The cool thing about it is, you can “check in” using GPS technology in phones/wireless networks to inform your friends of your whereabouts.  Not only can you see where your friends are, but you can see who else on BrightKite is in the same location as you or nearby.  Could be a cool way to meet new people, especially in friendly neighborhoods like Downtown.  It also integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services, and there are privacy settings you can use to determine who can see your location and who can’t.  You can also use it from your phone, via SMS or an iPhone app.  If you give it a try, my username on there is “paulryburn” if you want to friend me.

Also on social media this week, I discovered friend lists on Facebook.  Really handy.  I’m past the 500 mark on friends, and the posts and updates from everyone can get overwhelming.  Friend lists let you filter updates by people on lists you build.  For example, I built a list consisting of my core group of 20-30 friends I hang out with, to make sure I don’t miss anything going on in their lives.  I’m going to build a “BBQ team” list as well.  Think I may also build a “South Main” list so I can make sure I keep up with goings-on in that part of town.  Maybe I’ll also do lists for friends from college and high school.  There are a lot of possibilities.

Just realized two very unusual things happened yesterday:  I did not set foot in the Flying Saucer, and my total bar tab for the day was under $10.  Can’t remember the last time either of those things happened.

All right… time to go enjoy the day.  No plans at all today… those are often the days that work out the best.

The great thing about parties on my building’s rooftop is that I can blog them as they are happening.

More pics to come.  I’ve been told we’re all going to Paula & Raiford’s later in the evening.