OK, this is beginning to bug me. I see a lot of people confusing these two things ALL THE TIME! And worse yet, some people are misinforming others! I'm sick of people telling others to only buy monitors with 1 or 2ms of input lag. While that would be awesome, NO monitor to my knowledge even comes close to those input lag times.
A lot of the confusion is due to both input lag and pixel response times being measured in milliseconds (ms = 1/1000th of a second), and both having to do with display (monitor) performance. However, they're TOTALLY different.
For years, most people only talked about pixel response times. Those are the numbers you see that are less than 5ms. Pixel response time is how long it takes a pixel to change from one color to another. Most manufacturers measure this as GTG (grey-to-grey). Essentially, this is how fast the pixels can change color. The longer the pixel response time is, the more you're likely to see "ghosting" (i.e. after-images or blurring) on your flat panel display during fast moving sequences. Really good monitors range from 1ms to 5ms or so for pixel response GTG times. CRT and Plasma displays, due to the nature of their technology, typically don't have to worry about response times because they're super fast.
Input lag (i.e. Display Lag) is kind of a newer thing that people have been measuring (and a lot of people don't quite understand.) Input lag is how long it takes for a display to show an input on your screen. For example, input lag measures how long it takes from when you press the light punch button to when the action is displayed. To my knowledge no display manufacturer publishes this value. Maybe they will soon because it's becoming a hot topic... especially in the fighting game community, but I've yet to see places like amazon.com or newegg.com list input lag values for a display. So if you see a low ms value listed on a website where you're buying something, you're most likely seeing the pixel response time, not this. A really good input lag rating is about 10ms. Anywhere from 10ms to 40ms is considered pretty good. Above 40ms, and you'll start to notice a delay from when you punch to when you see it. AFAIK, THERE ARE NO COMMERICALLY AVAILABLE 1ms INPUT LAG MONITORS. Not by Asus or Benq or anyone else.
For a database of input lag (i.e. display lag) ratings, check http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/
To be perfectly honest, how well a display performs for gaming is going to be due to a combination of both input lag and pixel response times. Both are important. And high values for either can cause your game controls to feel sluggish.
Bonus: While I'm at it... Refresh Rates are something completely different too. But, most people don't confuse them with input lag or pixel respone times because they're measured in Hz as opposed to ms. A 60Hz monitor is standard and refreshes 60 times a second. Higher performance monitors can do 120Hz (120 times a second) and some gamer specific models are rated as 144Hz. You'll even see some displays listed as 240Hz or 480Hz. Plasma displays don't work like LCDs do, but to complete with the Hz-heavy marketing used by LCD manufacturers, they typically list plasmas as 600Hz. Unless you're doing 3D (which requires 120HZ or more), you don't need to worry about this too much. For fighting games, 60Hz is fine as most games run at 60 frames per second anyway.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Killer Instinct - Jago/Shadow Jago Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Jago's/Shadow Jago's Auto-Doubles: (Currently Jago and Shadow Jago play exactly the same in Vs. Mode.)
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Jago's/Shadow Jago's Auto-Doubles: (Currently Jago and Shadow Jago play exactly the same in Vs. Mode.)
- Like a few other characters, his MP involves him throwing an elbow.
- His only auto-double to crouch/hit low is his MK. So if you see a sweep: MP+MK!
- His MP has a very distinctive hard fist sword slam attack.
- His only auto-double to swing his sword is his MP. So if you see a sword swing: MP+MK!
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Killer Instinct - Spinal Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Spinal's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Spinal's Auto-Doubles:
- Only his light auto-doubles crouch So if you see him crouching, time for LP+LK!
- His MP and HP look awfully similar! Main difference is speed and the order of the shield attack.
- Like a few other characters, his HK involves that telling stomp!
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Monday, April 21, 2014
Killer Instinct - Orchid Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Orchid's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Orchid's Auto-Doubles:
- 4 out of the 6 auto-doubles involve a crouch so don't rely on just that.
- Like a few other characters, she throws out an elbow during her MP.
- Like a few other characters, she kind of "headbutts" during her HP auto-double.
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Killer Instinct - Thunder Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Thunder's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Thunder's Auto-Doubles:
- Both his light auto-doubles involve a crouch.
- His MK also involves a crouch, so be careful.
- Like a few other characters, he throws out an elbow during his MP.
- Like a few other characters, he headbutts during his HP auto-double.
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Killer Instinct - Sadira Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Sadira's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Sadira's Auto-Doubles:
- Only her light auto-doubles crouch. So if you see crouching, time for LP+LK!
- His MP and HP as well as MK and HK look awfully similar! Main difference is speed.
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Killer Instinct - Glacius Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Glacius' Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Glacius' Auto-Doubles:
- Both his light auto-doubles involved a crouch.
- His MP auto-double also crouches, but it's easily singled out by the "whiplike" hand!
- His HP hits you with a distinct giant ice ball.
- His HK, like a few other characters, does a big stomp... in fact, it does two!
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Killer Instinct - Sabrewulf Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Sabrewulf's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Sabrewulf's Auto-Doubles:
- Only his light auto-doubles attack low. So if you see your feet being attacked, time for LP+LK!
- His MP and HP as well as MK and HK look awfully similar! Main difference is speed.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Killer Instinct - Fulgore Auto-Doubles
Combo breaking in Killer Instinct is relatively straight-forward. If your opponent is attacking you with light attacks, you tap both LP+LK at the same time to combo break him. If he's attacking you with medium attacks, then tapping MP+MK will combo break. And, of course, if he's attacking you with heavy attacks, simply hitting the HP+HK buttons will break the combo.
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
Without getting into too much detail, there are several components to a combo. And other than the opening move (and most ending moves) each of the middle components of the combo can be broken. However, the easiest combo component to identify is an auto-double. This is where you hit a single button during your combo to get an automatic two-hits on your opponent. The speed, damage and animation for an auto-double is different for every button for every character. That means that each character has 6 possible auto-doubles to choose from when doing his combo. During the heat of battle, it can be hard for a beginner (and sometimes veterans!) to discern them all.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Fulgore's Auto-Doubles:
The real trick is being able to tell which attack your opponent is using. Because if you hit the wrong combo breaker (ex: hitting MP+MK when you're being hit with light attacks), then you're going to be "locked out" with a giant X and an exclamation point over your head. And then for the next 3 seconds, you'll be helpless to a combo onslaught.
