Christmas for One:

I woke up at midnight here on Christmas and cracked open a beer before I fired up some Fallout 4. A few days ago while playing the game I had noticed that I was only a couple of playthroughs away from hundred percenting it, and thereby earning my first PS4 platinum trophy.

Winning the trophy is meaningless in even the smaller scale of things; but then again, not winning the trophy is also meaningless, therefore the former state will leave me plus one trophy, so why not?

I played for 7 straight hours, then I hit the road for "Christmas Dinner" at 7:30 AM at the Arizona Charlies' Sourdough Cafe, kind of a limp breakfast special downed while reading a Korean War book at the counter in the dour presence of several other middle-aged singletons.

I thought of ordering a draft beer but demurred, having decided that a coffee would hit the spot just slightly more than a beer. Just past 8 AM I sat down at a nickel video poker machine and waved over the cocktail waitress for a bottle of Budweiser. About 20 minutes and a couple of nice hit quads after that I had an epiphany: This is fun, I thought. I am having a good time.

On paper, it doesn't sound like a good Christmas, but it was. I spent the last 12 years doing the friends and family thing for the holidays, and this was a long sought after break from all of that. Conventional Christmas can be rough hell on a socially anxious procrastinator. Selfish Untethered Manchild Christmas, on the other hand, evokes the opposite of stress in someone like me, who can be alone for the most part without being lonely.

And who are the people who throw around these manchild epithets, anyways? Where do they get off? Can we turn the flashlight back on them and ask why they're so concerned with men who don't live as conventionally as they themselves do?

I live by my wits. I don't take handouts from anyone. No man is my master. I can see how there might be trouble for society if everyone tried to live this way, but most people wouldn't. There's a place in this world for all of us. Sometimes that place is in jail, but that's a place nonetheless, and for most folks there is a better and more satisfying place than that.

In any case, I've had a nice day so far. And my wish for you is that you've had the same or better, on your own terms, with or without your loved ones. I wish you the very best for this season and beyond.

Merry X-Mas SJ.

Thanks for one of the better threads on 2+2 this year.

Merry Christmas buddy! Sorry I didn’t make the effort to meet up in ‘18 but it was a whirlwind fall. Surly we will make a bbv meet up happen in ‘19 and maybe even with Fid and AF

YASSSSSS THE MEETUP

This is a good idea.

Thank you for participating and making it better.

Merry Christmas Nat! No worries and no rush. You know where I am.

This needs to happen. You're coming out during WSOP time. I propose that we all swap 5% each and jump en masse into a $550 satty for the Main Event.

come for the wisdom. stay for the chuckles.

happy festivus everyone!

That actually sounds like a cool/fun idea especially if we are all at the same table which is what I’m guessing your plan is - a SNG satty

I played the $550 a few years ago and it was an MTT satty. The min buyin for an STT to the Main would be $1000 + vig, prolly $1100. An STT would be fun, no doubt, but it would cost us $1k+ each, and it might bring up some weird collusion-appearing spots as posted on 2+2, if we had pieces of each other. We're all familiar with NVG's Unofficial Concerned Shock Troops.

Just sayin.

And to be fair, I think that the NVGUCST has some merit in policing the poker community, a portion of which can be downright skeevy.

Enjoy the rest of the holidays, Suited. This thread is good and you should feel good.

Merry Christmas dude. Just wanted to say I read your other thread in one sitting a couple months ago then read this one and have been following since, good luck!

The ME talk has me popped up. If I have any money at that point I’m absolutely down to try it. As long as Mr. suitedjustice is in Vegas there will always be opportunity. Is the grind back on?

Thanks Sheep! I appreciate you, brother!

Thanks teejayC! I hope that in this thread I can live up to the high aspirations I laid out at the end of the last thread. Having so much support from you guys has been a huge help and motivator.

It would be something very special if BBV was represented at the MEFT. As for grinding, it looks like there's a $2/$5 game going at Red Rock atm. It might be time to take a first look at the next level.

What are the plans for giving up drinking?

Honestly, didn't like the part of having a drink at 8am

Is that a thing? Never played on one of the xmas days (I think) but I played the NYE twice. But that was in Berlin and London resp. and kinda friendly 1 2 or 2 2 games. They were not any different before or after the celebrations.

Im gonna play too, this year my plan would be kinda the same, gonna drop down to 1 2 in a casino with a good atmosphere and service (was thinking Golden Nugget maybe?) and like, not play terrible, but a little less serious than usual with drinks, edibles and stuff

My first black chip on a poker table. Hopefully I'll keep it long enough to cash it out.

No plans atm. I don't feel like the volume is there yet. To be fair, I was awake for 8 hours before I had that 8 AM beer

I will continue to monitor the situation.

One of the guys here pointed out that Mike Caro started the New Years nitdown story. I intend to find out if it's true.

MGM Grand or Excalibur can have a friendly crowd of day drinkers if you hit the right table. I've only played the Golden Nugget once, and it was a little weird with their uncapped buyin and several people sitting on 1000+ bb stacks. I'll call a small sample size on that read, though

Any plans to take the show on the road? Would love to see you play in Canada, Europe or even down under.

Fat Stacks

Today was a challenge day, and i fired my first ever shot at the $2/$5 level. Almost immediately, I noticed differences from the $1/$2 and $1/$3 games. No one was chopping the blinds, which makes sense, as there is now $7 to fight over rather than $3 or $4. So I'll have to shake the rust off of my blind v blind play.

There was less limping, and more limpers were being pounded with raises when they did stick their heads up. Opening raises were 3-4 bbs, down from the standard 3.5-7 bbs at the lower levels. I derived this information from a small sample size of one table and one 3 hour session, so take it with a grain of salt for now.

Moreover, it was hard for me to accurately assess playing conditions while there was a 24 carat gold horseshoe stuck up my ass. I flopped 4 sets in 3 hours--all them were top sets, and all of them held and paid off handsomely.

Really, it was one of those dangerous sessions that makes a person think that they're a better player than they are.

Muck that ****, you're on winner's tilt, I said to myself, more than once, in marginal spots.

But I'm getting folds here, I argued back. Doyle says to play your rush.

You're not Doyle.

If you're just joining this thread, I'll let you know that I am often of two minds, and both of them are pretty forthcoming with their views on how I should be playing poker.

I wanted to play a 4 hour session, but after 3 hours my mental state was veering wildly up and down, from having winner's tilt in one moment, to playing scared money from wanting to book a big W at my first $2/$5 session in the next moment. That situation was not conducive to optimal play, so I wrapped it up early.

Red Rock Station: 3 hours:
+$1725

Three Stacks $600-$60,000 Challenge:$2/$5 Level:

Link to Challenge Rules

Starting bankroll: $600
Previous bankroll: $1600
Challenge day progress:$+1725
Current bankroll: $3325
Bankroll needed for $5/$10: $3750

If all goes well, then yes. I'll have to be a winning $2/$5 or $5/$10 reg in order to pull it off.

like

Wow nice start to your challenge

Thanks 3aces! I'm a buyin away from the $5/$10 level. I'm not ready for that, but it's called a challenge, not a cakewalk.

Wow, nice chip porn! Rooting for you to win $424 on the next challenge day, so you'll be able to practice 2/5 a bit more.