Crown Quest Update
by huge on Nov.18, 2009, under Poker
In the 72 hours since I won the tournament on Pokerstars I’ve been playing whatever tournaments I can to try to capture another feather/notch/gem/stepping-stone on the path to another triple crown. I’ve played 11 tournaments, I’m a half hour into a 12th and I’m about to start a 13th. By one measure I’ve already failed – two months ago I secured the triple crown on the tenth tournament after my first victory, so I can’t match that feat, but that feat is so absurdly unlikely that I’m almost certain I’ll never match it as long as I live, and even though I was there and have the account records to prove it when it happened the first time, I kind of half-suspect that I must be lying.
OK, so I haven’t won another triple crown yet, but the quest has not been without some excitement. I already wrote briefly about a final table in the first 24 hours of the crown hunt on Sunday night. Monday started off with a disastrous bloodbath of a rebuy tournament (thankfully at only $20 per rebuy) in which I got all my chips in with the best hand pre-flop FIVE TIMES against THE SAME MANIAC and lost each time, resulting in five double-rebuys, plus the initial rebuy at the start of the tournament, plus the addon, for a total of THIRTEEN TOTAL BUYINS or $263 for a “$20” tournament. Just to keep things consistent, I busted out of that tournament by getting all my money in with the best hand again, though this time on the flop:
[if you’re not a poker player and want to skip the hand histories and get to the pithy commentary, just skip over the hand history text files – I promise there will be some serious pithy, racy and even lewd stuff coming up]
Full Tilt Poker Game #16073276791: $24,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) (117917894), Table 3 - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold’em - 16:53:37 ET - 2009/11/16
Seat 1: steahlthfish (8,442)
Seat 2: opie711 (4,451)
Seat 3: salfab (3,440)
Seat 4: pokerdiller (29,401)
Seat 5: afrodueces (20,997)
Seat 6: kmhisr (4,433)
Seat 7: hugertilt (3,698)
Seat 8: bami88 (29,046)
Seat 9: GreyViper (9,902)
steahlthfish antes 25
opie711 antes 25
salfab antes 25
pokerdiller antes 25
afrodueces antes 25
kmhisr antes 25
hugertilt antes 25
bami88 antes 25
GreyViper antes 25
kmhisr posts the small blind of 120
hugertilt posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hugertilt [As 6d]
bami88 folds
GreyViper has 15 seconds left to act
GreyViper raises to 480
steahlthfish folds
opie711 folds
salfab folds
pokerdiller folds
afrodueces folds
kmhisr calls 360
hugertilt calls 240
*** FLOP *** [Ks Ac 6s]
kmhisr checks
hugertilt checks
GreyViper bets 720
kmhisr raises to 1,440
hugertilt raises to 3,193, and is all in
GreyViper raises to 4,946
kmhisr has 15 seconds left to act
kmhisr folds
GreyViper shows [Ah Qd]
hugertilt shows [As 6d]
Uncalled bet of 1,753 returned to GreyViper
*** TURN *** [Ks Ac 6s] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Ks Ac 6s Kh] [5h]
GreyViper shows two pair, Aces and Kings
hugertilt shows two pair, Aces and Kings
GreyViper wins the pot (9,491) with two pair, Aces and Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9,491 | Rake 0
Board: [Ks Ac 6s Kh 5h]
Seat 1: steahlthfish folded before the Flop
Seat 2: opie711 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: salfab folded before the Flop
Seat 4: pokerdiller folded before the Flop
Seat 5: afrodueces (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: kmhisr (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: hugertilt (big blind) showed [As 6d] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 8: bami88 folded before the Flop
Seat 9: GreyViper showed [Ah Qd] and won (9,491) with two pair, Aces and Kings
I don’t know why it hurts more to get counterfeited with the King than it would if he had sucked out “legitimately” by hitting his Queen, but it seems to be a universal bias among poker players that after getting counterfeited you feel the need to take a shower and maybe get some blood work done. A straight suckout is like getting hit in the jaw and having your wallet stolen … getting counterfeited is more like being served a cocktail that tastes yummy at first but it has kind of a weird, oily aftertaste, and then you wake up in a bathtub with some organs missing. I’ve got some other counterfeiting metaphors in the printing press (yes, I know they’re similes … shut up, I’m on a roll here) but I’ll save them for the next time I get slimed.