So, in an effort to train my brain into recognizing all the various auto-doubles of each of the 8 characters in Killer Instinct, I created a series of animated GIFs so that I can see them all side-by-side. Note that I've slowed the animation of the moves down to 1/2 speed to make them a bit easier to see. In a real combo, these animations will look *much* faster.
Notes on Fulgore's Auto-Doubles:
- Like several other characters. His HP auto-double has a very noticeable headbutt.
- Both his light auto-doubles crouch.
- His HK auto-double is the only kick auto-double that does not sweep.
Light Punch
|
Medium Punch
|
Heavy Punch
|
Light Kick
|
Medium Kick
|
Heavy Kick
|
Thursday, February 13, 2014
My Top 10 Best Playing Fighting Games of All Time
This is *my* list. I'm not an expert in all of these games, and I certainly have biases. But in any case, these are, in my opinion, the best playing fighting games in existence today. Some of the rankings could easily be reversed and some games might have made the cut had I made this list on a different day (like KoF '98 for example), but this is how I see them today.
10. Street Fighter Alpha 3
The best in the Alpha series. This game offered tons of characters and 3 different styles of "supers". The gameplay was smooth and the animation was great.
9. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Lots of people (myself included) knock the MK series because, well, most of them suck. And of those that do like the MK series, many would probably say MKII was the best in the series. I can respect that. But while MKII was great, I think the series didn't reach its apex until UMK3. Sure, it has dial-a-combos, but with its varied characters, smooth gameplay and crazy juggling, the series peaked here.
8. Samurai Shodown III
This game is similar to the MK series in that many people will state that the second installment was the best. I again disagree. I feel like SSIII keeps all the great gameplay elements from SSII, but adds more characters (though I'll miss Cham-Cham) and gameplay options like the Slash/Bust versions of each character.
7. Killer Instinct (2013)
What a redesign! I haven't had a chance to play this as much as I'd like, but no fighting game not named Street Fighter has captured my interest as much as this game has. It's a *vast* improvement over the older two KI entries. There is a ton of thought that went into the gameplay. Although in some cases, it may be overthought. A valid complaint is that the game at higher levels might get too rock-paper-scissory, but I still think that this game is a blast to play. It needs more characters. Hopefully they'll continue to update this title.
6. The Last Blade 2
This is how you make a 2D fighting game with weapons. SamSho was very good, but this is better. There are two different types of styles that can be summed up as "powerful" or "quick", and both are useful. The characters all control smoothly and are well balanced. Many people haven't played this game because it came out during the last days of the fighting game era before its resurgence in the late 2000s.
5. Garou: Mark of the Wolves
If you don't count spinoffs or other platforms, this is basically Fatal Fury 8. It cuts down the cast of characters drastically, but ups the gameplay enough to make it the best in the series. It''s a highly technical, fast paced game.
4.Soul Calibur II
I was never really that good at SC games, but this game was tops. SC was known for realistic looking animation and fighting styles, and this game basically just built upon its predecessor. It successfully walked the line between amazing looking button masher and elegant highly technical fighting game.
3. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
After two tries, Capcom finally got SFIII right. After dumping all of SFII's beloved cast except Ken and Ryu, Chun-Li makes her triumphant return in 3rd Strike. The parry mechanics and superb combination of animation and technical elements made this best SF made until the late 2000s.
2. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
On its own, any version of SF2 would have fallen to the 3rd spot below SFIII:3s. However, the HD remix of SSF2T is a thing of beauty. David Sirlin, a very talented game developer and fighting game community member, was hired to re-balance the game when it came to re-release it with HD graphics. He used top notch fighting game players and lots of gameplay testing to create what I think is the best SF2 game ever. He streamlined many of the special move motions and removed hard-coded randomness from the game. This game is how SSF2T *should* have played all along.
1. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition 2012
No other game comes close to being #1. This first iteration of SFIV single-handedly revitalized the long lethargic fighting game genre. The Super and AE updates/re-balancing patches have only made it better. And soon, we'll have the Ultra version of SFIV to enjoy. No other game offers this level of near-perfect gameplay. This game is immediately familiar to old-school SF players, but also offers tons of new mechanics for the hardcore players. The addition of the Focus Attack was genius: allowing new setup possibilities and giving us another option other than jumping-in to close the distance between fighters. And the discrepancy between the top tier and lowest tier of characters is the smallest yet. Every time the community discounts a character as being low-tier, someone proves them wrong by winning or advancing very far into a major tournament with that character.
This is *my* list. I'm not an expert in all of these games, and I certainly have biases. But in any case, these are, in my opinion, the best playing fighting games in existence today. Some of the rankings could easily be reversed and some games might have made the cut had I made this list on a different day (like KoF '98 for example), but this is how I see them today.
10. Street Fighter Alpha 3
The best in the Alpha series. This game offered tons of characters and 3 different styles of "supers". The gameplay was smooth and the animation was great.
9. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Lots of people (myself included) knock the MK series because, well, most of them suck. And of those that do like the MK series, many would probably say MKII was the best in the series. I can respect that. But while MKII was great, I think the series didn't reach its apex until UMK3. Sure, it has dial-a-combos, but with its varied characters, smooth gameplay and crazy juggling, the series peaked here.
8. Samurai Shodown III
This game is similar to the MK series in that many people will state that the second installment was the best. I again disagree. I feel like SSIII keeps all the great gameplay elements from SSII, but adds more characters (though I'll miss Cham-Cham) and gameplay options like the Slash/Bust versions of each character.
7. Killer Instinct (2013)
What a redesign! I haven't had a chance to play this as much as I'd like, but no fighting game not named Street Fighter has captured my interest as much as this game has. It's a *vast* improvement over the older two KI entries. There is a ton of thought that went into the gameplay. Although in some cases, it may be overthought. A valid complaint is that the game at higher levels might get too rock-paper-scissory, but I still think that this game is a blast to play. It needs more characters. Hopefully they'll continue to update this title.
6. The Last Blade 2
This is how you make a 2D fighting game with weapons. SamSho was very good, but this is better. There are two different types of styles that can be summed up as "powerful" or "quick", and both are useful. The characters all control smoothly and are well balanced. Many people haven't played this game because it came out during the last days of the fighting game era before its resurgence in the late 2000s.
5. Garou: Mark of the Wolves
If you don't count spinoffs or other platforms, this is basically Fatal Fury 8. It cuts down the cast of characters drastically, but ups the gameplay enough to make it the best in the series. It''s a highly technical, fast paced game.
