Klopzi's Mediocre Poker One man's journey from poker obscurity to poker mediocrity. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 17 0 53 5913

Articles from Klopzi's Mediocre Poker

A Word of Advice 2007-11-01 07:00:00 I had a dream last night that I was watching some guy play poker on his laptop. He was playing four sit-and-gos at a time while discussing the importance of understanding the effects of variance and luck on my state of mind. The point he was trying to drive home was that everyone has bad beats, tough breaks, and long streaks where nothing seems to go well. It is during these times that you must stay diligent, re-examine your game for leaks, and doing your utmost to continue playing your A-game in the face of adversity. Then he looked at me and said, "No matter how well you play poker, you're going to lose long and hard from time to time. For example, I've now lost 16 sit-and-gos in a row without winning a single one." So I responded, "But I've lost well over 40 sit-and-gos since my last win." Without pause, he said, "Jesus, you suck...” With that, he asked me to leave before turning his attention back to the games unfolding on his laptop. I guess poker has started to cr ...

Scarier than a busted gut-shot draw... 2007-10-30 15:43:00 Still no poker on my end - though I'm sure this is no surprise to any of you with two kids under the age of two! Sometimes I wonder what the hell my wife and I were thinking. And then, I look over at my two boys and I know that I wouldn't have it any other way! They are without a doubt the very best of all things in my life, along with my wife. However, this post is not about family. It's about my Xbox 360! In honour of Hallowe'en, I thought I'd post about some of the scarier games coming to a next-gen console near you. The following was cross-posted at The Greedy Gamer: Since the birth of my first son just over a year ago, I've found that it takes quite a bit for a video game to scare me. After getting less than 5 hours sleep for well over one year's time, I find that I'm just not as jumpy anymore. What used to terrify me just isn't that scary anymore - probably because I'm half asleep at the best of times. In my opinion, the scariest game that I've ever played ...

A Night Out 2007-10-29 07:15:00 It was a cold and rainy night. Yet inside our house, the temperature was stable at a balmy 72 degrees to keep my newborn son happy. As I fed him his after-dinner bottle, he looked up at me, completely at peace, completely relaxed. I seized the opportunity to ask him a single question: "Do you think it would be okay if Daddy played some poker tonight?" His answer? Actually, his true response to my question was a bout of crying that lasted for well-over six hours; however, I'd rather not subject my readers to the dulcet sounds of a baby's crying fit. To be honest though, my weekend was pretty good. No poker and very few video games were played - but I did get to attend a wedding with my wife. It was a well-deserved chance for the both of us to rejoin society and get another taste of what life was like before kids. I enjoyed having a drink with my wife in a bar, without the threat of our kids' screaming or crying blanketing the whole affair with nervous energy. And it was. ...

Klopzi 2, eBay 0 2007-10-26 14:54:00 Some of you might recall some bitching I did earlier this week in regards to eBay and the questionable purchasing strategies being used by my fellow auction afficianados. Well, I've finally managed a bit of revenge and have managed to score a few bargains of my own. The following was originally posted at The Greedy Gamer: After a long stretch of losing auction after auction on eBay, I've managed to score two games in the space of a few days. The first, The Godfather, was won earlier this week. I first discussed me "victory" here. And today, I managed to pick up a premium title from eBay. For a while now, I've really been looking forward to playing The Darkness. Given the disparity in review scores from review site to review site, I was a little hesitant to pay full price for the game. After playing The Darkness's demo on my Xbox 360, I decided that I liked the game and started actively searching for a good deal on eBay. Earlier today, I managed to buy a used copy of The... ...

