Mrs. Fly planned a mid-week dinner with a few of the neighbors.  We don't see them much, but since they are two of our closest neighbors (by distance), it's nice seeing them from time to time.  We haven't used the smoker in a number of weeks, so we're going to try and make some ribs again.  This time, I'm going to go the braise route, which means I'm going to cook them mostly wrapped up in the smoker, with some liquid underneath.  That guys from Texas said he puts beer on the bottom, so maybe I'll just put some wine underneath.  Trip report tomorrow.  Doh!  I just realized one of the neighbors lived in North Carolina for a while, so they'll be used to good ribs.  GG me.

POKER

Someone asked me to talk about the red line.  I think the general consensus used to be that the red line doesn't matter as long as you're making good money.  I suppose this is true, since in the end, how much money you make is what it's all about.  However, I'm starting to think that having a VERY poor red line is symptomatic of bigger problems in your game.  When the games were easier and you could get people to pay you off light, then I think the "wait for TP or the nuts and get paid off" strategy might have worked okay.  Sure your red line would have suffered, but enough people would have paid you off for your win rate to still be decent. 

But in today's game, there are fewer fish and the regulars are more aggressive than ever.  Many of them will raise flop and barrel to take you off of your TPTK hands (at least in full ring - no one ever folds TPGK in 6max).  So it's very important to balance aggression in your game.  Having a very negative red line (anything "over" 10 big blinds per 100 hands) probably means you're game is way too tight.  You're going to have problems getting paid off on your big hands.  Ironically, people who play too tight are mostly likely to benefit from some added aggression in their games.

Next in the series...  how to improve your red line.  well, not that I would know, since my red line is terrible.  So maybe I should call this "how not to improve your red line."