PhantomMut

Here are a couple of loose and aggressive players:

But in the end, I know they're going to take me for all I'm worth, and I'll feel good about it.

So, my playing schedule has been erratic the last two months (holidays, changing schedules with the kids, etc.) but for a while I was on a terrific run, so much so that I sold a million play chips for cash.

Apparently the Poker Gods didn't like that.

Taking Pictures.

PokerStars only allows one image change, which I didn't realize until I'd made an ill-advised change from a picture I thought too aggressive.

Yeah, I've changed some opinions about poker since then.

Anyway, click the link to see what I want to change it to, should the PokerStars gods allow:

In no particular order:

• Dads wear milk. Yes they do.
• I like the idea of carrying a baby in a sling, but do I have to look so flamingly gay as I do it?
• No single task a parent does is difficult or particularly time-consuming.
• The tasks just never...
    ...ever...
    ...ever...
    ...stop.
• After 1:00 a.m., Cartoon Network keeps me sane.
• Sane. Yes, I know what that word means.
• Things that would be nice to have along with the twins:
• A third arm would help.
• A second head wouldn't hurt.
• But a brain the size of a planet would be bloody useless.
• Having a towel handy at all times is every bit as useful as the book says.
• Shower? I can't remember. Why do you ask?
• Sleep is the best thing. Ever.
• Babies can get a hell of a grip on your chest hair.
• What is the sound of one hand typing? A child-holding daddygeek.
• Babies wait until the old diaper is pulled out to really let loose on the new one underneath. If you're lucky, you're leaning close to fasten the closure on a new type of diaper, and you get it in the face to boot.
• You know about that new-diaper-under-the-old trick because of sad experience.
• If you ever have to dress a sack of spastic potatoes, you're set.
• Breast milk in coffee is actually pretty good. (It was the tail-end of a bottle. Jeez...)
• A baby's wail is the ultimate hammer, negotiation-wise.
• Or maybe it's when they reach up toward your face as you feed them. That's like crack.
• Even though I feel like I look like one of those guys in that Romero flick muttering "brains.....", life is very, very good.

Well, I have been playing some online poker, but not a lot, and not with a lot of attention.

I've had other things on my mind:

Caught a pair today.

Aden:

Hunter:

The goop on Hunter's face is a salve to protect a newborn's eyes. The nurses had gooped Hunter while I was bonding with Aden.

Aden's weight-gain issues were what had everyone worried, but he's doing fine. One of the doctors said that if he'd been 1800 grams instead of 1500, he wouldn't even have gone to NICU. Hunter turns out to be having a harder time right now. She's having to work to breath, apparently due to amniotic fluid in her lungs. (This often happens in the case of C-sections, probably because the fluid doesn't get squeezed out of the baby during the old ­­melon-­through-­an-­­unlikely-­orifice process.) She's in Special Care in the NICU, getting an air-assist:

(The tubes are feeding her incoming air at slightly greater than normal atmospheric pressure. This means she doesn't have to work as hard to draw breaths. She isn't getting extra oxygen -- this is just a way to ease how much she has to work until the problem clears by itself, which it normally does.)

PokerStars Game #9954333637: Hold'em No Limit (100/200) - 2007/05/17 - 00:46:51 (ET)
Table 'Naef II' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Dr MaD23 (39700 in chips)
Seat 2: THRELOS (22536 in chips)
Seat 3: Beit Lahya (33300 in chips)
Seat 5: pay pito (20500 in chips)
Seat 6: phantommut (54300 in chips)
Seat 7: chavoyan (33000 in chips)
Seat 8: jkwon1727 (35800 in chips)
Seat 9: ys74 (152228 in chips)
THRELOS: posts small blind 100
Beit Lahya: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to phantommut [5c Ah]
pay pito: calls 200
phantommut: raises 1200 to 1400
chavoyan: calls 1400
jkwon1727: folds
ys74: calls 1400
Dr MaD23: calls 1400
THRELOS: folds
THRELOS is sitting out
Beit Lahya: calls 1200
pay pito: folds
*** FLOP *** [As 5s Th]
Beit Lahya: checks
phantommut: checks
chavoyan: checks
ys74: bets 5000
Dr MaD23: folds
Beit Lahya: folds
phantommut: raises 47900 to 52900 and is all-in
chavoyan: folds
ys74: calls 47900
*** TURN *** [As 5s Th] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [As 5s Th 4h] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
phantommut: shows [5c Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
ys74: shows [8s 3s] (a straight, Ace to Five)
ys74 collected 113100 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 113100 | Rake 0
Board [As 5s Th 4h 2c]
Seat 1: Dr MaD23 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: THRELOS (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Beit Lahya (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: pay pito folded before Flop
Seat 6: phantommut showed [5c Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fives
Seat 7: chavoyan folded on the Flop
Seat 8: jkwon1727 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: ys74 showed [8s 3s] and won (113100) with a straight, Ace to Five

Session Start (phantommut:ashidome): Wed Apr 25 10:25:02 2007

[11:47] ashidome: I need to go on bedrest

[11:47] phantommut: thought so

[11:47] phantommut: okay, what does that mean

[11:47] phantommut: hmmmm.

