Poker? What's that?

Have been even busier than usual the last couple weeks, it's all good, just very little time left for poker.  No change this week, but then it should lighten up.  I did try to sneak out to a card room for a few hours, but was still waiting for a seat 50 minutes later, so I bailed.  For you guys that play live much, is it pretty much expected to tip the floor when there's a long wait, in order to expedite things?  Or is it pretty much just the regulars in the room who are able to buy themselves a quicker seat?  Or maybe it doesn't happen?

I had a lesson with jk3a over at Deuces Cracked.  I'm looking forward to some more when I actually get some time to play.  For me personally, I like when the dialog is more two-way, and where I am initiating a lot of the conversation...I'm a big believer in that it matters less whether you got a decision right and more why you were right (or not).  In some ways, I think that's why the video format of coaching works pretty well.  It forces the student to think, and prevents the coach from interrupting.  But where it falls apart is that you can't make any real time adjustments at all.

For instance, one hand I told Jared I was planning to check/call on the turn and he stopped me to recommend that I try a blocker bet and see how that played out, and then we talked about why it was better to go that route.  But for the most part, he stayed out of the way, and rather focused on why and what-if type questions.  Perfect for a guy like me who wants to deconstruct and rebuild my thought process.

Jared confirmed I still outthink myself and give villains too much credit (for reasonable play, not necessarily for having a hand) -- no surprise to some of you.  More importantly overall, I need to value bet more and bluff less.  That last is probably good perpetual advice for anyone at small stakes, actually.  By the time all of us small stakes grinders really internalize value betting more and bluffing less to the point where we actually have it right, we'll probably make enough to move up to MSNL.  Anyway, it's not like I regularly run any super wacky bluffs, but I do think that I need to work specifically on good spots to double barrel (and the fact that villain just called the flop does not qualify as "good spot.").

Outside of poker, it's been all sports, all the time, plus some two new projects kicking off at work.  On the sports side, both kids have make-up games from earlier in the season when it rained or some other scheduling mishap caused a postponement.  My daughter's season ends on Saturday, freeing up some time.  My son's goes a few weeks later, though.  Actually, that's great, because some stuff is obviously starting to click for him...he hit the cover off the ball last Saturday, 4-for-4...huge relief to me because for the first part of the season, he was hitting really poorly, making lots of outs, and getting kind of frustrated.  Secondly, his glove work is getting tons better. 

It's funny taking for granted how to hold a glove when you catch a ball when you see how all the kids -- even the good ones -- wanted to hold it last year, and even the beginning of this year.  Over the course of the year, more and more of them have started to get it right (some with the aid of a baseball glancing off the heel of their open glove and tagging them on the chin)...and finally my son's got it.   So, I'm glad that the season is going to continue for a while because it will give him a chance to solidify his new skills.  Although he may be a bit burnt this week...3 games throughout the rest of the week, and the ones after a day at school are tougher for all the kids.

As for me, I actually snuck out of the office last Friday morning for a round of golf...first time in a long time, but going to try to do that a little bit this summer, especially since weekends are getting booked solid with family activities.  Golf is as swingy as poker for me, but for the second round in a row I had multiple birdies, so I was happy how that went.  I also had the most consistently solid round of putting in a long while.  I had a few drop, and the ones that didn't were uniformly good misses.