Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis

I put in a little overtime today, with 2 hours at the slots, garnering $94. I now have around 31 loose hours from today and weeks past when I was helping other people. They're mostly slot hours and they aren't on the running tally. I'm going to try to put in a few extra hours next Tuesday and then present all the orphan hours as another complete-ish week on the running tally, because I like the weekly format; it's been working for me.

been following this blog
my thoughts:
you're the man and everyone should know it!

Thank you for the kind words, All-inMcLovin!

Mostly I just try to write about what happened, then what happened after that.

Another great first line for a novel! 😀 Use a semicolon though.

Thanks Morph!

I love a good semicolon—and it wouldn't be wrong in that spot—but I have some subjective standards that I like to use; though to be sure, there's a lot of wiggle room with that punctuation mark.

If there isn't a caveat then a comma, as above, then I like to ask myself: can these two phrases also act as seperate sentences, but would it be cooler still if I connected them with a semicolon instead of a period? As an example, I'll go with Tolstoy's translation "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Here the two parts could each be sentence, but they're also connected by being compared against each other. Compare that against (the greatly inferior) "Mostly I just try to write about what happened, then what happened after that." The second half is merely a completion of the thought in the first half, so I think a comma is better in that spot.

As always, I'm not a professional copywriter, and your mileage may vary.

Stick with the comma. That's what Elmore Leonard would do.

#WWELD

em dashing sentences of yours describing colon usage sure do read gooder after passing someone elses punctured nation sniff test

My train of thought has a lot of em dash cars on it.

Last night the slots were heavily picked-over, not boding well for the upcoming holiday weekend, and I lost $52 over 2 hours, mostly from getting bored and trying some experimental (for me) plays on some new Cash Falls installations.

I did better on the poker front, thanks to my observing that an obnoxious villain had gone around the bend on winner's tilt, and recognizing that she was at the stage where she was making some big bluffs in order to show them to everyone. After checking back a low paired flop with AK, I called two big bets from her unimproved on the turn and river, and my ace high was good.

The problem with that play is that she'll sometimes show down a low pair in that spot, but I still thought that I was +EV in the hand, even with that taken into account. Poker: 4.5 hours, +$176.

Very nice!

Few things in live poker are as satisfying as picking off bluffs from obnoxious players.

Thanks Sheep!

When she hesitated at showdown, I couldn't help myself and showed first and said "Ship it." That broke my cardinal rule of never taunting someone whom I had a read on; really, never taunting anyone, period. And if she'd turned over a small pair there, I would have looked like a real moron.

I'm taking the day off today because, if I can't take a random Thursday off when I really want to, then why the hell am I doing this job?

AI puts it better than I could; but I still think I would have had a semi. I love to have a semi whenever I can.

'The best punctuation for this sentence is a dash (or an em dash) instead of a comma.

Use this revised version for the strongest flow: "Mostly I just try to write about what happened — then what happened after that."

Here is why this is the best choice:

The Dash: Replaces the comma to create a deliberate, dramatic pause. It perfectly mimics a natural speaking rhythm and emphasizes the shift in time.

The Comma: The original sentence uses a comma, which creates a slight grammatical error known as a comma splice (joining two closely related thoughts incorrectly).

The Period: Alternatively, you could use a period, ("... what happened. Then what happened after that."), if you prefer a complete stop and a stronger separation between the two ideas.'

Hi Mike Haven!

AI is known for its heavy em dash use—which is sad because I love that elongated little fella, and I never want to be accused of using a clanker to do my writing. I don't agree with the comma splice error assessment. The word 'then' after the comma isn't technically a conjunction, but it serves the role of one well enough to tie the two clauses together, in the same way that Lebowski's rug tied his room together. The period is the worst choice of the three. The clauses are not two complete thoughts; they depend on each other and belong together.

Again, just my opinion; not a professional; yada yada.

I randomly saw so e random video from 60 minutes on Whitey Bulger. Whenever I see anything on Whitey I think of SJ and the Gold Spike.

Me too, Da_Nit. Me too.

I got back on the grind today, arriving two hours earlier than usual, and still I found myself scooped on the slots (4.5 hours, -$4). I also observed a $5/$10 poker reg checking slots in his spare time. The last thing that I need is more hybrid Poker/Slot APs to compete with, but given that Chainsaw and The Trooper are doing the same thing—and given the number of their followers—I fear it's inevitable that my career path will become trendy.

At my poker table, two cousins sat down on my left, and for the next three hours all they talked about were work details, finances, stocks, investment portfolios, and real estate. They were boring me so thoroughly that I became angry, and my first impulse after that was to target their stacks.

One of them was a good player and had position on me, so that wouldn't have been the smart play on my part. Instead I concentrated on trying to be a professional, and on finding spots where there were spots, instead of trying to generate them from whole cloth.

Towards the end of the session I started talking to the cousins, and it turned out that they were perfectly willing and able to converse on non-financial topics, and we spent a pleasant hour, and parted on friendly terms.

Poker: 5.5 hours, +$77

Happy USA Independence Day to all who celebrate.

Murica!

You mentioned this was the 2nd generation of beatable slot machines for AP, as a slot machine complete noob/outsider, how long do you think this wave will last? And was there sufficient +EV machines that remained in between the first and 2nd generation to make grinding part-time profitable enough???

Am always rooting for you bro, obviously ; much love ♥

Thanks Dubnjoy000! Give me a bit of time for this one.

Played a few hours of slots and poker, then I decided to take a movie/popcorn break.

I like to pay for movies occasionally, so they'll keep making them.

Maybe stop showing 30 straight minutes of ads if you don't want empty theaters like this one.

Thanks again Dubnjoy000! I am not an historian of AP slots. Lionelhuttz seems very knowledgeable about the subject and may be the poster to ask.

I ran into this title at the Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas around 2000 or 2001. It had been published in 1999, so I was a little behind the loop. Still, pickings were pretty easy right up until around 2004, when word of mouth and an expanding Internet caught up to the trend.

It seemed to me that most of the first generation AP machines were gone by 2006 or 2007, but I believe it was Lionelhuttz who wrote that Ultimate X video poker came out around that time, so it's not unlikely that there were newer AP machines out that I simply didn't notice; I was back in New England in 2006, working in an office and getting all my gambling kicks online on Full Tilt Poker.

I didn't notice the second generation until October of 2022.

That slot Bao Zhu Zhao Fu, BTW, is not an AP slot. The progress of the paper lanterns is a sham. Prosperity Pearl is beatable.

How long had the second generation been around before I noticed it? I have no idea. I've been predicting its downfall almost from the minute I noticed its existence, and I've been wrong so far. So I am not qualified to say if or when they'll go away again.