Weekend in AZ, Wire Finale

More poker content to come soon, but first, a non-poker update. This weekend I met Brackchips in AZ to take in from spring training action. Although we're both Mets fans, somehow we ended up in Phoenix to watch Royals, Mariners, Giants, and Angels. We definitely lived the hard life for the whole weekend, though. Here was the damage I alone did at Phoenix eateries:

-1 Arby's Reuben
-2 In-N-Out double-doubles, Animal style
-1 Chili's Southern Smokehouse burger
-1 Texas Dog (hot dog with nacho cheese)
-1 A&W Root Beer Float
-2 Denny's Grand Slam Breakfasts
-1 Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich

Now that I'm home, I think I'll be satisfied with salad and water for the next month. Of course we also found a very juicy poker game which paid for our trips and then some. I also found a monster donk that gave me some HU action at $50 buy-ins. Seriously, though, I do enjoy praying Brackchips HU. We played three matches. In the first, I didn't win a single pot that saw a flop. I was definitely frustrated after how Brackchips ran me over and re-raised or check-raised every time I tried to make a move with air, so I decided in the later matches to focus more on flopping top pair and rivering straights. That strategy led me to victory in our second and third matches. It is enjoyable and challenging to play with somebody that you have played with a LOT. It forces you to observe and remember every hand, and try to pick up patterns in their play. And it allows you to see holes in your own game as well, because your opponent is observing and attempting to exploit your play. I'll let Brackchips make his own comments about the matches, but let's just say that K6s does NOT run too well against AKs. Even if the AK is of hearts.

I got back home just in time to watch the season finale of The Wire. If you haven't seen The Wire, I don't really know what to say, other than you've been living a trite and meaningless life. Stop reading this now and go start watching the show, starting with season 1, episode 1. There's no other way to do it. I guess now it's kind of old hat to say that it's "the best show on television", so I'll just say that my life will be significantly less rich now that there is no more Wire left for me to watch. I will certainly buy the boxed set once it comes out and rewatch the old episodes.

At this moment, I'd rank season four as the best of the five, followed by season three, then one, then two, and finally the fifth season. Maybe my opinion of season five will change in time, but right now I'd rank it as the worst. I still enjoyed it a lot, particularly episode nine, which I think was one of the best episodes of the entire series. And Isiah Whitlock, Jr., really took Clay Davis to a whole new level in season five. But I was never as invested in the newsroom characters as I was in so many of the other characters in the Wire. And I thought the pacing and the storyline of this season were a little off in spots, but much of that may be attributable to HBO limiting its order for the season to ten episodes, rather than the customary 12 or 13.

Right now I just feel sad to say goodbye to all the characters of this show. There are so many stories of the individual's attempt to rise above his circumstances. This doesn't mean just the kid out of the ghetto making his way to an honest living. It also means the cop rising above the lethargy of bureaucracy to do real policework, the politician rising above the political machinery to enact real change, or a teacher transcending the standard curriculum to change their students' lives. The show is really a comment on whether this is possible in modern life, and if not, whether it's worthwhile to attempt.

BRUECHIPS