‘Meat’
In just a few years, Papa John’s has gone from a second-tier pizza chain to the top level, joining Domino’s and Pizza Hut. It even has branches in China.
The Papa John’s on National Boulevard in LA offers a fantastic $6.99 carry-out special for a large, one-topping pizza. Last time I went, I ordered pepperoni and sausage, the two greatest meats to ever find themselves atop a pizza.
Today the taco of choice was Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach. Sharkeez is better-known as a late-night college-style bar, but on Tuesdays they serve up a variety of tacos, from Mahi to carnitas to lobster. Being my first time, I ordered a “Maui” style mesquite chicken and a tri-tip steak. The cashier told me they would come with Pico de Gallo** on the side, and inside would just be the meat, cheese and sauce. This sounded great to me, so I sat down to wait for my food. Sharkeez has a good all-you-can eat chips and salsa bar, which is nice to munch on when you’re wating for more food, so I grabbed a trayful.
As I waited for my tacos, I noticed that some of my friends were getting their tacos and they all had a frightening green substance in them. Lettuce!
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The basics of solid poker strategy involve many concepts that you must combine to become a consistently winning player. The following concepts are crucial to learning poker strategy:
Keep these concepts in mind as you develop as a poker player.
DECISIONS FOR THE NEW POKER PLAYER
Decide whether you want to play poker to win or to play for fun. To play at a consistently winning level requires both time and effort. In other words, it takes work. There is nothing wrong with playing poker for fun, but there is no reason to plan to lose, even when you are playing for fun. However, deciding which type of poker player you want to be before you start will make your decisions and sessions easier. Test out these professional tips at Pkv Games online tables.
MAKE GOOD DECISIONS – THE RESULTS WILL FOLLOW
Even the best poker players in the world have losing sessions. Don’t make the mistake of expecting to win every time you play. Your goal should be to play to the best of your ability in every session. If you do, the cards and winnings will take care of themselves as you improve. Many players make the mistake of judging their poker playing ability based on the results of each session. Your goal should be to make the best possible play every time. The closer you come to this, the better your results will be.
THE MATHEMATICS OF POKER
Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of incomplete information. That may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. On a very basic level, winning poker starts with the selection of which starting hands to play. If you enter the pot with the best hand more often than your opponents do, you will win more times than your opponents.
BEYOND STARTING HANDS
Starting hand selection is fundamentally important, but it’s only one piece of the poker strategy puzzle. Once you have mastered solid starting hand guidelines and understand how they change by your position at the table, the next area you should work on is your play for the rest of the hand. The area that separates professional players from amateurs is that professional players tend to play much better than their opponents during the remainder of the hand, after the starting hand decisions are made. This is especially true concerning the decisions made at the very end of every hand. These skills involve calculating pot odds, recognizing betting patterns, bluffing, and using position. The years of practice necessary to master the middle and end game play are well worth the effort, because even small improvements in a player’s abilities can have a tremendous effect on that player’s lifetime winnings.
AVOIDING TILT
Another meta-skill that should be part of a winning player’s poker strategy is avoiding tilt. Your opponents will use your emotions against you, but only if you let them. Emotional play results in poor decisions and lost money. Tilting and steaming can happen to anyone, and sometimes the only cure is a break from the game. That’s okay; the game will still be there ten minutes from now. In fact, it will still be there tomorrow.
Coco’s and I have a long and interesting history. A few years ago, I lived in Japan and a Coco’s was attached to my building. Coco’s (pronounced Cocosu in Japanese) was a Japanese attempt at American food and despite the fact that it wasn’t at all like American food, it was still pretty decent. We had a healthy relationship and I even had the frequent diner card. When I returned from Japan, Coco’s and I took a break, we couldn’t handle the distance and I had no knowledge of Coco’s in America. That all changed when I found a Coco’s on Pico and Robertson in LA. I went in with great expectations that would be impossible to meet.
People look at Taco Bell in many different ways. Some worry about the meat quality. Some are willing to wait 30 minutes for it on their lunch break. Some think it is true Mexican food. Some refuse to eat it. Whatever can be said about Taco Bell, there is no denying that it is a late-night refuge for the hungry and/or intoxicated.
I am lucky enough to have a Taco Bell in LA that is open until 4 am. Every time I go, I leave with a story, so with these thoughts in mind, I set off for Taco Bell around 2 am.
The mere fact that a place called Fatburger is able to survive in today’s world is a testament to it’s culinary goodness. In a city dominated by “organic,” “whole” and “vegetarian,” it is a beacon of hope. At the entrance there is a sign that reads “Man did not claw his way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu,” but it is more than just a sign. It is a message, a message that you have arrived at a safe haven in a world gone health-mad.
I was still recovering from Thanksgiving when a friend suggested Greek food. It sounded good to me, so we decided to order some carry-out from Yanni’s Greek Taverna in Northwest Washington, DC.
Yanni’s menu is loaded with souvlaki, gyros and other Greek foods. I decided on the chicken souvlaki, which comes as a pita or a platter. Despite the “Greek Salad” that would be included, I opted for the platter, making sure to order without the vile onions or tomatoes.
Stuck in the Charlotte Airport between flights at dinner time, I was hankering for some Chinese food. Enter: Manchu Wok, a Panda Express-style Chinese fast food place. I stared at the strange variety of stir-fried meats that mildly resembled what my own wok would look like if I tossed every single food in my kitchen into it. I decided to order the “Pick 3 + Noodles or Rice” and do my best to avoid dishes with vegetables. My chosen trifecta was Sweet and Sour Chicken, Pineapple Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken, with noodles.
The food was lazily all tossed together into a styrofoam container, which made it virtually impossible to tell the differences between the different chickens.
Today I ordered Quizno’s for lunch. Quizno’s, a sub shop can be found just about anywhere in the country. Apparently in El Segundo, California, they have delivery and it’s quite fast. It had been a few days since I had some (good) red meat, so I ordered the Prime Rib and Peppercorn. On top of the prime rib, the sandwich comes with mozzarella cheese, sauteed onions and a mild peppercorn sauce. I made sure to get mine without the dastardly onions.
I’ve had Quizno’s before and it has never been spectacular, so when my sandwich arrived, my expectations were pretty low.
On my last day in Chicago, I was craving Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but I didn’t have enough time before my flight to wait for an entire pizza to cook. Luckily, I was told that Giordano’s can “half-bake” a pizza for you so you can finish it off later without losing the texture and flavor typically lost in a reheated pizza. With this knowledge, I called Giordano’s up to order a half-baked medium with pepperoni. Giordano’s has locations throughout the Chicago area, with my pizza coming from the Evanston branch.
I brought the 10-pound monster of a pizza on my flight back to Los Angeles and threw it in my fridge for the next day.