Four 2007-10-25 18:35:00 Since I'm not playing any poker, I figured I'd give this whole "Four" thing a try. I have nothing else to say, so let's dive right in! Four Jobs I've HeldGas Station AttendantVideo Store ClerkSoftware DeveloperConsultant Four Films I Could Watch Over and OverTommy BoyHappy GilmoreThe Empire Strikes BackThe Matrix Four TV Shows I WatchThe OfficeHeroesHouseX-Play Four Places I've LivedToronto, ONOttawa, ONKingston, ON Four Favorite FoodsBacon CheeseburgersPoutineLasagnaIce Cream Four Websites I Visit DailyGoogle ReaderGameSpot2+2 ForumseBay.ca Four Favourite ColorsBlueGreenBlackRed Four Places I'd Love To Be Right NowAt homeAnywhere else as long as my wife and kids are there with me Four Names I Like But Wouldn't Name My ChildrenIndianaVaderVictorKorben Four Favorite BooksIt The StandThe Eye of the WorldDragons of Autumn Twilight Well, I think this list proves one thing: I'm a pretty boring individual. Oh well, it gives me time to focus on being a good husband and fat ...

all work and no play makes klopzi a dull boy 2007-10-24 07:10:00 All work and no play makes Klopzi a dull boy. Throw in "no sleep", "no booze", and "spending hour upon hour in a vain attempt to put together a baby swing that probably won't get used because the baby is always so upset that the very thought of placing the baby in the swing and listening to his anguished screams of agony and terror is far too much to bear" and you can see that I might be going a little crazy. Poker? What's that? There's no poker for me anymore. Is it possible to play at least reasonably well with only five minutes of free time a night? I'm not even talking about a solid five minutes of time either: my free time comes in the form of 10 second breaks that occur over the course of an entire exhausting evening. I thank God that I'm not doing this alone. My wife is a real trooper and handles the brunt of the attack as best she can given the fact that she isn't getting all that much sleep and even less down-time. Luckily, our first son is probably the best littl ...

Comfortable Console Gaming 2007-10-23 18:00:00 If there's one thing that can be said about my many hobbies is that I try to cause as little disruption or discomfort to my family. In the case of poker, a laptop solved all my problems. In the case of my Xbox 360, things were a little more complicated. Throw a new baby into the mix and I had to get a little creative... The following was originally posted at The Greedy Gamer: I mentioned yesterday that many of my recent Xbox 360 achievements do not have associated date and time stamps. The reason? I don't stay connected to Xbox Live while playing any games. The change happened recently when I decided to move all my gaming paraphenelia up to the master bedroom in preparation for the birth of my new son. I knew that I didn't want to run up and down two flights of stairs every time my son started crying from the nursery. And so, with my wife's blessing, I turned my side of the master bedroom into a technological wonderland. Most people probably find themselves using their Xbo ...

Sold! 2007-10-22 07:00:00 I sometimes find myself wondering what your average "eBay-er" is thinking! With a bunch of money sitting in PayPal, I've been desperately trying to buy some Xbox 360 games via eBay. I say "trying" because I can't seem to win a single auction! When I spot a game that I'd like to bid on, I first visit BestBuy's site to determine the current retail price of the item. From there, I make a few more adjustments to the amount that I'm willing to bid: Most importantly, I subtract the shipping and handling charges from my maximum bid. I will never pay more than retail price for anything I buy off eBay. And buying a game for $15 less than retail price makes very little difference if the S&H charges exceed $20. If the game is used, I'll take an additional $5 - $10 off my maximum bid. If I buy a used game, I expect a little wear and tear on my item. If I were to buy a used game from EB Games, I could return my purchase for exchange if the game I bought happened to be too damaged. ... ...

The Scatman 2007-10-19 12:15:00 I was just looking around for some music and happened to find the song Scatman. Although I've heard this song a number of times, I still remember when I first heard it. I was smack-dab in the middle of my university education. I was bored one night and everyone I knew was either busy or too lazy to do anything. For the first time in my life, I went to see a movie by myself. The movie I watched was Nothing to Lose, a 1997 comedy featuring Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. Although the movie itself was fairly typical fare, there was one scene that had me and the rest of the theatre laughing out loud. That scene cracks me up every time! Scatman John, who wrote and sang the 1994 hit "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)", looked nothing like you'd expect (pictured at the top of this post). I've embedded the Scatman video for you below. If you'd like to have your very own copy of the song, why not check out Google to see where you can buy it? Visit my site for the rest of ...