[11:47] ashidome: And come twice a week to check the babies

[11:47] ashidome: Still at the appointment

[11:47] phantommut: okay

[11:47] ashidome: Gotta go on disability for work

[11:48] phantommut: can you work from home?

[11:48] phantommut: or is this really "bedrest"

[11:48] phantommut: and not just rest

[11:49] ashidome: Its greatly decreased activity

[11:49] phantommut: okay

[11:49] ashidome: Watching tv

[11:49] ashidome: Lying in bed

[11:49] phantommut: knitting

[11:49] ashidome: Yeah

[11:49] phantommut: okay, we can do this

[11:49] ashidome: Some computer time but should be done in bed

[11:49] ashidome: I'm getting more details

[11:50] phantommut: we have the old laptop and a bedtray, that works

[11:50] phantommut: assuming you can sit up in bed

In a way, this news is a relief. I've been worried that Liz was trying to be Superwoman, and maybe this will allow her to accept some help / let go of some stuff.

The problem though is one of the twins isn't doing nearly as well as the other. Today's weigh-in has Hunter at 3 lb 12 oz, Aden at 2 lbs 5 oz.

Damn, my stomach hurts.

Session Start (phantommut:ashidome): Mon Apr 16 10:25:02 2007

[10:25] phantommut: just heard a rumor that <REDACTED> resigned

[10:25] phantommut: from a source that I trust

[10:25] ashidome: Okay...

[10:26] ashidome: That blows

[10:26] phantommut: yep

[10:26] phantommut: very very bad sign

[10:29] ashidome: Oh I thought not paying people was very very bad on its own

[10:29] phantommut: we've got so many scary signs we look like an australian beach

Extreme roller-coaster action in my on-line play for a while now has led me to dread actually posting.

But maybe my feet are solidly underneath me now, so a post is possibly in order. Besides, the things you want to forget are most often the ones you shouldn't.

Kojak giveth, and Kojak taketh away.

First: the giveth.

It wouldn't be a gift if I'd actually earned it, and early in the evening I look down in early position at KJ off-suit, and bump it to something like two dollars. Alceste min-raises, if I recall correctly, and I call. So it's just Alceste and DaMut to the flop.

(Those of you with eidetic memory who know exactly what happened when for how much, bless you; but all I'm aiming for is accurate texture with these things.)

Flop is 5 5 J rainbow. I bet six dollars with top pair, King kicker. Alceste immediately goes all in. I immediately call. Alceste shows pocket Queens.

Yes it was stupid, and yes, I sucked out when another Jack hit to boat me up on the river.

What was I thinking? Well, in as much as I was, I was thinking he had a nines or tens; that he was buying the pot; and did I mention that I wasn't thinking, because this is Alceste we're talking about, and I hadn't yet insulted him that evening? (Except, of course, with that call).

We'll get back to the "taketh away" part.

Two weeks without a Crackhouse run. My hands are shaking....

Okay, not really. But I am looking forward to Wednesday night. Although I shouldn't go.....

Two weeks ago I felt like I was getting sick, so I stayed home and did get sick. Blech.

Last week I was still getting over the flu-ey thing, and Liz wasn't feeling well, so "no Crackhouse for you!"

This week I want to go, but my company has been missing payroll (!) and I'm not sure that budgeting to blow ~$100 is a really good idea right now.

We'll see if my employer can pay me what I'm owed from last check, and what I'm owed on this one, on Wednesday. If not, my Crackhouse habit may have to be kicked, or at least put on hiatus. There be babies on the way.

Which leaves PokerStars and play money.

So, my nephews are getting old enough to start taking some serious risks.

The PhantomWife had a bit of a scary unscheduled doctors appointment Monday, but everything checked out ok. She has fibroids, and the theory is the growing she and the twins are doing is putting pressure on them.

Not a happy PhantomWife.

Anyway, you wanna see some pictures?

I've seen your picture
Your name in lights above it
This is your big debut
It's like a dream come true
And when you smile for the camera
I know they're gonna love it

Meet Twins A and B:

My nephew Zach just started competing in motocross, and at 15 he's tearing up his competition. On a 3 year old 100cc four-stroke dual-purpose bike, he came in first in the 125cc amateur event at a recent indoor meet in Dayton OH.

Click here for video of Zach running away from the field.

I had a great time at last night's Crackhouse game. Extra-short summary:

• Not-so-good: I should have left up a lot more than I did.
• Very good: I left up, in every respect.

Woo hoo!