PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

triceratops crossing

2009-09-08 - 6:59 p.m.

all photos © 2009 by elaine radford

denver skyline

Here in the fabulous Rocky Mountains, I have encountered a species entirely new to me -- the weak-tight Asian man. Here's a hand I played against one of them on Labor Day. The game was 20/40 limit hold-em with a half kill.

I have KJ of hearts under the gun. Early position and also early afternoon, before the time when everybody turns into a pumpkin, goes crazy, and starts creating lots of 6 and 7 player pots. You could argue for a fold, a limp, or a raise in a situation where you have some weak-tighty opponents, but I doubt it makes a lot of difference in your expected value. I decided to open raise. Weak-tight middle-aged Asian man cold calls two. Uh oh. Everybody folds except the big blind -- not because of my raise but because of his cold call.

The flop is KQT. Well, isn't that special. I have top pair with an open-ended straight draw. What does my friend have? Trips, two pair, a pair with a straight draw to the nuts. What does he hold here that he can fold? 99? 88? Hell if I know, but I C-bet anyway. He raises, the big blind folds, I call. I don't particularly feel like calling against this dude, but, oh well, I do it anyway. Top pair plus open-ender just seems too strong to fold here.

The turn is a J. Well, isn't that special. (Didn't I just say that?) I have two pair, but come on. If he holds any A, which makes up a good-sized part of his range, he just improved to the nut straight. I'm not real excited about my hand whatsoever. Check, he bets, and now there are 6 bets in the pot, and I have 4 outs to a full house plus some small chance that he doesn't actually hold an A. I make a highly reluctant call.

The river is a meaningless 7. Nothing has changed. If he holds an A, and I bet out on the river, he'll raise, but I don't need to call the raise. I just fold. No way weak-tighty will raise me on that river with less than trips, I figure. If he doesn't hold an A, I think it's possible that I can fold one better hand (the two pair of KQ) and one hand that I would have to chop with (another KJ). Sometimes you gotta say WTF. I donk the river.

He gives me the old tyme glare and stare for a few minutes, as if to say, You really think I'm going to fall for that? and then he open-folds pocket Ks.

I about fell out of my chair looking around to see if I was going to be arrested for stealing that pot. I totally never dreamed that I would be able to fold out trips. Go, me! You could argue with my play on every street, but I don't think you can argue with the result.

For more ridiculous poker plays, check out my poker page by clicking right here.

100 million year old mid-cretaceous dinosaur migration tracks

Today we decided to hit the dinosaur trail. The first stop was Dinosaur Ridge, where we inspected the footprints along the dinosaur migration trackways and got caught in a rainstorm. We also took a detour hike up and along the ridge so we could peek over at Red Rocks in the distance. Next, we headed to Red Rocks itself, where we had an outdoor lunch on the patio of the grill. Finally, we headed for the Triceratops Trail in Golden, where we found one really impressive Triceratops footprint and any number of unimpressive ones. It was a beautiful blue day with all the flowers in bloom. I only hope that my photos can do it justice.

triceratops track -- notice something funny? yeah, it's from underneath, where the foot sank into the mud during the jurassic and then at some point the ridge was lifted and tilted...so you're seeing the footprint in reverse!

We came back to the motel intending to take a nice swim, only to find that the pool was closed for the season. WTF?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we saw a possible Mourning Dove/White-Winged Dove hybrid along the Triceratops Trail today. The bird had the wing whistle and plumage of a Mourning Dove, but the white markings on the tail of a White-Wing.

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