Absolute Scandal 2007-10-19 07:00:00 I tend to stay clear of playing any poker when I'm as tired as I am today. Last night, my first born decided that he wasn't going to sleep and that's all there was to it. Although I managed to win the battle of wills after a two hour stand-off, I'm now exhausted while my son's energy levels have been completely recharged after a good night's sleep. For what it's worth, I have a funny feeling that this not-sleeping-thing is only going to get worse over time and that frightens. But you know what else frightens me? The filthy cheating that's gone on unnoticed at Absolute Poker until recently. Is it possible that you haven't heard about the scandal? Here's the short-version: someone once affiliated with Absolute Poker found a way to login to the poker network using a super-user account which allowed him to see each players' hole cards at his table. Pretty brutal... If you want full details from reputable news sources, read here, here, and here. If you'd like to see ...

The Greedy Gamer: Halo 3 vs. BioShock 2007-10-18 18:30:00 Whether or not you're a fan of video games, I can guarantee that you'll find the videos below pretty damned funny! The following is an excerpt from a post at The Greedy Gamer: As a known Xbox 360 gamer, I get asked one question quite a bit: what do you think of Halo? In my mind, there are two types of gamers: those who like online multiplayer games and those who couldn't care less about fragging and pwning n00bs. Can you guess to which camp I belong? I've never understood the unconditional love that many gamers feel towards Halo. I played Halo on the Xbox and was greatly underwhelmed. I remember playing through a good chunk of the game and desperately wondering why everyone loved this game so much. I was told that I had to play the online multiplayer to truly appreciate Halo. You know what? Listening to thirteen year olds spout off as many naughty words and racial slurs as they can whilst shooting me in the face does not increase my appreciation of a game. Maybe I'm too ...

I scream, You Scream, My Son Screams... 2007-10-18 06:30:00 Still no poker for me. Don't get me wrong: I like poker and I like making money. It seems, however, that my youngest son prefers screaming to having his father generate wealth online. I guess he'll only have himself to blame when he realizes that he screamed away his college fund. In any case, I've managed to find a great little video that will simplify your life. Have you ever wanted to find a song, picture, or video clip online without having to go through the whole rigmarole of a peer-to-peer network? Watch the video below and you'll learn how this is possible using Google: Hopefully this makes up for the lack of poker content at the moment. I promise to talk about poker sometime soon, but I'll have to wait for my son to give me more than five minutes of free time before I can even consider pulling up a chair to the virtual felt. Until then, I guess you'll have to content yourselves with funny and informative videos and some cross posts from my other site, The Greed ...

The Greedy Gamer: What's Next? 2007-10-17 07:00:00 The following was originally posted at The Greedy Gamer. Last night, I finally managed to finish off four more achievements in BioShock. This leaves just one achievement left to beat: complete the game on the hardest difficulty setting (Seriously Good At This). I was contemplating making a second run through BioShock right away to pick up that last achievement. I've decided to hold off, however, thanks in part to some rumours concerning downloadable content for BioShock. According to Kotaku and Joystiq, Ken Levine has said that he likes the idea of using downloadable content to enhance gameplay. New plasmids? New splicers? An extra mission or two perhaps? In any case, I'll hold off on visiting Rapture again until I hear more about BioShock and some possible DLC. Why play through a second time for 40 gamerpoints when I could do it for 290 gamerpoints with bigger and better plasmids? The question I now have before me is: what to play next? Although my original goal when... ...

Doovde 2007-10-16 07:00:00 What has two thumbs and doesn't get any sleep due to screaming babies? Honestly, poker couldn't be any further from my mind in my current sleep-deprived state. Have you ever felt like throwing up because you've been so utterly exhausted? I am so there right now... Since getting slapped around at the tables this past weekend, I've spent my "free" time bouncing my new son in my arms while swaying him ever-so-slightly from left to right and back again. I also managed to finish off BioShock: definitely one of the better games I've played in a long while. Until I start cross-posting some of my Greedy Gamer content onto Klopzi's Mediocre Poker, I'll instead share a funny video I came across last night. Having worked at Future Shop a few years back, I can attest that there are customers very much like the one portrayed in this clip. Hopefully I'm not the only one who finds this funny... Ok, off to work... Visit my site for the rest of this story and other content. ...

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