So that tournament was just ugly all over.
I got back on the rebuy horse later that day and thought I was in for an even more painful blood-letting (this was a $50 rebuy, so every time I lose all my chips and take the double rebuy to stay in the tournament it costs me a cool C-note) when I run into this maniac and this hand:
Stage #2002131640 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 30 - 2009-11-16 16:26:42 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #1 is the dealer
Seat 1 - _POKERSPACE_ (6,020 in chips)
Seat 2 - CASHNIN (1,280 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (2,613 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEONE23333 (1,500 in chips)
Seat 5 - GOFYCLAIR (6,245 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (2,970 in chips)
Seat 7 - RONCINDY (280 in chips)
Seat 8 - ANGUILLA222 (1,500 in chips)
Seat 9 - 8BALLDELUXE (2,970 in chips)
CASHNIN - Posts small blind 15
LRH - Posts big blind 30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [Kh As]
THEONE23333 - Folds
GOFYCLAIR - Raises 60 to 60
FELDLISS - Folds
RONCINDY - Folds
ANGUILLA222 - Folds
8BALLDELUXE - Folds
_POKERSPACE_ - Calls 60
CASHNIN - Folds
LRH - Raises 1,440 to 1,470
GOFYCLAIR - Raises 4,425 to 4,485
_POKERSPACE_ - Folds
LRH - All-In 1,143
GOFYCLAIR - returned (1,872) : not called
*** FLOP *** [6s 6d 3d]
*** TURN *** [6s 6d 3d] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [6s 6d 3d Qd] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LRH - Shows [Kh As] (One pair, sixes)
GOFYCLAIR - Shows [2d 6h] (Three of a kind, sixes)
GOFYCLAIR Collects 5,301 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(5,301)
Board [6s 6d 3d Qd 9s]
Seat 1: _POKERSPACE_ (dealer) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CASHNIN (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, sixes [Kh As - B:6s,B:6d,P:As,P:Kh,B:Qd]
Seat 4: THEONE23333 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: GOFYCLAIR won Total (5,301) HI:(5,301) with Three of a kind, sixes [2d 6h - B:6s,P:6h,B:6d,B:Qd,B:9s]
Seat 6: FELDLISS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: RONCINDY Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: ANGUILLA222 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: 8BALLDELUXE Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Obviously I had found another rebuy maniac, or he had found me, and it looked like it might be another long hemorrhagic experience. So that’s one hundo completely flushed away and I have to pull out another one and wave it around just inviting someone to punch me in the jaw and take it. But instead I used it like a matador’s cape and planted barb after barb (after barb after barb, four barbs total) in the maniac GOFYCLAIR (same villain from the previous hand) as he kept charging past me:
Stage #2002138522 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 30 - 2009-11-16 16:30:03 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - _POKERSPACE_ (5,960 in chips)
Seat 2 - CASHNIN (1,265 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (2,970 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEONE23333 (3,030 in chips)
Seat 5 - GOFYCLAIR (7,433 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (2,970 in chips)
Seat 7 - RONCINDY (280 in chips)
Seat 8 - ANGUILLA222 (1,500 in chips)
Seat 9 - 8BALLDELUXE (2,970 in chips)
THEONE23333 - Posts small blind 15
GOFYCLAIR - Posts big blind 30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [Ah 4h]
FELDLISS - Folds
RONCINDY - Calls 30
ANGUILLA222 - Raises 135 to 135
8BALLDELUXE - Folds
_POKERSPACE_ - Folds
CASHNIN - Folds
LRH - Calls 135
THEONE23333 - Folds
GOFYCLAIR - Calls 105
RONCINDY - Calls 105
*** FLOP *** [Jh As 2s]
GOFYCLAIR - Bets 30
RONCINDY - All-In(Raise) 145 to 145
ANGUILLA222 - Raises 260 to 260
LRH - Calls 260
GOFYCLAIR - Calls 230
*** TURN *** [Jh As 2s] [8c]
GOFYCLAIR - Checks
ANGUILLA222 - Bets 120
LRH - Calls 120
GOFYCLAIR - Calls 120
*** RIVER *** [Jh As 2s 8c] [7s]
GOFYCLAIR - Bets 1,840
ANGUILLA222 - Folds
LRH - Calls 1,840
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GOFYCLAIR - Shows [3h 8s] (One pair, eights)
