So thanks to the last week, what started off being a sexy / luckbox graph turned into crap.  A disappointing finish to a disappointing year (later post).  And as usually happens (at least for me), the AIEV luck evens out.  It sucks to be on another 100K hand break-even, but at least I still made some money this month.  I just ran horrifically at higher stakes this month... a few KK < AA, set over set, etc.  Oh well.

I'll also start reviewing the year and talking about goals for next year in subsequent posts. While it's difficult to say how you're ever going to fare at the tables, I find it useful to set goals for myself.  It reminds me of where I want to be and makes me reassess how I'm going to get there.

BTW, Happy New Year's Eve!  Don't drive drunk.  As much as I'd like to thin out the competition, I'd prefer to do it at the tables, rather than because you drove into the car in front of you.

Help!  I've fallen and I can't get up!

I want to say this is probably the ugliest weekly graph of the year.  But I'm a senile mofo, so who knows?!?  I just couldn't believe how consistently I got wanged this week.  I tried a few new things, but I'm pretty sure those things shouldn't have *directly* accounted for all of this misfortune.  I tried some different things with 3bet pots, so I suppose it's possible I just ran into the top of everyone's range.  So maybe *indirectly* that was a cause... because in theory, I don't think any of the new things should have caused all that pain.  Aw... what the hell do I know?!?

Kind of a crappy way to end the year, but I'm now in Virginia, enjoying a week off and spending time with my in-laws.  I'm just going to forget about it, and just start fresh when I get back.  Yesterday, we went over to Mrs. Fly's parents house and I just ate waaay too much.  I had been craving fried mackerel, so Mrs. Fly's mom made that for me <3, a pork belly dish (one of Mrs. Fly's favorites), a chicken dish and some kimchi and tofu stew.  I suppose Korean food's a little on the salty side, so now I feel bloated.

Then "S" (from the ASS family - hmm... considering A owns firearms, has a black belt, could probably kick my ass and has high level clearance in the federal "government" I think I need to give them a better name.  Need to think about it some more...  As Mrs. Fly would say, "bok bok") made some awesome Vietnamese chicken dish (she is Korean too) and pina coladas, so that completed the fattening up and inebriating of DoubleFly.

Today, we go to an all you can eat Kalbi (Korean short ribs) place.  Ugh.  I feel like "Gluttony" from the movie Seven.

Ah... the Day G and I have been waiting for for weeks!  The first real snow of the winter.  We got about 12" of snow overnight.  Apparently the lame city slickers in NYC have been immobilized.  Our landscaper's already been by twice to shovel our driveway, and one of the local parents were able to drive okay through our town to drop off their kid for a play date.  So it's me, G, his friend and D, plus 12" of snow, two sleds and a nice sunny day to frolic outside.  Or so I thought.

Turns out there were snow drifts as high as 3 feet in our back yard.  So I basically had to carry D all over the place - up and down the hill on every sled run.  And it turns out that even tho G's friend's dad is a Fedor Emelianenko-looking huge Russian dude who didn't even bother wearing a coat in subfreezing weather, the son was cold and wanted to play inside. And G wanted to have a snowball fight, but the snow was all powdery and wouldn't stick enough to make a snowball.

Hmm...  it's like a higher being just wants me to be a lazy ass.  No matter how I try to get out, they keep pulling me back in.

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST?

I haven't had a lot of breakfasts in the blog.  Since the kids are home for winter vacation, Mrs. Fly's been making us more "sit down" breakfasts.  American breakfasts are notoriously unhealthy.  Especially when my plate has FOUR slices of 1/4" thick bacon.  Mrs. Fly knows I love the thick bacon at Peter Luger's (the top NYC steakhouse), so she got some thick bacon from a store.  It was a little salty, but hey!  I'm not complainin'!  The eggs were kind of a disaster, but when you're sitting next to four slabs of 1/4" thick bacon, no one's really going to notice.  The buttered toast was key, because the bacon was *almost* too salty to finish without it.  Anyway, I think I'll nickname this breakfast the "Cardiac Arrest."