4.Soul Calibur II
I was never really that good at SC games, but this game was tops. SC was known for realistic looking animation and fighting styles, and this game basically just built upon its predecessor. It successfully walked the line between amazing looking button masher and elegant highly technical fighting game.
3. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
After two tries, Capcom finally got SFIII right. After dumping all of SFII's beloved cast except Ken and Ryu, Chun-Li makes her triumphant return in 3rd Strike. The parry mechanics and superb combination of animation and technical elements made this best SF made until the late 2000s.
2. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
On its own, any version of SF2 would have fallen to the 3rd spot below SFIII:3s. However, the HD remix of SSF2T is a thing of beauty. David Sirlin, a very talented game developer and fighting game community member, was hired to re-balance the game when it came to re-release it with HD graphics. He used top notch fighting game players and lots of gameplay testing to create what I think is the best SF2 game ever. He streamlined many of the special move motions and removed hard-coded randomness from the game. This game is how SSF2T *should* have played all along.
1. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition 2012
No other game comes close to being #1. This first iteration of SFIV single-handedly revitalized the long lethargic fighting game genre. The Super and AE updates/re-balancing patches have only made it better. And soon, we'll have the Ultra version of SFIV to enjoy. No other game offers this level of near-perfect gameplay. This game is immediately familiar to old-school SF players, but also offers tons of new mechanics for the hardcore players. The addition of the Focus Attack was genius: allowing new setup possibilities and giving us another option other than jumping-in to close the distance between fighters. And the discrepancy between the top tier and lowest tier of characters is the smallest yet. Every time the community discounts a character as being low-tier, someone proves them wrong by winning or advancing very far into a major tournament with that character.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Moviehouse & Eatery Review
Moviehouse & Eatery
8300 N FM 620 Bldg B, Austin, TX 78726
512-501-3520
info@themoviehouse.com
http://themoviehouse.com
(FYI: Don't go to .net, that's another unrelated theater in NY.)
First of all, I have to get this out of the way... the name is -terrible-. Normally, something as trivial as a name wouldn't come into discussion when doing a review, but "Moviehouse & Eatery" is just really stupid. It's like naming a pizza joint that serves beer, "Pizzeria & Bar." It makes googling it hard to do and talking about it really awkward. It's not even "THE Moviehouse & Eatery." It's just "Moviehouse & Eatery." With an ampersand. It's owned by Galaxy, the same people that own Flix Brewhouse, which has an equally stupid, but at least less terrible name. Yes, "Flix Brewhouse" is an obvious play on "Alamo Drafthouse Cinema," but at least you can talk about without your conversation deteriorating into an Abbott and Costello sketch. *SEE BELOW*
So, yeah, the people at Galaxy can't be accused of being original with their naming. In fact, nothing about this theater is original. They've basically ripped off things from here and there and threw them in a blender and hoped for the best. The took the La-Z-Boy recliner seats and waiter-call buttons from iPic, the in-movie dining and bar from the Drafthouse, the giant screen from IMAX, and the stadium seating and concession stand from (insert any generic theater here.) They also threw in some D-Box motion seats for good measure.
The result? Well, not to sound obvious, but... mixed.
The theater is broken down into different sections: Dine-In, The Big House, and General Admission. If you go on their site, you'll also see a "D-BOX" section, but that's really just two rows of seats in the General Admission theater. I have experienced the Dine-In section twice and the D-BOX/General Admission section once. To be fair, I've never seen a movie in The Big House, but as far as I can tell, it's pretty much an IMAX type of thing: BIG.
The movie experience begins with acquiring tickets. Most theaters offer online ticket purchasing nowadays, and M&E is no different. Well, no different until you actually go through the process of buying the tickets. If you're buying a General Admission ticket. No problem. It's pretty straightforward. You buy your ticket online, show up at the theater, they give you a paper one at the box office and then you wait in line to get into your theater.
However, if you're buying tickets for Dine-In or D-BOX, it can be a wee bit confusing. The Dine-In reservation screen layout isn't quite set up like the real theater. In order to encourage patrons to buy tickets in certain areas, they put spaces between seats that do not exist. Also, the front row seats were much closer to the screen than I was lead to believe by the seating chart. And with D-BOX seats, it was even more confusing. Remember that D-BOX and GA seats are for the same showing in the same theater. But since the D-BOX seats are reserved and General Admission seats are not, if there are still any seats available for GA, the system will still allow you to get to the seat selection screen for D-BOX even when they are sold out. I went through this very thing trying to get Iron Man 3 3D D-BOX tickets. It was quite confusing, and it didn't help that when I got to the D-BOX seat selection screen that it didn't tell me which were setas were D-BOX and which weren't (because they were sold out of D-BOX.) So, the online ticketing could use some work.
Once you arrive at the theater, you won't exactly be blown away. It's a big plain building with little charm or character. The interior is nice and safe. They have a two-seat D-BOX demo area in the lobby to the left, a traditional concession stand in the back center, and a bar area off to the right. The theater is in a newer, nicer part of town, so everything is crisp, clean and new, but really, they could have done something to spruce it up a bit. It lacks something... like some soul (Paramount), elegance (iPic) or grittiness (Drafthouse Ritz.)
If you're going to a Dine-In theater, you'll pass through the bar to the right. It's a nice enough bar. Nothing too special. They had some TVs playing ESPN and some comfy couches. Not bad. Not great. If you're going to the GA/D-BOX (and presumably The Big House) theaters, you'll pass by the concession stand. It's your typical AMC/Cinemark style concession stand with hot dogs, popcorn, candies, sodas, nachos, etc.
Which leads me to the topic of food. If you have "Eatery" in your name, you better damn well have some good food.
The concession stand food is typical. If you've been to a megaplex cinema of any kind in the last decade or so, you'll know exactly what to expect. The menu might be a bit on the smaller side since about half of the theater offers Dine-In (i.e. "real") food, but everything you've come to expect is there. I had some popcorn, a Coke Icee, and a hot dog. They were all perfectly fine. The prices were in line with other theaters (i.e. way too high for what you're getting.)
