Recently the topic of playing against your 2+2 buddies came up.  Many of the regulars know each other from the forums, and for the most part, we're all fairly friendly.  So what does that mean at the poker tables?  Theoretically, it should mean nothing - we are all there to compete and do our best.  It may even be against the site's Terms of Service to softplay each other blatantly.

Like would you never see Phil Mickelson intentionally shank a drive on the 18th hole because he wants to see Tiger win again after his ordeal.  No.  Poker is a competition, and you have to play your best against all players.  I understand that when I get 3bet light constantly or bluff-shoved on or whatever, it's nothing personal - poker's all about balance and when you don't make enough of certain plays, you won't be able to benefit when you finally get a hand.  So I hope the other regs have that understanding too and not think to themselves something lame like "I thought we were friends..."  IMO, one of the best ways to learn how to play is to get pwned by another good reg.  So think of it as them doing you a favor.

The main caveat against playing your 2+2 friends "overly" competitively is that most of them are some of the top winning players at your stakes.  I don't know if you want to keep pounding on a guy who is less likely to make a big mistake.  Unless you actually have some sort of edge, all you end up doing is creating a neutral ev situation (at best), paying more rake to the poker site and adding a ton of variance to your game.  Call me lazy, but you're better off going going after the crappy players.

My philosophy of table make-up and fish in a later post.

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

For my birthday the other day, Mrs. Fly made me this surf & turf dinner.  You really can't go wrong with a ribeye and lobster tail.  I'm not a big party person, so I like celebrating special occasions with the family.

And then a few days later, we had a nice romantic birthday dinner at Ruth's Chris steak house.  It's above average for a steak chain restaurant.  Kind of heard to go wrong when you grill a prime dry-aged ribeye and then you serve it on a plate of sizzling BUTTER!  In case you're interested, you can get an appetizer/salad, steak, a side and dessert for under $50.  Prices obviously vary by region.  But that's a pretty good deal, in case you guys feel like having a special slab of dead animal.