Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Goin' down to the river

After the basket ball game Sunday, I trotted over to Beale Street and started clicking. (I'll post some of those photos another time.) You've heard of carpal tunnel syndrome, right? I may have shutter finger syndrome. When my finger was numb from overuse, I decided to walk down to the Mississippi river. It's nearly one mile wide at Memphis, and I love to see this mighty creation of nature, and watch the boat traffic. Some things in life change, but not the river -- it just keeps moving south, and you have to admire its power. Join it or get out of the way -- I'm just sayin'.

The photos were taken with my point-and-shoot. FedEx Forum won't let me take my good camera in. I was told that I might take a photo and sell it on e-bay. Ha, ha, boy, that's great -- gimme a break! If I had thought about it beforehand, I would have brought my good camera and left it in the car, then retrieved it after the game. Anyway, the small camera is still pretty good, as you'll see in the photos below.

When I was close to riverside, it was almost sundown. I started running to get in a good position to take some photos. When the sun begins to set, it happens fast. So much for giving my finger a rest.

My small camera has presets. One of those is dusk/dawn and another is sunset, and I used both. The photos with purple are the ones taken with the camera settings from the dusk preset, like this one:


The orange and gray photos (see bext) are taken when I was using the sunset preset.


Memphis has four bridges. Two are for cars and two for trains.



The southern-most bridge (above)was completed in 1949. It's named the Memphis and Arkansas Memorial Bridge, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who knows it by that name, let along calls it that. If you asked a Memphian its name, they would just say, "It's the old bridge." If you asked the name of the other bridge, they would likely just say, "It's the new bridge." New and old, I guess that describes them pretty well.

The Frisco Bridge was the first bridge built here. It was opened in 1892 and, at that time, was the third-longest bridge in the world. It was originally for trains, but later they opened it up to automobiles, too. It's now used for trains only, as originally intended. The bridge is located 200 feet north of the Memphis and Arkansas Memorial Bridge. When you look at them above, you basically just see one bridge, but there are actually three (there's a second train bridge called the Harahan Bridge).

We lie on the New Madrid Fault where one of the world's strongest earthquakes was recorded in the early 1800s. Last year, they retrofitted the bridge to make it earthquake proof. Interstate 55 crosses the Mississippi here. Let's hope we're ready for the "big one."



I love how the clouds reflect the sunset (below) with a blue-sky background.



The northern bridge (above) is the Hernando de Soto Bridge, named after the Spanish explorer, and opened in 1973. As I mentioned above, it's usually simply called the new bridge. It's six lanes across and nearly six miles long. Interstate 40 crosses it. What you see here is less than one-fourth of it.

The bridge is what's called a tied-in double-arch structure and cost $57 million to build. The arches are to the right and not shown in the image above.




Nature really is amazing.


Each evening, Mother Nature gets out her easel and her paints and puts on a show for us.


Do you prefer the purples and blues, or the burnt oranges? I can't decide.


Click here to learn more about the Memphis bridges.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Back to the Tuckfard



Because I hadn't played in the Tuckfard Open for nearly a month, I rushed home from work yesterday to enter. It's a small stakes tournament, so you won't win any money, but the players are awesome and it's always a fun time. Most of them are Canadian. Have you ever met a Canadian you didn't like?

For most of the game, I played tight -- when I bet I had it. They say never show your cards, but I did, and, because of this, I built a strong image, and was able to win several pots uncontested when I bet out.

Occasionally, after I had raised before the flop, I would check after the flop when I was pretty sure I had the best hand. Here's an example:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (Button) (t1336)
SB (t1797)
BB (t2330)
UTG (t3770)
MP (t3582)
CO (t685)

MemphisMOJO's M: 8.91

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is Button with
1 fold, MP calls t100, 1 fold, MemphisMOJO bets t450, 2 folds, MP calls t350

Flop: (t1050)  (2 players)
MP checks, MemphisMOJO checks

Turn: (t1050)  (2 players)
MP checks, MemphisMOJO bets t333, 1 fold

Total pot: t1050



Why did I check the flop? When you play against the same people each week, you can't raise preflop, then always CB -- that's exploitable. But you can't always check when you're behind either. By doing what I did, the villain can't be sure that if I check, I whiffed the flop. I don't do this as much in a random online game, but against players you see each week, it has meta-game value. Notice the size of the bet on the turn -- it could be a probe bet or a value bet, and the villain can't tell which.