The Dine-In food is were it's really at, though. I went to two Dine-In showings and both times the food and service was excellent. I fell in love with their pepperoni pizza. It's got huge, thick cut slices of pepperoni that are perfectly seasoned and, much to my delight, very crispy. The crust was thin, crispy and flavorful. The sauce and cheese was also great. I'm not a fan of fancy food, but to me, this seemed like a good take on a gourmet pepperoni pizza. I also had some of my wife's fried mozzarella, and wow. It might have been the best fried mozzarella I've ever had. Seriously, it was tasty. A good balance of breading and cheese, and it tasted fresh, not frozen. Their side salads were also great. Crisp veggies, crunchy croutons and a flavorful balsamic vinaigrette. My wife had chicken strips, and again, everything seemed fresh and flavorful. The white gravy was delicious and tasted home-made. In everything we tried, they used quality ingredients and didn't mess with the formula too much. I don't need weird cheeses or adventurous sauces. I like to be able to pronounce the ingredients without having to wiki them. So, kudos to them for that.
The prices for the Dine-In food was reasonable. It wasn't cheap, but again, it's in line with the Drafthouse or Flix Brewhouse. However, one of the strange things that I noticed is that a soda at the concession stand still costs the "movie concession stand price" of about $5-$6. However, if you order a soda at a Dine-In theater, it's restaurant-priced at around $3 and comes with free refills and a waiter to bring them. Nice.
Well, since the Dine-In food is so good, you might wonder if you can have it on the GA side of the theater, and the answer to that is, "Yes, technically you can." While the Dine-In theaters have comfy recliners and a fold out table for your food, the GA side is basically just a seat and a cup holder. No waiters and no tables. But if you must have some of that tasty pizza, and I do recommend it, then what you can do is go to the bar area and place a to-go order with the bartender. They will package your food all up as if you were literally taking it to go, but you'll just be walking to the other side of the building. The real bummer is that you'll have to balance all that tasty food on your lap or place it on the floor in front of you.
The staff. Overall, I found that the staff at M&E to be friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. The awesome bartender is the one that explained to me how I could get Dine-In food on the GA side. The box office personnel were very accommodating and helped me understand how the Living Social credits I had purchased were to be used. The concession stand folks were attentive and even gave me free cheese for my hot dog. And the wait staff in the Dine-In theaters were always prompt and accurate. Everyone smiled. It was a very good effort by all. Nice job!
So how was the movie experience itself? Very good. I mean, would you expect anything less these days... especially from a new theater in a nice part of town? The movies were all presented as they should be. Good clean sound. Not too loud, not too soft. The picture was clear. Much like the Drafthouse, the theater does ask its patrons several times to be quiet and respectful during the movies, and in my showings, they were. Unfortunately, unlike the Drafthouse, this theater does have annoying advertising play before each film. This is really a shame. I understand that they need to make money, and that theater is really just a part of the Galaxy chain of theaters, but still, I can't help but be disappointed when I'm being force fed Samsung commercials after I paid $10-$20+ for the privilege of being there.
So, in summation, the name is so awful that I had to mention it, the online ticketing system is less than stellar, the decor and atmosphere is uninspired, the concession stand food is on par with the rest of the industry, the dine-in food is delicious, the service and staff are wonderful and the movie experience is very good. It might be a little out of the way for a lot of folks, but I would definitely recommend this theater. It gets a solid B from me.
* Abbott and Costello sketch: "Lou Goes to the Movies"
by Rob Nava
[ Curtain rises. Bud Abbott is reading the daily paper leaning up on a lamp post in the park. ]
[ Lou Costello enters stage left.]
C: "Hey, Abbott!"
A: [Looks up at Lou. Puts paper away under arm.] "Oh, hey, Lou! Whatcha been up to?"
C: "Nothin' much. I just went to see the latest Iron Man last night at Moviehouse & Eatery."
A: "Oh, yeah? Which one?"
C: "3"
A: "3 what?"
C: [ Surprised ] "Why, Iron Man 3, of course."
A: "No, I mean which theater."
C: "I already told ya, The Moviehouse."
A: "Which moviehouse?"
C: "THE Moviehouse." [Getting flustered.] "The one with the eatery!"
A: "You mean the Drafthouse?"
C: "No. The Moviehouse and EATERY. Not the Drafthouse." [Now very flustered.]
A: "You mean Flix Brewhouse? Well, why didn't you just say so?"
C: [ Throws hat on floor. ] "No! Not the Brewhouse! Not the Drafthouse! The new one. The one with La-Z-Boy seats and the fancy food!"
A: "Ah, you mean iPic... the, uh, the old Gold Class Cinema."
C: "Oh. Forget it. I didn't much like it anyway." [ Picks up hat. ]
A: "You didn't? I heard iPic was very nice."
C: [Wrings hat with both hands in frustration, mumbles to himself, and walks off stage right.]
A: [Looks towards the audience and shrugs. Pulls out his paper and starts reading again.]
[ Curtain falls. ]
8300 N FM 620 Bldg B, Austin, TX 78726
512-501-3520
info@themoviehouse.com
http://themoviehouse.com
(FYI: Don't go to .net, that's another unrelated theater in NY.)
First of all, I have to get this out of the way... the name is -terrible-. Normally, something as trivial as a name wouldn't come into discussion when doing a review, but "Moviehouse & Eatery" is just really stupid. It's like naming a pizza joint that serves beer, "Pizzeria & Bar." It makes googling it hard to do and talking about it really awkward. It's not even "THE Moviehouse & Eatery." It's just "Moviehouse & Eatery." With an ampersand. It's owned by Galaxy, the same people that own Flix Brewhouse, which has an equally stupid, but at least less terrible name. Yes, "Flix Brewhouse" is an obvious play on "Alamo Drafthouse Cinema," but at least you can talk about without your conversation deteriorating into an Abbott and Costello sketch. *SEE BELOW*
So, yeah, the people at Galaxy can't be accused of being original with their naming. In fact, nothing about this theater is original. They've basically ripped off things from here and there and threw them in a blender and hoped for the best. The took the La-Z-Boy recliner seats and waiter-call buttons from iPic, the in-movie dining and bar from the Drafthouse, the giant screen from IMAX, and the stadium seating and concession stand from (insert any generic theater here.)
The result? Well, not to sound obvious, but... mixed.
The theater is broken down into different sections: Dine-In, The Big House, and General Admission. If you go on their site, you'll also see a "D-BOX" section, but that's really just two rows of seats in the General Admission theater. I have experienced the Dine-In section twice and the D-BOX/General Admission section once. To be fair, I've never seen a movie in The Big House, but as far as I can tell, it's pretty much an IMAX type of thing: BIG.
