Thursday, February 24, 2005

Hatch Brush with Celebrity

On a whim I sent an email to Wil Wheaton last night, since he had mentioned on his blog that he did 3 voices for Everquest 2. He actually responded, which was pretty cool. He's also a fellow Texas Hold'em player, but he gets to play in much, much bigger tournaments. Heh.


Hatch: Howdy, Just curious what voices you did for EQ2. You said you did 3 of them,
is it possible to let us all know which ones?

Wil Wheaton: I have no idea, man. One was an Elf, and the other two were shop
keepers, I think.
Hee Hee

Everytime I hear the name of this movie, I picture The Dumb Brute in some odd situation involving a Lump.
Smoke Free Georgia

Looks like I may not have to worry about playing poker in smoky bars in Atlanta much longer. The Georgia Senate approved a bill today that would ban smoking in most public buildings, including bars and restaurants. They made an exception for nursing homes, which puzzles me a bit. I guess if you're a really old fart they figure why make things harder on you.
Weekly Update

It's been a long week. I played poker Tuesday and Wednesday night, but I shouldn't have. I was too tired and frazzled after long days at work and traffic jams at 8pm at night and went out early both nights. It's almost like taking a test in college. You really need to be fairly rested and alert. I went all in Tuesday night with two pair, Aces and 8's, completely missing the obvious flush draw on the board. Next week should be easier since work won't be so hectic.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Another Jungle Joke

Heff and Hatchare captured by a jungle tribe and tied to stakes. The chief says to them, "You have a choice – death, or ugga bugga." Hatch says, "Well, I guess ugga bugga." The chief shouts "UGGA BUGGA!" and 30 members of the tribe attack and sodomize him. The chief then asks Heff, "Now you have a choice, death or ugga bugga." Heff says "screw that, I choose death!" The chief says, "Very well," and shouts "DEATH…BY UGGA BUGGA!"


Hatch Quits Poker

Ok. I'm quitting til next week. Heh. I was playing in a tournament tonight at Sidelines in Alpharetta and had A-9 in the hole. The flop was A-A-J and I went all in with about 3500 in chips. A girl across the table was the only one to call me and she turned up K-9. The only thing that could save her was a Q AND a 10. Fourth street was a Q. Fifth street was a 10. The whole table erupted and I had to walk out with everyone feeling sorry for me. Not sure what the odds were for her to do that to me, but I'm guessing over 100 to 1.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Uncle Hatch is So Proud

Congratulations to Paul and Ferlie! Veronica (Rani) Grace Clemmons is here! She was born this morning at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. She weighed 6lbs 11 oz and 18 inches long. She is really cute and has LOTS of hair. Ferlie had a C-section was reported to be groggy most of the day from the pain medicine. Paul is doing great as a new dad! And grandparents Clemmons are elated!!

Ferlie and baby should be coming home on Friday morning.

(Thanks to my wife Marissa for providing this info.)
More Poker Stories

Tonight I played in a tournament at Startime in Roswell that had about 30 people in it. I played a little tight at the beginning and was almost on the short stack at my table. I went all in with a KQ suited but the guy to my right called me and turned up a pair of Aces. Another Ace came up in the flop, but I ended up drawing the straight on 5th Street. After that I started getting pretty aggressive and ended up at the final table with a decent stack of chips.

There were 6 of us at the final table to start and I continued to be pretty aggressive. I knocked one guy out by drawing a flush on 5th street, and for a while after that nobody wanted to call me and I went on a rush where I won about 6 small pots in a row. When it was down to 3 of us I went all in and got called by the guy who had about the same amount of chips I had. I knocked him out and it was down to two of us. The other guy had a monster stack and had been playing tight most of the night. I went all in with a pair of 3's in the hole and he called me and flipped up a 9-10 offsuit. He flopped the straight J-Q-K and I was out.

I won 25 bucks in house cash though and came in 2nd in what was only my 3rd live tournament. I've been reading Doyle Brunson's book this past week, and it seems to be helping so far.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Hatch All In

I tried a new venue for No Limit Hold'em tonight. This time it was the Sidelines Grill in Alpharetta and it was a much better experience all around. The poker area was smoke free and there was enough elbow room that I wasn't getting bumped around all the time. I don't really mind being around some cigarette smoke, but last night there was no ventilation and it got hot and the smoke just hung there. This time the game was run by a different company, and they didn't provide dealers. This was better for me since I had to pay attention to the pot a little more, but it does tend to be a little distracting when you're trying to deal or shuffle and figure out how to bet. I came in about 10th this time out of 25 people. I made some mistakes, the worst of which was not slow playing a pair of Kings I had in the hole. In the end I got squeezed on chips and went all in on a bluff and got called. I've got a lot to learn about this game, but there's some good players at these free tournies that don't mind giving some decent advice.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Awesome

My beautiful wife Marissa has her own blog now. Ignore the dick making comments.
Hatch Tilt

So Burt and I went to Pepperoni Tavern tonight and played in their free Texas Hold'Em tournament. It was team play, so Burt went first with our $500 in chips. After about 7 hands the Russian on his left went all in with 3 6's showing. Burt had a full house and called. The Russian ended up with 4 6's, leaving us with 20 bucks of chips. Burt went all in on the next hand and ended up with $100 in chips. I took over, went all in again with a pair of 3's in the hole. I flopped a full house and ended up with about $500 in chips. I lasted another hour before I got bumped after going all in with two pair. I didn't do too badly for my first tournament. My only problem was too many people smoking without enough ventilation.
Simple Truths

Just like a dumb brute in Alabama, Superman is a Dick.

Update: Looks like their server got thrashed. Maybe it will be up again soon.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Betrayal. It's a difficult thing to swallow. Betrayal from a close friend is swallowing a watermelon whole. The best part of me whispers to forget it. Just drop it. Just laugh along with it.

The other part of me recalls a classic passage from Moby Dick:

"Vengeance on a dumb brute!" cried Starbuck, "that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous." . . . "Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me."

When one contemplates revenge, it's always a good thing to have "hand" in the relationship with your betrayer. Fortunately, that applies here. The dumb brute has played into my hands. I go now to my dark place for further contemplation of what is to come.