HANDS

This hand put me on full-blown monkey tilt the other day.  Villain was a tight reg who rarely folds to 3bets.  I know the normal protocol is to 3bet for value, but he also never folds to a flop raise either, so I figured I mix things up a little, see a flop and get my money in when I hit.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($459)
SB ($325.60)
Hero (BB) ($420)
UTG ($270.20)
UTG+1 ($777)
MP1 ($431)
MP2 ($475.10)
MP3 ($614.50)
CO ($2878)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, K
3 folds, MP2 bets $12, 4 folds, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($26) 4, 9, K (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $18, Hero raises to $56, MP2 calls $38

Turn: ($138) A (2 players)
Hero bets $90, MP2 calls $90

River: ($318) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $262 (All-In), MP2 calls $262
[fk me!  the flush got there!  oh well - his range is too wide for me to not shove for value]

Total pot: $842 | Rake: $3
Main pot: $842 between Hero and MP2, won by MP2

Results:
Hero had A, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
MP2 had J, Q (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: MP2 won $839

WHAT'S FOR LINNER?

We went over to my brother's weekend house to have Christmas linner.  It was my immediate family, one of my cousin's family, and my sister-in-law's sister and her husband.  They had a massive assortment of appetizers, including three trays of sushi.  I was kind of surprised they were open for Christmas, but I suppose we are in a recession.

They set up a little gingerbread decorating activity for the kids.  The house on the left was "D's" (with a lot of help from Mrs. Fly).  The house on the right is G's.  I realize he's only 7, but it's becoming clear to me that he is never going to do anything that even remotely relates to neatness.  And in case you are wondering - No - G is not physically challenged (I think).  The house of the left reminds me of a Seurat, and the house on the right is more like a Picasso.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone's going to be ponying up 8 figures for *that* house.  Anyway, it was good for a laugh.

My brother is a lot like me in that we like serving two kinds of dead animal at big gatherings.  Dead animal #1 was this crown of lamb, with Mrs. Fly's "famous" seasoned rice in the middle.  I was really craving lamb, but I pretty much ate a whole tray of sushi by myself, so I only had like 4 pieces of lamb.  As mentioned in a previous post, lamb is supremely underrated in the US.

They also made a beef rib roast, but that was severely overcooked (it was pretty much well done), but it still had good flavor.  I only had one serving (which was like a pound).  But needless to say, 1 tray of sushi + 4 pieces of lamb + 1 slab of rib roast = BloatedFly.  Not that I'm complaining.  :-)

My sister-in-law *loooves* ordering meat from Niman Ranch.  They are well-known for their (black pig) pork products.  I've seen several fine restaurants that listed "Niman Ranch pork," which definitely means they are not your ordinary meat supplier.  Regular US pork has been bred over the decades to be absurdly lean - pretty much to the point that it tastes like cardboard.  The Niman Ranch pork has better marbling, so it's juicier.  The last 5-10 years, their other meat products seem to be getting popular as well.  I think the quality is very good, but tbh, I don't think it's worth the 5x markup over a good local supermarket.  Anyway, in case you win a donkament or something and feel like you need to blow some money on dead animal, check it out.

We received our Xmas cards last week and we sent them out...  All 150 of them.  It was pretty hard to believe we knew that many people, but I guess when you've been around for as long as we have and have moved as often as we have, you end up meeting a lot of really nice people.  This is actually more of a "beat" than a "brag."

It was kind of sad, because I would say most of those people we only see maybe once a year.  Even my siblings and mom, who I love dearly, I only see every other month or so.  Once you have a family and start having kids, it's really hard to get out and socialize as often as you would like.  What used to be carefree hanging out turns into a whole-day affair, planning when to nap the kids, packing up all of their crap, and keeping an eye on them while you're trying to have fun with your friends, having to leave early to put the kids to bed, etc.  And also, Mrs. Fly and I are both home bodies - we just like relaxing and hanging out together whenever we do have free time.  Oh well.