The movie experience begins with acquiring tickets. Most theaters offer online ticket purchasing nowadays, and M&E is no different. Well, no different until you actually go through the process of buying the tickets. If you're buying a General Admission ticket. No problem. It's pretty straightforward. You buy your ticket online, show up at the theater, they give you a paper one at the box office and then you wait in line to get into your theater.
However, if you're buying tickets for Dine-In or D-BOX, it can be a wee bit confusing. The Dine-In reservation screen layout isn't quite set up like the real theater. In order to encourage patrons to buy tickets in certain areas, they put spaces between seats that do not exist. Also, the front row seats were much closer to the screen than I was lead to believe by the seating chart. And with D-BOX seats, it was even more confusing. Remember that D-BOX and GA seats are for the same showing in the same theater. But since the D-BOX seats are reserved and General Admission seats are not, if there are still any seats available for GA, the system will still allow you to get to the seat selection screen for D-BOX even when they are sold out. I went through this very thing trying to get Iron Man 3 3D D-BOX tickets. It was quite confusing, and it didn't help that when I got to the D-BOX seat selection screen that it didn't tell me which were setas were D-BOX and which weren't (because they were sold out of D-BOX.) So, the online ticketing could use some work.
Once you arrive at the theater, you won't exactly be blown away. It's a big plain building with little charm or character. The interior is nice and safe. They have a two-seat D-BOX demo area in the lobby to the left, a traditional concession stand in the back center, and a bar area off to the right. The theater is in a newer, nicer part of town, so everything is crisp, clean and new, but really, they could have done something to spruce it up a bit. It lacks something... like some soul (Paramount), elegance (iPic) or grittiness (Drafthouse Ritz.)
If you're going to a Dine-In theater, you'll pass through the bar to the right. It's a nice enough bar. Nothing too special. They had some TVs playing ESPN and some comfy couches. Not bad. Not great. If you're going to the GA/D-BOX (and presumably The Big House) theaters, you'll pass by the concession stand. It's your typical AMC/Cinemark style concession stand with hot dogs, popcorn, candies, sodas, nachos, etc.
Which leads me to the topic of food. If you have "Eatery" in your name, you better damn well have some good food.
The concession stand food is typical. If you've been to a megaplex cinema of any kind in the last decade or so, you'll know exactly what to expect. The menu might be a bit on the smaller side since about half of the theater offers Dine-In (i.e. "real") food, but everything you've come to expect is there. I had some popcorn, a Coke Icee, and a hot dog. They were all perfectly fine. The prices were in line with other theaters (i.e. way too high for what you're getting.)
The Dine-In food is were it's really at, though. I went to two Dine-In showings and both times the food and service was excellent. I fell in love with their pepperoni pizza. It's got huge, thick cut slices of pepperoni that are perfectly seasoned and, much to my delight, very crispy. The crust was thin, crispy and flavorful. The sauce and cheese was also great. I'm not a fan of fancy food, but to me, this seemed like a good take on a gourmet pepperoni pizza. I also had some of my wife's fried mozzarella, and wow. It might have been the best fried mozzarella I've ever had. Seriously, it was tasty. A good balance of breading and cheese, and it tasted fresh, not frozen. Their side salads were also great. Crisp veggies, crunchy croutons and a flavorful balsamic vinaigrette. My wife had chicken strips, and again, everything seemed fresh and flavorful. The white gravy was delicious and tasted home-made. In everything we tried, they used quality ingredients and didn't mess with the formula too much. I don't need weird cheeses or adventurous sauces. I like to be able to pronounce the ingredients without having to wiki them. So, kudos to them for that.
The prices for the Dine-In food was reasonable. It wasn't cheap, but again, it's in line with the Drafthouse or Flix Brewhouse. However, one of the strange things that I noticed is that a soda at the concession stand still costs the "movie concession stand price" of about $5-$6. However, if you order a soda at a Dine-In theater, it's restaurant-priced at around $3 and comes with free refills and a waiter to bring them. Nice.
Well, since the Dine-In food is so good, you might wonder if you can have it on the GA side of the theater, and the answer to that is, "Yes, technically you can." While the Dine-In theaters have comfy recliners and a fold out table for your food, the GA side is basically just a seat and a cup holder. No waiters and no tables. But if you must have some of that tasty pizza, and I do recommend it, then what you can do is go to the bar area and place a to-go order with the bartender. They will package your food all up as if you were literally taking it to go, but you'll just be walking to the other side of the building. The real bummer is that you'll have to balance all that tasty food on your lap or place it on the floor in front of you.
The staff. Overall, I found that the staff at M&E to be friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. The awesome bartender is the one that explained to me how I could get Dine-In food on the GA side. The box office personnel were very accommodating and helped me understand how the Living Social credits I had purchased were to be used. The concession stand folks were attentive and even gave me free cheese for my hot dog. And the wait staff in the Dine-In theaters were always prompt and accurate. Everyone smiled. It was a very good effort by all. Nice job!
So how was the movie experience itself? Very good. I mean, would you expect anything less these days... especially from a new theater in a nice part of town? The movies were all presented as they should be. Good clean sound. Not too loud, not too soft. The picture was clear. Much like the Drafthouse, the theater does ask its patrons several times to be quiet and respectful during the movies, and in my showings, they were. Unfortunately, unlike the Drafthouse, this theater does have annoying advertising play before each film. This is really a shame. I understand that they need to make money, and that theater is really just a part of the Galaxy chain of theaters, but still, I can't help but be disappointed when I'm being force fed Samsung commercials after I paid $10-$20+ for the privilege of being there.
So, in summation, the name is so awful that I had to mention it, the online ticketing system is less than stellar, the decor and atmosphere is uninspired, the concession stand food is on par with the rest of the industry, the dine-in food is delicious, the service and staff are wonderful and the movie experience is very good. It might be a little out of the way for a lot of folks, but I would definitely recommend this theater. It gets a solid B from me.
* Abbott and Costello sketch: "Lou Goes to the Movies"
by Rob Nava
[ Curtain rises. Bud Abbott is reading the daily paper leaning up on a lamp post in the park. ]
[ Lou Costello enters stage left.]
C: "Hey, Abbott!"
A: [Looks up at Lou. Puts paper away under arm.] "Oh, hey, Lou! Whatcha been up to?"
C: "Nothin' much. I just went to see the latest Iron Man last night at Moviehouse & Eatery."
A: "Oh, yeah? Which one?"
C: "3"
A: "3 what?"
C: [ Surprised ] "Why, Iron Man 3, of course."
A: "No, I mean which theater."
C: "I already told ya, The Moviehouse."
