Lacking punch, but still..

My damn computer speakers at work broke down sometime last week so I haven't been able to listen to music as much as I usually do. But I have listened to the new Kent album a couple of times now and I must say that I'm a little bit relieved. This is a Kent album. Guns & Ammo wasn't.

My still initial impression is that this is an album with some songs similar to Hagnesta Hill-songs but with the sound from Isola. And this is where I think the album is a bit lacking, there is no "punch" were there should/could be. I would have preferred the sound from Hagnesta Hill on this album. But maybe I'll change my mind after listening to it more.

All in all, it will be fun and nice to finally see Kent live again this summer at their opening consert in Gothenburg. Then I will have seen them performing live at least once after each album release besides Guns & Ammo and the debut.

The local "Expert"-store in Sundsvall had a brand new Canon EOS 350D in so I went in to fiddle around with it a bit. It IS small, maybe even a little bit too small. But we wanttsss ittt...

"2Unlimited Hit"-Holdem Poker

I sat down for the first time at a $25 NL table yesterday at Party (it was so much my first time that I don't even know what the $25 means. Maximum bet $25?). I was a whimp and only went in with $15 that I had won just before at my old trusty 2-tables-0.5/1.

My first hand ever in no limit: KK. My heart started pumping. The flop - KJT. WTF! What to do? I raise a couple of bucks. No idea how much in the pot or what position Im in. Got called by one or two players (suckers? he/they might have a very nice straight draw to call). The turn: Q. Arrhg I cant believe this. Bet some more cash money. Put on my sun-glasses (no i didn't). And so the river: A. I type in the chat-box: "UNBIELEIVBLE!" [sic] and check, frustrated that I have to split the pot that was so rightfully mine! The other guy flips over AT. Oops.. glad that river ace showed up.

Anyway, I was up to $22 bucks before I raised with top-pair Qs and got reraised and went all-in because I only had five bucks left (what?!) and then I was out (re-raiser had pocket Ks). It was fun but Im glad it wasn't too fun because I don't want to get caught in it. I'll stick to fixed limit and try to up my stack to $0.3k (hehe) before I move up to $1/$2.

You & Me Death

I picked up the new Kent-album "Du & Jag Döden" yesterday. I figured that since I will get it eventually I might as well swipe the limited edition (9000 made) but it wasn't dirt cheap at 215kr. It came in a black plastic bag (!) with some postcards and a booklet with very thin pages. All black of course. You also got a poster with the same art as the album cover (too bad its the ugliest cover they've had). The cd itself was cool as it was completely black on both sides. I really hope that I will like this one better than their previous album, otherwise I just have to accept that an era in my music-listening is over (or actually ended somewhere between the release of the single "Dom Andra" and the album "Vapen & Ammunition" sometime in 2002 (?)). Ill post a mini-review later.

It seems that even I have to abide to the laws of physics (Im talking poker here of course) because my crazy streak at PartyPoker has finally ended. I managed to build $60 into $225 in maybe 8hrs two-tabling $0.5/$1. But now the last 3hrs has put me down about 25 bucks. If you get a good run of cards at a table with mostly fish (I consider myself a piranha, not quite a shark yet) you can loosen up and steal pots here and there. But if you (I) start to get rags all the time I try to tighten up but I also get very weak. Don't get me wrong, I raise pocket pairs over say 9s or Ts but if I miss the flop I rarely have the balls to call down worse players or sharks who have picked up on my weakness. For instance, yesterday. I had ATs in late position and called. Flop came J,T,8. Straight potential on the board but I held middle pair with strongest kicker. Someone bet before me, I think and finally folded thinking he had already hit his straight or held a Jack for top pair. He gets called down by one guy all the way to the river and wins with pocket 7s. And no other pair on the board.

So the problem is when playing a loose game when it starts to go bad is that you respect some (bad) players bets too much, which in turn lets strong players scare you out of the hand.

Damnit! Quads AGAIN!

Dont you just hate it when you flop quads? The wasn't much action so I won't bother you with a converter. I got pocket 5s and the flop came 553. I slow-played it and got maybe one call on the turn. Don't remember. But anyway I figured that it won't happen so often that you'll get bored if I tell you everytime :)

Party has been going so good that I'm toying with the thought of trying to win the money needed for a EOS350D. I started out with $50 and I'm now up to $170 bucks in maybe 5hrs two-tabling so I'm feeling good.

I'll keep you posted (only if I improve of course).

So what do you bench?

Taken during a walk on my lunch hour.

The Unbearable Lightness Of Getting Good Cards

So Im back into poker. Last night I played about an hour and ended up at maybe 15 BB/100. Well tonight I thought I give it another go and in less than an hour I stopped playing (gotta spend some time with the good ol' g'friend too :) at - and I shit you not - 150 BB/100!! I got remarks as

"Hey Jaff! Youre scaring people away!"

"OMG nh Jaff. Gotta love the river?"

"Hey J, leave sum cards for the rest of us"

"W00t? TheJaff folded?"

(hmm now that I read them the second time around it sounds like the usual smooth-talk you give the fish when they get really lucky) and so on. I won with quads once and with trips (wired pairs) trice in maybe 15 min. Posted the quads below for your entertainment :)

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 6c, 6h. CO posts a blind of $0.75.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, Hero calls, CO (poster) checks, Button calls, SB completes, BB raises, UTG+1 calls, MP2 3-bets, Hero calls, CO folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (17.50 SB) 4d, Ad, 6s (5 players)

BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets, Hero raises, Button calls, BB calls, UTG+1 calls, MP2 3-bets, Hero calls, Button calls, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (16.25 BB) Qd (5 players)

BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 calls $0.25 (All-In), Hero bets, Button calls, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

River: (20.50 BB) 6d (5 players, 1 all-in)

BB bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises, Button calls $1.25 (All-In), BB 3-bets, UTG+1 calls, Hero caps, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Final Pot: 33.75 BB

Ok thats it, Im quitting my job!

Quiet

I suddenly remembered that I have this thing called blog (short for weblog right?) that you're supposed to write in from time-to-time (if you actually made the effort to get one). So what have I been up to lately? Not much really, helping my girlfriend move to her new place in central Sundsvall took most (all) of last weekend and she has just started unpacking her stuff.

I slowed down on the crazy-interested-obsessing-madly-about-poker, havent played in over two weeks now. This is probably because I got this new sudden interest in digital photography so now Im just hanging out at various photo-sites reading everything about the new Canon EOS 350D which is the camera Im likely to get if I manage to hold on to this interest for another 2-3 weeks. Im also reading a lots of photoblogs, overshadowed, orbit1, visual experience, tozzer, oh cameras are macho are just some of them.

Back to poker. I signed up with PartyPoker using the FreeBOOK signup code and yesterday I received my copy of Internet Texas Holdem and lo and behold - the book was SIGNED by the AUTHOR. Must be a raving demand on that book eh?

Note to self: Check out new music - Logh "Sunset Panorama", Moneybrother "To Die Alone".