RONCINDY - Shows [Ad 9d] (One pair, aces)
LRH - Shows [Ah 4h] (One pair, aces)
LRH Collects 4,385 from side pot-1
RONCINDY Collects 1,135 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(5,520:1,135,4,385)
Board [Jh As 2s 8c 7s]
Seat 1: _POKERSPACE_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CASHNIN Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH (dealer) won Total (4,385) HI:(4,385) with One pair, aces [Ah 4h - B:As,P:Ah,B:Jh,B:8c,B:7s]
Seat 4: THEONE23333 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: GOFYCLAIR (big blind) HI:lost with One pair, eights [3h 8s - P:8s,B:8c,B:As,B:Jh,B:7s]
Seat 6: FELDLISS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: RONCINDY won Total (1,135) All-In HI:(1,135) with One pair, aces(nine kicker) [Ad 9d - B:As,P:Ad,B:Jh,P:9d,B:8c]
Seat 8: ANGUILLA222 Folded on the RIVER
Seat 9: 8BALLDELUXE Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Stage #2002141983 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 30 - 2009-11-16 16:31:45 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #4 is the dealer
Seat 1 - _POKERSPACE_ (5,960 in chips)
Seat 2 - CASHNIN (1,265 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (5,000 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEONE23333 (3,015 in chips)
Seat 5 - GOFYCLAIR (5,078 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (2,970 in chips)
Seat 7 - RONCINDY (1,135 in chips)
Seat 8 - ANGUILLA222 (985 in chips)
GOFYCLAIR - Posts small blind 15
FELDLISS - Posts big blind 30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [4h 3h]
RONCINDY - Calls 30
ANGUILLA222 - Folds
_POKERSPACE_ - Folds
CASHNIN - Folds
LRH - Calls 30
THEONE23333 - Calls 30
GOFYCLAIR - Raises 165 to 180
FELDLISS - Folds
RONCINDY - Calls 150
LRH - Calls 150
THEONE23333 - Calls 150
*** FLOP *** [2d Ah 10h]
GOFYCLAIR - Bets 30
RONCINDY - Folds
LRH - Calls 30
THEONE23333 - Calls 30
*** TURN *** [2d Ah 10h] [Kh]
GOFYCLAIR - Bets 840
LRH - Calls 840
THEONE23333 - Folds
*** RIVER *** [2d Ah 10h Kh] [10c]
GOFYCLAIR - Bets 2,520
LRH - All-In(Raise) 3,950 to 3,950
GOFYCLAIR - Folds
LRH - returned (1,430) : not called
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LRH - Does not show
LRH Collects 7,560 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(7,560)
Board [2d Ah 10h Kh 10c]
Seat 1: _POKERSPACE_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CASHNIN Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH collected Total (7,560) All-In HI:(7,560) [Does not show]
Seat 4: THEONE23333 (dealer) Folded on the TURN
Seat 5: GOFYCLAIR (small blind) Folded on the RIVER
Seat 6: FELDLISS (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: RONCINDY Folded on the FLOP
Seat 8: ANGUILLA222 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Stage #2002150179 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 30 - 2009-11-16 16:35:42 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #7 is the dead dealer
Seat 1 - _POKERSPACE_ (5,960 in chips)
Seat 2 - CASHNIN (1,205 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (8,825 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEONE23333 (2,775 in chips)
Seat 5 - GOFYCLAIR (2,793 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (2,925 in chips)
Seat 8 - ANGUILLA222 (925 in chips)
Seat 9 - MCMATTO (3,000 in chips)
ANGUILLA222 - Posts small blind 15
MCMATTO - Posts big blind 30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [Kc As]
_POKERSPACE_ - Folds
CASHNIN - Folds
LRH - Calls 30
THEONE23333 - Raises 120 to 120
GOFYCLAIR - Raises 435 to 435
FELDLISS - Folds
ANGUILLA222 - Folds
MCMATTO - Folds
LRH - All-In(Raise) 8,795 to 8,825
THEONE23333 - Folds
GOFYCLAIR - All-In 2,358
LRH - returned (6,032) : not called
*** FLOP *** [Ad Qh Ks]
*** TURN *** [Ad Qh Ks] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Ad Qh Ks 2h] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LRH - Shows [Kc As] (Two Pair, aces and kings)
GOFYCLAIR - Shows [5d 2c] (One pair, twos)
LRH Collects 5,751 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(5,751)
Board [Ad Qh Ks 2h 3c]