A: "Which moviehouse?"
C: "THE Moviehouse." [Getting flustered.] "The one with the eatery!"
A: "You mean the Drafthouse?"
C: "No. The Moviehouse and EATERY. Not the Drafthouse." [Now very flustered.]
A: "You mean Flix Brewhouse? Well, why didn't you just say so?"
C: [ Throws hat on floor. ] "No! Not the Brewhouse! Not the Drafthouse! The new one. The one with La-Z-Boy seats and the fancy food!"
A: "Ah, you mean iPic... the, uh, the old Gold Class Cinema."
C: "Oh. Forget it. I didn't much like it anyway." [ Picks up hat. ]
A: "You didn't? I heard iPic was very nice."
C: [Wrings hat with both hands in frustration, mumbles to himself, and walks off stage right.]
A: [Looks towards the audience and shrugs. Pulls out his paper and starts reading again.]
[ Curtain falls. ]
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Vegas 2011 - Dec 16th-20th Days 9-12
Sessions: 13
Net Result: +$1549
Claire's here. That means several things happen. The first thing that happens is that blog updates go out the window. I simply stop writing. Claire doesn't like to spend much time in the room during the day, and that's when I write, so there you go.
The second thing that happens is that I can't find shit anymore. Where's the toothpaste? Who knows? The phone charger? No idea. Where's my goddamn hair tie that I've put in the same place in my bag every damn day since I've been here? No. Frickin'. Clue. Ugh! Shit just starts disappearing!
The third thing that happens is that I lose track of how much I'm spending. Taxi cab rides. Dinners. Table games. Souvenirs. She pays for some things. I pay for others, and I simply lose track.
But, ironically, the most important thing that happens is that I'm a lot happier. She drives me crazy, costs me money, aggravates me and completes me. Without her, I live in a sterile, soulless world with little meaning. She brings passion to my life. And it's like with anything else, the more you put in, the more you get out. So despite everything, I'm very glad she's here.
So, anyway, that was a long way of saying that my updates stop when Claire arrives, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
However, since I still need blog closure on this trip, I'm going to wrap up my remaining sessions in one big post.
Sessions 17-29: Imperial Palace, MGM, Excalibur, Treasure Island, Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NLHE (21h 15m); Treasure Island $1/$3 NLHE (1hr 0m); Excalibur $2-$6 Spread Limit (0h 45m); Bill's Gambling Hall 50c/$1 NLHE (0h 15m)
Buyin: $2924
Cashout: $4473
Result: +$1549
First, let me get those weird games out of the way.
The $2-$6 spread limit game at Excalibur is exactly what it sounds like. You can bet anywhere from $2 to $6 on every street. There is only a single $2 blind too. As you would expect, this game is suck out city. I fully realized this before I sat down, and I only sat down to kill time while waiting for a $1/$2 seat.
It went about as good as you'd expect. I'd lose with AK with an A on the flop, and win with junk like 74o when I rivered a straight. Pretty stupid. And at that limit, it's almost impossible to beat the rake. I ended up down $14. No big deal.
The 50c/$1 game at Bill's is what they were calling "mini hold 'em." The only reason I played this game is because Claire saw a dealer friend of hers from Imperial Palace playing there. Plus, she'd been running bad and the thought of really low stakes poker was appealing.
To give you an example of how tame this game was... I had QQ and raised to $5 (normally I'd make it $12-$17 at $1/$2,) and I've never seen player cards hit the muck so fast. It was stupid. My 25c/50c home game played bigger than this game.
Anyway, Claire doubled up from $40 to $85 with QQ versus the big stack ($170 or so,) and the game broke shortly thereafter. We were there about 15 minutes tops.
The lone $1/$3 game I played was at Treasure Island. They had two games running so Claire and I were able to sit a different tables.
I made a very poor decision to play at this game. I bought in for $200 and the next smallest stack was $500. It was short handed and very aggressive. I should have gotten up immediately. This was not a good table.
There was one table bully with about $1200 in front of him. He talked a lot. Everyone hated him. When he left, one of the guys started really bad mouthing him. Apparently the bully had sucked out with a set of 2's against this guy for about $900 and that's what got him going.
What the guy talking shit didn't know is that the bully was still in the poker room... cashing out. And he overhears this dude talking shit about him "behind his back."
So the bully returns to the table and the sore loser makes a very transparent apology. "Sorry, I thought you'd left." was the extent of it. ;)
They exchange loose/vague threats and each claims to not be afraid of the other. The bully says he'll play the talker for any amount any time. The talker invites the bully to sit back down at the table. Blah. Blah. Blah.
In the end, I end up busting to the talker. Who, quite honestly, by this time was just as annoying as the bully.
Then I busted again.
Yes, I know... I should have left! But you guessed it, I rebought for $200. I'm in for $600 now.
By this time, our table was down to about 4 players. We ended up combining with Claire's table. They normally play 9 handed, but they allowed us to go 10 handed.
Not long after we combined, one of the guys left and we played 9 handed again.
I pick up QQ. I raise to $17.
One of the many big stacks calls me.
The flop is J high with two baby cards. I'm out of position so I lead out for $45.
The big stack raises me All-In. I have about $170 left. My stomach churns. Again? Really?
Fuck it. I can't always be beat. I call.
The guy doesn't like the call. I can tell. I flip over Queens. He nods and says he's on a draw.
I notice two spades on the board. No spade on the turn. King of Spades on the River.
Fuck. A King *and* a spade? Vomitous.
I look at him, and he says, "You're good." and throws his hand away. WTF? What kind of draw was he on?? Fuck it. Who cares? Ship me that pot before someone notices I have an underpair to the board. ;)
Now I'm just under $400. I play for a bit longer. Claire's down now too. Not too much. She's down like $40.
I look at the table and finally come to my senses. Let's get out of here! I leave down $236.
On our walk back to the Mirage, I explain to Claire how I've not been properly assessing my tables. Or at least how I've not been willing to leave tables that I know are bad just because I'm down. I made a decision right there to never, ever let me "being down" keep me from leaving a table. Never again.
Smart.
We get back to Mirage and the table is so soft. The Mirage has consistently had soft games this trip. Very soft. I crush the table and in 45 minutes I make all the money I'd lost at TI back plus $3 profit. I'm quite happy! :-)
The remaining sessions were good ones. I never had another losing session, and by the end of it all I was up just over $2400 for my trip. This was about how much I was up last year. It averages out to about $200/day in poker profits.
