Too many posts

This marks the 200th post for Patchwork. I'm not going to bother with any kind of retrospective because, frankly, I doubt I've said enough of significance in these 200 entries to fill a paragraph. It is rather remarkable, though, that what started as something strictly to get me into "blogger-only" tournaments has managed to last to the 200th entry. It's a good thing I find myself entertaining.

Some comments about the blog in general would probably be in order. In retrospect, I'm not so sure the name "Patchwork" combined with my poker moniker, Patchmaster, was such a great idea. Well over half the hits on the blog are from people looking for information about Scott's Patchmaster lawn seed or some "patch work" game that must be available online somewhere. I'd probably make more money selling grass seed online than I ever could from poker.

The number of people coming here not by mistake has increased since I joined Poker Weblog$. I hope that trend continues. It would be nice to know I'm not simply confusing half my readers.

I'm also quite surprised at some of the other Google searches that turn up Patchwork blog entries near the top of the results. My ranting about the horrible internet connection I had while living in a hotel for six months when I first moved to Orlando has made me #1 if you search for "guest-tek sucks", a fact I'm sure endears me to the hearts of Guest-Tek hotel services management.

The number of readers from countries other than my own also surprises me. I noticed this when I first started the blog, but back then I think these were mostly bored people just paging through the random blog circle at Blogspot. More recently these readers seem to be coming here on purpose. Well, at least those who aren't looking to spruce up their lawns.

I also should give some thanks to the fine folks at Blogger and Blogspot. I've never fully wrapped my head around how all this stuff works, but it does work, quite well most of the time, and I've been able to use it without understanding it. That says quite a lot about what a great job they've done. I can sit here and blather on about poker or bad hotel wireless internet or whatever else strikes my fancy and not worry my bloated head about how or why my words actually get read by other people.

Often while writing my blog entries I've thought I had some appreciation for how Allan Havey must have felt on Night After Night performing to his "audience of one". On the other hand, Allan knew at least one person was listening. When the occasional comment comes in I'm always shocked and amazed. People read this crap?

For those following The Quest, I've decided to alter my bankroll management rules to maybe kick this thing up a few notches. Until I hit the $25 buy-in level, I'm going to move up to the next level when I have 30 buy-ins at that level. I will allow myself to test the waters at the next level once I've accumulated 20 buy-ins for that level. Since I'm playing $2 buy-ins right now, I'll start flirting with $5 buy-ins when the bankroll hits $100 and officially move up when the bankroll hits $150.

I've adjusted the speedometer to reflect these new rules.

Tonight was a decent night on The Quest. I didn't play much last week and had been basically even on the week until tonight.

There was one amusing incident. It's not like it's the first time I've seen this, but it still kind of cracks me up when people whine about how you sucked out at the river when the reality is that they played their hand poorly and you actually had them beat before they even made a move.

In this case I caught bottom pair and four cards to a J-high flush on the flop. SB checks. I bet half the pot to build it a bit in case I hit the flush and to see if I can get any information. One fold, two calls.

The turn brings a J, giving me jacks up and still the flush draw. Now the SB decides to bet half the pot. He actually had top pair kings on the flop but was either afraid to bet them or maybe thought he was being crafty. With only a 7 kicker, I'd have bet them on the flop when the pot was smaller and got some info on where I stood. If I got resistance, I'd get out cheap with my weak kicker. If he'd done that, I'd have likely folded and he'd have probably won a small pot.

So he bets half the pot into my two pair at the turn. I come over the top with triple his bet. Other guy folds and it's back to the SB. He makes a min raise. This is another move that baffles me. If this was a table full of sharks I might be a little afraid of this bet because it looks like he wants me to call. But this is not a table of sharks and this bet just looks confused and weak. It's possible he's got a set, but there are two flush draws on the board. That's a very risky way to be playing a set. If I've got a set, I'm putting it all in the middle right here. I decide to just call and see what happens.

The river brings my flush, not to mention a Broadway straight possibility. Now the SB gets brave and pushes it all in, a bet slightly larger than the pot. I think for about two seconds and call. If he's got the ace or queen flush, good for him. Of course, he's got top pair, kings, and I rake in a very nice pot. And, the reason I launched into this story, then came his comment, "last card."

The SB was one move too late this whole hand. If he'd done on the flop what he did on the turn, he'd have won a small pot, but at least it would have been a win. If he'd done on the turn what he did on the river, there's a real good chance I'd have folded. Instead, he waited until the board showed two obvious possibilities he was beat, not to mention several set possibilities which were quite strong given the way I'd been betting. Maybe he figured me for a set and thought a big bet on that river would scare me away, though his comment leads me to believe otherwise. Anyway, his weak play early on got him into big trouble at the river.

I don't mean to just make fun of how poorly this hand was played. The more I got into describing it the more I realized it was classic mistake after classic mistake. I doubt any regular readers will learn anything from this, but maybe a new player may someday stumble on it and pick up a tip or two.

Well, that's it for the 200th entry. Hopefully I'll still be interested in doing this for another 200 entries.