Just happen to be watching the 12th round of the Chavez -vs Morales fight. i do not really care for boxing, but I think I missed a great fight. Chavez is from Austin.

First order of business is to put a close to the tournament from last night at dynamitepoker.com. I got knocked out 10th. I was put all in with 2 pair - aces and sevens. I had a feeling the other person was chasing and I was right. He caught his fifth diamond on the river. It was fun! I did take a big smack early when my flush got punished by a boat.

Now I have two rants; one about poker and the other about software distribution.

Earlier today I was playing in a $.5/1 Limit holdem table at Party Poker. I was in the small blind with 45o. I decided to see the flop for a quarter. A 4 hit on the flop. I think everyone checked. A four hit on the turn. I checked hoping to get a good check raise in and not chase anyone out. Well it failed in that everyone checked around. A five hit the river. I bet out with $1. Everyone folded but one player. I dragged in a whopping $4.50. Here is my rant. The guy who called me typed "you are a phuckin dummass". "You should bet your phuckin cards". First of all his language was uncalled for and my apologies for quoting him. Second of all I think I made the correct play to try and maximize profit. Up until that hand someone was always betting out. My check raise failed, so better luck next time. I was much more polite to the person who kept capping the betting with a possible low hand in Omaha-8. I had the nut low so he increased the profit of the high hand and we split. Bottom line is play you cards and do not tell others how to play theirs. And mutter the curse words at your computer and keep them out of the chat.

My second rant is at AOL and any other company or individual sending out unsolicited cds or dvds. Today I received another AOL cd in of all places the plastic wrapper on my newspaper. Earlier in the week I received an unsolicited DVD in the mail from a person running for County Commisioner, Mr. Dison. I immediately sent him and e-mail stating not to count on my vote. The excessive packaging and the sheer waste of something that I have no use for is frustrating. Do they think these materials just vanish! I hope poker sites never resort to sending out wasteful materials.

I plan to play ring games until midnight. If I have the energy I probably will take another shot at the $2 TNT tournament at midnight.

One last note for this leap year - the river can be mean, so don't complain every time you get handed a bad beat. Play on!

Good evening/morning! I am playing .25/.50 Omaha-8 on Party, while waiting for the midnight dynamite limit holdem tournament to start. This is really a fun group of people. The last three times I have played I have finished in the money twice and once on the bubble. I do not have high expectations tonight, but I am going to enjoy a glass of merlot from Hahn Estates - California - 1998. After that switch to merlot from Alice White - Australia - 2003. I am having a hard time winding down from spending 2 hours at Chuck E. Cheese Pizza. I could quickly lose $30 playing poker and it would feel good compared to the kids winning $3 worth of junk for $30! I just realized I can not blog and play two games at one time. What is wrong with me? The really sad part is that I probably should not be drinking wine. Psoriasis is flaring up and alcohol could be a contributor. Living on the edge!

I did want to take a few lines to talk about the no limit tournament I played last Saturday. I knew no one except my neighbor. I dressed like a nerd. When the Harleys came roaring up and the dude dressed in full leathers came in. I knew I had to work on my poker image. I can not afford a Harley. Besides that would be a short route for my wife to collect on my insurance policy! There were 18 players. I could not pick up any quick tells. Picking up tells is my objective. This is only the second live tournament I have ever played in. I think I picked up one tell, but I am not yet 100% sure. One dude sticks his tongue out slightly when he's bluffing or at least hoping he drags the pot. He just had a shit eating grin when he had the goods! I did pick up on various styles of play and that was helpful. I basically folded all night long. I got crap cards. I think KTo was the best hand I got at table one. In the BB I did manage to get a win with the board gave me a pair of tens, then I picked up a large win when the turn brought me a flush and I knocked out one of the players at our table. Note: One thing weird was they let one table get down to 3 players while our table still had 8. I would recommend drawing and moving players. Worked to my advantage since I did not have to move to the "All in" happy table. Bottom line is that I made it to the final table. I got 77 and folded after some large bets. A little later I took a shot at a flush on the turn, which did not hit so I folded to a bet worth 1/3 my stack. Finally I am in the big blind with pocket LADIES. Three callers to me! Check? All in? I decided I needed to slim the field so All In it was. I had one caller with A2s. Board came KKX. Turn was nothing. The other player had a shot at a flush or an ace and I was toast. Well put on the butter because I was TOAST. Ace on the river! Out on the bubble! I still have nightmares! Here is the irony. I won two days off work sick as a dog! The guy who beat me was sick and like a fool I shook his hand! I was pretty sick because I did not play poker for 3 days.

I think this blogging gig is going to be fun! I had better get back to the tournament! WOW! I am the chip leader.

I have been contemplating this blog gig for weeks. I decided to make the plunge. My goal is to offer some commentary on poker, possible rant about politics, dig into gardening, muse about music, or float into free thought. I do not advocate myself as a prolific writer, but what I do know is that I have an opinion. And I am not afraid to express it! Ultimately I am doing this to learn about blogging and enhance my web development skills. I have recently read some awesome blogs about poker. Poker is my addiction du-jour (million dollar word for the day). So most of my writing will pertain to those interested in poker.

Hopefully I will learn this tool quickly and offer frequent food for thought. I am going to end this session with an interesting happening at dynamitepoker.com last night. I was playing limit Omaha-8. Dynamite gives some sort of bonus for high hand of the day. Within probably thirty minutes I witnessed quad Aces, only to be out done by K high straight flush. Darn good thing I folded on both of those hands! Play on!