Of course, it costs money to go and stay in Vegas. I have to pay for taxis and food and hotel rooms, but all in all, I had more money in my wallet when I got on the plane home than I had when I got there. I can't complain about that.
Untill next year!
Vegas 2011 - Dec 15th - Day 8
Sessions: 3
Net Result: +$321
Claire flew in today, and I moved from PH to Mirage.
Checking into the Mirage, I couldn't help but think of The Griswolds. If you recall, Clark and his family stayed at The Mirage in "Vegas Vacation," a movie that I've seen literally dozens of times. I guess Claire was thinking the same thing because before she arrived, she joked that we would get complicated directions to the room elevators just like in the movie. ;)
(You know what would go great here, an embedded YouTube video of that scene from Vegas Vacation. But, alas, I could not find one. )
Here's a video of the room.
My first session today was really a session I played before going to bed, but as always, if the session starts after midnight, I count it towards the next day's sessions.
Session 14: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL HE (1h 45m)
Buyin: $380
Cashout: $428
Result: +$48
Fuck this game. It was volatile, aggressive, and big stacked.
The tone was set early when I saw a guy go all-in for like $750 on a board of 5d 6h Kd 3s, and get snapped called by a $600 stack. The guy that went all-in flipped over AA. The snap caller (who had raised $220 on the turn prior to calling the all-in) flipped over 74o. The guy with Aces almost threw up.
The Aces guy had made it $35 to go pre-flop and $100 on the flop. So he wasn't expecting a straight. I mean, I could have put the other guy on a set, but with that $35 pre-flop bet, two-pair or a straight seemed unlikely. The pocket aces guy still played that way too strongly, but yeah, pretty sick.
I also saw pocket Aces lose 4 times at this table, including one of mine. All of them were raised pre-flop. No slow playing.
My AA came immediately after another guy's AA had lost. The guy that just lost with them was on tilt and had the button.
I made it $15 to go under the gun. He was the only one that called. It totally seemed like a tilt call.
The flop was JJ5. I lead out for $25. He called. Turn was a 7. I checked. He bet $25. I called. River was an 8. I checked. He bet $25. I made a crying call. The guy flips over JTo.
Ugh.
On the very next hand, I picked up AQ. Great! I mean, people were playing total shit. It was very likely that if I raised and got called that I'd be going in winning. I led out for $12. I knew people would think I was on tilt so I expected some callers.
I immediately got raised to $35.
This guy was a non-believer. Fuck it. I re-raised All-In for just over $120. I'll be honest... I expected a fold. Instead, I got snap called. Ooops.
He says to me, "I just have Ace King." Ugh. C'mon!
No queen or 1 card flush or miracle straight for me. I busted.
I rebought for $200. I shouldn't have, but I did. I should have found an easier, softer table. I *should* have, but I didn't.
Instead, I played for a while and bled down to about $45. I called a raise from the giant stacked button guy with 97s and pushed whatever I had left when it came a 9 high flop and a gut shot. I sucked out with two pair on the turn. The guy had AA. I'm telling you, AA was unlucky at that table.
I played erratically, but eventually I got to about $50 in profit and called it a game. I was very grateful for any kind of win by this point. I wasn't exactly playing my best, and I knew it.
Time for bed.
Session 15: Mirage $1/$2 NL HE (2h 45m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $280
Result: +$80
Later that afternoon...
Just chillin' waiting for Claire to show up. Nothing too interesting.
I did notice the face-masked dude from last year's Mirage sessions (pic here.) This time he wore a red surgical mask. Really weird. I never got up the nerve to ask him why he wore a surgical mask to a poker game. He didn't wear gloves. And the chips are the dirtiest, most nastiest things at the table, so I can't imagine it was for a medical/cleanliness reason. I can only assume it's for "anti-reading" purposes. Maybe he has a horrible lip quiver that gives away his hand. I might never know.
I will say that if you're at The Mirage, ask the cocktail waitress for an Orange Julius. They're fabulous!
Session 16: Mirage $1/$2 NL HE (4h 30m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $393
Result: +$193
The Mirage, at least during this trip, has had the calmest, most timid games I've played. If you raised $6, everyone, including the blinds would fold. I would raise or re-raise and steal so many pots. Easy. Peasy.
Honestly, no pots were even that memorable. I was just patient and played aggressively when I was in a hand. Pretty text book poker here.
By the end of this session, I'd erased more than half of my $600 loss from the previous day. Things were looking up again.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Vegas 2011 - Dec 14th - Day 7
Sessions: 2
Net Result: -$603
Far and away, the worst day.
Also, if you've been reading these, you've probably figured out that I write in a very stream of consciousness manner. And I do minimal editing, So expect to see grammatical and typographical errors in most of these posts. They take a long time to write, and frankly, I just want to go play poker right now.
I just don't want some of you to read these things and think I'm a sloppy writer. I'm not. I'm just a lazy/rushed one.
Someone should contract me to write a book...
Session 12: MGM $1/$2 NL HE (4h 15m)
Buyin: $600
Cashout: $0
Result: -$600
I cut and paste these blog posts. And I'm telling you, there's nothing I hate more than having to backspace over the "+" symbol in my "Result:" Putting that "-" there… just… ugh.
Anyway, two more friends from Austin showed up today: Brian and Leigh. I spent most of the day with them just walking around. They're staying at MGM. Duy and James had mentioned that they moved the MGM poker room and put it in a temporary spot near the Lion Habitat. They also mentioned that they had found a super juicy game there, and that they made tons. So, I figured I'd go check it out.
The room is shitty. The dealers hated it. I hated it. It was pretty ghetto. Apparently they're renovating the original poker room, and they're saying it'll return to it's normal place on January 9th. That does me no good since I'll be gone by then, but I played anyway.
I sat down with $200 and was never up. I plugged away at the table, but it was pretty tight and passive. I couldn't make any ground. I was down $20 pretty quick. Then down $75. Then I was under $100. I almost re-loaded, but I won a few hands and got within $3 of being even. If I'd have gotten there, I had planned to leave, but I didn't.
I busted with AK vs Aces. I wasn't happy, but I didn't feel like I was playing poorly, so I re-bought for $200.
There was this one Israeli guy to my right that was sorta big stacked and aggressive. He also laid out the worst smelling farts in the history of man. Seriously. He first tried to pass it off as his Canadian neighbor's doing, but after the Canadian left, the farts remained. They were literally tear inducing. They were really, really bad. And since I just kept spinning my wheels at that table, I took that as just another reason to leave.