Seat 1: _POKERSPACE_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CASHNIN Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH won Total (5,751) All-In HI:(5,751) with Two Pair, aces and kings [Kc As - P:As,B:Ad,B:Ks,P:Kc,B:Qh]
Seat 4: THEONE23333 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: GOFYCLAIR HI:lost with One pair, twos [5d 2c - B:2h,P:2c,B:Ad,B:Ks,B:Qh]
Seat 6: FELDLISS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: ANGUILLA222 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: MCMATTO (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Stage #2002209567 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 60 - 2009-11-16 17:04:43 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - _POKERSPACE_ (5,700 in chips)
Seat 2 - CASHNIN (965 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (11,613 in chips)
Seat 4 - THEONE23333 (1,285 in chips)
Seat 5 - GOFYCLAIR (2,760 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (2,125 in chips)
Seat 7 - BEACHRAT1946 (7,910 in chips)
Seat 8 - ANGUILLA222 (1,140 in chips)
Seat 9 - MCMATTO (2,410 in chips)
THEONE23333 - Posts small blind 30
GOFYCLAIR - Posts big blind 60
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [Ah Qs]
FELDLISS - Folds
BEACHRAT1946 - Folds
ANGUILLA222 - Folds
MCMATTO - Folds
_POKERSPACE_ - Folds
CASHNIN - Folds
LRH - Calls 60
THEONE23333 - Calls 30
GOFYCLAIR - Raises 180 to 240
LRH - All-In(Raise) 11,553 to 11,613
THEONE23333 - Folds
GOFYCLAIR - All-In 2,520
LRH - returned (8,853) : not called
*** FLOP *** [8h 4c Js]
*** TURN *** [8h 4c Js] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [8h 4c Js 3c] [9s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LRH - Shows [Ah Qs] (ace high)
GOFYCLAIR - Shows [5s Kc] (king high)
LRH Collects 5,580 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(5,580)
Board [8h 4c Js 3c 9s]
Seat 1: _POKERSPACE_ Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 2: CASHNIN Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH (dealer) won Total (5,580) All-In HI:(5,580) with ace high [Ah Qs - P:Ah,P:Qs,B:Js,B:9s,B:8h]
Seat 4: THEONE23333 (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: GOFYCLAIR (big blind) HI:lost with king high [5s Kc - P:Kc,B:Js,B:9s,B:8h,P:5s]
Seat 6: FELDLISS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: BEACHRAT1946 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: ANGUILLA222 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 9: MCMATTO Folded on the POCKET CARDS
In the midst of all this I wondered whether “GOFYCLAIR” might be an abbreviation for what he wanted to say to his ex-girlfriend after she dumped him (I’ll leave it to my readers to work that one out for themselves in the interests of keeping the blog’s PG rating), and if that were true, whether her reasons for departing had anything to do with his lovemaking skills possibly paralleling his poker prowess (again, I’ll exercise discretion and allow you to imagine for yourselves what that might look like, but in my personal version Clair got extremely tired of saying “umm, honey? What are you trying to do, exactly?”), and if THAT were true, then I imagine that if he ever did manage to say “GOFYCLAIR” to her, then her response would be something like “what do you think I’ve HAD to do for the past 6 months?” (I can get away with a veiled masturbation reference and still be PG-13, right?). Maybe, just as he did with me, GOFY got lucky with Clair on the first try and performed well by accident (please admire my restraint here in avoiding any jokes about “sucking out”) and she failed to realize that when evaluating a poker player you should always take a close look at the technique and never be “results oriented”, especially not on the results of a single hand, or any other body part.
I think I’ve taken that one about as far as it can go (maybe farther). I’ll just close by saying thank you to GOFYCLAIR for infusing me with so many chips, and to my imagined, frustrated but resourceful and self-reliant Clair, wherever you are, I’m sorry that GOFY’s fumblings were not as satisfying for you as they were for me.