Below is the deal where I was lucky as $hit that turned things around for me. We started play with t1500 in chips and I had ~t1900. After the flop, I had no idea where I was, as they say, so I bet out. After a tight player like SuzyQ called, I was pretty much finished with the hand, until the beautiful turn. Here's a replay:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (BB) (t1986)
SuzyQ500 (UTG) (t1397)
MP (t2760)
CO (t3710)
Button (t3032)
SB (t615)

MemphisMOJO's M: 11.03

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is BB with
SuzyQ500 bets t240, 4 folds, MemphisMOJO calls t120

Flop: (t540)  (2 players)
MemphisMOJO bets t222, SuzyQ500 calls t222

Turn: (t984)  (2 players)
MemphisMOJO checks, SuzyQ500 checks

River: (t984)  (2 players)
MemphisMOJO bets t333, SuzyQ500 calls t333

Total pot: t1650

Results:
MemphisMOJO had Q, K (three of a kind, Queens).
SuzyQ500 had K, A (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: MemphisMOJO won t1650




Notice that by checking the turn, I was able to get another small bet out of her. Also, this reinforces the tricky-trappy image that says if I check, the villain doesn't have a license to run over me.

When you play tight, once in a while you can get away with murder. The deal below seemed like a good shot to pick up 800 in chips, which was nearly one-third of my stack. Let's keep it a secret, okay?


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds (4 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (BB) (t2661)
UTG (t3751)
Button (t2870)
SB (t4218)

MemphisMOJO's M: 8.87

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is BB with
UTG calls t200, Button calls t200, SB calls t100, MemphisMOJO bets t2661 (All-In), 3 folds

Total pot: t800




Here's the hand that busted jimdniacc. Nothing special, I happened to have the higher pair, and, just to be sure, the card gods gave me a set on fourth street. That works for me.


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 25 Ante (3 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (SB) (t7022)
BB (t4176)
jimdniacc (Button) (t2302)

MemphisMOJO's M: 13.38

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is SB with
jimdniacc bets t2277 (All-In), MemphisMOJO raises to t6997 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: (t4929)  (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t4929)  (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t4929)  (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t4929

Results:
jimdniacc had 6, 6 (one pair, sixes).
MemphisMOJO had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: MemphisMOJO won t4929




Now we were two. Muhctim and I played for a long time. We were feeling each other out, like two boxers in the ring. He went card dead, and I was able to chip up. Then, this deal. I flopped two pair, then bet too much to drive him out. The board was scary looking to me, but I guess it also was to him.


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 50 Ante (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (Button) (t7023)
SB (t6477)

MemphisMOJO's M: 8.26

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is Button with
MemphisMOJO calls t250, SB checks

Flop: (t1100)  (2 players)
SB bets t500, MemphisMOJO calls t500

Turn: (t2100)  (2 players)
SB checks, MemphisMOJO bets t2100, 1 fold



On the final deal, I again flopped two pair (how sweet it is), and we both decided to make a stand. My hand held up:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 50 Ante (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MemphisMOJO (Button) (t7523)
muhctim (SB) (t5977)

MemphisMOJO's M: 8.85

Preflop: MemphisMOJO is Button with
MemphisMOJO calls t250, muhctim checks

Flop: (t1100)  (2 players)
muhctim bets t500, MemphisMOJO raises to t1000, muhctim raises to t5427 (All-In), MemphisMOJO calls t4427

Turn: (t11954)  (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t11954)  (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t11954

Results:
MemphisMOJO had 3, J (two pair, Jacks and threes).
muhctim had J, 8 (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: MemphisMOJO won t11954