But instead of leaving the room, I decided to request a table change, and I got one.
I moved to my new table with about $125 left from my 2nd buyin. I figured, new scene, new table, new start. I reloaded for $200 more.
My first hand, I look down and see Kd Qd. I call $2.
This beatnik looking type dude raises to $12 from the small blind. He's really short stacked. He's got like $60 or so.
He's got this bushy tuft of hair growing from underneath his lower lip. You know what I'm talking about? It's not a goatee. It's not a beard. It's that thing right in the middle and right below a guy's lower lip. If you picture a 50's/60's beatnik artist with sunglasses and a beret and that little tuft of hair growing out long and bushy, you'll visualize this guy. Oh, and yeah, he was wearing a beret. I shit you not. It was a leather beret, and it was being worn backwards, but he wore one nonetheless. Also, he was French-Canadian.
Anyway, I call $12.
The flop is Ad Qh 9h. Not super great, but it's OK for me. The French-Canadian beatnik makes it $15. Now, I can't call. Either I fold here, or I put him in for the rest of his chips.
I raise to $75. I know he doesn't even have $50 total, but I didn't want to risk an all-in in case some other dude flopped a set or something on me.
They all fold except the beatnik. He calls. Someone did flop a set. Him. A set of Aces.
God! C'mon! First hand, and I run into Aces with a short stack? Ugh.
After some grinding, I build it back up to about $325. I'm in for $600, so I'm still not feeling that great.
I pick up QTo and limp in.
The flop comes AKT rainbow. It's checked to me. I bet $20 which is slightly more than a pot-sized bet. It gets folded around to this middle aged, bald fat guy to my right… who just sat down 2 hands ago and won his first hand.
I've learned from experience that people that just sit down at a table are more apt to fold when bet into because they don't know the table, they're not frustrated, and they're still optimistic about the session. It's easier to bluff a guy when he just sat down than that same guy after he's been playing with you for an hour.
But not this guy. He didn't come to Vegas to fold hands. He calls.
Not that big a deal. I still have a nut draw.
Turn is a rainbow 9. Damn. I really needed that Jack.
The guy checks weakly, so I bet again. This time I bet $40. The guy thinks for a while, but still calls. Again, he's meek and not very confident. He could be on the same draw that I'm on, and I have a pair at least.
I decide I'm betting this river no matter what.
The river is a 6. Not really a game changing card.
He checks again. I bet $75. He thinks for a bit, and calls. Fuck. What does this guy have? Two Pair?
A6o. Let me state that more clearly: Ace Six Offsuit. He called me down with a fucking weak-as-shit Ace. Maybe he had a good read, right? Wrong.
He turns to me and says, "I thought you had two pair."
Huh?
So I say, "You thought I had two pair, but you called me anyway with an Ace with a weak kicker on every single street? Really?"
Realizing how stupid that sounded, he said, "Yeah, well, I figured you might have missed your draw."
Which is more retarded.
"So, wait a minute. You said you thought I had two pair. AND. You also thought I had nothing? Well, which is it? Those are about the two most opposite reads possible… So what you really mean to say is that you had no clue where you were and just called because you could."
After that he clammed up, which was about the smartest thing I'd seen him do in the 15 minutes he'd been there.
The next hand I pick up AKo.
The same guy raises to $5. $5. That's a fucking stupid raise.
I raise to $20. I get one caller, and it's back to him. He reaches for chips and I say, "Dude, you just took down a bunch of chips with A6. You can't lay one down? You've been here for 4 hands and played them all."
He calls anyway.
The flop is beautiful. K 5 7 rainbow.
He leads out for $30. $30? Really? Why would he lead out? It was sort of suspicious. I'd seen his hands. He'd literally played all 4 hands since he sat down. His hands were shit. I thought there was a chance he had two pair even, given how loose his play was.
I raise to $60 to see what he does. The other guy got out of the way, and old fat bald guy raises to $90.
What the fuck? A set? I have to make a decision here. I have $80 in this pot and about $110 behind. This guy could be doing this shit with anything from a set to King-Jack.
I just couldn't bear to fold. I should have. The signs all pointed to AK being beat, but it was just so unlikely. The rainbow K57 flop for my AK was just too hard to fold.
I went all-in. He calls.
A set? Yep. He flips over 55.
Jesus Christ.
I'm furious. I storm out of there to the sound of his annoying voice saying "Sorryyyyy…" Normally I stop and lecture people about saying "Sorry" after winning a pot, but I just couldn't stand the sight of that guy for another second. Plus, the rest of my cash was in my room. And I needed to cool off.
I knew that guy wasn't going to keep those chips. And as angry as I was, I was more sad that I wouldn't be there to take them.
Session 13: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL HE (1h 0m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $197
Result: -$3
I learned an expensive lesson at MGM. A lesson that every good poker player knows, but few can execute. Do not chase losses.
If something doesn't feel right, leave. It doesn't matter if you're down a little or a lot. The only reason NOT to leave is if you feel you're still playing well, and are confident that you can win. If you're mad and playing like shit or feel like you'll play like shit if you continue, leave. Fuck the daily stats. The only stat that matters is the one that shows you as a winning player over the long haul. How many BBs do you win per hour?
It's very, very, very hard to leave money on the table. Even a few dollars. But sometimes you have to.
I put this into practice on this session. I was down quickly at this game, but felt I was playing fine. I got to within $3 of my initial buyin, and of course, I just felt like just getting my $3 back and leaving. But I fought off the urge to play to get even... to get back those last few dollars, and I just called it a day. I left. I was done.
Tomorrow's a new day, and my long haul stats say that there are more BBs to win.
Vegas 2011 - Dec 13th - Day 6
Sessions: 2
Net Result: +$346
Just another day in Vegas...
Session 10: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL HE (2h 0m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $207
Result: +$7
This was a pretty short, uninteresting session. I played it at like 2am. I remember sitting down and losing $100 within like 20 minutes, but I don't remember how. I also remember climbing out of that hole and just wanting to go to bed.
Session 11: Planet Hollywood $1/$2 NL HE (5h 0m)
Buyin: $200
Cashout: $539
Result: +$339
I gotta start writing closer to the day that I play. I can't remember shit for this session.
Let's see. What happened? All these PH sessions are blurring together. I suppose that's a good thing as long as their winning.
Yeah, sorry, I got nothing. I'm writing this two days later. :-(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)