WHAT'S FOR DESSERT?

These cookies aren't for us - Mrs. Fly likes to bake cookies for all of G's teachers.  Last Saturday she took these cookies to G's Korean school.  The school is run by a Presbyterian church, so she made cookies for his teacher, the pastor, the tae kown do instructor and all the volunteer ladies who make the kids lunch.  We also got them little gift cards.  Just to say "thanks" for taking care of our little guy.  I mean our intent is that of gratitude rather than a "bribe," but I think it's just human nature to be a little more aware of the people who have been kind to you.  Like I remember when G was in pre-school, his nap cot was in a nice quiet corner and the kids whose parents weren't very involved had their cots next to the door.  Anyway, being kind and generous (altho personally satisfying in and of itself) has its perks.  Or you can call it karma, or whatever.

What was kind of surprising was that the pastor was in shock because he said no parent had ever baked cookies or gotten them anything for the holidays before.  I guess since the setting was a CHURCH, I thought that people would be more thoughtful.  I think it was particularly surprising because he knows I'm an atheist (from a catholic family) and Mrs. Fly is agnostic.  Anyway, just because you don't go to church doesn't make you evil, and just because you go to church doesn't make you a good person (so take the extra step).

In case you are keeping score...  Heathens 1, Christians 0.

Merry Christmas!  Since I'm a heathen and my house is full of pagan holiday symbols, like a Christmas tree, wreaths, holiday plants, etc., take what I say with a grain of salt.  Instead of being super-enthused about being with family, reinforcing your spiritual beliefs, and thinking of your fellow man on this one blessed day, try to live every day like it's Christmas - because there's really nothing special about December 25th.  Yeah - it's some dude's birthday.  But he'd be the first to tell you his birthday is no more special than anyone else's.

HUMOR

A Russian couple was walking down the street in St. Petersburg the other night, when the man felt a drop hit his nose. "I think it's raining," he said to his wife.

"No, that felt more like snow to me," she replied.

"No, I'm sure it was just rain, he said." Well, as these things go, they were about to have a major argument about whether it was raining or snowing." Just then they saw a minor communist party official walking toward them. "Let's not fight about it," the man said, "let's ask Comrade Rudolph whether it's officially raining or snowing."

As the official approached, the man said, "Tell us, Comrade Rudolph, is it officially raining or snowing?"

"It's raining, of course," he answered and walked on.

But the woman insisted: "I know that felt like snow!"

To which the man quietly replied: "Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"
_____

After being away on business for a week before Christmas, Tom thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift.

"How about some perfume?" he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle costing $50.

"That's a bit much," said Tom, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30.

"Thats still quite a bit," Tom groused.

Growing disgusted, the clerk brought out a tiny $15 bottle.

Tom grew agitated, "What I mean," he said, "is I'd like to see something real cheap."

So the clerk handed him a mirror.

My photo Xmas gifts to the FT MSFR regs continued from yesterday:

5) Ricky1231 - One of the more stylish regs, he's the only reg I know of who spends serious money on art for his apartment.  I'm pretty sure this Munch would fit right into his office, and he can look at it and enjoy it every f*ckin' time he decides to 3 bet me. 

4) Sparky999 - The resident dog lover.  Knows pretty much about all breeds of dog.  This gift is sure to bring pleasant dreams after a hectic day of grinding.

$38K bottle of whiskey

3) Andrew Song - it's always nice to have a fellow Korean grinder in the thread, to share the occasional dog-eating joke (sorry Sparky). The problem is, since Andrew is my junior, I'm supposed to buy him drinks.  I recently upgraded him to imported beer (from domestic beer), but he seems to be mentioning all these expensive liquors.  Well, he probably didn't realize that The DoubleFly is a cheap-ass, and this is as close to an expensive drink as he's going to get from me...  ;-)

2) thepizzlefosho - the second most frequent poster got married recently.  Whilst I don't want to ruin the honeymoon phase of the marriage he is currently enjoying, he needs to start preparing himself for the long-term.  The pleasant chime of this bell will sound so much sweeter than "Pizzle!  GTF over here, now!"

