In the process, two guys busted out, one guy left, another guy busted out and his friend needed to leave to take him home. Suddenly what was a full table has 3 guys sitting at it, and the other table has 3 seats… The call goes out to combine the tables, and I decide that I’m going to do something I never do: I’m going to get up and leave. I’m totally dying to play right now. I was just settling in for a four or six hour session. But… Damn. I was bound to donate some of that money back, and it wasn’t a hit and run, since everybody at our table left.

So… here I am. Typing at 1:45 on a Friday night. I should go out and get a drink. I just opened up a Rolling Rock in my apartment. Boy… I’ve always known it, but, wow. What an awful fucking beer. Whoever brought this beer to my poker game last Wednesday and left it here: you have shitty taste in beer. A pox on you.

It always was Pennsylvania’s worst. Now I remember why.

But that $550 in my pocket is much needed. It puts me back to even for the month, and I’m looking to play a couple of the $300 tournaments in Atlantic City next week, so… what the hell.

Let’s go out and spend $30 on a couple of drinks, and call it a successful night.

The night before I had picked up an easy $350 playing $5/$10 rotation for a couple of hours, which is a pretty healthy (and unexpected) late night pick-up. Then I throw it all away plus a little.

I head to work last night. Super slow night. Make very very little. I sit down for a half hour at the end of the night with a couple of loose players at the table. Try to see if I can make something happen. I don't. I lose $33. It was worth a shot, though.

It's 4:00 AM. So, of course, I take the subway and get off and ring the buzzer for LLLL. There's a 9-handed table. Two big stacks, and everybody else has like $100-$200. Max buy-in is $250 there, so I buy the max. I post under the gun. Fold to a raise. Big blind I get 73clubs. Under The Gun straddles, like 5 callers, I call the extra two bucks, straddler checks. flop comes 10 6 4. Checks around. Turn comes a 2. checks around. River comes a 5. I bet $10. Get one caller. I have the 3-7 straight, he has a solo 3 for a 2-6 straight. Free $30.

Little blind next hand. A7hearts. Straddle again. I throw in the 3 bucks. 6 players, no raises. flop comes

Checks around. Turn comes

I figure I'm open-ended and have the nut flush draw - I'll take a stab. I bet $15. Get one caller. The river comes

I hit my flush, but the board paired. But it's actually a good thing. I think if somebody had a set or two pair they would have bet the flop or raised me on the turn, so i'm hoping that somehow this guy has the 9. I bet $40. He calls. I turn over the flush. He doesn't show, but I'm good. A nice little $80 profit. I think that maybe it's going to be my night.

Six hands later I flop the nut straight on a rainbow board. I bet it out in early position. I get one caller, but I can tell I've got him hooked. I bet $15 on the flop into a $20 pot. Then I bet $35 on the turn into the $50 pot. Then I bet $55 on the river into the $120 pot. He pushes all in for about $100 total. I immediately call and turn over the 10J nuts. Suddenly I have $500 and change in front of me. I pick up a couple more pots... $550, then $600. LLLL closes at 6:00 AM, so now I just have to hold on to my money for a half hour.

I go cold for a bit. Call some raises, miss, throw them away. I get QJ suited, call a small raise. Flop comes 4J4. I check. Next guy checks. Original raiser bets $30 into the $50 pot. One fold, then to me. Original raiser has about $70 behind him. I raise to $100. Next guy folds and original raiser calls and turns over AJ. It holds up, and I double him up. I'm mad at myself, and I slip below $500.

A few more hands. See a few flops. Down to $450. The house calls out 4 more hands, and then the night is over. I fold the next three. Last hand.

I look down to pocket 10s, both red. Part of me is excited, part of me isn't. It's a great starting hand, but so fragile. I have to try to see a flop with as few players as possible, but it's the last hand and people like to gamble. It's only 5 or 6 handed at this point. One caller. I raise to $15. I get three callers, one behind me on the button. The flop comes

First two guys check. I bet $35. Button folds, next guy thinks about it for a second, and calls. This is the guy I just doubled up ten minutes ago with the AJ vs. QJ. In the back of my head I'm thinking "great... he's playing me with my own money." The next guy folds. The turn comes

He checks to me. I really do think I have him, but I know the only way to know for sure is to bet big. I put out $100. He starts talking. "Wow. That's a good bet. How much is in the pot? A little more than that? That's a great bet." Everybody else has gotten up from the table and is cashing out. It's just the two of us staring at each other, and the dealer. "You want action?" I reply, "I don't know what to tell you. I think I'm ahead. I don't know what you have, though, so I can't tell you." One of the other players comes over "This hand still going on?" The guy in the hand is still deciding. Still coffeehousing. "The question is, is Ace Queen good right here?" Takes another minute. For real. This is going on for two minutes now since I made the $100 bet. He says "Alright. I'm going to go all-in." I ask for the count from the dealer. It's $165 on top of the $100.

I think I put him on a move, but... It's another $165, and the pot is $330 approximately. Well, $500 with his in there. It's $165 to win $500, but... I might be drawing dead. If he's on a flush draw, I'm ahead, but I don't have the 10clubs, so all of his outs really are in the deck. If he has KQ or QJ I'm so way far behind. If he has a flush draw and a piece he has a ton of outs. I look at my rack. I have a little under $300. I can fold now and be up a little tiny bit and call it a wash. If i call and I'm wrong I'll be down $150 for the night and I'll feel like an idiot for going through a $450 swing in 15 minutes.

I finally decide that there are more hands that he might have that i'm beating (I'm putting him on A9 or on a flush draw), than hands that would be beating me (a set, two pair, any Q), and that I think the ratio between the two options are about 3 to 1. I think I'm beating three-fourths of the hands he might be holding.

I call.

He says "Nice call.", turns over AJoffsuit, and the river is a rag (thank god):

A total bluff. I breathe a sigh of relief. And realize that I have $750 in front of me. He says "I don't know how the hell you make that call. Great call. Damn. Ah, well, I didn't want to wait in line to cash out my chips anyway."

The other two players that were watching tell me nice call, I tip the dealer $20, tip the other dealer (that was now watching, too) $5, tip out the manager $5 (who was also the guy I busted out when I flopped the straight with 10J. doh.), and I walk out up $465.

Which means I'm still down $100 for the day, but... What a turnaround. I head to Veselka for some breakfast and go to sleep as the sun rises.

Incredible String Band, Emmylou Harris, and Lindsay Buckingham would all be better starting points. In fact, you triangulate those three, and I think you're pretty close to homing in on Death Vessel.

The lead singer is the kind of girl that every girl thinks every guy SHOULD have a crush on. (not that they’re necessarily wrong, but that’s what they think.)

The strange thing for me was that the slow songs were the real highlights. There's a sublime beauty to the horns, glockenspiel, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals... Everybody else is going to focus on the fast dancy pop songs. But the gems are the slow songs.

Not the best parallel (because "Crash" is really maybe the best pop song ever [except not in the awful version with a guitar solo at the end of it as on the "Dumb and Dumber" soundtrack, but the original 2:32 single version]), but I'm reminded of The Primitives. Everybody focused on "Crash" and missed out on "Thru The Flowers". Close Lobsters come to mind, as well. Everybody thinks about the quirky pop songs, but the pretty songs like "In Spite Of These Times" are where the strongest songwriting lies.

I've posted both a fast and slow Love Is All song up above.

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Comments: NF/NF DJ, Dust jacket over soft cover. Slight cock, minor rubs on dj, clean, tight, crisp.

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All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of The Self-Starter Foundation. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

However, you may download material from The Self-Starter Foundation website (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

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