The other day, G comes home from camp and says, "Hey dad!  Check out this cool lanyard I made today."  And inside I'm chuckling to myself thinking, {LOL.  What kind of knotted, completely tangled pieces of string is he going to show me today?}  So I turn around and I couldn't believe how much progress he made in a week.  It was actually pretty good!  The tension in the knots was pretty consistent so it looked fairly symmetrical.  I still can't believe it.

Then the next day he tells us he jumped into the deep end of the pool and swam across.  Woo hoo!  Mission accomplished for summer camp, with two weeks left to go!  Michael Phelps, all your records are going down in in the 2020 Summer games, buddy.  Enjoy your glory while it lasts, bong boy!

These proud parenting moments are really nice - and you get a bunch every month. But it's also sad because you realize your babies aren't babies any more.  Someone give me a Kleenex - I'm going to start sobbing (again)...

HANDS

Now that I've stopped playing 1/2 6max Rush as my main game, it's easier for me to mark hands to put in the blog.  The other day, someone was asking what the difference between 1/2 and 2/4 is.  In 2/4 the regs are more aggressive about fighting for every pot, and they are not afraid to "empty the clip" with their bluffs.  So here's a hand that I would have played completely differently 2 months ago, and it's the difference between me possibly losing $115 and me making $400 on the hand.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP ($598.80)
CO ($524.60)
Button ($400)
SB ($405)
BB ($582)
Hero (UTG) ($400)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A♦, Q♦
Hero bets $12, 2 folds, Button calls $12, 1 fold, BB calls $8

Flop: ($38) Q♠, 5♦, 5♠ (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $26, 1 fold, Hero raises to $80, Button calls $54

[Normally, I would just bet the flop, but villain's been betting a lot of missed cbets, so I decided to mix things up.  If he has a 5 (and there shouldn't be that many in his range) or decided to slowplay KK+, then so be it - he's getting all my monies.]

Turn: ($198) 8♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $86, Hero calls $86

[I could have bet the turn since I could check raise a flush draw on the flop and barrel, but figured once I checked, it looks like I don't have a flush and villain will barrel most of his range.  I think stacks were such that I could have just check- shoved the turn, but I was pretty sure he barrels all rivers.]

River: ($370) 4♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $222 (All-In), Hero calls $222 (All-In)

Total pot: $814 | Rake: $3
Main pot: $814 between Button and Hero, won by Hero

Results:
Button had 9♦, 9♣ (two pair, nines and fives).
Hero had A♦, Q♦ (two pair, Queens and fives).
Outcome: Hero won $811

So villain is a pretty big winner in the games (4.7ptbb), and he probably suspected 99 was no good on the flop, but he floats an absurd amount in position and he probably thought he could take the pot away in position at some point if I didn't barrel.  When I first started playing, I gave people the benefit of the doubt because I had no idea people regularly played this aggressively.  Sure he could have had a flush but he might have 3bet that on the flop.  When you play a huge chunk of your range the same way, it's hard to give people credit all the time.