1) DoubleFly - what?!?  I can't give myself a gift?!?  I was the #1 poster in the thread by a landslide.  As such, I deserve a little somethin' somethin.'  There's only one thing I want for the holidays and every day of the New Year.  Something that I'll cherish every day for the rest of my life...

That's right!  Mmm... fresh Krispy Kreme glazed donuts.

Thanks to all the 2+2 FT regs for making 2010 an entertaining and informative diversion from the tables.  Best of luck in 2011.

I just wanted to wish my fellow FT mid-stakes full ring regs a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.  Here are the top ten posters from the FT MSFR thread from 2010 and my online photo gift to them:

10) Loco - our resident Latin American casanova created a huge scandal last year when he claimed his FT account had been hacked into.  Turns out it was his then 9/10 girlfriend (now ex) trying to see how much money he had.  So much computing and relationship fail. Anyway, this fool-proof (and ho-proof) security system should do the trick.


9) NotFreeMoney - the crawling bug to the left is his 2+2 avatar.  Countless regs have accidentally smacked they monitors trying to get rid of the bug.  He ignored my pleas to change his avatar, so I'm going to have to send him a friendly reminder with some Raid...

8) Peterk9 - 2011 may be the year where all of us may need to find other sites on (with the increasing difficulties that poker sites are facing).  Multiple sites means multiple account names.  It takes a lot of work to come up with random letters for multiple screen names.  So DHFI, ORQuTY and ATUAV, I'll see you next year at various sites!

7) Nick Rivers - definitely the highest ratio of post count per hand played on FT, so he's our resident troll.  I am free to insult him, because he says he never reads anyone's blog.  :-)  A good 20% of his posts must be "I can neither confirm or deny..."  Just so we can identify him at the next WSOP, I thought this would be an appropriate gift.

6) TucoRamirez - for the longest time, I thought he was Mexican (Tuco is "the Ugly" from "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly"), but then I found out he was some pasty white dude.  Still can't get the image of the dark Mexican out of my mind, so I'm range merging my images of him by shipping him...

Calm down Tuco... it's the can of spray tan - not the woman.

To be continued...

Another tough week.  The week started off really poorly... I recovered and then started getting coolered at 5/10+.  Always sucks when you run bad at higher stakes.  I actually made over 10 BIs (16 in EV), even tho I was basically flat.  Oh well.  At least I didn't lose money... and I hit my volume target for the week.

HANDS

One of the regs, Loco, jokingly (?) said he couldn't believe I won at 2ptbb when my cbet was less than 50%.  Sometimes, the best way to win money is to not cbet.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP1) ($669)
MP2 ($679)
MP3 ($1022)
CO ($600)
Button ($861.50)
SB ($751)
BB ($735)
UTG ($640.45)
UTG+1 ($248.75)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 9, 10
2 folds, Hero bets $18, 3 folds, Button calls $18, 1 fold, BB calls $12

Flop: ($57) J, J, 9 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks,
[Ya.  I can bet this because I have the best hand most of the time and it would suck if overcards came, but it's hard to imagine a worse hand calling in a 3 way pot, and I can get blown off my hand should a worse hand decide to (semi) bluff.]

Button bets $30, 1 fold, Hero calls $30
[Wow.  Imagine that!  In today's games, someone betting when checked to.]

Turn: ($117) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $48, Hero calls $48
[Good card for me.  Well, I guess if he has the case J, he's going to get most of my monies.  Jacks]

River: ($213) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
[Would've called, but whatever.]

Total pot: $213 | Rake: $3
Main pot: $213 between Hero and Button, won by Hero

Results:
Button had 4, 4 (full house, Jacks over fours).
Hero had 9, 10 (full house, Jacks over nines).
Outcome: Hero won $210

Well, that's $78 I made over just betting.  In case you're keeping score. that's: Not Betting 1, Betting 0.