I love finding new music…

Yesterday, I drove to California with a guy from work to see the KROQ Weenie Roast. It’s an all day concert they throw once a year. This year’s lineup had 3 or 4 bands I wanted to see and several I hadn’t heard of before and a few that I knew their name, but hadn’t heard their music before. It’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised by an unknown band.

The show starts with several bands playing on a side stage. The stage is split in two so one band plays while the other set’s up. We showed up late and when we arrived, The Transplants were already playing. The are a punk bad featuring the drummer from Blink 182. Next came Bloc Party. Both were pretty good. Then, The Mars Volta came on. These guys were excellent! They come on stage and basically just jam through a freeform song that they make up on the spot. The singer sits at a typewritter and creates the lyrics while the band jams. He then gets up and sings. It was pretty cool.

Volta was the last band to play the side stage and they ran a bit long. This meant we were missing MXPX on the main stage. We also missed seeing My Chemical Romance. We heard them from the food area and they sounded good. The first band we saw on the main stage was Jimmy Eat World. Queen’s of the Stone Age were really good and then I was underwelmed by Interpol. I liked The Killers more than I was expecting to, which was more than I could say for the last time I saw them.

My favorite band had to be Audioslave. They were awesome. They played some old Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine songs (the band is made up of members from both bands) along with a couple songs from their new album. They sounded great! The Foo Fighters were a close second, though. They also played great and with a HUGE amount of energy. I have wanted to see these guys in concert for a long time. I’m happy to saw, they didn’t disapoint.

The final band was Motley Crue. I’ve seen then about a 8 times before and this was the worst BY FAR. They sounded like shit, had a ton of technical problems and Vince screwed up the lyrics to several songs. Including sing the first verse of the wrong song. The guys in the band were obviosly upset with the show and at one point, Tommy picked up one piece of his drum set and threw it over the wall behind him. The massive crowd was more than half gone before they finished their set. I sure hope they are better when we see them in October.

Why tighten up now?

I’d like to think that I play a tight but aggressive style of poker. But, last night in a tournament, a played way too few hands. It was a bit ridiculous. I can’t understand what my motivation could have been. What’s worse, I didn’t go with my gut feelings when I should have. On several occasions, this cost me greatly as I would have won several sizable pots. Lesson learned and I won’t do that agan!

Posting from the cell

I have been trying for a week to be able to post from my phone. Bingo! This was sent directly from my camera phone.
Haunted.jpg

Getting ready for the WSOP

Well, the World Series of Poker starts in only a few weeks. I’ll be playing in one of the $1,500 buy-in, No Limit Hold ‘em events to be held on June 3rd. I’m trying to work myself up for it so I’m playing my best possible poker by the time the event rolls around. I’ve spoken a few times with one of my poker buddies who is acting as my coach. He’s played in large tourneys with big buy-ins before so I really value his input. Since he lives in L.A. and I live in Vegas, it’s not like we can just get together whenever we want, so it’s not as ideal a situation as I would hope for, but, still a great, great help.

I’ve been pretty happy with my live poker play lately. I go in with a basic plan for how I’m going to play in the specific tournament and adjust my plan along the way. A great example happened in a home-game tourney last Sunday. There were 5 of us playing and only 1st place earned cash. On the first hand, we had an AA vs. KK all-in pre-flop that knocked out one player. The winner of that hand took out the other 2 players with big hands in less than 10 minutes. So, I’m now faced with a 4:1 chip disadvantage. I realize that the only way to win this is play ultra aggresive. On the 2nd hand of heads-up play, I was dealt 4 and 5 of spades. I make a small raise before the flop. On the flop, an ace and a queen show up. I bet again. On the turn was a 7. I bet again. On the river was a 3. With no straight or flush possibilities I decided I have to bluff big at this pot to win. So I risk almost all my chips with a bet on the river. After a few seconds, the other guy folded. I immediatly turned over my cards to show him the bluff and I tell him, "I’m showing you this so that when I bet big again, you think I’m bluffing again." With the mountain of chips I have to climb, I figured I needed every advantage I could come up with.

About 3 or 4 hands later, I’m dealt Ace King. I put in a raise about the same size as the raise with the 4 and 5 of spades. The flop came with a King and not much else. I check, he checks. The turn was another blank. I put in a small bet, he calls. The river is another low card. Again, no srtaight or flush possibilities, so I WAY over bet the pot and go all-in. He thinks for a minute and then calls. I turn over my hand and he mucks his cards. I’ve now closed the gap and we are about dead even in chips. It doesn’t take me more than 10 or 15 more minutes to complete the comeback and win.

I’m looking to play in as many warm up tourneys as I can before the WSOP. I’d like to play over at Sahara and perhaps at Luxor. I should also check if there is going to be any satelite tourneys for some of the WSOP smaller events. I think I’ll do that…

Playin’ some poker

Last month I went to a tradeshow up in San Francisco. While there, one of the companies threw a poker tournament for 100 people. The structure was different in that they didn’t do blinds but antes from the get go and the rounds were only 10-15 minutes long. It was like playing speed poker. The company had posted photos of the event and I found this one with me in it. It’s amazing they found any with me at this table since I was moved to this table and went all in about 3 hands later… That was the end of my night… Had a great time, though!

Playin' some cards

Hair Metal and Camera Phones

Bon Jovi... Can't you tell? Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of the Hard Rock Hotel here in Las Vegas. And, in typical Vegas style, they threw a party by hosting a concert in their parking lot with none other than Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi... I swear! The show happened to be on my wifes birthday. A quick ebay auction later and we had tickets. For her birthday, her brother bought her a new camera phone. We, of course, brought it along to the show. Hmmm, should I read the instructions first? Nah! Let’s see how many mistakes I made with the camera…
1. Left the clear plastic cover on the lense
2. Left the photo size setting on “smallest”
3. Left the photo quality setting on the worst possible setting
4. Oh, it has a zoom feature???

Gee, other than that, I’m ready to quit my job and become a pro photographer…
The girls The concert was excellent. The band sounded great and it wasn’t jam packed with people so we were able to move around a bit and get a great view of the stage. Also, it was way cool to meet up with Kelly (second from left), the biggest Bon Jovi fan in the world.

After the show, we went in to the Hard Rock where I proceeded to be a very loud and obnoxious drunk guy. I played the part of “That loud guy” all night. The thing was, I was doing it on purpose. I had a really fun time doing it. Unfortunately, this pissed off the wife a bit. Not very cool since it was her birthday. I’m sure she’ll forgive me (eventually). Sorry honey.