OK wait … what was I talking about? Sometimes I get a little carried away. Oh yeah, poker…
So I was in good shape after the rebuy period ended … poor hapless GOFYCLAIR got tired of stumbling around in the dark with me and threw his remaining chips at someone else, but then another big stack went a little insane with his Q9 on a nine-high flop when I was holding Kings, doubling me up to 30,000 chips and exclusive control over the chip lead. We had started with 142 players and probably had about 50 remaining at this point. I treaded water for quite a while, briefly climbing up to 40,000 but dropping back down to 30, losing the chip lead in the process but staying above average, when I made a weird aggressive move on someone who had been raising a lot, and it worked out pretty well for me – it turned out I was right about him not having much of a hand, but very wrong about what he would do with it:
Stage #2002609795 Tourney ID 4886918 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit 1,600 - 2009-11-16 19:41:41 (ET)
Table: 22 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MINOOKALEE (21,924 in chips)
Seat 3 - LRH (32,942 in chips)
Seat 4 - QUICKKUTA (38,572 in chips)
Seat 5 - RENSTER21 (22,788 in chips)
Seat 6 - FELDLISS (9,786 in chips)
Seat 7 - KLT (34,595 in chips)
Seat 8 - BUSTEDFLUSH41 (29,912 in chips)
Seat 9 - BKLYN99 (50,961 in chips)
MINOOKALEE - Ante 150
LRH - Ante 150
QUICKKUTA - Ante 150
RENSTER21 - Ante 150
FELDLISS - Ante 150
KLT - Ante 150
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Ante 150
BKLYN99 - Ante 150
QUICKKUTA - Posts small blind 800
RENSTER21 - Posts big blind 1,600
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to LRH [8c 10c]
FELDLISS - Folds
KLT - Folds
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Calls 1,600
BKLYN99 - Folds
MINOOKALEE - Folds
LRH - Raises 6,677 to 6,677
QUICKKUTA - Folds
RENSTER21 - Folds
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Calls 5,077
*** FLOP *** [8d Kh 8s]
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Checks
LRH - Checks
*** TURN *** [8d Kh 8s] [9c]
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Bets 16,954
LRH - All-In(Raise) 26,115 to 26,115
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - All-In 6,131
LRH - returned (3,030) : not called
*** RIVER *** [8d Kh 8s 9c] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LRH - Shows [8c 10c] (Three of a kind, eights)
BUSTEDFLUSH41 - Shows [7c 6c] (Two Pair, eights and sevens)
LRH Collects 63,124 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot(63,124)
Board [8d Kh 8s 9c 7h]
Seat 1: MINOOKALEE Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 3: LRH (dealer) won Total (63,124) All-In HI:(63,124) with Three of a kind, eights [8c 10c - B:8s,B:8d,P:8c,B:Kh,P:10c]
Seat 4: QUICKKUTA (small blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 5: RENSTER21 (big blind) Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 6: FELDLISS Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 7: KLT Folded on the POCKET CARDS
Seat 8: BUSTEDFLUSH41 HI:lost with Two Pair, eights and sevens [7c 6c - B:8s,B:8d,B:7h,P:7c,B:Kh]
Seat 9: BKLYN99 Folded on the POCKET CARDS
After that I was the chip leader again, but only briefly … I floated between 50,000 and 70,000 for quite a while until I tried another brazen move with QT, and this time it didn’t work out so well, with my opponent holding KK. That knocked me down below average stack size, and I survived until we were down to two tables, getting close to making the final table and another crown shot, but I busted out in 12th place for $366 when my measly A4s ran headfirst into the not-at-all measly quad Queens.
Disappointing. I need to draw a better line between putting difficult pressure on my opponents and throwing way too much of my stack into risk at crucial spots in tournaments – like approaching the final table. The top three milestones of fun, excitement and profitability in tournament play are (1) winning a tournament, (2) making it to a final table with a healthy stack so you’ve got lots of room to maneuver, and (3) making it to the final table period. So busting out in 12th after several hours is about as funless a result as is possible.
There’s more … since the 12th place finish I’ve had a couple more exciting runs, one particularly so … but I’ve spent so long writing this one and in the meantime I’ve busted out of the two tournaments I was playing (one with a small min-cash, finishing 27th out of 214) and it’s time for bed, so I’ll throw this post on the wall and see if it sticks…
huge
November 19th, 2009 on 12:16 am
Nice to find a donator… I look forward to your next story…top shark says it will be very lucrative!
November 21st, 2009 on 5:10 pm
Your commentaries are priceless!